In conclusion,—­should these pages come under the notice of any, who, though well wishers to their species, are not yet identified with anti-slavery effort, I would entreat such to “come over and help us.”  If they are ambitious of a large and quick return for their outlay of money, of time, of labor,—­for their painful sympathies and self-denying prayers,—­where will they find a cause where help is more needed, or where it would be rewarded more surely and abundantly?  Let them reflect on what has been effected, within a few short years, in the British West Indies, so recently numbered among “the dark places of the earth, full of the habitations of cruelty,”—­but now scenes of light, gladness, and prosperity, temporal and spiritual.  To show what remains to be accomplished for the universal abolition of slavery—­a field in which the laborers are few indeed, in proportion to its extent—­I may be allowed to quote the following comprehensive statement, from the preface to one of the most important volumes that ever issued from the press on the subject of slavery:[A]

[Footnote A:  “Proceedings of the London Anti-Slavery Convention.”]

“The extent of these giant evils may be gathered from a brief statement of facts.  In the United States of America, the slave population is estimated to be 2,750,000; in Brazil, 2,500,000; in the Spanish Colonies, 600,000; in the French Colonies, 265,000; in the Dutch Colonies, 70,000; in the Danish and Swedish Colonies, 30,000; and in Texas, 25,000; besides those held in bondage by Great Britain, in the East Indies, and the British Settlements of Ceylon, Malacca, and Penang; and by France, Holland, and Portugal, in various parts of Asia and Africa; amounting in all to several millions more; and exclusive also of those held in bondage by the native powers of the East, and other parts of the world, of whose number it is impossible to form a correct estimate.

“To supply the slave-markets of the Western world, 120,000 native Africans are, on the most moderate calculation, annually required; whilst the slave-markets of the East require 50,000 more.  In procuring these victims of a guilty traffic, to be devoted to the rigors of perpetual slavery, it is computed that 280,000 perish in addition, and under circumstances the most revolting and afflicting.

“But this is not all.  In the Southern section of the United States, and in British India, a vast internal slave-trade is carried on, second only in horror and extent to that which has so long desolated and degraded Africa.

“These facts exhibit, also, the magnitude of the responsibility which devolves upon abolitionists; in view of it they may well be allowed to disclaim, as they do, all sectarian motive, all party feeling:  ’Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to man,’ is their aim:  consistently with the blessed character of this gospel anthem, they recognize no means as