ably modified. No doubt, they will still trump up annual petitions against slavery, but these are no longer considered the criterion of public opinion, and have consequently no influence with Government. It is quite amusing to witness the despicable arts the anti-colonists resort to, in order to obtain signatures to these insidious memorials. In some places they have a table in the open street, on which the paper is laid, and the labouring classes, in returning from work, are solicited to affix their names, with so much suavity of manner-such bland persuasiveness, that there is no resisting, and many of the creatures, who are thus entrapped, do not even know the object of the paper they are signing. I heard of one fellow, who, in haranguing a mob collected round one of their tables, actually expatiated on the enormity of continuing the slave trade," (and is not a slave trade carried on in Jamaica?) "and urged his colleagues to sign the petition, which was to put an end to this inhuman traffic! and really the ignorance of even the well-informed classes, on this subject, is quite astonishing. "Our object ought to be" (and doubtless is in all their measures) "to gain time, for, the longer the main question is delayed, the better it will be understood by the British public, and the more likely they will be to be influenced by principle rather than by passion and prejudice in their decision. This object would be more effectually secured, and our adversaries more completely disarmed, if the Colonial Assemblies would, from time to time, engage themselves in correcting the old abuses in the system, and in making such improvements as would be commensurate with the advancement of the slaves in the scale of civilization." (This we have always said has been their policy.)

"Of course it has not transpired here what instructions have been sent out to Sir John Keane as to the rejected Slave Bill; but I trust the odious mandate, which gave such offence last year has been rescinded, and that our House of Assembly have repassed the bill in its original form." (Precisely what they have done.) "The West Indians here are in high spirits about the appointment of the new Governor-they expect great things from him, judging by his general character. It was intended that he should go out in time to open the Assembly, but, as this could not be accomplished in time, he will not, I understand, sail till the end of November."

2. Persecution of Missionaries.

The Assembly of Jamaica appear to have acted in strict conformity with the above suggestions. The disallowed slave law of 1826, has been re-enacted without the change of a single clause. The object in doing so is evidently to gain time, trusting to the chapter of accidents for future occasions of delay. It being expedient, however, to supply some reasons for so directly flying in the face of His Majesty's Government, as to re-enact verbatim et literatim the persecuting clauses of 1826, which were directed to the suppression of the missions of methodists and dissenters, and to the consequent exclusion of the slaves from effective religious instruction, the assembly, in its wisdom, has had recourse as usual to the getting up of such ex-parte statements as the case seemed to call for, and which there never is any difficulty of procuring in Jamaica. And here we do them the justice to believe, that they had too much good sense to expect, that the statements thus prepared would be received in this country as evidence in proof of their charges against the missionaries. It was quite enough that they served to give a colour to the contumacious re-enactment of the rejected clauses. Accordingly a Committee of the House of Assembly was appointed "to inquire into the establishment and proceedings of the Sectaries in the Island, and to report thereon to the House." The report of this Committee, with the evidence annexed, was presented on the 23d of December, 1828. It was to the following effect;

"Mr. Speaker,-Your Committee, appointed to inquire into the establishment and proceedings of the Sectarians in this island,

"Report-That they have taken the examinations of sundry persons, which examinations are hereto annexed, and find that the principal object of the Sectarians in this island is to extort money from their congregations by every possible pretext, to obtain which, recourse has been had to the most indecent expedients.

That in order to further this object, and to gain an ascendancy over the negro mind, they inculcate the doctrines of equality and the rights of man-they preach and teach sedition, even from the pulpit, and by misrepresentation and falsehood endeavour to cast odium upon all the public authorities of this island, not even excepting the representative of majesty itself.

"That the consequences have been abject poverty, loss of comfort, and discontent among the slaves frequenting their chapels, and deterioration of property to their masters.

"Your committee therefore feel themselves bound to report-That the interference of the missionaries between the master and slave is dangerous, and incompatible with the political state of society in this island, and recommend to the house to adopt the most positive and exemplary enactments to restrain them. "The above report was referred to the Committee on the state of the Island, and the house went in such Committee; and being resumed, Resolutions from that Committee were reported and agreed to, as follows:

1. That it be recommended to the House to agree to the Report from the Committee appointed to inquire into the establishment of the Sectarians in this island, presented to the House, with the addition of laying before the house the examination of Mr. Samuel Bromley, a Baptist Minister, residing at St. Ann's Bay, respecting an instance stated by him to have occurred, of a master oppressing his slave for attending the Baptist chapel, as it will exhibit the manner in which he is disposed to treat the legitimate authority of the house, delegated to its Committee, and they recommend it to the serious consideration of the house.

**2. That it be recommended to the house to come to the following Resolution: "Resolved, that the conduct of Samuel Bromley, a Baptist Missionary, in refasing to answer certain questions put to him, while under examination before a Committee of this house, and in refusing to sign his deposition before such Committee, is a breach of the privileges of this house.

3. That it be recommended to the house to agree to the Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the establishment and proceedings of the Sectarians, presented to the house this day.

"4. That it be recommended to the house to come to the following Resolution : "Resolved, That a copy of the Report of the Committee, appointed to inquire into the establishment and proceedings of the Sectarians, and the examinations taken before them, be forwarded to the Agent, with instructions to lay the same. before his Majesty's Ministers, together with a copy of the 83d, 84th, and 85th clauses of the Slave Law," (viz. the persecuting clauses,)" disallowed in 1827, and that the said Report and examinations and clauses be printed and distributed by the Agent."

These were followed by a farther resolution, "That Samuel Bromley, Baptist Missionary, having been guilty of a breach of the privileges of this house, be taken into the custody of the Serjeant at arms, and that Mr. Speaker do issue his warrant accordingly."

We shall of course have an opportunity of soon seeing the evidence which is to establish the immoral and destructive tendency of the labours of the missionaries. In the mean time, it is plain from what has transpired of it, in the columns of the Jamaica Newspapers, that it bears the character of fabrication on its very front; and some of the journalists have the boldness to affirm that it originates in the most unprincipled hostility to religious instruction, and is supported by the most unblushing perjury. And are the religious bodies quietly to submit to such proceedings? Are they to have their chapels demolished, their mission

aries imprisoned in loathsome dungeons till disease has killed them, and their characters falsely and iniquitously and inhumanly traduced, and yet be silent? It may be questioned, whether, had they acted with becoming firmness on former occasions, and made the appeal which became them to the authorities of the state, the evils which now threaten the suppression of their missions might not have been averted. In any case, they seem now bound, if they would not be accessaries to crime, to assert the rights, and protect the persons, nay the very lives of their missionaries; and above all to vindicate, to the wretched slaves, the privilege of freely hearing the word of God, and of worshipping and serving Him in peace. Is there any consideration which can induce them to protect themselves and their congregations against insult and injury, and intolerance, and persecution, in this country, which does not render it still more imperiously their duty to put forth their whole energies in shielding their helpless and unprotected brethren, in the Colonies, from the arm of the persecutor? If they shrink from this duty theirs will be the responsibility!

5. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE-SOCIETY FOR REDEEMING SLAVES. A Society has been formed under the patronage of the Governor, "for aiding deserving slaves and slave children to purchase their freedom."

The circumstance of a family of slaves in Cape Town having been assisted in obtaining their freedom by the pecuniary aid of a few benevolent individuals, suggested the benefits which might result from the formation of a society for such and similar purposes.

To carry this into effect, a meeting of some friends to the object took place on the 27th of June, 1828, when a few resolutions were passed, a list opened, and a provisional committee appointed to receive subscriptions, and prepare for a general meeting of subscribers, which was held on the 24th of July.

Besides the necessary organization of the Society, the resolutions then adopted prescribe that young female slaves shall be emancipated in preference to others; and that a preference shall also be given to slaves who are members of a Christian community.

Subscriptions are solicited from England and India. We have no room for any extracts from the Address: what we have said will shew the general character and purposes of the institution. The Address itself certainly partakes more of the peculiarity of colonial logic, and sympathizes more with the feelings and prejudices of slave-holders than suits our taste or judgment. At the same time, we must leave men to do good in their own way, only taking care that, in aiding or countenancing their benevolence, we do not compromise our own principles, or give a sanction to theirs, whereinsoever they fall short of the standard of right.

It appears that the Society had succeeded in redeeming six indivi

duals.

Erratum in No. 45, p. 419, 1. 5 and 12, for Archbishop Manners, read Manners Sutton.

Printed by Bagster and Thoms, 14, Bartholomew Close, London.

MONTHLY REPORTER.

No. 47.]

FOR APRIL, 1829. [No. 23. Vol. ii,

I-DEFENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE CONVERSION OF SLAVES, AND OF THAT FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL, CONSIDERED.

II-CRUELTIES OF MR. AND MRS. MOSS, OF THE BAHAMAS, TOWARDS A FEMALE SLAVE.

1. DEFENCE OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES, CONSIDERED. WE had prepared for the present Reporter very different materials from those it contains. Finding, however, that on the first day of the month there had issued from the periodical press no less than three answers to the statements made by us in our late Numbers, No. 41; the Supplement to No. 44; and No. 45; on the state of religion in the West Indies, we have deemed it right in the first place to advert to these answers as briefly as we can.

That which claims the priority of notice comes to us from the Rev. Dr. Barrett, the Secretary of the Incorporated Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves, and may be considered as the official vindication of that Society. It is a tract of sixteen pages, and is entitled "Extracts of Sermons of the West India Clergy on the Observance of the Lord's day, in answer to the Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter," viz. No. 41, and the Supplement to No. 44. The first six pages are occupied with a transcript of our remarks, from the two Reporters last mentioned, on the "silence and supineness" of that Society, and of the West India Bishops and Clergy, with regard to the Sunday of the Slaves. And the remaining ten contain the attempted refutation of our animadversions ;the answer, in short, of the Society itself, to our complaints on this momentous topic.

The first extract is from a sermon preached at Barbadoes, in July, 1825, by a very excellent clergyman, of the name of Davis, residing in St. Kitts, whom we had actually quoted in the Reporter, No. 41, p. 310, as one of the authorities for our complaint; and the only reason for which he is now produced, appears to be his affirming, in a single line of this particular sermon, that many of the inhabitants of the Colonies, of all ranks, "have no regard to the sacred day of rest and prayer."-This is positively all this extract says on the subject.

The second extract is from a sermon of Archdeacon Elliott, preached at Barbadoes, in February, 1827, in which all we find that has the slightest, even verbal connection with the subject, is as follows; having, as it appears to us, as little to do with the matter in hand as can well be imagined; the obsolete law which he quotes, referring not at all to the slaves, but to the whites.

"On a former occasion, I alluded in this place to a very old, but unrepealed law of this Island, which enforces, by a specified penalty, the duty of repairing

every sabbath day to the parish church or chapel. The same law calls on 'all masters and overseers of families to have prayers openly said every morning and evening with their families;' and this (I use the pious expression of the framers of the law) in order that Almighty God, may be served and glorified, and that he give a blessing to our labours.

"I must not be understood as expressing any approbation of laws which enforce by pecuniary mulcts the service due in private from man to his Creator. "I refer to the law above quoted simply to shew, that the feeling which on this subject, actuated the early settlers of the island ought still to exist amongst us." The third extract is somewhat more to the point, and forms, undoubtedly, an exception to the universality of our complaint of silence on this subject, at p. 314. It is from a sermon preached in Grenada, by Mr. Barker, in June, 1827. It very properly notices "the general neglect of the sabbath day, and its perversion amongst us to secular employments," as being the grand sources "of ignorance, vice, and mental degradation ;" and the preacher adds that "until we amend this evil, all attempts to promote Christian knowledge will be vain and fruitless." And he then proceeds to denounce the judgments of God on this shameless profanation of the sabbath.

These are all the passages quoted in this defence of the Society, from all the sermons preached in the West Indies from 1823 to the present time, which could, by any means, have been known to us before the publication of the obnoxious Reporter, No. 41. But even had they been known to us, as they certainly were not, they still would no farther have modified our observations than to have called for some slight qualifying expression, and to have enabled us to give Mr. Barker's statement as an additional confirmation of our main position, that, While the slaves continue deprived of the sabbath, to talk of successful efforts to christianize them is little short of mere delusion.

The remaining extracts, three in number, were not even preached in Antigua till the close of August, 1828, and could not have been printed, published, and received in England, until the obnoxious Reporter had been some time in circulation. These extracts are certainly very creditable to the parties delivering them; Archdeacon Parry, and the Rev. Mr. Holberton. But then they shew most distinctly that down to that period, namely, the end of 1828, the evil of which the Reporter complained had remained unredressed and unmitigated even in Antigua, by far the most advanced of any of the colonies in religious knowledge and religious observance.*

We had no means of knowing, while we were penning that Reporter, that its facts and reasonings had been contemporaneously substantiated and enforced by two clergymen in Antigua; for if we had, we should have availed ourselves of their valuable testimony. The Archdeacon justly remarks, that "to the religion of the labouring classes Sunday is every thing" a sentiment in which, especially as it relates to West India slaves, we do most entirely concur. His exhortations too are excellent, and we should now have pleasure in transcribing them, were

* Antigua is an island, where the slaves, being fed by allowances, instead of from grounds of their own, have more of the Sunday in their power than in most other colonies. Hence probably the greater progress of religion there. But even there the case is bad in consequence of Sunday markets, &c.