politician; but we are, nevertheless, fairly entitled to make use of the information. We will say in addition to his statement, that the Indepen dents have ever been, and still are, the most bitter enemies of the church, both with regard to the doctrines preached by the clergy, and to its existence as the national establishment. They are still, as they have ever been, zealots in politics, as well as in religion; they are zealots on the side of Whiggism, and, excepting the Unitarians, they are almost the only one of the dissenting bodies that takes an active and decided part in the broils of political parties. During the trial of the late Queen, the ministers of the Independents were among the most blushless of the processionists, the most fawning of the addressers, and the most intrepid of the champions of that depraved period.

The journal of Smith abundantly testifies that he was well worthy of the body of which he was a member;-it proves that he went to Demerara a political reformer, as well as a religious teacher; and that he was not more anxious to impart to the slaves christian instruction, than to see society broken up and rebuilt among them. It proves that he went to dwell among slaves, to converse with slaves, to teach slaves, to acquire a very large influence over slaves, a perfect Wilberforce with regard to slavery. Now, judging from what every one knows of human nature, what would be the conduct of such a man when he was prejudiced even to animosity against the rulers and other white inhabitants of the colony, when he saw only, and was constantly surrounded by, slaves, and when these would be undoubtedly incessantly questioning him touching the justice of slavery? Is it probable, is it possible, that a man of his warm temperament, with a mind boiling with resentment against the magis trates and planters, and with enmity towards slavery, would keep his opinions to himself, would return no answer to the eternal questions of the slaves, and would not relieve his thoughts, in the only society in which he could mix, of that which continual ly occupied them? We say no! and we say that he who will contradict us, will do it in the teeth of all that experience teaches with regard to the mind and conduct of man. We maintain it

to be morally certain, that such a person would be irresistibly bound by previously delivered opinions from gi ving any information to the autho rities that he might possess_touching any intended rising of the slaves, and that he would withhold such informa tion, if he could be assured of his per sonal safety.

The Wilberforce party trumpet it forth as a triumphant proof of Smith's innocence, that the slaves, when they had become rebels, exhorted each other to abstain from bloodshed, be cause Smith had taught them to believe that it was sinful. This, in our poor judgment, proves something else, which the party, we are bold to say, have no wish to see proved. It proves that he had conversed with, or preached to, the slaves on rebellion-it proves that, while they looked upon him as their teacher, they regarded themselves to be christians when they were rebels-it proves that he was cognizant of their intention to rebel, that he convinced them that slaughter was wickedness; but that he left them to think that rebellion and the robbery of their masters were justifiable-and it proves that he rather chalked out the path that rebellion should pursue, than forbade it. Such has been but too often the conduct of the ministers of the Independents.

Our moral evidence of Smith's guilt is not yet exhausted. Our readers are no doubt aware, that the discipline of the chapel is different from that of the church. A clergyman has a congregation, but not a society; he can make no distinction between his hearers, he has no control over them; and, let their conduct be what it may, he can visit it with no punishment. But the minister of the chapel has a society independently of his "unawakened" hearers. It is perfectly organized; the members are duly enrolled; no one is admitted into it before he has given satisfactory evidence to the minister that he has been "converted," "born again," " ""cleansed from sin,"-that he is duly acquainted with the doctrines of religion, and that he is determined to lead a righteous life. The society has weekly meetings, to which none but the members are admitted, and at which each member is interrogated by the minister touching his spiritual condition. If he have been guilty of any trifling irregularities of life, he is

admonished; if he have been guilty of graver ones, he is formally expelled, and consigned to perdition. Now the leaders of the Demerara insurrection were not "unconverted" hearers of Smith, but they were members of his society; they were the leaders of this society; they were men who would be necessarily in constant confidential communication with him; and they were men who would be especially under his guidance and control-who would be far better acquainted with his sentiments than the rest of the slaves, and would be rated by him as the most knowing and the most religious of all the members of his society. They were, moreover, well treated by their masters, and had no personal provocation whatever for becoming rebels. If we believe that these men could carry forward their preparations to the last without its coming to Smith's knowledge that they would have plunged into rebellion if he had made them duly sensible of the enormity of drawing the sword against their mas ters-if he had not led them to believe that slavery ought to be abolished, and that it would be even venial for them to abolish it themselves-if we believe this, then we must in future believe things only because they are outrage ously improbable.

We have other means of establishing this point. The Methodists have missionaries in Demerara, and societies comprehending, if our memory do not err, seven thousand slaves. While Smith's society was made the hatching place, nurse, and head of rebellion, the Methodist societies strictly adhered to their duty-while Smith's deacons became rebel leaders, not one convert of the Methodists would join in the insurrection. This alone renders it impossible for us to believe that Smith was innocent.

A defence has been set up for Smith, that, if he erred, he erred with the best intentions. If this were plausible, we would let it pass at its value, but it is not. He was not, as some foolish peo

ple have said, a man of talents, but he was, nevertheless, a man of common understanding, and such a man could not possibly have been ignorant, that to say one word against slavery to the slaves, was a violation of his instructions, and, in his peculiar situation, a grievous sin. He could not have been ignorant, that to tell the slaves that they ought not to be slaves, that slavery ought to be abolished, even though he forbade them to attempt to set themselves free, was to array them against their masters, and, in effect, to incite them to rebellion. And he could not possibly have been ignorant that, if they did rise, they would commit the most heinous crimes-they could not be successful-it would terminate in their own slaughter; and that, therefore, it was his sacred duty to give notice of their intention to the authorities, that they might be preserved from the wickedness and the destruction.

We say here once for all, that we separate the question of Smith's guilt or innocence entirely from the conduct of the authorities of Demerara. These may have been guilty of error and injustice towards him, or they may not ; with this we have nothing to do. The Wilberforce party maintain that, fairly or foully tried, he was a most innocent and meritorious man; we maintain that, fairly or foully tried, he was neither innocent nor meritorious. It may be proved that the authorities acted towards him with the most gross injustice throughout, and still we will assert that this will not render his previous conduct one jot the more inuocent. Thurtell might have met with the most scandalous denial of justice on his trial, but this would not have proved him innocent of the murder of Weare, or have deprived his guilt of one particle of its atrocity. We have shewn that Smith was convicted on legal and satisfactory evidence, which could have been given against him if he had been tried in the fairest manner, of that which the laws of Deme

VOL. XV.

4 T

rara regard as a capital offence; we have shewn that what he was convicted of is a grave moral crime, and fraught with the most dangerous consequences to society; and we have shewn that the whole extra-judicial evidence that can be discovered supports the legal evidence on which he was convicted in the strongest manner possible. If we have not convicted the Wilberforce party of that which men never can commit so long as they are religious, and honest, and honourable, then conviction can no longer be produced by fact and argument.

We must now say something of the Church Missionary Society which sent Smith to Demerara. This society comprehends among its members a large number of the clergy, and other members of the Church, and how they happened to select a missionary from among the Independents is a matter to us incomprehensible. Grave as the question is-how far it comports with the duty of a clergyman for him to contribute his aid towards converting the slaves into Calvinistic dissenters and political reformers?-it concerns the heads of the Church more nearly than ourselves, and, therefore, we proceed to another topic. The Church Missionary Society solemnly declares that Smith was innocent-that he was innocent of error as well as crime-that he was not only perfectly innocent, but he was in the highest degree meritorious. Now we will put out of sight his legal guilt, and look only at his conduct as a religious teacher. The society asserts that his instructions strictly prohibited him from intermeddling with the question of slavery in any way whatever. His journal proves that his mind was continually delving at this question; and the conduct of his hearers shews but too convincingly, that, in 'conversing with, if not in preaching to, them, he had not been sparing in his animadversions on slavery. This, we presume, constitutes one portion of Smith's resplendent merit in the eyes of the Society. His society did not follow rebels that had been generated in another place, but it generated the rebel leaders. His flock affected to worship God in the chapel, and, out of it, they committed, and prepared to commit, all manner of wickedness-His deacons, those whom he made his associates in instructing the rest of the society, were at the same

moment assiduously organizing an army of rebels which they intended to head-He either so grossly misinstructed the members of his society, or left them so destitute of instruction, that they did not seem to know, that to arm themselves against, and ruin, their masters, to violate the laws, and to wrap the colony in flames and blood, was sinful.-The members, the regularly enrolled members of his society, gave him to understand that they meditated a rising, and he forbore to point out to them the dreadful guilt of their intentions, and even suffered men whom he knew to be rebels at heart, and to be on the point of becoming rebels in action, to continue to be members of his society-He knew fully, or imperfectly, that the slaves were on the eve of plunging into rebellion; he knew what horrible consequences such a rebellion would produce, not only to the whites, but to the slaves themselves, and still he could reconcile it with his duty as a minister of God to conceal his knowledge, and to remain passive, when it was in his power to preserve the slaves from the wickedness, and the colony generally from the calamity. Such was the person whom the Church Missionary Society solemnly proclaim, before God and their country, to have been, not only a most innocent man, but a MOST MERITORIOUS MISSIONARY! If the Society be correct, why do we not erect churches for the worship of the Devil?

So long as the Church Missionary Society shall refuse to acknowledge that Smith violated his instructionsthat he acted indiscreetly-that he was a most improper person to be a missionary; and that it deeply regrets its sending him to Demerara-we fervently hope that it will so long be left without subscriptions. When it shall convince the nation that it exists for the propagation of religion ONLY-that its SOLE object is the conversion of the heathen to christianity-that it will have nothing whatever to do with the slavery question-that it will not sanction its missionaries in intermeddling with this question, or with politicsand that it will sanction them in nothing but the preaching of the gospel

then let it be again supported, but not before.

The Wilberforce party asserts that the planters generally manifest the ut