treaty, that infernal traffic is now destroyed, and its votaries put to death like other pirates. How came this change to pass? Not, assuredly, by parliament leading the way; but the country at length awoke; the indignation of the people was kindled; it descended in thunder, and smote the traffic, and scattered its guilty profits to the winds. Now, then, let the planters beware-let their assemblies beware-let the government at home beware-let the parliament beware! The same country is once more awake,- awake to the condition of negro slavery; the same indignation kindles in the bosom of the same people; the same cloud is gathering that annihilated the slave-trade; and, if it shall descend again, they on whom its crash may fall, will not be destroyed before I have warned them; but I pray that their destruction may turn away from us the more terrible judgments of God!'

Then came an earnest and general agitation of the question. Agents and lecturers were sent forth to enlighten and arouse the people. The appeal was still, and more than ever, to the principles and requirements of the law of God. Slavery is a crime in the sight of God, and therefore ought to be immediately abolished,' was the motto under which the battle was fought. Then came a cry from the West Indies-sent from among the smouldering ruins of chapels destroyed by the hand of the slaveholding incendiary.-Christianity and slavery are incompatible. Slavery must be abolished, or, Christianity will be exiled.' The Christian people of Great Britain decided that slavery should die; and with one voice demanded the sentence, and its execution. Then came the general election of 1832, and then the meeting of the reformed parliament in 1833, and then, the speech of Lord Stanley, on bringing in a bill for the abolition of slavery, in which was the memorable declaration, 'That he did so, as the minister of the crown, in obedience to the irresistible demand of the religious public of the country.' To Christianity, then, belongs the glory of having abolished slavery in the colonies of Great Britain. Oh! how often would the rude hand of avarice and power have extinguished the flame of anti-slavery zeal in England, if it had not been fed by the unceasing watchfulness and care of Christian zeal! Often, it flickered, and seemed about to expire; but it was kept alive, and sent forth at last to consume the scourges and fetters of oppression. Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name, O Lord,' who didst inspire, sustain, direct, and bless us, be all the praise.' On the annihilation of the system of man-proprietorship in our colonies, the eyes of the religious public of this country were turned to the United States of America. It was a period to try the faith and uprightness of all Christian denominations, for there was a fervent spirit of hostility to slavery, and, at the same

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time, a longing desire among the non-conforming churches of England to cultivate an intimate and lasting fellowship with the trans-Atlantic churches. The Wesleyan body had set the example of sending deputations across the ocean, to extend the right hand of brotherly love to the Methodist Episcopal body of the United States. The Independents and Baptists resolved to do the same. Delegates were appointed and sent forth to bear the fraternal greetings of their brethren in the fatherland, to the churches of the New World. When the last named body appointed their representatives, they expressly and solemnly charged them, 'to promote most zealously, and to the utmost of their ability, in the spirit of love, of discretion, and of fidelity, the sacred cause of negro emancipation;' and we write advisedly, when we say, that this language secured the co-operation and pecuniary aid of many churches which did not sympathise in the more general and indefinite objects which the delegation contemplated. If there was evinced, by these deputations, any shortcomings; if, to any extent, they made the question of slavery subordinate to the other ends of their mission; if through inadvertence, they failed to embrace the opportunities which presented themselves, of vindicating the claims of the slave population, and of faithfully expounding the views of their churches at home-their conduct, in these respects, found few apologists. On the contrary, there were many and unequivocal indications of deep dissatisfaction, that so little had been done for the anti-slavery cause, and that there had been such a cordial recognition of the title to fellowship, of the churches implicated in the sin of slavery. The brethen censured, however, were no apologists for slaveholding. They never sought to justify their course while in the United States, by appeals to the Bible in behalf of slavery. They did not return to corrupt the religious sentiment of England. Far otherwise. They retained the views on slavery which they had professed previous to their visit to America, and, for eleven years, have been zealously cooperating with their fellow Christians of all sects, to bring the churches they visited to repentance, and an abandonment of their guilty practices.

Since 1834, the remonstrances which have gone forth to the churches of America have been faithful and uncompromising, increasing in plainness and pungency, until it may be said that there is but one body of Christians in the United Kingdom of Great Britain that holds communion with the slaveholding churches of America. That body is the Free Church of Scotland, and, as we believe that the conduct of that body stands in close relation-the relation of cause and effect-to the acts of the Evangelical Alliance, we shall briefly exhibit it, as described

in its own records. Suffice it to say, then, that for the last twelve years there has been, on the part of the dissenting denominations of Great Britain, generally, a constantly advancing sentiment on the subject of non-fellowship with slaveholdersa sentiment that has led to an entire cessation of intercourse with the churches of America, involved in the guilt of slavery, save for the purpose of earnest remonstrance, with a view to turn them from the error of their way. Several bodies have formally declared their determination to cease altogether their communion and correspondence with those sinning churches; amongst these stands out, honourably conspicuous,-an example to all other bodies-the United Secession Synod of Scotland, whose resolution and report at the Assembly in May last we recommend to attentive perusal.

We must now refer, and we do so with unmingled pain, to a retrograde movement on the part of the Free Church of Scotland. What that movement was, shall be told in the words of that church herself. We have before us an authorized Summary of the proceedings of the Free Church of Scotland in reference to slavery in America.' In this pamphlet there is a brief history of a deputation sent by that church to America, immediately after the disruption. Let attention be given to the following passage:

The object of the deputation was partly to obtain information respecting the educational, missionary, and other schemes of the American churches; but, chiefly, to explain to brethren there, the causes of the recent disruption of 1843, and to awaken their sympathies on behalf of the ministers and people, who suffered together, on that occasion, for conscience sake. The deputies to America had much friendly intercourse with Christians of all denominations, and particularly with the Presbyterian churches. They had no scruple in this, although they were aware that these churches did not act upon the rule of excluding slaveholders from communion; and, upon this principle, when they went to the southern states, they did not hesitate to cultivate the acquaintance of ministers and congregations of the Presbyterian churches there, notwithstanding the admitted fact that slaveholders might be members. Both before the visit of the deputies, and through their means, considerable sums were sent to this country by congregations and private Christians in America, including the southern as well as the northern states. Thus this church was brought into connexion with the churches of America, whose liberality and sympathy she experienced.'-pp. 3, 4.

This, it must be admitted, is a candid confession. The Free Church of Scotland has herself recorded the fact, that she deliberately sent her delegates to the slave-holding churches of the United States, to awaken their sympathies on behalf of her

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ministers and people, who had suffered for conscience sake. These delegates had much friendly intercourse with Christians of all denominations, and particularly with the Presbyterian churches. Two of them,-the Rev. Messrs. Lewis and Chalmers, attended the sittings of the Old School General Assembly, at Louisville, Kentucky, and were permitted to lay the objects of their mission before that assembly. One of these gentlemen (Mr. Lewis,) has, since his return, published his Impressions of America and the American Churches.' He shall describe the temper of the assembly on the question of slavery. After referring to the very cordial reception given to himself and colleague he says:

'As much as our hearts were gladdened by this kindly welcome, so much more were we cast down by the reception which the assembly gave to the question of slavery. An overture came up from some of the Presbyteries of the free States, and an attempt was made to bring on a discussion: but the discussion was refused by a majority of 117 to 69. The southern members, when they heard of the intention of bringing the matter forward, gave notice in open assembly that they would hold a caucus, the name given in the States to an extraordinary political meeting, in the gallery, after the assembly had dismissed. So strong is the feeling on the part of the southern ministers, that one of them, the most popular preacher in the slave States, privately declared to a friend, that if slavery were abolished, he would go to Texas-for what purpose, unless to enjoy the luxury of being served by slaves?-a singular proof of the attachment in the slave States (rather, we should say, of the Presbyterian church) to slavery, when a minister of the gospel (?) could thus speak to a brother minister.'-Lewis's Impressions, pp. 296, 297.

'On two occasions

*

* * I was called to address the assembly; on one to preach before it, and on the other to address it on the subject of Missions.'-p. 298.

'The assembly, strange to tell, was without any question of interest, the slavery one being TABOOED.'-p. 299.

Mr. Lewis's ideas of slavery are condensed into the following brief and very singular passage :—

Slavery is the foul spot in the condition of the United States, as the depressed condition of our working classes is the foul spot in Old England.'-p. 409.

Having favoured us with a glimpse into the General Assembly, Mr. Lewis very correctly states the conduct of that body on the question of slavery, since the year 1818, when the assembly erased from the books of the Discipline of the Presbyterian Church in the United States,' the following testimony against slavery, adopted in 1794; viz., All those who are concerned in bringing any of the human race into slavery, or in retaining

them in it; all who keep, sell, or buy slaves, are man-stealers, guilty of the highest kind of theft, and sinners of the first rank.' When this testimony was expunged, another was substituted, declaring slavery a moral evil. Now let us hear Mr. Lewis. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church some years ago voted slavery to be a 'great moral evil;' but no practical step has yet been taken by it, as a church, towards its extinction, although many such lie before it. If unprepared for the step of the Associate Reformed Synod, or even of the Methodist body, there lies at the door, crying for redress, not only the sin of slavery itself, but the fruits of the sin of slavery, in the separation of husband from wife, still legal,-of parents from children, the legal nullity of the marriage relation-and the abominable legal prohibition, in many States, to teach the negro to read and write.' (These foul blots, let it be remembered, Mr. Lewis compares to the depressed condition of the working classes in England!) All these things lie unprotested against by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, though this last is a plain violation of its freedom as a church. On these subjects they have never once approached the legislature, or sought to rouse the moral sentiments of their congregations.'

Such was the assembly before which Mr. Lewis delivered an address on the subject of Missions, and presented the claims of the Free Church of Scotland. On what condition was Mr. Lewis allowed to sit in that assembly, or even to travel through the Southern States? We answer,-Profound silence on the subject of slavery. On his return to Scotland, Mr. Lewis told his brethren in the free presbytery of Dundee (we quote from an authorized report of his speech on the occasion), that the moment the ministers of the Southern States spoke out on the subject of slavery, their usefulness would be destroyed; indeed, the moment I myself had spoken out, I would have been TURNED OUT OF THE COUNTRY.' On what further condition were the Scottish delegates allowed to present themselves before the slave-holding Presbyterians of America? Again we answer,-On condition that those slave-holding Presbyterians were recognised as in full Christian communion and ecclesiastical fellowship with the Free Church of Scotland. To the honour of Scotland be it told, that there were a few in the Free Church who mourned over the guilty compact thus deliberately entered into with 'manstealers-men guilty of the highest kind of theft, and sinners of the first rank.' At the sitting of the General Assembly of the Free Church, in 1844, overtures were presented from the Synods of Lothian and Tweeddale, and Glasgow and Ayr, praying, 'That the assembly would take into serious consideration the duty of this church; transmitting to the Presbyterian