The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-21 00:00:00

exercise without the consent and approval of the Colonial As-
rnbly. The Rev. Gentleman then referred to despatches
I'era Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor of Jamaica, for the
purpose of showing, upon his authority, that " the slave law
i
• Jamaica was the worst of all those acted upon in the slave
colonies." After enumerating various clauses, in which the
evils of the system were very imperfectly provided against,
the Rev. Gentleman appealed to the meeting, and asked them
n, under such circumstances, the Governor of the colony
could exercise an honest or proper discretion in the majority
of the cases which were to be submitted to him.—( Cheers. )
Tclauses
Rey. Gentleman here proceeded to analyse the various
uses contained in the new Act, pointing out their gross
Injustice to the negro, and the wide latitude it gave to their
heartless task-masters to oppress and goad them on to acts of
retaliation or violence. The penalties to which the planters
were liable under the old law, and which was the only check
the slave possessed when he appealed to justice against his
Taster, were not continued in the new Act, an Act which it
was supposed would at least be as favourable to the negro as
=he old slave code. For instance, under the system of
slavery they were liable to a penalty of 201. for not providing
provision grounds; this peealty was reduced to 51. under the
Abolition Bill. Again, under the old law a penalty of 1001.
Was to be imposed on the planter for any act of cruelty to his
think or twelve months' imprisonment; but what did they
eof the spirit in which the new Act was conceived, when
the found this penalty reduced to 51., and the imprisonment
for twelve months reduced to five days ? These, observed
the Reverend Gentleman, were the protecting provisions
of the Bill which he held in his hand ; and which
instead of securing to the negro those immunities and privi—
leges which had been so dearly purchased, left him more com-
pletely than ever at the mercy of his master. On all these
grounds as respected the personal freedom ofthe apprentices
--as respected the cruelty to which they were subjected—as
respected their d:stribution into classes, in order effectually to
secure that liberty which the Act professed to give ; he held
therefore
on those several matters tile Act was inefficient, and
ort,efore that it must be unsatisfactory to the friend
11l the negro and every friend of common justice. It. was
consequence of these inefficiencies that they now came for-
ward and pre themd urther measures, and they should conti-
the to press for until they secured to the negro the
charter of his freedom. He was glad to perceive at the con-
clusion of the Act which has just passed the legislature, a
clause which provided that that Act could be repealed or
amended by any other Act which might be passed in the pre-
sent session of Parliament, and it was under the permission
thusgiven by their legislators that they now came forward,
convinced
of
its inefficiency, and at heart sickened of those
half n eats:res to mitigate slavery, as they would be to gild
over the
e 'lces of the profligate and the debatichee.--(Cheers. )
were met chat day to seek the repeal of this Act, and
thus They
leave the high road of emancipation open to the negroes
and their friends.—( Hear, hear, hear.) He felt that
hnis ffifeeble advocacy of the cause of the negro was miserably
lce ear le. ; but still, if he had succeeded in placing in a
• light the real position of the apprentices, and the in-
justice of the provisions of the Act to which he had referred,
he trusted with one accord they would express their convic-
tion that those previsions would never have their sanction—
that while they had sought the full, the immediate, and un-
conditional emancipation of the negro, they would not accept
hmiserable instalment, which seemed more likely to deceive
than to satisfy the expectations of its most sanguine friends.
When they looked around at the thousands of their fellow-
shltjects who were held in bondage—a hopeless bondage—for
which so magnificent a ransom had been paid, was it too much
of the negro to ask the British people to rise to their rescue ?
iTheir line of duty was plainly marked out before them—they
had but one course to take, and that course was the course of
.truth, of humanity, and of honesty—it was a course dictated
by justice, a course that was hallowed by religion, and a
course that he would fain hope ere long would be crowned
with an abundant blessing from their young and gracious
Monarch. The rev. gentleman concluded a lengthened and
quent address, of which the above is but a mere outline, by
submitting the resolution.
WILLIAM THOMAS BLAIR, Esq , late Mayor of Bath, then
came forward, and was loudly cheered. He said he feared
very much that severe indisposition, and a distressing weak-
ness of voice, would prevent his entering into the subject at
such length as he would wish. However, ho was relieved in a
great measure by the very unexpected arrival of a gentleman
whose thorough acquaintance with all the facts and details of
the case qualified him for addressing the present meeting with
Much mere ability and efficiency than himself—he alluded to
his respected friend, Mr. Scobell.—(Loud cheering.) He
would therefore werely trouble them with a few observations in
support of the great cause in which they were embarked, and
in discussing it he found it useful occasionally to go back to
first principles—to consider the ground on which they stood,
that they might be prepared in the face of all opposition fear-
lessly to maintain the cause of truth and justice.—( Cheers. )
For that purpose he would advert to what he deemed the ,
fun-
damental principles of the question—and it constituted tne
only ground upon which the Abolitionists could take their firm
stand— ie WLS this, that slavery, under every form and
modification, in every age and country, either in Sparta
or in Rome, in the British West Indies or Republican
America, when within the sound of the very walls
of Congress the clang of chains was heard, giving the lie to
the frothy declarations of liberty within... He would say, that
slavery was always essentially, and fundamentally of the
same sinful and indefensible nature.—( Great cheering.) It
• Was not a misfortune to be deplored a nuisance to be tolerated,
hut a curse of the deepest dye, and of the highest magnitude,
"(I as such, to be denounced and extirpated.—(Cheers.)
Except to refute the arguments of his 'opponents, he (Mr.
Blair) would not condescend to go into it as a matter of detail.
It was to him a question of high moral principle, and it mat-
tered not to him whether the slava be well or ill-treated—
Whether he received a few more or less stripes—whether he
was fed upon 20 or 10 pints of rice per week—whether men
and women were decently or indecently flogged—it mattered
not whether they were starved and ill-treated, for being vir-
tuous, or the pampered victims of their owners' lust. No,
the vital question was—and they could not have it too
frequently repeated—the real vital question was, whether any
human
being could lawfully have property in another human
be'ng•—( Hear, and cheers.) Whether he had aright to the
forced and uncompensated labour of another man.—( Hear.)
Now, he would assert fearlessly and without compromise the
right of every man to the fruits of his own industry—that was
above all law and above all human Government, and which not
all the Acts of the Leg
islatures of all the Governments on
earth could lawfully take away.—( Hear.) From this sound
principle, whichwas founded on reason and religion, they
Koote!id, at the outset of the question, of one great stumbling
aviitii,k, or objection—he meant the question of a compaet,. of
of T.' they had recently heard so much. He had the opinion
- aettne Chief Justice of the Queen'; Bench that no such com-
pact
""ed—and he for one, as an unprofessional person, would
thereonthe authority of that Learned Judge.—( Hear.) But had
have being any such compact, he maintained that it would
point better
an illegal one, vitiated in its origin, and not one
better in its principle, in morality', or in justice, than a
compact entered into between a band of smugglers and thieves,
and
therefore only deserving of being reprobated aed dis-
tol
'ed. If A and B enter into a compact to break into the
house of C and rob him on the high way, he would call that
J Immoral compact ; and if it were proceeded with, the par-
ties. were liable, by way of compensation, to be hanged by the
tl
ack•—(Great laughter.) If A and B entered into a com-
pact to steal C, or to rob him of his wages (which was
the very case in point here), he would say it was an unlawful
and immoral compact, and deserving to be visited with the se-
verest penalties of the law. Unless they were prepared to
adopt the West Indian slave-owner's code of morality, which
taught them that stealing a horse, or other inferior animal,
constituted a robbery—but stealing a man was certainly
one of the attributes of a gentleman, and perfectly
consistent with what they deemed orthodox Cluist:anity.—
(Hear, and laughter.) Let them not be told by the Minister
of State or others of the right of the masters—it was a right
acquired by fraud and retained by violence, in opposition to
those sacred rights which the Almighty had conferred on every
human being alike, or every clime and complexion, from the
equator to the poles. —(Cheers.) No human law could con-
travene the law of God. No chartered rights, no vested in-
terests, though they outweighed in pecuniary value the mines
of Ind, could do away with the immutable right of every hu-
man being to his personal freedom.—(Hear, hear.) But,
leaving the further discussion of these fundamental principles,
which were not much admired by mere politicians, he would
come al once and meet his opponents more on their own
ground.—( Hear.) And here-his position simply wee, that
the conditions upon which the enormous sum of twenty
millions were paid had not been fulfilled on the
ose
Part of those receiving the molly; lie would assert that _
Persons either as individuals or Colonial legislators had,
cpt
with few exec tions. most grossly and shamefully violated
the imperial Ain its letter and spirit.—( Hear and cheers.)
,That the alleged contract, if it ever existed, was therefore no
;°e-ger binding on the Br-iitsh Parliament, and that the latter
had a right' without any breach of faith or inconsistency, to
:Trail it tomorrow. So' far as Jamaica was concerned, he had
"us touch to say, on the authority of two of their most talented
41)(ments, Lora,Glenelg and Sir Edward Sugden, the latter,
of whom reiterated the statement again and again in the course
otL. his speech ( Cheers.) He would take the liberty
of illustrating that nosition by reference to a matter of
every-ay
A
took d occurrence in that country.—( Cheers.) man
an apprentice, and the terms of the contract
lt,vi ere
t
interfere;
mutually fulfilled and whiif., that was done the law cou
irs'etee'lere; but let a case of neglect or ill-treatment be proved
eeire magistrate, and what (lid the law then do? It em-
powered and required the magistrate to annul and cancel the
indentures to take the apprentice out of the hands of the
master, and left him perfectly free to seek another. That
was precisely the case he brought before them en behalf of the
coloisial apprentices. Whether he referred to the food, the
elpthiug, the labour, the punishment, the appraisernent, the
classification, or any other of the dearest and best recognised
lig4ts of the negro, he found the provisions of the Imperial
Act flagrantly violated, and the negroes placed in a worse
condition than during the worst days of slavery.—(Vehement
lie had intended to have glanced at some of these
items, es regaeeeed one or two colonies, and particularly
J.amaica, which contained nearly one-half of the negro popula-
t.illon, and also with reference to Antigua, because that colony
ad beAee a good deal vateeted of late as a sort of terrestrial
r"autse, and as exhibiting the most finished working of the
apprenticeship system. His ceiend Mr. Scobell, howevee, was
I,!'uell better acquainted with its details, and better prepared
for
g"ine over the ground, and therefore he wotdd leave it in
leis hand's. He wouhl, however, say one word with regard to
punishments, for here, at least, they might have expected
sous mitigation of' the evils of slavery, always observing, that
with the exception of 45 limns per week to bp given to the
master, the negro was to be, to all intents and purposee. a free
roan, and to be treated as such. The Imperial Act bore an
Its very tick nage, that " Slavery was to be for ever and to-
tally abolished." In the days .of slavery, and under the