The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-03 00:00:00

KINGDOM OF OUDE.

Lerd GLENELG laidvupon the table the papers which
were moved for the other evening relative to the succession to
the throne of Oude ; also papers relating to the appoint-
ments made by the Earl of Durham in Canada.

Their Lordships then adjourned at ten o'clock

NEGRO EMANCIPATION.

PUBLIC BREAKFAST IN BIRMINGHAM.

On Thursday morning a public breakfast was given, in the
Town Hall, to Dr. Palmer, late special magistrate in Ja-
maica, and Charles Harvey, Esq., solicitor, of Spanish Town,
in testimony of the sense entertained by the friends of humanity
in Birmingham, of the services they had rendered, and the
sacrifices they had made,'in the cause of freedom. At nine
o'clock nearly 300 ladies and gentlemen sat down to a
sumptuous breakfast, provided by Mr. Lisseter, at which
William Scholefield, Esq., High Bailiff, son of one of the
Members for the borough, presided. Amongst the gentle-
men present, we observed Charles Lushington, Esq.,; M.P.,
B. Hawes, Esq., M. P., Joshua Scholefield, Esq., M. P., Jo-
seph Sturge, Esq., Samuel Lloyd, Esq., George Stacey, Esq.,
Josiah Conder, Esq., Edward Foster, Esq., Josiah Foster,
Esq., J. Scoble, Esq., Dr. Lloyd, Thomas Harvey, Esq.,
the Rev. Thomas Morgan, the Rev. T. Swan, the Rev T.
Scales, the Rev. Dr. ,Roby, the Rev. T. M. Macdonnell,
Lieutenant- Colonel Moxon, besides a large number of influ-
ential gentlemen of Birmingham and its vicinity.
Breakfast having concluded, the HIGH BAILIFF briefly al-
luded to the object for which they had met together that morn-
ing. The Ist of August, which they had celebrated in that
place on the preceding evening by so noble a demonstration,
was a day which would not soon be forgotten, for it was the
day on which England's injustice and inhumanity to so large
a number of their inoffensive fellow-creatures, had been blotted
out for ever.—(Cheers.) He trusted that the fame which
their country would derive from this noble event, greater far
than all the laurels ever won on the battle-field, would ope-
rate as an example which would be admired and followed by,
every nation on the face of the globe which fostered or per-
mitted the infamous system of slavery to exist.—( Renewed
cheering.) Honour then, he would say, to those who had
assisted in achieving the great result which they had met to
celebrate, and among those individuals, illustrious in the annals
of benevolence and humanity, through whose exertions it had
been mainly effected, he alluded to their distinguished guests
in whose honour the festivities of that morning had been pre-
pared.—(Much cheering.) They had exposed their health,
their lives, th.dr fortunes in behalf of the injured negro, and
they were again prepared to re-visit the scene of their useful
labours, that they might assist in finishing the good work which
they had so well began. It was a noble task, and one which
would need, as he was sure it would receive, all their support.
—( Cheers.) He felt it was unnecessary further to recommend
them to the good wishes and sympathy of the meeting—
their names were already familiar to them ; all he would add
would be the expression of a beautiful prayer, that the pro-
vidence of God might watch over and bless their labours.
—( Enthusiastic applause. )
The Rev. Dr. HOBY, in rising to move the first resolution,
observed that he little thought upon entering the room that
he should have been requested to occupy the post to which
he had been assigned. He had rather hoped to have sat
quietly amongst them, and after enjoying the ample re-
past with which they had been regaled, have par-
ticipated the rich intellectual feast prepared for them ;
and above all to have had the hallowed joy of lifting
up his heart to that great and glorious God—the God of
liberty and justice—and of acknowledging his holy hand and
.
his arm which had given them the victory.—( Cheers.) It
was God alone who had directed the friends of humanity ; and
they had assembled that morning prepared to exclaim, " What
bath God wrought I" Their first and chief desire then was to pay
their homage at the footstool of Him who ruled among the
armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth ; who could
change the hearts of kings and rulers, and whose inscrutable
sovereignty in the mysteries of his Providential Government
had thus wrought so mighty a change in the position of 800,000
of their fellow-creatures, and by means which called forth the
homage of all who knew and loved his holy name. But while
they thus paid their grateful homage to the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords, there were men before them to whom they
would express their heartfelt gratitude. They owed them
much, for they were of the " forlorn hope" of their army.—
( Hear, bear, and cheers.) These were the pioneers, who
had, if he might term it, cleared the way, and whose
devotedness to the great cause had led mainly to this
most blessed consummation. In saying this he did not
mean to exclude others who had been fellow-labourers
with them, and who had achieved so much in the cause of
liberty.—( Cheers.) In thus adverting to agents so distin-
guished and honoured of God as those gentlemen, he knew
they ought not to lose sight of those beloved brethren whom
they should hear, from the attestation of these gentlemen
themselves, had been fervently devoted to the cause, who had
suffered much in its achievements, and who were now par-
ticipating with a most holy joy, in the blessing which had at-
tended their labours—he meant the Baptist Missionaries of
the West India Islands.—(Cheers.) He hoped he should
be excused from making use, on an occasion like the present,
of a Congregational distinction ; for God, who knew the
secrets of his heart, knew that he equally loved those beloved
brethren of other denominations, who had been associated
with them in the great work of emancipation. But it was
well known that the Baptist Missionaries had done more than
any other body of men, not only in those islands, but in Eng-
lent for the accomplishment of the great triumph which
they had met to celebrate.—( Much cheering.) He remem-
bered when the attention of the Christian Churches were
beinning, to be directed to the atrocious system, that on one
occasioni he stood beside the lion-hearted Knibb, who, in op-
position to the entreaties and arguments of the more timid who
surrounded him, made a solemn vow ou the missionary plat-
form that he would never cease his holy agitation, till slavery
was no more.—( Immense chering.) He thought in these days
that there was in the wondrous providence of God a most ex-
traordinary coincidence—a coincidence which should serve to
excite their hopes and inspire their confidence with respect to
the growing triumph of man's rights and universal liberty.—
( Cheers.) He could not forbear exclaiming on a recent oc-
casion in that Hall, with respect to the devotion of their be-
loved friend, Joseph Sturge, " America, the shouts of our
jubilee shall reach your shores across the wide-rolling Atlan-
tic !" and lie wished to give their present triumphal proceedings
a bearing upon that land of cruelty and crime, where every
fifth human being they met with was a slave, and where there
was an internal slave trade carried on of an equally outrageous
character with the African slave trade, including all the hor-
rors
of the middle passage.—( Hear, hear,) When they re-
membei ed that the African slave trade, as now carried on,
involved the sacrifice and enslaving of such numbers of human
beings, perhaps of a thousand every day, because, in order to
secure 150,000 slaves, it is computed that 150,000 murders
are committed before they are landed on the opposite shores
of the Atlantic, and they must also bear in mind that the very
track of those dealers in human blood is strewed with the
bleached skeletons of their victims.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
But be assured, frightful and true, alas, as was this pic-
ture, that the internal slave trade of America, with the re-
volting system of increasing the numbers of these hapless beings,
was the occasion of an equal amount of misery, and destruction
of human life.—( Shame, shame.) The coincidences to which
ho referred a little time ago were those which related to the
agencies which God had called forth for the accomplishment of'
his divine purpose. •In England they had their Joseph Sturge
—(Cheers)—a name ever to be embalmed in their hearts with
those of the highly honoured philanthropists of this and other
countries, who had gone to their reward in a better and hap-
pier world. While, however, Joseph Sturge, and the gentle-
men associated with him, were employed in guaging the mi-
sery of the slaves in the West Indies, there was at Ole very
same time a deputation from the Anti-Slavery Societies of
America engaged in a similar work of Christian philanthropy
and love. They also returned after an absence of six months,
during which they explored the islands of Antigua, Barbadoes,
and Jamaica ; and lie
held in his hand the report of those Mis-
sionaries in the cause of suffering humanity, attesting in all
its circumstantial points the reports of Joseph Sturge, and
those who had been associated with them.---( Hear, and cheers. )
They were all aware how powerfully Mr. Sturge had wrought
on the judgments and feelings of the whole British people, as
well as on the heart of every philanthropist in the world, by
his affecting and simple narrative of James Williams ; but, per-
haps, the meeting was not aware that there were two James
Williamses—one of whom was an American ; and he held in his
hand the narrative of the latter, as taken from his lips. He would
not trespass on their time by reading any portion of its me-
lancholy details out. He could assure them that there was
not a paper extant that he knew of, of more stirring and ex-
citing power than this deeply affecting narrative of the
American James Williams ; and while they had their 1,369
Anti- Slavery Societies in that country, all moving on with
themselves in the same blessed cause, should they not be in-
spired with hope arid confidence, and call on the Americans to
look at the British nation. Should they not call on the
Christian Church to keep its eye on British Christians ; and
above all should they not call on those two or three millions of
oppressed slaves to move on in the same career of patient en-
durance for a time, and achieve, as their slaves had done with
the co-operation of Christian Missionaries and philanthropists,
the same liberty and independence.—( Enthusiastic cheering.)
SA NII:FL LLOYD, ESQ., briefly seconded the resolution.
Mr. Seelioe begged to say a word or two in explanation of
what had fallen from Dr. Hoby, in reference to the American
James Williams, and the atrocities of American slavery, as de-
tailed in the account which he had given to the world.
That individual had undergone a most searching inquiry
as to the truth .of his narrative, and so satisfied
were the Committee of the American Anti- Slavery Society cf
its faithfulness and accuracy in every particular, that they had
printed and circulated no less than ninety thousand copies of
the book. He gave so appalling an account of the ho.rrors. of
the cotton plantations in the Southern States, that his mind
was deeply impressed with the conviction that they sbou d
unite in refusing to use slave grown cotton as
was
as
w
slave grown sugar, until this atrocious system as pt t

an end to.—( Loud cheers.) When in Jamaica, he wou'd
take that opportunity of observing, that he had not an
opportunity of seeing Dr. Palmer, who, he was informed, bad
;one to England to look for redress from the Government at
Ilona.. Not being so well acquainted, as it had been said his
privilege to be, with the manly fortitude and moral courage
which distinguished his character, he confessed, from the sys-
tem which he knew was generally adopted by the Colonial
Office, that he was alarmed at his coming at all to this country ;
for the plan pursued by the Government at home wa, when-
ever they found a magistrate or any other individual of suffi-
cient influence from the Colnsies likely to make a noise, by
disclosing the misdeeds nhU h were perpetrated under the
sanction of Bliti:,11 authority, they offered him some conifcr:-
able and more lucrative situation in another quarter of
the world, and thus endeavoured to stifle the cry for
justice.—( Hear, hear, hear.) He expressed this feeling
to Mr. Phillips, one of the missionaries, who entirely set at
rest his fears upon the subject, and said that he was persuaded
Dr. Palmer needed no encouragement to tell the tale of the
miseries of the negro, but the conseiousnass that by so doing
he would be vindicating his own rights, and the rights of the
oppressed slave.---( Loud applause.) He ( Mr. Sturge) had
strong reasons to suppose, and if he was stating that which
seas not correct, be called on the Colonial Secretary to deny
it, that if Dr. Palmer had been disposed to take a situation,
and not tell the country what he knew, he might have been
provided for.—(" Shame, shame.") But he came before the
public and disclosed the atrocities perpetrated under the name
of apprenticeship. He perhaps should inform the meeting
that the reason why Dr. Palmer was dismissed was that he
had " administered the abolition law in the spirit of the Eng.
lish Abolition Act." He had come to this country to endeavour to
obtain justice ; but Government having refused to afford him that
which he sought, and to which be was justly entitled, the
friends of the cause had set on foot a private subscription on
his behalf, for the sacrifice he had made, and he had the plea-
sure of informing the meeting that they had collected for this
purpose upwards of 1,000/.—( Loud cheers.) Dr. Palmer's
sacrifices far exceeded this sum ; for: it was not his personal
sufferings only, but his wife and large family had also suffered
with him.

The resolution having been put to the meeting and adopted,
Dr. PALMER came forward amidst great cheering. He con-
fessed that he never in the course of his life rose with feel-
ings of such deep emotion to address any assembly as on the
present occasion—so deeply did he feel affected by the
kindness that was shown to him, that he could not find words
to give expression to his gratitude. He felt, however, perfectly
conscious that it was rather to the principles which they advo-
cated, than to any merits of their own, that the flattering com-
pliments conferred upon them by so large and respectable an
assembly had been paid to himself and his friend Mr. Harvey.
( Cheers.) With regard to any sacrifices he might have made,
or any privations he had endured, they were far more than
outweighed by the splendid victory obtained in the cause to
ehich he had been devoted for the last seven years of his life.
—(Cheers.) His anti-slavery principles were imbibed in the
midst of slavery itself. He went out to Jamaica twenty-three
years ago, without any settled principles upon the subject,
and he must confess that his first impressions were by no means
unfavourable regarding the system which he saw in operation.
He saw none of that slavery which had since been so vividly
depicted, and by degrees he became inured to all its horrors.
Ile was thirteen years in Jamaica before he began to see its
true character. Ile had known of cases of atrocity having
been perpetrated by individuals, but they were those that
might have occurred in any part of the world, and whenever
they came to his knowledge he took care to denounce them.
But a change soon came over his opinions. The discussion
upon the subject in England induced him to look more nar-
rowly into things, and by degrees he began to see them in a
different light. Fact after fact burst upon him, all showing
the abominations of the system. In 1831 he brought forward
a case of most flagrant cruelty to a mother and her daughter,
committed by the custos rotulorunt of the island and his wife,
and his advocacy of the unfortunate beings subjected him to
much persecution. From that moment he became a marked
character, and from that moment he took his stand on those
principles which he had since steadfastly advocated.—( Cheers. )
This continued till 1834 when he accepted the office of
special justice, and from that time to 1836, when he left the
country he never knew what it was to enjoy a respite from
persecution. It was a part of the system to crush every man
who attempted to take the part of the negro. But they had
at length put an end to this system.—(Cheers.) With re-
gard to the future, when he looked forward to the condition
of Jamaica, the prospect cheered my heart to think that that
country, the strong hold of slavery, was perhaps destined to be
one of the happiest spots on the face of the globe. There
were there the elements of happiness as complete as in any
part of the universe. In the first place, they had not only
destroyed slavery and brought to a termination the sufferings
of thos) who were so long oppressed, but they bad also ter-
minated the slave.ty of the master, and he was persuaded that
the Act of Emancipation would have the effect of regenerating
the whole frame-work of society in tlk West Indies.—( Loud
cheers.) It was a mistake altogether to suppose that there
were no good men amongst the planters in these colonies, or
to say that the greater proportion of them were innately bad.
—(Hear, hear.) On the contrary, he was convinced that
there was as large a proportion of good, honest, kind-hearted
men (take them out of slavery) as in any part of the world. It
was the poison of slavery that paraly zed their generous sympa-
thies; and he knew of numbers of individuals who would be
perfectly shocked at the idea of doing anything dishonourable
or cruel—out of slavery.—( Laughter.) Having removed
this moral blight from the community, they might speedily
expect them to spring into nets of active benevolence, and to
join them heart in hand in putting an end to the atrocities of
slavery, wherever it was found to exist.—( Hear.) But the
happy effects of this great charge would not be confined to the
planter. It would extend also to the negro population, who
were as susceptible of good impressions as the most favoured
portion of the people of this land. If they were once placed
in a situation to protect themselves by being instructed in their
rights, they would soon be found amongst the foremost and
most useful auxiliaries in the cause of universal freedom all
over the world.—(Cheers.) The first thing they had to do in
order to effect this great object, would be to purify the Courts
of Justice—( Loud cheers)—and for this purpose they must
create a public opinion.—( Renewed cheers.) Public opinion
in the West Indies had hitherto run in one current, and a foul
current it had been ; but now a new order of things had been
introduced, and he doubted not that honesty and propriety
would very soon come into fashion, quite as much as it
was in England.—(Cheers.) All they' asked from the people
of England was this—for the space of two or three years to
keep their eyes open, to watch their proceedings, and to give
them their sympathy and support, by which time he trusted
there would be created such a mass of public opinion as would
enable them, not only to protect themselves and establish their
own liberties, but to organise Anti-slavery Societies (and effi-
cient ones too) for the protection of the negro wherever he
might be found in bondage.—(lmmense cheering.) lie
would return to Jamaica with the most cheerful feelings. lie
knew full well that there would be manifested at first a spirit
of hostility towards him by individual planters. They looked
on him as their enemy, because he had been actively engaged
in exposing their follies and vices, but he trusted in a short
time they would come to look on him in the light rather of a
friend than an enemy, as he once more went amongst them
without a single feeling of towards those who had
pursued him with the most determined hostility.—(Cheers.)
Although he had experienced such persecution, he would
not hurt a hair of their heads, even of Mr. Gyles himself.—
( Hear, hear.) All the horrors of slavery should be sunk in
oblivion ; but if any man came forward and attempted to re-
establish the system, he would find in him the same consistent
and he hoped determined opponent-4 Enthusiastic applause.)

. _
Mr. STURGE here observed that as Dr. Palmer had not told
them under what circumstances he was going back to Jamaica,
he would just mention that the Government had entirely
turned their back upon him.—( Shame, shame.) He returned
to the island intending to follow his profession, and he trusted
he would also have some connection with a Paper there that
would be found acting with as much boldness and talent as
their own Paper, the British Emancipator, which Dr. Palmer
had hitherto conducted, was acting at home:—( Cheers. )
CHARLES LUSIIINGTON, Esq , M. P.. said as he was obliged
to leave the meeting in a few minutes to proceed to London,
he would avail himself of that opportunity of returning his
grateful thanks, not only on his own account, but also to ren-
der acknowledgment on the part of his brother, Dr. Lusbing-
ton, for the kindness they had manifested on the preceding
evening to them and the other Members of Parliament, wha
had performed the delightful duty of coming amongst them.
He had listened with the mast lively interest to the address
of Dr. Palmer, and he was sure from its closing sentiments
nobody would refuse to concur with him that they were highly
honourable to the goodness of his heart and to the benevo-
lence of his character. —( Cheers.) He hoped they would all
soon have the happiness to hear of his safe arrival in the
West Indies, where he trusted he would have an opportunity
of cheering the negrocs by describing the cordial feeling that
was manifested for their welfare by the thousands who had as-
sembled to celebrate their emancipation on the Ist of August
in Birmingham, and also by announcing that at least five or
six Members of Parliament were determined not to relax in
their exertions till the entire and perfect freedom of the
egnroes was achieved.—( Loud applaus.e.)
BENJAMIN BAINES, Esq., M.P., next came forward. He
said he owed some apology to the meeting for intruding even
one word upon them—(" No, no")—as be was altogether a
stranger in Birmingham, and came amongst them uninvited.
—(Cheers.) At the same :time it was impossible for him
not to say that the spectacle of so magnificent a meeting as he
had witnessed yesterday evening was one calculated to
make a deep impression on his mind ; and if the effect
was confined to that it would indeed be a failure, but tb/ moral
influence of that meeting would extend beyond the walls of
that building—it would penetrate to the hall of many a
planter, and strike him with dismay ; and it would also pene-
trate to the cottage of the slave, and infuse fresh courage into
his heart —( Enthusiastic cheering.) This town was distin-
guished by its vast industrial resources, but it possessed higher
claims to their respect, and he felt bound to say, as a Member
of Parliament, that he owed the honour of his seat to the great
moral courage it had displayed in a moment of imminent na-
tional peril. He trusted it would long continue to maintain
its standing in the moral as well as the political world, and
that the great influence which it justly exercised on the feel-
ings of the country would be long found enlisted on the side
of those who sought for justice, and through justice for liberty,
and through liberty for the enjoyment of the principles of their
common Christial,ity. That they might ever be animated by
ef his heart, and he
apple
in
see! ) r a
..cAtfi
tcearl Itehgei sI a
meeting(t on.—
the an
these sentiments was the fervent w
trusted he would live to see the 'result of such a meeting tri-
leuanmstiPhluisiefi'alg-settitciinne, and the address of Dr. Lusbington,
whose :perch he must say was marked by the very highest
characte..i,t!es of eloquence, not only eloquent in itself, but
enforced by the conviction that the speaker was sincere, mine

mented too by the finest references to the principles of their
religion ; and also by the speech of Mr. O'Connell, one of
the most distinguished orators of the day ; he felt quite
unable to efface them from his memory ; and standing as he
did in that noble building, with those recollections fresh
in his memory, he felt utterly unable to give expression
to his feelings.—( Cheers. ) At the same time, while he
thanked them as a stranger for the reception they had risen
him, they would permit him to say that if be could do any
thing to further the cause they bad at heart—the extinction of
slavery in the British dominions—if their friend, Mr. Sturge,
should ever want any assistance in London, he would never
find him backward in giving his best exertions, however un-
able he might be, to render him any efficient assistance.—
( Enthusiastic cheering.)
The Rev. THOMAS SCALES, of Leeds, said—l should not
have arisen to address the meeting at this period of its pro-
ceedings, had I not felt it necessary to call the attention of
our friends, who are present, to the particular claims of one of
the gentlemen named in the resolution, and to whom little al-
lusion has hitherto been inade. I mean Mr. Harvey, whom
we are happy to see amongst us, and associated with his friend
Dr. Palmer. One of the pleasing circumstances, arising
out of these movements and meetings, is that they bring
together the friends of humanity, and often in sur-
prising and unexpected numbers ; and the meeting of these two
gentlemen must be very gratifying to themselves, especially
on such an occasion. Dr. Palmer and Mr. Harvey have
acted together—they have suffered together—in the cause,
and for the benefit of the negro race—they are now rejoicing
together in the happy and auspicious change which has been
achieved on their behalf, and they are prepared and determined
again to go forth to act together in securing for the objects of
your sympathy and benevolence, all the fruits and benefits of
emancipation. With the claims of Dr. Palmer, and the ser-
vices he has rendered to this great cause every one conversant
with recent antislavery proceedings must be acquainted, and
the readers of the British Emancipator, which has been under
his management, will feel how greatly we are indebted to his
valuable aid.—( Cheers.) On this account I regret that we
are likely so soon to lose him. Mr. Harvey's connection with
anti-slavery movements was less known, but he too had
been a sufferer in various ways for his sympathy with
the negroes and his anxiety to redress their wrongs
and obtain justice for them. There was a Mr. Gyles, not
altogether unknown from his former doings, as the supporter
of slavery, and his efforts in opposition to those who were
seeking to befriend the oppressed negroes—more recently,
he has perpetrated grievous injuries upon many of the la-
bourers on his estate—and repeatedly gone forth, and in the
most wanton spirit, destroyed their little property, in a way be-
yond endurance: They were induced to seek protection against
these vexatious aggressions, and nineteen of the labourers re-
paired to Spanish Town, seeking justice. By the advice of
Dr. Palmer, they applied for professional advice and aid to
Mr. Harvey as their solicitor, and because be undertook their
vindication and defence, he incurred the displeasure of all

parties, and became the victim of a most serious prosecution
I cannot enter into the details of these proceedings,. nor is i
necessary, as Mr. Harvey will explain the course he took on
that occasion ; I may just remark that be instituted proceed-
ings, but found ail the magistrates to whom he applied unwill-
ing to assist him in furtherance of his object. He himself, for
the part he had taken, was subjected to a vindictive prosecu-
tion. From the consequences he had proceeded. as Dr. Palmer
did before him, to this country to seek redress. From the effects
of oppression and injustice in the Colonies, it is natural to look
to the mother-country for relief. I wish the injured and suffering
parties always came here for the redress to which they are
entitled. It is scarcely possible but that evils will arise, espe-
cially when we consider the character of the men to whom
f!sc administrs.tion of Colonial Governmenti are entrusted,
men educated in camps and accustomed to a military des.
potism. I believe it is the opinion of some of these gentle-
ment, that :411 government rests on the point of the bayonet.
The Rev. Gentleman observed, in conclusion, that he trusted
the Colonial Office would look more to the character of the
men whom they sent out to fill high situations, and to admi-
nister justice with impartiality. Whether Mr. Harvey received
redress at the hands of the Government at home he knew
not ; but this he did know, that he would meet with their
sympathy and support.—( Loud cheers.)
CHARLES HARVEY, Esq., rose—He thanked the meeting
most heartily for the honour they had conferred upon him that
day, the more so as he was unconscious of having done any
thing to deserve so great a meisttre of their kindness.—( Hear. )
It was now :Inwards of nine years ago since he first went to
Jamaica undei somewhat similar circumstances to Dr. Palmer.
He was like him, n;:Tosed to overlook many of those crimes
which were the fruitful offspring of slavery, but after some
experience, be saw quite enough of the system to horrify him,
and feel ashamed that any part of the colonies of Eng-
land should be polluted with such a state of things.—( Hear.)
On his first advent in Jamaica be was quite unresolved on his
plans for the future, having originally visited it with a view to
the improvement of his health; but after witnessing the atrocities
which were there brought under his notice, he determined that
it should be his country, Atcl that he would devote himself to
the assistance of the oppressed negroes, and to a better diffu-
sion of a spirit of liberty.—( Cheers.) Ile never regretted
the causethat had first brought him to Jamaica. He went there
friendless and a stranger' and he had found kindness and
liberality. He had many difficulties to overcome, and in the
sympathy of the missionaries he found security and support.
A:cident brought him acquainted with them, and he found
that with their encouragement and advice miracles could
be done. But for those missionaries who perhaps were
merely the servants of the English people, he felt they would
never have witnessed the glorious consummation of negro
freedom which they were that day met to celebrate ; and but
for the support they had receive,:i from England, no men
could have singly withstood the tide of opposition which they
had to encounter.—(Loud cheers.) After describing the
state in which he found the slave population of the island,
and the atrocities perpetrated by the planters, the Learned
Gentleman next proceeded to notice the passing of the Ap-
prenticeship Act, and the manner in which itsprovisiene had been
violated. It was altogether a deception, and not only so, but
by the operation of this law a more atrocious engine of cruelty
was put into the hands of the planter. Mr. Ilarvey after-
wards referred to the persecutions to which be had been sub-
jected in his endeavours to protect the negroes who had ap-
plied to him for legal advice. For this he had been fined
nearly 2001., a fine, lo.wever, which he bad never paid, and
which, moreover, he never intended to pay. The case was
now before the Privy Council, and whatever way it might ter-
minate, he was rejoiced to say that the agitation of the
matter, and the inquiries to which it led, had done signal
service to the cause of liberty.—( Loud cheers.) After
alluding to the injustice done to the non.registered
negroes, thousands of whom had been illegally detained
in bondage in defiance of the express provisions of the
Abolition Act, he observed that he could not coincide
altogether with Dr. Palmer in the hopeful anticipation of li-
berty in Jamaica. What had her:: done wee to he attributed
to the mighty moral influence of the people of England. The
Courts of Justice in Jamaica required purification, and until
their abuses were removed these would be no public liberty
for the negio. He would not fail to communicate to the po-
pulation of Jamaica the enthusiastic f. clings which the people
of Birmingham had exhibited in their behalf; and when their
Courts and Judges were reformed he was quite sure that their
fertile island, which was quite unexplored ground to the
people of this country, would he thrown open to English enter-
prize and English industry.—( Loud applause.)
Mr. WILLIAM Mot:GAN said, that in his native town, and
id the presence of the distingvished strangers around, be was
rri.aefied to state diet the talent and industry of a Birming-
ham a7tigt had, in the course of the last few dais. succeeded
in transfe.eeing a copy of the principal part of the Sligo testi-
monial into *he form of a medal, sshich mig,ht,perhapz, here-
after be cheristi'd by many a Negro subscriber to the fund
which had resulte(: in so splendid a production. The liberality
of the arti,t had place,: several medals for sale on the table,
as memorial% of the day, end he was proud to be the medium
of conveying to each of their distinguished guests, in the name
of his friend, end might he be permitted to add in the name
of the meeting—( Cheers)-5 slight motnemto to be exhibited
on their return to the West. Ile begged to be permitted to
allude for an instant to the scene in which so many
thousands had been interested yesterday, the laying the
foundation stone of the " Negro Emancipation Schools"
for the sake of stating that while their friends were
bearing away from Birmingham the memorials of their
respect end sympathy, Mr. Harvey was leaving behind him
substantial proofs of the iiiterest he felt in their institutions.—
( Cheers.) He trusted one result of the generous donation
which he had received for the schools would be, that thence
should arise, perpetually, converts and advocates of their great
cause.—( Loud cheers..)
The Rev. T. AL MacnoNNELL expressed the joy he expe-
rienced at finding that all their brethren of colour in the West
Indies were now on a level with themselves, and restored to
that position for which God and nature had originally intended
them.-_( Cheers.) He trusted they would be taught by those
distinguished men who were now going forth as their new
apostles, to avail themselves of the privileges conferred on
them, or rather of those rights to which they had been re-
stored, and of vvhieli for so many years they had been robbed.
—(Cheers.) He trusted they would take care to guard those
liberties against the intoxication of newly-acquired free-
dom, and teach them that there was no victory so
certain, and none certainly so sweet and delightful, as the
moral victory of principle user brute force. They would tell
them that this was a place where those principles had been
deeply imbibed; it was a place from which those principles
were addressed to them, and that nothing would give
greater
pain to the men of Birmingham than to hear that those poor
creatures rescued from thraldom would, in the delirium of joy,
arising from the acquisition of a long-lost treasure, be guilty
of any eess which would induce them to weep for the exer-
tions which they had made in their behalf.—( Applause.)
J. &ODLE. Esq., next addressed the meeting. He said he
had come there to lay before them a brief, but rather detailed,
account of the state of slavery and the slave trade, as it was
found to exist at the present moment. But he felt that he
should not be able to do justice to so important and extensive
a subject if he entered upon it at the present advanced hour of
the morning. After the excellent address delivered by the
gentleman who preceded him, he felt that he should perhaps
best consult the feelings and convenience of the assembly if he
confined himself to a few anecdotes illustrative of the system
from which the negroes had just escaped, and also
of the enaracters of the negroes themselves, -with a
view, to show that in labouring for them they had laboured
for beings well deserving their best efforts. Mr. Scoble here
related some striking anecdotes, which had come under his
own observation, exhibiting the character of the negroe in a
very amiable point of view, and evincing, under trials and
sufferings of no ordinary kind, a degree of fortitude and
endurance worthy of a better cause. Mr. Scoble then
concluded, by expressing a hope that the time was not
far distant when the negroes, under the influence of Chris-
tian instruction and example, and assisted by such men as
would become acquainted
Dr. Palmer and Mr. Harvey,