The Express.
London, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

want of-skipping-for sugars. Freight as high as 1 BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY
82c 6d. a ton. At Rio Mr. Heneage, of the British SOCIETY.
legation, had died of vellow fever. The coffee mar-
ket)sas been active. Exchange upon London by the
Severn,- 27; to '2B at 60 and 90 days. About 270,0001.
has passed for this conveyance.

Yesterday evening, the annual meeting of this
society was held at Exeter.hall. In comoquence of the
expectation of the presence of Mrs. 11. 11. Stowe. and other
popular advocates of the objects of the society, the great
hall was not only filled to an inconviAiiint tures, but large
numbers of persons who were unable to obtain admittance
were obliged to leave the doors, which w.ra surrounded
by an eager crowd at a very early hour.
The Earl of SHAYTESISPHY was iu the chair, and opened
the proceedings of the evening.
The SLCILL(AIIY then cenimenced reading the report, but
in consequence of the impatience of the meeting, eulitirieu
himself to a brief statement of the income and expenditure
of the society for the past year.
The Um J. BALDWIN BDOWNE incised the first resole.
tion, namely, the adoption of the report, and the appoint-
' meat of a committee for the ensuing year.

THE BRAZILS.

LIVERPOOL, MONDAS.

behave an arrival here to-day from Rio Janeiro.
The ship Reindeer, Captain Hunt, brings dates to the 24th
of March, ten days later than by the hot Brazilian mail
steamer.
The Reindeer sailed in company with the Joshua, of
Lonr:on, and Catherine Swanton, for Constantinople. The
Ranger had sailed a few days previous for Bahia.
The fever was raging to an alarming extent among the
shipping at Rio Janeiro.
Business generally was good. Dates from the United
States to Bth February had been received at Rio Janeiro,
advising an advance in the price of coffee, which caused
some excitement, and a large purchase was made at advanc-
ing prices, chiefly for shipment to the United States. Su-
periors are quoted at 4,000 to 4,200 reis, and good firsts
3,200 to 3.000 reis. The stock in first hands was estimated
at 3,5,000 bags.
Exchange on England, 2h to 28J.
Fieights to the Channel, his. to iOs. ; New York, 100 to
103 mats.; and New Orleans, 110 to 120 cents.

In the course of the rev. gentleman's observations,
Mom U. R. Stowe entered, and took her seat in one of
the side galleries. The whole assembly rose, Ltd cheered
her loudly for several minutes.
The resolution was seconded by the Rev. W. AIITIMII,
and carried unanimously.
Mr. JosErn SMIll:14 read the names of the committee,
and stated that among the corresponding members of tau
society were now to be found Professor Stowe, of
Massachusetts--(cheers)—Charles Beecher—(cheers)—and
Samuel Ward. of Canada. (Cheers.)
The Rev. W. Bitook moved the next resolution : " That
the meeting, impressed with a conviction of the inherent
sinfulness of slave-holding, and of the doctr:ne that 4
human being may be made s chattel, and Income property
to his fellow-man, deem it incumbent upon them to asseve-
rate

-se the principle of immediate and uncOnditioaalernanei-
pation, as the only one that is consistent with the rights of
the slave, and the duty of the master; and regarding the
maintenance of slavery in Christian communities as a dis-
grace to humanity, a dishonour to civilisation, and an cut-
rage upon religion, would affirm it as their conviction, that
it is the duty of Christians, of all denominations and in all
countries, to lift up. their voices in uncompromising con-
demnation of an iniquity so monstrous, and to employ all
moral and pacific means to effect its removal."
The Rev. SAMUEL WARD, of Canada (a negro), seconded
the resolution, and was received with great applause. He
argued strongly against a principle which had been laid
down, that money compensation should be made to slave-
holders as a condition of the emancipation of their slaves,
and stigmatised it at a compounding of sin, and declared
that a roaveholder who freed his slave was only a repentant
sinner, and was no more entitled to be paid in money for
his repentance than any other sinner. He maintained that
the cotton trade with England nourished the slave labour of
America. lie urged that slavery in America was main-
tained more by the guilty neglect of the north than the
positive acts of the south, fur the north always had a male.
my in Congress' and had assented to all the laws relating
to slavery which had been passed there. He thee contended
that this conduct of the people in the north arose from the
feeling and prejudice against all negroes in the United States,
and in speaking of negro pews in churches soul chapels, said
he knew ministers who had lately been at meetings in that
hall who had such pews in their churches. Ile related an
anecdote of one William Hamilton, a negro, who being
refused by a minister the administration of the communion
before whites, became an atheist; while, on the other
hand, he related an anecdote of the conversion of a negro
woman by means of a lady who bad no such prejudices,
and declared that negro woman to have been his own wife.
I (Cheers) Ile stated that so great was the prejudice that a
negro who at the battle of Bunker's Hill had greatly dn.
tinguished himself was always placed in the back ground
behind the whites in all the pictures of that battle. lie
stated also that on his coming to England Mr. Cunard had
I refused to allow him to take his meals with the other pas-
sengers on board tie steamer out of deference to the preju-
dices of Americans, and stated that to be an illustration of
the influence of slaveholders even upon Englishmen. The
rev. gentleman made altogether a very powerful and effec•
jive speech, and sat down amidst loud applause.
Mr. ALEXANDEIt here read a letter of apology for
his absence from the Earl of Carlisle, and another from
Count Lavradio, the Portuguese ambassador.
The Rev..l. BeuxErr supported the resolution, which
was carried unanimously.
Professor STOWE, who was received with great and con-
tinued cheering, moved the neat resolution :—" That with
a view to the correction of public sentiment on this subject
in slave-holding communities, it is of the first importance
that those who are earnest in condemnation of slavery
should observe consistency; and therefore that it is their
duty to encourage the development of the natural resources
of countries where slavery does not exist, and the soil of
which is adapted to the grow th of products—especially of
cotton—now partially or chiefly raised by slave labour;
this meeting would earnestly recommend, that in all
cases where it is practicable, a decided preference
should be given to the products of free labour
by all who eater their protest against slavery."
lie regretted that owing to the state of his health he
should be unable to address the meeting at any length, for
there was something he should like to any, and some infor-
mation he should like to give to those wlectilesired the
emancipation of the slave. He would, however, make a few
short observations. At the close of the revolutionary war
all the states in America were slave-holding states. The
Bill of Rights declared all men to be free sad equal, and in
Massachusetts a slave was advised under the law, as laid
down by the Bill of Rights, to bring an action- to recover
wages, and having obtained a verdict in his *your slavery
fell to the around at once in that state. Then It w 44 war-
versally acknowledged that slavery was a sin abd a shame,
and it was expected that it would be abolished in every
state. In the Convention, Jefferson, Mediation, anileithers,
from the south, were so sensitive on the subject, that they
would not allow the word slave to appearia any of its pro-
' endings, and that feeling was participated by Franklin ;and
Jay, and Hopkins and Edwards promulgated it fromthe
pipit, and it was universally felt tha; no one could support
slavery. At that time, when he was iv. boy, there were
Wick children in the same school with—him in MS9.
sacibusetta, and although there was some feeling
that the negro was degraded by slavery and some prejudice
against colour, the state of things was not what it now was.
la 1820, the great assembly of the presbyterian church
passed a resolution against slavery. But the feeling that
then existed was not the prevalent feeling now. What had
caused that change ? It was the prbfitableness of the cot-
ton trade, and nothing else. (Hear, bear.) It was that
which spread the chain of slavery over the Union. What
right, then, had Great Britain to interfere, when she had
taken four-fifths of the cotton of America, and therefore
sustained four-fifths of its slavery. (Hear, hear.) That
gave her the right to interfere. If it had not been for the
cotton trade with Great Britain slavery would have been
long ago abolished in America. This country asked the
slaveholder of America to release his slave and asked him
to do right, though he should thereby become poor; bat
ought not the cotton consumer to be appealed to as well an
the cotton rower?g He would not dictate to this country
what was its duty, but he brought before them a solemn
truth, and when the cotton-grower was told to be poor
but yet to de right, what was the inference as regarded the
cotton-consumer ? If they did something effectual the
slaveholders would then believe this country was in ear-
nest ; but, as it was, the cotton growers said, " They de-
nounce us for not emancipating our slaves, but they do not
take less cotton from us." (Hear, hear.) (rhe rev. gentle-
man here read an extract from a Charlestown paper, which
went fully into this argument, and concluded by saying
that "the world depended on the cotton of America ; and
that cotton fought and conquered for southern slavery.")
It was as true as the gospel that cotton did light and con-
quer for slavery. Here, then, was a great work far Eng-
land to do ! The price of cotton regulated the price of
slaves, and slaves were worth from 1001. to 2001. each, and,
in order to stock a cotton plantation, it took 100, 200, 300,
and even 400 slaves. What an amount of capital
was required. Here was the point at which
free labour, such as had been found in the
importation of Chinese, could contend with slave labour,
and Great Britain should encourage the growth of free-
labour cotton. There were three ways by which slavery
in the United States could be abolished—firstly, by a
bloody revolution, which no one desired ; secondly, by per-
suading slaveholders that the system was wrong, and that
they should give it up. But as regarded that course the
cotton bought by this country was the strongest answer to
the arguments in its favour. Some fifty, or even thirty
years ago, in America slavery was thought wrong; but
twenty-five years of a successful cotton trade had proved it
to be right in their eyes. The third course was to make
slave labour unprofitable as compared with free labour.
When the Chinese labourers went to California it was said
that it lucked like the beginning of running slavery out.
Let that system of free labour be encouraged, and if cotton
consumers did not grow rich so last by free as
by slave labour, let them practise a little of the
se'f-denial that they wished the slaveholders to ex-
hibit. He had only discharged a duty to his
conscience in placing that principle before them. He bad
visited England 17 years ago, and now on his return he
found a wonderful advance in the condition of the poor
and labouring classes. He had found that there was a
strong feeling in the higher classes for the labouring elms,
and that same feeling of philanthropy which actuated them
in bettering the condition of the poor at home, induced
them to hold out their hand of sympathy to the suffering
of the same class abroad, and made them desirous of doing
for the slave in America what they were doing for the poor
of their own country. Ho was told the heeling of this
country on this point was only one of jealousy at the risio;
greatness of America. He believed it to be false, and that
it was the same philanthropy which they extended to the
poor of this kingdom that throbbed in their hearts to-
wards the American slave; and because it was a Christian
philanthropy, be hoped it would be successful in its object.
He thanked them for all they had done and urged them to
do more, and perhaps some present might live to see the
emancipation of all slaves. Ho could not expect to live to
see it, but he would live and die labouring is that
cause. (Cheers.)
Mr. C. BBECHER very briefly seconded the resolution,
which was carried unanimously.
Mrs. H. B. Stowe, accompanied by her husband and
brother, here retired, amidst the loud acclamations of the
assembly.
Colonel P. Mower:it moved a resolution:—" That this
meeting, whilst deeply lamenting the oppressive enactments
which several of the states of the American Union have re
cently passed with respect to their free coloured population,
and which are not only calculated to perpetuate prejudices
against colour, but the avowed object of which is the forcible
removal of free-horn men from the land of their birth ;
and whilst regretting that the iniquitous Fugitive slave
_ r r
Law is likely to be still maintained, would never th
cord their satisfaction at the encouraging signs which arc
manifesting themselves in that country, and recognise OA