-Fond tears, and vain attempts! fhall Mercy reft
In favage bofoms, when the cultur'd mind

Disclaims her influence? From their peaceful home
For ever torn, and chain'd in long array,
The mourning fufferers move along the plain,
A fpectacle of woe; and frequent turn

Their tear-dimm'd eyes towards the fav'rite spot
That gave them birth, and faw their youthful sports;
Whofe ftreams had cool'd their thirst, whofe forefts dark
Had fcreen'd their flumbers, and whofe varied scenes
Had witnefs'd all their joys. They turn, and mourn
Their fimple threshold, now with kindred blood
Defil'd; their roofs of rapid flames the prey;
The partners of their pleasures now condemn'd
To fhare their lot, or pouring out their lives
Beneath untented wounds.-They turn and weep,
Whilft o'er the burning fand the frequent goad
Haftens their lingering steps, till on their fight
Opens th'extended ocean: hovering near,
Like fome dread monfter, watchful for its prey,
The veffel glooms portentous; foon to feize
Her living victims, and to whelm them deep

In the dark cavern of her loathfome womb.'

The Author's concluding addrefs is a happy example of good fenfe, expreffed in the animated language of poetry:

Nations of Europe! o'er whofe favour'd lands

Philofophy hath rais'd her light divine,

(A brighter fun than that which rules the day)
Beneath whofe piercing beam, the fpectre forms
Of flavish fuperftition flow retire!

Who greatly struggling with degrading chains,
Have freed your limbs from bondage! felt the charms
Of property! beyond a tyrant's luft

Have plac'd domeftic bliss! and foon fhall own
That nobleft freedom, freedom of the mind,
Secure from priefly craft and papal claims !
-But chiefly thou, the miftrefs of the main,
Who fits ferene amidst thy fubject waves,
That bring thee hourly tribute; Queen of Ifles,
Of faith unblemish'd, of unconquer'd foul,
And prizing freedom dearer than the blood
That circles round thine heart! O Albion, fay,
And fay, ye fifter kingdoms; why remains
This univerfal blot, that marks your brows
With black ingratitude; and tells high heaven
You merit not your bleflings? Why remains
This foul and open wound on nature's limb,
Waiting its healthful powers? (and who fhall tell
How far may spread th' infection?) Blush ye not
To boaft your equal laws, your just restraints,
Your rights defin'd, your liberties fecur'd,

Whilft with an iron hand ye crush to earth
The helpless African; and bid him drink
That cup of forrow which yourfelves have dafh'd
Indignant, from oppreffion's fainting grafp?'

The poem is introduced by a well-written preface, which, as it treats on a fubject highly interesting to human nature, and at prefent an object of general attention, we shall make no apology for tranfcribing the greatest part of it.

It muft afford pleasure to every benevolent mind to obferve, that the progrefs of knowledge, while it improves the understanding, leads to the eftablishment of virtue, freedom, and happiness. A great æra is opening on the earth; discoveries in fcience are very rapidly increafing the power, amending the condition, and enlarging the views of mankind; and the clofe of the eighteenth, like that of the fifteenth century, will probably be marked in future times, as a period in which a fudden acceffion of light burft on the human mind. Happily thofe important truths which are the refult of reafon and reflection, are no longer confined to the receffes of philofophy; they have fpread widely into fociety, and begin to influence the councils of ftatefmen and the conduct of nations.

Hence it is not improbable, that the principles of political science may foon undergo an univerfal change; that probity and good faith may take place of fraud and chicanery in the intercourfe of ftates; contiguity of fituation prove the fource of friendship instead of hoftility between nations; and hatred and bloodshed be exchanged for confidence and peace. Such must be the confequences, when the laws of truth and juftice, which are imposed on the tranfactions of individuals, fhall be extended to the conduct of governments towards each other, where kingdoms are at flake, and the happiness of millions involved in the iffue.

But though many agreeable effects will most probably flow from this important change, there are other confequences that may enfue, which are greatly to be dreaded. The fpirit of trade may degrade the national character, and endanger our facrificing the principles of justice and the feelings of humanity to the acquirement of wealth. It becomes us therefore to guard against the introduction of those base and fordid maxims which reprefent every thing as fair that is lucrative, and feparate infamy from villany, provided it be fuccessful.

'Britain has been highly favoured of heaven in all the gifts of nature and the acquifitions of art; and the temple of Liberty, first reared by the labour, and cemented by the blood of our ancestors, has now its foundations eternally fixed on the bafis of fcience and philofophy. But the principles on which the liberties of Britain are eftablished, are of univerfal application, and may one day extend from the centre of this ifland to the extremities of the earth.

"It is time for thofe who direct the councils of the nation to tur their eyes on the trade to Africa.-This traffic in the human fpecies, which is fo direct and daring an infringement of every principle of liberty and juftice, has attracted the public notice.-The more it is examined, the more horrid it will appear; and the voice

of reafon, aided by the natural feelings of the human heart, muft fooner or later atchieve its overthrow. But it becomes a wife legiflature to interfere without delay; the fubject is of deep importance, and calls loudly for the immediate exertions of patriotism and virtue. It would be no difficult matter to fhew, that the trade which the Europeans carry on for flaves to Guinea, is the foundation of almoft all the miferies which the negroes endure in their own country, as well as in the fugar iflands. Thofe dreadful wars which fpread from the fhores of the Atlantic to the eastern extremity of África, are chiefly undertaken to procure flaves as an exchange for the wares of Europe. It is this trade, which, fetting juftice and humanity at defiance, crowds the unhappy Africans in the foul and peftilential holds of fhips, where twenty-five thousand perish annually of disease and broken hearts. It is this traffic which places the furvivors in the hands of mafters whofe natural feelings are destroyed by early and continual intercourfe with the worft of flavery, where their spirits are broken and their bodies wafted by infupportable toils. Laftly, it is this trade which deprives them of those best privileges of our nature, conjugal affection and parental love, the conftant fupply which it affords compenfating the lofs of thofe victims of avarice and cruelty who have died without iffue to inherit their mifery and their difgrace. Hence it is, that the waste of life among a people naturally prolific in the extreme, amounts to an eighth part annually; and upwards of an hundred thousand Africans are yearly transported across the Atlantic, to keep up the number of thofe unhappy men who are doomed to toil, to flavery, and to death.

• This mournful truth, while it confutes a thousand arguments drawn by the wretched apologifts of flavery, from the happy condition of the negroes in the Weft India iflands, fuggefts other reflections, at which humanity fhudders.-It is the intereft of the merchants of England, that the condition of the negroes in the colonies fhould not be meliorated, for otherwife they might multiply in fuch a manner as to deftroy the demand; while on the other hand the planters who can now buy a full-grown African cheaper than they can rear a child from birth till the age of labour, are thus, in the treatment of their flaves, freed from those restraints which intereft impofes on the moft mercilefs. Thus it is, that these two species of Christians find their account in the fufferings of the injured Africans; and who after this can wonder that their general treatment is cruel and fevere ?

That reprefentations fuch as these should have no influence in a country where men have heads to reafon and hearts to feel, is impoffible; and before long it is hoped they will have a powerful effect in the fenate of the nation.'

Every unbiaffed friend to the common rights of mankind will heartily concur with the Author in thefe liberal fentiments. His poem has afforded us fo much pleasure, that we hope he will find fufficient inducement to profecute his plan.

ART.

ART. XII. The National Debt productive of National Profperity. 8vo. Is. 6d. Johnfon. 1787.

THE

HE writer of this tract feems to be himself fully convinced of the truth of his arguments in favour of that difputable fyftem of finance which has been fo fully adopted in Britain during the prefent century; and, as he offers his fentiments to the public in a modeft ingenuous manner, he has no reason to dread the afperity of criticism from those who may chance to differ in opinion from him. The Author appears to be a man of observation and reflection; but we fear he has not been much accuftomed to nice difquifitions of this fort, nor taken the trouble to digeft the fubject fufficiently in his own apprehenfion, before he ventured to offer his fpeculations to the public. We think we can, at times, catch fome of the ideas that have made a tranfient impreffion on his mind, without leaving traces fufficiently ftrong to admit of an accurate delineation, and which, therefore, may have ferved only to perplex and mislead him. When he comes to reflect more deeply, he will, perhaps, ftrike out fomething further on the fubject, that will better fatisfy himself, and his attentive readers.

The fundamental idea that seems to have floated in his mind, and formed the bafis of all his fpeculations, appears to be, that the operation of funding has a natural tendency to accelerate the circulation of property in the kingdom; and had he contented himself with inveftigating this circumftance with precifion, he would have conferred a favour on the public. But he seems to have foon loft fight of the original, fimple idea, and to have confounded it with others that are extraneous to it, fo as to throw himself into great embarraffment. The effects of accelerating circulation in a political fociety, have never yet been sufficiently explained in this country, nor hath the operation of funding been adverted to, as to this particular. But, though it should be proved (which our Author has not done), that the circulation may, in certain circumftances, be promoted thereby, and that of course it might, in thefe particular circumstances, prove beneficial to the community, yet it by no means follows, even from this ftate of the matter, that we are to view the national debt as a peculiar national bleffing, unless it could first be proved that no other more eligible means of producing the fame effect are in our power; which our ingenious Author will eafily fee, when he reflects again upon the fubject, is far from being the cafe. When he views the object in this light, he will also fee how groundless are those fears which he entertains about the effect of paying off the national debt, should it be perfifted in. * Mr. Herrenschwand has only, as yet, glanced at this topic; others have overlooked it.

We were, indeed, aftonished to find, that one who had once caught the idea of the national debt being only a circulation of property in the community, fhould have fo far loft fight of it again, as to reafon on the fame principles as if the payment of it were an actual production of property.

But though we cannot accord with our Author in thinking the national debt a peculiar foundation of national profperity, yet we are as little difpofed to think it an inevitable fource of national calamities, as our countrymen, till of late, have been invariably inclined to view it. Mankind fo naturally draw a comparison between the confequences that refult from debts contracted by private individuals, and debts contracted by the public, that it is no great wonder if they fhould inadvertently confider their effects as being nearly of the fame nature; and as debts contracted to a great amount, by a private individual, neceflarily occafion the ruin of that individual in a fhort time, it was inferred that a fimilar effect would refult, in fimilar circumftances, to the public. They did not, however, advert to one very ftriking difference that takes place between the national debt and that of an individual, which renders them altogether incapable of comparifon. When an individual borrows money, he becomes a debtor to fome perfon who is altogether diftinct and feparate from himself. These two parties have, in all cafes, feparate interefts. The profperity of the one has no fort of connection with that of the other. The borrower may be utterly ruined, while the lender is advancing in profperity.

This, however, by no means applies to the national debt. In that cafe, the community at large is the creditor. The community at large is, alfo, the debtor. Here the debtor and creditor are entirely the fame object, fo that the profperity or adverfity of the one muft neceffarily imply the profperity or adverfity of the other. The operation of funding, therefore (in as far at least as regards the fubjects of the ftate itfelf, and we will not now embarrass the queftion by taking any other objects into view), is merely a nominal borrowing The Minifter is, indeed, the oftenfible borrower, though the real borrower be the public; and the individuals who advance the money when it is wanted, are the oftenfible lenders; though the real lender is that fame public alfo. The very individuals who lend, contribute alike with others toward their own payment; and every farthing that is borrowed is immediately returned to the public, to be employed for the purpofes of industry and commerce, nearly as if no fuch operation had ever taken place. No wonder, therefore, if the public does not feel the effect of the national debt in the fame manner as an individual would feel the effect of a private debt, fince the circunftances are fo entirely diffimilar. Confidered in this fingle point of view, the national debt appears to be a very harmlefs

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