vcsb t \f?v C<>^v<* ^A» ^* ^-e,£ ^ *. j/6**** /Afc +Y and illustrated the state of feelings which per- vaded the breasts of thousands the moment be- fore the battle, when the trumpet's shrill blast 11G MEETING AT NEWCASTLE. was echoing from line to line, the drum rolling and the banner waving, and all arrayed — ' Big wilh the fate of Cato and of Rome.' At that moment what thoughts of home have oc- cupied the soldier's breast, and of his fate wheth- er he would return or not. Mr. T., after a few more remarks, concluded a highly interesting, powerful, and eloquent speech, by exhorting the audience as christians to support the propagation of peace, — for if all societies acted upon the truth of the gospel they would all become peace socie- ties. Let the cruelty of slavery and the despot- ism of war be linked together, and banished into that hell whence they originated. He would now part from them in peace. He had first come to appeal for the oppressed slave, however feeble his efforts had been, and he now left them advo- cates of the cause of universal peace. MR. THOMPSON'S FIRST LECTURE, BEFORE THE GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETY. A meeting of the members and friends of the Glasgow Emancipation Society was held in the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw's chapel, on Friday evening-, Jan. 29, when Mr. Thompson delivered an address on the subject of his Anti-Slavery mission to the United States. Owing to the great anxiety to hear Mr. Thompson, the Committee considered it prop- er that the admission should be by tickets only, in order to prevent injury to the chapel and to preserve order. The doors of the chapel were opened at G o'clock, before which time a large crowd, anxious to obtain good seats, were waiting outside. Long before seven the church was filled with a most respectable audience, among whom we observed many of our fellow-citizens, well known for their active philanthropy. At 7 o'clock, Mr. G: Thompson, accompanied by the Com- mittee, entered the Chapel. Ho was immediate- ly recognised, and was received with repeated and enthusiastic bursts of applause. James Johnston, Esq., moved that the Rev. Dr. Ileugh take the chair as Vice-President of IIS MEETING AT the Society. The motion was agreed to by ac- clamation. The Chairman, (Dr. Heugh) said — Ladies and gentlemen, in common with all who hear me, I regret the absence of our respected president, "whom no obstruction which it was in his power to overcome could have kept from occupying his place among us this evening. His ardor in the cause of humanity and freedom is not less intense in his old age, than in the best days of his youth and manhood ; and the hoary head of Robert Grahame will not be the less honored on this account by his friends and fellow citizens of Glasgow. (Long and loud cheering.) We must all deeply regret too, the absence of our senior Vice-President, Dr.Wardlaw, who has stood for- ward in the cause of negro freedom with so much Christian principle, fervor, and intrepidity; who has lent the aid of his great talents to this sa- cred cause, amidst good report and bad report, and who would have filled the chair this evening, as he fills every public situation he is called to occupy, with honor to himself and delight to all who hear him — (cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, you are assembled this evening to see again — and that is no small privilege — our well-known friend before you, (cheers) of whom, in his presence, I cannot trust myself to speak as I would were lie absent, but whoso eulogium it is unnecessary for me to attempt to pronounce in a meeting of my fellow-citizens of Glasgow assembled in this place, the well remembered scene of his former eloquent pleadings, protracted conflicts, and de- cisive and splendid triumph. Mr. T. returns to us from the American shores, with his name and his well earned fame untarnished. He has neither been defeated nor dishonored. He lias retreat- GLASGOW. 119 ed, not fled, from America. He has retreated, by the urgency of friends, from lawless physical violence ; but he has never fled, and, if I mistake him not, he never will flee from any field of fair intellectual conflict. (Cheers.) He never went thither for the purpose of physical warfare, to fight the pro-slavery men with the fist, or the poignard, or the firelock ; he went to proclaim in the ears of America the voice of truth, and humanity ; and thousands and tens of thousands of the best and most enlightened citizens of that country bear him witness that he has nobly fulfilled his Mission; fori am confident, that documentary evidence, of the most unquestionable charac- ter, will support me, when I say, that when brute violence was not interposed against his per- son, and in every instance in which the conflict was mental alone, his success has not been less signal in America, than at any period of his career in Great Britain. (Cheers.) But I shall not do vi- olence to my own feelings, and to your wishes by detaining you longer from hearing "Mr. Thompson. Mr. Thompson, on advancing to the front of the platform, was loudly cheered. It was with unspeakable joy, he said, that he once more rose to address the friends of freedom and humanity in this city — within these walls — these walls where they had so often met before to fight the battle of universal freedom, and tooverconn' with spiritual weapons the foes of human rights. — (Cheers.) He appeared before them to surren- der into their hands the trust they had reposed in him — to give a faithful account of his Steward- ship, during nearly two years he had been their representative in a foreign land, and to render a strict account of all his words, all his actions, all his plans, and all his purposes, since he bade fare- 120 MEETING AT well to his kind friends in this country, and sailca across the Atlantic for the United States of Amer- ica, there to represent their wishes and prayers, and to preach tidings of humanity. When they first commissioned him on this errand of mercy, they promised to assist him with their sympathies and prayers. They bestowed upon him an unre- served and a generous confidence — they pledged themselves to co-operate with him zealously and unremittingly, while laboring" in a distant and dangerous field, grappling with the monster, Sla- very — face to face, and nobly they had redeemed their pledge ; they had been true to their cause — true to him ; they were still true to their cause, they still abode by the standard which had been planted in this city, and which, he hoped, would never be deserted while a single shackle remain- ed on the mind or the body of a living being, (Tremendous cheering.) They were still true to the negro's humble but sincere advocate ; they still greeted him with smiles, still animated him by applause. Thank God, he was able to appear before them with clean hands ; lie had done his duty as far as he could, and now, returning from the field of conflict, he had nothing to conceal — nothing to disguise — nothing to extenuate — noth- ing for which to ask forgiveness. He had only to deliver a plain unvarnished statement of what his eyes had seen and his ears had heard. He would give an account of the astonishing progress of the cause, and he doubted not that before the end of his addresses, they would be convinced that, since the amelioration ot the moral and physical condi- tion of the human race had first engaged the at- tention of philanthropists, never had a greater work been accomplished, unaided by miracles, in so short a period. (Immense cheering.) If there GLASGOW. 121 be any individual present who may think that he (Mr. Thompson) had accomplished nothing — that his enunciation of those principles which these walls have so often echoed, was altogether fruit- loss — he would only ask him to return again and again to these lectures in order that he might be undeceived. The history of the abolition ques- tion was interesting and important on many grounds. 1st, as an exhibition of contemporaneous events, appertaining to the freedom and happiness of a largo portion of the human race. !<5d, as connected with the history of Republi- can America, which in its fate was ordained deep- ly and widely to affect all other nations — (cheers.) 3d, as connected with that particular branch of human freedom, lor which we have struggled, and for which we will be found struggling while a fet- ter remains on the limbs or on the conscience of a human being. The question was also interest- ing from its developing, as had never been done before, the method by which a great moral revo- lution might be carried on, and prejudices the most stubborn and deep rooted, might be utterly destroyed. It might be asked what interest had they in this question ? He would answer that the ques- tion was interesting to all, in so far as it proved, more fully than any other modern reformation, the potency of truth — or, in words which would be understood by every one, it showed what mar- vellous results had been effected by what wa3 afore-time called the * foolishness of preaching.' It was interesting, as bringing them to an ac- quaintance with some of the finest specimens of the human race, or, as their worthy Vice PresL dent on a late occasion had styled them, the 11 122 MEETING AT 'Grandees of nature.' The speaker hero, allud- ing to the American Abolitionists, broke out into a highly-wrought and splendid apostropliy which we need not attempt to report^ He then proceed- ed: — The topic was also interesting, from its be- ing connected with those benevolent and religious enterprises in which the christians of this country were so closely united with those of America, and in which they would perse\ ere till the last idol tumbled to the ground, and every human spirit was illuminated with the light of divine truth. It was finally interesting on account of its exhibiting conduct, on the other side of the Atlantic, which we would do well to imitate. Yes! they would do well to follow the noble example of those who fought the battle of humanity against the despot- ism of the western hemisphere. But he stood not there to traduce America — God forbid. It was true that he had been persecuted, reviled, and hunted from its shores ; he trusted, however, that those who had so acted towards him would yet see their error, and would discover that he had never been their enemy. It was true, he was not accustomed to call things other- wise than by their proper names. He always called a spade a spade, because it was always a spade. Slavery he would call by itsown name, wherever it was, were it even at the horns of the altar; and he would call a despot, a despot, though by profession a republican, lie would call America a wicked nation — a hissing and a bye-word throughout the whole civilized world. In the statements he was about (o make, he would draw his facts entirely from American documents — from newspapers and other periodi- cals written and printed by Americans. It was with regret he stated these things regarcliue GLASGOW. 123 that country. He admired and loved America — he hat nl not her sons, but her sins — he only war- red against those customs which endangered her institutions — he wished to remove that foul blot which marred her beauty, that excrescence in the body politic, which, if removed, would restore that nation to more than pristine grandeur and beauty, and enable it to stand forth a beacon and a blessing to the world. He could sincerely say in Scotland of America, what on the other side of the Atlantic he had de- clared to America. I love thee . — witness heaven above, That I this land, this people love ; And rail my slanderers as they will, Columbia, I will love thee still. Nor love thee less when 1 do tell Of crimes that in thy bosom dwell, O ! that my weakest word might roll, Like heaven's own thunder through thy souJ ! There is oppression in thine hand — A sin corrupting all the land ; There is within thy gates a pest, Gold, and a Babylonish vest 5 Not hid in shame-coneealing shade, But broad against the son display'd ; Repent thee then, and swiftly bring Fortb from the camp the accursed thing ; Consign it to remorseless fire, Watch till the latest spark expire, Then strew its ashes on the wind, Nor leave an atom wreck behind, So shall thy power and wealth increase: So shall thy people dwell in peace ! On thee the Almighty's glory rest, And all the earth in thee be blest ! He had now expressed his worst wish towards America. Thank heaven, those who knew him loved him. There were but two parties in Amer- ica. The one loved him, and would die for him ; 124 MEETING AT the other hated him, and would very willingly, were they able, toss him into the bottomless pit. Looking to America, the greatness of its present state, and its yet greater prospects, who would Botsay that it was a nation well worth caring for; exalted in arts, invincible in arms, secure from in- vasion, almost illimitable in territory, there was scarcely a nation to compare with it; possessing extensive commerce, rich in cultivation, with a vast and increasing population, powerful in for- eign relations, and having a constitution so ex- cellent that he, though attached to a monarchical form of government, considered it the noblest constitution in the world. Look again to her granaries overflowing with the produce of the country; her custom-houses teeming with the merchandise of the world ; and they would not consider it exaggeration should he say that Amer- ica was scarcely second to any country on earth. Should there be an American present in this meeting he hoped that while he bore away his reproaches, he would also bear witness that he spoke well of his country. Yet America was more guilty — ay, greatly the more guilty, on this account. Not content with al! the natural advan- tages which She possessed, with the blessings of free industry and honest trade, America — Chris- tian America — Republican America, traffics in the souls and bodies of men. More than a 6th of the population of America were the most abject slaves that crawled on the face of the earth — they were mere chattels ; they could do nothing but what their masters permitted; they possessed nothing but what their masters could claim. Nor was the slave trade at an end. He needed not to point to those infamous and brutalising scenes, the slave auctions which took place at Charles- GLASGOW. 125 ton, and Alexandria, Richmond and New-Orleans — to the honors of the slave ship, that nearest resemblance to a pandemonium — or to speak of 200 infants born daily to v.o better portion than to tlie most abject and unmitigated thraldom. And all this was in America, with her wealth, her merchandise, her floating navies, her invincible volunteers, her missions, her bibles, and her boasts on the 4th of July, and on every other day, and hour, and minute, and moment, throughout the year, that she was the freeest nation on the face of the earth, (cheers.) Before going farther (said Mr. T.) it might not be amiss to state precisely what was the object he had sought to obtain in his late mission. That object was two fold; first, to bear faithful testimony against prejudice of color, a crime not surpassed by that of slavery. To treat human beings with coldness or unkind- ness, on account of their difference of color, was the greatest offence of which man could be guiltv. It was blasphemous for man thus to ad- dress the Deity, as it were, and say, you have made this man of a different hue, and, therefore, he shall not sit in the same pew, nor travel in the same coach, nor sail in the same steamboat ; there shall be a gulph betwixt us as wide and im- passable as that -betwixt the Soodrah and the Brahmin. This prejudice was the foundation of slavery ; it was infused by mothers into the minds of their children, it grew with their growth, and strengthened with their strength. But were an end once put to this prejudice, the demon of sla- very would soon flap its black wings and fly to that nethermost hell where it was born and nurtured. Another object was to wage a war of extermina- tion with slavery. He went to America, and when he got there he found every possible prejudice ar- 11* 126 MEETING AT rayed against him. These prejudices had given rise, in the minds of some, to a very strange kind of patriotism, which sought to break the heads of all those who were laboring to break the bonds of slavery. He had to wage war with the tyrani- cal and bigoted slaveholders of the Southern States, and with their minions in the north. He went with no party connection, without wealth, no arms, no diplomatic appointment, no introduc- tion to great men. He had resolved to identify himself with no political party, but to cry aloud, ' open the prison doors and let the oppressed go free.' He had no seals, but those so kindly pre- sented to him by his friends in this city, and these, though precious to him, were of no value in America. He went, however, with the prayers of the friends of freedom, the ridicule of his en- emies, and the pity of many who thought him well meaning, perhaps, but not overwise. It might be asked, whence then did he look for success, see- ing that he went so unsupported ? His answer was, that he looked for support from the invinci- ble nature of truth. He had ever been of opin- ion that the truth of God, without the mixture of human wisdom, must bring forth good fruits. To near sighted men, the immediate result might seem dreadful ; but he felt satisfied that in all such cases the ultimate consequence would be beneficial. He would recommend all apostles of freedom in this country not to become back stairs suplicants to a minister. First let them try the effect of truth on the mass. First affect the base of the pyramid, and the apex would soon be made to topple. This was the mode he had followed in America, and with astonishing success. Some, indeed, had told him he was mad. Public opin- on was against him. He had asked what made GLASGOW. 127 public opinion. Was it not talking? was it not listening to what was said by wives and mothers, and by those who expected, if not already wives or mothers, to become so ? Those were the ma- kers of public opinion. These had made it what it was, and they could unmake it if it was wrong". Ministers, Legislators, and Lawyers, made anoth- er sort of public opinion. As a noble example of a single individual warring with public opinion, and finally overcoming it, by his individual, unaided energies, Mr. Thompson, in a brilliant passage, referred to the case of the famous Martin Luther. For his own part, he said, he was not fond of rowing with the tide. He preferred having some- thing to row against. If he was called to argue, give him an opponent; if to grapple, let hirn not fiwht the air. Public opinion was against the fishermen of Galilee. Indeed, public opinion has ever been against reformers. The question is not whether public opinion is or is not against us, but whether we be right or wrong. He might be told, then, that in going to America he had no prospect of succeeding. lie could only answer that he did not go to gain popularity. Had he (the eloquent Lecturer) wished to become popu- lar, he knew, at least he thought, it was not yet too late for him to get into favor with the Amer- icans. Had he only recanted — had he but chang- ed his opinions with regard to immediate abolition, he might have rode on the high tide of popularity from the one end of the United States to the other. But why should he have wished to be- come popular, unless for the purpose of gaining ease or lucre? With regard to ease, no man who set a value upon it would advocate abolition. He had, during thirteen months, delivered be- tween 200 and 300 public addresses; and as for 128 MEETING AT affluence, had he wanted a morsel of bread he could have got it at home. Why then did he go ? and why did they send him? It was because they loved mankind — it was because they loved liberty; — it was because they pitied the slave; — it was because they had tested the power of truth when plainly spoken, to overcome the most gigan- tic interests, and to bow a nation, a parliament, and a throne, before the dictates of truth and hu- manity. He went to America, because he was likely there to find a field of labor in the sacred cause of abolition. Glasgow had said, go: Edin- burgh had said, go ; England had said, go ; and Jreland had said, go — {Loud cheering.) The friends of emancipation in America cried, come over and help us, — Therefore, said Mr. T., I went; therefore, you sent me — (cheers.) He would be pardoned for making these preliminary remarks ; in his next lecture he would enter into details. He would now, however, state what principles he sought lo establish. He maintained that the hold- ing of a human being as property — the bringing down the image of God to be bought and sold — was sin. That slaveholding was a sin in all sup- posable cases, and being sin, ought to be aban- doned immediately, entirely, and forever. The prejudice of color was also a sin. This prejudice was manifested in a thousand ways. Such was the misery to which it gave rise that he had often heard respectable colored men say of a colored mother, she rejoiced to witness the deatli of her child as a relief from that misery to which it would otherwise be subjected. Mr. Thompson here adverted to the difficulty which some pro- fessed to feel in deciding as to when the brute creation ended and humanity began. This Mr. T. said, had never been a* difficulty with him. GLASGOW. 129 He asked not where the individual \va3 born, what was his complexion, what his form or fea- ture, what the texture of his hair ; he asked but one question ; he applied but one test — can he love his God? If this can be answered in the affirmative, he did homage to him as man, and would tremble lest by coldness or indifference towards him, his spirit should be lost forever. A great deal was said in America about conse- qences — about what came of saying this or say- ing that; no question was put as to the truth or falsehood of a statement, but the most anxiety was directed towards the consequences likely to spring from it. Now his doctrine was to speak the truth, and leave the consequences to God, who, he believed, would do much more if men would let him do — if they would not attempt to go into copartnery, with the Deity, but would con- fine themselves to the strict line of duty. Such, however, was not the opinion of the Anti-Aboli- tionists of America. Doctors of Divinity, Profes- sors of colleges, lawyers and senators, were all terrified for the consequences of immediate eman- cipation. What! said they, would you set the slaves loose immediately to cut our throats. Oh ! the consequences — the consequences. But he (Mr. T.) said, the emancipation ought to be immediate, because it was the immediate right of the slave, because it was the immediate duty of the master, because they had no right to compromise between right and wrong. It was then asked, did they expect immediate emancipa- tion — the answer was, that they did not, because many difficulties lay in the way, but still it was their duty to preach and to declare the path of duty. Mr. T. then, in a peculiarly happy man- ner, illustrated what was meant by immediate 130 MEETING AT emancipation. Suppose, said he, that you are called up iu the middle of the night on account of the illness of a friend, and asked to run immedi- ately for the doctor. Although you know that the doctor lives two miles off, and though you see the snow storm beating against the window, you do not say the man must surely be mad because he desires you to get the doctor immediately. — No — you immediately understand what he means? — you immediately rub your eyes, immediately jump out of bed — immediately hurry on your clothes — immediately run to the stable — immedi- ately saddle the horse — immediately ride off, and though you tumble into a wreath of snow on the road, you immediately extricate yourself, (cheers and laughter,) and reach the Doctor's house, who immediately comes off with you — immediately feels the patient's pulse — immediately prescribes appropriate medicine, which the patient immedi- ately takes, and is almost immediately cured — (great laughter.) This was the method adopted ■with regard to American Slavery ; the great ob- ject was to rouse the doctor — that powerful doc- tor to whom he had already alluded — public opin- ion. In this object they had been strikingly suc- cessful. Already 300 societies, and hundreds of ministers of the gospel, were engaged in dissem- inating the principles of freedom. The doctor, public opinion, travelled faster in America than here. There might be a thunder storm occasion- ally, and perhaps some lightning, but that was nothing — on the doctor went to effect a certain cure. Mr. T. then went on to speak of the meas- ures which had been adopted in order to advance the cause of emancipation — these were not "war- like as regarded the whites; holy ends could be advanced only by holy means, but as it had been GLASGOW. 1U1 one of the chief charges brought against him, by the partizans of slavery, that he incited the slaves to rebellion, he would now read from an Ameri- can newspaper, the views which he promulgated in that country. Mr. T. here read the following extract from a speech delivered by him in Boston, on an occasion, when the right of the slaves to rebel was the subject of discussion : — ' He (Mr. T.) regarded the question as both ne- cessary and opportune. The principles of aboli- tionists were only partially understood. They were also frequently, wilfully and wickedly mis- represented. Doctrines the most dangerous, and, designs the most bloody, were constantly imput- ed to them. What was more common, than to see it published to the world, that the abolitionists were seeking to incite the slaves to rebellion and murder? It was due to themselves and to the world, to speak boldly out upon the question then before the meeting. Christians should be told what were the real sentiments of abolitionists, that they may decide whether, as Christians, they should join them. Slaveholders should know what abolitionists thought and meant, that they might judge of the probaple tendency of their doctrines upon their welfare and existence. The slaved should, if possible, know what their friends at a distance meant, and what they would have them do to hasten the consummation of the present struggle. ' If any human being in the universe of God would be justified in resorting to physical vio- lence to free himself from unjust restraints, that human being was the American Slave. If the infliction of unmerited and unnumbered wrongs could justify the shedding of blood, the slave would be justified in resisting to blood. If the 132 MEETING AT political principles of any nation could justify a resort to violence in a struggle against oppres- sion, they were the principles of this nation, which teach that resistance to oppression is obe- dience to the laws of nature and God. He re- garded the slavery of this land, and all Christian lands, as 'the execrable sum of all human vil- lages' — the grave of life and loveliness — the foe of God and man — the auxiliary of hell — the machinery of damnation. Such were his delib- erate convictions, respecting Slavery. Yet, with these convictions, if he could make himself heard from the Bay of Boston to the frontiers of Mexi- co, he would call upon every slave to commit his cause to God, and abide the issue of a peaceful and moral warfare in his behaif. lie believed in the existence, omniscience, omnipotence and providence of God. He believed that everything that was good might be much better accomplish- ed without blood than with it. He repudiated the sentiment of the Scotish bard — ' We will drain our dearest veins, But we wiil be free. Lay t'nt! proud oppressor 1 .\ . Tyrants tail in every foe, Liberty's in every blow, Let us do or die.' He would say to the enslaved, 'Hurt not a hair of your master's head. It is not eonsistent with the will of your God, that you should do evil that good may come. In that book in which your God and Saviour has revealed his will, it is written — Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you ; that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.' GLASGOW. 133 'He (Mr. T.) would, however, remind the mas- ter of the awful import of the following words : * Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord.' 'To the slave he would continue — 'Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.' 'Mr. Thompson also quoted Eph. vi. 5; Col. iii. 22 ; Titus ii. 9 ; I. Peter ii. 18—23. In pro- portion, however, as he enjoined upon the slave patience, submission and forgiveness of injuries, he would enjoin upon the master the abandon- ment of his wickedness. He would tell him plainly the nature of his great transgression — the sin of robbing God's poor — withholding the hire of the laborer — trafficking in the immortal crea- tures of God. He did not like the fashionable, but nevertheless despicable practice of preaching obedience to slaves, without pleaching repent- ance to masters. He (Mr. Thompson) would preach forgiveness, and the rendering of good for evil to the slaves of the plantation ; but before he quitted the property, he would, if it were possi- ble, thunder forth the threatening of God's word into the ears of the master. This was the only consistent course of conduct. In proportion as we taught submission - to the slave, we should en- join repentance and restitution upon the master. Nay, more, said Mr. Thompson, if we teach sub- mission to the slave, we are bound to exert our own peaceful energies for his deliverance. 'Shall we say to the slave, ' Avenge not your- self,' and be silent ourselves in respect to his wrongs ? ' Shall we say, ' Honor and obey your masters,' and ourselves neglect to warn and reprove those masters ? 12 134 MEETING AT •Shall we denounce 'carnal weapons,' which are the only ones the slaves can use, and neglect to employ our moral and spiritual weapons in their behalf? ' Shall we tell them to beat their 'swords into ploughshares,' and their 'spears into pruning hooks,' and neglect to give them them the ' sword of the spirit, which is the word of God ? ' 'Let us be consistent. The principles of peace and the forgiveness of injuries, are quite compat- ible with a bold, heroic and uncompromising hos- tility to sin, and a war of extermination with eve- ry principle, part and practice of American sla- very. I hope no drop of blood will stain our ban- ner of triumph and liberty. I hope no wail of the widow or the orphan will mingle with the shouts of our Jubilee. I trust ours will be a battle which the ' Prince of Peace ' and curs a victory which angels can applaud.' Mr. T. then proceeded. He had not incited the slaves to insurrection, neither had he inter- fered with the politics of the country. He had indeed seen and heard a great deal of Whigism, and Jacksonism, and Van Burenism, and other isms, (laughter,) but he had never been ambitious to have a seat in Congress, the more especially as when sitting in deliberation, the members might hear the slaves, passing by, clanking their chains, and singing 'Hail Columbia.' His ambi- tion had been to go into the parlors — the stage coaches— and the" steamboats ; into the Churches of the Methodists — the Friends — the Baptists — tho Congregationalism — and the Presbyterians, telling tJip truth, and asking those whom he ad- dressed to open thp prison doors and let the op- pressed go free. Still, public lectures were the principal means by which he endeavored to fulfil GLASGOW. 135 the object of his mission ; these other little things he gave in and charged nothing for. He had de- livered 2'20 public addresses, and atsome of these he had been well mobbed. After leaving his friends at Liverpool he had got over the Atlantic, and into the Atlantic, and was turned out of the Atlantic. So soon as he landed lie got into an Inn named the Atlantic. (Great Laughter.) lie kept himself very quiet, but the brass plates on his trunks divulged his name, and next day the landlord was beset by some southern gentlemen, who demanded his expulsion. He was brought to the ' bar,' in the literal sense of the word, and was there told by the landlord that he would con- sult his own safety by changing his quarters. He subsequently went forth to lecture, but this was not effected without danger. lie had addressed as large and attentive audiences as that before which he now stood, and had poured the princi- ples of abolition fifty fathoms in their souls, while the brickbats and other missiles were flying around him. Another object of his mission was to arouse the country, and the country was rous- ed, as country never was roused before. Fifteen hundred newspapers were circulated in the Uni- ted States, and of these not one which docs not speak of Abolition. Every one there now speaks oftlie humble individual who now stood before them, from the President, who had honored him by special notice in the Message to Congress, down to the humblest demagogue who sought to r>de into a despicable popularity, by pouring out the most unmeasured abuse on that ' most horrid miscreant, and worst of all conceivable black- guards, George Thompson, the Abolitionist. But some cautious friend may exclaim, that he is not to be taken in by these declarations. If all tho 136 MEETING AT journals are unfavorable to Abolition, what is •rained by making them speak on the subject ? Nut so fast, good friend, he would reply. Amer- ican newspapers were not all against Abolition ; on the contrary there were now fifty in favor of it for one — that was when he went first to Amer- ica. And in on'er that they might see the im- portance of this, he might remind them that re- forms or changes did not proceed so slowly in America as in this country. There they proceed- ed in everything by a geometrical ratio, not an arithmetical, not by one, two, three, four, but by one, two, four, eight, sixteen. (Cheers.) If lie were asked what his object was in all these ef- forts, he would answer simply, that it was to awaken public opinion. This object had been fully accomplished, and the conjoined influence made to flow into one grand channel — the Amer- ican Abolition Society. This mighty engine was fairly in operation, and its results would be incal- culably great. In the Northern States, and in New England, especially, the people were well educated — they could enter upon an argument, and conduct it pretty fairly ; all thoy needed was just that the matter should be set before them. He was particularly anxious that the mass should be moved on this subject. Were it taken up by the unwashed, as the working classes wore called by those who, but for that very class, would never have been washed perhaps, (great laughter,) ho was sure that it would soon be brought to an end. In talking of the various modes which ought to be adopted for advancing the cause of abolition, Mr. Thompson recommended that the question should be made a test o^ church membership ; and that no one having property in slaves, or ad' GLASGOW. 137 "be allowed to enter any of their pulpits. This was already done by the Society of Friends, and also by that of the Reformed Presbyterians, these two were worthy exceptions to the general prac- tice, and had done honor to themselves by their active exertions in the cause. (Great applause.) The slave owner might ask what he could do in the cause? Let him emancipate his slaves, would be his answer. But the slave owner would reply that he could not — the laws would not per- mit him. But who made the laws ? it might be asked. Why, this very slave owner himself had possibly a hand in making the very law he com- plained of. Such a petty mode of excuse was very much like that of a child of whom he once heard. A little girl was left at home one day by her mother, who, on going out, gave her daugh- ter some particular work to have finished by the time she returned. On entering the house she found that the girl had not obeyed her orders. Why did you not do what I bade you, said the mother? Oh! because I was tied to the mahog- any table, said the child. But who tied you to the mahogany table, asked the mother ? Oh, it was just myself. This was the way with the slave owner. He had tied himself to the mahog- any table and then pretended to be helpless. (Loud laughter and cheers.) But the best way with a bad law was to resist it. Obedience to bad laws had been a curse to the world from the beginning of time. It was only by passively re- sisting a bad law that its gross injustice could be made fully manifest. In illustration of the mode in which passive resistance to bad laws might be carried on, he referred to the Friends, who, rath- er than serve in the militia, pay the fine, (or pre- fer suffering the penalty,) imposed on them by \Z 133 MEETING AT Government. Women might ask what they could do in the cause? He (the eloquent Lecturer) would answer, they could do everything to mould the spirit of the age. It was women alone that could play on that mysterious instrument — the infant mind, she only could touch aright its stops and keys, and teach it to discourse most skilfully. He then referred to the noble exertions of the Glasgow ladies in the cause of abolition, and gave a glowing account of the Christian heroism displayed by the ladies of Boston, when threaten- ed by the mob of gentlemen in that city. It had been often asked what good you could effect though you were able to convert the whole of the Northern States. To this he had answered — — Why so many speeches about Poland ? about the suffering Greeks ? about the glorious three days of Paris? about the freedom earned by the Belgians? Mr. Thompson then related an anec- dote exposing in a most happy manner the false philanthropy often manifested in professing great sympathy with distress at a distance, while dis- tress at home is totally overlooked. He pictured out the females of a Virginia family as enthusias- tically engaged in providing clothes for the suf- fering Greek, Avhen a straight forward friend makes his appearance amongst them. The friend of course enquires what it is that takes up so much of their attention, and is told that they are anxious to ameliorate the condition of the poor Greeks, suffering under the tyranny of the slave dealing Turks. The stranger walks out, but speedily returns. I am happy to inform you, said he, that you have Greeks at your door. Greeks at the door, shouted the overjoyed philanthropists? Yes, said the friend ; and immediately pointed out to his astonished and abashed acquaintances, GLASGOW. 139 the poor, ragged, wretched negroes, who were tnade to lead a life of misery in the land of their birth, but to whose sufferings, the accursed influ- ence of their evil habits had rendered their mis- tress callous. He (Mr. T.) had endeavored to •show that we have Greeks at our own doors — suffering fellow beings, well entitled to our sym- pathies, and our helping hand. Public opinion, that excellent doctor would lend his assistance, and he was a friend that no obstacle could inter- rupt. With his seven league boots he proceed- ed on his rapid march ; no river or mountain could stay his course, he would ascend the Ohio, and descend the Mississippi ; travel a lone road, and penetrate every jungle, with a speed which nothing could equal and a form which nothing could resist. Mr. T. then adverted to the annual emigration of the rich inhabitants of the South- ern States to the North, which takes place during the warm and unhealthy months of summer and autumn. Sixty, seventy, or eighty thousand Southerners, Ministers of the Gospel, Legisla- tors, Planters, and Merchants, with their families emigrate in this journey in quest of health. Every boarding house is filled with the strangers during those months, and scarcely a family but has some friend come to lodge with them during the season from the South. Scarce a church but has several pews filled with these interesting strangers ; and very beautiful most of the ladies and children are. It was impossible, he said, if the doctrines of abolition were widely diffused over the non-slaveholding states that this inter- course could take place without the slaveholders acquiring juster notions on this all-important sub- ject. They would hear its truths from the pulpit, and in the lecture room. This would impart the 140 MEETING AT GLASGOW. influence as of a moral infirmary, and they would return, not only with their bodies in health, but with their minds imbued with a renovated moral sentiment. Mr. T. concluded his address with an eloquent peroration. The Chairman, in closing the meeting, said he was sure all present would respond to what had been said by those around him, that they approv- ed of all they had heard from their excellent Missionary. (Great cheering.) The Rev. Dr. observed that it was impossible to foresee what even one man could do by undaunted persever- ance in a good cause. (Renewed cheering.) He concluded by urging the meeting to furnish them- selves with tickets of admission for the next lec- ture, as no tickets would be sold, nor money taken, at the doors. ADDRESS, BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETY, To the Ministers of Religion in particular, and the Friends of JVegro Emancipation, in gener- al, on American Slavery. Esteemed Christian Friends, It is in no spirit of hostility to America, that we now solicit your co-operation in striving to expe- dite the extinction of its Slavery. There may be those who denounce the £uilt of its oppressions, in hatred and terror of its liberal institutions. But with these Ave have no sympathy. Nor is it to these we now principally address ourselves ; for it will be found, if we mistake not, that they took little part in attaining 1 emancipation for the Slaves of our own Colonies, and are no way dis- posed to exert themselves for the suppression of those evils in America, through which alone they can, with any hope of success, assail its disrelished virtues. Perhaps it may be thought by some, that we should rather veil than expose the errors of our trans-Atlantic brethren, with which their exalt- ed principles arc practically associated, lest we 142 ADDRESS. involve good and bad in the same common oblo- quy. But such temporising expediency, such de- reliction of duty in apprehension of consequences is the very prop and stay of that hateful and hat- ed system which we desire to overthrow; and for ourselves, we fear nothing in vindicating the cause of him who was annointedto proclaim liber- ty to the captives. But why, it may be asked, were not such rep- resentations and remonstrances employed sooner ? American Slavery is of long standing ; why then are we only now bestirring ourselves for its abo- lition ? This sort of objection might be reasona- bly urged were we defending the immaculacy of our past conduct ; but if we have been reprehen- sibly negligent hitherto, that is no reason for ne- glecting duty still : on the contrary, we are the more bound to improve, promptly and indefatiga- bly, what opportunities remain for its vigorous performance. If additional obligations, however, were necessary, they are not wanting. The emancipation of all Slaves in the British Empire, precludes other nations from now meeting us with the reproach. Physician heal thyself; and arms us with a moral influence, for the use of which we are solemnly responsible. It is true our Col- onial negroes are not wholly free, but wherein our example is here deficient, our experience is the more admonitory, and we can assure all whom the assurance may reach, that our Emancipation Act has wrought well in all but its qualifications — that in Antigua and the Bermudas, where the boon of freedom was bestowed, unmodified, all is contentment and comparative prosperity ; and that as the result of the whole, we desire all ex- patriated Africans to be as our's now are, except- ing their Apprenticeship. ADDRESS. 143 The ample and accurate intelligence now pos- sessed, as to the state of American Society, like- wise augments the obligation to exert ourselves for its amendment. We knew there were Slaves in the United States, but we did not know till late- ly that nearly two millions and a half of the in- habitants are in a State of Slavery. We knew that people of color, even though free, were re- garded with prejudice, but we did not know that they are subjected to a ceaseless and systema- tized ignominy from which the sanctuary itself, and even the table of the Lord, afford them no retreat or protection. It was matter of notoriety that Abolitionists in America shared the jealousy of all magnanimous philanthropists; but the threat- enings and slaughters breathed out against them by the periodical press, by ministers and magis- trates, Presbyteries and States, have incalcula- bly exceeded our darkest suspicions, and filled us not less with astonishment than abhorrence. But what have you to do with us, our Ameri- can brethren may ask ? Why, being foreigners, intermeddle with our domestic institutions ? And what have you to do, we reply, with the heathen nations, to whom, on a scale so magnificent, you are sending devoted, undaunted, Missionaries? Why molest their household economy by aspers- ing their household gods ? Is it alleged that the cases are different? Our reply is — the same word which condemns idols condemns instru- ments of cruelty, and furnishes the maxim alike applicable to both: — Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and net suffer sin upon him. The cavil, however is so weak, as to be unworthy of refutation. Were we reasoning with idolators who say, keep your gods and we shall keep ours, we might patiently expound our 144 ADDRESS. conviction that there is but one true God, and one true religion, and plead the consequent ne- cessity laid upon us,to press the universal adoption of that faith and fulfilment of that law, which alone we account divine, and acceptable, and saving. But how can we composedly dilate on these first principles of the oracles of God to American Christians, who are at the very moment prosecut- ing efforts of gloriously aggressive benevolence ? Such works are to us more expressive than words, and adopting the former as our model, in prefer- ence to the latter, we shall extend the same fidel- ity to America as America to other nations. Will you not, esteemed Christian friends, aid us in this work and labor of love ? Think what is due to the gospel of Jesus, which slavery in all its forms obstructs, outrages and defies. Con- sider what we owe to the subjugated, and, even when liberated, still abused negro. Suppose him all that malevolence would pronounce him, are we not equally with an apostle, made debtors to the barbarians as well as to the Greeks, by that holy religion, which proclaims God to have made of one blood all nations that dwell on the face ot the earth, which enjoins to loose the bands ot wickedness — to undo the heavy burdens — to let the oppressed go free — to break every yoke ; and whose comprehensive commission, as delivered by a once crucified, but then risen Redeemer, is — Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ? But many of these stolen, en- slaved, insulted strangers, are accredited follow- ers of the Lamb of God. They are not merely bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, but mem- bers of that one whole family, that is named in Christ, bought with the same blood as ourselves, sanctified by the same spirit, crying on the same ADDRESS. 145 footing of adoption, Abba Father. How then shall we behold unmoved, the anguish of their souls, and not be verily guilty concerning our brethren ? How shall we hear of their cruel bondage, and imagine while acting, as if we knew it not, that we are remembering those that are in bonds as bound with them, and them that suffer adversity as being ourselves also in the body ? Think what claims the Emancipationists of America have on our resolute co-agency. Among these are to be found some of the noblest spirits of the age — the brightest examples of humanity and religion. In naming some, we may be wrong- ing others, but these will the most readily excuse us, for instancing Lundy, Garrison, Tappan, Bir- ney, Cox and Jay — men who have not only en- gaged their superior powers, and not only sacri- ficed their time and their property, but braved a hurricane of obloquy and danger, placing life it- self in jeopardy to effect the liberation of the op- pressed African. Our efficient interposition would strengthen the hands and gladden the heart of such men — would enhance the credit of the un- dertaking with their countrymen — increase the number of its supporters, enfeeble the hostility of its opponents, and every way hasten their ulti- mate victory. What, then, nre all our lauded principles — what our high-sounding professions, if wo deny to such benefactors a fraternal alli- ance at once bo easy to us and pernicious to them ? At the same time to be precious it must be im- mediate. One year hence, these regenerators of their country may less need our assistance. In a few years hence their names will certainly be honored by the very classes who now execrate them. But if they live to see the effect of their exertions in this transformation of public opinion, 146 ADDRESS. they will look back from amid the admiring mid- day throng to remember and acknowledge those earliest allies who first joined their imperiled standard, helping them when they needed help, approving and supporting them while yet viliried and assailed. In a word, reflect what is duty to the slave- holders themselves. Are they not objects of Christian philanthropy, the victims of a bondage so much worse than that which thry inflict, as voluntary sin is more dreadful than is voluntary suffering. It is true they may disrelish our ex- postulation, but the more it is disliked the more it is needed, and to wink at the oifence is to con- tract its guilt. In whatever light, then, we contemplate the subject it imperatively requires us to be up and doing. There is no escape from the responsibil- ity. The opinion of this country will be estima- ted by its expression, and wherever it is not cx- pressed, silence will be construed into consent. Such a construction would be, indeed, utterly groundless. Tiiere are some, who deplore, and others who deride, and a few, it may be, who pal- liate, but who are they of our population that de- fend the Slavery of America ? If any speak of gradual cure, it is not so much as being necessary to the negro, a dogma which the recent history of our colonies has signally exploded, but to the masters, who cannot be expected, it seems, to act righteously all on a sudden, after being so long habituated to extreme unrighteousness, and must needs themselves go through an apprenticeship to prepare them for dealing justly and loving mer- cy ! This is the highest pleading proffered in our country to trans- Atlantic, Slavery. And will high- minded America accept of th is vindication? It ADDRESS. 147 cannot be, and next, therefore, to earnest remon- strance, we desire nothing more earnestly than a publication of this defence from our neutrals of non-interference; for, if such be the vindication of America, what is its condemnation ? It any, how- ever be speechless, their taciturnity will be mis- construed, and all, therefore, who do not inter- pose to dissever, are powerfully, though indirectly confirming the delusions of the oppressor and the calamities of the oppressed. The question then, is not whether we shall be actionless, but whether we shall do good or evil ; not whether we shall take a side, but which side we shall take ; for, whosoever in this cause is not with Christ, is against him, and he who gathereth not with him, scattereth. Surely Christians cannot waver be- tween these alternatives. They came to a de- cision in relation to our own colonies, and how glorious is the result! As a political question, the abolishing of slavery has been agitated for half a century in vain, the strongest arguments from expediency achieving no perceptible ad- vancement; but no sooner was it discussed as a religious question, than the mountains were lev- elled and the valleys filled before the resistless march of christian principle. How animating is the encouragement afforded by this success. And let it not be said that the influence so avail- ing here is insusceptible of extention to foreign shores. Were we reasoning on merely civil grounds, we might be told of the difference of civil condition : but we argue on spiritual grounds, and derive our arguments from the World which owns no distinction of kindred or of clime. Already our Christian influence with America has been tested and established. What good has been already effected by Mr. G. Thompson, our 148 ADDRESS. eloquent and devoted deputy.* ! Once we sent thousands to subjugate America, and with all the prowess of British arms and courage, and tactics, they failed in the enterprise. More recently we sent our combatant, and him unarmed, to liberate America's oppressed millions by speaking the truth. And what lias been the result? He has fled. Yes, as Paul fled from Iconium and Lystra, to escape the jealousy and hatred consequent up- on conquest. He has retreated, leaving behind him nearly f300 immediate abolition societies, in great part the fruit of his benevolent mission. Were Britain then to exert fully its moral power, or rather by individual fidelity to call down the full blessing from on High, American Slavery, we are free to anticipate, could not withstand the on- set. Let ministers, and Elders, and Deacons, exert their appropriate influence with the flocks of which they are the responsible overseers. Let the several churches and ecclesiastical courts and congregational unions proclaim, in affectionate but faithful accents, their deep and painful and universal impression of America's blame-worthi- ness. These means, though simple, are invinci- ble — they must prevail. Before the first shock of weapons, not carnal, wielded by a mighty and united people, the surest strong hold of oppression, will rend, and shake, and fall. And when Slavery expires in America, where shall it survive ? With such desertion from its ranks and accession to its assailants, where and with what resources shall it mantain its ground ? We are bold to reply nowhere and * The services of Captain Stuart deserves also to be acknowledged as most arduous and valuable, t There are now above 500. ADDRESS. 149 nohow. The battle now fought in Columbia de- cides for the world. All nations, accounting it final, look on with generous hope or interested fear ; and when victory declares, as it shall de- clare, so surely as God is true, for the friends of injured humanity, all the ends of the earth must speedily participate in the joyful consummation — transcendent Jubilee, inferior only to that which it shall accompany and promote, the admission ot all the tarnilies of the earth into the glorious InV erty of the children of God, Glasgow, April 10th, 183G. 13* SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETY. On Tuesday evening, March 1st, 1830, the Second Annual Meeting of the above Society was held in the Reverend Dr. Hough's Chapel. At seven o'clock, the hour of meeting, the church was filled to excess, with a highly respectable audience. In the absence of Robert Grahame, Esq., President of the Society, Mr. Beith propos- ed that Dr. Wardiaw should take the chair, which was agreed to by acclamation. The Chairman expressed his regret at the ab- sence of their respected President. He loved to see that worthy individual among them, embued as he was with a fervent hatred of oppression un- der every form. — (Cheers.) If wrath ever anima- ted his bosom, it was only when he looked at the conduct of those who would prevent mankind from enjoyinsr that freedom which is their natural birthright. They saw in him the ruling pcssion strong a- ever — long might it be before they saw it, as the poet said, strong in death, but long might they witness its strength and vicror in a good old age. (Loud cheering.) With these re- MEETING AT GLASGOW. 151 marks he would sit down. As he saw from the programme of the evening's proceedings, whicli he held in his hand, that there were many excel- lent speakers to move the various resolutions, it would therefore be highly improper in him to occupy that time which belonged to those who would follow. Mr. William Smeal, Jun., one of the Secre- taries, then read portions of the annual report of the Society. The report referred at length to the labors of Mr. Thompson in the cause of abolition in the United States ; but as the particulars have been already before the public, it is not necessary to go over them. In reference to the signal care with which Providence had watched over the life of Mr. Thompson during his labors in America, the committee express their deepest thankful- ness. Mr. Thompson had gone out from this country to the United States on one of the most important missions that ever had been undertaken by man. He had labored zealously in the cause ; nor did he think of leaving that country till strong- ly urged to do so by the friends of abolition. While engaged in his hazardous enterprise he was exposed to all the calumny and vilification which could be heaped on his head by those whose inter- est or prejudices made them supporters of slavery . This was to be expected ; but he had also to suf- fer from the desertion of those who were deemed the friends of liberty. The liberal press of this country had but feebly seconded his efforts. With few exceptions, the newspapers assuming that name, had stood aloof, and some had even joined the malignant outcry against him. A few, how- ever, had stood out, and among these the commit- tee could not refrain from mentioning, amongst 152 MEETING AT others, tha London Patriot, and, in our own city the Glasgow Chronicle. A long panegyric was here passed on the exertions of the latter journal, for its long advocacy of the claims of the Negro, and in particular for its bold defence of Mr. Thompson, when exposed to the calumnies of his opponents. In conclusion, the committee refer- red with pain to the conduct of certain members of the deputations from the Baptist and other So- cieties of this country to the United States, in re- gard to their treatment of Mr. Thompson. Dr. Cox of Hackney, was a member of the first named deputation. He was a member of that society which had sent Mr. Thompson to America ; and it might have been expected that he would glad- ly have assisted him in his arduous labors. In- stead of that, however, he had flatly refused to attend the annual meeting of the American Anti- Slavery Society, in New- York, where he was ex- pected to move one of the resolutions, on the ground that his coming forward in that manner would interfere with the political bearings of the questions of Slavery. Reference was made also to the travels of Reed and Matheson, a work which, although written by two Independent Ministers, friends of abolition, from this country, had furnished arguments against the cause which were triumphantly quoted by the enemies of im- mediate emancipation. In reference to the fu- ture proceedings of the society, the committee recommended that Mr. Thompson should be em- ployed to lecture on the cause in the various towns throughout Great Britain and Ireland, in order to rouse public feelings in favor of the im- mediate Abolition of Slavery in America. An abstract of the receipts and expenditure for the last year was then read, from which it appeared GLASGOW. 153 the amount of receipts was £247 15s. 5 l-2d ; of expenditure, £249 14s. 2d ; leaving a ballance due the Treasurer, £1 18s. 8 l-2d. The Rev. T. Pullar moved the first resolu- tion, but in doing so, he begged to be understood as entering his decided protest against that part of it which expressed disapprobation of the con- duct of the English Clergymen in America. The resolutions which he held in his hands, re- commended that the report now read be printed and circulated, and with the exception he had just mentioned, he would give the motion his most cordial support. The Rev. Gentleman, in a very excellent speech, expressed his deep abhor- rence of the inhuman conduct of the Americans, and his sorrow that a land so full of gospel light, and abounding so much in the missionary spirit, should suffer Slavery, in such a horid form, to exist among them. It was almost enough to make any one doubt whether those wonderful ac- counts of religious revivals which they had heard of as taking place in America, were actual ev- idences of true religion. The Rev James PATTERSo.v,while he seconded the resolution, also entered his protest against that part of it relating to the Baptist Deputation. He expressed his strong disapprobation of the conduct of the Baptists in America, for their op- position, covert or open, to the cause of Aboli- tion. Mr. George Thompson, on rising, was receiv- ed with long, continued, and enthusiastic cheer- ing. He rose, he said, to take a very independ- ent course with regard to the protest which had been entered by the two speakers who had im- 154 MEETING AT mediately preceded him. He knew no man after the flesh, except he were of the same mind as regarded the great question of Emancipation. (Cheers.) His object in rising at present, was to say that he thought his friends had failed in their duty to the Slave, in entering their protest against a part of the report which he reckoned most im- portant of all. (Enthusiastic Cheering.) It was well known to all, that from Reed's book, passa- ges had been quoted with approbation, in support of their doctrine, by the vilest Slavery Journals of New York. The Abolitionists were in that book blamed for having taken two steps, when they ought to have taken but one ; they were charged with demanding Amalgamation as well as Emancipation. Was it right, to remain silent, when such calumnies were circulated by one who ought to have been a friend ? He could assure them that all the sufferings and dangers and pri- vations he had endured in their service, were as nothing; he felt them not, they troubled not his rest by night, nor his mind by day, they were light as a feather compared with what he had suffered from the publication of Dr. Cox's letter. And why should they be ashamed or afraid of expressing their disaprobation of what was done amiss by their brethren on the other side of the water. He would rather reprove those on this side the Atlantic, than those on the other side, if both were equally wrong. (Cheers.) With re- ference to Dr. Cox, he would have them to remem- ber that that clergyman had been sent out by the Emancipation Society, and that, when that body spoke of who should go it was agreed that who- ever was sent should be one who would express himself freely on the abolition question. Know- ing all this, and knowing also, that Dr. Cox had GLASGOW. 155 often and publicly expressed himself warmly in favor of immediate abolition, he (Mr. T.) had ex* pressed his confident expectation, that when Dr. Cox should arrive, he would give all that aid to the cause which his fame and talents could afford. He needed not to tell them how much he had been disappointed, but he might mention that the slavery papers of New York, which had one day been heaping upon Dr. Cox the vilest terms which language could furnish, were, the very next day — the day after his declining to[appear at the abolition meeting, filled with the encomi- ums of Dr. Cox, and calling on him (Mr. T.) to quit the country, founding their arguments for it on the very letter which Dr. Cox had written. Ho would ask then if this should not have been men- tioned in the report? (Cries of yes, and cheers.) He had no wish to occupy the time of the meet- ing in details which merely regarded his own personal feelings, were it not that his character, and that of their society, were equally involved in them ; and he could not but say, that all the calumnies, all the virulence with which he had been assailed by the slavery press, was nothing, compared to the withering scorn which had fol- lowed the publication of that letter. (Cheers.) When he thought of this, and when he remem- bered that Read and Matheson's book was in the hands of almost the whole of the religious public, when he saw the passages in it in which they speak of the cause of emancipation having been thrown back by the abolitionists, when he read in the New York Herald an extract from that book, in which the abolitionists were spoken of as too far advanced for the age in which they lived, where they are said to have injured the cause through their inattention to expediency, having left in 156 MEETING AT their plans nothing to prejudice, nothing to inter- est, nothing to time. When such things as these were said, was it right they should remain silent concerning them ? (Cheers.) He would call on Mr. Reed, if he was there present, though he had meant to call on him first in the presence of as- sembled thousands in London, he would call on him to show if ever there had been any thing un- holy, or even inexpedient in the right sense of the word or the term, in the conduct of the con- stitution of a single one of the three hundred and fifty Anti-Slavery Societies which had been formed in the United States. As to the charge brought against them that they demanded amal- gamation after emancipation, he repudated it as false and unfounded. They never spoke of amal- gamation, or if they did it was only of putting an end to that wicked and awfully debasing amal- gamation which existed among the planters of the south, and their slaves. Mr. Reed had, without a shadow of proof, brought a charge against the so- ciety which was sufficient of itself to ruin the cause in the minds of all who read without enquiry, far- ther. He had spoken of the agents of abolition in the most disparaging terms, comparing the so- ciety to a wedge. Mr. Reed said, they had at- tempted to force the broad end first, and thus their efforts had been worse than useless, and set against them the very best friends of the cause. Now, who were these best friends of the cause ? Were they the men who would first set about satisfying the grasping cupidity of the planterwhile they lent a deaf ear to the complaints of the suf- fering negro, men who would attend to the claims of interest before those of humanity, men who would not stir a single step in the work till they had satisfied the claims of these dealers in bu- GLASGOW. 15# man cattle? (Cheers.) And these were to l»e called the best friends of the negro. (Laughter and cheers.) lie would again ask, before sitting down, if these things were to be passed over un- noticed in the report of their society ? He would enter his protest against any such shameful silence. They might talk as they pleased of Dr. Cox having occupied the dignified position of neutrality; he envied no such dignity; he detest- ed neutrality ; he had almost said that God de- tested neutrality. It was this false virtue which stood in the way of every great improvement, it was the barrier against the most needed reforms, a shield which stood betwixt the conscience of the slavery advocates and the pointed rebuke which the abolitionists aimed at it. He trusted that the report would be allowed to stand in its original state. He would not alter a word, he would not misplace a single comma of what had been said with regard to the members of the Bap- tist deputation, he would rather that all the rest of the report were struck out, all that had been said laudatory to himself, than that any change should he made on this. Mr. Thompson sat down amid long continued and renewed cheers. The resolution to adopt the whole report, was carried nearly unanimously, amid tremendous cheers. The Rev. Dr. Ritchie of Edinburgh rose to propose the next resolution. It relieved him to find, he had said, that on this occasion he was not called on to speak a speech, nor yet to read one prepared by himself. What he had to read to thorn was a petition proposed to be sent to Parli- ament, and the Memorial addressed to Lord Mel- bourne. Havino- read these documents, Dr. 14 158 MEETING AT Ritchie said he believed he might safely lea7e them to speak for themselves. They contained the sum, and even the detail?, of all he had to say. Nevertheless, he would address a few words to them, in the hope that, by so doing, he might forward the grand movement, for he could not help thinking-, that even he, in his own place, might be useful in that cause which he had so deeply at heart — the cause of immediate and to- tal abolitioa. (Cheers.) The contest was one, no «loiibt, of a formidable nature ; but when he con- sidered that he spoke in Glasgow — the Geneva of the north, — when he saw before him their ven- erable Chairman whose hand was at every good work, and on his right their friend Mr. G, Thompson, who had not hesitated to descend into the lion's den. — (Cheers.) When he felt him- self thus placed, how could he be afraid to speak ? (Cheers.) What was the subject ? He could not tell. It was called slavery ; but he could not express the misery, the degradation, the consum- mate wretchedness, that was comprised within tbe meaning of that word. Could he suppose the fiends of Pandemonium, assembled in cooncil, in order to find out what Was most fruitful in every crime, he would see these fiends coming forth as slaveholders. (Cheers.) He (Dr. R.) had, in early years, been convinced of the evils of sla- very. His convictions had been deep dyed — they had been dyed in the wool, (Larrrrhter.) When* at the grammar school, hi? soul had been harrow- ed by the description given by Clarkson nf that floating hell — a slave ship. His sleep had been harassed by dreams of the misery of th n slaves, pent up together, close as his fingers and in ap- partments only two feet in height." Keenly as he had felt, however, he still knew that no one could; GLASGOW. 159 propeily estimate the miseries of slavery, but he who had been atone time himself a slave. It was a disgrace to the age, that at this time of day — in the nineteenth century — it was necessary to vin- dicate the rights of the slave. Had a seruph been Laid that in our world we had been lectured for 5000 years on the immense value of truth and hon- esty, and that for nearly 2000 we had been taught to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us— had a seraph been told ofthis, and theo asked where he was likely to find an aristocracy of the skin or to hear of the right of the white man to hold his black brother as a chattel, he should certainly have sought any where but on this earth, for such a spectacle. Dr. II. spofce of the early advocates of negro freedom- -of Gran- ville Sharpe, of Clarkson, and of Wilbcrforce — bat while lie did this, he said he did not speak of these champions merely because they wcie old — he at all times liked a coin of yesterday's mint better than one of Julius Ccesar — he spoke of them because their labor of lovo had been great and successful ; and they had been succeeded by those — by Favvell Buxton and George Thompson — (cheers) whose names would be familiar as household words, when those whose fame rested on the false glories of war would be totally for- gotten. The Slave question had now assumed a new aspect. The friends of the negro had lately sent deputations to London to aid their cause. And why had they been so late in doing so? Because it had been formerly felt needless to peti- tion a parliament of slave owners— a parliament bent only on enslaving oursclvei. Scotsmen were not the men to go on so thrivelcss an errand as to urge on such a parliament the rights of the negro. But now times were changed. We had effected 160 MEETING AT our own emancipation, and we were resolved also to effect that of the negroes. He felt proud when he reccollected his going with a sturdy phalanx of 339, to wait upon Lord Althorp in Downing Street, to urge the policy of immediate emancipation. He told his Lordship that Scot- land had taken up the subject on bible ground?, and he was answered by a Lillipu statesman at his Lordship's side, that he did not doubt of the Apprenticeship's leading to a satisfactory settle- ment. Yes, said I, continued the Rev. Doctor, it will no doubt lead to a satisfactory settlement — so will the crossing of your threshold lead to Edinburgh; but the mischief is that it's alang way till't. He (Dr. Ritchie) considered the Apprentice- ship as a. system to be put an end to as speedily as possible. Liberty might be considered Elysium, slavery Tophet, and the Apprenticeship Purgato- ry. He could not even say as the Papist said — when jawed by a Protestant regarding Purgatory — that he might gang far'er and fare waur — (a laugh)— he thought that even to go the length of positive slavery, would scarcely be found worse than the Purgatory of the Apprenticeship. (Cheers.) He had heard a great deal said of the support given to the slave system by Baptist and Presbyterian Ministers ; he would only say that the conduct of these men was most eondemnable. It was worthy of remark, however, that Ministers of the Gospel had been called Angels, and that fallen Angels become Devils. Dr. R. then point- ed out the situation in which the stipendiary ma- gistrate was placed under the new system in the West Indian Colonies. On the one hand there came forward seekingjustice the poor and degra- ded negro ; on the other the wealthy planter ap- proached upon his nng. The magistrate was in- GLASGOW. ]G1 vited into the house of the plainer and there regal- ed with the best that the land affords. After the feast lie is called on to decide between the par- ties, and fur the life of him, said Dr. R., he could not decide against his host. These magistrates had been also brought up in a bad school. They had served their apprenticeship in a standing ar- my, and had been familiar from their youth with the infliction of the lash. lie had heard within these few days, of an officer in the army who was so extremely humane as to superintend the inflic- tion of the lash in person. (Cheers and laughter.) Nine out often of these stipendiary magistrates were in the interest of the planters. Ought this to continue? lie would hand them over to tho Scripture text for an answer — wo be unto them who establish iniquity by law. For his part when he saw that those from whom the negroes had justly anticipated they would find protection, were in league with their oppressors, he was as- tonished at the patience with which they had borne their injuries. Some might say — some had paid — that five years of apprenticeship was a mere trifle. Would any one present like to suffer for five years all those miseries which experience had already proved to be identified with negro apprenticeship? The Americans endeavored to bamboozle us by saying that they got negro slavery from Britain ; but he would ask them, did they hesitate to throw off the yoke of Britain when they found themselves likely to be subjected to a tax on their tea, and why not as well throw from them the disgrace of slavery? For his part, when he found a parchment law go contrary to the law of God, he would feel it to be his duty to tear it in pieces. At that day when the world would be in flames, and when the parchment itself 14* 162 MEETING AT would be crackling, the soul would stand naked before the throne of the Judge to answer for the deeds done in the body. There was a talk of property in the slave. He would ask to whom belonged the 800,000 negroes in the West Indies? Did they not belong to the people of Britain, who had paid for them no less a sum than £20, 000,000. (Cheers.) And was it not intolerable that those whose freedom had been thus bought should still be subjected to the ignominy of the lash and the cattle chain ? (Cheers.) There had also been a talk of being in advance of the spirit of the age. The people of Britain, he was aware, had always been in advance of the Gov- ernment. (Cheers.) When £500,000,000 was to be borrowed, in order to carry on a war crusade against France, the Government was sure to take the lead ; but in a moral crusade against iniquity the people were always to be found foremost. The people ought, therefore, to depend upon themselves. They should not look even only to Lord Melbourne. His Lordship might do much better than he had done, though he admitted that he had done wonderfully well. (Cheers.) There was another to whom they would naturally look as a leader — the great O — who had done more than any other man to advance the cause of hu- man freedom. He could easily picture to him- self that great O when a boy running about Der- rynane Abbey, and conversing with the dairy- maid while she was working at the churn. She would doubtless explain to him the nature of the operation in which she was engaged — that with- out agitation she could not expect to produce but- ter, and he would thus be instructed in the art which he had since turned to so excellent an ac- count. He (Dr. R.) would urge upon the meet- GLASGOW. 1G3 ing to use the same means. He would call upon them to agitate in their respective circles in be- half of the negroes. He would address himself particularly to students, some of whom he saw present, and bid them raise the muirhurn of Anti- Slavery agitation throughout the country. Mr. J. M'Cune Smith, (colored,) of New-York, seconded the motion. The apprenticeship, he said, was wrong in principle, ruinous in practice, and dangerous as a precedent. It had been said that immediate emancipation was likely to be productive of the most pernicious results; but in refutation of this it Avas only necessary to turn to St. Domingo,to Columbia, and to Antigua, to prove the reverse. The apprenticeship was ruinous in practice, in as much as from the colonial gov- ernment, composed as they were wholly of slave- owners, no measure could be expected or calcu- lated to ameliorate the condition of the negro. But the dangerous precedent afforded by the appren- ticeship was particularly to be regarded. The people of Britain had nobly led the way in the abolition of slavery, and other nations might be willing to follow the example ; but they might be tempted by our adoption of the seven years' apprenticeship, to fold their arms and say, we shall wait to see what is the result of this experiment. Mr. S. then inculcated the propriety of calling for immediate emancipation. Let not, he said, the British Statute Book be stained with the as- sumption that man in any state is not fit for free- dom. The horrors of the apprenticeship ore more galling to the negro, than absolute slavery, as they are inflicted on them by the British peo- ple ; and they are still further aggravated by the sound of the anthems heard from the neighbour- 164 MEETING AT ing shores of Antigua, -where the slave has been completely released from his bonds. Mr. Geo. Thompson rose amidst universal cheering to move the next resolution. He said as there were yet several other resolutions to be moved, he would not take up a large portion of their time in reccommending one which recom- mended itself. A more potent instrumentality could not be employed in favor of the abolition cause in America, than the communication of a public declaration of the sentiments of the Chris- tian people of this country. They were there on a firm footing; they were there on solid ground. They might assemble and express their opinions of what was cruel and unjust, they might, they ought, as christians to interfere with the brethren on the other side of the Atlantic — to tell them Arhat were their opinions. This was their only interference; this was the height of their inter- ference. They had sent their living agent, who, through the breadth of the land, had declared their sentiments, and now that he had returned they were adopting the next most powerful instrumen- tality to forward the cause, by sending abroad their written remonstrances on the result and demoralizing tendency of slavery. (Cheers.) Americans there were who might affect to sneer at the remonstrance of Britain aria Ireland, but thousands and tens of thousands would feel strongly on the subject, and many of them with a proper feeling. Were there no other means than by writing? The newspapers went there. The 360 Abolition Societies would find out a way to make them circulate. Give then, (continued Mr. T.) publicity to every syllable that you pen, to every word that you utter. Put your prayers, GLASGOW. 1G5 your wishes, your reasonings, into print ; give tllem 'line upon line, precept upon precept,' and so will you awaken the best portion of the American community, (approbation.) He had now to advert to the clergy in America. Ue was happy to state that there were from twelve to fif- teen hundred pledged to the cause, notwithstand- ing he had said so much on former occasions res- pecting the corruption of the church. It was true, that among the professors of religion in America, who were opposed to them, were the Ministers of religion. Among the Presbyterians in Vir- ginia, a great number of the ministers were not only slaveholders, but planters, and divided their duties between attending to the holy office of the ministry, and planting rice, cotton, and su- gar. The highest dignities of the Methodist Connection, and the chief office bearers of the Episcopal Church, were connected with the slave trade. In South Carolina, the ministers upheld the determined, inveterate, unmitigated slavery of the South. The clergy preached what they called Christianity, which sanctioned slavery. But the church was rising, and without even the aid of a State connection, would continue to rise, and the church would yet be the redemption of America. Public feeling would keep time with the voice of the sanctuary, and they would ac~ company each other in a final triumph. The question of slavery was to the present moment, exclusively religious, and so it would continue; but the politician would come in, and in his own place be an effective agent. In order to give a better idea of the progress of the cause in Amer- ica, as he had said enough in support of the res- olution, he would direct their attention to a dis- play which was made in the State of New York, 166 MEETING AT nt a time when there was nothing but slaughter breathed out against the abolitionists. The ef- forts of the abolitionists were not however paral- ised. A convention was held and notwithstand- ing all the threaten! ngs, there were now 350 socie- ties in the United {States. The deputations to the Ministry and their myrmidon at Downing Street, had been adverted to; that circumstance occurred at the moment of highest excitement in favor of the question. Never was there such a parade of those gentlemen called black coats, seen going up Downing Street, and seldom was Lord Stanley in such juxta position. The excite- ment in New York was, however, of another kind. It was said if the meeting were held, it would be equal to a declaration of war, an attemnt to bring about the dissolution of the Union. One thous- and of the cream of the State of New York at- tended, however, and among them were 100 min- isters of the gospel. Britain waited to second these efforts. Let the friends of liberty in Brit- ain endorse these proceedings. Let their remon- strances against slavery come from all quarters, and wind their way through the United States of America, which one after another would join in ihe cause. One word, continued Mr. T., with regard to prejudice against color. If there was one thing more than another he delighted to hear, it was the address of a stranger who came among them, a brother who differed from them only in the col- or of his skin, listened to with attention and ad- miration by an audience like the present. Not so was it in America. To show the state of feeling on the part of the whites towards the blacks, be would narrate an anecdote which he had learned after a lecture in Edinburgh, regarding this pre- GLASGOW, ]()7 judico against color. A lady who had butn con- versing with an acquaintance of her own, a Vir- ginia-ised Frenchman, now in Edinburgh, hap- pened to ask him if he knew Mr. Thompson. — 4 Oh' said the Frenchman, 'that man Thompson — he be all humbug, humbug, humbug,' and in or- der to convince the lady he recited an anecdote of a Frenchman, who courted a lady the fifth re- move by birth from a black family. The French- man said she was 'a beautiful, very beautiful la- dy,' but at a dinner party it being whispered that the beautiful lady was connected by birth with a black family, the company left the room, all but the French gentleman and the fine lady, and they were obliged to take dinner in a private apart- ment. The fine lady cried and wept, but the company went b;ick to dinner again, after siic bad left the room. If I had not gone out ton, con- tinued the Frenchman, I would have lost all cred- it and respectability in society. Mr. Thompson then wont on to mention the circumstance of a partition having been erected in Dr. Spraguc's church in Albany, separating the blacks, many of whom had been members of the church for a long time under the ministration of Dr. Sprague's pre- decessor, from the whites of the same congrega- tion, lie also stated that the whites were not satisfied till a green curtain was put. up to hide the negroes' faces, but that th^ro was now not a colored man in the church. The learned lectur- er said there was reason to guard against the evil, which professedly (food men did. Where could a man look for equality of rights if it was not in the church? If a practice like this was not ex- posed, how ronld they justify the anathemas which they hurled against the system? Mr. T. next alluded to the anomaly of the American coRstit'W- 1 68 MEETING AT lion, holding equality of rights, freedom of con- science, and freedom of speech, and the Govern- or of Alabama sending to the Governor of New- York for the delivery of a Mr. Williams, who was indicted for publishing in his newspaper a sen- tence to the effect that 'God commands, and na- ture cries aloud, against the sin of man holding property in man.' An advertisement, continued Mr. Thompson, appeared in an American paper in Charleston, offering a reward of fifty dollars, to any person who would bring to ' Liberty Hall ' the servant of the proprietor, named Bill, who would be known by the marks of the whip on his back, and who having eloped without provocation, was said to be on the road to his wife and five children, sold to a neighboring planter, by the master of 'Liberty Hall.' — (Laughter.) Another anecdote was told by Mr. Thompson, of a Mr. Wallace, who married in the South a lady who was governess in an institution. Sometime after the marriage, a person called on Mr. Wallace, and demanded his wife or 1,000 dollars, as she was his slave. The husband was indignant, lie turned the individual out of doors, and communi- cated the circumstance to his wife, who, after hearing a description of the visitor, told her hus- band, that she was not only his slave but that he was her father. (Shame.) As a farther proof of the evils of slavery, Mr. Thompson stated as a fact, that a father in Kentucky, where gambling is carried on to a great extent, had actually given, after he had lost all his money, his three children as a stake for the last game. He lost the game ; the planter went to the mother demanding the bet, but she, after hearing an explanation of the matter from her husband, went into another apart- ment, and she and her three children were found GLASGOW. 169 there with their throats cut. (Oh, and shame.) — Mr. T. said, be had sat in stage-coaches, and lis- tened to the recital of atrocities committed on the blacks, which were made a matter of jest to the whites. He had heard his own name branded with foul-mouthed malignity, when those who spoke of him did not know that he was present. He concluded by commenting upon the appren- ticeship system, and by denouncing the stipendi- ary magistrates as leagued with the planters in the oppression of the negroes. The Rev. Mr. Thompson, of the Methodist connexion, seconded the resolution. He said, the most humbling consideration they had had before them that evening was that the professors and the ministers of religion were the main props of slavery in America. The immortal Locke had said that what was morally wrong could not be politically right; and he would sny that what was morally wrong could not be ecclesiastically right. Whether, therefore, the system was supported by Baptists, Presbyterians, or Methodists, it should ever meet with his unqualified reprobation. The motion was carried unanimously. The Rev. D. Hf.ugh rose to propose four reso- lutions of which he would shortly state the sub- stance. The first contained a pledge that the Glasgow Emancipation Society would not give over iheir humble efforts, till freedom, the birth- right of the species, was universal, and slavery wa3 banished from the whole caith. The 2d con- tained an expression of their approbation, and, not only of their approbation, but of their admiration, of their honest, and talented missionary, Mr. Geo. Thompson. The 3d was that they would do all 13 I/O MEETING AT in their power to influence public opinion in Amer* ica on the subject. America presented the most monstrous anomaly in jurisprudence and in mor- als to be witnessed on the earth, and they would be wanting in their duty were they not to send remonstrance after remonstrance, till not a sing?e manacled human being- was to be found on the American territory. The people of Britain were as responsible for the proper exercise of the in- fluence they possessed, as for the money they had at their command ; and they could not answer satisfactorily to their consciences, to the negro, to their American brethren, nor to God, were they to retrain from putting that influence forth for the abolition of slavery. The 4th resolution which he had to propose was one calling on their friend, Mr. Thompson, to vociferate ie the ears of British christians the duty of making a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, till the ac- cursed system of slavery was altogether abolished. Rev. 1). Kljfw seconded the resolutions with- out remark, and they wore carried unanimously. Mr. G. Tuo.Mrso.v acknowledged the kind man- ner in which he had been alluded to in the reso- lutions just read. lie felt himself unable, he said, to acknowledge their kindness as he ought. When contradicted he could occasionally reply, but win n commended he could say nothing. lie then read a list of names, which he would propose as the committee for the next year; and took occa- sion, on mentioning the Rev. Mr. Paul, of Wil- berforcq Settlement, Upper Canada, as an Hon- orary member of the Committee, to oulogisr that gentleman's Christian spirit, in enthusiastic terms. The Committee was appointed amid acclama- tion. GLASGOW. 171 The Rev. Dr. KrosfoN rose to move a vote of thanks to the Ladies' Auxiliary Society. In eve- ry good work, the Ladies had been found ready to take the lead, and in this case their Society had been greatly assisted by the energetic efforts of the Ladies' Auxiliary. The motion was seconded by Mr. M'Laren, and carried amid great applause. Thanks were then voted to the Rev. Dr. Hough and the managers of the Chapel, and to the Rev. Dr. VVardlaw for his conduct in the Chair; after whleh the meeting broke up, about 1-9 past 11. GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETV. Glasgow, 1st March, 18^36. This Evening, at 7 o'clock, agreeably to adver- tisement, the Second Annual Meeting of the Glasgow Emancipation Society was held in Dr. Hough's Chapel. Fn the absence of the venerable President of the Society, Robert Grahame, Esq. of Whitehill, Dr. VVardlaw, one of the Vice President?, was, on the motion of James Beith, Esq. called to the Chair. The Chairman, after introducing the busi- ness, called upon Mr. William Smeal, Jr., one of the Secretaries, to read an abridgement of the Annual Report. It was then Moved by George Thompson, Esq. and second- ed by the Rev. Robert Thompson, Wesleyan Methodist Minister: — 1 That this meeting, in the conviction that the only means that can now be employed, by tho friends of emancipation in this country, for pro- moting the abolition of Slavery in the United 172 MEETING AT States of America, is by the Christian public re- monstrating with their Christian brethren in America, on their sin and guilt in the sight of God, as well as scandal to their profession as Christians, in keeping their colored fellow men in bondage — therefore Resolved, That an address to the friends of slave emancipation, and to ministers of religion, especially, on the importance and duty of so re- monstrating, be drawn up by the Committee of this Society, and printed and circulated as speed- ily as possible.' Moved by the Rev. Dr. Heugh, and seconded by the Rev. David King, both of the United Se- cession Church: — ' 1. That this Society, convinced of the many and enormous evils connected with Slavery, af- fecting the temporal and spiritual interests, both of the enslaved, and of those who hold them in bondage, and the essential contrariety of the sys- tem to the dictates of benevolence and justice, as ■well as to the spirit and letter of the religion of Jesus Christ, renew their pledge to persevere in their exertions, in union with kindred Societies iu Britain and in other lands, with a view to effect the abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade, universally and forever. 2. That the Society, in compliance with the invitation of many philanthropists in America, and in connection with other Societies in this country, having deputed Mr. George Thompson as their Agent to the United States, to co-operate with the friends of the Abolition of Slavery there, in their efforts to awaken their countrymen to a sense of their duty towards more than two millions of their brethren held by them in cruel bondage, ex- press their cordial approval, and high admiration GLASGOW. 173 of the power, intrepidity, and devotion, with which, in the face of formidable opposition, un- sparing abuse, and great personal hazards, Mr. Thompson was enabled, by the grace of God to pursue, and in a good measure to accommplish the great object of his very arduous mission. 3. That this Society express the delight with which they have contemplated the zeal, self-de- nial, energy, and liberality which so many indi- viduals and Societies, male and female, in Amer- ica, have displayed in favor of the abolition of Slavery — cordially congratulate these American brethren on the auspicious prospects of success which a gracious Providence is now opening, tending to cheer and revive their exertions — and pledge themselves to employ the best means in their power to encourage these devoted friends in their great and hopeful struggle in this cause of enlightened humanity. 4. That, aware of the favorable effects which, under the blessing of God, may be produced in America, by the transmission, faithfully and affec- tionately, of the sentiments entertained by Chris- tians in this country, respecting the evils of Amer- ican Slavery, and that prejudice against color by which Slavery is so greatly strengthened there ; and knowing the eminent fitness of Mr. Thomp- son, from his knowledge, experience, and proved ability and zeal, to rouse British Christians to the discharge of this duty which they owe to their American brethren, this Society agree to request a continuance of Mr. Thompson's invaluable la- bors, by visiting the chief towns of Britain and Ireland, and delivering addresses on those topics, of such momentous interest to both countries.' George Thompson, Esq. having spoken in re- ply, proposed, and it was carried by acclamation : 15* 174 MEETING AT That the following gentlemen be the Office Bearers, and Committee of Management, for next year : — PRESIDENT. Robert Grahame, Esq., of WhitehiH. VICE PRESIDENTS. Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, Dr. Heugh, Dr. Kidston, Anthony Wigham, Esq., Aberdeen. TREASURER. James Beith, Esq. SECRETARIES. Messrs. John Murray, and William Smeal, Jr. COMMITTEE. Rev. Wm. Anderson, Messsrs.Thos. Grahame, Win. Auld, James Johnston, Wm. Brash, Robert Kettle, Patrick Brewster, Henry Langlands, Paisley, Patrick Lethem, John Duncan, Colin Macdougall, John Edwards, Donald Macintyre, Greville Ewing, Jno. Maxwell, M. D. Alex. Harvey, Ninian M'Gilp, David King, Anthony M'Keand, William Lindsay, David M'Laren, James M'Tear, * John M'Leod, James Patterson, John M'Leod, Ar- Thomas Pullar, gyle Street, Robt. Thompson, Wm. P. Paton, Michael Willis, John Reid, Messrs. D. Anderson, Robt. Sanderson, Hugh Brown, Jr. J. M'Cune Smith, GLASGOW. 175 Wm. Brown, David Smith, Robt. Connel, James Stewart, Win. Craig, Patrick Thompson, G. C. Dick, George Thorburn, Wm. Ferguson, Archd. Watson, •John Fleming, George Watson, Archd. Fullerton, James Watson, George Gallie, Andrew Young. HONORARY AND CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. George Thompson, Esq. Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Boston, N. E. Arthur Tappan, Esq., New York, M. George Washington Lafayette, ? p • M. Victor de Tracey, $ raris ' Rev. Thomas Roberts, Bristol, Daniel O'Connell, Esq. M. P. Joseph Sturge, Esq., Birmingham, Rev. Nathaniel Paul, Wilberforce Settlement, Upper Canada. Moved by the Rev. Dr. Kidston, and seconded by David M'Laren, Esq.: — ' That the cordial thanks of this meeting are due to the Committee of the 'Ladies Auxiliary ' to the Glasgow Emancipation Society, for their un- remitted and zealous exertions in aid of its funds.' Moved by Patrick Lethem, Esq., and carried by acclamation : 'That the thanks of the meeting be given to Dr. Heugh and the Managers, for the use of their Chapel.' Moved by the Rev. James M'Tear, and carried also by acclamation: 'That the thanks of this meeting be given to Dr. Wardlaw, for his conduct in the Chair.' RALPH WARDLAW, Chairman. MEETLNG AT LONDON. [From the London Patriot of June 1, 1836.] On Thursday evening last, a very numerous auditory assembled at the Rev. T. Price's Chapel, Devonshire Square, for the purpose of hearing a lecture, to be delivered by George Thompson, Esq., illustrative of the character of American slavery, and the principles and progress of the American Anti-Slavery Society. An intense de- gree of interest was excited ; it being under- stood that the lecturer would justify the course pursued by him towards the Baptist deputation. On the motion of Mr. Edward Baldwin, sec- onded by Mr. Scoble, William Knight, Esq., was called to the chair. The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said, that five minutes ago he had not the least idea of occupying the situation to which he had been called. He felt himself almost incapable of introducing the business of the meeting, but he would read the advertisement by which it was convened. The worthy Chairman then read the advertisement contained in the Patriot of the 25th ult., and said, that in reference to the latter MEETING AT LONDON. 177 part [an invitation to Drs. Cox and Iloby to at- tend the meeting] he had not the pleasure of knowing these gentlemen, but if they should pro- sent themselves to the meeting, he was sure that a British audience would treat them with the greatest respect. He happened to know a little of the state of the slavery question in America himself, having been almost nursed in the anti- slavery cradle; for Thomas Clarkson, Esq., had been his intimate friend from his boyhood. A short time ago he received a communication from a friend in America, giving some horrid details of the present state of slavery there. It was a most lamentable fact, that a nation, professing the most unbounded sentiments of liberality, should tolerate a system of slavery so horrid. In the letter to which he alluded it was stated, that un- der the simple apprehension of danger from the insurrection of the slaves, they had, without any trial or examination, been executed by tens, twenties, and even thirties. (Hear, hear.) If such a system as that was not a disgrace to any nation professing itself civilized, and in the least decrree regulated by the Jaws of justice and righteousness, he knew not what was. He would now call on Mr. Thompson to commence his lec ture. Mr. Thomspox waa about to rise, — when Ma. Pkwtress stood up, and begged to offer a suggestion. He had come there in conse- quence of the public notice, and he would most respectfully suggest, whether it was necessary in the information to be communicated that even- ing, to introduce the names of Drs. Cox or Hobv, or their delegation to the United States of 178 MEETING AT America. Those gentlemen did not go out from the Anti-Slavery Society, and for one, he must protest against any allusion being made to them. (Applause.) The Chairman stated, that he saw a state- ment in the Patriot about a fortnight ago, signed by those two gentlemen, in which the character of Mr. Thompson was seriously reflected upon — (hear, hear) ; and he thought, that common justice at least, required that lie (Mr. T.) should have an opportunity of remarking upon it. (Hear, hear, and applause.) Mr. Thompson then rose, and was received with slight marks or disapprobation, which were in- stantly drowned in loud bursts of applause. lie begged that no interruption might be afforded to those who wished, on the present occasion, to give utterance to any sounds of disapprobation relative to himself personally, or to any remarks which it might be his privilege and his duty to address to that assembly. He should not be shaken from syiy purpose which he had formed by any thing which could take place within or without those walls. He stood there to accom- plish no party purposes, to gratify no pri- vate feelings, to make no attack upon private character. He stood there as the undaunted ad- vocate ot suffering and enslaved humanity all over the world. (Cheers.) lie held a book in his hand [The Baptists in America,] which was full of insinuations in reference to his general policy, and to certain particular acts, and no gen- tleman had a right to find fault with him for intro- ducing any names he might find in that book. (Hear, hear,) That book was public property; he would take it littra gcprita manel, and with it LONDON. 179 he would have to do till lie had rescued himself from every insinuation, direct or indirect, — every charge, expressed or implied, contained within the ^ages of that volume. (Cheers.) He had not come there without giving full and respect- ful notice to his respected friends — for so he would call them. If he rebuked them it was in friendship, and he would do it with affection also. He would now come to the question immediately before them, but he desired it might be under- stood that he had no wish to traduce America. Those who hated the greatness of America would never point out that which was the mildew, the canker-worm, the all-absorbing*, all-operating cause of loss of character, loss of strength, and loss of glory in the eyes of all who were ac- quainted with her history, and her professions. He was the man who loved America, who mourn- ed over that one giant abomination that stained and defiled that land, — who, going there, did not disguise the truth— (Cheers)— did not confine to private circles those rebukes which should be given on the house-top. Such were the feelings which animated him when he went to America. He went not there for fame or wealth. He left those shores far poorer than he went, having sac- rificed all that he had to the great object of ad- vancing -the car of freedom, then rolling with such slow and most sorrowful paces in that land of liberty— that its triumphant wheel might grind to powder the usurping institutions of despotism, and leave that land without a tyrant, and without a slave. (Loud cheers.) And what was his re- ward after 14 month* of toil, and peril, and per- secution almost unparalleled ? To be branded as a calumniator. (Cries of ' Shame, shame.') He went there to reuse that country. He want- 130 MEETING AT ed it to be known by every man, from the Presi- dent downwards, that not George Thompson, but that an Englishman representing the wishes, prayers, and religious sentiments of England, was there; and that he had arrived freighted with blessings, and not breathing out threatening and slaughter, — that he had come a messenger of peace — that he had come to grapple, in common with all the sincere friends of the negro there, with the direst monster that ever preyed upon the honor, the justice, or humanity of that coun- try. (Cheers.) What did he find there ? Two million five hundred thousand slaves — slaves in the fullest sense of the word! (Hear, hear.) He found every sixth man, woman, and child in America an abject slave, in a state of unmitigat- ed thraldom. (Hear, hear.) He would not give his own assertion merely, but he would give the words of the Hon. Wm. Jay, the son of the cele- brated John Jay. Mr. Thompson then read sev- eral extracts from ' Jay's Inquiry,' &c. The au- thor stated, that according to the code of Louisiana, the slave could not acquire any thing but what must bolong to his master. According to the laws of South Carolina, a slave was adjudged to be a chattel personal in the hands of his master. At pige 130, Mr. Jay stated, that, according to the above definitions of a slave, ' The master has, in point of fact, the same power over his slave that he has over his horse.' The slave is at all times liable to be punished at the pleasure of his master, and, although the law does not warrant him in murdering the slave, it expressly justifies him in killing him if he dare to resist. At page 132, Mr. Jay remarks, that *A necessary conse- quence of slavery is the absence of the marriage relation. A slave has no more legal authority LONDON. 181 over bid child than a cow over her calf.' Several laws were passed inflicting corporal punishment on slaves meeting for mental instruction, and im- posing fines on those who attempted to instruct them. He (Mr. T.) might dwell upon the condi- tion of the slave, as it had been brought out by a mass of evidence, which, with great care lie had collected during his sojourn in the United States, but he would only mention one or two cir- cumstances. The District of Columbia was ced- ed to the United States for ever by the States of Maryland and Virginia. It consisted of a terri- tory JO miles square, in which stood the city of Washington, in the centre of which was the cap- itol, on the summit of which was the flag-staff surmounted by the cap of liberty, and under which might be seen the banner, with the all-in- spiring word 'Liberty' upon it. The meeting would imagine, and justly so, that if in the Unit- ed States of America, slaveholding America, there were one spot where freedom reigned — consecrated to the genius of Liberty, where man might be seen delighting in the blessings which she poured from her cornucopia, it would be the District of Columbia, where assembled the rep- resentatives of the freest people in the world, where declamatory harangues were everlast- ingly delivered in the praise of liberty, in the fullest and highest sense of the word. And yet what was the fact? Let it be known , let it be told throughout the world, that in that ten miles square, over which Congress exercised un- limited control, was the slave market of the en- tire nation. (Hear, hear, and applause.) It had a population of 7,0C0 slaves, and the slave-trad- ers, from all the slave-rearing States, brought the collies into Washington itself, and into Al< xan- 16 ' 183 MEETING AT dria, and there the very members of Congress, while speeches were being made within the wails of the capitol, were outside the doors en- gaging with the vilest race of men on the face of the earth for the sale of the bones, and the sin- ews, the life, and the blood, the liberty and fertil- ity of God's rational and immortal creatures. (Immense applause.) And yet he was told, that he was a 'calumniator,' because he said that America was 'a wicked nation.' (Cries of 'Shame, shame,' and long continued cheers.) What would the meeting think, when he told them that Wash- ington city itself was infested by kidnappers, prowling about to arrest men of color, if they had not their fres papers with them? A respectable colored man was thrown into the city jail of Washington on suspicion of being a slave. He demonstrated his freedom — and what then? Was the man who captured him punished, and he him- self set free ? No ; He was sold into everlast- ing bondage to pay his jail fees ! (Cries of 'Shame, shame.) He (Mr. T.) stated that fact on the authority of the Hon. Mr. Miner, and a peti- tion signed by 1,000 most respectable inhabitants of the District, and yet he was told, that he was 'a caluminator,' because he said that America waa * a wicked nation.' (Deafening applause.) The Corporation of Washington, by virtue of an Act passed by Congress, granted licenses to any one in the District of Columbia, who wished to trade in slaves, for the sum of ><400 per annum. IJo\r was the money appropriated ? One portion for the purpose of cutting canals f<>r the benefit of white citizens, and the other for the support of schools for the education of the white youth of the city of Washington. (Loud cries of Shame, ahame.') And yec he waa toid he was 'a caJum- LONDON. 183 viator, 1 because he said that America was 'a wicked nation.' (Great cheering.) He might stand on a missionary platform and pour execra- tion upon Hindooism, he might deprecate the scenes upon the banks of the Ganges, he might brand the acts of the Brahmin, the New Zealan- der, and the wandering Bushman, as infamy itself, and yet if ho spoke of slave-trading America — America, christianised, and republican' ised — and sent on the wings of the wind, that declaration to the first nation in the world, he was doing wrong, he was ' a calumniator.' ('Shame, shame,' and applause.) If he must re- buke sin, he preferred rebuking it in a white man. (Cheers.) If he must rebuke enormity, if he re- buked a slave-trader, he would hunt him out in a Christian country, in a republican country. (Cheers.) He would not brand the chiefs of Af- rica with being bloody monsters, when he could find well-dressed and well-educated men of a Christian country, embruing their hands in the blood of their brethren. (Cheers.) He knew the secret — the secret was out, a mans at at an- other's table, he put his feet under that table, shared its hospitalities, and came 1 home to brand as 'a calumniator' the man who told that host he was a sinner. (Long continued cheers, with some faint signs of disapprobation, which were instant- ly lost in renewed cheering.) He hoped that the friends present would find a better way of argu- ing than they had done that night. (Cheers and laughter.) He took the guilt of this system, and he laid it — where ? On the church of America. When he said the church, he did not allude to any particular denomination. He spoke of Bap- tists, Presbyterians, and Methodists — the three great props, the all-sustaining pillars of that blood- 1S4 MEETING AT down to the lowest members of the congrega- tions belonging to those denominations, thry were slave-owners. (Hear, hear, hear.) He would relate one anecdote illustrative of the sub- ject. When Drs. Cox and Iloby were in Rich- mond, Virginia, they lodged at the house of a wealthy planter, and were in the daily habit of visiting another gentleman in similar circumstan- ces, where the Rev. John O. Choules was enter- tained. Mr. Choules, taking his host aside one day, said to him, ' When you look around you upon the system that every where prevails, and see that light is breaking in upon the minds of the slaves, are you not alarmed ? Do you not ap- prehend at no distant day a terrible convulsion that shall overwhelm you in ruin, and issue in the extinction of the whites and the supremacy of the blacks?' 'Why,' said the gentleman, who was an officer in a Baptist church, and had an unsullied reputation for piety and consistency, 'I used to apprehend such a catastrophe, but God has made a providential opening, a merciful safe- ty-valve, and now I do not feel alarmed in the prospect of what is coming.' 'What do you mean,' said Mr. Choules, ' by Providence open- ing a merciful safety-valve?' 'Why,' said the pious Baptist, * I will tell you ; the slave-traders come from the cotton estates of Alabama, and the sugar plantations in Louisiana, and are willing to buy up more slaves than we can part with. (Hear, hear.) We must keep a stock for the purpose of rearing slaves, but we part with the most valuable, and at the same time, the most, dangerous, and the demand is very constant and likely to be so, for when they go to these south- ern States, the average existence is only five LONDON'. 185 years.' (Shame, shame.) Mr. Thompson then adduced the testimony of the General Assembly of the United States, in reference to the con- nection of the Presbyterian church with the sin of slave-holding-. At a General Assembly held at Pittsburg, in May, 1835, several speeches were made on the subject of slavery. There were only two immediate abolitionists in the Assem- bly ; yet, notwithstanding all those ' efforts which, however well meant,' it was stated in the book published by the Baptist deputation, 'he (Mr. T.) had rolled back the cause,' at a future meeting of the Assembly, instead of being two, there •were forty-eight immediate abolitionists. (Cheers.) So that it was not possible, as on a former occa- sion, to burke the question ; hut it was broadly raised and discussed by the Rev. J. H. Dickey, of Ohio, and Mr. Stewart, of Illinois. Mr. Thomp- son then quoted some of the observations made by the Rev. gentlemen on that occasion. Mr. Stewart said, 'In this church a man may take a free born child, force it away from its parents, to whom God gave it in charge, saying, ' Bring this child up for me,' — and sell it as a beast, or hold it in perpetual bondage, and not only escape cor- poral punishment, but really be esteemed an ex- cellent Christian.' There was a case in point on that platform. A young man was present, of the name of Moses Roper, the son of an Ameri- can General, by a slave woman, once a slave him- self, but who had run away, and was now free, because he Avas on British, and not on American soil. (Loud applause.) 'I trust,' said the lectur- er, 'that Mr. Roper will allow me to give him my hand, though I have " rolled back the cause " of emancipation.' (Immense cheering.) 16* 180 MEETING AT Mr. Hare rose, and said, that Mr. Roper was a member of Dr. Cox's church, and was partly supported by the Doctor. Mr. Hoskins said, 'He would have been a slave now, had it not been for Dr. Cox.' (Cries of ' No, no.') Mr. Thompson begged it then to be under- stood, that Moses Roper was now enabled to prosecute his studies, in consequence of the lib- eral contributions of Dr. Cox and Dr. Morison. (Cheers.) Mr. Thompson then read two extracts from the New York Evangelist, of March 12, 1836, showing that the Methodists were equally involved with the Presbyterians in the sin of slaveholding. He also read an extract from the speech of J. A. Thome, Esq., of Kentucky, de- livered at the first annual meeting of the Ameri- can Anti-Slavery Society, giving a lamentable picture of the licentiou-ness prevalent among the slaves in Kentucky, where Mr. Thompson observ- ed, slavery existed in its mildest form. He held in his hand some excellent letters from the Rev. John Rankin, pastor of the Presbyterian church- es of Ripley and Strait-creek, Brown county, Ohio, in which the writer pointed out how unfa- vorable the system of slavery was, in its conse- quences, as well as in its nature, to the extension of Gospel influence. He would merely say of the Baptist denomination, that in the Southern States of America there were upwards of 3,000 churches, containing more than 157,000 members, almost all, both ministers and members, being slaveholders. (Hear, hear, hear.) He would state one fact, on the authority of the Rev. Baron Stow. A Baptise minister tied up his female slave on a Sabbath morning with his own hands, and flogged LONDON. 187 itor on her naked back. He went and preached I his sermon — came back, and flogged her again! ' (Loud cries of ' Shame, shame,' from all parts of the building.) But he (Mr. T.) was anxious to put the meeting in possession of high authority with regard to the state of the public mind in the United States on the subject of slavery. He would, therefore, introduce to its attention Gen- eral George M'Dufne, Governor of South Caroli- na, one of the most eloquent and distinguished men in that country. In his address to the two Houses of Legislature, at the opening of their last session, he observed, respecting the subject of abolition, 'It i.3 my deliberate opinion that the laws of every community should punish this spe- cies of interference by death, without benefit of clergy, regarding the authors of it as enemies to the human race. Nothing could be more appro- priate than for South Carolina to set the example in the present crisis, and I trust the Lpgislature will not adjourn till it discharges this high duty of patriotism.' (Loud laughter.) He (Mr. T.) would now show what the General's theology was — 'No human institution, in my opinion, is more manifestly consistent with the will of God, than domestic slavery,' ('Oh, oh.') He would look at his political sentiments — 'Domestic slavery, in- stead of being a political evil, is the cornerstone of our republican edifice.' (Laughter.) Such were the views of General George M'DufiV, Governor of South Carolina ; and yet, he (Mr. T.) was call- ed a ' calumniator,' because he had said of Amer- ica, that she was ' a wicked nation.' (Immense applause.) Mr. Thompson having reprobated in strong terms the sentiments of General M'Duffie, then alluded to a small work published by A. D. Sims, A. B., in which that gentleman represent- 188 MEETING AT ed the slaves in the Southern States as the hap- piest people on earth ; and their masters as pay- ing the utmost care and attention to the comfort and the morals of their slaves. ' Were it the habit of the author ever to use his pen, in decking themes of declamation, or in presenting, in pol- ished phrase and ornamental language, subjects to delight the taste,, or amuse the imagination, he knows of none connected with human happiness on which he would sooner try his skill than negro slavery.' (Loud laughter.) Mr. Thompson then pointed out the absurdity of that gentleman's views, and proceeded to charge upon the minis- ters of religion in America the guilt of slavery. He read the following extract from a letter ad- dressed by the Rev. R. N. Anderson, to the Ses- sions of the Presbyterian congregations within the bounds of the West Hanover Presbytery. 'If there be any stray-goat of a minister among us, tainted with the bloodhound principles of ab- olition, let him be ferreted out, silenced, excom- municated, and given over to the public to be dealt with in other respects. — Your affectionate brother in the Lord.' (Strong marks of indigna- tion.) A young man, who was prosecuting his studies for the ministry, but who found that his pecuniary means were nearly exhausted, endeav- ored to recruit, them by going to Tennessee, sell- ing cottage Bibles. Suspicions were excited that he was connected with the Anti-Slavery Society ; his boxes and papers were examined, and himself apprehended. Some of the Bibles were found wrapped up in papers, containing some remarks favorable to Anti-Slavery principles. They also found a letter from a lady, who stated that she had 'talked a stream of abolition for 200 miles.' (Cheers,) Besides these, they discovered a let- LONDON. 189 tor from the gentleman who had furnished him with the Bibles, in which he had advised him jocularly ' not to spend more than half his time among the Niggprs.' The young man was tried before a Lynch Committee, and upon that testi- mony alone was found guilty of 'an intention to speak on behalf of the abolitionists,' (' oh, oh,' and laughter,) and was sentenced to receive 20 lashes with a raw cow-hide ; which sentence was immediately carried into execution. Upon rising from its infliction, he praised God that he had been counted worthy to suffer in his cause; but his voice was drowned by the cries of the infuri- ated mob, ' him, him,' 'Stop his pray- ing.' Would it be believed, that on that Lynch Committee, there sat seven elders and one min- ister, some of whom had sat with the young man at the table of the Lord the preceding Sunday ? (Cries of ' Shame ! ') And yet he (Mr. T.) was called ' a calumniator,' because he said America was 'a wicked nation.' (Immense cheering.) Mr. Thompson was then about to enter upon what he termed the 'bright side of the picture,' when it was suggested that he should retire, and rest a few minutes. In the interim, Ma. M. Roper* addressed the meeting, and stated a number of facts which had ccme under *This man escaped from Florida, came to this city where he remained several months. His complexion was so light, and his features so ' European ' that he passed for a white man — was warned to do and actually did mili- tary duty. He expressed a strong desire to obtain an edu- cation — hoping that it might in some way afford him the means of procuring the liberation of his mother and sister, who are still in slavery. 190 MEETING AT his own knowledge, demonstrative of tlie horrors and cruelties of American slavery. Oni case which he mentioned, was that of a slave who oc- casionally preached to his fellow-bondsmen. His master threatened that if he ever preached on the Sabbath again, he would give him 5C0 lashes on the Monday merning. He disobeyed the order, however, and preached, unknown to his master. He became alarmed, ran away from Georgia, and crossed the river into South Carolina, where he took refuge m a barn belonging So a Mr. Garri- son. Mrs. Garrison saw him in the barn, and in- formed her husband of it. Mr. Garrison got his rifle and shot at him. The law required that they sliouild call upon a slave to stop three tinaes fee- fore they fired at him ; Mr. Garrison called, but he did not stop. The ball missed him, and Mr. Garrison then struck him with the gun and knock- ed him down. The slave wrested it from him, and struck him [Mr. G.] with it. The slave was taken up for it ; his master went after him ; Mr. Garrison purchased him for 500 dollars, and burn- ed him alive. Mr. TnoMPSox then resumed, and gave an in- teresting detail, through which our limits will not allow us to follow him, of the rise and progress of the anti-slavery cause in America. At one meeting in New York, after the other religious and benevolent societies had held their anniver- sary meetings, 15,000 dollars were collected ; an immense number of ministers in all parts of the country had joined the Society, and the students of many colleges he had visited received him with the utmost cordiality. His accounts were heard with frequent expressions of applause. He would now come to the ' vexed question,' the agitating, Xke affecting question, and to the book which ha LONDON. J'Ol held in his hand, 'The Baptists in America.' He was glad that he had talked thus far 5 tor he had talked away every lingering feeling of a person- al nature which he might have had when lie en- tered that place, lie would give a plain and faithful statement of the steps which led to that conduct on his part, which had been particularly animadverted upon by certain individuals in this country. He knew the position in which the Baptists stood in \h is country before toe went out, and what they had done in the last greatstruggle for the emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies. It had been his pleasure to introduce Mr. Kuibb to more than one auditory where he had himself heen lecturing. He loved and hon- ored the Baptists, he carried with him a good re- port of them to America, and sincerely rejoic«d when they had appointed two delegates to visit that country. lie would, in the first place, ex- plain the reason why Dr, Hoby was not invited to attend the Anti-Slavery meeting in N-ew York* The meeting must understand, as a preliminary observation, that the Colonizationists and the Abolitionists of America were at antipodes. The former rested upon expediency, the latter upon the uncompromising principles of justice a*xl re- ligion. Any man who had the least, feeling for the Colonizationists, would not be received with confidenoe by the black population, who consid- ered every man as practically their enemy who advocated colonization. He was aware, from in- terviews which he had had with Dr. Hoby, that that gentleman was friendly to the plan of com- pensation and colonization. W'hercver Tie wont in America he Avas questioned respecting the views of the delegates, and he stated what were Dc. lloby's sentiments. With regard to Dr. Cox, 192 MEETING AT he stated, that that gentleman was a member of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and pledged to the question, and he believed that he repudiated colonization. Tins he stated before the delegates arrived in America. The Rev, Mr. Choules was passing through Boston, and said that he would, if possible, see Drs. Cox and Hoby at New York, before they went to Rich- mond ; for if they fell into the hands of the colo- nizationists and slave-owners in Virginia, the ab- olitionists would lose them; Mr. Choules missed them, they were gone in the steam-boat to Rich- mond. Mr. Lewis Tappan, and other members of the American Anti-Slavery Society, asked him. (Mr. T.) whether they should invite both Drs. Cox and Hoby to their meeting, but he told them that they could not invite the latter for the reasons he had already stated, but that they might and ought to invite the former. They sent an invitation ad- dressed to him at Richmond, but three weeks elapsed without any answer being received. He heard that Dr. Cox was to preach at Philadelphia on the Sunday, and arrive at New York on the- Monday preceding the day of holding the meet- ing. A deputaton was appointed to see the doc- tor, he (Mr. T.) being one of the number. John Rankin, Esq., commenced the conversation by asking Dr. Cox whether he had received the let- ter. He stated he had ; but they did not press for the reason why he had not answered it. They told him that it would be a full meeting, and that they expected he would be present. Dr. Cox re- plied that it was a delicate question (laughter.) and that he had been told, within half an hour, that if he went to the meeting it would ho ntthe risk of his life. (Laughter.) Pie (Mr. T.) re- marked, that he had been in America nine mouths. lONDON. 193 that wherever he went he had been pursued by calumny and persecution, but he was alive, cheer* ful, courageous, hopeful, and that ho (Dr. C.) might do Ins duty and be safe. (Hear, hear.) ' VVell,' said Dr. Cox, 'but I have been told that if I go to the meeting I shall get a jacket of tar and feathers.' (Loud laughter.) tie (Mr. T.) told Dr. Cox that he would go too and share it with him (loud applause,) it would honor them both. (Laughter and great cheering.) The con- versation was then carried on principally by John Rankin, Esq., and the Rev. Mr. Winslow, a Bap- tist minister, and Dr. Cox's replies were to the effect, ' You know there is a political bearing in the question.' With that they assured him they had nothing to do, they stood upon the high ground of humanity and religion; they did not wish him to appear as a Baptist delegate, but to come as a man and a Christian. (Cheers.) When those gentlemen had finished their conversation with Dr. Cox, he (Mr. T.) said to him, ' Dr. Cox, you know what are the expectations of our com- inoH country (hear, hear) — you know what your denomination has done in England for this cause, and I beseech you come For the sake of humanity, for the sake of our country, for the sake of that religion whose minister you are.' The doctor re- plied, ' I cannot give an answer now (laughter and hisse •) ; send at half pafl nine in the morning and I will give an answer.' lie again assured the doctor that they would have a splendid meeting, and said, 'Yon will have the elile of all parties ; pray deliver your soul, and bear a fearless testi- mony for Cod against the iniquity of the land.' That was the language he had held to Dr. JLeed some months before, but without effect:— but of (hat more hereafter. It was with a sorrowful, and 17 194 MEETING AT almost broken heart, he (Mr. T.) left. He could truly say before his Maker, it was the severest infliction, the most keen and cutting event that had occurred to him since his landing in the Uni- ted States. On quitting the house, John Rankin, Esq., observed, ' H these be the men you send from England, we shall pray Guil that no more may ever cross the Atlantic' (Immense cheer- ing.) The same afternoon it was proposed, in a meeting of delegates, that another deputation should wait upon Dr. Cox ; but one of the gen- tlemen present said, 'iNo! if Dr. Cox does not deem it his honor to be here, I say send no depu- tation to him.' He (Mr. T.) however, urged them to send another deputation, for he believed the doctor to have been worked upon, and that he was the dupe of colonizationiats and slaveholders. Ten gentlemen were appointed to wait upon Dv. Cox, most of whom were men of high standing, and all of whom were men of piety and general influence. Dr. Cox again promised, if he did not attend, to send his reasons fur not corning, at half past nine on the morrow morning. The next day he (Mr. T.) left the house of Mr. Rankin to pre- (Teed to a public meeting, and he never went to a meeting with such a heavy heart. When he went to meet an opponent, ho went strong in the justice of his cause, strong in the blessings and prayers of the suffering and oppressed negro r strong in the invincibility of truth, strong in the omnipotence of God. But when halting between two opinions, doubting whether Dr. Cox would* be there, but at the same time rather inclining to believe that he would not, he did blush for hi* country, and felt it that day dishonored. (LoufP cries of hear, hear.) lie went to the meeting, and took his seat on the platform; the business LONDON. 195 commenced by prayer ; during the reading of the report he saw Mr. Rankin coming down the aisle ; he (Mr. T.) looked anxiously towards him, and at length caught his «ye ; Mr. R. knew what lie meant, and shook his head. He (Mr. T.) knew nothing of that note which Dr. Cox spoke of in his book: he pledged his honor and his credit, that there was no intent to suppress that letter — no intention of tampering with Mr. Rankin ; it was purely ' accidental and unintentional ' that the letter was not produced; if it had, it would have been the text on which he '(Mr. T.) should have spoken*, he should have vindicated himself to his country, his constituents, and the abolition- ists of America, from the foul charge of making this a political question. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) Mr. Rankin's shake of the head was enough to sadden him for the remainder of the day. The first resolution was moved by Mr. Bir- ney ; the second by the Rev. Baron Stow, who took that resolution which it was intended to give to the Rev. Doctor, should ho have come unpre- pared with one of his own. Mr. T. then quoted the speech of the Rev. B. Stow, and stated that he was then called on to speak. He conjured his Baptist brethren, by their love to truth, and their hatred of compromise and expediency, to imagine the circumstances in which he was then placed. ( Hear, hear.) What did he say on that occasion ? He would give his language verbatim, taken down by Mr. Stanshury, a celebrated stenographist, brought from Washington to report the proceed- ings of the May meetings in the New York Ob- server, a paper unfavorable to immediate aboli- tion, and a paper, the very number of which that contained his speech, contained an editorial arti- cle, censuring him (Mr. T.) for the severity of his 196 MEETING AT strictures on the conduct of Dr. Cox. Consider- ing all the circumstances of the case, then, what T?as the measure of his guilt in uttering the fol- lowing words ? Mr. Thompson then read from the JVeiv York Observer, extracts from his speech on that occasion : the following is the concluding passage : 'Two of his countrymen had been- deputed to visit this country — one of them a member of the Committee of the British and Foreign Society for the Extinction of Slavery and the Slave Trade throughout the World, and belonging to a Christian denomination which had actually memorial- ized all their sister churches in this land on this subject. My heart leaped when I learned that they were to be here — especially that one of them whose name stood before the blank which is to be left in the record of this days pro- ceeding. Where J^ he now 1 He is in this city. Why is he not here 1 The reason I shall leave for himself to explain. Sir, (said Mr. T.) in this very fact, I behold a, new proof of the power, of the omnipotence of slavery; by its torpedo touch a man has been struck dumb who was eloquent in England on the side of its open opposers. What ! is it come to this 1 Shall he, or shall I, advocate the cause of emancipation, of immediate emancipation, only because we are Englishmen 1 ! Perish the thought! — before i can entertain such a thought, I must be recre- ant to all the principles of the Bible — to all the claims of truth, of honor, of humanity. No, Sir; if a man is not the same in every latitude — if he would advocate a cause •with eloquence and ardor in Exeter Hall, in the midst of admiring thousands — but, because he is in America, can close his lips, and desert the cause he once espoused — I denounce, I abjure him, as a coadjutor in the cause in which I am engaged. Let him carry his philanthropy home again ' — (loud cheers) — ■ there let him display it in the loftiest or the tenderest strains ; but let him never step his foot abroad, until he is prepared to show to the world U\ac he is the friend of his kind of every country.' (Loud and long-continued cheers.) 'This,' said Mr. T., ' is the very head and front of my offending ! Judge ye whether I do not LONDON. 19? only stand excused, but stand justified?— (hear, hear, and cheers-)— whether I should not have shared the guilt, if guilt there be, of deserting this cause, had 1 not said what I did say ? (Loud cheers.) I stand not here to palliate or to con- ceal ! No! I glory in what I have done; and J have said in the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, in the presence of Dr. Cox, that if I had to do it over again, I should do it as I have done — with this difference only, that if my poor vocabulary would furnish me with words in which more strongly to express my re- gret, my abhorrence for such conduct as that I have described, I would use them. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I do not ask the meeting to look critically at the words themselves, but to the sen- timents they convey, and either to justify or dis- approve my conduct.' (Loud cheers.) But now he must advert to the letter which Dr. Cox -had sent, upon the suppression of which so much stress had been laid. The meeting had heard the report of his (Mr. T's) speech read from the JYttv York Observer; but Dr. Hoby, instead of taking that report — which, though furnished by an opponent, he (Mr. T.) preferred to a friend's — (laughter) — he (Dr. H.) made a speech for him: and he would wish the meeting to compare that speech with the report lie had just lead. Dr. Hoby said, 'Mr. Thompson commenced his speech with a reference to the disappointment he felt at the absence of Dr. Cox, mi temperate lan- guage, and such as could not give offence ; but lie ought also to have read the sliort letter which was omitted. At the close of his address, he re- sumed, in a very different strain and spirit, the language of denunciation; and, though he chiefly referred to Dr. Cox, by speaking in the plural 17* i98 MEETING AT number of the delegates, he included both when he said they were ' men of whom their brethren and country ought to be ashamed, whom he blush- ed to own as countrymen, and who, as recreant to their principles, and acting under the influence of disgraceful motives, were unfaithful represent- atives, and would be scorned on their return."' — 'Now, Sir,' (said Mr. Thompson) 'as Heaven is to be my judge, 1 uttered not a word of that ! ' Mr. Hare rose, and said that he recollected reading that part of Mr. Thompson's speech in the New York Evangelist. Mr. Thompson : Which ? Mr. Hare : That in which the word 'recre- ant' occurs; — which you have just read from the book. Mr. Thompson has said that Dr. Hoby made a speech for him. (Considerable confu- sion.) Mr. Thompson begged the meeting would not think that these interruptions would be at all in- jurious to him, or comfuse in the slightest the train of his remarks. He would rather that ob- servations should be made at the moment at which they occurred to the persons present. Mr. Hare had said that the words which Dr. Hoby put into his (Mr. T's) mouth, he (Mr. H.)had read in the New York Evangelist ; and therefore he supposed Mr. Hare meant to infer that Dr. Hoby had taken the words in question from that jour- nal ? J Mr. Hare. — Certainly. Mr. Thompson. — But what said Dr. Hoby ? * These words, or words of a similar impott, are l.OKDON*. 109 not given in the printed reports of the speeches, which differ much from one another ' (loud laugh- ter, and longf continued cheering;) 'but enough is given with the direct sanction of the Society ;' and then came a note of his speech, taken almost verbatim from the report which lie had just read in the New York Observer: — 'Enough is given with the direct sanction of the Society, to justify the interruption occasioned by my advancing to the front of the gallery, and, apologizing for such interference, requesting Mr. T. to forego all such censure, as both unjustifiable and injurious.' Such a report might have appeared in the Neiv York Evangelist, but both the Evangelist and Observer were sent to him with a note, begging he would choose the best report, to be furnished for inser- tion in the official report of the meeting, and he could not remember that he had seen in the Evangelist nny thing like the language attributed to him by Dr. Iloby. If Mr. Hare could find in the JYeiv York Evangelist a copy of that speech, he [Mr. Thompson] would bo obliged by its be- ing forwarded to him, and he would see that it should he published in the pamphlet he was about to lay before the world. Thus they had arrived at the close of that day's proceedings. But he had yet to read the letter which I)r. Cox had sent to the American Anti-Slavery Society ; and were he disposed to censure the Doctor, he should say that that letter was the most unkind, unchristian letter that a man could frame. He would ask his brethren around him, who had been his honored coadjutors in this cause, Did they ever place it upon political principles? [Loud cries of ' No, no.'] Did they ever make any way, was not the vessel of abolition ever retarded, by its own vis inertire, until they assumed the high ground, that 200 MEETING AT slaveholding was a sin in the eye of God? [Cheers.] What did the Doctor say in this let- ter ? — 'If I decline the honor of appearing on your platform this day, on occasion of your anni- versary meeting, I must be understood to assume a position of neutrality.' ■ Neutrality ! ' [said Mr. T.] 'If there be a word in the English language that I loathe more than another, it is that, word 'neutrality.' [Loud cheers.] 'Neutrality!' God abhors it ! ' Neutrality ! ' ' Choose ye this day whom ye will serve' — 'Why halt ye between two opinions'? ' Why stand ye, motionless as a pendulum, with weeping, suffering, bleeding hu- manity, here, and frowning despotism there ? [Immense applause.] ' Neutrality'!' with the Bi- ble in your hand — with your ecclesiastical honors thick upon you [loud laughter and cheers] — with your ecclesiastical appointments in your pockets, and the pledges remembered, or which ought to have been remembered, why stand ye neutral? [Tremendous cheering.] ' I must be understood to assume a position of neutrality, not with re- gard to those oreat principles and objects which it is well known Britain in general, and our de- nomination in particular, have maintained and promoted, but with regard solely to the political bearings of th I have only LONDON. 205 to sny, that to be in London at that time, is entirely out of my power; I write this while on my way to our Associa- tion at Coleford, and to undertake so long a journey, ex* press ly for such a purpose, would he altogether out of the Question. JN T o previous conference having taken place to ascertain what would suit my convenience, is of course evidence that any concurrence on my part as to the desira- bleness of such a meeting was quite immaterial. As yon gay, * you deem it an act of justice to acquaint me,' &c, I have only to add, that if the same sense of justice dictates your statements at this meeting) nothing will he said, ' au explanation ' of which 1 shall at all he solicitous to demand, or about which I shall he in the least concerned to ' reply in detail.' You well knew, sir, that to the great cause of abolition, — immediate, total, universal abolition, — I was as much pledged as yourself when in America, and that I advocated it ceaselessly upon principles, and in a way, which my own judgment approved. If my course of proceeding did not altogether approve itself to your judg- ment, and that of some of our friends, I presume I was, nevertheless, at liberty to pursue my own course, actuated) as I know I was, by as righteous au abhorrence of the in- iquitous system of slavery as yourself. When you bear in mind, that I was not so much as invited to attend the meeting at New York, nor even referred to in the imita- tion addressed to Dr. Cox, you will perceive that 1 have some reason to complain of uncourteousness there, and of the extreme readiness of many here to pour their anony- mous vituperations upon a course of conduct which they had Hot given themselves the trouble to inquire into and un- derstand. I have only further to express my most earnest hope, that, notwithstanding the intemperance and indis- cretion which appear to me to have characterised many of the efforts to awaken hostility against American Christians, Cod will overrule, so that the torpor and apathy of too many of all denominations, respecting this awful iniquity of slavery, will speedily give: place to a holy, philanthropic, and righteous sensihdity 9 which shall hasten both to confess and to compensate the wrongs inflicted on injured A I'rica. I hereby express my entire concurrence in the course my colleague pursued relative to an invitation which had noth- ing to do with our obligation, and request, in conclusion} that your letter to me, and this reply, may l«? read at lh« meeting of the 2(iih.' IS 206 MEETING AT LONDON. Dr. Cox had availed himself of the Patriot newspaper. Mr. Thompson then read the con- eluding paragraph of Dr. Cox's letter contained in the Patriot of Wednesday, the 25th inst. He conceived that, after these letters, no person had a right to address that assembly, on behalf of either Dr. Cox or Dr. Hoby, unless they had au- thority to do so from them. [Cheers.] Some discussion then arose as to the propriety of an adjournment, and it was ultimately agreed, that Mr. Thompson should defer the conclusion oi" his observations until Monday evening, the 3Qtk» ult. The audience then separated. ADJOURNED MEETING. The adjourned meeting- was held at Finsbury Chapel, on Monday evening last, the attendance at which was very numerous. At half-past six, William Knight, Es^., took the chair, and said, that having been requested to preside over the meeting held in Devonshire Square, last Thursday evening, and this being only an ad- journment of that meeting, of course it was his duty to take the chair on the present occasion. Notices had been sent to Brs. Cox and Hoby of the present meeting, and if they appeared, of coarse they would be heard. But he begged it to be understood, and he hoped the meeting would support him in that decision, that no other individual could be heard, unless he was deputed in writing by those gentlemen to address this as- sembly on their behalf. [Hear, hear.] Mr. Thompson then rose to address the audi- ence, and was received with leud applause. After again assuring the meeting, that he was not ac- tuated by any personal feelings in reference to the remarks he was about to make, he observ- ed, with regard to slavery and the slave-trade, that at the present moment 5,500,000 human 208 MEETING AT beings were held in bondage by Christian nations, and that Africa was still robbed of 200,000 of her children annually. It was therefore necessary that this nation should be as alert upon the sub- ject of the slave-trade as she had ever been. He believed that not 1,000 less slaves had been car- ried from the coast of Africa, in consequence of all the eloquence of a Wilberforce, and all the untiring labors of a Clarkson ! Let it be granted, as it was sometimes said, that it was England who had fastened the horrid system of slavery on America; that it was England who had planted that upas here, and that, from age to age, the Anglo-Americans had watered its roots, given fertility to its branches, and circulation to its fruit. Let that be granted, and he would say to America, 'If you criminate us, and if this charge bo brought home upon us, in penitential acknowl- edgment for our sin, we go forth, wishing to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, to that land where we have sown the seed, and brought up the crop, in order that we may tear up the tree by its roots, and brandish it in triumph over the heads of the tyrants. [Loud and long continued cheers.] If America wanted England to bear the disgrace of doing the deed, England wanted to have the honor of undoing the deed. [Loud cheers.] In the slave estates of America it was a common occurrence to see a coffle, which was a gang of GO, 80, or 100 slaves, with the women huddled up in a waggon, taken to different parts of the country, with the 'star-spangled banner of America' floating over their heads, and with the music playing to cheer them, while being driven to the Capital of Washington.' M. T. then read a dialogue which had taken place between a Car- olinian and a Mississippian planter on board a "LONDON. 209 Steamboat, which was well authenticated by the gentleman who heard ft. The topic of conver- sation was the value of slaves; and it was stated that, if under a cerlain weight, (501bs.) the young- boys were sold at nine dollars per pound ; so that children were, by religious men, weighed in scales, and sold by the pound like meat. [ l Shame, shame.'] Every paper published in Washing- ton and Alexandria was filled with advertise- ments of slaves, stating the terms, and inviting purchasers to come in and look round ' the stock.' Mrs. Child, the authoress of several works on edu- cation, had informed him [Mr. T.] of the follow- ing fact, which came under her own knowledge. A physician, named Wallace, had married a young lady from the South, with faint traces of a very remote connexion with the negro race. He took her to Alexandria, and placed her at the head of his establishment. They had not long been there when a person called upon the physician, and told him that his wife was his female slave, and demaded $800 for her, saying, at the same time, that she was ' honestly worth 1,000.'' [Laughter.] On inquiry, he found that his wife had been a slave ; but she further informed him, that the man who claimed her as his slave was her father. ['Shame, shame.'] That was a specimen of American slavery, and yet Doctors of Divinity, with both hands, and Englishmen too, said, for- sooth, that he [Mr. T.] was ' a caluminiator,' be- cause he said of America, that she was a wicked nation. [Loud Cheers.] The statements con- tained in the book to which he had formerly re- ferred, The Baptists in America, reminded* him of the couplet of Hudibras — * They who drive fat oxen Should themselves be fat.' (l-au^hter.) 18* 210 MEETING AT The author who had charged him [Mr. T.] with being a calumniator, because he had called Amer- ica a wicked nation, in speaking" of France, had used this singular expression : ' I rejoice that Ave are uniting- in sending missionaries to the wick- ed, infatuated, and infidel country of France.' [Cheers.] When he [Mr. T.] said America was a wicked nation, he had told it to the Americans themselves a hundred times ; and it would be his consolation, that, whatever he had said of them, he had said before their face. [Cheers.] The slaves of America were, almost without excep- tion, without religious instruction. There were not twelve men in the United States exclusively devoted to the religious instruction of the slave population. He stated that on the authority of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. "He had never taken up the -question of slavery as connected with their bodies only: he had always taken his stand upon the ground, that slave-hold- ing was in itself unjustifiable. In America, the Bible Society had offered, in concert with other nations, to give the sacred Scriptures to every individual upon the face of the earth, in his ver- nacular tongue, in 20 years, while there were 4(10,000 familes, at the lowest estimate, of slaves in the United States, who were not comprehend- ed in their design. [Hear, hear, hear.] Yet, if he should say that, and put at the end of it, that America was a wicked nation, oh, he was told, he was ' a calumniator.' [Loud cheers.] The city of Charleston, had given $500 to the Tract Society, and the very next year had sent a citi- zen to a dungeon for having given a tract to one of the slave population. ['Shame shame.'] He must say of American slavery, that it was a eys- tem of blood, — of soul murder : it put out the LONDON". 211 •eyes of the soul ; it darkened, and covered with •leprosy and disease, the already depraved facul- ties of human nature ; and it left 2,560,000 persons *-to grope their way through darknes and degrada- tion here, to everlasting darkness beyond the •grave. [Cheers.] It had been confessed by ec- clesiastical authorities, that there were 2,000,000 «of slaves in America who never heard the name ud cheers,) — and there was not at this moment, in all Dr. S's church, one colored wor- shipper ! What would that minister be able to Bay when God demanded at his hand these pre- cious souls with whom he had been intrusted? ("Hear, hear. ) Theodore S. Wright, a minister in New York, a man of color, had increased the numbers of his church from 17 to 376; he had given $100 to the anti-slavery cause, but having, in conjunction with his son, to travel in the steam- boat from New York to Washington, they were compelled to remain on d^ck during the voyage ; indeed they were not allowed to pass the paddle- boxes ! fCries of ' Shame ! ') The avenues to learning had been closed to the colored people ; but he (Mr. T.) rejoiced, that at the present day there were four colleges open for them. (Cheers.) Air. Tappan had himself given 820,000 to a col- lege on the express condition that it should ad- mit colored people to its privileges and advanta- ges. When a person wished to join an antu slavery society in America, it was a sine qua nan that he had discharged all his prejudice against the colored population. (Cheers. J One word with regard to the character of the ab- olitionists of America. He felt astonished at the amount of mind which had been thrown into tbe cause. William Lloyd Garrison had been particu- larly active and prudent; he had been condemned for havinsr shot a-head with seven-lea ?ue boots, the superannuated tortoise speed of his reverend brethren around him. (Laughter./ That hadj how* LONDON. 215 ever, ever been the reproach of reformers. (Loud and general cheering.,) The question of Amer- ican Slavery had been branded as a political question, not only by the enemies of freedom in America, but from some whom they might have expected better things. ('Hear, hear., 1 Mr. T. then read an extract from a lecture delivered in connection -.villi the British and Foreign Anti- Slavery Society, together with the constitution of the National Society of New York, iti order to prove that there was nothing pol.tieal in the objects contemplated. The missionary who went from this country to any foreign land, might be said, to a certain extent, to interfere with the politics of that country, inasmuch as the tendency of Christianity was to disturb the system which there prevailed. To brand this cause as a polit- ical question was to pronounce a censure 0:1 every missionary who ever went on a foreign shore to preach the gospel of Christ. If it were a politi- cal question, how came it that at the prcsentday the churches in America were taking up the sub- ject, and fasting, and holding prayer meetings in reference to it ? It was too bad for a man to go 0,000 miles to brand the Anti-Slavery Society as politicians. (Immense cheering. ) Mr. T. was then about to continue his narrative relative to the conduct of Dr. Cox in America, when it was suggested that it was desirable he shuuld take a few minutes' rest. The Chairman expressed a wish, that the ilcr- im should be filled up, by Mr. M. Roper's stating some facts with which he was conversant. Considerable opposition was made to this sug- gestion. One gentleman exclaimed, ' Mr. Roper is Dr. Cox's protege? Another gentleman rosej £16 MEETiftc At and pertinaciously persisted in attempting to ad-> dress the meeting. The Chairman reminded him of the remark* he had made at the commencement of the meet- ing ; but it was not till marks of disapprobation* and cries of ' Turn him out,' issued from every part of the building, that he resumed his seat. The Rev. A, Fletcher, stated that when Mr.- Roper was brought over into this country, he earner with a letter of introduction to him, and had since been supported by some other ministers. A Gentleman, whose name we could not learn, said, that Dr. Cox bore a part in the ex- pense of Mr. Roper's education. (Hear, hear, and faint applause.,) Mr. Roter then stood forward, and observed with considerable warmth, that Dr. Cox did pay a portion towards his education, but that should 1 not hinder him from advocating the cause of his mother, brethren, and sisters, now in bondage. (Loud cheers.,) lie was grateful to Dr. Cox for that which he was doimr for him ; but at the same' time his principles were not to be bought. (Cheers.,/ There was not a Christian society in America, which did not hold slaves, except the Society of Friends. (Cheers.,) In Salem, a town in South Carolina, containing perhaps 20,000 Quakers, there was not a single slave, though they were surrounded by a slave holding popula- tion. (Cheer.-.,) He had run away from his mas- ter, and was going to see his mother in North Carolina. He had to pass through the town of Salisbury, where there was a Quaker in jail, who was to be executed en the following Friday, for LONDOtf. 217 having given a slave a free pass. ('Shame, shame.') Mr. Thompson had given them an ac- count of some bad slaveholders ; he (Mr. R.) would tell them of some good ones. A master with whom he once lived, Mr. Beveridge,in trav- elling from Apalache to Columbia, having to pass through the Indian nations, it was necessary for him to take arms. He was taken exceedingly ill, and could neither stand up nor sit down. He had a trunk with him containing $20,000, and he (Mr. R.) took the pistols and protected his mas- ter and his master's property. When he arrived at Columbia, his master becoming embarrassed in circumstances, sold him on a block ; that was his kindness to him, (Mr. R.) for saving his mas- ter's life and protecting his property. Another good master, was Colonel M'Gillon, a Scotchman, who held about 300 slaves, and who used to boast that he never flogged them. His mode of pun- ishing them, was to get a rice hogshead, info which several nails were driven about a quarter of an incli through, and the slave then being fastened in, he used to roll them down a very steep hill. ('Shame, shame.') At one of the revival meetings, of which he had heard so much since he came to this country, two ladies of color came in and took their seats in the pew for in- quirers. Holding down their heads they were - not observed ; but some ladies coming in, and noticing their color, left the pew directly. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Thompson thon resumed his lecture. It might be asked by some, why he made this a per- sonal question ? Why he did not content him- self by merely bringing forward the subject of American Slavery, without alluding to any indi- 19 £13 MEETING At viduals, or any denomination ? His answer to that was, that he held in his hand a book, [The Baptists in America] containing from rive to six hundred pages, in the beginning, the middle, and the latter end of which he (Air. T.) was most grossly injured ; in which he was charged with having calumniated great and good men in Amer- ica, and with ' rolling back the cause ' by his ' un- measured vituperations,' by his ' exasperating ex* pressions,' and in a variety of other ways. Jn which book he was charged with gross injustice, fur having, at a public meeting in New York, thought fit to denounce a countryman of his own. He was told on a certain occasion, that the wri- ter would ' spare him,' and it had been said, that he (Mr. T.J manifested considerable irritability when that expression was used. ' Sir,' said Mr. T. 'I manifested no more then, than I manifest now, and which I shall continue to manifest, a just indignation. (Cheers.) When any individ- ual tells George Thompson, who has put iiis life into his hands, and who has gone where slavery is rife; when I, George Thompson, am told that I am to be 'spared,' — in a book written by a man, who deserted, in the hour of danger, the cause lie was pledged to support ! (Loud cheers.) I say to my foes, ' Come on! a fair stage and no favor! ' (Immense cheering.) ' Come on to do anything but spare me!' (Deafening ap- plause.) ' Spare me ! ' I ask not to be spared ! I ask for justice to my cause ! I take up this cause on public grounds. Were I not a public man, these things might pass by as idle tal^s. But when, in this book, and elsewhere, I am branded as ' a calumniator ; ' when it is asserted, through that book, that I have ' rolled back the cause' to an 'almost irretrievable distance,' in LONDON. 219 America, T am called upon to take this book and redeem myself, as a public advocate of a public cause, from every charge which directly or indi- rectly affects my reputation or character as a qualified agent of the Anti-Slavery Society. (Loud cheers.) But what right had they to expect that Dr. Cox would advocate the cause of eman- cipation in America ? Dr. Cox had, before he went ont, said, in the presence of gentlemen, who were now present ' I go in the spirit of u martyr.' What was the spirit of a martyr ? It was not the spirit of compromise — it was not the spirit of silence — it was not the spirit of timidity. (Loud cheers.) What was the spirit of a martyr? It was the spirit displayed by Luther, by Cranmer, by Paul, and the Lord and Maker of them all! (Loud cheers.) Was Dr. Cox called upon to advocate the anti-slavery cause ? He was. No man ever crossed the At- lantic, on any mission, more pledged to advocate the cause than was Dr. Cox. He would quote a letter contained in the Baptist Magazine for the month of November, 1834, which had been sent forth by the Baptist Union, from whom that gen- tleman went, to various churches, calling upon them for pecuniary aid to support that mission : « But whilst we admire their vigorous efforts for the spread of the gospel, and those free institutions under whose influences those exertions have been made, we do not shut our eyes to the fact, that in this land of libertv, negro slavery is legalized, and is Buffered to remain a find blot <>n their national character. It is, perhaps, within your recollection, that at the commencement of last win- ter, the Baptist Board in London, sent to their brethren a memorial on this subject, which they requested mi^ln be laid before the Triennial Convention. To what extent the brethren thus memorialized are partakers of this na- tiunul sin, we are utterly ignorant. We are qlad to feat H 220 MEETING AT that the voice of many of them is lifted up against it, and -we send our deputation to promote most zealously, and to the utmost of their ability, in the spirit of love, of discre- tion, and of fidelity, but still most zealously, to promote the sacred cause of negro emancipation.' What was the conduct of one of that deputa- tion ? The business of the Triennial Convention was done, and the deputation returned to New York ; one of them was respectfully invited .to attend the anti-slavery meeting to be held in that city, to mingle with men with whom it was an riionor to be associated — nature's nobles (cheers ;) and how did he reply ? While he wished the honor of being an abolitionist, he shunned the .work. He stated that he was with the. meeting in heart, but that he did not go because of the political bearings of the question. (Applause.) And what did he do then? Having written a brief apology, he went back to a most appropri- ate meeting for a gentleman who had resolved to be dumb on negro slavery. Where did Dr. Cox go to ? He had said, ' Having written this brief apology to the Anti-Slavery Society, I went to the meeting for the deaf and the dumb:' (Laughter, and loud cheers.) A very fit subject for the benevolent operations of that Society-; would that they had cured him. (Laughter, and great applause.) The doctor went from New York to Boston, and was again invited to attend an Anti-Slavery Convetion there, but again de- clined. He would now come to a particular part of tthe narrative, to which he begged the special at tention of his friends. The doctor would not open his lips in the Triennial Convention of Richmond, on the subject of slavery, though it was expected by the ministers in the slaveholding States that he would bring forward that subject. LONDON. 221 The doctor assigned as his reason, that if he had opened his lips on that subject, one of two things would have happened. The Convention would have been broken up by magisterial interference, or his brethren would have spontaneously with- drawn. The doctor gave the most glowing des- cription of the heavenly state of the atmosphere in which he breathed in that Convention. At page 49 of his book, he said, when speaking of the Convention, ' If doubts had arisen in any mmds as to the course the deputation from Eng- land intended to pursue, in their public intercourse with their brethren, with respect to subjects of vital importance,' — that was to say, if any num- ber of individuals belonging to the Convention expected that the doctor or his colleague would have introduced the agitating question respect- ing the negroes and people of color — ' It was only like the cloud ofa summer morning, which speed- ily disappeared in the brightening sunshine.' How did they remove those doubts? Certainly not by speaking out. So soon as the Convention were convinced that their clerical brethren meant to be deaf and dumb, then every cloud passed away, and all was cordiality and union. (Cheers.) What was to be thought of such an union as that ? (Hear, hear.) From Boston the doctor proceeded to New Hampshire, and amongst the green hills a meet- ing of free-will Baptists was held. They were almost all abolitionists; an anti-slavery meeting was held, there was no fear of a jacket of tar and feathers, and there Dr. Cox supported a resolu- tion, the preamble of which ran thus: — 'Where- as the system of slavery is contrary to the law of nature and the law of God, and is a violation of the dearest rights of man, resolved, that the prin- 19* 2*22 "MEETING AT ciples of immediate abolition are derived from the unerring Word of God, and that no political circumstances whatever can exonerate Christians from exerting all their moral influence for the suppression of this heinous sin.' That utterly annihilated his own letter in New York, and he [Mr. T.] had some reason to believe that the word political, was introduced as a reproof to the doctor. The doctor had assigned three totally different reasons for not attending the meeting, and his friends assigned a fourth. He had said that he did not attend at New York on account of the political bearing of the question, with which, as a stranger, a foreigner, a visitor, he could not attempt to intermeddle. There the 'doctor made a grand attack upon him [Mr.'T.] — there he set the mob upon him [cries of Shame,] and justified all they had ever said about his be- ing an intermeddler. (Loud applause.) The very vilest pi pers in the Union had announced, on the 12th of May, that Dr. Cox would be at the anti- slavery meeting; and he (Mr. Thompson) wish- ed it to be known that it was only in the opposi- tion papers, and not in those favorable to aboli- tion, that the doctor's presence at the meeting had been announced. They said that he could not help being there, and yet he did help it. (A laugh.) In New Hampshire the doctor assigned a totally different reason, and said, that it appear- ed that he could do more good in a private way. In his book, he said he did not go because he should have been obliged to have spoken with disapprobation of the measures of the anti-slave- ry agent, and therefore he did not go. His friends assigned a fourth reason, and said he did not speak upon the question because he was not -sent there for that purpose, and because if he had LONDON. 223 spoken he would have compromised the object which he went especially to promote. He (Mr. T.) would like to know how these four reasons could be blended into one, and made a sufficient reason for Dr. Cox's non-attendance. But why did he mention those circumstances? In order to justify himself from the vile calumnies which the Dr's. book cast upon him. If he had not i been honest to Dr. Cox, would there have been a single impugning of his (Mr. T's) measures ? He trowed not. If Dr. Cox believed that he was * rolling back the cause,' it was his duty as a mem- ber of the Committee which sent him out to write home to that effect ; it was his duty as a minister of Christ, as a man, and as a countryman, to have taken him aside, and told him of his faults. It was still more his (Dr. Cox's) duty, when he (Mr. T.) faced him before the Committee, to call for an explanation of his conduct. He had the best .reason for pledging himself in America on behalf of Dr. Cox before he arrived, and it was his duty to denounce him as an abolitionist when he did not attend the meeting. (Cheers.) Why should Dr. Cox have been at the Anti-Slavery Meeting ? Because he was a member of the British and For- eign Society for the extinction of slavery and the slave trade throughout the world ; because he was a member of the Baptist denomination, and the Baptist churches throughout the land had been told that he was sent with all fidelity to promote the sacred cause of negro emancipation ; because he had solemnly pledged himself to dr> all that he could, and had said, in the presence of his ministerial brethren, that he was prepared to go to the prison and to the gallows in the cause. He should have gone — because he was a man, And because he owed it to mankind to be there. 224 MEETING AT (Applause.) He should have gone because he was a Christian minister, and it was his duty to rebuke the crying abomination of the land. To take a journey of 3,000 miles to say, • How do you do? I am very glad to see you; very nice wine ; very nice mutton— [loud laughter] — and not to say a word on behalf of the bleeding, suf- fering, oppressed slave, lest the heavenly-mind- edness of the meeting should be destroyed ! (Cheers.) 'Heavenly-mindedness !' (said Mr. T.) O that I could have brought all the chains and whips in the United States around that ecclesias- tical convention, and made them echo and rattle in the ears of that 'heavenly-minded' assembly. (Loud and long continued cheers.) Harmony! — harmony in sin. (Hear, hear.) Harmony 1 — har- mony depending upon silence in behalf of God's poor. (Hear, hear.) Harmony and union ! — a union for each other's destruction. Had Dr. Cox gone to the meeting, laid his letter on the table, commenced an affectionate and faithful address upon the subject, and had he been checked, and gagged, and dismissed in the middle of the first sentence, he would have returned to this country with honor. (Immense cheering.) He called upon the people of England to set their face henceforth and for ever, against any man, no mat- ter what his station or his talent, unless they knew that he would unflinchingly lift up his voice for the oppressed. (Cheers.) It should not lie owing to his negligence if either the Congrega- tionalists or the Baptists ever sent out a tempori- zing deputation to America again. Dr. Cox had said that he had already stated his opinions on the subject in England, and that they had reached America. They were or they were not known there. If they were known already, he had tlia LONDON. 225 more reason to be at the meeting, to maintain his character as an anti-slavery man. On the 12th of May Dr. Cox and himself v/ere coupled in the New York Inquirer, and the editor recommended the citizens to give them a jacket of tar and feathers; and on the 13th out came the same pa- per, with two columns — one column with the vi- lest abuse ever penned, levelled at his (Mr. T's} devoted head; and the other, the most fulsome compliments ever bestowed on an individual. It was his (Mr. T's) honor to have the calumnies; it was Dr. Cox's to have the compliments. (Cheers.) How did he know that Dr. Cox had served the cause of slavery ? Because he was praised by every pro-slavery paper in America. (Hear, hear.) How did he know that Dr. ,Reed had served the cause ? Because his book had been quoted by all the pro-slavery papers in that country. The vilest pro-slavery papers had sung Dr. Cox's praises throughout the land. Why should Dr. Cox have been at the meeting? Be- cause the abolitionists of America wore the weaker party, and it would have been magnani- mous to have been there. (Hear, hear.) Dr. Cox said very significantly, in one part of his book, ' I found scarcely any of the influential Baptist friends abolitionists.' He (Mr. T.) had no doubt that there was a great deal of meaning there. It was common of old to put this question— -' Have any of the rulers believed on him?' (Cheers. Very much on a par with them was the quotation from Dr. Cox. Had he found many of the influ- ential Baptists among the abolitionists, no doubt he would have found himself there. (Cheers.) But during the whole time that he was in the United States lie never identified himself with them, But he did more. After havimr declined to be at 226 MEETING AT the meeting at New York and at Boston, and had supported the resolution which he (Mr. T.) hud read, Ire (Dr. Cox) came down to Boston, the pro- slavery party in that city got up a requisition to the Mayor for a meeting to traduce the abolition- ists, and the most vHe elements in the city were put in motion. On the day the meeting -was f be held the leading abolitionists were marked out for destruction, and were obliged to leave the city with their wives and children, believing that the speeches made on that day would lead to the destruction of their houses at night. And wbo> sat on the right hand of the chairman while the speeches were made? Dr. Cox. (Loud cries of ''Shame,' and hisses.) Mr. Thompson inquired whether those marks of disapprobation were di- rected against the actor against him (Mr. T.?) (Cries of ' The act/> Ttie Ret. Geo. Evans inquired on what au- thority Mr. Thompson made that statement? Mr. Thompson replied, — the book published by Dr. Cox, in his account of the meeting at Fan- ueil Hall. While Dr. Cox was sitting at Lb* right hand of the chairman, the Hon. Peleg Sprague rose and made a speech. The 'vittpe- ration' which he (Mr. T.) had poured out on Dr. Cox was compliment compared with the venom which he (Mr. S.) spewed forth upon our common country. Dr. Cox sat by the side of the chair- man ; ' but would I,' said Mr. Thompson, 'have sat and heard it ? ' (Immense cheers.) No: but I do not wonder that the man who dare not plead the cause of the poor slave, dare not defend his country. (Long-continued cheering.) The Hon. Mr. Sprague, in the presence of (he venerable London. \M7 author, Dr. Cox (a laugh,) pointed, in the course of" his speech, to the portrait of General Wash- ington, for the purpose of sanctioning slavehold- ing. Dr. Cox was there, but he was not at the anti-slavery meeting in New York. Why he (Mr. T.) had been calumniated in that book, was, because he had had the faithfulness, in the Uni- ted States, to denounce that conduct. Was he sorry for it? No; he would repeat it again that night. If a man could be eloquent on this bide of the water — if in Finsbury Chapel or Exeter Hall, and amid admiring and applauding breth- ren, 3,000 miles from the scene of slavery, he ■could eloquently denounce the system, and when he crossed to the shores where it was found, could desert the cause, lie would desert him as a coadjutor in the cause of abolition. {Immense cheering.) Mr. Tnompson compared the conduct of Dr. Cox with that of a director of a Mission- ary Society going to visit a Missionary station, and when he arrived, being apprised of a Mis- sionary meeting to be held there, but refusing to attend it because he was not expressly sent out for that purpose. He might go over overcharg- es, but he would not do so. lie would leave the Christian world to judge between himself and Dr. Cox. He would rather have broached this subject auy where than at a public meeting, bo- cause he did not wish to make it a matter of pub- lic animadversion. But Dr. Cox had made et frtrlc statements of a most injurious character, [e (Dr. C.) had put on record on the committee books statements which he (Mr. T.) hud been obliged to contradict in tola. In fact, lie was charged with rolling leick the cause; and there- fore he owed it. to the friends of England, Scot- land, and Ireland, who were looking with intense 228 MEETING AT anxiety to every thing that was said and done on this subject, to vindicate his character, on public grounds, from every thing contained in Dr. Cox's book. (Cheers.) He must notice one statement utterly at vari- ance with the fact. In a letter which Dr. Cox had published in the Patriot of Wednesday last, he made the unqualified assertion, that he (Mr. T.) was sent forth by three individuals. What effect was that likely to produce in America be- fore he could send his voice thither to counter- act it? It would be said that he (Mr. T.,) who^ had stated that he represented thousands in Scot- land and London, had, after all, been sent forth by three individuals only. What was the fact ? It was his honor in 1830, to become the agent of the Agency Anti-Slavery Society, and from that hour to the present moment, his connection with that Society had never been dissolved. (Loud cheers.) He was present when the Society took its new name ; there was a full committee, and it was then that his mission was decided upon, and an appeal was made to the public on the ground of that mission. How was it, then, that Dr. Cox said, that he was sent by three individuals? There was a little truth in it, and it was but a little. Several meetings of the committee were held, and were fully attended r and at last he left London, visited Scotland, and then went to Liver- pool for the purpose of embarking for America. At that juncture, news reached his country, that there had been serious riots in New York; that the house of Mr. Tappan had been sacked, and the furniture burned by the mob, and that the col- ored people had been persecuted to an unequal- led extent. (Hear, hear.) Several of the com- LONDON. 229 mittee deemed it advisable to send him special instructions, and to put him on his guard against mixing himself up with any party in America. A special committee was summoned, but, from the shortness of the notice, and the pressing engage- ments of the members, only a quorum were able to attend, and they sent special instructions by Mr. Scoble, that they might be certain of reach- ing him. Dr. Cox, on the day on which he wrote the letter to the Patriot, examined the min- ute book, saw that meeting after meeting had been held, that this was the last prior to his de- parture, and then he wrote the unqualified asser- tion that he was sent by three persons. [Cries of 'Shame.'] He could appeal to those in that assembly, whether he had not been sent by 3,000 ay, by 30,000. He had been travelling for six months in England and Scotland, and wherever he had gone, he had been freighted with the blessings and the confidence of the abolitionists ; and then America was told, through the medium of the Patriot, that he had been sent forth by three individuals. He would ask, was it just? — was it truth ? [Cries of 'No, no.'] Was it Chris- tianity ? [Cries of ' No, no.'] Here was an act calculated to injure a man in his dearest place — in his reputation. What should he call it? ' Do not,' said Mr. T. ' let us call it at all. Let us hope that he will repent and acknowledge it, and I will be the first to say then, what I say now, but with still greater emphasis — I freely forgive you.' [Loud and long continued cheer- ing.] There was another assertion of Dr. Cox'g to which he must advert. He stated in the Pat- riot, (and he — Mr. T. — answered it because it was there,) ' I was in the chair when Mr. Thomp- son was giving in his report, by a kind of com- 22 230 MEETING AT pulsion.' What would the assembly think when he [Mr. T.] told them, that Dr. Cox was invited to take the chair in the committee while some pro forma business was gone through, and that the moment it was done, the Dr. stated that he had a question of privilege to bring- forward? The Secretary said, that as the Dr. was going to bring on a question of privilege, he should quit the chair. The Dr. chose to remain in it. His words were — 'I think I can accomplish the business I have to do, and retain the chair.' As the ques- tion referred to some harsh expressions used by a certain individual in a letter on Dr. Cox, the person who was implicated rose and said, 'Do you mean rae to reply to the statement you are making ? ' Dr. Cox replied in the affirmative. And then the individual suggested the necessity of the Dr. leaving the chair, that they might stand on equal terms, and submit the whole matter to the committee. But Dr. Cox, in the face of all delicacy and good feeling, persisted in keeping the chair. [' Shame, shame.'] Yet Dr. Cox, in re- plying to his [Mr. T's] statements, said he had few opportunities of investigating his conduct, because he was in the chair by a kind of compul- sion. It was indeed 'a kind of compulsion.' He [Mr. T.] should rather be inclined to call it 're- pulsion.' [Loud laughter and cheers.] Mr. T. then pressed upon the audience that a great work remained yet to be accomplished. He had lately called upon Daniel O'Connell, Esq., for the pur- pose of introducing to him a gentleman from America. Mr. O'Connell said he had made it a rule never to see any person from that country who was not a member of the Anti-Slave- ry Society. [Immense cheering.] But in this case, when he found who attended the gentle- LONDON. 331 man, [Mr. Thompson,] he at once admitted him, remarking that he knew what kind of man he was from the company he kept. [Laughter and cheers.] Mr. O'Connell had informed him [Mr. T.] that the present Archbishop of Charleston was a particular friend of his, and a gentleman from that country had lately called upon him [Mr. O'C] with an introduction from his friend. But finding that he was a slaveholder, he refused to see him. [Deafening applause.] Not even an introduction from the Archbishop of Charleston would introduce a slaveholder to the hand, the heart, the hearth of Daniel O'Connell. [Reiter- ated cheers.] In conclusion, Mr. T. remarked, that if Dr. Cox would express his regret at the statements he had made, if a second edition of his work should be called for, and he would ex- punge the attacks which had been made upon his character, and confess that he had been in error, he [Mr. T.] should be glad, as Dr. Cox could be desirous he should be, to give him the benefit of any explanation, any concession, any contradic- tion of the statements which he might choose to make. But until that, he should feel it his duty to take that book wherever he went, to counter- act its influence, and justify his own measures. [Loud cheers.] E. Baldwin, Esq. said, he felt it due to Mr. Thompson, that the meeting should express their opinion with regard to that gentleman's conduct in America. Without further preface he should therefore move — 'That having heard Mr. Thompson's justifica- tion of the course he pursued in America, this meeting is decidedly of opinion, that, in the per- ilous position in which he was placed, and under 132 MEETING AT the circumstances of great difficulty and trial, he fulfilled his duty as a man and a Chrislian, and is deserving the commendation of every friend of humanity.' Judge Jeremy, in seconding the resolution, bore his testimony to the able exertions of Mr. Thompson in promoting the cause in which he was engaged, and to the courageous manner in which he had advocated those principles which he had ever maintained. He approved of the resolution on this account, and also fur another reason, — that while it vindicated his friend [Mr. T.] from the imputations which had been cast upon him, it threw aspersions on no other party. The resolution was then put, and carried by acclamation. Mr. Thompson briefly acknowledged the com- pliment, and avowed his determination to perse- vere in his efforts in this cause while God should continue his life and strength. The Rev. George Evans moved, and thp Rev. T. Price seconded a vote of thanks to the Chair- man. The Chairmak returned thanks, and the meet- ing separated. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF THE LONDON PATRIOT. Sir, — I wish, through you, to intimate to the British public my deep conviction, in concurrence with that of many others, that Mr. Thompson's procedure, in holding meetings under the name of 'Anti-Slavery Lectures,' for the purpose of attacking my conduct in America, and the publication I and my colleague have issued, is a most im- pertinent interference, and a mean attempt to prejudice the public mind. The platform may suit a mob orator, and his self-degrading ahettors, hut truth and character will ultimately prevail. As the statements that have been given may probably (in part at least) pervade some of your pages, and as I did not choose to come down to the level of meetings so convened, I beg to assure my friends, who may see uncontradicted and untenable representa- tions, to keep in view that at the proper time, and by the proper medium — the press, I pledge myself to the refuta- tion of the calumnies which I understand to have been ut- tered. Yours, respectfully, Hackney, May 31, 1836. F. A. COX. Sir, — Allow me to insert in your columns a very brief remark on two words used by Mr. Thompson in his letter, which is headed 'Slavery in America,' in your paper of Mav 23. 3 234 MEETING AT Mr. Thompson states, that ray version of his concluding remarks, at the New York Abolition Meeting last year, is an ' entire misrepresentation.' I had not seen your paper of the above date when I ad- dressed to Mr. Thompson a letter from Ledbury yester- day, which I presume will be read by him at the meeting advertised for to-morrow, the 26th, and probably find its way into your pages. Had I seen the above uncourteous remark, I should certainly not have troubled myself to send an answer to his invitation. I have not designedly misrepresented any thing. As Mr. Thompson stands pledged to prove such misrepresen- tation 'from the book itself/ the public, of course, will be enabled to decide. It is a little singular that the proof sheet was at my house when a mutual friend from America, a most deter- mined Abolitionist, who was present at the meeting, was visiting me. I expressed to him my doubt about one ex- pression, and requested him to read what I had written. He did so, and his reply immediately was, ■ Oh, it is true enough, there is no doubt but he said all that.' I remain, your obedient servant, Coleford, May 25, 1836. JAMES HOBY. P. S. Perhaps I ought to add, thatl nevertheless struck out the expression on which I entertained a doubt. Sir, — At the extraordinary meeting held in Devonshire square Chapel on last Thursday evening, some persons ap- peared somewhat displeased with me, inasmuch as, when Mr. Thompson stated that Dr. Cox had pledged himself, ' in the midst of his brethren,' as to the line of conduct he would pui sue on the subject of American slavery, I took the liberty of asking, ' Where J . ' Mr. Thompson refer- red to the Rev. T. Price as his authority, and that gentle- man stated that it was in a committee-meeting of the Bap- tist Union, Ittit lie bad forgotten where. The minute-book of that Committee, Sir, now lies be- fore me, and I find that, from April 28, 1834, when it was resolved to recommend to the Annual Meeting to send a deputation to America, until the period of their departure, fourteen meetings of the Committee were held, at one only of which Mr. Price was present. This meeting was held LONDON. 235 at ■ Stepney College, August 27, 1834, present— the Her. W. H. Murch, in the chair; the Rev. Dr. Cox, the Rev. Messrs. Trice, Stovel, Thomas, Belcher, and the Rev. Thomas Edmonds, A. M., of Cambridge, and the Rev. S. Green, Jim., of Thrapstone, as visitors.' Now, will Mr. Price have the kindness to say whether the * pledge ' was given at that meeting 1 Certainly nothing of the kind can be learnt from the minutes. I am. Sir, very truly yours, JOSEPH BELCHER. 27, Paternoster-row, May 30, 1836. Sir, — In Dr. Cox's reply to Mr. Thompson, inserted in your paper of the 25th, an allusion is obviously made to myself, which I cannot permit to pass unnoticed. "When specifying his reasons for not meeting Mr. T., the doctor remarks, ' I say nothing of the kindness or piety of the parties who have prepared the arena.' I ha\e no dispo- sition to carp at the terms here employed. The doctor was at liberty to select such as he pleased, though his vo- cabulary might, possibly, have supplied others more per- tinent and suitable. My object, Mr. Editor, is to state, for the information of your readers, what Dr. Cox un- doubtedly felt assured of, while penning this passage, that I am the only person who had any thing to do with the affair. I granted the use of the chapel to Mr. Thompson, on my own responsibility, without consulting an individ- ual, and am not now disposed to shrink from any of the consequences which this step fairly involves. 1 am the more desirous of this being known, because it has been in- timated to one of my deacons, by a gentleman officially connected with the doctor, that the granting of the place to Mr. Thompson would be regarded a?- an act of hostility on the part of the Devonshire-square church towards that meeting in Mare-street, Hackney. Nothing can be more groundless or absurd than such an insinuation, as the above statement must clearly show. 1 granted the place to Mr. Thompson on public grounds, for the delivery of a lecture on the character of American Slavery, and the progress of the abolition cause in that country, fully aware that these topics would, of necessity involve a reference to the part which had been acted by 236 MEETING AT the Baptist deputation. The only condition I required from Mr. T. was, that he should immediately announce his intention to the two gentlemen constituting that depu- tation, and proffer them an opportunity of replying to his statements. To this he most cordially assented, stating that it was perfectly coincident with his own views of what was right : I stood in a similar relation to both parties, being a member of the Baptist Union from which the Drs. Cox and Hoby had proceeded to America, and of the Brit- ish and Foreign Abolition Society, by which Mr. Thomp- son was sent to that country. I entertained an unfeigned respect for all these gentlemen, and when I found that there were points in dispute between them, affecting their public character, and bearing directly en the interests of a cause, to which, in my more healthful and vigorous days, I had devoted my best energies, and when I knew that these matters were already public, I felt assured, and I do still feel assured, that it was alike due to Dr. Cox, to Mr. Thompson, and to the noble-minded men whom God has raised up on behalf of suffering humanity in America, to give to the two parties a fair opportunity of stating their case before the public and in the presence of each other. I cheerfully granted my chapel to Mr. Thompson, and I should have been equally ready to grant it to Dr. Cox on the same condition. The interests of truth and righteous- ness were never yet promoted by the concealment of facts respecting the public proceedings of public men. Nor did it once enter into my mind that Dr ('. would hesitate to be present on such an occasion, as I had heard him prior to the return of Mr. T. say, ' Mr. Thompson has threat- ened me with a meeting at Exeter Hall; I am ready to meet him there or elsewhere.' Here, Mr. Editor, I should be glad to close my com- munication; but a regard to Mr. Thompson, and to the Society which he represents, compels me very briefly to advert to two or three ver\ gross inaccuracies into which the doctor has fallen. I am the more surprised at these in- accuracies, as Dr. C.j I am informed, called at Alderman- bury only a few hours before drawing up his letter, and ex- amined the minute-book of the Sock ty. 1. Dr. Cox states that Mr. Thompson was sent to America by three persons. Here he is entirely mistaken, as the slightest attention to the minute-book was sufficient to have shown bim. The Committee Meeting, to which LONDON. 237 Dr. Cox refers, when only three persons were present, was held after Mr. T's departure from London for America. He was then at Liverpool, waiting for a favorable wind, to proceed on the Mission to which he had been invited by the American Anti-Slavery Society. The Scottish Abolition Societies had united with that in London, in urging him to accept this invitation, and had contributed liberally towards the expense which would be involved. Mr. T's mission to the United States was con- templated by the Society from the moment that its title was changed from the Agency Anti-Slavery Society to that of the British and Foreign Society, &c. I moved in the Committee the adoption of the new title, and America was at once fixed on as the first scene of our operations, and Mr. T. as the agent who should carry out our plans. The fact is, Dr. Cox has most strangely mistaken the ob- ject of the Committee Meeting to which he refers, and when three persons only were present. It was summoned under the following circumstances: — After Mr. T. had left for Liverpool, on his way to America, news arrived of the destruction of the Chapels at New York. Mr. George Stephen immediately called at Aldermanbury, and entreated the Secretary to get a few members of the Com- mittee together instantly, that additional instructions might be drawn up for Mr. T. This was done, on the spur of the moment; and three gentlemen met; and Mr. Scoble was sent to Liverpool by the speediest conveyance that could be obtained. In confirmation of my statements, I refer to Mr. Scoble, our esteemed Secretary, and to the Minute-book of the Society, which, I am sure, he will freely exhibit to any gentleman desiring satisfaction on this point. 2. Mr. Thompson having referred to Dr. Cox's silence at the special meeting of the anti-slavery committee, on the 16th of March last, Dr. C. replies, ' Mr. T. has not told the public that I not only attended, but was, and that by a kind of compulsion, placed in the chair. Perhaps this concealment resembles that of my note at New York, un- intentional and accidental.' The Doctor afterwards refers to the delicacy of his situation as chairman, as one of the circumstances which imposed silence on him. I was not present at this committee, but having attentively examined the minute-book, and having received a detailed account of what passed, from the secretary, I am competent to »ay that the facts of the case are simply these :— 238 MEETING AT LONDON. When the committee met, there were but three or four gentlemen present. One and another excused himself from taking the chair. Dr. Cox being requested to occu- py it, remarked that he had a question of privilege to bring on, which might render it inexpedient that he should be in the chair. He was then asked to occupy it while the pro forma business was transacted, by which time, it was remarked, some other gentleman would arrive that could take his place. He consented to this request — the pro forma business was gone through, and the Doctor being then asked by the secretary to vacate the chair, de- clined to do so, stating, that he thought he could do more justice to his views in his present situation. At a subse- quent part of the proceedings of the committee, he was again requested by the secretary to leave the chair, but again declined. So much for Mr. Thompson's conceal- ment, and the delicate situation of Dr. Cox. Here I again appeal to Mr. Scoble and the minute-book. 3. Mr. T. having requested his readers to compare Dr. Cox's version of the speech of the Rev. Baron Stow with the report of that speech in the New York Observer, Dr. Cox replies, ' Well, let the reader compare,' &c. adding * Behold them, then in parallel columns.' Now, Mr. Editor, would any of your readers imagine otherwise than that the Doctor's report, taken from his own book, and that of the New York Observer were here before him, whole and entire 1 Such certainly was my impression, and I cannot express my surprise, when, on comparing them, I found that the Doctor had omitted the two most material sentences from the report of the New York Observer, merely remarking, ' He talked, it is true, of an ' unpleasant blush,' and wished me to till it up with reasons for die omission,' &c. The sentences omitted are the following, and formed the first and the last of Mr. Stow's speech, which contained three others : — Mr. Stow said, that in offering this resolution, he stood before the society, in circumstances which mantled his cheek with a most unpleasant blush. Let the gentieman himself fill it up with reasons for the omission, that would be satisfac- tory to himself, to his own country, and to his brethren throughout the world.' Here, Mr. Editor, as in the for- mer instance, I have to do with facts only; and no one of your readers will be better pleased than myself to re- ceive a satisfactory explanation. THO. PRICE. Finchley Common, May 28, 1836. UCSB LJBKARV uc soyTHOTiFraag»^uBR««YFAai j B 000 007 905 3