Extracts From The First Annual Report Of The American And Fo...

One of the most important oí the great eventa of our cause tlie past year, is the holding of the General Convention of Abolitionists from various countrie?, at Lonion, in June last. The membcrs of this committee, at a very early periüd, adopied a resolution in favor of such a meeting, but in due respect to our brethren of the London Committee, the callingof the Con vention was referred to their discrction, as tho labor and responsibility of getting itupwould devolve upon them. Nobly did they discharge the trust, and under their auspices, there was convened such ii body of philanthropists, from diflerent countries, as the world has never ssen assembled before. The result oí their deliberations has already been widely communicated to the public, and ought lósatisfy even the careless that the day is nut distant when the exlinction of human siavery by peaceful means wtll be deemed a commoD interest oí human nature. By the slavehofders ol'ihis country the Worlds j Convention has been viewed with deep I dÏ8may. From the mannerin which it is constantly referred lo by their Governors, Editors and Members of Congress, it is clear they think the Convention a movement which they cannot but respect, however mucii they may hate its doings. The Abolitionists of this country have generally approved the principies on which the Convention Droceeded, as well as the tone and spirit oí its acts. Jts attenüon was turned toagreat vanety of subjects, and a vast amountof highly impor.taiu informütion was collected and diflused. The utraost impariialit}' and singleness of purpose ruled in ihe Convenlion, and the higheat expectaüons of its friends wore futly realized. Among ils most important acts, there were two measures which ro quire a particular notice, the addresses to the different governments, and the resóiutions with regard . to iho exercise of Christian fellowship and communion towards slaveholders. The former is already preparing the way to bring the subject of emancipation into tho diplomacy of all nations. The latter promises ere longto bring the power of Christianity to bear against the great strong hold whicb Slavery has found in the churches. Impressed with a deep sense of the good achieved by the first convcntiün, the comraittee have decmed it their üuty to request the committee of the British and For eign Anti-slavery society to take { ures for holding another convenlion, on the carne principies, in the sumtr.er or iall of the year, 1842. The caniiuued development of the blessings of emancipation in he British West indies, the ubolition of slavery by France, which wül probably be effected by that time, tho progress of the India question, the steady aclvance of free principies, in the free siates of this Union,the reformation has efiectunlly begun in ihe churches of this country and of Great Britain, tho movcmenls already secn in Spain, md Bfuzil, the trial of cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, and whatever else Providence may bring forth in a year to come will doublless furnish ampie matcrials for the meeting, and make it the earnest of Still-further benefits to the cause. The Report next adverts to the progress which has been made among the churches towards a definite determination in regard to the question of communion with 8la.yeholders. The decidcd resolution ad opted by the London CunventiorT, and sustained by many of the leading ministers of Great Britian, such as Ynrdlaw, Co.v, James, &c, bas been followcd by ccncur_ rent resolutions in a large number of individual churches, in bolh countries. This form of operation has an advantage in being out of the contact of the lar.er ecclesiastical bodieo, and thcrefore likely to be acted upon under other considerations thanthose of expediency, and a temporising spirit. The committee believe ihe day i 'drawing on when churche?, rr.inisters anc jreligious professors, whoareguilty f slave holding, and who refuse to renounce their ain after proper Christian remonstrance n'ill be regurded in the same light as those who persevere against light in the sin of idol worship, or any other kindred enormiiy. Brazil. A highly important discussion connected with the subject of slavery, has lately commenced in Brazil. The discovery has been made that Slavery keeps down the price and hinders the sctUement of the vast tractsofunoccupied lands in the empire. An able report has bepn presen'ed by acommitlee of the Chamber of Deputies, in favor of a subsiituiion of free labor for that of shives, in Ihe cultivation of plantations, wilh the itilinuition that a result msiy be the final división of the planlations in'o farms. The committee recommend renling the lands, or telling them out fora share of the producís, and say that "f the hnds should produce to the proprielors loss Ihan wliat they now apparently draw from lhem,this product would be a net product, and would nut have tobe eniployed again in the purchase of fiesh siaves, icho icould disappear insucecssion, and perish from many cooperating causes.The inümation thus incidentally given, of the. waste of human lifeon those slave plantations, ought to awuken ihe symp'a;by and the indignation end the efficiënt interference of humanity in all countries, toinsist upon the abandonment of the infatnous system. The cornmiuee, hovvever confmed themselves tnerely to the prudential view of the subject. Thcy recomrnend that the government should discontinue the cmployment of slaves on the public wprks that freo labor shouid bc relieved frorn certain iinposts, that the piicn of the public Ittnds shouid be reduced lo 400 milrees about $250, per square league of about 7,800 acres, appropriating the nett proceeds of such saies to the encouragement i{ immigrntion from the continent of Europe. Recent accounts brii)g the informalion that the first named reform is already iccoinplished, and the Umpire cf Brazíl l'uriüiiics lo rcpublican America the noble sxample of refusing to buitel lts" public works with tlie forced labor of slaves. - The rest of the project was not definitively icted upon at that session, but it awakened inquiry, and the discussion has since been sarried on with spirit in the public papers :fthe empire. The Journal ofCommercc [Brazilian, not American!) of May 23, 1840, in coinmending the new system, urges as one ofits" most valuable advantages, "the powerful influence whirh it must aecessarily exerciae over the extinction of slavery among us." Itsays: "Slavery is an insanable gulf for all the goods and property of the Braziüan planter.Loolt lo the interior, to the provinces, and you wil! see how the embarrassecl planter sacnfices the last bag of coflee, the last bale of cotton, and ihe last cask of sugar, for buying more blaekí, r.nd thus, thcre goes cífto África all that hepossesses, hke water which is absorbed by the earth without. ever returning." And) again: "Brazil ís to be likeneed to a patiënt who suffers from invetérate ulcera, which, fortunately, in God's infinite goodness are are not yet incurable: one is indifferentism in religión, which is the cáncer of the mind, the olher is slavery, which is the cáncer of the body." All these things have af. Icngih begun (o awaken the slaveholders to consider the subject of emancipation,as a practical inqniry. Of this we have several spe'cifij: proofs. 1. The Hon. Mr. Cooper, member of congress from Georgia, in his speech in reply to Mr. Giddings, declared hij intenlion of returning to nis constituents, to lay the question before them lor a decisión at no distant day, whether they shall withdraw from the LTnion,or set themselves lo prepare for gradual emancipation. 2. The Hon. Mr. Walker, U. S. Senator from Mississippi, in hts argument before the Supreme Court appealed to that tribunal to suslain the right of Mississippi to protect herself against the overwhelming influx of slaves from the fïorih, on tlie ground that, otherwisc, hts state would bedriven to the alternative of emancipation as the only source of self preservation. 3. The Hon.Henry Clay of Kentucky in his argument on the othcr side of the same case, urged tiiat f it was not in the power of Congress to protect northern states, in the right of disposing of their surplus slaves, they would have to emancípate, to prevent being overrun with the ra. 4. The Rev. Richard Fuller. Baptist minisier, Beaufort, S. C, in a letter to the Biblical Recorder, March 2d, 1841, says that, "as the universal feeling at the north renders more than probiematical a continuence ofconeracy if slavery continue; and above all, as great abuses will beble while the inslitution lasts, ought not patriots and Christians throughout the land to mingle their counsels and their prayers,and seriouíily ask, ichat can be doncV And he desired that the country may yet unite in arresting and achieving some project, by which at as moderato a price as possibje, our slavcs muy be slowly freed and cqloaized - leaving only a sufjjcient number to cultívate the soil as hired'lal:orcrsl" Jtíow many aie lo be required "lo cuhivatc the soiP' of one-half the Union, and by what tneans are they to be kept in the condition of "hired laborers probably the gentleman has not íul!y settled in hia owti miru', Ir ■; k'-slovly" those should be "freed," who ore to be left among us for that purpose. '-Leavir.g Qnly a sufíicient number lo cultívate thc soil." VVe have no objections against colpnjzing the rest, with theirown consent nor would we care how "slowly" those are freed, provided the others are bona fide and at once placed in the condition and protectcd in the rights of "hired laboréis." 5. The recent discussions in ihe legis latureof Kentucky, have settled the poli- cy oí' that stfiíe in favor of the exterrr.inution, rather than the extensión ofslavery; and the leading papers of beth parties ulrnit, that. whenever the question comes befor.e the peoplc, the graat majonty vvilJ [e in favor of abolilion. The numerous and burdensome absurdities of the State Conslitution cannot be borne much longer nnd whenever its revisión is undertaken, the people wil] have the power to act on ihe subject ofskmry.