ALFRED. If the slaveholders would only adopt and exemplify the spirit of the christian precepts, and cause the minds of the slaves to be properly imbued with the principles of the Gospel; they might be entirely freed from all danger of an insurrection. But if, instead of this course, they will still insult the slaves by glorying in their own battles for liberty, I cannot but fear that the consequences will be dreadful. Nothing surely could be more unwise than their present course of continually praising the feats of war,-and if they should persist in it, a heavy share of the guilt will lie on their own heads. HENRY. You are right, Alfred, I see that you are right. Gospel principles in your heart have already set aside one projected scene of devastation and bloodshed. If the minds of all men were thus imbued, the danger of wars and violent insurrections would cease from among men. Such principles must be Divine.

MR. CLAY ON MILITARY IDOLATRY.

"Undoubtedly there are other and many dangers to liberty besides military idolatry; but I have yet to acquire the knowledge of it, if there be one more perilous or more frequent."

This remark was found in a public letter written by the present secretary of state to the people of Kentucky, whom he lately represented in Congress. The sentiment here expressed is an important one, and it is desirable that it should be generally understood and adopted.

Military idolatry" is an undue esteem of military men, military achievements, and the military spirit. Among the deities of pagans military chieftains held a distinguished rank. The men who had been the scourges of their species while living, were adored when dead, and their sanguinary deeds were celebrated to excite in others a thirst for military distinction, and the fame which is acquired by the military murder of mankind.

That the spirit and the profession of arms are the opposites of the spirit and profession of Christianity must be admitted by all well informed Christians. But it is the present object to show that military idolatry" is dangerous to liberty. If this should be shown, the sentiments of Mr. Clay will be supported. We may therefore observe

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"Military idolatry" tends to multiply wars, and war endangers liberty.

Mankind are fond of praise, and whatever custom or practice is much applauded, will be sure to find devotees. If one man has acquired great fame in war, others will be excited to imitate his example. If the spirit of Christianity were to prevail, and war to be regarded as criminal and dishonorable, it would be found easy to settle disputes without recourse to arms. But military idolators view with contempt the forbearing spirit of the Gospel; and, when offences occur, they will be industrious to work them up into a cause for hostility. Hence the frequency of wars.

That war is dangerous to liberty is obvious from undeniable facts. The military system is throughout a system of tyranny, and war is carried on by a course of tyrannical and barbarous proceedings. Soldiers and seamen are often flattered by being told that they are defenders of liberty, that they fight for freedom; but they are themselves slaves and not freemen, and they are made the instruments of destroying or enslaving other people. The Grecian and Roman governments were once republican; but "military idolatry" involved them in frequent wars, till they were stript of freedom and subjected to bondage. The evils which they inflicted on other nations, were, in the course of events, retaliated on themselves. In our own day the French proclaimed themselves a free and republican people; but "military idolatry" produced a succession of wars, and war subjected them again to despotism. Indeed all the despotism and slavery with which the world has been afflicted, have been the fruits of war and "military idolatry."

Military idolators place their confidence, not in the Lord, but in an arm of flesh, in military men, military measures, and a military spirit. Hence military principles and the military spirit are cultivated at an enormous expense, in preference to that "meek and quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price." In our own country "military idolatry" has proceeded so far as to violate the rights of conscience, the most sacred of all human rights; and men are actually punished, by fines or imprisonments, for being of that "meek and quiet spirit," which God has assured us is so pleasing to him. If a man conscientiously declines training, to learn the art of homicide, the laws expose him to penalties. If such things are done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?

In time of war the most flagrant acts of injustice, and the invasion of every human right, are deemed lawful, if necessary to success. Some have their property wrested from them or destroyed, by the armies of their own country; others are compelled, contrary to their inclinations to enter the military service to subject themselves as slaves to military task masters, and to fight as they are bidden, in any cause, and in any manner, which may be required. Those whose consciences forbid them to fight, are calumniated, abused, and punished, because they do not fall down, and worship the splendid image which their Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Should "military idolatry" so prevail in our land as to render wars frequent, it is about as certain that we shall become an euslaved nation, as it is that we are now a slave-holding people. Thus we may eat the fruit of our own ways.

THE MELANCHOLY FATE OF SCIO.

THE following account is from Morton's "Life of Parsons," the Missionary, as given in the Journal of Education.

"We would not affirm that the Sciotes were wise in rearing the standard of Independence at so early a period of the Grecian struggle. If unwise, they certainly paid dear for their folly. But whatever reflections any may indulge on this subject, it is plain that the barbarities of the Turks, and the miseries of the Greeks, were almost unparalleled in the history of guilt and wo.

"The Turks landed in Scio, in April 1822. Before them it was the garden of Eden; behind them a desolate wilderness. The city of Scio was burnt and destroyed. The flourishing college there, the hope and ornament of modern Greece, was demolished; its library and philosophical apparatus given to the flames, and the professors and students slaughtered or driven into exile. Of the inhabitants, more than 25,000 were put to the sword, burned, and drowned, or perished by fatigue or by disease, caught from the infection of the mangled carcasses which lay in the streets. More than 41,000 were sold for slaves. Many of these were ladies of distinction, who were dragged with ropes around their necks, over the ashes and ruins of their own dwellings, and over the bodies of their slaughtered relatives, into transport-ships, to be carried to Smyrna and elsewhere, and sold into hopeless bondage. Upwards of 40 villages, and 86 churches, were consumed by the flames. A number of suffering, starving wretches fled to the mountains, and fifteen or twenty thousand escaped to some of the neighboring islands.”

Seldom do we find in the history of modern wars a more heart-rending account than the one now before us. It would seem to be sufficient to excite the horror of every reader. But we know not that any thing was done at Scio contrary to the Mahometan usages of war, and little, except in the sale of captives for slaves, which is forbidden by the laws of war among Christians. The slaughter of men in the wars of Napoleon, at Borodino, Leipsic, or Waterloo, was much greater than at Scio; and if we take into view the vast numbers of the wounded, in either of the three former battles, we shall probably find that the degree of actual suffering was greater than that of the Greeks when Scio was swept with the Turkish besom of destruction. Yet in all such battles the conquerors are regarded as having acquired great glory, and this glory serves as a stimulus, to multiply wars and scenes of horror and devastation. But who can seriously reflect on the crimes and miseries of such scenes, without resolving to do all in his power to abolish a custom, which spreads such distress among mankind? And how awful is the thought, that millions of human beings in christian countries are annually trained for instruments of human wo!

As the Greeks are called Christians, and the Turks Mahometans, we naturally feel a sympathy for the one and a prejudice against the other. It is therefore possible that we have imbibed incorrect ideas of the oppressions suffered by the Greeks prior to the war. The Greeks have been often represented to us, as enslaved by the Turks. But from the facts related of Scio it may appear, that, if the Greeks were slaves before their revolt, they had more indulgent masters than the slaves of the United States. Their island is represented, prior to the invasion, as having been like "the garden of Eden;" they had their "city," their "40 villages," their "86 churches," their highly respectable "college"-which had, in 1820, five professors, nine instructers, and 700 students. A A part of these students, too, were Turks, receiving instruction in a Greek college! Besides, among the females who were taken and sold for slaves, it is said there were "many ladies of distinction;" from which we may infer that there were also "many men of distinction" among the Greeks in Scio. Now where, among the American slaves, do we find such evidences of liberty and happiness? Ought we then to bestow all our sympathies on the oppressed Greeks, and reserve none for the slaves of our own country? Or should our

complaints and allegations of tyranny, be levelled altogether against Turks and other foreigners? Besides, when we say that the Greeks had just cause for their insurrection, what does this imply in regard to our slaves? If we wish our slaves to be quiet till a way can be prepared for their peaceable emancipation, the modes of instructing them should be very different from those, to which they have hitherto been accustomed.

The miseries inflicted on the females of Scio, should lead the mothers and daughters in our land to consider, whether their influence should not be exerted to abolish a custom which exposes their own sex, as well as their husbands and brothers, to such brutal insults, outrages and woes. If you should continue to be charmed by the military epaulet and uniform, and bestow your smiles on the butchers of your species-forbearing to employ your influence to bring military murder into disrepute, your own turn may come to be "dragged with ropes around your necks, over the ashes and ruins of your own dwellings, and over the bodies of your slaughtered relatives, into transport-ships," to go, you know not where-to suffer, you know not what.

SOUTH AMERICAN HORSES.

In a late Number of the Missionary Herald we have an interesting account from Mr. Bingham, of his journey from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza and Chili. He had opportunity to see vast herds of cattle and horses on the pampas of that country; and in speaking of these "half wild" animals, he furnishes the following paragraphs :—

"I was told an anecdote of the Horse, which I was at first slow to believe; but the truth of which, repeated inquiries left me unable to doubt. It relates to their mode of warfare, when living in great companies.

"It is a custom with the estanciaros to leave but few of the males in their original, entire state, and these of course the best. These by a kind of instinct become leaders of parties, and are implicitly obeyed and followed by a certain fixed number or family. It frequently occurs, that these different parties come in contact with each other, and that jealousy and pride in the leaders, cause a sanguinary battle betwixt them. The battle is wholly confined to the two leaders; and what is peculiar is, that