ship. Is all this to be at an end? Is this golden band of kindred sympathies, so rare between nations, to be broken for ever? Perhaps it is for the best-it may dispel an illusion which might have kept us in mental vassalage, interfered occasionally with our true interests, and prevented the growth of proper national pride. But it is hard to give up the kindred tie! and there are feelings dearer than interest. closer to the heart than pride that will still make us cast back a look of regret, as we wander farther and farther from the paternal roof, and lament the waywardness of the parent, that would repel the affections of the child. 66 - Short-sighted and injudicious, however, as the conduct of England may be in this system of aspersion, recrimination on our part would be equally ill-judged. I speak not of a prompt and spirited vindication of our country, or the keenest castigation of her slanderers but I allude to a disposition to retaliate in kind, to retort sarcasm and inspire prejudice, which seems to be spreading widely among our writers. Let us guard particularly against such a temper, for it would double the evil, instead of redressing the wrong. Nothing is so easy and inviting as the retort of abuse and sarcasm; but it is a paltry and unprofitable contest. It is the alternative of a morbid mind, fretted into petulance, rather than warmed into indignation. If England is willing to permit the mean jealousies of trade, or the rancorous animosities of politics, to deprave the integrity of her press, and poison the fountain of public opinion, let us beware of her example. Our retorts are never republished in England; they fall short, therefore, of their aim; but they foster a querulous and peevish temper among our writers; they sour the sweet flow of our early literature, and sow thorns and brambles among its blossoms. What is still worse, they circulate through our own country, and, as far as they have effect, excite virulent national prejudices. This last is the evil most especially to be deprecated. Governed, as we are, entirely by public opinion, the utmost care should be taken to preserve the purity of the public mind. Knowledge is power, and truth is knowledge; whoever, therefore, knowingly propagates a prejudice, wilfully saps the foundation of his country's strength. From the peculiar nature of our relations with England, we must have more frequent questions of a difficult and delicate character with her, than with any other nation; questions that affect the most acute and excitable feelings : and as, in the adjusting of these, our national measures must ultimately be determined by popular sentiment, we cannot be too anxiously attentive to purify it from all latent passion or prepossession. Opening too, as we do, an asylum for strangers from every portion of the earth, we should receive all with impartiality. It should be our pride to exhibit an example of one nation at least, destitute of national antipathies, and exercising, not merely the overt acts of hospitality, but those more rare and noble courtesies which spring from liberality of opinion. What have we to do with national prejudices? They are the inveterate diseases of old countries, contracted in rude and ignorant ages, when nations knew but little of each other, and looked beyond their own boundaries with distrust and hostility. We, on the contrary, have sprung into national existence in an enlightened and philosophic age, when the different parts of the habitable world, and the various branches of the human family, have been indefatigably studied and made known to each other; and we forego the advantages of our birth, if we do not shake off the national prejudices, as we would the local superstitions of the old world. But, above all, let us not be influenced by any angry feelings, so far as to shut our eyes to the perception of what is really excellent and amiable in the English character. We are a young people, necessarily an imitative one, and must take our examples and models, in a great degree, from the existing nations of Europe. There is no country more worthy of our study than England. The spirit of her constitution is most analogous to ours. The manners of her people — their intellectual activity their freedom of opinion-their habits of thinking on those subjects which concern the dearest interests and most sacred charities of private life, are all congenial to the American character; and, in fact, are all intrinsically excellent; for it is in the moral feeling of the people that the deep foundations of British prosperity are laid: and however the superstructure may be timeworn, or overrun by abuses, there must be something solid in the basis, admirable in the materials, and stable in the structure of an edifice, that so long has towered unshaken amidst the tempests of the world. Let it be the pride of our writers, therefore, discarding all feelings of irritation, and disdaining to retaliate the illiberality of British authors, to speak of the English nation without prejudice, and with determined candour. While they rebuke the indiscriminating bigotry with which some of our countrymen admire and imitate every thing English, merely because it is English, let them frankly point out what is really worthy of approbation. We may thus place England before us as a perpetual volume of reference, wherein are recorded sound deductions from ages of experience; and while we avoid the errors and absurdities which may have crept into the page, we may draw thence golden maxims of practical wisdom, wherewith to strengthen and to embellish our national character." [pp. 109-116.] Such is the judicious admonition given by Mr. Irvine to his countrymen, such the merited reproof administered more in kindness than in wrath to ours. Whilst we call upon the liberal and unprejudiced part of both communities, especially of our own, to strive that the lesson shall not be read in vain for the uprooting of national prejudices, the bane of national improvement, we ourselves would gladly set them an example by commending to their imitation and adoption a new and important plan of Christian benevolence, originating in a country whence but too many of our highly favoured countrymen are apt, in the spirit of real or fancied pre-eminence, mentally to ask themselves if any good thing can come? Ours, however, will be the more pleasing and more useful employment of presenting, from time to time, to the notice and emulation of our countrymen, those schemes for the amelioration of the condition of the human race, as it respects alike their present interest and their immortal destiny, which are now carrying on in America, on a scale which ought to excite us to renewed exertions in the only rivalry that should subsist between us; and which subsists, perhaps, amongst the inhabitants of another and a better world, of who best shall promote the glory of God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men. In this view it is with sincere pleasure that we announce a republication in this country of the major part of an admirable Report, presented about three years since, at a quarterly prayer meeting of the " Female Missionary Society for the Poor of the City of New York and its Vicinity," by Ward Stafford, A. M. the most active of its agents. Nor do we feel a doubt that the excellence and importance of this interesting document will amply apologize to our readers for our giving to it a precedence over other intelligence of more recent date, to which we have been led by an anxious desire to call the attention of the inhabitants of our large cities, towns, and sea-ports, to the wide field of useful exertions which it opens before them. We proceed then, without further remark, to give it as it has reached our hands from its benevolent author, without further abridgment than the omission of some minute statements of a more local nature. "In compliance with the wishes of the board of managers and others, I have drawn up, and shall now lay before you, an account of my labours, accompanied with such observations as the nature and the importance of the subject seem to require. "It is about nine months since I first engaged in the service of the Society. Having had some previous knowledge of the state of the poor, and being fully persuaded, that hundreds of families were destitute of the Bible, as well as of all other means of religious instruction, I determined to devote a considerable part of my time to exploring sections of the city, for the purpose of obtaining further information concerning them, of distributing Bibles and Tracts, and of promoting their spiritual welfare in other ways. By this means, I have had opportunity to address, on the most important subjects of religion, thousands, who had never before seen a mis nister within their dwellings, and many of whom had never seen one in the house of God. As, in visiting families in connexion, it was impossible not to call on some of every denomination, I thought it my duty to address them exclusively on those great truths in which all real Christians are supposed to agree; such as the necessity of a change of heart, of repentance, of an interest in Christ; the importance of observing the Sabbath, of setting a holy example before their children, and of training them up in the fear of God. To avoid the pain, and the unhappy influence on their minds, of inquiring directly whether they observed the Sabbath, I have usually asked them what church they attended? If it appeared that they belonged to any denomination, I have invariably urged upon them the necessity of being real Christians, of having their hearts right in the sight of God; reminding them, at the same time, that the inquiry at the day of judgment would not be, whether they belonged to a particular sect, but whether they were members of the household of faith.' Such has been my situation, that it has appeared to be my duty scrupulously to avoid speaking against or in favour of any denomination of Christians whatever. Whenever the persons, whom I have visited, have ascertained to what denomination I belonged, which has rarely been the case, they have manifested towards me, though bearing a different name, a charity, an affection which has been as gratifying as it has been singular and unexpected. In addition to distributing Bibles, I have distributed several thousand religious tracts. Particular pains has been taken to select such as were free from sectarian views, and which exhibited the great principles of the Gospel of Christ. "It was early discovered, that to prosecute the mission with success, a house for public worship would be indispensable. The board of managers, therefore, determined to attempt the erection of a house, which should be free and open to all who were disposed to attend. While a committee of gentlemen were requested to select a suitable place for the building, and superintend the erection of it, the business of raising the necessary funds was principally entrusted to me. A subscription was opened as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made, and the success was much greater than had, on the whole, been expected. After some progress had been made, it was thought advisable, for reasons which I will not occupy your time to mention, to postpone further solicitation. The subject has recently been taken up again, and we are warranted in the assertion, that the Christian public will not suffer this undertaking to fail of success. "Since I have been in the service of the Society, I have preached as much as the state of my health would permit. During most of the time I have preached once on the Sabbath to a collection of from 400 to 600 children belonging to the Sabbath Schools. They have been collected for this purpose at the Free Schools, No. 2, in Henry Street; a part of the city to which my attention has been more particularly directed. Numbers of poor people, who have not been accustomed to go elsewhere to worship, have usually attended at this place. During the summer, I preached at the ship-yards on Manhattan Island, in a room kindly furnished by the Messrs. Browns. At that exercise, it is believed, there were usually about 300 present. It was impossible, employed as I was, not to observe a large number of seamen. By associating with them, and appointing some evening lectures in the neighbourhood of their lodgings, it was discovered that they were deplorably destitute of religious instruction, and that it would be easy to give them that instruction, provided proper measures were adopted. This determined me to open a place of worship for them as soon as circumstances would permit. This has accordingly been done since the last quarterly meeting. What has been the success of this undertaking will be made known in a subsequent part of the report. The Sabbath evening lecture, which was opened some time ago, I have recently been obliged to relinquish, finding it impossible for me to preach three times on the Sabbath without materially injuring my health. The number who attended that exercise was not large, but evidently owing to the want of other labour in the neighbourhood, such as holding evening meetings, visiting, and preaching from house to house. In addition to preaching on the Sabbath, I have usually had several lectures during the week at private houses and other places. These have been well attended. No small part of my time has been occupied in visiting the sick and dying, in attending funerals, and visiting Sabbath schools. When I have attended a funeral, I have usually appointed, at the house of mourning, an evening lecture, as soon after as I could make it convenient. 66 My labours have been of such a nature, that their effects will remain in a great measure unknown till the great day of account. It is enough for us that we obey the command of God. The event we may safely leave with him. He is, however, pleased to grant us some tokens of his special favour. We are assured that we have not laboured altogether in vain. As an individual and as a society we have had trials. You and I have felt them. Let them, however, be remembered only to excite emotions of gratitude to Him who has supported us under them, and caused them, as we believe, to work for our best good. Let their recollection make us feel more deeply our dependence on God, and our need of the Holy Spirit to direct and quicken us in all our duty. Though one breach after another should be made, though one difficulty after another should rise-let us persevere in the way of well-doing; knowing, that we shall reap in due season, if we faint not.' It will be gratifying to you to learn, that, although nothing has been published, the object of your society has attracted the notice of Christians in other places. Since its establishment, similar |