to His glory, all who trust in Him. Mission. Rep. P. 221.

So again Mr. Pearson.

To be able Ministers of the Gospel in Pagan Lands, you must LOVE THE CROSS, according to the largest sense of that comprehensive figure. P. 226.

Need I exhort you to a diligent and devout study of the Sacred Volume, that you may speak as the Oracles of God; clearly dividing and expounding revealed truths; exhibiting them in their just order and connection; enforcing scriptural positions with scriptural arguments; and illustrating them, as much as possible, in the words of Him who spake as never man spake, and in those of His inspired Apostles. Obtain clear conceptions of the Gospel Scheme of Salvation, of its separate parts and their harmonious combination; that you may not be embarrassed in your attempts to set it forth. Men, whose own opinions on religion are crude and undigested, will be apt to convey erroneous notions of the subject to others. How, indeed, should those be intelligible to another, who do not understand themselves? Missionary Report, Pp. 227, 228.

Lastly, Mr. Webster.

I would urge on you, my Brethren, the importance of dwelling much, in your various ministrations, on the important subject-Christ Crucified. This was the topic, in which the greatest of all Missionaries determined to glory, for which he counted all things but loss, and for which he determined to know nothing else among the people. This was the topic, which Brainerd, and Elliot, and the Moravian Missionaries found effectual to the conversion of fierce Indians and degraded Greenlanders; and which your valuable predecessors have found so effectual, among the very people to whom you are going. The love of God in giving His Son to die for one so lost, depraved, and guilty as man-the love of

topics of your own meditation, will be found, under the Divine Blessing, most effectual in the salvation of those to whom you will minister.-Missionary Report, Pp. 213, 214.

Mr. Vaughan may indeed remark none of these passages give

me to understand that the Gospel is the Gospel of THE GRACE OF GOD; the message of a kingdom in which are damned ones as well as saved ones; by a distinction put by God only, though displayed and acted in a way of strictest justice, through the free (which alone is moral) agency of the creature. Vaughan, Pp. 14, 15.

But the essential and pervading principle is man co-operating, as in a joint free partnership, with God, to do good; God working, and not working. A denial in effect, of universal man's blindedness, and of the invincibility of God's energizings in those whom He energizes at all; that is, in chosen ones.-Vaughan, P. 15.

But supposing this to be the case, are the sentiments and expressions more or less accordant to the language of holy writ than those which Mr. Vaughan desires? We must speak plainly. Mr. Vaughan advances in this, and in some other of his publications, po sitions which have no foundation in and cannot be established by the word of God. We appeal from him, therefore, to the sacred Scriptures. We ask, where in the writ

ings of Paul, or of Peter, or of any other apostle, are sentiments similar to these he advances. He has been drawn aside by metaphysical reasoning, and become wise above what is written-he has ruined his own usefulness-dispersed a very

to become man, to suffer and die a painful and accursed death, in order to open unto us the way to everlasting life the attestation given to the acceptance of that sacrifice, in His resurrection, ascension, and intercession before the throne-and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in His renewing, converting, sanctifying, and strengthening influence these are subjects, which, while they must form the ceaseless JAN. 1826.

and now is consoling himself it is God's work and God's fault, and not his own. We think him therefore in a dangerous error; and pray God that he may repent and do his first works, and, no longer resting on his own speculations, may preach Christ Jesus as exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins,

F

imprisonment, and death of Buonaparte, are fresh in every one's recollection, and all must acknowledge the share which the Emperor Alexander had in these great events.

History, however, will record with still greater pleasure his exertions for the benefit of his subjects, by promo

was educated under Colonel La Harpe, who appears to have discharged the trust reposed in him with exemplary fidelity. He married the sister of the Grand Duke of Baden in 1793; and was proclaimed Emperor in March, and crowned at Moscow in September 1801. From the moment of his exaltation to the throne he appears to have studied to promote the interest and welfare of his people. Having made peace with this country, he endeavoured to mediate between England and France, and, in 1805, proclaimed war against the latter country. Being defeated at Friedland, he signed the preliminaries of peace at Tilsit; and in consequence, it is supposed, of some secret article, was compelled to commence hostilities against Great Britain. The insatiate ambition of Buonaparte, however, induced Alexander to cast off the yoke, and compelled him to defend his own dominions against the assaults of the usurper. The occupation of Moscow, its *consequent destruction, the annihilation of the French army, the dethronement,

ment. He appears for a considerable period as the friend of Missions, the patron of Bible Societies, the supporter of Schools, &c. and only anxious to improve his great opportunities for the most important ends. Of late indeed his exertions have been paralyzed, and the friends of religion have had to mourn a secret influence which prevented the pursuit of those beneficent and liberal plans in which he once engaged. How far this may be attributed to Jesuitical counsellors, is not quite clear. At all events it is a subject most deeply to be lamented, and especially when we contemplate his early death.

Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. We have seen in the course of the last month, the fortunes of the wealthiest crumbling into dust, and the lives of the most powerful suddenly brought to a close. Let us improve the lesson, and by setting our affections on things above prepare for our own latter end, and for that solemn change which awaits us all.

On Wednesday December the 21st, a very numerous meeting of the members and friends of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery throughout the British dominion, was held at the Freemasons' Tavern, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament for the Abolition of Slavery. About half past twelve o'clock, Mr. Wilberforce, accompanied by Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. Brougham, Mr. Denman, Mr. F. Buxton, Dr. Lushington, and several other gentlemen, entered the Hall, and were loudly greeted on their way to the platform.

Mr. Wilberforce being unanimously called to the Chair, opened the business of the Meeting. He said, that he could assure them, with deep sincerity, that it was with unaffected diffidence that he had yielded to the call of many of his kind friends, to take the chair that day,

SOCIETY.

and preside over the business of the Meeting. Having found that his health was rapidly declining through indisposition, he perceived it incumbent on him to retire from Parliament, and in having done so, he considered he had relinquished public life altogether; supposing himself, therefore, but as a mere private individual, he did not think it becoming in him to have taken the chair that day; but being entreated by his friends so to do, he considered that no personal motive of delicacy should be an obstacle to his yielding to a call in a great cause like this, in which there was such an important duty, both to God and man, to be performed. Feeling it to be his imperious duty, he had yielded. The object of the Society, and of its present meeting, was so well known, that it would be needless in him to occupy their time in detailing it. They were

met for the purpose of petitioning Parliament for the gradual, but immediate relief of the West India Slaves-to petition that Parliament which had already intimated itself to be favourable to the gradual amelioration and abolition of the slave system-a Parliament which had promised to use every exertion to effect that much-desired reformation, by gradually extending to them the benefits and blessings of liberty. There was still a great deal to be done, and it was again to those feelings of solid justice and humanity which were so strongly fixed in the bosoms of the great mass of the British people that they had to appeal to complete their triumph, by representing to Parliament the imperious necessity of the gradual abolition of the horrors of slavery. He could assure the Meeting their cause would, to the latest moment of his life, have his most zealous wishes and support, and that day would be the happiest of his life (if he lived to that period) which should crown his ardent hopes by the full completion of the objects of this cause.

Mr. Macaulay then read the Report, which detailed, at considerable length, the horrors and atrocities of the Slave system, and strongly pointed out how highly imperative it was, that a gradual change in the condition of the Negroes should immediately commence.

The

Report referred to a digest of some material parliamentary documents which has been published, under the title of "The Slave Colonies of Great Britain, or a Picture of Negro Slavery, drawn by the Colonists themselves.' This admits us to a near view of the interior of society in one of the slave colonies, Berbice, where the Fiscal had preserved some, though an imperfect record, of the complaints on the part of the slaves, which came before him. The slave system in this colony is not marked by features of peculiar atrocity. It is one of the few slave colonies in which the population does not diminish. But when we consider, what a mass of suffering is laid open to our view, in the account which has reached us, from this single colony, containing about 23,000 slaves, being scarcely a fortieth part of the whole slave population, how frightfully would that mass have been augmented had we received a similar report of the remaining 800,000 over whose sufferings the veil of oblivion has been drawn.

Some idea of the wretched insecurity of the tenure by which slaves enjoy even the spot to which the Report tells us they

are attached, together with all the dearest ties and charities of life, may be obtained from the case of a Mr. Padmore, who was driven to the necessity (a necessity of common occurrence in the West Indies) of selling his estate to satisfy his creditors. "The slaves," it is stated, "he could have sold separately (detached from the estate) at a much higher rate; but they came to him in a body, with most distressing cries, and threw themselves on the ground before him; when a spokesman, appointed by the rest, fell down at his feet, and implored him in all their names, not to separate them, both from himself and the estate. They were ready to follow him to the other end of the island; but if he could not retain them about himself, if his necessities compelled him to sell them, they besought him not to part. friends and relations, husbands and wives, parents and children: not to tear them from their houses and gardens ;. but to let them go with the land. He could not resist such an appeal, and he lost at least forty pounds a-head by it."

Among the parliamentary documents is found a Report on the Civil and Criminal Justice of the West Indies, by Mr. Dwarris, the only surviving Commissioner, himself a planter and proprietor, from which various important extracts were brought forward. The trials of slaves in this island, Barbadoes,

are very unsatisfactory. We heard them pronounced disgraceful.' The judges,' it is said, are ignorant;' the proceedings are slovenly; the charge, being unwritten, shifts with the case. A disposition to favour, where it exists" (and the Reporter might have added, a disposition to condemn) "receives no check from the want of publicity. There being no assigned place or appointed time for the execution of slave malefactors, the wretched convict, as soon as sentence is passed, is fastened to the nearest tree; unless, which frequently happens, the owner of the soil is at hand to prevent it. In such case, the miserable culprit is dragged from tree to tree, from estate to estate; and in one case, of then recent occurrence, the constable was at last forced to throw the exhausted sufferer off the town bridge, securing the rope by a lamp-post."

"Slaves in this island," he says, are without legal protection or redress for personal injuries."... "The slave has no remedy, in case of the greatest oppression by the master or his delegate, or the grossest injury by third persons;

though the master (in case of his slave being assaulted or robbed) may have reparation in damages for the loss of service or the injury to his property in the slave. The murder of a slave, wilfully, maliciously, wantonly, and without provocation, is now a capital crime. But there is no other legislative provision, restraining the absolute power of the master over the slave, or inflicting punishment upon the owners or others, in case of mayhem, mutilation, dismemberment, or cruel treatment. No other act of assembly has been framed for the protection of slaves; no tribunal is specially appointed for inquiry into their wrongs. A slave who is, or thinks himself, aggrieved, looks in vain, in this island, for a proper quarter in which to prefer his complaint. It can no where be received. Murder is the only case in which the law interferes." "For the punishment of general oppression and mal-treatment of a slave, there is no provision by any law of Barbadoes. If inflicted by the master, it would be dispunishable. If perpetrated by a third person, the owner would have his remedy by civil action; but the slave would still be without redress." "There is not, in Barbadoes, any law regulating the quantum and kind of punishment, the hours of labour and rest, the provision of food, and (except nominally) of clothing. These are dependent on the performance of moral duties, of which good men feel the obligation, but of which the breach is not cognizable before any earthly tribunal. A wicked and cruel master or delegate (so that he do not kill a slave)

may

inflict on him ANY degree or severity of punishment. No man, or set of men has legal power to call him to account for working his slave as long as he likes ; for whipping him as much as he pleases; for chaining; for starving him."

"A

master has uncontrolled, undefined, and absolute power." Where, then, asks Mr. Dwarris, very justly, however inconsistently, "where, then, is the protection of the slave, and where, in case of accident, the justification of the master?" "In a case even of very grievous bodily injury, inflicted upon a slave by a manager, the sufferer himself, or his slave brethren who were present, cannot give evidence, even though all the free persons on the premises should have been designedly sent out of the way. In such a case, a slave is not allowed to be a prosecutor. Maimed, mutilated, disfigured, dismembered," (I am putting, says Mr. Dwarris, the most aggravated

case,) "his wounds must be the only tongue permitted to relate his wrongs." These however will speak for him here, if they do not speak for him in the colonies.

Neither in Tobago, nor in Grenada, are there any public institutions, by which infant or adult slaves are instructed in religious principles and useful knowledge. There are no Sunday schools." The Wesleyan Methodists alone have given any instruction to the slaves of these islands. In Barbadoes, only one school is said to exist for Black or Coloured children, though the Black and Coloured population is about 90,000.

Such are some of the material facts brought to light, in the most authentic form, by this recent report; in which, however, we must admit that many opinions are expressed which it is exceedingly difficult to reconcile with those facts, or indeed with the notorious realities of the case. Take an example :Mr. Dwarris states it to be the only just ground of complaint against the present inhabitants of Barbadoes, that they had not repealed a certain act, which inflicts the punishment of slitting the nose, and burning the face with a hot iron, on a Negro who strikes a Christian a second time. But when Mr. Dwarris thus sweepingly cleared the Barbadians from every other charge, had he not yet heard of the atrocities of 1804, reported by Lord Seaforth? of the wholesale massacres of slaves in 1816? of the destruction of the Methodist chapel and the expulsion of the Missionary in 1823? or of their new slave law of 1824? And is it not this very gentleman by whose report of the Barbadoes slave courts, and of the summary and brutal executions of their convicts, and of the unprotected state of the whole slave population, we have just been sickened? How are we to explain such strange incongruities as these?

Never, however, let the people of England forget, that of this unchristian and merciless system they will continue to be the criminal upholders, if they now refrain from lifting up their voice against it: or if they silently acquiesce in contributing, as they now do, largely and directly, to its support. It is absolutely vain for us to be hoping to succeed in abolishing slavery; or to expect that by the vehemence of our speeches, or by the strength of our resolutions, or even by the severity of our enactments, we shall be able very materially to abate this evil, if we continue, as we now do,

to extend to the slave-holder those solid marks of our favour which are conveyed to him in bounties and protecting duties; thus supplying to him the very means of maintaining his iniquitous system against the united wishes of the parliament and people of England.

After the statement which has just been given, combined with all our previous information, are we not entitled to call upon the people of England to come forward to strengthen the hands of the government, in the righteous work of carrying into effect the hitherto abortive resolutions of Parliament on the subject of Colonial Slavery? We call upon them therefore to assemble in every county, and city, and town, and even village of the United Kingdom, in order to testify their abhorrence of this impious system, and to implore of the Legislature, respectfully indeed, but most earnestly, to relieve them from its guilt and burden. Let no man in this free and happy country, where the voice of the very meanest has its appropriate weight in Parliament, imagine that he can discharge himself from the performance of this solemn duty; or-should his application to Parliament fail of its effectfrom adopting every other expedient in his power, such as abstinence from slave-grown sugar, the promotion of cultivation by free labour, &c. for wiping away this foul stain from the national character. To all then we would say, in conclusion, in the words of the same eloquent writer, "Come forward with your petitions. Instruct your representatives. Give or withhold your suffrages for the next Parliament, and use your personal influence throughout the country; all in such a manner as may best promote the success of this great and sacred cause. If you succeed, you will give a new triumph to the British Constitution. You will exalt the glory of your country, in that best point, her moral elevation, and recommend her to the favour of heaven." "If you fail, you will at least have the inestimable consolation that you have done what you could to undo the heavy burden, and to let the oppressed go free;' and that the sins and calamities of your country, however pernicious in their consequences to yourselves or your children, were evils which you could not avert."

"These parliamentary documents are particularly valuable, as exemplifying the unchanged spirit of colonial legislation on the subject of slavery. The local

legislatures have refused, without a single exception, to comply even with the moderate requisitions of his Majesty's Ministers, as these are embodied in the Order in Council for Trinidad; and the colonists, generally, exult in the refusal, encouraging each other to persevere in the same contumacious course. Their tone of secure and triumphant irony is remarkable. We beg you to observe,' says the editor of one of their newspapers, that not one of the unconquered colonies (meaning the colonies having legislatures of their own) have had the civility to comply with Earl Bathurst's wishes, notwithstanding he informed them, in the most earnest and feeling manner, of the serious extent of the disappointment which his Majesty's Government would experience, if they rejected his application. We sympathize most sincerely with his Lordship on this unexpected event."

The Report concludes thus"These various indications of the general sympathy in our labours are strong incentives to perseverance. And we must all feel it as not among the least cheering and encouraging circumstances, which we are called to acknowledge with gratitude to the GIVER of all good, that we should once more behold among us, and in the chair of this assembly. that loved and revered individual, dear to all to whom the interests of humanity are dear; who, having consecrated the strength and flower of his days to the vindication of the wronged and degraded African, and having at length signally triumphed in his long and painful conflict; now, though bending under the weight of added years, still marshals our way, as we trust, to victory, in a no less arduous struggle-in the endeavour to break the yoke of the oppressor, and to achieve the rescue of the oppressed, in every corner of the British dominions. May it please God to spare him to witness the final consummation of this labour of love and mercy!"

Sir James Mackintosh then rose and stated that his chief object in rising to address the Meeting was, because he was convinced that no measure would be more conducive to the welfare and happiness of the British nation than the abolition of slavery, which would give to the colonial inhabitants the blessings and benefits of the British Constitution, and at once raise them to the level of human beings, and give them that enviable character of men and free