US5259.39 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY 1844, May 21. Gift Cond Richard Fliidrett, of Bostons. (86.U. 1826.) Tot - 12 th repte. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW-ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, AT ITS FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. The Annual Meeting of this Society was held at Boylston Hall, in Boston, on Wednesday evening, January ninth. A numerous audience was assembled. The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. TYLER THACHER. Mr. BUFFUM, President of the Society, made a few remarks, in which he stated the plans and objects of the Society. Delegates from auxiliary societies having been requested to present their credentials, Mr. DAVID T. KIMBALL, of the Andover Thelogical Seminary, produced a certificate of his being a delegate from the Andover Auxiliary Anti-Slavery Society, which was read by the President. Mr. GARRISON, the Corresponding Secretary, then read the Annual Report of the Managers. This paper explained at some length the objects of the Society, and vindicated its principles from the unjust reproaches which have been often heaped upon them. It strenuously supported immediate abolition, by showing the true nature of the measure, and its safety and necessity. After exposing the principles of the Colonization Society, and adverting to some other topics, the Report set forth the measures which the Society had adopted, and the gratifying success which had so far attended its exertions. Mr. ROBERT B. HALL then moved the acceptance of the Report, and supported his motion in a short address, in which he congratulated the Society upon the encouraging prospects before them. The motion was seconded by Mr. OLIVER JOHNSON, and passed. SAMUEL E. SEWALL, Esq. then proposed the following resolution : Resolved, That slavery and the traffic in slaves in the District of Columbia, ought to be abolished by the government of the United States; and that every citizen of every State in which slavery is not tolerated, is bound to use the same exertions to put an end to it in that District, which he would be if it existed in his own State. Mr. Sewall spoke for a few minutes in support of his resolution. He adverted to the history of the District of Columbia, the cession of its two parts to the United States by Maryland and Virginia, for a seat of government, by means of which it became subject to the exclusive legislation of Congress. He alluded to the wretched system of slave laws which prevailed in the District, showed how negligent Congress had been of the rights of slaves and other persons of color there; and stated that this District had become one of the greatest slave markets in the country-that slaves were brought into it from the neighboring States, chained in droves, then confined in the public or private jails, and finally shipped to the Southern ports. He pointed out some of the cruel injuries to which free people of color were subjected, by being kidnapped and sold for slaves, in consequence of the toleration of the slave trade in the District; and concluded by exhorting the audience to exert themselves to put an end to the atrocious system, tolerated by the American nation at the seat of its government. The Rev. E. M. P. WELLS seconded the motion, and supported it by appropriate remarks. He mentioned the general ignorance which prevailed in this community of the state of things which existed in the District of Columbia. Many people, he said, among us were not aware that slavery and the slave trade were thus directly countenanced and supported by the American government and people. He afterwards spoke of the criminality of slavery, and laid down the following propositions :1. Slavery is inconsistent with christianity.-2. It is inconsistent with humanity.-3. It is inconsistent with the principles of a republican government: each of which propositions he sustained by arguments. DAVID L. CHILD, Esq. next addressed the meeting, in support of the resolution. He bore testimony to the truth of the |