In December, 1833, "THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY" was formed at Philadelphia, fifty-two delegates, representing the abolitionists in ten of the free states, being present. Tokens of the divine approbation were not wanting in their assembly. In the holy and arduous work they contemplated, their hearts were knit together as the heart of one man, and unity of counsel and action was the result.

On the 6th of May, the following year, the Society held its first Anniversary in New York. During the five months which intervened between the formation of the Society, and its anniversary, 25,000 copies of a monthly publication (The American Anti-Slavery Reporter) were printed, and from 2000 to 3000 of them gratuitously distributed. The Committee reported that "protracted discussions had been held in a great number of places," with decided advantage to the cause of abolition; and that three colleges, viz., Hudson, Ohio, the Oneida Institute, and Lane Seminary, had been won over to its support. The circumstances connected with the adhesion of the latter institution to Anti-Slavery principles, were singularly interesting. The students there were about 100 in number, many of whom were the sons of slave-holders, and one of them was a slave-holder himself. After eighteen evenings' discussion, all, with the exception of five or six men from the north, signed the constitution of the Anti-Slavery Society, and have since voluntarily withdrawn from the seminary rather than abandon their principles. Several of these gentlemen are now among the most talented and intrepid advocates of the oppressed slave.

The disinterested attempt of Miss Prudence Crandall to impart education to young females of color of respectable parents, deserves honorable mention. This lady opened a school, for their instruction in the higher branches of female accomplishment, at Canterbury, in Connecticut. The prejudice which existed against the unfortunate class of persons to which they belonged, was called into activity by this circumstance. There were meetings of the select men and inhabitants called, at which the most disgraceful resolutions were passed. Miss Crandall was first entreated to abandon her school, and then threatened with their vengeance if she did not comply with their request. One of her pupils was brought before the magistrates, as an intruder into the town, and sentenced, under an old law, to be fined; and, in default of payment, to receive ten lashes on her bare person! The tradesmen of the town refused to supply her school with necessaries, and the apothecary with medicines, for the use of her pupils. The windows of her house were broken; her friends shamefully assaulted; and every annoyance which a malignant ingenuity could devise was resorted to, to compel her to abandon her laudable intention. After having herself been prosecuted, cast into prison, and harassed in various ways, she was finally obliged to yield to the rancorous hostility of her persecutors, or rather to the wicked prejudice against color in which they indulged.

Among the many powerful and eloquent addresses delivered at the anniversary meeting, perhaps the most thrilling was that of Mr. James A. Thome, of Kentucky. That gentleman had been surrounded from earliest infancy with all the appalling incidents of slavery, and was well qualified to bear testimony to its true character. After having depicted the sufferings of the slaves-" Sufferings inconceivable and innumerable-anguish, from mind degraded-hopelessness, from violated chastity-bitterness, from character, reputation, and honor annihilated-unmingled wretchedness, from the ties of nature rudely broken and destroyed the acutest bodily torture in every muscle and joint-groans, tears, and blood-lying for ever in perils among robbers, in perils in the city, in

house.

• .....

perils in the wilderness, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness'"-Mr. Thome proceeded to unfold the moral horrors of the prison "But the poor slaves-no ties of sacred home thrown around themno moral instruction to compensate for the toils of the day—no intercourse, as of man with man. The slaves, thus cut off from all community of feeling with their masters, roam over the village streets, shocking the ear with their vulgar jestings and voluptuous songs, or opening their kitchens to the reception of the neighboring blacks, they pass the evening in gambling, dancing, drinking, and the most obscene conversation, kept up until the night is far spent, then crown the scene with indiscriminate debauchery! Where do these things occur? In the kitchens of church members and elders." not have you fail to understand that this is a general evil. Sir, what I now say, I say from a deliberate conviction of its truth; let it be felt in the North, and rolled back upon the South, that the Slave States are Sodoms, and almost every village family is a brothel." "Let me be understood here. This pollution is the offspring of slavery; it springs, not from the character of the negro, but from the condition of the slave."

"I would

The Rev. S. S. JOCELYN, of New Haven, in supporting a resolution "that the American church is guilty of the sin of slavery," made the following remarks. Among the more than two million slaves in this land, there are computed to be more than five hundred thousand infants, helpless and dependant. These 'poor innocents,' at their birth, are offered to the Moloch of American oppression. Their entire existence is sacrificed on this bloody and obscene altar. Not less than two hundred of these innocents are born daily. Yes! this day, two hundred have been added to their number. And not less than three hundred thousand of the slaves of this land are held by evangelical Christians! They are held essentially in the same debasing and degrading bondage-subject to the same system of cruelty and oppression with the rest of their race;— denied the means of education-forbidden to read the Bible-unprotected by the laws-uncultured in their minds-unreformed in their morals.

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Slavery is a system of pollution. It recognizes no law of purity. It knows no marriage for the slave. It annuls the seventh command of the Decalogue. It is a common thing for a female slave, a member of a church, to change husbands, and yet remain in fellowship with the church! This is done because females, as well as males, are sold from one plantation to another, as the interests or necessities of the masters require, and husbands and wives are separated, to see each other's faces no more. And there are not wanting Christians and ministers to justify this breach of the commands of God, on the part of the slaves, on account of the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed. Yet the laws and practices which create these circumstances are permitted to go unreproved.

"Again, there are churches whose funds for the support of the ministry consist, not in glebe lands, or money at interest, but in slaves! the flesh and bones, and bodies and souls of men!

"The American church holds the keys of the great prison of oppression, and refuses to unlock its doors. She does it at the South-by her general example. She does it by decrying discussion-and by the influence of her religious press. The Methodist church in its conferences, and the Presbyterian church in its general assembly, have sanctioned slavery. The Methodist church, by altering her salutary discipline-the Presbyterian church,

by blotting out, in 1818, the noble testimony against oppression, which, until then, had stood recorded in its standards. Among the Baptist, Episcopalian, and other churches, no favorable movement has been made. The Friends indeed, a long time since, took a correct stand, but they stood alone. And at the North, the church refuses to unlock the prison, by apologizing for the sins of the South--by making exceptions and provisos where the law of God has made none-by fostering unholy hatred and prejudice-by denying the power of the gospel to eradicate the hatred she cherishes-by her pulpits-by her presses— by her reviews-by upholding the prejudice that upholds slavery—by adducing scripture in its support-by caressing slave-holders-by denouncing emancipation-by branding even her members as cut-throats, incendiaries, firebrands, and madmen, whenever they utter a note of remonstrance or of warning. Here is a moral power; but wielded as Satan would have it wielded. Hers are the keys; but the doors are closed, and the church refuses to open them. Yes! in the church is lodged the moral power of the nation; but it is a moral power, prostituted in prolonging the system of outrage, pollution, and death."

It was at this Meeting that Dr. S. H. Cox, of New York, repudiated the Colonization Society, and the doctrine of gradual emancipation; and, in an eloquent speech, maintained the duty of immediate and universal abolition. "And,” said Dr. C., "I have come to the conviction by calm inquiry and some prayer, that this cause will go, and it is the only cause which will go."

Captain STUART, from England, arrived in time to be present at the Meeting, as the representative of British Abolitionists. This Christian gentleman, so well known in this country for the valuable services he rendered to the cause of negro freedom here, has devoted himself to the same great work in the United States, and has been eminently useful there.

(To be continued.)

ADDRESS OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY, ON SLAVERY. THE progress of abolition principles in America is strikingly displayed in an address published last year by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky. It was drawn up by a Committee specially appointed "to digest and prepare a plan for the moral and religious instruction of the slaves, and for their future emancipation;" and it furnishes a description of American slavery, which completely bears out the representations of abolition writers. Kentucky is a slave state, and the persons who prepared this address consequently possessed ample opportunities of knowing the system which they describe in such dark and fearful colours. They live in the midst of its operations, and daily witness the degradation and misery it engenders. Nor are they open to the suspicion of being disposed to exaggerate the evils which flow from it. No unfriendly disposition to the master can be imputed to them, and they are perfectly free from the fanaticism of the abolitionists. These circumstances render their testimony the more valuable, and will secure for their statements a degree of attention and confidence which might be refused to others. The length of the address prevents our inserting it entire, which we much regret; but our extracts will sufficiently indicate its character and tendency.

Dear Brethren :-The will of Synod has made it our duty to lay before you "a plan for the moral and religious instruction, as well as for the future emancipation, of the slaves" under your care. We feel the responsibility and difficulty of the duty to which the church has called us; yet the character of those whom we address strongly encourages us to hope that our labor will not be in vain. You profess to be governed by the principles and precepts of a holy religion; you recognize the fact that you have yourselves "been made free" by the blood of the Son of God; and you believe that you have been imbued with a portion of the same spirit which was in “ Him, who though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor." When we point out to such persons their duty, and call upon them to fulfil it, our appeal cannot be altogether fruitless. But we have a still stronger ground of encouragement in our firm conviction, that the cause which we advocate is the cause of God, and that his assistance will make it finally prevail.

We earnestly entreat you, brethren, to receive our communication in the same spirit of kindness in which it is made; and permit neither prejudice nor interest to close your minds against the reception of truth, or steel your hearts against the convictions of conscience.

We all admit that the system of slavery, which exists among us, is not right. Why, then, do we assist in perpetuating it? Why do we make no serious efforts to terminate it? Is it not because our perception of its sinfulness is very feeble and indistinct, while our perception of the difficulties of instructing. and emancipating our slaves is strong and clear? As long as we believe that slavery, as it exists among us, is a light evil in the sight of God, so long will we feel inclined to pronounce every plan that can be devised for its termination, inexpedient or impracticable. Before, then, we unfold our plan, we wish to examine the system, and try it by the principles which religion teaches. If it shall not be thus proved to be an abomination in the sight of a just and holy God, we shall not solicit your concurrence in any plan for its abolition. But if, when fairly examined, it shall be seen to be a thing which God abhors, we may surely expect that no trifling amount of trouble or loss will deter you from lending your efforts to its extermination.

Slavery is not the same all the world over; and to ascertain its character, in any particular state or country, we must examine the constituents and effects of the kind of slavery which there exists. The system, as it exists among us, and is constituted by our laws, consists of three distinct parts—a deprivation of the right of property, a deprivation of personal liberty, and a deprivation of personal security. In all its parts it is, manifestly, a violation of the laws of God, as revealed by the light of nature as well as the light of revelation.

1st. A part of our system of slavery consists in depriving human beings of the right to acquire and hold property. Does it need any proof to show, that God has given to all human beings a right to the proceeds of their own labor? The heathen acknowledge it-every man feels it. The Bible is full of denunciations against those who withhold from others the fruits of their exertions. "Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work." -Does an act which is wrong, when done once, and towards one individual, become right because it is practised daily and hourly, and towards thousands? Does the Just and Holy One frown the less upon injustice, because it is systematically practised, and is sanctioned by the laws of the land?

* Jeremiah xxii. 13. See also James v. 4. Lev. xix. 13. Deut. xxiv. 14, 15.

2nd. The deprivation of personal liberty forms another part of our system of slavery. Not only has the slave no right to his wife and children, he has no right even to himself. His very body, his muscles, his bones, his flesh, are all the property of another. The movements of his limbs are regulated by the will of a master. He may be sold, like a beast of the field; he may be transported in chains, like a felon.

Still further, the deprivation of personal liberty is so complete, that it destroys the rights of conscience. Our system, as established by law, arms the master with power to prevent his slave from worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience. The owner of human beings among us may legally restrain them from assembling to hear the instructions of divine truth, or even from ever uniting their hearts and voices in social prayer and praise to Him who created them. God alone is Lord over the conscience. Yet our system, defrauding alike our Creator and our slaves, confers upon men this prerogative of Deity. Argument is unnecessary to show the guilt and madness of such a system. And do we not participate in its criminality, if we uphold it?

3rd. The deprivation of personal security is the remaining constituent of our system of slavery.—The time was, in our own as well as in other countries, when even the life of the slave was absolutely in the hands of the master. It is not so now among us. The life of a bondman cannot be taken with impunity. But the law extends its protection no further. Cruelty may be carried to any .extent, provided life be spared. Mangling, imprisonment, starvation, every species of torture, may be inflicted upon him, and he has no redress. But, not content with thus laying the body of the slave defenceless at the foot of the master, our system proceeds still further, and strips him, in a great measure, of all protection against the inhumanity of any other white man who may choose to maltreat him. The laws prohibit the evidence of a slave against a white man from being received in a court of justice. So that wantonness and cruelty may be exercised by any man with impunity upon these unfortunate people, provided none witness it but those of their own color. In describing such a condition, we may well adopt the language of sacred writ: "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment."

Such is the essential character of our slavery.-Without any crime, on the part of its unfortunate subjects, they are deprived for life, and their posterity after them, of the right to property, of the right to liberty, and of the right to personal security. These odious features are not the excrescences upon the system-they are the system itself—they are its essential constituent parts. And can any man believe that such a thing as this is not sinful-that it is not hated by God-and ought not to be abhorred and abolished by man?

But there are certain effects, springing naturally and necessarily out of such a system, which must also be considered in forming a proper estimate of its character.

1. Its most striking effect is, to deprave and degrade its subjects by removing from them the strongest natural checks to human corruption.

2. It dooms thousands of human beings to hopeless ignorance. Throughout our whole land, so far as we can learn, there is but one school in which, during the week, slaves can be taught. The light of three or four Sabbath schools is seen, glimmering through the darkness that covers the black population of a whole

state.

Here and there a family is found, where humanity and religion impel the