A LECTURE, &c. &c. MR. CHAIRMAN, BEING a member, Sir, of the Committee of "the Anti-slavery Society," I have, at the request of "the Agency Committee," of which I am also a member, visited CHELMSFORD, for the purpose of delivering a Lecture on the evils of COLONIAL SLAVERY: Desirous of promoting, in every way within my power, the objects of that philanthropic and useful Society, I have obeyed their call. I feel that I shall find a difficulty in speaking, because I entertain such deep feelings of compassion and commiseration for those distressed creatures, the negroes, as will prevent me from giving full utterance to the dictates of my heart. It is not a matter of speculation respecting which I speak: there are a thousand subjects to which I might refer, which would not much interest the feelings; but while I am now speaking, I know that my fellow-creatures in the British colonies are perishing. In this engagement, I consider myself as acting in accordance with an inspired command: "Open thy mouth for the dumb, in the cause of all such as are appointed for destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy."* The enslaved negroes cannot speak for themselves: I speak in their stead, and on their behalf; and who, that "judgeth righteously," but will admit that they are " poor and needy," and "appointed for destruction";-not because either they, or their fathers, brought on themselves this destitution, by their indolence, or their extravagance; or by their intemperate habits; but they thus suffer, on account of their masters having unrighteously oppressed them; and because the British Government has failed in putting forth its might, to protect and deliver them! Was it not the admitted duty of the government of a free people to have done this, at the time when the criminality of the practice was fully acknowledged, by the abolition of the Slave Trade? And is it not the duty of our present government, instantly to abolish it? If all the measures of amelioration, (and for which the friends of the slaves should be thankful) lately sent out, in the "Orders of Council," to the Governors of the Crown Colonies in the West Indies, were to be carried into full effect, which it is not rational to expect will be the case, since those to whom the execution of them is committed, are too deeply involved, to * Prov. xxxi. 8, 9. admit of equal justice towards the negroes, whom they consider as their property! the inherent evils of Slavery will still exist; nor can the miseries entailed on the negro population be prevented, but by the extinction of the system itself: and this the British Legislature alone can effectually accomplish! Was it not an act of wisdom, as regarded its own interests, in the LION, though the lord of the forest, not to stain its noble character, but to withdraw its heavy paw from the oppressed, complaining, and insignificant MOUSE?* And may not the period arrive, when even the BRITISH LION may need, for the safety of the nation,or, at least, for the safety of its colonies, the friendship and help of its most despised subjects: the now enslaved, and persecuted negroes? who will doubtless repay, by their gratitude, such an act of mercy. TRUE POLICY, as well as STRICT JUSTICE, demand, that the injunction of God to Israel should be observed by our rulers, " to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke." Humanity also pleads, that this divine injunction be immediately regarded, as much for the safety of the white inhabitants, as for the effectual amelioration of the condition of the negroes themselves. The subject of Slavery, or of man being claimed as property by his fellow-man, has been * Esop's Fables, No. 31. + Isaiah Iviii. 6. discussed under a variety of considerations, and its injustice and cruelty most properly exposed, by many of our distinguished countrymen; but by none, in more expressive and suitable language, than our immortal poet, Milton. His heart, which always beat high on the subject of Liberty, was full of indignation against Slavery, when he penned the following graphic lines: "O, execrable son! so to aspire Above his brethren, he himself assuming He made not lord; such title to himself The view which I am about to give of this frightful subject, has never yet, so far as I am aware, been taken. It is, however, the only view of it which can afford us any pleasure, and that is, "THE UTTER EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY AN OBJECT OF SCRIPTURE PROPHECY." The prophecy which I refer to, will be found in the book of the Revelation, the 18th chapter, the 11th and 13th verses:-" AND THE MERCHANTS OF THE EARTH SHALL WEEP AND MOURN,.. FOR NO MAN BUYETH THEIR MERCHANDIZE ANY MORE...THE MERCHANDIZE OF.. BEASTS, AND SHEEP, AND HORSES, AND SLAVES, AND SOULS OF MEN.' 99 I shall divide the Lecture into two parts: the first, As to the origin of Colonial Slavery, and the present condition of those wretched beings, who are called slaves, in the West India Islands: the second, As to the certainty of the utter extinction of this horrid system, and the probable means by which that event will be effected. I. I commence the discussion, as to the origin of Colonial Slavery, by adopting the language of an apologist for it: BRYAN EDWARDS, in his "History of the West Indies," published in 1793, calls his work, in so far as it has reference to Slavery, "The contemplation of human nature, in its most debased and abject state; the sad prospect of 450,000 reasonable beings, in a state of barbarity and slavery: of whom," he adds, "I will not say the major part, but great numbers assuredly, have been torn from their native country, and dearest connections, by means which no good mind can reflect upon, but with sentiments of disgust, commiseration, and horror."* As I shall confine myself to our own colonies, and to the guilt which Britain has contracted, in this infamous merchandize, I give the history of its commencement, in the words of the same historian, because it is proper that the names of our wretched countrymen, who were its first perpetrators, should be branded with all the public' opprobrium to which they are entitled, and whom, had they been judged according to divine law, Exodus xxi. 16, it would have prevented the * Edwards's History of the West Indies, vol. ii. 34. |