as fine; and sanguine expectation was surpassed by
success. Earl St. Germans knighted the architect, Mr.
John Benson; and regretted that Mr. Dargan had
declined that honour—the highest honour he had to
bestow. This Exhibition owes its existence to Mr. Dargan.
Sprung from the people, and arrived at fortune by bis
own industry, he has actually advanced nearly £80,000
for the construction of the building. He has set aside
all calculations of profit in the enterprise. He looks to
be repaid his large advances, but he will make no claim
to any contingent surplus, though he will bear all the
deficiency should there be any. There seems every
probability that this confidence will be well placed: season–
tickets to a very considerable amount had been sold
before the opening. The building stands on grounds
belonging to the Royal Dublin Society, near Merrion
Square. It differs entirely from the Hyde Park edifice
of 1851. It is not all glazed, and light is admitted
only from above. It is divided into one large central
and two smaller halls; the former 425 feet long, 100 feet
wide, and 105 feet high; the latter each 355 feet long,
50 feet wide, and 65 feet high.

The Annual Meeting of the British and Foreign Anti–
Slavery Society was held, on the 17th inst., in Exeter
Hall, which was densely crowded. The chair was taken
most punctually by the Earl of Shaftesbury, supported
by Professor Stowe, Mr. C. Beecher, Mr. J. Sturge,
Colonel Thompson, Mr. G. Cruikshank, and a number
of other gentlemen. Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe, with some
other ladies, occupied seats in one of the side galleries,
and Mrs. Chisholm sat in the one opposite. When Mrs.
Stowe entered the excitement of the assembled audience
rose to a tremendous pitch, and it was several minutes
before the cheers, with which the hall rang again, had
sufficiently relieved them. When she withdrew the
same honours were paid to her. The noble chairman
opened the proceedings, eloquently enforcing the usual
arguments against slavery. The most interesting speech
was that of Professor Stowe. After mentioning the
favourable opinions which were held with regard to the
condition of slaves in the early part of the Republic,
when it was universally acknowledged that slavery was
a sin and ought to be abolished, and instancing as a
proof of this that in his early days black children were
admitted into the same schools as white, he observed
that this state of things continued up to about 30 years
ago, and the reason that it had changed was owing to
the profitableness of the cotton trade; that had made the
change, and, he took God to witness, nothing else. It
was the profits of that trade which had riveted the
chains of slavery over the Union. What right (it had
been asked) had Great Britain to interfere? She
consumed four–fitths of the cotton grown in America; she
sustained by these means four–fifths of the slaves in the
American States. That was her right to interfere. She
participated in the guilt, not directly but indirectly, for
without the assistance of Great Britain the cotton would
not be used. The Americans could not consume
sufficient in their own manufactures; and their sugar and
rice trade, compared with the cotton, was of little
importance. He did not dictate to England the course of
duty that she ought to take, but merely brought before
their minds the solemn truth. What did the slave–
holders and cotton–growers say? Why, that the
English loved to stand up in Exeter Hall and denounce
them, and condemn them, but would they take any less
cotton from them,—would they diminish their profits
one penny in their zeal to emancipate slaves by adopting
the way in which their zeal might be beneficial? The
price of cotton regulated the price of the slave. At
present they averaged from 800 to 1,000 dollars, and to
stock a cotton plantation took from 200 to 400; so that
an immense outlay had to be made before slave labour
could be brought into competition with free labour
The Chinese were now flocking into America, and
would work at the rate of 6d. a–day, and the people of
Great Britain now had an opportunity of making the
slaveholders feel that they were in earnest, and
determined to do something towards the abolition of the
system. If they could abolish slavery by making speeches
in that hall, or by legislation in parliament, he should
be most happy for them to do so. But they could
not. The only way was by making them compete
with free labour, and, if the English could not
make as much profit by using free cotton as slave
cotton they must bo content with practising a little of
the denial they so properly preached to the slaveholder.
The following resolutions were successively moved and
unanimously adopted:—"That this meeting, deeply
impressed with a conviction of the inherent sinfulness of
slaveholding, and of the doctrine that a human being
may be made a chattel and become property to his fellow–
man, deem it especially incumbent upon them, at this
time, most solemnly to assert the principle of immediate
and unconditional emancipation, as the only one that is
consistent with the rights of the slave and the
duty of the master. And this meeting, regarding the
maintenance of slavery in professedly Christian
communities as a disgrace to humanity, a dishonour to
civilization, and an outrage upon religion, would therefore
emphatically affirm it as their deliberate conviction that
it is the imperative duty of professing Christians, of all
denominations and in all countries, to lift up their voices
in uncompromising condemnation of an iniquity so
monstrous; and zealously and perseveringly to employ
all moral and pacific means to effect its removal.'
"That, with a view to the correction of public sentiment
on this subject in slaveholding communities, it is of the first
importance that those who are earnest in condemnation
of slavery should observe consistency; and therefore it
is their duty to encourage the development of the natural
resources of countries where slavery does not exist, and
the soil of which is adapted to the growth of products—
especially of cotton—now partially or chiefly raised by
slave labour; and, though the extinction of slavery is
less to be expected from a diminished demand for slave–
produce than from the moral effects of a steadfast
abhorrence of slavery itself, and from an unwavering and a
consistent opposition to it, this meeting would earnestly
recommend, that in all cases where it is practicable a
decided preference should be given to the products of
free labour by all who enter their protest against slavery,
so that at least they themselves may be clear of any
participation in the guilt of the system, and be thus
morally strengthened in their condemnation of it."
"That this meeting, while deeply lamenting the oppressive
enactments which several States of the American
Union have recently passed with respect to their free
coloured population, and which are not only calculated
to perpetuate prejudices against colour, but the ultimate
and avowed object of which is the forcible removal of
freeborn men from the land of their birth, and, while
regretting that the iniquitous fugitive slave law is likely
to be still maintained, and even more rigorously enforced
than heretofore, would nevertheless record their
satisfaction at the encouraging signs which are manifesting
themselves in that country; recognising the powerful
influence of public opinion to accomplish the most
important moral, social, and political changes, this meeting
would gratefully acknowledge the signal services which,
under the Divine blessing, have been rendered to the
anti–slavery cause by the writers who have infused a
new spirit into the literature of the day and held up
slavery to universal reprobation; by the politicians who
have denounced it, and by abolitionists generally, both
in England and America, who, by their long and
arduous labours, their persistent investigation, and their
uncompromising fidelity to the cause of the enslaved
and oppressed, have been mainly instrumental in forming
public opinion, which has recently been evoked in so
triumphant a manner."

The twentieth anniversary meeting of the British
and Foreign Sailors Society was held on the 17th
instant, Rear Admiral Moorsom presiding. The charity
is wholly of a religious character, and its object is to
provide on board ship and otherwise, means for the
religious instruction of British and foreign sailors
trading to and from the ports of the United Kingdom.
A report was read, describing the operations of the
society during the past year; urging its claims upon the
religious public, and at the same time cautioning them
against responding to the appeals of persons pretending
to represent sailors' societies, and stating that some
persons had been convicted, and were now suffering
imprisonment, for obtaining money on such false
pretences. The balance–sheet gave as the receipts for