PROTESTANT CLERGY OF FRANCE.

It is her glory to have continued for the last sixty years the work of suppressing universally the slave trade and slavery, at a cost, it is asserted, of fifty millions of pounds sterling. And it is, under God, chiefly to her religious men, to her Clarksons, her Wilberforces, her Buxtons, to her missionary societies, that England owes this glory. Will not the sons and successors of these great Christians complete their work, by urging their country to declare itself openly for the holy cause of the liberation of the slave in the terrible struggle which is at present convulsing the United States of America ?

"No more revolting spectacle has ever been set before the civilized world than a confederacy, consisting mainly of Protestants, forming itself, and demanding independence in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, with a professed design of maintaining and propagating slavery; a confederacy which lays down, as the cornerstone of its constitution, the system of slavery as it exists at present in the Southern States-a system which may be defined briefly as the right to treat men like cattle, and to commit adultery and murder with impunity. Setting aside all political considerations, can any Christian heart fail to be stirred to indignation at hearing the chief of that confederacy answering a decree of emancipation by an implied threat of extermination?

"The triumph of such a cause would put back the progress of Christian civilization and of humanity a whole century. It would make angels weep in heaven, and demons rejoice in hell. It would enable the friends of the slave trade and of slavery in all lands to hold up their heads, ever ready as they are to reappear at the first signal, in Asia, in Africa, and even in the great cities of Europe. It would give a fatal blow to the work of evangelical missions. And what frightful responsibility would rest on the church which should remain a silent spectator of such a triumph!

"If there is a peaceable means of hastening the end of the war, and of rendering its issue such as is desired by all the friends of humanity, is it not that the sincere Christians of Europe should give to the cause of emancipation a powerful testimony which would leave to those who fight for the right of oppressing the slaves no hope of

ever seeing those Christians give them the hand of fellowship. { "Ministers and pastors of all the Evangelical denominations of England, Scotland, and Ireland,—it is here we need your assistance. Take the lead, and let us call forth a great and peaceful manifestation of sympathy for the coloured race, so long oppressed and debased by Christian nations. Let us thus discourage the partisans of slavery. Let us strengthen and encourage those who wish to abolish it, at the same time disposing them to listen to our suggestions. It is in free England that such manifestations can be powerful. What may we not hope for if, throughout Great Britain, the voice of all the ministers of the crucified Saviour-and in France, our voice echoing theirs -pray and plead that soon there may no longer be in the United States a coloured man that is not free and equal with the whites!

"May God grant it, and may his blessing rest alike on Great Britain and the United States, in Christ, the true Liberator!

"Attested by Grandpierre, Pasteur; G. Monod, Pasteur Suffrageant, Paris; Louis Rognon, Pasteur; Louis Pulsford; Fred. Monod, Pasteur; Eug. Bersier.

"Paris, March 13, 1863."

The Committee of the London Emancipation Society resolved that funds should be appropriated to secure a suitable response to the French appeal. A conference of ministers, being Members of the Society, was convened at their offices; and it was by them resolved, that a reply should be sent forth for signature throughout the United Kingdom. The draft of the document was prepared by the chairman, the Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel, M.A., and, with some modifications, unanimously adopted in the terms. following:

"Dear Brethren,-We, whose names are undersigned, share in your views, we rejoice in your zeal, and we are thankful for your exhortations. It is honourable to France and to French Protestantism, that you so heartily wish the destruction of the Slave system, which makes Four Mil

ENGLISH RESPONSE.

lions of negroes wretched, debases their masters, has been a vast calamity to a great Protestant nation, and dishonours Christ, by whose professed servants it is upheld.

"Like yourselves, we feel a deep compassion for the slaves, who are a part of the human family; we wish by all means in our power to discourage those who are seeking to found an empire on their degradation; and we wish success to all just and humane measures for their deliver

ance.

"With these sentiments, we beg to assure you, that, following where you have so nobly taken the lead, we shall do what we can to accomplish those benevolent objects to which you

invite our attention.

Accept our fraternal wishes that you may enjoy the favour and blessing of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Sub-Committees of the London and Manchester Emancipation Societies now devoted the needful energies and time to circulate this response, and solicit the approving signature of ministers in all Britain. By publication in newspapers, and by private letters, addressed probably to thirteen thousand ministers, the application was widely made; and finally, more than four thousand attested names were appended as subscribers to the letter replying to the French pastors.. The names of French and British adherents, and the documents to which they were attached, were inserted in the "Manchester Times and Examiner" as an advertisement.

In London and in Manchester, simultaneously but independently, the question was anxiously considered, what further measures should be taken with relation to these national tokens of fraternal sympathy and intercourse. Facilities were provided in the latter place with promptitude; and, as the conference at London had resolved that it should continue in permanence, ready to be called together again, the convener, then appointed, agreed to issue the circular requisite to give effect to this resolution. The summons was sent to all such as were associated in name

or co-operation with the two Societies, and others whom it was hoped to enlist. A conference assembled in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on the 3rd of June, and the Rev. Richard Slate of Preston, as the senior Congregational minister in the county of Lancaster, was voted to the chair. After deliberation by the whole assembled ministers and by a sub-committee, carefully selected, the "Address to Ministers and Pastors of all Christian Denominations throughout the States of America," was unanimously adopted :

"ADDRESS TO MINISTERS AND PASTORS OF ALL CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS THROUGHOUT THE STATES OF AMERICA.

6

"Dear Brethren,-The letter which emanated from the French Protestant pastors, and was signed by 750 from all parts of France, was addressed to ministers and pastors of all evangelical denominations of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and designed to urge them to take the lead in 'a great and peaceful manifestation of sympathy for the coloured race, so long oppressed and debased by Christian nations.' They desired by this means to 'discourage the partizans of slavery,' and strengthen and encourage those who wish to abolish it, at the same time persuading them to listen to friendly suggestions.' No such combination of names and objects ever previously occurred in the intercourse of Europe; and surely a letter, so universally approved, deserves the most respectful and considerate attention. It is the utterance of pure Christian philanthropy, and breathes the spirit of divine benevolence-not alone for the negro, but also for all who may be involved in his doom.

"It was brought under consideration of a conference, convened of such ministers as had adhered to the London Emancipation Society, all of whom were invited who were in London. The Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel, M.A., presided, and the unanimous decision was that a brief reply, then submitted, should be adopted and issued, to accompany the letter from the French clergy to all Protestant ministers of every denomination in Great Britain and Ireland.

SLAVERY A CRIME AND CALAMITY.

"The aim of the reply was to avow a deep compassion for the slaves, as part of the human family; to discourage, by all means in the power of the subscribers, those who are seeking to found an empire on their degradation; and to express the desire for success to all just and humane measures for their deliverance. The letter and the reply have been widely circulated, and the adhesion of ministerial names has been solicited among all Protestant ministers. Many may have overlooked the application as a common printed circular, but already about four thousand attested names have been subscribed.

"Both documents concur in representing slavery as a calamity to the nation in which it exists, and as dishonouring Christ when upheld by any of his servants; while they denounce the system because it gives to man the opportunity to treat his fellow-men as cattle, and often to commit adultery and murder with impunity. The census of the United States, taken in 1860, gives the number of slaves as 3,953,760 men, women, and children, reputed, as we understand, the property of 350,000 slaveholders. These millions are all liable to be sold and bought at an auction mart, in lots or severally, at the pleasure of the traffickers, every feeling of delicacy, every endearment of parental and filial tenderness and dependence being crushed, violated, and set at nought; doomed to toil, suffer, and die for the gain and at the caprice of another. These poor victims are not our immediate kindred, but they are our fellow-men, whom their Creator hath made of the same blood with ourselves; and by the laws of Providence they are marked as our neighbours, whom God (who is over all) hath commanded us to love as ourselves; while the standard is inflexible for them as it is imperative for all—'as ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' We have not been left to abstract reasonings or conjecture to form our opinion of the wrongs inflicted by slavery on these millions, but are warranted to accept the description given by President Jefferson, in his prophetic augury of what awaited his country when he exclaimed, 'What an incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, and death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him