The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-13 00:00:00

LAMBETH MEETING.

Last evening a meeting of the inhabitants of the borough of
Lambeth, convened for the purpose of adopting a petition to
both Houses of Parliament for the total and unconditional
abolition of Negro Apprenticeship, was held at the Horns
Tavern Kennington. Benjamin Hawes, Esq., M. P., in the
Chair. The Hight Hon. Tennyson D'Eyncourt, M. P., was
present, and the assemblage was numerous and respectable.
The CHAIRMAN said that he deemed it a most gratifying
duty to preside over so large and respectable 'an assembly
which he then had the honour of addressing, especially met
for the accomplishment of those great objects which had
long excited the sympathies and energies of the wise
and good who had gone before them—viz., the abolition
of slavery in the . British dominions.—(Cheers.) They
were then assembled under very peculiar circumstances.
Thirty years had elapsed since the slave trade was said to
have been abolished; but yet, notwithstanding, did they not
see it revived and carried on, without interruption, by many
nations who were bound by treaty, in common with them-
selves, to put it down ?—( Hear.) Only four years ago a
more successful attempt had been made to crush slavery, but
they were doomed to experience its revival in the shape of
Vagrant Acts and police regulations, systems under which, if
ever introduced amongst freemen, the seeds of liberty must
wither and decay. (Loud cheers.) Ile regretted too, to add,
that the people of this country had the pain of witnessing some
recent indications of a slave trade fostered by British protec-
tion.—( Cries of Shame.) It was a remarkable circumstance
that all the predictions that had been made by the abolitionists
regarding the good results that would -ensue from negro eman-
cipation, their working for hire, and their love of order, had
been more than realized by the results. (Cheers.) To the
delight of those who had supported that measure, and the mor-
tification and disappointment of those who opposed it, the
negro slave turned out to be a human being like themselves,
who knew and appreciated the value of liberty, and whose
mind only wanted cultivation to enable him to compete with
them in intellect, as he already equalled them in the order of
creation. (Loud cheers.) It bad been asked why recourse
was now had to agitation, when in two years the negroes
would be free? Now, he (Mr. Hawes) would like to ask
who it was that put this interrogatory ? (Hear, hear.)—
Was it the West India planter ?—( Hear, hear.) He had no
right.—( Cries of " No, no.") They had paid him the price
of freedom, and he had given them nothing in return but '
slavery.—( Loud cheers.) The planters had broken faith with
the people of this country. They had outraged every promise
and agreement that they had made; for if there was one thing ;
more than another which had been insisted on, it was that
females should be no longer subjected to the lash—and yet the
shameful torture had been practised on them, on the mere pre-
tence that it was lawful to do so.—(Cries of " Shame.")
The course pursued by the House of Assembly and Courts of
Law had been to smother and impede the free administration
of justice in Jamaica. In Jamaica the slave had little mercy
or indulgence to expect ; his case was generally prejudged.
For himself, he would use his utmost efforts in accomplishing
the final emancipation of the negroes, and procuring for them
that liberty which they had dearly purchased, and which they
meant to have.—( Loud cheers.)
GEORG?, THOMPSON, Esq., was received with loud cheers. '
He said that it afforded him unfeigned pleasure to have an
opportunity of addressing so large and so distinguished an au-
dience for so benevolent and so pious an object.—Hear,
hear.) It afforded him equal delight to see in the occupation
of the chair one of the Senators of the land, who was not only
imbued with the spirit of philanthropy, but hid also evinced an
information of research upon the great question which was
highly creditable to his head and heart.—( Cheers.) Mr.
Thompson went on at great length to show that the discredit-
able means by which Lord (then Mr.) Stanley had cajoled
the country into the payment of twenty millions sterling, and
begged that they would no longer allow themselves to be
hoodwinked, but to come forward and demand, without com-
promise, the liberty of their fellow creatures.—[His address
occupied nearly an hour in the delivery, and was prematurely
terminated by a sudden attack of illness brought on by over-
exertion, the speaker having travelled upwards of 160 miles
during the day, for the purpose of lending his valuable ser-
vices to the purposes of the meeting.]
G. W. ALEXANDF.II, Esq., was glad to see two Members of
Parliament present at the meeting, as it was from the l3ritish '
Senate that they must ultimately look for the accomplishment
of their views. He had attended a great many meetings, and
could bear testimony to the strong feeling which prevailed for
the entire abolition of slavery. Every one at all acquainted
with the history of slavery must be aware that the planters
had always treated the slaves with cruelty, and had opposed
every measure that would in any manner tend to ameliorate
their condition. It was, therefore, originally deeply to be
regretted that in the Emancipation Act the Government had
given the negroes over again into the hands of their oppressors.
That Act, in his opinion, was a fraud upon the people of
England.—( Ilear.) Women were still compelled to work in
the fields. The Hon. Gentleman then went on to allude
to the evils of the apprenticeship system, and said that a
great number of children had been apprenticed in order
to save them from actual starvation.—(Shame.) The
planters bad also adopted a plan of obtaining a great
deal more labour from their apprentices than was
contemplated or allowed by the Imperial Act. They effected
this by imposing task-work upon the slaves. Punishment had
been carried to a most dreadful extent. Not only were men
flogged, but women also. From official returns it would ap-
pear thrt upwards of four hundred thousand stripes had been
inflicted in a period of two years, independently of other
punishments, by imprisonments, &c. ; and also the stripes in-
flicted upon the slaves while working on the treadmill. These
floggings were in some instances of such a dreadful character
as to prevent the slave from obtaining his livelihood after-
wards, and reduce him to a state of starvation. Females were
placed in a worse position under the Abolition Act than they
were previously. Formerly females who had more than six
children were allowed a respite from labour, but now they
were compelled to work the full period of forty-five hours, and
those who had young infants were forced to work with their
children strapped to their backs, and they were not even al-
lowed the time necessary to give them nourishment.—
( Shame.) Would any one say after this that an Act of Par-
liament sanctioning such cruelties ought to remain upon the
statute book. He contended that it ought to be at once can-
celled. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by proposing the
first resolution, " That notwithstanding the costly sacrifice
made by the people of England to obtain the abolition of
slavery, that it still existed in a mast aggravated form."
Mr. Noirrnotisa„ Parliamentary agent, said he had the
honour of being suddenly selected to- second the resolution.
Ile did so with the greate,t delight, as he hed ever been an
ardent friend to the great cause in which they were embarked.
The period was most favourable for their object. A young
Qeeen sat upon the throne, whore amiable sympathies must
he with them.—(Cheers.) It had been customary in the
olden times upon every accession to the Crown to pass an Act
of Grace. What a noble act of grace it would be to strike
the chains from every slave in her Majesty's dominions—to
realise in every colony the proud boast of our land, that not a
slave can pollute its sacred soil—to make the first year of
our Victoria's reign the last yeas of s'avery among out Vic-
toria's subjects.—(Great cheering.) There was another
source of delight. In that room he had been called upon to
battle on party and political matters. Here was a topic with
which party had nothing to do—a green spot in the arid
desert of public life. There were no burning sands here to
blind their eyes to the motives and virtues of each other. It
was immeasurably beyond and above all party considerat'ons;
it had the delightful effect of proving to us that in spite of our
&fferences, our prejudices, and our partialities, we were men
and brethren, filled with love to the whole family of man.—
From the timid Tory to the rash Radical—(lmmense
laughter and cheering, and cries of " You are a Whig.")
there was no difference—all could lay their offsrings
upon this altar—all would go from this altar inspired with
kinder feelings. towards each other. This was the neutral
ground of an universal philanthropy ; of that
" Holy flame which ever burneth,
From Heaven it came, to Heaven returneth ;
At times deceived, at times oppress'd ;
It here is tried
And purified,
Then bath in Heaven its perfect rest."--( Cheers.)
Their Hon. Chairman had slightly alluded to the Order in
Council for permitting the exportation of the natives of Hitt-
dostan to British Guaira. He (Mr. Northhouse) denounced
it as the commencement of another Slave-trade. Change
Africa to Asia, and you have the secret of the whole. It is
true another name was used, but " what's in a name ?"—the
:thing was the same. Where is the protection from the horrors
of the middle passage to those entrapped Asiatics ? But it
was said " they were little better than monkeys." Nu doubt
of it—the same was said of the unfortunate Negroes. To
palliate the atrocities perpetrated upon them, they forsooth
were little better than animals—beasts of burden—" scarcely
men I" Away with such miserable pretexts for inhumanity
and murder !—(Cheers. ) These Asiatics—these Hill Coolies
—were simple beings, whose very vices were allied to virtue—
guiltless of the besetting sins of civilization—temperate,
eating no animal food, drinking no strong drink—mild,
innocent, compassionate—and save that they are Pagans,
possessing many of the virtues of the Christian character—
why should they be deluded to leave their hornes and their fa-
milies—gimped and kidnapped:to swell!the gangs of slaver) ?
without protection on their passage or their return—return,
did I say ?—if they go,
" Nor wife, nor children, mere shall they bell old,
Nor friends, nor sacred home !"
Cheers.) It must be denounced—it must be prevented
no matter what the Government, or whom the men who pro-
vise it. These poor beings must be saved from
The tasks of oxen for the hire of sieves,
Dishoner'd lives and desecrated graves.
'..._(Great cheering.) There was another cause. He had
been in Scotland, and witnessed the unfortunate band-loom
weavers, driven down from upwards of twenty shillings per
week to three shillings and ninapence per week, working six-
teen hours per day, and he had seen how this had been ecea-