The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-20 00:00:00

///,

EV ENING EDITION

LETTER Fawn JOSEPH STURGE,
ESQ.

( From the Anti-Cars-law Circular.)
It is with no ordinary feelings of pleasure that we present the
following letter to our readers. For the information of those
who know Mr. Sturge only as an active member of the Anti-
Corn-law League, it may be as well to state that ho was one of
the foremost of that baud of philanthropists who struck the
fetters from the enslaved negro. His greatest achievement in
she
cause of injured humanity was, however, subsequently to the
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provisions of that Act ; two years of which had not elapsed be-
fore rumours reached this country respecting the gross oppress
slows under which the coloured labourers were suffering. Nr.
Sturge did not wait for the tardy confirmation of those re:-
ports. He stept on board the first ship destined for the West
Indies, and visited those islands in detail, penetrating to the
interior of Jamaica, putting himself in personal communica-
tion with the negro in his hut, and seek!ng out the victims of
oppression even in their dungeons. After satisfying himsclf
of the truth of the reports, at no little risk to himself, an the
then exasperated state of the planters' minds, he returned to
England to undertake a task which woull have dismayed any
man less insensible to fesr or doubt, when embarked in a just
cause, than Joseph Sturge. The old anti-slavery party, which for
the third of a century had been in active operat.ion,was dissolved
at the passing of the Emancipation Act. It was now necessary to
reorganise this body, to bring its forces once more into the field,
and to bid them fight the battle of emancipation me r again.
Our unwearied philanthropist traversed the country night and
day, roused the prostrate energies of his old associates, who
concentrated all their moral influence, through the electors of
the kingdom, upon the House of Commons and Government,
and the result was, as all will remember, the abandonement of
the apprenticeship system. Lord Brougham has been heard to
declare that this second abolition of slavery was the work of
one man, and that that man was Joseph Sturge. To find that
our conduct and principles have secured the approbation of such
a man, is a satisfactory proof that the object we aim at is just,
and that the means by which we pursue it are justifiable ; and
to find him co-operating with us is a cheering proof that our
labours will not be in vain :
' "TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE ANTI-CORN-LAW CIRCULAR.
" As circumstances are likely to precluie my paying any
personal attention, for the present, to the great object for
which the Anti-Corn-law League is established, the immediate
and entire abr-,lition of the tax upon the food of the people, I
have concluded to doub!i my contribution to their funds for
the present year, provided there is no compromise of the high
and impregnable ground the League has taken, and that they
will neither relax from their efforts nor swerve from their pur-
pose until they have obtained the complete removal of this
disgraceful and cruel impost.
" The An'i-Corn-law League has already acquired suffi-
cient influence to make the political partisan very anxious to
make it subservient to his narrow and selfish views and pur-
poses ; and, perhaps, there never was a time in which it was
in greater danger of splitting upon the rock upon which so
many institutions, having noble objects in view, have made
shipwreck : I mean an increase of supporters, who a e with-
out any steady principle, but who join it because they see it is
becoming popular, and who may be so numerous as to out-vow
those who have borne the burden and heat of the day, and who
hare long laboured at the oar, with only the good of their
country at heart, uninfluenced by any selfish or party motives,
I have, however, not only so much confidence in the high prin-
ciple of the leaders of the League, but of the numerical force
of their honest supporters, that I fully believe any attempt,
such as the one to which I have alluded, by their enesnies us
disguise, would be instantly met, and indignantly repudiated.
" I am, very respectfully,
" JOSEPH STURGE.
" Birmingham, 3d month, 6th, 1841."
Mr. Sturge's year's subscription was 1001. which he has
thus munificently advanced to 2001. He is about to leave
England, we believe, for a contemplated absence of a few
months.