Babylonian exile. By means of the Jews, the Chaldee was transplanted into Palestine, where it became the vernacular tongue, and was employed by them, as it had been in Babylonia, as the language of books. Though the Chaldee as spoken by the Jews partook somewhat of the Hebrew character, no entire or very important corruption of it took place; and to this circumstance alone the Babylonians are indebted for the partial preservation of their language, which in the mother country, since the spread of Islamism, has been totally extinct. The principal remains of the Chaldee dialect in our possession, are a part of Ezra and Daniel, a few verses in Jeremiah, and the targums, a class of translations and paraphrases of the books of the Old Testament. The same letters and vowel points are employed as in Hebrew. The language also closely resembles the Syriac.

The work of Mr. Riggs comprises all the necessary helps for an adequate acquaintance with Chaldee.

12.-An Appeal in favor of that class of American's called Africans. By Mrs. Child, author of the Mother's Book, c. Boston: Allen & Ticknor. 1833. pp. 232.

An Appeal to Christians on the Subject of Slavery. By John Hersey. Baltimore: John W. Woods. 1833. pp. 120.

THE first chapter in Mrs. Child's book gives a brief history of negro slavery, and of its inevitable effects upon all concerned in it. The second chapter is employed in depicting the system, as it has existed in different ages and nations, showing that the greater the liberty enjoyed by the oppressors, the greater the misery of the oppressed. Free and slave labor are then compared, and the possibility of safe emancipation argued. The fourth subject discussed is the political bearings of slavery. The Colonization and Anti-slavery Societies then pass in review. Mrs. Child proceeds to vindicate the intellectual and moral character of the negroes, and closes with some remarks on the prejudice which is cherished in respect to the color of the skin.

The book is full of interesting anecdote, and of important principles, very happily illustrated. The spirit in which it is written is candid, and in all respects becoming. Even in the chapter on the Colonization Society, there is nothing like a spirit of denunciation, or angry invective. We see no reason for the fears and entreaties which Mrs. C. has expressed in her preface. The cause in which she is engaged is not so unpopular as she supposes it to be. Great numbers of people, both friends of colonization and others, think, in respect to most of the topics of inquiry, as Mrs. Child does. Her independence, therefore, or her audacity, as she feared it might be called, was by no means so great as she imagined. We differ from her in respect to one

subject, but we are glad she has written the book. She holds a fearless and a practised pen, and can do great good by employing it in behalf of crushed and outraged humanity. We will join her, with all the little force which we can command, in efforts to extirpate the wicked prejudice which is felt against the color of the skin; in effort to raise up the colored population to a full participation in all the blessings of freedom and education.

At the same time, we must differ from her in respect to the influence and tendency of the Colonization Society. Her first objection is, that the "Colonization Society tends to put public opinion asleep, on a subject where it needs to be wide awake." Now we believe the very reverse of this proposition. The Colonization Society, in our opinion, has created that influence in favor of the colored people, and adverse to slavery, which the opponents of the society now employ in denouncing the society. We have innumerable facts in point. We have been specially interested in this subject for ten years, and have heard many addresses, and read whatever of importance has issued from the press. One of the most ardent friends of the society delivered an address a few years since, in a college. This address was afterwards printed in one of the most widely circulated papers in New England. The publication called forth a number of replies and rejoinders from slave-holders. The pieces were then collected in a pamphlet, and circulated in South Carolina, at the instance of a clergyman of that State. This address holds stronger language in respect to slavery, than can be found in Mrs. Child's book. Another friend of the society wrote a tract mainly on the evils of slavery, which was circulated by thousands over the whole of New England. Other individuals wrote series of essays, which were published in various portions of New England, mainly on the evils of slavery. At the south, the circulation of the African Repository has drawn forth discussions, able, thorough, effective. Witness Mr. Fitzhugh's articles in the Richmond Enquirer, or the excitement that Mr. Maxwell occasioned in Norfolk. But we have no room for further statements. We can prove the incorrectness of Mrs. Child's position, if need be, by an induction of particulars.

"In the next place, many of the colonizationists, (I suppose it does not apply to all,) are averse to giving the blacks a good education; and they are not friendly to the establishment of schools and colleges for that purpose." The proof? Where are the many colonizationists? We venture to say, nowhere. The press, in favor of the Colonization Society, has been nearly unanimous in expression of their disapprobation of the late law passed in Connecticut. No ingenuity can identify Miss Crandall's prosecutors with the colonization cause. The project of founding a college at New Haven, was not opposed by the prin cipal colonizationists of that city, much less by others elsewhere.

The religious paper of that city vigorously supported the cause of the Africans, at that time. Colonization men, to our knowledge, have been for years instructing colored people in Bible classes and Sabbath schools, in several of the largest towns in New England. The principal efforts which have been made in the city of Boston for this purpose, have been made by friends of the Colonization Society. We have no doubt that this is the fact throughout the country. What Mrs. C. says about the natural inferiority of the colored race, the danger of giving them knowledge, &c., we consider wholly out of place. The friends of the Colonization Society have no scruples on this point. We have been urging the same thing for years.

"My third and greatest objection to the Colonization Society is, that its members write and speak, both in public and private, as if the prejudice against skins darker colored than our own, was a fixed and unalterable law of our nature, which cannot possibly be changed."

We think this to be an assertion incapable of proof. One of the staunchest advocates of the society, in a speech delivered in Boston, last winter, made it his special object to meet and confute this prejudice. Besides, the labors of the society tend most directly to elevate and ennoble the African race, those who remain in this country, as well as those who emigrate. It is drawing sympathy to the whole of the colored people. It is expending its philanthropy in their behalf. It is giving a practical proof to the world, that the negroes are men, capable of self-government, of feeling responsibility, and of discharging all the duties of society. The great reason of the prejudice which exists against the color of the skin, is that that color is associated with mental and moral inferiority. Remove that inferiority, and you remove the prejudice; and to remove the inferiority, give examples of negro ability and talent. Moreover, has not the society a right to make use of the existing condition of the colored people, confessedly deplorable, as an argument for their voluntary removal? Where is the hardship or wrongfulness of this course? The friends of the society do not discourage the education and moral elevation of the colored people, who remain in this country. On the contrary, they are among their most ardent friends. Has not England a right to present motives before her surplus population, to induce them to remove to New South Wales, and to use the argument of existing and apparently insuperable difficulties, in the way of their elevation, as a reason why this population should remove? It was a wicked prejudice which induced our fathers to leave England and come to these shores. Still it was perfectly right to make use of this prejudice as a motive for the emigration of the pilgrims.

Where Mrs. Child has quoted a statement from the colonization reports, or from the African Repository, in disparagement

of the colored people, we can quote ten in their vindication. These publications are full of attestations of their generous dispositions, and of their capacity for intellectual and moral improvement. What is said about the impossibility of transporting the colored people to Africa, does not require a serious answer. Would it bankrupt the treasury of the world' to expend three and a half million of dollars a year-the sum which Mrs. C. says is necessary-for the transportation of 70,000 yearly to Africa? We think it would not quite bankrupt the treasury of the United States. Besides, to keep the evil just where it is, it is not required to transport 70,000 a year. The prolific class, or that between fifteen and forty, would, beyond a question, emigrate, in preference to the very young or the very old. If 20,000 in a year can be transported, it will most essentially mitigate the evil, and most essentially benefit Africa; and cannot ten such colonies as Liberia be established? Mrs. Child says that famines have already been produced, even by the few that have been sent. Will one hundred and fifty free blacks,' the number which she says has been sent out yearly to Africa, produce a famine, in a tropical climate, where vegetation is luxuriant almost beyond a parallel! Where is the proof that these famines have existed?

Mr. Hersey, the author of the other book, whose title we have given, is a citizen of a slave State, an uncompromising enemy of slavery, and yet a warm friend of the Colonization Society! He . at least does not allow his friendship to the society to blind his eyes to the iniquities of the slave system. He considers the system too disgraceful, cruel, dangerous, and unjust.' He reasons with great earnestness and in a truly Christian spirit.

13.- The Mother at Home; or the Principles of Maternal Duty familiarly illustrated. By John S. C. Abbott, pastor of the Calvinist church, Worcester, Massachusetts. Second edition. Boston Crocker & Brewster. pp. 164.

We are not surprised that this book has so soon reached a second edition. It is written in a fascinating style, with all that interchange of incident, dialogue, appeal, and inculcation of important principle, which will make it deservedly popular. We consider the advice which Mr. Abbott gives on many points, as remarkably well balanced. He avoids the evils of extremes, or of attachment to a favorite theory, with remarkable skill. The third chapter, on maternal authority, contains several excellent proofs in point. The style, in our opinion, is well chosen-a medium between the dignified and solemn, and the light and childish; into both of which, writers on these subjects are apt to fall.

We have two or three remarks which may be of some use in

subsequent editions. One is that Mr. A. has several favorite expressions, which he repeats too frequently. The phrases 'guide to the Saviour,' 'lead to the Saviour,' &c. are oftentimes employed. The phrases wanderer,' 'wandering in sin,' also frequently occur. On the 16th page is the following sentence"Had Washington and Byron exchanged cradles, during the first month of their infancy, it is very certain that their characters would have been entirely changed," &c. With all our belief in the importance of education, and of maternal influence, we cannot assent to that proposition. We believe there is an original difference, which the utmost efforts of discipline cannot change. There was not a particle of poetry in Washington's nature. Did not Byron receive from his mother a physical constitution, conformed to the constitution of that mother, and which no subsequent efforts could have entirely changed; and did not that constitution affect his mind and his heart? We should have been better pleased with the chapters on religious education, if the author had given more prominence to the difficulties in the way of early piety. In the minds of amiable and well educated children, there is not unfrequently a very severe struggle, before they give evidence of sincere piety.