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NIL DESPERANDUM.

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bearing; there a devotee of pleasure, by his reckless and unconstrained air, which proclaim him proof against all the eloquence of the pulpit.

Here a young man, for a while oblivious of the fascination of female society, stands alone on the promenade-deck, trying to realize before him the assembled multitudes whom he shall hereafter address, and premeditating a discourse with which he hopes to waft his name from island to island, from city to city, and ultimately embalm it with episcopal honors. There a gray-haired veteran of the cross, who has long since merged all personal ambition in the advancement of his MASTER'S cause, and is only solicitous that good may be done and sinners converted from the error of their way.

Servants crowd along to the wharves with their masters and mistresses, and occasionally break out into singing snatches from some old-fashioned hymn, while a halo of delight encircles their ebony faces.

The young divine whom we found standing alone was none other than the Rev. Mr. Danguerry, and in the same boat embarked the Mather family, with the negroes, Easter and 'Tite,' Cathele preferring to remain at home lest he might be tempted to spend some of the bounty' in such an adventure. In about twelve hours after leaving her dock, the steamer came to anchor in front of Devil's Island. Boats of every variety of build literally lined the shore for some distance out in the bay. Thousands of people were walking hither and thither along the beach, or seated or lolling beneath the large trees which every where offered a grateful shade. Some three or four hundred tents, some of canvas, others of boards, were already pitched and occupied, or in process of erection. So many people had never been seen on the island at any previous encampment, and there is reason to believe that many years will elapse before so many will congregate there again.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

NIL DESPERANDUM.

"VICEROY, tell thy lord

That e'en where chains lie heaviest on the land,
Souls may not all be fettered. Oft, ere now,

Conquerors have rocked the earth, yet failed to tame

Unto their purposes that restless fire

Inhabiting man's breast. A spark bursts forth,

And so they perish! 't is the fate of those

Who sport with lightning.'

AT YORKTOWN.

THE army slept around the stream;
The camp-fires cast a ruddy gleam

O'er tents that shone like marble domes.
With dreams of war and dreams of homes,

The army slept without a fear.

Danger must reach the sentinel's car;

Before the foe to them may come,

The alarm must sound from ready drum.

And so, in showers of rain and sleet,
The sentry marched his weary beat,

Acting with zeal a patriot's part,
With shivering frame but sturdy heart.

But not all did their duty well;
To one poor soldier it befell,

That wearied-out with labor done,
While still he grasped his slippery gun,

His strength, despite resolve, gave way,
And slumbering at his post he lay.

Justice had doomed the man to die,
But Mercy passed the verdict by;

She loosed the chains the prisoner wore,
And set him free to strike once more.

He whom a friendly power may save,
A grateful heart makes doubly brave.

Soon the contending armies meet.
With gallant rush and sturdy feet,

Our banner's borne toward the foe,
A beacon in war's ebb and flow.

Around the flag in deadly fight,
Rebel and patriot host unite.

Resolved to do all that man may
In battle-field to gain the day,

The soldier met the death he sought,
As in the foremost rank he fought;

And there's no shadow now of shame
Upon the brightness of his fame.

Valor and gratitude unite!

A nation thanks thee for the sight.

Wise mind! who knew that to the heart
Of soldier true, no keener dart

May come than a dishonored death;
Who knew that with the joyful breath

Of Pardon, Mercy lights a fire,
Never while mercy lasts to expire.

The holy truth is proved again
Mercy ne'er bends to save in vain!

THE COLONIAL POLICY OF SPAIN.

BY A. K. SHEPARD.

THE great historian of the Spanish conquests in America remarks: 'It would seem to have been especially ordered by PROVIDENCE that the discovery of the two great divisions of the American hemisphere should fall to the two races best fitted to conquer and colonize them. Thus the Northern section was consigned to the Anglo-Saxon race, whose orderly, industrious habits found an ample field for development under its colder skies, and on its more rugged soil; while the Southern portion, with its rich tropical products and treasures of mineral wealth, held out the most attractive bait to invite the enterprise of the Spaniards.'

As early as 1524, nearly a century before the Pilgrims had thought of peopling the chilly north coast, the greater portion of Central and South-America had been explored, and Mexico and the Isthmus of Darien colonized, by the daring Spanish adventurers.

In their desire to extend their dominions, expeditions were undertaken among the unknown regions of tropical America, which afford some of the most striking instances of courage, endurance, and perseverance recorded in history. Those of Pizarro to the head-waters of the Amazon, through the wildest portions of the Andes, and the swamps and jungles of the low countries, and of Cortez to Guatemala, stand without a parallel among military expeditions.

Under the Spanish conquerors there soon rose large cities, rivalling in size and beauty those of Old Spain — not only where they found the country already

prepared for them by the civilized aborigines, but even in the most remote districts.

The Romish Church lavished its wealth in the erection of gorgeous cathedrals, and vast monasteries and convents, which should vie with those of Europe. The sea-coasts were protected by strong-walled towns and fortifications, and excellent paved roads and stone bridges were constructed through the most difficult mountain regions. The Isthmus of Panama, whose obstacles to engineering modern skill has only overcome by the expenditure of five thousand lives and millions of money, was crossed by a paved road from ocean to ocean, and a military route was opened, as early as the vice-royalty of Cortez, across the Tehuantepec Isthmus, where even Yankee perseverance has been fifteen years endeavoring to build a plank-road.

Mines of gold and silver were opened and worked to such advantage, as to excite the wonder of all Europe at the wealth they yielded.

With the history of this rapid progressive material welfare of the Spanish colonies before us, how can we account for the spectacle which they now present? their governments dismembered, society in much the same state as in the feudal ages, their cities going to decay, and every branch of industry checked?

It was upon the elevated table-land of Central America and the Andes that the highest civilization of the aborigines was developed; and to obtain a satisfactory reason for the failure of the Southern Republics, we must search further than any influences of climate, to which the degeneracy of the SpanishAmerican races is generally attributed.

A recent writer on the Brazilian Empire says: "The singular ill-success which has marked almost every attempt to found a stable government on the débris of the great Spanish Empire in the West, is to be attributed to the jealous and monopolizing spirit which governed the conduct of the monarchy toward its dependencies. It systematically degraded the colonies by treating them as an inferior class. It lowered their character and wounded their selfesteem by refusing to recognize them as equals. It planted the vices of slavery in their nature by persisting in treating them as slaves; and when the day of liberation arrived, the moral safeguards were wanting, which alone could safely conduct them through the perils of political emancipation.'

In the early conquests of the Spaniards in America, the conquered districts were divided among the crown favorites, or among the most enterprising of the adventurers; and "repartamientos' of the natives were made, each conqueror appropriating as many as suited his convenience, forcing the proud descendants of Incas and Caciques to menial service. This forced servitude soon assumed all the worst aspects of slavery, and it may well be believed that the rude soldiers of the conquests were not the gentlest of task-masters.

The most unheard-of barbarities were in many instances practised upon the helpless and unoffending natives. In the islands more particularly, the crueltics inflicted by the conquerors were so terrible that the native population was almost annihilated in a few years. Says the 'Relacion del Provisor Morales,' from Peru: 'There are Spaniards here who hunt the Indians with blood-hounds,

both as a recreation and as a means of training their dogs.' So glaring did these outrages become, that in 1542, Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, addressed a memorial to the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, setting forth the abuses, and calling for reform.

Through his exertions, the council of the Indies, having charge of colonial affairs, published a series of laws, virtually abolishing slavery, and in other respects ameliorating in some degree the condition of the natives. The barbarities practised upon them gave way to a steady and systematic oppression. Although the ordinances prohibited the holding of the aborigines as slaves, they did not apply to negroes, of whom numbers were shipped to the Spanish main and the islands, giving rise to a traffic that subsequently added to the income of the kings of Spain, by the taxes imposed upon those engaged in it.

Even the abolition of Indian slavery was more in form than in spirit, for the Peon system which was afterward introduced, and still exists, had all the objectionable features of slavery, and is among the worst of the evils that the Spanish policy has entailed upon her former colonies. The services of the Peon can be transferred to a new master, by selling the debt for which he is holden, and his condition is quite as unfortunate as that of the slave.

Few or no females came to America with the early adventurers, and they consequently soon formed connections with the conquered races. Their descendants, proud of their Spanish blood, looked with contempt upon the race from which their mothers sprang, and considered the term 'Indio' a reproach, while they in turn were treated with scorn by the natives of the Peninsula. Even at the present time, any man who has enough of Indian blood in his veins to color his skin darker than that of a very bilious Spaniard, never addresses a white man but with uncovered head

Spain soon became aware of the character of the mixed population which was thus spread over her vast dominions in the West, and it at once became her policy to keep them in subjection.

Troops of priests were sent amongst them to inculcate principles of blind submission in spiritual affairs, which it was thought (how truly time has shown) would equally secure civil dependence. Although some of these monkish emissaries were men of intelligence and piety, by far the greater number were unprincipled and ignorant, but too well fitted for their task of keeping the colonies in a state of debasing superstition. The gloomy religious rites of the Aztecs, and other races, became associated in the minds of the natives with the imposing ceremonials of the Romish Church, and gave rise to religious fanaticism which has outlasted that of the most priest-ridden countries of Europe.

The only objects, aside from the Church which the Americans were taught to venerate and respect, were Spain and its monarch; and they were made to believe that the king was the greatest sovereign in the world, and that all the nations of Europe were tributary to him.

Meagre as was the literature of Spain during the reign of Charles the Fifth, and his son, that which penetrated the gloom of the colonies was still less. All intercourse between them was jealously guarded, and they were kept as isolated as possible, the object being to prevent any thing like a unity of feeling or ac

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