Haytians, while slaves, also decreased rapidly; yet that, since their emancipation, the Haytians have been doubling their numbers in about 20 to 22 years. All such fears as those of Mr. Blyth may therefore be dismissed as utterly vain. As for the old and infirm, they are now generally maintained, not by their masters, but by their own feeble exertions, aided by the kindness and bounty of their relatives.

WE are anxious to call the attention of the ministers of Jesus Christ' throughout the land, whether they belong to the Established Church,' or to any of the bodies dissenting from it, to the duty which devolves upon them at this moment of rousing their congregations to a just sense' of the iniquity of colonial slavery-that grand national iniquity, which must bring down, upon our unfeeling and obstinate perseverance in it,' the judgments of God, as certainly as they were executed upon the hardhearted and unrelenting monarch of Egypt; who, in despite of repeated calls and warnings, and portentous inflictions, still refused to

LET THE PEOPLE GO. We noticed, on former occasions, the sermons' of the Rev. C. Townsend, and the Rev. Mr. Marriott, the Rev. R. Watson, and the Rev. A. Thompson on this subject. We have now to announce a sermon preached on the 26th of last September, at Ben tinck Chapel, Mary-le-bone, by the Rev. S. C. Wilks, entitled, "The Duty of prompt and complete Abolition of Colonial Slavery;" which we strongly recommend as a most powerful and energetic appeal to the national conscience. It is prefaced by a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is published for Hatchard, and may be also had at the Anti-slavery office. We can do no more than cite two or three brief passages as a specimen of the spirit which animates this discourse. After an exposition of the evils of slavery which is just and impressive, he tells us that there are Christians, even in this metropolis, who talk of "their slaves," and of the happiness of their condition. May not such be asked-" Are their limbs their own? Can you not buy them, can you not sell them, like brute beasts? Can you not tear their wives and children from them? Do you not work them under the lash? May not you stripe them till their quivering flesh calls to heaven in vengeance on your head? May you not imprison them, and put them in the stocks, at your pleasure? May you not sell their sons and daughters to a stranger? And may not even your hired agents, your menial servants, do all this at your bidding? You say you are kind to them; but how know you this? Can you control the far distant agents of your authority? Can you hear their groans and sorrowful sighings across the Atlantic? Your intended kindness may never be heard of by them; besides, you may sell them, and soon you must die, and what cruel master may they not have after your death? or you may contract a debt, and they may be seized and put up to auction, and scattered to distant parts to discharge it. And all this you call happiness! Would you be happy thus circumstanced? Would you be happy to be a bondman yourself, and see your children condemned for no crime to the same hereditary inheritance of tears?"

He exhorts his hearers to make themselves "fully acquainted with the subject;" to take it up on Christian grounds alone; not to suffer themselves to be deceived by partial statements, or to be diverted from the extirpation of slavery itself by any promises of amelioration; not to be seduced into admitting the right of one man to hold another as a slave; to urge the necessity of prompt and speedy measures for its utter extinction; to employ their earnest and unceasing prayers in behalf of those "desolate and oppressed" outcasts; to aid the cause by their unwearied exertions and liberal contributions; to abstain from the use of articles which grind down the life of the slave in their production; and to unite in petitions to the legislature until not one slave shall exist in the British dominions. And, in conclusion, he thus addresses them :

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By your love then to your Saviour; by your sense of gratitude to Him for his mercies to yourselves, to your souls and bodies, to your beloved offspring, and to all that are dear to you; I beseech you remember these your brethren in bonds as bound with them. Look forward with hope to the blessed day when, no longer smarting beneath the scourge, but as free and happy villagers, under the wholesome and mild restraint of law, they shall repair to their daily labours, and reap honest wages, and buy bread for their children with the fruits of their industry; when also they shall call those children their own, and not the slaves of another; when they shall have the comforts of a Christian Sabbath, and go to the house of God to join in the prayers and praises of their fellow-worshippers in every land; when, in place of the horrible licentiousness which now prevails, both among Blacks and Whites, marriage shall be encouraged, and its ties be every where rendered sacred; when the younger women, now too frequently trained to the service of vice, shall live in meekness and purity as disciples of Christ; when the Christian minister or missionary shall no more be subjected to lawless violence or legal persecution, no more languish with fever in the noisome prison-house, or sink a blessed martyr for the name of his Saviour and love to those for whom he shed his blood, but be received and cherished as the servant of Christ and a harbinger of mercy to mankind; when the Bible shall be in every hand, and all be permitted and encouraged to read it; when even in this now desolate part of the Messiah's heritage, the Saviour shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied; when master and servant shall rejoice together in their common Lord, and meet as brethren at his holy table; when these sable sons of Ethiopia shall stretch out their hands to God; and, to conclude all, when that blessed day shall dawn when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords.'"

May multitudes of the ministers of Christ follow the example, and imitate the fervour of Mr. Wilks in this sacred cause!

VI.-MAURITIUS REGISTRY AND SLAVE TRADE.

OUR readers are aware how entirely and exclusively the suppression of the slave trade in the Mauritius depends on the regularity and strict

ness with which the registry of slaves is kept. We have shewn to what an extent the slave trade was carried on in that island down to the year 1825, through the designed neglect and consequent disorder of that record. Government being at length convinced of this, on the 30th January, 1826, a fresh order in council was issued, for instituting a new and more rigid system of registration, and the most pointed orders were given by Lord Bathurst for its correct and systematic enforcement. This duty was emphatically pressed upon the attention of the colonial authorities, as a point of indispensable obligation and paramount importance. But, this notwithstanding, it would appear from a document lately furnished to the House of Commons, that disorder and irregularity still prevailed there, and that consequently the slave trade, which nothing but an accurate registry, it was admitted on all hands, could prevent, must also still prevail there. The document to which we allude, is entitled "An Abstract of the latest returns from each of His Majesty's slave colonies, (including the Mauritius, and its dependencies, and the Cape of Good Hope;) of the slave population, distinguishing the sexes, specifying the precise date to which such returns have been made up in each colony respectively, and the date also at which they were received into the Registry office, in this country." This document was ordered to be printed on the 16th July, 1830, and is numbered 674. The facts disclosed by this document are these: the registered returns of slaves in the Mauritius, under the new order in council, for the year 1826, were males, 47,657, females, 29,117, total 76,744. (Mark the disproportion of sexes as proof of slave trading!) Now these returns, which ought to have been made to the registry office in England, in 1827, were not received there till the 18th February, 1829. What could have caused such a delay, if all was fair and regular, and free from any collusive alterations with a view to prevent inconvenient discoveries and discrepancies, admits, we presume, of easy explanation. But until it is explained, considering the system of fraud and imposture which was carried on in that colony for so many years, and which rendered abortive the first registration act to any one of its remedial purposes, we must retain some lurking suspicions that all is not as it should be.

But besides this, the return for 1826 is the latest that has been made. The new act, however, which then came into operation, peremptorily required, that the future returns, instead of being triennial, as formerly, should be biennial. There ought, therefore, in order to comply with the provisions of the law, to have been a return for 1828, as well as for 1826. But on the 8th July, 1830, no such return had arrived at the registry office in this country. What are we to think of these irregularities, after all the overwhelming proofs which the Mauritius have already supplied, of a firm and well-organized conspiracy among the whole community of slave holders and slave traders in that island to defeat one of the most solemn of the enactments of the British legislature-the abolition of the African slave trade? We trust His Majesty's Government have already been looking to this matter; if not, we shall deeply regret the oversight.

But this is not the only thing in the document before us requiring explanation. From the Bahamas there is no return later than the 1st of

January, 1825, nor from Dominica and Jamaica since 1826, nor from Trinidad, the Cape of Good Hope, (where the great disproportion of sexes is also most suspicious,) and the Virgin Islands, since 1825. What account is to be given of these negligences and irregularities? All transfers of slaves in these islands, including the Mauritius, must have ceased to be lawful since the time when the returns ought to have been furnished; and the slaves who have been made the subjects of such unauthorised transfers, must have legally become forfeited to His Majesty.

VII.—The SLAVE TRADE AND COLONIAL SYSTEM OF FRANCE.

THE French Moniteur of the 27th of September, contains the following statement of what passed in the Chamber of Deputies, on the 25th: General Lafayette ascended the tribune, and spoke to the following effect:-"I trust the Chamber will not object to my availing myself of the relation which the subject now before us (which was some question relative to the pecuniary arrangements with Hayti,) bears to the actual condition of our remaining colonies. I deeply regretted, at the time of the Constitutional Assembly, that we had not persisted in our intentions of placing free men of all colours on the same footing as to civil rights. I could have wished, also, that we had rigorously prohibited and adopted measures for the gradual enfranchisement of the slaves. We might thus have prevented the evils which have since occurred. And since that time, have we not had to deplore that consular and imperial system which sent our best troops to perish in the fatal expedition to St. Domingo, and which committed the double crime of attempting to re-establish slavery, and reviving the slave trade, at a time when no French capital was embarked in it? At present, we find ourselves in these points behind the United States and England, who have assimilated the trade in slaves to piracy, certainly the only effectual means of repressing slavery, as the guilty can now secure themselves against pecuniary loss. In order to avoid the inconvenience of tedious discussions, I request the Minister of the Marine, whose sound views on the subject I am well acquainted with, to inform us positively what is the determination of Government on the questions both of the slave trade and of the condition of the free people of colour in our colonies."

The Minister of the Marine said, "I quite concur in the views of justice and humanity of the illustrious General who has just addressed the Chamber. It is the purpose of Government to present to the Chambers a law for inflicting the punishment of piracy on those who engage in the infamous slave trade. I must admit, that in spite of the measures of prevention adopted by the Government, though the trade has diminished, it still exists. The punishment of piracy can alone be adequate to its entire repression. It might be said to the honour of France, that of all the maritime nations of Europe, France was, at this present moment, the least addicted to this odious traffic. As to the free men of colour in the colonies, the Government has recognised the principle that there shall no longer exist any differences in the civil condition of the free. Accordingly, a law which should be presented, would afford the

opportunity of consecrating the principle, that all the free, of whatever class or colour, should be equal in the eye of the law."

We congratulate France, and the world at large, on these gratifying declarations.

VIII. ON FRAMING PETITIONS TO PARLIAMENT.

AN address to the public, on the subject of slavery, from the pen of Mr. Edmund Clarke, of Truro, has it seems been widely circulated. We insert part of it, as entitled to general attention at the present moment.

"As it is intended again to apply to Parliament on this momentous subject, it is desirable not only that petitions should be forwarded early in the session, but that they should possess such characteristics as will ensure their success.

"They should be directed to one object:-they should convey, in reference to that object, the temperately expressed, yet importunate requirement of the whole British community.

"Should the forthcoming petitions against Slavery possess these two features, the abolition of that odious crime must speedily be accomplished. These are not times in which a Ministry, a body of Representatives, or a House of Peers would withstand such an appeal as this!!

"What is the object to which the prayer of every petition should be directed? It is that an early day be fixed, after which Slavery in the British dominions shall utterly and irrevocably cease. Let all the minor details of policy, commerce, finance, and compensation be deferred to the consideration and adjustment of government; while the public solicit the early extinction of Slavery as a measure of paramount, stern, and uncompromising justice!

"To make amelioration any longer a prominent object will be delusive. To obtain the mitigation of Slavery, it now appears indispensable to abolish Slavery itself. The experience of the last seven or eight years has demonstrated the folly of expecting any valuable improvement from the colonists. Their principles have been perverted, and their feelings have been obdurated by a long and demoralizing familiarity with the system in which they have been tutored; so that every meliorating provision will be rendered nugatory by the habits and imagined interests of the very men who must be its executors. Besides, the time consumed in obtaining, or endeavouring to obtain amelioration, is so much lost to the ulimate design of abolition. For the last mentioned reason, it is inexpedient to render the emancipation of slave children, at birth or any other time, a separate object of solicitude; to say nothing of the difficulty of providing for children whose parents would remain slaves, or of the injustice and cruelty of retaining a parent in bondage while his offspring is declared free.

"Should any object to immediate emancipation, it is replied, that justice to the slave, and regard to his owner's interests, both require it. If we have wronged the former by enslaving him, he ought to be instantly liberated. To make him toil for the purchase of his freedom, under the idea of preparing him for his recovered rights, would seem to add insult to injury. The proprietor represents his property as depreciated by the agitation of the subject. For his sake, then, let the question be set at rest as early as possible, and he will instantly know what ulterior measures his interests require him to pursue.

"Besides, the advocates for gradual emancipation must admit that every process, however long its course, must at some time or other reach its termination. Has not the slave for years been graduating for his freedom? Did not the abolition of the trade in 1807, proclaim to him the approaching extinction of the slave market and of slavery itself; and have not eight years nearly rolled away, since the far-famed resolutions of Parliament announced to him our determination to lighten, and then remove his chains? Surely it is time, even on the gradual scheme, to bring Slavery to a close!

"But will it be safe to emancipate immediately? The answer is unhesitatingly affirmative; and the following reasons will form its justification. 1. For many years past, both the slave and his owner have had reason to be assured that Sla