NOTES OF THE MONTH.

THE SLAVE TRADE.

THERE is hardly one achievement on which we English so much pride ourselves in modern times as the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Even those who are too sensitive or gentle-hearted to enter into the triumphs which we have achieved by arms, or whose taste is not enough cultivated to appreciate our superiority in arts, can congratulate each other and themselves on being of that nation who first acknowledged the negro as a man and a brother. Now if the work were fully done, or even if any step had been taken towards an object fraught with such blessed consequences towards an oppressed portion of our race, some boasting, or rather some triumphant thankfulness might be just and natural. But how does every such feeling become instantly staunched, when we learn the astounding facts, which are detailed to us respecting the Slave Trade by Mr. Buxton, one of its firmest opponents! when we find that while we have been legislating, the trade has been advancing; that while we have made it illegal, we have been taking off from it the restrictions as well as the sanction of law; that the abominable traffic is more flourishing, more sanguinary, more eagerly pursued, than at any time within record! And how is our national pride further humbled when we find that the greater part of the unhappy slaves are purchased, not with money, but with goods manufactured for the express purpose, and unfit for any other purpose, in Lancashire and Glasgow !!

The facts make it appear that the present annual transportation of slaves from Africa to the New World is to the number of upwards of 210,000: and that goods were manufactured in Lancashire alone, sufficient for the purchase of 187,000 of this number, and intended for that purchase, during the year 1836! And, besides, from the circumstance above mentioned, (the legal restrictions being taken off), the crowding on the voyage, the cruelty exercised in capture and during the changing hands, furnish us with accounts of distress and mortality more plentiful and more heart-rending than at any time when the sympathies of all England were aroused.

The question then is, What is to be done? Without doubt, the miserable inefficiency of the Spanish and Portuguese governments, since the treaties respecting the Slave Trade have been made, has been at the root of the mischief. But while our own commercial districts are ministering to foreign baseness, are we not also deeply involved? When the midnight African marauder is fattening upon the fruits of English labour-when the British merchant has tempted the illegal dealer, and the illegal dealer has tempted the slave-hunter, and the slavehunter has murdered his hundreds, and overthrown the labours of missionaries and philanthropists-and when the cry ascends to Heaven from lone ships on the waters, of masses of human beings, the strong and the weak, the aged and infant, the living and the dying, chained naked and bleeding together in their dark and choking prisons,-AT WHOSE DOOR WILL THE VENGEANCE

LIE?

This is not a party matter-it is a political one, inasmuch as our very existence as a nation of Christians is jeoparded by it. It is a religious question, inasmuch as every denomination of Christians is alike interested in it.-England, should not, now that Mr. Buxton's book is published, allow it to rest one year longer in silence.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

AGAIN, while the National Education question is pending, we would express our opinion, in hopes that some may be induced to take it up and forward it. that some well organized system of inspection would be, at the present time, the fairest and most feasible way of meeting the difficulties which beset the subject. Government should not so much establish, as endeavour to right what is esta blished. In the present state of toleration and liberty, no general system will ever succeed but it strikes us that much good might be effected by School Commissioners of each denomination, who might inspect, report, recommend grants or their discontinuance, as in each case should seem fit. If these were to be the agents of a Central Board, fairly chosen, and to be the ultimate referees in each case, we think the system might be worked, and we see not how else.

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS AND METEOROLOGIGAL REPORT.

NOTTINGHAM AND DERBY RAILWAY.

457

THE Vapour King is extending his dominions. Already we are tied to our neighbour Derby, by an iron thread, and soon an electric spark may touch London and Edinburgh at the same point of time. The readers of Mediterranea (by which name you probably do not know this Miscellany, but we do, being in her secrets, and having been present at her christening) may now be whizzed by our Castle, and the poetic Grove of Clifton, and the banks of the Sylvan Derwent, while perusing one of Mr. Featherstone's tales, or a chapter on Poetry.

So wrote we-and tried. Oh! spare our limbs-shake us not into utter unconsciousness-why, as to perusing, our book is here, and there, and everywhere, in a moment; and that great oval space, made to let in sun in June, and snow in December, is twisting and turning about into ellipses of all eccentricities. 'Not a very pleasant motion,' we exclaim to our next neighbour;-no answer, except a mutual collision, any thing but friendly. He appears angry-is evidently remonstrating-but not a sound we can hear,

For 'tis thump, thump, jolt, jolt,

Snort, snort, away

No reading and no speaking is there
On the iron way.

However, let us hope matters will alter as the rails wear level, and they learn not to deafen the passengers with that awful shrilling of steam in the station yard. On the Great Western (the finest railroad in the world) there is none of all this; no noise at starting, no jolting while on the road: you seat yourself and are carried twenty-three miles (to Maidenhead) in forty minutes, while you hardly discover that you are moving, and can disburden yourself of all you have to say without any uncomfortable exertion.

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.-JULY.

VENUS. This beautiful planet will shine brilliantly in the west after sunset during the whole of the month. On the 14th, at 44 min. after I in the afternoon, she will be distant from the moon 10' south, and on the 28th will obtain her greatest eastern elongation near Leonis.

The star y Sagittarii will be occulted by the moon on the 23rd, the immersion taking place at 8 hrs. 21 min., and the emersion at 9 hrs. 9 min. P. M.

Saturn will be a conspicuous object in the midnight sky. His ring attained its maximum visible ellipticity in June, the minor axis is gradually diminishing and will continue to do so until the year 1847, when the planet will be seen in telescopes of ordinary power, attended by his satellites, but without his rings.

GAMBART'S, OR BIELA'S COMET.

Hitherto (June 5th) no account has been received from any observatory of the 3rd appearance of this comet to the inhabitants of our sphere. Being considerably fainter than Encke's, which returned last year, and appearing under the most unfavourable circumstances, may account for its not having been recognised in England. On no one day has it risen more than 62 minutes before the sun. This, added to the illuminated atmosphere of the spring months, would prevent the discovery of objects far brighter than Gambart's comet. Probably the comet may have been seen at Rio Janeiro or Buenos Ayres, and the accounts have not reached our island. This was the case in 1832, when M. Marotti discovered Encke's comet, in South America, though it was not seen in England during that year. J. R H.

METEOROLOGICAL REPORT, FROM MAY 21, TO JUNE 20. Although the last report concluded with warm brilliant weather, the present one begins with exactly the reverseThe wind prevailed from the north and north-west, bringing extreme coldness for the season, aud on the 22nd seve ral storms of hail and driving raiu. On the 25th the wind slipped into the north-east, and the daily temperature was consequently much improved, but still the nights and mornings were very cold. The barometer being steady and ather high, no rain fell, so that vegetation was almost at a stand-still. The wind shifted to the south-west on the 7th, after which the weather became altogether much finer, but still the rain, though sometimes promised, descended not. On the 12th, the thermometer rose to 72°, and in the evening the clouds became very black, having a little the appearance of thunder, but only a few faint flashes of lightning followed. The wind suddenly sprang up from the north, and so great was its effect upon the atmosphere, that on the 13th, the thermometer never rose above 50o, being a diminution of 22° in one day. In the evening it rained heavily for a short time, attended with distant thunder, au accompaniment little expected, considering the coldness of the weather, and the unvaried cloudiness of the sky. But in a north-east wind, it sometimes will thudder under such circumstances, and indeed the most violent and longest thunder storms are commonly from that quarter. On the 14th it thundered again, distantly, and the rain descended very freely for several hours, which was followed by another copious fall of rain in the night. The 15th, 16th and 17th were dry fine days, with an easterly wind, the clouds on the latter day threatening thunder. But the threat was not put into execution till the 18th, when the symptoms of the coming storm were exhibited early in the morning. As the day advanced the clouds became more dense, and the thunder began to be heard about two e'Clock took a direction nearly south to north, and though it did not pass quite centrally over Nottingham, the lightning was extremely vivid, and in several instances followed in a few seconds by the thunder The rain was not very heavy, but it lasted nearly three hours. The 19th and 20th, fine hot days, the thermometer on the 20th at three o'Clock, stand. ing at 74°.

The storm

The copious rains of last week, and the warm weather which has followed, have given a wonderful impulse to vege. tation, and changed the fears of a bad year into the hopes of a good one. So great an improvement within five or six days has seldom been exhibited. A day seems almost to stand for a week.

No one who has not visited Switzerland can form a just idea of the varied and impressive scenery with which it abounds; there are, however, few spots more beautiful, even in that land of fairy loveliness, than the village of Bsituated near the Lake of Thun, and boasting all that an artist's brightest visions could conceive. The distant snow-capped mountains present a fine contrast with the highly cultivated country in which the village of B- is situated, while the clear blue Lake seems alive with the many pleasure boats, with their white sails. Though not distant from the much frequented public road, it has escaped the notice of most fashionable tourists-indeed it was to an accident that I owed my acquaintance with it.—It was on a lovely summer morning that I left Berne, where I had been staying some days intending to visit Lake Thun, and hired a char a banc for the trip; I had never before entered one of these conveyances, common as I found them. I was very much annoyed at finding that all the beauty of the scenery was lost to me from the leather (with which half the vehicle was covered) effectually opposing an obstacle to my curiosity. The driver either could not or would not understand my request, that the covering should be unfastened, which I had been told was easily effected; the reason of this was soon apparent, as the horse shyed at every thing, and the driver seemed to be in fear of the consequences, often lamenting that he feared we should not reach the Lake; indeed our progress was often so slow that it was evening when we arrived at the village of B. This had not been my first intention, but necessity made me, without knowing what accommodations might be procured, accede to staying at least the night there. On reaching one of the inns we learnt that there was not any prospect of much comfort, the

inn, with its large garden, was crowded with guests, it seemed a scene of general rejoicing, some were dancing, others either promenading or chatting in gay groups. Apart from the rest stood a young man: on his arm leant quite a girl, both excited my attention as I sat alone in the small room, which after some little demur had been given up to me, while the landlord (the only person who seemed able for one moment to think of any thing but the scene of festivity) went to ask if the pastor could let me have a lodging for one night. I found this was a common request when the inns at any place were unable to accommodate travellers. The answer was favourable, and Monsieur Herault himself accompanied the landlord, and entreated me to favour him with my company,-after all due acknowledgments, my thoughts recurred to the festivities at which I had been gazing a moment before. I enquired the reason of the fete my companion smiled,-"You are a stranger," he said, "and perhaps would like to witness some of the amusements; there are many things connected with this fete of a painful nature, and those for whom this joy exists most, amid their happiness have many sad thoughts; but now we will mix with them, and if you feel interested I will this evening give you a slight sketch of their history."

When we entered the garden the minister was greeted with every token of respect, and having offered me his arm, he bent his steps to where the couple I have before mentioned still stood; and I had now an opportunity of more closely observing those who had at first attracted my notice. Handsome as the features of the young man were, there was such an air of deep melancholy in his large dark eyes, and his whole appearance spoke so forcibly of past sufferings, both mental and bodily, that the emotion he excited was not admiration, but interest and pity. His companion was extremely lovely, which is very far from common in Switzerland; much as Swiss beauty is talked of, it certainly is an imaginary attribute, as every one travelling in Switzerland must be struck with the difference between Swiss women, as they in general are, and the standard he had fancied; but there was an air of extreme softness in the young girl, and a delicacy of figure which I had seldom before seen in her countrywomen: they both started at our approach, and a faint smile passed over the varilose worn countenance of the young man. "Carl!" said my companion, in a kind tone, then added a few words in a low voice. I turned away to allow him to speak to them, and was amusing myself with watching the gracefulness of every movement of the dancers, when I was joined by Monsieur Herault, and we proceeded to the neat Parsonage, and after supper he gave me the following account of the couple who had so interested me :-" Carl Weimer and Marie Charmotte had from infancy been playfellows, though Carl was some few years the senior of his little playmate, yet it was merely a sufficient difference to make him act the protector. Marie had always been the favourite of her young companion, she was like him an only