on the part of the parents of those children to suffer them to become apprentices; (a circumstance which your committee cannot but consider indicative of the just value which the negroes attach to freedom;) that the means of education are provided for them in a most inadequate manner, and the consequence is, that they are growing up for the most part in ignorance and idleness. Your committee need not dwell upon the great importance to the future prospects of the West India colonies, that bad habits should not be formed in the minds of the rising generation, which are but too likely to become contagious. With a view to prevent so great an evil, your committee trust that the legislature of Jamaica will take immediate measures (as they have stated their willingness to do) for the better encouragement of schools, which, independently of the peculiar case of the children who have been referred to, appear to be exceedingly wanted for the general use of the negro community, and in that event, your committee hope, that parliament may feel disposed to contribute, in future sessions, yet more liberally than they have already done, towards the attainment of this most pressing and momentous object.

Your committee have thus commented upon the principal points which have been brought before their notice, and upon a general review of the evidence which they have received, they conceive that they are warranted in expressing a belief, that the system of apprenticeship in Jamaica is working in a manner not unfavourable to the momentous change from slavery to freedom, which is now going on there. They perceive undoubtedly, many traces of those evils which are scarcely separable from a state of society confessedly defective and anomalous, and which can only be defended as one of preparation and transition. But, on the other hand, they see much reason to look forward with a confident hope to the result of this great experiment. In the evidence they have received, they find abundant proof of the general good conduct of the apprentices, and of their willingness to work for wages wherever they are fairly and considerately treated by their employers. It is indeed fully proved, that the labour thus voluntarily performed by the negro, is more effectual than that which was obtained from him while in a state of slavery, or which is now given to his employer during the period for which he is compelled to work as an apprentice. The mutual suspicion and irritation of the different classes of the community, appear to be gradually subsiding; and, on the part of the negro population, industrious habits, and the desire of moral and physical improvement, seem to be gaining ground. Under these circumstances, your committee feel bound to express their conviction that nothing could be more unfavourable than any occurrence which had a tendency to unsettle the minds of either class, with regard to the fixed determination of the Imperial Parliament, to preserve inviolate both parts of the solemn engagement by which the services of the apprenticed labourer were secured to his employer for a definite period, and under specified restrictions, at the expiration of which, he is to be raised to a state of unqualified freedom, and be governed by laws framed in all respects on the same principle as those to which his white fellow-subjects are amenable.

Some of the objections taken to the Jamaica legislation, have been satisfactorily explained by further evidence in the course of the investigation, and do not therefore appear to require any specific notice. Upon other points which have not been satisfactorily explained, your committee have omitted to animadvert, because they believe that the attention of the colonial office, and of the Governor of the island has been, and that they trust it will continue to be, steadily and unremittingly directed to every part of the subject. In conclusion,

your committee would observe, that it appears to them to be most expedient that such enactments as are intended to come into operation after 1840, should as much as possible be delayed until that period shall arrive, and at all events be postponed until the time which more immediately precedes it.

August 13, 1836.

RESOLUTIONS PASSED IN JAMAICA.

It affords us great pleasure to lay the following resolutions before our readers; the more so, from their being passed in a colony so long inured to the degrading abominations of the slave system: and most earnestly do we commend them to the attention of the professors of religion and members of churches in the American States.

At a Meeting of the Baptist Ministers connected with the Western Union, in the Island of Jamaica, held in Falmouth, on the 7th of September, 1836, it was resolved:

That it has afforded us much pleasure to hear of the efforts which the Baptist Union, and other kindred associations, are now making in the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty; more especially in regard to the state of the churches in America: and we consider it expedient to inform our friends at home, that the distinction of colour, so justly the reproach of the Christian Societies in that land of professed liberty, are in our religious assemblies and the churches under our care unknown. Guided by the divine principle, that all are one in Christ Jesus, our Societies are conducted, and the officers of our churches appointed, without the least reference to those adventitious "circumstances, in which our brethren and sisters of a darker hue are placed; and that we are disgusted with the specious pretexts by which American Christians defend such manifest deviations from the temper and genius of the gospel.

That we most heartily concur in the sentiments advanced at the late Annual Meeting of the Baptist Union held in London, that any failure in the great experiment of emancipation in this and other West India Islands, is to be attributed, not to any unfitness in the African for freedom, but from the many unrighteous and deeply-oppressive restrictions with which that great national measure has been fettered.

That the efforts now making by the friends of humanity in England to arouse to a proper sense of the enormity of the guilt contracted by the professors of religion in America, in upholding and defending the enslaving of their fellow-men and fellow-Christians, is to us a source of sacred joy. And that, the determination of many Churches not to hold Christian intercourse with those who either traffic in human flesh, or refuse their aid for the extinction of this great abomination, in such direct violation of the known requirements of the religion they profess, will, we fervently hope, lead the Christians of America, by one well-timed and energetic effort, to rid themselves and their country of that Moloch of Iniquity which, in the opinion of all whose minds are not warped by that insidious monster, renders them the pity instead of the admiration of the world,

That we hail with joy, as the bright harbinger of hope, that noble band of ministers of the Redeemer who, in the strongholds of American oppression,

T

have publicly declared themselves the advocates of the immediate emancipation of their fellow-men; and most sincerely do we wish them success; while bitter is our sorrow at the conduct of those who, by their criminal supineness, assist in keeping their fellow-Christians in a state of ignorance and servitude, in which every principle of honour, justice, and religion is outraged.

Signed,

ADDRESS OF THE GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETY,

To the Friends of the Enslaved, in Scotland, England, and Ireland, in behalf of Five Millions yet in Slavery throughout the World.

The Glasgow Emancipation Society, on considering the present state of the cause in which they are engaged, deem it their duty to address the friends of the enslaved, throughout the kingdom.

Encouraged by the success which has attended the experiment in our own colonies, imperfect as it has been rendered by the Apprenticeship scheme—and especially encouraged by the example of complete emancipation exhibited in Antigua and the Bermudas; yet contemplating with deep concern, that in all this, only 800,000 slaves have participated, while there are still five millions of our fellow-men in slavery throughout the world; and therefore, all that has been done, bearing but a small proportion to what yet remains, the friends of the enslaved are called upon, by every principle of humanity and religion, to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them," and to use every effort that "the oppressed may go free."

66

Acting upon this principle, this Society, immediately after the Slavery Abolition Enactment, associated to promote the Abolition of Slavery throughout the world; and, along with the Edinburgh Society, engaged the celebrated AntiSlavery advocate, GEORGE THOMPSON, Esq., who had previously been invited by the New England Anti-Slavery Society, to go to the United States, to assist the friends of the slave there, by his powerful talents, in promoting the cause of abolition.

This he has done, and has been so highly instrumental along with the advocates of the cause in America, in arousing a great proportion of the people to consider and embrace abolition principles, that the slavery-interested and their friends became so infuriated against him, that he was advised, indeed obliged, to retire from the field, his life being threatened.

*We expected, that in the meantime, the friends of the enslaved throughout this country, who had so nobly struggled [for the freedom of our own slaves, would have kept the field with us, until slavery was driven, not from our own colonies alone, but from every corner of the globe.

But we regret that few, comparatively, of these Associations have yet joined in this contest. This may have arisen from their not having duly considered the subject, or from not having the same means of information regarding it that we have had; or some may have thought our duty extended only to our own slaves, and that we had no right to interfere, or no means of effectually interfering with other nations, and that it was enough to hold out to them our example. Such conclusions, however, must arise from imperfectly considering the subject.

We do not intend here to expose the fallacy of these views, or to show that we may interfere, and that effectually; and that it is our duty to do so, by every lawful, constitutional, and Christian means in our power; but, as we intend this as a friendly address to those individuals or Societies who have already espoused, or are likely soon to espouse, the same cause with us, and to be presented to them by our highly respected friend, and, the ardent friend of the slave-GEO. THOMPSON, whom we have further engaged to arouse the people of this country to the consideration of this important subject; we will leave it to him to dissipate these or any other views which may have prevented the friends of the slave from embarking more generally in the same philanthropic and Christian undertaking: and on this point, will only advert to an entreaty of the amiable Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, ELIZUR WRIGHT, who, in a letter to GEORGE THOMPSON, says, "Give us your sympathies-the sympathies of the people of Great Britain are fatal to the cause of our enemies."

Five millions of our fellow-men in slavery !-reduced to the lowest degradation to a level with the brutes-and retained in the grossest ignorance, that they may be kept in slavery, and subjected to every cruelty that their tyrant oppressors can devise, demand our sympathies. Can we withhold them? Shall we not resolve, henceforth, unceasingly to urge their claims by every means in our power, until every man of them shall stand forth, acknowledged as “a man and a brother;" and every 66 woman as a sister;" until they are admitted, in short, to all the rights and privileges of their fellow-men?

The undertaking is vast, the field is large, and "the labourers are few." But they may be increased, if every friend to the cause would charge himself with increasing the number, by adding to it himself, and as many as he can persuade of his friends. By ardour and perseverance the work may, ere long, through the blessing of God, be accomplished; and for our encouragement, it is a work which we have every reason to trust that God will prosper.

Let us then persevere-united efforts will accomplish much; therefore, we would earnestly recommend you, whether few or many, to associate. This you may do either as Independent or Auxiliary Societies to ours, or any other larger than your own in your neighbourhood, as you may think proper. Much yet remains to be done. We may have to petition parliament to regulate the Apprenticeship more agreeably to the spirit of the Slavery Abolition Act; or probably to abolish it altogether-for it should never have been enacted. We may also have to petition or address the Government, to use their influence, by treaties or otherwise, with foreign powers who hold slaves, to induce them to abolish slavery, as a pledge of their sincerity in the promotion of civil liberty, and the only effectual means of totally extinguishing the slave trade. Therefore, by forming effective Societies, a more lively and efficient interest in the cause will be kept up throughout the kingdom; funds will be collected to promote these objects; a nucleus will be formed for the reception and diffusion of information respecting the progress of the cause; for communication with kindred Societies, when any general and united effort is to be made; and for correspondence with Foreign Societies. Thus would we encourage one another, and stimulate the friends of the enslaved across the Atlantic, who are more exposed to the assaults of the enemies of human liberty.

Signed in name, and by appointment of the Committee of the Glasgow
Emancipation Society

Glasgow, October 28, 1836.

JOHN MURRAY,
WM. SMEAL, JUN.,

} Secretaries.

LYNCH LAW.

A pamphlet has recently been issued in America entitled "Proceedings of the Citizens of Madison County, Miss., at Livingston, in July 1835, in relation to the trial and punishment of several individuals implicated in a contemplated insurrection in this state." Prepared by Thomas Shackelford, Esq., pp. 40, 12mo. This publication presents a frightful and horrifying view of the atrocities engendered by the slave system, and cannot be read without exciting the disgust and indignation of every honest mind. Where is the boasted liberty of America, if such villanies are allowed to escape without condign punishment?

From this publication it appears that,' in consequence of "rumours" that the slaves meditated an insurrection, that a coloured girl had been heard to say that "she was tired of waiting on the white folks, wanted to be her own mistress the balance of her days, and clean up her own house," &c., a meeting of slaveholders was held, who signed resolutions, organizing a committee, or Lynch Court, authorising them to "bring before them any person or persons, either white or black, and try, in a summary manner, any person brought before them, with the power to hang or whip, being always governed by the laws of the land, so far only as it (they) shall be applicable to the case in question, otherwise to act as in their discretion, shall seem best for the benefit of the country, and in protection of its citizens.”

Previous to the organization of this Lynch Committee, five slaves had been examined, condemned, and put to death by hanging. Among them was a slave by the name of Jim, " a very sensible, fine-looking fellow." One of the Lynch Court, Jesse Mabry, says, "I was appointed to examine him. He would not for some time make any confession, but at length agreed that, if I would not punish him any more, he would make a full confession."-Mabry speaks of the examinations of other slaves, and goes on to say, "after getting through with these examinations, Jim, Backee, Weaver, Russell, and Sam, were all put to death by hanging!" That is, after it had been agreed with these suspected slaves that they should be scourged no longer, if they would confess all they knew, they were all hanged on the spot!

The Lynch Court proceeded to try Dr. Joshua Cotton, a native of New England. It was proved to the satisfaction of the court that he had been detected in making low tricks, that he was deficient in feeling and affection for his second wife, that he traded with negroes, that he asked a negro boy whether the slaves were whipped much, how he would like to be free, &c. It is stated that Cotton then made a confession that he had been aiming to bring about a conspiracy. The committee condemned him to be hanged in an hour after

sentence.

William Saunders, a native of Tennessee, was next tried. He was convicted of "often being out all night, and giving no satisfactory explanation for so doing;" of equivocal conduct; of being intimate with Cotton, &c., whereupon the committee, by a unanimous vote, found him guilty, and sentenced him to be hanged; and was executed on the fourth of July, with Cotton.

Albe Dean, a native of Connecticut, was next tried. He was convicted of being a lazy, indolent man, having very little pretensions to honesty; of “pretending to make a living by constructing washing-machines; of "often coming to the owners of runaways, and intercede with their masters to save them from a whipping." He was sentenced to be hung, and was executed. He "died in