d hard struggles for liberty, and they had been
successful, and the people in the United States were now struggling for
the same privilege. But they labored under circumstances greatly
different from those in Great Britain. Scotland had ever been
distinguished for its love of freedom. [Great applause.] The religious
denominations in the United States--to a great extent, give few and
feeble expressions of disapprobation against the system of slavery. Two
denominations had never been silent--the Old Scotch Seceders, or
Covenanters, and the disciples of William Penn--not one of their number,
in the United States, owns a slave. Not one can own a slave without
being ejected from the society.[A] In fact, the general feeling was
against slavery; but to avoid trouble, the people hesitate to give
publicity to their feelings. Were this done, slavery would soon come to
an end. Great sacrifices are sometimes made by slaveholders to get rid
of slavery. He went once to preach in the State of Ohio. He found there
a little log house. Inside was a delicate woman, feeble and with white
hands. She seemed wholly unaccustomed to work. Her husband had the same
appearance of delicacy. They were very poor. How had they come into that
state? They belonged to a slave State, where they had formerly possessed
a little family of slaves. They had felt slavery to be wrong. They set
them free, and with the remainder of their little property tried to get
their living by farming; but like many similar cases, it had been one of
martyrdom. The Professor then proceeded to make some very practical
remarks on the character of the fugitive slave law, after which he said
that the prosperity of Great Britain in a great measure resulted from
the products of slave labor. American cotton was the chief support of
the system. We must, both in Britain and America, get free-grown cotton,
or slavery will not, at least for a long time to come, be abolished.
What he would impress on the minds of Christians was unity in this great
work. Let slaveholders be ever so much opposed to each other on other
topics, they were unanimous in their endeavors to support slavery. But
let the prayers of all Christians and the efforts of all Christians be
united; and the system of oppression would speedily be destroyed
forever.

PUBLIC MEETING IN EDINBURGH--APRIL 20.

THE LORD PROVOST rose, and stated that a number of letters of apology
had been received from parties who had been invit