Kingston Chronicle (Kingston, ON1819), December 11, 1830, p. 2

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

nt boston bcforo ho washnnged hageu ays my uncle ben says he 4 what thai in your right hand my friend 7 whats that to you says the old sailor we ma riners got many a broad and deep red scar without talking about or marking thorn but then we get the heavy red gold and broad pieces along with them ami thats a tarnation smart plaster i calculate then says my uncle beu again says he may 1 make an tnqutrry of you where were you raised whos your lioss oh v says the sailor i was horn at nantucket and cape cod and along shore there as the nigger said to why hes the chief hearts which have been tioce time hegao a oil pray wheres and for the captain i belong all the daring the world ever of to hail man though uot often rnny possibly deserve lobe commended lrjdn he is happy whose circumstances suit his temper but he is in ore excellent who ennsuit his temper to any circumstances hume constancy when alt thiogs have their trial you shall in hi nothing is constant but a virtuous mind shiruy what real good does an addition to a fortune already sufficient procure not any could the great man by having his fortune incicased increase also his appe tites then precedence mijhl he attended with real amusement goldsmith for my own part who have conversed much with men of other nations and such ashavebeeu both in great employments and esteem 1 can say very impartially that i have not observed among any so much truo genius as among tho english no whore more sharpness of wit more plea santness of humour more range of fancy more penetration of thought or depth of reflection among the better sort oo where more goodness of nature and of meaning nor more plainness of sense and of life lhao among the commousort of country people nor raoro blunt courage and honesty than amoog our seamen but with all this our country must be confessed to he what a great physician called it the region of spleen which may arise a good deal from the great uncertainly and many sudden changes of our weather io all seasons of the year aud how much theso affect the heads and hearts especially of tho fiucst tempers is hard to ho believed by men whose thoughts are not turned to such specula tions sir w temple natural history is oo work for one that loves his chair or his bed speculation may be pursued on a soft couch hut nature must be observed in the open air oan- 501 yourpuitar says my uncle hon to the strannge sailor aod how long have you been io that hogshead 4 i can tell you brother i thought i was never go ing to come out 1 calculate as for plun der i reckon i doot show every body my locker but youre a bold fellow eoough and only give mo yourpaw to close the bar- gaiu and til fill your pouch with dollars fur life f ve a stout ship aod comrades ready for sea and theres plunder every where for lads of tho knife and pistol i reckon though thesqeamish lord bella- mount does watch them so closely l who v says uncle beu a leette bit madded and wondered 4 why lord bellaiuount to be sure aoswered the stranngc sailor the english governor of new england and admiral of the seas about it uuder king william the third governor aod ad miral in your teeth v says my uncle ben a- gain for now his pluck was up and there warnt no daunting him theu 4 what have we to do with your old country yourkings or your governors this is the free city of boston in the indcpcodeot united states of america aod the second year of liberty seventyseven i reckon aud as for your william the third i guess he was dead long before i was raised aud im no cockerel til tell you what it is uowiny smart fellow youvo gotpreity considerably drunk in that rum cask if youve been there ever since them old ancient days and to speak my mind plain youro either the devil or cap- taio kidd but id have you to know im not to he scared hy a face of clay if you were both for im an old kentuck row- dey of townfork by the elkhoru my breeds half a horse and half an alligator with a cross of the earthquake you cant eoke your fun at mo i calculate and so ere goes upon you for a villain any way my uncle bens pluck was now all up for pretty considerably madded he was and j or interest and entertainment took place could bite in his breath no longer so he j between our ernineut surgeon and the fa- nncercimonious i am aware but the exces sive occupation of my time by my profes sional duties aflords mc no leisure to ac complish what i desire by the more ordina ry cousa of attention and solicitation my annual receipts amount to aud i can settle on my wife my character is generally known to the public so that you m y readily ascertain what it is i have seen io your daughter a tender and aficctivqate child an assiduous and careful nurse and a gentle and ladylike member of a fatally such a person must be all that a husband covet and i offer my jjaud and fortune for her acceptance on monday irbet call i shall expect yourdetcrmioa- tiou fhf i really have not time for the rou tine ol courtship in this humour the lady ws wooed wml won and vc believe we my add the uniun has been felicitous which hunan gcoi us inevevy respect long mr abernethy the following anecdotes of mr aberoe- thy are from the national portrait gallery an able work edited by mr jordan mr t a young gentleman with a broken limb which refused to heal after the fracture went to consult m aberoethy aod as usual was entering in to all the detail of his complaint when he was thus stopped almost in limiue pray sir do you come here to talk or to hear me if you want my advice it is so and so i wish you a good moruing a scooe of greater length aud still great- flew upoo the stranngc sailor aod walked into him like a flash of lightning into a gooseberry bush like a mighty smart act ive man as he was- hold of his collar laid my uncle ben anil i reckon they did stout ly struggle together for a tarnation long time till at last the mariners coal gave way aud showed that about his neck there was a halter as if he had only been fresh cut down from the jribbet then my un cle ben did start back a pacoor two when the other let fly at him with a pretty consi derable hard blow and so laid him right stick sprawling upon the gronnd uncle ben said he could never guess how loog they all laid there hut wheu they came tothey found themselves all stretched out like dead men by tho niggers of tho house with a staved rum cask standing beside them but now mark this well on ooc of the head boards of the barrel was wrote w k the vulture 1701 v which was agreed hy all to stand for william kidd the pirate and july white tncle bens woollyhead ed old uigger said that he was oucc a lob lolly boy on board thai very ship when she crew tohl him that she sailed iroiu the old country the very same year marked no the cask when kidd was hanged at execution dock and that they brought bis body over to be near the treasure that he buried and as every one knows that kidd was tied up twice why perhaps he never died ol all but was kept alive in that mighty elegaut rum cask till my uocle ben let him out again to walk about new york aod bos ton round charles bay aod cape cod the old sow and pigs hellegat and the lieu and chickens there was a fat little dulch parson who used to think that this story was only a mighty smart fable because no body could remember seeing the pirate be sides uncle ben and he would sometimes say too that they were all knocked down by tho rum and not by tho captaia though he never told uuclc ben so i calculate for he always stuck to it haodsomly and wouldnt bate a word of it for nobody when uocle ben had finished he says jonathan w says he ill tell you what it is ill take it as a genuine favor if youll pay major hickory for the sangaree aud the toddy and well bequits another day and so i paid for it every cent bnt would you believe it though ive asked him for it a matter of twenty times and more than that uncle ben never gave me back the incite trifllo that he borrowed of me from that day to this mous john philpot currau mr currao it seems bciug personally unknown to him had visited mr abernethy several limes without having an opportunity of fully ex plaioiug as bethought the nature of ins malady at last determined to have a heariug when interrupted in his story he fixed his dark bright eye on the doctor aod said- mr abernethy i have been here on eight different days and have paid you cightdiffercol guineas but have never yet listened to the symptoms of my complaiut i am resolved sir uot to leave this room till you satisfy mc by doiug so struck by his manner mr abernethy threw hira- selfback in his chair assuming the posture of a most indefatigable listener exclaimed ina tone of half surprise half humour 41 oh very well sir 1 am ready to hear you out go on give me the wholcyour birth parentage and education i wait your pleasure go on h upon which cur- ran not a whit disconcerted gravely be gan u my name is john philpot currau my parents were poor but i helicvo hottest people of the province of minister where xt i wan born being a pmive of newmar- ktiucouuiyul cork iu the j ear uue thous and soven hundred and fifty my father being employed to collect the rents of a protestant gentleman of small forluuo in that neighborhood obtained inycoiraucc into uuo of tho protestant freeschools where i obtained i c first rudiments of my education i ws next enabled to cuter trinity college dublin in the humble spereofa riser aud so he continued for several minutes giving his astonished hear er a true but irresistibly laughable account of his m birth parentage and education as desired till be came to his illness and sufferings the detail excerpts all sects are different because they come from men morality is every where the eamo because ii comes from god vol- tain the reason of things lies io a narrow compass if the mind could at any time be so happy as to light upon it most of the writiogs and discourses in the world are but illustration and rhetoric which sgoifies as much as nothiog to the mind io pursuit af ter the philosophical truth of things south get not your friends by bare compli ments but by giving them sensible tokens of your love it is well worth while to learo how to win the heart of a man the right way force is of no use to make or pre serve a frieud who is au aoimal that is ne ver caught nor tamed but by kindness and pleasure- excite them hy your civilities aod show them that you desire nothing more than their iatisfactioo oblige with all your soul that friend who has made you a pre- eeut ui hi ow n socrates some men are brave in battles who are weak in counsel which daily experience tfets before our eyes others deliberate wise ly bul aro weak in the performing part and ovco oo man is the same today which he was yesterday or may be tomorrow on this account says polybiu a good ujau is sufuotiojcs liublu to blwisc uud a again of which was uot interrupted it is hardly ueccssary to add that mr ahcrncthys atteutioo to his gifted paticot was from that hour to tho close of his life assiduous unremittio aud devoted again mrs i consulted him on the nervous disorder the niioutia of which ap peared to be so fantastical lhai mr aber nethy interrupted their frivolous detail by holding out his hand for tho fee a one pound uote aud a shilling were placed in it upon which be rcturued the latter to his fair patient with tho augry exclama tion of there maam go aud buv a skipping rope that is all you waul mr aberoethys strong point in pros cribing is generally addressed to tho rebel of the bowels and to tho lowcriog and re gulation of the diet and regimen hois consequently much sought in dyspeptic disorders and it is stated often refers to such a page in one of his books where he has already given the remedy the pa tients have only to buy the work where they will find an exact description of their symptoms aud a recipe for their cure on one occasion a lady uusatisfied with this amount of information persisted in extracting from mr abernethy what she might eat and after suffering from her vo lubility with considerable patience for a while he exclaimed to the repeated may j eat oysters doctor may i cat suppers ill tell you what maam you may eat any thing but tho poker and the bellows for the on is too hard of digestion and the other is full if wind the reported fashion of his courtship and marriage is also extremely characteristic it is told that while attending a lady for several weeks he observed those amirable qualifications in her daughter which he truly esteemed to be calculated to render the married state happy accordingly on a saturday when taking leave of did pa tient he addressed her to tho following purport you are now so well that 1 need not sec you after monday next when i shall come aud pay you my farewell visit but in the mcau time i wish you and your daughter seriously to consider the proposal i am bow about to make 2t u abrupt lj old and new paris much may be seen in a great capital before a stranger is supposed to have seen any tvmg much may bo inferred from the online and surface before time and opportunity are afforded for analyzing ele ments or souodiog depths to day the exigences and incidents of my manifold little uusinesses pleasures duties and a- musertients seconded by f reach job hor ses whose patieot endurance of fatigue ap proaches to the impassibility of a steatn- enginto carried me nearly through all pa ns the charming city every house is a monument every quarter has its anoals where the very stones furnish memoirs as those bf rome are said to embody histo ries and where the names of the streets point io the leading epochs of time when bigotry destroyed or philosophy beoefitted mankind in the narrow avenues and gloomy edifices of the ancient quarters what pood for meditation plague pesti lence an sudden death seem to lurk in their ventilated and uucleanscd thorough fares the faithful descriptions of old paris p uot to be perused withont a sen sation of horror the very enumeration of its localities betrays a moral state as baleful rts hw ptjjkht the m hut mat- voisin leading to the u rue coupegorge and th m pal de miscre ruuuiog parallel to the h coupegousset iudicate the insecul7 a the suffering of a barbarous aod a undisciplined people io great and cn cities nothing favours crime more m l existence of such obscure shelter for the degraded aod tho vicious filth fid offence darkness and outrage go but l0 w together the axiom of comu that uf only day light that makes sin though good poetry is but in different philosophy daylight reveals give shelter and passages a fluid faciir communication trottoirs arc ev and by revealing abashes and bailies crime when t paris was what some of its old est queers still are every species of vio lence ivas publicly committed in its streets chtfgtetrange exclaims the rofreves- toiie llc annalist of henry the fourth u etrange de dire que dans uncvute telle jflrji w commettent avee impunite des villain tt brigandages tout ainsi que dans une pftineforet doun to the end of the seven century organized oanditlis patrol the streets who equipped with masks a lseert stabbed passengers pluodp passage boats on the seine un der t vi inhjws f tho royal palace aud retiree unmolested by tho authorities to their cus in the desolate suburbs beyond lhew7 where none had the courage to pursu- them such were the well known band w a condition beyond could never reach- all the edifices raised in tho gorgeous reign are so many monument of the iu- satiable pride aud personal vatity of him who gave tho age its character kven the opeuing of the live de la tefflmnicte which by it narrowness had assisted ill causing the death of henry he fourth was made conducive to tho ratification of this weakness and exhihiiul at one of its corners the royal bust dnssed iu the accustomed voluminous pcrtikt all im provement was mndc with rvicnnce to the king and hit nobility who aoluded iud sheltered in their palaces surrounded by spacious courts and gardens bit not the misery of tho citieos shut up iu the uar row streets and filthy habitations exposed to the iuuotlations of the snue which frequently swept away the houtes from the bridges and banks and to do devasta tions of pestilence which uidervoiiuus forms filled thoso hospitals tlu glories of a monarch whose bad laws aid tad po lice had rendered them so nectsary in the improvements of paris with which i was so much struck in the course of my moruings drive tho gnater part is for the advantage of the peiple rather than for the honour of the privileged old streets have been opened au ocw ones laid down of sufficient widti arcades y of very wherein the course of formation in the new streets continuously aod n the eld by patches it is remarkable that while the scale of domestic architecture iu paris is diminish ing in order to provide the comforts of in dividual proprietorship for householders of small fortunes the dwelliogsolihe cltizeus of london are io their way aho considera bly improved- this demaod fir space aud air is not more a result of policy regulation than of what may be consideied almost a new sense io the inhabitants the weal thy merchants of london will no longer conseot to dwell as their ancestors did io the narrow stifling courts aid alleys in which their counting houses stand but have emigrated westward to tenant the numerous squares the peculiar ornament of the modern capital the opening of regent street aod ihe other simitar im- provemeut now going on in the metropo lis are in strict accordance with public o- pinion with tho wants aud wishes of the people to whom these changes are an act of deferonce in both countries the vers etats are rising iu importance and an at tention to their health aod comfort is forc ed upon tho government it is lamenta ble however to be obliged to add that the influence of excessive taxation shews itself in england under a thousand forms of suf fering aud annoyance to which french men are less exposed to this cause must be attributed tho lilliputian scale on which the houses of our arlizans are still built and what is worse the insufficient and perilous maoner in which they are put together the consequence is the almost daily occurrence of fires attended hut too frequently by loss of life from tho nar row scantling of tho timbers rendered thin cnated and cleared out fnr establishing the public offices on the cite of this vast and ouce impenetrable hold- in the reign of iouis x vi that reign of fcehlcncn and procrastination of projects wisely conceived nod indolently adjourn ed tho opening of the capital had beconio a subject ii f discussion but of dfceuftion only in the first epochs of the revolu tion there was neither money nor icuurc to devote to such a purpose tho reve nues of the nation were all required to pur chase those victories which were ncccssa- to its very existence the ruins of the puchin monastery therefore continued to present a mass of rubbish intersected with rude walls and hovels built up to the very gates of the tuillcries whirh it required means to clear away not poscss- ed either under the directory or the consu late it was not therefore until the year 1804 that the great embellisher of cities napoleon buonaparte directed his atten tion to this spot and removed tho rem nants of the grand capucinierr then it was that the hues de rivoli castiglio- no and mont thahot sprang up like mn- gic with their arcades and passages for the embellishment of tho capital the facility of trade and for the pleasure aod amusement of the people when we first visited paris the maui- ficent plan was executed ooly to a very partial and limited extent the rue de rivoli was still encumbered with a scaf folding and with large blocks of stone aud it looked like a great quarry out of whose roughness some noble forms and fine pro portions might hereafter be developed by the sledge and chisel at present the creat monument of french improvement is finished and he rue de rivoli with the beautiful gardens in which it opens and the noblo views it commands from the white inhabitants all our dealings are with them we are entering upon a new course of life aud instead of hunters wo arc to become permanent settlers and cultivators of the soil our language hat never been reduced to writing we arc fading as a and may in a short ainoug our white more benelici tho bnglish read in that it contains no book nation from tho earth time be lost or ni v brethren it is therefore to us to he instructed in aud to learn aud this wise deter mi aoguago and robbed ao the si pactt uishii ho by tho name of the otfftttwa of successful ra il of pi of their eugy as laths to meet the imposts upon the ar ticle a modern tenement of this class may pillaged houses iu open day be considered as a box of matches or ra ther as a pile constructed for the express purpose of being involved in flames in the shortest possiblo time after applying the spark- the quantity of wealth thus annually destroyed is out of all proportion to the value of the duty and is therefore most burthensome and wasteful to the na- tiou but the fiscal dxmou is a blind aod uncalculatingspirit which requires tho fre- j queut intervention of the schoolmaster to exorcise it and keeps its activity within jecent bounds the splendid ruede rivoli n monu ment justifying in itself the revo am typifying in its actual stato as contrasted with what has preceded it itlti immense benefits which that calumniated event hss showered on the human specie- o the trarcotw sei nn exampl- which even princes instead of pu imitated for ice or o the purposes amusement own lu tho igftti rji and spacious street of moderp paris the chances of conceal ment aud impunity are iu finitely lessened nor is the benefit of modern philosophy less apparent tu destroying the physical causes of crime y bettering the condition of the people improving their security aud health aud raisirg them above the temptations to criminality lhau in amending the laws and rendering then more efficient safeguatds of the cilizli from the violence aod iujuslice of both geat and little offenders id the augustan age of louis the four teenth when poets were pensioned and 11 la tangttjutjixce as modern classicists have it that is when the king set hounds alike to tie capital aud to the intellect of his peopi such was the ignorance of the sovereign and his ministers that an at tempt to rulargc the limirs of the crowded metropolis was deemed an invasion of the royal prerogative the seventeenth cen tury but quoted precedents for the propo- gation oi pestilence from tho 10th and 15th fu heory the second in 1548 is sued an eiict to prevent the enlargement of the eitf by building beyond the wall louis tht thirteenth passed a similar law iu 1633 and louis tho fourteenth iu council decreed that a statement should be drawn rip of tho boundaries of pans and of tht houses which had been built beyond tlem by another act he declar ed that tie government would permit the proprietys of such houses to retain their building as they were on paying a tax of about out tenth of the value but ordered the demuition of those houses whose own ers fibouu ueglect to pay the prescribed sum tvitlin a ccrtaiu limited time yet io this day rhe inhabitants were lodged even on tho budges and under the very roofs of thehousu when it ts remembered that the immense number of convents founded within no walls of paris by louis the fourtecith by his mother w ife aud mis tresses all largo edifices with spacious courts nod gardens entrenched on the ground theigned for ihe residence of the ci tizens tiat the court drew to the capual all the aiibiiinn wealth aod luxury ofthe province that the parliaments and tribu nals fillet the city with pleaders their cli ents am witnesses j that the academies aud libraries made it the centre of litera ture and ihe sciences that the increase of public amusements and ihe splendour ex hibited l t nobility all contributed to drair stringers to the metropolis to qua druple it population and to make it de- f son indented it seems scarcely mt the government bliould have h ill conceived laws and mista- u most obvious necessities yet age quoted as par exctllence in- tcjlcciua a tragedy of racine or a ser- uiou by yutinset was dvemed the proof of champs flyscesjtothe palace of the tuille- ries stands less a triumphal testimony of thevictory its name recals than of the phy sical and moral advancement which a few years of selfgovernment can impress on a nation in comparing tho present aspect ofthe pace cells whtfh may have haply occu pied the very si of the luxurious dressing room in which these notesnrc penned the contrast is so prrihty striking that the feelingand fancy wnuld willingly take shel ter in a belief tint such horrers had never existed but hhtory leaves our sympathies no such resource anil if the unhallowed vows of a paity should once more recal tho 4i frrres ihgt of the capuchins this hondoir rnny again become a vade-in- paces where mine such refractory danger ofthe church mid state as myself may ex piate her rebefions agaiost the orthodox maxims of sociu order as i have expiated the sin of denouncing their inquiry in the careero duroq ministerial reviews tongue nation removes the piinciple obstacle to tho civilization and conversion of the in dian tribes within the proviuce though it may still be found necessary to reduce their language to writing wheu we proceed be yond its limits in lm his excellency sir peregrine maitland anxious for the civilization aud conversation to christianity ofthe uattvcd built a village for ooe of tho tribes on the river credit lie likewise assigocd theiu a portion of laud and preserved for them a valuable fishery at the mouth of the rivet the result has itceu favorable beyond expectation for although we had uufor- titately no missionary to station at the i i- lage when completed tho american me thodists have scot one who has been very successful of the whole number 20 ra ther more than one half viz iso have acknowledged christianity aod according to the practise of that denomination arc di vided into six classes under as many na live leaders and two schools are iu opera tion ooc for tho males and one fur the fe males a great change in character and manners is visible iutemperancc is fastdi- miuishing the women are becoming mora clean aud tidy io their habitations and tho comforts with which they aro surrounded have excited as was anticipated a great desire among other tribes to become culti vators of the earth and to live in villages providence seems to interfere in their fa vor for last spring the rev mr scott an anabaptist minister was sent to this province by the new eogland society in london established in the rtin of charles 2d for converting tho indi rncrira to pi credible i passed si ken its oi this is tb reignof henry iil the ground on which the ruo de rivoli now staods im princi pally occupied by one ofthe most cele brated and wealthy monaster of the powerful order of capuchins towards the close of tho sixteenth ccnl when the progress of reformation give new a- larm to the iotriguing courts of borne aod spain they resolved on rcinforc mg the co horts ofthe teachers and ministers of ca tholicism by the establishment if an order which should obtain the sam iolluence over the consciences of the people which tho more learned and astute jesuts possess ed over the courts and aristocrats of eu rope the bigoted and profligate henry iii to whom every vice wa familiar and by whom every superstitious ww was practised lent himself to the chemes of the vatican and escurial which ended in his own assassination by oue of their a- gents the order of capuchins thus in troduced into france was nobly endowed and taken under the especial protection and safeguard of the king theircon- vent situated io the ruo st ifflnnre ith its courts garden and church extcuded to the very walls of the royal palace ofthe tuilleries and constituted the minst consi derable and magnificent of all the capuci- nieresof the kingdom an hmodred aud twenty monks with their nuni train of followers lived there like princes aod ruled like despots beyond the power both of tho law and the sovereign the con sumption of their table as rf itj their own books exceeds belief and their keteurs who daily scoured thtf streets of iris and beset ihe citizens levied contri butions which wero an exorbitant lax on the industry ofthe city the power and inllucnceof tmse mooks was first invaded and the dark holds of their crimes first broken in uoo by the dawning illumination of sin age whose fulness will dispel every ancient error and delusioo in the year lil the vices and quarrels ofthe brotherhood aorl the scau- dalous scenes in which they gave rise pro duced a public proseculiou the atten tion of the nation thus awakened led to still further inquiries the tral brought to light unguessed at enormities crimes wero proved horrors revealed and tho es tablishment became a byeword of popu- lardislike at the breaking out of the re volution it was the first devoted to public execration and iu the year 1700 the na tional assembly charged the riiuuicipality of paris to cause the building to be cva- domestic conversion of the indians copy of a letter from the venerable archdeacon of york to tho secretary of the church miiionary society york s3artrcal829 reverend siu many causes with which it is unne cessary to iroude the society have pre vented me froft addressing you sooner on a subject which i have very much at heart tho conversion of the aborigines of this country to the christian religion but a longer delay appears criminal for the in dians are periling for lack of knowledge in 1819 a bible society then existing in this place but which is now changed into a branch of the society for promoting ohrfoffhi kicwldp appointed a com mittee to consider what measures cohuhjc adopted towards instructing the mississa- gua indians and converting them to the christian faith after several meetings the committee found lhat a recommend ft- to assist in procuring a translation of the scriptures in tho mississagua language and to disseminate them among the neighbor ing tribes was tho only thing which the so ciety could do according to its considera tion on making this report the commit tee requested to ho discharged from any further coosideralinn of the subject at the same time urging tho necessity of doiog somethiog towards reclaiming the indians and the impossibility of taming their wild hearts without first collecting them into so cieties and making them feel the eomfors of a fixed habitation to effect these two were necessary assistance to build villa ges and zealous missionaries to reside a- mong them these matters the commit teo remarked came more properly under the great church society than one whose simple object was tha dissemination ofthe scriptures to your noble institution therefore we look with the greatest confideuce for the accomplishment of this work and while we behold with joy the pious labours of the various societies of our mothercountry which are yielding their golden increase in the south sea in the wilds of africa aod oo the banks ofthe ganges we intreat you to turn your eyes towards this province which presents a field for a christian as fer tile tho perhaps not so brilliant as any in the world and which promises under the divine blessing to yield an abundant har vest- so far from doubting the practicability of their conversion i am convinced under judicious management of its speedy accom plishment and indeed great progress has already been made among some of the tribes by our methodist brethren on a sys tem which admits of improvement and we must nor forget that omitting all care of the spiritual condition ofthe indian is o mining a most serious duty for he is our brother and if we make not an exertion to stay the desolating degration that seems to have seized upon him we belie our profes sion it was believed that the mlfisiaeegun or chippawayan which is the principle indian language and which extends from lake ontario to the frozen ocean would present a great obstacle as it had never been re duced to writing rutin this providence has kindly interposed for when a reference on this subject was made io tho chiefs of one of the tribes which has attained some progress in the civilization the answer showed thoir good seose and for the pre sent removed the impediment we arc surrounded said they with the nrnca to i ltrtiam liug the temporal a the uat ins in north a- rid spiritual wellare of ves this gentleman has authority to expend 500 per aunum io buildingvif- luges supplying them with farming uten sils and establishing among them such crafts as are most essential carpenters blacksmiths shoemakers c leaving it to the various denominations of christians to provide for their spiritual improvement it is indeed true that liberal as this expen diture appears to he a long time must e- lapse before wo can go round the whole but the lord will raise up other help and perhaps government aud the society may soon unite in building at once all the villa- gec that can he required within the pro vince to this expectation we are oncou- raged for already another evenl has hap pened to still greater importance to the for warding of this precious work it has pleased his majestys government to place the indian tribes under the care of the lieutenant governor ofthe province instoad of the commander in chiefat que- her this change will enable the governor io attend at once to the wishes of the ludi- aus and to promote according to his own knowledge and judgment plans for their ci vilization and never could tho change have happened at a more favoeahle timo than uoder the administration of sir john colhorne who adds lo great energy and decision of character an enlightened aud anient zoal for the conversion ofthe ludi- ans his excellency has already takao some important steps to promote this de sirable end and being indefatigable in hit enquiries he cannot fail iu bringing it to a happy conclusion zealous missionaries to set down ilj the pla ces which the lieutenant governor judges most necessary and to follow mr scott in the villages which ho is building w might with the divine blessing on our labours bi in- many over to our lord jesus christ such missionaries supported by your society and answerable in all things fitting ought nevertheless to be placed under tho lord bishop of quebec for it would he highly pernicious to exhibit any thing like a difference orriivisoo amoog the clergy of the church of england the table annexed gives us a compete view of all the indians withiu the proviucv as i have been able to obtain by which it will appear that 7 or 8 missionaries would be quite equal to our wauts when all the tribes shall have been collected aud for a lime four will be sufficient besides these there are many indians who being beyond the limits ofthe british domioions occasionally resort to the posts of ambershurgh aod penetanguishine at which two places missionaries might be profitably stationed at the same lime it ought to be remarked that a grtat desire to convert the indians begins to manifest itself among many of the religious denomi nations in the united states aud in some ofthe native villages missionaries are al ready to be found ooo of ihe most important steps towards their conversion is that of qualifying a soon as possible native teachers and this may be done at the mission establishment where schools ought to be kept and still with great effect at the college when it comes into operation as the number cf tribes is not great and in some instances two might be associated in one village tho labour within the province has limits and promises completion at no distant period this circumstance offers great encourag- ment fnrwe can ascertain at all times with great exactness the progress lhat we have made the great dispute which has arisen a- bout civilization preceding christianity ap pears to me rather a question of words than of things for what tends so much to civili sation us religion with so much to en large the mind and in what way can you so effectually ameliorate the fierce pjissious of barbarism as by that mildness aud do cility which the spirit of christianity in spires it has been said that the christian reli gion was never meant for man in a savage state that in such a state it would he uf little use because from ignorance its sub lime doctrines and awful saoctions would bo abased and perverted that it must there fore be preceded by some degree of know ledge and general improvement in thoso who recoivejtthat agrooable to this the

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy