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system of largesse and bribery to their Sirdars, or chiefs, which no employer, however exposed to it, both as an unprofitable expense, and a fruitful source of disorder, trouble, and insubordination, can escape from. In spite of every effort on our part, the number of hands on our estates is diminishing, instead of increasing; and we are obliged to see our flourishing but costly plantations, outgrown and choked by the weeds at this most critical period of the year; and it may be said, that the colony, looking at the extent of the ground under cultivation, the produce to be saved, and its probable price, is not better provided in regard to profitable labour than before the immigration began, so that a disinterested observer would look in vain for any sign of improvement in this respect, notwithstanding the enormous expense gone to for this single object.”

Such being the case they advise "the introduction, during the current year, of 12,000 men ;" and they add that this addition to the present population, "aided by internal regulations," would "produce considerable effect."

No doubt; but, asks his excellency, where is the money to come from? How is "the gap to be filled up from the current resources of the colony? And for the means from any other quarter, it would surely be as vain as it would be unreasonable to look." If they want more labourers, he tells them it must be at the expense of those who "most largely partake of the benefit expected to be derived from such increased introduction." As to himself, he says, "I shall with difficulty be found a party consenting to the imposition of any fresh taxes upon the public of Mauritius." For this the tax-paying Mauritians ought heartily to thank him.

Our readers may perhaps desire to know who the gentlemen in Mauritius may be, who so eagerly desire the ruin of the colony to promote their personal interests. The following is the array of names attached to the documents, and the extract with which we close, will show their character:-Henry Adam & Co., Chapman & Barclay, F. Barbé, Lorton & Co., R. Jack & Co., S. Antelme & H. Montecchio, William Aikin & Co., Scott & Co., Truquez, Toché, King & Co., and Hunter, Arbuthnot, & Co. :

"My own sense of the character of the report," says SirW.Gomm, "and of the tendency of the resolutions, will, I trust, have been clearly exposed to your lordship, and to Her Majesty's Government, through the tenor of the minute above referred to; and I need hardly apprise your lordship (since the signatures attached to various representations laid before me, and successively forwarded to your lordship in the course of the last two years, in part show it), that the parties most urgent for the adoption of the recommendations of the committee are those who have been most active in the promotion of measures which have led to the financial embarrassments of the colony through a series of years past; and a resistance to whose requisitions has been so rigidly imposed upon me, not less by my own sense of my duty to the real and substantial interests of the colony, than by the whole tenor of your lordship's injunctions, reiterated to me for my guidance in the administration of its affairs."

Will not the planters and tax-payers of the British West Indian colonies and Guiana, ponder these facts, especially when they consider that each Indian labourer they introduce, will cost them twice as much, at the very lowest, as the Mauritians have had to pay for theirs, and twice as much to return them home again?

THE BIBLE AGAINST SLAVERY.

Bible, 'seeking rest, and finding none.' The law of love, glowing on every page, flashes around it an omnipresent anguish and despair. It shrinks from the hated light, and howls under the consuming torch, as demons quailed before the Son of God, and shrieked, 'Torment us not." At last, it slinks away under the types of the Mosaic system, and seeks to burrow out of sight among their shadows. Vain hope! Its asylum is its sepulchre; its city of refuge, the city of destruction. It flies from light into the sun; from heat, into devouring fire; and from the voice of God into the thickest of His thunders.

DEFINITION OF SLAVERY.

If we would know whether the Bible sanctions slavery, we must An element is one thing; a relation, determine what slavery is. another; an appendage, another. Relations and appendages presuppose other things to which they belong. To regard them as the things themselves, or as constituent parts of them, leads to endless fallacies. Mere political disabilities are often confounded with slavery; so are many relations, and tenures, indispensable to the social state. We will specify some of these:-Privation of suffrage, as in the case of minors and non-electors. Ineligibility to office, as in the case of women. Privation of one's oath in law, as in the case of atheists. Privation of trial by jury, as in several European states. Apprenticeships : the rights and duties of masters and apprentices are co-relative. The claim of each upon the other, results from his obligation to the other. Apprenticeship is based upon the principle of equivalent received. Filial subordination and parental claims. Claims of government on its subjects: governments owe their subjects protection; subjects owe just governments allegiance and support. The obligations are reciprocal, and the benefit received by both are mutual, equal, and voluntarily rendered. Bondage for crime: the law makes no criminal PROPERTY. It restrains his liberty, but it does not make him a chattel. Test it. To own property, is to own its product. Are children born of convicts, government property? Restraints upon freedom: restraints are the web of civilized society, warp and woof. Are they slavery? then a government of LAW is the climax of slavery! Involuntary or compulsory service : a juryman is empannelled against his will, and sit he must. A sheriff orders his posse; bystanders must turn in. Men are compelled to remove nuisances, pay fines and taxes, support their families, however much against their wills. Are they therefore slaves? To confound slavery with involuntary service is absurd. Slavery is a condition.

Many of the foregoing conditions are appendages of slavery, but no one, nor all of them together, constitute its intrinsic unchanging element.

Enslaving men is reducing them to articles of property-making free agents chattels-converting persons into things-sinking immortality into merchandize. A slave is one held in this condition. In law, he owns nothing, and can acquire nothing.' His right to himself is abrogated. If he say, my hands, my body, my mind, Myself, they are figures of speech. To use himself for his own good is a crime. To keep what he earns, is stealing. To take his body into his own keeping, is insurrection. In a word, the profit of his master is made the END of his being, and he, a mere means to that end—a mere means to an end into which his interests do not enter, of which they constitute no portion. MAN, sunk to a thing! the intrinsic element, the principle of slavery; bartered, leased, mortgaged, bequeathed, invoiced, shipped in cargoes, stored as goods, taken in executions, and knocked off at a public outcry! Their rights, another's conveniences; their interests, wares on sale; their happiness, a household utensil; their personal inalienable ownership, a serviceable article or a plaything, as best suits the humour of the hour; their deathless nature, conscience, social affections, sympathies, hopes-marketable commodities! We repeat it, THE REDUCTION OF PERSONS TO THINGS! Not robbing a man of privileges, but of himself; not loading him with burdens, but making him a beast of burden; not

MEN,

them; not inflicting personal cruelty, but annihilating personality; not exacting involuntary labour, but sinking man into an implement of labour; not abridging human comforts, but abrogating human nature; not depriving an animal of immunities, but despoiling a rational being of attributes uncreating a MAN, to make room for a thing!

A few years since, one of the most eloquent advocates of the abolition cause in the United States, THEODORE D. WELD, pub-restraining liberty, but subverting it; not curtailing rights, but abolishing lished an article in an American Review, in answer to the inquiry, "Is slavery from above or beneath?" It is but little known in this country, and as the subject on which it treats with masterly skill and power is of first-rate importance in the anti-slavery controversy, we think we shall instruct and gratify our readers, both at home and abroad, if we produce such portions of it as bear upon the general question, and are of permanent interest. We feel persuaded that, in doing this, we shall have the thanks of all those who wish to see the sacred Scriptures rescued from the unhallowed grasp of slave-holders.

INTRODUCTION.

Judge Stroud, in his Sketch of the Laws relating to Slavery,' says, 'The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among things-obtains as undoubted law in all of these [the slave] states.' The law of South Carolina says, 'Slaves shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns, to ALL INTENTS, CONSTRUCTIONS, AND PURPOSES WHATSOEVER.'-Brev. Dig., 229. In Louisiana, 'A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs; the master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labour; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master.'-Civ. Code, Art. 35.

The spirit of slavery never seeks refuge in the Bible of its own accord. The horns of the altar are its last resort-seized only in desperation, as it rushes from the terror of the avenger's arm. Like other unclean spirits, it hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest its deeds should be reproved.' Goaded to phrenzy in its conflict with This is slavery. The eternal distinction between a person and a conscience and common sense, denied all quarter, and hunted from everything, trampled under foot-the crowning distinction of all others-alike covert, it vaults over the sacred inclosure and courses up and down the the source, the test, and the measure of their value-the rational immortal

principle, consecrated by God to universal homage in a baptism of glory and honour by the gift of his Son, his Spirit, his word, his presence, providence, and power; his shield, and staff, and sheltering wing; his opening heavens, and angels ministering, and chariots of fire, and songs of morning stars, and a great voice in heaven proclaiming eternal sanctions, and

confirming the word with signs following.

Having stated the principle of slavery, we ask, DOES THE BIBLE SANCTION SUCH A PRINCIPLE? 'To the law and the testimony.'

THE ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER.

NOTICE is hereby given to the Friends and Subscribers of the

ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER, that from and after the 1st January, 1846, it will be issued ON THE FIRST OF EVERY MONTH, and that whilst it will be increased to double its late size, its price, with a view to its increased circulation, both at home and abroad, will be

reduced to FIVE SHILLINGS per annum, payable in advance, if ordered through the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 27, New Broad Street, LONDON.

The REPORTER can be ordered, also, through the usual Newsvenders.

NOTICE.

Our present number has been forwarded gratis to a large number of persons throughout the country whom we regard as friends of the Anti-Slavery cause, in the hope that they will be induced to order its continuance, according to the terms of the advertisement inserted above.

which have preceded it. The most marked and gratifying event which has taken place during the course of it, is the final extinction of slavery in the British dominions, which is noticed in the article we have referred to. To this may be added, the measure which has been adopted by the Swedish government for the liberation of the slaves in the island of St. Bartholomew, and the movement in the States of Denmark. In the United States the movement is decidedly onward, although the annexation of Texas is undoubtedly a great drawback. But, whatever has been done, much still

remains to do; and, to do justice to our position, we must look

forwards as well as backwards. We are heirs, not to a triumph merely, but to a conflict; and we enter it in the midst of the strife, when victories have been won indeed, but when the foe is far from having quitted the field. As a counterpoise, therefore, to the feeling of gratulation which may justly attend our retrospect, we shall endeavour to call into exercise the resolution not less justly required by our anticipations.

Several subjects of great importance yet require attention in the British West Indies. Among these we notice in the first place, the system of legislation pursued in them. That the laws were in a very unsatisfactory state before emancipation is well known, and it might be a source of unfeigned gratification that changes were effected in them, provided Owing to a press of matter, several important articles which are in type those changes were in the right direction. In too many cases, are unavoidably postponed.

The Anti-Slavery Reporter.

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1st, 1846.

however, the spirit of the slave system still animates the legislative bodies, and pervades the new laws adopted by them. This has been strikingly manifested in Jamaica, where, by a series of enactments, the burden of taxation has been progressively shifted from the proprietary body to the peasantry, and obstructions have been systematically placed in the way of their elevation. At the present moment, also, the colony of British Guiana, pursuing the course previously adopted by Trinidad, is agitated by the prospect of a batch of new ordinances seriously infringing on personal and social freedom. The truth is, that, to a very great extent in the British West Indies, the power of legislation is employed to render nugatory the great boon of emancipation, and the general tendency of the new laws is practically to abridge and diminish liberty. Were this tendency not carefully watched, there can be no doubt but it would in a few years leave emancipation little

more than a name.

We commend the first number of our new series to the courteous attention of our friends and the public. We have thrown into it a greater variety of matter than the contracted size of our former series would allow; and we shall endeavour to render it, in all respects, as acceptable to our readers, and as serviceable to the cause, as we can. Our conviction of the importance of the ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER as an instrument for the promotion of the cause of human freedom and happiness is very deep, and we think all considerate persons will sympathise with us. Its utility, however, depends, of course, Another subject requiring attention, is the leaning apon the extent to which it is circulated, and the vigour with which it is sustained. Apart from the direct interest which parent in the Home Government towards a gradual abandonthe subscribers may be supposed to feel in its contents, and ment of the stipendary magistracy. The institution of this body of justices was among the most important provisions of even supposing no such interest to exist, it may be laid down the Emancipation Act; and, although, as we have had reas a maxim, that every subscriber to the ANTI-SLAVERY peated occasion to observe, the system has not been carried REPORTER renders a service to the anti-slavery cause generally, into full effect, or been made productive of all the advantages by relieving the pecuniary burden connected with it; and on it might have yielded, yet it has been, undoubtedly, benethis ground we may justly solicit a zealous patronage. We ficial in no inconsiderable degree, and we should be very sorry do not confine ourselves, however, to such an appeal. We are to see it abolished. The government, it is true, have not sure that the benefit will be individual as well as general; and explicitly avowed an intention of this sort; but various indicathat no one will peruse the contents of this journal from time tions have appeared which give but too much reason to beto time, without being led to feel a deeper interest in anti-lieve that such a design is really entertained. The thing may slavery efforts, and becoming more stringently bound to advance the great objects to which they are directed.

We make a special reference to the friends of the cause in foreign countries, for the sake of inviting correspondence. Not only would it afford us sincere gratification, it would also augment our means of usefulness, to be favoured, from any part of the world, with information respecting slavery and the slave-trade, and more particularly respecting any means employed to bring them to an end.

We have commenced the present number with a retrospect of the Anti-Slavery Cause, and have taken the opportunity which the beginning of a new series afforded us of looking backwards a few years, and glancing at the successive triumphs which have been achieved. The last year which has passed over us agrees, in its general character, with those

be done gradually, silently, and almost imperceptibly; but, be it done as it may, its influence will be soon and painfully felt, in the recurrence of those innumerable and intolerable mischiefs which, in the West Indies, have always been found connected with a planter magistracy.

A third matter requiring constant attention, is the system of colonial immigration, both from Africa and the East Indies, as now patronized by the government. The interests involved in this system are of incalculable magnitude, and an immense amount of human life and happiness, both physical and moral, is sacrificed to it. The government has thrown itself into this system with an infatuated zeal, and no efforts must be left untried to induce an alteration of their course.

Earnest and anxious attention is required by a very interesting class of our fellow-subjects; for although no person can now be legally a slave within the British dominions, there

are thousands of British subjects held in slavery in foreign referred to, we declare our full conviction that they will do it countries. Cuba and Surinam abound with them. We in perfect good faith, so that the genuineness of the article cannot relinquish our conviction that these are as much entitled to their freedom as any other subjects of the British crown, and we cannot acquiesce in the inaction to which, in this matter, the government has resigned itself. Something must yet be done to obtain justice for these victims of double wrong.

The case of the emancipados-the name stands in bitter mockery of their condition-in Cuba, Surinam, and Brazil, is scarcely less affecting. Brought to these countries by slavetraders, but liberated by course of law, and bearing the very name of freedom as it were blazoned on their foreheads, these unhappy Africans are still slaves, and the worst treated of slaves. A few of this class of sufferers have been liberated on the interposition of the British government, but the great bulk of them yet remain, and call for further efforts.

Besides these, there are in the same countries a very large number of slaves who have been introduced contrary to the stipulations of the treaties with Great Britain, and who are consequently entitled to their release and freedom. The pressing of this claim would be, not only an act of justice towards them, but a measure most powerfully tending to the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade.

Attention is required further by the state of the law in the slave-holding portions of the United States, as it affects the coloured subjects of Great Britain. At Charleston and New Orleans, for example, a British subject, if coloured, arriving on board ship, is immediately liable to imprisonment during the whole term of his stay, and to be sold into slavery for the payment of the jail fees, if they are not otherwise discharged. This law, which was protested against by Mr. Canning, ought to be loudly protested against still.

The condition of the British empire in the East also demands attention. Although slavery has no longer a legal existence there, it practically lingers in the family and in the field. Measures for effectually making known the tenor of the law throughout India are of great importance and urgency, although, at the same time, owing to the vast extent and crowded population of the country, of unusual difficulty.

In addition to these specific objects of exertion, we may justly say that, as the influence of British abolitionists extends throughout the world, so ought their labours. Our responsibility is not less than our means of usefulness; and in all regions where the crimes and miseries of slavery and the slave-trade exist, there must be our eye, our heart, our voice, and our helping hand.

Although there has been no change of ministry, there has been a change in the administration of colonial affairs. Lord Stanley is succeeded by Mr. Gladstone. We sincerely hope that this will be a change for the better, and that Mr. Gladstone will bring to the management of the vast colonial empire of Great Britain more enlightened views on some important points than have been followed by his predecessor. We may refer particularly to the system of colonial immigration, which Lord Stanley patronised with a zeal and perseverance approaching, in our judgment, to infatuation.

may be entirely depended on. We anticipate that this will be a highly gratifying announcement to the British public at large, and we warmly congratulate upon it all friends to the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade. This blow at the atrocious slave-system of the United States will be eminently acceptable to them, and will not fail to secure their prompt and active concurrence. It will be but a repetition of the effort so vigorously and so successfully made in former years to diminish the use of slave-grown sugar, and it will be free from some of the difficulties by which that effort was attended. Cotton goods for which the slave has not toiled will be to multitudes, not only a new, but a most attractive luxury, and the extensive use of them will be a most serious and impressive warning to the slave-holders of the United States.

The King of the French has opened the session of the French Chambers with a speech, from which we make the following extract :

and of which she again so affectionately gave me a proof, and the mutual

"The friendship which unites me with the Queen of Great Britain,

confidence existing between the two governments, have happily secured the good and intimate relation between the two states. The convention concluded between us to put an end to the odious traffic in slaves is at present being carried into execution. Thus, by the cordial co-operation of the maritime forces of the two states, the slave-trade will be efficaciously

repressed, and at the same time, our commerce will be replaced under the

exclusive protection of our flag."

His Majesty, in making this complacent reference to the
both of them worthy of notice.
new treaty with England, does one thing and omits another,
The King of the French
We only ask
territory of Algeria

calls the slave-trade odious. It is a good term.
whether it is less odious in the French
The King of the
than it is on the coast of Africa?
French makes no mention of slavery. This, it is to be
presumed, is not odious in his eyes. Or did he feel that he
could pass no compliment on the colonial law of last session,
and its supplementary ordinances?

A contemporary journal, noticing the memorial some time ago presented by the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society to Sir Robert Peel, soliciting him to givę encouragement to the growth of cotton and sugar in o "dictated by a narrow Indian possessions, speaks of it as policy," and as intended "to encourage the old system of protection and bounties." We feel it our duty to remark on this representation, which certainly does injustice—not designedly, doubtless-to the intentious of the Committee, and, as we believe, both to the spirit and letter of the document. There are many ways by which the productive agriculture of India may be encouraged besides protecting duties, and to these exclusively the memorial of the Committee had

reference.

We are happy to see that the culture of cotton is attracting attention at Port Natal. The Cape of Good Hope and Port Natal Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, after noticing the wool-growing at the Cape, uses the following language:

viz., COTTON. It has been with great satisfaction that we have occasionally adverted to the spirited exertions of the planters.”

We direct attention to a paper in our present number, en"By the annexation of Natal, which possesses all the advantages of a titled Manufacture of Articles from Free-grown Cotton. It tropical climate, another branch of colonial industry is opened up, proconsists of an address, signed by several of the most distin-mising to be at least as important as that of which we have been treating, guished friends of the anti-slavery cause, on the importance of discouraging the culture of cotton by the labour of slaves, and contains the very gratifying announcement that "an attempt is being made in the country to obtain a supply of articles manufactured exclusively from cotton the produce of free labour." Some highly respectable manufacturers, the address further states, have shewn themselves willing to aid in carrying out this design, and, from our knowledge of the parties

The writer then mentions the state of the English markets, and adds

"This state of things in Great Britain is highly satisfactory, and we trust will induce our planters to bestir themselves in the culture of this

useful plant; for they may depend on every encouragement being given to them in England in proportion as free labour in Africa is extended.

"Great as the success of our wool-growers has been, and bright as their

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The Government of Brazil has resented the act of the British Parliament of last Session, conferring on British Courts of Admirality the power of proceeding against Brazilian slave-traders, by the transmission of a protest to the Earl of Aberdeen, and by the publication of this document in the principal papers of Europe. We have given in our columns the substance of the argument. The case is briefly this. So much of the treaties for the suppression of the slave-trade subsisting between Great Britain and Brazil, as authorised the right of search, and the constitution of mixed courts, expired on the 13th of March last; while so much was left in operation as stipulated that the slave-trade should, by both nations, be deemed and treated as piracy. The protest of the Brazilian minister argues against the present interference of Great Britain, in the first place, as though it were a continuance of proceedings under the expired treaty, which it is not; the act of Parliament having notoriously been based on the piracy clause, which is admitted on all hands to be still in operation. In entering on this part of the case, the Brazilian minister takes this position-that the stipulation that the two countries shall treat the slave-trade as piracy, means only that each country shall so treat it as carried on by its own subjects; and that, consequently, Great Britain has acquired no right by it to treat Brazilian subjects as pirates, but only to require that the Government of Brazil shall do so. The argument is carried to a considerable length, but this is the kernel and strength of it. We do not fee 1 disposed to hazard an opinion on so nice a point. We may remark, however, that the decision of the judges in the recent case of the Felicidade favours, in some degree, the view taken by the Brazilian Government. It seems to have been held by them, that crimes cannot be constituted by treaties, but only by laws; and that, notwithstanding the stipulation of Brazil with England that slave-trading shall be deemed and treated as piracy, this cannot be done until a law shall have passed the Brazilian Legislature declaring slavetrading to be piracy, and specifying the punishments which shall be annexed to it. Notwithstanding the treaty, slavetrading is not yet piracy in a Brazilian, no law having been passed to make it so. If, therefore, the treaty could be considered as authorising Great Britain to punish the subjects of Brazil for criminal acts, it cannot, without great difficulty, be held to authorise such a course in relation to acts which are not criminal. The decision of the judges is thus calculated still further to perplex the system of diplomatic legislation which has been adopted for the suppression of the slave-trade ; and this perplexity still further enforces the arguments which have been already adduced for its entire abandonment.

who voted away the public money, though it were not a tithe of the value of that proposed, would have been more acceptable, than the present testimonial ever can be. C. T. Cunningham, Esq., late Lieutenant-Governor of St. Kitts, has been ordered to Antigua, to occupy temporarily the post created by the promotion of Sir Charles Fitzroy to a higher situation. £150 has been voted by the legislature of St. Kitts for the purpose of giving a public entertainment to Mr. Cunningham previously to his departure; only one of the members objecting on the ground that he thought such an entertainment ought to have been paid for out of the private resources of the members of the council, and the assembly.

An article of some importance, and of rather peculiar interest at the present moment, will be found in another page, exhibiting the state of the dominions of the Imaum of Muscat in relation to slavery and the slave-trade. It deserves serious

attention.

We were once informed by an American gentleman, who had emancipated his slaves under the influence of Christian principles, that, frequently, when he gathered his family about him, including his domestics, for social worship, he was staggered by the awful denunciations of oppression which he everywhere found recorded in the Sacred Scriptures; and his

conscience told him that the relation in which he stood to his slaves was an unrighteous one, and ought to be immediately discontinued. But he not only found the Scriptures opposed to slavery: Throughout the whole range of Christian literature, deserving of that name, he met with similar, though less powerful, denunciations of the crime. Even the very hymn-books contained references which galled him. For some time he was in course of being read, to discover, before reading, if there in the habit of glancing his eye over the chapters of the Bible in course of being read, to discover, before reading, if there were anything in them to disturb his composure; and, in that case, to pass them over, or excise the offending passages; but he was not equally careful in relation to the hymn-book, and, on one occasion, read some verses concluding with the following lines:

"We would not always lie,

Like slaves beneath the throne,
Our faith would Abba, Father, cry,
And thou the kindred own."

As soon as his eye lighted on the word “slaves," he paused ; but as he had read the first line, it was necessary he should read on, and he was enabled, by the exercise of a little ingenuity, to get over the difficulty that time. His version was

as follows:

"We would not always lie,

Abject beneath the throne," &c.

Thus the conflict went on for some time, when he found he

must either abandon his slave-holding, or give up his Christianity. He chose the former, and has never regretted the sacrifice.

consciences; but certain admirable verses are altogether expunged, to meet a spurious Christianity, which will not bear to be disturbed by the expression of true Christian principles. Our readers will make their own comments.

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We have had the foregoing fact brought to our recollection The legislative body of Antigua have voted his Excellency, by the following extract from an American paper, in which we Sir Charles Fitzroy, the late Governor of the colony, the sum find that the hymns of our Christian poets are not altered inof £1,000 for the purchase of a piece of plate. An amend-deed, for the ease of the slave-holding and Indian-destroying ment was proposed, that it should be £600 instead of £1000, but the original motion was carried by a majority of ten, seventeen members voting for, and seven against it. For our part we cannot but deem this mode of paying compliments, by the legislative bodies of the West Indies, out of the public "The Pittsburg Spirit of Liberty' gives a recent instance of the jealfunds, as exceedingly objectionable in principle; and we should ous spirit with which the Old-School Presbyterians exercise their watchbe happy to learn that it was forbidden by the Home authori- ful guardianship over the cause of religious virtue. In the old edition of ties. It is, certainly, a cheap way of testifying respect, for the General Assembly's Hymn Book, the 218th hymn contains the folgentlemen to put their hands into the pockets of the tax-lowing unchristian sentiments, so subversive of the principles and characpayers, because they happen to have the power, when they wish to show their esteem for their friends, instead of putting them into their own. We can have no doubt, that a piece of plate paid for out of the private resources of the gentlemen

ter of that church :

'O, when shall Afric's sable sons

Enjoy the heavenly word,
And vassals, long enslaved, become
The freemen of the Lord?

'When shall the untutored Indian tribes,

A dark bewildered race,

Sit down at our Immanuel's feet,

And learn and feel his grace?'

"In a late edition of the Hymn-Book, 'approved and authorized by the General Assembly,' these verses are very properly omitted, and the volume rendered fit for family or church use, and in accordance with the universal conduct of the Old-School Presbyterians, who believe in the divinity of slavery, and the rightfulness of exterminating Indians."

Literature.

Situation des Esclaves dans les Colonies françaises—Urgence de leur emancipation, par M. Rouvellat de Cussac, Ancien Conseiller aux

cours royales de la Guadeloupe et de la Martinique, avec cette epigraphe

Quæque ipse misserima vide.—Paris, 1845.

Situation of the slaves in the French Colonies.-Urgency of their eman

cipation, by M. Rouvellat de Cussac, formerly Counsellor at the Royal

Courts of Guadeloupe and Martinique, &c. &c.

The publication of this book was most opportune. The French legislature were entering on the discussion of a measure, the object of which was to modify the existing law of slavery, when it appeared. A truthtelling work like this was wanted, and none merited more confidence. To no other publication of the day could the motto, "I have seen myself all these miseries," be more appropriately applied. A few years since, M. Victor Schoelcher, a true friend of the slave, undertook a voyage to the French colonies, for the purpose of inspecting them, before he published his valuable works on slavery. But important as were his contributions to the cause of oppressed humanity, there is something connected with the work of M. de Cussac, which gives it an additional value. Clothed with high judicial functions, Counsellor of the Royal Courts at Guadeloupe and Martinique, during the last fifteen years, he has based his publication on authentic documents, on personal observations, and on evidence collected during this long residence in Martinique and Guadeloupe. In him the knowledge and experience of the Magistrate is associated with a warm and generous heart, ever open to the cause of the oppressed. From the facts which he witnessed, and the discussions which took place in his presence, he composed his work, prefacing it with the following declaration, which well became his character, his position, and his age: "I am not animated either by a party or a sectarian spirit; I neither write in the interest of philanthropy, nor in view of any political opinions. I speak only of what I have learned from observation, of what I have heard publicly declared in the Courts of Assize and Police Offices, of what is contained in judicial processes, and other public and authoritative acts; and finally, from what is perfectly notorious in the colonies in which I lived. When, on entering public life, we are led to cherish the love of truth and justice, and to consecrate ourselves to their service, it is not likely at my age, standing as I do on the verge of another world, that I should attempt to impose upon the public. If I have betrayed the truth, God, who hateth a lie, will not fail to punish me.' Here is a book of facts, and, in our opinion, the best book which could possibly follow those in which the principles and theory of the great colonial question of Emancipation have been sufficiently discussed. To picture slavery as it is, is to pronounce its condemnation. There are not wanting men who say, "The cause of emancipation is gained in principle, The but we must think of the interests involved in its discussion. transition from slavery to freedom must be slow, and can with difficulty be brought about." In a word, it is with them a question of time. We doubt not their sincerity in the abolition cause, but let M. de Cussac inform them what it is they maintain, so long as they suffer slavery to exist: "If you cannot penetrate into the jails, listen attentively near their walls; sometimes the sound of the whip betrays what is going on; but when those sounds cannot be heard, the cries and groanings of sufferers will strike your ears. If you enter those wretched places, you will see unhappy slaves of all ages and of both sexes, even mothers with babes at their breast, rotting there by the mere will of their masters. Traverse the towns and you will meet in the streets, the hideous chain-gang, in which men, old and young, the aged woman and the young girl, are ignominiously bound, and generally for very slight offences; look into certain houses, and there you will see slaves with fetters on their feet, and children dragging chains. In the streets of Fort Royal, Martinique, the residence of the chief men of the colony, you will continually find children of both sexes with chains rivetted to their feet. If you inform the Procureur general, or the Procureur du roi, of it, they will tell you that it is the master's right to punish them thus; or that he has no other way of keeping them from wandering away. In the country, visit the dungeons, or the police stations, which have been substituted in some instances for them, and the hospitals, which are likewise used for prisons, and you will invariably find chains, iron collars, and bars or stocks, and all that terrible apparatus, which, in France, in rare cases, is used against furious and hardened criminals. Traverse certain quarters, and you will

find the Negroes ill-fed, and clothed with miserable rags. Follow them to the fields, and you will then see them often working in chains, coupled together like galley slaves, or wearing iron collars on their necks, and heavy rings on their ancles. Nor is this punishment confined to men ; women are also subjected to it. In the houses of the master, you will discover them dragging their chains about with them, or compelled to wear iron collars with branches. You will see the unhappy mother loaded with irons, and with difficulty able to suckle her babe or even kiss it, without injury. The mothers are not allowed to see their children -their hearts torn with their cries, which a sight of them or a caress would appease. The delay of a moment in their work is followed by five or six strokes of the whip. It not unfrequently happens that you see young persons of both sexes with iron masks on their faces. If you ask why, you will be informed it is to prevent dirt eating, which is followed by disease and death. This may sometimes be the case, but more frequently it is used as an instrument of torture.

"On all the plantations, all the men and women, young and old, are subject to the whip for the slightest fault. Every day its sounds are

accompanied by cries and groans. Young persons, even of noble family, in our colonies, exercise themselves in the use of this vile instrument, and

acquire so much address in wielding it, as to make it a dangerous and murderous weapon in their hands. The Government Negroes are whipped like other slaves.”

The French Chambers propose to regulate the use of the whip, or rather they have left it in the hands of the government to do this. And this will be called ameliorating the condition of the slave! Were the truthful pages of M. de Cussac read with care, not the mitigation, but the entire abolition of slavery would be demanded by every upright and in

telligent abolitionist.

slave

After a rapid sketch of the general condition of the slaves in the French colonies, our author groups, in different chapters, a vast number of facts, constituting a grave and overwhelming accusation against the system; and appeals with irresistible force for a thorough change in their social, political and economic condition. His facts are arguments for the immediate and entire abolition of slavery.

It is difficult for those who have not visited countries and colonies in which slavery exists, to realise all its horrors. The ocean interposes a thousand obstacles to the knowledge of facts respecting its oppressions. Occasionally, the proceedings in Courts of Justice divulge some of its atrocities, which, for a time, arouse public indignation. But the work of M. de Cussac, the result of analysis and observation, embraces all the details of life in slavery, if life it may be called, and registers its sufferings, probes its wants, unmasks its apologists, and performs a great duty to humanity. In this book, are passed in review, the incidents of slavery, its oppressions and its degradations. Crimes, without a name, are brought before us, and classes of human beings, whose sad condition is worse than that of field negroes, are presented to our attention, and whose sufferings and hardships are beyond the power of human

endurance.

But M. de Cussac does not confine his attention to the mere portraiture of slavery; he makes us intimately acquainted with its victims. In his chapter on "The Physiology of the Negroes," full of facts, he shows This part of that they are despised only by those who know them not. his work is a perfect study, and full of serious interest; and that in "the injustice and paradoxes of the colonists," deserves equal attention. In reading this publication, we are struck with the humanity and conscientiousness of its author. He has no wish to sacrifice the whites from mere tenderness for the blacks. M. de Cussac gives some frighiful details respecting the sufferings and mortality of the French garrisons in the Antilles. These are placed there as an armed police to crush incipient insurrection, and they are being decimated by the climate. Of twenty-five young soldiers that he knew, not more than six returned alive to France after four or five years service, Suppress slavery, and, he says, the colonies will guard themselves.

His chapter on "Advocates and Medical Practitioners in the Colonies," reveals a sad state of things. Men who ought to be the defenders of the unfortunate and the injured, and the comforters of the sick and the afflicted, are leagued with their oppressors. Few, of either class, can be Their interests placed in the category of benefactors of their race. would suffer if they showed sympathy for the blacks, and their position in society would be lost.

According to law, punishment is considered excessive when it exceeds twenty-nine blows; but should death follow the infliction of a less number, there is no law to punish the murderer. Medical men, if they were free to reveal all they knew, would be formidable antagonists of the colonial system. But their mouths are sealed.

M. de Cussac fails not to point out the inefficiency of the system of "patronage," which has been introduced into the colonies for the protection of others. He clearly shows it to be not only inconvenient but vicious, impracticable and inefficacious. The gentlemen of the law, who exercise magisterial functions, are the dependants of the planters, often their personal friends and advocates, and yet to them is entrusted the protection of the slaves! "Imagine,” says our author, a procureur

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