Excerpt from The Duties of British Christians in Relation to the Struggle in America: Being the Substance of a Discourse Delivered in Morice Square Baptist Chapel, Devonport, on the Evening of Lord's Day, 7th June, 1863 The slave trade and slavery were both English institu; tions. Let us not forget this undeniable fact in our judgment of American politicians. The African slave trade was not abolished in this country till 1807, after nearly a quarter of a century of agitation, and just 24 years after the United States had become an independent nation. Slavery in the English colonies was not annihilated until 1838, that is, 55 years after the achievement of American independence. Our hands have been free from the crime of the slave trade only 56 years, and of slavery only 25 years. Wm. Knibb' was cautioned by the Secretary of our Baptist Foreign Mis sion, before the Spa Fields meeting, against meddling with slavery, lest he should offend the Government, and put an end to our mission in Jamaica}? Slavery and the slave trade, then, are not the legitimate results of the democratic and republican constitution of America, but were both' British institutions. America had her slavery foisted on her by us. Hence it is but a righteous retribution that we should share in her aflictions in getting rid of this monj strous evil. Is our trade suffering? Are many of our mills closed Let us remember that our countryyis the author of the curse which is the cause of all this mischief. Slavery is the producer of the baptism in blood and woe through which America is passing, and we are the parents of hen slavery We have no room for indulgence in a pharisaical self-gratulation on the slavery question. In our territories We have only been free from this crime 25 years. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.