1824.] Farnworth Church, Lancashire. per Mr. URBAN, Westminter, July 22. Yservation of fragments of TopoYOUR well-known care for the pregraphy, assures me that you will admit the present communication. Though I cannot say with Horace, "Non longa est fabula," yet the matter, though long, is almost entirely unpublished, being chiefly the result of sonal observation. The epitaphs, which extend to so considerable a length, having never before been printed, are certainly worth publication in your pages, particularly that on the monument erected by Mr. Justice Park to his uncle. Lancashire is a county for whose history there is much to be done, and the most trifling contributions may be thankfully received. It may also interest some readers, that our scene is in the neighbourhood of Liverpool; the most flourishing town in the British empire next to the metropolis. Farnworth is a township in the parish of Prescot, and barony of Widnes, Lancashire, about 12 miles East of Li verpool. It contains a spacious Chapel, consisting of a nave, North and South ailes, and South transept, and square tower. A North-west view of the edifice has been lately published by Mr. Gregson in the Additions to his "Fragments of Lancashire," and a South-east view is given in the accompanying engraving (see Plate I). The South transept (seen on the left in the plate) is a Chapel for Cuerdley, a township one mile and a half distant. On the wall inside, is the following inscription, surmounted by a mitre, painted on the whitewash : "This Chappel was founded by William Smith, Lord Bishop of Liucoln, for the only use of the township of Cuerdley." William Smith, or Smythe, Bishop first of Lichfield and Coventry, and afterwards of Lincoln, and the munificent founder of Brazen-nose College, Oxford, was born at Peel-house, in this chapelry (of which we shall speak hereafter); and his family was seated at Cuerdley. At the time he built this Cuerdley Chapel (in the beginning of the sixteenth century), he also purchased a foot-road across the fields from that township to Farnworth, to be used as the Church-path; and founded a Grammar-school at Farnworth, of which some particulars may be GENT. MAG. August, 1824. 105 found in Gregson's Fragments of Lan- (To be continued.) Mr. URBAN, NEPOS. July 29. THE interesting papers relative to slavery in our West India Colonies, which have recently appeared in your Magazine, warrant the presumption that your Antiquarian readers are willing, amidst the pleasures of taste, to consider the question of humanity, and that they will require no apology for a few observations on the subject. The assertions of Mr. Fisher (Parti. p. 291), in reply to S. D. that religion, policy, and the voice of the British Na tion, are against the continuance of Slavery, are so well founded in reason and in fact, that they only want illustration to convince the most prejudiced mind. The very defence attempted to be set up shews its own weakness, and from it we gather new arguments for emancipation. The more that this monstrous system of cruelty and bloodshed is brought into the light of discussion, the more does its deformity and iniquity appear. Slavery, as a system, may be exposed to the hatred and reprobation of the community without its being assumed that the whole body of Planters are devoid of all generous sentiments. Many of them are benevolent and humane, and even if all were so disposed, the condition of slaves might be as deplorable as ever. As it is, numbers of them are absent, some leave the entire management in the hands of unfeeling overseers, and a regard to self-interest prietors, leads others who are both reand unanimity with neighbouring prosident and vigilant to use their slaves according to the general custom. Oppression and severity seem unavoidable that of the hardest kind. Besides, like in a system of compulsory labour, and as with every other vice, familiarity with scenes of cruelty blunts the perception of its existence. Persons witness, tolerate, and then adopt practices against which their feelings once revolted. Otherwise we could not account for the fact that English female proprietors have superintended at the groes. This appears by the testimony exposure and punishment of their neof the Rev. T. Cooper, a Clergyman sent 106 Evils of Slavery in the West Indies. sent to Jamaica in 1817, by S. Hib bert, esq. to ascertain the state of Slayery on his estate of Georgia in Hanover Parish, with a view to its mitigation. The account this gentleman transmitted corresponds with Dr. Pinkard's notes, and with the admissions of Dr. Williamson, and others unfriendly to emancipation. Without alluding to the instances of glaring cruelty he has related, the following are some general particulars. The slaves labour from five o'clock on Monday morning till Saturday midnight, and frequently on alternate nights. Sunday is the market day, and with the exception of one day per fortnight, the only time allowed them to cultivate their provision grounds. Hence, if they themselves were disposed, and if their masters allowed, they could not be generally assembled for religious instruction. The least delay in time, or relaxed endeavour at work, is instantly punished with the whip, and this is commonly used in such a severe manner, that the prostrate negro, whether male or female, seldom rises without a back furrowed with wounds, and streaming with blood! Though forbidden to exceed 39 lashes, oftentimes an enraged overseer has, after a few minutes interval, inflicted a double punishment, and the negro has sought redress in vain. Slaves are usually branded with the name of their owners, and all loiterers are presumed to be runaways, even if they have no mark, and unless they can produce the certificate of freedom are imprisoned and sold. Slaves, however nearly related, are separated at the convenience of their masters, and disposed of to distant plantations; hence arises an almost total indifference to marriage, and an indulgence in indiscriminate connections, in which they are only exceeded by the dissolute habits of the colonists themselves. Government, it is true, has recently recommended the disuse of flogging females, Sunday markets, forbidden the separation of married blacks, and the sale of free ones; but this very interference confirms the above account, and shows that such, up to the present time, has been their general condition. Yet your Correspondent JuVENIS (p. 517) urges, as one reason against Negro Emancipation, that Slaves are better provided for, and therefore happier in their present state [Aug. than if free labourers, since it is the interest of the planters to treat them well. A presumption plausible enough, if the actual state of the case did not show the contrary. If the slaves are so happy, how is it that they are not more quietly disposed? If they are taken such care of, how is it there is such a decrease of numbers in the course of three years from 1817 to 1820,-a waste, according to the official document, in the proportion of 18,251, upon a black population of 730,212. "O rem ridiculam, Cato, et jocosam!" Slaves are happy, if happiness consists in working to the tune of the cartwhip, and taken care of, if kindness consists in extermination. The condition of a few black domestics may be comparatively easier than that of an Irish peasant, but the working population are degraded below the brutes! Again, JUVENIS asserts that the natural disposition of the negroes is too ferocious to allow of their manumission without certain danger to the whites. But supposing this to be true, as in degree unhappily is, how are we to make this and the foregoing reason consistent? If the slaves are so well treated, whence arises this ferocity which the Colonists are so grievously afraid of? This reason proves too much. It reveals the natural effect of that bitter servitude. It is no more in the nature of Africans to be ferocious, than it is of Europeans; on the contrary, when kindly treated, they are susceptible of the most grateful attachment even as slaves; but hard bondage and cruel usage are calculated to exasperate the gentlest natures. The planters may well apprehend the consequences of the contemplated emancipation, unless they disarm resentment by kindness, and qualify their slaves for freedom by promoting that Christian knowledge which as yet they have so sparingly permitted to be done. Nothing so much exposes the hideous features of the system as the difficulties which lie in the way of religious instruction, that slaves cannot be taught their blessed privileges as Christians, without being made acquainted with their natural rights. Planters may well be jealous of the poor Missionary; for with all his prudence, he cannot so convince the negro of his delinquencies, as to keep him from applying the same doctrine to 1824.] Evils of Slavery in the West Indies. " to the conduct of his Christian master, and demanding why "the temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come,' he hears of, should not lead to a more equitable state of things. Yet the influence of Christian principle has restrained the savage arm: slaves so taught have been the last to join in insurrections, in some instances have refused, and voluntarily brought the arms furnished them to the overseers. The master has been indebted to the protection of his Christian slave. It requires that the mind should be deeply imbued with religious principles, to maintain equanimity amidst the ordinary ills of life, but a double portion of that spirit must characterize those who are quiet and subordinate in a state where patience itself is accounted meanness. But, says your Correspondent, to liberate the slaves would be an act of injustice to the planters, unless compensated, seeing they were conceded the privilege of this labour in consequence of the sacrifices the first settlers made in peopling the Colony. Whatever be the right of the planters to the continuance of this toleration, if the system can be upheld only at the point of the bayonet, at an expense too disproportionate to the value of the islands, and burdensome to the country, Government cannot in fairness be compelled to support it, or be charged with the consequences of its fall. The circumstances which have rendered colonial property so precarious, arise from the gross neglect of the Colonists themselves; it is a state of things for which Government can no more be answerable, than for the declining markets, or ruinous speculations which impoverish other traders. Besides every attempt that the African Society, or the Legislature, are making to convert slaves into free labourers, proceeds on the principle of materially benefiting the interests of the proprietors by the change. As to emancipation, come it shortly must, nolens volens, in the natural course of things; unless we multiply troops in these islands, and privilege the West Indians beyond any other Colony. It requires no positive enactments against slavery to reduce it. There may soon be no reason why the duties on sugar should not be equalized, and then, it seems, we can have East India sugar, the produce of free labour, 107 cheaper than West India. This shows how extravagant the expectations of the Colonists are, and that the monopoly has been permitted to the prejudice of planters in another hemisphere better deserving our encouragement, because employing free labourers. Shall men who thrive by the proceeds of the grossest injustice done to others, be so tenderly alive to the least semblance of injury to themselves? In this settlement of rights, what restitution do they intend the poor slave? "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, surely Lamech seventy and seven.' Who so much as the rich and rapacious Colonist has benefited by this detestable system, and now that it is about to fall to pieces, and this country is contriving how it shall fall with the least mischief to the planter, shall he turn round, charge us with injustice, and demand at our hands the full price of those victims he must relinquish? But It has been asserted that many of the West India Representative Assemblies had anticipated the recent recommendations of the Legislature, and that this interference in the local administration of their affairs is as misIchievous as it is unnecessary. what have they yet done? The assemblies of different islands do not agree in the same tale, while some are thus affecting to be before-handwith this amended code, others are openly proclaiming its futility, and praying that the ministerial experiment, as it is termed, may not be tried upon them. Both parties agree in deprecating interference; but the language of these and the mere professions of those establishes its necessity, and shows, that if left to themselves nothing would be done. The insurrection at Demerara was the consequence of this backwardness to forward the judicious and benevolent measures of our Government. Had the expected immunities been earlier proclaimed, the slaves would not have been raised into rebellion by a suspicion that something was unfairly withheld. If the West Indians and their adherents calmly considered slavery in its critical circumstances, they would find their duty as Christians, and their interest as men, concerned in anticipating and promoting its speedy abolition. A revolution must forthwith begin, and gradually proceed, by assi milating 108 On Druidical Woods and Groves. [Aug. ters. Doubtless in all this the sacrifice will be great, but there is abundant reason for cheerfully acceding to the proposals, when the alternative is either some such reform, or the total loss of property, and perhaps of life. Let the Colonists remember that they only have disqualified the Slave for that freedom to which he has an immediate right, and that they are every way bound to observe the humane treatment, and promote the religious improvement recommended. Only in this manner can they atone for the past, and avert the tremendous explosion which threatens to burst upon them. Ἐλευθερος. Mr. URBAN, Aug. 2. OUR Correspondent, S. R. M.' is it, and is willing that others should know it also. He concludes a long Letter on the subject of "Druidical Woods and Groves," with confidence of success, and "in the hope that Mr. Duke will now feel more inclined to reconcile the resort of the Druids to Woods and Groves, with the fact that those structures of stone, usually denominated Druidic temples, are ever found in the most open and campaign countries *." milating the condition of slaves to that of freemen. In addition to the salutary propositions above noticed, it has been suggested that the badges of Slavery should immediately disappear; that the whip be kept out of sight, even if it must be occasionally used; that the term African be substituted for that of Slave; and foreman for driver. That from a certain time all negro children be born ipso facto free; and, in order to encourage marriage, that planters have no right over the persons of female slaves. That slaves be required to labour only a certain number of hours each day, and be paid for extra work; that the number of such hours go on diminishing every year till compulsory labour cease altogether. That a middle class be created as speedily as possible, to unite the pre-Yube writer, and he both knows sent discordant population. The contempt in which free blacks, however opulent, are held by the whites is well known; education and residence in England is absolutely necessary to put them on a par with Europeans. It has, therefore, been proposed to institute a School in this country for the education of some hundred black children; that the selection of such be the reward of the parents' good conduct. That these youths shall return, and, according to their abilities, be appointed to various offices civil or military. Curates, superintendants, serjeants, clerks, and others, be provided with small capitals for trading and agricultural purposes. The slave population will thus imperceptibly rise to the level of freemen; they will soon feel it their interest to be industrious and subordinate; their children will be hostages in the event of tumult, and the pledges of future harmony. The diffusion of Christian knowledge is especially necessary to cement the whole. The recent appointment of Bishops to these Islands is a good step towards securing it. The little that has hitherto been attempted in this way has been under great disadvantages, and either at the expense of a proprietor here and there, or of the Society for propagating the Gospel, &c. and of one or two other religious associations in England. If the planters would be esteemed and beloved, they must not let others be foremost in a duty which belongs to them, nor suffer their dependants to imagine that strangers are more solicitous to do them good than their mas For my part, I can see nothing in this elaborate composition, which can warrant such a hope, or is adequate to produce such an effect. For, instead of drawing from the genius, the nature, the design, and end of the Druidical Institution, a deduction favourable to the side of the question which he has espoused, the writer proceeds to adduce Scriptural quotations, which are irrelevant to the subject. For what affinity can be supposed to have subsisted betwixt idolatrous Jews and British Druids? If the one sacrificed in woods and groves, doth it necessarily follow that the other did likewise? Because a certain party of Christians believe in Transubstantiation, are we to conclude that all Christians believe the self-contradictory tenet? "S. R. M." asserts, that "Abram resorted to the Oak Grove, (alias Plain) of Moreh, and there builded an altar." So far from this being a Patriarchial practice, the Jews were strictly forbidden by |