The Anti-Slavery Society have forwarded a strongly worded memorial to
Lord Salisbury on slavery in Zanzibar, which we trust will not be without effect. They point out how stale and worthless are "the statements which have been made in official quarters in regard to the supposed difficulties in the way of immediate abolition." These difficulties have always been put forward when it was proposed to abolish slavery in a British possession, and have always proved groundless. The memorial makes a very strong point when it shows that the abolition cannot be called " sudden," since sixteen years ago Sir John Kirk suggested to Lord Granville the abolition of the status. Since then the slaveholders have had the question of emancipation continually before their eyes. This is a most significant fact, and of great importance in regard to the claim for compensation. The Government will make a capital blunder if they cannot, when Parliament meets, announce that the status of slavery ceased to exist on January 1st.
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