He Dr. TOMKINS proposed a vote of thanks to the Rev. Chairman, and took occasion to remark upon the great and willing assistance the society had received from the dignitaries and ministers of the established church. The doxology was then sung and the benediction pronounced, after which the meeting separated. A collection was made at the door. NEGRO EXTINCTION. had been engaged in imparting the gospel deep interest he had taken in the addresses of to his fellow creatures. He then mentioned the deputation, and urged the claims of the painful examples of the practice of selling society upon the assembled audience. slaves, and he proceeded to say that in spite trusted that all would respond to the appeal of what had been said in disparagement of the that had been made. negro, he would make the same amount of progress as one of any other race, provided he had an equal chance. He then dwelt upon the great progress of religion which had been and was still being made among the freed black community, and the unalterable attachment of the race to the religion they professed. This was true of the coloured inhabitants of every city and town in the Union. After saying that the blacks did not drink half so much intoxicating beverage as the whites, he alluded to the great care they took of their The devices of the enemies of the coloured sick, and the ample provision they made for race are curious and manifold. It is gravely burying their dead. Black men were not asserted that there will be little need for any satisfied with merely being free, but they aid to the Freed-men because of their rapid desired to have both their houses and chapels decline in number. No longer under the equal in elegance and size to those of the white fostering care of benevolent slave-holders, it is men, and to live with all that refinement maintained that nothing can save them from which characterised the respectable portion of gradual extinction. Many accept with easy the white community. They are, thank God, credulity this representation, both as a relief not altogether unsuccessful in their aspirations from all responsibility and as a semi-justifor these things. What they wanted was a fication of their opinions in favour of the practical settlement of the question whether continuance of slavery with certain slow amethe black man, with the same opportunities liorations. It is certain that in some Southern as the white man, would not make the same districts the negro population has greatly progress. He contended that the question diminished, not however by death, but by would be truthfully answered in the affirma- voluntary migration. Many perished no doubt tive, and all that was needed was that the in the terrible destitution and exposure of the efforts of the free blacks themselves should be first winter after their escape from bondage, assisted and seconded by help from this but there is no evidence of decay arising from country. He mentioned examples of the good a transition to freedom. Mr. E. P. Smith, conduct of black communities, and he related, after an extensive tour in the Southern States, for instance, that in the Buxton Settle- says: "I was told in some localities that a ment, among three thousand black inhabi- marked process of extinction had commenced. tants, there had not been reported during The proof was, that negroes were getting nine years a single case of drunkenness. | scarce. But when I asked for their graves He spoke of the demonstrative loyalty of the blacks, and their love of a free life, and he read some poetry composed among them in Canada, which was very unique but characterised by a loyal spirit towards our Queen. He concluded by invoking God's blessing upon England, and by expressing a hope that the negro would show himself worthy of our sympathy. they were not to be found. 'Has there been any unusual mortality here?' They did not know that there had. All that they knew was, that the negroes were not as numerous as they used to be." Ubiquity is not an attribute of the coloured man. It is unreasonable to expect that he can be found in two places at the same time. The coloured population of Texas has more than doubled. Southern The REV. A. WILKINSON then expressed the Georgia and Alabama are crowded with ne In breaking the fetters of the slave, God has, at the same time, broken the power of the oppressor. We can now carry letters and religion, freedom and wealth, to the slave, not only through the interest of the master, bnt through his very necessities. The field is white for the harvest. Never a race so hungry for books, for the gospel, and for every good institution. Never did the church have thrown open to it so effectual a door, and laid open to it a work of so much promise." We submit these interesting statements to the more reflecting portion of our countrymen. One of three courses is open to us. groes taken from Tennessee and other states. as much on the whites as they do on the There is a large accession to the coloured blacks. Gradually the wall of prejudice is population of Canada. From the government melting down, and by-and-by will entirely returns of mortality in the camps, it is shown disappear." "The black man continues that the number of negro graves is not half Mr. Woodworth, "is the only man who can that of the other troops. There is no founda- do the work and live on the food that is furtion for the story that the Freed-men are fading nished. He has the advantage too of numbers, away like the Indians of America; nothing and possession of the labour market; and I can be more striking than the contrast between think he is bound to hold it against all comers." the two races. The Indian is profoundly vindictive; the negro is joyously oblivions of the wrongs he has suffered. The Indian shuns the white man and keeps apart in little gipsy encampments. The negro persists in keeping within the heart of modern civilization determined to raise himself above the lowest position. The Indian perishes from his habit of drinking spirituous liquors. Temperance is widely spread amongst the negroes, and they have found in the christian religion to a large extent an abiding source of support and pure enjoyment. They are winning confidence by their cheerful diligence. The Rev. C. L. Woodworth says: "On Sabbath, April 22nd, I attended in Charleston, S.C., the dedication of a meeting house for the coloured people. It had been bought of a white congregation for some 25,000 dols. The blacks had raised among themselves what they could, and then they had gone to the white people in the city, a number of whom subscribed very liberally. Among these was Mr. Trenholm, late treasurer of the rebel confederacy, for 100 dols., and Brig. Gen. Waker, of the rebel army, who lost a leg in an assault on our lines at Bermuda Hundred on the 22nd of May, 1864. He was left on the field. I saw him when he was brought into our lines, and gave him a draught of cold water, but thought that he must die. God however ordered it otherwise, and I met no man who accepts more gracefully the overthrow of the rebellion than he. Such men cannot give their money to coloured churches and schools without feeling a lively interest in them. At Charleston this same Mr. Trenholm, in connection with several other gentlemen, recently visited our schools for the purpose of gathering facts that might aid It must be evident to all who observe what them in the establishment of similar schools is passing in the countries where slavery has in the parishes of the Episcopal church been abolished that the grand difficulty in throughout the state. These things tell quite the new era of emancipation is to secure real 1. We may try to keep the negro labourer down in our own colonies by fostering prejudice against him and denuding him of instruction, and of all opportunity to improvement that he may be retained for menial labour as a semi-serf. The cost in the end of such a policy must be terrible. 2. We may treat the case with temporary expedients, create a sensational interest, raise subscriptions to secure the fading laurels of a self-complacent or shallow philanthropy, and exert an influence to prevent any other mode of action. The result will correspond with the narrowness and vanity of the plans adopted. 3. We may be honest, consistent and thorough, look all the difficulties in the face, and resolve for the sake of humanity, for the credit of our country and in the fear of God, to meet our whole duty in the case, and keep at it until it is faithfully fulfilled.-W. THE BEST PROTECTION FOR THE a few weeks since existed of a steady improvement in the intellectual and moral status of the freed-men will soon all be blasted. With nearly all those here referred to, the writer is well acquainted. Many of the teachers were his constant hearers on the Sabbath, and he knows them to be, without exception, most excellent and devoted servants of the Lord Jesus Christ." These scenes of disorder and violence there is reason to fear will often be repeated, especially in districts removed from the observation of just and philanthropic men. The cause of danger to the peace of such places is two-fold. The ex-slaveholders cannot bring their minds practically to recognize in the freed-men the ordinary rights of humanity and the ex-bondmen cannot divest themselves of distrust and apprehension. Fear is proverbially cruel. Men who are rendered desperate, whether white or black, often strike friend and foe without and permanent protection for those who have received their freedom. An eye witness of the riots at Memphis says: (May 8, 1866) "It was started under the name of a negro riot, but from the first it was a white one, and had all the essential characteristics of the New York riot of two years ago. In no instance was there any combined effort among the blacks either for attack or defence. Some coloured soldiers just paid off and discharged attacked a policeman in revenge for the cruel treatment of one of their comrades a few days previous, and it is supposed in the melée killed him. Upon this the police rallied in full force, rushed down to the neighbourhood and with. out attempting to arrest the guilty parties, commenced an indiscriminate murder of the blacks. They shot down the innocent and unarmed while begging for mercy. The next day a cry was raised that the riot had begun again. The sheriff of the county, deceived we must believe by some designing villains, discrimination. Suppose a settlement of a summoned a posse, including many old rebels and negro haters. The court adjourned and down they went to the scene of the previous murders. There was no riot whatever of the blacks, and had been none. The poor creatures were terrified, and hid from sight wherever they could. But this availed not. The mob broke open houses, shot down the inmates, broke open trunks, and robbed the poor in their poverty. In several instances women and children were killed. That day more or less of blacks in different parts of the city were shot down with impunity. It was a regular "slaughter of the innocents." About midnight of the same day the fires begun to rage. These were the school houses and churches of the coloured people. Every one in the city was burned. The scenes and emotions of that night can never be forgotten. New cases of cruelty, robbery and murder are now coming to light daily. thousand people to be removed from the centre of civilization to cultivate a distant waste in which there should be no vigilant press and few in the isolated community who could either read or write. Every member of this uninstructed community of necessity would be subject to injustice and injury in a hundred forms. He must buy at the price dictated by the seller, he must leave the reckoning for his own produce to the purchaser always having the power to take advantage, if not the disposition. The helpless people, conscious of unfair dealing, would in turn form the most erroneous notions of the best means of redress. Their expectations might be altogether wild and their demands in a state of excitement utterly unreasonable. In many districts in Jamaica this is the actual condition of the people, with the additional evil that they belong to a despised and hated race. How can they be permanently protected so as to give stability to society and a basis for sound prosperity? A stipendiary magistracy though useful to a certain extent will obviously not meet the case. The witnesses before the recent commission, to our discredit as a nation, were found after thirty years of real emancipation to the coloured people in the West Indies. The non-fulfilment of this engagement is perilous. "Ye had done right in my sight, saith the Lord, in proclaiming liberty, but ye turned, and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them unto subjection, to be unto you for servants and for hand Therefore thus saith the Lord, ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty; behold! I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine."-Jer. xxxiv, 14-17. emancipation incapable of speaking clear and England in this matter has the most solenin responsibility. The honour, the safety and the lasting prosperity of our country are involved in the just protection of the humblest of the people. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Neglect and oppression must be followed with retribution. We have contracted before God and man the obligation to give We believe however that such judgments will be averted. Thoughtful, earnest and conscientious men are beginning to examine the matter with the care it demands; we ask their moral support. It is no secret that a determined attempt was made to suppress the "FREED-MAN," because of the word Jamaica. The impoverished ex-slaveholder of the southern states was deemed to have a prior claim* to the neglected coloured people of our own colonies, but we stand or fall by the principle which in the end will commend itself to the judgment, the conscience and the heart of every true friend of freedom and of humanity.-W. THE CRISIS IN THE SCHOOLS. The latest correspondence from our friends in America expresses deep concern in the state of their finances. The American Missionary Association has reached a point of difficulty that excites apprehension. The time for the payment of their teachers at the close of the scholastic year is just at hand. Sanguine expectation of pecuniary help to a larger amount than ordinary seemed to warrant them in increased expenditure. They have in consequence incurred liabilities which are somewhat serious. Without relief they will be a thousand pounds in debt on the first of July and their work will be hindered. Va During the first quarter of the present year, in the state of Arkansas, there were distributed 234,063, rations to the whites, and only 32,055 to the freed-men. Correspondence. THE SCHOOLING OF THE NUMEROUS Mr. Editor,-A circular having reached me, which the destitution and sufferings of the freed-men were vividly pourtrayed, a ready response was accorded the same. Having learnt that their numerous children were estimated at eight hundred thousand, it occurred to me that an appeal might be made to the children of the Sunday Schools of Great Britian for small collections and donations in their favour. The matter was submitted to the Committee of the London and Newcastle-onTyne Unions with a request that they would take part therein, and thus set other Unions an example, but both declined, finding their hands full of other work. A circular was then drawn up and a copy thereof sent to the numerous schools of the Newcastle Union and the treasurer consented to take charge of contributions. Copies of the said circular were also sent to the secretaries of various other Unions throughout the country, though few of them, so far as we know, were induced to co-operate. rious causes have contributed to this partial collapse. Many benevolent friends of the freed-men have had no further intention than the relief of physical destitution and when the winter was over and gone they concluded that there was no further necessity for aid. It has been found moreover that the white population in the south, including the smaller ex-slave- at the commencement of the movement, in holders, required help, and in conjunction with the freed-men several societies have determined to include the impoverished southern people in general. To many contributors this arrangment will be most agreeable. They can help the sufferers from the war in a way that will not wound their sensibilities. We think however that in societies properly instituted for the relief of freed-men where there is an enlargement of the sphere of benevolence it ought to be explicitly stated that the aid is extended to the former slave masters as well as to those who have been liberated. We believe that means are provided for the education of the poorer slave-holding class. They undoubtedly need instruction and if they can be induced to allow their neglected children to attend school in common with the coloured pupils, a great advantage will be secured. We fear that as yet very rare instances of the kind can be found. For ourselves, we feel growing confidence in the plan of directing our efforts to the improvement of the deeply injured coloured race. It seems to us that the British and Foreign Freed-Men's Aid Society will soon be, if it is not so already, the only really FREED-MEN's Society in this country. We shall hold steadily on to our simple and grand object. Consistency, common-sense and christian equity and kindness will in the end be found on our side. THE following is given as Jeff. Davis's bill of fare for his Sunday meals; and it is further stated that his week-day living is as ample and well selected. It does not look as though he was very badly treated :-Ereakfast: Veal cutlets, poached eggs (two), wheat and corn bread, butter, sugar, milk and coffee. Dinner: Broiled chickens, stewed oysters, potatoes, onions, bread and butter, coffee, sugar and milk. After waiting a month or so, not more than half-a-dozen schools replied. The writer then addressed a letter to those most likely to contribute. To not a few a third communication was made. At length a hopeful interest was exerted, and one school after another took the thing up. Not more than £10 was at first looked for, and now nearly £42 have been realized,-about £35 mostly in the schools of the Newcastle Union, and £7 in the North and South Shields Unions. Besides, £25 have been collected in the Halifax Union, whither a circular had been sent, and there may be more, of which the writer has not heard. This we infer from the letter of a clergyman in the south, requesting information as to where their money should be sent. In reply reference was given to the treasurer of the Birmingham and Midland Freed-Men's Aid Association-an association whose zeal, energy and perseverance have set a noble |