The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-18 00:00:00

THR SUN, LONDON, TITESOAY EVENING, AUGUST 18, 1846;

hoped the Hon. Gentleman would be persuaded to lay it on
the table, that he (Sir Charles Napier) might speak to it in

Strand.

don ed.

The House then resumed.
The Contagious Diseases Prevention Bill, and the Turnpike
Roads (Ireland) Bill were read a third time and passed.
The Tithe Amendment Bill was read a second time and or-
dered to be committed.
RATEABLE PROPERTY (IRELAND) BILL.
The report on this Bill was brought up and agreed to.
SMALL DEBTS BILL.
The House went into Committee on this Bill, the clauses
of which were azreed to.
MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS BILL.
Sir GEORGE GREY said that the profession did not ap-
prove of this Bill, and it would only be fair to give them an
opportunity of discussing it.
Mr. WAKLEY said he would be content to go into Com-
mittee, pro. forma, and to take the further consideration of the
Bill on Friday next.
PAWNBROKERS' ACT.
- Mr. WAKLEY obtained leave to bring in a Bill, amend-
ing the Pawnbrokers' Act.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE BILL
was read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on
Thursday next.
EJECTMENTS (IRELAND) BILL.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.
MARRIAGES (IRELAND) BILL.
This Bill was also read a third time and passed.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned at Half-past Twelve o'clock.

ANTI-SLA VERY LEAGUE.
A public meeting of the friends of this association was
held yesterday evening, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern,

George Thompson, Esq , was called to the chair, and was
supported by J. Houghton, Esq., W. Howitt, Esq., Rev. Dr.
Thompson, Henry Vincent, Mr. Frederick Douglas (the
fugitive slave), Henry Colman, Esq. (United States), R.
Smith, Esq., &c.
The CHAIRMAN said it was his duty to thank them, in the
first place, for the honour they had conferred upon him, and
to state that he should be as brief as possible. A few words
would be sufficient to state the circumstances which lcd to

the present meeting. At a meeting held some time ago it
was ananimously agreed to invite Mr. Garrison over to this

country, which was accepted by that_ gentleman. A few
friends met him on his arrival in this room, where a meeting
took place last Monday, at which it was agreed to form an
anti- slavery league, to sympathise with those in the bondage
of slavery, and to unite with the abolitionists who were en-
deavouring to do away with slavery. He would take leave
to read the preamble upon which this league was formed. It
was as follows :

" Whereas there are, in the United States of America, three
millions of the human race held in chains and slavery by a
power which sacrilegiously usurps the proprietary right of the
Creator; whereas these three millions of slaves in their utter
helplessness and degradation, make their appeal to the friends
of humanity throughout the world; and whereas the cause
of humanity is not bounded by country or clime, nor moral
obligations and duties circumscribed by geographical limita-
tions or governmental restrictions; and whereas the God of
the oppressed, who bath never left himself without witness,
hath raised up for the slave population of the United States
friends who are nobly and faithfully struggling to obtain
liberty for tha captive by the prosecution of moral and peace-

ful measures;—
Therefore we, the undersigned, desirous of showing our
'remembrance of those in bonds, as bound with them,' and

believing that we can essentially serve the cause of those in
bondage by acting with the uncompromising abolitionists
who compose the ' American Anti-Slavery Society,' do foim
ourselves into an association, to be called the ' Anti-Slavery

League,' based upon the following principles :
" Art. 1. That slave-holding is, under all circumstances,
a sin of the deepest dye, and ought to be immediately aban-

" Art. 2. That the members of this League shall consist of
all persons subscribing to the foregoing principles, withoutre-
spect of country, complexion, religious or political creeds.
"Art. 3. That the sole object of this League shall be the
overthrow, by means exclusively moral and peaceful, of
slavery in every land, but with special reference to the system
new existing in the Uuited States."
It was resolved to adopt the practice of another League, which
hal been successful—to circulate this preamble, and to enrol

members, who would be furnished with cards at a shilling a
head.—(Cheers.) They would be addressed by Mr. Garri-
son, who was the head of the society for the abolition of
slavery in the United States. This gentleman had been one
of the earliest and most uncompromising advocates of the
cause he had espoused. He had published a newspaper in
the United States, in which he .warmly advocated the rights
of the slave to perfect freedom ; and he. had even suffered im-
prisonment for the fearle3s assertion of his principles.—
(Hear.) (Mr. Thompson here read an extract from a news •
paper published by Mr. Garrison, asserting his principles.)
Since that period no change had taken place in those principles
in the mind of Mr. Garrison. They would be addressed
also by the other gentlemen connected with this cause,
amongst the rest by Mr. Douglas, who had himself been a
slave, but who not only emancipated himself from the horrors
of slavery, but also from the darkness and degradation that
invariably attend the accursed system of slavery.—(Hear,
hear.) He was near omitting to mention one circumstance,
namely, a meeting that was held at Boston by the black
population, expressing their approval of Mr. Garrison's in-
tention of visiting Scotland, their gratitude for his past ser-
vices, and confidence in his future conduct.
Mr. J. HOUGHTON, of Dublin, proposed the first resolu-
tion, to the effect that they should extend the hand of
friendship to Mr. Garrison, to Frederick Douglas, and Mr.
H. Wright. He said the ladies could do much towards
assisting the object of the meeting by donations
towards the bazaars which were to be held in
support of the same. He would not trouble them
with any further observations, but though he might not be
of much importance there, he had endeavoured to render
them some assistance, and which he would continue to do
in his own locality. He would conclude by proposing the
resolution.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. W. LovErr seconded the resolution.
The Rev. Mr. HOUGHTON said, he was not prepared to
give his assent to the resolution then proposed, however he
sympathised with the slaves. He did not wish it to be un-
derstood that he would oppose the resolution, but merely
that it should be recorded that the resolution did not pass
lthanluiuua!y, but nemine contrssdicente.

The resolution was put and carried amid loud cheers, there
being but five dissentients.
Mr. HENRY WRIGHT said there were three millions of
slaves in the United States, who, to all intents and purposes,
were personal chattels. That was the principle of American
slavery, and no matter who was a slaveholder, he pro-
nounced him to be a villain.—(Cheers.) They should under-
stand that by this system a slave was prevented from enter-
ing into marriage or any civil contract, he was not permitted
to learn the alphabet, and whatever injury he might sustain,
as he could not be heard in a court ofjustice, he could ob-
tain no redress unless his case were taken up by a white
man.—(Groans.) Notwithstanding this, what had oc-
curred ? In the year 1794, in the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church in America, of which Dr.
Cox was the moderator, it was adopted as a
portion of their discipline, that every man who was in any
way concerned in bringing one of the human race into
slavery, or retaining him in it, or who kept slaves, or who
possessed slaves, was guilty of the worst crimes, and one of
the basest sinners.—(hear, hear.) Now, it would be
naturally supposed that that assembly would not admit such
persons into their church ; but they did. The entire General
Assembly became at last so full of these men, "guilty of the
highest crimes, the basest of sinners," that in 1816 they
came to the determination of blotting out this testimony
from their records, and in 1818 they put upon record that
which was not against slaveholders, but against the system.
Now here was miserable sophistry. Why there was not one
of the slaveholders who would not denounce slavery.
It was easy to transfer your horror from the stripes on
the back of the slaves to slavery in the abstract.
The negro was separated from the rest of the congregation in
the churches and chapels, and the place allotted to them was
called opprobiously the "Jim Crow pew." The speaker here
read a letter from a Presbyterian clergyman on this subject
in confirmation of his assertion. This was the practice of
the Episcopalian Church, as well as the Presbyterian Church.
That was the case in every church except the Roman
Catholic, where there was no " negro pew."—(Cheers.) The
speaker here read several other published letters, extracts
from newspapers, &c., to the same effect, and to show that
the black slave was treated with, not only perfect indifler-
ence, but with the greatest barbarity, and this, too, by some
of the professors of religion.—(Groans.) He trusted that
the time would come when the slaveholder would find this
country too hot ihr him. (Loud cheers.) Before con-
cluding, he would state that the interests of this country
were intimately bound up in the cause of American slavery.
—(Hear, hear.) lie would now read the resolution, which
was to the effect " That they regarded with feelings of pro-
found sorrow and humiliation the state of the American
churches iu relation to the question of slavery, and would
earnestly implore the various religious denominations todis-
charge in all Christian fidelity the duty of admonishing those
professed Christians in America who practice it in•anywise—
plead for the extinction of the foul abomination in their
midst—who reduce the image of God to the condition of a
chattel and a brute, and condemn to ignorance and perpetual
bondage those for whom Christ died. (Cheers.)
Mr. GARRISON seconded the resolution in a very eloquent
address, in which he enforced the arguments of the preceding
speakers, and gave a vivid picture of the horrors
of slavery. Ho contended that America could not be
called a Christian country, but might be well designated
a bloodhound country. Bloodhounds were very useful in
that country, as would be shown from the letters he would
take the liberty of reading to the meeting.--(The speaker
then read those letters, which fully bore out his statement,
and also read an advertisement, announcing that some cele-
brated negro-hounds, bloodhounds were ready for sale.)
What a horrible thing was this. Blood-hounds following
those made in the image of God, who were guilty of no crime
but merely endeavoured to obtain freedom, the boon they
had derived from Him as their birth-right. The poor slaves
found a shelter even among the savages of the wilderness.—
(Mr. Garrison read several other extracts of a similar nature,
and continued.) He was sorry to find that, notwithstanding
all these, there were some apologists for the slaVeowners
in this country. He never had degraded himself
as to argue whether slavery was or was not a
crime, for it was not a debatable question.---(Hear, hear.)
Some 15,000 of those who had been slaves had taken refuge
in that asylum where the British flag of freedom bated—
Canada.—(Cheers.) He stood there as the representative of
the society for the abolition of slavery in America, That in-
stitution had not swerved from its principles, but they had to
encounter difficulties which they did not expect. They had
to contend against a church which countenanced that slavery,
and many, rather than relinquish their pr.-slavery church,
sacrificed their principles, and left the ranks of the
society. These, too, had become the most venomous of their
opponent!, and hurled against them the vilest calumnies.
These he, on the part of the society) &tied, for, though
individual members of their institution might en-
tertain certain views on religion, or on politics,
their official documents contained nothing of that nature.
They certainly said that they would not support a pro-
slavery church, for they contended that it was not) could not
be a church of Christ.—(llear, hear.) The present position
of the society was a Vital one, for they had come to the last
point, namely—in contact with Government in the United
States, Now they could not agree in the constitution that
still retained a particle of slavery, In this point they Were
revolutionists, and would endeavour to effect their object by
moral mean& lie trusted that they Would not Send any
more delegations over to America, for there was too mat of
divinity and too little of common humanity amongst them.
They had all, whether Quaker, Methodist, or Presbyterian
bowed their knees at the altar of Baal.._(Hear,
hear.) If preserved from their English friehda of this
description, they would protect themselves from their southern
enemies.—(Hear, bear, and laughter.) He contended that
they were ell bound, as a matter of self-interest, to do away
with slavery, for even- their fellow-subjects were liable to
undergo the horrors of slavery. He called on the people of
this country to demand of their Government to compel the
Government of the United States to do away with this foul
blot on humanity.—(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMA.N then put the resolution, which was carried
by a large majority.
Mr. If. DOUGLA.S then addressed the meeting, and con-
tended that the members of the Evangelical Alliance were
the greatest opronents of the anti-slavery movement. He
denied altogether the statements made by members
of that body at the late OraPagum 00VT‘iitito, atal

deprecated, in strong terms, the conduct of the
ministers of the Free Church of Scotland in America towards
the coloured population, which he described as being of a
most anti-Christian nature, and concluded a most humorous
and eloquent address by proposing a resolution in conformity
with his observations.
The resolution was secont'ect and carried.

Mr. COLLIER, from New York, here made a few observa-
tions, in which he dissented from the views of the meeting,
and denied the right of the people of this country to interfere
with the social institutions of the United States.

The following resolution was then proposed, seconded, and
carried :—" That the existence of slavery in the United States
has strengthened the cause of despotism throughout the
world ; and that this meeting earnestly appeals to the people
of America to be faithful to their own declaration of rights,
and to decree upon this horrible sin, that despots may no longer
be able to point to America as a proof of -the failure of de-
mocracy, and thus avert attention from the discussion of
principles which are ultimately to establish a democratic
freedom in all countries."—(Cheers.)
A vote of thanks was then given to, and acknowledged by,
the Chairman, after which the meeting separated.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
JUDGES' CHAMBERS, August 17.
(Before Chief Baron POLLOCK.)
THE LATE FATAL COLLISION ON THE EASTERN COUNTIES

Oldtield on these charges. Forgery had been committed,'
and the Judges had informed her, if such was the ease, she
could apply to these Courts and they would take the proper
steps for doing justice to all parties. She had applied at the
Mansion House and they had referred her to this Court
(Guildhall).
Alderman Wcon said he thought that the Act under which
applicant applied had been repealed during the reign of
either George IV., or William IV., but on looking over the
various Acts of Parliament, no such clause could be found.
Mrs. Cobbett observed that Oldfleld was quite willing to
compromise with them and let her husband out, if he would
stay all further proceedings, but they were determined rot
to do so.

Alderman WOOD said, from the letter he had read from
Mr. Cobbett, he was of opinion that Oldfleld was in the
relationship of a confidential steward with the late Mr.
Cobbett.

Mrs. Cobbett urged that Mr. Oldfield had committed
forgery, and that he was, and had been, enjoying their
property to the amount of nearly 25,0001. for the last seven
years:

Alderman Woon was of opinion that it would be highly
indecorous for a magistrate to interfere with the proceedings
of a superior Court. The question of forgery had been
mooted in the Court of Chancery, and instead of its being
thought a case of forgery, the decision was quite the reverse.
Under these circumstances he could not accede to the appli-
cant's request.
The parties then left the Court.