The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-22 00:00:00

[NIOIiNIG

Mr. Canning, in the discussion on Mr. Broughatn's
motion on Friday night, said—

"He was opposed to Slavery as much as any man ; but that it
was inconsistent with the Christian religion he altogether denied.
On the contrary, he maintained that from the dawn of Christian 7!
ity co the present day,. Slavery co-existed with it ; and it wan a
great beauty of Christianity, • that it accommodated and adapted
itself to all Systems, anti was mounting the throne of the Caesars,
and comforting the •captive in his cell, while persecution was at
its height." •
Mr. Canning here says he is as much opposed to
Slavery as any man ; amt., he is opposed to it, be-
cause, no doubt, he conceives it unjust that one man
should hold another in bondage, and compel him to
work, whether he will or not. He will admit that the
relation of master • and slave, is 'directly at variance
with the Christian maxim--,,,D0 unto others as you
would that others do unto you." He is opposed to.
Slavery, then, because it is unjust ; but though un-
just, • it is not, he says,: inconsistent with the Christian-
religion, the.beauty of which is, that. it accommodates
itself to all systems, that is, that it accommodates it,
self to unjust systems.- - The Right Honourable Gen-
tleman, in his attempt to reconcile Slavery with Chris-
tianity, , pays no very high compliment to the latter.—
But why is Slavery not inconsistent with. Christianity r
Because it has • been co-existent with Christianity.
Why murder and robbery have been co-existent with
Christianity,—but are they consistent with it ? The great
maxim of Christianity, do unto others as you would
that others do unto you," condemns slavery distinctly,
for no man, with •the feelings of a man, would wish to
live subject. to the will of another, and subject to his
caprice. Slavery existed in the world ahnost univer-
sally, when Christianity was first preached—the that
Christians Were many of them slaves, and if it had been
expressly laid down that slavery was incompatible with the
existence of Christianity, this would have, been an in-
citement to revolt and rebellion, and would have led
to the destruction of every Christian as a rebel. Pri-
soners made in war were then sold,as .slave . There
is no express prohibition of this horrid practice, in the
New Testament, but becau3e it is not prohibited, and
was co-existent with Christianity, it is not, therefore,
consistent with -it. • Under all the Christian Govern-
ments of Europe, when a town is carried. by assault,
though the inhabitants of the town might be utterly
unable to prevent the garrison from holding out to the'
last extremity, by the laws ,of. war, it is allowable'..to
the assailants- to. put all . the living, beings within the
walls to the sword, to 'violate . females, -&e.
The English are, perhaps, as good. Christians. as
their neighbours, hut they availed -.. them Selves of
this law, at the siege of St. Sebastians, as: Much as
the wildest Cossacks or Turks ever did in a similar
conjuncture. . But, because this horrid inhumanity
co-exists with Christianity, and is in accordinte with
the laws of war, is it consistent with Christianity ?
Would the soldier, who tears.the
.tender Virgin *Om
• the arms of her mother, and makes her the victim of
his fierce passions; 'So act if he squared his conduct
with the Chritian maxim to which we have adverted ?
Certainly not. He sins not at the laws of war;
but he sips against the Divinelaw. The la* of Eng-
land, according to the Attorney-General, in his lump•
nous speech on Thursday nights has sanctioned for
Centuries practices deo infamously fraudulent a nature,
that the blood boils at the very recital of them. After
stating various improper delays which may take place
.in a suit in Chancery, the Attorney-General oh-
served— •

" If, at the expiration_ of this three quarters of a y , the
defendant talo:s another step, a step of mere form, and pci laps of
mere fraud—the plaintitrit bill cannot be dismissed fur three quer-
ters of a year snore, . The plaintiff then has to tile a replication,
making, in the whole,. a year and a half before the case can be
dismissed. Even in We rase, if the defendant undertake tospeak
the ease, lie obtains a further delay; end after he has obtained
this obj...a, lie may ,say, s now I undertake to speak the case with
effect.' He then obtains an additional term, though the expres.-
Sion speak with effect, necessarily implies that the preceding
speaking was subdolous and evasive . . . It might excite a sur-
prise in honest minds, how such a system could ever have arisen;
but, bad as such a system may b 2, it has existed through the ,eras
of Lords Bacon, Nottingham, Somers, Ilardwieke, Camden, and
it exists at the plesent time."
Here, then, we have fraud, shameful fraud, sane
tioned by law. A good citizen, though robbed and
defrauded under bad laws, must still yield obedience
to theta, and not oppose 'violent 'resistance to them.
But because,. for hundreds of years, the law of Eng-
land has left a door open to all manner of frauds,
through- which door numbers of knaves have con-
stantly entered, and because • Christianity and this law
have: co-existed, does it follow that fraud is consistent
with Christianity ? A fooliSh stress has been laid on
what is said respecting Onesimus, the, slave, -in. the
New Testament, as if the inculcation of St. Paul to
him to obey his master sanctioned slavery. Let us
put 4 ease in point.;—,Every one acquainted with
London knows that there is pretty numerous class of
Attoinies 'who make a'trade of lending money on bill
to persons in a state of insolvency. Having obtained
the names of five or six persons of 'this description
to a bill, an' Attar/icy proceeds, after the bill is dis-
honoured, to recover froth the different estates; obtain-.
ing ten sliillirojs in the pound from one, fifteen shillings,
frorn 'another, sixteen shillings - from a third, and 30
on, till he realises, perhays, for every pound, foity or
fifty shillings. If Clilnasimus had lived in 'our days,.
and bad -been security in a bill of this description, on.
which .a 'knavish attorney had already recovered forty
in'-the pound, and' 'hid his goods or person
takeir in .tifietitiori, notwithstailding St. Paul would:
not have exhorted him to rens' t this law, though it
•
:but would hal-4', inculcated

obedience to it. Still no man will pretend that 'this
and-the thousand other frauds practised constantly in
London, under the sanction of the law, are not incon-
sistent with Christianity. Christianity is, indeed, we
are told, part and parcel of the law, but it forms but a
small parcel of it. Though Christianity is law, law
is not always Christianity ; for it comprehends suh-
dolous practices, which cannot be Christian practices.
Whatever is co-existent with Christianity, quoth Mr.
Canning, is consistent with it, Whatever Lord
Somers and the Bench of Bishops have sanctioned,
quoth the Lord Chancellor, is. Christianity. So Mr.
Canning, reprobating slavery all the time, makes it
Christian nevertheless, while the Lord Chancellor ad-
mires man-stealing, because it .is Bench of Bishops'
Christianity. Between the two Christianity comes ra-
ther poorly off. To hold our fellow men in slavery is
no doubt perfectly lawful, and the property in slaves is
as much entitled to the protection of the law as any
other ; but however lawful it may be to own slaves,
the thing is not the less unchristian. We do
not saythat the owner of slaves ceases to be a
Christian, because a person may believe in the
truths of Christianity, and live in the constant
violation of its maxims. This much, however,
we will say, that to retain a propel v in slaves must be
included by a man among the other sins of which he
has been guilty; and we suspect the Clergyman would
not be doing Ins.duty who did not on his death bed.
exhort to a repentance of the sin of holding slaves.—
Bavle, the most ingenious 'of modern philosophers„
has laboured to prove that men do not regulate .their
laws according to their opinions One would almost
be tempted to believe, that the state of things in this
country is a proof of his doctrine, for we are, certainly
the most religious people in Europe at this time, and
yet the principles of religion are no
.where so tho-
roughly set at nought as in England.

[IiE.PRESENTATIVE.]
Mr. Brougham's long-promised motion respecting
West India SlaVerv, which Was .brought forward on
Friday 'eYening, had stood'-in , the Order-Book from
the ,very. commencement of the 'Session ; but for
various reasons, and under . sundry pretences, it had,
from time to time, ' been 'postponed. To plain
people, who are unacquainted with the under-work-
ings of party, who are but little conversant with the
doublings and shillings of political partisans, it
may appear somewhat strange that a motion, having
professedly in view the amelioration of the present
condition of the negroes, should have. 'been deferred
until the close of 'the Session; When it is evident
that no measure could spring from it which could
benefit the objects whose cause it pretended • to
espouse. If 14 r. Brougham felt that the treatment
of the' sliwes in the West India Islands furnished
a real ground of complaint, either tuainst their
owners or against • his Majesty's Government ;
if he conceived that their treatment was such as
to call.merely.for inquiry, it does seem somewhat un-
accountable that his gentle humanity should have
slumbered throughout the whole of the Session, and
should have been roused now at the rising of Parlia-
Mem, when his awakening eloquence could produce
no :effect within the walls of St. Stephen's. The ene-
mies of his fame have suggested to us, that the delay
of his motion can only be accounted for by supposing
that he does not feel the least real concern in the wel-
fare of the blacks, whose amelioration he seems so
anxious to promote ; and they insinuate that he
brought his motion forward at this time solely with
the hope that it may assist him in his canvass for West-
moreland. By misrepresenting and calumniating the
West India Planters, by an affected display of huma-
nity, he hopes to conciliate the favour of the sturdy
electors of the North. We' think, however, that he
is mistaken in his calculation; we rather apprehend
.that the sagacious freeinen.. of that county,. having
,been born as far north as himself, are not to be
irn-
posed upon so easily as he seems to imagine. They
will easily penetrate itis views, and send him back to
his old seat for Winclielsea.

ISCORFORATED SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION
OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS.

Pursuant to Advertisement, a public Meeting was held on
Friday, the 19th, at the Freemasons' Tavern, for the purpose of
advocating the cause of 'this Society, and extending
,its influence.
It wits most numerously attended both by Clergy and Laity; and.
it only remained to be regretted that the room was to cootined to
accommodate the numbers who were attracted upon the occasion.
There were preszat, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
the Bishops of London, Chester, Gloucester, Norwich, Chi-
cheater, Ferns, St. David's; tat.. The .Archdeacons of London,
Middlclea, Essex, St. Alban's, Chichester; &c. ; the Earl- of
Clarendon, Mr. JUstice Park, Lord'Keuy6o, &c.
The Chair was taken at two o'clock by his GraCe the Arch.
bishop of CaNTraevav—wben the Secretary of the Society, the
Rev. A. Hantiltona. read the Report, in which a detailed account
was given of the Society'a labours in the propagation of the know-
ledge of Christianity through various parts of the world. This
being concluded,. the Bishop of CHESTEIL rose to Inovithat the Re..
port be adopted and printed for generaFoirculatioo. . His Lordship
remarked with utisfcetion the croirded state of the room, and felt
assured that by giving greater publicity to the designs of this in=
stitution it would receive universal support. He dwelt upon the
important services rendered hy'the missions in connection with this
society, not only in reclaiming heathen nations to the faith of
Christ, but also in upholding the faith in our Foreign Settlements.
He commented on the great advantages derived from one church
establishment in the East India; especially in one respect, viz.
that the native converts had now some defined establishment to
which they could look up, and which was supported with that de-
gree of dignity which would secure them in some measure from
the degradation they were exposed to in embracing Christianity
in any form not thus recognized and. sanctioned. • His Lordship
also adverted to the recent establishment of Native Schools in In-
dia, which, he regarded as holding forth the fairest prospect of
affording the most-ellieient means for gradually disseminating the
Christian faith, along with the, uropean letters.
The motion wes'aeconded by Lord KENYON;. who, in a speech
of great animation, expreaseti
.hie warm and cordial support of
the Society, and all plans calculated to extend its beneficial
designs.

The next Resolution was proposed by the Bishop of Lorrnox, to
the effect that this meeting approves of the designs and objects of
the Incorporated Society. His Lordship in the course of a speech
marked by, great earnestness and strpng sense, remarked, that in
some quarters objections had been made to this Society's proceed-
ings, as being occupied rather in forming a Church Eatablishntent
ikNorth America, than in tending out blissionaries ; he however
considered this objection Z 3 in fact the highest warplicaeot Which
could he paid to the Society ; for what was the ultimate object of
proclaiming the dospel to heathen nations but to form them into
a Christian Church ? Ile had not heard the same objection urged
against the Society's nritrions in other quarters; but he could not
entertain a better hope for their success than that it would soon
be urged equally in regard to them all.
The motion was seconded by Archdeacon, POW, who, in a
speech marked by his well-known ease
,and elegance of. diction,
moat ably defended what was stigmatized by some as the slowand
inert measures by which this Society's proceedings had hitherto
been carried-on. He defended and advocated cautious and tem-
perate principles as the only effectual method of substantially for-
warding schernerriike those which this.Seciety had in view: and
characterised measures as reflecting the very linage of that
wist44ll4nd. moderation which were so tamspicuously displayed in
all the institutions of that Church, with whirl it is ao vitally
connected. A 3d Resolution, expressive of the wish of this Meet-
.ingr an second and extend the objects of the. f3o9iety. wartproposed
brlvlr..lusticePsitz, in a speech in which he with much warmth
advocated the principles and utility of. the
_fp'ociety compared its
obscure beginning and limited sphere of action, With the extension
which was Dow. being: gradually given to its operatirms :---and
dwelt with enthusiasm on its future prospeceti- and'thoaa of the

cause of the Gospel an over the world. This motion was second-
ed by the Rev. W. DRALTILY, in a speech of great ability. After
commenting on the increasing zeal which appeared to animate the
Church in the diffusion of Christian Knowledge, he remarked the
proud pre-eminence which all parties were uniting to assign to
the forms and institutions of such a Church as ours. He in-
stanced particularly the high value in which the Liturgy of the
Church of England is held by many parties in other respects dif-
fering from it. Several remarkable examples of this by thein
were mentioned : the English Liturgy bad been translated both
into Chinese and Singalese ; by Missionaries not in connexion
with the Church ; and was singularly approved by the converts.
The Bishop of BRISTOL in• proposing the last Resolution of co-
operation, addressed the Meeting with remarkable force and per-
spicuity. His Lordship mentioned the extension of the Society
by the recent formation of a District Committee at Cambridge ;
end adverted to the great field now opened for its exertions. He
concluded by stating his conviction that the public were always
ready to give its support, and that for that end it was only neces-
sary that its designs, and its wants should be laid before them. He
proved, by a reference to the sums collected this year and last, the
great and rapid increase which the operations of the Society bad
evinced.

The Resolution was seconded by Corrox, Esq., who,
With much warmth gloried in his connexion with the Church of
England and this Society.
The Right Hon. the Earl of CLAIIENDON then rose to pro-
pose the thanks of the Meeting to the President of the Society,
the Archbishop of Canterbury. ' His Lordship said he would
ask any one present to describe the character best qualified to fill
the chair of such a society: and what would be the qualifications
they would particularly name? these would surely be zeal in the
cause, tempered with moderation ; firmness, united with mildned ;
strength of judgment, with urbanity of manner. In describing
such qualities, observed his Lordship, it is needless to ask whose
portrait am I drawing ?-11:e motion was seconded by Mr.
Giecs, M. P. The Archbishop returned thanks, and moved
that the Meeting do adjourn, which immediately took place.