an ample volume, condensed from the Reports of the African Institution. This department of guilt, indeed, no longer extends to ourselves, except as far as British influence has not been exerted, at the Continental courts, to recal the powers of Europe to their recorded condemnation of the Trade, as inconsistent with every principle of Christianity, and the original rights of human nature.-One subject may, however, be introduced into this note, the consideration of which is thus addressed to public notice in a paper now lying before me :With regard to the consumption of slave-grown produce, it has been asked, Which offence is the worst; that of stealing men in the first instance, and then of dooming them and their children to perpetual bondage; or, secondly, that of purchasing the fruit of their slavery?-A parallel inquiry is, What essential difference is there between a coiner, and a circulator of base money-between a thief, and the man to whom he sells his plunder-between a smuggler, and the purchaser of contraband articles? If you were a slave, what would you wish me to do you ? Would you say to me, "Do not interfere with the system already established-do not discourage the colonist by refusing to buy his sugars-do not move a finger; but leave my miserable case to the care of my owners; who will be sure to go on with the work of mercy, now that the Government at home have recommended them. Do not examine the question narrowly -it is dangerous to follow Truth too closely you will be derided as having singular notions-you will be pointed at as over-scrupulous, as a great strainer-you will offend, by condemning others?"-Let it, however, be solemnly asked, what plea will be admitted before Him who says, With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again?

for

'Public remonstrance at length effected the abolition of lotteries, though these were directly encouraged year by year by the finance minister. Yet no one complained, that such remonstrance was interfering with politics. No one pleaded, that the contractors for lotteries, with their agents throughout the empire, including the keepers of insurance offices, ought to have been compensated for their losses. No member of the legislature told the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that lotteries had grown up under the protection of the state; and had become a portion of public property and public revenue. If we consume Bengal-not Mauritius-sugars, we do not do this as an infringement upon what has been called the sacredness of property; but, as so far releasing our consciences from the guilt of supporting a system of cruelty, oppression, avarice, and of refusal to obey the revealed will of God, who declares, "Woe to him that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work" (Jer. xxii. 13.)

The moment the West Indians liberate their slaves, we will give their free produce the preference. They will have laid

upon us the obligation to come first to their market. For who can better deserve our assistance, than those who, having abandoned the principles and practice of a guilty commerce, confess their crime, and enter upon a new and honourable career? In the mean time, our averment is, that in proportion to the consumption of slave-grown produce, is the amount of human misery among the Negroes of the sugar islands, and Demerara; and the inference is inevitable.. -"If," writes one of the few efficient and unwearied friends of the oppressed-" if in Demerara the slaves decrease rapidly, while in the Bahamas they increase as fast as they decrease in Demerara, what is the grand cause of this difference? It is that the soil of Demerara is so rich as not only to be capable of sugar culture, with all its attendant oppression, but to make that culture a source of large comparative profit to the planter; while the soil of the Bahamas is only fit for the growth of pasture and of provisions, and perhaps of a little cotton.Again; why does the population even of Barbadoes increase as compared with that of Grenada, St. Vincent's, and Trinidad, but because the soil of these three islands is more productive than that of Barbadoes, and therefore affords a stronger stimulus to the rigid exaction of slave labour, and to the adoption of that species of cultivation, which in rich soils is most profitable to the master, while it is the most destructive to the life and comfort of the slave ?-Every proprietor of a cotton mill, and every post-horse master in the kingdom, fully understands the principle on which this apparent anomaly proceeds. A high profit on the manufacture of cotton goods, will infallibly abridge the duration of the machinery which produces them. A contested county election will probably kill or injure more horses in a month, than at another time would be killed or injured in a year. The profits, indeed, of the weaver, in the one case, and of the post-boy in the other, might, and probably would, increase with the profits of their respective masters. So also would those of the Negro labourer, if he were a free man, receiving wages in proportion to his exertions. But the Negro labourer is a slave, and receives no wages. He is the machine worn down by friction; or he is the post-horse excited to undue and prolonged muscular exertion, by the whip and the spur, in order to swell the gains of his owner.”—And thus our consumption of western produce wears down the human machinery, of which we are the moving power! It was stated officially in the House of Commons, on the 15th of May, that the amount paid as duty on British plantation sugar, last year, covering drawbacks, &c. was 5,500,000l.; a greater sum than, since our connection with the West Indies, has been ever paid in one year.'

G.-p. xviii.

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From the vast variety of Anti-Slavery publications, the following may be selected, as containing a short, though diversified, account of the question.-1. Negro Slavery, &c.' 2. The Slave Colonies of Great Britain, or a Picture of Negro Slavery, drawn by the Colonists themselves, &c.' 3. England enslaved by her own Slave Colonies; by James Stephen, Esq.' 4. Relieve the Oppressed, a Sermon; by Charles Townsend, M. A., Rector of Calstone, Wilts; and perpetual Curate of West Bromwich, Staffordshire.'-The first two of these pamphlets describes slavery as it is, and chiefly from the reports of its own patrons. The third examines, with the writer's characteristic energy, the iniquity of the system; the inconsistency, fraudulence, and partiality of the measures devised for its support, and its ominous aspect on the prosperity of the empire. The fourth is a serious address to British Christians, on their duty with regard to the Abolition, pointing out by what means they may promote that event, and reproving the supineness or hostility of such persons as may say in the language of the preacher's apposite motto-We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear.'- Mr. Townsend has the honour of being the first clergyman who has published a sermon on the emancipation, temporal and spiritual, of our enslaved fellow-subjects.

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Ar this late hour of the debate on the colonial question, it would be idle to affect any novelty either of argument or illustration. My own share in the conflict shall appear in the form of a personal narrative; interspersed with such remarks and details as naturally arise in the course of the story.

As to my fidelity,-I only beg, that my statements may be examined and compared with such parliamentary and authentic documents as are already before the public; many of which are brought forward in the succeeding pages, directly to confirm my own account. I am not, indeed, conscious of having deviated from simple verity; but would yet say, with old Richard Baxter, that, having now written this history of myself, notwithstanding my protestation that I have not in any thing wilfully gone against the truth, I expect no more credit from the reader, than the self-evidencing light of

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