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MINUTES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GENERAL ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION, 
 
 i \ 
 
 CALLED BY THE COMMITTEE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAYERY SOCIETY, 
 
 HELD IN 
 
 LONDON ON THE 12th OF JUNE, 1840, 
 
 AND CONTINUED BY ADJOURNMENTS TO THE 23rd OF THE SAME MONTH. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHNSTON & BARRETT, 13, MARK LANE, 
 
 AND SOLD AT THE OFFICE OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY 
 
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 MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GENERAL ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 June 12th, Friday. 
 
 The objects of the Convention. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Scales read a paper expounding and defining 
 the objects of this Convention. 
 
 13th, Saturday. 
 
 The essential sinfulness of slavery.—British India.—On the influence of slavery in 
 regard to morality, fyc.—Statements on slavery in Denmark. 
 
 The Rev. B. Godwin of Oxford read a paper on “ The 
 essential sinfulness of Slavery, and its opposition to the spirit 
 and precepts of the Gospel.” 
 
 Professor Adam read a paper on British India. 
 
 Rev. W. Bevan read a paper on Slavery as to “ its moral 
 influence on the character of the Enslaver and the Enslaved, 
 and its opposition to the advance of Civilization, Education, 
 and Christianity.” 
 
 G. W. Alexander, Esq., made statements relating to Slaves 
 in the Colonies of Denmark, which kingdom he had visited. 
 
 15th, Monday. 
 
 Committee appointed on free-labour.—Committee on the results of emancipation in 
 the British Colonies.—On slave ships cast on British shores, and resolutions 
 thereon.—Resolutions on Literature, affecting Anti-Slavery enterprise .— 
 Manuscript volume, on slavery in America. 
 
 A Committee, consisting of John Cropper, Jqsiah Conder, 
 and John Sturge, Esqrs., was appointed to collect and arrange 
 
 A 5 
 
4 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 facts on the advantages of free over slave-labour, and report 
 thereon, such report to detail the most effectual means for 
 securing the adoption of free-labour. 
 
 A Committee was appointed, consisting of the Rev. W. 
 Knibb, S. J. Prescod, W. W„ Anderson, W. Morgan, 
 Esqrs., and Captain C. Stuart, with power to add to their 
 number, to obtain and arrange evidence on the results of 
 Emancipation in the British Colonies, and to report a reso¬ 
 lution thereon; also to consider and report the measures now 
 necessary for securing and rendering permanent, freedom in the 
 said colonies. 
 
 Whereas, in the year 1835, a certain cargo of slaves was 
 shipped from one of the ports of the United States to another 
 port within the same ; and whereas the ship whilst performing 
 the voyage was providentially driven on one of the British 
 West India islands, and the said slaves, of course, by the 
 operation of British law, made free; and whereas the American 
 government, on behalf of the persons claiming said slaves as 
 their property, demanded of the British government, either 
 that said slaves should be delivered up, or that remuneration 
 should be made to their pretended owners ; and whereas the 
 British government refused to comply with the requisition for 
 the delivery up of said slaves, or with its alternative, and this 
 on the ground that the British government had ceased, on any 
 part of its territory, to recognize the right of one man to hold 
 property in the person of another; and whereas the slave¬ 
 holding interest in the United States is attempting, in the 
 Congress of the United States, to stir up the American 
 government to resist the principle on which such remuneration 
 was refused. And whereas, in the prosecution of this attempt, 
 a resolution was recently received in the House of Representa¬ 
 tives of the United States, urging that government to insist 
 on an arrangement with the British government, by which 
 slaves escaping from their masters in the United States into 
 
ANTI'SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 5 
 
 the British dependencies on the American continent, should 
 either be delivered up to their masters, or a full indemnity 
 paid for them. And whereas, in the further prosecution of 
 the said unjust object, the senate of the United States, by 
 a resolution passed in April last, declared in effect, that if an 
 American ship or vessel carrying on the slave-trade between 
 any of the ports in the United States, should be forced by 
 stress of w'eather or any other unavoidable cause into the 
 port, and under the jurisdiction of a friendly power, she 
 and her cargo, and the persons on board with their property, 
 and the rights belonging to their personal relations, as estab¬ 
 lished by the laws of the state to which they belong, would 
 be placed under the protection which the laws of nations 
 extend to the unfortunate, under such circumstances. 
 
 Wherefore, 
 
 It was Resolved,—As the sense of this Convention, that the 
 proposition embodied in said resolutions, to wit, to sustain by 
 the sanctions of public law, which are founded on the principles 
 of natural justice and right, the pretensions of the slave- 
 system which exists only by disregarding justice, and annihi¬ 
 lating right, is not only unchristian and absurd, but disre¬ 
 spectful to the common sense of mankind. That this, the first 
 attempt known in the history of nations, to convert the 
 pretensions of slave-holders into rights, and as such to engraft 
 them on the system of public law, by which the intercourse of 
 nations is regulated, ought never to have emanated from the 
 senate of a people, who, from a period of time coeval with their 
 independent national existence, have asserted before the whole 
 world, and in the most solemn manner, that all men are created 
 equal—^are entitled to their liberty, and to the pursuit of 
 happiness :—That to allow such a proposition, would be not 
 less inconsistent with the honour and dignity of Great Britain, 
 and of such of the other nations of the world as have either 
 abolished slavery within their respective limits, or are in good 
 faith proceeding so to do, and is hostile to the avowed prin¬ 
 ciples of that people among whom it has originated, and to the 
 
6 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 cause of humanity with which, under God, all governments 
 are solemnly charged. 
 
 That while the literature of Great Britain exercises so vast 
 an influence over the public opinion of America, we deem it 
 the duty of British abolitionists, individually, as well as collec¬ 
 tively, to make systematic efforts to secure a frequent, clear, 
 and full expression of the sentiments of the nation, through 
 its leading religious, political, and literary periodicals, on the 
 subject of slavery, and the anti-slavery enterprise in the United 
 States; to fix the attention of the world on the successful 
 results of the West India emancipation ; and to spread before 
 the American public, evidence of the deep indignation of the 
 civilized world, against a slave-holding republic. 
 
 A volume entitled, “ Replies to the Queries of the British 
 and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, on Slavery in the United 
 States,” having been laid on the table, and numerous other 
 papers and statements submitted, relating to the present opera¬ 
 tion of slavery in the United States, were referred to a Com¬ 
 mittee, who were desired to consider the same, and to prepare 
 them for publication. 
 
 16 th, Tuesday. 
 
 Address to the French people.—Slavery in the Dutch Colonies.—Mohamedan 
 
 slavery. 
 
 Agreed, that an Address from this Convention, be trans¬ 
 mitted to the French people, earnestly impressing on them the 
 injustice, and impolicy of any longer tolerating the existence of 
 slavery, in their colonies. 
 
 G. W. Alexander, and James Whitehorne, Esqrs., brought 
 the subject of slavery in the Dutch Colonies, before the Con¬ 
 vention ; the former also adverted to it, in connexion with the 
 Swedish possessions. 
 
 A Committee was appointed to prepare a report of the 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 7 
 
 present state of Slavery in the Dutch Colonies, together with 
 an address to the people of Holland, upon the duty and 
 advantages of seeking its immediate abolition. 
 
 Also, a Committee to take into consideration, the best way of 
 assisting to effect the suppression of slavery in Mohamedan 
 countries. 
 
 17th, Wednesday. 
 
 Paper on African slate-trade.—Statement on slave-trade in Cuba. — Turnbull’s 
 plan for suppression of slave-trade.—Report on manuscript on American 
 Slavery.—On the holding of slaves by British functionaries.—On articles 
 manufactured for the slave-trade. 
 
 A paper was read on the slave-trade, as now carried on 
 from the western coast of Africa. 
 
 A detailed statement of the nature and operation of the slave- 
 trade in Cuba, was presented by R. R. Madden, Esq., M. D., 
 and he was requested, to place his statement in the hands of a 
 Committee, for its translation into the Spanish language, in 
 order to promote its circulation. 
 
 A plan for the suppression of the slave-trade, was sub¬ 
 mitted by D. Turnbull, Esq., and referred to a Committee, 
 to consider and report thereon. 
 
 The Report of the Committee appointed to consider the Re¬ 
 plies to Queries furnished by the Abolition Society of America, 
 containing most valuable and very important information, was 
 presented and referred to the publication Committee, to publish 
 the whole, or such parts as they may deem expedient. 
 
 A Committee was appointed to prepare a memorial to 
 government deprecating and strongly reprobating the holding 
 of slaves by British functionaries. 
 
 A Committee was also appointed to make the following 
 inquiries:— 
 
8 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 1. Whether manacles for slaves are manufactured in this 
 country. 
 
 2. Whether large quantities of inferior fire-arms are also 
 manufactured in Great Britain, to be sold to the Africans 
 for their slave wars. 
 
 3. Whether cotton goods of a particular fabric and to a large 
 amount are manufactured in this country, and solely intended 
 for being used in barter for African slaves. 
 
 4. Whether persons in England hold shares in Brazilian 
 and other mines which are worked by slaves. 
 
 5. Whether any British Joint Stock Banks have branch 
 establishments in countries in which the slave-trade prevails. 
 
 6. What are the quantities of gunpowder exported from 
 any port or ports in Great Britain to Africa and other parts 
 of the world, respectively ? 
 
 18th, Thursday. 
 
 Resolutions on withholding Christian fellowship with slave-holders. — Hudson*s Bag 
 
 Company.—Free people of colour in Canada.—Slavery among the North Ame¬ 
 rican Indians. 
 
 1. That it is the deliberate and deeply-rooted conviction 
 of this Convention, which it thus publicly and solemnly 
 expresses to the world, that slavery, in whatever form, or in 
 whatever country it exists, is contrary to the eternal and im¬ 
 mutable principles of justice and the spirit and precepts of 
 Christianity; and is, therefore, a sin against God, which acquires 
 additional enormity when committed by nations professedly 
 Christian, and in an age when the subject has been so generally 
 discussed and its criminality so thoroughly exposed. 
 
 2. That this Convention cannot but deeply deplore the fact, 
 that the continuance and prevalence of slavery are to be 
 attributed in a great degree to the countenance afforded by 
 many Christian churches, especially in the Western world, which 
 have not only withheld that public and emphatic testimony 
 against the crime which it deserves, but have retained in 
 their communion without censure, those by whom it is noto¬ 
 riously perpetrated. 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 9 
 
 3. That this Convention, while it disclaims the intention or 
 desire of dictating to Christian communities, the terms of their 
 fellowship, respectfully submits that it is their incumbent duty 
 to separate from their communion, all those persons who, after 
 they have been faithfully warned in the spirit of the gospel, 
 continue in the sin of enslaving their fellow-creatures, or hold¬ 
 ing them in slavery—a sin, by the commission of which, with 
 whatever mitigating circumstances it may be attended in their 
 own particular instance, they give the support of their example 
 to the whole system of compulsory servitude, and the un¬ 
 utterable horrors of the slave-trade. 
 
 4 . That it be recommended to the Committee of the British 
 and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, in the name of this Con¬ 
 vention, to furnish copies of the above resolutions to the 
 ecclesiastical authorities of the various Christian churches 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Statements were laid before the Convention connected with 
 the Hudson’s Bay Company. On the condition of free people 
 of colour in Canada. Also, on slavery among the Indians in 
 North America, referred to a committee, to report to the 
 meeting thereon. 
 
 19 th, Friday. 
 
 Resolutions on Free-labour adopted.—Resolutions founded on a report of the Com¬ 
 mittee, on the prejudices of colour , adopted. 
 
 1. That upon the evidence of facts to which the attention of 
 this Convention has been directed, it is satisfactorily estab¬ 
 lished as a general axiom, that free-labour is more profitable 
 to the employer, and consequently cheaper, than slave-labour. 
 
 2. That of all kinds of slave-labour, that of imported slaves 
 has been demonstrated to be the most costly, and the least 
 productive. 
 
 3. That the large profits, which, notwithstanding the dis¬ 
 advantages of slave-labour, have been realized in the cultiva¬ 
 tion of sugar, cotton, and other tropical productions, have 
 
10 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 arisen from, and depend on two circumstances : first, the large 
 tracts of rich unoccupied soil, which, by their extraordinary 
 fertility, have repaid the expenses of imported slave-labour, 
 under the rudest and most wasteful husbandry ; and secondly, 
 the artificial maintenance by fiscal regulations of the high 
 prices it gained for tropical productions on their first intro¬ 
 duction into Europe, those prices being so high as to support 
 slave-cultivation in the absence of the planters from the 
 management of their own estates, by, and under a system which 
 could not have succeeded in any other branch of the agricul¬ 
 ture, commerce, or manufactures of this or any other country. 
 
 4. That the continued employment of slave-labour, inva¬ 
 riably tends to lessen and exhaust the fertility of the soil, so as 
 eventually to destroy the profits of the planter, who finds him¬ 
 self unable to compete with the possessors of fresh lands. That 
 owing to this course, the cultivation of the tropical produce 
 by slave-labour, has been to a great extent abandoned in the 
 middle States of the American Republic, where the slave-popu¬ 
 lation is reared for the purpose of being sold to the planters of 
 the south, thereby proving that the value of the slaves would 
 otherwise have been destroyed by their numerical increase, 
 and the exhaustion of the soil; as also, that imported slave- 
 labour is dearer, by the profit realized upon the rearing of 
 the slaves. 
 
 5. That the higher cost of imported slave-labour, even 
 the labour of a native slave population, is strikingly illus¬ 
 trated by the fact, that the cultivation of cotton in the 
 United States, has reduced the market prices of the cotton 
 of Brazil, cultivated by imported slaves, about one-third, and 
 that while the cultivation of Brazilian cotton has been sta¬ 
 tionary, that of American cotton has steadily increased. 
 
 6. That the superior cheapness of free-labour has been 
 strikingly evinced in the cultivation of indigo, which, fifty 
 years ago, was wholly supplied by slave-labour. As the result 
 of British skill and enterprise, the indigo of India has gra¬ 
 dually displaced from the market, the slave-grown indigo of the 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 11 
 
 Carolinas and South America, till there is now, not an ounce 
 imported into Europe; and so far as regards the cultivation of 
 that article, the labour of hundreds of thousands of slaves has 
 been superseded by free-labour, the annual produce averaging 
 in value, between three and four millions sterling. 
 
 7. That there is every reason to believe, that the success 
 which has attended the application of free-labour to the growth 
 of indigo in India, would follow upon the extended cultivation 
 of other tropical produce, by the free natives of that vast 
 empire, and of other portions of the world, so as to supersede 
 in other articles, the produce of slave-labour, and thereby con¬ 
 tribute to extinguish both slavery and the slave-trade. That 
 in particular, as slavery in the United States is mainly de¬ 
 pendent for its existence upon the import into Great Britain 
 of the slave-grown cotton of America, to the amount, in 1838, 
 of more than 400,000,000 lbs. weight: were measures adopted 
 to encourage the growth of cotton in India and elsewhere by 
 free-labour, not only would an incalculable benefit be conferred 
 upon the millions of the human race now employed, but by 
 supplanting slave-grown cotton in the European market, it 
 would, as the certain result, materially aid the extinction of 
 American Slavery. 
 
 8. That the advantages of free-labour cultivation, cannot, 
 however, be fairly attested, or fully realized under a system 
 of husbandry and general management which has grown up 
 under the existence of slavery, and, which is attended by a 
 waste of human labour, that, but for monopoly, prices must have 
 absorbed all the profits of cultivation. That the unrestricted 
 competition of free-labour in the cultivation of sugar, would 
 necessarily introduce a new system, by which the cost of pro¬ 
 duction would be further diminished, and the fall of prices 
 that must ensue, would leave no profits upon slave-grown 
 sugar. 
 
 1. That the practice of excluding people of colour from places 
 of worship, or allotting them separate seats therein, tends to 
 
12 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 perpetuate the unchristian and unfounded prejudices against 
 the coloured people. 
 
 2. That any distinction in the treatment, whether in schools, 
 colleges, houses of public worship, or in any other respect 
 on account of colour, is opposed to the benign spirit of 
 Christianity. 
 
 8. That abolitionists, and all who assume the name of 
 friends of the coloured race, act inconsistently with their 
 professions, unless they use all their influence to put an end 
 to such unchristian practices. 
 
 4. That this Convention most earnestly entreats all Christian 
 professors, all True abolitionists, immediately to give up all 
 those unrighteous distinctions, which have their origin in the 
 prejudice against colour; and that in their social intercourse 
 as citizens and as Christians, they treat the coloured man as 
 an equal and a brother. 
 
 20th, Saturday. 
 
 Address to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs , and to the Vice-Roy of 
 Egypt.—List of articles the produce of slave-labour to be prepared.—Resolutions 
 on Slavery in British India.—On Texas.—On the subject of compensation .— A 
 Report from the Committee appointed to consider the case of British functionaries 
 holding slaves was presented, and an address to Lord Palmerston adopted .— 
 Address to heads of governments to be prepared. 
 
 To the Right Honourable 
 Lord Viscount Palmerston, G.C.I3. M.P. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have the honour to communicate to your lordship a 
 resolution unanimously passed at a meeting of the General 
 Anti-Slavery Convention, held at Freemasons’ Hall, on the 
 17th of the present month. 
 
 Associated for the great object of abolishing slavery, by 
 means solely of a moral, religious, and pacific character, they 
 have not been inattentive to the course of events in the oriental 
 world, and they breathe an earnest prayer that the crimes and 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 13 
 
 calamities of war may be prevented by the friendly inter¬ 
 vention of the powers of Europe. They would humbly and 
 earnestly implore your lordship to use your high authority for 
 connecting the overthrow of slavery with the consolidation of 
 peace. 
 
 In considering the situation filled by the Grand Seignior, 
 as the representative of the Caliphat, the Convention feel a 
 strong conviction that if a declaration could be obtained from 
 His Imperial Highness, condemnatory of slavery in any or all 
 its forms, encouraging the manumission of slaves, and calling 
 the attention of the Mussulman world to the state of opinion 
 among civilized nations and governments, such a declaration 
 could not but produce a happy influence throughout the Otto¬ 
 man empire. And the Convention respectfully suggest to your 
 lordship, that the friendly interposition of Great Britain could 
 be employed for no nobler purpose, and that its success would 
 reflect high honour on the head of Islamism, so eminently 
 instrumental in strengthening the foundations of the Turkish 
 government, and in diminishing the fearful amount of degra¬ 
 dation, wickedness, and misery which everywhere accompany 
 slavery. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's obedient servant, 
 
 Thomas Clarkson, President. 
 
 To his Highness Mahomet Ali Pacha, 
 
 Viceroy of Egypt, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 May it please your Highness, 
 
 An assembly of men gathered from various parts 
 of the world, are now met in this capital to discuss the best 
 means of putting an end to slavery and the slave-trade. 
 
 It has come to their knowledge, that when a representation 
 was made to your Highness that the Egyptian troops had been 
 engaged in hunting slaves, and had received slaves in payment 
 of their wages, your Highness was pleased to communicate 
 
14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 your dissatisfaction, and to express your wish “to abolish 
 a dishonourable traffic, even though its abolition should be 
 attended with some sacrifices.'” 
 
 Your Highness’s declaration has been laid before the Par¬ 
 liament of Great Britain, and thus it has come to the know¬ 
 ledge, not only of the British people, but of the civilized 
 world, and I am instructed by this Convention to convey to 
 your Highness the expression of their gratitude for the steps 
 you have already taken, and their earnest hope that you will 
 deign to give complete effect to your just and generous inten¬ 
 tions. They will hail with delight every pacific measure which 
 your Highness may adopt, in order to impede the importation 
 of, and the trade in slaves; they have witnessed, with much 
 satisfaction, all that has been done to encourage and protect 
 the blacks in their painful pursuits of agriculture, and are per¬ 
 suaded, not only that the tranquillity, but the prosperity, both 
 of government and people are intimately connected with that 
 unmolested industry, which can never exist while the persons 
 and the properties of the negroes are exposed to unchecked 
 violence. They would trust that your Highness might also 
 consent to abolish the slave-markets in Egypt, and, if they 
 thus urge on your Highness these their most respectful soli¬ 
 citations, it is that they have been encouraged by past evidences 
 of your humane purposes, to appeal to you for giving them 
 their full development. 
 
 I have the honour to be, your Highness’s 
 
 Most devoted humble servant, 
 
 Thomas Clarkson, President. 
 
 In order to facilitate the use of free-labour produce, the 
 Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society 
 be requested to institute, at their earliest convenience, a 
 careful inquiry into the produce of slave-labour, and to prepare, 
 for circulation, as complete a list as they can, of those com¬ 
 modities which are thus produced, furnishing, at the same 
 time, a statement of articles which are obtained by free-labour. 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 15 
 
 1. That it appears by the most authoritative evidence, that 
 there are, in British India, two distinct systems of slavery 
 derived from the former Hindoo and Mohamedan govern¬ 
 ments, and legalized, regulated, administered, and enforced 
 by the British government in India. 
 
 2. That Hindoo slavery, illegal, and existing only as a 
 custom under the Mohamedan government, has been legalized 
 by the British government in India, not by a positive, direct, 
 and unequivocal enactment, which must have been submitted 
 for the approval or disapproval of parliament, but by a doubtful 
 interpretation of a law, the letter of which is acknowledged 
 to be silent on the subject, and that Mohamedan slavery, 
 legalized by the same means, practically exists in forms and 
 circumstances, in which even the Mohamedan law does not 
 recognize its validity. 
 
 S. That slaves in British India are both agrestic and 
 domestic, and that the total humber of slaves does not 
 certainly fall short of 500,000, and probably greatly exceeds 
 that number, exclusive of the number of slaves in dependent 
 native states and principalities. 
 
 4. That slavery in India appears to have originated in 
 Hindoo, and Mohamedan conquest, to have been increased 
 under the native government by the sale of criminals, 
 outcast concubines and their offspring ; and under the British 
 government, by the sale of criminals, and to be perpetuated 
 at the present day, by the sale of free children by their parents, 
 by the kidnapping of free children, by the sale of freemen by 
 themselves, by the importation of slaves both by land and 
 sea, and by the hereditary slavery of children born of slave 
 parents. 
 
 5. That the treatment of male domestic slaves, with the 
 exception of those who are eunuchs, appears in general to be 
 mild—that the number of eunuch slaves in Mohamedan 
 families throughout India, appears to be considerable, implying 
 the continued commission of unnatural, and atrocious barbari¬ 
 ties on the persons of slaves—that female domestic slaves are 
 
16 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 subject to the arbitrary will of their masters, and are in 
 general beyond the protection of the law; and that agrestic 
 slaves both male and female, are subject to much oppressive 
 and cruel treatment, from their own masters; and from the 
 community, without adequate protection in the enjoyment of 
 the rights, which the law nominally secures to them. 
 
 6. That the British government of India has, at different 
 times, introduced various ameliorations into the law and 
 practice of slavery in India; but that these ameliorations 
 are in part only declaratory, even in form; as in the case of 
 the prohibition by proclamation, not by enactment, of the ex¬ 
 portation of the natives of India as slaves, in part directly 
 opposed to the provision of an act of the Imperial Parliament, 
 as in the case of the Act 51, Geo. Ill, cap. 23, making the 
 slave-trade, felony ; the provisions of which have been expressly 
 and avowedly set aside by the East India Company’s Bengal 
 government, in as far as those provisions required the importa¬ 
 tion and exportation of slaves by land, and in place of them 
 the provisions of regulation X., of 1811, of that government, 
 had been held in force, and in great part are practically 
 inoperative, affording little real protection against the evils 
 and abuses to which the institution of slavery is inherently 
 and essentially liable. 
 
 7. That numerous ameliorations of the law and practice 
 of slavery, have been recommended to the British India 
 government, by its own servants, which have been wholly 
 neglected; and that the requisition of the Imperial Parliament 
 in the Act of 1833, to take means forthwith to mitigate the 
 state of slavery, to ameliorate the condition of slaves, and to 
 extinguish slavery throughout India, as soon as such extinction 
 shall be practicable and safe; and to prepare and transmit 
 drafts of laws and regulations for such purposes, has been 
 equally disregarded, except by the appointment of a com¬ 
 mission in India, the constitution, the labours, the recommen¬ 
 dations, and the results of which, if any, are wholly unknown 
 to the British government, the British Parliament, and the 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 17 
 
 British people in the year 1810, seven years after the passing 
 of the Act, directing that the means for the above purposes 
 should be forthwith taken. 
 
 8. That in the bill for renewing the Charter of tho Honour¬ 
 able East India Company, introduced into parliament in 1838, 
 there was a clause providing for the abolition of slavery 
 throughout British India, on the 12th of August, 1837; that 
 this clause was omitted when the Bill came before the House of 
 Lords, and the clause which has been referred to in the reso¬ 
 lution immediately preceding, substituted; that during the 
 same year, an Act was passed, abolishing slavery in the West 
 Indies, Mauritius, and the Cape of Good Hope. Yet, not¬ 
 withstanding, the strong feeling of the House of Commons, as 
 shown in the clause which they adopted, the explicit pro¬ 
 visions in the said clause of the Act, and the lapse of seven 
 years, nothing effectual has been done to fulfil the just ex¬ 
 pectations of the parliament, and people of this country. That, 
 therefore, it is for the British nation to direct their immediate 
 attention to this important subject, and to seek the imme¬ 
 diate and entire abolition of personal slavery throughout 
 the whole of British India. 
 
 Whereas the people of Texas by their late revolt, have 
 shown themselves signally ungrateful for the national hospitality 
 that was extended to them as strangers, as well as for tho 
 benefits conferred on them as emigrant settlers by the Mexican 
 government; and also in the violent dismemberment of Mexico, 
 have shown themselves reckless of the peace and integrity of 
 States. And, whereas, the said people of Texas in re-estab¬ 
 lishing slavery in that country, from which the justice and 
 humanity of Mexico had wholly expelled it, and in their for¬ 
 mally authorizing and encouraging the slave-trade from the 
 United States, leave no room to doubt, that their aim is to 
 perpetuate those iniquitous systems through all time. And, 
 whereas, the said people of Texas in thus acting, have shown 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 themselves regardless not only of the claims of natural justice, 
 but of Christianity—have arrayed themselves in hostility to 
 the public sentiment of civilized Europe, but more especially 
 to the principles and measures of the people and government 
 of Great Britain, in relation to the abolition of negro slavery 
 and the slave-trade throughout the world. Wherefore be it 
 resolved,—- 
 
 1. That Texas ought not to be received into the family of 
 nations, whilst she retains in her written form of govern¬ 
 ment, a provision for the establishment and maintenance of 
 negro slavery, or authorizes and encourages the slave-trade by 
 granting a monopoly of it to the slave-holders of the United 
 States. 
 
 2. That in the opinion of this Convention, it would justly 
 bring under suspicion the sincerity of those nations who have 
 abolished slavery among themselves, and pledged their efforts 
 for the suppression of the slave-trade throughout the world, 
 were they to acknowledge the separate national existence of 
 the people of Texas, whilst they continue their detestable 
 warfare against the happiness and freedom of the negro race. 
 
 That as the British abolitionists solemnly protested against 
 the compensation granted to the planters, while the question 
 was before Parliament, and a strong conviction being enter¬ 
 tained by this Convention of the injustice of man claiming a 
 right of property in man, and that the title of the slave-holder 
 to the person of his slave has its origin in robbery and the 
 violation of all moral equity ; this Convention is of the opinion, 
 that the slave-holder on ceasing from his wrong, has no moral 
 claim to compensation either from the slave himself, or the 
 government under which he lives, for any loss he may sustain 
 by emancipation. And, inasmuch, as it is an established maxim 
 in all enlightened legislation, that what is morally wrong can 
 never become politically right, this Convention expressly 
 affirms, that the circumstance of any legislative body having 
 sanctioned slavery, does not, in the least degree, alter the 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 19 
 
 principle upon which this Convention feels bound to enter its 
 protest against compensation. 
 
 To the Right Honorable Lord Viscount Palmerston, 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, &c. &c. 
 
 The memorial of the undersigned, the chairman, on behalf of 
 the General Anti-Slavery Convention, held in London on 
 the 20th June, 1840. 
 
 Respectfully sheweth, that this Convention has learned with 
 feelings of surprise and regret, that British functionaries in the 
 Brazils and Cuba, and other slave-holding countries, hold slaves 
 —that they purchase them in the public slave-markets and 
 elsewhere,—work them in mines and on sugar plantations, em¬ 
 ploy them as domestic slaves, and sell them or dispose of them 
 as necessity or caprice may dictate. 
 
 This Convention, under a strong impression of the utter 
 injustice of slavery in all its forms, and of the evil it inflicts 
 upon its miserable victims, and of the necessity of employing 
 every means, moral, religious, and pacific for its complete 
 abolition, feels it to be no less than an imperative duty to sub¬ 
 mit to the principal Secretary of State for foreign affairs, that 
 the British parliament having declared it u just and expedient 
 that all persons held in slavery in the colonies of Great Britain 
 should be manumitted and set free, 1 ' and that slavery should 
 “ be utterly abolished, and declared unlawful throughout the 
 British possessions abroadthat functionaries of the British 
 government holding, hiring, buying, or selling slaves in foreign 
 countries, is not only a violation of these just and equitable 
 principles, but, 'that it is an example which gives countenance 
 to the perpetuation of slavery, and to the continuance of the 
 clandestine importation of slaves, and that it does materially 
 contribute to prevent the extinction of slavery in those coun¬ 
 tries and throughout the world at large—an object most dear 
 to the members of this Convention, and for the consummation 
 of which they are especially assembled. 
 
 b 2 
 
20 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 This Convention, therefore, earnestly solicits the early atten¬ 
 tion of Viscount Palmerston to the subject, and that he will be 
 pleased to issue a declaration that the holding or hiring of 
 slaves, directly or indirectly, is incompatible with the functions of 
 any individual engaged in the service of the British government. 
 
 Robert Kaye Greville, V. P. 
 
 A Committee was appointed to prepare the draft of an 
 address to heads of governments, representing the iniquity of 
 slavery and the slave-trade, and earnestly setting forth the duty 
 of promoting the abolition of both throughout the world. 
 
 22nd, Monday. 
 
 Resolutions founded on a Report on Mr. Turnbull’s plan for suppressing the slave- 
 trade were adopted.—On the moral advancement, orderly behaviour, and Christian 
 progress of the emancipated labourers.—Report from the Committee, on the con¬ 
 dition of the coloured people in Canada and the Red Indians , and on slavery 
 under the Hudson’s Ray Company was read and adopted, and referred to the 
 Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.—Resolution on Bra¬ 
 zilian Slavery.—On the Interned Slave-Trade in America.—On the American 
 Colonization Society.—Statements connected with Sierra Leone.—Resolution on 
 the British Settlement on the West Coast of Africa. — Mr. Murray’s plan for 
 abolition of the slave-trade.—■Resolution of sympathy with survivors of negroes on 
 board the Amistad.—Letter from W. Beldam, Fs<p 
 
 That it is extremely desirable that provisions should be made 
 by the laws of those nations, where slavery is tolerated, for giving 
 full and effectual relief to persons illegally imported and held 
 in slavery, in consequence of such illegal importation, and to 
 their offspring, as also to such persons as have been or may in 
 consequence of their entering the limits of countries in which 
 slavery exists as aforesaid, be reduced to slavery. 
 
 That in the opinion of this Convention, the present means 
 in operation for the suppression of the slave-trade, have 
 lamentably failed of success—that the sufferings of the slaves 
 have been greatly augmented—that vast sums of money have 
 been fruitlessly expended; and that no means can be effec¬ 
 tual, except such as are based on moral, religious, and pacific 
 principles. 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 21 
 
 That it is tlie opinion of the Committee, that the scheme 
 of Mr. Turnbull as explained by him in his statement sub¬ 
 mitted to this Convention, on the 1 7th Inst., though it in¬ 
 volves questions of detail, into which this Convention cannot 
 enter, is, in its object and purpose, and several of its suggestions 
 of great practical importance, and demands the earliest atten¬ 
 tion of the governments represented in the mixed Commission 
 Courts, but that the only security for the extinction of the 
 slave-trade is the universal abolition of slavery. 
 
 That the most cordial thanks of this Convention he given 
 to Mr. Turnbull, for the unwearied zeal, and able exertion 
 
 with which he has prosecuted the object. 
 
 % __ 
 
 That this Convention having heard with the deepest interest 
 and the greatest satisfaction, the proofs adduced by the Rev. 
 William Knibb and the Rev. John Clark, of the moral ad¬ 
 vancement, the orderly behaviour, and the Christian progress of 
 the emancipated labourers of Jamiaca, expresses its warmest 
 sympathies with those devoted and calumniated men, Mr. 
 Knibb and his coadjutors, who, under circumstances of much 
 excitement and great difficulty, have, by their prudence, firm¬ 
 ness, and Christian courage, protected their coloured brethren 
 in the enjoyment of those equal rights, and that entire inde¬ 
 pendence which were intended by the great act of emancipa¬ 
 tion, and, which the liberality of the British people gives 
 them a right to demand. 
 
 This Committee viewing with the deepest interest and 
 the most earnest solicitude, the state, condition, and wel¬ 
 fare of the coloured population of Upper Canada, and finding 
 that attempts have been made by slave-holders in the United 
 States, to recapture and bring into captivity such fugitive 
 slaves as have taken refuge in that province, by accusations 
 of felony ; and as it has come to the knowledge of this Com¬ 
 mittee, that in the attempted surrender of persons so charged, 
 human life has been sacrificed, do earnestly recommend to 
 this Convention, to address her Majesty's Secretary of State 
 
22 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 for the colonies, inquiring as far as he deems consistent with 
 the public service, whether instructions have been sent to 
 her Majesty's representative in Canada, so to act in the event 
 of any renewed application, as will prevent a coloured fugitive 
 from such surrender. 
 
 And whereas, public provision has been made in the different 
 districts of Upper Canada for the purposes of education ; and 
 schools having been opened to which the coloured people have 
 been invited by the Lieutenant-Governor of the province. And 
 whereas, the odious and unchristian prejudice against colour, 
 has operated most detrimentally in frustrating the desires of 
 the government, by virtually excluding coloured persons from 
 these schools ; this Committee strongly recommend the Con¬ 
 vention to address the Colonial Minister, requesting that he 
 would issue such instructions as may ensure to the coloured 
 population of Upper Canada, the benefit and blessings of 
 education in common with the white inhabitants of the 
 province. 
 
 This Committee also begs respectfully to submit to this 
 Convention, that it is very desirable that the paper received 
 from the Rev. Herbert Beaver, read by one of the Secretaries, 
 showing that slavery is a recognized principle of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company, and that native Indians are held as slaves, 
 both by the Company and its servants, should be brought as 
 early as possible under the notice of government, in order that 
 immediate and effectual measures be taken for its entire 
 suppression. 
 
 That this Convention has heard with horror and detestation, 
 a few details of the appalling extent of the illegal trade in 
 slaves from Africa to Brazil, and feels called upon to recom¬ 
 mend the whole subject to the close and unremitting atten¬ 
 tion of the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery 
 
 That this Convention has heard with deep regret and sorrow, 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 23 
 
 the exteut to which the internal slave-trade is carried on, 
 from the older to the more newly settled slave-states of the 
 American Union, to the extent of upwards of 80,000 victims 
 annually, to this unrighteous traffic. 
 
 That in expressing their detestation of this traffic, and in 
 acknowledging that it excites their deep surprise and abhor¬ 
 rence, that it should be protected and cherished by a nation 
 which has abolished the African slave-trade, and declared it to 
 be piracy : this Convention is impressed with the conviction 
 that such a systematic trade in man, must be attended with 
 excessive cruelty and wrong to the objects of it, and involves 
 in its prosecution a fearful extent of barbarity and hardness 
 of heart on the part of the man-trader, and that effectual 
 means ought to be forthwith taken in the United States of 
 America, to remove this stain from the character of that nation. 
 
 That this Convention regards the scheme of African Colo¬ 
 nization, proposed and urged by the American Colonization 
 Society, as not only totally inadequate to the overthrow of 
 slavery in the United States, but as tending powerfully to 
 strengthen that unrighteous system, as deeply injurious to 
 the best interests of the negro-race, whether bond or free, 
 both in America and Africa, and therefore as wholly un¬ 
 worthy of the countenance and aid of the philanthropist and 
 the Christian. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, late governor of Sierra Leone, 
 made statements relative to that colony. 
 
 William Morgan, Esq., laid on the table two communica¬ 
 tions from Saxe Bannister, Esq., on the subject of the 
 Liberated African Institution, and on the slow progress of 
 Sierra Leone. 
 
 That the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti- 
 Slavery Society, be requested to take such steps as may appear 
 best calculated to obtain a thorough investigation into the state 
 of our present settlements on the West Coast of Africa, with 
 
24 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 the view of exposing the abuses which have so long existed, 
 and prevented the advancement in civilization and suppression 
 of the slave-trade, so ardently desired by the real friends of 
 Africa, and to obtain which, so much has been expended. 
 
 A paper detailing a plan of Slave-Trade Abolition by Mr. 
 Murray, of Glasgow, having been laid on the table by the 
 Secretaries, the same was referred to a Committee with in¬ 
 structions to report thereon. 
 
 That this Convention deeply sympathising with the survivors 
 of the Amistad in their present condition, who, though legally 
 and fully proved to be free, are yet incarcerated as though they 
 were slaves, do address a memorial in their behalf to the 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, imploring him to exert 
 the utmost influence 'of the British Crown with the Govern¬ 
 ments of Spain and the United States of America for their 
 deliverance according to law, and that Captain Stuart, Dr. 
 Madden, and the mover and seconder, be a Committee to pre¬ 
 pare and bring in such memorial. 
 
 The Ilev. Thomas Scales having laid on the table a letter 
 from W. Beldam, Esq., with two pamphlets written by him: 
 the same were referred to the Committee on the results of 
 emancipation. 
 
 23 rd, Tuesday. 
 
 Resolution respecting Missionaries.—An Address to the French nation.—Resolution 
 on Slave grown sugar.—Address to heads of governments.—Papers on the right 
 of appeal.—Resolution brought up from the Committee on the employment of British 
 capital. — On the results of Emancipation. — Madagascar. — R ussian Serfage .— 
 Resolution on Butch and Danish Slavery.—Slavery in Cuba, and other Spanish 
 Colonies.—Slavery in Ceylon. — Mr. Murray’s plan for abolition of Slave-trade.— 
 Records of the Convention.—Concluding minutes. 
 
 That this Convention gladly embraces the opportunity of 
 recording their high admiration of the conduct of those Mission- 
 aides and Ministers of all religious denominations in the West 
 India Colonies, who with energy, zeal, and perseverance, have, 
 amid many difficulties, endeavoured to secure the rights and 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 9 K 
 
 JmlO 
 
 promote the welfare of the negro race ; and the Convention 
 would express their deepest sympathy with those of the above 
 Missionaries and Ministers who may have suffered, or may 
 now sutler in their personal property, or personal liberty, on 
 account of an honest and faithful adherence to the principles of 
 justice, liberty, and truth. 
 
 — 
 
 To the French Nation. 
 
 A Convention composed of deputies from various parts of the 
 civilized world is now assembled in London, their object is by 
 peaceful, moral, and religious means to effect the overthrow of 
 the slave-trade and slavery, seeking the co-operation of all the 
 friends of justice and humanity, they address themselves to the 
 French nation. 
 
 That nation is honoured by early protests against the right 
 of man to kidnap, to enslave, to create a property in his fellow- 
 man, the States-General were among the first to extend to 
 the blacks those principles of freedom on which they grounded 
 their own patriotic exertions. Though in abeyance for years, 
 they were again recognised by Napoleon in 1815, yet more 
 emphatically, after the revolution of 1830, which abolished 
 the slave-trade in all the colonies of France. 
 
 The kings of France, the governments of France, the tri¬ 
 bunals of France have recognised for centuries, that the slave 
 is free from the moment in which he touches the French soil; 
 and the Convention rejoices to recognise the important truth, 
 that it is not by law, but by sufferance—not by the sanction of 
 the representation; but by the enaction of public opinion, that 
 slavery has been associated with French colonial interests, and 
 allowed to tarnish the splendour of the glory of the French 
 name. 
 
 The Convention would not forget whatever may have been 
 attempted to ameliorate the condition of the slave in the colo¬ 
 nies of France. They hail every act of the legislature by 
 which the heavy burden of slavery may have been lightened, 
 and they especially rejoice that the attention of a great and 
 
26 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 generous nation is beginning to awake to a sense of tlie griev¬ 
 ous wrongs, the cruel injustice, the intolerable oppression 
 under which the slaves in the French Colonies are still doomed 
 to labour. 
 
 For those wrongs, for that injustice, for those oppressions 
 there is but one, one only, remedy. The emancipation of the 
 negro, the final overthrow of slavery, the good work which 
 France has begun by the abolition of the slave-trade, we call 
 upon her to accomplish in the annihilation of slavery itself. 
 Time was, when the fears of the timid might have prognosti¬ 
 cated evil from immediate and entire emancipation, but now 
 the experiment has been made, and the friends of the slave, 
 point joyously to its beneficial, to its immense results. Nobly 
 have the exertions of the friends of the negro been rewarded 
 in the British Colonies, by a vast accession to human happiness, 
 and by the spread of virtue and religion, the only basis of true 
 and lasting prosperity. The Convention trusts that the French 
 people, faithful to the doctrines they have so often proclaimed, 
 will establish the right to liberty, and demand its application 
 to every negro who is held in bondage. Not by the coercion 
 of violence, but by the mightier power of truth, peace, and 
 religion, would the Convention trust that the demon of 
 slavery will be banished from the world. 
 
 What other appeal is wanting but this—that a quarter of a 
 million of human beings are held in ignominious bondage by 
 a free and civilized nation ! Chattels—not men, and women, 
 and children ! Property—not friends and brethren ! And by 
 what right \ Who has permitted the white man to tyrannise ? 
 Who has condemned the black to be trampled on \ The French 
 nation—No ! it will repudiate the opprobrium—it will redeem 
 itself from the stigma. It will nobly respond to the urgent— 
 to the irresistible appeal,—on no terms consent to continue a 
 system of bondage under the name of slavery, or of appren¬ 
 ticeship ; both involve similar injustice and similar cruelty; 
 both are equally repudiated by the tried friends of the negro. 
 We call upon you by every consideration of liberty—of huma- 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 27 
 
 nity—of religion, to emancipate, immediately and uncondition¬ 
 ally, to emancipate your slaves. 
 
 That, impressed with the importance of avoiding all means 
 of strengthening slavery and the Foreign slave-trade, this 
 Convention is of the judgment, that the British government 
 ought on no account to allow of the introduction of slave-grown 
 sugar into the British market; and that the friends of the 
 abolition of slavery, ought, in their individual character, to 
 uphold this view. 
 
 From a Convention of the friends of the slave, assembled 
 from various parts of the world, for the purpose of promoting 
 the immediate, entire, and universal abolition of slavery and 
 the slave-trade, by those means which are of a moral, religious, 
 and pacific character, held in London on the 12th, and by 
 adjournments to the 23rd of June, 1840. 
 
 To - — — 
 
 May it please 
 
 “ Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a 
 reproach to any people."’’ Righteousness is comprehended and 
 enforced in this precept of the Lord Jesus Christ,—“ All things 
 whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
 so to them.” 
 
 God has created of one blood all nations of men that dwell 
 upon the face of the earth. We are all, of whatever nation 
 or clime, by nature the children of Adam. With the great 
 Creator of all things there is no respect of persons ; all men 
 are brethren; and in this relation of brotherhood, they are 
 all entitled to the equal enjoyment of personal and civil liberty. 
 
 Slavery and the slave-trade are a violation of this great prin¬ 
 ciple. The assumption by man of a right of property in man, 
 is in open opposition to the pure and righteous law of God ; 
 and, hence, the perpetration of these crimes has ever been found 
 to obstruct the happiness of man. Oppression and cruelty 
 
28 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 are tlieir certain attendants ; they have their origin in pride 
 and avarice, and they foment and strengthen all the evil pas¬ 
 sions of the human heart. 
 
 In later vears, the attention of the world has been increas- 
 ingly directed to these enormous sins, and the Congress of 
 the representatives of the Sovereigns assembled at Verona, in 
 November, 1822, declared that they considered the slave-trade 
 “ as a scourge which has too long desolated Africa, degraded 
 Europe, and afflicted humanity.” The slave-trade continues 
 to exist in an aggravated form. 
 
 It is estimated that upwards of 300,000 human beings arc 
 annually sacrificed on the Continent of Africa, in the prosecu¬ 
 tion of this wicked traffic. In addition, upwards of 70,000 are 
 annually transferred from the older to the more newly settled 
 
 slave-states in the United States of North America. Millions 
 
 \ 
 
 of the human race are also still retained in unrighteous and 
 cruel bondage. 
 
 This Convention, therefore, being solemnly impressed with 
 a sense of the national sin of slavery and the slave-trade, and 
 under a settled conviction that the only effectual means to 
 put an end to the slave-trade is to abolish slavery, does 
 most earnestly and respectfully appeal to , 
 
 to employ all that influence and power with which Divine 
 Providence has entrusted to secure immediate 
 
 and unconditional liberty to the slave. 
 
 It is high time that the civilized world, and more especially 
 those nations which bear the Christian name, should purge 
 themselves from these foul abominations. We open our mouth 
 for the dumb, and plead for brethren, who cannot plead for 
 themselves. The Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross for 
 them equally as for us. 
 
 Great Britain has at length manumitted the slaves in the 
 West India and in other colonies. It has been declared by 
 the law of the British government, that slavery shall for ever 
 cease in those colonies ; the happiest results have ensued. 
 
 Most gratifying reports have been now presented, showing 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 29 
 
 that the negroes have peaceably exchanged a state of slavery 
 for one of freedom. Industry prevails, prosperity increases, 
 and Christianity is honoured and practised. We desire reve¬ 
 rently to commit this cause to God. We implore his blessing 
 on this appeal. We pray that through the power of the 
 Holy Spirit, Rulers and Subjects may in all countries be 
 brought to receive and to act upon the gospel of our Holy 
 Redeemer; and that the day may be hastened when violence 
 shall no more be heard throughout the habitable earth, 
 wasting or destruction within her borders. 
 
 A paper was read on “ the right of appeal to slave-holding 
 governments, and the best means of rendering such appeals 
 effectual, 11 and referred to the Committee of the British and 
 Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 
 
 That this Convention learns with profound regret, that there 
 are British subjects who render immediate support to the slave- 
 trade or slavery—some by supplying the articles necessary 
 for conducting it—some by furnishing, as bankers, the capital 
 employed in it—some by holding shares in mining associations, 
 the purchasers of the victims of the traffic—and some even by 
 actual manufacture and exportation of the arms and manacles 
 employed in the abduction of these victims. 
 
 That the employment of British subjects, and British capital, 
 directly or indirectly, in support of slavery or the slave-trade, 
 is not only deeply to be deplored but strongly to be reprobated, 
 inasmuch as it involves a grave moral responsibility—a flagrant 
 dishonour to the British name, and an outrageous inconsis¬ 
 tency with the avowed desire, the strenuous endeavours, and 
 the costly sacrifices of Great Britain, for the suppression 
 thereof. 
 
 That the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery 
 Society be requested to consider the propriety of remonstrating 
 in a spirit of kindness and firmness, with the directors and 
 shareholders of any British companies having establishments 
 
so 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL 
 
 in countries where slavery or the slave-trade is carried on, 
 with reference to the tendency and effect of their operations 
 in those places, and of the employment of British capital, in 
 directly, or indirectly sustaining the slave-trade. 
 
 That the beneficial results of emancipation in the British 
 colonies, as exhibited in the religious, moral, and social im¬ 
 provement of the labouring population, have far exceeded the 
 most sanguine anticipations of the friends of freedom and hu¬ 
 manity. That the increased value of property in these colonies, 
 satisfactorily proves the measure to be one of great advantage 
 to the planters and proprietors ; and that, in order to the 
 salutary and efficient working out of this great experiment— 
 the progress of colonial legislation must be zealously watched— 
 the withdrawal of a stipendiary magistracy strenuously re¬ 
 sisted ; and an entire reformation in the administration of 
 justice perseveringly sought. 
 
 That this Convention is painfully impressed by the fact, that 
 the enemies of human rights are actively promoting oppressive 
 measures, botli in this country and in the colonies—the object 
 of which is to silence those philanthropists who advocate the 
 cause of the poor, and to consign the emancipated to a new and 
 bitter bondage. 
 
 That this Convention would particularly refer to the laws 
 recently passed in Jamaica and Barbados, and to the perse¬ 
 cution of Missionaries and others in the former colony ; and 
 this Convention therefore earnestly implores the friends of the 
 anti-slavery enterprise, and especially the Committee of the 
 British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, carefully to observe 
 and take measures for frustrating all insidious attempts, either 
 to abridge the liberties of the emancipated, or to silence and 
 crush their protectors. 
 
 A paper on Madagascar and letters from New York were 
 laid on the table, and referred to the Committee of the British 
 and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, with a request that they 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 31 
 
 may receive its best consideration, and be disposed of as may 
 appear most conducive to the advancement of the great objects 
 of this Convention. 
 
 A paper was read on Russian serfage, prepared by a gentle¬ 
 man long resident in Russia. 
 
 Resolved,—That the paper now read be referred to the Com¬ 
 mittee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 
 
 That this Convention being deeply impressed with the 
 importance of promoting the Abolition of Slavery throughout 
 the European Colonies, recommend the Committee of the British 
 and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society to prepare an address on 
 this subject to the people of Holland and Denmark. 
 
 Resolved,—That the Committee of the British and Foreign 
 Anti-Slavery Society be requested, (in addition to procuring a 
 translation of Dr. Madden’s statement on the subject of slavery 
 in Cuba for circulation in Spain,) to take such other steps 
 as they may deem best adapted to promote the emancipation 
 of the slaves in the Spanish Colonies. 
 
 A paper was read on Slavery in Ceylon, and some resolu¬ 
 tions suggested, by a gentleman of high official station, on the 
 same subject, were referred to the Committee of the British 
 and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 
 
 Resolved,—On the recommendation of the Committee, that 
 the plan of Mr. Murkay, for the abolition of the slave-trade, 
 be referred to the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti- 
 Slavery Society. 
 
 Resolved,—That the records of this Convention be com- 
 mitted to the custody of the Committee of the British and 
 Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, together with the documents 
 presented to it, and that it be left to that Committee to make 
 such use ol them, by printing and publishing, as tliev may 
 
32 PROCEEDINGS OF TIIE GENERAL ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 
 
 deem expedient, with a view to promote the objects of the 
 Convention. 
 
 This Convention desires to offer reverent thanksgivings to 
 
 o -o 
 
 Almighty God, for his gracious providence in permitting the 
 assembly of so many Christian and philanthropic men, from 
 different parts of this country and from other nations, to deli¬ 
 berate on the best means of effecting the utter extinction of 
 slavery and the slave-trade, for the harmony which has obtained 
 among its members as to fundamental principles of action, and 
 for the cordiality and general unanimity which have distin¬ 
 guished their proceedings; and, that calling to mind those 
 pacific, moral, and religious principles, upon which, as a Con¬ 
 vention, it has agreed to act, would conclude its important 
 deliberations, by expressing its entire dependence on the 
 blessing of Him who has given us command to break every 
 yoke and to let the oppressed go free; and by recording its 
 solemn sense of the necessity of every friend of the cause, not 
 to relax any effort in this great undertaking until unconditional 
 freedom shall be secured to every slave. 
 
 The Convention received, in devotional silence, this expres¬ 
 sion of feeling, and, after remaining together some minutes, the 
 chairman declared the meeting dissolved. 
 
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