and tighter around them, till they were cut through to the bone, and then sawed or broken off, in order that she might induce the tender-hearted to supply her wants, or rather those of her masters. To add to the barbarity of the transaction, however, the same individual was supplied with false feet at night, and placed in one of their flowerboats, where she earned an additional sum by baser means.

These are things which have come to the knowledge of foreigners, who live only in the outskirts of the empire; and if so, the outstretched and thicklypeopled interior must present greater abominations than these.

W. H. MEDHURST.

NEGRO EMANCIPATION.

OUR readers, we doubt not, will strongly participate in our feelings of satisfaction and delight at the appearance of the following announcement from the Anti-slavery Society, 18, Aldermanbury. They may recollect the blank which was thrown over the proceedings of the delegates at Exeter Hall, in November last, by a seeming difference of sentiment among the Antislavery body, and the advantage attempted to be drawn from it by some, adverse to the immediate abolition of the apprenticeship system; we therefore hail, as a matter of high congratulation, the conviction thus wrought by the recent accounts from the West Indies, in the minds of those who before hesitated, as to induce them to be foremost in presenting the Ladies' Petition to the Queen. It must be a source of much pleasing reflection and encouragement to those tried friends of the negro who have recently visited the West Indies, with the view of ascertaining the actual condition of the apprentices, to have this striking testimony to the rectitude of their conclusion, that the detestable system, big as it is with misery and crime, ought no longer to be suffered to exist; and we

are among those who ardently hope that the present expression of the national voice is destined, under the Divine blessing, to effect its utter extinction.

Ar a Meeting of the Committee of the London Anti-slavery Society, held at their Office, No. 18, Aldermanbury, on Saturday, the 10th day of February, 1838,

H. WAYMOUTH, Esq., in the chair,

It was resolved unanimously :1. That recent events in Jamaica and elsewhere have confirmed this Committee in their detestation of the apprenticeship system; they continue to entertain a deep conviction of the absolute necessity, with a view to the interest of all parties, of an immediate interposition on the part of the Imperial Parliament, in order to the fulfilment of its own designs, which, in the deliberate judgment of this Committee, cannot be effectually accomplished except by the abolition of a system admitted by a Parliamentary Committee to be “ anomalous, defective, and productive of many of the evils of slavery," which, according to the same authority, has already accomplished the experimental object for which it was originally instituted, and which daily experience discovers to be otherwise utterly incurable.

2. That this Committee feel that there is another subject of immense and paramount importance, namely, the permanent condition of the negroes; they continue to entertain a lively apprehension of the perils which await the future liberties of the apprentices from past and present colonial legislation. While, therefore, they earnestly seek the abolition of the apprenticeship system, they strenuously repeat their former declaration, that the great ends of the abolition Act will never be fully realised until the Imperial Parliament shall have undertaken the final supervision of all colonial laws affecting the condition of the coloured races, and by efficient and

TO THE EDITOR OF THE INQUIRER.

I wish, through the medium of your interesting miscellany, to obtain information with regard to the Bible-classes established in different parts of the country, among the members of the Society of Friends, and of others in some degree connected. It is a subject in which I have, for some time past, felt a lively interest, and think that some good may arise from an interchange of views and sentiments. The vehicle of communication you have set on foot appears to offer such facility. I am glad of it, and hope it may be availed of by our friends in various parts.

It may be known to but few of your readers, that there are classes of the kind in many places, who meet together for mutual instruction, in the prayerful examination of holy Scripture. In London; at Kendal, I believe, there is more than one; at Manchester, Bristol, Taunton, and Wellington: and at Tottenham, and its neighbourhood, a class for females only has been some time established. The late Miss Rachel Howard was one of its earliest promoters; and, while her health permitted, one of its most useful members, retaining a lively interest for it to the last.

The effects of a Bible-class have been generally observed in the increased seriousness of its members, and of their value for the inspired writings; the leaven of the word working in an interesting and beneficial manner on their minds, in opening to them the state in which all are by nature-" dead in trespasses and sins ;" and showing, by the clear and convincing light of the Scriptures, the remedy which God hath appointed in the gift of his beloved Son. This great truth received into the mind, becoming the conviction of the understanding and the heart, has humbled,

and led some of these, it is believed, to the cross of Christ, as their only refuge.

There may be other classes than those before alluded to. Any intelligence on the subject, as to when established, the number of members, in what manner conducted, with other interesting particulars that may occur, will be esteemed, probably, by your readers generally, as it will by your well-wisher and constant reader. QUERIST.

AMERICAN FRIENDS.

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We are glad to learn that our periodical is beginning to excite attention among the Friends in America. A correspondent informs us, that conservatism is so much the predominant feeling, there are few, if any, who will come out openly, even in palliation of the Evangelical party in England. An apathy prevails, arising from that want of curiosity and interest which results from a defective education, and a general prejudice in favour of old-fashioned Quakerism, as exhibited in the works of our worthy predecessors; whilst there exists an honest conviction, on the part of many amiable and excellent individuals, that the character of those who have been eminent in the Society in this country forbids the idea of their having been erroneous in doctrine; and the superior general morality of those who have received a Quaker education, and the test of good fruits, is adduced in favour of the soundness of the tree and its roots."

Our correspondent adds, "Had it not been for the unparalleled schism which we have experienced; had the Society remained as free from marks of disunity as it was twenty-five years ago, these arguments would be deemed unanswerable, and the fortresses of Quakerism impregnable. But the truth cannot now be concealed, that defection and unsoundness pervaded every rank and every corner of the Society in this land; and hence the inference is not unreasonable, that there was some defect in the very germ of the tree itself.

It would, I confess, be much more accordant with my inclinations that the Society should be reformed, than that it should become extinct. Its course has been marked, I think, by beneficence; and the virtues which have shone conspicuously in it would be lost, I fear, by amalgamation."

PETITIONS TO PARLIAMENT ON THE
SUBJECT OF OATHS.

I WISH to call the attention of the readers of THE INQUIRER to the propriety of petitioning the Legislature on the subject of oaths. I feel confident that the wisdom of the Legislature might easily devise means by which persons of known respectability may be exempted from suffering loss in consequence of their conscientious convictions. We hear that in the United States, where the greatest latitude is allowed, no disadvantage to the public good is found to result from a liberal and enlightened policy on the subject.

I am one of those who receive, in its most obvious sense, the command of our Lord," Swear not at all;" since, after examination of the various arguments brought forward to sanction the practice, I must confess that I find myself much in the same situation as the converted Indian chief, who, on meeting with a text which involved, in his circumstances, some considerable selfdenial, said he tried to get round it first on one side, then on the other, but it would not do he could not jump over it, and he found he must do as he was directed.

The common English oath," So help

With these views I have signed a petition which has been presented to me, and which is as follows:

"The humble petition of the undersigned, believing the taking of oaths to be opposed to their duty as Christians, and not being Quakers, Moravians, or Separatists, [an Irish denomination, I believe,] sheweth,—

"That in consequence of their belief above-mentioned, they are liable to many disabilities, and unable to perform many duties required from them by the law, and are thus exposed both to heavy losses in their private concerns, and also to criminal punishment for the non-performance of all duties which require an oath to be taken by the agent; and the community at large is deprived of the benefit of their testimony and services.

"Your petitioners therefore pray, &c., that you would be pleased to take such measures for their relief as shall put them, with respect to the taking of oaths, upon the footing of the Christian communities above mentioned."

I would entreat those who are similarly circumstanced to transmit similar petitions without loss of time. AN EX-QUAKER.

The treatise on

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