followers of Count Zinzendorf, with one Anthony, a Negro from the island of St. Thomas, who had been baptized at Copenhagen. This man represented in so strong colours the wretchedness and ignorance of his countrymen and relatives, and urged so zealously his entreaties on the brethren to undertake their conversion, that the congregation at Herrnhut, before whom he had been induced to appear, were disposed to make the attempt under the most unfavourable circumstances. The work proceeded slowly at first, and amidst great opposition; yet a small number of hearers were soon collected, some of whom gave signs of sincere conversion, and of disgust at their former courses of life. When Bishop Spangenberg visited the mission in 1736, he found in it not less than 200 Blacks who attended the services of the brethren, who evinced a great desire to be instructed in the Christian religion. By the constant exhortations of the brethren, a perceptible change was soon produced in the minds and characters of the Negroes. In 1793 Count Zinzendorf visited the island, and was filled with astonishment at the greatness of the work which had been accomplished.

The other Danish islands, St. Croix and St. Jan, were afterwards visited by the Moravian Missionaries, whose exertions were attended with like success. In 1768, the number of Negroes who had been baptized in the three islands by the missionaries during thirty-four years, amounted to 4711.

It may be said that there is no evidence in this, that Negroes are capable of receiving all the impressions implied in conversion to Christianity. This evidence can only be fully appreciated by those who read the biographical notices, and other particulars detailed by the historians of the community to which Oldendorp belonged. But no part of the evidence is more conclusive, than the selection of short homilies composed by Negro preachers or assistants, and addressed by them to congregations of

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their countrymen. Some of these, though they do not rival in strength of diction the discourses of Watts or Doddridge, breathe the same spirit, and were evidently written under the influence of the same sentiments and impressions. A selection of these addresses has been appended by Oldendorp to his work, which I have so often cited. Translations of a few of them will be found in the subsequent pages of the present volume.

On the majority of the Negro race, the light of the Gospel has never yet shone fully; the seeds of truth implanted in their hearts have made but little progress. Yet there are, both in Africa and the British West Indies, thousands and tens of thousands of them who have been brought to the "excellent knowledge of Christ," with all the spiritstirring, controlling, and cheering truths of religion, some of whom now, even from childhood, assisted by the pious instruction of the Missionary, catch with the first opening of their understandings, the rays which emanate from the Gospel sun. Numerous societies, too, and congregations of adults, listen to the truths of the Gospel, meditate on them at their labours, talk of them in the hut, sing them in hymns, and in admonitory advices commend them to their children. The light of religion has now penetrated, so to speak, the solid darkness of minds hitherto left without instruction; it has struck the spark of feeling into hearts unaccustomed to salutary emotions: the darkness is not yet dissipated, but that day has dawned upon the ebon race of Africa, which never more shall close.

The facts recorded in the present chapter are very conclusive; they need no comment, demonstrating as they do, so clearly, that the despised African is blessed with the same living principle, the same psychical endowments, by which Man is everywhere so pre-eminently distinguished. Let then, the rightful liberties of the injured Negro be restored to him, and, as a recompense for the long series of injuries inflicted on their unhappy race, let it be our concern

to promote the cultivation of their intellectual and religious faculties, and endeavour to bring the animal propensities their uncivilized nature may possess, under the control of their moral sentiments. The intellectual faculties may at first be small, the moral sentiments weak, and the animal impulses powerful; but every exercise of those which are good will make them better; while the bad, by being controlled, will gradually become more controllable. It is evident that the Deity has designed Man to be to a great extent his own creator, furnishing only the elements from which by an active exercise of what he has, he may work out higher gifts. And though the progress he makes may be so slow, that, like some of the great astronomical movements, its full effects cannot be detected by any single generation, it is not the less sure. Human improvement becomes always more and more rapid in its course, for every new generation starts at the point at which the preceding one had attained. There is every reason to hope, then, that ultimately, civilization will become universal, and that all the various tribes of the earth will be willing to join harmoniously, in the exercise of those sentiments by which men on earth may furnish a species of heaven.

CHAPTER VII.

Deep-rooted prejudice to eradicate respecting Colour in Man-Less in Europe than the New World-Evinced in the case of Douglass-National expression of sympathy for him from the British public—The 'Douglass Testimonial"-British Christians respect the Divine image alike in ebony and ivory-Effects of prejudice in South Africa-Americans deeply implicated in this feeling-Have an interest in keeping it up-Strongest in the Free States-Several instances of its nature and extent-Circumstance exhibiting a striking contrast in favour of the Sable race-Further effects of prejudice-Public opinion so strong in the United States that it is dangerous to protest against the Unchristian conduct practised towards persons of Colour.

Previous to the advent of that glorious era which the conclusion of our last chapter predicts, much deeprooted prejudice, the growth of centuries, will require to be overcome. A thorough change in public opinion must be wrought, before an entire reconciliation can take place between the White and Black races. Although the prejudice against the latter does not exist in Europe to the extent to which it is carried in the New World, there are too many on this side the Atlantic who entertain the fallacious idea that a black skin necessarily confers an inferiority on its possessor; and some of the professed friends of the Coloured race, who deprecate Slavery as unjust, are still unwilling to extend towards them the full rights of social intercourse and Christian fellowship.

In consequence of our coming so little in contact with the objects of this prejudice, opportunities do not often occur to elicit the real feeling amongst us towards them; and when they do occur, whatever private opinions individuals may hold, the popular feeling is so much on the side of the Negro, that ideas of prejudice, for the most part, remain quietly suppressed in the bosoms of those who entertain them. But the gross indignity offered to Frederick Douglass, and the unwarrantable injustice done to

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him about a year ago, in depriving him of his purchased right to a cabin passage in the ship "Cambria," is a circumstance which cannot be overlooked. That a British agent, upon British soil, should be found to yield to a despicable prejudice, and deliberately persevere in refusing, to an honourable and noble-minded man, the enjoyment of unquestionable rights, was an act as disgraceful to our country as it must have been painful to the feelings of a fellow creature. It affords but another feature of that hateful system which drives the Negro to the cotton field, which separates him from his family, and reduces him to the condition of a chattel. The facts of the case may be stated as follows:

Frederick Douglass, a highly-respectable and talented Coloured gentleman, from America, who had been for some time advocating the rights of his oppressed brethren in this country, being about to return to his native land, applied to the London agent of the Cunard steamers for a cabin passage to Boston from Liverpool, and engaged a berth in the "Cambria," paying the stipulated sum. He took the precaution of inquiring whether the fact of his being a Man of Colour would be any bar to his enjoyment of full social intercourse, and was told that he would be entitled to all the rights and privileges of other cabin passengers. On the morning of the day of sailing, accompanied by several kind friends, he presented himself on board the steamer at Liverpool, and having applied for the cabin for which he had paid, he was politely informed that it had been appropriated to another passenger, and that unless he consented to take his meals alone, he could not be admitted as a passenger. There was no time for legal redress; the "Cambria" was sailing the next morning, and an affectionate family were awaiting the arrival of a husband and father on the other side of the Atlantic.

This conduct was in strong contrast with the fact, that during the nineteen previous months, his distinguished