this country," as another asserted, "the credit and reputation of this country," and as all impartial men, who considered the subject, have said, the creating or the preventing an amount of suffering among peaceful and unoffending nations, so frightful to contemplate, that no calculator of profit and loss can be hard-hearted enough to weigh against it the largest amount of gain, whether commercial or financial, which could be conceived to result from our legislation. 7. Because, finally, the hurrying through Parliament at the very close of a long and laborious session, and in the absence of nearly all its members, a measure of so desperate a character, and which is connected with other measures seriously affecting our whole colonial policy, as well as the trading interests of the mother country, betokens on the part of its authors an impatience of delay and of full discussion, only to be explained by the supposition that the extraordinary state of parties at the present moment offers them the only chance of carrying their measures, which would assuredly have been rejected, as they were five years ago, as soon as those parties had resumed their wonted position. LORD ASHBURTON'S PROTEST. DISSENTIENT, BROUGHAM. Because, beside all the other reasons of justice, humanity, and sound policy, which prohibit a measure so directly, so inevitably tending to the encouragement of the slave-trade, it is wholly intolerable, as it is altogether unprecedented, to hurry through Parliament, at the very close of the session, and after almost all its members have left town, such important measures, without the possibility of full discussion, and without giving the mother country, or the colonies, any notice of them— measures which, at one blow, alter the whole commercial system of the country, and affect in the most serious manner, and to the greatest extent, the manufacturing and trading community of the empire. August 18th. The bill was read a third time and passed. Miscellanea. ASHBURTON, S. OXON (Wilberforce.) the laws admitted no difference between white and black; and that the utmost punishment the justices could award for the offence was much too light. After consulting with Mr. Christopher Rawdon, who sat on the bench, Mr. Rushton ordered each of the sailors to pay the sum of £5. for each assault, and in default of payment to be imprisoned two months; he also ordered them to find bail to keep the peace, or, in default, to be imprisoned four months. We trust this prompt and salutary punishment may serve to convince such of our American visitors as venture to beat and kick a man because he has a black skin, that the law is too strong for them. We are glad to say that, in general, the American sailors are as well behaved and as respectable as our own. Now and then, however, the curse which slavery brings appears, and we have the results in acts of this kind. NEGRO BOYS.-A South American paper publishes an advertisement for the sale of a variety of goods and chattels, and among them the following "lot" of human beings, who are designated boys;— "Nelson, negro boy, aged about 38 years; Michael, negro boy, aged about 35 years; Thornton, negro boy, aged about 38 years; Jerry, negro boy, aged about 40 years; Charles, negro boy, aged about 38 years! Shepperd, negro boy, aged about 22 years; Alexis, negro boy, aged about 46 years; Auguste, negro boy, aged about 43 years; and Crawford, negro boy, aged about 33 years." EIGHT SLAVES EMANCIPATED.-We learn through the Freeman, · that John O. Wattles of Cincinnati, has the following in a recent number of his Herald of Progression." EMANCIPATION.-A good brother from near New Orleans, by the name of Sorrel, is now by my side, who, having come to the conclusion that the slave is a man, has sold his possessions, brought his slaves, eight in number, to this state, and knocked of their shackles and joined with them in songs ot Jubilee. A person informs the Christian people of St. Louis, that he will sell a superior Maltese Jack, and receive in payment goods or NEGROES! Said jack is fourteen hands high, and, therefore, in the estimation of his The Flotte publishes the following letter from the western coast of owner, equivalent to several of God's living images! O, humanity! Africa: "The combined action of the French and English squadrons is beginning to produce its fruits. The King of Dahomey, one of the most powerful sovereigns of Western Africa, and who has been extensively engaged in the slave-trade, appears determined to renounce that traffic, and has, it is said, concluded a treaty to that effect with an English commissioner, named Duncan. It would be advisable for the French Government, which possesses at Whida, on the territory of Dahomey, a fort occupied by the agents of the firm of Regis, of Marseilles, to propose and enter into a similar convention with a sovereign whose dominions abound in oleaginous productions, ivory, and other articles. The French iron steamer, Australie, commanded by Captain Le Gallie Kerisouet; and the English brig of war, Flying Fish, lately gave chase to a slave-ship, and compelled her to run aground. The English, in their anxiety to capture the vessel, lost a boat, which approached too near the shore on which she had been cast; a lieutenant and five men are said to have perished." As ARISTOCRACY OF THE SKIN.-The Liverpool Mercury reports the following police case:-On Tuesday last two American sailors, named Alonzo Lewis and George Brookes, were placed before Mr. Rushton under the following circumstances :-It appears that a poor Hindoo, who sells tracts, went into the house where the sailors were for the purpose of selling his books. He succeeded in selling one, for which he got paid. One of the accused seized the remainder of his stock, and destroyed them. On the Hindoo remonstrating, he was immediately, with much abuse ordered out, and, not instantly complying with the order, both the sailors assailed him. He was beaten and kicked, and fled for safety into the street. The poor fellow was followed by his assailants, who, as Mr. Moss, one of the witnesses, stated, beat and kicked him about the head and breast in the most dastardly manner. The seamen made no defence. soon as this case had been heard, an elderly man, a negro, stepped forward to prefer another charge. The negro stated that, as he passed the same sailors, one of them squirted his spittle into complainant's face, and, on being remonstrated with, the negro was immediately knocked down by one of the sailors, whilst the other threw at him a large stone. The negro had not given the slightest provocation. Their cowardly conduct did not stop here; for a poor woman, an Englishwoman, who was carrying a mulatto child in her arms, was struck in the face, and the child knocked down. In both these cases no defence was made. These republican sailors were excited by the dark skin of their victims to abuse and injure them. Mr. Rushton, on inquiry, found that the negro had shipped on a voyage to Calcutta, and that to detain him until the sessions would but inflict further injury; he therefore did not send them for trial. He, however, spoke with indignation of the brutal conduct of the prisoners, and told them that such conduct in England could not be endured; that Give this proposition one sober thought. "How much better is a man Crowley, Abraham Curtis, W., Jun.. Andrews, Edmund Bransby, N.. Smith, Ann .... ..... M. C. per Joseph Sturge.. 25 0 0 0 0 5 0 4 0 0 2 0 2 0 Printed by JACOB UNWIN, of 33, Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, at his Printing Office, 31, Bucklersbury, in the parish of St. Stephen Walbrook, in the City of London, and published by PETER JONES BOLTON, of No. 8, Kennington Terrace, Kennington Lane, in the county of Surrey, at No. 27, New Broad Street, in the Parish of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, in the City of London. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1846. Sold by W. Everett, 14, Finch Lane, and 17 Royal Exchange. THE ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER. UNDER THE SANCTION OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. VOL. I.-No. X.-NEW Series. DEATH OF THOMAS CLARKSON. OCTOBER 1, 1846. It is our very painful duty to record the death of the venerable and honoured THOMAS CLARKSON. This event took place at Playford Hall, near Ipswich, on Saturday, the 26th ult., at a quarter past three in the morning. He was born on the 28th March, 1760, and was consequently in the eighty-seventh year of his age, sixty of which were devoted to promote the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade. Among the illustrious men whose names will adorn the history of our nation and our race, that of Thomas Clarkson will occupy a conspicuous position. His was no vulgar ambition: he sought not fame in courts or camps, and abandoned an honourable profession, in which he might have risen to eminence and wealth, that he might devote himself wholly and exclusively to the relief of suffering and oppressed humanity. When seeking for literary honours at the University of Cambridge, he became aware, for the first time, of the miseries of a continent, and the dreadful oppressions of its people. He saw Africa bleeding at every pore, and her children led into hopeless and perpetual slavery. The polished nations of Europe-and Great Britain stood conspicuous among them-sent forth navies to her shores every year, to be freighted with living cargoes for the service of their plantations and colonies abroad. The facts elicited by his researches were of the most appalling kind. They appealed with irresistible force to his sympathies as a man, and to his principles as a Christian; and, with the decision and energy peculiar to his character, he devoted himself to redress the injuries of Africa, and to the emancipation of her sons. Into the details of his career, and the successes which have followed his labours, we do not in our present number intend to enter; but we hope in our next, to present an outline of both, more complete and satisfactory both to ourselves and our readers, than anything we could present at the present moment. In the meantime we call attention to the well-merited eulogy pronounced by the Morning Chronicle on this distinguished man. PRICE 5d. "Of a life whose moral grandeur and external public results have consecrated the name of Thomas Clarkson for a brighter and more enduring fame than after ages will award to the most successful warrior or statesman of his generation, it is difficult to speak fitly within the limits to which we must now restrict ourselves. The leading events of the deceased philanthropist's career we have elsewhere recorded for those of our readers who will naturally desire to refresh their knowledge of the dates and details of a struggle which, in all except its great and permanent results, has long since faded into the past. But how to sum up the moral significance of an activity so fruitful, and a character so energetic and commanding-a character, too, which, by its very simplicity, almost precludes that sort of analytical commentary usually invited by the death of a great man? "Perhaps we cannot more truly and characteristically indicate the place which Thomas Clarkson will hereafter occupy in the ethical judgment of mankind, than by pronouncing him the noblest type and representative of that spirit of organized moral and religious effort for philanthropic objects, whose extraordinary development within the last half century-mainly in consequence of the impulse first given by Clarkson and his coadjutors-constitutes a social revolution more important than dynastic change itself. The overpowering force and singleness of the moral element of Clarkson's being, eminently qualified him, not only to do the work, and reap the honours, of that species of moral apostleship to which, from earliest manhood, he was irresistibly impelled, but kept him through life singularly exempt from the errors and extravagances into which this mode of activity is too apt to degenerate. His whole being and doing may be said to be epitomised in the youthful impulse that constituted his first inspiration. That intense and all-consuming moral earnestness which spoiled a hardly-earned gratification of literary ambition, and made college successes and honours the occasion of an unbearable mental anguish, and constrained the triumphant literary aspirant to gird himself to a lifelong struggle with the hideous realities which had formed the subject-matter of an honourable intellectual pastime, sustained itself in all its freshness and purity to the last. The unsleeping vigilance, the unsparing self-sacrifice, the courageous self-exposure to an obloquy that more than once brought him on the very verge of literal bodily martyrdom, and the indefatigably laborious and pains-taking industry, with which Clarkson began, carried on, and ended his war against a gigantic public wrong that seemed, when he commenced, as solid and rooted a fact as the British monarchy itself, were but the varied and prolonged expression of that exquisitely sensitive moral truthfulness which rendered the composition of a prize essay on iniquity and cruelty an intolerable mental torture. It strikingly illustrates the unity of a mind and life absorbingly devoted to the task of studying the details of social wrongs, with a view to their redress, that the latest hours of the philanthropist's conscious existence were occupied with schemes for the correction of evils in the condition of merchant seamen, with which his earlier labours in the anti-slavery cause had incidentally made him acquainted. "Our obituary record of yesterday contained one announcement which will have been read with thoughtful and reverential emotion by all classes and sections of the community. The decease of the venerable Thomas Clarkson is one of those events which, although devoid of appreciable external results, possess a profounder interest for the heart of a people than occurrences directly and visibly influencing the course of public affairs. The peaceful termination of a life crowded with unremitting efforts and brilliant successes in the cause of justice and humanity, and protracted far beyond the period at which life usually ceases to be a blessing, can, indeed, scarcely excite any feelings of poignant regret, except within the circle of immediate personal friendship and affinity; and even the sorrows of personal attachment must be largely qualified by that sober and tranquil satisfaction with which we view the harmonious completion of a noble and beneficent career. A ripe fulness of years and honours, which the hand of death does but consummate and crown, is a spectacle too grateful to the moral sense to call forth the sentiments or the language of mere grief; and sixty years of unwearied and triumphantly successful service in the most glorious of causes have placed the departed philanthropist beyond the range of the ordinary regrets elicited by a good man's death. The name of Thomas Clarkson has long since become historical-whose strength he worked and waited, may assure those who come high among the highest of those which head the successive chapters of national or universal history. His death is but a memento that more impressively reminds us of what we owe to his life, and fixes our regards, with a more solemn earnestness, on those labours on which time and nature have set their final seal. "He is gone from among us-but his work, and the spirit in which he worked, live after him. The idea of the solitary and agonised student has grown into fact, and moved the world, and written itself ineffaceably in the codes of nations; and the faith in after him that the eventual universality of the triumph of justice and humanity is already decreed by a Providence which apportions the moral successes of nations, as of individuals, to the simplicity and fidelity of their allegiance to moral principle." From a communication made by the Rev. Mr. Dickinson, pub lished by an evening contemporary (the Globe) we learn that Mr. Clarkson had become seriously worse during the last three weeks, and finally took to his bed, just one week previously to his death. His strength was much enfeebled previously, but until he was absolutely confined to his room, he gave his mind to matters of public good. From the time, however, of his confinement to his bed, it was not observed that he entered upon external matters, but gave his mind much to prayer, and was unwilling to be interrupted in his prayerful thoughts upon the future. On the On the Thursday evening preceding his death, he subsided into sleep, or unconsciousness, during which he neither stirred nor spoke. On Friday evening he roused up, with his physical powers much reduced, so that, as he mentioned some of his attendants by name, he could not articulate his wishes for little matters to be done for his ease and comfort. He now spoke with imploring look, and with agitated and clasped hands, but was incapable of receiving or enjoying any attentions; and thus, after some suffering, he relapsed into a calm, about ten minutes before his death, and then gently breathed his last. "Clarkson! It was an obstinate hill to climb; WORDSWORTH. REPORT ON THE SLAVE-TRADE OF THE GREAT DESERT. (Continued.) The negroes brought from Soudan to Ghat belong almost to all the countries of Central Africa, as far to the south as NOUFEE on the Niger, and seven days from the Atlantic; and although the Mohammedan slave-dealers pretend that it is against the law of their religion to purchase Mohammedan slaves, yet many of the slaves are really nominally Mussulmans, and are brought from countries professing the religion of the prophet or impostor of Mecca. The Moors call their slaves either Ensarak, that is "Christians," or "Jews." The negro Jews circumcise themselves and keep a seventh day, usually getting intoxicated on their Sabbath. These Judaising notions were unquestionably introduced into Central Africa, viâ Abyssinia, a Judaising country from the days of Solomon, whilst the present mongrel Abyssinians are as much Jews as Christians. The Moors call the rest of the Pagan negroes "Christians," in the same vulgar ridiculous way as the Italians call all Mohammedans "Turks." Nothing can be more brutal than the gross ignorance and vindictiveness with which the Christians and Mohammedans of the Mediterranean speak one of another, the bitter fruit of those inhuman wars called in our romances the happy days of crusading chivalry. But, as if to perpetuate our shame, the barbarous institution of monk-soldiers is to be re-planted and transplanted to the province of Oran, in Algeria. This certainly is a famous way of colonizing Africa; it is worthy of French failures at colonization, and does the Protestant Guizot great honour! I should like to see the Peace Society send a remonstrance to the French government against this fresh insult to the Christian religion. Surely Moorish slave-dealers are less inexcusable than these false knights of the cross. Nearly all the Bornou slaves are brought from the Mandara and Begharmy, and other countries at the base of the Mountains of the Moon. These negroes are all Pagans. The Bornou caravan arrives at Mourzuk, capital of Fezzan, twice a year. A young male slave costs ten dollars in goods, but paid in money, six dollars; but a female slave costs fifteen to eighteen dollars in the markets of Bornou. The price is somewhat higher in Soudan. But the slaves of Housa, or Soudan, are superior in intelligence and beauty to those of the upper countries of Bornou; and after the Fullan beauties those of Housa are celebrated all Over Africa. Seven dollars are paid for bringing slaves from Soudan to Ghat by the Moorish merchants, who purchase their slaves at the first hand. Two-thirds of the slaves are females. (9) Slaves are also brought from Wadai, a powerful negro Arab or Arabo-negro kingdom, lying between Bornou and Upper Egypt; but the number brought to Mourzuk is very small. There is, however, a great number carried, rather driven, on another route to the market of Bengazi, whence they are shipped to Constantinople and the Levant. These caravans will bring a thousand slaves together, but they are biennially. slaves together, but they are biennially. Wadai is an unexplored country. It is reputed for great wealth, but the moral character of the people is exceedingly low. Intoxication, ending mostly in deadly quarrels, is the prevalent vice of the nation. It is not surprising that such a people should be great slave-dealers. I hope we shall always be able to prove that the most licentious people are the greatest slave-dealers. Timbuctoo has sent but few slaves from Western Nigritia for the markets of Tripoli during late years. This arises principally from the insecurity of the routes. The Bambara slaves are greatly esteemed, being robust and fine men; and were it not for the depredations of the Shanbats and other tribes, certainly this trade would soon revive. A little gold is smuggled over the desert, and this is all the trade of the Tripoline merchants with Timbuctoo at the present time; now and then also, Timbuctoo cotton or barracans are brought in small quantities, but they are mostly worn in the interior. The relative value of the three principal objects of Soudan commerce at the last winter souk, or fair, of Ghat, is the following (these objects of Soudan commerce being slaves, senna, and elephants' teeth): Slaves, 900, at an average of 30 dollars each...... $27,000 Elephants' teeth, 160 camel loads, at 200 dollars each Senna, 130 camel loads, at 15 dollars each..... 32,000 2,000 Total $61,000 It is important to observe, that this is their respective value at the oasis of Ghat; at Tripoli it would increase one-third, which third is the available profits of the merchants. And on getting to the markets of Europe this value will at least be doubled, or 122,000 dollars. It is pleasing to remark here, that the quantity of ivory is considerable, and of greater value than the slaves. Now, were the slave-markets shut in Tripoli, I am sure the quantities of elephants' teeth and senna would nearly double, or, at any rate, increase in a sufficient proportion to purchase the requisite supply of European goods; so that the commerce of the Great Desert would experience no injury, so far as the mart of Ghat is concerned. But there might have been a larger supply of ivory this year than usual; there was also a larger supply of slaves; so we are equal again. Nevertheless, the profits of the native merchants on slaves are certainly not very great; for, supposing the Soudan merchant gave fifteen or twenty dollars for one of the fairest slaves in Kanon, it will cost some eight or ten dollars, en route, to Ghat. Here they sell it for forty dollars. It then costs five or six, en route, to Tripoli, besides the expense when at Ghat, after being purchased; the merchants often staying a couple of months at this souk. This raises the cost price in the Tripoli market to nearly sixty dollars. Now, if they can sell it at seventy or eighty, they consider themselves extremely fortunate. But from this profit of from ten to twenty dollars, ten dollars must be deducted for the government duty. "Where, then, is the profit?" as a merchant said to me when making this calculation; and I reply, "Where?” If they can screw out two or three dollars, at the most, out of the sale of each slave, it is as much as they can do. But this year I have received positive intelligence, from the best authority, that all the Ghadames and Tripoline merchants who have just brought slaves from Ghat and Fezzan, will lose money; the market being overstocked with human flesh, and the exportation to Constantinople, by sea, very slow. Some of the merchants, not being able to sell their slaves, have determined to go themselves to Constantinople with them. We must also take into account the enormous per centage which the European merchants get upon the goods credited to these slave-dealers, and with which they purachse their slaves. It is the Ottoman government and the European merchants who are the principal gainers by the odious traffic in human flesh and blood. A faint idea may be conveyed to the mind of what the Turks get of unholy gains, by casting up the duty money levied upon the slaves which were brought by the last Soudan winter caravan. This caravan brought some 800 or 900; say, in round numbers, calculating those imported a little before, 1000. The duty on each is ten dollars, and thus we have 10,000 dollars. This is the winter caravan; there is, besides, the summer caravan, which brings about a third of this number of slaves. Then, there is Fezzan, between which country and Bornou, a great trade in slaves is carried on. The amount of slaves introduced into Tripoli, viâ Fezzan and Mourzuk, coming from both Bornou and Soudan, during the last three years, is as follows: In 1843.. 1844.... 1845. 2,200 1,200 1,100 Total.. 4,500 Happily we see here a decrease in the last two years, whilst the number of the Soudan route, or rather Ghat mart, increases. (10) This decrease is evidently owing to the late interruption of the Bornou route; three thousand Arabs of Tripoli having taken refuge in Bornou, or thereabouts, flying before the Turks, and, having scarcely anything to subsist upon, attacked the Bornou caravan, as well as other caravans. The fact is, there has been no regular caravan from Bornou for the last three years, and this is the cause of the decrease of the importation into Tripoli from that country. On the whole, then, if the winter caravan of Soudan introduces into Tripoli the average number of 1000 slaves, we may fairly state this as a third of the annual number introduced via Ghat, Ghadames, Fezzan, and Bengazi, and this will make the impost money of government on 30,000 slaves 30,000 dollars per annum. Besides, if a slave is conveyed to Mourzuk, thence to Tripoli, and thence to Stainbout, such is the rate of duty-three dollars at Mourzuk; ten at Tripoli; ten at Constantinople, making twenty-three dollars' duty on a single slave, half of the average value, imported into the Ottoman dominions. Will the Porte easily relinquish such a lucrative traffic, and will it not continue to allege its most delicate religious scruples for the maintenance thereof? But returning to the Soudan caravan, the 1000 slaves imported from Soudan via Ghat, during the winter, produce on an average, in the markets of Tripoli, fifty dollars each, the present mediate price. And these slaves are mostly purchased with the goods of European merchants in Tripoli, on which goods the said merchants get, at least, twenty-five per cent.; thus making their profit on the sale of the 1000 slaves belonging to the abovementioned caravan, 12,000 dollars. But this is only a third of the annual amount, and their whole gains during the year may be justly calculated at 37,000 dollars. We may conclude, therefore, most reasonably, that neither the Turkish government nor the European merchants of Tripoli will easily relinquish a traffic so lucrative to them, or give any information about it without compulsion; and a traffic, compared with the other trade and resources of Tripoli, to them, deserving the epithet of enormously lucrative. I add a word concerning the European manufactures given in exchange for slaves at the slave-market of Ghat. These articles consist of silk, in thread, of a very inferior quality; red and green cloth, infamously bad; writing paper of the most common thick rough sort; trumpery beads of various sorts, mostly glass; small penny looking-glasses and bad razors; common sword blades; small carpet rugs, equally bad; and some coloured woollens, manufactured at Mesurata, in Tripoli. It was for detestable rubbish of this sort that human beings were purchased at Ghat. I attended many sales, and could see nothing else given in exchange for that sentient and intellectual being stamped with the image of God! I made many inquiries of the Soudan people and merchants respecting the traffic of slaves, as carried on by Europeans on the western coast of Africa; but unfortunately these people spoke very little Arabic, and I did not think it prudent to employ an interpreter. I learnt, however, from signs, and a few syllables, that white men came up the Niger, bought slaves with goods and dollars, put the slaves in irons, and conveyed them down the river. I could distinguish the name of Portuguese and Americans in their broken language. They had seen the steamers of the late fatal Niger expedition, but, curious enough, they were not at all acquainted with either its ostensible or ultimate objects. If it be any compliment to the intellect of the negro and Soudan merchants, I may subjoin that these merchants are as acute and dexterous at striking a bargain as their Moorish and Arab competitors of the north. Indeed, during the whole of my intercourse with the free negroes and slaves of the interior, I saw nothing in themno incapacity or inaptitude-to prevent them rising in the scale of civilization equal to that of the people of Northern Africa; whilst, at the same time, they are less cruel and ferocious, and more mild and obliging, than the Arabs and Moors of Barbary. SALE OF HOUSEHOLD AND KITCHEN FURNITURE.- On Thursday, the 30th instant, at 10 o'clock A.M., will be sold, at the auction rooms of the subscriber, a genteel lot of furniture, worthy the attention of housekeepers, as the sale must positively take place. Terms of sale -All sums of and under $20, cash; over $20, a credit of 60 and 90 days, for notes satisfactorily endorsed, bearing interest. A. GREEN, Auctioneer. Upon the same day, at five o'clock P.M., and at the same place, will be sold a very likely and valuable servant boy, about 17 years of age, a slave for life. Terms of sale:--One half cash, and the balance in 60 days, to be secured by a note satisfactorily endorsed, bearing interest. July 20. A. GREEN, Auctioneer. This Mr. Green is licensed by the city authorities, under authority from Congress. His office is on Pennsylvania Avenue, the great thoroughfare of the city, about midway between the capital and the president's house. He is himself a member, and, if we are correctly informed, a class-leader in one of the principal Methodist Episcopal churches in the city. One's spiritual exercises must be delightful after the sale of such "a boy." What a stench is such piety in the nostrils of all decent men! What a loathing to the God of heaven! A Christian selling, "boys!" And on O shame! commission! He THE REV. WM. PLUMER, D.D.-A few years since this gentleman made quite a flourish at the North in his zeal to give the Bible within a limited time, to all the "accessible population" of the globe. Subsequently he was about equally conspicuous in his denunciations of Abolitionists. There is a law in Virginia taxing the income of individuals as well as their other property. The clergymen of Richmond feeling this law to be oppressive, recently agreed to test it, and selected Dr. Plumer to make the case. accordingly refused to give the commissioner of the revenue any account of the amount of his income. This brought the case to court, and the commissioner being sworn, stated "that he called on Dr. P. gave Dr. Plumer for his taxable property and his income. him a list of his taxable property, consisting of slaves, horses, barouche, watches and piano, but refused," &c. Let all know, then, that the Rev. Wm. S. Plumer, D.D., of Richmond, Va., is a slave-holder, and that he reckons his "slaves" with his "taxable property." We gather these facts from the Religious Herald, Aug. 6, 1846. DRAGGING A METHODIST PREACHER FROM THE PULPIT AT THE SOUTH.-On the Peninsula, between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays is a Methodist circuit, called the Northampton a white soul wrung by mortal agony. He had been purchased by Circuit, and included in the Philadelphia Conference. Not long since, the Rev. Mr. Early, a presiding elder of the Methodist Church, South, took occasion to lecture the people in that vicinity, respecting the danger of permitting "northern preachers"-that is, preachers of the Philadelphia Conference-to exercise their ministry there. A correspondent of the Christian Advocate and Journal, under date of July 16, writes as follows: "I drop a line to inform you that acts of violence have been perpetrated on the Northampton Circuit, against our adhering brethren and their minister. On last Sunday, 12th inst., brother Gray, preacher in charge of Northampton Circuit, when about to commence the morning services in the Salem church, was assailed by a mob, seized in the pulpit, and forcibly taken out of the pulpit and church. On Monday, he and the brethren of Salem went to Eastville, the seat of justice for the county, the court being then in session: he was met then and there by the mob, and driven away from the seat of justice, without redress or protection. left the country, his life being considered in danger if he remained. The alleged cause for this violence was, that he was a northern preacher. You will receive a more full and circumstantial detail of the matter in a short time." He The editor of the Advocate and Journal states further, that Mr. Gray, "had his coat torn, was severely choked and had some of his hair pulled out by the mob." Very appropriate Sabbath work, and very natural fruit of Elder Early's preaching! And it is but the first fruits of the persecutions that are to rage in all the slavestates, if the gospel is ever preached there in faithful condemnation of slavery. A FOURTH OF JULY Scene at WASHINGTON.-The Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, gives the following item in connection with the celebration of the 4th of July in that city :— The coloured people here of the Methodist persuasion are about holding a fair for the purchase of their preacher! The price asked by his master is $300. What a commentary upon the roaring cannon of the 4th of July, in commemoration of the day when it was asserted that all men are free and equal ! A congregation cannot worship their Maker without purchasing their preacher! How these things make Europe laugh! How they ought to make all Christendom blush! (From the Correspondence of the Buffalo Daily Express.) Louisville, (Ky.) April 29, 1846. Up to this time I had not been able to comprehend that the finelooking, intelligent men and women of colour that I saw about me were chattels, the subjects of trade and barter, like my horse or my cow, but a public sale of slaves enabled me to comprehend the painful reality. A. B. had died, leaving certain debts to be paid by his administrators, and his stock of boys and girls (slaves) was brought to the hammer, according to law, in front of the Court House-the sheriff acting as auctioneer. Jack is produced and offered for sale. The sheriff says, "Gentlemen, the terms of sale are cash. I offer you this fine boy Jack-he is warranted sound and in good health; he is docile and ingenious; he is of good disposition. was very devoted to his late master; once saved his master's life while drowning, at the risk of his own; can't bear an Abolitionist. (A laugh.) How much am I offered for the boy Jack? Jack, how old are you?" "I reckon, massa, I am twenty-two or twenty-five years old-don't know, exactly." The sheriff says, speaking to his mother, "Snow-ball, how old is Jack?" "Reckon twenty, massa." 'Well, Jack is from twenty to twenty-five years of age. How much is bid? $200, 200, 200, 225, 225, 250, 250. Jack is a professor of religion. (300 by two bidders.) Religion sells high! 300, 300-Jack has no education-can't read or write; 350. Ignorance sells at the same price! 350, 350, 375, 400, 425, 430, 435, 440, 440, 440. Do I hear no more!-last call; bid quick, or gone. Gone." Jack is knocked off to a man with a broad hat, who wears a heavy gold chain across his bosom, a handsome bowie knife in his vest, and carries a huge cane in his hand. During this dreadful scene, Jack's mother and sister stand by awaiting their turn. Need I say to humane readers that they were overwhelmed with grief and drowned in tears? Jack watched the bidding as intently as the victim would the knife that was either to sever his bonds, or send him to the other world. When a man bid who was known to be a kind master, his face would light up with joy; and a bid from a different quarter would cover his face with an expression of anguish that must be seen to be appreciated. When he was struck off, he turned pale and sank upon the ground picture of despair. I thought I could see beneath that dark skin aslave-dealer, who bought and sold men, women, and children to the sugar planters of Louisiana for gain. His new master seized him by the collar and dragged him away to jail, shaking his cane over his head and swearing, as only a slave-dealer can swear, that he would load him with irons and cure him of the hysterics. The sister, a comely female of nineteen years of age, was next offered, and sold, I believe, to a kind master. The mother was then offered for sale on time, for anybody's note without endorsement. She was sixty-five years of age, or more. She was a woman, and a mother, and a Christian, and her head was white with the blossoms of the grave. "The almond-tree had begun to flourish, and the grasshopper had become a burden; " and there were no bidders. God spare me from another such sight. HORRIBLE.-A gentleman of this city, whose veracity may be absolutely relied on, lately related to the writer of this the following incident: He was at Clinton, in Mississippi, in March last. While sitting in the bar-room of the tavern, a fierce-looking man, armed with a gun, driving another man before him, and followed by a pack of savage dogs, entered the room, and came directly up to him. His manner, appearance, and attendants, at first created a little alarm. The stranger knowingly inquired, "Where is Squire Our friend answered that he did not know him. "I mean," rejoined the fellow, "the man that keeps this tavern." At that moment, the tavern-keeper came in. Squire," ," said he, "here's a nigger I've caught with my dogs, and I want to give him up to you." "I'm not a Squire, now," said the tavern-keeper; "you must go to Squire.” Upon this, the man-hunter, his human prey, and his brute assistants, went off together. Our friend was shocked to learn that the scene was not regarded as at all extraordinary. Slavecatching with dogs, was a regular business in that part of the country. The next day it was ascertained upon examination, that the person thus caught with dogs, was a poor white man, and no slave! The man was only a poor white man-a mistake had been madea small mistake! The slave-holder was no doubt sorry for it. And so the thing passed off. Say we not truly, that the whites must abolish slavery, if they would themselves be free? A PAINFUL SCENE.-A painful scene was witnessed at Lightstreet Wharf, on Monday evening, according to the Sun. It seems that about seven o'clock, a coloured woman ran down Camdenstreet to the basin, and crossing one of the vessels lying there sprang overboard. Measures were immediately taken for her rescue by persons around, which proved successful, in spite of the most determined resistance, however, on her part. Upon being taken upon the deck of the vessel, she begged the byestanders to let her drown herself, that she would "sooner be dead than go back again It was understood from some of the to be beat as she had been." crowd that she had jumped out of the window of the place in which her owner had confined her, and immediately took the nearest route, to throw herself into the water. A short time after she was rescued she left the boat, and pursued her way along the wharf to Pratt-street, and down that street, making, during the time she was in view, several efforts to get near enough to the edge of the platform, to throw herself over, but she was foiled in these attempts by the crowd which followed her. ACTION OF AMERICAN ECCLESIASTICAL BODIES. THE OLD SCHOOL GENERAL ASSEMBLY. This is the body with which the Free Church of Scotland is in direct and full fellowship. The body met at Philadelphia, May 21st, and the subject of slavery was early brought before it by the communications of other ecclesiastical bodies in correspondence with it; and also by memorials from some of its own churches and ministers. Among the communications was a letter from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, another from the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and two others from the General Associations of Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Synod in Canada is a branch of the Scotch Free Church. Its letter was plain and faithful. For a time, its reading was endured by the Assembly, but it was quite too much. Very soon' the clerk stammered and hesitated and pretended the writing was so bad that he could not well read it, and Dr. Musgrave, of |
