The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-17 00:00:00

career which Pcovidence has given to all men ; raise 1
them to an equality with yourselves, and they will know
how to preserve their level. Servitude occasions
vice—it is not vice that is the cause of servitude. Would
you wish an historical example in proof of this? Look at
the country of the arts, of civilisation, of letters. Look
at Greece.—( Loud cheers.) Oh, how noble, how grand,
was she in her sacred times of liberty ! What has she
become in a state of servitude? Say, Gentlemen, can you
recognise in the Greek slave the descendant of Leonidas
or Pericles ?—(Loud cheers.) Abolish slavery, proclaim
equality, it is a noble and glorious mission. This glory,
this mission, henceforth belongs to the alliance of two great
nations, who, long divided by war, are now united in the
cause of the civilisation of the world. With what
eclat, Gentlemen, will the words of England and
of France be received by the nations of the
world,!—( Hear) How sublimely have they been already
re-echoed from that very continent of America where so
many private interests oppose the emancipation of the
blacks, and where so many generous hearts attend only to
the sacred interests of humanity I See with what transport
their representatives unite themselves in this Hall to their
brethren of England and Prance I Yes, we shall attain this
glorious object by our holy alliance.—(Cheers.) I say
not this from vanity, but from a just, and honourable, and
proud confidence. It is an incontrovertible truth. To the
united will of France and England proclaiming the equality
of mankind, who could now resist? The united will of
Franee and England, proclaiming the abolition of human
slavery, what power could oppose an obstacle ? Here, Gen-
tlemen, I pause. I will not trespass further on the atten-
tion you have so kindly extended to me, and I shall ever
consider as the happiest day of my existence that in
which I have been permitted to give utterance to my sen-
timents in such an assembly as the present. I shall dwell
with delight on the recollection ; from this moment my life
will acquire in my own eyes more consistence and more
real importance than it has ever hitherto possessed.
M. ALCIDE LavRE, a member of the deputation from
the French Society, then addressed the Assembly in
French, Dr. Bowring, as in the former instances,
translating it to the Convention. M. Laure said that
after the illustrious orators they had just heard, and whose
sentiments and sympathies had been explained to the Con-
vention with so much talent and intelligence by Dr.
Bowring, it perhaps might be deemed presumption on his
part to be desirous of occupying that place from whence,
• for the last two days, so many of the illustrious men, both
of Great Britain and America, had addressed the Con-
vention. Bat he felt the necessity imposed upon him in
the name of the young Magistracy of France, of which
he was the organ, of addressing a few words to the Con-
vention to express the great interest he felt in the ques-
tion. Yes, the time of the abolition of slavery was at
hand.—( Cheers.) The present memorable manifestation
of the opinion of the world must at length affect the con-
science of the governors of that world; and those who
had now neither name, nor family, nor nation would be re-
instated in their name, their family, and their freedom ;
and that to the eternal honour of England it would be re-
corded to the remotest ages of the world, that that great
Assembly which had so nobly discussed the important
question of slavery, assembled in 1840, in her metropolis
--(Loud cheers)—and that the emancipation of the
black and coloured races was accomplished in the 19th
century, as the work of God, through the progress of ci-
vilisation.

Mr. Justice JEREMY said, that now that the subject of
French slavery, or rather of slavery in the West India
Colonies, was before the meeting, he proposed
_to address
a few words to them on the subject ; and from hiving held
office for some time in colonies formerly French, he had
been closely connected with them, and was perfectly well
acquainted with their laws and regulations, and he had no
hesitation in saying that every reason which existed for
the abolition of slavery in the British dependencies existed
in equal force in the colonies of their neighbours.—e Loud
cheers.) Mr. Isambert had said thot the code now con-
tained clauses for the benefit of the negro ; bat this was
even an additional argument for the abolition of slavery,
because these clauses had almost all been repealed by sub-
sequent enactments, and those which remained had been
rendered of no effect by popular prejudice. It was true
the Code Noir allowed of the marriage of whites with
blacks, but this enactment had been repealed by popular
opinion. Even after the peace of Amiens—after opinions
in favour of the rights of the negro had made con-
siderable progress in France —a clause was inserted
by which coloured people were permitted to
leave property to the whites, but whites were
prohibited from leaving property to coloured people.
—( Cheers, and cries of Oh I oh I) The preservation of
any distinction of colour, or Of race, or the attempt to
bolster up slavery by regulations under pretence of pro-
ducing any amelioration in it, was vicious and erroneous.—
( Loud cheers.) He knew that, because he had assisted
at the introduction of such measures into our own colonies,
and had witnessed their utter failure—( Loud cheers.)
The manufacturer of sugar in our colonies, in which eman-
cipation had taken place, was at a low ebb it was true, but
why was it so? Because the labouring population found
they could be more profitably ,employed in other ways.
He would relate to them an instance which had come to
his own knowledge, of the effects produced by ernanc;pa-
tion. He knew a gentleman in England, a slave holder,
and a supporter of the system of slavery; but this gentle.
man had acuteness to perceive that the system of slavery
must eventually give way to public opinion; accordingly lie
prepared in time for the change which he knew was inevi-
table, and seven or eight years ago he went among the
agricultural population of this country, and hired steady,
industrious labourers, most of whom had certificates of
character from the clergyman of the parish in which they
resided, and many of whom had obtained prizes from dif.
ferent agricultural societies, ho engaged these men as
servants for seven years, and sent them out to his
estates in the West Indies. He (Mr. Jeremy) bee
met hew about ten days ago and asked him the result of his
experiment. He replied that now two men did with the
plough what it formerly took ten men to do with the hoc.
—(Cheers.) This was one of the effects of immediate
eau ncipation.—( Loud cheers.) Before emancipation
took place the advocates of it had acknowledged, had
foreseen, had foretold, that one of its immediate effects
would be the diminution of the sugar cultivation in the
Colonies. And why was this? Why, before the eman-
cipation took place, how was the working population of the
West Indies composed ? One half of them consisted
of women; and if these persons were fit for freedom, they
never, of course, would permit women to be employed in
the labours of the field.—( Loud cheers.) The old system
moreover was one of complete monopoly. Sugar was cul-
tivated there for exportation ; but shoes, chairs, tables,
every household article, was obtained from house. This
monopoly was now done away with. The negroes could
go now where they thought it most for their advantage to
purchase the articles they stood in need of. Although the
exportation of the produce hadeliminished, everything that
conduced to the interest, well-being, and comfort of the
people had increased. That produce alone which was the
result of coercion had diminished.—( Cheers.) He begged
to bear his humble testimony to the efforts of M. Isam-
bert. Never could he forget the effect produced
by the able and eloquent,addresses of M. Isambert. All
that could be said on the subject had been said by him.—
(Loud cheers.) It was only delicacy, he was convinced,
being a distinguished member of a French Court of Judi-
cature, which had prevented M. Isambert from stating to
the Convention, that while in England the name of Gran-
ville bharpo was looked up to with veneration, as that of
the first man who had proved that slavery could not co-
exist with the British laws, forty or fifty years before
that the French Courts of Judicature had established the
same fact with regard to France. A negro had arrived in
Paris in 1712; he applied to the Courts of Law as to his
right of freedom, and the Courts of France, after solemn
deliberation, affirmed the right which he claimed.—( Loud
cheers ) He would not further occupy their time—each
speaker was very properly limited as to time.—( Cries of
" Go on, go on.") All. he could do was to state the re-
sults of his own experience, therefore it might have been
thought that a day or two ago, when they were discussing
the question of the state of slavery in India and Ceylon, he
I ought to have taken a part in that discussion ; but as he was
' officially employed in that part of the world, the first duty
he owed was that of fidelity to those who employed
him, and as all his information on that subject had been
obtained from official sources, he felt himself prevented
from entering on the subject, but they knew well that his
hopes and his wishes were with them. Mr. Cremieux, an
Israelite, had addressed them, who yet had proved himself
a Christian in every word that he had uttered, and in every 1
sentiment he had expressed, distinguished as he was by his
liberality and his splendid philanthropy.—(Loud cheers.)
In him they had heard the author of some of the most
splendid specimens of oratory of modern times.—(Loud
cheers.) His friend Mr. O'Connell, if he would permit
him so to call him, had said that the question of the eman-
cipation of the Israelites was the only occasion on which
every Catholic Member of the House of Commons had
voted together. Every Catholic Member of that House
bad voted for Israelitish Emancipation.—(Loud cheers.)
The result of oppression always was, and always would be,
to engender by reaction a spirit of humanity and freedom
in the oppressed. A Jew was there that day espousing the
cause of negro freedom, and the Catholics had espoused
and supported the cause of Jewish Emancipation, and they
had himself there, a firm and good Protestant, supporting
and maintaining the cause of liberty of every sect, colour,
and nation.—( Loud cheers.)
The ROY. W. KNIBB, Missionary to Jamaica, then rose,
and was received with loud cheers. He said he did
of
not
intend, on the present occasion, to go into a discussion
the glorious results of negro emancipation, but. he could
not forbear requesting permission to trespass a short time
.
on the time of the Convention to confirm the statement
they had heard from the distinguished gentleman who had
just sat down, that the diminution of the supply of sugar
was not to be at all connected with the want of prosperity
in the island.—( Hear, hear.) The fact was, one cause of
that diminution was the withdrawal of females from the
cultivation of sugar, and one of the charges properlybrought against the Missionaries, and also against Sir
i
Lionel Smith, was, that they had used theirnfluence in
bringing about that desirable result, and
he never should
forget the magnanimity of Sir Lienel's reply, which was
worthy of record in letters of gold—for when requested by
the Secretary of the Colonies to answer these charges,
he said, " I preferred the dictates of humanity. to the i
policy of short-sighted planters."—( Cheers.) And they
preferred these dictates too.—( Hear, hear.) But if the
Convention supposed the prosperity of Jamaica depended
on the hogsheads of sugar she shipped to England, they
entirely mistook the matter. One fact in connexion with
that diminution of supply was, that of one denomination
alone 1,000 black persons had become freeholders.—
( Loud cheers.) And if they could but abrogate
that iniquitous law, which it was his intention, on a
future occasion to bring before them, in a )
few )ears these persons would be in the enjoyment of the ,
elective franchise ; and this would be so much extended,
that they would have the power of returning black men,
who were fully able and determinately willing to take care
of themselves.—e Cheers.) The highest expectation the
most sanguine of the human race could have formed of
emancipation,
was unknown—a back beggar was never seen—a peen-
had been more than roarzed. Vograecy
broker's shop did not exist—the treadmills had turned !
rusty, and the j,.ils been whitewashed —( Cheers.) There i
had been on the part of the peasantry an almost universal
willingness to labour, when they were remunerated for it; '

but black men thought they had as much right to labour si
for themselves as for others.—( Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN here rose and said, he felt it his duty to
state to the meeting, that the further discussion of this sub-
ject would be a departure from the course of proceedure
which had been agreed to by the Convention.—( Hear.)
The Rev. W. KNIBB continued... He did not intend to
occupy two minutes longer. He had taken the opportu-
nity lest but few persons should be present when his own
turn came, and because he should have been sorry a state-
ment so likely to do good should want confirmation.—
( Hear, hear.) He would only state one fact more. The
negroes found they could employ themselves more profita-
bly than in the cultivation of sugar, and one of his own
congregation had undertaken the repairing of the roads.
Instead of one shilling, many of them were now earning
twelve shillings per day,—(Cheers.)
Mr. O'CoNNELL then rose and said, the kind indulgence
he had experienced yesterday was an imperative reason
why he should trespass as shortly on the attention of the
Convention as the duty he had to perform would permit.
His purpose in rising was to propose that it should be re-
ferred to a Committee to consider the proper form of an
address to the French Government and the French na-
tion, on the subject of Negro Slavery. The Learned and
distinguished Gentleman on his left had told them the
condition of the negro was greatly ameliorated in the
French West India colonies, and that there remained be-
hind only ore thing—the emancipation of the negro. He
(Mr. O'Connell) thought that " one thing" was a rather
considerable one—(Cheers)—and that if they could get
that they might easily forgive all the rest.—( Hear, hear.)
He had also told them that the French Government had
framed the most salutary regulations respecting the treat-
ment of the negroes, and there was a fable of sEsop which
showed what that amounted to : for when the wolves were
appointed protectors of the lambs, although the most salu-
tary rules were framed, the wolves eat them.—(Hear,
hear.) And this must really be the case with all regula-
tions put into the hands of slave-holders. It was employ-
ing two-legged wolves to take care of lambs.—( Cheers. )
He was not a little pleased with the speech of his Friend
the Learned Judge who sat next him. He was proud to say
they were friends of some years standing, and had been
made so by the sympathy they bore to the same sacred
cause of human liberty.—(Great cheering.) His Learned
Friend had only done the Catho!ic Members of the House
of Commons justice, when he had told them they
were once unanimous. He (Mr. O'Connell) was sorry to
be necessitated to say only once.—( Hear, hear.) But he
was proud of the cause of that unanimity, which was in
their vote for the emancipation of the Hebrews. He
thought also he was doing the House of Commons but
justice to say that if the Hebrews had urgently pressed
the measure of their own emancipation, it would have been
given to them by the House of Commons by overwhelm-
ing majorities, and he thought the Noble Lords (as they
called them) in another place would find themselves em-
barrassed by repeated refusals to confirm the opinion of the
House of Commons. He thought it was the apathy of
the Hebrew people in England that kept them in the in-
ferior station in which in point of law they were, rather
than any disposition of the Legislature to deprive them of
the unalienable right of British subjects to a perfect equa-
lity in the eye of the law.—(Cheers.) His lion. and
Learned Friend had adverted to the horrible murder at
Damascus, and the calumnies on the Jewish people in
consequence of that murder. A horrid murder certainly it
was ; but it was horrible to think that persecution should have
the effect of calumniating the innocent Jews, as those
who were still capable of participating in a sacrifice of
blood.—( Hear, hear.) But could the people of England
believe th: se calumnies? If they looked to history they
would find that a hundred times over the English people
had believed such calumnies.—( Hear, hear ) He was
glad to hear his Hon. and Learned Friend express his in-
tention of going to Damascus to investigate the subject.
He could say on behalf of the Bi itish Government that
they had done all they could to obtain justice for the Jews,
but an atrocious murder was committed ; and the worst
consequence of the persecution of the innocent Jews was
that in the mean time the real murderer had escaped.—
( Hear, hear.) It was not foreign to their purpose to speak
of this subject, for wherever humanity was outraged there
were sufferers whom that Convention should succour and
encourage.—(Cheers.) Ile returned cheerfully to the
subject before them. The French colonies required one
great thing—the emancipation of the negroes; every thing
else was idle and nuostory.—( Cheers.) Let them eman-
cipate, and they would do all. Without it, if they did
every thing else, they would do nothing. lie would now
just advert to the situation of these colonies, with respect
to the slave population. He would first take Martinique.
It was quite true, as had been stated, that the negroes
there were emancipated during the French Revolution ;
but it was rather on account of the absence of power to
restrain their freedom than from any legal recognition of
it. Buonaparte, after the treaty of Amiens sent a large
force to the West Indies to reconquer slavery,
and compel the free to ba enslaved again.
There was a mighty charm in these military names, but he
( Mr. O'Connell) could not help protesting against the
praise of those who waded through slaughter to a bad
eminence. Such men might swell the military glory of
their country, hut, in his opinion, they were the greatest
enemies of civilization.—( Cheers.) He mentioned the
conquest of Martinique only to state this fact. The
negroes being freemen, were unwilling again to submit
to slavery, and, as freemen should do, they defended
themselves to the last. When about 500 only survived,
these retreated to a mountain fort, which they defended
uetil a French battalion had made a breach, and when they
entered, the negroes blew up themselves and the battalion.
—(hear, hear.) This showed they were quite safe in
leaving to the negroes the protection of their own liberty.
And another fact, that of 1,000 freeholders mentioned by
Mr. Knibb, also proved that they were much better when
left to themselves than by any regulations we could pos-
sibly make.—( Hear, hear.) Then, said Mr. O'Connell,
let America tremble in her iniquity when these facts come
before her, for they are men the million and a half she
holds in slavery._( Cheers.) In Martinique there were,
in 1837, 26,346 males, 39,666 females ; yet the number
of marriages in that year was only fifteen. The
numhcr of births was 2,303. These were dire-
ful facts for a Christian assembly to listen to.
The number o deaths was 2,592. Many of them knew
that in Europe the population increased about 15 per cent.
every ten years; in Ireland SI ; but in this place there was
a decrease of 289. Thus all those who in a proper state
of society would have been born and brought up, in the
West Indies were murdered in the womb, or strangled in
the birth.—( Hear, hear.) In Guadeloupe the number of
males in the same year was 45,606, of females 48,985 ; of
marriages 19 ; of births 1,857; and of deaths 1,883, being
a decrease of 26. In Cayenne or Guiana the number of
males was 8,523; of females 7,617 ; of marriages 43 ; of
births 297 ; and of deaths 628, being a decrease of 331.
In Bourbon the number of males was 43,763; of females
24,432 ; of marriages none ; of births 1,001 ; of deaths
2,359, being a decrease of 1,358. Being on the whole of
these colonies a total of males 134,238; of females
120,700 ; of marriages 77 ; of births 5,458 ; of deaths
7,462 ; and of decrease in population of 2,004.—( Hear.)
The French nation were a great nation—great in arts and
arms, in science and in literature. The French people
were naturally a proud people—we perhaps thought them
a little vain also—( Laughter)—but they had much to be
proud of.—( Hear.) Ile wished to place these facts in the
presence of the French people—to show them these de-
tails—to show them the disgrace of continuing this system,
and to call on and conjure them in the name of that passion
for glory which they cherished to excess, and still more in
the name of human nature and humanity, to terminate a
system that produced abominations so disgraceful to
a civilized people.—(Loud cheering.) He would
not trespass much lon,ger on their time, but he
could not help remarking that the increase of the
free population in these colonies in one year was 835; and
this was still more remarkable, because there was not a
child of a black woman in that increase ; and this showed
what the increase would really be, were all in a state of
freedom, in the numbers of human beings enjoying life
and liberty—of heirs to the same eternal redemption, who
might do honour to mankind, and to the glory of God.—
( Hear, hear.) Here was a picture. Look on this side of
it and on that, as it was now exhibited, in the face of
Europe, by Mr. Knibb, when speaking of the effects of
emancipation in Jamaica. Did they hear that only half
the population laboured now—that women do not labour
now ? Who was it protected them from the toils of labour,
which the women of this country, from poverty, were
obliged to submit to, in order that they might purchase
food ? Look, said Mr. O'Connell, at the emancipated
negro man. He scorned to let his wife or sister or
daughter work—(Cheers)—thus reading a lesson to white
men and to civilized Europe. He works himself, but
leaves his wife at home, and thinks the female sex de
graded by such occupations. Glory be to the character of
the emancipated slave.—( Cheers.) Oh, let France hear
of this fact—no crime has followed emancipation, no riot,
' no disturbance. The pen of calumny itself has not dared
to charge them with a single outrage. The lash was
scarcely dry with gore from the bleeding back of the
negro, when he was emancipated. Did he take it up and
say, " My day is come, and now you shall endure what
you have inflicted ?"—(Cheers.) No. He cast a gene-
rous and Christian oblivion over the crimes of white men,
and stood emancipated, respecting the female sex, and
with his soul free from the slightest taint of blood.
—(Loud cheering.) It was most consolatory to them
even to him, the humblest of them all, to witness this re-
sult. What had they not been threatened with? Oh
(it was said) don't emancipate the negro—he will violate
our wives and daughters, and slaughter ourselves; we
shall not be able to walk safely in the streets, or sleep se
surely in our beds. But it was now only that they slept
in safety. He challenged the enemies of negro emanci-
pation to point out to him a single instance of outrage.
The imports of Jamaica were equal now to what they were
previous to emancipation. What, then, was the excuse for
France in continuing slavery ?—(llear, hear.) Let her
listen to this, Did it not prove that the French planter
would be as safe as the English--that there would be no
insurrection, no outrage—that property would be safe,
as it now was, if she granted emancipation to her slaves ?
(Cheers.) He said this not from any selfish motive. The
consequence of emancipation was greater comfort to the
negro and greater security to the planter.—( Hear, hear.)
He wished that we had more sugar, but sweet as it was, it
was sweeter still to reflect that if the negro did not make
sugar for another it was because he made something better
for himself ; but though this country required a greater
supply, they would not consent to take that supply from the
slave owner or to be the consumers of slave produce.—
(Cheers.) It would be a monstrous anomaly if they did.
We should have given twenty millions for the purpose of
eneouraei g other miscreants in the slave trade. It could
not be done.' —( Hear, hear.) But this was the proper me.
ment for France to act. Let her emancipate her negroes
and then we would take French grown sugar. It would
open another market for the produce of their colonies the
moment they emancipated their slaves. But so long as they
sowed injustice they must reap its bitter fruit, though the
morn'-'nt they took the position of justice and humanity they
would participate in its blessings.—( Hear.) Ile had not
intended to have trespassed so long; upon their time,
having risen simply to bring before them the state of sla-
very in the French Colonies. He thought that if they
culd but convince France they had made out their case,
she would speedily join them and co-operate in tho
cause of humanity, and thus they would have gained are

other great and mighty nation to assist the cause. The
slave trade never could be abolished so long as slavery
existed—(cheers)—human cupidity would break through
every law--they would abolish the slave trade not by
corr.binations among themselves, by excluding one and
taking in another, but by combinations of nations, such as
France. It was this alone which could abolish the horrid
trade of the miscreants of Cuba and Brazil, and of the
greater monsters—the American slave-dealers. All these
would sink into their native nothingness, before the com-
bined majesty of the British and French nations, uniting
in the great names of humanity, and combining for the libe-
ration of thehuman race.—( Loud cheers.) The Hon. and
Learned Gentleman concluded by moving the following re-
solution :—" That an address from this Convention be
transmitted to the French people, earnestly impressing
upon them the impolicy of any longer tolerating the exist-
ence of slavery in their Colonies ; and that the following
gentlemen form a Committee to prepare such address—
M. Isambert, Messrs. Alexander, Turnbull, Josia Foster,
and Dr. Bowring, with the mover and seconder "

Mr. TURNBUII said, with reference to the diminution
in the population in the colonies which had been alluded
to, he throught it right to state that several thousands had
made their escape since the passing of the Act of emanci-
pation into St. Lucia and other :glands.
Mr. SCIIOLEFIELD said he deeply regretted circum-
stances had prevented his being among them before that
day, and still more that be was not present when
the subject of French slavery was introduced,
as he should have been happy to have compared notes with
importance
to friend, Mr. Turnbull, on a subject of such
to the cause of humanity, and the welfare of thousands of
our fellow-creatures. Although he had no doubt his
friend was generally correct in the picture he had drawn,
he felt compelled to differ from him in a remark he had
just offered, as to the cause of the decrease in the popu-
lation in the French West Indian Colonies. It was true
a number of slaves from the French colonies had found
their way to the British colonies, but not so many as
would appear by the statement of his excellent friend.
So far as he had been able to collect the numbers, there
could not be more than 2,000 French slaves who had
escaped to our colonies, though probably another thou-
sand had perished on the way.-4 Hear, hear.) But they
would observe this number covered a long period of
time—it must be between fifteen or twenty years. The
statement that had been referred to abundantly proved
the melancholy fact that, notwithstanding the imputed
consideration for French slaves since 1830, and the frequent
increase of their numbers, diminution was rapidly going on.
He would allude to another fact, namely, the increase in
the slave trade. There was evidence to prove that a con..
siderable number was introduced in 1828, and had been
subsequently, so that he ventured to assert that the num-
ber introduced sluing the last ten years mere than com-
pensated for the decrease in the population that had been
referred to. He would also bag leave to correct a little
error of Mr. O'Connell, with reference to the slaves of
Martinique. whom he said had never enjoyed freedom
before they passed from the dominion of France to Great
Britain ; but they had previously emancipated Guadeloupe,
and St. Domingo had emancipated herself. A great deal
had been said with reference to the mildness of the Code
Noir. In some points it was favourable to the slave, but
on the whole it was a horrible and bloody code. It gave
excessive power to the planters. There was no executive
principle in connection with it, and no person dared to
carry out the few principles in it that were favourable to
the slaves. Every year there was the most distressing
accounts of the sufferings of the French population, which
equalled the sufferings of the slaves in the British Colonies,
at the worst period of slavery. Into this subject, how-
ever, he would not enter further at present. There was
one point, however, to which he wished to call the atten-
tion of those of the French nation who were p,e-
sent at the Convention. It was with respect to
the scheme of emancipation which appeared to have gained
favour in the eyes of the French people, on which, as an
English abolitionist, he felt it his duty to put the brand
of condemnation.—( Hear, hear,) That scheme did not
recognize the principle of immediate and entire emancipa-
tion ; but there was another point of it to which he gave
his most unqualified condeamation—namely, that which re-
lated to compensation.—( Hear, hear.) He regretted much
to find that it was proposed to give the colonies compensa-
tion for the liberation of the slaves, but he most solemnly
protested against the one feature of it—namely, that the
slave population were to be called on to bear either the
whole or part of this expence. Forbid it, humanity !
forbid it, justice I—forbid it, the glory and honour of the
French nation !—(Cheers.) Whatever was done with
the question of compensation, let not the negro pay a
single sous for it,—( Hear.) He asked for the French
slave that which they had demanded for their own—com-
plete, immediate, and unconditional emancipation
He demanded it for the sake of humanity, of the principles
of natural justice, and, above all, for the sake of those
principles which they all more or less recognised—the
principles of their holy religion.—(Cheers.) He had
greet pleasure in seconding the resolution.
In answer to a question from a Delegate,
Mr. SCIIOLEFIELD rose again, and explained his state-
ment that St. Domingo had emancipated herself. llav-
ing obtained their liberty, they had taken up arms in de-
fence of it, and had not originally intended to transfer
their allegiance to the British Crown, which they were,
however, compelled by the force of circumstances to do.
He wished it to be understood that he did not for a moment
apologise for the use of force, for he was persuaded; there
was no power so effective as moral power.—(Cheers.)
Mr. L'INSTANT, a native of Hayti, who had resided
for the last two years in Paris, then addressed the Con-
vention in French. His address was subsequently
translated by Dr. Bowring. He said that he wished to
lay before the Convention a short account of the causes
which led to the freedom of Hayti. At the commence-
ment of the French Revolution, in 1789, the rights of man
were proclaimed. The free coloured population of St.
Domingo, which at that time was not known by the namo
of Hayti, demanded an equal participation in those rights.
This tree refused them. He would not now enter into
a minute detail of the efforts of the colonists to render
their claims abortive; suffice it to say that the collisions
consequent upon them frequently produced scenes of blood-
shed. A man whose name would be ever held in
respect, Ogee, went to Paris for the purpose of erul.ca.
vouring to obtain for them their rights. All th.-,
nists, however, opposed his efforts to obtain them their
liberty. He was refused what he sough for, and on his
the return the colonists seized him and racked him on
the wheel. This act of oppression raised a spirit among
the people of colour that nothing could extinguish, and
the law of liberty broke out. During the course of this
war the colonists had made arrangements to deliver the
island into the hands of the English, because by their as-
sistance they hoped to be enabled to continue the system
of slavery. But the coloured men and the blacks assem-
bled together and drove out the English, and preserved
the island as part of the French dominions. At that time
Toussaint L'Ouverture, the greatest black man who had
ever appeared, governed the island, and never had the co-
lony been so happy or so prosperous as under his govern-
ment, At that time Napoleon Bonaparte, forgetful of
the principles by which he had risen, sent out a navy
and a fleet to reduce the inhabitants again to slavery. The
negroes took arms to repel slavery, and not to escape the
domination of the mother Country, which they had no de-
sire whatever to throw off. Dessalines then arose ; he con-
ferred on the men of colour the rights of land-owners and
of citizenship, and introduced such laws as the times re-
quired. Dessalines gave them a country, and proclaimed
liberty and the republic. Petion succeeded him, and in
1825 France, despairing of reducing Hayti to subjection,
and actuated by the liberal views and principles she then
entertained, acknowledged their independence. His
principal object in addressing the Convention was to show
that the Haytians had taken arms by the necessity imposed
upon them of repelling force by force, and not for any
purposes of rebellion, and that all that had occurred was
solely owing to the attempt of the French empire to de-
prive them of the liberty which they had before enjoyed.
M.; D'ISAMBERT, for the honour of his country, was de-
sirous that the French people should not be confounded
with the French Government of that period. In 1789
the French nation had proclaimed the liberty of the blacks,
and had sent out directions to the Governor of Guade-
loupe, Guiana, and the other colonies, to adopt measures
for the regula! ion of that liberty. Napoleon, however,
notwithstanding the resistance of the French people, who
were always opposed to the St. Domingo expedition, se-
duced by his desire of imitating the example and the
faults of England, attempted the conquest of St. Do-
mingo, and in the attempt sacrificed one of the finest
armies France had ever possessed—the army which had
effected the conquest of Italy. France protested against
this expedition, and by way of making reparations for the
wrongs which her Government had committed since the
Restoration, she bad settled a pension on the widew and
children of Toussaint L'Ouverture.—(Cheers.)
Mr. SCIIOLEFIELD said it was a fact which should not be
lost sight of in connection with Hayti. that while the French
Government had recognised its independence, Great Bri-
tain at that moment had not done so.--(" Shame.")
Mr. TJRNBULL—We have a Consul-General there.
Mr. SCUOLEFIELD was aware there was a representative
of that kind, but at the present moment we were engaged
in a treaty of commerce, and until this was ratified by both
powers, their independence could not be said to be recog-
nised by this country. Indeed, Lord Palmerston had ad-
mitted that such was the case, and explained it by saying
that England had entered into a secret treaty with France
not to recognise its independence till France should think
fit.—( Hear, hear. )
Colonel MILLER said the only excuse of the American
Government for not recognising the independence of
Hayti was, thatif they did so they should have a black
Ambassador at Washington.—( Hear, hear. )
The resolution was then put to the meeting and carried
unanimously.

The Convention re-assembled at Four o'Clock, Mr.
BIRNEY Chairman.
SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES OF HOLLAND
AND SWEDEN.
Mr. G. W. ALEXANDER—LittIe was known in England
of the state, the prospects, or the amount of slavery in
the Dutch colonies; it was only known, and that not to
all, that slavery existed to a considerable amount in one
colony, Surinam, and that it existed in a peculiarly severe
manner. The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
determined to obtain information upon the subject, and
within the last three months they had deputed him and Mr.
James Whitehorn to proceed to Holland for that purpose.
They laboured under considerable difficulties, because, in
the first place, they were unacquainted with the language
of the people amongst whom they were to make inquiries ;
and those persons were very little, if at all, acquainted
with the subject upon which they wished to obta.in infr-
mation, and the subject itself created very little interest.
Their first stay was in the city of Amsterdam; there they
had considerable difficulty in obtaining information even of
the number of slaves in the Dutch colonies, but, by the
kindness and assistance of the only friend resident in Hol-
land, they arrived at something like a close approximation
to the truth at last. They were informed that the pro-
bable number of slaves in Surinam was about 50,000 ; but
from more recent information, N
upon which he had every
reason to rely, they amounted to 60,000 or 70,000. o
doubt the truth was known to the Dutch Government,
and he trusted some of their friends would arrive at the
Peal truth. It was still more difficult to obtain the number