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THE BLESSINGS OF A FREE PRESS.

Gentlemen, there is one point of view in which this case seems to merit your most serious attention. The real prosecutor is the master of the greatest empire the civilized world ever saw; the defendant is a defenceless, proscribed exile. I consider this case, therefore, as the first of a long series of conflicts between the greatest power in the world and the ONLY FREE PRESS remaining in Europe. Gentlemen, this distinction of the English press is new -it is a proud and a melancholy distinction. Before the great earthquake of the French Revolution had swallowed up all the asylums of free discussion on the Continent, we enjoyed that privilege, indeed, more fully than others, but we did not enjoy it exclusively. In Holland, in Switzerland, in the imperial towns of Germany, the press was either legally or practically free.

But all these have been swallowed up by that fearful convulsion which has shaken the uttermost corners of the earth. They are destroyed, and gone forever! One asylum of free discussion is still inviolate. There is still one spot in Europe where man can freely exercise his reason on the most important concerns of society, where he can boldly publish his judgment on the acts of the proudest and most powerful tyrants. The press of England is still free. It is guarded by the free constitution of our forefathers. It is guarded by the hearts and arms of Englishmen, and I trust I may venture to say that, if it be to fall, it will fall only under the ruins of the British empire. It is an awful consideration, gentlemen. Every other monument of European liberty has perished. That ancient fabric which has been gradually reared by the wisdom and virtue of our fathers, still stands. It stands, thanks be to God! solid and entire-but it stands alone, and it stands in ruins! Believing, then, as I do, that we are on the eve of a great struggle that this is only the first battle between reason and power-that you have now in your hands, committed to your trust, the only remains of free discussion in Europe, now confined to this kingdom; addressing you, therefore, as the guardians of the most important interests of mankind; convinced that the unfettered exercise of reason depends more on your present verdict than on any other that was ever delivered by a jury-I trust I may rely with confidence on the issue-I trust that you will consider yourselves as the advanced guard of liberty, as having this day to fight the first battle of free discussion against the most formidable enemy that it ever encountered! Speech in Defence of Mr. Peltier.

HANNAH MORE, 1745-1833.

THIS most excellent and accomplished woman was the daughter of Jacob More, a village schoolmaster at Stapleton, in Gloucestershire, where she was born in the year 1745. Soon after this, Mr. More removed to Bristol, where he was appointed to take charge of the parochial school of St. Mary Redcliff. The family, which numbered four other daughters, soon began to attract notice, as one in which there was an unusual degree of talent; and, shortly after removing to Bristol, they opened a boarding and day school for young ladies, which continued for many years the most flourishing establishment of the kind in the west of England. Hannah was, from early life, the most remarkable of the family. Her first literary efforts were some poetical pieces written for the edification of her pupils. Among these was the "Search after Happiness," a pastoral drama, which she wrote at eighteen, but did not publish till 1773. It met with a very flattering reception. She was thus induced to try her strength in the higher walks of dramatic poetry, and she successively brought forward for the stage her tragedies of the "Inflexible Captive," "Percy," and "The Fatal Falsehood:" of these, "Percy" was the most popular, having been acted fourteen nights successively. The reputation which she thus acquired introduced her into the best literary society of London-into the circle in which Johnson, and Burke, and Sir Joshua Reynolds moved. But her dramatic career closed with the production of these tragedies. Shortly after, her opinions upon the theatre underwent a decided change, and, as she has stated in the preface to her tragedies, she did not "consider the stage, in its present state, as becoming the appearance or the countenance of a Christian." This great change in her spiritual views was followed by a corresponding change in her manner of life.

Under a deep conviction that to live to the glory of God, and for the good of our fellow-creatures, is the great object of human existence, and the only one which can bring peace at the last, she quitted, in the prime of her days, the bright circles of fashion and literature, and, retiring into the neighborhood of Bristol, devoted herself to a life of active Christian benevolence, and to the composition of various works having for their object the moral and religious improvement of mankind. Her practical conduct thus beautifully exemplified the moral energy of her Christian principles.

She retired into the country in 1786, and in two years after published her first prose piece, "Thoughts on the Manners of the Great," and a "Poem on the Slave Trade." These were followed, in 1791, by her "Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World." In 1795, she commenced, at

While her mind was in this state of transition, she published, in 1782, a volume of "Sacred Dramas," to which was annexed a poem called "Sensibility;" all of which were received by the public with great favor,

Bath, in monthly numbers, "The Cheap Repository," a series of most instructive and interesting tales, one of which is the world-renowned "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain." The success of this publication, so seasonable, at a time when the infidelity of France had too many admirers in England, was extraordinary and unprecedented; for it is said that in one year one million copies of the work were sold.' In 1799, appeared her "Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education," which led to an intention, warmly advocated by Porteus, the Bishop of London, of committing to her the education of Charlotte, Princess of Wales. This, however, was not effected, but it led to the publication of her "Hints towards Forming the Character of a Young Princess," in 1805. Then came what has, perhaps, been her most popular work, "Celebs in Search of a Wife," published in 1809, and which passed through at least six editions in one year. It is a very entertaining and instructive novel, full of striking remarks on men and manners, and portrays the kind of character which, in the estimation of our author, it is desirable that young ladies should possess.

In 1811 and 1812, appeared her "Practical Piety," and "Christian Morals ;" and, in 1815, her "Essay on the Character and Writings of Saint Paul"-a far bolder undertaking than any in which she had previously been engaged, and which she has executed to the delight of every reader. Soon after the death of her sister Martha, in 1819, her literary career terminated with "Moral Sketches," and "Reflections on Prayer." She was now aged and infirm, but still continued to take a great interest in the welfare of charity schools, Bible and missionary societies, and other benevolent and religious institutions. In 1828, she left Barley Wood, where she had resided from the beginning of the century, and took up her abode at Clifton, very near Bristol, at both of which places she had many valuable friends, though she had outlived every known relation on the earth. Here she spent her last days, supported in the afflictions of age by the consolations of that religion to the service of which she had devoted the vigor of her life, and expired, with the calmness and full faith of the Christian, on the 7th of September, 1833.

"Hannah More's eminently useful life manifested itself in nothing more than in the effort she made to instruct the ignorant, through the medium of moral and religious tracts, and by the establishment of schools. These were made a blessing on a wide scale, whilst their good effects are continued to this time, and are likely to be perpetuated."

Cottle's Reminiscences of Southey and Coleridge.

A cottage delightfully situated in the village of Wrington, in Somersetshire, a village renowned as the birthplace of John Locke. "Miss Hannah More lived with her four sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Martha, after they quitted their school in Park Street, Bristol, at a small neat cottage in Somersetshire, called Cowslip Green. The Misses M., some years afterward, built a better house, and called it Barley Wood, on the side of a hill about a mile from Wrington. Here they all lived in the highest degree respected and beloved, their house the seat of piety, cheerfulness, literature, and hospitality; and they themselves receiving the honor of more visits from bishops, nobles, and persons of distinction than, perhaps, any private family in the kingdom."

Ibid.

Few authors of any age or country have done more to improve mankind-to make them wiser and better for both worlds-than Hannah More. All her writings are devoted to the cause of sound Christian morals and practical righteousness.' Her poetry, though it takes not a very high rank among the productions of the Muse, is easy in its versification, displays a considerable degree of imagination, and is full of excellent sentiments and judicious remarks upon men and manners. Her prose is justly admired for its sententious wisdom, its practical good sense, its masculine vigor, and the elevated, moral, and religious tone that pervades it.3

O war, what art thou?

WAR.

After the brightest conquest, what remains
Of all thy glories? For the vanquish'd-chains;
For the proud victor-what? Alas! to reign
O'er desolated nations-a drear waste,

By one man's crime, by one man's lust of power,
Unpeopled! Naked plains and ravaged fields
Succeed to smiling harvests and the fruits
Of peaceful olive-luscious fig and vine!
Here-rifled temples are the cavern'd dens
Of savage beasts, or haunt of birds obscene;
There-populous cities blacken in the sun,
And in the general wreck proud palaces
Lie undistinguish'd save by the dull smoke
Of recent conflagration! When the song
Of dear-bought joy, with many a triumph swell'd,
Salutes the victor's ear, and soothes his pride,
How is the grateful harmony profan'd

With the sad dissonance of virgins' cries,

Who mourn their brothers slain! Of matrons hoar,
Who clasp their wither'd hands, and fondly ask,
With iteration shrill-their slaughter'd sons!
How is the laurel's verdure stain'd with blood,
And soil'd with widows' tears!

OPPRESSION.

What wrongs, what injuries does oppression plead,
To smooth the crime and sanctify the deed?

A writer, in an article in the fifty-second volume of the "Quarterly Review," thus strongly remarks: "How many have thanked God for the hour that first made them acquainted with the writings of Hannah More! She did as much real good in her generation as any woman that ever held the pen."

In the house of Garrick, where she was a constant visitor in the earlier part of her life, she was called "The Tenth Muse," and then for shortness, and still more refinedly, "MISS NINE."

'Horace Walpole used to call her his "Holy Hannah."

What strange offence, what aggravated sin ?
They stand convicted-of a darker skin!
Barbarians, hold! th' opprobrious commerce spare;
Respect His sacred image which they bear.
Though dark and savage, ignorant and blind,
They claim the common privilege of kind;
Let Malice strip them of each other plea,
They still are men, and men should still be free.
Insulted Reason loathes th' inverted trade-
Loathes, as she views the human purchase made;
The outrag'd Goddess, with abhorrent eyes,
Sees MAN the traffic, SouLs the merchandise!

Man, whom fair Commerce taught with judging eye,
And liberal hand, to barter or to buy,

Indignant Nature blushes to behold,

Degraded Man himself, truck'd, barter'd, sold;
Of ev'ry native privilege bereft,

Yet curs'd with ev'ry wounded feeling left.
Hard lot! each brutal suff'ring to sustain,
Yet keep the sense acute of human pain.
Plead not, in reason's palpable abuse,
Their sense of feeling' callous and obtuse:
From heads to hearts lies Nature's plain appeal-
Though few can reason, all mankind can feel.
Though wit may boast a livelier dread of shame,
A loftier sense of wrong refinement claim;
Though polish'd manners may fresh wants invent,
And nice distinctions nicer souls torment;
Though these on finer spirits heavier fall,
Yet natural evils are the same to all.

Who makes the sum of human blessings less,

Or sinks the stock of general happiness,

Though erring fame may grace, though false renown
His life may blazon or his memory crown,
Yet the last audit shall reverse the cause,

And God shall vindicate his broken laws.

The purest wreaths which hang on glory's shrine,
For empires founded, peaceful PENN! are thine;
No blood-stain'd laurels crown'd thy virtuous toil,
No slaughter'd natives drench'd thy fair-earn'd soil.
Still thy meek spirit in thy flock2 survives;
Consistent still, their doctrines rule their lives;
Thy followers only have effac'd the shame
Inscrib'd by SLAVERY on the Christian name.
What page of hunan annals can record
A deed so bright as human rights restor'd?
O may that godlike deed, that shining page,
Redeem OUR fame, and consecrate our age!

1 Nothing is more frequent than this cruel and stupid argument, that they do not feel the miseries inflicted on them as Europeans would do.-H. M.

The Quakers have emancipated all their slaves throughout America.

H. M.

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