INSURRECTION OF THE JACQUERIE IN FRANCE. 113 sightedness are always on the outlook lest they be duped, or, as they express it, taken in. Better is it to be a dupe through life, than to be suspicious and distrustful of your fellow-beings. The credulity which has faith in goodness, is a sign of goodness.-MISS SEDGEWICK. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS-RESPECTING THE EVERY man has a right by nature to his personal freedom. He is entitled to do what he pleases, that is not offensive or hurtful to others. He is entitled to think on any subject as he pleases, and also to express his thoughts, if he does not thereby tend to endanger the public peace. Therefore, for one man to make another a slave, or to attempt to control his actions or his thoughts when he is not doing harm to any one, is as great a breach of conscientiousness as to seize his land or filch his purse. INSURRECTION OF THE JACQUERIE IN FRANCE. Kings, nobles, and all others who have much power or influence over their fellow-creatures, ought to use that power with mildness and equity, and, as far as in them lies, for the benefit of those beneath them. When they do otherwise, the results are often dreadful, for though the people are generally disposed to submit to a just and beneficent rule, they become infuriated under oppression and injustice. Of this we find a memorable instance in the wars of the Jacquerie, which took place in France in the fourteenth century, as thus described by Sir Walter Scott: "This Jacquerie, or war of the peasants, so called because the gentry gave to them the contemptuous name of Jacques Bonhomme, or Goodman James, was the most dreadful scourge which had yet ravaged France. It arose from the oppression, scorn, and injury, which the peasants, or culti H vators of the soil, had long sustained at the hands of the nobility and gentry. These last saw in the peasantry creatures whom they deemed of an inferior species to themselves, and whose property and persons they held alike at their disposal. What little protection the common people had received from the crown, was now at an end, by the king's captivity, and the general confusion throughout the kingdom. In these sad days, each noble or knight became the uncontrolled tyrant of the estate which belonged to him; and most of them were induced, by the intoxication attending the possession of arbitrary power, to make a harsh and tyrannical use of their privileges, each practising on his vassals the most unlimited oppression. The effects of such absolute power at length drove to despair the peasantry, who were themselves starving, while, as an insult to their misery, they saw their lords revelling in the excess of luxury and ill-timed extravagance. Seizing such rustic arms as pitchforks, scythes, clubs, and reaping-hooks, they rose with fury, and joined together in large bodies, resolving to destroy all the nobility and gentry in the kingdom. This insurrection took place in several provinces; and, as is usually the case in a war of such a description, where an oppressed and ignorant people burst suddenly from their bondage, and revel in every licence which ignorance and revenge can suggest to them, they burnt or pulled down the houses of the nobility, stormed their castles by main force, misused their wives and daughters, put them to various modes of death, equally cruel and protracted, and in short behaved like fierce bandogs, suddenly unloosed from their chain, and equally incapable of judgment and of humanity. We willingly leave these horrors in oblivion, only remarking, that it is a double curse of slavery and oppression, that for a time it renders its victims, after they have succeeded in breaking their bonds, incapable of thinking like human beings." THOMAS CLARKSON. Previously to the year 1785, scarcely any one had publicly questioned the propriety of keeping slaves in the West Indies, or of annually adding thousands to their number by importations of negroes from Africa. In that year the master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, gave out amongst the students, as a subject for one of the university prizes, the question, "Is it right to make slaves of others against their will?" Thomas Clarkson, one of the students, took pains to acquire information on the subject, and his essay gained the prize. The day after reading it in public, he set out on horseback for London. His essay occupied all his thoughts. As he journeyed on, he became at times seriously affected. At length, stopping his horse, he sat down by the wayside. He tried to persuade himself that the contents of the essay were not true, but the authorities were such as to make this seem impossible. Allowing, then, that such cruelties were perpetrated by Britons upon the poor Africans, he could not help feeling that it was an imperative duty in some one to undertake the task of awaking public feeling to a just sense of the case. He reached London in a state of great agitation. Soon afterwards, he published his essay, which attracted much attention. Still he saw that something else was necessary. The publication of an essay was not sufficient of itself to put an end to the slave trade. He became convinced that it was necessary that some one should entirely devote himself to this object. The question then was, was he himself called upon to do it? His own peace of mind required that he should give a final answer to the question. To do this he retired frequently into solitude. The result was, that, after the most mature deliberation, he resolved to devote his whole life, should it be necessary, to the cause. Mr Clarkson originated a society for the abolition of the slave-trade, and many influential men became members of it. By holding meetings, and by publishing descriptions of slavery, and arguments against it, this society soon roused the indignation of a large portion of the public against the trade. Mr Clarkson, as secretary, was the person on whom most of the trouble fell. For six years he laboured so hard at his duties, that at length his constitution seemed about to give way; his hearing, voice, and memory, were nearly gone; and he was obliged, for the sake of life, to relax in his exertions. Eight years after, finding his health restored, he returned to his generous labours. In the course of these, he suffered great reproach from all who had an interest in slavery, and his life was on more than one occasion exposed to danger. He nevertheless persevered, till, in 1807, an act of parliament was passed for abolishing the slave-trade-an event, to have foretold which twenty years before, would have caused any one to be set down as a visionary. The example of Britain was followed in a few years by most other European governments; and in 1834, slavery itself was extinguished in the British dominions, at the expense of twenty millions of pounds sterling. All of these great results, by which so much human misery is spared, may be traced to the benevolence of one man, who, through mere love of his fellow-creatures, and a strong sense of justice, devoted himself to a task from which all ordinary minds would have shrunk. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS-IN DISCHARGE OF DUTY. WHEN any one agrees, for money or other reward, to do any thing for another, whether to serve in his house, or to dig in his field, or to work in his shop or factory, or to attend to his health or defend his interests at law, that other person trusts to have the service well done. If the serving party do not faithfully perform his duty, he deceives his employer, and takes money which he has not fairly earned-which is nearly the same thing as stealing it. One may engage to work to another for a certain time every day-say for ten hours-for which he is to receive certain wages. If he idles an hour, he may be said to steal from his employer the tenth part of what he receives. In order to be entitled to esteem, every one who undertakes any service for another must faithfully and carefully do the whole of what he undertakes. If the engagement refer to time, he must not spend a minute unnecessarily in idleness. THE BLIND MAN AND THE DOG. 117 There are also duties which we have to perform to large classes of men, or to the nation at large; and here we are as much called upon to be faithful to our trust. In electing a public servant or officer, those who exercise the right of choosing are called upon to consider nothing but the fitness of the candidate to perform his duties well. A magistrate or any other ruler must act solely for the public good. A judge must use every endeavour to do justice between man and man. Neither for fear nor favour should we allow ourselves to be prevented from executing these public duties faithfully. If a friend asks us for our advice, we are equally bound to advise what we conscientiously think will be best for his interest. If he wishes to know our opinion of any one whom he intends to employ or trust, we must give our opinion truly. We must not, from good nature or fear of offending, recommend one of whom we do not think well. That would be to deceive our friend, and induce him to trust one who might deceive him still more. We should, in such a case, tell the whole truth, however painful it may be to do so. THE BLIND BEGGAR AND THE DOG. When a poor old blind man is obliged to live by begging, he sometimes employs a dog to lead him about. He holds the animal by a string, and trusts to its sense and fidelity for being led in the right path, and not into deep waters, or over precipices, where his life would be in danger. In the city of Rome there was once a blind beggar, who was conducted by a dog. It was a dog of uncommon sagacity, and very kind, and also just, in all its dealings with its master. The old man went twice a-week through certain streets, calling at particular houses, where he expected to receive alms. The dog knew all the proper streets, through which his master was to be led, and also every door in those streets, where it was likely that any thing would be got. While the old man was knocking at the door, and asking for alms, the dog lay down to rest; but as soon as the alms had been either given or refused, the animal rose, and proceeded to |