XV. He remembers that it is generally better to im 66 prove many things than one.* Beware," says Lord Bacon, "of sudden change in any great point of diet, and, if necessity enforce it, fit the rest to it; for it is a secret, both in nature and art, that it is safer to change many things than one." In the beautiful scenery at Bolton Abbey, there is a vale of oaks which has stood for centuries. By underdraining an adjoining field, they have been deprived of their accustomed nourishment, and are all dead. See," said one of the visitors, "the danger of reform, without considering what evil may be produced by the change." XVI. 66 He considers whether any pecuniary loss is sustained by the change, that he may compensate it. t * Has not this been the mistake of the late reformers in the parliament of England? + See Traités de Législation, vol. iii. p. 144. Maximes relatives à la manière de transplanter les Lois. See also the previous chapter, Des Egards dus aux Institutions existantes. See also vol. i. p. 226. Suppression des places et des pensions sans dédommager les individus qui en étoient possesseurs. See also Théorie des Peines et des Récompenses, Chap. xi. Des Réformes.-Brougham's Speech. H XVII. Seeing the work that he has made, and seeing that it is good, he retires to the charities of private life. At the conclusion of the American war, the hour approached in which it became necessary for General Washington to take leave of his army who had been endeared to him by a long series of common sufferings and dangers. The officers having previously assembled, General Washington, calling for a glass of wine, thus addressed them: -"With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you: I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honourable." The officers came up successively, and he took an affectionate leave of each of them. The General then left the room and passed through the corps of light infantry to the place of embarkation, the officers all following him. his entering the barge to cross the North River, he turned towards the companions of his glory, and by waving his hat, bid them farewell, Some answered this last signal of respect and affection with tears, and all hung upon the barge which conveyed him from their sight till they could no longer distinguish in it the person of their beloved commander. On Thomas Clarkson thus speaks of the conclusion of the contest on the Slave Trade : The Bishop of Llandaff said, “This great act of justice will be recorded in heaven." Lord Grenville then congratulated the house on the completion of the most glorious measure that had ever been adopted by any legislative body in the world. This was the last act of the administration of Lord Grenville, an administration which, 'on account of its virtuous exertions in behalf of the oppressed African race, will pass to posterity, living through successive generations, in the love and gratitude of the virtuous. Thus ended one of the most glorious contests, after a continuance for twenty years, of any ever carried on in any age or country; a contest not of brutal violence, but of reason; a contest between those who felt deeply for the happiness and the honour of their fellow creatures, and those who through vicious custom and the impulse of avarice, had trampled under foot the sacred rights of their nature, and had even attempted to efface all title to the divine image from their minds. Reader, thou art now acquainted with the history of this contest. Rejoice in the manner of its termination; and, grateful for the event, retire within thy closet and pour out thy thanksgivings to the Almighty for this his unspeakable act of mercy to thy oppressed fellow creatures. |