And now that every thing in our power had bee: done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful God offered prayers for our preservation. I thanked every one for his excellent conduct, and cautioned them, as we should, in all probability, soon appear before our Maker, to enter his presence as men resigned to their fate. We then all sat down in groups, and, sheltered from the wash of the sea by whatever we could find, many of us endeavored to obtain a little sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all the hope of life had left us. Noble as the character of the British sailor is always allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be possible, that, amongst forty-one persons, not one repining word should have been uttered. The officers sat about, wherever they could find a shelter from the sea, and the men lay down conversing with each other with the most perfect calmness. Each was at peace with his neighbor and all the world, and I am firmly persuaded that the resignation which was then shown to the will of the Almighty, was the means of obtaining his mercy. At about 6 P. M., the rudder, which had already received some very heavy blows, rose, and broke up the after-lockers, and this was the last severe shock that the ship received. We found by the well that she made no water, and by dark she struck no more. God was merciful to us, and the tide,. almost miraculously, fell no lower: At dark heavy rain fell, but was borne in patience, for it beat down the gale, and brought with it a light air from the northward. At 9 P. M. the water had deepened to five fathoms. The ship kept off the ground all night, and our exhausted crew obtained some broken rest.'-P. 76.

In humble gratitude for his deliverance, he called the place The Bay of God's mercy,' and offered up thanks and praises to God, for the mercy he had shown to us.'

On 12th September, they had another gale of wind, with cutting showers of sleet, and a heavy sea. At such amoment as this,' says Captain Lyon, we had fresh cause to

deplore the extreme dulness of the Griper's sailing; for though almost any other vessel would have worked off this lee-shore, we made little or no progress on a wind, but remained actually pitching, forecastle under, with scarcely steerage-way, to preserve which, I was ultimately obliged to keep her nearly two points off the wind.'-P. 98.

Another storm overtook them, which is described as follows: 'Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitched at such a rate, that it was not possible to stand, even below; while on deck we were unable to move, without holding by ropes, which were stretched from side to side. The drift snow flew in such could not look to windward,

sharp heavy flakes, that we and it froze on deck to above a foot in depth. The sea made incessant breaches quite fore and aft the ship, and the temporary warmth it gave while it washed over us, was most painfully checked, by its almost immediately freezing on our clothes. To these discomforts were added the horrible uncertainty as to whether the cables would hold until daylight, and the conviction also, that if they failed us, we should instantly be dashed to pieces, the wind blowing directly to the quarter in which we knew the shore must lie. Again, should they continue to hold us, we feared, by the ship's complaining so much forward, that the bits would be torn up, or that she would settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tremendous seas which burst over her. At dawn on the 13th, thirty minutes after four A. M., we found that the best bower cable had parted; and, as the gale now blew with terrific violence from the north, there was little reason to expect that the other anchors would hold long; of, if they did, we pitched so deeply, and lifted so great a body of water each time, that it was feared the windlass and forecastle would be torn up, or she must go down at her anchors: although the ports were knocked out, and a considerable portion of the bulwark cut away, she could scarcely discharge one sea before shipping another, and the decks were frequently flooded to an alarmdopth.

'At six a. M. all farther doubts on this particular account were at an end; for, having received two overwhelming seas, both the other cables went at the same moment, and we were left helpless, without anchors, or any means of saving ourselves, should the shore, as we had every reason to expect, be close astern. And here, again, I had the happiness of witnessing the same general tranquillity as was shown on the 1st of September. There was no outcry that the cables were gone; but my friend Mr. Manico, with Mr. Carr the gunner, came aft as soon as they recovered their legs, and, in the lowest whisper, informed me that the cables had all parted. The ship, in trending to the wind, lay quite down on her broadside, and, as it then became evident that nothing held her, and that she was quite helpless, each man instinctively took his station; while the seamen at the leads, having secured themselves as well as was in their power, repeated their soundings, on which our preservation depended, with as much composure as if we had been entering a friendly port. Here, again, that Almighty power, which had before so mercifully preserved us, granted us his protection.'-P. 100.

Nothing can be more interesting and moving than this narrative; if displays a great predominance of the moral sentiments and intellect, but sadly unenlightened as to the natural laws. I have quoted, in Captain Lyon's own words, his description of the Griper, loaded to such excess that she drew sixteen feet water-that she was incapable of sailing that she was whirled round in an eddy in the Pentland Frith-and that seas broke over her which did not wet the deck of the little Snap, not half her size. Captain Lyon knew all this, and also the roughness of the climate to which he was steering; and, with these outrages of the physical law staring him in the face, he proceeded on hi.. voyage, without addressing, so far as appears from his narrative, one remonstrance to the Lords of the Admiralty on the subject of this infringement of the principles of common prudence. My opinion is, that Captain Lyon was

not blind to the errors committed in his equipment, or to their probable consequences; but that his powerful sentiment of Veneration, combined with Cautiousness and Love of Approbation, (misdirected in this instance,) deprived him of courage to complain to the Admiralty, through fear of giving offence; or that, if he did complain, they prevented him from stating the fact in his narrative. To the tempestuous north he sailed; and his greatest dangers were clearly referrible to the very infringements of the physical laws which he describes. When the tide ebbed, his ship reached to within six feet of the bottom, and, in the hollow of every wave, struck with great violence: but she was loaded at least four feet too deeply, by his own account; so that, if he had done his duty, she would have had four feet of additional water, or ten feet in all, between her and the bottom, even in the hollow of the wave — a matter of the very last importance in such a critical situation. Indeed, with four feet more water, she would no have struck; besides, if less loaded, she would have struck less violently. Again, when pressed upon a lee shore, her incapability of sailing was a most obvious cause of danger. In short, if Providence is to be regarded as the cause of these calamities, there is no impropriety which it is possible for man to commit, that may not, on the same principles, be charged against the Creator.

But the moral law again shines forth in delightful splendor in the conduct of Captain Lyon and his crew, when in the most forlorn condition. Piety, resignation, and manly resolution, then animated them to the noblest efforts. On the principle, that the power of accommodating our conduct to the natural laws depends on the activity of the moral sentiments and intellect, and that the more numerous the faculties that are excited the greater is the energy communicated to the whole system, I would say, that while Captain Lyon's sufferings were in a great degree, brought on by his infringements of the physical laws, his escape was greatly promoted by his obedience to the moral law;

and that Providence, in the whole occurrences, proceeded on the broad and general principle, which sends advantage uniformly as the reward of obedience, and evil as the punishment of infringement, of every particular law of creation.

That storms and tempests have been instituted for some benevolent end, may, perhaps, be acknowledged when their causes and effects are fully known, which at present is not the case. But even amidst all our ignorance of these, it is surprising how small a portion of evil they would occasion if mer. obeyed the laws which are actually ascertained How many ships perish from being sent to sea in an old worn-out condition, and ill-equipped, through mere Acquisitiveness; and how many more, from captains and crews being chosen, who are greatly deficient in knowledge, intelligence, and morality, in consequence of which they infringe the physical laws! The London Courier, of 29th April 1834, contains a list of ten British brigs of war, mostly employed as packet ships, which had foundered at sea within the preceding twelve years, owing to bad construction and bad condition; while, it is remarked, not one American private packet ship, out of the vast number constantly sailing between Liverpool and New York, is recollected to have perished in that manner. Such facts show how little Nature is to blame for the calamities of shipwreck, and to how great an extent they arise from human negligence and folly. We ought to look to all these matters, before we complain of storms as natural institutions.

The last example of the mixed operation of the natural laws which I shall notice, is the result of the mercantile distress in 1825-6. I have traced the origin of that visitation to excessive activity of Acquisitiveness, and a general ascendency of the animal and selfish faculties over the moral and intellectual powers. The punishments of these offences were manifold. The excesses infringed the moral law, and the chastisement for this, was deprivation of the tranquil steady enjoyment that flows only from the moral sentiments, with severe suffering in the ruin of fortune and