tion advances. The Roman Catholic priesthood have felt alarmed, and have exerted themselves to the utmost to oppose the progress of the truth, by every means in their power, from the mandates of their prelates, down to the personal exertions of the priests. The lower orders are forbidden to look into the Tracts, and neither persuasions nor menaces have been wanting to accomplish the object in view. Such opposition, although perhaps successful for a time, must ultimately prove inefficient. The Society has made to various instutions, as well as individuals in Ireland, who are engaged in making known the great truths of the gospel, grants amounting in the whole to nearly 70,000 Tracts.

England. A single individual in London, whose time is occupied in visiting hospitals, prisons, and workhouses, has distributed more than 70,000 Tracts during the past year; his reports are very interesting. At the fairs in London and its vicinity, 158,000 of the Society's publications have been circulated; 14,000 have been given to spectators at the execution of criminals; 32,000 to persons found violating the Sabbath-day; 30,000 to seamen and others engaged on the river Thames, and to mariners proceeding to different parts of the world; 4,000 to soldiers; 16,000 to the pensioners belonging to the Greenwich Hospital; and 34,000 to hop-pickers in Kent and Sussex,

rea

resolutions, spoke nearly to the following effect:-My Hon. Friend, who has just spoken, enlarged on the barbarous horrors perpetrated on the African coast and the middle passage; allow me to travel to the opposite coast, and await the arrival of the slave vessel, to watch the emaciated beings, as their shrinking and wornout forms are delivered over to the planter, who anxiously fixes on them his inhuman eye, and calculates their value by the quantity of suffering he thinks them able to endure. (Applause.) The colonial party, sir, cast on us the imputation of wishing, at one blow, suddenly, unpreparedly, and unguardedly, to effect the abolition of slavery. They charge us with the desire of effecting an immediate emancipation, We all know, sir, that the imputation is not true—that it has no foundation in fact. (Hear, hear.) We feel, sir, that the immediate abolition of that iniquitous system is not practicable; but the planters have their own sons for what they have done; they say to us, "Speak out-tell us the exact period when you think the slaves ought to be emancipated:" they say so, for they know the difficulty in which we are placed, and that silence is imposed on us from a consideration of the class of people whose feelings we must manage with caution; and why? because of the crimes of their masterscrimes and atrocities perpetrated up to the present day, and of which, from generation to generation, their slaves have been the victims. (Applause.) They ask us to "speak out :" We can't; we are compelled to proceed cautiously for their sakes as well as for the slaves-we wish not to intoxicate with the full and inspiring draught of liberty those who hitherto have not enjoyed even the taste of justice. (Great Applause.) They talk, too, of the inva sion of vested rights-of the sacred rights of property. From whom, sir, do we hear of the" invasion of vested rights"-of the "sacred rights of property?" Is it from those who drive their fellow-creatures with the lash? (Applause.) Is it from those who derive their right of property from original acts of spoliation? (Great Applause.) I know, sir, that individually they are innocent of the atrocities committed at a former period, and are not guilty of the crimes by which

their property was acquired. For these considerations I wish to speak of them tenderly but when they come forward and talk of " right" and "justice," I confess I can no longer listen with temper. Sir, these terms are incompatible with slave labour. (Great applause.) They go further, and in the West Indies they talk of the Constitution, and the rights-"the chartered rights of the colonies!" They deny the lawfulness of our interference, when it is for the benefit of their slaves. They sanction, 'tis true, our protecting their lives; they feel no objection to our sending our troops to them, (applause,) but will not allow us to interfere with the right of tenure, which the planter enjoys, of inflicting the lash, the chain, and the branding iron, on 800,000 human beings. (Great applause.) Here, sir, I will, with your permission, read a copy of a protest entered into by the Assembly of Barbadoes against our interference. It is dated May 9, 1823, and is as follows:-"We solemnly protest, in the name of the Constitution, against any such interference as dangerous in principle, and subversive of chartered rights.' What think you, sir, is the invasion of right of which they complain-what the interference against which they protest? It is, sir, with the practice of flogging female slaves. (Great applause.) And can you believe by whose name this precious document is signed ?-absit omen? by the name of Hampden! (Applause.) Not that Hampden of whom Akenside writes

breast,

The little tyrant of his fields withstood;" but of the rice field and the plantation : it is T. C. Hampden, of the Island of Bardadoes. (Immense cheering.) Yes, sir, this is the person who protests against our interference with the branding-iron, the cart-whip, and the chain. (Hear hear.) Sir, I leave these assemblies to their insignificance-I commit all to their obscurity, from the Assembly of the great Island of Jamaica, down to that of St. Kitt's. (A laugh.) We leave them to their patriarchal claims over their slaves. Sir, when these persons come to ask for measures of relief, we should answer them thus;

"We will give you such advantages. provided you produce to us some legislative enactment for the relief of your slaves-we will accede to your wishes when we find you adopt measures to ameliorate the condition of these wretched beings." A certain class of persons, sir, in this country say, and with a degree of confidence truly astonishing, that the condition of the slaves is preferable to that of English labourers. I feel, sir, as much as any individual, the degraded state of the agricultural population-I feel for distresses brought on them by the poor laws and other causes. But, sir, slavery!-(applause)-Good God! how can they speak so! My Honourable Friend has said, and said truly, that description fails when illustrations serve. We, sir, never have seen slavery face to face, thanks to those laws which placed the family of your Royal Highness on the throne, which are to us the surest pledge of the security of our liberties, and the preservation of our rights! (Great cheering.) We, sir, have never seen slavery, and like the great and awful visitations of nature, such as earthquakes or volcanoes, it can be but ill described. Let us for a moment suppose the case of the wretched being returning to his miserable hut, after the toil of a hot and scorching day; let him hear the sound of the lash, and see the cart-whip about to fall on the naked shoulders of his wife and daughter; let us fancy him seize the first weapon that presents itself, and strike to the ground the inhuman monster, for the spirit of man often lurks in a slave's breast, and wrongs may awaken that ardour which years of degradation and of wretchedness have not entirely quenched : such conduct would be looked on as mutiny, and within a short period he is to be seen hanging at the door of his cabin, before the eyes of his family, and of that wife whom he sought to protect. This, sir, is slavery. I have not the merit of inventing the illustration, as the wretched instance of atrocious cruelty actually occurred not more than four years ago. In some colonies the slaves are allowed to marry, and the planters claim great credit for granting such a mighty indulgence. But what is marriage to them? to see their wives, the ten ler partners of their affectionsan what is marriage without the sus ceptibility of affection, and he shoull

say that it is the possession of those fine feelings which forms the line of demarcation between man and sayage (applause) to see his wife toil without remission, and drag on a wretched existence-to see his child handed down with the brand of slavery on its forehead-to see in him not the child of hope but of wretchedness, the inheritor of his father's misery, perhaps the partner of his slavery? (Applause.) Can it be credited that such persons, as well as their masters, are the subjects of the British Crown? In the name of God, I do entreat this Meeting to persevere in their exertions, not to mitigate, but to eradicate slavery. (Hear, hear.) To eradicate slowly, but effectually, even the very name of a crime more atrocious than the ear of man has ever heard of or his imagination can well conceive. (Great applause.) We confine not our efforts to Africa-we seek to destroy slavery wherever it exists. We are paying dear for its continuance, for, sir, it is opposed to every principle of independent commerce. The institutions of this country extended to the West Indies, where slavery prevailed, were a curse instead of a blessing. Their Assemblies there were not wholesome institutions, for they had not a free constituency; neither was trial by jury a blessing to them who did not enjoy freedom, for justice and mercy did not temper their decisions. (Applause.) The Noble Lord concluded by moving the following Resolution :-"Resolved-That this Meeting has heard with peculiar satisfaction, that so respectable a body of merchants and bankers of Paris have presented a petition to both Chambers on the subject of the Slave Trade, praying an inquiry into the truth of the charges brought against their countrymen : and remonstrating on the insufficiency of their legislative prohibitions: and this meeting trusts they will not relax in their generous endeavours till they have put down these criminal traffickers in blood by the force of public opinion, and have also succeeded in removing its present scandal from the law and character of France."

After some introductory observations, Mr. Buxton said, there was no language he could repeat, that would adequately designate this horrible traffic-no term of any language that was not tame and nerveless, and that did

not fail in conveying the feelings of horror which they all entertained of slavery and the miseries that accompanied it. (Hear, hear.) We hate wrong-we hate oppression-we hate fraud and perjury; these we hate severally, but what term shall we apply to a system which embraces and unites in itself the combination of all these calamities and crimes? (hear) and all these were found united in slavery. (Applause.)

Mr. B. then read the following account of an incident which recently occurred on the coast of Africa, from the letter of a respectable gentleman, who states that it fell under his own observation, and vouches for its authenticity:

King Boatswain, our most powerful supporter and steady friend among the natives (so he has uniformly shown himself) received a quantity of goods on trust for a French slaver, for which he stipulated to pay young slaves. He makes it a point of honour to be punctual to his engagements. The time was at hand when he expected the return of the slaver; he had not the slaves. Looking around on the peaceable tribes about him for his victims, he singled out the Queahs, a small agricultural and trading people, of most inoffensive character. His warriors were skilfully distributed to the different hamlets, and making a simultaneous assault on the sleeping occupants in the dead of the night, accomplished, without difficulty or resistance, in one hour, the annihilation of the whole tribe.-Every adult, man and woman, was murdered-every hut fired; very yound children generally shared the fate of their parents. The boys and girls alone were preserved to pay the Frenchman !"

Mr. B. wanted words to express the indignation he felt at the sufferings of these wretched creatures; and still less could he restrain his feelings, when he remembered that these cruelties were executed by European wretches, who deserved the deep execration of every friend to humanity. The infernal traffic was promoted by European villains-by Kings and Princes-Most Catholic Monarchs and immaculate Ministers-by the props of the gospel. (Great applause.) At Paris and Madrid were to be found the real authors of these abominable crimes. (Applause.)

To show the extent to which the slave trade is still carried on by France, and Spain, Mr. B. read the following extract of a letter, from Sir Charles Stuart, the British Ambassador at Paris.

"It is clearly ascertained, by inquiries made on the spot, and on the adjacent coast, by his Majesty's cruisers, that the number of slave cargoes taken out of the River Bonny, in the preceding year, amounted actually to one hundred and ninety; and a similar return from the Calabar, for the like period, made a total for that river alone, of one hundred and sixty-two."

He

So that from two inconsiderable streams hardly visible on the map, no less than 352 cargoes were embarked; if on board each ship there were 300, the whole number of those unfortunate beings led off to slavery in one year, wos 105,600. What mind could grasp or embrace such a fact as that? wanted the power of comprehension to conceive all the murders, the countless miseries, the atrocities, and devastation, which must have been committed in the enslaving such a number of beings. Language failed to express his emotion. If they could not embrace one single instance if they could not imagine the cruelties which were confined to one quarter of Africa, how could they bring themselves to imagine what may be perpetrated within the entire range of that most iniquitous and revolting traffic? If the Meeting kept in mind that not a single day passed but some horror of this nature was occurring, what must be their feelings? Perhaps at that very moment the slave ship was on her passage, and some wretched beings in the hold, crying out for water, and answered by the foul-mouthed curse of the despotic and savage commander.

With respect to the question "Can the British people do any thing themselves, for the suppression of the slave trade?" Mr. B. observed

Yes, for slavery existed in their own colonies. To extinguish slavery was the most effectual mode of abolishing the Slave Trade. Already they had given it a death blow from which it could not recover. He entertained great hopes from the introduction of the system of free labour, for the Slave Trade was incompatible with free labour. With regard to the resolution which some well-intentioned persons

MISSIONS OF THE UNITED BRETHRTN.

FROM letters of the Missionaries at Labrador, addressed to the Society for the furtherance of the gospel, and published in the United Brethren's Missionary Intelligencer, we make the following extracts. The first letter is dated, "OKKAK, July 29, 1824.

"DEAREST BRETHREN,

"The 13th of July was the happy day on which the Harmony arrived and cast anchor in our harbour. This was indeed an unexpected event, for as long as the Mission has existed, the ship has never arrived so early. Filled with joy and gratitude, for this repeated proof of God's mercy, we offered up thanks and praise for the preservation of the ship and her company, both on her voyage home last year, and her safe and expeditious passage to us.

"We thank you in particular, for having so generously attended to our wish, and printed for the use of our Esquimaux congregation, the new and improved hymn-book. They will rejoice to receive it; and we trust that its use will be attended with a special blessing; and that the glorious subject of the life, death, atonement, and merits of our Saviour, will be proclaimed in the songs and praises of our dear people, with renewed ardour and delight. All those who have so kindly laboured, and contributed towards promoting this beautiful part of our worship, will also rejoice to join the saved from among the Esquimaux nation, in singing the eternal song before the throne of the Lamb.

"On the 12th of May, we called to mind the peculiar mercies experienced by the church to which we belong, now for a century since its renewal. When we consider, with what patience and grace the Lord has led us, as a people, and sent us to proclaim his gospel to so