kind; and a very little reflection must convince enlightened men, that greater severity, which is always the ready resort of rash and narrow minds, will here only exasperate the disorder, and inevitably bring on convulsions.

The first step was taken by the nation in abolishing the infamous foreign traffic in slaves; the next point will be a close restriction and watchful regulation of the domestic transportation, and this falls within the jurisdiction of local authority. The commencement that has been made, towards attempting a colony for the free blacks in Africa, argues a wise and liberal policy. No force can be used; but if a suitable situation should be obtained, where this class could find the inducement of bettering their situation, it might be the means of not only relieving us, but of introducing civilization into that barbarous continent. To get rid wholly of two millions of a very prolific race, cannot enter into the most extravagant mind; it is a population that is entailed upon us forever; what is the best mode of regulating it, is the only inquiry. Total emancipation is quite out of the question; it would be attended with innumerable evils, if it were practicable. The only expedient seems to be a cautious and gradual amelioration; till the slothful, sulky, smarting slaves, should be raised to the condition of feudal tenants, or a Russian peasantry;-that their personal condition, though heavily restricted, should not be entirely without the pale of law and humanity;—that their situation should be so far improved,

that those who are the property of the poorest or most unfeeling, should be as happy, as those who are now the property of the wealthy and humane planters that religious and moral instruction should be allowed them ;-that families should not be torn asunder for sale; and that they should have a right of self-purchase under certain stipulations, one of which should be that of leaving the country.

A system of this kind might be gradually introduced, and the proprietor would derive at least equal emoluments, and certainly greater security. The shocking scenes which are sometimes occasioned by a brutal ignorant owner, would be prevented; the degrading aspect of slavery would be softened; its deleterious effects on freemen mitigated, and the fearful anxiety, which must rather increase than diminish, would be done away. Whatever is effected must begin with you,-we can only second your exertions, and with the deepest sympathy for your attempts to diminish this great mass of evil and misery, cry, God speed you.

39

LETTER XIII.

SCENERY AND CLIMATE.

DEAR SIR,

You have perhaps resided long enough on this side of the Atlantic, to perceive that our climate is as different as our scenery from that of your own country. If I touch a little on what is peculiar in each, with some comparative allusions, you will readily know where I am mistaken, and perhaps your own observations on these subjects will be in some degree facilitated.

Some foreigners from the continent of Europe, who are struck with the liberty and happiness we enjoy, and who still remember the mild climates they have left, assert, that we should be too fortunate, if we had as fine a climate as they possess; and that the asperity of our weather is the only drawback we suffer, the only evil to be put in the balance against the sufferings of Europe, by the emigrant who wishes to make a right estimate between the two countries. The natives of the south of Europe cannot bear our snow and icy air, and those of the north pant under the fervid heat of our summers. The one sighs after lemon-trees flourishing openly in January, and the other regrets a temperature ad

mirably adapted to turnips, while he is sweltering in one, that makes the Indian corn grow audibly.

There is one point in our climate that occasions most of these reproaches, and is in truth a serious objection, and this is, its great inequality. There would be fewer complaints if it were steadily bad --but the occasional beauty and perfection it presents, enhances its inconveniences, by a feeling of disappointment. Greece and Italy cannot boast of more exquisite days than we are frequently favoured with in the summer and autumn; and the most fog-smitten, ice-bound regions in Europe, can endure no worse meteorological sufferings, than are sometimes inflicted on us. This is an evil from which the country can never be exempted, though it will be moderated a little by the effect of cultivation. This amelioration may never happen to the degree which many persons have anticipated ;but that some change has been produced, almost every man can testify from his own experience.

The average results of the thermometer through the year, compared with the same transatlantic data, would give a very imperfect knowledge of our climate. The averages that would approach the nearest in result, are produced from very opposite circumstances ;-there, they are drawn from a succession of moderate, though variable temperatures; here, from great extremes, which often last a considerable period. The climate of Flanders, and some parts of Germany, would exhibit the same average with some districts here, that ripen the

melon and Indian corn,-which you must enter Gascony and Provence, Spain and Portugal, to find in Europe. Many of the richest productions of Ceres and Pomona may be raised among us, if they can reach maturity during the transient and fervid heat of our summers; while others, such as the grape, whose tardy growth requires a long exemption from frost, is always uncertain.

The position of our continent, and the course of the winds, will always give us an unequal climate, and one abounding in contrasts. In the latitude of 50° on the north-west coast of America, the weather is milder even, than in the same parallel in Europe; -the wind, three quarters of the year, comes off the Pacific: in the same latitude on the eastern side, the country is hardly worth inhabiting, under the dreary length of cold, produced by the succession of winds across a frozen continent. The wind and the sun too often carry on the contest here, which they exerted on the poor traveller in the fable; and we are in doubt to which we shall yield. The changes that cultivation, and planetary influence, if there be such a thing, can create, are very gradual. It seems to be a general opinion, that the cold is more broken now, though the totals of heat and cold may be nearly the same ་ as they were fifty years ago. The winters, particularly, have commenced later. The autumn is warmer and the spring colder. We are still subject to the same caprices; a flight of snow in May, a frost in June, and sometimes in every