slave ships formerly filled up; but, for the last ten years, Kulwa has gradually been deserted, and all the trade is now carried on at Kebinga. There are regular establishments there for the carrying on the slave-trade; it is the chief port to which the ivory, gum-copal, &c., are brought from the interior, and sent to Zanzibar for sale.

"A custom prevails here amongst the Arabs who have not funds to buy

the natives, and forcibly taking them for sale to the northward. The observed, since I have been here, that the Arabs who procure slaves in slaves so brought away are chiefly children, boys and girls; and I have this way are from the Red Sea and South Coast of Arabia. The Arabs from the pirate coast in the Persian Gulf, yearly take a number of slaves by force from Zanzibar, yet the Imaum is unable to prevent them; he fears to do so."

men, who, under God, have been the chief instruments in effecting this great work. The living, with the venerable Thomas Clarkson at their head, with ripened experience, still pursue the noble object to which they have devoted themselves. Their field of operation is the world; they labour for the universal overthrow of slavery and the slave-trade; and they seek not, as their reward, the praise of men. It would, however, be unjust to the memory of the de-slaves, of going over to the coast of Africa, and seizing and conveying off parted leaders of the cause, if their names were not mentioned with honour. Death has been busy, and has taken from us the most eminent of its advocates: Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, Andrew Thompson, James Stephen, Zachary Macaulay, Sir John Jeremie, James Cropper, William Allen, and Sir Fowell Buxton, are departed. As the benefactors of their race their works follow them, and are their best eulogy. Nor amongst women must we forget the honoured names of Elizabeth Heyrick, Sophia Sturge, and Elizabeth Fry. All these gave the strength of their youth, and the vigour of riper years, to the cause of the suffering and the oppressed, and have left us an example, that we should follow their steps. May the rising youth of the land catch a double portion of their spirit, and devote themselves to the completion of the great work they so nobly began!

SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE IN THE DOMI-
NIONS OF THE IMAUM OF MUSCAT.

The Imaum of Muscat, notwithstanding the very excellent character Mr. Clarkson, the barrister, has recently given him, is, perhaps, the greatest slave-holder and slave-dealer in the world. A large portion of the revenue which he derives from his dominions in Africa and Asia is drawn from the import and export of slaves. Captain Cogan, formerly political agent at Zanzibar, in an official memorandum, dated the 5th December, 1839, says :—

"The financial resources of his Highness are now £80,000 per annum ; £20,000 of which emanates, directly or indirectly, from the sale or purchase of slaves. Of these there are from 45,000 to 50,000 annually sold in the Zanzibar market, about 20,000 of which are exported to Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and the coast of Machersen."

In reference to his Asiatic territories, it is stated, in a communication to government, dated, Kurrak, the 4th March, 1842,

"That the annual importation of slaves to Muscat and Soor is never under 20,000, and is more often near 30,000 souls. Of these, many are carried into the interior, but the greater portion are re-exported in all kinds of vessels, and by all manner of purchasers, chiefly, however, by regular slave-traders, who frequent these towns in order to speculate."

The following extracts, from the report of Captain Hamerton, made to the Bombay Government, in 1842, will further show the extent and character of the slave-trade, as carried on by the Imaum and his subjects, at Zanzibar. Captain H. says:

"The number of slaves imported into Zanzibar from the coast of Africa, subject to the dominion of the Imaum, and for whom duty has been regularly paid at the Custom-house, averages, for the last four years, fifteen thousand yearly; but it is to be observed, that a vast number are imported for whom no duty is paid; for instance, the boats of his Highness the Imaum, and those of his sons, pay no duty on the slaves imported in them from the coast of Africa; and the number imported is very great; they are constantly bringing them over in some of those boats, as many as three and even four hundred. The poor creatures, on their arrival | here, are frequently in a truly miserable state, almost starved to death; they are procured chiefly by the Banian brokers, on the chiefs coming to the coast. These brokers go from Zanzibar to the different ports under the dominion of his Highness the Imaum, and procure the slaves in the following manner :---

"The tribes from the interior who bring down the ivory and gum-copal,

have it all carried by the people they from time to time take in war, and they always barter the slaves along with the articles they have carried from the interior to the coast. Money is not given either for the slaves or for the articles they bring; it is a barter trade. American cloth, beads, muskets, and powder, are the chief articles given in exchange for the slaves; ivory and gum-copal, the principal articles of commerce, from what is usually called the Imaum's African possessions; and the business is chiefly carried on by Banians and Indian Mahomedans, and the slaves, from the time they come into the hands of the broker, are kept at the least possible expense; they barely receive as much food as will keep them alive until they reach the market in Zanzibar.

"The principal place on the coast of Africa, within the dominions of the Imaum, from whence the greatest number of slaves are exported, is a place called Kebinga, about fourteen miles north of Kulwa; but the natives usually call Kebinga, Kulwa. This was the chief port where the

From these extracts it will be seen that the chief sources whence the supply of slaves is obtained for the Zanzibar market, are war and kidnapping; and, although Captain Hamerton does not mention the fact, there can be no doubt that the loss of life connected with this dreadful traffic is, proportionally, as great on the Eastern as on the Western Coast of Africa.

We now give another extract from Captain Hamerton's report, which will show that the subjects of his Highness the Imaum are, according to their means, as much addicted to slavery and the slave-trade as himself:

"All, each, and every one, the subjects of his Highness the Imaum of Muscat are concerned in the slave-trade, being holders of slaves, every person in proportion to his means. Each man possesses from five slaves to two thousand, and from which number they sell as many as from time to time they require, to realise whatever sum or sums of money they may happen to want. A man's wealth and respectability, in the dominions of the Imaum of Muscat, is always estimated by the number of African slaves he is said to possess. The meanest of the Imaum's subjects in Oman and Zanzibar, and on the coast of Africa, whether an Arab or a

half-caste Arab, or a freed man, such freed man being a Mussulman, never dreams of doing any sort of labour when he has once got together sufficient money to purchase a slave, or a number of slaves, after which he lounges about from place to place with a sword under his arm, and calling himself an Arab, appears content to subsist on whatever his slave or slaves may by their labour, or, frequently, by their robbery, procure for him. He has but one care on earth now, to procure the means of obtaining slaves. | Female slaves are rarely kept for any length of time by the subjects of the Imaum. They, in conséquence of the facility of procuring female slaves in the bazaar of Zanzibar, have the opportunity of indulging to the fullest extent their love of variety in women. The meanest ruffian frequently buys a number of young girls in the slave market, with an understanding between him and the broker from whom he buys them, that on their being re-sold within a given time (when he has satisfied that the buyer is to sustain the loss, and these girls are always sold again himself), that, should there be a deficiency on the girls being re-sold, |for exportation to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and coast of Arabia; the price they are sold for is from three to eight dollars; a great number die

from the little care taken of them from the time they are brought from the coast of Africa, until they are re-sold, (generally between the months of February and April, when the vessels coming from the northward, leave Zanzibar.) The male slaves, on their arrival at Zanzibar, are sold by the people who buy them to the different shambas or farms, all over the island; and until the time arrives when their owners sell them as they require, and retain as many as are necessary for domestic servants, or labourers on the farms; some are brought up to trades-blacksmiths, car penters, &c.; their masters receive whatever they may earn. The only article of food given to the slaves by their masters, is dried shark-fish and mohego (cassada); and for clothing, as much American cloth as is sufficient to hide their nakedness."

How many horrors does this statement reveal! The portions we have marked cannot fail to excite attention; they clearly point

out the hideous features of slavery as it exists in Zanzibar. We
once more revert to Captain Hamerton's Report, for the purpose of
completing the official statements of this functionary in relation to
slavery and the slave-trade, as they exist at the seat of the govern-
In a despatch to Lord Aberdeen, dated
ment of the Imaum.
January 2, 1844, he observes:-

"In the island of Zanzibar and the adjacent island of Pemba, the population is estimated at about 450,000, of which only nineteen are white, American and English merchants; but three white women,—one the wife of a merchant, and the other two are concubines brought from England by the captain of the Imaum's ship the Sultaneh; about 800 Arabs, and 800 Banians and Indian Mahomedans (free, copper-coloured men); females as three to one man; about 400 free Arab women; the number of free black women unknown, but it is very small. About one-fifth of the whole population are considered free. The population increased from 1832 to 1837, and has since increased, The people

are growing rich, and able to buy more slaves to cultivate cloves,
the chief article now cultivated, and from which considerable profit
is derived in a few years. The cultivation of sugar is increasing, and, of
course, a much greater number of slaves will be required. For the last
ten years, slaves have every year been brought into Zanzibar, from the
coast of Africa and from Madagascar-at least 20,000 every year.
deaths amongst the agricultural slaves is very great, from twenty-two to
thirty per cent. yearly!"'

The

tories of the Imaum of Muscat supplied the market at Quillemaine with slaves, whence they are usually shipped to Brazil.

"At the entrance of Quinzungo," he says, "there is a barracoon for slaves, as well as between it and Quillemaine; it has always on hand a great stock of slaves, so that a vessel arriving in the river can, in twentyfour hours, complete her cargo. They sometimes go into the river for that purpose, at other times take them in outside the bar-the river being well provided with long-boats, so that they can take a cargo out at one trip.

Here is a vast mortality. Truly, human life is cheap indeed at Zanzibar. The price of Africans at Zanzibar is as follows:-Boys, "I do not think the slave-trade is carried on with any activity in this from seven to ten years of age, seven to fifteen dollars; from ten to channel; but at Quillemaine, and the small ports in the vicinity of that twenty years old, fifteen to thirty dollars; full-grown men, seven-place, slaves are always to be had at about thirty dollars each, and at the teen to twenty dollars. Women are more valuable, the price sometimes being as high as thirty-five dollars.

The residence of Captain Hamerton at Zanzibar appears to have led the Imaum to the decent practice of burying the dead slaves, who were cast out upon the beach to be devoured by dogs. The fact is thus stated by this gentleman :

"I beg to mention that when I first arrived here, it was not the custom to inter the slaves; they were always thrown out on the beach when they died, and were devoured by the dogs of the town; but, on my continually talking to the Imaum on the shameful practice, contrary to the laws of God and man, as I used to tell him, he has caused all dead bodies to be buried. I have seen fifty dead Africans, men and women, lying on the beach, and the dogs of the place tearing them to pieces, as one sees the carrion eaten by the dogs in India."

But we are told that this high-minded prince, whose virtues are blazoned forth at the police-offices of the metropolis by Mr. Clarkson, the barrister, is most honestly discharging his duties towards this country, in the fulfilment of his treaty engagements for the suppression of the slave-trade. Nothing, we believe, can be farther from the truth than this. Adverting to this very point, Captain Hamerton says:

"With respect to the suppression, or even the amelioration of the slavetrade, which is carried on by the subjects of his Highness the Imaum, and other chiefs on the coast of Africa, nothing can ever be effected by negociation. The Imaum has not the power to interfere in the matter, even were he willing to do so; but he is not."

the shortest notice. The market at Quillemaine is in some measure supplied by the dows belonging to the territory of the Imaum of Muscat, which bring slaves along the coast from the interior. There were several detained at Mozambique when I was there.”

But for the statement of Mr. Clarkson, the barrister, and the facts which have recently transpired on the river Thames, we should not have troubled our readers at so great a length with the slavetrading practices of the Imaum and his subjects. We must, however, in order to complete our statements, add one fact more, which is this:-Lord Aberdeen transmitted to Captain Hamerton, at the close of the year 1844, the draft of a treaty for the suppression of the slave-trade, which reserves to the Imaum the right of carrying on the slave-trade to any extent "between the port of Lamoo, to the north; and the port of Kulwa, to the south; including the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Monfea;" thus leaving open to the ravages of this monstrous traffic about 500 miles of the Eastern Coast of the African Continent. Such a treaty can be of no possible use; and, however it may be attempted to be glossed over by the government, it contains an implied sanction of the traffic within the limits indicated. Besides, it strikes us as perfectly absurd that the Imaum should be expected to treat that as a crime if carried on with Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, which it is to be regarded as innocent if carried on with Zanzibar, Pemba, and Monfea, where the greatest demand for slaves exists. It appears also equally absurd that his Highness should be invited to use his utmost influence with the chiefs eastward of his African possessions

In a subsequent communication to the Bombay Government to prevent the introduction of slaves from Africa into their respecCaptain H. writes as follows::

tive territories, when the Imaum himself is to be allowed to import them into his own to his heart's content. We venture to think it would have better become the dignity of her Majesty's Government to have used their influence with the Imaum to terminate the system of slavery in his dominions, and to have taught him to depend for his revenue on legitimate commerce and the resources of the soil, rather than on the enslavement of his fellow-men, and on that guilty traffic for which he can find no authority even in the Koran.

"With reference to the third paragraph of your letter, I have to assure you, for the information of the Governor in Council, that I have on various and many occasions, whenever the least opportunity offered for my so doing, always tried to impress upon the Imaum, and also upon his sons, the great interest the people of England felt for the suppression of slavery, and of the success of the measure in many parts of the world, and of the hope the people of England entertained of his Highness's co-operation for the extinction of the trade; but I should feel that I was deceiving government if I did otherwise than assure you, that I always but too plainly saw how unpleasant the subject was to his Highness and his people. He always talked in this way: that the Koran, the word of God, as the Imaum calls it, sanctioned it; and the Arabs-of all Mahomedans, the MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM FREE-GROWN people considered by the Almighty as most deserving of favour-had a right to enslave infidels; and, moreover, his Highness frequently says to me, 'I well know the English have the power to stop the conveying slaves by sea, but it will bring upon them the curse of all Islam (Mahomedans); Arabs won't work; they must have slaves and concubines; but I see the English will soon do something.''

The fact is, the Imaum is avarcious. He will consent to abandon the export slave-trade if the government will grant him £20,000 per annum, his estimated income from the traffic; and will aid him in the preservation of his dominions, against other and hostile chiefs. The government has offered him, we regret to say, £2,000 a-year, and the island of Bahrein; but it is evident that he hopes to make better terms, although, probably, if he has not by this time, he will, ultimately, accept them, and then find the means, as he has hitherto done, of evading them.

The latest treaty for the suppression of the slave-trade between this country and the Imaum, simply gave our cruisers the power to capture such of his vessels as were found with slaves on board, beyond a direct line drawn from Cape Delgado, passing two degrees seaward of the island of Socotara and ending at Papein." He might ship by any other vessel, to any extent for which there might be a demand. By a previous treaty he had engaged to prohibit his subjects from "the selling of slaves to all sects of Christians." But he violated his engagements whenever an opportunity presented itself. On the 5th of May, 1843, Captain Christopher, of the Cleopatra, communicated the fact to the Hon. J. Percy, the admiral on the station, that the vessels belonging to the terri

COTTON.

We give insertion with much pleasure to the following address, which is in course of extensive private circulation :— TO THE FRIENDS OF THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE

TRADE AND SLAVERY.

It is cause for devout thankfulness to the Almighty, that, by his blessing on the efforts of those who laboured for the abolition of the Anglo-African slave-trade and of British colonial slavery, those dreadful evils have both been abolished by law. We can and do rejoice, that the shores of Africa can no longer be infested with impunity, by the man-stealer from our country; that nearly 800,000 of our fellow subjects, once held as slaves in the British colonies, have been emancipated; and that millions who were lately bondmen in British India are now legally free.

These gratifying and cheering results of past labours should lead us to pursue with increased energy what remains to be done in the great work of emancipation, beyond the limits of the British empire. Let none hastily, and without due consideration of the subject, conclude that British abolitionists can do little or nothing to hasten the termination of slavery, in countries subject to foreign rule. We believe there are many ways in which this may be done. Among these, we may refer to the practicability of calling the attention of persons in foreign lands to the crime of slavery, and to those dreadful evils which are inseparable from its existence. We may also point out to them the duty, the safety, and the advantages of emancipation. But we desire, at present, to direct attention to one painful fact, connected with the establishment and increase

of foreign slavery, and to state the course which we think should be adopted, both in order to avoid a continued implication in the crime, and to discourage a system which we so strongly reprobate. It can, we believe, be clearly shown, that American slavery is principally supported by the demand of Great Britain for the cotton of the United States. Allow us, then, briefly to state the extent and some of the revolting circumstances of the slave system in America, and to adduce proof of the assertion, that the people of England are largely implicated in its encouragement.

The slave population of the United States of America may be estimated at 2,800,000. This large number of our fellow-men, whose right to liberty is no less sacred than our own, are cruelly - coerced to toil for the benefit of others. With worse than savage barbarity, the marriage relation among these victims of oppression is not recognised by law; hence those who morally sustain the relation of husbands and wives are often separated for life, by the sale of one or both, at the will of their "owner," to places distant from each other. The ties of parent and child are equally disregarded, as might be expected from those who scruple not to sever the conjugal relation. In addition to this disregard of the social rights and of the common feelings of humanity, slaves are debarred from an acquaintance with even the rudiments of knowledge, lest they should thereby become acquainted with their wrongs, and learn how to escape from them. To teach a slave to read is punishable with severe penalties, and in one slave state, (Louisiana,) death is the legal penalty for a second offence. For attempting to escape from bondage, the laws of all the slave states allow the life of the slave to be taken by the pursuers, if he cannot otherwise be secured; and imprisonment or death is the penalty inflicted on those who aid a slave in his escape from bondage.

The American domestic slave-trade, which is carried on between the various slave states, is in some of its features too revolting for detail. By this trade it has been estimated that no less than 70,000 persons are annually sold, the greater portion taken from the place of their birth to more fertile regions, and to severer toil, and in a multitude of instances, subjected to those cruel separations of the nearest domestic ties to which we have before alluded. To all who recognise the principle that to hold an innocent fellow-being in slavery is criminal in the sight of God, we need scarcely say, that it is a Christian duty to avoid, as far as possible, all participation in, or encouragement of, the crime.

In stating our belief that the consumers of articles produced by slave labour are accessories to the maintenance of the whole system of which some features have been described, we advance no new doctrine. During the early struggle for the abolition of the slavetrade, in the latter part of the last century, the friends of that cause, as we have been informed, published and circulated tens of thousands of copies of a small tract recommending the disuse of sugar, at that time exclusively produced by slave labour. In this tract we think it was satisfactorily shown, that a small number of families, by their ordinary consumption of sugar, afforded the motive for the removal of one slave from Africa, and that, consequently, by abstinence from sugar on the part of a considerable number of families, the ravages of the slave-trade might be expected to be materially lessened. Thomas Clarkson, in his "History of the Abolition of the Slavetrade," estimates the number of persons in Great Britain who voluntarily abandoned the use of sugar at the period to which we refer, at 300,000. In addition to the reasons that have been already named for substituting, as much as possible, free-grown for slave-grown produce, it is manifest that in so doing, the subject of slavery would be much more frequently brought under the notice of our countrymen, and a standing protest be held up against it.

We have already stated, in concurrence with the testimony of some of the most eminent friends of the slave in the United States, and undeniable facts, that the demand for the cotton of that country in Great Britain has been a chief means of perpetuating and extending slavery in America. Shortly after the declaration of American independence, there was much ground to hope that slavery would not long exist in the Union. The tide of public opinion, which had already led to acts for the abolition of slavery in several of the northern states, was directed with considerable force against it; there were at that time few articles of export produced by slaves in the states of great pecuniary value. In 1790, the number of slaves was 657,000, and the cotton exported, 189,000lbs. In 1843, the number of slaves was estimated at 2,847,810; the cotton exported was 1,081,919,000lbs.; and unless the most vigorous means

be used to stay this mighty evil, it is impossible to calculate what may be its future extension. Shall we then continue to uphold and furnish an inducement for the maintenance of this vast system of crime and misery which we profess to deplore and abhor? Humanity, justice, and religion, forbid us so to do; and we therefore confidently cherish the hope that, as one means of discountenancing slavery, many of our countrymen and countrywomen will now be found willing and determined, as far as in them lies, to relinquish the use of American slave-grown cotton. Nor will they, we trust, be less resolute in reference to other articles, the produce of slavelabour, among which we may specially reckon Carolina rice and tobacco in all its forms.

By such a course as the above, (which we strongly recommend,) they will not only individually perform that which appears to be a manifest duty, but will encourage the efforts of those friends of the slave in America who deem it right thus to act. The number of these is, we learn, decidedly on the increase. We are glad to be able to inform those into whose hands this may fall, that an attempt is being made in this country to obtain a supply of articles manufactured exclusively from cotton the produce of free labour. It has been ascertained that some highly respectable manufacturers are willing to aid in carrying out the wishes of some friends of the anti-slavery cause in this country, in making such an article, which will be distinguished by a mark, to show its genuineness. In the first instance, the number of articles produced will be small; but, if encouragement be given to the attempt, a greater variety will hereafter be manufactured and offered for sale.

It has been already ascertained that the members of several antislavery societies to whom this subject has been submitted, cordially sympathise in the object it recommends.

We respectfully commend the subject to the consideration of the friends of the cause generally. It is, perhaps, unnceessary to add, that those who promote the object have no intention of deriving a profit themselves from the sale of free labour articles. They may be exposed to some loss, and will be glad if any of their friends incline to share with them the risk of the experiment.

Before we close this appeal, we deem it proper to state, that whilst we consider it a duty to abstain, as far as possible, from the use of articles produced by the labour of slaves, as one means of discouraging a wicked system, we deem it no less incumbent upon us to persevere in the use of those moral means, which, in our opinion, should be unceasingly employed until slavery shall be everywhere utterly abolished.

JOSEPH J. GURNEY, Norwich.
GEORGE THOMAS

Bristol.

JOSEPH EATON,

expiration of engagement, desertionss, absences and sickness pre- render 300 days service throughout the year, before their engagevailing on estates." ment should be considered finished, and their agreement cancelled;"

The total population in the colony, available as labourers, the and "to allow the term of imprisonment, if any labourers be exposed committee state to be as follows: