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

asked what hope the negro had of substantiating his case
under such difficulties ?—( Hear, hear.) If the facts bro. leht,
forward were all substantially true, but that, from some tes h-
nicality, they did riot fully make out a case, then not only wa.s
the complaint dismissed but, from that moment, the com-
plainant and defendant changed places, and on the charge of
having made a frivolous complaint he was to the full
infliction of a penalty, according to the discretion of tire spe-
cial justice. He had a right, then, to object to the terms in
which many of these clauses were framed, for, although Lord
Glenclg told the apprentice, that if cruelly treated he might
be discharged, still, although the cruelty may be ever so fla-
gitious, although the injustice may he ever so galling, what
power was then in the hands of the oppressed negro to say
he should be discharged ?—it all rested in the discretion
of the Governor, by and with the advice of the Privy Council.
—(Hear.) Then with respect to penalties—thos:s upon the .-
neg Toes had been increased, while those upon the pla'nter had
been reduced. For neglect of clothing, under the siave
Code the planter was liable to a fine of 51.—it was now AO-
thing. For not providing adequate grounds, under the Slav's! ,
Code it was formerly 20/.—it was now 51. For not allowing-
due time for the cultivation of his ground to the negro, it was
formerly 201., and was now reduced to 40s.—( Hear.) For
not giving proper maintenance, it was formerly 201., and now
only 40s. For cruelty and the illegal imposition of task-
work, the penalty was formerly 1001. aid 12 months' imprison..
ment, whereas the penalty was now reduced to 5/., and the
imprisonment to 12 days.—( Cries of " Sheme.") He would
ask, was not the apprentice more in need of r,rotection under
this system, than when he was a slave?—( Heess ) And was
not Sir Lionel Smith's assertion true, that the condition of
the negro was worse now than formerly ?—(Heir, hear.)
Without, therefore, offering any opinion upon the oths'r mat-
ters of policy of her Majesty's Government, he would say that
he held in the most utter disgust, and viewed with the greatest .
dissatisfaction, the conduct of men calling themselves the friends
of liberty, the friends of Christianity, and the friends of truth.
" Let them tell it not in Gath, or publish it not in thestreets of
Ascalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph."—( Hear, hear.
They were assembled there for a great constitutional purpose,
for by the provisions of Lord Glenelg's own Act, it might be
repealed or altered during the present Session of Parliament. •
—(Cheers.) They were met to ask of the Legislature to re-
peal that Act, and to tell the Government that they were
utterly disgusted with the measure—that they viewed all at-
tempts
to amend slavery in the same light as an apology fo
sin.—( Cheers.) It was nothing more than all attempt to es
purchase the sympathies of the people, and by gulling them in
that manner they hoped to have their anti-slavery feelings sea
tered by the winds of heaven—they hoped to have the poor
negroes deceived by a shadow and cajoled by a name.---( Hear
and cheers.) He asked them as men pleading for the valuehl,
right of their fellow-men—as Britons pleading for the free
dom of those who were treading upon British soil, although
they dwelt across the waves of the rolling Atlantic—he asked
them as men maintaining the cause of freedom, and
nislSfting its standard on high among the nations of the
„if-al —he conjured them, as members of a Christian Church
as fleece whose hopes rested upon Him, whose power was above
all cartaily power, and who ordered all things according to His
good plecsure; who would soon remove every evil that human
depravity or Satanic invention might frame,—as they were
pledged to .maintain his truth, and to carry forward the vie
tory and triustelph of true religion ; he called on them to stand
forward and declare that day that in spite of ministers and
potentates—in sjrite of Legislatures and Governments—they
wore prepared to stand by those principles of truth, o
righteousness, of retsgion, and of piety, on which they ha.,
hitherto rested their'alaims, and that they were neither to be-
drawn from them by the deceitfulness of the crafty, nor driven
from them by the power of the mighty.—(Much cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN observed that before he put the resolution,
he would read the letter to which he had before alluded, •
which he had received from Colonel Gore Langton:—
Grosvenor-severe, April 18, 1838. •
Mr Dealt Six—The object of the meeting to which you request my
presence, as Chairman, is one which I have ever advocated with m
best abilities whenever I have had opportunity of doing s.-); and th •
heartfelt interest still alive in my breast for the poor enslaved negro,
would have brought me to Bath, on the 24th, had my engagem,,nts per-
mitted me the time, which, at my advanced period of life, is nc:essar
for such a long journey in such inclement weather.
Your application afforded me much gratification, by testifying lb
sense which you, and the other Gentlemen of the Anti-Slavery Cvra.:
mittee entertain of my zeal In the cause ; and leads me to hope that
though lam unable myself to be present at the meeting, some Gentle- .-
man will do justice to my feelings by the expression of my sentiments,
and of my determination to use every exertion in my power to give effect
in Parliament to the wishes of the meeting.
Believe me, my dear Sir, most faithfu'ly yours.
WILLIAM GORE .C.ANGTON.
Wm. Thomas Blair, Esq., Bathwick-hill.
Mr. G. Tnossesots then came forward and was receive&
with loud cheering. He said—our question to-day is in respect
to the condition of some hundreds of thousands of immortal
beings held in bondage, base, and cruel, and unchrisvian,
under the term negro apprenticeship, in the various colonies of
the British crown.—(Hear, hear. )—The parties to whom csur
present question refers, are, it should ever be remembered,
men in a like position with ourselves, claiming our regards,
11-0 matter where they dwell, inasmuch as ever) thing interest-
ing to the welfare of human beings is interesting to us. Our
question, therefore, seems, in the first place, as the friends of
mankind with regard to the regions where they dwell, cr the
Government whose subjects they are—our question, .1 repeat,
es regarding mankind at large, is one of deep interest acid im-
portance.—( Hear, hear.) They appear before us to-dal' in
the aspect of fellow-subjects—unoffending, rational, peace-
able, loyal, meritorious, subjects—of the British Government,
and therefore it becomes a question of patriotism, as we love
those who are subject to the same sway, and as we desire to
diffuse throughout the provh'sces of the British empire the
blessings of the varied condition wider which we live oho in-,'
habit these islands—we are called upon to day to pity the
negro of the West Indies, and to see that he is not
spoiled of those privileges which it is 'the design of the
British Constitution to secure and to peepetnate unimpaired
for the benefit of all the subjects of this realme—( Cheers. )
But they appear before us under another aspecS—( Hear,
hear)—thousands of them are our fellow-Christians, nri.itcd to
us in the bonds of Church communion, partaking with. es of
the common hope of everlasting life; and it is certainly the
especial duty of those who recognise in them the image of Geri.
and look to share with them the blessings of immortality—l
say it is the especial duty of such to remember their fellow- '.
saints who are in bonds, and endeavour to put an end to the
enslavement of those who are freemen of the Lord.—
(Cheers.) They stand before us in another aspect this
is a question that does not merely appeal to our humanity nor,
to our patriotism—nor to our Christian sympathies—but to
our justice. ( Hear, hear.) These parties stand before us
to-day as injured men and women in their own persons, and as
the representatives of millions, upon whose ashes they daily -
and hourly tread.—( Hear, hear.) We have wronged them,
and they stand before us to-day, not to solicit a favour, but to -
demand a right.—( Cheers.) And what we have to give is
not to be given by us in the attitude of condescending- suf .
ferance—not doled out as something supererogatory—but to b•
extended, if possible, on our knees, in the atti-
tude of prayer and penitence—( Hear, hear)—to give
back to men, who never should have been robbed, tha.
which is their human right, and inheritance. Our question.
has this further aspect—it stands before us as connecting wit
the redemption from human bondage, from personal slavery -
of six millions of beings held within the confines of what is
called Christendom; and every thing we do for our colonies
will tell either for good or for evil upon the colonies of all
other Christian countries. It stands connected, too, with that
nefarious and infernal traffic which has let loose the fangs of
war, of pestilence, and of rapine, on the unoffended shores '
of Africa—Africa, bleeding at every pore I Africa, rent by
intestine wars 1 Africa, robbed of her children, and drenched
in the blood of her own slaughtered tribes l—( Hear, .
hear, and loud cheering.) This question, then, comes
before us not as a party political question—not as a question
of temporary moment—not as one that may be attended to or
disregarded according to our pleasure—not as one even na-
tional in its aspect, and in its importance; but as concerning
every quarter of the globe on which we tread—does it not con- .
,tern Asia, whose unsophisticated husbandmen aro even now
enslaved, and whose enslavement by millions is meditated in
the dark Councils of the sugar making vampires of the western
world 2—( Cheers.) Are not the millions of India concerned
in this question? Is not America concerned? Are not the
-millions who waste upon the plains of CaroPria, or pine upon
the banks of the Mississippi, to catch the shout of freedom,
and the cries of jubilee, which are wafted across the Antilles,
wherever men do justice or love mercy, and send Britain on
her march upon the mountain waves to set them free—and is
not the question interesting to Africa which never can know -
peace—Africa, which never can rejoice in the light of
Christianity—Africa, which never can share in the legiti-
mate commerce of the world, nor even be recognized by
Christian nations until this foul blot is purged not only from
the dominions of Britain but from every territory belonging
to every Christian country on the face of the globe. And is
it not the cause of Europe—the cause of mighty England—
the cause of polished France—the cause of superstitious Spain
—the cause of Sweden, of Holland, of Denmark; arid
of Portugal? And can Europe ever stand distinguished among
the other sections of the globe for humanity' or Christian virtue:
while her soldiers and her princes, her merchants, her mariners,
and her shopkeepers, all, with one accord, combine in an unhal-
lowed compact to scourge Africa—enslave India—and curse
America. Deeply grieved am I, Sir, that there should be oc-
casion for our meeting to-day.—( Hear, hear.) For why are
we met? To broach strange doctrines? No. To enlighten
or convert our country ? No. To put our wishes
prayers into Parliamentary language for the first time ?
To prove our case and make it plain that the negro is an en--
slaved and injured man? No. To spreal our case before the
Government, that they may read with pitying eye, the story
of the wrongs of the India negro—and reading, feel—and feel-.'
ing, act—and acting, deliver ?—No. —( Hear.) Our case is
made out—our evidence is complete—the Sturges, and'
Williams, and Sligos—and Monserrat, and Autigua, hare all
shed a flood of light upon this question, and rendered it plain
to the meanest understanding that political economy, that na-s
tional honour, that piety, that safety—that every thing that
appeals to interest, to humanity, or religion--demands the.
instant, entire, unqualified, and everlasting settlement of this:
great question.—( Loud cheers.) Why, do We meet here to-;
day ? To arouse the Government by the clamour of faction ?
No. Meet we to-day to put forth the hand of spoliatios ? No,.
Meet we to-day in the naine of our \Vest India fellow-citizens Z.
Nothing of the kind. Meet we to-day to exalt one party, or
debase another ? No. To criminate, or to recriminate ?
thing of the kind. To subserve the interests of a section of
the political world, or advance our own pecuniary, and per-
sonal, and selfish, and sordid claims? Nothing of the kind.
Never was agitation more holy. Never was a great public
object pursued, under Heaven, high above the turbulent and
corrupted atmosphere of party politics, and broils, and con-
tentions. More than this, our weapons are peaceful. They