420 Sir George Murray and the Sectarians. [OCT. 



the missionaries, generally, had, in the first instance, a beneficial effect. 

 Latterly, however, many of their members seem to have abandoned that 

 sound discretion which is absolutely necessary in preaching to bondsmen, 

 and by which the efforts of St. Paul, in converting the heathen, were so 

 eminently successful. 



If the negroes in any particular quarter of the West Indies became 

 discontented, restless, and disobedient, a missionary was sure to be at 

 the bottom of it ; or, if local dissensions occurred, a missionary was 

 certain of having caused or fomented disagreements. If slanderous 

 accusations against the colonists appeared in this country, it was generally 

 traced to some of the sectaries, and was widely circulated by their 

 supporters the Anti-slavery Society. If acts for the amelioration of 

 slavery, passed by the colonial legislatures, happened to be rejected at 

 home, their rejection can generally be traced to sectarian influence, and if 

 to these just grounds of complaint we add the assertions of a Committee 

 of the House of Assembly of Jamaica, namely, that " the missionaries 

 preach and te.ach sedition from the pulpit, and by misrepresentation 

 and falsehood endeavour to cast odium upon all the public authorities 

 of the island ;" and that " the consequences have been abject poverty, 

 loss of comfort, and discontent among the slaves frequenting their 

 chapels, and deterioration of property to their masters," can it be matter 

 of surprise that their ministration should no longer be considered 

 desirable, and that the colonists should prefer giving their zealous 

 support to the sound doctrines, and sober views, of the clergy of the 

 churches of England and Scotland, especially the former, now fully 

 established in the colonies ? It is also affirmed, that missionaries (the 

 Moravians alone excepted) have adopted extraordinary modes of de- 

 priving the slaves of their little property. By the sale of monthly 

 tickets at tenpence each, and by enforcing contributions with the 

 most persevering and persuasive solicitations, very large sums 

 have been extorted from them. It is stated in a letter from Alexander 

 Barclay, Esq., a gentleman intimately acquainted with the state of 

 society in the West Indies, to Sir George Murray, lately published, that 

 one of these missionaries, by his own confession, collected the compara- 

 tively enormous sum of one thousand pounds, in the short space of two 

 months, amongst poor negroes and slaves, and that his quarterly sale of 

 tickets produced from 30 to 40 ! 



These tickets are small slips of paper, with a text of scripture written 

 on each, and are, according to the Wesleyans " certificates of member- 

 ship," but to every one acquainted with the character of the African, 

 and the proneness of the negro to superstitious confidence in gris-gris, 

 or charms, it must appear evident that he is more apt to consider these 

 tickets in the light of a defence against evil in this world, and as a 

 passport to the next, than as mere certificates of moral conduct. Be 

 this as it may, however, it is certainly more desirable to have the reli- 

 gious education of the negroes conducted by clergymen of the established 

 church, who are placed above the temptation of having recourse to these 

 artful practices for a livelihood, and who are not necessitated to deprive 

 the negroes of those little comforts and enjoyments derived from the fruits 

 of their voluntary labour, and of that cheerful industry which it is so 

 desirable to encourage by every possible means. Need we say more in 

 explanation of some of the causes of disagreement between the mis- 

 sionaries and the colonists ? or, looking at the extensive emoluments of 

 which the sectaries are likely to be deprived, need we be surprised at 

 their strenuous exertions to maintain fast hold of the purse-strings of 



