The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-22 00:00:00

the respect of foreign powers. The Egyptian may look with
devotion to his Nile as the name of the power an a wealth
of Egypt ; the pilgrim and inhabitant of the Holy Land
may bthe in the sacred Jordan, and take comfort from the
belief that be has washed away bis sins; the Hindoo may
worship the Lotus, under an idea that Vishnu created
Brarrah from its unfolded flowers : but a genuine slave-
holder in South Carolina will ever look with reverence to
the cotton plant, as the source of his POWER end his
liberty. All the parchments upon earth could never pro-
tect him from the grasping avarice and financial fury of
modern society. If be expects to preserve the PECULIAR
INSTITUTIONS of his country, and transmit them to paste-
city, he must teach his children to hold the cotton plant in
one hand and the sword in the other, ever ready to defend
it. " A COTTON PLANTER."
It appeared to him as far as human means was concerned,
that the proposition of growing cotton in the East Indies
was the only effectual remedy for slavery.—( Hear, hear.)
As long as the cotton growers made their speculations
profitable, they might as well talk to the idle wind as to
talk to them of slavery and religion. But touch them in
the pocket and they would touch the slave-holder's con-
science, for it had long since lost its lodgment in his heart.
—( Hear, hear.) They ought not, therefore, as true
abolitionists, cease to wield those instruments which God
hid put into their hands. When he first read the lectures
of George Thompson, whose name would ever be
precious to the abolitionists of America—(Cheers)—for
having come among them and encountered the fierce
storm that broke upon their heads—( Hear, hear)—when
he first read his lectures upon the East Indies, a dawn of
light came upon him, and he said If Great Britain would
turn her energies to the East ladies, and produce cotton,
then the slaveholders of America must yield. He looked
far more to the practical pinching results of that upon the
slaveholders, than he did upon all their talk and speeches.
That enterprise had his hearty co-operation, and let every
Englishman recollect that while he purchased American
cotton, be rendered ineffectual all their attempts to
abolish slavery in the north.---( Cheers. )
The CHAIRMAN, before the discussion proceeded
further, wished to state an opinion which he had
gained from his residence in the cotton-crowing
States. He was of opinion that the planter could
not afford to raise cotton under 9 cents per
pound, or sd. currency. He doubted not that there was a
favourable opinion to their cause among the great mass of the
small slaveholders; but they were prevented from
giving free scope to their opinion, on account of the com-
bined influence of the larE4e slaveholders.
Mr. KEEP, of the Oberlin Institution, rather regretted
that this subject should be considered so much in a corn
mercial point of view, because it was as a moral and religious
question primarily that the cause of the abolition of sir-
very was taken up in the United States.
Mr. STANFIELD, of Belfast, thought there was as much
sin in purchasing cotton, the produce of labour by iniquitous
means, as there was in purchasing goods from a man whom
it was known had stolen them.

Mr. JAMES PRICE, of Swansea, observed that as'several
Americans had appeared to him to speak in favour of the
advancement of British commerce with Itdia, it might
be intepreted by some that they wished to do so to the dis-
advantage of American commerce. He thought these ob-
servations were only to be interpreted as a warning voice
to the Americans to engage free labour, in order to deter
the British from that course which was otherwise open to
their outerprise.—( Hear, hear.)
The Hon. SETH SPRAGUE, of Maseachussetts, said—
Standing there as an American citizen, he could not refrain
from stating his opinion. If they interfered with the inte-
rests of the American people or the slaveholder, was it to
be supposed they would sit idle and see their profits taken
away without any attempt to counteract it ? The Chairman
knew very well the contest that had been going on upon
the subject of the Tariff and the protection to American in-
dustry. If it could be proved to demonstration to the Ame-
rican people that if free labour was cheaper than slave la-
bour the work would be done. Another view of the subject
he took was that the American people would not give the
English credit for philanthropy if they superseded them
in raising cotton. There was a deep tone of religious feel-
ing in the' American States upon this subject, and no doubt
the controversy would go on, for it was a principle of the
abolitionists in America never to surrender or give up.
Mr. STAUNTON—With regard to the observation of the
Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down as to the very
little credit Great Britain would get on the score of phi
lanthrophy for encouraging the growth of cotton in her own
possessions, to the exc'usion ultimately of American, he
begged to observe that honesty was the best policy. It
was politic for Great Britain to be honest, and she could
not be :ionest so long as she paid thirteen millions sterling
every year for slave cotton.—( Hear, hear.) His opinion
was that the abolitiai of slavery in America was of vital im-
portance to the existence of the free institutions. If
they did not abolish slavery, slavery would abolish the
most splendid fabric of Government.—(Cheers.) The
stream of slavery had been for some time washing
the corner-stone of Republican liberty.—( Hear, hear. )
There was one way in which they would be able to touch
America—that was by showing them that free labour was
more valuable than slave labour.--( Hear, hear.) They
also must touch America through the pockets of her slave-
owners. The main feature of their trade—the main corner-
stone of their prosperity, was not of granite or of Port-
land stone—it was a cotton bale ; that was the head corner-
stone of their pecuniary interests—that was the staple
article of their commerce. England imported no less
than 490 millions of tbs. annually, to the value of thirteen
millions sterling. It was that trade that furnished the
American alavcholder with the sine qua non for carrying
on his projects. _ It was not, as in England, that the banker,
the merchant, or the grower of the produce in America,
looked at the price of stocks, or of the precious metals, to
regulate him in his dealings; no, he looked at the price of
cbtton—that regulated him in all his dealings. In 1832,
when Nat. Turner, with a few misguided followers, over-
ran two or three States, and excited insurrection among
the negrocs, the Legislature of Virginia took the slave
trade ;nto their serious considcratior, ar.d sentiments were
there expressed that would do honour to any one in that
assembly. While they we•e in Session news arrived from
Liverpool that cotton had risen 331 per cent., the conse-
quence was, that fields hitherto out of cultivation were
suddenly brought into cotton plantations, and a mighty
impetus was given to the internal slave trade ; and those
in Virginia who had a week before been rampant aboli-
tionists, then found that a foul canal had been opened to
drain off that population which had begun to cause them
considerable uneasiness, in order to cultivate the Southern
fields, and the internal slave trade became an important
though disgusting feature in their trade between the Northern
and the Southern States. Again, it was the Manchester ma-
nufacturers who drove George Thompson out of America,
and nearly sacrificed his valuable life, by their demand for
cotton in 1835, and its consequent rise in price. The
slaveholder in America, however, was well aware that
the public sentiment of the world was against him—that
the literature, the religion of the world was against him—
( cbeers)—that the mighty genius of Reform was against
bi/E—( Loud eheers)—but when he bad a full pocket and
an empty conscience, he would defy any and every genius.
—(Cheers and laughter.) Why in 1837 were the slave-
holders obliged to send their slaves to the fishing in order
to obtain a living ?—it was because cotton suddenly fell in
price. In that year he remembered a caricature in New
York, giving a black preacher's sermon, and he was made
to say, " Merchants are fla' ; Bankers are flat ; Cotton
is flat; Negroes is flat." It should have been,
" Cotton is flat," and then an American well knew
that all the rest must fsilow. The internal slave-trade
was of a most horrible nature; it was not exceeded it,
atrocity by the African slave-trade in its palrniest dais.
The fields of the South committed the most dreadful
havoc in the ranks of the slaves—the victims did not fall
short of 100 000 a-year. Ile did not wish to detain them
long, but upon this point he would read one or two ex-
tracts from slave papers. The Virginia Times (a weekly
newspaper, publ shed at Wneeling, Virginia, and one of
good repute) estimates, in 1836, the number of slaves ex-
ported from that State alone, during " the twelve months
preceding," at 40,000, the aggregate value ~f whom is
computed at twenty-four millions of dollars. The Natchez
( Mississippi) Courier says, that the Sates of Louisiana,
Nlissis=ippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, imported 250,000 slaves
from the Northern States, in the year 1836. This seems
absolutely incredible, but it probably includes all the
slaves introduced by the immigration of their masters.
The following, from the Virginia Times, confirms this
supposition. In the same paragraph, which is referred
to under the second query, it is said—" We have heard
intelligent men estimate the number of slaves exported
from Virginia within the last twelve months at 120,000,
each slava averaging at least $6OO, making an aggregate
of $72,000,000. Of the number of slaves exported not
more than one-third have been sold, the others having _
been carried by their masters, who have removed." Per-
haps that might be a little exaggerated.
The CHAIRMAN said, although the extract was from a
slave-holding editor, still it was very much exaggerated—
very much, and the Convention ought to be told so.

Mr. STAUNTON thought himself that it was exagge-
rated, but it was data given them by their enemies, and
they had no other. " The degree to which Virginia was
implicated in this trade might be inferred from the open
avowal of her own statesmen. In the Legislature
of that State in 1832, Thomas Jefferson Ran-
dolph declared that Virginia had been converted into one
grand menagerie, where men are reared for the market,
like oxen for the shambles." Hon. Charles Fenton Mer-
cer (a member of Congress from Virginia since 1817)
asserted in the Virginia Convention of 1829—" The
tables of the natural growth of the slave population de-
monstrate, when compared with the increase of its num-
bers in the commonwealth for twenty years past, that an
annual revenue of not less than a million and a half of dol-
gars is derived from the exportation of a part of this
population."

Mr. 1` 1101149 CAMPBELL, the author of " Wyoming,"
---
here entered the room, and. was received with tremendous
give me
shouting. The speaker at once gave way to him, and the
Poet said—
nPerteasiddeisnatg,reaenadbiferi,ebnudts
aofgtrheiast gdreeaalt
eefaus,
it does •
sur-
prise, to find that my humble presence can be considered
ven.—(Cheers .) I
as an accession to this
istake, but still, most respectable and glorious Con-
theta,. cannot but express my surprise at
a gentle way, for I need scarcely
remind you that it is in
aratistake—a miscalculation of my
; ba
humble consequence
my friends, there is a great
charity in human nature re'siecting such errors when they
fall upon the credit side of the account, —( Laughter.)
more
There is nothing we can complacently forgive than
good qualities.
whynhould I speak
our neighbour's over-estimating
But, my friends, in this sacred cfusneur
of the importance or the non-importanceof this or that
If, man with regard to carrying out the cause? . to-morrow,
the people were called upon to go out and fight in defence
of our beloved country, what would it avail a man to say,
I cannot go, for I am but a small and a weak man, let the
tall and strong Grenadiers go out and fight the battle 0
Would it not at once be said to him, .. If your arm
weak, let your greater zeal nerve you ?"—( Loud chees.l:
I feel myself as sacredly bound to devote myself to the
cause as if, Americans, I had been your Dr. Ciaannin,e,
or, Englishmen, I were gifted with the eloquence of our
O'Connell.—(Cheers.) My friends, your time is too
precious for me to intrude upon 3 ou long ; I shall, there-
fore, studiously abbreviate what I have to say. I am re-
joiced to see so many men here from America—it does my
heart good to see you. I have also a sort of message for

you to carry across the water. I consider myself bound,
not only n. a apt. hti. poclol Irl:- istmrd qo
to be a friend to the Anti-Slavk.•y Association.—(Ctwers.)
Freedom !—I know not whether to call it the parent or
the child of the Press, but certain it is that blissful free-
dom lives, and moves, and has its being, in the liberty of
the Press.—(Cheers.) I have to say respecting the
Press of this country that it is a very good Press in many
respects, but it has not done its full duty with respect to
this question ; but, Americans, I tell you frankly, if we
are defective in that respect, you are much more so.—
(Cheers.) I must, of course, be understood to make
some splendid exceptions, and meiotic can hear me without
having his recollection called to Channing—( Cheers)—
but, generally speaking, tire literary men of America
have shirked the question. I wish to avoid anything like
personal allusions, otherwise I could name those to whom
I allude, and with whom I am displeased. If

there be a diversity of opinion upon the sub-
ject of slavery among the literary men of America,
if any of them will come forward and prove the blessings
of slavery, in the devil's name let him do so, but do not let
him shirk the question.—( Cheers and laughter.) I, there-
fore, beg of you Atneriesn gentlemen to give my compli.
ments to my friends on the other side of the Atlantic, and
tell them that though I seo!d them a little, yet I like them
very well. Tell them from me to write upon the question, and,
as a corollary to that, tell them they could benefit the cause
very much ; but tell them not to let it be in verse.—
( Laughter.) The Americans have noble heads for press ;
among them they have the very fi:st writers in the world,
in prose ; but in verse—Ah, I will say nothing ; it may
do very well to run upon all fours, but it cannot rise.—
( Laughter.) It puts me in mind of the old story of the
dying man. A friend was preaching to him and painting
all the joys of Paradise, when the poor man said, " Oh,
say no moro i bout the joys of Paradise ; your bad style
makes them disgusting." I will say no more, only let me
return my fervent thanks to my kind friends for the honour
of belonging to this noble Association. It goes to my
heart when I think of the number of my fellow.men who
are labouring under all the horrors of slavery ; but when I
look around me now I see the germs of liberty for them
budding forth.—( Cheers.)
Mr. STAUNTON resumed, after paying a high cern.
pliment to Mr. Campbell, whose writings had struck terror
into the hearts of the slave-owners, he said, on his side of
the water. They had often looked to the land of Shaks-
peare, Byron, Thompson, Campbell, and Scott, for burn-
iog poetry upon the subject of slavery; and although the
American muse might crawl, still she bad not degraded
herself by ever going on all-fours in defence of slavery.
They bad some good names among them too—they had
Dana, and Pierrepoint, and Bryant.
Mr. CAMPBELL—He is a great poet.
Mr. STAUNTON—He was an American though. They
had also Halbeck and Sigourney. and they had Whittier,

who upon this very question had produced apiece of poetry
which he would give to the meeting if he remembered it :
Shall our New England stand erect no longer,
But stoop in chains upon her downward way,
Thicker to gather on her limbs and stronger
Day after day ?
Oh no ! methinks from all our wild green mountains,
From yanks where our slumbering fathers lie,
From our blue rivers and our welling fountains,
And clear cold sky
From our rough coast and isles, which hungry ocean
Gnaws with his surges; where the fisher's skiff
With white sail swaying to the billow's motion,
Round rock and cliff.
From the free fireside of our unbought farmer,
From the free labourer at his loom and wheel,
From the brown-smith's shop where 'neath the hammer,
Rings the red steel !
From each and all, if God bath not forsaken
Our land, and left us to an evil choice,
Loud as the summer's tbunder.bolt shall waken,
A people's voice !
Mr. O'Connell was about to address the American pecple
in prose—why should not their talented friend Mr.
Campbell put it in rhythm ? His name and character was so
well known in America that his pen would do much for
the cause of upwards of three millions of men groaninc, in
slavery. He had two verses by that gentleman, he wished
they had been 200, and although not very complimentary
to his country, he would quote them. They were addressed
TO THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH
AMERICA,
ON THEIR STRIPED AND STARRED BANNER.
BY THOMAS CAMPBELL.
United States, your banner wears
Two emblems, one of fame ;
Alas ! the other that it bears
Reminds us of your shame.
The white man's liberty in types
Stands blazoned by your stars,
But what's the meaning of the stripes ? _
T hey mean your negroe's scars.
To descend from the sublime to the ridiculous—from
poetry to cotton—( A laugh)—as he had before stated, the
North was dependent on the South for taking their pro-
duce, and therefore did not like to stir for fear of offending

a good customer, but cotton being the staple article of
produce, when George Thompson took up the question of
East India cotton, be put his finger upon the very sore
and tender part of slavery. He thought the resolutions
of the Convention regarding slave• holders, would do much
good; but the English must protect the system of free-
dom in the West Indies and make it as a mirror in
which the Americans might see their faces and be
ashamad.—{Chears.)
Mr. O'CoNnum..--Yesterday ha4t press:4 upon
the meeting, the necessity of having some explanation
I with Lord John Russell respecting the Jamaica laws.

it was a question intimately connected with the resolutions
under discussion, and he trated he might be allowed to

state how the matter now stood. The Gentleman
who were present yesterday, had not thought it necessary to
ask any questions, but as he liked to do as well as talk he
asked Lord J. Russell in his place whether the Jamaica
laws. had been approved of, and whether the Royal assent
had been given or withheld. Tne answer to the first ques-
tion was, that the Government had not assented to several
of them ; but in answer to a further question he said that
the Government had not refused to sanction them altoge-
ther, but had referred back certain clauses to Sir C.
Metcalfe, with instructions to disallow them.—( Oh, oh. )
Now that was their exact position—the laws were in full
force, and required great exertion on their part to put
them down. He thought they could not conscientiously
leave the matter where it was—(Cheers)—they were
bound to go on and demand a definite explanation, and he
would propose that that should be done by two, three, or
four gentlemen waiting upon Lord J. Russell Immediately,
and then know what was the real sta'e of the laws in
Jamaica. Labour could never be cheap in Jamaica while
penal laws hung over the negro ; they would deter the free
negro from emigrating, for he would fear them. In
Jamaica there were two millions of acres uncultivated, and
they ought to make provisions for allowing and helping
the black population to attain land. He fully believed
not one shilling would be lost by them, for their honesty
ass inherent. Lord J. Russell had also, in answer to Sir
R. Peel, said that be approved of the proceedings of the
Legislature of Jamaica last session. They were discuss-
ing the question of cotton-growing in the East•lndies ;
but they ought to bear in mind that slavery existed there
also, and R 3 they had kept aloof from the C vilization of
Africa Society, so in this case be thought they ought to
rceafine their at' ention to the abolition of slavery. The

Hon. and Learned Gentleman recommended the formation of
Fast India Improvement Societies in the chief provincial
tov,ns, that would keep the question distinct from sinister me-
tropolitan influences —(Cheers.) Whether or not Parliament
gave them credit for disinterestedness of views in respect to
this great question they cared not, for their object was not
human applause.—( Hear, hear.) The greatest agency, how-
ever, for the abolitiou of slavery, must be the moral influence
of public opinion.—(Hear, hear.) Against this even Ameri-
cans could not hold out long • they could not' bear to be
detested and despised. No persons ever suffered to be con-
temned.—( Hear, hear.) Let every man, therefore, who
sacrificed his fellow-creatures to the Moloch of his avarice be
excluded from the courtesies of social life in this country ; and
the effact must soon tell upon American slavery.—(Cheers )
Mr. BAINES said he had asked Lord John Russell whether

, it were true that the Jamaica Legislature had passed Acts re-
imposing on negroes—particularly of females—many of the old
slavery degradations.—( Hear, hear.) His Lordship said he
did not know. He (Mr. Baines) gave the Noble Lord notice,
that when sufficient time had been afforded the Noble Lord to
read the Acts, he (Mr. Baines) would put a question to him
on the subject.—( Hear.) He thought there was wisdom in
the advice to wait upon the Noble Lord to inquire into the
subject. As to the Hill Coolies, he knew it was represented
to the Government that it was against humanity to prevent the
Hill Coolies going to Mauritius, for that whereas in India they
were badly paid, in the Mauritius they were piid four times as
_much. This should be inquired into, and if proved false, the
Government should be disabused.—( bear.
Mr. JOSEPH STURGE said he was one of those who were
charitably disposed to think that a great deal was done in Lord
John Russell's name, of which he was ignorant. He (Mr.
Sturgc) wished to inform the Convention of the exact positfon
:n which the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society stood
with the Colonial-office on this question. The Committee of
that Society had for some time been anxious to have an inter-
view
with the Colonial Secretary on the subject of the new laws
of Jamaica ; but they had not been able to procure one. A let-
ter had been written in Lord Juhn Russell's name, stating in
substance, that if the British anti Foreign Anti-Slavery Com-
mittee would send their memorial to Lord John Russell, they
should be informed whether they could have the desired inter-
view. Another letter was written by the Secretary of the So-
ciety, to ascertain if passible explic.tly whether they could or
could not obtain an interview on presenting the memorial.
After several days further delay a second evasive answer was
received. A third letter had been written to the
almostnecessarilyColonial-
pressure of b usineiss gn i n
or hisat d
oef-
part men t,.
office, but as ye: remained unacknowledged. He repeated that
he (Mr. Sturge) was one of those who were charitably dis-
posed to think that much was done in Lord John Russell's
name,
While he (Mr. Sturge) was on this subject, he could not but
express his regret that the son of a Macaulay had either directly
o
or, indirectly sanctioned the exportation of the Hill Coolies ;
owingLo Lordship h ti
g wasreat
and he did not think, Whilst the Colonial-office was controlled
by the son of a Stephen, that either civil or religious liberty
would be fully established in the West Indies.
Mr. MoottE dwelt strongly on the advantages of encouraging
the growth of cotton in India.
Mr. GEO. Turoatrsotv also forcibly and eloquently demon-
strated the great effect this would have in putting down Arne.
rican slavery ; and he said it was an error not to think this
really a moral measure,—discontinuing to cor,cume slave-pro-
duce. Was not that a great and influential moral measure,
—(Cheers)—founded on the Scriptural principle, " Cease to
do evil,—learn to do well ?"—(Cheers. )
On the suggestion of Messrs. Smilax and ALEXANDER,
the resolutions were so far altered as not to attach to India
exclusively ; and also, instead of expressing a certainty that the
measure set forth would utterly abolish—that it would tend
greatly to the abolition—of slavery.
On the suggestion of Mr. O'CONNLLL, the question of a
deputation to the Colonial Office was not proceeded with, he
Undertaking to make representations and inquiries.
111 r. TAYLOR, of Woodbridge, having expressed his strong
sense that neither Lord John Russell nor his colleagues would
stir much in this or any great Liberal question till they were
urged on to it ; and that further, he considered they were rather
unfavourable to than attached to their cause.—( Hear, hear.)
The Convention then adjourned till Four o'clock.

• The Convention re-assembled at Four o'Clock, when Mr.
13111.1,1EY took the Chair.
Dr. liowniNG informed the Meeting that he had been
charged by the Committee to propose to the Convention two
Addresses relating to slavery in the Mohammedan States. He