subject as this. "This trade," he said, "is contrary to the principles of the British Constitution. It is besides, a cruel and criminal traffic in the blood of my fellow creatures. It is a foul stain on the national character. It is an offence to the Almighty. On every ground therefore on which a decision can be made,— on the ground of policy, of liberty, of humanity, of justice, but above all, on the ground of religion, I shall vote for its immediate extinction.'

These debates and discussions had now come to an end. The bill, as I said, passed, notwithstanding all previous opposition; and on the 24th of the same month, it received the royal assent, and became a law of the land. A bright and glorious day was that for England! Brighter far, more truly glorious, than a day of victory over foreign foes, or a conquest gained by war and bloodshed.

But the work was not ended yet. The Slave Trade was abolished, so that no more cargoes of captured negroes could be brought by British vessels to our colonies; but then there were slaves in the West India Islands still ; and their persevering friends who had gained so much already, determined to pursue the matter further, and to obtain freedom and emancipation for those yet in bondage. The early advocates of the cause who had laboured

in it so long and so nobly, were now passing away, and unable to continue their former exertions ; but others had risen to take their place; and when Wilberforce himself was compelled to retire from his arduous duties in Parliament, he left the cause of the slaves to a younger friend,-the late Mr., afterwards Sir Fowell, Buxton, bequeathing it to him, as he said, "as his parliamentary heir-at-law; and Buxton proved an able, and a worthy

successor.

This was in the year 1823. The object which the Abolitionists and the Anti-slavery Society, now established, had in view, was the improvement, education, and, as I told you before, the final emancipation of the negroes on the West India estates. And not this alone; they hoped in time to suppress the trade in slaves carried on elsewhere, and so to procure for the Africans, freedom not only from British oppression, but from oppression from all other quarters also. This was a generous and a noble undertaking; and it has, in a great measure, been accomplished. In the year 1833, the termination of slavery, as regarded England, was completely accomplished, by the grant of freedom, bestowed with the consent of the planters themselves, upon all the slaves labouring in the West India Islands. Before this event took place, the lamented

Wilberforce had passed from the scene of his earthly labours; but there were others left to hail the long-wished-for day with joy and thankfulness. "I bless God for the event," wrote Mr. Buxton. "May that same public voice, which has now been so happily exerted, and under the influence of that same gracious Lord who has wrought its present victory, never be hushed, while a taint of slavery remains!"

And now, before we take our final leave of this subject, let us go once more to the western coast of Africa, and see what changes have been wrought there in the course of half a century. We will not confine ourselves to one spot, as we did before, but we will pass from village to village, and take a glance at what is going on, here and there, as we journey along. And first, let us enter that neat-looking building, which, we shall soon find, is a school-a school for native African children. As we stand beside them, and hear their well-repeated lessons, and their intelligent answers, we feel assured that a young African can learn as well as a young European, and be trained as easily as any of the white-faced little ones of happy England; and thus we find, the idea of the negroes being a race so degraded as to be incapable of instruction, was, like many other

wrong notions, the effect of ignorance and of prejudice.

And now we will pass on towards yonder church. Were it the sabbath-day, we might enter, and mingle with the congregation,—the black congregation assembled within its walls. Their attention and their devotion may shame many a Christian congregation in our own land; and so may their knowledge of Scripture too, and the deep interest which they show in the service, and in the sermon. Yes, black men have souls; and those souls can be brought under the influence of true religion, as easily as the souls of white men, when right means are used, and when those means are blessed by God who alone can change the hearts either of black or white.-But let us go further.

We will travel over a mountainous district of that sunny land, and arrived at another school, and we will enter there. Ah, as you look around upon the faces of the little black girls in that school, you will be interested to know, that those happy children have been rescued from the horrors and cruelties of slavery. They have been taken from slave ships, set free, and brought to this place for instruction, to be cared for, and to be brought up as Christian childreu. Yes; and this, you will be rejoiced to hear, has been accomplished

by Britons,-now no longer the cruel capturers, but the kind deliverers of poor black slaves. We may fancy we see, not far from the African coast on which we are wandering in thought, some English vessels. Those vessels have been sent out, not to take slaves, but to rescue them from the grasp of others belonging to nations who still carry on that dreadful traffic. Negotiations have been formed too with some of the powerful African chiefs and kings who use their power to tyrannize over their fellowblacks; and there is hope, that, through British influence, this cruelty will in time be prevented, and that ere very long, slavery will be known. in Africa no more.

But I have still another scene to show you. We will travel farther now, to a spot at some distance from Sierra Leone, and pay a visit to a missionary there who is labouring among his heathen brethren. Yes, for though a missionary and a clergyman, that Christian teacher is a black African too! Once he was a captured slave. When a child, he was torn away, like many others, from his parents and his home, and carried away; and he expected perhaps, that his future life would have been spent in hopeless captivity. But God, in his good providence, ordered it otherwise. That boy was rescued; he was brought under religious instruction; that instruction led to his