LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD—NO. LXXV.

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HALIFAX, Whit Wednesday, 1861.
MY DEAR FRIEND:— Yesterday was a day that will not soon be forgotten in this region
of country. It ws here made memorable by witnessing the sixth commemoration of the
Sunday School Juvenile, (of 1831,) which took place in the spacious Piece Hall of Halifax, where nearly 40,000 persons were assembled, including scholars, teachers and spectators. By thousands of young people this 'Whit Tuesday' had been eagerly looked forward to for months past—the hope that the weather would be fine, and the fear lest it should be wet, alternately dwelling in the minds of many, according to their temperament. The rising barometers, too, had their effect on numbers; and the disciples of hope gained an entire victory; for the weather was gloriously fine — just the weather for the occasion—bright Phoebus mounted his chariot of day betimes, and shone down in full splendor on the smiling faces of the numerous bands of happy children as they entered the Hall. I do not remember whether you visited this curious old Piece Hall when here? It is one of the memorials of an age by, and is peculiarly fitted, by its structure, for large gatherings. It is a vast quadrangular building, comprising two massive stone galleries, supported by colums, and enclosing a spacious area of grass plot. This area (entirely open to the winds of heaven) was appropriated to the schools; the galleries (and some barricades erected for the occasion) were filled with spectators; the latter commenced taking their places at 9 o'clock, and soon all the seats were filled. It was woe to those who were tardy in their movements; standing was their penalty. The various committees had arduous work to do, and they did it well—for in perfect order the schools commenced to enter at 10 o'clock, one by one, most of them headed by a band; and as they marched to the sounds of cheerful music, with their gay dresses and waving banners, to the places marked out for their standing, the sight was intensely interesting, as well as highly picturesque, and much do I pity the being who could have beheld it unmoved. Two hours were employed in the entrance of the 28,752 scholars and teachers, 970 of whom were from 'Salem,' which ranked third in numbers Zion taking the lead in that respect. By a

few minutes after 12, the last school had entered, the last space was filled, and all was
excitement and eager expectations as the orchestra performers were seen duly preparing their various instruments, and Mr. DEAN mounted the conductor's box. The first tune was a composition of the conductor, Mr. DEAN, very appropriate to the words, doubtless, yet, possibly, scarcely so attractive to the hearers as an older and more well-known composition would have been. Still, manifestations of general satisfaction were apparent as the first hymn closed with the words:

"The day of Jubilee! make way!
Blow ye the trumpet, blow!
It is the time of joy, to-day,
This joy all earth shall know;
Let children take the blissful strain,
And send its echo back again."

The second hymn (St. George) was extremely well sung, and hearty encores were responded to. Then came the refreshment season, (not the least part of the entertainment to many a hungry child.) Buns and

water were bountifully supplied to the schools, while the visitors refreshed themselves according to their respective arrangements. Then came the renewal of the performance, the grandest feature of which was Handel's worldrenowned 'Hallelujah Chorus,' which, sung as it then was by 28,000 voices, produced an almost overpowering effect. the West Riding of Yorkshire is, you know, justly famed for choral singing, and admirably these juvenile singers sustained their character on this occasion. 'Before Jehovah's awful Throne' was one of the gems of the day, and the National Anthem concluded the whole. Seven hours' stay in the Hall indisposed us for remaining longer; but many lingered, looking down into the vast area, and listening to the sounds that ascended, which conveyed to their ears the words, 'When shall we all meet again?' — a question involving solemn thoughts—thoughts with which time has nothing to do — for the last hour will have sounded, the last minute will have passed, and time itself will have rolled away ere again that vast assemblage of beings shall re-assemble and view all things, not as 'now, through a glass darkly,' but in the resplendent light of eternity.

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GROVE TERRACE, LEEDS, June 27th.

Finding it impossible to continue my epistle and forward it in time for your July Monthly, my dear friend, (in consequence of pressing engagements and arrangements, with which you are are ere this made acquainted,) I have allowed my scribble to stand over longer than I first intended; but it will reach your hands, duly, (D.V.,) for the August issue.

Your June number is here—a welcome visitor. The article headed, 'A Change of Attitude,' amuses me exceedingly. I should as soon have looked for a change of opinion, on the Union subject, in my fellow-passenger, the Louisiana slaveholder, as in the Messieurs to whom you refer. 'I go for the dissolution of the Union,' said he; 'we go for the dissolution of the Union,' they echoed in times of old. The similarity of the watchword, coming, as it did, from such opposite points as New Orleans and Boston, presented an enigma not easy to solve. 'Where are those dreamers now?' we may be pardoned for asking. I remember that, as far back as the winter of '54, when the fate of the Kansas and Nebraska bill was pending, rumors were rife

in Washington that the ultra Southern party had formed a programme, and were but waiting the proper time to carry it out. The dissolution of the Union, and the forming a Southern Confederacy were, in all probability, parts of the drama intended to be performed.

I have just read, with the intense interest, our noble friend GERRIT SMITHSmith, Gerrit

Gerrit Smith (1797– 1874), a New York businessman and land speculator, became best known for his philanthropic work for such reform causes as temperance and abolition. Between 1828 and 1835, he donated large sums of money to the American Colonization Society, but abandoned that movement in 1835 when his sympathies shifted to the immediate abolitionists. In the 1840s, he gave approximately 140,000 acres of land in upstate New York to three thousand black settlers, thus qualifying them to vote. Smith was a founder and frequent candidate of the Liberty party, running for governor of New York on that ticket in 1840 and winning a seat in Congress in 1852. When the Free Soil merger with moderate antislavery Democrats and Whigs lured away many Liberty party supporters, Smith helped bankroll that organization until 1860. Smith befriended Douglass when the latter moved to Rochester, and Smith frequently helped finance Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Like Douglass, Smith supported John Brown, but psychological stress caused by the failure at Harpers Ferry brought on the first of a series of bipolar episodes that greatly reduced his subsequent reform activities. Ralph Volney Harlow, Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer (1939; New York, 1972); Gerald Sorin, The New York Abolitionists: A Case Study of Political Radicalism (Westport, Conn., 1971), 269– 87; Lewis Perry, Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought (Ithaca, N.Y., 1973), 170– 80; John R. McKivigan and Madeleine Leveille, “The ‘Black Dream’ of Gerrit Smith, New York Abolitionist,” Syracuse University Library Associates Courier, 20:61– 76 (Fall 1985); NCAB , 2:322– 23; DAB, 17:270– 71. 'S great speech on the rebellion, delivered at Peterboro, recently, every sentence of which is pungent and telling. Had he been listened to in the House of Representatives, how different would the state of matters be now in the States, 'united' no more. He thought and spoke in advance of his age; and yet what the many deemed wild enthusiasm and fanaticism, has proved to be the profoundest wisdom. I am struck by several of his assertions, (viz:) 'THE FIRST GUN FIRED AT FORT SUMTER ANNOUNCED THE FACT THAT THE LAST FUGITIVE SLAVE HAD BEEN RETURNED.' 'IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT WE HAVE A SOUTH WICKED ENOUGH TO DGO AGAINST—WE MUST HAVE A NORTH RIGHTEOUS ENOUGH TO GO FOR.' Would that this last sentence could be engraven on the heart of every American citizen north of Mason and Dixon's line.

Every American mail is watched for with great anxiety throughout our country, and
'What is the last American news?' is a general inquiry. You will know that he London Times has its 'Special Correspondent' in the Southern States, watching and reporting the sayings and doings of the Southern Confederacy. Many and strange are the incidents and adventures he appears to meet with; very generally his articles are read; and they must do good, since they serve to enlighten the people in this country on the wild lawlessness and reckless disregard of life so prevalent in the South, if they do not show up distinctly the sin and guilt of slaveholding.

A few weeks before leaving Halifax, I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture on slavery and its present aspects, from Mr. PHILIP CARPENTER. His having lately returned from the States, as well as his taking (as you well know) a very deep interest on the subject, rendered both his lecture and his conversation particularly interesting and instructive. I was much

gratified to meet him, and to find one Englishman returned home from a tour in the States imbued with even more horror of slavery than he had when he quitted his own land. Apologists for slavery are so common among returned English travellers, that it is refreshing to find a sterling Englishman whose thorough anti-slavery principles have stood firm amidst the ordeal through which he is called to pass, not only while travelling through the slaveholding South, but ever and anon while passing through the length and breadth of the timorous and half-and-half anti-slavery North.

It is quite perplexing to some of our friends here, who read but little on the subject, that I do not respond more joyously to their questions concerning the end of slavery, which they consider is to be extinguished speedily by the Northerners. They will have it that the war is 'between slavery and freedom, and picture the whole combined North fighting for the glorious cause of liberty against the tyrannical South.' Would that it were so! I had almost said, but for the sake of my dear peace friends, whose consciences I should thereby pain. 'First pure, then peaceable,' says the Apostle; and until evil men and evil powers have ceased to be, I cannot see how peace can universally reign.

I have seen Mr. DAY and Mr. TROY recently. They are both working hard, and I trust successfully. I believe there is a probability of ANDERSON coming to Leeds soon. A first of August demonstration is spoken of. I hope this will be carried out by the Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society here, which society seems in earnest, and earnestness is needed to effect any real good in the anti-slavery work. I wish that all who profess anti-slavery principles would follow two injunctions of Divine writ—'Now, therefore, perform the doing of it,' and 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.'

We are having a glorious, old fashioned summer; bright sunshine, and clear blue skies are visible in our foggy island for many days together, and thoroughly the people enjoy them by running away as much as possible from the hum and din of cities, to the coun-

try and to the sea side. We had such an Arctic season last year, that fires were
indispensable, and summer costumes invisible. Now it is just the reverse; every thing relative to hay-making and harvest is propitious, (thanks to the Giver of all good!) and cheerfulness is manifest on all sides save where American trade preponderates, and there we have gloom and trouble.

The Continental news will have reached you ere this arrives, and you will have learnt with regret that the noble, true patriot and great statesman, Count CAVOUR, is no more. There is little doubt but that he sunk under the weight of duties and responsibilites devolving on him. 'His hair,' we are told, 'turned quite white during his short illness.' 'Tell every body,' he said, 'and publish it in the journals, that I die a true Christian.' Baron RICASOLI has been induced to accept his difficult post, and produced a favorable impression on his first appearance in Parliament—But the mourning for the departed CAVOUR is universal ; and it seems to us, short sighted mortals, that poor Italy can ill afford to lose one of the noblest of her patriot sons; but God 'doeth according to His will,' 'among the inhabitants of earth, and none can stay His hand or say, What doest Thou?' How often do we see the man to whom all eyes are turned, and on whom all hopes are fixed, suddenly removed. What a contrast to Count CAVOUR is presented in the distinguished American statesman, lately deceased, STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. It makes one sigh to think of his powerful mind, his mistaken course, his lost opportunites, and his sudden end, coming as it did just when there seemed a hope of his retrieving, to some extent, his past mistake, by rallying round the Union flag, and cutting loose from his Southern affinities. I need no daguerreotype to bring his appearance to mind. It seemed to me as day after day I watched him from the gallery of the Senate Chamber at Washington, a few years since, and contemplated his massive head, his coruscated brow, and his rapid movements, and listened to his impetuous and daring words, that power was manifest in all, and that, single handed, almost he might, like another WARWICK, turn the scale either way,

for York or Lancaster, freedom or slavery.—Poor man! he chose the worse part, and has fallen another victim to insatiate ambition, and 'praise and blame fall on his ear alike now cold in death.'

Our excellent and aged Lord Chancellor (CAMPBELL) was found dead in his room last
Sunday morning. He died in harness. He sat on the bench on Saturday, heard a case,
and intimated that 'he would take time to consider his judgement.' He went to a Cabinet Council in the afternoon, entertained a party of friends in the evening, retired to his room and died.

The Sultan is decreased, and the Pope seriously ill.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S aged father, Rev. PATRICK BRONTE, having long outlived his gifted children, has at length been called home.

You will have heard of the fearful fire that we have had in London, the most disastrous since the one termed 'the great fire of London.' The country was illuminated by the [flames?] for twenty miles round the metropolis, and three millions worth of property is said to have been destroyed. The able, energetic and worthy Mr. BRAIDWOOD, Chief of the Fire Brigade, has fallen a victim to the flames, while doing his duty at his post of danger.

My letter is of a very desultory nature, but so full of news that I shall not apologize for it; but, with out united regards, assure you that I remain, as always,

Your faithful friend,

JULIA G. CROFTS.