Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888 Part 28

The lamented death of the Duke of Albany on the 28th of March, 1884, prevented the Prince of Wales from taking active part in the preparations for the Health Exhibition of that summer. He had before arranged, along with the Executive Council, of which the Duke of Buckingham was Chairman, the general plan of the Exhibition, in the designs of which Prince Leopold had taken deep interest. On the 17th of June the Prince formally inaugurated the work of the international juries, a necessary and important part of the whole undertaking. It was the first occasion in which His Royal Highness had taken part in public affairs since the death of his brother. The meeting took place in the Albert Hall, and a great a.s.sembly had gathered, including many distinguished foreigners.

The Duke of Buckingham, on behalf of the Executive Council, expressed the great gratification they felt at the appearance of His Royal Highness among them, as to him was due the inception of the undertaking.

Sir James Paget, the Vice-Chairman of the Council, delivered an elaborate and eloquent address on the purposes and the importance of the Exhibition. He was followed by Sir Lyon Playfair. After these addresses Lord Reay presented to His Royal Highness, the Foreign Commissioners, and the Chairmen and Jurors for the different sections. The Prince then said:--

"Your Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen,--Owing to a very sad cause I was unable to open the Health Exhibition. But I am particularly glad to have had this opportunity of being present to preside here to-day on the occasion of the a.s.sembling of the international juries. It has given me great pleasure to have made the personal acquaintance of all those distinguished gentlemen who have come from the Continent, and who, no doubt at considerable inconvenience to themselves, have so kindly consented to come over here to decide on matters appertaining to the Health Exhibition. It is particularly gratifying to me to have been here to receive them, and I sincerely hope that their labours will be crowned with success. That the Exhibition has up to the present time been successful so far as numbers are concerned we have evidence to show, but I hope at the same time that for scientific and educational purposes the public at large may derive even greater benefit from it than they can get by merely coming here to enjoy the Exhibition as a place of recreation.

"After the address from the Duke of Buckingham, and the long, able, and most interesting one from Sir James Paget, which was commented upon by Sir Lyon Playfair, it would be perfectly superfluous for me to detain you but for a few moments on any subject relating to health. These addresses, which you have all listened to with such great interest, will, I trust, have proved to you what an important consideration the matter of health is.

This Exhibition, under the able chairmans.h.i.+p of the Duke of Buckingham and those gentlemen of the Executive Council who have worked under him, has, I think, been brought to a remarkable degree of perfection. They have done everything they can do to make it pleasing to the eye; but still I hope that those who visit the Exhibition will remember that there are greater and more important objects at stake--that they will go home impressed by the study of those objects as well as by the pleasure they may have derived from the wonderful inventions and methods of showing them. I wish to tender my thanks to the Lord Mayor and the great City Companies for their kind co-operation in this Exhibition, and I am sure we are all much gratified at the success of what is called Old London. Before concluding I would beg to ask the Chairmen and Jurors at the close of the proceedings to const.i.tute their juries and select their secretaries."

The French Amba.s.sador, in moving a vote of thanks to the Prince of Wales for presiding, referred to His Royal Highness's readiness on all occasions to give his time and to devote his energies to any cause which might advance the welfare of the people of this country. He called on them to thank His Royal Highness, not only in the name of those present and of the foreigners who had contributed to the Exhibition, and more particularly those of France, but in the name of thousands upon thousands of the poor and disinherited of the earth, of children and the helpless, whose benefit would ultimately be promoted by this Exhibition.

The Lord Mayor seconded the motion, which was agreed to with acclamation. The Prince, in closing the proceedings, tendered his warmest thanks to the French Amba.s.sador and his colleagues for their presence on that occasion and for their continued co-operation in the Exhibitions with which he had been connected. His Royal Highness, in concluding, thanked the Lord Mayor, as representative of the City of London, for all that the City and the Guilds of London had done to promote the success of the Exhibition.

OPENING OF GUILDS OF LONDON INSt.i.tUTE.

_June 25th, 1884._

The building, of which the foundation was laid nearly three years before, was completed within the time originally contracted for, and the Prince of Wales came to open it on the 25th of June, 1884. Again the Lord Chancellor read the report, and on behalf of the Governors and Council of the City and Guilds of London Inst.i.tute, thanked His Royal Highness for his continued interest, and his presence that day. Touching allusion was made to the death of the Duke of Albany, who had laid the foundation stone of the Finsbury Technical College in May 1881. "As years roll by, and when the connection between the technical education of the people and the commercial prosperity of the country becomes as well understood and appreciated here as it is abroad, the year 1880, in which the City and Guilds of London Inst.i.tute was incorporated, and the year 1884, in which this central inst.i.tution was opened, will stand out as epochs in what we hope may be an unbroken record of industrial progress; and we sincerely trust that the remembrance of this day's proceedings may ever furnish to your Royal Highness a pleasing and satisfactory thought, enabling you to a.s.sociate the endeavours of your ill.u.s.trious father, dating back more than thirty years, to improve the arts and manufactures of the country, with the work of this Technical Inst.i.tute, over which your Royal Highness so graciously presides."

The Prince of Wales, in reply, said:--

"My Lord Chancellor, my Lords, and Gentlemen,--I have listened with attention to your address, and I a.s.sure you it gives me great pleasure to be able to preside at the opening of this important inst.i.tution, the first pillar of which, in company with her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, I set nearly three years since. I thank you for your very feeling reference to the severe loss which the Queen, and each member of Her Majesty's family, has sustained by the untimely death of my late brother. His interest in every movement calculated to humanize and to elevate the people of this country will, I am quite sure, cause his loss to be felt far beyond the circle of his immediate friends.

"I have been gratified that the City and the Livery Companies of London have so generously responded to the letter which, as President of the Inst.i.tute, I addressed some few months since to the Lord Mayor and to the Wors.h.i.+pful Masters of the Livery Companies of London. This Inst.i.tute, which owes its origin to the liberality of the City and of the Guilds of London, is an ill.u.s.tration of the excellent work that may be done by united action, which could not possibly be accomplished by individual efforts. Conformably with the traditions of these ancient Guilds, there is, perhaps, no purpose to which they could more appropriately devote their surplus funds, and none which would be of more practical advantage to the country at large than the promotion of technical education. The altered conditions of apprentices.h.i.+p, and the almost general subst.i.tution of machine for hand labour have made the teaching of science, in its application to productive industry, a necessary part of the training of all cla.s.ses of persons engaged in manufacturing pursuits.

"There never was a time, perhaps, when the importance of technical education was more generally recognized than now, and I am gratified to learn from the report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the subject to which your lords.h.i.+p has referred, that, although we are still behind many of our foreign neighbours in the provision of technical schools of different grades, the encouragement afforded by the State to the teaching of science and of art, supplemented as it now is by the Inst.i.tute's a.s.sistance to the teaching of technology, has placed within reach of our artizan population facilities for technical instruction which have already influenced, and which promise to influence still more in the future, the progress of our manufacturing industry.

"As president of this Inst.i.tute, I have noted with much satisfaction the rapid development of the work which the Council have initiated, and which they so successfully control. I am anxious to take this opportunity of expressing in public what is already known to you, my Lord Chancellor, and to the members of the Council, the obligations which we are all under to Mr.

Philip Magnus, our able director and secretary, for his unwearied exertions in having so successfully accomplished the organization of the practical work of the inst.i.tution. I have no doubt that the opportunities for advanced instruction, which will be afforded in the well-arranged laboratories and workshops of this building, will enable the managers and superintendents of our manufacturing works to obtain more readily than hitherto that higher technical instruction which is so essential to the development of our trade and commerce.

"But it is especially as a training college for teachers that this inst.i.tution will occupy an important place in the educational establishments of this country. The demand for technical instruction has increased so rapidly during the last few years that the supply of teachers has not kept pace with it, and I have noticed with satisfaction that in the scheme for the organization of this school due prominence is given to the provision of gratuitous courses of instruction for technical teachers from all parts of the kingdom. I shall be glad to see other corporations and individuals follow the example of the Clothworkers' Company, by establis.h.i.+ng scholars.h.i.+ps which shall serve to connect the elementary schools of this country with this inst.i.tution. Hitherto, all schools have led up to the Universities, and literary training has been encouraged to the disadvantage of scientific instruction. Manufacturing industry has, consequently, not been able to attract to its pursuits its fair proportion of the best intellect of the country. The foundation of scholars.h.i.+ps in connection with this inst.i.tution will enable selected pupils from elementary schools to enter schools of a higher grade, and to complete their education within these walls.

"As president of the International Health Exhibition, I am glad that the Council of this Inst.i.tute have been able to place at the disposal of the Council of the Health Exhibition a portion of this building for the exhibition of apparatus and appliances used in technical and other schools. I have no doubt that we shall find in that exhibition, which I hope to be able presently to visit, much that is generally instructive, and that the foreign sections will contain exhibits which will prove of great interest to the educational authorities of this country. To the Corporation and to the Livery Companies of London, the Council of the International Health Exhibition are indebted for much valuable a.s.sistance, and I thank them for it.

"It now only remains for me to declare the Central Inst.i.tution of the City and Guilds of London Inst.i.tute to be open, and to express the warmest hope that the important educational work to be carried on in this great national school of technical science and art will help to promote the development of our leading industries, and that the City and Guilds of London, which have so liberally subscribed funds for the erection and equipment of this inst.i.tution, will maintain it with efficiency, and will at the same time continue their support to all other parts of the Inst.i.tute's operations."

After short speeches by Lord Carlingford, Mr. Mundella, and the Lord Mayor, the Prince inspected the various parts of the Inst.i.tute, including the rooms where specimens of the work of students of the Finsbury College, and where exhibits from foreign technical schools were displayed.

ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY MEETING IN GUILDHALL.

_August 1st, 1884._

One of the most important meetings presided over by the Prince of Wales, and one of the most memorable gatherings for many a year past seen in the City of London, was that held in the Guildhall, on the 1st of August, 1884. The object was to celebrate the Jubilee of the Abolition of Slavery in the British Colonies, to recall the work of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society during the last half-century, and to consider the position and prospects of the slavery question at the present time throughout the world.

It was in every respect a most remarkable meeting. The great Hall was densely crowded from end to end. On the platform were a.s.sembled large numbers of distinguished persons, of different creeds, and opposite political parties, but all united in the cause which had brought them together that day. The names of a few of those present will show how various were the cla.s.ses thus represented. The Lord Mayor (Alderman Fowler, M.P.), and the Chief Magistrates of London, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Manning, Earl Granville and the Earl of Derby, Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr. Sergeant Simon. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr. T. R. Potter, Mr. Henry Richard, and many other leading members of Parliament, sat together on the same platform. There were present a few of the veterans who had taken part in the anti-slavery struggles fifty years before, such as Joseph Sturge and Sir Harry Verney, M.P. Descendants of the early champions of the cause, bearing the honoured names of Wilberforce, Lus.h.i.+ngton, Buxton, Pease, Forster, showed that the spirit of their fathers was maintained in a new generation. Among the ladies on the platform were the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Miss Gordon, the sister of General Gordon, of Khartoum, and some members of the Society of Friends, always abounding in good works.

The Secretary of the Society read a list of names of those unable to be present, but expressing warm sympathy with the purpose of the meeting.

There were letters from the Chief Rabbi, from Lord Salisbury, the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Carnarvon, and other men of distinction. The most touching communication was from the venerated Earl of Shaftesbury, who had promised to attend, but was obliged to dictate a letter from a sick-bed, in which he expressed the satisfaction he felt in having lived to see such changes in regard to slavery during the past fifty years. On the das behind the platform were busts of Granville Sharp, and of Clarkson, decorated with flowers, and in front were exhibited ma.s.sive wooden yokes and iron chains, such as are used for the gangs of slaves in the journey to the coast of Africa.

Well might Lord Granville express his delight on "looking at this a.s.sembly of eminent men in all the walks of life in this country, of different professions, of different pursuits, of different religious denominations, of different political parties, all absorbed by one philanthropic idea, and presided over by the ill.u.s.trious Prince, the Heir-Apparent to the Throne." How the Prince came to occupy this position, it may interest many readers to know. Mr. Allen, the Secretary of the Society, and Mr. W. E. Forster, went to ask him to preside at the meeting. Mr. Forster, for whom the Prince had high personal esteem, reminded him that his father had made his first public appearance as chairman of a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society. The Prince did not need to be reminded of this, but at once most cordially a.s.sented to preside from his own interest in the subject, and if Mr. Allen would give a few necessary dates and facts he would do the best he could. With this a.s.surance the success of the meeting was secured.

The Lord Mayor, according to civic custom, having taken the chair for an instant, then vacated it, and invited His Royal Highness to preside over the meeting. The Prince then rose, amidst enthusiastic cheers, and said:--

"My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen,--At the express wish of the Lord Mayor I am asked to preside on this auspicious occasion. I need hardly tell you that in such a cause it gives me more than ordinary pleasure to occupy the chair at so great and influential a meeting as this. I confess I had some reluctance in presiding to-day, feeling that others could accomplish the task far better than I should. But I also felt that possibly I might have some slight claim to occupy the chair on such an occasion, as so many members of my family have presided over former meetings in connection with Anti-Slavery movements. In the years 1825 and 1828, my uncle the late Duke of Gloucester presided at meetings of the Society, which were numerously attended. The Duke of Suss.e.x did so in 1840; and you are well aware of the interest they took in promoting the objects of the Society by bringing forward questions concerning it in Parliament. In the same year my lamented father occupied the chair at a very large and crowded meeting at Exeter Hall; and I believe that occasion was the very first on which he occupied the chair at any public meeting in this country. Let me say that my excuse for standing before you to-day may be given in words used by him forty-four years ago. They were these--'I have been induced to preside at the meeting of this Society from the conviction of its paramount importance to the greatest interests of humanity and justice.'

"This is a great and important anniversary. To-day we celebrate the jubilee of the emanc.i.p.ation of Slavery throughout our colonies; and it is also a day which has been looked forward to with pleasure and satisfaction by this excellent Society, which has worked so hard in this great cause of humanity.

"We may be all proud, ladies and gentlemen, that England was the first country which abolished negro Slavery. Parliament voted, and the nation paid, twenty million pounds to facilitate this object. Our example was followed by many other countries, though I regret to say that in Brazil and Cuba slavery still exists, as well as in Mohammedan and heathen countries. It is a very natural temptation that, in newly-peopled countries, and especially when the climate prevents Europeans from working, forced labour should be introduced. The Duke of Gloucester very properly said that 'The Slave-trade can only be thoroughly abolished by the abolition of Slavery; that while there is a demand, there will be a supply; this is the keynote of the Society during its existence.'

"Princ.i.p.ally owing to the indefatigable exertions of the undaunted Thomas Clarkson and his great Parliamentary coadjutor, William Wilberforce, the Slave-trade and the untold horrors of the Middle Pa.s.sage were, as far as Great Britain was concerned, put an end to in the year 1807. The majority, therefore, of the Slaves in the West Indian Islands who received the benefit of the Emanc.i.p.ation Act were descendants of those Africans who had been originally torn from the forests of Africa. Speaking of the proclamation of the emanc.i.p.ation of the Slaves in the colonies, Mr. Buxton said:--'Throughout the colonies the churches and chapels had been thrown open, and the Slaves had crowded into them on the evening of the 31st of July, 1834. As the hour of midnight approached they fell upon their knees, and awaited the solemn moment, all hushed, silent, and prepared. When twelve o'clock sounded from the chapel bells they sprang upon their feet, and through every island rang glad sounds of thanksgiving to the Father of all, for the chains were broken and the Slaves were free.'

"I may mention that I have within a short time ago received a telegram from the President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in session at Burslem, congratulating me and you on the meeting of to-day, and stating that it was during the session of the Conference in 1834 that the abolition of Slavery in the West Indian Colonies became an accomplished fact--a consummation for which, as Wesleyan Methodists, they had universally prayed and laboured. They cannot therefore, but profoundly rejoice at the jubilee of the great event, with its incalculable benefits, not only to the West Indies, but to all other peoples throughout the world.

"It may not, perhaps, be generally known to you that Slavery was abolished in India in 1843 by the simple pa.s.sing of an Act destroying its legal status, and putting the freeman and Slave on the same footing before the law. The natural result took place, and millions of Slaves gratuitously procured their own freedom without any sudden dislocation of the rights claimed by their masters. A plan similar to this would be found a most effectual one in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries. This example was followed by Lord Carnarvon in 1874 on the Gold Coast of Western Africa, where he was able to abolish Slavery without any serious interference with the habits and customs of the people. Under the influence of England, the Bey of Tunis issued a decree in 1846, abolis.h.i.+ng Slavery and the Slave-trade throughout his dominions, which concluded in the following simple and forcible terms:--'Know that all Slaves that shall touch our territory by sea or by land shall become free.'

"In connection with this there are two names which I cannot do otherwise than allude to to-day--that of Sir Samuel Baker, and one which is on everybody's lips--that of General Gordon. You are well aware that during the term of five or six years that they were governors of the Soudan their great object was to put down the Slave-trade on the White Nile. They were successful to a great extent, but I fear they had great difficulties to contend with, and when their backs were turned much of the evil came out again which they had found on their arrival.

"I will now turn to Europe. The great Republic of France in 1848, under the guidance of the veteran Abolitionist M. Victor Schlcher and his colleagues, pa.s.sed a short Act abolis.h.i.+ng Slavery throughout the French dominions: 'La Republique n'admet plus d'esclaves sur le territoire Francais.' In Russia the emanc.i.p.ation of twenty millions of serfs in 1861 by the late Emperor of Russia must not pa.s.s unchronicled in a review of the history of emanc.i.p.ation, although, strictly speaking, this form of Slavery can scarcely be cla.s.sed with that resulting from the African Slave-trade. In the United States of America in 1865 the fetters of six millions of Slaves in the Southern States were melted in the hot fires of the most terrible civil war of modern times. Pa.s.sing on to South America, and looking to Brazil, it may be noted with satisfaction that all of the small republics formerly under the rule of Spain put an end to Slavery at the time they threw off the yoke of the mother country. The great Empire of Brazil has alone, I regret to say, retained the curse which she inherited from her Portuguese rulers. At the present moment she possesses nearly a million and a half of Slaves on her vast plantations, but arrangements are made for their gradual emanc.i.p.ation.

"Now, having taken this glance at the condition of Slavery to-day, I will add, in the words of the Society, that 'the chief object of this jubilee meeting is to rekindle the enthusiasm of England, and to a.s.sist her to carry on this civilising torch of freedom until its beneficent light shall be shed over all the earth.' The place in which this meeting is held, the character of this great meeting, and the reception these words have received, a.s.sure me that I have not done wrong in stating freely these objects. One of the objects of the Society is to circulate at home and abroad accurate information on the enormities of the Slave-trade and of Slavery, to give evidence--if evidence, indeed, be wanting--to the inhabitants of Slave-holding countries of the pecuniary advantages of free labour, and to diffuse authentic information respecting the beneficial result to the countries of emanc.i.p.ation. The late Duke of Gloucester, in the course of a speech made by him in 1825, said that 'his family had been brought to this country for the protection of the rights and liberties of its subjects, and as a member of that family he should not be discharging his duty towards them if he did not recommend the sacred principles of freedom by every means in his power.' Most heartily and most cordially do I endorse his words.

"I rejoice that we have on the platform the eminent sons of two eminent fathers in the work of abolis.h.i.+ng the Slave-trade and Slavery. Lord Derby and Mr. Forster, whom I rejoice to see here, have a hereditary connection with emanc.i.p.ation. The late Lord Derby, then Mr. Stanley, was Colonial Secretary to the Liberal Government of that day, which had set before it the task of carrying through Parliament a measure which was to put a term to Slavery in all the dependencies of the United Kingdom. Mr.

Forster's father, having taken his full share of the agitation which led to the abolition of colonial Slavery, went to Tennessee on an Anti-Slavery errand and died in that State.

There are glimpses, ladies and gentlemen, in Mr. Trevelyan's 'Life of Macaulay,' of the devotion with which this great movement was carried on. Zachary Macaulay, father of our great historian, was one of the chief workers in the cause, and it is said of him that for forty years he was ever burdened with the thought that he was called upon to wage war with this gigantic evil. In some of the West India islands the apprentices.h.i.+p system produced worse evils than the servitude of the Slave. The negroes were theoretically free, but practically Slaves. The masters had been paid for their emanc.i.p.ation, but still held them to service. In a year or two the term of apprentices.h.i.+p was shortened, and soon afterwards public opinion at home demanded and effected its complete abolition. There were four years of disappointment, trouble, dispute, and suffering in all the West Indies, except the island of Antigua, where the planters had preferred to make the change from Slavery to freedom at a single step. Full emanc.i.p.ation of the colonies had to be enforced in 1838 by another Act, which abolished the transition stage, and proclaimed universal and complete emanc.i.p.ation. This Act Only completed the work which 1833 began. The battle in which so many n.o.ble spirits had been engaged was practically won when the name of Slavery was abolished. The negroes of the West Indies look back to the 1st August, 1834, as the birthday of their race. The Emanc.i.p.ation Act, which on that day came into force, spoke the doom of Slavery all round the world.

"I have ventured on this occasion to touch on different topics and dates which I thought would be of interest, but it is not my wish to weary you with longer details. Allow me to thank you for the kind way in which you have listened to the remarks I have made, and to a.s.sure you how deeply I am with you on this occasion, both heart and soul."

It was no formal compliment when Earl Granville, who followed the President, said, that "the ill.u.s.trious Prince, following the example of his n.o.ble father, and of other members of the Royal Family, not only presided on this occasion with dignity and grace, but had spoken with earnestness and power on this great question." He also paid a generous tribute to the memory of Lord Palmerston, under whom he had begun his own official life, and who had laboured long and zealously in the anti-slavery cause.

The speakers who succeeded, without exception, rose to the height of the great argument. Sir Stafford Northcote, the Lord Iddesleigh of after years, closed his speech with a n.o.ble peroration: "They had deep reason to be thankful for the position which England had been allowed to take in this great controversy. They knew what that great position was; they knew how it astonished the world, and how it astonished ourselves, that this island had spread itself in its intentions and designs over so large a portion of the world's surface, and what responsibility it had taken upon itself in consequence. This position had brought us into communication with every portion of the globe where Slavery prevailed.

It gave us great opportunities, and we must see that they are not neglected. England's mission was not to magnify herself and speak of the greatness she had achieved: it was rather to look to the happiness and the advancement of the world. There were lines written by a great poet which were originally applied to the great Empire of Rome, but which were applicable to England. They spoke of that which became an Imperial race, and of the apt.i.tude of other nations for other arts and pursuits.

It was the Imperial position and the boast of England to release the captive, and set free the Slave; and, in the words of the poet to whom he had referred, he would say: 'These are Imperial arts, and worthy thee.'"

The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the duty of the clergy to promote and direct public feeling on this question. Lord Derby, then Foreign Secretary, in referring to direct action by England, said that international diplomacy set limits to carrying out all that they might wish in regard to foreign slavery. "The English Act of 1834 had practically given the death-blow to slavery throughout the world. I do not think this is saying too much, for we know the force of public opinion." He concluded by saying that "the slave trade, although somewhat checked, will never be thoroughly got rid of till Slavery dies out in Asia, and in partially civilized countries. How this is to be effected, when it can be done, and through what agencies, are questions not to be settled by an off-hand sentence at a public meeting. But that it ought to be done--that it can be done, and that in time it will be done--are matters about which I entertain no doubt; and, that being so, I have much pleasure in proposing this resolution."

The resolution ran as follows:--"That this meeting, while fully recognising the great steps made by nearly all civilised nations in the path of human freedom, has yet to contemplate with feelings of the deepest sorrow the vast extent of Slavery still maintained among Mohammedan and heathen nations, producing, as its consequence, the indescribable horrors of the Central and East African Slave-trade, as fatal to human life on sh.o.r.e as the dreadful Middle Pa.s.sage formerly was at sea; in view of this appalling state of things, this meeting pledges itself to support the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in its efforts to urge the Governments of all Slave-holding countries to put an end to Slavery as the only certain method of stopping the Slave-trade."

Mr. Forster said that this resolution had been drawn with a temperance of language which he feared he would not have been able to command. He thought that the services which England had rendered to some nations still encouraging Slavery and the Slave-trade, ent.i.tled her voice to be raised with great authority. But he recognised the difficulties, which should nerve them to greater earnestness in strengthening public opinion in this country on the subject. "I greatly rejoice," said Mr. Forster, "to see this meeting, and I believe this means a new departure, and a determination to carry on the work, and to strengthen the hands of this Society for what it has yet to do."

Cardinal Manning, in an earnest and eloquent appeal, also urged the claims of the Society. "The reports published by it, as to the actual state of Slavery and the Slave-trade, are too sadly true. We are told that Livingstone, whose name cannot be mentioned in this hall or anywhere without awaking the sympathy of all Christian men, has left it on record as his belief that half-a-million of human lives are annually sacrificed by this African Slave-trade. This horrible traffic runs in three tracks, marked by skeletons, from the centre of Africa towards Madagascar, towards Zanzibar, and towards the Red Sea. Also, we are told, that of those who are carried away by force, some are so worn by fatigue as to die, others falling by the way are slaughtered by the sword, so that of this great mult.i.tude only one-third ever reaches the end of their horrible destination. It would seem to me that never in the Middle Pa.s.sage was murder and misery so great."