The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-25 00:00:00

•Sre heavenly tempered. We have received them straight from
the skier, and to the skies we mean to hand them up again,
when ese shall have triumphed over the foes of humanity, and
Geds :that they may be kept safe for ever in the regalia
of Heaven.—( Vehement cheering.) What is our present
-position? The people of this country are with us—the ge-
nius of the land is with us—the religion of the land is with
us; for whether we enter into the consecrated cathedral of the
Establishment, where our thoughts are sent towards the West
Indies by the beautiful and affecting prayer, " that it may
please Almighty God to have pity on all prisoners and cap-
tives ;" or whether we enter the consecrated temple of that
body whose religion is known to be that they are the friends of
the oppressed, and the deliverers of those who are in bondage ;
or whether we enter into the temple of the Baptist, and hear
the preacher when his prayer is most fervent, when his faith is
strongest, when his heart is largest and his prospects brightest,
when the Gospel promises of God are poured forth, and a tear is
eland over the miseries of mankind—whether we hear Coe Bap-
tist preacher transfer the eye of his mind and the feelings of his
heart to the West Indies, or whether we enter the chapel
of the Wesleyan, with his schools, and stations., and improve-
ments in the West Indies—or whether we p., into the chapel
of the Independent—or whether we enter the chapels and in-
stitutions of the Moravians, sti','t we find Christians of all sects,
whatever strife there may be in matters of politics, one in
heart, and one in desire, aeid one in their determination, never
to pause in the career of. humanity, until the genius of Chris-
tianity and the euard'taie angel of right, and law, and holy
liberty, hand in 'hared, walk through our colonies, scattering
blessings upon all, of whatever colour or clime, or complexion.
—( Cheers.) Are the West Indians with us?—they are,
and all their 'interests are with us. Antigua is with us; Monte-
serrat is v ith us ; and Bermuda is with us ; Lord Sligo is
with us, and wherever justice has been done the negro has been
attaches(' and grateful—industry has abounded—the colony has
been enriched, and the plantations flourished.—( Hear, hear. )
It has been well ascertained that the cane can be planted,
hoed, reaped, crushed, chrystallized, packed, and exported,
without slavery. Why are we, then, here to-day ?—( Hear. )
tlave we despaired in times that are past? Nothing of the
-kind. The question has engaeed the attention of the country
for the last twenty years—it hase long been foremost in the
thoughts of this Christian people, and Canning exerted his
splendid eloquence and genius in the House of Commons, in
demonstrating the necessity of mitigating the horrors of slavery
in our West India Colonies.—(Cheers.) In 1832 this nation
was everywhere aronsed—you could not traverse a district
rebere the elective franchise had been extended—and in that
year it had been extended to about two millions of our fellow-
.subjects—you could not that year traverse a district, whether
it was in the peaceful vales of Scotland or the ma-
nufacturing districts of England whether it was
the polite cities of the western coast, or the mining districts
a Cornwall—you could not traverse a district in which you
'would not find a tongue speaking, a pen writing, or a hand
exerting itself in the cause of slavery emancipation.--( Cheers. )
Then again, during the second agitation, the country was
roused to an unparalleled extent. We once thought it well
if we could fill the Freemason's Tavern; we then thought it
better if we could fill Exeter Hall; but in 1838, Exeter Halle
pith its rest capacity, was not one-third large enough, and t'ne
halls , and the stairs, and the lobbies, and the lower rorees,
and the pavement, and the middle read, and the region 'sound
shout, were crowded with those who desired to be pr 'sent at
the meetiug, where once again we made known the: nsgro's
wrongs. and once again we stood pledged to snap )eis fetters.
--( Cheers.) Wby then are we here to-day ? Have. we confined
ourselves to mere declamation, and have we given no shape,
form, or body to our movement? We have. -We have drawn
together and concentrated the wisdom and fnresight, the sym-
pathies and energies of the land, and these: have been demon-
strated in petitions, in meetings, in delegates going up 400 at
a time to the head of her Ma.;,esty's Government—in endless
petitions, filling the arms, hearing down the table, and occu-
pying the time of Members of the House of Commons. We
have memorialised the Throne itseif—the word was spoken
to the temsles, and 690,000 strong they appeared in loyal and
earnest address before the Maiden Queen of these realms to
beseech her so exert her Royal Prerogative on beh,ilf of her
unhappy sisters in the colonic s.—(Great cheering.) Have
xhe Members of the two Houses of Parliament been left in
ignorance? No. They have been waited for in the lobbies
—waited for before they were up—caught in the public high-
ways—called out of the House of Commons—written to in
pamphlets, sent to them in envelopes and without enve-
lopes—arrnsted, no matter in what direction they went,
they could not flee from the genius of humanity.--( Loud and
long continued cheering.) Were they rusticating at a sea-
port town, they wore found out—were they at the Melton-hunt,
/hey were found out there—were they at Stroud or Tiverton,
at Bridgwater or :Manchester—(Hear, hear)—vrcre they
snugly ensconced behind the green doors and easy chairs, and
acid the mpterions arcane cf Downing-street—( Much
laughter--)--they were found out even there. Did they
hope that pretty apologies, private interviews, and fair answers
would sntisfy them—trey were mi,taken. They were sum-
moned into the largest room in the Foreign-office, and there
surrounded by 400 men, whose coentenances could not be in-
terrogated without fi..ding there the reply that they were
irate to the heart's cues—firm is adamant, strong in purpose
and in moral power, and that they would never faint in the pur-
sedt of justice until they had grasped the substance and for- '
gotten the mockery. —( Loud arid continued cheering.) Why,
then, are we here to-diiy ? Why do any oppose us ? The
sympathies of mankind are with us—the pravers of the pious
are with US—the groans and the sighs of the captive arc
with us—the judgment and justice of the men of the West
Indies are with us —all parties in the state are found to be on
our side—never was tit ,re so glorious a demonstrarion of public
feeling on any other occasion.—( Cheers.) Taking all the
circumstances into cen,ideration, that it is not a case which
affect.; our own priva'e or political interests, or civil privileges
at home—that it is not one which affects us behind our coun-
ters or in our warehouses, hut one diet real gets the distant
disfranchised, defenceless, and sable victim": of oppression—
how then is it that we are hcre to-day? That is a simple
question, and I blush to state the reason—it is that although
the country is with us the cabinet is against Us.— ( Loud cries
of " Shame.") Why they have acted thus upon the question
I cannot tell—why they struck such a bargain with the West
Indians in 1833, and with reckless haste and boundless predi-
ality, diseni ding common sense, while dealing with men known
to be rogues, with nn overweening confidence, absolutely
as much as the tradesman would not place in the most
hottest of their customers, among the gentlemen and ladies
•f Bath. Hoer they did all this I cannot tell.
But they allowed all the piled up heap of twenty millions of
gold to be dissipated, an I go from whence there is no resur
rectien, into the bottomless pit of the pockets of the We
India planters.—(Great cheering.) I cannot tell why th
did this—l cannot tell why they treated Mr. Jeremy as the
did—why they permitted him to linger as he did upon o
shores when he came here to give evidence as to the state
the Mauritius, and filially sending him out and making th
abolitionists pay the expense of his applintment, although
carne as the negro's friend, and besought them in behalf of tle
oppressed negroes—why they so long denied to Mr. Fow
Buxton a Perliamentary Committee, I can tell. Wray the
treated Lord S!igo so improperly, and by a trick brought hi
home, I cannot tell. Why they confirmed the suspension o
and ultimately dismissed Dr. Palmer, one of the most upright
and humane men that ever filled the situation of Special
Justice, I cannot tell. Why, when Mr. Sturge came b_fore
them, and for, I believe, seven days gave evidence before the
Committee of the House of Commons, that evidence was sent out
to the planters of Jameica, while it was denied to the man that
gave it, I cannot tell. Why they have defeated the hop- a, and
despised the prayers of the nation—why they have mocked that,
fettered slaves with the semblance cf freedom—why, they
have descended to equivocation and denial, and contradiction;
and accusation, I canaut tell. Are we their enemies ? No ;.
Are we here to publish our political creed ? No.
I who have been for seven years the unceasing advocate of the!
negro, h ive never made one political speech, and I leave as
town and its inhabitants to wonder at what I am.—( Flearo
hear.) But thus far I will say on behalf of many. I know
that we are not the enemies of the present Administration._e
(Cheers.) Has our language been respectful ? It has.,
Has our deportment been gentlemanly ? I hope it hits. Arse
we an immoral faction of the community ? Are we the blood.,
suckers of the human race ? Have we our houses built with.
unrighteousness? Does the money in our pockets smell of
negroes' blood ; or are our names found in those three volumes.
among those who have been bought off from crime ? Among those.
who have sold to the nation the nation's injured subjects ? No.
For morality, for piety, for loyalty, the abolitionists of this
empire will compare with any holy confederacy which was evert
embarked in a holy cause from the time Moses led the chil-
dren
of Gosham out of Egypt down to the present hour.--.."
( Much cheering.) What were the arguments of our oppo-
nents? We find them in the " Edinburgh Review," got up ,
by a person named Scadding, a clerk in the Colonial Office, i
wise, by picking out extracts from the Government despatches,;
here and there, attempts to throw dust in the eyes of that
people of this country, and thrusts it into the buff and blue.i
repository of Sawney philosophy, and fudge.—( Roars ofi
laughter.) There is plenty of argument—no lack of it. I
shall not go the West India side of the House—l shall not go
to Mr. Gladstone with his seventy-nine thousand pounds in
his right hand, as seventy-nine golden reasons why he should
plead against us—and, no doubt, he is sincere. Wnat can ,
you expect there but the thing you might have expected and
prophesied ? Ho has had no further reasons to offer, since the
Castle of Indolence, the Paradise of Guaiana was conjured
up before the wondering eyes of this country, by the wizard
wan] of Sir John Carmichael Smith, and John Ewart
Gladstone—for all those have been dissipated and the
chain dissolved by the potent words of John Scobel in
Exeter-hall—(Great applause)—and if any one read his
speech, they would wonder at themselves for having been de-
luded into the belief that not a county in this kingdom could
compare with Guiana, the favoured residence of 83,000
negroes. And what did the Government say? We ought to
to have had all sorts of arguments from the Cabinet which
comprises all sorts of men. Some of them have written on
political economy, as, for instance, Poulett Thompson and
Poulett Scrope—one has written on the British Constitution
who goes by the name of Lord John Russell—(a laugh)._
others are refined scholars and gentlemen, as Lord Palmers-
ton, Lord Glenelg, and Company. We ought to have good
arguments from them, and especially because they felt them-
selves bound to accomplish this good work, they ought to
have good argument to support it. " The apprenticeship,"'
says Sir 0. Grey, and two nights laterechoes Lord J. Russell,
'° tae the whole"—it was
the apprenticeship not without some
drawbacks—" works nicely—kindness is the rule, and cruelty
the exception, and you might as well charge the atrocities of'
Mother Brownrigg upon all our matrons, as cruelty on all our
West India planters."—( Hear, and a laugh.) "On the ,
whole," says my Lord Melbourne, " the apprenticeship works :.
well, and it would be unwise and dangerous to disturb it." Then
again Sir G. Grey says, "the public feelin.galthough strong and ;
annoying, yet it has been created by (else statements." You
have practiced frauds on the public meetings you have held. I

deny the truth of the allegation. He says "you have got toge-
ther in Exeter Hall some warm-hearted and credulous people,
and you have instilled into their minds false notions, and
stirred them up with bitterness against the planters, who are
all, all honourable men."—Argument the second. And then
comes the great gun, the strongest of those giant arms of
objection to immediate emancipation, and it is this—the aboli-
tion of the apprenticeship would be a breach of a very solemn
compact, made, I believe, in the dead of the night, to give
more dread to this tremendous Bill—a solemn compect in the
same diSastrous hour, entered into between the Government
and Parliament on the one hand, and the planters on the other.
The Government say that they cannot advocate the abolition
of the apprenticeship system, because it would be injustice to
the party with whom they contracted a solemn and binding
engagement. So says Mr. Gladstone—so says Sir George
Grey—so says Lord John Russell—so says Lord Melbourne—
and so says Lord Glenelg ; and then Lord John Russell gets
up—l cannot say what it was that seemed to disturb the
equanimity of his temper, for I generally observe that he
is in great need of it—but on the 13th of last month
he seems to have been agitated in no ordinary degree,
and to have been troubled with a fit of dyspepsia or
gout, whether in the stomach or the toe I can't tell, but he
very angrily exclaims, " There is an effort to intimidate us—it
seems we are to be goaded on with this movement out of
doors—that it is only necessary that a certain number of peti-
tions should be laid on the table—that a certain number of
signatures should be attached—that a certain number of meen_
bers are to be canvassed, and won over, and then the, rant
stitution of the country is to be set at nought, justice to. a great
and honourable class of men is to be thrown aside., and these
objects propounded in public meetings, no matte; how absurd
and unconstitutional, must be carried. We neuet not yield—
we will not yield"—and his Lordship was :;peered loudly by
the Conservative side of the House. Tremendous cheering !
'The Conservatives cheering Lord Job-.a Russell for his decla-
ration denouncing opposition and defying a Russell agitation !
—(Great laughter.) But there is another argument. Oh !
say they, think on the interests Ott' the planters—you would
not annihilate the interests of the Planters. These are their
arguments, for I have looked through the debate, and they are
the strongest I can find ; that the apprenticeship, on the whole,
has worked well ; that the pu'olie excitement has been created
by exaggerated and false staaements ; that the abolition of the
apprenticeship would be a 'tereach of the contract ; that they
were threatened with intieeidation, and they ought not, and
would not yield ; and t' ,at the interests of the planters re-
quired the continuance ?or at least two years of the apprentice-
ship system. I weed not take up these as they stand. I shall
say a few words, however, upon the first. With respect to
the working mail of the system, and it is a singular proof of
its having tvotised so well, that we have a Bill of Amendment,
absolutely rescinding, or abrogating, or essentially altering,
nearly all the main provisions of the Imperial Act, and yet
the apprenticeship, on the whole, has worked well. Let us
now put Lord Glenelg in the witness box, and see what
evidence he will give upon it.—( Hear, hear, hear.) Lord
Glenel,g, stand up and answer a few questions to these
Ladies and Gentlernen—( Hear, hear)--and I shall now
give you his own words. Ibis Noble Lord—a Minister of
State, and therefore a cautious man ; a Christian, and therefore
a veracious man ; a gentleman of honour, and therefore a can-
did man ; a reluctant witness, a friend of the planters, and
therefore so much the more valuable to me, if I can get any
thing nit of him. My Lord, do you believe the negro has a
right to freedom, as a Minister of the Crown ? " Oh, yes."
These are his own words. The Government acknowledges
the right of the negro to freedom; thank you for that, my
Lord. We get over a world of difficulty when we establish
the right of these men to freedom; because if they wero cul-
prits, or maniacs, or minors, or idiots, they might not have a
right to freedom. But the Government acknowleges that the
great body of the negroes have a right to freedom. Have
they, since the first day of August, shown a fitness for
freedom ?—( Hear, hear.) They have exhibited great pa-
tience, docility, and forbearance, in the state of transition
they have undergone ; and they have exhibited great calm-
ness, mingled with extreme gratitude to the British people.
Would the negro work for hire ? Oh ! yes, he is willing to
work for hire—shall we take the question up, er leave it to
the Colonial Assemblies? By no means, there is nothing to
hope from the Colonial Assemblies. Has the law concerning
classification been complied with? So far-as Jamaica is con-
cerned there has been much confusion. Has the eight hours
system
which you sanctioned indirectly, and about which the
less that is said the better, worked well ? The eight hours
system has precluded the negro from the indulgence granted
him by the Imperial law for cultivating his provision grounds
on the half of Friday, aid leaves him but the refuse
of the day for raising the necessary supplies. What
think you of the workhouse system ?—( Hear, hear hear.)
As my Noble and Learned Friend Lord Broughem
has dwelt upon that subject, I will not enter upon more sad
scenes on which it is impossible for the mind to dwell without
horror. What is your opinion of the efficiency of the special
:magistrates ? The magistrates have most improperly inter-
fered with the system, _ isl created a general annoyance, quite
`sufficient to defeat the purpose for which they were appointed.
Have any difficulties been thrown in the way of manumission ?
The apprentices have been over-valued. Have the indul-
gences during slavery been continued? No. Now the
mothers ere refused permission to attend their children, even
though they he in a dying state, and old age 13 exposed to the
t same hardships as the confirmed strength of manhood.
What is your Lordship's opinion also of the flogging of women?
The act which forbids women from being flogged has been
set at defiance—the system has been continued by the injustice
and the revenge of their former masters up-n the unhappy
slaves—the ingenuity of man has been exerted to devise tor-
tures and cruelties which have been inflicted in the House of
, Correction. A class of men have been selected for that pur-
pose who ought not to have been chosen—convicts for life—
men dead to all sense and feeling of humanity—these men
did hot refuse to apply the lash to females. Have I gone
through the catalogue of evils? No—there are many ether
!defects to he removed, and it is very difficult to know bow to
dA with them. The evil feeling generated by a long coerce
tof wickedness still rankles in the breasts of these men, and
!they now have recourse to worse instruments than be-
fere in the height of their licentious barbarity.—( Hear, hear. )
iAnd yet on the whole, says Sir George Grey, with a few in-
leonsiderable drawbacks, the apprenticeship system works very
jwall— don't disturb it—it would be unwise, inexpedient, and
(dangerous to do so. Here again we have a charge of false
bed exaggerated statements ; but where did we get them ?
tOut of these blue books—out of James Williams's narrative ;
nd with respect to that narrative what was the report sent in
y Messrs. Dantry and Gordon, the Commissioners appointed
test its accuracy ?—that the statements were confirmed by
n alraost unbroken chain of convincing testimony. You
ave calumniated the planters, says Sir George Grey—you
ave meat unwarrantably attacked the characters of an honest,
pright, and humane body of men. .If we have thus sinned, it is
good company. if lam a libeller, Mr. Blair is one.—
Hear, hear.) My respected friend, Mr. Bevan, is one; Lord
ligo is one, and yet he is a planter. Let any man read the
aim and temperate statement of the Governor of Jamaica
nd Chairman of the Nest India Association, now published,
hit his own name attached to it, under the title of " The Ap-
renticeship System of Jamaica, by a Proprietor," and then
to
you will see that so far from exaggeration on our parts, we
have not reached the evil—so far from having scanned its
length and breadth, we have been but playing on it: borders.
[Mr. Thompson here read an extract from the publication in
question, for the purpose of showing the opinion of Lord Sligo
upon the present system.] On the subject of hospitals
hat was his testimony ? lou all know what hospitals mean
re, and what they don't mean—they are not pig-styes—they
e not bashes—they don't mean slaughter-houses—they don't
can brothels—they don't mean confined pestiferous places,
here the inhabitants sleep on dry boards without clothes, and
ith open vvindotes—they don't mean dungeons, in which the
tin of the dieeesed are put into stocks—they don't mean the
-blieation of being locked up during 24 hours, except when a
ierTel may el, in admittance to him who is visited by
od, or suffering under a painful and protracted disease--
o. They are 'large, well. aired, and comfortably fitted up ;
nanted by kind sympathising nurses, attended by skilful and
*mane physicians; and you often see treading witliino
its
ails the pious visitor, the indefatigable clergyman, pointing
at place of rest of unspotted purity, and everlasting liberty,
hich remains in heaven.—(Cheers.) Co :Tare a Somerset-
ire Hospital with one in Jamaica. [Mr. Thomson here 1
ad an extract from Lord Sligo's pamphlet, relative to the
treatment of the sick in the hospitals of Jamaica, and pro-
ceeded.] Oh what a refinement of cruelty—what diabolical
ingenuity l Here we see that while Mr. Borthwick was telling
us of four-post bedsteads, well-stored cellars, mahogany,
sideboards, silver candle :ticks, gay apparel, horses worth 401.
a-piece, and assuring us that the best plate of soup and the
must delicate bit of the joint were carried, not by the negro,
hut by the fair hands of the sympathising wife or daughter to
the hospital, that absolutely iu Jamaica the greatest crime of
which a man or woman can be found guilty is suffering disease
under
uAomlee the
rsiteat,hisaevlygilsiivttsheahontoiosueonlfasuoowfffna(eGod
lrikng. —( Loud cries of " Shame!") In
aboutt
womanhe most
w andho
painfulwi
an injure
u found
oe
u nt
hddiseaseeiiyr
int areihealth.n lockeda
heap
A n
instance
of her own filth, and her own daughter sat for hours at the door
imploring in vain for permission to be locked up with her dis-
eased and dying mother in order to attend and clean her ;
and yet, says Sir George Grey, the excitement is got up by
exaggerated and false statements, and he most clearly and une-
quivocally intimates that we are a race of calumniators.
Well, if so, we are in company with Lord Sligo—with Joseph
Sturge—with the report of the Select Committee—and this
very Bill, which I now hold in my hand, states that
the former allowance from the negro was taken away,
and in fact the abuses were so intolerable, and such was
the nature of the evidence offered by Lord Glenelg's Bill
itself, that it appeared not a single provision of the Imperial
Act had been complied with. Yet in the face of all this we
are charged with being guilty of false statements; and what
says Sir George Grey and his colleagues again with respect
to the compact ? He says the abolition would be a breach of
the solemn contract entered into between this country and the
planters. lam one of those who deny the existence of any
compact. I say that Parliament makes no contracts.
Government may do so, and does make contracts for
flannel, for soap, for soldiers' caps, for butchers' meat,
for glittering bayonets, for cannon balls, for iron fetters for
the negroes in the West Indies—Parliament only makes laws.
This country demanded the emancipation of the negroes—
they pledged their candidates at the hustings to support it, and
then Parliament took the question up. Did they consult the
West India planters? No. Did they consult them, when they
resolved to have an apprenticship system? No. It might have
been an apprenticeship for twelve or for twenty years—it might
have been for five, or four, or three, or two years ; or, if the
Government pleased, there might have been no apprentice.
ship at all. When they were taking into account the pro-
bable loss, did they consult the planters ? The planters
had asked forty millions of money and twenty years ape
prenticeship, but Parliament resolved to give twenty mil.

lions and six years service ; and,, if they pleased, they
might have given no compeneatio'.i at all. What they did
was of their own sovereign will wed pleasure, in their capa-
city as an Imperial Parliament, an d if they find now that the
Bill has not answered the end for which it was designed—that
instead of benefiting the negro it has heaped wrong, and
chains, and oppression, upon him--they are under no contract
to continue the system, 'out bensre God they are under a
solemn obligation to amend or abrogate the law—( Vehement
cheering)—so says Lord Brougham, so says Lord Denman,
and so says Mr. O'Connell, wham I mention merely as the
friend of the negro.—( Hear, hoar.) Sir Edward Sugden
said that there never was -so atrocious a breaking of
the provisions of any Legislative Act before, and that
case had been made ant to the whole extent of
the right of the House to interfere for the pre-
vention of abuse and the brrnefit of the negro. Let the
Ministers then hang themselves upon which horn of the di-
lemma they please—either thlere is a contract or there is not.
If there is a contract it has been broken—their own Bill
breales it. I miceeht go fro.sa clause to clause, like my friend
Mr. Bevem, and show, not vs ith equal clear sightedness that
every tlauee of that is a violation of the contract—it
was roarended that if you abbreviate the apprenticeship you
dept re the planters of their beneficial interests in the negroes.
We ask the abbreviation of two years of the term of the ap-
prenticeship, arid upon what grounds? That of naked justice
between man and man, because for years they have taken more
than seven hours and a half of the negroes' time, and by their
acts of cruelty and oppression they have got nine, or ten,
and ten hours and a half work per day ; that to labour
they have added insult, cruelty, deprivation of the hours of
s
relaxation, the horrors of the treadmill, confinement, making
the wife linger in the field until the agony of the mother was
upon her, and making her repay those very hours of agony
to her unfeeling task-master. Therefore we say alleviate the
remaining term—" the very head and front of our offending
bath this extent, no more."—(Cheers.) We ask for two
years freedom in lieu of four years oppression and slavery_
two years wages for four years of unpaid labour, of scorn,
contumely, and proscription.—( Loud cheering.) We ask for
two years of the chance of education and moral training, for
four years of deep demoralisation and patient bondage.
Do we ask too much ?—( Loud cries of " No, no,
and hear.") It has been said that we are severe,
unwarrantable and unjust, and that we should break the con-
tract by doing so. One of the provisions of the Act guaran-
teed to the planter the services of such children as came upon
him for maintenance, and if the planter clothed or fed them,
he had them indented to him for tvrentv-one years ; that after
they would be able to work, they would repay back the sup-
port he had given them during the years of infancy. I always
said that that was unjust not to the planters, but to the chil-
dren, and in this very room I denounced it in a moral sense,
but not as the law of the country, because I considered it
cruel and unjust, that the bloated planter should make the
helpless child a slave for twenty-ene years, because
he had given him a crust of bread or a rag of garment in his
infancy. Who violates the contract now ? It appears by the
28th Clause of Lord Glenelg's own Bill, every one of those
children, amounting to hundreds upon hundreds, no matter
sow long they may have been maintained, are declared to be
free on the 31st of July, 1840. Now here is a direct violation
of a contract, and if they may violate it in regard of children,
:nay I not ask on behalf of the mother or the old man, that
ere he dies and goes before his Father's God he may be
free. There is a law above all other laws—there i 3 a code
above all other codes—there is a court above all other
courts—there is a Prince above all other Princes, and
in the presence of the King of kings and the Lord of
lords, in the court of Heaven above, or at the foot of
Mount Sinai on eavth, standing in the presence of God our
Saviour— I say that any contract, any code, any law that
countervenes the great fundamental principles of Christian
morality, or tie immutable and eternal law of God, ought to
perish and be swept away.—(Tremendous cheering.) They
-vow that the negro has been robbed, but they cannot redress
him—there is a contract in the way; that men have no right
to give their labour for years without remuneration—but there
is a contract in the way. The God of Heaven requires, and
bleeding humanity implores you, to put au end to the cruelty
and oppression which prevails—but there is a contract in the
way.—( Cheers.) Who libels the country now ? I, who say
there is no contracs, or the Government, who say they cannot
go on one way or the other without stumbling over a broken
contract t Let it be shivered and scattered to the winds of
heaven—let us do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly
before God, and say, perish contract, and live the law of God for
ever. —( Applause.) So much for the third argument, and how
much for the fourth. Lord John Russell says, " They are
going to intimidate U 3 ; they are getting up public meetings,
talking- to the lalies—( Laughter); they have twelve o'clock
meetings in Bwh, evening meetings in the Assembly-reorne—
full outside and in—they arc intimidating us.—( Laughter.) It
won't do, they put me on my mettle. lam net to be cowed in
this way. Then there is a crowd in the lobby of the House at

night. There arc those parsons—gentlemen in shovel hats-
broad brims, and in fact there seems to be a portion Of

(Great laughter.) They are appealing to one member, they
are coaxing another, whispering to a third, thrusting parn-
phleti into the pockets of a fourth, anxiety in their counee-
na•ecca, but firmness in their footsteps—it won't do, I sm not

to be managed in this way ; they will met nothing from us by such
doings as this."—( Great laughter.) " We must set our faces
against it—we must stifle this agitation," says Sir Geo. Grey,
and Lord John Russell, not quite so tall or so angry, gets up
in his place and says, " Sir, this House must set its face
against-every attempt to menace it into compliance with the
popular will."--[Mr. Thomson in this passage so closely imi-
tated Lord John Russell's tone and manner, that the meeting
Wes convulsed with laughter.] How well it comes from Lord
John Russell, the great champion of religious liberty—and
observe, lam only now alluding to his conduct—l am not dis-
cussing questions--how well it comes from the originator of
the Reform Bill, the man who carried it through the
House of Comm ms, the man who w hen he wanted
Reform addressed the people, now from the dickey
of a coach, now from the balcony of an inn, and again from
his place in the House of Commons—( Cries of " Hear")
—who when he wanted the basis of the Constitution extended,
ind what he deemed the blessings of civil liberty poured more
idt•ly forth on the deserving inhabitants of this country, said
that the life, and worth, and energy of all great moral move-
ments, were to be found in the aroused, enlightened, gathered,
directed voice of the public at large.—( Great cheering. )
Now, where is that declaration? Like another Frankenstein,
he retreats from the Monster he has made. The very creature
of his own begetting now follows him about, and which way
soccer he turns is at his heels. Oh 1 wretched man ! and this
is Lord John Russell. To be attracted by the pursuit of popular
excitement on ordinary occasions—but when we turn that popu-
lar fee:ing to one of the most heavenward and upward- directions
ever taken by the popular voice—it is too bad that he should
:urn round upon us, and we will tell his Lordship so. They
talked about consulting the interests of the p. !enters, but
that had we been giving them, up to the present hour. In
the first plade we have been paying into their pockets in the
shape of bounty upon exported refined sugar 361,250/• per
annum. It appears from the calculation of a gentleman
initiated in the mysteries of the craft, that the monopoly tax
upon sugar, which is 15s. per ton more than we ought to pay,
amounts to 3,221,8651. per annum—that we are paying in the
shape of an annual monopoly tax on 10,500 tons of
coffee 535. more per hundred weight than we ought,
amounting to 556,0001. per annum; and then the
naval and military establishments, the larger port ion
of which would not he wanting if slavery was at an
end, cost us at lelst 2,000,000/. sterling per annum. Add
these together, and you will find that we have been consulting
the interests of the planters at the rate of 6,139,615/. per
annum. Sir George Grey wants to do justice to the planters,
and sa)3, " Look at my Bill." We do not pay twenty mil-
lions of money to get rid of a little cruelty, but all—not that
men and women should be flogged so much, but that they
s'.iould not be flogged at all—that nothing should be modified,
deteriorated, delayed, or postponed, for we paid 20,000,000/.
for the entire, perpetual, and unconditional liberty of the
negroes, and why should we take less ?—( Great laughter.)
Lord Stanley, when the Act was in progress, said, " Only give
them the cash, let them have the ducats, and you may depend on
their fulfilling the contract." But, as the Rev. Mr. M‘Neile, I
understand, said at Liverpool there has transpired what never
entered the brain of the sweet bard of Avon, a modern Shy-
lock who has got his pound of flesh, and his ducats be-
sides. If this Bill goes out containing a series of indictments,
charging robbery, incapacity, and every other offence, it is
hard to suppose that they will be satisfied with the Bill were
they quite sure that the Bill would convert those men,
would it make those men the special Magistrates of Jamaica,
become the honest inflexible champions of the negroes, and
the persecutors of th.s planters? Men who ride their
horses, dine at their tables, sing and dance with their
daughters, and marry them too._(" Hear," and great
laughter.) Do you not know, that seeing they were about
to be put out of their stewardship, they are making friends
of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that when they are put
out, the planters may receive them into their houses.—
( Cheers.) When the Bill gets to the colonies, it will be
hated just as much as ever. Would they cleanse the Augean
stable? Then their Bill was worth nothing at all. Lord Sligo
tells you that he was twelve months at Spanish-town, and
knew nothing whatever of the flogging of women, although
it was going on every day, within 300 yards of his house.
What do we want ? The only safe, simple, 1,
ctteap, practica-
ble, easy, and universal remedy is LIBERTY, usarrv.—( Loud
and long-continued cheering.) Say that even the present
Bill could be carried out, are there no other means of ill-
treating the negro, than those prohibited in the Bill ? Can
you not make him miserable, without flogging or starving ?
Will not looks, and tones, and insults make him mise-
rableainof
receivingespass beyond the
bounds
the lash—l
? Are there not thousands of acts to make the
wretched captive miserable, besides flogging ? Wounding
mutilating, starving, and imprisoning. I ask, then, the same
liberty
ot of
his
the
plantations n egr
ask for him the same degree of liberty as the poorest pea-
sant. I might ask for compensation, and there has been a
wh
undero may
ayp
not trespass
s ile abuse of that word. No doubt, in the House of Com-
mons, no word was so loudly, or so largely used as the word
compensation, but for whom? Was it for the negro? No.
A friend behind me exclaims—thieves. " I thank thee Jew,
for teaching me that word." It was for thieves. However, it is
not always proper to speak the truth, but it was not given to,
the cruelly injured—the really spoiled nation that poured out
with personal prodigality 20,000,000/. to the planters—they
did not give one penny to feed the hungry, to rear alms-
Louses, or build up chapels and churches—they did nothing
for the injured, hut banded over all the money to the plun-
derers, and to this hour if the negroes were made free for ever_
they have not received any compensation. When they talked
so loudly of compensation let us bring the negro into view—
when they bring the white man, the planter, the resident of
Carlton-gardens, and the attendant at Almacks, I will bring the
negro tortured, leporous, and lacerated, and let those who please
talk of compensation to the bloated whiteman, and I shall ask