all derived from the volume we have been reviewing,) shall long live in these pages, embalmed in unfading youth, to win and to guide many to Him, at whose feet she sat and learned to "choose the better part." Her pleasant voice will be heard in our homes, assuring our daughters that "there is no sphere of usefulness more pleasant than theirs;" bidding them believe that "it is a comfort to take the weight of family duties from a mother, to soothe and cheer a wearied father, and a delight to aid a young brother in his evening lesson, and to watch his unfolding mind." They shall catch her alacrity and cheerful industry, and her "facility in saving the fragments of time, and making them tell in something tangible" accomplished in them. They shall be admonished not to waste feeling in discontented and romantic dreaming, or in sighing for opportunities of doing good on a great scale, till they have filled up as thoroughly and faithfully as she did, the smaller openings for usefulness near at hand.

She shall lead them by the hand to the Sabbath school teacher's humble seat, on the tract distributor's patient circuit, or on errands of mercy into the homes of sickness and destitution,-into the busy sew. ing-circle, or the little group gathered for social prayer. It is well too that they should have such a guide, for the offense of the cross has not yet ceased, and the example of an accomplished and highly educated young female will not fail of its influence upon others of the same class, who wish to be Christians, and yet are so much afraid of

every thing that may seem to border on religious cant, as to shrink back from the prayer-meeting, and from active personal efforts for the salvation of others. Her cheerful piety shall persuade us that “it is indeed the simplest, the easiest, the most blessed thing in the world, to give up the heart to the control of God, and, by daily looking to him for strength to conquer our corrupt inclinations, to grow in every thing that will make us like him."* Her bright smile is worth volumes to prove that "Jesus can indeed satisfy the heart," and that if the experience of most of us has taught us to believe, that there is far more of conflict than of victory in the Christian warfare,-more shadow than sunshine resting upon the path of our pilgrimage, most of the fault lies in our own wayward choice. The child-like simplicity and serene faith of this young disciple, shall often rise to rebuke our anxious fears, and charm away our disqui etudes with the whisper-" that sweet word TRUST tells all." early consecration of her all to the great work of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom, shall rouse us who have less left of life to surrender, to redouble our efforts in spreading like "love and joy and peace" over the earth, lest when it shall be said of her, "She hath done what she could," it should also be added, "She hath done more than they all."

Her

There has been no waste here,— no sacrifice, but that by which, in oriental alchymy, the bloom and beauty of the flower of a day is transmuted into the imperishable odor, and its fragrance concentrated, in order that it may be again diffused abroad to rejoice a thousand hearts. If any ask again, "To what purpose was this waste?"-we "The Lord had need of it."

answer,

its own slave interest. This interest is constantly growing, and unless it shall be arrested by measures which look to free labor as the permanent policy of the future, it is to be feared that it will give a preponderance to the East, in the approaching conflict respecting the basis of representation. Dr. Ruffner makes use of this fact, to rouse his fellow citizens to immediate action, reminding them how incalculably West Virginia has suffered from her weakness in the Legislature. He refers to two facts, out of many which he says might be mentioned, 'to confirm them in the purpose to adhere inflexibly to their just claim of representation on the white basis, without compromise.' His statement of these facts we give at length in the following extract:

"Fifty years ago, when the country beyond the Ohio began to be opened for settlement, Virginia had already been for years in full and undisputed possession of her extensive territory on this side. The country between the Alleghany and the Ohio, containing eighteen millions of acres, much of it excellent soil, and abounding in mineral wealth, was an almost unbroken wilderness, and almost inaccessible to emigrants, for want of roads through the mountains. The feeble and detached settlements applied, and for thirty years continued to apply, almost in vain, for legislative aid to open wagon roads from the eastern settlements into their valleys. Let the Acts of Assembly for these thirty years of our infancy in West Virginia, be examined, and they will show how little, how very little, our eastern mother was willing to do to promote the growth of her nurseling in the mountains. A few thousand dollars out of her rich treasury-very few indeedand now and then some arrearages of taxes due from the poor settlers in the wilderness, was all that the government could be prevailed on to advance, for the purpose of opening this extensive territory for settlement, and to accommodate its secluded inhabitants.

"Now can any man doubt, that if the Legislature had, in the prosperous days of East Virginia, from 1794 to 1824, appropriated only ten or twelve thousand dollars a year to make good wagon roads through the mountain districts, that West Virginia would have increased in population and wealth far more than she did, or could do without roads? May we not af

firm, that if East Virginia had pursued that just and enlightened policy, West Virginia would, twenty years ago, have been more populous than she was by 100,000 souls, and more wealthy in a still greater proportion? No man who has roads, in promoting population and wealth seen the effect of some lately-constructed can doubt it. And what shows more conclusively the blindness or illiberality of this Eastern policy towards the West, is, that the public treasury would have been remunerated, four fold at least, by the additional revenue which this early outlay for roads-had it been made-would have produced from the tax payers of West Virginia. Here we have one notable instance of what West Virginia has suffered from her dependence on an eastern Leg islature. Though her growth in spite of eastern neglect, has enabled her of late made, she is still dependent for every years to get some valuable improvements boon of this kind, upon the will of those eastern people who are now a minority of the commonwealth.

"The other instance to which we intended to refer, is of still greater impor tance than the former. Many of you re member that in 1832, when a negro in surrection in Southampton county had filled nearly all Virginia with alarm, and made every white man think of the evils of slavery, a resolution was introduced into the Legislature, to adopt a system of gradual emancipation, by which the state might, in the course of fifty years, get rid of the evils of slavery.

"Whatever may be thought of such a measure in reference to East Virginia, where the slaves are more numerous than the whites; there can be no rational doubt that in West Virginia, the measure, had it been carried fifteen years ago, would by this time have wrought a most happy change in the condition and prospects of the country and so the people of West Virginia then thought, for they were generally and warmly in favor of it, and zealously advocated it through their able and patriotic delegates. But in spite of their efforts, it was rejected by the all powerful eastern majority, though sever al eastern delegates joined the West in its support.

"We do not censure our eastern brethren for opposing this measure so far as their part of the state is concerned. But still, we of West Virginia must deem ourselves not only unfortunate, but aggrieved, when an eastern majority in the legislature debars us from obtaining measures conducive to our welfare, because these same measures may not suit the policy of East Virginia."—pp. 6, 7.

Instead of proposing a division of the state, and the erection of West

Virginia into an independent state, a measure which has for a long time been contemplated, Dr. Ruffner simply asks for the enactment of a law, if West Virginia shall call for it, "to remove slavery from her side of the Blue Ridge."

"Heretofore," he says, "no such scheme for West Virginia only has been proposed among us; and no state has abolished slavery in one part of her territory and retained it another. For this reason some persons may at first thought consider such a scheme as unfeasible. A state composed partly of free, and partially of slaveholding territory, may seem to present a political incongruity, and to be incapable of conducting its public affairs harmoniously. To relieve the minds of those who may feel apprehensions of this sort, we offer the following sugges

tions.

"1. Free states and slaveholding states have, during fifty-eight years, lived peaceably and prosperously under one Federal government. Sectional jealousies and occasional jars have occurred, but without evil consequence.

"2. Nothing in the nature of the case need create difficulty, except the framing of laws that may affect the rights and interests of slaveholders. But an amend

ment of the constitution could easily provide for the security of slaveholders in East Virginia against all unjust legislation, arising from the power or the antislavery principles of the West.

"3. After such an emancipation law as we propose, should be passed for West Virginia, no immediate change would take place in the institution of slavery among us; except that masters would probably choose to emancipate or remove from the state, a larger number of slaves than heretofore. As only the next generation of negroes would be entitled to emancipation, the law would not begin its practical operation for twenty-one years at least, and then it would operate gradually for thirty or forty years longer, before slavery would be extinguished in West Virginia. So that for many years the actual slave interest among us would not be greatly diminished.

"4. There is and long has been, in different parts of Virginia, every degree of difference, from the least to the greatest, between the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding interests of the people. In some parts, the slaves are two or three times as numerous as the whites, and the slaveholding interest overrules and absorbs every thing. In other parts, not one man in a hundred owns a slave, and the slaveholding interest is virtually nothing. In West Virginia at large, the slaves

being only one-eighth of the population, and the slaveholding population less than one-eighth of the whites, the free interest predominates nearly as much as the slave interest predominates in East Virginia: so that we have in practical operation, if not in perfection, that political incongruity of slave interest and free interest, which is feared as a consequence of the measure that we propose.

"5. By allowing West Virginia her just share of representation, and if she call for it, a law for the removal of slavery, East Virginia will do more to harmonize the feelings of the state, than she ever has done, or can do by a continued refusal. West Virginia being then secured in her essential rights and interests, will not desire a separation, nor be disposed to disturb the harmony of the commonwealth. So far from aiding the designs of the abolitionists, either in Congress or in our legislature, both her feelings and her interests will make her more than ever hostile to that pernicious

sect.

"6. If East Virginia apprehend, that the delegates from the free counties would often speak more freely about slavery matters, than she would like to hear in her central city of Richmond; let her agree to remove the seat of gov ernment to Staunton, near the center of our territory and of our white population, and she will be free from all annoyance of this sort. West Virginia would then appear no more like a remote province of East Virginia, and be no longer subject to the disadvantage of having all measures affecting her interest, acted upon by a legislature deliberating in the heart of East Virginia, and exposed to the powerful influence of a city and a people, whose bland manners and engaging hospitalities, are enough to turn both the hearts and the heads of us rough mountaineers, whether we be legislators or not."-pp. 10, 11.

The remainder of the address is devoted mainly to the "facts and arguments which prove the expediency of abolishing slavery in West Virginia, by a gradual process, that shall not cause any inconvenience either to society in general or to slaveholders in particular." The outlines of this scheme, with the author's explanations, are thus given on pages 38-40.

"1. Let the farther importation of slaves into West Virginia be prohibited by law. "The expediency of this measure is obvious.

"2. Let the exportation of slaves be free

ly permitted, as heretofore; but with this restriction, that children of slaves, born after a certain day, shall not be exported at all after they are five years old, nor those under that age, unless the slaves of the same negro family be exported with

them.

"When the emancipation of the afterborn children of slaves shall be decreed, many slaves will be exported, from various motives. The restriction is intended to prevent slaveholders from defeating the benevolent intentions of the law, by selling into slavery those entitled to freedom, and old enough to appreciate the privilege designed for them. Young children are allowed to be taken away with their parents and older brothers and sisters, but not to be sold off separately to evade the law.

"3. Let the existing generation of slaves remain in their present condition, but let their offspring, born after a certain day, be emancipated at an age not exceeding twenty-five years.

66

By this measure slavery will be slowly but surely abolished, without detriment or inconvenience to slaveholders. **

"If any man among us have many slaves and little or no land, he can easily profit by the law as well as others; let him sell negroes and buy land.

"Will any man argue, that the rights of slaveholders will be violated, because those rights extend to the offspring of

their slaves?

"Now the slaveholder's right of property extends to the offspring of his slaves, so far as this, that when the offspring comes into existence, the law at present allows him to claim it as his. But when the law of the land shall in this particular be changed, his right is at an end; for it is founded solely on human law. By nature all men are free and equal; and human laws can suspend this law of nature, only so long as the public welfare requires it; that is, so long as more evil than good would result from emancipation. When the law of slavery is chauged for the public good, all that the slaveholder can claim, is that in some way, he shall be compensated for the property acquired by sanction of law, and taken away by a change of the law. By our scheme nothing is absolutely taken from the slaveholder. It gives him an option, to remove without loss a nuisance which he holds in the country, or to submit, with a very small loss of value, to another mode of abating that nuisance. We say that the people have a right to remove this pest; and that our scheme gives slaveholders double compensation for what they will suffer by the measure. We have no doubt that before ten years, nearly every slaveholder would acknowledge himself doubly compensated.

"4. Let masters be required to have the heirs of emancipation taught reading, writing and arithmetic: and let churches and benevolent people attend to their religious instruction.-Thus an improved class of free negroes would be raised up. No objection could be made to their literary education, after emancipation was decreed.

"5. Let the emancipated be colonized.— This would be best for all parties. Supposing that by exportation, our slave population should in twenty-two years be reduced to 40,000. Then about 1000 would go out free the first year, and a gradually smaller number each successive year. The 1000 could furnish their own outfit, by laboring a year or two as hirelings and their transportation to Liberia would cost the people of West Virginia 25,000 dollars which, as population would by that time have probably reached a million, would be an average contribution of two and a half cents a head. This would be less and less every year. -So easy would it be to remove the bugaboo of a free-negro population, so often held up to deter us from emancipation. Easy would it be, though our calcu lations were not fully realized.

"Finally, in order to hasten the extinction of slavery, where the people desired it, in counties containing few slaves the law might authorize the people of any county, by some very large majori ty, or by consent of a majority of the slaveholders, to decree the removal or emancipation of all the slaves of the county, within a certain term of years, seven, ten or fifteen, according to the number of slaves.

"This as an auxiliary measure, would be safe and salutary; because the only question then in a county, would be the question of time, which would not be very exciting. But it would be inexpedient as the chief or only measure; for then the people of the same county, or of neighboring counties, might be kept embroiled on the subject for years, and the influence of East Virginia, operating on counties here and there, might defeat the whole measure, by a repeal of the law. Let us move as a body first, and determine the main point. Then the counties might decide the minor point for themselves. Let West Virginia determine to be free on a general principle, Then let the counties, if they will, modify this principle, for more speedy relief." -pp. 38-40.

We shall refer to this scheme, with some remarks on several of the most important points, before we close. The reader's attention is first invited to a synopsis of the