LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD.

NUMBER LXIV.

HAVERSTOCK HILL, (Eng.,) Feb 26, 1859.

MY DEAR FRIEND:—A good many weeks have passed since I was first greeted by your new paper in its new form. (Of this I was reminded by the arrival, a few days since, of the February number.) I sincerely congratulate you on the very great improvement, manifest in the style and arrangement of your journal; I second fully your declaration of sentiments, given on the second page, (except, by the way, the paragraph in which you over estimate that small portion of work it has been my privilege to do for our good cause;) and I again pledge myself, to my many free colored friends in the United States, who are nobly struggling for their just rights—to the poor, trembling fugitive, who is fleeing from his cruel task master, to seek a home on the free shores of Canada—and to the millions that cannot quit their prison-house, (the voice of whose wailing reaches us across the waters of the wide Atlantic)— to these oppressed ones I pledge myself NEVER to desert them nor their sacred cause, "while life, and thought and being last." My work must ever be proportioned to my strength; but during the many weeks, in which two successive years I have been entirely laid aside by protracted illness, it has been an unspeakable comfort to me to know that the many dear friends, whose sympathies it has been my privilege to enlist for the poor slave, and whose co-operation I have secured, were laboring diligently while I was compelled to be idle. At

the risk of being deemed, by a , egotistical, I shall gratify the , by here stating that since my return to England, I have assisted to form twenty new anti-slavery societies among my British sisters, to re-organize many old societies, that were nearly gone into disquietude, and to meet a large number of societies that for years have been faithfully laboring for the negro's welfare. I have traveled many hundreds of miles, in weather of all kinds—been present at more than one hundred and fifty anti-slavery committee meetings, at divers times and places—besides having had the gratification of forming one at anti-slavery gatherings in the social circle, and of there narrating to my kind friends something of what I saw, heard and about American slavery while in the United States. I will here add that whether, I think of the delightful parties of , in the far North, of those at , in the South of our island, or of the countless numbers so kindly and considerately convened for me in the wide space between those two widely sundered points, I am almost oppressed with the weight of gratitude I feel to the many, many dear and highly valued Christian friends, without whose active and untiring co-operation of mission, on behalf of the slave, must have failed. Thanks be to God, who put it into the hearts of so many to come forward, my humble labors have been signally blessed in every point of view! A large amount of money has, up to this time, been collected and sent over by "mine own hand," to my corresponding anti-slavery friends in the United States. I take this opportunity of thanking all who have entrusted me with this pleasant office, and of adding, that I shall be as happy, in time to come, to take

charge of, and to forward as many donations and subscriptions as I have in time past—as well as to attend to the claims of the various anti-slavery societies, with which I correspond, to furnish them with all the information in my power, and to meet them, in committee, when they especially desire it, or occasion calls for it, and my strength any circumstances will admit of it. I am thus explicit, because (ever on the wing) has flown to me across the waters of the wide Atlantic, with the news that I am intending to abandon the cause of the slave! and anon this said wings his flight southward, from dear old Caledonia, fraught with regretful murmurs at the possibility of my (imaginary!) desertion! , my friends! , mine enemies, "," is my motto; let it be yours also, dear friends, so shall we continue to work together for the emancipation of our brethren in bonds, and for the amelioration of the condition of our oppressed colored brothers and sisters, either until the glorious day of their hoped for emancipation arise, and shine upon us, or we are summoned hence to "rest from our labors." Meanwhile, let us "" "while it is called to-day," for we know not how soon, , may the night come "when no man can work." This very day has the sad intelligence reached me of the sudden death of one of my earnest and most devoted anti-slavery co-workers in Montrose, a lady who spent most of her time in doing good. Modest and unpretending, she pursued the even tenor of her way, yet was never found wanting in her labors for the good of others. She is gone to reward; our loss is her eternal gain; but her place will not easily be filled. Another letter

(received to-day) brings me the melancholy tidings of the disablement of one of our clever, energetic, active Secretaries in Huddersfield. A third communication brings me the sad news that our colored friend, JOHNSON, who has been working so hard at College in Edinburgh, and whose conduct is giving so much satisfaction to our friends there, has met with an accident and is confined to bed.—Every hour, in one way or another, the lesson is preached to us to use the diligently, for we know not how soon the time for our portion of work may cease, and our account be called for. The present winter has been one of more than ordinary sickness and mortality. "The mourners go about the streets," and "friend after friend departs." Influenza has had more than its ordinary share of victims, this year. I have not been free from its dire effect since October, and most of January I was a close prisoner, rendered by its insidious and varied onsets upon me, more obtuse than usual, which will account for the long delay of this letter, commenced some weeks ago. Change of air at Willesden, and also at Chelmsford, I trust, done something towards lessening this malady, which has such a tendency to depress the spirits, and to put a upon "Pharoah's chariot wheels!"

I met several most agreeable companies of anti-slavery friends while under the roof of that devoted friend of every thing that is good—dear Mrs. JOHNS. My loved Chelmsford friend always reminds me of that much beloved "mother in Israel," dear Mrs. RENTON, and I think the highest meed of praise I can render to the former. I am rejoiced to say that our Chelmsford friends have decid-

ed to do more for the cause of American slavery in time to come, than heretofore, and will co-operate with our Rochester society. A few weeks since, I had the pleasure of telling the young people that comprise the Juvenile Missionary Society connected with Haverstock Chapel, a little about the poor slaves. You may be sure that I had a sympathizing audience, and many were the tearful eyes, as I told these dear children something of the cold, hunger, and cruel usage experienced by the poor little slave children. How much I wished I had had a dear little ANNIE with me, that I might have shown them what nice, affectionate little girls are, often, made slaves of. The pennies handed to me (the spontaneous offering of these young people for the cause of the slave) amounted to , and much interest was awakened, which will, I trust, be widened and deepened. Juvenile missionary societies are now very general.—Why can we not organize juvenile anti-slavery societies? The hearts of the young are ever tender and sympathizing. Something could be done—should be done— be done on this point; dear young friends, will lead the way, and organize the juvenile anti-slavery association? Will my dear little friends in Bristol lead the way? or my young friend in Barnsley? or shall it be my warmhearted and interested youthful friend, near Dublin?

I had the pleasure, a little time since, of hearing a lecture upon slavery, delivered by a missionary, recently returned from British Guiana, (Rev. Mr. INGRAM.) The lecture was able and interesting; the speaker gave a vivid portraiture of that early to the cause of freedom, the faithful missionary JOHN SMITH, whose sufferings and death in prison did so much to draw the attention of our British nation to slavery—calling forth its sympathy for the slave, as well as the sufferer—rousing its indignation against a system that lives by oppression and wrong, and preparing the way for West Indian Emancipation. While Mr. Ingram told us that vestiges of slavery may yet be seen in British Guiana, he gave us some bright, happy accounts of the negroes there, and by his painting of the lights and shadows of their character, he showed us again and again how completely the negro, with his good and bad qualities, his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows, is a portion of the one human family. —neither is the negro! Mr. Ingram closed his lecture by reference to the slavery of the United States—telling something of what is there doing in regard to it, and quoting from eloquent passages from the speeches of one of my American colored friends."

" does Mr. Douglass say of the revival?" "How is it that Mr. Douglass says about the revival?" "What a pity Frederick Douglass does not tell us more of the revival!" are questions often put to me. The leading article on the first page of F. D.'s February is, I think, a sufficient answer to all these queries. While the American churches "pay tithe of mint, anise and cummin," the weightier matters of the law, , &c., we desire their so-called religion to be propagated? "," should be shouted in the ear of every American of religion, who to be

eager for the spread of the gospel abroad, but will not pray a prayer, nor raise a finger towards "loosing the fettered slaves at home!" One of our venerable Divines in the English Church, in writing to a friend of mine some time since, said:—"One of my children said to me the other day, after family prayers, 'Why, dear papa, were you so much in earnest in praying for slaves, and against slavery?'—I answered, 'I had been reading, before prayers, ,' Slavery has all on its side. ," So writes the venerable Dr. MARSH, one of the fathers of our Church.

I have recently visited the Orphan Working School, near here; but it was the children's dinner time—so I heard and saw none of their exercises. The building is a fine one—well situated, well ventilated—and the children wore a very healthy aspect. The matron was ill—so I did not learn the precise number of inmates. I have lately been asked why I had not performed my promise, and told about that wonderful , founded and carried on by GEORGE MULLER? As I deem that institution interesting of any I have visited in our land, I find myself inadequate to describe it on the impression two visits there made upon me. little orphan girls and boys are there taken care of entirely, being clothed, lodged, fed and educated inside the walls of the institution. I was told that no recommendation is needed—that their being orphans was enough. Mr. Muller desires to receive one thousand, and I quite believe that, according to his faith, it will be done unto him. He is a man of God—a man of prayer and devotion; he recognizes the providence of God in all things, and seems in his own extraordinary experience to have realized the truth of that old saying, "They that watch for Providence shall always find a Providence to watch."

I regretted much that Mr. Muller's absence from home precluded my having an interview with him. I spent two afternoons in visitig the various departments of the school, and was peculiarly delighted with I saw and heard there. The children's comfort, well-being and recreation are all made especial objects of care, and I never beheld a happier looking set of children. They are permitted to enter there, from a month old and upwards! It did my heart good to see the shelves filled with toys in their large play room, and to hear the merry laugh of their young voices. Mr. Muller is no gloomy ascetic, or dreary bigot; but he is a man, possessing unbounded faith and trust in God, and when he needs any thing for his orphan school, he asks God for it, as a child asks its father. People may smile or sneer—he cares not—the aid asked for alwyas comes—the school flourishes . Mr. Muller is manager, treasurer, &c., and never yet has the barrel of meal been empty, nor the cruise of oil failed in time of need. To theorize on all these wonders might be difficult and dangerous; but near Bristol this wonderfully conducted school rears its head, and I advise all my friends, who may have the opportunity, to visit Muller's Orphan School. Long may it flourish, a happy home for poor fatherless children and when its excellent founder is called to meet his rich reward, may his mantle

descend on some meet successor, who shall carry forward the object so dear to the heart of George Muller.

Ere I close, let me say that if, perchance, no line of mine meets the eye of my friends in the number of the monthly paper, I quite hope and intend to resume my letters in the month following, and to continue them regularly in time to come. With kind regards to all my Rochester friends, believe me, now and ever, to remain,

Your faithful and sincere friend,

JULIA GRIFFITHS.