THE African mission is of God. He has already stamped it with the sacred seal of his approbation, known and read of all men. Ethiopia is stretching out her hands to God. Two native towns have already embraced the Gospel; and far into the interior the inquiry is waked up among the sable sons of Africa, yea, in the very depths of her forests, "What is this God-palaver which our brethren near the great water have heard?" Deputations come and are convinced that the white man's God is the true God. They hear the simple story of the cross, and believe with a heart unto righteousness. Let her once stand" redeemed, regenerated disenthralled by the spirit of universal emancipation;" let the manacles of spiritual thraldom be broken by the power of the Gospel, and let her Christianized and civilized population ask for her lost and captive tribes, here and elsewhere, and it is not in human nature to turn a deaf ear to the call. We assure our friends that the African mission was never more promising than at this time; and but for the embarrassment of our treasury, the missionary Board would feel authorized greatly to enlarge it. Never since the apostolic days was there a fairer field opened to missionary labor. It often happens that our efforts have to be made where men and means seem to be useless for a time: but here the amount of good to be done can be estimated with almost arithmetical certainty, from the means we have at command. To say nothing of the readiness with which the adult population receive the glad tidings of salvation-the rising generation is given to us; and if we can supply Christian schoolmasters we may teach the principles of Christianity to the youth without limitation, as far as we have yet ascertained the temper and disposition of the people. Meantime we have no want of men. The men are ready; the money only is wanting. They ask only food and raiment; yet to supply these the means are not at our command. O, who can hear the cry from the depths of African desolation and not deny himself, that he may contribute something to wipe away the tears the bitter tears-of helpless Africa!—Advocate & Journal.

ACCIDENT AND DROWNING.-At Millsburg on the afternoon of Friday last, (4th inst.) as Mr. HARRY JONES was crossing the St. Paul's river, in a canoe with two natives, the canoe capsized, but in water that was not over their heads. After collecting the things that were in the canoe, the native boys requested Mr. JONES to stand where he was until they caught the canoe, and returned to take him. Instead of doing so he undertook to swim to the shore with the things, and when within a few yards of the bank he went down to rise no more.

It is presumed that he must have been carried below the surface by an under current, which, now that the river is considerably swollen by the rains, would be likely to exist at the point where he disappeared. The body was found on Saturday afternoon. This man was the only surviving one of the three messengers who were sent to the blood thirsty GAY-TOOMBA, before the war. The others were horribly slain and eaten, we believe. Mr. J. while confined in the barricade was frequently led out, and the murderous axe held over his head. He at length escaped, wandered about in the woods in search of his path home; and at last arrived at Millsburg just in time to save him from death by starvation. Mr. J. was a consistent member of the M. E. Church at Millsburg.-Liberia Herald.

NEGROES IN CANADA.-An attempt has been made to induce the colored population of Canada to emigrate to Jamaica. The Montreal Courier computes that the number of negroes in Canada, who have escaped from slavery in the Southern States, is about twenty thousand.

THE AFRICAN REPOSITORY,

AND

COLONIAL JOURNAL.

Published semi-monthly, at $1 50 in advance, when sent by mail, or $200 if not paid till after the expiration of six months, or when delivered to subscribers in cities. VOL. XVIII.] WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 1, 1841. [No. 23.

SLAVERY.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 1841.

LORD BROUGHAM said that he rose to call the attention of their Lordships to a subject of very great importance, and upon which, as there happily existed no difference of opinion in that House or the other House of Parliament, and as there was, indeed, a singular unanimity in every part of the country on the subject, it would be the less necessary for him to trouble their Lordships at any very great length upon the present occasion. The subject was the slave trade and slavery. He believed that there did not exist any description of persons, either in Parliament or in the country, who did not entertain the strongest desire to see this most detestable traffic universally and immediately extinguished, and also to see the state of slavery itself as universally, and with all practicable expedition, extin guished also. (Hear, hear.) The ground upon which he felt it necessary to trouble their Lordships upon the present occasion, was, that very great misapprehension had gone forth as to the state of the law respecting both slavery and the slave trade, as it at present stood upon the statue book. He presented a petition to their Lordships some ten or twelve days ago, which contained a variety of allegations in detail, and he distinctly stated at the time that the truth and accuracy of those allegations must rest with the respectable petitioners who requested him to bring the matter before the House. But, that if the facts they stated turned out to be true, it ap peared that to a large amount the capital of this country was employed, not only in continuing slavery in foreign countries, but actually in maintaining and upholding the slave trade in our own settlements. He deemed it expedient in going over the different statements to specify those facts which he understood from the best attention he could give the subject, to be contrary to the laws as at present existing-those which he considered of doubtful character, and those which were clearly not prohibited.

He would begin with those alleged to be done by British subjects. The law with regard to them was, that any British subject, in any part of the world, whether in a part where the slave trade was lawful or illegal, or in a part where the slave trade was not only allowed, but was encouraged by the laws of that country, engaging in or carrying on the slave-trade was guilty of felony-that the slave-trade if partaken in by that British subject was felony-that he was liable to transportation for life if that act of slave-trading was committed on the high seas or within the jurisdiction

of the Admiralty-and that he was liable to transportation for fourteen years if the slave-trading act were committed otherwise than in the Admiralty jurisdiction. For several years this offence had been a capital felony, but of late it had been reduced to transportation for life, but still it was piracy as well as felony if committed within the Admiralty jurisdiction. The person gailty of it was liable to be tried, if taken. He was liable to be at once brought to a British settlement, wherever the offence was committed, and there tried as if he had been convicted of an offence in the county of Middlesex. After this he hoped that it would not be again stated, as he had been surprised to find that it had been stated, that in his opinion the illegality of the offence depended on the law of foreign countries. He had stated the exact opposite of this. Equally certain to this was it that a foreigner committing an act of slavery within British dominions was subject to transportation for life, the same punishment with the Englishman committing the same offence. Now, the only question was whether any given act amounted to slave-trading or not? Several acts had been stated in the petition which he had presented, which, in his opinion, appeared not to amount to acts of slave-trading. Of others there mentioned he had no very confident opinion respecting them. It was very doubtful whether they were or were not, but of others again he was clearly of opinion that they did amount to slave trading, and fully came within the provisions of the Act. If a person fitted out a vessel to traffic with a slave-factory, and sold goods to that factory for slave-trading, ia such a case as this, if the goods were at once sold out and out for a price stated, then, he had given it as his opinion, as far as it was worth any thing, that this did not amount to an act of slave-trading. Whether it was a sort of traffie which ought to be encouraged; whether it was a sort of traffic which one would wish to be engaged in, or of which one would approve was altogether another question; but merely with regard to the law, in his opinion it was not illegal. If again the goods were of a description about which no doubt could exist as to the object for which they were intended, that the use to which they were to be applied was evident-such, for instance, as fetters, which could only be used in the slave-trade-in such a case as this he was not prepared to state, that that was an act of slave-trading, liable to a charge of felony, and the punishment consequent upon it. This case was very doubtful; but if one class of goods or the other, those that might be engaged in the innocent commerce, perhaps, of Africa, and those which could only be employed in its guilty commerce-in either of these cases, if the price of the goods depended-as had been stated by the petitioners that they did depend-upon the success of the slave-trading, in which they were employed, that the sale of such goods was an act of slave-trade, the parties engaged being, indeed, the partners of slave-traders themselves, he could not entertain a doubt. They were guilty of felony within the meaning of the Act, and they subjected themselves to all the penal consequences involved in it.

There was another more extensive point, to which he entreated the attention of their Lordships, and of the Government. He alluded to the act of holding property in foreign settlements, cultivated or worked-cultivated if plantations, worked if mines-by slave labor, and consequently of being engaged in the purchase of slaves with a view to the cultivation of these plantations, or the working of these mines. On this kind of dealing the question arose whether the Abolition Act had effect here or not. Many persons held a very confident opinion that the Act did not apply. He could not see how that view of the law had arisen. It was a very general opinion; it was commonly acquiesced in-it was called upon to a very

large extent. It induced parties to invest their capital, and to lead their money, and yet when their Lordships came to attend to the provisions of the Act, he gravely questioned whether he had a right to go so far as to say that they would entertain one grave doubt as to the illegality of these proceedings. The question was not as to the holding of property. It was clear that the Abolition Act did not prohibit British subjects from holding such property; but the question was, whether it had been legal, since the Abolition Act, for British subjects to purchase slaves-voluntarily to make themselves the holders of slaves-to buy and to sell slaves. On this opinion his statements the other night had been misrepresented, and consequently he had received several letters from persons who were desirous of knowing whether this said Act was lawful, as they had understood him to have said so. He had carefully abstained from saying any such thing from giving any such opinion. He could have given no such opinion, for he thought it certainly illegal. He confessed that it was not a matter wholly free from doubt, but still on the whole, he thought that the Act struck at the case to which he was alluding. He would briefly state the grounds on which he entertained his opinion.

In 1824, as their Lordships would remember, a great change had taken place in the law by which slavery had for the first time been declared piracy. In 1811 was passed an Act on this subject, but in 1824 it was declared felony and piracy, and the punishment of transportation for life was to be inflicted on those who were guilty of the offence within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, and of fourteen years on those who com mitted it in other places. The words by which the lesser punishment was enacted were, that "all or any persons who trade in, purchase, sell, barter, or transfer, any slaves, shall be held guilty of felony, and on conviction, shall be transported for fourteen years, except in special cases hereinafter to be provided for.". Now, what were these special cases? They were contained in the 13th and 14th section of the Act. The first was, Except where the slaves were purchased, &c., "in any colonies, settlements, forts, or factories, of his Majesty;" and the second was, That no slaves should be removed from one country or one colony to another without a license, except by "their own masters." When this was the law, how, he asked, could men in Cuba and the Brazils sell or purchase, or trade in, or barter, or transfer, or remove any slaves in either of those places, being within the specified exception of her Majesty's dominions? On this ground he knew not on what view of the law, parties had been advised to proceed to these settlements, and to enter into such speculations either by themselves or by their agents. The law likewise said that they "who knowingly and willingly advanced money or goods for the objects hereinafter forbidden and declared illegal," should be held guilty of felony, these objects being the buying, selling, and bartering of slaves. How these parties could be advised thus to sell their goods and to lend their money he could not see, but such advice had been given-such views had been taken. He trusted, therefore, that his noble friends in the Government would turn their attention as early as possible to the consideration of this subject. If there were any doubt found to exist amongst learned authorities as to the state of the law, let them come down to Parliament and have that doubt at once removed. If there were no doubt, and these acts were declared unlawful, then he should say that the course must be advantageous to the public and the fairest way to individuals would be to notify by proclamation what was the state of the law, to give a general notice to all persons who had got into this predicament, and, at all events, thus to prevent all possibility of any one again embarking in it by stating the inevi

table consequences of so doing. What the legislature had already done was well worthy of their Lordships' attention. The first measure on the subject of slavery had been brought into Parliament in 1806 by Sir ARTHUR PIGOT, which forbade the lending of money in any transactions connected with slaves. In the following year Lord GREY's Act made all slave-trading by British subjects any where, save in the British dominions, felony. Then came the Act of 1824, introduced by his lamented friend Mr. CANNING. That change, far from diminishing, extended the provisions of the former Acts. Nothing but the lateness of the session prevented him from moving for an address pledging the House to take the question into their earliest consideration in the ensuing session, A similar motion had been agreed to on a former occasion. If their Lordships, however, thought that there was now any objection to this course, in consequence of the advanced period of the session, he would not press it, but he sincerely hoped that the Government generally, and especially his noble friend at the head of the Board of Trade, would give their deep attention to the matter, and would deal with it in the way which their experience would show to be necessary. A report had been received, he believed, from Dr. MADDEN, connected with the state of slavery on the western coast of Africa, and, for form's sake, he would move for its production. He begged to ask his noble friend (the Earl of Ripon) whether he had any objection to bring it forward? But, whether he had or had not, he, at any rate, trusted that he would take some steps in the business. Before he sat down he must call the attention of their Lordships to the subject of slavery in India. In Malacca the legal existence of slavery had always been doubted. It had remained a matter of difference and dispute, but all difficulty had lately been removed by the unanimous resolution of the slave-owners, agreed to on the 29th November last, to liberate their slaves from the 31st of December, 1841. This was certainly a good opportunity for putting an end to slavery in that colony. He would, however, for a few minutes draw the attention of their Lordships to the dreadful effects of slavery on the continent. He would briefly refer to the report of the law commissioners as to one of the many fearful consequences arising from that system. In a report made to the commissioners by Major SLEYMAN were described the practices of certain gangs of natives for the purposes of supplying slaves: "These gangs invariably take their families with them on their expeditions, and the female members of the gangs are employed as inveig. lers to win the confidence of the emigrant families they fall in with on the road. They introduce these families to the gang, and they are prevailed upon to accompany them to some place suitable for their designs upon them, when the parents are murdered by the men, while the women take care of the children.' The following is the account given of them by a Jemadar: "We call our trade (viz., murdering travellers for their children) megpunna.'" To a question put to him, "Are you not afraid that the children will disclose the manner in which you got them, and thereby get you into trouble?" the answer was, "We invariably murder our victims at night, first taking the precaution to put the children to sleep, and in the morning we tell them that we have purchased them of their parents, who have gone off and left them." Again, he says, "The children are seldom aware of the fate of their parents, and in general we sell them to people very well acquainted with the nature of our proceedings." Another Jemadar, a leader, says, " After the Capture of BHURTPOOR, NANOO SING BRINJARAH, and four other Byragees, residents of Kurroulle, came to me with four travellers and their four children, and invited me to participate in their murder, which I consented to, and with the assistance of my gang, we