entirely, the mode of action-and I did hope at that time, that that most desirable result would have been attained--but I am now ready to admit, that I have been disappointed”--"I cannot pretend to deny, that the last proceedings in the principal colonial legislature" (Jamaica) "have filled me with sentiments, which I do not wish to express"——then, all prostrate beneath colonial terrors, he adds "But I would rather address an imploring voice to the legislature and entreat them quickly to wipe away the stain :--and from some circumstances which have come to my knowledge, I have the greatest hopes, that in the next session of the Colonial Legislature, an act will pass to accomplish this object." The triumphant legislature of Jamaica realized these hopes and wiped away the stain! in December, 1827, by enacting amongst other things: "The whip is not forbidden in the field, lest the abandonment too suddenly of a long established usage* should be misunderstood by the slaves. **** Until negro women have acquired more of the sense of shame, which distinguishes European females, it will be impossible with respect to them, to lay aside altogether punishment by flogging, their being no substitute that promises to be accompanied with the same salutary dread." Then with all the airs of Eastern despots--no-I ought to say of Western slave masters! they conclude "The House has now calmly reviewed the reasons which are given for disallowing the slave act of last session. They cannot pass a new bill, containing the amendment suggested in Mr. Huskisson's despatch, without sacrificing their independence and endangering the safety of the island; and as the local government is forbidden to sanction such a bill as the House can consent to pass, the slave population must again be governed by the act of 1816. When it shall please His Majesty, to withdraw the instructions to the governor, which limit the legislative power of the Assembly, the House * The long established usage, thus doatingly cherished by the Legislature of Jamaica, was, whenever a female slave, did not please her master or manager, if he thought fit, immediately to have her thrown prostrate on the ground, her face downwards-then to uncover her back with the most brutal indecency, and flog her at discretion-often till gashed and weltering in her blood; frequently compelling her own children to help to hold her down by her stretched out limbs, and sometimes her husband or son to flog her. And this was the Jamaica way of instructing negro women in the sense of shame which distinguishes European females. Such is the wisdom of using slavery as a preparative for freedom!! which limit the legislative power of the Assembly, the House will once more take the slave code, into their serious consideration."!! The drama of Colonial arrogance and of ministerial prostration, was at its height, when, as reported in The (London) Times of 22d July, 1828, the Duke of Wellington declared "We (the ministers of the Crown) have not the power to force the Colonists, to adopt the measures of amelioration proposed to them." Behold the spectacle; Great Britain and her pampered colonies!-The urchin growls and the parent is prostrate! What resource remains? Must slavery forever gnaw the heart of freedom? Must Britain continue hopelessly to carry a lie in her right hand, whenever she boasts of liberty; dreaming proudly of magnanimity, while she is plundering and outraging without remorse, her own guiltless poor! The nation has been tried; and at the nation's call, the government arose. The government has essayed its strength and been foiled. Buonaparte's conqueror exclaims, "we cannot enforce even measures of amelioration!!" What resource remained? Why God remained! and His truth remained! and his seven thousand men that had not bowed the knee to Baal, remained and righteous law remained the same glorious thing for ever, however sophistries may entangle, or influence prevent, or wickedness abuse it for a time. The soul of impartial equity and holy love remained, not dead, though slumbering. The clarion call of the fearful emergency awakened it; and it slowly arose, and girded itself for the battle. The British spirit was again in action, and the slave spirit undauntedly met it. On the side of truth, the power of voluntary association, with no arms, but the weapons which through God are mighty; the peaceful arms of truth and love!-with no funds, but such as willing and grateful affection poured into the treasury of the Lord's work. On the side of slavery the most powerful faction, which has ever endangered and disgraced the British empire-mighty in resources of power, influence and wealth, scoffing like a giant in its strength, at its pigmy adversary. But that despised and slandered pigmy, had more than a giant's strength-when most weak, it was most strong, "taking pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake."-2 Cor. xii. 10. It was, however, as yet in the twilight; its eyes were heavy and its vision dim. It aimed only at the amelioration of the condition of the slaves, and at the gradual and eventual abolition of slavery. Its Parliamentary leader retained much the same sentiments as he is reported to have declared in 1823. "The object at which we aim, is the extinction of slavery— nothing less than the extinction of slavery-in nothing less than the whole of the British dominions; not, however, the rapid termination of that state-not the sudden emancipation of the negro-but such preparatory steps, such measures and precautions as by slow degrees, and in a course of years, first fitting and qualifying the slave for the enjoyment of freedom, shall gently conduct us to the annihilation of slavery. Nothing can more clearly shew, that we mean nothing rash, nothing rapid, nothing abrupt, nothing bearing any feature of violence, than this, that if I succeed to the fullest extent of my desires confessedly sanguine, no man will be able to say-I, even, shall not be able to predict, that at such a time, or in such a year, slavery will be abolished. We are far from meaning to attempt to cut down slavery in the full maturity of its vigor. We rather should leave it gently to decay-slowly-silently-almost imperceptibly, to die away and to be forgotton.” The slave faction perceived the advantage thus given, and boldly availed themselves of it. The contest remained as it had been, one of expediency-not the assertion of righteousness, but the mitigation of sin-not the abolition of slavery, but the improvement of the condition of the slave, yet remaining in bondage. The ground was the adversary's, and the friends of humanity fought to great disadvantage on it. They seem not to have perceived, that if any transgression of God's holy law can be justified for a moment, it has as good a right to be sanctioned for ever-that when once in a course of sin, "preparing to do right is continuing to do wrong." They seem not to have perceived that they were rejecting God from their counsels-and were proceeding exactly on the principles of their antagonists, only in a more humane and decent form. They did not wish the laborer, at once, independently to enjoy his wages, under just and benignant laws; but only to be driven less brutally and indecently to forced and overwhelming toil! They did not wish female purity to be at once secured, as far as law can secure it, from violation; but only to be removed somewhat further from danger! They did not wish domestic authority to be restored in its holiest amplitude to parents; but only that it might be less completely extinguished!They did not wish that the wife should be her husband'sand the husband his wife's-but only that they should be somewhat more protected from their petty tyrant's arbitrary interference! They did not wish that the whole light of heaven should be left as free as God has made and willed it, to pour without obstruction, upon the minds of the outraged and guiltless poor; but only that the power and opportunity of obstructing it, should be curtailed. I do not mean, that they did not wish for these and such like things in their hearts--but I mean that they did not wish for them sufficiently to aim at them in their association; and who that believes, that the concurrence and blessing of God is indispensable to direct success in every holy enterprise, can wonder that their progress was impeded and slow! Yet they made progress-for they were in earnest Love, after all, was their spirit, and God was their trust, and they could say with him of old, "Lord, we believe-help Thou our unbelief." In this, they differed totally from their adversaries. They yielded their own holy ground, not because they sympathized with slave masters; but because they overrated their power; they had not cast off the fear of God, but they had yielded unduly to the fear of man; they loved not a fraction of tyranny, but they did not look to God sufficiently, to take it by the horns; they panted for thorough righteousness; but they believed it unwise to pursue it at once.Their adversaries, on the contrary, were only bent (I mean as a body) upon perpetuating the revelry of the rich, and the learned, and the strong, upon the plunder and the degradation of the guiltless and helpless poor. At this time, "anti-slavery" and "negro friend" associations had been extensively organized through England; and in Dublin an efficient one flourished, with several correspondencies in Ireland. A new stumbling block was presented. It was the theory of confining every effort in favor of the slaves, to care for their souls. It was put forth by some of the best men and women in the higher walks of life, and carried away many from the greater and holier battle. 20 ABOLITION OF SLAVERY BY GREAT BRITAIN. [October, "What," said it, "is temporal to spiritual bondage? What the slavery of the body, to the slavery of the mind? Free them from their masters, and yet leave them slaves to sin, and what will you have done for them? Many of their masters are christians!! through these, we can have access to multitudes-here is a field ample enough for all our resources-in entering it, we shall offend no one; we shall come into collision with nobody--all will be peace and kindness. Thus may we gradually prevail through the concurrence of the better order of masters, in exhibiting to the next, the advantages of education and of kindness-and through them to the next, until the whole mass shall be christianized and prepared, and then of course, there will be no difficulty in delivering them all from bondage."!! This theory had all the plausibility of which it is susceptible, in Great Britain; because both the colonial and national laws, favored the religious instruction of the slaves; and missionaries-not missionary slaveholders, or companions of slaveholders-but missionaries of the cross, the parents in Christ, and friends and servants of the poor, had large access to them. But the theory was too obviously false, both in nature and in fact, to deceive extensively, a people not courting deception. It was readily and clearly seen, that the words of a law, in favor of religious instruction, could avail but little, while that same law, invested the master with almost unlimited powers: and that even where masters were really desirous of evangelizing their slaves, the continuance of the slave system, presented in general, almost insuperable difficulties. It became as evident as noonday, that the barrier of slavery must be removed, before the Gospel could find access to the great body of the slaves; and that it was theorizing away truth, and evading the cross of duty, to leave the million in deepest spiritual and social death, insulted, polluted, trampled upon and perishing, without succor or pity; while the rich stream of love to liberty and to man, was confined to the few who could be approached without exciting the tyrant's terrors. In the course of this discussion, also, the question of christian slaveholders was well explored, and it was very universally seen amongst the real enemies of slavery, that a christian slaveholder, is a contradiction in terms: that a Christ-like man, can no more "op |