der, by threatening the perpetrators with temporary excommunication.' Adrian suppressed the work-houses for the confinement of slaves. Several humane laws were enacted by Constantine in relation to the separation of families. One directs that property shall be so divided, " ut integra apud possessorem unumquemque servorum agnatio permaneat. Another law says, "ut integra apud successorem unumquemque servorum, vel colonorum adscriptitiae conditionis, seu inquilinorum proximorum agnatio, vel adfinitas permaneat." A Christian church afforded very great safety from the wrath of unmerciful owners, for when a slave took refuge there, it became the duty of the ecclesiastics to intercede for him, with his master; and if the latter refused to pardon the slave, they were bound not to give him up, but to let him live within the precincts of the sanctuary, till he chose to depart, or his owner granted him forgiveness. In Christian times, the ceremony of manumission,2 which was performed in church, particularly at Easter, and other festivals of religion, was considered the most regular mode of emancipation, and came to displace, in a great measure, the other forms. This mode was introduced and regulated by three laws of Constantine; but it was not adopted over the whole empire at once, as nearly 100 years afterwards, the Council of

Et in pluribus quidem conciliis statutum est, excommunicationi, vel poenitentiae biennii esse subjiciendum, qui servum proprium sine conscientiâ judicis occidint, Muratori.

2 The different modes of manumission were the following: 1. Vindicta, the pronouncing of a form of words by the owner before the praetor. 2. Census, enrolment in the censor's books. 3. Testamentum, by will. 4. Epistolam, by letter. 5. Per convivium, at the banquet. 6. By the master designedly calling the slave his son. 7. By actual adoption. 8. Leave given to a slave to subscribe his name as witness. 9. Attiring a slave in the insignia of a freeman, etc.

3 The following is the rescript of Constantine: "Qui religiosa mente in ecclesiae gremio servulis suis meritam concesserint libertatem, eandem eodem jure donasse videantur, quo civitas Romana solennitatibus decursis dari consuevit. Sed hoc duntaxat iis, qui sub aspectu antistitium, dederint, placuit relaxari. Clericis autem amplius concedimus, ut, cum suis famulis tribuunt libertatem, non solum in conspectu ecclesiae ac religiosi populi plenum fructum libertatis concessisse dicantur, verum etiam cum postremo judicio libertates dederint, seu quibuscunque verbis dari praeceperint; ita ut ex die publicatae voluntatis, sine aliquo juris teste vel interprete, competat directa libertas.

Carthage, A. D. 401, resolved to ask of the emperor, authority to manumit in church. The request was granted. Augustine, in one of his sermons, mentions the formalities thus observed in conferring freedom.1 After the establishment of Christianity as the national religion, when heresy came to be dreaded as much as treason, slave-testimony was received equally in respect to matters relating to their own interests and to those of their masters. The church did not openly maintain the validity of slavenuptials for many years. Attempts of free persons to form marriages with slaves were severely punished. Justinian removed most of the obstacles which preceding emperors had placed in the way of manumission. Slavery did not cease, however, till a comparatively late period.3

1 Augustine, in another place, holds the following language. "Non oportet Christianum possidere servum quomodo equum aut argentum. Quis dicere audeat ut vestimentum eum debere contemni Hominem namque homo tamquam seipsum diligere debet cui ab omnium Domino, ut inimicos diligat, imperatur.

2 The emperor Basilius allowed slaves to marry, and receive the priestly benediction, but this having been disregarded, Alexius Comnenus renewed the permission. It seems to have been thought either that the benediction gave freedom, or ought to be followed by it.— Blair. See Justin, Graeco-Roman, Lib. 2. 5.

3 The authorities on the general subject, which we have consulted are the different codes of Roman law, Gibbon, two Essays of M. De Burigny, in vols. 35 and 37 of Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, Blair's Inquiry into the State of Slavery among the Romans, Edinburgh 1833, a valuable work. In nearly all the facts which we have quoted from him, we have referred to the original authorities. We have made a personal examination of nearly all the extant Latin authors including the historians of Byzantium, and the early writers and fathers of the Christian Church.

ARTICLE V.

A PLEA FOR THE WEST. BY LYMAN BEECHER, D. D. Second Edition.

By Rev. Nehemiah Adams, Boston.

THIS book is upon a great subject, and is full of thrilling interest to an American. We have been struck with the attention which it has received from intelligent Editors throughout the country; an indication that its subject commends itself not to the clergy alone, but to those who look at our country as citizens, and are accustomed to scan the political bearings of every thing present and prospective. The book is written by one who left New England and those attachments which we believe no place on earth but Switzerland fastens with such peculiar power upon the hearts of its children, for the strange land in behalf of whose religious and moral interests in themselves considered, and in relation to their effects upon our whole country, he here pleads. We venture to say, that had the author crossed the ocean as a missionary, and discovered such a land as he describes in this book, with its unutterable resources, its swelling population, its intellectual and physical energies breaking out like new-born oceans on every side, he would have succeeded by the help of that charm which the foreigner has upon the minds of men, in enlisting wealth, talents, prayers and personal efforts in his cause. One difficulty which this book will have to contend with is, it relates to our home, our institutions, sanctuaries, firesides, lives! for strange as it is, our danger lies in this, that we seem to have concluded that these things are impregnable, because they are our own, just as "all men think all men mortal but themselves." There is nothing that requires more labor and skill to overcome the incredulus odi, the strong prejudice that accompanies incredulity, than the subject of this book, inasmuch as an appeal to men's fears, though reasonable, is always in danger of exciting a hardihood of recklessness, if it does not succeed in awakening solicitude and caution. We have been alarmed to witness this as the effect of some monitions upon this subject in some portions of the community, but we cannot resist the belief that the Plea before us will obtain a VOL. VI. No. 20.

56

verdict answering to its power and the importance of its subject from intelligent citizens in every part of New England.

One thing is observable in this production; it is not a sectarian work. The author speaks as an American, as a patriot, as a Christian, and not as the abettor of any political or religious sect. He is the president of a literary and religious institution which has its distinctive religious sentiments, but the spirit which he manifests in keeping his personal attachments out of view while pleading for the West is truly catholic. The salvation of this country from bondage to foreign powers in his view is to be effected by education, inasmuch as the ignorance of our population is the ground upon which the emissaries of designing men lay their calculations of putting their chains upon

us.

As the tremendous power of the Papal church is built upon the ignorance of men, there is no surer way of preventing its encroachments here than by diffusing knowledge amongst that part of the community who are the base of society in every land. And there are facts and arguments in this book that should be perfectly familiar to every American citizen by whatever name indicative of religious faith he may be called.

In the early part of his book, Dr. Beecher gives an eloquent and glowing description of the West. He then assumes the influence of learning and Christian institutions upon New England as the ground of belief that the same causes will make the West a great and prosperous nation. This is a rational conclusion, provided we take the soil of the West as it now is, enriched and deriving its natural character from the New England settlers. But if we wait a few years, foreign emigration will have changed its loam to sand, and its native oaks, attacked by the fellers that are coming up against them, will be succeeded by pines and brush. It makes the blood run warm and high, to think of this critical period, this day of our national salvation, whose sun is now mounting up in our heavens and throwing out pulsations of light that almost speak of the coming acme of our nation's hope, but from which, if it does not witness the results of timely faith and labor, it will go down with only a winter's twilight, as though the earth had passed a solstice from summer to frost in horror at the amazing stupidity and coming ruin of our people. Every hour is precious; for every hour brings to our shores from foreign poor-houses and cellars, the materials for our destruction. If this city were at the ballot boxes upon some momentous question, and fifteen thousand voters stood

marshalled against fifteen thousand, and no man knew the probable result, and it was suddenly announced that a vessel had arrived with hundreds of citizens who had been rallied from different places for their vote, what suspense and fear would prevail in both parties till it was known on which side their vote would be cast. Such times are coming. We shall not be sure in regard to any important election after a few years; indeed there is hardly a certainty even now that the last arrival of emigrants will not decide the fate of our institutions! O the agony of this nation when it finds itself once more in chains! It will be as when a lion falls into a snare. The power of the moon at its birth did not descend more softly upon the sea to place its bands around it, than Rome and Austria will succeed in girding their influence round about us unless we are instantly upon the alert. We refer the reader to several passages in the Plea, and ask if he can read them unmoved?*

The writer proceeds to notice the objection that a foreign conspiracy to overthrow our republic by immigration and a foreign religion is impotent and chimerical. He argues against this objection that our country is not so maturely compacted as to stand against a violent attack of the kind anticipated. The wisest statesmen have expressed their fears for the permanency of our Union, even from the dissensions of native citizens about their sectional interests, and if the Union be doubtful under such circumstances, how will it be when the clay is mixed with iron, and thousands of hungry aspirants for power are thrown amongst the dissociating elements of our once social state. The power of the Catholic Church over the minds and consciences of men is proverbial. The Roman pontiff could never have regulated the policy of European powers by arms; the unequal contest would have ended in his banishment or death, and in jests and mockery at his foolish attempts from overpowering hosts but his awful curse is feared by them no less than the lightning of heaven, and every one of them trembles at his unseen wrath, like the little needle at the mysterious magnetism of the pole. In this spiritual influence is the hiding of papal power, and here is the master-piece of invention among the works of that mighty, experienced Prince of Darkness, Our personal acquaintance with members of the Catholic

* See p. 57, Note. pp. 126, 130.