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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

DISCUSSION

ON

AMERICAN SLAVERY,

BETWEEN

GEORGE THOMPSON, ESQ.,
AGENT OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN SOCIETY FOR THE ABOLITION
, , Jr.. OF ^SLAVIJRY. THB;OU.iHO,UT THE .WOR^D^ AND

REVt ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE,
DELEGATE FROM THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY Ol? THE ERESBTTERIAN
CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, TO THE CONGREGATIONAL '
UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES:

HOLDEN IN THE

REV. BR. WARDLAW'S CHAPEL; GLASGOW, SCOTLAND ;

On the Evening, of ths 13th, 14th, ISth, 16th, 17th of June, 1C83,

WITH AN APPENDIX.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY ISAAC KNAPP,
46, WASHINGTON STREET.
\ - ; -
18 36.

CONDITIONS OP THE DISCUSSION.
This discussion was held, by previous arrangement, in Dr. Wardlaw's
Chapel, and conducted under the following regulations : —
I. That the discussion shall commence on Monday first, the 13th inst., at
half-past six o'clock, evening, precisely, and shall be resumed every succeding
evening, at the same hour, till finished, . ,
II. That each speaker shall occupy half an hour, alternately. The discus
sion shall not exceed three hours each evening.
III. That the admission shall be by tickets, at 6d each : the number to be
limited to 1,200.
IV. That neither of the speakers shall, upon any pretext whatever, be
interrupted in the1 delivery of his sentiments.
V. That the object of the discussion being to elicit information as to the
facts of the case — not to propose any questions for formal decision — no vote
of the audience shall be taken at the close.
Doors to he opened at five o'clock. No children Under twelve years of
age to be admitted, unless accompanied by parents or guardians.

INTRODUCTION.

Tbe following were the preliminary steps connected with the Discussion re'
ported in the succeeding pages : —
Mr. Bbeckinridge's Letter, expressing his willingness to meet Mr. Thomp*
son at Glasgow,, was occasioned by the following passage in Mr. Thompson's Let--
ter, which appeared in the London Patriot, in reply to the extracts inserted In that
Journal, from the work published by the Rev. Drs. Cox and Hoby, entitled, "The
Baptists in America " : —
",In *^e mean time, I am ready to meet Dr. Cox in Exeter Hall, in his own
i\/r ¦' °r *n any otuer building, to justify my charges against America and Ameri
can Ministers ; my general policy in the Anti-Slavery cause, and any particular act
ol which Dr. Cox complains. I am ready, also, and acixious to meet any American
Clergyman, or other gentleman, in any part of Great Britain, to discuss the general
question, or the propriety of that interference, of which so much has been said by-
persons who are otherwise engaged, and most praiseworthily so, in interfering With
the institutions, social, political, and religious, of every other quarter of the Globe."

MR. THOMPSON'S CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
. To the Editor of the London Patriot.
SIR, A friend in this city, with whom I have stopped for a day or fwo, on my way
to Scotland, has put into my hands youf paper of the 23d inst., which contains Mf.
George Thompson's letter of the 18th, attacking Dr. Cox.
As to the difficulties which exist between those two gentlemen, I, of course,
have no right to speak.
Mr. Thompson, however, has not contented himself with urging a particular
controversy with. Dr. Cox ; — nor even a general controversy, free for all who desire
to engage him, or call in question his ' charges against America, and American
Ministers ' — as ' slave-holding Ministers and Christians on the other side of the
water. ' But,' says he, ' I am ready, also* and anxious to meet any American cler
gyman, or other gentleman, in any part of Great Britain, to discuss the general
question, &c. : ' that is, the general question of hi3 ' charges against America and
American ministers, touching the whole subject of African slavery in that country.'
Afteh. mature and prayerful consideration, and full consultation with a few
friends, I am not able to see how I can avoid taking notice oi this direct,. and almost
personal challenge; which, I have some reason to suspect, was, probably intended
tor me. And yet I feel myself encompassed by many difficulties. For some may con
sider me defending the institution of slavery ; whereas I myself believe it to be
contrary to the spirit ofthe gospel, and the natural rights of .men. Others might
naturally look for more full proofs, and more exact information than I can give,
when relying almost entirely upon mere memory. While by far the greater part, 1
much tear, are as impatient of all investigation on the subject, as, I am sorry to say,
they seem to me, totally unacquainted with its real condition in America.'
I have concluded, however, to accept the somewhat boastful challenge.of Mr>
Thompson. And I trust the following suggestions and conditions will be considered
most reasonable, when the peculiar circumstances of the case are considered : —
1. I will meet Mr. Thompson at Glasgow, any time during the three first
weeks of June ; and spend three or four hours a day, for as many days consecutive
ly, as may be necessary — in discussing the ' general question,' as involved in his-
* charges against America, and American Ministers,' in reference to the whole sub1-
ject of slavery there.
2. Bdt as my whole object is to get before the British churches certain views
and suggestions on this subject, which I firmly believe are indispensable, lo prevent

the total alienation of British and American christians from each other ; I shall not
consider it necessary to commence the discussion at all, unless such arrangements,
are previously made, as will secure the publication, in a cheap and permanent form,
oi all that is said and done on the occasion.
3. I must insist on a patient and fair hearing, by responsible persons. There-
lore I will agree that the audience shall consist of a select number of gentlemen,
say from fifty to five hundred ; to b'e admitted by ticket only, — and a committee
previously agreed on to distribute the tickets — only to respectable persons.
I take it for granted that Mr. Thompson would himself prefer Glasgow*, o any
other city, for the scene of this meeting : as it is the home of his most active sup
porters. And while the selection of the particular time of it cannot be important
to him, my own previous arrangements are such, as to leave me no wider range
than that proposed to his choice above.
Moke minute arrangements are left to the future ; and they can, no doubt, be
easily made.
1 must ask the favour of an early insertion of this note, in the Patriot ; and
beg to say, through you, to the Editor of the Glasgow Chronicle, that I shall feel
obliged by its republication in his paper. R. J. BRECKINRIDGE,
A Delegate from the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church of the U. S. America,
to the Congregational Union of England and
Wales.-'
Durham, May 28, 1836.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
London, June 1, 1836.
SIR, I forward you, without a moment's delay, a copy of this evening's Patriot,
containing a letter from the Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, Of Baltimore, United
States. The following is my reply, which you will oblige me by immediately in
serting, in company with the communication to which it refers.
I feel thankful that my overture has been accepted ; and, notwithstanding the
arrangements ITiad made to remain in London during the whole of the present
month, and the announcement of my name in the public advertisements to lecture
during the forthcoming week, I shall, D. V. be in Glasgow on Tuesday next : and
shall be ready to meet Mr. Breckinridge, in the Religious Institution House,
South Frederick Street, at noon of that day, to settle the preliminaries of the dis
cussion, which, I trust, will commence the following morning.
It is my earnest hope, that every thing said and done, will be in accordance
with gentlemanly feeling and christian courtesy.
Your's respectfully,
GEORGE THOMPSON.

NOTE.

The Speeches and Documents in this Pamphlet having been
submitted. to the correction of the Speaker's, the Report may be
relied on as an accurate and full account of the important pro
ceedings.

DISCUSSION.
FIRST NIGHT— MONDAY, JUNE 13.
Agreeably to public advertisement, the. discussion betwixt Mr.
George Thompson and the Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, was open
ed Monday evening, June 13. By half-past six, the hour fixed on by
the Committee, Dr. Wardlaw's Chapel contained:!, 200 individuals,
the number agreed upon by both parties. A great number could not
gain admittance, in consequence of tbe tickets allotted, being bought
up on Saturday. On the entrance of the two antagonists, accom
panied by the Committee, the audience warmly cheered them. By
appointment of the Committee —
Rev. Dr. WARDLAW took the Chair. Having thanked the
Committee for the honor they had conferred on him, and which, he
trusted, would meet with the concurrence of the meeting, he said
he bad accepted- the honorable post with the utmost confidence in
the forbearance and propriety of conduct of the two gentlemen —
or Antagonists, should he call them ? who, were to address ,the meet
ing j and also, with the most perfect confidence in the good conduct
and' sense of propriety possessed by the. meeting. Had he not
possessed such confidence, be would never have thought of under-'
taking tlie present task. Had he imagined that the present meeting
would give way: to similar expressions of feeling as had taken place
within these walls on some former occasions, he would at once have
declined the task, as one for which he was totally .unfit, — he was
not fit to manage storms. The parties on the present occasion were
different from those to whom they had listened at the time to which
he referred. One of them, it was true, was the same, and his char
acter all of them knew. They, knew his sentiments, his zeal, his
eloquence, his devotedtiess to the great cause of which he was the
fearless advocate. In reference to his opponent, on the present
occasion, he would not dishonor that gentleman by naming him
along with an individual who had stood before them formerly in op
position to their eloquent friend. . He felt it to be his duty to in
troduce to them "his friend — for he was allowed to call him so — the
Rev. Mr. Breckinridge. That gentleman had come to this country,
the accredited agent from the Presbyterian church — a large and

influential body of Christians in America, to the congregalional
union of England and Wales. It was proper that he should state
to the meeting that Mr. Breckinridge was no advocate of slavery —
that he believed it to be opposed to the letter and spirit of the gos
pel, and as a proof how far he was in earnest in his professions in
this matter, he had freely parted with a patrimonial estate so far as
it consisted of slaves. (Cheers.) Having stated this, it might be
further necessary that he should mention what gave rise to the pres
ent meeting. They were all aware, then, he said, that since his
return from America, Mr. George Thompson had been lecturing in
various parts of the kingdom. In the course of his labors he was
accused of having brought extravagant and unfounded charges
against the American nation, and especially against the ministers of
-religion in that country. In consequence of this, Mr. Thompson
published a challenge in the Patriot newspaper, in which he called
upon any American minister to come forward and.defend his breth
ren, if he were able, from the charges which he brought against
them. This challenge, through the columns of the same newspa
per, had been accepted by Mr. Breckinridge, and now they were
here met to enter upon the discussion. The Chairman then read
the regulations with regard to the conducting, of the discussion which
had been agreed upon by the Committee. In addition to what they
contained, he might add that the chairman was not to be considered
judge of what was relevant or irrelevant, nor was the, speaker/to be
interrupted on any account. He would especially beg their serious
attention to the rule requiring the entire suppression of every symptom
of approbation or disapprobation. He trusted that his interference
would not be required, but if it were he would feel himself called
upon by imperative duty to enforce this regulation with the utmost
strictness. Mr. Breckinridge had heard from some quarter or oth
er very unfavorable accounts of the decorum of a Glasgow audience.
He hoped that their conduct on the present occasion would disa
buse *that gentleman's mind of any unfavorable opinion he might
entertain of them on that score. In conclusion, he might repeat,
that he placed the most perfect reliance on the good serisp and gen
tlemanly feeling of both speakers. Let them both, then, be heard
fairly. He solictied favor for neither — he demanded justice for
both. /
i
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said, it was not easy to' conceive of
circumstances that were more embarrassing than those in which he
was placed this evenipg. They had already taken For granted all
that had been said ahd done on one >side of the question.; their
minds had been already made up to oppose those conclusinos to which
it was his purpose to bring them. Their affections and feelings had
long been engaged to his opponent in this cause ; and all that he could
say would necessarily have little effect in changing what he would
not hesitate to call those unhappy opinions, which were long ago

formed against him. Another cause of his embarrassment was, that
he would be rejudged of all he might say here. What he said
would be approved by one party in America, but would be disap
proved of by another. In the United States they were differently
situated from what the people were in this country. Here the peo
ple seemed now united on this subject,, but in America they were
split up into a great number of different parties, whose opinions and
feelings were arrayed against each other in as great a measure as it
was possible to conceive. Whatever, therefore, he might Say in
this country, would be disapproved of by many in the United
States, while nothing was more certain than that, what was said by
his opponent, would the more commend him to his friends on the
other side of the, Atlantic ; and nothing he could say would proba-
hly lower him in the good opinion of his friends here. Hence
arose the difficulty of the situation in which he (Mr. B.) found
himself placed, and his unusual claim upon their patience in the
course of the discussion. Still he should be unworthy of his coun
try, he should be forgetful of the power of truth, he would have
little trust in God, if he was not ready to espouse the cause which
he belived to be right ; and more especially if he was not ready,
before a Scotish and a Christian audience, to defend thcprinciples
he adopted and avowed. He had no desire to attempt a mitigation
of their hatred to slavery ; and if, at a future time, he should meet
in America with any one now present, lie. would prove to them by
the friendship of those who loved and respected him, and the
opposition of those who did not, that be hated slavery as much as
any one of those present could do. It was said by one of the an
cients, 'lama man : I consider nothing that relates to man, for
eign to me.' It was a true and noble sentiment. The fate of the
most hopeless might be theirs if power could make it so ; and their
condition might have been that of the poorest wretch on earth if
God had not smiled upon them and their ancestors as he had done.
He did not wish them to interfere with slavery in America. They
might interfere, but the question was, how were they to do so ? He
wished in tbe course of the diseussion to bring before them facts to
show, that if they did at all interfere with slavery in America, it
must be done as between individuals, not as a national question.
That, whatever they did, they do as Christians, not as communi
ties. Tbat they must not, for a moment, look upon it as a question
of rival power and glory, as a question between Great Britain and
America. If they did so in the slightest degree, their chance oi
success was ' gone for ever. In the prosecution ofthe question,
they should not allow themselves to be identified in their efforts with
any party in America, in politics, in religion, or metaphysics!; more
especially, with a small and odious party as they had done to a de
plorable extent. They should not identify themselves with a party
so small as not to be able to obtain their object,, and so erroneous
as not to deserve success. Whatever they did should be done meek ¦

ly', and in the spirit of the gospel ; they should not press the prin
ciples of the gospel with the spirit of a demon, but with all ¦ the
sweetness and gentleness of the gospel of peace. These were the
principles which he intended to endeavor to impress upon their
minds by details which he would adduce in . the course of the dis
cussion. It was nothing more than just to the audience that they
should know, that they should understand it distinctly, that as far
as regarded his opponent, he neither was nor could be any thing
more to him or his countrymen than as an individual who had
identified himself with certain parties and principles in America.
Neither he nor the Americans could have any object in underrating
or overrating him. America could have no desire to raise him up
or to pull him down. It is not, it cannot be any thing to America
what any individual is, or may be, in the eyes of his own country
men. The King of England is known to America only as the
King of Great Britain ; if he ceased to be the King of that king
dom, he was to them no more than a common individual. Let it
not be supposed that either he or America had any wish, even the
most remote, to break down or injure the well earned or ill earned
reputation of his opponent. They looked upon him only with ref
erence to his principles, and had no personal motive on earth in refer
ence to that gentleman. Let them not, therefore, think that in any
remarks he might make, or charges he might, bring forward, he had
any intention of implicating his opponent as being solely responsi
ble for these results. He called in question, not the principles of
a particular individual only, but those also of a party in America,
to whom he would have to answer when he returned to that country.
Having said thus much, he would now proceed to the question be
fore them, but would previously make a few preliminary remarks,
which he thought necessary to enable them to come to a proper
understanding of the subject. He did not think it necessary to
trace the progress of the great cause to J. he present moment. For
forty years they had suffered defeat after defeat — yet these defeats
only strengthened their cause, even in this country, till they had
arrived at a given point. He would not wish to hurt the feelings
of a single individual now present, but he was sure he spoke the
feelings of all in America, when he said that the great day of their
power to do good, as a nation, was to be dated from the passing
of the Reform Bill. From that period, they started in a new ca
reer of action, both at home and abroad. The sending but of agents
was one of the great lines of operation attempted upon the Amer
icans. This the Americans complained of as having been done in
an imprudent and impossible way, and sure to meet with defeat.
They have sent out agents to America who have returned defeat
ed. They admit they were not successful, though they say they
retreated only, that they were not defeated. They have failed
— they admit they have failed in their object. One of these
agents on his return made certain statements as to the condition of

the slaves in America ; and as to the state of the churches in the
Uhited States, which implicated not only the great body of Chris
tian ministers of the country, but the. government, and the people
• of America, except a small handful of individuals. If, as was ad
mitted, the number of pastors in America was twelve to fifteen
thousand, and only one thousand had embraced these views, were
they anything hut a small party ?; , While yet the whole nation was
denounced as wiplfed— and the wrath of Heaven invoked against
the country, ltwas only a very small handful that came in for a
share of the praise of. his opponent; and the sympathies here were
invoked, on the assumption of principles which it was his, object to
prove false and unfounded. What could be the cause of such an an-
amoly ? that those principles which are said to be loved and admired
here, are repudiated there to the extremity of pertinacious obstinacy ?
This cause it would be his duty to point out ; first, he would say
what perhaps no one would believe, that the question of Ameriqan
slavery, is in its name not only unjust, but absurd. There was, pro
perly speaking, no such thing as American slavery. It was absurd;
to talk of American slavery, except in, so. far, a^iit applied to the.
sentiments of what was the minority,, although be wqu1&. say a.
large minority, which tolerated slavpry. It wasnbt an American
question. In America there were twenty-four separate republics ;
of, these, twelve had no slaves, and twelve of them tolerated slave
ry. Two, new states bad recently, been added, to, the Union, and
God speed the day when others would be added, till tbe,whole con
tinent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific was included in union, car
rying with the union, Liberty and Independence,, Ofthe two
states which were lately added, one was a slave state and the other
free. Of the twelve free, independent, sovereign states of Amer
ica to which he had alluded — one, Massachusetts, had, for a longer
time than his opponent had lived,, not tolerated slavery. There
were no slaves in Massachusetts, Connecticut,, Rhode Island^ Ver
mont, New .Hampshire, Maine, New, York, New Jersey, Pennsyl
vania, Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois, and in four of them there never
had been a slave. Eight of them, of their; own free will and choice,
abolished slavery without money and without price. By. the influ
ence of the Spirit of God, and the influence of divine truth, they
had totally abolished, slavery. Of the twelve states, at least four,
Qhio, with a million of inhabitants, Indiana, Illinois, gnd Maine,"
never ha.d a slave. Since 1785 till this hour, there _iad not been
or^e slave in any of ¦ these , states. , These twelve either inever had
slaves or had, abolished, slavery without any remuneratjop. These
states contain seven million out ofthe eleven million of trie white pop
ulation ofthe Union, and nearly two-thirds of the territorial extent of
the republic as now peopled. , And when we remember th,at they have
stood as theynow do for the last twentyyears, as it was nowmore tjjan
twenty years since slavery was abolished, how could they be charg
ed with the responsibility ofthe existence; of slavery in other states,

or be charged with fostering slavery which they were the first peo
ple upon earth to abolish, and the first to unite with other nations
in putting down the slave trade as piracy. This he was aware would
be denied; but though Wilberforce had labored in the cause for
twenty years, the American constitution had fixed a limited time
for the abolition of the slave trade> and tne moment. the twenty
years had elapsed, the Congress did abolish it ; and this was in the
same month, and some days before the Abolition Bill had passed
through Parliament. Thus, America was the first nation on earth
which had abolished the slave trade, and made it piracy. If we
judge by the number of republics which tolerate no slavery — if we
judge by the number of American citizens who abhor slavery, it will
be found not to be an American question, but one applicable only
to a small portion of the nation. If he wished to prove that
the British were idolaters, he could point to millions of idolaters
ih India, under the British Government, for every one in Amer
ica who approved of slavery. If he wished to prove the
Birtish to be Catholics, and worshippers of the Virgin Mary, he
could point to the west of Ireland, where were one thousand
Worshippers of the Virgin Mary for every one in America who did
not wish slavery abolished. If he were to return to America, and
get tip public meetings, and address them about British idolatry,
Because the Indians were Idolaters, or on British Catholicism, be
cause many of the Irish worshipped the Virgin Mary, would not
the world at once see the absurdity and maliciousness ofthe charge ;
and if he heaped upon Britain every libellous epithet he could in
vent — if he got the wise, the good, and the fair, to applaud him,
would not the world see at once the .grossness of the absurdity. And
where, then, lay the difference ? The United States Government
have no power to abolish slavery in South Carolina — Britain can
abolish idolatry throughout its dominions. It was absurd to say it
was an American question. America, as a nation, was not respon
sible, either in the sight of God or man, for the existence of slave^
ry within certain portions of the Union. As a nation, it had done
every thing within its power. The half hour having now expired,
Mr. B. sat down ; and
Mr. THOMPSON rose. He said he did not stand on the
platform this evening to explain to them his views in reference to
slavery. He would occupy no portion of their time by an expo
sition of any of the principles or views entertained by himself on
the subject of slavery as it bas existed in our own dependencies,
or as it exists in America at the present moment, or in other por
tions of the globe. He stood there to justify that policy which in
a distant land he bad deemed it right to pursue ; he stood there to
justify the policy which had been adopted and pursued, and was
still pursued by certain individuals in the United States, whether
many or few, whether a handful or a multitude, who were known
by the name of the abolitionists of the United States of America.

He stood thereto justify himself and them in the act of, fearlessly,
constantly, unceasingly, and universally, to every, class and color
on the face of the habitable globe, enunciating the great principles
of equal justice and equal rights — of enunciating this great truth
that slaveholding, is a crime in the sight of Gody. and should be im
mediately and totally abolished. That God had in no instance
given to man a discretionary power to hold property in his fellow-
man ; that instant emancipation was the right of the slave ; that
instant manumission was the duty of the master. That no govern
ment had a right to keep a single soul in slavery ; that no nation
had authority to permit slavery, let that nation exist where it may ;
if professing to be a Christian nation, so much the more atrocious
was their wickedness. The nation which permitted the keeping
in slavery of God's, creatures, which allowed, the traffic in human
beings for 400 pieces of silver, even in the capital itself, was not
entitled to be called a christian nation, and if professing to be a
christian nation, so much the more pre-eminently wicked and infa
mous was the nation. By that act that infamous, wicked nation
violated every christian feeling, and was worthy qf being exposed
to the scorn and derision of every n,a(jpn under heaven, christian
or pagan. This was a most momentous question, and he spoke
strongly upon it^ but he spoke advisedly. He did not speak an
grily, but he did and must speak warmly on the subject of Slavery.
He could not talk of millions of men and women, each of whom
was endowed with a soul Which was precious in the sight of God
— each of whom was endowed with that principle which out-valu
ed worlds — he could not speak of such, registered with the brutes,
with calm unconcern, or classed with chattels, and be calm — if he
•could do so, he should be ready with these nails to open his breast,
and tear therefrom a heart which would be unworthy of a man.
He could and would speak calmly on other topics, but this was a
subject which required energy, unceasing energy, till the evil was
removed from the face of the earth, till all the kingdoms of the
world had become the kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ.
He was thankful for the present opportunity which had been afford
ed him of entering into this discussion ; he was thankful that his
opponent, for so it seemed he must be called, was an American,
that he was a christian minister, that he was an opponent of slave
ry, that he brought to the question before them, talent, learning,
patriotism, and christian feeling. Such an. opponent he respected
and wished the audience to respect. He would ask them to cher
ish his person, to respect his opinions, to weigh his arguments, to
test his facts, and if they were just and righteous, to adopt his
principles. If he (Mr. T.) knew the strongest expression he had
ever used regarding America, he would use it to-night ; if he knew
in what recess of bis heart his worst wish towards America was
deposited he would drag it forth to the light, that his opponent
might grapple with it in their presence. He would not soften down
2

10
any of his language ; he would not sugar over his words, he would
not abate one iota of what he had ever said in reference to the
wickedness of America on former occasions. Let his opponent
weigh every syllable he (Mr. T.) had uttered, every statement he
had ever made, every charge he had ever brought against his coun
try or against his cloth, and if he found that he had exaggerated
facts or stated what was not true, he would be glad to be shown it.
He was there before them and his opponent to search after the
truth, truth which would outlive Mr. Breckinridge — truth which
would outlive Geo. Thompson— truth which was far more valuable
than the proudest victory — truth which was invaluable to both — -
and let the truth stand out during the discussion which might fol
low ; and when they had found out the truth, if they saw anything
which had to be taken back— anything to be given up — anything
for which to be sorry, he would try to outstrip his opponent in his
readiness to retract what was wrong, to yield what was untenable,
and to express his sorrow before God and the audience for what
he had undeservedly said of America. With regard to the feelings
he entertained towards the Americans, he need only refer to the
last letter he had published to the American people, from which he
would read a passage to show the feelings he entertained towards
that country, as well as to those of her citizens who might reach
these shores from America. Mr. Thompson then read the follow
ing passages : —
I love America, because her sons, though my persecutors, are immortal — because ' they
know not what they do,' or if enlightened and wilful, are so much the more to be pitied
and cared for. I love America, because of the many affectionate friends I have found
upon her shores, by whom I have been cherished, refreshed and strengthened; and upon
whose regard I place an incalculable value, I love America, for there dwells the fettered
slave— fettered and darkened, and degraded now, but soon to spring into light and liberty,
and rank on earth, as he is ranked in heaven, ' but a little lower than the angels.' I love
America, because of the many mighty and magnificent enterprises in which she has em
barked for the salvation of the world. I love her rising spires, her peaceful villages, and
her multiplied means of moral, literary, and religious improvement. I love ber hardy sons,
the tenants of her vallies and her mountains green. I Jove her native children of the for
est, still roaming, untutored and untamed, in the unsubdued wildernesses of the ' far west.'
I love your country, because it is the theatre of the subliinest contest now waging with
darkness and despotism, and misery on the face of the globe; and because your country is
ordained to be the scene of a triumph, as holy in its character and as glorious in its results,
as any ever achieved through the instrumentality of men.
But though my soul yearns over America, and I desire nothing more eagerly than to see
her stand forth among the nations of the world, unsullied in reputation, and omnipotent in
energy, yet shall I, if spared, deem it my duty to publish aloud her wide and fearful depar
tures from rectitude and mercy. I shall unceasingly proclaim the wrongs of her enslaved
children; and, while she continues to * traffic in the souls of men,' brand her as recreant
to the great principles of her revolutionary struggle, and hypocritical in all her professions
of attachment to the cause of human rights.
1 thank God, I cherish no feelings of bitterness or revenge, towards any individual in.
America, my most inveterate enemy not excepted. Should the sea on which I am about t<
embark receive me ere I gain my native shore — should this be the last letter I ever ad
dress to the people of America, Heaven bears me witness, I with truth and sincerity affirm
that, as I look to be freely forgiven, so freely do I forgive my persecutors and slanderers
and pray — ' Lord lay not this sin lo_lheir charge.'
In another part of the same letter ' he had thus expressed him
self:—

11
Should a kind providence place me again upon the soil of my birth, and when there,
should any America__(and 1 hope many will) visit that soil to plead the cause of virtueand
philanthropy, and strive in love to provoke us to good works, let ium know that there will
be one man who will uphold his right to liberty of speech, one man who will publicly and
privately assert and maintain the divinity of his commission to attack sin and alleviate
suffering, in every form, in every latitude, and under whatever sanction and authorities it
may be cloaked and guarded. And coming on such an errand, I think I may pledge myself
In behalf of my country, that he shall not be driven with a wife and little ones, from the
door of a hotel in less than 36 hours after he first breathes our air — that lie shall not be de
nounced as an incendiary, a fanatic, an emissary, art enemy, and a traitor — that he shall
not be assailed with oaths and missiles, while proclaiming from the pulpit in the house of
God, on the evening of a christian Sabbath, the doctrines of ' judgment, justice, and mer
cy,' — that he shall not be threatened, wherever he goes, with ' tar and feathers ' — that he
shall not be repudiated and abused in newspapers denominated religious, and by men calling
themselves christian Ministers — that he shall not have a price set upon his head, and his
house surrounded with ruffians, hired to effect his abduction — that his wife and children
shall not be forced to flee from Ihe hearth of a friend, lest they should be 'smoked out ' by
men in civic authority, and their paid myrmidons — that the mother and her little ones shall
not find at midnight, the house surrounded by an infuriated multitude, calling with horrible
execrations for the husband' and the father — that his lady shall not be doomed, while in a
strange land, to see her babes clinging to her with affright, exclaiming, ' the mob shan't
get papa,' ' papa is good' is he not 1 the naughty mob shan't get him, shall they 1 '—that he
shall not, finally, be forced to quit the most enlightened and christian city of our nation, to
escape the assassin's knife, and return to tell his country, that in Britain the friend of vir
tue, humanity, and freedom, was put beyond the protection of the laws, and the pale of civ.
ilized sympathy, and given over by professor and profane, to the tender mercies of a blood
thirsty rubble.
These extracts were from the last letter that he had written to
the people of America, and which had been widely published there ;
and he was glad of an opportunity of now laying them before a
Glasgow audience, and of having them incorporated in the pro
ceedings of the evening, in order to show that he then forgave
America, that he now forgave America. He would stand there to
defend the right of Mr. Breckinridge to a fair hearing from his
(Mr. Thompson's) countrymen ; and stand forward as his protect
or, to save him from the missile that might be aimed at him, and
to receive-into his own'bosom the dagger which might be aimed at
his heart. . His opponent might be anxious to know what report he
(Mr. T.) made on his return to Britain of his proceeding., in
America. He would therefore read an extract from the minutes
of the London Society for Universal Emancipation : —
George Thompson was then introduced to the Committee, and communicated at length
the result of his Mission in the United Slates, and the present cheering aspect of the An-
.i-Sla\ery cause in that country. The following is a brief outline of his statement:
He desired to be devoutly thankful to Divine Providence for the signal preservation and
help vouchsafed to him in all his labors, perils, and persecutions. He considered it a high
honor to have been permitted to proclaim in the ears of a distant people the great princi
ples held by the Society.
He sailed from this country on the 17th August, 1834, landed sit New York on the
20th September, and commenced his public labors on the 1st of October. His public
Lectures were continued down to the 20th October, 1S35, during which period he deliver
ed between 2 and 300 public Lectures, besides innumerable shorter addresses bclore Com
mittees, Conventions, Associations, &c. &c. His audiepces had invariably been overflow
ing, and composed from time to time of members of State Legislatures, the Heads of
Colleges, Professors, Clergymen of all denominations, members of the legal profession,
and the students of nearly all the Theological and Academical Institutions m New Eng-
1 'lid The result of his labors had been the multiplication of Anti-Slavery Associations to
an unprecedented extent. Upto the month of May, 1S35, he met with no serious or for
midable opposition. At that time the National Society reported the existence of 250
auxiliaries, and its determination to appropriate during the ensuing year the sum of 30,000
dollars in the printing of papers and pamphlets to be gratuitously circulated amongst the

12
entire white population of the country. The Southern States, previously almostsilent ami
inoperative, soon after commenced a system of terrorism, intercepting the public convey
ances, rifling, the Mail Bags, scourging, mutilating or murdering all suspected of holding
Ami-Slii.ery views, and calling with one consent upon the Free States to pass laws, abridg
ing the freedom of speech and of the press, upon the subject of Slavery. The North
promptly responded to the call ol the South, and in every direction throughout the Free
States tlie Abolitionists became the victims of persecution, proscription ami outrage. The
friends of Negro freedom every where endured with a patience and spirit of christian char
ity, almost unexampled, the multiplied wrongs and injuries accumulated upon them. They
ceased not to labor for the Holy cause they had espoused, but perseveringly pursued their
course in the use of all the means sanctioned by Justice, Religion, and the Constitution of
their country. The result had been the rapid extension of their principles, and a vast ac
cession of moral strength. G. T. gave an appalling account of the condition of the South
ern Churches. The Presbyterians, Baptists, and Episcopal Methodist. Churches were the
main pillars of the system of Slavery. Were they to withdraw their countenance, and
cease to participate io its administration and profit, it would not exist one year. Bishops,
presiding Elders, Travelling Preachers, Local Preachers, Trustees, Stewards, Class Lead
ers, private Members, and other attendants in the Churches of the Episcopal Methodists.
with the preachers and subordinate members of the other denominations, are, with few
exceptions, Slaveholders. Many ofthe preachers, not merely possessing domestic Slaves,
but being planters ' on a pretty extensive scale,' and dividing their time between the du
ties of the Pastoral Office and the driving of a gang of Negroes upon a cotton, tobacco, or
rice plantation.
In the great pro-Slavery Meetings at Charleston and Richmond, the clergy of all denom
inations attended in a body, and at the bidding of vigilance Committees suspended their
Schools for the instruction of the colored population, receiving as their reward a vote of
thanks from their lay Slaveholding Brethren 'for their prudent and patriotic conduct.'
G. T. gave a most encouraging account of the present state of the Anti-Slavery cause,
as nearly as it could be ascertained by letters recently received. He stated that there were
now, exclusive of the Journals published by the Anti-Slavery Societies, 100 newspapers
boldly advocating the principles of Abolition. Between 4 and 500 auxiliary associations,
comprising 15 or 1700 Ministers of the Gospel of various denominations. G. T. stated
also a number of particulars, shewing the rapid progress of correct opinions amongst tlie
Congregationalism, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists, producing a Document just re
ceived from the last named body, signed by 1S5 Clergymen, being a reply to a 'letter ad
dressed by the Baptist ministers in and near London to the Baptist Churches of America,
and fully reciprocating all their sentiments on the subject of immediate and entire emanci
pation. The cause was proceeding with accelerated rapidity. Ten or twelve Agents of
the National Society were incessantly laboring with many others employed by the State
Societies, of which there were seven, viz. Kentucky, (a slave Stale,) Ohio, New York,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Gerrit Smith, Esq. a com
petent authority, had stated that every ' week witnessed an accessiua to the ranks of the
Abolitionists of not less than 500, in the State of New York alone, and he did not know
that in all the Societies there was one intemperate or profane person. G. T. io describing
the character of the persons composing the Anti-Slavery Societies in America, stated, that
they were universally men and women of religious principles, and, in moat instances, of un
questioned piety. He had never known any benevolent enterprise carried forward more in
dependence upon Divine Direction and Divine Aid, than the abolition cause in the United
States. In all their meetings, public or social, they committed themselves to God in
Prayer, and he bad found that those who had been most vehemently denounced as ' Fanat
ics and Incendiaries' were men sound in judgment, calm in temper, deliberate in council,
and prudent, though resolute, in action. The great principle on which all their Societies
were founded was the essential sinfulness of slaveholding, and the consequent necessity of
its immediate and entire abolition. The great means by which they had sought to accom
plish their object, was the fearless publication of the truth in love, addressed to the under
standings and hearts of their fellow citizens. Expediency was a doctrine they abjured.
Free Iroin a tmie-serving or timid spirit, they boldly relied upon the righteousness of their
cause, the potency of truth, and the blessing of God. They were entitled to receive from,
the Abolitionists of Great Britain the warmest commendation, tbe fullest confidence, and
most cordial co-operation.
He was happy in being able to state, that wherever the principles of immediate abolition
had been fully adopted, prejudice against color had been thrown aside, and that the mem
bers of the Anti-Slavery Societies throughout the country were endeavoring by every prop
er means to accomplish the moral, intellectual, and spiritual elevation of the colored popu
lation. He hoped he would yet have ample opportunities of replying to
the positions assumed by bis opponent. He thought he would be

13
able to shew that slavery in America was American slavery ; that
the Congress of America — that the Constitution of America made
it an institution of the country, and therefore a national sin of
America. In reference to any question as to the Constitution ahd
laws of the United States of America, he was glad he had to do
with a gentleman who knew these well, who held a high character
for his Constitutional and legal attainments ; and he hoped he
would be able to show that Slavery in America was American Sla
very — thatthe people in the North did not hate slavery — that they
did not oppose slavery^ — that they were the greatest supporters of
slavery in the United States — that slavery in America was a na
tional question. But he would keep his proofs till he had time to
say something along with them. Our interference was not a po
litical interference with America, it was only a moral interference,
to put an end to slavery — and he hoped the people of this coun
try, would continue to denounce slavery in America ; and at the
same time he was quite willing that his opponent should denounce
the idolatry of our eastern possessions.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said, he would take up the line of
argument in which he had been proceeding ; but before doing so
he wished to make one observation. How did it happen — admit
ting all that had been said by his opponent to be true and fair, how
did it happen, that the same arguments and the same principles
were so differently received in different countries ? How did it
happen that the individual who advocated the same cause, with the
same temper, and almost in the same words, in Glasgow and in
Boston, should in the one place be supported by general applause,
and in the other be ill-treated and despised, and even made to flee
for his life ? This was a question which was yet to be solved.
Mr. Thompson had spoken of the Northern states as the greatest
friends of slavery, forgetting that he had formerly represented the
clergy as such. This was one of the principal reasons of his want
> of success — of what might justly be called his signal failure. He
had brought unjust charges against an entire people, and had in con
sequence been ill-treated. Mr. Thompson had shown the better
part of valor, discretion, in taking care never to visit any of the
slave states. He had never seen a slaveholder, except, perhaps,
he had met such an individual in a free state. At least if he had
done so, it was a circumstance which was not generally known,
one of those hidden things of which it was not permitted, to read.
Having made this observation, he (Mr. B.) would proceed to state
that in the slaveholding states there was a large minority — in some,
nearly one half of the population — zealously engaged in furthering
the abolition of slavery. In Kentucky, slaveholding had been in
troduced only by a small majority. When some time after, a con
vention canvassed the subject, that majority was diminished, and
still- at this hour in that State, in which he had been born, one of

14
the greatest political questions agitated was whether slaveholding
should be abolished or retained as an element of the constitution.
A law had long ago been passed imposing a fine of six hundred
dollars on whoever brought a slave into the State for sale, and
three hundred dollars on whoever bought him. A fine of nine
hundred dollars was thus made the penalty of introducing a slave
into Kentucky as merchandise. He was sorry to have to speak
of buying and selling human beings ; but, to be understood, it was
absolutely necessary that he should do so. In. Virginia also, from
which Kentucky had been in great measure peopled, not many
years ago a frightful insurrection had taken place, and many cruel
ties had been practised — it was needless to say whether most On the .
side of the blacks or the whites. The succeeding legislature of
that State took up the question of slavery in its length and breadth
— passed a law for giving $20,000 to, the Colonization Society, — »
and rejected only by a small majority a proposal to appropriate
that fund equally to the benefit of slaves to be set free— as of those
already free. He mentioned these things merely to show that there
was a great and an increasing party in the south favorable to the
abolition of negro slavery. In fact, iu some of the Southern states
the free people of color had increased faster than the whites ; in
Maryland alone there were 52,000 of a free colored population,
all of whom, or their immediate progenitors, had been voluntarily
manumitted. It was needless to say, therefore, that in the South
ern states there was no anti-slavery party. There certainly was
not such a party in Mr. Thompson's sense of the word ; but Mr.
Thompson's definition was not the correct one, as he (Mr. B.)
would explain directly. Was it fair then, he would ask, to hold.
up to the British public, not only the people of the free states, but
also this great minority in the Southern states as pro-slavery men.
Let slavery be denounced, but let not the denunciation fall upon
the whole American people, many of whom were doing all they
could for its abolition. If Louisiana resolved on perpetuating sla
very, let this be told of Louisiana. If South Carolina adhered to
ihe system, say so of South Carolina ; but do not implicate the
mass of the American people, so many of whom are as much op
posed to slavery as is Mr. Thompson himself. He had heard it
said that the sun never sat on the British dominions. As well, •
then, might the British , people be identified with the idolatry which
prevailed in Hindostan as the Americans be identified with negro
slavery. The question was not American ; it existed solely be
tween the slaveholder and the world. It was unfair, therefore, to
blame the Americans as a nation : the slaveholder, and the slave
holder alone, should be blamed, let him reside where he might.
Having thus disposed of the first branch of his argument, he was
naturally led to explain the wonderful phenomenon of Mr. Thomp
son's reception in America — to give a reason why that reception
was so different from what the same gentleman met with in Glas-

15
gow. ^ Mr. Thompson had taken up the question as one of civil
organization. Now the fact was, that the American nation was
divided into two parties on the subject, namely, the pro-slavery,
and the anti-slavery parties. One party said, let it alone ; the oth
er, and by far the most numerous party, said, something ought to be
done in relation to it. In the last named class, was to be included
the population of all the non-slaveholding states. He declared, in
the presence of God, his conviction, that there was not a sane man
in the free states who did not wish the world rid of slavery. He
believed the same of a large minority in the states in which slavery
existed. The pro-slavery party themselves were also divided.
One section, and he rejoiced to add, a small one,- called into exer
tion in fact only by that effervesence which had been produced by
the violence of Mr. T's friends — spoke of slavery as an exceed
ingly gqod thing — as not only consistent with the l^w of God, but
as absolutely necessary for the advancement of civilization. This
party was organised within the last few years, and met the vio
lence of Mr. Thompson's party by a corresponding violence, as a
beam naturally seeks its balance. , Another section of the pro-
slavery party, considered slavery a great evil, and wished th_,t ft
were abolished, but they did not see how this could be effected.
They had been born in a state of society where it had an exist
ence, and they could see no course to adopt but to let it cure itself.
These were the two sections into which the supporters of slavery were
divided. The anti-slavery party was also composed of individuals who
had different views ofthe subject. TheoneclasshadbeencalledGrad-
ualists, Emancipationists, and Colonizationists. — The other were call
ed Abolitionists. With the latterclass,Mr. Thompson had identified
himself. And now, as while in America, by h is praises of Mr. Garrison ,
and all their leaders, his abuse of their opponents, and his efforts tp
chain the British public, hand and fjaot, to them and their projects,
shows his continued devotion to them. He would refer to this party
again, but, in the mean time, he would only say, that its members
manifested far more honesty than wisdom. In 1833, the abolition
ists held a Convention in Philadelphia, at which they drew up a
Declaration of Independence — -a declaration which he dared to say
Mr. Thompson cherished as the apple of his eye ; but which had
been more effectual in raising mobs than ever witch was in raising
the wind. The document of which he spoke announced three
principles, to the promulgation of which, the members ofthe Con
vention pledged their lives and their fortunes. A number of the
particulars specified, in support of which they said they would live
and die, went tochange materially the laws and Constitution ofthe
United States, and yet it was pretended tbat this was not a politi
cal question ! Their first principle was, that every human being
has an instant right to be free, irrespective of all consequences ;
and incapable of restriction or modification. The second was like
unto it, that the right of citizenship, inherent in every man, in
the spot where he is born, is so perfect, that to deprive him of its

16
exercise in 'any way whatever — even by emigration, under strong
moral constraint, is a sin. Their third principle was, that all pre
judice against color was sinful ; and that all our judgments and all
our feelings towards others should be regulated exclusively by their
moral and intellectual worth. Mr. B. said he stated these princi
ples from memory only — as he did most of the facts on which he
relied. ,But he was willing to stand or fall, in both countries, upon
the substantial accuracy of his statements. Mr. Breckinridge here
closed his address, the period alloted to him having expired.
Mb. THOMPSON was anxious to lay before the meeting docu
mentary testimony, in preference to any thing he could say himself.
Rather than set forth his own views, as he had done on many for
mer occasions, he wished to bring forward such documents as even
his opponent would admit to be really American. He pledged
himself to show that this was an American question. He was not
prepared for this branch of the subject, because he had not expect
ed that Mr. Breckinridge iwould exonerate America from the charge
of being a slaveholding nation ; nevertheless, he was perfectly
ready to take it up. He would undertake to prove that the exist
ence of slavery in the United States was the result of a compro
mise — that the Constitution of the United States was, in fact, based
upon a compromise, in relation to this subject. At the time when
the Constitution was agreed to, the then slaveholding states refused
to come into what was called the confederacy of republics, unless
slaveholding was permitted. At that time there were only three
hundred thousand slaves in the Union; now there were two millions
and a half. So much, said Mr. Thompson, for what the good and
influential men of the South, spoken of by Mr. Breckinridge, had
done for the abolition of slavery. Then there were three hundred
thousand ; now there were two million four hundred thousand.
The method by which these good and influential people had gone
about extirpating slavery, had been an Irish method ; it had shown
distinctly the extent of their zeal and usefulness. Why, setting
aside their influence altogether, they might, had they been as nu
merous as represented by his respected opponent, have manumitted
as many of their own slaves. It was said, no doubt, that the laws pre vent
ed this; but who made the laws? Thechildeouldnot dowhathermam-
ma had commanded her to do, because she was tied to the mahogany ta
ble, she could only answer, when asked who tied her, that it was herself.
In like manner, he could turn round on those whom his respected
opponent represented, as haters of slavery. Emancipationists they
wished to be called ; colonizationists they ought to be called. He
would ask them, what had they done ? Had they not compromised
every principle of justice and truth, by permitting slaveholding in
their Union ? Had they not even bestowed exclusive privilegeson
the slaveholders ? Had they not bestowed on them such privileges
as that, even now, they sent twenty-four or twenty-five represen-

IT
Vat.Ves to Congress more than their proportion ? His respected opi
ponent had said this was not a national question. Why, then, send
six thousand bayonets to the South for the protection ofthe slave
holder? Why were the American, people taxed in order to main
tain bayonets, blunderbusses, and artillery in the South? Not a
national question ! Why, then, was Missouri admitted a member ofthe
Union— Missouri a slaveholding State, admitted by the votes of the
Northern republics. Mr. Breckinridge had fought very shy of the
state of the, Capital, and the power of Congress to suppress the
internal traffic in slaves. He (Mr. Thompson) trusted, however,
that this branch of t}ie ^subject would be taken up. His opponent
himself, in a letter addressed to the New York Evangelist, had
stated, that Congress possessed full power to suppress the internal
traffic in slaves ; and yet they did it not. There Was in fact no
question at all respecting, the power ofthe Congress, in.this matter ;
yet it was said the question of slavery was not national. The peo
ple of the Northern states, — the slavery-hating, liberty-loving peo
ple ofthe Northern states had said they would fight shoulder to shoul
der with the Slaveholders of the South, should the slaves dare to
rise and say they were men, and after all this, it was asserted that
this was not a national question. Mr. Breckinridge had said, that
he (Mr. Thompson) got all his information at second hand. He
might have told the reason why -, he knew, however, that swell a
revelation would have been awful., He knew that pious men, ad
vocates of the cause of abolition bad been hanged, butchered, their
feacks ploughed up by Presbyterian elders ; and if such had been
done towards natives of New England, what could a stranger such
as he have expected? He (Mr. T.) had, it seems, got all at sec
ond hand. He would tell the meeting where he had obtained some
of his information. From Mr. Breckinridge himself^ and he must
say,that sounder or juster views respecting slavery —or a more com
plete justification of the mission iti which he (Mr. T.) had been so
lately engaged, could scarcely be met with. This was evidence
which he had no fear could be ruled out of court. It was that of
the friend and defender of America. Mr. T. then read the follow
ing passage from a speech delivered by Mr. Breckinridge : —
What; then, is slavery 1 for the question relates to tire action of certain principles ori
it-, and to its probable and proper results ; what is slavery as it exists among us 1 We re-
p-.y, it is that condition enforced by the laws of one half of the states of this confederacy,
in which one portiou of the community, called masters, is allowed such power over anoth
er portion called slaves ; as
1. To deprive them of the entire -earnings of their own labor, except only so much as is
necessary to continue labor itself, by continuing healthful existence, thus committing clear
robbery. 2. To reduce theua to fhe necessity of universal concubinage, by denying to them the
civil rights of marriagfe ; thus breaking up the dearest relations of life, and encouraging
universal prostitution.
•3. To. deprive them of the means and opportunities of moral and intellectual culture, in
many states making it a high penal offence to teach them to read ; there perpetuating what
ever of evil there is that proceeds from ignorance.
4. To setup between parents and (heir children an authority higher than the impulse of
Mature and the laws of God; which breaks up the authority of the father over his own
3

18
offspring, and, at pleasure, separates the mother at a returnless distance from her child ;
thus abrogating the clearest laws of nature; thus outraging all decency and justice, and
degrading and oppressing thousands upon thousands of beings, created like themselves, in
the image of the most high God I This is slavery as it is daily exhibited in every slave state.
Here, continued Mr. T., is slavery acknowledged to be clear rob
bery, and yet it is not to be instantly abolished ! Universal con-.
cubinage and prostitution, which must not immediately be put an
end to! Oh, these wicked abolitionists, who seek to put an im-
meditate close to such a state of things. What an immensity of
good have the emancipationists of the South, as they wish to be
called, of the colonizationists as they ought to be called, done during
their fifty years labor, when this is yet left for the Rev. R. J. Breck
inridge to say. Dear, delightful, energetic men ! Truly, if this
is all they have been able to effect it is time that the work were
committed to abler hands. Mr. Thompson then read an extract
from tbe Philadelphia declaration. Mr. Breckinridge had called it
a declaration of independence, but it was only a declaration of sen
timents ; —
We have met together for the achievement of an enterprise, without which, that of our
fathers is incomplete, and which, for its magnitude, solemnity, and probable irsults upon
the destiny of the world, as far as transcends theirs, as moral truth does physical force.
In purity of motive, in earnestness of zeal, in decison of purpose, in intrepidity of ac
tion, in steadfastness of faith, in sincerity of spirit, we would not be inferior to them.
Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors, and to spill human blood
like water, in order to be free. Ours forbid the doing of evil that good may come, and
lead us to reject, and entreat the oppressed to reject the use of. all carnal weapons, for de
liverance from bondage— relying solely upon those which are spirtual, and mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong holds.
Their measures were physical resistance — the marshalling in arms — the hostile array —
the mortal encounter. Ours shall be such only as the opposition of moral purity to moral1
torruption — the destruction of error by the potency of truth — the overthrow of prejudice
by the power of love— and the abolition of slavery by the spirit of repentance.
Their grievances, great as they were, were trifling in comparison with the wrongs and
sufferings of those for whom we plead. Our fathers were never slaves — never bought and
sold like cattle — never shut out from the light of knowledge and religion — never subjected
to the lash of brutal task masters.
But those, for whose emancipation we are striving, constituting at the present, at least
one-sixth part of our countrymen, — are recognised by the laws, and treated by their fellow-
beings as marketable commodities — as goods and chattels — as brute beasts; are plundered
daily of the fruits of their toil, without redress; — really enjoy no constitutional or legal
protection from licentious and murderous outrages upon their persons — are ruthlessly torn
asunder—the tender babe from the arms of its frantic mother — the heart-broken wife from
her weeping husband — at the caprice or pleasure of irresponsible tyrants; — for the crime
of having a dark complexion— they suffer the pangs of hunger, the infliction of stripes,
and the ignominy of brutal servitude. They are kept in heathenish darkness by laws ex
pressly enacted to make their instruction a criminal offence.
These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more than two millions of
our people, the proof of which may be found in thousands of indisputable facts, and in the
laws of the slaveholding states.
Hence we maintain : —
That in the view of the civil and religious privileges of this nation, the guilt of its op
pression is unequalled by any other on the face of the earth— and, therefore,
That it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy burden, to break every yoke and
let the oppressed go free.
We further maintain : —
That no man has a right to enslave or imbrute his brother— to hold or acknowledge him
for one moment, as a piece of merchandise— to keep back his hire by fraud— or to brutalize
his mind. by denying him the means of intellectual, social, and moral improvement.
The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. Toinvadeitis to usurp the prerogative of Jelio-
vah. Every man has a right to his own body— to the products of his own labor— to the
protection of law— and to the common advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or steal

19
a nativt: African, and subject him to servitude. Surety tlie sin is as great to enslave an
American as an African.
Therefore, we believe and affirm :—
That there is no difference tn principle, between the African slave-trade and American
slavery. That every American citizen who retains a human being in involuntary bondage, as his
property is (according tO-Scripture) a man -stealer.
That the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought under the protection of law.
'That if they had lived from the time of Pharaoh down to the present period, and had
been entailed through successive generations, their right to be free could never have been ali
enated, but their claims would have constantly risen in solemnity.
That all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right of slavery, are there
fore, before God, utterly null and void; being an audacious usurpation of the Divine pre
rogative, a daring infringement on the law of nature, a base overthow of tlie very founda
tions of the social compact, a complete extinction of all the relations, endearments, and
obligations of mankind, and a presumptuous transgression of all die holy commandments 
and that, therefore, they ought to he instantly abrogated.
He would ask if there was any thing here different from what he had
read from his respeeted opponent ? The sentiments were the same,
though not given in Mr. Breckinridge's strong and glowing lan
guage. Mr. Breckinridge's description of slavery was even more
methodical, clearer, and better arranged ; he was therefore inclined
to prefer it to the other. He would, however, ask Mr. Breekin-
ridge not to persevere in speaking of the violence, as he called it,
of the abolitionists, only in general terms. He hoped he would
point out the instances to whieh he alluded, and not take advan
tage of them, beeause they were a handful and odious. They
were not singular in being called odious. Noah was called odious
by the men of his day, because he pointed out to them the wicked
ness of which they were guilty. Every reformer had been called odi
ous, and he trusted to be always among those who were deemed
odious by slaveholders and their apologists. He repeated, that he
wished Mr. Breekinridge to forsake general allegations, and to spec
ify time and place when he brought forward his charges. The
time was passed, when, in Glasgow, vague assertions could produce
any effect. The time was not, indeed, distant when even here the
friends of negro freedom had been deemed odious — when they
were a mere handful, met in a room in the Black Bull Inn. But
from being odious they had become respectable, and from respecta
ble triumphant, in consequence of their having renounced expedi
ency, and taken their stand on tlie broad principles of truth and
justice. Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said, he had on so many occasions and
in so many different forms uttered the sentiments contained in the
passages which had just been read as his, that he was unable to say
from what particular speech or writing they were taken. But he
had no doubt that if the whole passage to which they belonged
were read, it would be seen that they contamed, ia addition to what
they had heard, the most unqualified condemnation of the irrational
course pursued by the abolitionists. He believed also, that, what
ever it was, that writing had been uttered by him in a slave state. For
he could say for himself, that he had never said that of a brother be-

20
hind his back, whjch he would be afraid or unwilling to repeat be
fore his face. He had never gone to Boston, to cry back to Balti
more, how great a sin they were guilty of in upholding slavery.
The worst things which he had said against slavery had been said
in the slave states, and had Mr. Thompson gone there and seen
with his two eyes, what he describes wholly upon hearsay, he would,
perhaps,.have understood the subject better than he seems ^o do. As
he felt himself divinely commissioned, he should have felt no fear,
he shbuld have gone at whatever hazard, he should have seen slave
ry in its true colors, though he had read it in his own blood. If
Saul, of Tarsus had gone to America to see slavery — I dare to say,
with the help of God, he would have been right sure to see it. He
did not say that Mr. T. should have gone to the Southern states if
his life was likely to be endangered by his going there ; but he would
say this, that Mr. Thompson ought not to pretend, that he had
been, in the least degree, a martyr in the cause, when, in reality, he
had exercised the most masterly discretion. With regard to the
acts of the abolitionists, as he had been Galled on to mention par
ticulars, he could not say that he had ever heard of their having killed
any person, nor had he ever heard of any of them being killed.
He might mention, however, that he himself had once almost been
mobbed in Boston, and, that too, by a mob stirred up against him,
by placards, written, as he believed, by William Lloyd Garrison.
He had never obtained direct proof of this, but he might state, as
a reason for his belief,' that the inflammatory placards were of the
precise breadth and appearance of the columns of Garrison's pa
per— ^the Liberator, and the breadth of the columns of no other news
paper in that city. Mr. B. stated a second case, in which, on the
arrival at the city of New York of the Rev. J. L. Wilson, a mis
sionary to Western Africa, in charge of two lads, the sons of two
African kings, committed by their fathers to the Maryland Coloniza
tion Society for education ; some friends ofthe Anti-Slavery Society
of that city, with the concurrence, if not by the procurement, as was
universally believed, of Elizur Wright, Jr., a leading person, and
Secretary of the principal society of abolitionists — got out a writ to
take the bodies of the boys, under the pretence of believing, that
they had been kidknapped in Africa. These two cases he consid
ered, would perhaps satisfy Mr. T's appetite for facts in the meantime ;
he would have plenty more of them when they came to the main
question of debate. One other instance, and he would have done.
There was a law in tbe United States, that if a slave run away from
one of the slaveholding states, to any of the non-slaveholding states,
the authorities of the latter were bound to give him up to his master.
A runaway slave had been confined in New York prison, previous
to.being sent home, an attempt was made to stir up a mob, for the
purpose of liberating him. A bill instigating the people to take the
laws into their own hands, was traced to an abolitionist — the same
Elizur Wright, Jr. He brought to the office of one of the pririci-

21
pal city papers, a denial of the charge — in a note signed by him m
his official capacity. He was told that was insufficient, as it was
in his individual, not in his official capacity, that he was supposed tp
have done the act in question. He replied, it would! be time to make
the denial in that forrn^ when the charge was so specifically made.;
meantime he considered the actual denial sufficient. Then, sir, said
one present, I charge yd_f with writing the placard — for I saw it in
your hand writing. These instances were sufficient to prove the
charge of violence which he had made was not unfounded. In ref
erence to the statement made by Mr. Thompson regarding the num
ber of slaves in the United Slates, at the commencement of the
Revolution, Mr. B. said, it was impossible to know precisely what
number there was at that time, as there had been no statistical re
turns before 1790, at which time there were six hundred and sixty-
five thousand slavesin the five original slave states. The exertions
of the American nation to put an end to slavery were treated with
ridicule, but he would have them to bear in mind, tbat there were
in the United States four hundred thousand £ree people of color, all
of whom, or their progenitors, had been set free by the people of
America, and not one of these, so far as he knew, had been liber
ated by an abolitionist. In addition to these, there were not less
than four thousand more in Africa, many of whom had been freed
from fetters and sent to that country. He would ask if all this was
to be counted as nothing. If they were to consider for a moment
the enormous sum which it would take to ransom so many slaves,
they would perceive the value ofthe sacrifice. They might say that
they had given jjj! 150,000,000 towards the abolition of slavery. It
might seem selfish to talk of it thus ; but if the conduct of Great
Britain, rich and powerful as she was, was not reckoned worthy of
praise for having done an act of justice, in granting emancipation to
the West India slaves, at the cost of $100,000,000, or £20,000,-
000, how much more might be said of £30,000,000, being paid by
a few comparatively poor and scattered communities, and individual
men. They had been told some fine stories of a mahogany table,
to which the people of America had tied themselves, and they were
left to infer that it was quite easy, that it merely required the exer
tion of will, for them to set their slaves free. Now, on this head,
he would only ask, had he thejower of fixing the place of his birth ?
No. Nor' bad he any hand in making the laws of the place where
he was born, nor the power of altering them. They might, indeed, be
altered and he ought to add, they would have been altered aleady,
but for the passionate and intemperate zeal of the abolitionists ; but^
for the conduct of those who tell the slaveholders of the Southern
states, that they must at once give freedom to the slaves, at what
ever cost or whatever hazard,, and unless they, do so, they will be
denounced on the house-tops, by all the vilest names which language
can furnish, or the imagination of man can conceive. And what was
the answer the planters gave to these disturbers of the public peace ?

¦>

22
First, coolly, ' there*s the door; ' and next, < if you try to tell these
things to those, who, when they learn them, will at once turn
round and cut our throats, we must take measures to prevent your
succeeding.' Such conduct was just what was to be expected on
the part of the slaveholders. They saw these men coming among
their slaves, and where they could not appeal to their judgments,
endeavoring to speak to the eyes ofthe black population by prints,
representing their masters, harsh and cruel. It was not surprising
that such unwise conduct should beget a bitter feeling of opposi
tion among the inhabitants of the Southern states. They them
selves knew too well the critical nature of their position, and the
dangers of tampering with the passions of the black population.
Let him who doubted go to the Southern states, and he would
learn that those harsh laws, in regard to slavery, which had been so
much condemned, were passed immediately after some of those
insurrections, those spasmodic efforts of the slaves to free them
selves by violence, which could never end in good, and which the
conduct of the abolitionists was calculated continually to renew.
They ought to take these things into account when they heard state
ments made about> the strong excitement against the abolitionists.
He would repeat what he had before stated, that the cause of
emancipation had been ruined by that small party with which Mr.
Thompson had identified himself : but to whose chariot wheels he
trusted the people of this country would never suffer themselves
to be bound.
Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON said, the work he had to do in
reference to the last speech was by no means great or difficult,
They had heard a great many things stated by Mr. Breckinridge
on the great question in debate, but every one of these had been
stated a thousand times before, and answered again and again with
in the last sixty years. Within these very walls they had heard
many of them brought forward and refuted within the last four
years. But there was one part of his opponent's speech to which
he would reply with emphasis. And he could not but confess that
he had listened to that one part of it with surprise. He knew
Mr. Breckinridge to be the advocate of gradual emancipation; he(Mr.
Thompson) had therefore come prepared to hear all the arguments
employed by the gradualists, urged in the ablest manner, but he
had not been prepared to hear from that gentleman's lips the things
he had heard — he did not expect that the foul charge of stirring
up a mob against Mr. Breckinridge for advocating the principles of
colonization, would be brought against William Lloyd Garrison.
But they would here see the propriety and utility of his calling
upon his opponent to leave generalities and come to something
specific — to lay his finger on a fact which could be examined and
tested circumstantially. And what did they suppose was the truth
in the present case ? Simply this, that when Mr. Breckinridge

23
came forward to explain the principles of the Maryland coloniza
tion scheme, the noisy rabble who sought to mob, did so only so
long as they were under the impression that he was an abolitionist.
Mr. B. and his brother, who was along with him on that occasion,
did their best to let the meeting know that they were not abolitionists
but colonizationists, and whenever the mob learned that, they be
came quiet. This was the fact in regard to that case — he would '
willingly stake the merits of the whole question on the truth of
what he had just stated, and he would call on Mr. B. to say
whether it was not true; he would call on him to exhibit the pla
card which had been written by Mr. Garrison, or tell what it con
tained. He had a copy of the Liberator of the day referred to,
and he would ask him to ppint out a single word in it which could
be found fault with. He would dare Mr. B. to find a single sen
tence in that paper calculated to stir up a mob, or to induce any
one to hurt a single hair of his head. With regard to the Mary
land colonziation scheme, he was not going to enter upon its dis
cussion at that hour of the evening, but the next evening, if they
were spared, he would endeavor to show the gross iniquity of that
scheme, recommended as it was by Mr. Breckinridge. , In the
mean time, to return to the next charge, they were told of an ac
tive abolitionist — Elizur Wright. And here he would at once say,
that it was too bad to bring such a charge against an individual like
Elizur Wright, than whom he knew no man, either on this or the
tbe other side of the Atlantic, whose nature was more imbued with
the milk of human kindness, or whose heart was more alive to the
dictates of Christian cbarity^it was too bad, he repeated, to bring
such a charge against that man,. unless it could be substantiated be
yond the possibility of doubt. They were told that Elizur Wright
had stirred up tbe people of New York to insurrection, by inflam
matory placards. Here indeed was a serious charge, but they
ought to know what these placards were. Again, he would call upon
Mr. B. to show a copy of the placard^ or to say what were its
contents. In explanation of the matter he might state to the meet
ing that there was a little truth in what had be«.n said about this
matter; and in order to make them understand the case properly,
they must first know, tbat in New York there were at all times a
number of runaway slaves, and also, that there was in the same
city a class of men, who, at least wore the human form, and who
were even allowed to appear as gentlemen, whose sole profession
was that of kidnappers; their only means of subsistence was de
rived from laying hold of these unfortunates, and returning them to
their masters in the South. Nothing was more common than ad
vertisements from these gentlemen kidnappers in the newspapers, in
which they offered their services to any slave master whosVslaves
had run off. All that was necessary was merely that twenty dol
lars should be transmitted to them under cover, with the marks bf
the runaway, who wassoon found out if in the city, and with the

24
clutch of a demon, seized and dragged to prison. These wera
the kidnappers. And who was Elizur Wright? He was the man
whp at all times was found ready to sympathise wilh those poor. un
fortunate outcasts, to pour the balm of consolation into their
wounds — to come into the Recorder's Court, and stand there to
plead the cause of tbe injured African at ' the risk of his
life^-undeterred by the execrations of the slave-masters, or the
knife of his myrmidons. And was it a high crime that on some
occasions he had been mistaken. But Elizur Wright wOuld be
able to reply to the charge himself. The account of this meeting
would soon find its way to America, and he would then have an
opportunity of justifying himself. As to the charge of error in his
statistics, on the subject of American Slavery, it was very easily
set at rest. He had said that the slave population amounted to but
three hundred thousand, at the date ofthe Union, and that it was now
two millions. The latter statement was not questioned, but it was
said that there were no authentic returns at the date of the Union,
and consequently, that it was impossible to say precisely. But
although they could not say exactly, they could come pretty near
the truth, even from the statement of Mr. Breckinridge. That
gentleman admitted, that in 1790, there were only six hundred and
sixty-five thousand slaves in tbe states. He (Mr. T.) had said,
that in 1776, there were only three hundred thousand; but as the
population in America doubled itself in twenty-four years, he was
warranted in saying that there was no great discrepancy. But the
question with him did not depend upon any particular number or
any particular date. It would have been quite the same for his
argument, he contended, whether he had taken six hundred and
sixty-five thousand in 1790, or three hundred thousand in 1776.
All that be had wished to show, was the -rapid increase of the
slave population, and consequently, of tbe vice and misery inher
ent in that system, even while the American people professed
themselves to be so anxious to put an end to it altogether. Had he
wished to dwell on this part of tbe argument, he could also have
shown, that the increase of the slave population during the first
twenty years of the Union, had gone on more rapidly even during
that time, the trade in slaves having been formally recognised by
the Constitution during that period, and a duty of $10 imposed
on every slave imported into the United States. The following
was the clause from the Constitution;
Sec. IX. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now ex
isting shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited prior to the year 1808, but a tax
or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding $10 for each person.
To sum up Mr. Breckinridge's last address, what, he would ask,
had been its whole aim? Clearly, that they should consider the
abolitionists as the chief promoters of all the riots that had taken
place in America on this question, by making .inflammatory appeals
to the passions of the people. He would call upon Mr. Breckin-

25
ridge again, to lay his hand on a single proof of this. He would
call upon him to point out a single instance where language had
been used which was in any degree calculated to call up the blood
thirsty passions of the mob as had been represented. If the plant
ers of the South were roused into fury by the declaration of anti-
slavery sentiments — if they were unable to hear the. everlasting
truths which it promulgated, was that a sufficient reason for those
to keep silent who felt it to be their duty, at all hazards, to make
known these truths. Or were they to be charged with raising mobs,
because the people were enraged to hear these truths. As well
might Paul of Tarsus have been charged with the mobs which rose
against his life, and that of his fellow-apostles. As well might Gal
ileo be charged with those persecutions which immured him in a
dungeon. As well might the apostles of truth in every age be
charged with the terrible results which ensued from the struggle of
light and darkness. In conclusion, Mr. Thompson said, that on
the following evening, he would take up the question of the Mary
land colonization scheme.
Dr. WARDLAW announced to the meeting that the discus
sion closed for the evening. In doing so he complimented the au?
dience on the very correct manner in which they had observed the
rule regarding all manifestation of applause. The attention and
interest of the audience were much excited throughout the whole
proceedings, indeed, at few meetings have we observed so lively
an interest taken in the entire business of an evening, and yet
there was not a single instance in which the, interference of the
chairman was required. On several occasions the rising expres
sion of applause was at once checked by the general good sense
of the meeting. 4

SECOND NIGHT— TUESDAY, JUNE 14,
Mr. THOMPSON, before proceeding with the discusssion,
would make one or two preliminary observations. Last evening
he had been led into an error, as regarded both number and time,
in speaking of the amount of slaves in America at the adoption of
the Constitution; and he was anxious that every statement made
by him should be without a flaw; and if there should be an error
committed he would be the first person to admit and correct it
when discovered. He stated that at the adoption of the Ameri
can Constitution, there were only about three hundred thousand
slaves in the United States. There were not many more in 1776,
when the states declared themselves independent: in 1788 when
the Constitution was settled there were more; and in 1790, there
were between six and seven hundred thousand slaves in the Unit
ed States of America. His error consisted in his subtracting
1776 from 1790, and saying twenty-four years instead of fourteen.
He mentioned this error to show that he held a regard to truth to
be the ultimate end of their discussion. There was one other
preliminary remark. His antagonist had repeatedly said that
George Thompson had published himself a martyr. George
Thompson never did publish himself a martyr. Mr. Breckin
ridge, in the course of his speeches last night, bad said more of
himself than be (Mr. T.) had ever done during all the speeches he
bad ever made on tbe question. He had only referred to himself
when urgently requested to give an account of his personal experi
ence. He never had a wish to be considered a martyr. If,
when he had finished his course here; if, when this probationary
scene was over, he was found to have done his duty, he would be
fully satisfied. He was not pharasaical enough to imagine tbat he
had performed any works of supererogation. Mr. Breckinridge
had said this was not a national question; that slavery in America
was not American Slavery; that it was not a national evil; that it
was not a national sin; that is was merely a question between
the State Legislatures and the slave owners. He (Mr. T.) had
said last night, that slavery in America was a national sin, and
he would now adduce the reasons for his statement: — First-^The
American people had admitted the slave states into the Union; and
by consenting to admit these states into the confederacy, although

27
there were in them hundreds of thousands in a state of slavery,
they took the slaves under the government of the United States,
and made the sin national. Second — For twenty years after the
adoption of their" Constitution, and by virtue of that very instru
ment, the United States permitted the horrid, unchristian, diabol
ical African slave-trade. Third — Than the Capital of the United
States of America there was not one spot in the whole world which
was more defiled by slavery; and considering the professions and
privileges ofthe people, there was not a more anti-christian traffic
on the face of the earth. Fourth — each of the states is bound by
the Constitution to give up all run-away slaves; so that the poor,
wretched, tortured slave might be pursued from Baltimore to
Pennsylvania, from thence to New Jersey and New York, and
dragged even from the confines of Canada, a fugitive and a felon,
back into the slayery from which he had fled. He might be taken
from the Capitol; from the very horns of the altar, to' be subject
ed by a cruel kidnapper to the most horrid of human sufferings.
It is not a national question ! AVhen the North violates the law of
God — when it tramples on the Decalogue-1— when it defies Jeho
vah ! what was a stronger injunction in the law of Moses than that
the Israelites should protect the run-away slave? But in America
every state was bound by law to give up the slave to his slave-mas
ter, to his ruthless pursuer ; and yet it must not be called a national
question ! Fifth — The citizens of the free states were bound to go
South to put down any insurrection among the slaves. They were
hound and pledged to do this when required. The youth of Penn
sylvania had pledged themselves to go to the Southern states to an
nihilate the blacks in case they asserted their rights — the rights of
every human being— to be free. So also was it in New York, and
in the other free states, and yet we are to be told that slavery is not
a national question. The whole Union was bound to crush the
slave, who, standing on the ashes of Washington said, he ought to
be, and would be free. Yes, Northern bayonets would give that
slave a speedy manumission from his galling yoke, by sending him
in his gore, where the wicked cease from troubling and tbe weary
are at rest. Yet it is not a national question ! Sixth — The North
is taxed to keep up troops in the South to overawe and terrify the
slave ; and yet it is not a national question '! Seventh — Mr. Breck
inridge has shown in a letter published by him, that the Congress
has the power to put an end to the international slave trade, and yet
this trade goes on in America. Mr. B. well knows that at least one
hundred thousand human beings — slaves — change hands annually ;
he must have seen the slaves driven in coffles through his own be
loved state, to be sold like cattle at Washington and Alexandria ; he
knows tbat thousands of Virginia and Maryland slaves are sold at
New Orleans yearly, and yet he tells us that slavery is not a na
tional question ! Eighth — How did they admit Missouri into the
Union with slaves ? Were they Southern votes which admitted it ?

28
No ! But they were the votes of recreant New Englanders — false
to the principles of freedom, who sold the honor of their country,
and with it the liberty of thousands of human beings in Missouri — or
at least consented to their bondage. And yet it is not a national
question ! He (Mr. T.) would last refer to the remarks of a con
stitutional lawyer, who was able, eloquent, sincere, and high mind
ed. Mr. T. then read the following extract : —
Such thoughts (referring to the judgments to be expected) habitually crowd upon me
when I contemplate those great personal and NATIONAL evils, from whicli the system
of operations (vii., the movements of the Colonization Society) which 1 stand here to ad
vocate, seems to offer us some prospect of deliverance.
From that day (169S) till the present, there have flourished in our country, men
of large and just views, who have not ceased to pour over this subject a stream of clear
and noble truth, and to importune their country, by every motive of duty and advantage,
'to wipe from her escutcheon, the stain of human tears.
It is generally known, that the original members of the American Colonization Society
.anticipated, that, at some future period, the General Government, and some, if not all the
otate Governments, would co-operate in their exertions for the removal of an evil which
was obviously NATIONAL in all its aspects.
Now who was the writer from whom he had quoted ? — His friend
Mr. Breckinridge. This was his final reason. If Mr. Breckin
ridge's argument survived these reasons, it would have a life like
that of a cat, which is said to have nine lives ; for they were nine
fatal thrusts at his position, that slavery in America was not Ameri
can slavery. Mr. B. admits the existence of slavery, but lays no
blame either in this quarter or in that ; he does not lay it on the
states, nor on the General Government. Slavery does exist in
America, but — interminably ;' but, but — coming as these buts did
from a temperance country, he wondered much that they had es
caped being staved. Slavery exists in America, but it is not a na
tional question ! There are upwards of two millions and a half of
slaves in the United States of America, and of these, at least one
hundred thousand changed hands annually, thus sundering, without
remorse, the tenderest ties of human nature ; at whose door, then,
lay the guilt of this sin ? To whom were the people of this
country to address their warnings — over whose transgressions were
they to mourn — whose hearts were they to endeavor to humanize
and mollify — where were the responsible and guilty parties to be
.found — how are we to get access to their consciences on behalf of
the slave ? Mr. Breckinridge says the system is one of ' clear
robbery,' ' universal concubinage,' — ' unmitigated wickedness ' 
and yet it is not to be immediately abolished ! If it be clear rob
bery — if it be universal concubinage — if it be unmitigated wicked
ness — let the horrid system immediately, and totally, and eter
nally cease — a worse system it was impossible to have if these were
the evils it entailed. Mr. B. triumphantly makes out my case for
immediate and complete emancipation. The duty is plain and
indispensable. Mr. Breckinridge says the abolitionists are the most
despicable and odious men on the face of the earth. Those who
love liberty are always odious in the eyes of tyrants. The lovers

29
of things as they are, of corruption of despotism — men who look
at every thing from beneath the aprons of their grandmothers, in
variably regard as inspfferably odious all who are lovers of refor
mation and liberty. This always has been, and always will be the
case. As it was said in the service of the church of England, it
might be said on this subject, ' As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be' if not 'world, without end,' at least to the end of
this world. On the 6th day of January, 1831, Mr. Breckinridge
delivered in Frankfort, Kentucky, an able address in favor of the
Colonization Society. In that address, Mr. B. stated thatthe So
ciety was established on the 21st day of Dec! 1816, and was of
course, at the time of his speech, fourteen years and sixteen days
old. Mr. Breckinridge said the legislatures of eleven states of the
Union had recommended this Society to Congress ; that the eccle
siastical tribunals of all the leading sects of Christians in America
had testified their approbation of its principles ; and yet there were,
after fourteen years and sixteen days, with all this support and high
patronage in church and state only one hundred and sixty auxiliary
societies existing throughout the Union. Now, as to the contempt
ible and odious abolitionists ! as they were called by the gentleman
who differed from him. The National Society for the immediate
abolition of American slavery, was formed on the 6th of Dec. 1833;
and on the 12th of May, 1835, when the anniversary was held —
without being recommended to Congress by any of the state legis
latures — without a testimony of approbation from any of the eccle
siastical tribunals — being only one year and six months old — how
many auxiliary societies were connected with this abolition organi
zation ? Two hundred and twenty-four. That was the number
then on the books of the Society ; and the Secretary said the
whole of them were not inserted from the want of proper returns.
In a letter addressed to him (Mr. T.) by tbe Secretary of the
American Anti-Slavery Society, dated New York, 31st March,
1836, were the following words : —
Never were societies forming in all parts of our country with greater rapidity. At this
moment we have four hundred and fifty on our list, and doubtless, there are five hundred
Jn existence. We have at this time eleven agents in the field, all good men and true, and
all fast gaining converts.
And yet the abolitionists are a handful ! The one society in four
teen years and sixteen days, having one hundred and sixty auxili
aries ; the other in two years and three months, having, without the
support of state legislatures, or of ecclesiastical tribunals, not fewer
than five hundred ; and yet the abolitionists are a handful. He
(Mr. T.) held in his hand a list of delegates to the New England
Convention which was held in the city of Boston, on the 25th of
May, 1835. In that list he found two hundred and eighty-one gen- .
tlemen,, who, at their own expense, had come from all parts of New '
England, to attend that Convention. On the 27th May, it was
stated that the Massachusetts Society were in want of funds, and a

30
committee was appointed to collect subscriptions. That committee
in less than an hour obtained $1,800, and on the following day.
$4,000, for the American Society. In New York, at the anni
versary, there had been coUected $14,500— and yet the abolition
ists were a handful. The American Society at its anniversary, bad
collected a larger sum than was collected by all the other societies
together, during the week set apart for the purpose ; and in Boston,
$6,000 had been collected in two days ; whilst in two months, a
friend of Mr. B's, viz. Mr. Gurley, had only been able to collect,
in the same city, about $600 for the Colonization Society. By their
fruits shall ye know them ; do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs
of thistles ? You may send to New England any foreigner you
please — but he must show his cause to be sound and practicable
before he can draw a dollar or a cent from a New Englander, who
gets his bread by early rising, and laborious attention to business —
yet $6,000 were collected in two days. But the abolitionists are
a mere handful! Yes — they may be a handful, but they are most
precious and multyplying seed. Mr. B. said tbat many of the
slave-owners were doing all they could for the emancipation of the
slaves ; whether they were doing any thing or nothing, we find
New Englanders bad endeavored to retrieve the honor of their coun
try, by a subscription for emancipation of $6,000 in two days — .'
and yet it was said, they were an odious handful ! When he saw
the Colonization Society like a Juggernaut, endeavoring to crush
the bodies and spirits of colored men and colored women, he would
league himself with the despised and ' odious handful,' and labor
with them, and for them, till, by the blessing of God, on their ex
ertions, the slaves were elevated to the condition and dignity of in
telligent and intellectual beings. Mr. T. would give another proof
tbat the abolitionists were a handful of most odious creatures. He
would refer to the New York Convention. Mr. B. knows well
that the pro-slavery prints pointed forward to the New York Con
vention in October last, as likely to be a scene of blood. Not ren
dered so by the abolitionists, for they were men of peace, but by
the fury of their opponents. Notwithstanding, there were six hun
dred delegates assembled in Utica, at 9 o'clock, on the first day ; and
when they were driven from that city by a mob,headed by the Hon.
Mr. Beardsley, member of Congress, and by the Hon. Mr. Hay
den, Judge of the county — and the greater part of them went
to Peterborough, these six hundred were joined by other four
hundred, making one thousand delegates, for one state — and yet
they were a mere handful. He would next refer to the Rhode
Island Convention, at which, though held in the smallest State ih
the Union— in the depth of winter — and at a time when many of
the roads were impassible through a heavy fall of snow, four
hundred delegates attended, and $2,000 were collected — but yet
tbe abolitionists were a mere handful ! Gerrit Smith had said that
there was an accession to the anti-slavery societies, in the State of
New York alone, of five hundred weekly, among whom he says,

31
there is not known one intemperate or profane person ;— five hun
dred weekly added to one state society — yet they are a rnere hand
ful ! If they go on increasing at this rate in New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and throughout New England, they will not long be
a small handful ! Besides, many of those who were formerly on
the side of colonization, have now come over to the ranks of the
abolitionists. Where are now the Smiths, and Birneys, and Jays,
and Coxs, that oncewere the eloquent and munificent advocates
and patrons of the Colonization Society ? They are now, with all
their souls and energies, on the side of immediate abolition. Nor
these alone. He might — he ought to name such men as President
Green, and Professors Wright, Bush, Follen, Smyth, and Gregg.
He ought to speak of a Leavitt in New York, a Kirk in Albany, a
Beman in Troy, a Weld in Ohio, a Garrison in New England ; and
of a Mrs. Child, a Mrs. Chapman, a John G. Whittier, a May, a
Dickinson, a Phelps, a Goodell, a Bourne, a Lundy, a Loring, a
Sewall, and a host of others. All these men esteemed it their
joy and honor lo be amongst the most odious of the contemptible
handful referred to. These were men of mind, of piety, of influ
ence, of energy ; men not to be deterred from doing their duty by
the harsh music of the birds of ill omen, from the Upas Tree of
Slavery, who sent forth their croakings, by night and by day, to
scare the nation from its indispensable work of Justice and Truth
— and yet these men are odious and contemptible ! Your agent,
too, is contemptible — he was the agent of the 'goodies ' of Glas
gow — and — his fair auditors could scarcely believe what epithets
were lavishly bestowed on him and them — yet their agent, as con
temptible as he was, was, perhaps, the only Englishman, who had
ever been honored as he had been by the President of the United
States of America. He who was so contemptible in the eyes of
the Americans — who was a most impetuous, and untameable, and
worthless animal — who was the representative of the ' goodies ' and
superannuated maids and matrons of Glasgow — was honored by a
notice and a rebuke in the message to Congress of the President of
the United States ! This looked much like being insignificant and
contemptible ! He did not seek the honor which had been thus
conferred upon him — it came upon him unaware — but he had not
therefore refused it. It was an honor to be persecuted in the
United States with the abolitionists of 1830. And when their
children, and their children's children looked back upon these per-*
secutions, they would exult and be proud to say they were the sons,
the grandsons, or the great grandsons of the Coxs, the Jays, the
Garrisons, tbe Tappans, and the Thompsons of England and
America. After alluding to the treatment he had experienced from
the New York Courier and Enquirer, Mr. T. said — let us bear these
honors meekly— -when calumniated for truth's sake, let us be hum
ble, while we are joyful. One word more as to the odious handful.
Seven-eights of the Methodist Episcopal ministers in the New

32
Hampshire Conference, and seven-eights of the New England Con
ference were abolitionists. The students of the colleges and insti
tutions, academical and theological of the country, known by the
names of Lane Seminary, Oberlin Institute, Western Reserve
College, Oneida Institute, Waterville College, Brunswick College,
Amherst College, and the Seminaries of Andover, were many of
them in some, and all of them in others, abolitionists ; and yet,
when all these societies, and ministers, and. men of learning, and
students were put together, they were, in their aggregate capacity,
but an odious and most contemptible handful I He would now pro
ceed to speak of the Maryland scheme — a scheme of obvious
wickedness. When Mr. B. came to Boston to advocate that scheme,
he says a placard was published, calling on tbe rabble to mob him.
This placard he attributes to Mr. Garrisoni and the abolitionists, as
he says it was of the same size and appearance as the type and
columns of the Liberator newspaper, and that therefore Mr. Gar
rison was the publisher. This be (Mr. T.) most pointedly, and
distinctly, and solemnly denied, and challenged Mr. B. to the proof.
Did Mr. B. show the placard ? No. Did he demonstrate its iden
tity with Mr. Garrison's paper? No. He had not done so. To
make Mr. Garrison the author or publisher of such a placard, was
to publish him a coward and a villain ; for he who could point out
any man, still more a Christian minister, to the fury of a mob, was
a moral monster, a coward, and a villain. He called on Mr. B. by
his regard for truth and justice, and his reputation as a minister of
Christ, to adduce the proofs necessary to sustain so grave an accu
sation, and he (Mr. T.) pledged himself to cast off the dearest
friend he had, if a crime so base could be fixed on him. , To re
turn to the Maryland scheme. In the month of July or August,
1834, Boston was visited by his respected opponent, his brother,
Dr. J. Breckinridge, and an agent of the Maryland Colonization
Society, and ameeting was convened to enable those gentlemen to
set forth and recommend the scheme of that Society, in aid of
which the legislature of Maryland had made an appropriation of
$200,000. He (Mr. T.) was fully prepared to show, that the ob
ject of the Society was to get rid of the free colored population,
and that according to their design the state legislature had, in imme
diate connection with the grant of money, passed most rigorous and
¦c ruel laws. The Colonization Society was the net cast for the colored
people — the laws of the state were the means devised to drive the
¦devoted victims into its meshes. This was called helping them out
of the country with their free consent. He (Mr. T.) would bring
forward abundant proofs when he next addressed them — he would
then read the laws which he could not now produce for want of
time. Mr. Breckinridge might or might not notice these general
charges against the Maryland scheme ; but he (Mr. T.) would
hereafter fully support them, and show, too, that the National Col
onization Society was equally culpable, having at its ensuing annual

33
meeting, fully approved of the plan, and recommended it as a bright
example for the imitation of other states.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE then rose. He had last night under
stood Mr. Thompson to say, that this evening he would take up
and expose the colonization scheme. It was possible that he had
been wrong in this ; but such was certainly the impression made
upon his mind. Instead ofadopting such a course, however. Mr.Thomp-
pson had treated them to a second edition of his last night's speech
the only difference being that the one they had just heard was more
elaborate. If they were to be called on to hear all Mr. Thomp
son's speeches twice, it would be a considerable time before they
finished the discussion. He congratulated Mr. Thompson on his
second edition, being in some respects an improvement, on his first.
It was certainly better arranged. In the observations he was about
to make, he would follow the course of the argument exhibited in
Mr. Thompson's two speeches; but he, at the same time, wished
it to be understood that he would not be cast out of the line of dis
cussion every night in tbe same manner. As to what had been said
about the ' handful,' he did not think it necessary to say much. He
would simply remind Mr. T., that however great or however small
the ' handful ' might be, one pervading evil might pollute it all. A
dead fly could cause the ointment of the apothecary to stink. But
to come to the point. Mr. Thompson had said that the question
was national as it respected America, because slaveholding states
had been admitted into the confederacy. The simple fact of these
states having been admitted members of the Union, was, in Mr.
Thompson's estimation, proof sufficient, not only that slavery was
chargeable on the whole nation, but that there had been a positive
predilection, among the A merican people in favor of slavery. In
clearing up this point, a little chronological knowledge would help
us; He would therefore call the attention of the audience to the
real state of matters when the confederacy was established. At
thatyperiod., Massachusetts was the only State in which slavery had
been abolished ; and evenin Massachusetts its formal abolition was
not effected till some time after. For in that State it came to an
end in consequence of a clause inserted in the Constitution itself —
tantamount to the> one in our Declaration of Independence, that^
freedom is a natural and inalienable right. Successive judicial de
cisions, upon this clause, without any special legislation, had abol
ished slavery there ; so that the exact period of its actual termina
tion is not easily definable. This recalls another point on whicii
Mr. Thompson would have been the better of possessing a little
chronological information. He had repeatedly stated that the
American Constitution was founded on the principle, that all men
are created free and equal. Now, this was not so. The principle
was no doubt, a just one ; it was asserted most fully by the Goti-
tinental Congress of 1776, and might be said to form the basis of
5

34
our Declaration of Independence. But it was not contained in the
American Constitution, which was formed twelve years afterwards.
That Constitution was formed in accordance with the circumstan
ces in which the different states were placed. Its chief object was
to guard against external injury, and regulate external affairs ; it
interfered as little as possible with the internal regulations of each
state. The American was a federative system of government ; twen
ty-four distinct republics were united for certain purposes, and for
these alone. So far was the national government from possessing
unlimited powers, that the Constitution itself was l&t a very par-
tiaj grant of those, which, in their omnipotence, resided, according
to our theory, only in the people themselves in their primary as
semblies. It had been specially agreed in the Constitution itself,
that the powers not delegated should be as expressly reserved, as
if excepted by name ; and, amongst the chief subjects, exclusively
interior, and not delegated, and so reserved, is slavery. Had this not
been the ease, the confederacy could not have been formed. It had
been said that the American Constitution had not only tolerated
slavery, but that it had actuary guaranteed the slave-trade for twen
ty years. Nothing could be more uncandid than this statement.
Never had facts been more perverted. One of the causes of the
American Revolution had been tbe refusal of the British King to
sanction certain arrangements on which some of the states wished
to enter, for the abolition of the slave-trade. At the formation of
the Federal Constitution, while slavery was excluded from the con
trol of Congress, as a purely state affair, the slave trade was deem
ed' a fit subject, by the majority, for the executors of national
power, as being an exterior affair. And at a period prior to the
very commencement of that great plan of individual effort, guided
by Wilberforce and Clarkson, in Britain ; and which required twen
ty years to rouse the conscience of this . nation— our distant, and
now traduced fathers, had already made up their minds, that this
horrid traffic, which they found not only existing, but encouraged by
the whole power of the King, should be abolished. It was grant
ed, .perhaps too readily to the claims of those who thought, (as
nearly the whole world thought) that twenty years should be the
limit of the trade ; and at the end of that period it was instantly
prohibited, as a matter course, and by unanimous consent. How
unjust then was it to charge on America, as a crime, what was one
oil the b/ightest virtues in her escutcheon. Mr. Thompson had
next asserted, that slavery of the most horrid description existed in
the Capital of America, and in the surrounding District, subject to
the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress. He (Mr. Breckinridge)
did not hesitate to deny this. It was not true. Slavery did exist
there ;: but it was not of the horrible character which had been re
presented. It was well known that the slavery existing in the
United States was the mildest to be seen in any country under Heaven.
Nothra§but the most profound ignorance could lead anyone to &s-

35
sert the contrary. Mr. Thompson had a colleague in. his recent
exhibitions in London, who seemed to have taken interludes in all
Mr. T's speeches. In one of these, that colleague had said:, he
knew of his own knowledge a case, in which a man had given $500
for a slave, in order to burn him alive ! Mr. Thompson, no doubt
knew, that even on the supposition that such a monster was to be:
found, be was liable in every part of the United States, to be hang
ed as any other murderer. Slavery was bad enough anywhere ;i
but to say that it was more unmitigated in America than; in. thei
West ladies, where emigration had always been necessary rofeeep
up the numbers, while in America, the slave population increased,
faster than any part of the human race, was a gross exaggeration, or
a proof of the profoundest ignorance. To say that the slavery of
the District. of Columbia was the most horrid, that ever existed;,
when it, along with the whole of the slavery on that continent,, was
so hedged about by human laws, that in every one of the states
cruelty to the slave was punished as an offence against the state,;.
the killing of a slave was punished every where with death ; while
in all ages, and nearly in all countries where slavery has existed- be
sides, the master was not only the exclusive judge; of the treatment
of his: slave, but the abosolute disposer of his life, which lie could
take away at will ; these statements can proceed only from unpar
donable ignorance, or a purpose to mislead. As to the abolition, of
slavery in the District of Columbia, there might, at first sight, ap
pear to be some grounds of accusation ; but yet, when: the subject
was considered in all its bearings, so many pregnant, if not conclusive,.
reasons presented themselves against interference, that though much
attention had been bestowed upon it for many years, the result had
been that nothing was done. It was to be recollected that the whole
District of Columbia was only ten miles square ; and that it was
surrounded, by states in which slavery was still legalized. It was
thus clear, that though slavery were abolished in Columbia, not an
individual of the six thousand slaves now within its bounds, would
necessarily be relieved of his fetters. Were an abolition bill to pass
the House of Representatives to-day, the whole six thousand could
be removed to a neighboring slave state before it could be taken up
in the Senate to-morrow. It was, therefore, worse than idle to say
so much on what could never be a practical question. Again ; the
District of Columbia had been ceded to the General Government
by Maryland and Virginia, both, slaveholding states;, for national
purposes ;, but this would never have been done had it been con
templated tbat Congress would abolish slavery within its bounds^
and thus establish a nucleus of anti-slavery agitation in the heart of
their territory. The exercise of such a power, therefore, on the
part of Congress, could be viewed in no other light than as a gross
fraud on those two states. It should never be forgotten that slavery
can be abolished in any part of America only by thei persuasive
power of truth voluntarily submitted to the slaveholders; tlketm>-

36
selves. And though much is said in that country, and still more
here, about the criminality of the Northern States in not declaring
that they would not aid in the suppression of a servile war—such
declamation is worse than idle. But there is a frightful meaning in
this unmeasured abuse heaped by Mr. Thompson on the people of
the free states, for their expressions of devotion to the Union and
the Constitution, and their determination to aid, if necessary, in sup
pressing by force — all force used by, or on behalf of the slaves. Is
it then true, that Mr. Thompson and his American friends, did con
template a servile war ? If not, why denounce the North for say
ing it should be suppressed? Were the people of America right
when they charged him and his co-workers with stirring up insurrec
tion ? If not, why lavish every epithet of contempt and abhorrence
upon those who have declared their readiness to put a stop to the
indiscriminate slaughter and pillage of a region as large as Western
Europe ? Such speeches as that I have this night heard go far to
warrant all that, has ever been said against this individual in Amer
ica, and to excuse those who considered him a general disturber of
their peace, and were disposed to proceed against him accordingly.
It was, however, the opinion of many that Congress had no power
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Mr. B. said his
opionion was different ; yet it must be admitted that the obstacles
to the exercise of this power were of tbe most serious kind, and
such as, to a candid mind, would free those who hesitated', from the
charge of being pro-slavery men. Perhaps the great reason against
the exercise of that power, even if its existence in Congress were
clear, was, that it would inevitably produce a dissolution of the
Union. When he spoke of tbe free states bringing about the abo
lition of slavery in the South, he was to be understood as meaning
that these states, in accordance with what had been so often hinted
at, should march to the South with arms in their hands, and declare
the slaves free. Now, even supposing that the people ofthe North
had no regard for the peace of their country — that they were per
fectly indifferent to the glory, the power, and the happiness result
ing from the Federal Union — was it certain, that by adopting such
a course, they would really advance the welfare of the slave ? Every
candid man would at once see that the condition of the slave popu
lation would be made more hopeless than ever by it. The fourth
proof brought forward by Mr. Thompson, in support of his propo
sition that America was chargeable, in a national point of view, with
the guilt of slavery, was the fact that the different states were bound
to restore all run-away slaves. But this was a regulation which appli
ed to the case of all servants who leave their masters in an impro
per manner. Apprentices, children, even wives, if it might be
supposed'.that a wife would ever leave her husband, were to be re
stored as well as the slaves. Were this not provided, the different
states would form to each other the most horrible neighborhood that
could be imagined. No state is expected to say, that any man is of

37
right or should be fheld to service ' of any kind, in another state;
for such are the words of the Constitution, But the purely inter
nal arrangements of each state, must necessarily be respected by
all the others ; or eternal border wars must be the result. In the
re-delivery of a run-away slave, or apprentice, therefore, the court
of the one state is only required to say what are the law, and the
fact of the other state from which the claimant comes, and to de
cide accordingly. And when Mr. T. says that this proceeding is not
only contrary to the spirit of the gospel, but to the express com
mand of God under the Jewish dispensation, I need only to defend
the practice, by questioning bis biblical capacties, and referring for
explanation to his second printed speech before the Glasgow Eman
cipation Society. In that, he states a fictitious case as regards Ire
land — resembling remarkably the. case recorded in holy writ, of
Egypt under the government of Joseph ; and while all men have
thought that Joseph came from God, and was peculiarly approved
of him — Mr. T. has represented, that he who should do in Ireland,
very much what Joseph did in Egypt, could be considered as com
ing only ' from America, or from the bottomless pit ! ! ! ' As long as
the Holy Ghost gives men reason to consider certain principles right,
ihey may be well content to abide under the wrath of Mr. Thomp
son. Mr. Thompson said, in the fifth place, that slavery was a
national crime, because the states were all bound to assist each
other, in suppressing internal insurrection. To this he would an
swer, that as it regarded the duty of the nation to the several states,
there were two, and but two great guarantees — namely, the preser
vation of internal peace, and the upholding of republican institu
tions, tranquillity, and republicanism. Carolina was as much bound
to assist Rhode Island as Rhode Island was to assist Carolina. AU
were mutually bound to each ; and if things went on as of late, the
South were as likely to be called on to suppress mobs at tbe North,
as the North to suppress insurrection at the South. It was next
advanced by Mr. T. that the people of tbe North were taxed for
the support of slavery. Now, the fact was, that America present
ed the extraordinary spectacle of a nation free of taxes altogether;
free of debt, with an overflowing Treasury, with so much money,
indeed, that they did not well know what to do with it. It was
almost needless to explain that the American revenue was at pres
ent and had been for many years past, derived solely from the sale
of public lands, and from the customs or duties levied on imported
articles of various kinds. The payment of these duties was en
tirely a voluntary tax, as in order to avoid it, it was only necessary to
refrain from the use of articles on which they were imposed. As for
Mr.T's argument about the standing army, employed in keeping down
the slaves, its value might be judged from the fact, that, though even
according to Mr. T's own showing, the slave population amounted
to two and, a half millions, the army. was composed of. only six
thousand men, scattered along three frontiers, extending two thou-

38
sand miles each. Throughout the whole slaveholding states there
were not probably fifteen hundred soldiers. The charge was, in
fact, complete humbug, founded upon just nothing at all. Mr.
Thompson's seventh charge was, that Congress refused to suppress
the internal slave-trade. This was easily answered. There was in
America not one individual among five hundred who believed that
Congress had the power to do so. And, although he (Mr. B.) be
lieved that Congress had power to prevent the migration of slaves
from state to state, as fully as they had to prevent the importation
of them into the states from foreign countries ; and that the exer
cise of this power, would prevent, in a great degree, the trade in
•slaves from state to state, yet very few concurred with him even in
ithis modified view of the case. And it must be admitted that the
rexcercise of such a power, if it really exists, would be attended
with such results of unmixed evil at this time, that no one whatever
"would deem it proper to attempt, or possible to enforce its exercise.
%t was next said, that as Missouri, a slaveholding state, had been
^admitted into the Union after the full consideration of the subject
by Congress, therefore the nation had become identified with slave
ry, and responsible for its existence, at least in Missouri. But on
the supposition that, before receiving Missouri as a member of the
-confederacy, it had been demanded of her that she should abolish
-slavery; and supposing Missouri had acceded to the terms propos-
*d, that she had really given her slaves freedom, and been added to
*he Federal Union in consequence : suppose Missouri had done all
¦this ; what was there to prevent her from re-establishing slavery so
•soon as the end she sought was gained. No power was possessed
l.y the other states in the matter, and all that could have been said
was, that Missouri had acted with bad faith — that she had broken a
-condition precedent — tbat she had given just cause of war. Ac
cording to the most latitudinarian notions, this was the extent ofthe
sremedy in the hands of Congress. But Mr. Thompson, being a
.bolder of peace principles — if we may judge by his published
¦speeches — must admit it to be as really a sin to kill, as to enslave
¦men ; so that, in his own showing, this argument amounts to noth
ing. But when it is considered that every state in the American
Union has the recognized right to alter its Constitution, when, and
Slow it may think fit, saving only that it be republican ; it is most
manifest that Congress and the other states have, and could have
in no case, any more power or right to prevent Missouri's continuing,
or creating slavery, than they had to prevent Massachusetts from
abolishing it. But, if we were to stand upon the mere rights of
war, he (Mr^B.) did not know but that America had just cause of
war against Britain, according to the received notions on that sub
ject, in the speeches delivered by Mr. Thompson under the conniv
ance of the authorities here. But the causes of- war were very
different in the opinions of men, and in the eye of God. If Mr.
Thompson was right in condemning America for the guilt of Mis-

39
soun, , then they should go to war at once and settle the question*
But, if they were not ready for this conclusion, they could do noth
ing. In the edition of Mr. Thompson's speech which had been
delivered on the preceding evening, an argument had been adduced
which was omitted in the present. The argument to which he re
ferred, was concerning the right of the slaves to be represented. A,
slight consideration of the subject might have shown that the whole
power over the subject of citizenship in each state, was exclusive-
in the state itself, and was differently regulated in different states,-
In some, the elective franchise was given to all who had attained
the age of twenty-one. In some, it was made to depend on the
possession of personal property; and in others, of real property.
That in the Southern states, the power of voting should be given*
to the masters, and not to the slaves, was not calculated to excite sur
prise in Britain, where such a large proportion of the population, and
that in a number of instances- composed of men of high intelligence,
were not entitled to the elective franchise. The origin of this-
arrangement, like many others involved in our social system, was a>
compromise of apparently conflicting interests in the states which'
were engaged in forming the Federal Constitution. The identity
of taxation and representation, was the grand idea on which the na
tion went into the war of independence. When it was agreed that
all white citizens, and three-fifths of all other persons, as- ther
Constitution expresses it, should be represented, it followed ofT
course, that they should be subject to taxation. Or, if it were firsts
agreed that they should be taxed, it followed as certainly they should
be represented. Who should actually cast the votes, was, of ne
cessity, left to be determined by the states themselves, and as has-
been said, was variously determined ; many permitting free negroes,.
Indians, and mulattos, who are all embraced, as well as slaves, to-
vote. That three-fifths, instead of any other part, or the whole;
should be agreed on,- was, no doubt, the result o§ reasons which
appeared conclusive to the wise and benevolent men who made the-
Constitution ; but I am not able to tell what they were. It must,.
however, be very clear, that to accuse my country, in one breath, for
treating the negroes, bond and freeras if they were not human be
ings at all — and to accuse- her in the next, of fostering and en
couraging slavery, for allowing so large a« proportion of the blacks-
to be a part of the basis of national representation in all the states,-
and then, ir* the third, because the- whole are not so treated, to be
more abusive than ever---is merely to show plainly, how earnestly
an occasion is sought to traduce America-', and how hard it is to
find one. He came now to the last charge. He himself, it seems,
had admitted, on former occasions, that slavery was a national
evil. He certainly did believe that the people of America, wheth
er anti-Slavery or pro-slavery, would be happier and better, in
conscience and feelings, were slavery abolished. He believed
that every interest would be benefitted by such an event, whether

40
p'olitical, moral, or social. The existence of slavery was one of
the greatest evils of the world, but it was not the crime of all the
world. Though, therefore, he considered slavery a national evil,
it was not to be inferred that he viewed it as a national crime.
The cogency of such an argument was equal to the candor of the
citation on which it was founded. He would now come to mat'
ters rather more personal. In enumerating the great numbers of
anti-slavery societies in America, Mr. Thompson had paraded one
as formed in Kentucky, for the whole state. Now, he would ven
ture to say that there were not ten persons in that whole State,
holding anti-slavery principles, in the Garrison sense of the word.
If this was to be judged a fair specimen of the hundreds of socie
ties boasted of by Mr. Thompson, there would turn out but a
beggarly account of them. He found also the name of Groton,
Massachusetts, as the location of one of the societies in the boast
ed list. He had once preached, and spoken on the subject of
slavery, in that sweet little village, and been struck with the scene
of peace and happiness which it presented. He afterwards met
the clergyman of that village in the city of Baltimore, and asked
him what had caused him to leave the field of his labors. The
clergyman answered, that the anti-slavery people had invaded his
peaceful village, and transformed it into such a scene of strife that
he preferred to leave it. And so it was. The pestilence, which,
like a storm of fire and brimstone from hell, always followed the
track of abolitionism, had overtaken many a peaceful village, and
driven its pastor to seek elsewhere a field not yet blasted by it.
He would conclude by remarking, that Mr. Thompson and he
(Mr. B.) were now speaking, as it were, in the face of two
worlds, for Western Europe was the world to America. And it
was for England to know — that the opinion of America — that Amer
ica which already contained a larger reading population than the
whole of Britain — was as important to her, as hers could be to us.
What he had said of Mr. Garrison and of Mr. Wright, he had
said ; and he was ready to answer for it in the face of God and
man. But he had something else to do, he thanked God, than to
go about the country carrying placards, ready to be produced on
all occasions. Nor where he was known, was such a course
needful, to establish what be said. When those gentlemen should
make their appearance, in defence or explanation of what he had
said, he would be the better able to judge — whether it would be
proper for him to take any notice — and if any, what — of the de
fence for which Mr. Thompson had so frankly pledged himself.
In the mean time, he would say to that gentleman himself, that his
attempts at brow-beating were lost upon him.
Mr. THOMPSON said he should commence with the end of
his opponent's speech, and notice what that gentleman had said in
regard to the charges brought by him against William Lloyd Garri-

41
son and Elizur Wright. It appeared as if Mr. Breckinridge expect
ed that, because in his own country his character for veracity stqpd
high, that therefore, he was entitled, if he chose, to enter an as
sembly of twelve hundred persons in Great Britain, and utter the
gravest charges against certain individuals 3,000 miles away, and
when called upon as he had been for proof, that he had nothing to
do but turn round and say, ' Why, I am not bound to furnish proof;
let the parties accused demonstrate their innocence.' This was
American justice with a vengeance. This might be Kentucky law,
or Lynch law, but could hardly be called justice by any assembly
of honest and impartial persons. Such justice might suit the neigh
borhood of Vicksburg, but it would not recommend itself to a Scot-
ish audience. He (Mr. T.) would not undertake at this time the
task of justifying the men who had been calumniated. He knew
these gentlemen, and had no doubt when they heard the charges
preferred against them in this country, they would be able and ready
to clear themselves before the world. He would not say that Mr.
Breckinridge did not himself believe the allegations to be true,
but he would say that had that gentleman possessed a know
ledge of the true character of those he had spoken against — had he
known them as he (Mr. T.) knew them, he would have held them
incapable of the dark deeds alleged against them. With regard
to Mr. B's remarks upon the number of the slave population, the
amount ofthe troops in the United States, and the existence of slav
ery in the district of Columbia, he must say that they were nothing
but special pleadings ; that the whole was a pomplete specimen of
what the lawyers termed pettifogging. He (Mr. T.) was not pre
pared to hear a minister say that because only 1500 troops out of
600,0 were found in the southern states, that, "therefore, the nation
was not implicated— that because, if the slavery of the district was
abolished, there would be no fewer slaves in ' the country — rthat,
therefore, the seat of government should not be cleansed from, its
abomination. He would remind his opponent that they were discuss
ing a question of principle, and that the scriptures had declared that
he who was unjust in the least, was unjust also in thd greatest. Mr.
Breckinridge had still cautiously avoided naming the parties in the
United States who were responsible for the sin of Slavery. They
were told that neither New Hampshire nor Massachusetts, nor any
other of the Northern states were to blame ; that the government
was not to blame, nor, had it even yet been said, that the South
ern states were to blame. Still the aggregate of the guilt belong
ed somewhere ; and if the parties to whom reference had been
made were to be exculpated, at whose door, he would ask, were
the sin and shame of the system to be laid. The gentleman with
whom he was debating had repeatedly told him (Mr. T.) that he
did not understand ' the system.' He frankly confessed thirt he
did not. It was a mystery of iniquity which he could not pretend
to fathom ; but he thought he might add that the Americans them-

42
selves, at least the Colonizationists, did not seem to understand it
very well neither, for they had been operating for a very long time,
without effecting any favorable change in the system. A word with
regard to the representation of slaves in Congress. Mr. B . had spoken
as if he had intended to have it understood, that the slaves were
themselves benefited by that representation — that it was a partial
representation of the slave population by persons in their interest.
How stood the fact? The slaves were not at all represented as men,
but as things. They swelled, it was true, the number of members
upon the floor of Congress, but that extra number only helped to
rivet their bonds tightly upon them, being as they were, in the in
terest of the tyrant, and themselves slaveholders, and not in the in
terest of the slaves. What said John Quincy Adams in his cele
brated report on the Tariff : —
« The representation ofthe slave population in this House has, from the establishment of
the Constitution of the United States, amounted to rather more than one-tenth of the whole
number. In the present Congress (1833,) it is equivalent to twenty-two votes ; lnlhe next
Congress it will amount to twenty-five. This is a combined and concentrated power, always
operating to the support and exclusive favor of the slave-holding interest.'
Here was a mighty engine in the cause of oppression. It was
a wicked misrepresentation to say that the slaves were benefited by
such an arrangement. Instead of being a lever in their hands to
aid them in the overthrow of the system which was crushing them,
it was a vast addition of strength to the ranks of their tyrants, who
went to Congress to cry down discussion, to cry up Lynch law, and
shout Hail Columbia. Mr. Thompson then proceeded to give
some account of the Maryland Colonization scheme.
The first movement on the subject was in March, 1831, when
Mr. Brawner submitted the following resolutions to the Maryland
Legislature, which were by that assembly adopted. He begged
particular attention both to the letter and spirit of this document, ex
hibiting as it did, the feelings of ' the good people of the state' to
wards the colored population: —
Resolved, That the increased proportion of the free people of color in this state, to the
white population, the evils growing out of their connection and unrestrained association
with the slaves their habits and manner of obtaining a subsistence, and their withdrawing
a large portion of employment from the laboring class of the white population, are subjects
of momentous and grave" consideration to the good people of this state.
Resolved, That as philanthropists and lovers of freedom, we deplore the existence of
slavery amongst us, and would use our utmost exertions to ameliorate its condition, yet we
consider the unrestrained power of manumission as fraught with ultimate evils of a more
dangerous tendency than the circumstance of slavery alone, and that any act, having for its
object the mitigation of these joint evils, not inconsistent with other paramount considera
tions, would be worthy the attention and deliberation of the representatives of a free, liberal-
minded, and enlightened people.
.Resolved, That we consider the colonization of free people of color in Africa as the com
mencement of a system, by which if judicious encouragement be afforded, these evils may
be measurably diminished, so that in process of time, the relative proportion of the black
to tile white population, will hardly be matter for serious and unpleasant consideration.
Ordered, therefore, That a committee of five members be appointed by the Chair, with
instructions to report a bill, basedas nearly as may be, upon the principles contained in the
foregoing resolutions, and report the same to the consideration of this house.
Such was the first movement on the subject. At the next ses-

43
sion of the legislature Mr. Brawner presented the report of the
committee, some of the extracts from which he (Mr. T.) would
read: —
The committee to whom was referred the several memorials from numerous citizens in
this state,, upon the subject of the colored population, Report, —
That the views presented by the memorialists are various, and the recommendations con
tained m some of the memorials are entirely repugnant to those contained in others. The
subjects, however, upon which legislative action is required, may be embraced under a few
general heads:
First, That a law be passed prohibiting the future emancipation of the slaves, unless pro
vision be made for their removal from the state.
, Secondly, That a sum of money adequate for the attainment of the object, be raised and
appropriated for the further removal of those already free.
Thirdly, That a system of police be established, regulating the future conduct and mor
als of this class of our population.
And, Fourthly, There are several memorials from different parts of our state, signed by a
numerous and highly respectable portionof our citizens, recommending the entire abolition
of slavery in the state.
On the 14th of March, 1832, the State Legislature of Maryland
appropriated for the use of the State Colonization Society the sum
of two hundred thousand dollars, payable in sums of twenty thous
and dollars per annum for ten years. Having made the grant, the
legislature next proceeded to pass acts to obtain the consent of the
colored population to quit the state and country, and emigrate to
Africa. He (Mr. T.) claimed special attention to some short ex
tracts from those laws. They Would reveal more powerfully than
any language of his, the benevolent or rather atrociously cruel de
signs of the ' good people' of the state. He should quote first from
' An Act relating to Free Negroes and Slaves,' passed within a
few days of the grant and part and parcel of the same benevolent
scheme: —
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That after the passage
of this act, no free negro or mulatto shall emigrate to, or settle in this State; and no free
negro or mulatto belonging to any other state,- district or territory, shall come into this
State, and therein remain for the space of ten successive days, whether such free riegro or
mulatto; intends settling in this State or not, under the penalty of fifty dollars for each and
every week such persons coming into, shall thereafter remain in this State; the one half to
the informer and the other half to the sheriff for the use of the county. * * * *
and any free negro or mulatto refusing or neglecting to pay said fine or fines, shall be com
mitted to the jail of ihe county; and shall be sold by the sheriff at public sale, for sueh time
as may be necessary to cover the aforesaid penalty, first giving ten days previous notice of
such sale.
SJec. 2d. And be it enacted, That no person in this State, shall hereafter hire, employ, or
harbor any free negro or mulatto who shall emigrate or settle in this state, after the first
day of June next, or any free negro or mulatto who shall come into this state from any
other state, district or territory, and continue in this state for the space of ten successive
days as above, under the penalty of twenty dollars for every day after the expiration of four
days, any such free negro or mulatto * * * * *
shall be so employed, hired or harbored, and all fines accruing under this act, * "*
-» * * one half thereof to be applied to the informer, and the other half to
the use of the county ; and if any negro or mulatto shall remove from this state and remain
without the limits thereof for a space longer than thirty consecutive days, unless before leav
ing the state he deposits with the clerk of the county in which he resides, a written state
ment of his object in so doing, and his intention of returning again, or unless he shall have
been detained by sickness or coercion, of which he shall bring- a certificate, he shall be re
garded as a resident of another state, and be subject, if he return, to the penalties imposed
by the foregoing provisions upon free negroes and mulaMoes pf another state, migrating, to
this state: Provided that nothing contained in this act shall prevent any free negro ormulat-.
to from visiting Liberia, and returning to the state whenever he may. choose to do so.

44
Sec. 4. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful from and after the : fits. of June
next, to import or bring, into this state by laud or water, any ^J^^tpe ons
for sale, or to reside within thisstate: * ana any P'™, " Lou„ht
so offending, shall forfeit for every such offence, any negro, mulatto "other Jaw brwgM
into this state contrary to this act, and such negro, mulatto or other dave, sh 11 be nulled
to freedom upon condition that he consent to be sent to Liberia, or to leave .the ^state ,ortn
with, otherwise such negro or mulatto or other slave, shall be seized ahd tak en and conhned
in jail by the sherifi of the county where ihe offence ,s committed, which sheuff stall ece ve
ten dollars for every negro, mulatto or other slave so brought into this- , state and fo^ited
as aforesaid, and seized" and taken by him. * * * Moreover, said she riff
shall receive five dollars for such negro, mulatto or other slave actually confined by £>m in
jail, and the usual prison fee as now allowed by law, and any person or persons so offending un
der this act, shall be punished by indictment in the county court of the county where the oflence
shall be oommited, and upon conviction thereof, the said court shall, by its order, diiect said
sheriff to sell any negro, mulatto or other slaves so seized and taken by nun, under this act,
to the Colonization Society for said five dollars, and the prison lees
to be taken to Liberia: and if such Colonization Society shall not receive such negroes,
mulattoes or other slaves for said five dollars each, and the prison fees of each, upon refus
ing, said sheriff stall, after three weeks' public notice given by advertisements, sell any sucn
negro, mulatto or other slave to some person or persons, with a condition that any such ne
gro, mulatto or other slave shall be removed and taken forthwith beyond the limits ot this
slate to settle and reside.
Such was the scheme which had been advocated in Boston and
elsewhere by his opponent. He now left the matter in his hands,
recommending him to exert all his eloquence and ingenuity in be
half of the honor of Maryland, but warning him beforehand that
his labors would be in vain.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said, he would now proceed with
what remained of the argument on the general question. He had
been asked to point out the responsible parties in regard to slavery,
and this was what he was about to do. It was indeed much more
easy to show who were the responsible parties than to prove the
innocence of those unjustly accused — it was perhaps his duty to
do both — the first he had been attempting. It would be easy to
do the other, and he trusted, that after he had done so— if the
good people of Glasgow on any future occasion should meet to
pass resolutions applauding Mr. Thompson, for the vast sacrifices
he had made, and the suffering he had endured in the cause of
emancipation, they would not again feel obliged to pass resolutions
condemning the whole American nation, as the vilest nation that
ever existed, for maintaining slavery. He would say, then, that
he considered the owners of the slaves, as in the first place, re
sponsible. The slave-owner had two important duties to perform
in reference to those of his fellow-beings, who were held in bon
dage. In the first place, he was bound to inform himself of the
whole question, in its length and breadth, and having done so, he
ought, in the speediest manner possible, consistent with the hap
piness of the slaves themselves, to set them free. This was the
duty of a slave-owner, as an individual. But, as his lot might be
cast in a slaveholding state, it was his duty, in addition to freeing
his own slaves, that he should use every lawful means to elighten
public opinion. Whatever faculties he possessed, it was his duty
io use them in the attempt to remove the prejudices of those

45
whose minces were not yet enlightened on this important question.
But, while it was his duty to do this1, he was to refrain from every
thing which would naturally tend tb exasperate the minds of the
masters. He was not to go and take hold of a man by the throat,
and say, ' You are a great thieving, man-dealing villain, and unless you
instantly give your slaves liberty, I will pitch you out of this three story
window. ' That was not the mode in which a prudent man would go to
work. And he (Mr. Breckinridge) would like, above all things, to
make Mr. Thompson, and his fellow-laborers sensible of this irri-
porant truth ; that in their efforts to give freedom to the slaves,
nothing could be done without the consent of the slave-owners.
And unless it was kept in view, Mr. Thompson might labor, to
use an American homely phrase, 'till the cows come home,' but
he would not move a single step nearer his object. While on this
head there was another saying which he had no doubt Mr. Thomp
son had frequently heard in America, and which might be of some
use for him to bear in mind, if he revisited that horrible country ;
it was that one ' spoonful of molasses would catch more flies than
a hogshead of vinegar.' With regard to the mode in which the
question of slavery should be taken up in those states where it
existed, he would say that every thing had been done — agitation,
as it was called in this country — to enlighten the public mind on
the whole question, was the only thing that could advance the
cause. If there was any thing else tbat could be taken advantage
of for that end, he was willing to learn it, and to go home and try
to teach his countrymen who were laboring in the same cause. In
the second place, Mr. B. proceeded to say, that the parties re
sponsible for the existence of slavery were the states which toler
ated it. If slavery were wrong, as he was fully prepared to assert
it to be, then those states or communities which tolerate it were
justly responsible at the bar of God, at the tribunal of an enlight
ened world. If slavery were wrong, those who have power were
bound to abolish it as soon as it could be done consistently with
the greatest amount of good to all concerned. Now, slavery could
end in any state only by violence, or by the consent of the mas
ters. This made it obviously the duty of all who had right views
in such communities, to extend and enforce them in such a Way
as shall appear most likely to secure the object in view — namely,
peaceful, voluntary, and legal abolition.' It demonstrates too, tbat
whenever the majority of such a community are ready to act in
this behalf, they are bound to act in such a manner as will consti
tutionally and speedily effect the object, even though multitudes in
that community should still oppose it. But here again it is most
clear that such a result can never be brought about, till fhe majori
ty of such slaveholding communities shall not only consent to it,
but require it. So that in every branch of the matter, it constant
ly appears how indispensable, light, and love, gentleness, wis
dom, and truth are ; and how perfectly mad it is to expect to do

46
any thing in America by harsh vituperation, hasty and violent pro
ceedings. But, say the anti-slavery people, you can abolish
slavery in the District of Columbia, and might purchase the free
dom of all the slaves throughout the whole of the states with the
public money. But it was not the price of the slaves that was the
chief difficulty in making an end of slavery. The inhabitants of
the Southern states reckoned this the least part of the case. To
take away our slaves, say they, is to take away not our property
alone, but our country also ; for without them the country would
not be cultivated. He did not say that the Southern planters were
right in thinking so, but he knew that they did think so; and there
fore, it was necessary to take their opinion into account. This
was only an instance of the many difficulties by which the ques
tion was beset, and would let them see that it was not a mere
matter of pounds, shillings, and pence. In reference to the
efforts made by the American people to abolish slavery, Mr.
Breckinridge said they had done much in this cause before Mr.
Thompson was born, and possibly before his father was born.
They had labored for ages, he might almost say for half centuries.
During that time they had effected much, and they would have
done more but for the interference of the party with which Mr.
Thompson was identified. A party whose principles were based
on false metaphysics. — on false morality, who came often with the
fury of demons, and yet said they were sent by God. He would
say the cause of emancipation had been much injured by the ill-
designed efforts of that party, they had thrown the cause a hun
dred years farther back, than it Was five years ago. In reference
to the Maryland colonization scheme, of which they had heard so
much from Mr. Thompson, he would only be able, as bis time
was nearly expired, to make a remark or two. That Society had
existed for about four years. In its fourth annual report there is
a statement from the managers of the Maryland State fund, that with
in the preceding year, two hundred and ninety-nine manumissions
had been reported to them, which, with those previously reported,
make eleven hundred and one slaves manumitted, purely and free
ly manumitted, within four years in that State : while the total num
ber of colored persons transported to Liberia since the Society
commenced its operations was then only one hundred and forty,
as exhibited by the same report. Nothing could show more
clearly the falsity of those statements which represent the scheme
of Maryland colonization, as being cruel, oppressive, and-pecu-
iiarly opposed to the progress of emancipation. Tbe direct con
trary is in all respects true. With regard to the book from which
Mr. Thompson had read some extracts, purporting fo be the laws
of Maryland ; if he were not mistaken, that book was a violent
and inflammatory pamphlet written by some person, perhaps Mr.
Thompson himself, shortly after his (Mr. B's) visit to Boston.
He would not enter upon the discussion of the merits of that pam-

47
phlet, against which it had been alleged in America, at the place
where it originated, and he believed truly charged, that instead of
containing faithful extracts from the laws of Maryland, it did in
fact, contain only schemes of laws which had been proposed in the
Assembly of Maryland, but which had never received their sanc
tion ; chiefly in consequence of the opposition of the friends of
colonization. In conclusion, he would say, that the Maryland
scheme was, as a whole, one of the most wise and humane projects
that bad ever been devised. He had no objection on proper oc
casions, to go fully into it, and he hoped to be able to show that
it would do much for the amelioration of the negro race.

49

THIRD NIGHT— WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15.

MR. BRECKINRIDGE said, the subject for discussion this
evening by two appointments, was the great cause of colonizatictn,
as it presented itself in America; and he was aware that of all the
parts of the subject of these discussions there were none on which
their opinions were more decidedly made up against what he believ
ed to be the truth. It was, therefore, peculiarly embarrassing for
him to en£er upon the subject, but he did, so with that frankness and
candor with which he had entered upon the other topics of discus
sion; and if he would not show them sufficient reason to commend
the principle of colonization ' to their minds and feelings, he could
only expect that they should remain of their present opinions. The
scheme of colonization was not a new, One in America. It had been
spoken of 40 or 50 years ago, by him who in his day ranked next
to the father of his country in the affections of the American peo
ple, Mr. Jefferson, before he filled the president's chair, while he
was president, and afterwards occupied his thoughts with this great
scheme. Being himself a decided enemy to slavery, he tried to
rouse the minds of his countrymen to the advantages which would
arise from the colonizing of the free blacks ofj America on spme part
of the Western coast of Africa. With this view he entered into
negotiations with the Sierra Leone Company in this country, to re
ceive into their colony free people of color from America; and he
also had applied to the Portuguese government, at that time alarge
African proprietor, for a place where the free blacks might be allow
ed to colonize themselves. Whether these efforts, which were ap
plauded and aided by many wise and good men, deserved to be
praised or blamed, was not the topic to be takea up at-present; but
they showed that the scheme was one which could, not be called a
new scheme. This proposal of colonizing the jree blacks of Amer
ica on the West coast of Africa had obtained the approbation of
nine tenths of all those throughout America who took any interest in
the fate of the black race: for even the great-bulk of those who
were now in favor of " abolitionism," were E.t one time the friends
7

*}

50
of colonization. Whether they had good or bad reasons for the
change which had taken place in their opinions, would be more ap
parent, perhaps, when they arrived at the end of the discussion.
It was in the course ofthe years 1822 or 1823 that the first colo
nists were sent out from America. He might not be perfectly ac
curate in his dates, as he gave them from memory, but the present
argument did not depend on exact accuracy in that respect. The
society for promoting the colonization scheme was organized some
years before the date stated above, when an expedition was sent out
to explore the coast of Africa with a view to establishing the colo
ny; and afterwards another to purchase territory; and then the colo
nists were sent out, which he believed took place for the first time
after 1820. The society continued to pursue the scheme for a
period of 9 or 10 years, and met with no opposition except from
some parties in the extreme South; but had the concurrence of
almost all the wise, the good, and the benevolent in America. It
was not till about 1830 that any very violent opposition was made
to the society's operations; and he believed Mr. Garrison was among
the first who opposed it, on the ground that its operations were in
jurious to the interests of the colored race in America. Mr. Ar
thur Tappan also seceded from the society about the same time, but
upon different grounds from Garrison. His opposition arose from
the society's not taking up his ground in reference to Temperance.
He had no hesitation in saying that Mr. Tappan was right, and that
the society was wrong; as they did not go far enough in regard to
this point. He the more readily admitted that in this particular
Mr. Tappan's views were right, as he was wrong in every other
point which he assumed in reference to the society. But it was
not till about 1832, that an organized opposition to the society be
gan to manifest itself. In 1833 the American Anti- Slavery Soci
ety was established, one of the fundamental principles of which, and
perhaps the one they most zealously propagated', was uncompromis
ing hostility to the colonization scheme. In the progress of events
too, it turned out that all the friends of colonization did not see
alike on all parts of the subject. Many of them thought that the
interests involved were too important and too great to be left to a
single board of management or staked on a single series of experi
ments. Some considered that one general principle of operation
could not be made broad enough for the circumstances of all the
states, and hence arose several separate societies,- — as that of Ma
ryland, organized on peculiar principles, which have direct reference
to general emancipation; and as those of New York and Philadel
phia, which have founded a colony on principles of peace, — the
temperance principle being held equally by them and the Maryland
society. _ The general society at Washington assumed the ground
of colonizing, on the West coast of- Africa with their own consent,
persons of color from America who were of good character, and

51
who were free at the time of their being seiit out. The Maryland
Society went a step farther. They saw that nhp colonization scheme
would have a reflection favorable to emancipation; and they carried
on their operations with a direct and avowed reference to the ulti-!
mate emancipation of the slaves in that state. The New York and
Philadelphia societies were founded, as I have above said, on the
principles of temperance and peace — the former principle being.
common also to the Maryland scheme. , The united societies of
New York and Philadelphia first took 120 slaves who had been
manumitted by the late Dr. Hawes, of Va., and formed them into a
colony. The Parent Society's territory in Africa was called Li
beria. It was about 100 leagues in' length along the coast, about
10 or 15 leagues deep, and there were 5 or 6 settlements, all under
the general control of that society. There were in them all about
4,000 colonists, a great portion of whom were manumitted slaves.
The colony of the Maryland Society was farther South than that of
the Parent Society. It was situated on that point of the coast call
ed Cape Palmas, and was itself called Maryland in Africa. It was
under the charge of a board of management in Maryland, and con
sisted at this time of between two and three hundred colonists, who
were chiefly manumitted slaves. The other colony, that belonging
to the New York and Philadelphia Society, was at Bassa Cove, and
was under the charge of the directors of that society. There were
in all about 5000 colonists under the charge pf these societies. For
the first few years of the existence of the Parent Society, it was
supported by a number of gentlemen for different reasons. At the
commencement it was not perhaps perfectly clear how it might op
erate. Some advocated the cause and supported the interests of
the society, on the principles of direct humanity to the free colored
persons of America. Others again supported it as calculated to
produce collateral effects favorable to the slaves, and the general
cause of emancipation in the country. Others on the ground that
it would enable the country to get rid of the colored population,
without much reference to what might be the result to the colored
population themselves; just as if in, England there were individuals
who would promote emigration, to get the country rid of those who
were as they supposed given to idleness and a burden upon the
country. There may have been some who supported the society
from an actual love for slavery, and as a means which they suppos
ed- might lessen some of the evils by which it was accompanied.
During the first years ofthe society's operations, many thousands, of
speeches were delivered, and many hundreds of pamphlets were
published about the society, its operations, and their effects; and it
was quite possible that Mr. Thompson might be able to bring for
ward some sentences and scraps from the speeches of a slave-own
er, who looked upon the society as a means of perpetuating slaveiry
in America; or he might produce some speech, in which the soci-

52
ety was supported as ^i means of ridding the country of the free
people of color, no matjter what became of them afterward. But
it was uncandid and unjust to take this plan of opposing the cause;
because it was well kno^vn that whatever might be the case in par
ticular instances, the general fact was, that the great majority of the
supporters of the society had always supported it, because of the
good effects they anticipated from it in favor of ultimate emancipa
tion, as well as its present and immense benefits to the free blacks.
Now I challenge Mr. Thompson to the plain admission, or the
plain denial of these statements. If he denies them I am content;
for in- that case, he will stand convicted in America, for the denial
of that which every man, kvom_.n'and child there knows to be true.
If he admits my statements to be substantially true, then the entire
point of the charges broukht by him and his friends against coloni
zation, is broken off; andtall he or they can allege against it, can
equally be alleged against' every thing, good or bad, that ever exis
ted, namely, that men supported it for various, or even opposite
reasons. I go farther — I assert, and call upon Mr. Thompson to
admit or to deny it, I care not which — that just in proportion as the
cause has developed itself, tmd its natural and legitimate influences
been plainly exhibited — thofee who favor slavery have cooled in its
support, or withdrawn entirely from it — while those who favor e-
mancipation, and desire- the jgood of the free people of color, have,
in the same degree, and. with increasing cordiality, rather avowed
it, insomuch that it will be| difficult if not wholly impossible for
our evidences of friendship to it, from an avowed friend of slavery,
to be culled out of all his scraps, as occurring within the last three
or four years. Indeed no persons were more persecuted after what
Mr. T. calls persecution in some of the Southern states, than those
who advocate the cause of colonization, a fact which began to occur
as soon as those slave owners, who desired slavery to continue,
clearly saw that the natural result was the ultimate emancipation of
the slaves. How far the conduct of Mr. Thompson and his friends
was calculated to produce a reaction' in the South, and incline mod
erate and humane masters to the views of the emancipationists,
cannot now be determined. But that the increasjng wisdom and
benevolence of the' South will compensate for the folly and phren-
zy at the North, there is good reason to hope. He would now
prc-ceed to give a few reasons why this scheme of colonization
should be supported. But he would first call their attention to a
resolution proposed by Mr. George Thompson at a meeting of the
Young Mens' Anti Slavery Society of Boston: —
That as the American Colonization Society has been demonstrated to be in its principles
unrighteous, unnatural, and prescriptive, the attempt now made to give permanency to this
institution is a fraud upon the ignorance and an outrage upon the intelligence of the public,
and as such deserves the severest reprobation.

53
The verbiage of this resolution showed its parentage. No one who
had ever heard one of Mr. Thompson's speeches could for a mo
ment doubt the authorship of the resolution. But what werp they
to think of an individual who, being almost a perfect stranger in
America, came forward at a public meeting, and spoke in terms
like these of a society, supported and encouraged by the great ma
jority of the nation — embracing in that majority most of what is
distinguished by rank, by knowledge, or by virtue, in the country?
What but universal execration from the violent, and pity and con
tempt from all — could be expected to follow such proceedings.
And. yet London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, celebrate the prudence
of Mr. George Thompson in America, arid praise his condupt there
on their behalf! It was not demonstrated that the scheme was eith
er unnatural, proscriptive, or foolish. He wished much to hear
Mr. Thompson attempt that demonstration. He (Mr. B.) would
attempt to prove, on the other hand, that in itself the scheme was
good, wise, and benevolent. His first reason was that it was good
for the free black population of America, for whose benefit it was
intended, whatever, might be the opinions entertained regarding
slavery; whatever might be the opinion as to the duty of admitting
the free colored population to all the rights and privileges of white
people; taking it for granted that slavery should be abolished, tak
ing: it for granted that the free colored population should have the
same rights and privileges as the white population; admitting, as so
many have declared, that these free people of color are generally
very little elevated above the condition of the slaves; granting the
existence of the absurd prejudice among the white population against
people of color; taking as true, all the assertions of all, or any par
ties, on this subject, and then say, if it is not a good, a wise, a hu
mane reason for encouraging the society, that they are able to snatch
1000 or 10,000 of these degraded, ruined, undone, and unhappy
people from the condition they are placed in, and plant them in
comfort, freedom, and peace in Africa? While Mr. Thompson
and his friends were trying their schemes to terminate slavery, and
break down prejudice against color — schemes which were likely to
be long in progress, if we were to judge by the past — it seemed
most, extraordinary that they should object to our efforts to take a
portion of these people out of the grasp of their present sorrows,
and do for them in Africa al] that has been done for ourselves in
America. Above all things, is it not inexplicable, that they should
consider slavery on one side of the Atlantic, better than freedom on
the other,— a thought, proving him who held it unworthy of free
dom anywhere. If this was not a scheme, full of wisdom, of gpod-
ness and benevolence, he know not what wisdom, goodness, or be
nevolence meant. They proposed to do nothing without the free
consent of the colored people. And now, if a similar offer were
made to every poor and unfortunate inhabitant of Glasgow, and all

54
of them chose to remain here, except one, and that one were cap
tivated by the account of some distant El Dorado, and chose to
push his fortune there, could the rest assume over this one the right
of saying, you shall not go; we are determined not to go, and equal
ly determined not to let you go. Yet the abolitionists have been
going about, from Dan to Beersheba, not only attacking and vilify
ing the whites', for proposing to colonize the blacks with their own
free consent; but equally attacking the blacks for availing themselves
of the offer. And though the colony had been stigmatized as a
grave, as a place of skulls, it was the very place fitted by nature for
the black population, the land granted by God to their fathers. It
is in one sense, then, a matter of no moment, what the causes are
which induce the society to make the offer, or the black population
to emigrate to Africa — even on the showing of the abolitionists
themselves, the colored population are kept in a state of degrada
tion; and it is certainly just and good that means shouldbe afforded
them for getting rid of that degradation. In the second place, he
maintained that this colonization scheme naturally tended to pro
mote the cause of general emancipation. To illustrate this, Mr.
'Breckinridge read the following extract from the Maryland report
of 1835, p. 17:—
The number of manumissions in tlie state reported to the board since the last annual report,
is two hundred and ninety-nine, making the whole number reported as manumitted, since the
passage ofthe act of 1831, eleven hundred and one.
This extract showed that the scheme did not prevent manumis
sion, but had tended gradually to increase its amount. That this
was the intention and actual effect of the colonization scheme, he
would now prove to the meeting in so far as regarded Maryland;
and if he did so of that state, he supposed they would not find it
difficult to believe the same thing of other states, as it was against
Maryland that Mr. Thompson had expended his peculiar virulence.
Mr. B. then read the following: —
Resolved, That this society believe, and act upon tlie belief that colonization has a tenden
cy to promote emancipation, by affording to tlie emancipated slave a home, where he can be
liappier and better, in every point of view, than iu this country, and so inducing masters to
manumit, for removal to Africa, who would not manumit unconditionally. — 3rd A. Rep.
page 5.
Maryland, through her State Society, is about trying the important experiment, whether,
by means of colonies on the coast of Africa, slave-holding states may become free states. The
Board of Managers cannot doubt of success, however ; and in exercising the high and respon- •
sible duties devolving upon them, it is with the firm belief that the time is not very remote,
when, with the full and free consent of those interested in this species of property," the slate
of Maryland will be added to the list of the non-slave-holding states of the Union. — 3 A. R.
page 6.
It has been charged, again and again, against the general scheme, that its tendencies were
to perpetuate slavery ; and, at this moment, both in this country and in Europe, there are
those who stigmatize tlie labors of men like Finley, Caldwell, Harper, Ayres, Ashmun; Key,
Gurley, Anderson and Randall, as leading to this end. Unfounded as is" th. charge, it has
many believers. The colonization law of Maryland is based upon a far different principle ;,
for the immigration of slaves is expressly prohibited, and the transportation of those who are

55
emancipated is amply provided for. In accordance, therefore, with the general sentiment of
the public, and anxious that colonization in the state should be relieved from tile imputation
put upon the cause, resolutions were unanimously adopted, avowing that tlie extirpation of
slavery in Maryland was the chief object of tlie society's existence.— 3 A. R. page 33.
Throughout the report the same current of events was referred to;
and they were found to be everywhere the same as to the effects of
the colonial scheme on the manumission of slaves. To show the
cause of the objections to the scheme by free persons of color, Mr.
B. read the following extract: — ,
The Board would here rernark, that in collecting emigrants from- among the free persons
of color in the state, the greatest difficulty they have experienced has grown out of the incre
dulity of these with regard to the accounts given to them of Africa. Even when their friends
in Liberia have written to them, inviting them to emigrate, and speaking favorably of the
country, they have believed that a restraint was upon the writers, and that the society's agents
prevented any letter from reaching America, which did not speak in terms of praise of Afri
ca. The ingenuity of tlie colored people in this slate devised a simple test of the reliance
that was to be placed in letters, purporting to be written by tlieir friends ; which they haye,
during the last year or eighteen months, been putting into practice. When the emigrant
sailed from the United States, he took with him one Jialf of a strip of calico, the other half
being retained by the person to whom he was ,to write when he reached Africa. If he was
permitted lo write without restraint, and if he spoke his real sentiments in his letter, he en
closed his portion of the calico, which, matching with that from which it had been severed,
gave authenticity and weight to tlie correspondence. Many of these tokens, as they are call
ed, have been received, and their effect has been evident in the greater willingness manifest
ed by the free people of color to emigrate ; especially those of tliem who are at all well judging
and well informed. — 4 A. R. page 6.
Whatever difficulties now exist as to getting free people of color to
avail themselves of the society's scheme and emigrate to Africa,
arise in a great degree from the efforts of the abolition party to mis
represent the intentions of the society, and the state and prospects
of the colony, to the free colored people of the United States, —
thus showing the double atrocity of preventing these people from
being benefited, and of traducing those persons who wish to benefit
them. In an address from Cape Palmas, by the Colonists to their
brethren in America, dated in October, 1834, there was a distinct
avowal of the fact that it was better for them that they had gone
there; and urging others to come also. Mr. B. then read the fol
lowing extract from the address : —
Dear Brethren — Agreeably to a resolution of our fellow citizens herewith enclosed, we
now endeavor to lay before you a fair and impartial statement of the actual situation of this
colony; of our advantages and prospects, both temporal and spiritual. , ._
We are aware of the great difference of opinion which exists in America with respect to
colonization. We are aware of the fierce contentions between its advocates and opposers ;
and we are of opinion that this contention, among the well meaning, is based principally upon
the various and contradictory accounts concerning this country and its advantages ; receiving
on the one hand from the enthusiastic and visionary new comers, who write without having
made themselves at all acquainted with the true state of affairs in Africa; and on the other,
from the timorous, dissipated and disheartened,' who long to return to their former degraded
situation, and are willing to assign any reason, however false ahd detrimental to their, felloyy
citizens, rather than the true one, viz:— that they are actually unfit, from want of virtue, en
ergy and capacity, to become freemen in any country.
We judge that the time which has elapsed since our first arrival, (eight months,) has
enabled us to form, a pretty correct opinion of this our new colony, ofthe climate, and of, the
fitness of our government. Therefore we may safely say we write not ignorantly. And

56
as to the truth of our assertions we here solemnly declare, once for all, that we write in the
fear of God, and are fully sensible that we stand pledged to maintain them both here and
hereafter. Of our Government — We declare that we have enjoyed (and the same is for ever guar
anteed to us by our Constitution) all and every civil and religious right and privilege, which
we have ever known enjoyed by the white citizens of the United States, excepting the elec
tion of our chief magistrate, who is appointed by the board of managers of the Maryland
State Colonization Society. Other officers are appointed or elected from the colonists.—
Freedom of speech and the press, election by ballot, trial by jury, the right to bear arms, and
the liberty of worshipping God agreeably to the dictates of our own consciences, are render
ed for ever inviolate by the Constitution.
That we may not weary your patience or be suspected of a desire to set forth matters in
too favorable a light, we have been thus brief in our statements. It will naturally be suppos
ed, brethren, that the object of this address is to induce you to emigrate and join us. To
deny this would be a gross want ol candor, and not in unison with our professions at tile
outset. We do wish it,, and we tender you both the heart and hand of good fellowship.
But here again, let us be equally candid with you. It is not every man we could honestly
advise or desire to come to this colony. To those who are contented to live and educate
their children as house servants and lackeys, wc would say, stay where you are ; here we
have no masters to employ you. To the indolent, heedless and slotliful, we would say, tarry
among the flesh pots of Egypt ; here we get our bread by the sweat of the brow. To drunk
ards and rioters, we would say, come not to us ; you can never become naturalized in a land
where there areno grog shops, and where temperance and order is the motto. To the tim
orous and suspicious, we would say, stay where you have protectors ; here we protect our
selves. But the industrious, enterprising and patriotic of what occupation or profession
soever ; the merchant, the mechanic, and farmer, (but more particularly the latter,) we would
counsel, advise and entreat to come and be one with us, and assist in this glorious enterprise,
and enjoy with us that liberty to whicli we ever were, and the man of color ever must be, a
stranger in America. To the ministers of the gospel, both white and colored, we would say,
come to this great harvest, and diffuse amongst us and our benighted neighbors, that light of
the gospel, without which liberty itself is but slavery, and freedom but perpetual bondage.
Accept, brethren, our best wishes ; and, praying that the Great Disposer of events will
direct you to that course, which will tend to your happiness and tlie benefit of our race
throughout the world, We subscribe ourselves
Yours, most affectionatelv, "JACOB GROSS,
WILLIAM POLK,
CHARLES SCOTLAND,
ANTHONY WOOD,
THOMAS JACKSON.
The report having been read, it was then moved by James M. Thompson and seconded,
that the report be approved and accepted. The yeas and nays were presented as follows: 
Yeas — Jeremiah Stewart, James Martin, Samuel Wheeler, H. Duncan, Daniel Banks,
Joshua Stewart, John Bowen, James Stewart, Henry Dennis, Eden Harding, Robert White-
field, Nathan Lee, Nathaniel Edmondson, Charles Scotland, Nathaniel Harmon, Bur. Minor,
Anthony Howard, James M. Thompson, Anthony Wood, Jacob Gross, Wm. Polk, Thomas
Jackson. Nays — Nicholas Thomson, William Reynolds, William Cassel.
N. B. Those who voted in tlie negative, declared that the statements contained in tlie
report were true, both in spirit and letter, but they preferred returning to America — where
upon the meeting adjourned, sine die.
, A true copy of the record ofthe proceedings. WM. POLK.
If any weight was due to human testimony, it was made probable,
at least, if not certain, that the intentions of the promoters of .the
scheme were that it should be most kind to the black man, in all its
direct action, and by its indirect influences, the precursor oi the; abo
lition of slavery ; and if the society had fallen into a mistake, tlie col
onists themselves had also fallen into the same ; as in this address they
say the scheme has proved successful. He would, therefore,' con
clude this second reason, by maintaining that he had sufficiently

57
proved that the scheme had been productive of good, not only to the,
colored population, but also to the cause of universal freedom.
The reasons he would now offer would be more general. ' And in
bringing forward the third head of argument, he observed, that the
uniform method which God had selected to civilize and enlighten
mankind, and to carry through the world a knowledge of the arts and
laws, with all the kindred blessings of civilization, was colonization.
Amongst the first commands given by God to man, was to replenish
and subdue the earth ; and there was a striking fulness of meaning in
the expression. While there seemed to exist in the whole human
family an instinctive obedience to this command, God had so directed
its manifestation, that he believed he might safely challenge any one to
show him any one nation which had located the permanent seat of its
empire in the native land of its inhabitants. Every nation had been
a conquered nation ; every people, has been in turn enlightened from
others, and in turn colonists again. This nation, which has reputed
itself the most enlightened in the world, and far be it from him to con
trovert the opinion in their presence, might trace its superior enlight
enment in part to the fact of its having been so much oftener con
quered than any other, and the consequent greater mixture of nations
among the inhabitants. Again, he observed, that God had kept sev
eral races of men distinct, from the time pf Noah down to the present
day ; and in their mutual action upon each other, there .was this ex
traordinary fact, that wherever the descendants of Shem had colonized
a country occupied by the descendants of Japhet or Ham, they had
extirpated those who were before them. When the descendants of
Japhet conquered the descendants of Shem, they were extirpated be
fore them; when the descendants of Shem conquered those of Japhet,
the case was the same ; and so of the descendants of Ham upon
either. But when Japhet conquered Japhet there was no extirpa
tion, and when Shem conquered Shem there was no extirpation!, as
also of Ham conquering Ham. Now as to the continent of Africa, if
history taught any truth, they must roll back all its tide, or Africa was
destined to be still farther colonized. As yet, the pestilence, like the
flaming, sword before the garden of the Lord, had kept, the way
hedged up,, the white man and yellow man away fom the spot,^-re-
served till the fit hour and people came. If we take the bodings of
Providence all is well. But if we rely on the lessons of the past, the
only means in our power to prevent the ultimate colonization of
Africa by some strange race, and the consequent extirpation of its
race of blacks, is to colonize it with blacks. If they let Shem colo
nize there, the blacks will be extirpated ; if they let Japhet colonize,
the blacks will be extirpated. Africa must he undone, or she must
be colonized with blacks; or all history is but one prodigious lie. To
Britain seems specially committed, by a good Providence, the desti
nies of Asia ; and we say to her, kindly and faithfully, Enter and oc-
8

58
cupy, till Messiah come ; enter at once, lest we enter before you.
To America, in like manner, is Africa committed. To do our Mas
ter's work there, we must colonize it by blacks, we must enlighten it
by blacks. And when Mr. T. and his friends come to us with their
quackery, scarcely four year's old, and require us to forego for' u our
clearest convictions, our most cherished plans, and our most enlight
ened views of truth and duty, we can only say to them, "We are
much obliged to you, but pray excuse us, gentlemen ; we have con
sidered the matter before." Every benevolent and right thinking
person must see that the scheme of colonizing Africa by black men,
is necessary to enlighten Africa, and prevent the extirpation of the
black men there. He would, in the fourth place, take up the ques
tion of christianizing Africa, separate from the other question of mere
civilization and preservation. There were only three ways, as had
been argued, in which the works of missions could be possibly con
ducted. In an admirable little treatise on tbe subject, published in
this country, and he regretted he knew not the author, or he would
name him in pure honor, these methods were ably defined and illus
trated. One method was, to send out missionaries, and do the work,
as many arc now attempting it, in so many lands. Another was, by
bringing the people to be converted, to those whom God chose to
make the means of their conversion. And when Britain thinks
harshly of America about slavery, let her remember," and melt into
kindness at the thought, of what we are doing to convert the tens of
thousands of Irish Catholics she sends to us yearly. The third way
was by colonization ; and this, in past ages, has been the great and
glorious plan. By this, Europe became what she is ; by this, America
was Christianized ; and he would again refer them to the little book of
which he had spoken — which, not being written by a slaveowner, nor
even an American, might possibly be true — to convince them, that it >
was, in all cases, a most efficient means to save the world. But in
this peculiar case, it seemed to be the chief, if not the only means.
The climate suited the black man, while hundreds of whites had fal
len victims to it. So peculiar does this appear to me, that I have
never been able to comprehend how the pious and enlightened free
blacks of America could so long, or at all, resist the manifest call of
God, to go and labor for Him in their father land. There she is,
" sitting in darkness and drinking blood," — with a full capacity, and a
perfect fitness on their parts, to enlighten, to comfort, and to save her
— their mother, doubly requiring their care, that she knows hot that
she is blind and naked ! And yet they linger on a distant shore ; and
fill the air with empty murmurs, of time and earth, and its poor vani
ties ; and Christian men around them caress and applaud them for
their heathen hard-heartedness ; and Christian communities,- in their
strange infatuation, send missions to them, to prevent them from be
coming the truest missionaries that the earth could furnish ! Shadows

59
that we are, shadows that we pursue ! It was, in the fifth place, the
only effectual and practical mode of putting an end to the slave trade.
There was, indeed, another way — by stopping the. demand. But
while they disputed the means. of stopping the demand, there was
another way — the stopping of the supply. , This had long been an
object dear to several nations. The government of Britain, the gov
ernment of America, and the governments of several other states,, had
sent several cruisers to stop the supply ; but would any slaves be
taken from Africa, if there was even a single city on the western coast,
with ten thousand inhabitants, and three vessels of war at their com
mand ? They would put an end to the trade the moment they were
able to chastise the pirates, or make reprisals on the nations to which
they belonged. Why is it we never hear of the stealing of an English
man, a German, or a Turk ? Because the thief knows that reprisals
would be made, or that he or some of his countrymen would be chas
tised or stolen in return. So that all that was required,, was to plant a
city on the west coast of Africa, and this would give protection to the
population of that country.. Nothing is plainer, than that any nation
which will make reprisals, will have none of the inhabitants stolen*
If reprisals were made effective, the slave trade would be -immediately
stopped. . It is the course pursued by Mr. Thompson and his friends^
not the course pursued by us, which is likely to continue the slave
trade. On one hundred leagues of African coast, it is already to a
great degree suppressed ; and if we had been- aided as the importance
of the cause demanded, instead of being resisted with untiring activity,
this blessed object might now have been' granted to the prayers of
Christendom.

60

Mr. THOMPSON earnestly hoped that every word which Mr.
Breckinridge had that night uttered respecting the principles of the
Colonization Society, and what had been effected by that institution,
would be carefully preserved ; that on other occasions, and by other
persons, on both sides the Atlantic, Mr. Breckinridge's arguments
might be canvassed, his facts investigated, and his sentiments made
known. I shall offer no apology (continued Mr. T.) for referring to
a point discussed last evening, but not fairly disposed of. I am by
ho means satisfied, nor do I think the enlightened, and least of all the
Christian world, will be satisfied with the doetrine which for two
evenings has been laid down and maintained by Mr. Breckinridge,
that America, as,a nation, is not responsible before God for the sin of
slavery. I cannot, sir, receive that doctrine. I cannot lightly pass it
over. Much hinges upon this point, nor will I consent that America
shall lay the flattering unction to her soul that she is not her brother's
keeper ; that any wretches within her precincts may commit soul-mur
der, and she be innocent, by reason of her wilful, self induced, and
self continued impotency. I do not believe the doctrine of " the irre-
sponsibleness of America as a nation " to be politically sound ; still
less do I believe it to be the doctrine of the Bible.
Sir, I fearlessly charge America, as a nation — as the United States
of America — as a voluntary confederacy of free republics — as living
under one common constitution, and one common government — with
being a nation of slave-holders, and the vilest and most culpable on
the face ofthe earth.
I charge America with having a slave-holding president ; with hold
ing seven thousand slaves at the seat of government ; with licensing the
slave trade for four hundred dollars- ; with permitting the domestic
slave trade to the awful extent of one hundred thousand souls per an
num ; with allowing prisons, built with the public money, to be made
th<_ receptacles of unoffending, home-bom Americans, destined for
the southern market; with permitting her legislators and the- high
est functionaries in the state to trample upon every dictate of
humanity, and every principle sacred in American independence,
by trafficking "in slaves and the souls of men."
I charge America, " as a nation," with permitting within her
boundaries a wide spread system, which my opponent has himself
described as one of clear robbery, universal concubinage, horrid
cruelty, and unilluminated ignorance.
I charge America, before the- world and God, with the awful
crime of reducing more than two millions of her own children,
born on her own soil, and entitled to " life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness," to the state of beasts ; withholding from them every

61
right, and privilege, and social or political blessing, and leaving
them the prey of those who have legislated away the word of life,
and the ordbances of Religion, lest their victims should at any time
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their hearts, and should assume the bearing, and the name, and the
honors of humanity.
I charge America, " as a nation," with being wickedly, cruelly,
and, in the highest sense, criminally indifferent to the happiness and
elevation of the free colored man ; with crushbg and persecuting
him in every part of the country ; with regarding him as belonging
to a low, degraded, and irreclaimable caste, who ought not to call
America his country or his home, but seek in Africa, on the soil
of his ancestors, a refuge from persecution in the land which the
English, and the Dutch, and the French, and the Irish, have
wrested from the red men, and which they now proudly and self
complacently, but most falsely style the white man's country.
I charge all this, and much more, upon the government of Amer
ica, upon the church of America, and upon the people of America.
It is idle, to say the least, to talk of rolling the guilt ofthe system
upon the individual slave-holder, and the individual state. This
cannot fairly be done while the citizens throughout the land are
banded, confederated, united. It is the sin of the entire church.
The Presbyterians throughout the country are one body ; the Bap
tists are one body ; the Episcopalian Methodists are one body ; they
.acknowledge one another; they cordially fellowship one another.
They make tbe sin, if it be a sin, theirs, by owning as brethren in
Christ Jesus, and ministers of Him, who was anointed to preach de
liverance to the captives, men who shamelessly traffic in rational,
blood-redeemed souls ; nay, even barter away for accursed gold, their
own church members. It is pre-eminently the sin of the church. It
is the sin of the people at large. It is said the laws recognize
slavery. I reply, the entire nation is answerable for those laws. We
hear that the " Constitution can do nothing," that " the Congress can
do nothing," to which I reply, Woe, and shame, and guilt, and exe
cration must be, and ought to be, the portion of that people calling
themselves Christians and republicans, who can tolerate, through half
a century, a Constitution and a Congress that cannot prevent nor cure
the buying and selling of sacred humanity ; the sundering of every
fibre that binds heart to heart, and the dehumanization and butchery
of peaceful and patriotic citizens within the territories over which they
extend. In whatever aspect I view this question, the people, and the
whole people, appear to be, before God and man, responsible, polit
ically and morally, for the sin of slave-holding. They are responsible
for the Constitution, with any deficiencies and faults it may have, for
they have the power, and it is therefore their duty, to amend it. They
are responsible for the character and acts of Congress;, for they make

62
the senators and representatives that go there. In a word, they are
properly and solemnly responsible for that " system" of which we
have heard so much, and for " the workings of that system ;" and I
declare it little better than subterfuge to say, that _ the people of
America, the source of power,- the sovereign, the omnipotent people,
are not responsible for the existence of slavery and all its kindred
abominations, within the territorial limits of the United States.
The charges which he had here made were important grave and
awful. He made them .under the full and solemn impression of his-
accountableness to mankind, and the God of nations. He believed
them to be true ; he was prepared to substantiate them. That not
one tittle of them might be lost or misrepresented in Great Britain or
America, he had penned them with his own hand, out of his own
heart, and he was prepared to support them in England, or in Scot
land, or in America itself: for he hoped yet again to visit that
cduntry, and there resume his advocacy of the cause of the slave.
He would now come to the colonization question, on which he felt
completely at home. In adverting to this question, however, he .ex
perienced a difficulty, which he had felt on many former occasions,
that of not being able to compress what he had to say within the
compass of one address. He would not only have to reply to what
Mr. Breckinridge had advanced, but he would have to touch on
topics which Mr. Breckinridge had overlooked — principles affecting-
the origin, character, and very existence of that society, which Mr.
Breckinridge had taken under his special protection. He (Mr. T.)
would show that the improvement of the black man's condition was
not the chief object of the Colonization Society ; that its operations
sprung from that loathing of color which might be denominated the
peculiar sin of America. Slavery might be found in many countries,
but it was in America alone that there existed an aristocracy founded
on the color of the skin. A race of pale-skinned patricians, resting
their, claims to peculiar rank and privileges upon the hue of the
skin, the texture of the hair, the form of the nose, and the size of the
calf! But for this abhorrence of color, Mr. B. would not have been
contented with the means proposed by the Colonization Society foe
Ihe amelioration of slavery ; he would not have spoken a word of
colonization, or of that Golgotha, Liberia.
Acquainted as he (Mr, T.) was with America, he had been able
to come to no other conclusion, but that the prejudice of color was
that on which the colonization of the free negro was founded. There
had been a great deal said of the inferior intellect of the black race,
and of a marked deficiency in their moral qualities ; but these were
not the grounds on which it was sought to expatriate them ; the in
justice practised towards them rested solely on the prejudice which had
been excited against their external personal peculiarities. Every word
spoken by Mr. Breckinridge in defence of colonization, went directly

63
to prove this. The whole scheme rested on the dark color of those
to be expatriated. Had the sufferers been white in the skin, Mr. B.
would have advocated immediate, complete, and everlasting
emancipation. He would now turn to a matter, regarding which he considered
Mr. Breckinridge had treated the abolitionists of America with
injustice — with unkindness — with something which he did not like
even to name. Mr. B. had charged the abolitionists with having
published a law as the law of the state of Maryland, which had
never been adopted by the legislature of that state ; and when he
(Mr. T.) had required of Mr. B. evidence in support of his grave
allegations, it was in this case precisely as in the case of Mr.
Garrison and Mr. Wright, — the proofs were non est inventus.
Now, he would ask, was this fair ; was it magnanimous ; was it
generous ; was it Christianlike ? e
The charge had been distinctly made, and then it had been
asked of the ,parties accused to prove a negative. Mr. Breckinridge
was not likely to be long in Glasgow, and it was therefore most
easy, and most convenient, to prefer charges which could not,
even on the testimony of the parties implicated, be answered
until Mr. Breckinridge was far away, and the poison had had
full time to work its effect. He (Mr. T.) would, however, give
it as his opinion, that his fellow laborers on the other side of the
Atlantic, would triumphantly clear themselves of this and every
other imputation, and finally emerge from the ordeal, however
fierce, pure, untarnished, and unscathed.
Such a charge, however, should not be brought against him
(Mr. T.) The laws of Maryland, he cited, were to be found
in the pages of the Colonization Society's accredited organ, the
African Repository, an entire set bf which was on the platform,
open to inspection.
Mr. Breckinridge had taken great pains to make out a case for
the Maryland Colonization Society. This was not to be won
dered at. That society was a protege of his own. It had been
patronized and fostered by , him, For it, it appeared, he had
almost suffered martyrdom, when, in advocating its cause in Boston,
he had been mistaken' for an abolitionist, — in that same city of
Boston, where a gentlemanly mob of 5000 individuals, fashionably
attired, in black, and brown,, and blue cloth, had joyfully engaged
in assaulting and dispersing a peaceful meeting of forty ladies. _
He had not yet done with the Maryland Colonization Society.
He was prepared to prove that it was, taken as a whole, a most
oppressive and iniquitous scheme. The laws framed to support
it prohibited manumission, except on condition of the removal of
the freed slaves; thus submitting a choice of evils, both cruel' to
the last extent,— perpetual bondage, or banishment from the soil of

64
their birth, and the scenes and associations of infancy and youth.
He could show, that free persons of color, coming into the state,
were liable to be seized and sold ; and white persons inviting them,
and harboring them, liable to the infliction of heavy fines.
These, and similar provisions, all disgraceful and cruel, were
the prominent features of the laws which had been framed to
carry into effect the benevolent and patriotic designs of the
Maryland Colonization Society I
That expulsion from the state was the thing intended, he
would show from newspapers published in the state. What said the
Baltimore Chronicle, a pro-slavery and colonization paper, at the
time when the laws referred to were passed ? Let his auditory hear
with attention.
" The intention of those laws was, and their effect must be, to EXPEL the free people of
color from this' state. They will find themselves so hemmed in by restrictions, that their
situation cannot be otherwise than uncomfortable should they elect to remain in Maryland.
These laws will no doubt be met by prohibitory laws in other slates, which will greatly in
crease tlie embarrassments of the people of color, and leave them no other alternative than to
emigrate or remain in a very unenviable condition." ;. ,/.
What said the Maryland Temperance Herald of May 3, 1835,? '
"We are indebted to the committee of publication for the first No. of the Maryland Colo
nization Journal, a new quarterly periodical, devoted to the cadse of colonization in our stkte.
Such a paper has long been necessary ; we hope this will be useful.
" Every reflecting man must be convinced, that the time is not far distant when the safety
of the country will require tlie EXPULSION of the blacks from ils limits. - It is perfect
folly to suppose, that a foreign population, whose physical pecidiarities must forever render
them distinct from the owners ofthe soil, can be permitted to grow and strengthen among us
with impunity. Let hair -brained enthusiasts speculate as they may, no abstract considera
tions of the natural rights of man, will ever elevate the negro population to an equality with
ithe whites. As long as they remain in the land of their bondage, they will be morally, if not
physically enslaved, and, indeed, so long as their distinct nationality is preserved, their en
lightenment will be' a measure of doubtful policy. Under such circumstances every philan
thropist will wish to see them remo fed, but gradually, and with as little violence as "possible.
For effecting this purpose, no scheme is liable to so few objection,., as that of African Colo
nization. It has been said, that this plan has effected but little — true, but no other has done
any thing. We do not expect that the exertions of benevolent individuals will be able to rid
us of the millions of blacks who oppress and are oppressed by us. All they can accomplish,
is to satisfy the public of the practicability of the scheme— they can make the experiment — ¦
they are making it and with success. The state of Maryland has already adopted this. plan,
and before long every Southern slate will have its colony. The whole African coast will be
strewn with cities, and then, should some fearful convulsion render it necessary to the public
safety TO BANISH THE MULTITUDE AT ONCE, a house of refuge will have been
provided for them in the land of their fathers."
Yet this was the plan of which the American Colonization
Society, at its annual meeting in 1833, had spoken in the following
terms : —
Resolved, That the Society view, with (he highest gratification, the continued efforts of the
State of Maryland to accomplish her patriotic and benevolent system in regard to her color
ed population ; and that the last appropriation by that state of two hundred thousand dollars,
in aid of African colonization, is nailed by the friends of the system, as a BRIGHT EX
AMPLE to other states.

65
Mr, Breckinridge had lauded the Colonization Society as a scheme
of benevolence and patriotism. He (Mr. T.) did not mean to deny
that there had been many pious and excellent men found amongst
its founders and subsequent supporters, but he was prepared to
demonstrate that it had grown out of prejudice, was based upon
prejudice, made its appeal to prejudice, and could not' exist were the
prejudice against the colored man conquered. It had, moreover,
made an appeal to the fears and cupidity of the slaveholder, by set
ting forth, that, in its operations, it would remove from the southern
states the most dangerous portion of the free population, and also
enhance the value of the slaves left remaining in the country. The doc
trines found pervading the publications of the society were of the
most absurd and anti-christian character. He would mention three,
viz., 1st, that Africa, and not America, was the true and appropriate
home of the colored man ; 2dly, that prejudice against color was in
vincible, and the elevation of the colored man, therefore, while in
America, beyond the reach of humanity, legislation and religion ;
and, 3dly, that there should be no emancipation except for the pur
poses of colonization. How truly monstrojis were these doctrines !
' How calculated to cripple exertion, to retard freedom, and mark the
colored man out as a foreigner and alien, to be driven out. of the
country as soon as the means for. his removal were provided. Such
had really been the effect of the society's views upon the public
mind in America. If the colored man was to be expatriated be
cause his ancestors were Africans, then let General Jackson be sent
to Ireland, because his parents were Irish ; and Mr. Van Buren be
sent to Holland, because his ancestors were Dutch ; and let the same
. rule be applied to all the other white inhabitants of the country.
Then would Great Britain, and France, and Gerrqany, and Switzer
land recover their children ; America be delivered of her conquer*
ors, and the red man come forth from the wilds and the wildernesses
of the back country, to enjoy, in undisturbed security, the soil from
which his ancestors had been driven. Mr. Breckinridge had said
much respecting his (Mr. T.'s) presumption in bringing forward a,
. resolution in Boston, so strongly condemning the measures and prin
ciples of the Colonization Society. He (Mn T.) might be permitted
to say, that if he had acted presumptuously ,\e had also acted boldly
and honestly ; and that the auditory should know, that the resolution
referred to had been debated for one entire evening, and from half
past nine till half past one, the next day, with the Rev. R. R. Gur-
ley, the secretary and agent of the Colonization Society, who, for
eight or nine years, had been the editor of the African Repository,
and was, perhaps, better qualified than any other man in the United
States, to discuss" the subject — always, of course, excepting his Rev.
opponent, then on the platform. He admitted, the resolution was
strongly worded ; that it repudiated the society as unrighteous, un
natural, and prescriptive ; and declared the efforts then making to
give strength and permanency, to the institution, were a fradd upon
9

66
the ignorance, and an outrage upon the intelligence and humanity of
the community. But this country should know that he had defended
his propositions, face to face, with one of the ablest champions of the
cause, before two American audiences, in the city of Boston. That
the assembly then before him might judge of the character of the de
bate, and know its result, he would read a few short extracts, taken
from a respectable daily paper, published in Boston, and entirely un
connected with the Abolitionists. The editor himself, B. F. Hallett,
Esq., reported the proceedings, and thus remarked : —
" One of the most interesting, masterly, and honorable discussions ever listened to in
this communitv, took place on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The hall was as full
as it could hold. ****** The whole "discussion was a model for cour
tesy and christian temper in like cases, and did great credit to all parties concerned.
We question if a public debate was ever conducted in this city, in a better spirit, and with
mote ahility. There was not a discourteous word passed, through the whole, and no occur
rence which for an instant marred tlie entire cordiality with whicii the dispute was conducted.
It was not men but principles that were contending, and we venture to say that no public
discussion was ever managed on higher grounds, or was more deeply interesting to an audi
ence.- The resolution was put, all present being invited to vote. It was carried in the af
firmative with FOUR voices in the negative."
So said the Boston Daily Advocate.
The following extracts from the published addresses of some of
the most eminent and gifted supporters of the Colonization Society,
would show, that the compulsory removal of the colored population,
had from the first been contemplated. If it was replied, " You can
not find compulsion in the Constitution," he (Mr. T.) would rejoin,
No ; but herein consists the wickedness and hypocrisy of the scheme ;
that while it puts forth a fair face in its constitution, it does, really and
in truth, contain the elements of all oppression. The written consti
tution of the Society was but the robe of an angel, covering an im
placable and devouring demon. He would make another remark,
also, before submitting the extracts in his hand. Mr. Breckinridge
had strenuously endeavored to lay the guilt of the oppressive laws in
the south upon the Abolitionists, declaring that those laws had re
sulted from the spread of Anti-slavery principles. From the passages
about to be cited, and, more especially, from the words of Mr. Clay,
it would be found, that long prior to the " quackery" of the Aboli
tionists, there had existed harsh and cruel' laws, calling forth the re
grets and censures of Slaveholders themselves. Even admitting the
truth of what Mr. B. had said, did it follow that the truth should not
therefore be published. By no means. The Israelites, in their
bondage, murmured against the measures of him whom God had
raised up to deliver them, and complained that their burdens had
increased since Pharaoh had been remonstrated with. He would
quote, for the benefit of Mr. B. a very laconic remark, by an old
commentator, " When the bricks are doubled, Moses is near."
1. Charles Carrol Harper, Son of General Harper, to the voters of Baltimore, 1S26.
Af. Repy., vol. 2. page 188. For several years the subject of Abolition of Slavery has
been brought before you. I am decidedly opposed to the project recommended. No scheme
of abolition will meet my support,, that leaves the emancipated blacks among us. Experi
ence has proved that they become a corrupt and degraded class, as burthensome to them
selves, as they arte hurtful to the rest of society.

67
Again, page 189, " To. permit the blacks to remain amongst us after their emancipation,
would be to aggravate, and not to cure the evil."
2. Extracted with approbation from the Public Ledger, Richmond, Indiana, Af. Repy.,
vol. d. page 26. " We would say, liberate them only on condition of their going to Africa
or Hayti." - , s s
t ,3- .'?xtra_.ts from an address delivered at Springfield, before tlie Hamden Col. Society,
July 4th, 1828. By Wm. B. O. Peabody, Esq. published by request of the Society. Af.
Kepy., vol. 4. page 226. "I am not complaining of tlie owners of Slaves; they cannot
got rid of them ; it would be as humane to throw them from the decks in the middle pas
sage, as to set them free in our country." Upon which the following eulogy is pronounced,
page 2S0. " We need hardly say that Mr. Peabody's address is an excellent one. May its
spirit universally pervade and animate the minds of our countrymen.
4. Extracts from an Address to the Col. Socy. of Kentucky, at Frankfort, Dec. 17th.,
1829, by the Hon. Henry Clay. Af. Repy., vol. 6, page 5. " If the question were sub
mitted, whether there should be immediate or gradual emancipation of all the slaves in the
United States, without their removal or colonization, painful as it is to express the opinion,
I have no doubt it woidd be unwise to emancipate them. For I believe that the aggre
gate of tlie evils which would be engendered in Society, upon the supposition of such general
emancipation, and of the liberated slaves remaining promiscuously among us, would be
greater than all the evils of Slavery, great as they unquestionably are."
Again, page 12. " Is there no remedy, I again ask, for the evils of which I have sketched
a faint and imperfect picture I Is our posterity doomed to endure forever, not only all tlie
ills flowing from the state of Slavery, but all which arise from incongruous elements of pop
ulation, separated from each other by invincible prejudices, and by natural causes . What
ever may be the character of the remedy proposed, we may confidently pronounce it inade
quate, unless it provides efficaciously for the total and absolute separation, by, an extensive
space of water or of land, at least of the white portion of our population, from that which is
free of the colored." ,<
5. Extracts from the speech of Geo. Washington Park Curtis at the 14th Annual meeting
of the Amer. Col. Soc, Af. Repy., vol. 6. page 371 — 2. " Some benevolent minds in the
overflowings of their philanthropy, advocate amalgamation of the two classes, saying, let
the colored classes be freed and remain among us as denizens of the empire ; surely all
classes of mankind are alike descended from the primitive parentage of Eden, then why not
intermingle in one common society as friends and brothers. No, Sir ; no. I hope to prove,
at no very distant day, that a Southron can make sacrifices for the cause of Colonization
beyond seas, but for a Home Department in those matters, I repeat no, Sir ; no. What
right, I demand, have the children of Africa to a homestead in tlie white man's country .
" If, as is most true, the crimes of the white man robbed Africa of her sons, let atonement
be made by returning the descendants of the stolen to the clime of their ancestors, and
then all tlie claims of redeeming justice will have been discharged. There let centuries of
future rights, atone for centuries of past wrongs. Let the regenerated African rise to
Empire ; nay, let Genius flourish, and Philosophy shed its mild beams to enlighten and
instruct the posterity of Ham, returning ' redeemed and disenthralled * from tlieir long captivity
in the new world. But, Sir, be all these benefits enjoyed by tlie African race under tho
shade of their native palms. Let the Atlantic billow heave its high and everlasting barrier
between their country and ours. Let this fair land which the white man won by his
chivalry, which he has adorned by tlie arts and elegancies of polished Life, be kept sacred for
his descendants, untarnished by the footprint of him who hath ever been_i slave."
6. Mr. Henry Clay's speech, before the Society, January 1st, 1818 — 2d Annual Report,
page 110. " Further, several of the slaveholding states had, and perhaps all of them would,
prohibit entirely, emancipation, without some such outlet was created. A sense of their own
safety required the painful prohibition. Experience proved that persons turned loose who
were neither freemen nor slaves, constituted a great moral evil, threatening to contaminate all
parts of society. Let the colony once be successfully planted, and legislative bodies who
have been grieved at tho necessity of passing those ' prohibitory laws,' which at a distance
might appear to • stain our codes,' will hasten to remove the impediments to the exercise of
benevolence and humanity. , They will annex the condition that the emancipated shall leave
the country, and he has placed a false estimate upon hberty, who believes there are many
who would refuse the boon, when coupled even with such a condition."
Here there was compulsions both in principle and precept. In
the laws of Maryland, and elsewhere, were found abundant evidences
of compulsion in practice, and where there were no direct acts, forcing
them to depart, a public sentiment had been created, whi'ch, in its
manifold operations, brought the colored man, crushed and hopeless, to
the conclusion, that it would be better for him to say farewell to

68
home and country, than remain a proverb and a nuisance amongst a
prejudiced and persecuting people. No colored man could justly be
said to go to Liberia, or elsewhere, with his free and unconstrained
consent, until the laws were equal, the treatment kind, prejudice
founded on complexion destroyed, and he presented himself a volun
tary agent, and asked the means to transport him to a foreign shore.
As one proof that compulsion had been openly and unblushingly ad
vocated, he would quote the words of Mr. Broadnax in the Virginia
House of Delegates : —
" It is idle to talk ahout not resorting to force ; every body must look to the introduction
of force of some kind or other — and it is in truth a question of expediency, of moral justice,
of political good faith— whether we shall fairly delineate our whole system on the face of the
bill, or leave the acquisition of extorted consent to other processes. The real question, the
only question of magnitude to be settled, is the great preliminary question — Do you intend
to send the free persons of color out of Virginia, or not 1
" If the free negroes are willing to go, they will go— if not willing they must be compel
led to go. Some gentlemen think it politic not now to insert this feature in the bill, though
they proclaim their readiness to resort to it when it becomes necessary; they think that for a
year or two a sufficient number will consent to go, and then the rest can be compelled. For
my part, I deem it better to approach the question and settle it at once, and avow it openly.
" I have already expressed it as my opinion that few, very few, will voluntarily con
sent to emigrate if no COMPULSORY measure be adopted.
" I will not express, in its full extent, the idea I entertain of what has been done, or what
enormities will be perpetrated to induce this class of persons to leave the Slate. Who does
not know that when a free negro, by crime or otherwise, has rendered himself obnoxious to
a neighborhood, how easy it is for a party to visit him one night, take him from his bed and
family, and apply to him the gentle admonition of a SEVERE FLAGELLATION, to in
duce him to consent to go away 1 In a few nights the dose can be repeated, perhaps increas
ed, until, in the language of the physician, quantum sufiicit has been administered to produce
the desired operation ; and the fellow then becomes PERFECTLY WILLING to move
away. Finally, on this part of the subject, he would cite the Rev. R. J.
Breckinridge, who, at the annual meeting of the American Coloniza
tion Society, in 1834, had used the following language : —
" Two years ago I warned the Managers of this Virginia business, and yet thev sent out
TWO SHIP-LOADS OF VAGABONDS, not fit to go to such a plaie, and" they were
COERCED away as truly as if it had been done with a CART-WHIP.
His grand complaint against the Colonization Society was this —
that instead of grappling with the reigning prejudices of the commu
nity, it falsely assumed the insensibility of those prejudices, and pro
ceeded to legislate accordingly. They thus sanctioned and perpetu
ated the greatest sources of suffering and wrong to the colored popula- '-;
tion. " The prejudice against the people of color had greatly increased
since the formation of the Society. The present supporters of the
Society were those who thoroughly loathed the free people of color,
and the most cruel and sanguinary opponents of the Abolitionists
were the boisterous defenders of the American Colonization Society.
For example, when a mob assailed the inhabitants in New York,
broke up their meetings, assaulted their persons, and sacked the house
of Mr. Lewis Tappan, that mob could, in the midst of their ruffian
like and felonious exploits, most unanimously and heartily shout,
" Three cheers for the Colonization Society," and " away with the

69
niggers." In travelling in steamboats and stage coaches, he (Mr. T.)
had invariably found that his most furious and malignant opponents,
and the most determined haters of the black man, were loud in their
profession of attachment to the principles and plans of the society.
Why had not the wise and benevolent members of the society de
nounced that prejudice ? Because the best among them were them
selves partakers of that prejudice. It was evident, from all that Mr.
Breckinridge had said, that he was deeply imbued with that preju
dice. It gave tone, and color, and direction to all his remarks.
Such men might profess to love the black man, but they were likely
to be suspected of insincerity, when they uniformly manifested their
love by driving the object of it as far away as possible. Such a
mode of expressing love was contrary to all our ideas of the natural
manifestations of that feeling. If the Colonization Society was in
deed so full of benevolence and mercy, how was it that its character
was so misunderstood by the colored people, for whose special benefit
it had been originated ? Surely they were likely to be the best
judges of its effect upon their welfare and happiness. What was the
fact ? The entire free colored population of the United States were
opposed to the expatriating project. But his opponent would say it
was owing to the abuse poured upon the society by the foul-mouthed
Abolitionists. He (Mr. T.) should, however, deprive the gentleman
of this refuge, by laying before the meeting a very interesting fact,
which would at once show the feeling of the colored people when the
plan was first submitted to them. It would show, that in a meeting
of three thousand, convened in the city of Philadelphia, to decide
whether the society should, or should not, receive their countenance,
they decided against it without a dissentient voice. He would lay
before them a letter written by a highly respectable, enlightened, and
wealthy gentleman of color in Philadelphia, Mr. James Forten. The
letter was written to the editor of the New England Spectator, in
consequence of a remark made by Mr. Gurley, during the debate in
Boston. Philadelphia, June 10th, 1835.
Rev. W. S. Porter, — Dear Sir, — I cheerfully comply with tlie request contained in
your note of the 3d inst., to give you a brief statement of a meeting, held in 1817, by the
Iieople of color in this city, to express their opinion on the Liberia projeet. It was the,
argest meeting of colored persons ever convened in Philadelphia, — I will say 3000, though
I might safely add 500 more. To show you the deep interest evinced, this large assemblage
remained in almost breathless and fixed attention during the reading of the resolutions and
the other business of the meeting ; and when the question was put in the affirmative you
might have heard a pin drop, so profound was the silence. But when in the negative, one
long, loud, ay, tremendous NO, from this vast audience, seemed as if it would bring down
the walls of tlie building. Never did there appear a more unanimous opinion. Every heart
seemed to feel that it was a life and death question. Yes, even then, at the very onset, when
the monster came in a guise to deceive some of our firmest friends, who hailed it as the
dawning of a brighter day for our oppressed race, — even then we penetrated through its
thickly-laid covering, and beheld it prospectively as the scourge which in after years was to
grind us to the earth, and, by a series of unrelenting persecution, force us into involuntary
I was not a little surprised to learn that Mr. Gurley professed to be ignorant of, this fact;
for in the African Repository he reviewed Mr. Garrison's Thoughts on African Goloniza- ...
iion ¦ and a whole chapter of the work, if I mistake not, is taken lip with the sentiments of

70
the people of color on colonization, commencing with the Philadelphia meeting. Perhaps
Mr. Gurley did not read that chapter. But if his memory is not very treacherous, he ought
to have known the circumstance, for I related it to him myself in a conversation which I
had with him at my house one evening, in company with the Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge,
and our beloved friend, William Lloyd Garrison. The subject of colonization was warmly
discussed ; and I well recollect bringing our meeting of 1817 forward as a proof of our early
and decided opposition to the measure. No doubt Mr. Garrison also remembers it.
Three meetings were held by us in 1817. The two first you will find in tlie " Thoughts
on Colonization," part 2d, page 9. Of the protest and remonstrance adopted at the third
meeting, I send you an exact copy. It is in answer to an address to the citizens of New
York and Philadelphia, calling upon them to aid a number of persons of color, whom they
said were anxious to join the projected colony in Africa. Those persons were mostly from
the south, and it was to disabuse the public mind on this subject, that our meeting was held.
I remain, with great respect,
Yours, JAMES FORTEN.
He (Mr. T.) could pledge himself that such were still the feelings
of the free colored people of America. Wherever they possessed a
glimmering of light upon the subject, they utterly abhorred the society,
and would as soon consent to be cut to pieces, as sent to any of the
c6lonies prepared for their reception. Was it not then too bad that
Christians should be called upon to support a society so utterly at
variance with the wishes and feelings of the parties most nearly con
cerned ? As a few moments yet remained, he would occupy it in
quoting the opinions of two gentlemen, ministers of religion, and
standing high in their own country, who had furnished lamentable
evidence of the extent to which prejudice might possess otherwise
strong and enlarged minds. The first quotation was from a report of
a committee at the Theological Semina'ry at Andover, Massachu
setts, presented to the Colonization Society of that institution in 1823.
It was from the pen of the Rev. Leonard Bacon, now pastor of a
Congregational church at New Haven, Connecticut.
" The Soodra is not farther separated from the Brahmin, in regard to all his privileges,
civil, intellectual, and moral, than the negro is from the white man, by the prejudices, which
result from the difference made between them by the God of nature. A barrier more diffi
cult to be surmounted than the institution of tlie Caste, cuts off, and while the present state
of society continues, must always cut off, the negro from all that is valuable' in citizenship."
The other was his .opponent on that platform ; who, in a letter to
the New York Evangelist, had said, that emancipation, to be fol
lowed by amalgamation, at the option of the parties, would be reck
less wickedness. But lest he should misrepresent that gentleman, he
would turn to the paper, and quote the passage cited.
" I know that any abolition without the consent of the States holding the slaves, is impos
sible; that to obtain this consent on any terms, is very difficult; — that to obtain it without
the prospect of extensive removal by colonization, is impossible ; that to obtain it instantly
on any terms, is the dream of ignorance ; that to expect it instantly with subsequent equality,
is frantic nonsense ; and that to demand it, as an instant right, irrespective of consequences,
and to be followed by amalgamation at the option of the parties, is RECKLESS WICK
EDNESS ! "
All the alarm created on the subject of amalgamation was totally
unfounded. The views of the Abolitionists were simple and scrip
tural. They held that there should be no distinctions on account of
color. That to treat a man with coldness, unkindness, or contempt,

. 71
on account of his complexion, was to quarrel with the Maker of us
all. They held that this prejudice should be given up, and the col>-
ored man be treated as a white man, according to his intellect, mo
rality, and fitness for the duties of civil life. They did not interfere
with those tastes by which human beings were regulated in entering
into the nearest and most permanent relations of life. They confined
themselves to the exhibition of gospel truth upon the subject, and
left it to an overruling and watchful Providence to guard and control
the consequences springing from a faithful and fearless discharge of
duty. Mr. Thompson concluded, by observing, that he considered
the readiest way to make men curse their existence and their God,
was to oppress and enslave them on account of that complexion, and
those peculiarities., which the Creator of the world had stamped upon
them. Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said, he would commence with a slight
allusion to two references which had been made to himself by Mr.
Thompson. And in regard, to certain passages which had been read
from speeches of his, he woulo^ only say, that he had never written or
uttered a single word on this subject, which he would not rejoice to see
laid before the British public. But he had a right to complain of the
manner in which these passages had been quoted. It was not fair,
he contended, to break down a passage, and read only half a sen
tence, passing over the other half because it would not answer the
purpose of the reader ; in fact, because it would alter the sense of the
passage altogether. He charged Mr. T. with having been guilty of
this in the last quotation which he had made, and, in order to show
the true meaning of the garbled passage, he would read it as it stood :
[See the passage as it appears in Mr. T.'s speech.] He had read this
the more particularly, in order to show the consistency of his present
ppinions with those which he had held and uttered two years ago.
They would now perceive, he said, that when the sentence was given
entire, he said, that setting the slaves free without reference to con
sequences, constituted a material and an omitted part of that pro
cedure, which he had characterized as reckless wickedness, whereas
by breaking it up in the middle, he was made to say, that to permit
voluntary amalgamation, after instant abolition, was by itself to be
so considered. He was now ready to defend this statement as he
had at first made it.
The next thing he would refer to, was the report of a speech which
he [Mr. B.] had delivered at an annual meeting of the American Col
onization Society. And with regard to it, if he was in America, he
would say, decidedly, that it was not a fair report : that it was an un
fair report, got up by Mr. Leavitt, the editor of the New York Evan
gelist, to serve a special purpose,. He would not deny that he had
said something which might give a pretext for the1 report. He had
charged the parent society with having been guilty of a gross derelic
tion bf duty to the colony and the cause, in sending away two ships'
cargoes of negroes to Liberia, who were not fit for that place, and he

72
believed that those two expeditions had done much to injure the col
ony itself, as well as to impair public confidence in the firmness and
judiciousness of the parent board. They were emigrants unfit to be
sent out— the refuse of the counties around South Hampton in Virginia;
who were hurried out by the violent state of public sentiment in that
region, after the insurrection and massacre there. Like a man con
scious of rectitude, he had gone to the very parties concerned, and
declared his grounds of complaint; a line of conduct he could not too
often commend to Mr. Thompson, and no proof could be more con
clusive than this anecdote afforded, that the active friends of coloni
zation in America, however they might differ about details, meant
kindly by the blacks, and by Africa. Mr. B. again expressed his
surprise that Mr. Thompson should occupy the time of the meeting
by repeating his own speeches. He had adverted to this matter be
fore, he said, and as he was in a poor state of health, and had work-
elsewhere, and as there was much ground yet to go over, and Mr. T.
declared his materials to be most abundant, he thought those repeti
tions might have been spared. They^who took the trouble to read
the published speeches of this gentleman, would find, that however
exhaustless might be the boasted stores of his facts, proofs, and illus
trations, about what he called " American Slavery," he was exceed
ingly economical of them. After reading six or seven of them, he
found them so very like each other, that the same stories, in the same
order, and the same illustrations, in the same sequence, and the same
unfounded charges, in the same terms of unmeasured bitterness, may be
often expected, and never in vain. Indeed, so meagre was his supply
of wit, even, that it also went on very few changes. The whole case
exhibiting a most striking illustration of the truth uttered in a personal
sense by one of their own statesmen and scholars, and now proved to
be of general application, namely, that when a man resorted to his
memory for his jokes, it was very probable that he would draw upon
his imagination for his facts. As he [Mr..B.] had been so often
asked to produce .certain placards for the purpose of substantiating
some of his statements, there could be no better connexion in which
to call upon Mr. Thompson to bring forward proof of those charges
which he bronght against certain persons, and classes of persons, un
less he wished the world to believe that he had brought those charges
without having a single iota of evidence on which to found them. He
would call upon Mr. Thompson to bring forward his prpofs in
support of all those charges, those reckless and extravagant charges,
which he brought against the ministers of religion in America. Mr.
Thompson had stood before several London audiences with a run
away slave from America, who charged certain individuals with un
paralleled cruelty ! Amongst other, things, with burning a slave
alive ; a matter to which Mr. T's attention had in vain been called,
and his proofs demanded. He would take no further notice of the
gross things he had uttered of the president of the United States than
to say, that if he (Mr. B.) could condescend to imitate his conduct,

73
and utter ribaldrous things of the king of Great Britain, he should
richly deserve to be turned with contempt out of this sacred place.
He would proceed, then, with. his remarks on the Maryland coloniza
tion scheme. They had been told by Mr. T. that the object of the
Maryland society was compulsory expatriation, as a condition prece
dent to freedom. When proof of this was required, he could bring
none ; and when he (Mr. B.) had showed that it was not so, but that
its object was of unmixed good to the blacks, an object accomplished
as to many, on their showing, in the proof produced, Mr. Thompson
turned rounds and said, that: it was entirely contrary to his precon
ceived notions, and repeated statements, and must be. false! But
facts were better than notions and statements both. And what
were the facts in the present case ? Why,, that on the one hand Mr.
Thompson asserts that no slave can be manumitted in Maryland ex
cept he will instantly depart the country ; whereas Messrs. Harper,
Howard and Hoffman assert, in an official report, on the 31st of last
December, that 299 manumissions within that state had been officially
reported to them within a year, and 1101 within four years. At the
same moment I have produced a record of the very names and peri
ods, of emigration, of 140, bond and free, all told, who, within the
same four years, under, the action of the very laws in question, had
gone from the state ; admitting half of whom to be of those particu
lar manumitted slaves, there would be left 1021 more of them to
prove that Mr. T. either totally misunderstaod, or mis-stated, that of
which he affirms — either way, his assertions are demonstrated to be
untrue. As to the laws of Maryland, of which mention had been
made, he had not seen them since his visit to Boston two years ago,
and in adverting to them he had stated in general terms what he un
derstood them to, be. The great object of these laws was said to be
the driving out of the free blacks from the state of Maryland. Now
that the means taken to promote this end were not of that grinding
and iniquitous character which Mr. Thompson had represented them
as being,, would be sufficiently obvious to the meeting, when it was
considered that in that state there were three times the number of free
persons of color, than were to be found in the majority of the free
states, and considerably more than there were in any other state in
the Union. If the laws were found more oppressive in Maryland,
how did it come that the free blacks congregated there from al other
parts of America ? Or if they were set free by the people so much
opposed, to their increase, why did they not rather go to Pennsylva
nia, which was separated from Maryland only by an imaginary line,
and where free blacks enjoyed almost the same rights as white men ?
But, again, it was said, that that colonization scheme was an awfully
wicked scheme, because it. sought»to prevent the increase of free per
sons of color in Maryland. But if this were a grievous sin, were the
people of Great Britain not equally guilty in sending away out ofthe
country ship loads of paupers, free whites, to other parts of the globe,
in order to prevent the increase of pauperism in this country ? Why
10

74
had not this branch of the subject been adverted to by Mr. Thomp
son ? Why had he not, in the paroxysms of his enfuriated eloquence,
while abusing the American colonizationists, not included the king
and parliament of Britain for allowing the existence of laws, or if
there be no such law, for a practice rife in England, of expatriating
thousands of paupers not only by contributions, but at the public ex
pense. He would be told that the paupers were sent away to dis
tant parts of the globe, where they would be more comfortable in
every respect than they were at present. And had Mr. T. bowels of
compassion only for the black man ? Is it lawful to export a white
man against his will, at the public charge, while it is unlawful to ex
port a black man, with his free consent, by private benevolence ? Is
America so detestable a place, that England may lawfully make her
the receptacle of the refuse of the poor houses of the realm ; while
Africa is so sacred a place, that no one that can even do her good is
to be permitted to go there from America, if his skin is dark ? May
Britain say, she has more paupers than she can support, and so make
it state policy to force emigration from Ireland, by a system which
makes a quarter of the people there beg bread eight months out of
twelve, and produces inexpressible distress ; and yet is Maryland to
be precluded, on any account, or upon any terms, from seeking the
diminution, or rather preventing the disproportionate increase, of a
population, anomalous, and difficult of proper regulation ? He should
be most happy to receive an explanation of these strange contradic
tions ! There was another feature of the Maryland laws, which he
might mention, which forbade the emigration of slaves into Maryland,
' even along with their owners. Mr. Thompson had prudently omitted
all notice of that enactment, while he bad said a great deal about the
registration of free persons of color, as if it were a most intolerable
hardship. He (Mr. B.) was unable to see in what respect the great
hardship consisted. Was not every freeholder in this country regis
tered? But the free black was not allowed to leave the state of
Maryland without giving notice, it was said. There was nothing very
oppressive in all that. It was no worse interference on the part of the
government, than for the king of Great Britain to say to his subjects,
You must return home under certain contingencies ; you shall not
dwell in particular places, nor fight for certain nations. Were the
governments of America, because they were republicans, not to have
the power which other nations had, of controlling the actions of that
portion of their population, whose movements must be regarded by all
who regarded the peace of society or the public good. He admitted,
that some of the laws in several of the states were hard and severe in
reference to the free colored population, bnt while he said so, it was
but fair to add that he considered the conduct of the abolitionists, in
spreading their new fangl fid notions, had done much to alter these
laws for the worse. In many instances the bad laws had become
worse, and good laws had become bad, solely through the imprudent
conduct of Mr. Thompson's associates. And this specific law of

75
registration, and loss of right of residence, by removal for any consid
erable time out of the state, was obviously intended to prevent free
persons of color from going out and becoming imbued with false and
bloody theories, and then returning to disturb the public peace. The
law says to them, Abide at home, or, if you prefer it, depart, and
find a home more to your mind ; but if you go, prudence requests
•us to prohibit your return. Mr. T.'s .complaints of this enactment,
showed how necessary it was to have made it.
In conclusion, he would recommend to Mr. Thompson, should he
ever return to America, he need not be so tremendously prudent in
regard to his personal safety, if he would just hot be so tremendously
imprudent in the principles and proceedings he advocated, and the
statements he made with regard to the conduct of the American peo
ple. He had now gone over the assertions of Mr. Thompson, re
garding the Maryland colonization scheme, and he trusted that he had
shown the unfounded nature of those assertions. All that had been
said by Mr. T. as to the principles and objects of the coloniza
tionists, and the scope and influence of their course, had no other
proof than the writings of those persons, who for some years, had
formed a very small portion of the supporters of this great interest ;
and who, without exception, belonged to those classes, who at
first, as had already been admitted, supported it, for reasons, some
ofv which were entirely political, others perhaps severe to the
slaves, and others unjust or inconsiderate towards the free blacks.
But that directly opposite views, statements and arguments, could be
more amply procured from the still greater, and still proportionately
increasing party, who support this cause, as a great benevolent and
religious operation, must be perfectly known to the individual him
self. If he admit this, said Mr. B., it will show his present course to
be of the same uncandid kind with all the rest of his conduct towards
America, in selecting what answered his purpose ; that always being
the worst thing he could find, and representing it as a fair sample of
all. It will do more, it will show that what he calls proof is no proof
at all. But if he denies my repeated representations as to the various
classes of the original supporters of the parent society, and the present
state of them, I am equally content; as, in that case, all America
would have a fair criterion by which to test his statements. As to
the Maryland plan, and that pnrsued by the united societies of Phil
adelphia and New York, if they have any supporters except such as
love the cause of the black man, of temperance, and of peace, the
world has yet to find it out.
The time being expired, Mr. B. sat down.

76

FOURTH NIGHT — THURSDAY, JUNE 16.
Mr. THOMPSON said that before proceeding to the subject
decided upon for that evening's discussion, he must, in justice ta
himself and his cause, offer a remark or two. He had on the
previous evening been struck with surprise at the extraordinary
injustice of charging him (Mr. T.) with quoting unfairly from
the letter of Mr. Breckinridge in the New- York Evangelist.
It must have been obvious to all, that in the first instance, he
quoted from memory, but all would recollect with the avowed
wish of avoiding -misrepresentation, he had gone to his table — '
produced the letter, and read the passage entire without the
omission or interpolation of a letter or a comma. He, therefore,,
emphatically denied the charge of garbling. Mr. Breckin
ridge did himself, immediately afterwards, read the passage,
and read it precisely as he (Mr. Thompson) had read it. The
imputation, therefore, was equally unfounded and unfair. He
(Mr. T.) Was thankful that his argument needed not such help.
It would be as absurd as it would be wicked for him to attempt
to support his cause by any garbled statement.
He begged also that it might be distinctly understood that.
he had by no means exhausted the evidence in his possession
on the subject of Colonization. He could adduce "a thousand
times as much as that which had been already brought for
ward. He had much to say of the colony at Liberia ; the
means taken to establish it, the nature of the climate, the
character of the emigrants, the mortality amongst the settlers,
how much it had done towards the suppression of the- slave
trade, &c. In fact, he was prepared with overwhelming evi
dence upon every branch of the subject, and was willing to re
turn to it at any moment, confident that the arguments he
could produce, and the facts by which he could support them,
would, iri the estimation of the public, destroy forever the
claim of the Colonization Society to be considered a pure,
peaceful, or benevolent institution. I now, (said Mr. T.) come
to the topic immediately before us.
It is my solemn and responsible duty to hring before you?

77
to-night the principles and measures of a large, respectable, and
powerful body in the United States, known by the name of
Immediate Abolitionists. A body of individuals embracing
not fewer than fifteen hundred ministers of the gospel, and men
of the highest station and largest attainments. A body of per
sons that have been' charged upon this platform with being a
handfull, " so small that they could not obtain^'their object, and
so erroneous {despicable was, I believe, the word used) as not
to deserve success,"^— charged with being the enemies 'of the
slave-holder — taking him by the throat, and saying/' you
great thieving, man-stealing villain, unless you instantly give
your slaves liberty, I will pitch you out of this third-story
window," — charged with carrying in their track a pestilence
like a storm of fire and brimstone from hell ; forcing ministers
of religion to seek peacful villages not yet blasted by it, —
charged with saying that they were sent from God, when, they
possessed the fury of demons, — charged, finally, with having
" thrown the cause" of emancipation " a hundred years farther
back than it was five years ago." These are -fearful indict
ments, ahd Mr. Breckinridge has a weighty , duty to fulfil
to-night, for he is bound to sustain them. They have been
brought by himself, a Christian minister, the professed friend pf
the' slave ; and he must, therefore, abundantly support them by
incontrovertible evidence, or stand branded before the world as'
the worst £oe of human freedom — the foul calumniator of the
friends and advocates of the oppressed, the.' suffering, and the
dumb. He would lay the principles of the American' abolitionists
before the audience in the words of their solemn and official
documents. He would go back to the commencement of the
five years mentioned by his opponent, and rekd from the " Con
stitution of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society," a
lucid exposition of the principles and objects of the first Anti-
Slavery, Society (technically so called) iri the United States.
" We, the undersigned, hold that every person of full age and sane mind, ha3 a
, right to immediate freedom from personal bondage of whatsoever'kind, unless im
posed by the sentence of the law for the commission of some crime. .
We hold that man cannot, consistently with reason, religion, and the eternal and
Immutable principles, of justice, be the, property of man.
We hold that whoever retains his fellow man in bondage, is guilty of a grevious
wrong. ' ,
We hold that a mere difference of complexion is no reason why anjr man should
be deprived of any of his natural rights, or subjected to any political' disability. ,
While we advance these opinions as the principles on which we intend to act, we
declare that we will not operate on the existing relations of society by other than
peaceful and lawful means, and that we will give no countenance to violence or
insurrection. - .
With these views, we agree to form ourselves into a society, and to be govefhed
by the rules specified in the following constitution, viz: >_ ¦
Article 1. This Society shall be called the New-England Anti-Slavery Society.
Article 2. The object of the society will be to endeavor, by all means sane.
tioned by law; humanity, and religion, to effect the Abolition of Slavery in thB

78
United States, to improve the character and condition of the free people of oolo*,
to inform and correct public opinion in relation to their situation and rights, and
obtain for them equal civil and political rights and privileges with the whites."
He would now pass on to the formation of the National
Anti-Slavery Society, in December, 1833, and submit all that
was material in the " Constitution or the American Anti-
Slavery Society."
Article 2. The object of this Society is the entire abolition of slavery in the
United States. While it admits that each State in which Slavery exists has, by the
Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its
abolition in that State, it shall aim to convince all our fellow-citizens, by arguments
addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slave-holding is a heinous
crime in the sight of God ; and that the duty, safety, and best interest of all con- '
cerned, require its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The Society
will also endeavor, in a constitutional way, to influence Congress, to put an end to
the domestic slave trade ; and to abolish slavery in all those portions of our com
mon country which come under its control, especially in the district of Columbia,
and likewise to prevent the extension of if to any State that may hereafter be ad
mitted to the Union.
Article 3. This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the
people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral,and religious improvement,
and by removing public prejudice ; that thus they may, according to their intellec
tual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites of civil and religious priv
ileges ; but the Society will never in any way countenance the oppressed in vindi
cating their rights by resorting to physical force.
Article 4. Any person who consents to the principles of this Constitution, who
contributes to the funds of this Society, and is not a slave-holder, may be a mem
ber of this Society, and shall be entitled to a vote at its meetings."
He would next read the "Preamble" to the Constitution of
the New-Hampshire State Anti-Slavery Society :
" The most high God hath made of one blood all the families of man to dwell
on the face of all the earth, and hath endowed all alike with the same inalienable
rights, of which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; yet there are now
in this land, more than two millions of human beings, possessed of the same
deathless spirits, and heirs to the same immortal hopes and destinies with ourselves,
who are nevertheless deprived of these sacred rights, and kept in the most cruel
and abject bondage ; a bondage under which human beings are bred and fattened
for the market, and then bought, sold, mortgaged, leased, bartered, fettered, tasked,
scourged, beaten, killed, hunted even like the veriest brutes, — nay, made often the
unwilling victims of ungodly lust ; while, at the same time, their minds are, by
law and custom, generally shut out from all access to letters, and in various other ways
alt their upward tendencies are repressed and crushed, so as to make their " moral
and religious condition such that they may justly be considered the heathen of this
country; " and since we regard such oppression as one of the greatest wrongs that
man can commit against his fellow ; and existing as it does, and tolerated as it is,
under this free and Christian government, sapping its foundation, bringing its in
stitutions into contempt among other nations, thus retarding the march of freedom
and religion, and strengthening the hands of despotism and irreligion throughout
the world ; and since we deem it a duty to ourselves, to our government, to the
world, to the oppressed, and to God, to do all we can to end this oppression, and to
secure an immediate and entire emancipation of the oppressed ; and believe we can
act most efficiently in the case, in the way of combined and organized action : —
Therefore, we, the undersigned, do form ourselves into a Society for the purpose."
If there was anything for which the abolitionists as a body
were peculiarly distinguished, it was for the perfect uniformity
of sentiment upon all great points connected with the general
question of slavery. This was attributable to the clearness ahd

79
fullness with which the principles of the Society had been
enunciated. Not so with the Colonization Society. You
quoted the language of the most eminent of its supporters, but
were immediately told that the Society was not answerable for
the views or designs of its advocates. How very different a
course did the Colonizationists pursue towards the Anti-Slavery
Society. That Society was not only made answerable for all
which the abolitionists really said, and really designed, but for
things they never said, and never designed. No Society was
more conspicuous for the simplicity of its principles, or the har
mony of views subsisting among its members. All regarded
slave-holding as sinful. All considered immediate emancipa
tion to be the duty of the master and the right of the slave.
All deprecated the thought of a servile insurrection to effect the
extinction of slavery. All abhorred the doctrine that f the end
sanctifies the means." But all deemed it a solemn duty to pur
sue, with energy and boldness, the overthrow of slavery ; all
were one in believing and teaching, that the means adopted
should be honest, holy, peaceful, and moral. It had been said
that the only weapon should be "persuasion." He (Mr. T.)
believed that if no other weapon than " persuasion " was re
sorted to, slavery would be perpetual. He believed that the
gathered, concentrated, withering scorn of the whole world,
Pagan and Christian, must be brought down upon slave-holding
America, ere 'much effect could be produced. If this was in
sufficient, it would be the duty of Britain to consider well
whether it was right to hold the destinies of the slaves of
America in her hand and not act accordingly. ' It would be the
duty of the friends of the slave to point to slave-grown produce,
and cry, "touch not, taste not, handle not " the accursed thing1 !
Great Britain had the power, by adopting a system of prohibi
tory duties or bounties, to affect very materially the question at
issue, and he (Mr. T.) doubted not, that, if some such course
was adopted, certain of the slave States would immediately
abolish slavery that they might find a readier market and a
higher price for their produce.
Notwithstanding, however, the precision with which the ab
olitionists had stated their principles, and the wide publicity they
had given them, designs the most black, and measures the most
monstrous and wicked, had been charged upon them. They
had been represented as " firebrands," " incendiaries," " disor
ganizes," " amalgamatists " — as promoting "disunion," "re
bellion," and the " intermixture of the races." Again and,again,
had they solemnly disclaimed the views imputed to them, and
pointed to their published "constitutions" and "declarations;"
but as often had their enemies returned to their work pf cal
umny and misrepresentation. How totally absurd was it to

80
charge upon the abolitionists the design of promoting amalga
mation, . while, under the system of slavery, an unholy amal
gamation was going on to the most awful extent ; demonstrated
by the endless shades of complexion at the south ; and when
nothing was more obvious than this, that when, a female was
rescued from her present condition — inspired with self-respect,
and became the protector of her own virtue, — and when fath
ers, and brothers, and husbands, were free to defend the honor
of their wives and daughters,, the great causes, and incentives,
and facilities would cease, and cease forever, and to prove to the
world how solemnly the abolitionists had denied the imputa
tions cast upon them by their enemies, he would read from two
documents put forth during the great excitement which pre
vailed through the United States in August last. The Ameri
can Anti-Slavery Society, in "An Address to the public," thus
anew declared their principles and objects.
" We hold that Congress has no more right to abolish slavery in the southern
States, than in the French West-India Islands. Of course we desire no national
legislation on the subject."
" We hold that slavery can only be lawfully abolished by the Legislatures of the
several States in which it prevails, and that the exercise of any other than moral
influence to induce such abolition is unconstitutional."
" We believe that Congress has the same right to abolish slavery in the District
of Columbia, thatthe State Governments have within their respective jurisdictions,
and that it is tlieir duty to efface so foul a blot from the national escutcheon."
" We believe that American citizens have the right to express and publish their
opinions of the constitutions, laws, and institutions, of any and every state and
nation under Heaven; and we mean never to surrender the liberty of speech, of
the press, or of conscience — blessings we have inherited from our fathers, and
whicii we intend, as far as we are able, to transmit unimpaired to our children."
" We are charged with sending incendiary publications to the south. If by the
term incendiary is meant publications containing arguments and facts to prove
slavery to be a moral and political evil, and th,at duty and policy require its imme
diate abolition, the charge is true. But if the term is used to imply publications
encouraging insurrection, and designed to excite the slaves to break their fetters,
the charge is utterly and unequivocally false. We beg our fellow-citizens to notice'
that this charge is made without proof, and by many who confess that they haye,
never read our publications, and that those who make it, offer to the public no evi-
dencefrom our writings in support of it."
" We have been charged with a design to encourage intermarriages between the
whites and blacks. The charge has been repeatedly, and is now again denied,
while we repeat that the tendency of our sentiments i_ to put an end to the crimi
nal amalgamation that prevails wherever slavery exists."
These were only extracts from the address, which was of con
siderable length, arid thus concluded :
" Such, fellow-citizens, are our principles. Are they unworthy of republicans
and of Christians? Or are they in truth so atrocious, that in order to prevent
their diffusion you are yourselves willing to surrender, at the dictation of others,
the invaluable privilege of free discussion, the very birth-right of Americans?
Will you, in order that the abomination of slavery may be concealed from public
view, and that the capital of yoiir republic may continue to be, as it now is, under!
the sanction of Congress, the great slave mart of the American Continent, consent
that the general government, in acknowledged defiance of the constitution and
laws, shall appoint, throughout the length and breadth of your hind, ten thousand
censors of the press, each of whom shall have the right to inspect every document
you may commit to the Post- Office, and to suppress every pamphlet and newspaper,

gi

Members of the
Etectttive
ConWmittee.

and that, although abolitionists may be the first, they will not be the last victims
offered at the shrine of arbitrary power. ARTHUR TAPPAN, President.
JOHN RANKIN, Treasurer.
WILLIAM JAY, Sec. For. Cor.
ELIZUR WRIGHT, Jr., Sec.ZDom. Got-.
ABRAHAM L. COX, Mi D., Ree. Sec.
LEWIS TAPPAN,
JOSHUA LEAVITT,
SAMUEL E. CORNISH,
SIMEON S. JOCELYN,
THEODORE S. WRIGHT,
New-York,s September 3; 1835."
The other document to which He had referred, was an " Ad
dress" adopted at "A meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Sla
very Society, duly held in Boston, on Monday, August 17,
A. D., 1835," signed by W. L. Garrison, and twenty-seven
highly respectable citizens of Boston, on behalf of the Massa
chusetts Society, and others concurring generally in its princi
ples. He (Mr. T.) would only quote a few brief passages.
" We are charged with violating, or' wishing to violate, the Constitution of the
United States. Wha^have- we done,: what have we said. to warrant this charge ?
We have held public meetings, and taken other usual means of convincing our
countrymen that slave-holding is sin, and, like all sin, ought to be, and can be, im
mediately abandoned'. We have said, in the words of tbe Declaration of Indepen
dence, that " ALL MEN are created equal," and that liberty is an inalienable gift
of God to every man-. We know of no clause in the Constitution which forbids
our saying this. We appeal to the calm judgment of the community, to decide, in
view of recent events, whether the measures of the- friends, or those of the oppo
sers of abolition, are more justly chargeable with the violation of the Constitution
and laws." * * * * * # *,*.* _
" The foolish tale, that we would encourage amalgamation by intermarriage be
tween the whites and' blacks, though often refuted, as often re-appeal's. We shall
content ourselves with a simple denial of this charge. We: challenge our oppo
nents to point to one of our publications in which such' intermarriages- are recom
mended One of our objects is to prevent the amalgamation now going on, so far
as can be done, by placing one million of the females of this country under the
protection of law."
" We are accused'of interfering in the domestic concerns ofthe southern States.
We would ask those, who- charge' this, toexplain precisely what they mean by " in
terference;" If, by interference be meant any attempt to legislate tot, the' southern
States, or to compel them; by force or intimidation, to emancipate their slaves, we
at once deny any" such pretension. We are utterly opposed to any force on the
subject, but that of Conscience and reison, which are " mighty, through God-,tothe
pulling down of strongholds." We fully acknowledge that no change in the
slave-laws ofthe southern States can be made, unless by the southern Legislatures.
Neither Congress nor the Legislatures of Mie' free States have authority tb change
the condition of a single slave in the slave States But, if by " interference" be
intended the exercise of the- right of freely discussing this subject, and,, by speech,.
and; through- the press, creating a public sentiment, Which will reach' the conscience,
and blend" with the convictions of the slave-holder, and thus ultimately work the:
complete extinction of slavery, this is a species'of interference which, we can never-
consent fo relinquish."
_*****'*«**
" We respectfully ask our fellow-citizens, whether we are to be deprived of these
sacred privileges, — and, if so, whether the sacrifice ef our rights will not involve
consequences dangerous to all mental and" even personal" freedom; We havff vio-
II

82
lated, we mean to violate, no law. We have acted, we shall continue to act, under
the sanction of the Constitution ofthe United States. Nothing that we propose to
do can be prevented by our opposers, without violating the Charter of our rights.
To the Law and to the Constitution we appeal."
Such were the, sentiments of the abolitionists of the United
States of America.
He (Mr. T.) would embrace the present opportunity of say
ing a few words respecting his own mission to the United
States. It had been much denounced as an impertinent foreign
interference ; but he thought the charge had neither grace nor
honesty when it came from those who were engaged, and, as
he believed, most conscienciously and praiseworthily, in seek
ing, by their missionaries and agents, to overturn the institu
tions, social, political, and religious, of every other quarter of
the globe. Mr. Breckinridge had said that it would be as just
on his part to inveigh against England on account of Roman
Catholicism in the west of Ireland, or Idolatry in India, as it
was on his (Mr. T's.) to condemn America for the slavery ex
isting in that country. The cases were not quite parallel.
Before they could be compared, Mr. B. must prove that the
population of Ireland were constrained to worship the Virgin
Mary — that in India, men were forced by British Law to wor
ship idols. No British subject was compelled by any law of
this country, or any other country to which British sway ex
tended, to be either a Papist or an Idolator. But in America,
men were converted into beasts, " according to law," and their
souls and bodies crushed and degraded by a system most vigor
ously enforced by the strong arm of the State. His opponent
had said, however, that slavery was not a national sin. He
(Mr. T.).had to thank a friend for suggesting an illustration of
the knotty problem. Suppose a number of Agriculturists and
Merchants and Highway Robbers were to meet together to
form a Union, and the Highway Robbers were to say — come,
let us unite for the purpose of common security, and common
prosperity : we will defend each other, and trade with each
other, but we will not " interfere " in each other's internal af
fairs. You, gentlemen, Agriculturists and Merchants, shall
promise that you will take no notice of my felonious and cut
throat proceedings, and I, on my part, will pledge my honor
not to intermeddle in the affairs of your farms or counting-
houses : and suppose they were to shake hands, complete the
bargain, and ratify an indissoluble union of Agriculturists, Mer
chants, and Highway Robbers ! would the world hold the far
mer or the merchant guiltless ? Mr. B. had said much of the
purity and emancipation principles of Massachusetts, and New-
Hampshire and Maine. How came it to pass, then, that they
were in terms of such close and cordial fellowship with South

83
Carolina, and Georgia, and Louisiana, and so ready to mob,
stone, and outlaw those who deemed it their duty to cry aloud
on behalf of the oppressed ? To return to his own mission.
He would never condescend to apologize for speaking the truth.
He had a commission direct from the skies, to rebuke sin and
compassionate suffering wherever on the face of the earth they
existed. This world belonged'to God ; and all 'men were His
subjects and his (Mr. Thompson's) brethren. Men might be
naturally divided by rivers, and oceans, and mountains ; they
might be politically divided by different forms of government,
and specified lines of demarkation; but he (Mr. T-) took the
Bible in his hand and deemed himself at liberty to address every
human being on the face of the earth in reference to those
eternal principles of justice and truth, which are alike in all
countries and in all ages, and which the subjects of God's moral
government are everywhere bound to respect. He would say
to America and to England, silence your cry of foreign inter
ference, or call home your Missionaries from India, and China,
and Constantinople. To shew that the object of his mission
was in accordance with the spirit of the gospel, he would read
an extract from an article in the first number of the " Aboli
tionist," the organ of " The British and Foreign Society for the
Universal Abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade " — a So
ciety with which he was connected when he went to America,
and whose Agent he still was. The objects of his mission
were thus set forth :
" 1. To lecture in the principalities and towns ofthe free States, upon the char
acter, guilt, and tendency of slavery, and the duty, necessity, and advantages of
immediate and entire abolition. These addresses will be founded upon those great
principles of humanity and religion, which have been so fully enunciated in this
country, and will consequently be wholly unconnected with particular and local
politics. This work will be carried on under the advice and with the co-operation
of the Anti-Slavery Societies at present in existence in the United States.
2. To aim, by every Christian means, at the overthrow of that prejudice against
the colored classes, which now so lamentably prevails through, all the States of
America ; and to regard as a principal mean to obtain this desirable object, their
elevation in intellect and mural worth.
3. To suggest to the friends of negro freedom in the United States the adoption
and prosecution of such measures as were fotond conducive to the cause of abolition
in this country, and may be ,found applicable to existing circumstances in that.
4. To seek access to influential persona of various religious denominations, and
especially to ministers ofthe gospel, for the purpose of explanatory conversation on
the subjects of slavery and prejudice.
5. To endeavor to effect a junction between the abolitionists ofthe United States
of Americaand great Britain, with a view to the abolition of slavery and the slave
trade throughout the world."
The principles of the American Societies, his own principles,
and the objects proposed by his mission to America, were now
before his opponent. , He called upon him to throw aside his
quibbles on legal technicalities, and point out, if he were able,
anything in the documents he had read, or the sentiments he

84
had advanced, inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity, or the
genius of rational freedom. It had been said that abolitionism
was " quackery," only four years old. He would give them a
little of the quackery of Benjamin Franklin, in the year 1790.
He held in his handapetition drawn up by that (celebrated man,
and adopted by the "Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of
Slavery," the preamble of which recognizes the doctrines
which are maintained by American Abolitionists ait' tlie present
day, and expresses the (now incendiary) desire of diffusing
them " wherever ihe evils of Slavery exist," Of this Society,
Dr. Franklin was elected President, and Dr. Rush the Secretary.
In 1790, this Society (presented to the first Congress a petition,
from which the following is an extract : —
" From a.persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, and is still the
birth-right of all men, and influenced by the strong ties of humanity, and the prin
ciples of (their institutions, your memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all
justifiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slavery, and promote a general enjoy
ment pf the blessings of freedom. Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat
your serious attention to the subject of slavery ; that you may be p'leasedto coun
tenance the restoration to liberty of those unhappy men, who, alone in a land of
freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, arid who, amidst the general joy of
surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection ; that you will devise means
far removing Jhts inconsistency ifrom the character of the American people ; that
you will promote mercy and justice towards this oppressed race, and that you will
step to the very verge of the power vested in you, for discouraging every species of
traffic in the persons of our fellow-men."
(Signed) Benjamin Fra.,\klin, President.
Philadelphia, February 2, 1790."
Besides the venerable Franklin in 1790, he might refer to
the truly able speech of the Rev. David Rice, in the Conven
tion held at Danville, Kentucky, before, or soon after the peti
tion just read ¦ — to the 'sermon of Jonathan Edwards, the younger,
in the year 1791— -and to a most excellent sermon by Alexan
der M'Leod, through whose zeal and labors -chiefly, the Re
formed Presbyterians were brought to the determination to rid
their church of slavery, an object they accomplished in the ,
year 1802. It was a painful fact that the American community
ihad retrograded in feeling and sentiment upon the subject of
slavery. The anti-slavery feeling of 1820 was neither so pure
nor so strong as in 1800, or 1790 ; and in 1830 the feeling had
become still weaker, and the views of the community still
more corrupted. This was owing to the formation of the colo
nization society, which, like a great sponge, gathered up and
absorbed the anti-slavery feeling of the country, and by propo
sing the removal ofthe colored population, and constantly
preaching such doctrines as were calculated to advance that
object, drew public attention away from the duty of immediate
emancipation on the soil, and caused the Christian community
l© rest in a scheme '^as«d iipon expediency, and fully in unison

85
with their prejudice against icolor. To those who compared the
various sentiments contained in the writings and speeches of
the colonizationists, with the pure and uncompromising princi
ples ^advocated towards the close of the last, and the beginning
of the present century, nothing was more obvious than the fact
he had jmst stated, namely, that there had been a gradual giv
ing up of sound views and principles, for othe'rs accommodated
to the prejudices and -interests and fears of the different por
tions of the community. For instance, nothing was more com
mon in the records of the Colonization Society than the recog
nition Sof a right of property in man.; to find the advocates of
the Society, when speaking of the -slaveholder and his slaves,
saying, " we hold their slaves, as we hold their other property,
sacred." Mr. Breckinridge might say "these are not my opin
ions ; " — but he must know they were the published opinions
of the managers and chief advocates of the Society, and it was
for him to>explain 'how he could lend a Society his countenance
and aid, which promulgated and upheld so impious a doctrine
as the right of property in God's rational, accountable, and im
mortal creatures. He (Mr. T.) knew, however, that the Society
ooiaild assume all colors, and preach all kinds of doctrines. At
one time it was promoting emancipation, and at another,
increasing the value of slaves, and securing the master in the
possession of them. It had one face for the north, and auother
for the south-— a very Proteus enacting every sort of character ;
having no fixed principles — never consistent with itself in any
thing but its deteBmination by all means to get rid, if possible,
ofthe colored man. If there was anyone thing which, more
than another, was calculated to demonstrate the true character
and tendency of rthe Society, it was the opinions everywheie
entertained respecting it by the colored population. It was a
fact that they loathed and abhorred the Society. No man advo
cating it could be popular amongst them. Even Mr. Breckin
ridge, with all his virtues and benevolence, was considered by
the colored people as practically their enemy, by helping to sus
tain a Society which they regarded as the most effective engine
of oppression ever invented. Surely they were qualified to
form a judgment upon the subject. They^had looked into its
workings — they had narrowly watched its movements, and
had satisfied themselves that it was full of all unrighteousness.
If, on the other hand, the abolitionists were, by their measures,
doing vast injury to the cause of the free colored people, how
came it to pass, that they had the love and confidence of that
entire class of the population ? How was it that even the arch
.fiend of abolition, George Thompson, was by them caressed
and beloved, and that they would hang for hours upon the
accents of his lips— and that the tear of gutftitude w.ould start

86
into, their eyes wherever he met them? The secret was soon
told. He (Mr. T.) spoke to them and of them, as men. He
compromised none of their rights — he exhibited no prejudice
, against their complexion. He did not recommend exile as their
only way of escape from their present and dreaded ills. He
preached justice, and kindness, and repentance to their persecu
tors, and maintained the right of- the bleeding captive to full
and unconditional liberty, with all the privileges and honors of
humanity. Therefore they loved him — therefore they would
lay down their lives for him. He would read a list of places,
in all of which the colored people had held meetings, and de
nounced the plans of the Colonization Society, viz , —
Philadelphia, New-York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington;
Brooklyn and Rochester, in the State of New-York ; Hartford,
Middletown, New-Haven, and Lime in the State of Connecticut ;
Columbia, Pittsburg, Lewistown, and Harrisburg, in the State
of Pennsylvania ; Providence, in the State of Rhode-Island ;
Trenton, in the State of New-Jersey ; Wilmington, in the State
of Delaware ; New-Bedford, in the State of Massachusetts ;
Nantucket ; in the National Convention of free colored persons,
held in Philadelphia, in 1831 — by the same Convention in
1832, and, he believed, in very subsequent Conventions.
To return to the Anti-Slavery Societies of the United States.
He (Mr. T.) knew them to be composed ofthe finest and purest
elements in the country. They were numerous and powerful.
It would soon be proved that, with the blessing of God, they
were omnipotent. Knowing the piety, intelligence, wealth, •
and energy of the abolitionists of America, it required some
effort to be calm when Mr. Breckinridge stood before a British
audience and compared them to Falstaff's ragged regiment.
The Society of Kentucky might be small in regard to numbers.
He believed, however, they were highly respectable. He re
ferred to Mr. J. G. Birney on this point. Mr. Breckinridge'?
might represent on the present occasion, if it pleased him, the
abolitionists of his (Mr. B's) country as beggarly, odious, and
despicable ; but if he lived to revisit England (and he hoped he
might) he believed he would then have to find some, other illusr
tration of their character, numbers and appearance, than the
ragged regiment of Shakspeare's Falstaff.
Having stated the principles of the Anti-Slavery Societies in
America, he would exhibit, in the words of the Philadelphia
declaration of sentiments, their mode of operations. The
National Society, formed during the convention, thus made
known to the world its intended course of action: —
We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in every city, town and
village in our land.
We shall send forth Agents to lift up the voice of remonstrance, pf wafnipg^af
entreaty and rebuke.

87
We Bhall circulate, unsparingly, and extensively, anti-slavery tracts and peri
odicals. We shall enlist the " Pulpit " and the " Press " in the cause of the suffering and
the dumb.
We shall aim at a purification ofthe churches from all participation in the guilt
of slavery.
We shall encourage the labor of freemen rather than that of the slaves, by giving
a preference to their productions : and
We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole nation to speedy re
pentance. Our trust for victory is solely in GOD. We may be personally defeated,' but
our principles never. Truth, Justice, Reason, Humanity, must and will gloriously
triumph. Already a host is coming up to the help ofthe Lord against the mighty,
and the prospect before us is full of encouragement.
Submitting this declaration to the candid examination ofthe people of this coun
try, and ofthe friends of liberty throughput the world, we hereby affix our signa
tures to it ; pledging ourselves that, under the guidance and by the help of Al
mighty God, we will do all that in us lies, consistently with this' Declaration of our
principles, to overthrow the most execrable system of slavery that has ever been
witnessed upon earth ; to deliver our land from its deadliest curse ; to wipe out the
foulest stain which rests upon our national escutcheon ; and to secure to the colored
population ofthe United States all the rights and privileges which belong to them
as men and as Americans — come what may to our persons, our interests, or our
reputations — whether we live to witness the triumph of Liberty, Justice, and Hu
manity, or perish nntimely as martyrs in this great, benevolent and holy cause.
Signed in the Mel-phi HaU, in the City of Philadelphia, \
on the 6th day of December, A. D. 1833. 5
Trite to the pledges given in this declaration, the abolitionists
had printed, preached, and prayed without ceasing. As a proof
of what they were doing ih one department of their work, he
would exhibit a number of newspapers, tracts, pamphlets, and
other periodicals, which were in circulation thoughout the
country. Mr. Thompson then produced copies of the " Slaves
Friend," "Anti-Slavery Records," Anti-Slavery Anecdotes,"'
"Human Rights," "Emancipator," "Liberator," "New-York
Evangelist," " Zion's Herald," Zion's Watchman," " Philadel
phia Independent Weekly Press," " Herald of Freedom,"
" Lynn Record," " New England Spectator," &c, and an "Anti-
Slavery Quarterly," edited by Professor Wright, the Secretary
of the National Society, and distinguished by considerable Ht
erary talent. These were amongst the means pursued by the
Abolitionists. They were peaceful and honorable means, and
under God, would prove effectual to bring the blood-cemented
fabric of Slavery to the ground- Other than moral and consti
tutional means, the abolitionists sought not to employ. Their's
would not be the glory reaped upon the crimson field amidst
the carnage and the din of war. Their victory would not be
a victory achieved by the use of carnal weapons, effecting the
freedom of one man by the destruction of another. Their vic
tory would be a victory won by the potency of principles drawn
from the Gospel of the Prince of Peace -4- their glory the glory
of those who had obtained a bloodless conquest over the con
sciences and hearts of men. In the full conviction that the
principles he (Mr. Thompson) had that night maintained, were

the principles* of the word of God, he would still- prosecute the
work to which he had for some years devoted himself. He
called upon those around him to be true to those principles, and
to continue zealously to advocate them, and leave the conse
quences in the hands of God. Let, the, friends of human rights
again rally under the banner which had aforetime led them to
battle — under which they had together fought and1 together
triumphed — and to remember that the motto inscribed upon its
ample folds — a motto which, though oft abused, had oft sus
tained them in the hour of conflict — was, Fiat Justicia ruat
Cesium. Mr. Breckinridge rose. Having taken a good many notes,
of what Mr. Thompson had said in the speech now delivered,,
he was prepared for replying, if an opportunity were presented
after he should have finished saying what seemed, to him more
pertinent to the subject in hand'. In the meantime, he wouldi
introduce what he had now to say by reading another version of
the events which had been represented as one of Mr. Thompson^
triumphs at Boston.
Mr. May introduced a resolution denouncing the Colonization Society as unwor
thy of patronage, because it disseminates opinions unfavorable to the interest ofthe
colored people.
Mr. Gurley replied. He finished the consideration of Mr. May's objections; went
into an exposition ofthe advantages ofthe Colonization Society, and contrasted its
claims with those ofthe Anti-Slavery Society. In doing this, he;exhibited a hand
bill, having a large cut of a negro in chains, with some inflammatory sentences un
der it. Here he was interrupted by hisses, which were answered by clapping.
Mr. George Thompson rose and attempted to address the meeting. This increased
the confusion, Cries of " sit down — shaine — be silent — let, Mr. May answer if
he can — noforeign interference," &o., from all pattsof the hall. Mr. Thompson
persevered as few men would have done, but at last yielded to the evident determi
nation of the audience, and took his seat. The hall then became still, and Mr.
Gurley proceeded.
We do not know that any, Anti-Cblonizationist was convinced by these discus
sions ; except men who are committed against the Society, we believe the very
general opinion is, that their overthrow on the field of argument was as complete" as'
any could desire. It is evident that the cause of the Colonization Society is gain
ing a hold on the convictions and affections ofthe people of New-England stronger
than it ever had before. We say this in view of facts which are coming to our
knowledge from various parts. The storm of abuse and misrepresentation with
which it has been assailed, is beginning already to contribute to its strength.
Now he begged to remark that the paper from which he had!
read the foregoing extract, the New-York Observer, together
with the one from which it was originally taken, the Boston-
Recorder, printed more matter weekly than all the avowed
abolition newspapers, in America, put together, did in, half a
year. He would notice farther, in relation to the great display
of abolition publications which had been made by Mr. Thomp
son on the platform, that one of the papers lying there on the
table, had advocated his principles and cause when he was in
Boston, and likely to be mobbed at the instigation, as he be
lieved, of Mr. Garrison. Some of the remainder of thepubliea-

89
tions were, he believed, long .ago dead ; some could hardly he
said ever to have lived; some were purely occasional; the
greater part as limited in circulation as they were contempti
ble in point of merit. Not above two or three of the dozen or
fifteen that had been produced before them — and the names of
which he (Mr. B.) required to be recorded — were in fact, wor
thy to be called respectable and avowed abolition newspapers.
But to come to the point immediately in hand. He would on
the present occasion attempt to show that abolition was not
worthy to supplant the colonization scheme in the affections of
Americans or Britons, or of any other thinking people. He
acknowledged that . there were many respectable men in the
ranks of the abolitionists ; but these, almost without exception,
had been at one time colonizationists ; and had he time he might
show that many of them had deserted the colonization society
on some peculiar or personal grounds, ndt involving the princi
ples of the cause. ' He was prepared to show, however, that by
whomsoever supported, the principles of the abolitionists were
essentially wrong, and that their practice was still worse. He
had not access to the voluminous documents brought forward
by Mr. Thompson. Mr. Thompson had, indeed, that evening,
on this platform, publicly offered him access to them. Had
that offer been made at the beginning of the discussion, instead
of the end of it, or during the four or five days we spent in
Glasgow before it commenced, it might have been turned to
some advantage. But as it was, the audience would know how
to appreciate it ; and he* must rely solely upon memory, when
he stated the principles promulgated by abolitionists ; though
at the same time he pledged himself that his statements not
only were intended to be, but were, substantially correct and
entirely candid. The abolitionists held, then, in the first place,
as a fundamental truth, that every human being had an instant
right to be free, irrespective of consequences to himself and
others ; consequently that it was the duty of masters to set free
their slaves instantly, and irrespective of all consequences'; and
of course, sinful to exercise the powers of a master for one mo
ment, or for any purpose. This was, in substance, the great
principle on which the abolitionists acted — a principle which
he was now prepared to question. He had, on a former occa
sion, shown that there were only two parties responsible for the
existence of slavery, namely, individual slave-holders, and slave-
holding communities. He would now attempt to prove, that,
as applied to either of these, this principle was not only false,
but that it was a mere figment, and calculated, to produce tre
mendous evil. Let them first attend to what the abolitionists
say to the individual slave-holder. Perhaps the person addressed
was an inhabitant of Louisiana ; where, if it is not directly con-
12

90
trary to law, to manumit a slave — the law refuses to recognize
the act. Was he to be told then that he should turn off his
slaves, the young and helpless along with the old and the infirm,
with the certain knowledge that so soon as they left his plan
tation, they would commence a career of trouble and sorrow
most likely to end in their being, seized, imprisoned, fined, and
again enslaved. Mr. Thompson had mentioned, in nearly all
his printed speeches, the case of a certain colored man, who had
been thrown into prison at Washington city, and sold into eter
nal slavery to discharge the fees which had accrued by reason
of his oppression. Now he (Mr. B.) took leave to say that this
story was false, in toto. It was customary in some parts of
America to sell vagabonds, in order to make up their jail fees ;
but they were bound for no longer a period than was necessary
to do this. The system was this — they were taken up as va
grants. If they were able and willing to show that they had
some regular and honest means of livelihood, they were of
course acquitted and discharged ; but when they were unable
to do this, they were sold for as much as would pay the fees of
detention, trial, &c. That any person, black or white, once
recognized by the law as free, was ever sold into everlasting
slavery, he positively denied, and demanded proof. In Louis
iana, however, it being illegal to manumit a slave, those whom
the abolitionists would set free, would not be considered free in
the eye of the law. They might be harrassed, imprisoned as
vagabonds, sold to pay expenses, as vagabonds, and so soon as
set free again imprisoned. He admitted that such proceedings
would be inexcusable ; but what was a henevolent man, who
had the welfare of his slave really at heart, to do with an eye
to them ? To act upon the abolitionist principle, would be to
consign the slave to incalculable misery, for they had but one
lesson to teach — turn loose the slaves, and leave consequences
to God ! The colonizationists, however, are provided with a
, better remedy. If Louisiana would not countenance manumis
sion, nor suffer manumitted slaves to remain within her bounds,
with the usual privileges of freemen, let them be taken to some
other State, where such laws did not exist ; or if this should not
on the whole be desirable, let them be taken to Liberia. No,
repeats Mr. Thompson; dischagre your slaves at once, and leave
the consequences to God. If, by the wicked laws of Louisiana,
they are left to starve, or driven to desperation, or sold again
into slavery, the responsibility is theirs ; do you your duty in
setting them immediately at liberty. It would require, however,
that a humane individual should be very strongly impressed
with the truth of this principle before he could persuade him
self to do that which was evidently so cruel in its immediate
effects, and so likely to be ruinous in those that are more remote.

91
Yet that principle was, to say the least, extremely doubtful,
and ought not at every hazard to be crammed down the throats
of an entire nation. If the laws of the community were bad,
as he admitted it to be the case, he supposed it was the duty of
enlightened citizens to seek a change of that law by proper
means, but not in the meantime to do that which would be to
tally insubordinate to the State — and injurious to all parties.
Whether, moreover, it was either fair or candid to denounce, as
had been done, the free States as being participators in slavery,
because, though they did not themselves hold a property in
slaves, they did not choose to swallow such nostrums even
without chewing, could not be a question. If it was so doubt
ful whether duty to the slaves themselves rendered the imme
diate breaking up of all relations between them and their mas
ters a proper or even a permitted thing, it was still more
questionable whether our duties to the State may not imperiously
forbid what our duties to the slave have already warned us
against. I have omitted all considerations of a personal or
selfish kind — all rules of conduct drawn from what is due to
one's self, one's family, or one's condition, or engagements. Com
mon benevolence forbids, as we have seen, and common loyalty
prohibits, as we shall see — what a man must do, or lie under
the curse of abolitionism. For though it be our duty to seek
the amendment, Of bad laws, because they are bad, it is equally
our duty to obey laws because they are laws, unless it is clear
that greater ill will follow from obedience than from disobedi
ence. Now all our slave States are perfectly willing that their
citizens should emancipate their slaves ; only many of them
insist on their doing it elsewhere, than within their borders.
As long as other lands exist, ready to receive the manumitted
slave, and certain to be benefitted by his reception, it is to
preach treason, as well as cruelty, and folly as well as either,
to assert the bounden duty of the individual slave-holder, at all
hazards, to attempt an impossibility on the instant, rather than
accomplish a better result by foresight, preparation, and suitable
delay. It may therefore be boldly said that instant surrender ,
of the authority of the master, irrespective of all other consider*-
ations, must, in many cases, be a great crime in the individual
slave-holder. He would now speak of this abolition principle
to which he had adverted as a rule of conduct for slave-holding
communities. In this respect, also, he considered that it was at
best extremely questionable. Let us illustrate the principle by
the oft-repeated case of the District of Columbia. Abolitionism
asserts that it is the clear duty of Congress to abolish slavery
instantly in that District, without regard to what may occur
afterwards in consequence of that act. Let us admit that the
dissolution of the Federal Union is a consequence hot worthy

92
of regard— even when distinctly foreseen; and that all the
evils attendant on such a result, to human society, and to all
the great interests of man throughout the earth, are as nothing,
compared with the establishment of a doubtful definition, hav
ing an antiquity of at least four years, and a paternity disputed
between Mr. Garrison and Mr. Thompson. As a principle
concerning no other creature but the slaves of the District, and
no interest but theirs, it can be shown to be false. If Congress
were instantly to abolish slavery there, with a tolerable cer
tainty that every slave in the District would be removed and
continued with their issue in perpetual slavery ; when by an
arrangement with the owners, they might so prospectively
abolish it as to secure the freedom of every slave in five or ten
years, and of their issue as they successively arrived at twenty
or twenty-five years of age ; if Congress could do the latter, and
were in preference to do the former, they would deserve the
execrations of the world. The first plea is Mr. Thompson and
abolitionism ; the second express my principles and those of the
despised gradualists. At all events, the truth of the principle
involved in the former supposition was not so -manifest as to
justify Mr. Thompson in denouncing, as he had done, those
who did not see proper to follow it. A. wise man would hesi
tate - — he would weigh well the resulting circumstances as one
of the best tests of the truth and utility of his principles befori
he propagated, as indisputably and exclusively true, and that in
despite of all results, such principles, with the violence which
had been manifested — principles which, he repeated, were but
four years old, and which he was still convinced, were but ar
rant quackery. There was another aspect of the subject. Ref
erence had been made to the representation of the black popula
tion in the National Government. He would remark on this
subject that it was the duty of every State to see that power
was committed only to the hands of those qualified to exercise
it properly, wisely, and beneficially. What would be said in
this country, were Mr. Thompson to propose that the elective
franchise should be made universal, and that the age at which
it might be exercised should be fixed at fifteen years ? He
would venture to say that the ministry who would introduce
such a scheme to Parliament, would not exist for three (days.
The proposal, as Mr. T. no doubt knew, would be considered
altogether revolutionary and shocking. Yet it must be admitted
that the average of the boys of Britain who are fifteen years old,
are fully as well qualified for the exercise of the elected franchise,
as the average of the slaves in the various parts of the United
States are at the age of twenty-one years. But with us; as
with you, twenty-one years is the age at which electors vote.
As I have shown, in most of our States the elective franchise is

93
extended to every white man, who has attained that age ; while ,.
the qualifications of a property kind, anywhere required, are so
extremely moderate, that in all our communities nine-tenths at
least of the adult white males are entitled to vote. Now let il
be borne in mind, that abolitionism requires not only instant
freedom for the slave, but also instant treatment of him, in every
civil and political, as well as every social and religious respect,
as if he were white, that is, in plain terms — if we should follow
the dogmas you sent'Mr. T. to teach us, and in which we have
been held up to the scorn of all good men, for declining to re
ceive, a revolution far more terrible and revolting would imme
diately follow throughout all our slave States, than would follow
in Britain by enfranchising in a day, every boy in it fifteen
years old — even if your house of lords were substituted by an
elective senate, and your parliaments made annual ! And it is
in the light of such results, that America has received with hor
ror the enunciation of principles which lead directly to them,
while their advocates declare "»all consequences" indifferent as
it regards their conduct ! And can it be the duty of any com
monwealth to bring upon itself "instantly," — or at all — such
a condition as this ? The abolitionists themselves had evidently
felt that their scheme was absurd ; for they had never ventured
to propose it to a slave State. Their papers were published and
their efforts all made, and their organized agitation carried on,
and a tremendous uproar raised in States where there existed no
power whatever to put an end to slavery ; but hardly a syllable
had been uttered where, if anywhere, some effect might have
been produced beneficial to the slaves, had abolition principles
been practicable anywhere. The conduct of the abolitionists
had been of a piece with what would have taken place in this
country, had an agitation been got up for the direct abolition of
idolatry in China, or of popery in Spain. Theii principles had
never yet been advocated in the South, but by means ofthe
post-office, the effects of which, in the tearing up of mail bags,
&c, Mr. Thompson well knew, and, had declared. But the
fact was, that such metaphysical propositions as those propoun
ded by the abolitionists — even admitting them to be true—-
were altogether uncalled for. Thousands of slaves had been
emancipated before the abolition principles were heard of, and
all that was needed, was, that those who were engaged in the
good work should have been let alone or aided on their own
principles. What was the use of blazoning forth a doctrine
which was in all likelihood false and ruinous, but which, were
it true, could do no good ? For if you could persuade a man t
that his duty required him to give freedom to his slaves, and he
became suitably impressed with a sense thereof — he would do
it just as certainly and effectually as though you had begun , by

94
, saying to him — now as soon as I convince you, you must set
them free immediately ! He could indeed characterize such a
mode of proceeding by no other term than that of gratuitous
folly. Again he might say that this principle of abolitionism was
contrary to all the experience which America had acquired as a
nation on this subject. Principles favorable to emancipation
first took root where there were few slaves, and when the pro
ducts of their labor were of little value. They had spread gradr
ually towards the South, the border States being always first
inoculated, till no fewer than eight States which tolerated
slavery, adopted this principle, and successively abolished it.
To these eight States were to be added four others, created
since the formation of the Federal Constitution, which never tol
erated slavery, thus making twelve States in which slavery-
was not permitted. By the influence of gradualism alone, had
the cause of freedom advanced steadily to this point, and every
day rendered its ultimate triumph throughout the whole empire
more and more probable. At this time it might have been
carried South by at least 5 degrees of latitude ; and Virginia,
Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri, added to the free
States ; and the shackles of 1,000,000 slaves been in a process
of gradual melting off. If fifty years had seen the rise of 12
free States, was it too much to hope that the next fifty years
should enfranchise twelve more. For all the ruin brought on
this glorious cause during the last four years by principles and
practices of Mr. Thompson's friends, what have they to compen
sate suffering humanity ? Have they or theirs released from his
bonds a single slave ? The abolition plan had in fact, been asig-
dal, a total, absolute failure. Mr. Thompson himself did not pre
tend to say that a twentieth part of the population of America
had embraced his views. The whole theory was as false as the
whole practice was fatal ; and just and pious men would hereaf
ter hesitate before they sent out new missions to advocate them,
or lent the influence of their just weight to denunciations lev
elled against all who did not think them worthy of their
applause. The second great principle of the abolitionists, to
which he would invite attention, was this — that it was the in
herent and indestructible right of every man to abide in perfect
freedom in whatever spot he was born ; and that while it is a
crime to deny him there all the rights of a man, a citizen and a
Christian, it was not less so to persuade, to win, or to coerce
him into what they called exile — this principle was levelled
at the Colonization Society ; and while instant abolition formed
the first, and denunciation of what they call prejudice against
color formed the last ; hatred to colonization formed the middle
and active principle of the band. Of this, it might be said, first,

95
that it had the advantage of contradicting all the wisdom and
practice of mankind. Whether it was meant to embrace women
and minors — or at what age to establish the beginning of rights
so extraordinary and unprecedented, whether at twenty-one, as
here, or twenty-five, as in some countries, or twenty-eight, as in
others, had not yet been defined. Thus much at least might
be said — that if these rights resided in black men, they resided
in no others, of whatever hue or race ; and the philosophers who
discovered their existence had found out something to compen
sate these unhappy men for their unparalleled sufferings. It
certainly need not create surprise that we should listen with
suspicion to such dogmas taught by an Englishman, when we
remember that, from time immemorial, all the institutions of his
own country were built upon dogmas precisely opposite ; and
all her practice the reverse of the preaching of the semi-national'
representative. Mr. Thompson says, a man is a citizen by in
herent right, wherever he is born ; the British monarchy, which
Mr. Thompson says he prefers to all things else, says on the con
trary, that let a man be bbrn where he may he is a Briton, if born
of British parents ; and it both claims his allegiance, and will
extend to him every right of a subject born at home ! Then
why is not a man an African if born of African parents in Amer
ica, as well as a Briton, if born of British parents there ? Or why
are we to be attacked first with cannon on one side, and then
with Billingsgate on the other side of this vexed question ? Nor
did our own notions, adverse as they were to those of Britain,
conflict less with Mr.' T. and abolitionism on another part of the
principle. All our notions permit men to expatriate themselves,
many of our constitutions guarantee it as a natural right, and
America had actually gone to war with Britain in defence of
that right in her unnaturalized citizens. Britain had insisted
on searching American vessels for British sailors — America had
refused to submit to the search ; because, among other things
_.the man sought was, by naturalization, an American. America
did not oppose any of her citizens becoming Britons, if they
thought fit, and was resolved to maintain the right of those who
chose to become American citizens, from whatever country
they might have emigrated, and therefore could hear only with
contempt this dictum of abolitionism. 'Again he would say that,4
this principle is contrary to common sense. Rights of citizen
ship were not to be considered natural rights. They were given
by the community — they might be withheld by the communi
ty ; and, therefore, to talk of their being indestructible, was sheer
nonsense. No' man had a natural right to say, I will be a citi
zen of this or that State ; and in point of fact, the great bulk of
mankind were not citzens at all, but merely subjects. There
were laws establishing the present form of government, giving

96
a certain power to the king and to the Parliament, and regula
ting the mode in which Parliament was to be elected. These
laws were altogether conventional; and as well might a man
claim a natural right to be a king or a judge as to be a citizen.
It might be as truly said that one is inherently a shark because
he was born at sea, or a horse because he happened to have been
born in a stable. So far is the theory of abolition from the
truth ; and so widely remote is their hatred to colonization, from
being based in justice, or reason, that circumstances may occur
in which it shall become imperative duty for men to emigrate,,
America presented a striking example of the truth of this. In
this country it was customary to talk of America as a daughter
of England. He had heard people talk as if America were
about as large as, one English shire, and settled principally from
their own villages. But the fact was that America was an epit
ome of the whole world, peopled by colonies from almost all
parts of it. It was an eclectic nation ; and to talk to Americans,
of the inherent right of a man to stay and be oppressed, where
he happened to be born — or the guilt of seducing him to emi
grate, is only to expose one's self to pity or scorn. To realize
this, it is only necessary to take a map of our wide empire,
washed by both oceans, and embracing all the climates of the
earth, and get some American boy to tell you the migrations of
his ancestors. To omit all mention of the red man, from Asia,
and the poor black man, from Africa ; there, he will say in
New-England, are the children of the pilgrims, who were the
fathers of your own Roundheads, driven out by the mean and
vexatious tyranny of James I.; and there, in lower Virginia,
three hundred leagues off, are the descendants of the Cavaliers
and Malignants. There, in the back parts of the same ancient
commonwealth, and in all western Pennsylvania, are the sturdy
Scotch, whose fathers were hanged in the streets of your cities, ,
by that perjured Charles II. , who thus rewarded the loyalty
that gave him back his crown. In the same key State, of the
Union is a nation of industrious Germans ; , while in the empire
state of New-York, are the children of those glorious United
Provinces, that disputed with yourselves for ages, the empire of
the seas ; and between them both in New-Jersey the descend
ants of those ancient Danes who often ravaged your own coasts.
The descendants of the Hugonauts, whose ancestors Lous XIV.
expelled from France, and placed cordons on his. frontiers to
butcher as they went out, simply because they were, Protestants,
peopling parts of the south ; in other parts of which, are colonies
of .Swiss, of Spaniards, and of Catholic French. ' The Irishmen
is everywhere ; and everywhere better treated than at home.
Amongst such a people, it must needs be an instinctive senti
ment, that he who loves country more than liberty, is unworthy

97
to have either ; that he who inculcates or affects the love of
place above the possession of precious privileges, must have a
sinister object. But he might proceed much farther ; and hav
ing shown that it might be the duty of men to emigrate under
various circumstances,- prove that such a duty never was more
imperative than on the free colored population of America.
Possessing few motives to remain in America that were not
base or insignificant cdmpared with those that ought to urge
their return, every attempt to explain and defend their conduct
revealed a selfishness on. their part a thousand times greater than
that they eharge upon the whites ; and a cruelty on the part of
their advisers towards the dying millions of heathen in Africa,
more attrocious than that charged, even by them, on the master
against his slave. The love of country, of kindred, of liberty,
of the souls of men, and of God himself, impels them to depart,
and do a work which none but they can do ; and which they
forego through the love of ease, the lack of energy, vanity grat
ified by the caresses- of abolitionists, and deadness to the great
motives detailed above. But there was another, and most ob
vious truth, which shows the utter futility of the principle of
abolition now contested. So far was the fact from being so,
that anybody, black or white, held an inherent right of citizen
ship in the place of his birth ; that it is most certain, no man
had even a right of bare residence, which« the state might not
justly and properly deprive him of — upon sufficient reason.
The state has the indisputable right to coerce emigration, when
ever the public good required it ; and when that public good
coincided with the interest ofthe emigrating party — and that
also ofthe land to which they went -^ to coerce such emigra
tion might become a most sacred duty. It was indeed true,
that the friends. of colonization had not contemplated nor pro
posed any other than a purely voluntary emigration ; for even
the traduced State of Maryland not only made the fact of re
moval voluntary, but, going a step further than any other, gave
a choice of place to the emigrant. I recommend Africa, says
she, but I will aid you to go wherever you prefer to go. It
should, however, be borne in mind that this power is inherent
in all communities, and has been exercised in all time. And it
were well for the advocates of abolition principles to remember
that the final, and, if necessary, forcible separation of the parties
is surely preferable to the annihilation, or the eternal slavery of
either ; while it is infinitely more , probable than the instant
"emancipation — the universal levelling — or the general mix
ture for which they contend. He had still left a third principle
advanced by the abolitionists on Which to comment, but as
only two or three minutes of his allotted time remained, he
would not enter on the subject ; but would read, for the infor-
13

98
mation of the audience a speech delivered by Mr. Thompson at
Andover, in Massachusetts, the seat of one of our largest theo
logical seminaries, as reported by a student who was present.
He wished this speech to be put on record for the information
of the British public.
Students — I shall first speak ofthe natural and inalienable rights to discuss
slavery. It is not a question ; you ought to do it ; you sin against God and con
science, and are traitors to human nature and truth, if you neglect it. Whoever
attempts to stop you from the exercise of this right, snatches the trident from the
Almighty, and whoever dares to put manacles upon mind must answer for it to the
bar of God. It belongs to God, and to God exclusively. You are not at liberty to
give respect to any entreaty or suggestion or to take into consideration the feelings-
of any man or body of men on the subject. The wicked spirit of expediency is
the spirit of hell, the infamous doctrines of the demons of hell ; and whoever at
tempts to preach it to the rising youth of the land, preaches the doctrine of the
damned spirits. It is the spirit of the flame and faggot, revealing itself tis it dares,
and corrupting the atmosphere so as to prevent the free breathing of a free soul.
Where are the students of the Lane seminary ? Where they ought to be; — from
Georgia to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains — far from a. pri
son-house where fetters are forged and rivetted. They could not stay in a place
where a thermometer was hung Up to graduate the state of their feelings. It was
not till Dr. Beecher consulted the faculty at New-Haven and Andover, to see if
they would sustain him, that he ventured to put the screws on. But, perhaps you
may say, we must bid farewell to promotion if we do as you desire. The faculty
have the power, in a degree, to fix our future settlements by the recommendation,
and, therefore, we must desist. What if you do have to leave the seminary ? Far
better to be away than to breathe the tainted air of tyranny. I proclaim it here,
that the only reason why abolition is not countenanced at Andover is, because it is
unpopular; when it is popular it will be received. In 1823, the Colonization So
ciety was the pet child of the churches, the seminaries, and the colleges of the
land; but pow, forsooth, because it is unpopular, it is cast off. Aye, once the elo
quent tongues voiced its praise, and the gold and silver were its tributaries — where
is it now ? Cast off because it is not popular. This is rather hard ; in its old age,
too. But I forbear, it is a touching theme. I return to the Lane seminary. Never
were nobler spirits and finer minds congregated together ; never in all time and
place a more heroic and generous band. Dr. Beecher himself has pronounced the
eulogy. In what condition is the seminary now. Lying in ruins, irretrievably
gone ! Dr. Beecher then sacrificed honor and reputation.
Mr. Thompson read extracts from an article in the Liberator, which went to show
that the faculty at Andover advised the students to be uncommitted on the divid
ing topic of slavery. Yes, added Mr. Thompson, go out uncommitted ; wait till you
get into a pulpit and have it cushioned and a settee in it, and then you may com
mit yourself. The speaker observed that very ill effects had resulted from the fail
ure of the students at Andover to form themselves into an Anti-Slavery Society
— the evil example had extended to Philip's Academy, Amherst College, &c. He
had been twitted about it wherever he had been, but you may recover yourselves,
he added, condescendingly ; there is some apology for you, only let a Society be
formed instantly. Those who attempted to show from the Bible that slavery was
justifiable, were,paving the slave-holders' paths to hell with texts of Scripture. Mr.
Thompson enlarged upon the merits of the refractory students at Lane Seminary,
with a most abundant supply of adjectives; and the mean-spirited students of An
dover, although not expressly designated as such, were understood by the manner
of expression to be placed in contrast. Mr. Thompson remarked that such con
duct would not be tolerated by the students of any college in England, Scotland,
or Ireland. This abuse of the faculty at Andover was more personal and pointed
than I have described ; one ofthe faculty was called by name, but the severe ex
pressions I have forgotten. He would probably have outrun himself, and ex
hausted the vocabulary of opprobrious epithets, had he not been interrupted. At
the conclusion of the lecture, with the strange inconsistency which belongs to the
man, he remarked that he had a high respect for the members of the faculty, and
that he would willingly sit at their feet as a learner.
He had only one remark before he sat down. It had been

99
publicly stated by a student Of this seminary, that Mr. Thomp>
son, in a conversation with him, had said, that every slave
holder deserved to have his throat cut, and that his slaves ought
to do it. He could not, of course, vouch for the truth of this ;
but Mr. Thompson was there to explain. One thing, however,
he could state as an indisputable fact, namely, that the profess "
sors of the seminaries had signed a document in which it was
asserted that the young man had been in the college for three
years, and that his veracity was unimpeached and unimpeacha*
ble. If the story were true — it was well that it was timely
made public. If the young man misunderstood Mr. Thompson,
he (Mr. B.) believed he formed one of a very large class in
America, who had fallen into similar mistakes, and drawn simi^
lar conclusions from the general drift of his doings and sayings
in that country.
Mr. THOMPSON, on rising, observed that no one could be
more ready than himself to commend the gentleman who had
just resumed his seat for the courage which he had shewn in
dealing so frankly and faithfully with him, (Mr. T.) in the
presence of those to whom he (Mr. B.) was comparatively a
stranger, and whose favorable opinion he (Mr. T.)had had ma
ny opportunities of conciliating. He rejoiced that his opponent
had, towards the end of his speech,- attempted to state facts and
specify charges, and had thus afforded him an opportunity of
snowing how completely and triumphantly he could meet the
charges brought against himself personally, and support the
statements he had made in reference to America. He would
commence with the Andover story about cutting throats. The
truth of the matter was this. A student in the Theological1
Seminary of the name of A. F. Kaufman, Jr., charged him,
George Thompson, with having said, in a private conversation,
that every slave-holder ought to have his throat cut, and that if
the abolitionists preached what they ought to preach, they would
tell every slave to cut his master's throat. Mr. Kaufman was
from Virginia, the son of a slave-holder, and heir to slave prop
erty. The story was first circulated in Andover, and was after
wards published in the New- York Commercial Advertiser, in a
communication' dated from the Saratoga Springs. In reply to
the printed version, I (said Mr. T.) printed a letter denying the
Charge in the most solemn manner, ahd referring to my nume
rous public addresses, and innumerable private conversations,
in proof of the perfectly pacific character of my views. Then
came forth a long statement from Mr. Kaufman, with a certify
-eate to his veracity and general good character, signed by pro
fessors Woods, Stuart, and Emerson, of Andover. Here the
matter must have rested — Mr. Kaufman's charge On one side,
and my denial on the other — had the conversation been strictly

100
private ; but, fortunately for me, there were witnesses of every
word ; and this brings me to notice other circumstances con
nected with the affair, constituting a most complete contradic
tion of the charge. I was staying at the time under the roof
of the Rev. Shipley W. Willson, the minister of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Andover, and when I had the conversation
with Mr. Kaufman, in which the language imputed to me is
alleged to have been uttered, there were present, besides our
selves, my host the Rev. ¦ S. W. Willson ; the Rev. Amos A.
Phelps, congregational clergyman, and one of the agents of the
American Anti-Slavery Society ; the Rev. La Roy Sunderland
¦Methodist Episcopal clergyman, and at present the editor of Zi
on's Watchman, New-York ; and the Rev. Jarvis Gregg, now
a Professor in Western Reserve College, Ohio. In consequence
of the use made of the statement put forth by Mr. Kaufman, I
wrote to Professor Gregg, and Mr. Phelps, requesting them to
give their version of the conversation in writing; and their
letters in reply, which, together with one written without so
licitation by Mr. Sunderland, have been published. They not
only flatly contradict the account given by Mr. Kaufman, but
prove that I advocated in the strongest language the doctrine of
non-resistance on the part of the slaves. These letters, how
ever, never appeared in the columns of the papers which
brought the charge and defied me to the proof of my innocence.
It may be well to give some idea of the conversation out of
which the charge grew. Mr. Kaufman complained of the
harsh language of the abolitionists, and challenged me to quote
a passage of scripture justifying our conduct in that respect.
I quoted, the passage " Whoso stealeth a man and selleth himr
or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death ;"
and observed, that in this text we had a proof of the awful de
merit of the slaveholder; that he was considered worthy of
death ; and that the modern slaveholder, under the Christian
dispensation, was not less guilty than the slaveholder under the
Jewish law. I then reminded him of the political principles of
the Americans, and cited the words of the declaration of Inde
pendence, "resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." I
then contrasted the injuries inflicted on the slave with ,the
grievances complained of in the Declaration of Independence,
and argued, that, if the Americans deemed themselves justified
in resisting to blood the payment of a threepenny tea tax and
a stamp duty, how much more, upon the same principles, would
the slave be justified in cutting his masters' throat, to obtain
deliverance from personal thraldom. Nay more, that every
American, true to the principles of the revolution, ought to
teach the slaves to cut their master's throats — but that while
these were fair deductions from their own revolutionary princi-

101
pies, I held the doctrine that it was invariably wrong to do evil
that good might come, and that I dared not purchase the free
dom of the slaves by consenting to the death of one master.
He (Mr. T.) had thus disposed of one of the most tangible
portions of his opponent's speech. , He regretted there had not
been more of matter-of-fact statement in the speech of one
hour in length, to which they had just listened ; a speech,
which, however creditable to the intellect of his opponent on
account of its ingenuity, was by no means creditable to his
heart. Instead of dealing fairly with the documents he (Mr. T. )
had produced, arid which contained a true and ample statement
of the views, feelings, principles, purposes and plans of the ab
olitionists, Mr. Breckinridge had manufactured a series of
dextrous sophisms, calculated to keep out of sight the real
merits of the question. Was it not strange, that, covered as
that platform was with the documents of the abolitionists, his
opponent had not quoted one word from their writings, but had
based all he had said upon a statement of their principles made
out by himself; and had then given to that statement an inter
pretation of his own, utterly at variance with all the views and
doctrines entertained by the abolitionists. The gentleman had
most ably played the part of Tom Thumb, who made the
giants he .so valiantly demolished. He would not attempt to
grapple with that which rested altogether upon a gross mis
statement of the principles and views of the Abolitionists. He
had a right to expect that Mr. B. would go to the many sources
of official information touching the principles he professed to
denounce ; but instead, he had put forth a creed, as the creed
of the Abolitionists of America, which was, nowhere to be
found in their writings, and he (Mr. T.) should therefore wait
until an objection had been taken to something they (the abo
litionists) had really said or done.
Mr. Breckinridge had amused them with another Andover
story. He had read an extract from a speech said to have been
delivered by him (Mr. T.) during the protracted meeting he had
held there. He would just take the liberty o"f assuring the
audience that he had never uttered the speech which had that
night been put into his mouth. It had been said that the speech
was reported by a student. Had Mr. B. given the name of the
student?— No. He (Mr. B.) knew that it was an anonymous
communication, written by a vile enemy of a righteous cause,
who was too much ashamed of his own productions to sign his
name, but put the initial C. at the end of his libellous produc
tions,' which were greedily copied into the pro-slavery papers of
the United States. The reports furnished by that scribbler
were known in Andover to be false, and laughed at by the
students as monstrous and ludicrous perversions of the truth.

102
Upon this point also, he (Mr. T.) had ample documentary
evidence. He did not wonder that Mr. Breckinridge had so
frequently twitted him respecting the multitude of documents
which he (Mr. T.) was in the habit of producing. It must be
peculiarly unpleasant to find that he (Mr. T.) had always the
document at hand' necessary to annihilate the pretended proof
of his opponent. He would now read from a report of the
proceedings at Andover — but a very different report compared
with that they had just heard— -not an anonymous one, but
signed by a respectable and pious student in the Theological
Seminary, R. Reed, Corresponding Secretary of the Andover
Anti-Slavery Society. , As reference was made, in the extract
he was going to read, to a former visit, he would just state, that
about three months after his arrival in the United States, he
visited Andover, and delivered three lectures, besides undergoing
a long examination into his principles in the College Chapel ;
and that on his return to Boston, where he was then residing,
he received from the Institution a series of resolutions signed by
upwards of fifty of the students, expressive of their entire con
currence in the sentiments he had advanced, and their high
approbation of the temper in which he had advocated those
sentiments, and commending him to the blessing and protection
of Heaven. He (Mr. T.) need not say that such a testitaonial
from theological students, unasked and unexpected, was pecu*
liarly gratifying.
The account of his second visit in July, 1835, was thus given
in a letter addressed to the editor of the Liberator.
" It had been previously announced that Mr. Thompson would address us on
Tuesday evening. The hour arrived, and a large and respectable audience were
convened in the expectation of again listening to the — (Mr. Thompson here
omitted some complimentary expressions.,) After the introductory prayer, Mr,
Phelps arose, and said he regretted that he was obliged to state that Mr. Thompson
had not yet arrived in town, but he thought it probable he would soon be with us.
He then resumed the subject of American Slavery. He had, however, uttered but
a few sentences before Mr. T. came in. His arrival was immediately announced
from the desk, and the expression of satisfaction, manifested by the audience, told,
more eloquently than words, the estimation in which they held this beloved brother,
and the pleasure they felt on again enjoying the opportunity of listening to his ap
peals. Mr. Thompson took his seat in the desk, and Mr. Phelps then proceeded at
some length. When he closed his remarks, Mr. Thompson arose, and after some
introductory remarks, answered, in a powerful and eloquent manner, the inquiry, •
' Why don't you go to the South.'
'• The first part ofthe three succeeding evenings was occupied by Mr. Phelps in
exposing the janus-faced monster, the American Colonization Society, whieh 'he
did in so masterly a manner, that we are quite sure none of his auditors,'save those
who are willfully blinded, will hereafter doubt of its being ' a fraud upon the igno
rance, and an outrage upon the intelligence of the community.' " •
" Thursday evening Mr. Thompson vindicated himself against the aspersions
heaped upon him for denouncing Dr. Cox. I would that all Mr. Thompson's
friends had been present, and his enemies too, for I am sure that unless encased in
a shield of prejudice more impenetrable than steel, they would have been compelled
to acknowledge that his denunciation of Dr. Cox was just, and not such an

103
instance of tiger-like malice as some have represented it to be." "Friday evening
(the evening to which the extract read by Mr. Breckinridge referred) he spoke of
the 'armed neutrality * of the seminary and the course which had been taken in
the Academical Institutions of Andover. He is accused of wantonly abusing our
Professors and Teachers — of making personal attacks upon them. No personal
attacks however were made; no man's motives were impeached. He attacked
PRINCIPLES and not MEN ; for while he would render to the guardians of the
seminary and academies all that respect which their station and learning and
piety demands, he would at the same time condemn the course that had been pur
sued, as having a tendency to retard the progress of emancipation. Let the public
judge as to the propriety of his remarks.
It would be recollected that the same question had been put
to him here in Glasgow, as that which he had answered at
Andover. "Why don't you go to the South?" He would tell
his opponent on the present occasion, that even he could not
advocate abolition sentiments in the South, purely and openly,
without endangering his life. The reason he was able to ex
press his views on slavery and remain unmolested, was because
it was known that he denounced the abolitionists, and advoca
ted colonization. The experience of Mr. Birney was in point.
That gentleman hated slavery before he joined the abolitionists,
and was in the habit, of speaking against it, in connection with
the colonization cause, and was permitted to do so without
hindrance ; but when he emancipated his slaves, and called
upon others to do likewise, upon true anti-slavery principles, he
was forced to fly from his residence and family, and was now
in the city of Cincinnati.
It had been tauntingly said, " show us the fruits of your
principles." " Where are the slaves you have liberated ? "
He would reply, that in Kentucky, very recently, nineteen slaves
had been liberated upon anti-slavery principles : — enough to
answer Mr. B's. demand, "point us to one 'slave your Society
has been the means of liberating." But the question was not
to be so tested. The abolitionists of Britain were often called
upon in the same way ; and their answer was, our principles
are extending, and when they are sufficiently impressed upon
the public mind, there will be a general emancipation of the
slaves. On the 31st of July, 1834, they could not point to any
actually free in consequence of their efforts ; but the night
came and passed away, and the morrow dawned upon 800,000
human beings, lifted by the power of anti-slavery principles,
out ofthe legal condition of chattels, into the position of free
British subjects. So in the United'^States. The principles of
abolition would necessarily be some time extending, but ulti
mately they would effect a change in public opinion, and a cor
responding change in the treatment of the black man.
Mr. Breckinridge had disputed the truth of the fact he (Mr.
T.) had stated relative to the imprisonment and sale into bon
dage for life, in the city of Washington, of a black man, justly

104
entitled to his freedom. He (Mr. T. ) trusted that in this matter
also he should be able most satisfactorily to establish his own
veracity. The evidence he would produce to support the state
ment he had made, was, " A memorial of the inhabitants of
the District. of Columbia, U. S., signed by one thousand of the
most respectable citizens of the District, and presented to Con
gress, March 24, 1828, then referred to the Committee on the
District, and on the motion of Mr. Hubbard, of New-Hampshire,
Feb. 9, 1835, ordered to be printed." He (Mr. T.) held in his
hand the genuine document printed by Congress, " 22d Congress,
2d Session, House of Representatives, Doc. No. 140." The
following was the part containing the fact he had mentioned.
"A colored man, who stated that he was entitled to freedom was ta^enfiip as a
runaway slave, and lodged in the jail of Washington City. He was advertised,
but no one appearing to claim him, he was according to law, put up at public auc
tion for the payment of his jail fees, and SOLD as a SLAVE for LIFE. He was
purchased by a slave trader, who was not required to give security for his remain
ing in the District and he was soon shipped at Alexandria for one of the southern
States. An attempt was made by some benevolent individual to have the sale
postponed until his claim to freedom could be investigated ; but their efforts were
unavailing; and thus was a human being SOLD into PERPETUAL HONDAGE
at the capital of the freest government on earth, without even a pretence of trial,
or an allegatibn of crime."
He should be glad to find that Mr. B. had a satisfactory ex
planation of this most revolting case. Such things were enough
to make any man speak hardly of America. If he (Mr. T.) said
severe things of that country, it was not, Heaven knew, because
he did not love that country, for his heart's desire and prayer
was, that she might soon be free from every dawback upon her
prosperity and usefulness. He told these things because they
ought to be known and branded as they deserved, that the na
tion guilty of them might repent and abandon them. He was
not the enemy of America that faithfully pointed out her follies
and crimes. No. He was the man that loved America, that
seeing her, like some lofty tree, spreading abroad her branches,
and furnishing at once shelter and sustenance to all who sought
refuge under her shade, observed with sorrow and dismay, a
canker-worm at the root, threatening to consume her beauty and
her strength, and could not rest day or night in his efforts to
bring so great and glorious a nation to a sense of her danger,
and an apprehension of her duty. Let others do the pleasant
work of flattery and panegyric, and be it his more ungracious,
but not less salutary work, of proclaiming her errors, and de
nouncing her sins, until she learns to do justice and love
mercy. (He (Mr. T.) thought he might with some justice complain
of the manner in which he had been treated by his opponent.
He (Mr. T.) had made every concession which truth and justice

105

would warrant to Mr. B. ; had honored .his motives, and studi
ously separated him from those upon whom his heaviest, cen
sures had fallen — the lovers and abettors of the slave system.
But a similar course had not been pursued towards him. In
many ways his motives had been impeached and his statements
so denied as to throw discredit upon his intentions in making
them. In a word, Mr. B's. whole course had been wanting in
that courtesy which he had a right to expect would be exhib
ited by one disputant towards another. At the same time, he
earnestly desired Mr. B. to state freely all he thought of his
motives and conduct.
A few moments yet remaining, he would say a word or two
in reference to the designs attributed to the abolitionists, in
respect of the privileges to which the colored people were enti
tled. He denied that the abolitionists had ever asked for the
blacks, either in regard to political rights or social privileges,
anything unreasonable. They asked for their immediate re
lease from personal bondage, and a subsequent participation of
civil rights ; according fo the amount in which they possessed
the qualifications demanded of others. Where, in the docu
ments of abolitionists, was the doctrine of instant and universal
enfranchisement, of which so much had been heard ? He knew
not the abolitionist who had contended for such a thing. He
asked nothing for him over and above what would be freely be
stowed on him if he were white. Oh ! it was an awful crime
to have a black skin ! There lay all the disqualification.
The great fault which Mr. B. seemed to find with the prin
ciples of the abolitionists was that they were too lofty ; too
grand ; too little accommodated to the spirit of the age ; that,
in the adoption of their views and principles, they had not con
sulted the manners and 'habits and prejudices of their country ;
and the whole of his (Mr. Breckinridge's) argument had been
in favor of expediency. He hated that word " expediency," as
ordinarily used. It contained, as he had often said, the doctrine
of devils. It was so congenial with our depraved nature to
make ourselves a little wiser than God— to believe that we
understood better than God's servants of old the best way of re
forming mankind. Oh ! that men would take the Almighty at
his word, and simply doing their duty, leaving him to take care
of consequences. Doubtless, the dauntless Hebrew, Daniel,
was deemed, in his day, a rash man. He might so very easily
have escaped the snare laid for him. Why did he not go to the
back of the house ? Why not shut the window ? Why could
he not pray silently to the searcher of hearts ? Daniel scorned
compromise. He prayed as he had ever prayed ~- aloud — with
Ls window open, and his face to Jerusalem. He boldly met
the consequences. He walked to the lion's den — he entered,
14

106
he remained : but lo ! on the third day he came forth un
hurt, to tell mankind to the end of time that, if they will do
their duty and trust in Daniel's God, no weapon formed against
them shall prosper, but they shall in His strength stop the
mouths of lions, and put to flight the armies' of the aliens.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said that, so far as the present respectar
ble audience was concerned, he would make but a single remark.,
Mr. Thompson and he had already trespassed on their patience,
but they would probably do so no longer than to-morrow night ;
at least so far as he was concerned, he thought it unneces
sary, if not improper. The chief reason of his (Mr. B's.) com
ing here was to defend the churches, ministers and Christians
of America, from the false and dreadful charges which had been
proclaimed over Britain against them by Mr. Thompson, and
which he had challenged all the world to give him an opportu
nity to prove. Upon this topic that gentleman had, as yet,
fought shy. He could wait on him no longer. They might
expect, therefore, that next evening he would take up that sub
ject, whether Mr. Thompson should follow him or not. If the
audience considered that the general subject had been suffi
ciently discussed already — as from some manifestations he was
inclined to suppose — he would at once retire. (Slight hissing.)
Was he to consider that as an answer in the affirmative ? (Re
newed hissing.) Why, then, he had erred in laying any of the
blame of trying their patience on Mr. Thompson, and it was his
duty to take it all to himself; and, when he returned home, to
tell his countrymen that no charges were, too gross or caluminous
to be entertained against them — nor any length of time, a
weariness in hearing them — but that the hearing of defence
and proof of innocence was an insupportable weariness. (In
creased hissing, with cries of ' no'. ) The only remaining suppo
sition was, that Mr. T's. partizans had become convinced he
needed succor, and therefore gave it most naturally in the form of
organized violence. (The hissing was again attempted, but was
put down by the general voice of the meeting.) Mr. Ti, he
said, had at length brought accusations against him, and had
complained that although he (Mr. T.) had repeatedly and cor
dially expressed good feelings towards him, (Mr. B.) he had in
no instance returned this kindness or justice ; nor said ' a word
favorable to. him throughout the debate. He would appeal to
the Chairman, to know distinctly, if Mr. Thompson had any
right to demand, or if he (Mr. B.) were bound to express his
opinion of that individual. Because,' continued Mr. B., as 1
have in the beginning said that Mr. T. as an individual could
be nothing to me or my countrymen, I have preferred to be
silent as to him individually. If he is right, however, in bring-

107
ing such things as charges against me, and continues to demand
toy opinion, I will give it fearlessly.' But let him beware — for
I will call no man friend who gains his bread by calumniating
my country. Nor can he who traduces my bretheren — my
kindred — my home — all that I most venerate and revere —
honor me so much as by traducing me. They had been told
that Mr. J. G. Birney had fled from Kentucky, and left his wife
and children behind him in great danger, he being obliged to
..flee for his life. It was true, he believed, that Mr. Birney, ex
cellent and beloved as he was, had found it best to emigrate
from that State. But that he hadflecl, rested, he believed, on Mr,
T's. naked assertion. That he had left his wife and children
behind, believing them to be in personal danger, was a thing
which it would require amazingly clear proof to establish against
the gentleman in question. But he would show to the meeting
that there, was one individual who could do such an act. (Mr.
B. then read the following extract from a speech, delivered at a
meeting in Edinburgh, on the 28th of January, 1836 :)
" He stood there not to defame America. It was true they had persecuted him )
but that was a small matter. It was true they had hunted him like a pattride on
the mountains ; that he had to lecture with the assassin's knife glancing before
his eyes; AND HIS WIFE AND HIS LITTLE ONES WERE IN SANGER
OF FALLING BY THE RUTHLESS HANDS OF MURDERERS."
And again, from the preface to the same pamphlet in which
the above cited speech is found, a pamphlet intended perhaps
for America, and called, " A Voice to her from the Metropolis of
Scotland," the following paragraph occurs-: —
" Mr. Thompson having proceeded by way of St. John's, New Bwinswick, em
barked on board of a Britisn vessel for Liverpool, where he arrived on the 4th of
January, and on the 12th was happily joined by his family Who had left New- York
ion the 16th December.
So that it appeared from these statements that Mr. Thoinpson,
believing that the Americans meant to take away the lives of
his wife and children, left them to their fate while he prudently
consulted his own safety by flight. In regard to the alleged
case of the sale of a free man of color, at Washington city, the
proof stood thus : Mr. T. broadly asserted, again and again,
that a. free man had been sold, without trial, into eternal slayery.
He, (Mr. B.) without knowing the -especial facts relied on, but
knowing America, and knowing abolitionism, had flatily and
emphatically denied that such a thing ever did or could happen
in the District of Columbia. Mr. Thompson re-asserts, and
triumphantly proves it, as he says. His first step in the proof is,
a printed scrap, which, he says, is the identical memorial laid
on the table of the Senate of the United States, who, as they
received and printed it, he insinuates, thereby ¦ avouched its
truth. Upon which principle I also avouch all Mr. T.'s charges,

108
as I hear them and consent to their publication. But, he adds,
there were once one thousand signatures to this document, all
witnesses of the truth of its contents. To which I reply — I see
no name to it at all now ; and secondly, if. there were a million";
the paper does not assert, much less prove, what Mr. T. pro
duces it to sustain. It merely declares that the man said he
was free; without even expressing the opinion of the writer or
any signer of the paper. Now, upon this case, and this proof,
it is nearly certain that the man was not free, and extremely
probable that the whole case is fictitious. For the glorious writ
of habeas corpus, one of the main pillars of your liberty — a
privileged writ which no English judge, for his right hand,
would dare illegally refuse ; that Writ is one of the great heir
looms we got with our Anglo-Saxon blood, and is dearer to us
than that blood itself. Here, by act of Parliament, you do
sometimes suspend this writ ; with us the tyrant does not
breathe who would dare to whisper a wish for its suspension.
Now, if this man was, or believed himself to be free, what
hindered him, from the moment of his arrest to that of his sale,
from demanding and receiving a fair trial ? Will it be said he
did not know his rights ? But will it be pretended that the one
thousand signers of the memorial, the many abolitionists at
Washington of whom Mr. T. boasts, did not know his rights —
in a land where every man knows and is ready to defend his
rights ? If they did not, they were thrice sodden asses, fit only
to be tools in gulling mankind into the belief of a tale that had
not feasibility enough to gull a child. Upon the face of his
own proof Mr. Thompson had shown that he had not the
slightest authority for the assertions he had so often made in
arguing this case ; by all of which he intended to make men
believe that in America it was hot uncommon to sell free men
into slavery ! Mr. Breckinridge then resumed the consideration
of abolition principles ; the third of which was,- that all preju-*
dice against color is sinful, and that everything which induces
us to refuse- any social, personal, religious, civil, or political
right to a black man, which is allowed to a white one, not
superior to him in moral or intellectual qualifications, is a preju
dice, and therefore sinful. He believed this to be a fair state
ment of their principles on that head. And he would, in the
first place, remark concerning them, that even if they were
true, which he denied, the discussion of them was worse than
useless. It could not advance the cause of emancipation, nor
improve the condition of the free blacks. And whatever the
abolitionists might say, the slaves when freed would follow
their own course and inclinations ; nor could the declaration of
an abstract principle alter either their conduct or that of the
whites, in any material degree. If, as Mr. Thompson asserted^

109
prejudice against color Was the national sin of America, the
plague-spot of the nation, it had just as often been asserted by
others that the prejudice itself originated at first out of the rela-1
tion of slavery. The latter was the disease, the former a mere
symptom. If there were no black slaves on earth there would
ho longer be any aversion against that color, which went beyond
the invariable and mutual restraints of nature, or was tolerated
by a proper Christian liberty. They know little of human
prejudices who do not know that they are more invincible in
the bulk of mankind than the dictates of reason, or the impulses
of virtue itself. The case of the abolitionists must therefore
be pronounced foolish on their own showing. For they under
took to break down the strongest of all prejudices, as they
themselves say, as a condition precedent to the doing of acts
Which, to do at all, required great pecuniary sacrifices and a
high tone of moral feeling. But if, as I shall try to show, their
doctrines are contrary to all the course of nature and* all the
teachings of Providence— their behavior is to be considered
little else than sheer madness. Again : even if it did not
prejudice the Case of the slave— as none can deny it did— "to
agitate this question of color, and mix it up inseparably with
the question of freedom, of what use was , it to him ? If the
whites treat him with scorn, give him his liberty — >and he may
pity, forgive, or return the scorn. What advantage was he to
gain as a slave, by the discussion, even if no harm came from
it ? What advantage was he to obtain as a freeman even if its
agitation did not forever prevent him from being free ? It is,
in all its aspects, the most remarkable illustration of a weak,
heady, and ignorant fanaticism which this age has produced,
and has been, of them all, the most fruitful of evil. The truth
Was, that many of the rights and privileges of free persons of
Color were better secured to them in America than correspond*
ing rights and privileges were to the white peasantry of any
other country on the globe. With regard to the religious rights
Of colored persoUs,he could only say that he had sat in Presby
teries with them/that he had dispensed the Sacrament to them
together with white persons ; and that he and multitudes of
others had sat in the same class with them at our Theological
Seminaries. As for all the stories which Mr. T. was accustom
ed to tell about Dr. Sprague having part of his church curtained
round for persons of color, he knew personally nothing, and
noticed it only because it was told as a -specimen story. He
merely knew that Dr. Sprague was accounted a benevolent
man, and common Charity required him not readily to believe
anything of him in a bad sense which could be justified in a
good one. But if there was anything so very exclusive and
revolting in these marks of superiority or inferiority in a church,

;WW

no
let them not look to America alone ; nor limit their sympathies
exclusively to the blacks. In almost every church in. England
in which he had been, from the cathedral of St. Paul's at Lon--
don, to the curate's village church, he had seen seats railed off)
or curtained, or cushioned, or elevated, and some how distin
guished from the rest. And when he inquired why these
things were, so, and for whose accommodation, the answer was
ready. " O, that is for My Lord this ; or Sir Harry that ; or
Mr. Prebend so and so ; or the Lord Bishop of what not."
And very often, even in dissenting chapels, he had seen part of
the seats of an inferior description in particular parts of the house,
which he had as often been told were free seats for the poor ,
an arrangement which has struck him as favorably as the sim-'
ilar one in Dr. Sprague's church did Mr. T. the reverse.
This. preparation of free and separate seats for the poor is, if he
is , rightly informed, nearly universal, in both the Scotch and
English establishments, whenever the poor have seats in their
churches. Now, if Mr. Thompson wished to begin a system of
leveling— if he meant to preach universal equality, why did he
not begin here ? Why did he not try to convert Earl Grey and
Lord Melbourne, instead of going across the Atlantic in order to
try his experiments on the despised Americans ? As to the civil
rights of the free blacks in America, the most erroneous notions
were entertained in both countries, but especially here. The
truth was, they enjoyed greater civil rights than the peasantry of
Britain herself; and those rights were fully as well protected in
their exercise. Their right to acquire property of any kind,
anywhere, without being hedged about with exclusive privileges
and ancient corporations ; their right to enjoy that property, un
encumbered with poor rates, and church rates, and tithes and
tiends, and untold taxes and vexations ; their right to pursue
' trades, callings, or business, without regard to monopolies, -and
innumerable vexatious and worrying preliminaries ; their right
to be free in person — subject neither to forcible impressment,
nor to the serveilance of an innumerable police : their right to
be cared for in sickness and destitution, 'without questions of
domicile previously settled ; their right to the speedy and cheap
administration of justice without " sale, denial or delay " — and
unattended with ruinous expenses ; these, with whatever may
truly be considered civil rights, are enjoyed by the free col-'
ored people in nearly every part of America, to a degree utterly
Unknown by millions of British subjects, not only in the Eajst
and West-Indies, but in Ireland, and even in England itself.
If any rights had been denied them, as the following of certain
professions, as that of a minister of the gospel, for example, as
Virginia had lately done, he could point their attention to the
time when these laws were passed, and show that it was not

Ill
till after the era of abolition ; and that would never have been,
but for its fury. It was not till after they had learned with
bell book and, candle to curse the white man, and teach sedition
and murder to the slaves. The nature oi political rights claimed
by Mr. Thompson for the blacks, in his sweeping .claim to
have them put on a footing of perfect equality with the whites,
seemed to be utterly unknown to him, both as to their origin
and character. Whilst he advocated a Scheme in America
which demanded the most extensive political changes, and
claimed political rights as the birthright of certain parties, he
still persisted in assuring the British nation that he had never
touched the subject in a political aspect ! Now what political
rights does he claim for the free blacks — and denounce all Amer
ica for refusing, on account of this prejudice against color ? Is it
right of suffrage ? is it right of office ? is it perfect, personal,- and
political equality ? If not, what does he mean ? But if he means
that it already exists in all the free States and in several of the
slave States, in behalf of the free blacks, to a far greater extent
than the same exists in England, as between the privileged
classes and the bulk of the nation, though all are white, — I bold
ly assert, that a greater part of the free men of color in America
did enjoy perfect political privileges at the rise of abolitionism,
than of the white men of Britain at this day. There were more
free black voters in North America, in proportion to the free
black race, than there are white voters in all Britain, in propor
tion to the white inhabitants of the British empire. And this,
even leaving out the red millions of the East, and the black
thousands of the West-Indies ; and making the Reform Bill the
basis of calculation ! If some have been deprived of these priv
ileges, let abolitionists blame themselves. If in most places these
privileges have been dormant, it only proves that their exercise
was a very secondary advantage — that \he present outcry is
but the more wicked and absurd. As to the social rights which
were demanded for the slaves and free blacks both, there seemed
to be a complete confusion of ideas in the minds of the abolition
ists. Did they mean to say that all distinctions and gradations
of rank were iniquitous, or did they mean that men ought to
enjoy rights because they, were black, which were justly denied
to the whites ? Who had ever heard of a nobleman marrying
a gipsy ? or, of a king of England marryirig a laborer's daugh
ter ? But the fact was, everything tended to prove that in
preaching against the alledged prejudice against color, the abo
litionists were'really advocating general amalgamation. There
were three opinions on the the subject : 1st. That in a State
situated like most of those in America, public policy required
the mixture of the races to be prohibited ; so that, in nearly all
the' States, intermarriages: were prohibited, and in many States

112
they were punishable as a felony with fine or imprisonment.
2d. That the practice was inexpedient, but so far innocent as
to be left to the discretion of the parties, which he believed was
the opinion of sober-minded people generally in this country.
3d. That, as the chief practical objection to it is a sinful prej
udice against cblor, that prejudice is to be broken down, and the
contrary right upheld, as neither improper nor inexpedient, when
voluntarily exercised. This last, or even a much stronger ad
vocacy of amalgamation, is the doctrine of abolitionism ; facts
deducible from their declaration of independence, and found in
the whole scope of their writings and speeches. Mr. Breckin
ridge then went on to show the utter folly, and, as he believed,
wickedness of advocating amalgamation ; or so acting or talking
as to create the universal impression that was what was meant.
In the first place, the result after which the abolitionists seemed
to strive, was impossible ; in the most strict sense of the terms,
naturally or physically impossible. He by no means meant to
contend with some freethinkers, who, to upset the Mosaic cos
mogony, asserted that the different races of men were not fruit
ful if intermixed beyond a given and very near point. But what
he meant was this : all who believe the Mosaic account of the
origin of the human race, must, of course, believe that they
were once all of one complexion. Now1, if they could all be
amalgamated and made of one complexion again, those causes,
whatever they are, which have produced so great diversities,
would, after a time, reproduce them. And having gratified Mr.
Thompson and his friends, by universal levelling and mixing the
world, would soon find that they had done a work whicli nature
did not permit to stand ; and would again behold, in one belt
upon the earth's surface, the black, in another the red, arid in
a third the white man. And to whatever degree they carried
their principles into practice, they would find proportionately
great counteracting causes — continually fighting against them,
and continually requiring the reproduction of their amalgama
ted breed, from the original stocks. This, then, is a fatal ob
jection to their scheme ; the course of nature is against it. But
again, he would say, as a second fundamental ejection against
all such schemes, that wherever, in the past history of the world,
the various races of menjiadbeen allowed freely to amalgamate,
one of two concomitants had universally attended the process,
namely, polygamy or prostitution. If either of these be per
mitted, as innocent, amalgamation can easily be pushed through
its. first stage ; without one at least of these two engines, no
progress has ever yet been made in this work of fighting against
the overwhelming course of events. He regretted he had not
time to go over these branches of the argument with that pains
which he could wish. If he had, he believed, notwithstanding

112
all that Mr. Thompson had said, or might say, about sophistry,
they could each of them be demonstrated as clearly as that gen
tleman could demonstrate any proposition in geometry. Again,
in the third place, he believed, from what was contained in the
Bible, that in preserving distinct from each other the three fam
ilies of mankind, as descended from the three sons of Noah,
God had great and yet undeveloped purposes to accomplish.
How far the whole history of his providence led to the same
conclusion, he must leave to their own reflections to determine.
But on the admission of such a, truth as even possible — > it was
surely natural to look for something in the structure of nature
that would effectually prevent the obliteration of either race.
One may find this in those general considerations which make
intermarriages, in his view, inexpedient ; or another in the in
nate and absolute instincts of the creature. But both will re
ceive with suspicion, as an undoubted and fundamental rule of
Christian morals, a dogma 'which reqiiires us to contend against
the clear leadings of providence, and the good and merciful in
tentions of our Creator. We tax our faith but slightly when we
believe that as soon as these purposes of mercy and glory are
accomplished, and the signal revolution in the social condition
of man now contended for shall be required by the Almighty,
We may look for a channel of communication between him and
the world more in accordance with the Spirit of his Son than
any which has yet brought us messages on the subject. The
fourth objection which struck him against this whole proceed-
ure was, that in point of fact the world has need of every race
that now exists on its surface. It has taken forty centuries to
adjust the nicely-balanced and adapted relations and proportions
of a vast and complicated structure, — - which the finger of all-
pervading wisdom has itself guided in all the steps of its devel
opment. And now, a stroke of the pen is to subvert it all, and
one dictum, of the world knows not whom, accomplish the
most stupendous revolution which all these forty centuries have
• witnessed. Suppose the end gained. If any one race now ex
isting was obliterated, Or very materially altered ir) its physical
condition, how large a proportion of the world's surface would
become speedily depopulated, and so remain until the present
condition of things were restored ! If this could happen as to
every race but one, what a wreck would the earth exhibit ! He
who will look with a Christian's eye abroad upon the families
of men, must feel that to' accomplish the great hopes that his
heart has conceived for this ruined world, he needs every race
that now peoples it ; and must see the hand of God in arresting
so speedily and so signally this pernicious heresy. In the fifth
place, he suggested an argument against amalgamation, which
at once showed the injustice of the outcry against America, and
15

114
the total inconsiderateness of Mr. Thompson and his party.
The fact was that this prejudice of color, as it was called, was
in all respects mutual ; and so far from being the peculiar sin of
America, was the common instinct of the human race", and ex
isted as really, if not as strongly on the side of the colored
population as on that of the whites. In proof of this, Mr.
Breckinridge cited the case of Hayti, where no man is al
lowed the rights of citizenship, unless a certain portion of black
blood runs in his veins ; and that of Richard Lander, who,
while travelling in the interior of Africa, as the servant of
Park, was looked upon with comparative favor by the natives
on account of his dark complexion, while his master, who was
of a very fair complexion, was far less a favorite on that account.
The North American Indians and the blacks more readily
intermixed than the Indians and the whites, while the latter
connexion, which is not indeed uncommon, is formed by the
marriage of a white man with a squaw ; never, br most rarely,
of an Indian and a white woman, the slight; and most exagger
ated number of mulattoes, are nearly without exception, the
offspring of white men and colored women. These facts seemed
to show the reality and nature or the mutual aversion of
which I have spoken ; an aversion never overcome but in gross
minds. And the whole current of remark proves that those
who attempted to promote amalgamation are fighting equally
against the purposes of providence, the convictions of rea
son, and the best impulses of nature. He had much to say,
which time failed him to say, on the spirit in which the aboli
tion had been advocated in America. He would therefore
merely remark whether it might be taken as a compliment, or
the reverse, that the spirit of all Mr. Thomson's speeches, which
he had heard or read — might give them a tolerable idea of the
spirit of abolitionism everywhere : a spirit which many seemed
to consider as from above, but for himself he prayed to be pre
served from any such spirit. He had much also to say upon
the malignant feeling and spirit of insubordination which had
been produced by the discussion of these questions in the
breasts of multitudes of free colored people. The riots, Of
which so much had been said in this country, were as often
produced by the imprudence and insolence of these deluded
people, as by the wanton violence and prejudices of the lowest
classes of the whites. In consequence of the influence of the
Jacobinical principles of the abolitionists, many free colored
servants left employments they had held for years ; because the
claim then first set up, of perfect domestic equality with their
masters, was refused ; while many cases of insult to females,
in the streets of our cities, signalized the same season and spirit.
He had also much to say of the wide-spread feeling, looking

towards immediate deliverance, from a distance, and by force,
which suddenly, and, if the abolitionists are innocent as they
pretend, miraculously got possession of the minds of the slaves
over all the southern country ; and which led to such stern, and
but the more unhappy, if necessary, consequences. It had been
said, in justification of his conduct by Mr. Thompson, that per
suasion had never yet induced any one to relax his hold on
slaves — and that as for America, it particular, she would never
be made to feel ought on the subject, till her pride and fears
were awakened. To that he would reply that, as regarded
pride, perhaps America had her share of it ; but if abolition was
not to be looked for till her fears granted it, he apprehended
they would have- sufficient time yet left to send Mr. Thompson
on several new voyages before the whole country was fright
ened into his terms.

117

FIFTH NIGHT — FRIDAY, JUNE 17.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said that the order of the exercises
of this evening had, without the fault of any one, placed him
in a position which was not the most natural. Considering that
It was his duty to support the ' negative of the point for this
evening's discussion, it would have been most natural had the
affirmation been first brought out. He said this;, arrangement
was not the fault of any one, because it was not known that
the point would fall to be discussed on this particular evening ;
for had it fallen on last night or to-morrow night, the order
would have been as it ought to be. His position was, however,
made somewhat better by the fact, that nothing that Mr.
Thompson could say this evening, in an hour or two, could al
ter the assertions which he had already repeatedly made and
published in Britain. ¦ Since the notice of this discussion had
been published, he had, through the providence of God, been
put in possession of six or seven papers and pamphlets contain
ing the substance of what had been said by Mr. Thompson
throughout the country, and reiterated by associated bodies of
his friends under his eye. After reading these carefully, he
found himself pretty fully possessed of that individual's charges
and testimony against the ministers, private Christians, and
churches of America; he would, therefore, take them as he
found them in those publications, while Mr. Thompson's pre
sence would enable him to explain, correct, or deny anything
that might be erroneously stated. The first thing he should'
attempt to do, was to impeach the competency of Mr. Thomp
son as a witness in this or any similar case. Mr. Thompson
had shown that he was. utterly incompetent, wisely to gather
and faithfully to report testimony on any subject - involving
great and complicated principles. He did not wish to say any
thing personally offensive to Mr. Thompson; but he must be
plain, and he would first produce proof of what he said, which
was as it regarded this whole nation perfectly adhominem- Hfe
would show the audience what Mr. Thompson had said of
them, and then they would better judge what was his compe
tency tp be a witness against the Americans. At a meeting in

118
the Hopeton Rooms at Edinburgh, since his return from the
United States, Mr. Thompson said :
We were really under a worse bondage than the slaves of the United States.
We kissed our chains and hugged our fetters. We were governed by out' drunken
appetite. The lecturer, in the concluding portion of his address, depicted in a tone of high
moral feeling, the degraded condition'of Great Britain as a nation, in consequence
of her extreme drunkenness. He shewed that habits of intemperance, or feelings
and prejudices generated by intemperance, pervaded every class, from the highest
to the lowest, the richest to the poorest. Statesmen bowed upon the altar of expe
diency ; and, above all, the sanctuary was not clean. As a Christian nation, we were
paralized in our efforts to evangelize the world — partly by the millions upon millions
actually expended upon ardent spirits — partly by the selfish and demoralizing
feelings which this sensual indulgence in particular was known to produce. How
could we, as a nation, upbraid America with her system of slavery when we our
selves were but glorying in a voluntary slavery of a thousand times more defiling
and abominable description ? In our own country, it might be said that there was,
as it were, a conspiracy against the bodies and souls of her people.
Now in any Court of Justice, he would take his stand upon
the fact that the man who made that speech must be a mono
maniac, and he believed no competent tribunal, after hearing
it, would receive his testimony as to the character or conduct
of any nation on the face of the earth. Or if there lingered a
doubt on the subject, he should show from the burden of his
charges against America, that he spoke in the same general
spirit, and nearly in the very same terms of her as of Britain,
although the fault found with each country was totally differ
ent. He spoke of each as the very worst nation on the earth,
because of the special crime charged. Any man who could
allow himself to say that the two most enlightened nations on
earth were in substance the two most degraded nations on
earth ; who could permit himself to bring such railing accusa
tions successively against two great people, on account of
the sins of a small portion of each, which he had looked at
till he could see nothing else, and with the perseverance of a
goldleaf-beater, exercised his ingenuity in stretching out to
the utmost limits over each community ; a man who not only
can see little to love anywhere that does not derive its com
plexion from himself, and who, the moment he finds a blot
on his brethren, or his country, instead of walking backwards
and hiding it with the filial piety of the elder sons of Noah,
mocks over it with the rude and unfeeling bitterness of Canaan ;
such a man is worthily impeached, as incompetent to testify.
Nay, I put the issue where Mr. Thompson has put it. If this
nation be such as he has described it to be, I demand, with
unanswerable emphasis, how can it dare to call us, or any
other people, to account on any subject whatever ? If, on the
other hand, what he has said of this nation be false, I equally
demand how can he be credited in what he says of us — of
any other nation under the sun ? After this caveat against all
that such a witness could say, he would in the 'first place ob-

119
serve, that all the accusations brought by Mr. Thompson
against Americans, were imbued with such bitterness and in
temperance as ought to. awaken suspicion in the minds of all
who hear them. There was visible not only a violent national
antipathy against that whole country, but also a strong preju
dice in favor of the one side ahd against the other in the local
parties . there, which, before any impartial tribunal, ought
greatly to weaken any credit that might otherwise be attached
to his testimony. Besides an open hostility to the nation as
such, and a most envomed hatred to certain men, parties, and
principles in America, the witness has exhibited such a wounded
feeling of vanity from his want of success in America ; . such a
glorying of his friends, and that just in proportion to their sub
serviency to him, and such a contemptuous and unmerited de
preciation of his opponents, as should put every man who reads
or hears his proofs at once on his guard. As to the opinions
and conclusions of such a person, even from admitted facts,
they are of course worthless ; and his inferences from hearsay
and idle reports, worse than trash. But what I mean to say is,
that such a witness, considered strictly as testifying to what he
asserts of his own knowledge, is to be heard by a just man
with very great caution. For my own part, at the risk of be
ing called again a pettifogger, by this informer, I am bound to
say that his conduct impeaches his credibility fully as much as
it has before been shown to affect his competency; and while
I have peculiar knowledge of the facts, sufficient to assert that
his main accusations are false, I fully believe that the case he
had himself made, did of itself justify all good men to draw
the same -conclusion, merely from general principles. I will
venture to go a step farther, and express the opinion that they
who are acquainted with Mr: Thompson, as he exhibits him
self in the public eye, and who have knowledge of the past
success, which really did, or which he allows himself to be
lieve did attend his. efforts in West-India emancipation, (a suc
cess, however, which I do not comprehend, as the case was
settled against him and his party, on the two chief points on
which they staked themselves, namely, immediate abolition
and no compensation,) they who can call to mind the prepara
tion and pretension with which he set out for America, the
gigantic work he had carved for himself there, the signal de
feat he met with, and the terror in which he fled the country ;
may find enough to justify the fear that the fate of George
Thompson has fully as large a share in his recollections of
America as the fate of the poor slave. In the second place, I
charge upon Mr. Thompson that those parts of his statements
which might possibly be in part true, are so put as to create
false impressions, and have nearly the same effect as if they

120
were wholly false on the minds of those who read or hear
them. This results from the constant manner of stating what
might possibly be true ; and it is not only calculated to produce
a false impression, and make the casual reader believe in a re
sult different from what would be presented if Mr. Thompson
were on oath and forced to tell the whole truth, but the uni
formity and dexterity with which this is done, leaves us aston
ished how it could be accidental. He (Mr. B.) assumed that
all of them, had read or would read Mr. Thompson's charges.
After doing so they would the better apprehend what was now
meant ; but, in the mean time, he would illustrate it by a case
or two. Thus, when Mr. T. spoke of the ministers in the
United States being slave-holders, he did it in such a way as to
lead the reader to believe that this was a general thing ; that the
most of them, if not the whole of them, were slave-owners.
He did not tell them that "none of the ministers in twelve
whole States were or could easily be slave-holders, seeing they
were not inhabitants of a slave State ; he did not tell them
that the cases of ministers owning slaves were rare even in
some of the slave States ; and a fair sample of the majority in
not a single State of the Union ; he left the charge indefinite,
and did not condescend to tell whether the number of minis
ters so accused was one half, or one third, or one fourth, or one
hundredth part of the whole number in the United States. He
left it wholly indefinite, on the broad charge that American
ministers were slave-holding ministers; knowing, perhaps in
tending, that the impression taken up should be of the aggre
gate mass of American ministers ; when he knew himself all
the while that the overwhelming mass of American ministers
had never owned a slave ; and that those who had, were ex
ceptions from the general rule rather than samples of the whole.
It may well be asked how much less sinful it was to rob men
of their good name, than of their freedom ? Not content with
even this injustice, Mr. Thompson had gone so far as to charge
the ministers of America with dealing in slaves ; slave-driving
ministers and slave-dealing ministers, were amongst his com
mon accusations. Now, said Mr. B., he would lay a strong
constraint upon himself, and reply to these statements as if
they were not at once atrocious and insupportable. The terms
used by Mr. Thompson were universally understood in the
United States, to mean the carrying on of a regular traffic in
slaves as a business. The meaning was the same here, and
every one who had heard or read one of his printed speeches,
was ex vi termini Obliged to understand this charge like the
preceding, as expressing his testimony as to the conduct of
American, ministers generally, if not universally.

121
Now I will admit that there may be in America, one minister in
One thousand, or perhaps five hundred, who may'at some period of
his ministry, when he had no sufficient light on the subject, have
bought or sold slaves a single time, or perhaps twice, or possibly thrice.
But I solemnly declare 1 never knew, hor heard of, nor do I believe
there exists in all America, one such minister, as is above described ;
nor any sect that would hold fellowship with him. He would throw
under the third general head charges of a different kind from- the
preceding. Mr. Thompson, when generalities fail, takes up some ex
treme case, which might probably be founded on truth, and gives it as
a specimen of the general practice ; thereby creating by false in
stances, as well as by indefinite accusations, an impression which he
knows to be entirely foreign from the truth. If he, (Mr. B.) were tb
tell in America that on his way to this meeting to-riight, he saw two
blind men begging in the streets, with their arms locked to support
their tottering steps, while the crowd passed .hem idly by'; and if lie
gave this as a specimen of the manner in which the unfortunate poor
were treated in Scotland, he would not give a worse impression, nor
make a more unfair statement of the fact, than Mr. Thompson had
done, nearly without exception, in his statements of America. Such
a spirit and practice as this, pervaded the whole of Mr. Thompson's
speeches. He would select a few instances to enforce his meaning.
There was a single Presbyterian Church at Nashville, Tennessee.
Now he, (Mr.' B.) happened, in the providence of God, to be some
what acquainted with the past history of that church ; and was happy
to call its present benevolent minister his friend. He could conse
quently speak of it from his own knowledge. Mr. Thompson said
that a young man went to Nashville, who, either through his own im
prudence, or the violence of the disjointed times, was arrested, tried
by a oojjular committee, found guilty of spreading seditious papers,
and sentenced to be whipped ; that he had received twenty lashes,
and was then discharged. This he believed to be substantially true,
and well remembered hearing of the occurrence; and taking the
young man's account of it as true, he had been greatly shocked at it,
and had now no idea of defending it. But in MrAThdmpsori's state
ment of the case, there was a minute misrepresentation, which show
ed singular indifference to facts. Mr. T. said the yourig man went
to Tennessee to sell cottage bibles, in which business' he succeeded
well, for the reason, adds the narrator, that Bibles were scarce in>
the South : although he could not fail to know, tbat before the period
in question, every family in all those States that would receive a Bi
ble, had been furnished with one by the various Bible Societies. This,
however, was not the main reason for a reference to this case ; but
was mentioned incidentally, to show the nature of the feelings and ac
cusations indulged in by this gentleman. His account went on to say,
sometimes that there were seven, sometimes eleven elders of this
Presbyterian Church. It was not intended to lay any stress on the
discrepancy ; as the fault might be the reporter's. But seven, or
16 ,

122
eleven ; it was again and/again charged, that iall of them, every one,
was present, trying, and consenting to the punishment of the unhappy
young man, "plowing up his back," and mingling, perhaps in the
mob who cursed him, even for his prayers. To make the case inex
pressibly horrible, it is added, that these seven or eleven elders, had
as to part of them, distributed the sacramental elements, to the abo
litionist,, the, very Sabbath before, the day on which the seven elders
participated in this outrage. , Now I say first, that if this story were
literally true, no man knows better than Mr. Thompson, that- no false
hood could be more glaring than to say or insinuate, that the case
would be a fair average specimen of what the leading men in the
American churches generally might be expected to do, in like circum
stances. Yet for this purpose, he has repeatedly used it ! No man
could know better; than hei, that if the case were true in all its parts,
it would every where be accounted a violent and unprecedented thing,
which could happen at all only in most extraordinary* circumstances.
Yet he has so stated it, over and over, as to force the impression that
it is a fair sample of American Christianity. But, said Mr. B. I call
in question all parts of the story, that implicate any Christian. 1 do
not believe the statements. Let me have proof. I do not believe
there were; either seven or eleven elders in the church in question.
Record their names. If there were so many, it is next to impossible,
that everyone of them, was on the comparatively small committee
that tried the abolitionist. Produce the proofs ; and' I believe it will
turn out, that if either of them was present, it was to mitigate popu
lar violence ; and that his .influence perhaps, saved the life of him he
is traduced for having oppressed. He did not mean to stake his as
sertion against proof; but from his experience and general knowledge
of the parties, he had no hesitation in giving it as his opinion, that the
facts, when known, would not justify the assertions of Mr. Thomp
son, even as to the, particular case ; and believing this, I again chair
lenge the production of his authority. But, if it be true in all its
parts, I repeat, it is every thing but. truth, to say that it affords a just
specimen of the elders of the Presbyterian Churches of America.
Another case resembling the ¦ preceding in its principle, is found, in
what Mr. Thompson has said of the Baptists of the Southern States.
There are, says he, above 157,000 members in, upwards of 3000
Baptist Churches, in those States, " almost all both ministers and
members being slave holders." Allowing this statement to be true,
and that each .slave holder has ten slaves on an average, which is too
small for the truth, there would be an amount of slaves equal to
1,570,000 owned by the Baptist of the Southern States. If this be
true, and the census of 1830 true also, there were only left about
500,000 slaves to divide among all the other churches ; leaving for
the remainder of the people, none at all ! So that after all this, though
ehurches be bad, ,the nation is clean enough-.
Let us now make, some allowance for this gentleman's extravagance, ,
especially as he did think he was speaking under correction, and di-

123
vide, his 157,000 Baptists into 52,000 families, of three professors of
teligion m each. This is, more than the average for each family ;
especially in a church admitting only adults ; and the true number of
lannlies, for that number of professors, would be nearer one hundred
than fifty thousand. Twenty slaves to the family is below the average
oi the slave owning families of the South ; so that at the lowest: rate,
the Baptists in a few States, according to, this person, own 1,040,0.00
slaves at the least, or above half the number that our last census gives
to tbe whole union. The extraordinary folly of such statements,
would -appear more clearly to the audience when they understood,,
that as large a proportion of all the blacks, as of all the whites in
America are professors of religion ; that above half of all slaves who
profess religion, are Baptists ; and that, therefore, if there are 157,,-QOO
Baptists in the Southern States, instead of being " almost all slave
holders," at least a third of them are themselves. slaves. He gave
these instances to show that Mr. Thompson had taken extreme cases
(oon.ain.ng some show of truth as specimens of the whole of America,
wwd .bad thereby produced totally false impressions. What truth there
was in them, was so terriffically exaggerated, that no dependence
whatever could be placed upon any of his testimony. And this
would be still more manifest after examining the charge brought by
Mr. Thompson, that the very churches in America own slaves ; and
several af his speeches contain a pretty little dialogue with some slaves
in the fields, tlie whole interest of which turns on their calling them*
selves "the Church's Slaves." This was spoken of as it were in
-accordance with the usual course of things in the United States. In
deed, Mr. Thompson had not only spoken with his usual violence
and generality of the " slave holding churches of America," and de
clared his conviction that " all the guilt of the system" should be
'laid "on the church of America ;" but at the very latest joint exhi-
Ibitiort of himself and his friend Moses Maper, in London, it was stat*
¦ed by the. latter in one of his usual interludes to Mr. Thompson, per
haps in his presence, certainly uncontradicted, that slave holding was
universally practised by " all Christian societies" in America ; the
societies of Friends only excepted. It may excite a blush in Amer
ica, to know that the poor negro's silly falsehood was received with
cheers by the London audience.
What then should the similar declarations of Mr. Thompson, made
deliberately and repeatedly, and with infinite pretence of candour and
affection, what feelings can they excite ; and how will thatinsuked peo
ple regard the easy credulity which has led the Christians of Britain to
believe and reiterate charges in which it is not easy to tell whether there*
is less truth or more malignity? For how stood the facts ? What church
owns slaves ? What Christian corporation is a proprietor of men ? Out
of our ten thousand churches perhaps half are involved in this sin ?
Perhaps a tenth part? Surely one Presbytery at least? No, — this
mountain of fiction has but a grain of truth to sup.port;its vast and hate
ful proportions. If there be above five congregations in < all America

124
that own slaves, I never heard of them. The actua) number, of
whose existence I ever heard, is, I believe, precisely three ! They
are all Presbyterian congregations, and churches situated in the south
ern part of Virginia, and got into their unhappy condition in the fol
lowing manner : — Many years ago, during those times of ignorance at
which God winked — when such a man as John Newton could go a
slaving voyage to Africa, and write back that he never had enjoyed
sweeter communion with God than on that voyage ; during such a
period as' that, a few well meaning individuals had bequeathed a small
number of slaves for the support ofthe gospel in three or. four church
es. These unfortunate legacies had increased and multiplied them
selves to a great extent, and under present circumstances-to a most
inconvenient degree. A fact which puts the clearest contradiction on-
that assertion of this " accuser of the brethren" — representing their
condition as being one of unusual privation and suffering. Of late years
these cases had attracted attention, and given great uneasiness to some
of the persons connected with these churches. I have on this plat
form, kindly furnished me, like most of the other documents I have,
since this debate was publicly known — a volume of letters written to
one of these churches on the whole case, by the Rev. Mr. Paxton, at
that time its pastor. That gentleman is now on this side of the At
lantic, and may perhaps explain what Mr. Thompson has so sedu-
lousjy concealed ; how he was a colonizationist ; how he manumitted
and sent his own servants to Liberia ; how he labored in this particu
lar matter with his church, long before the existence of abolitionism ;:
and how, finding the difficulties insuperable, he had writien this kind
and modest volume, worth all the abolition froth ever spued forth, —
and left the charge in which he found it so difficult to preserve at once
an honest conscience and a healthful influence. It will not, however,
be understood that even these few churches are worthy of the indis
criminate abuse lavished on us, all for their sakes j nor that their pre
sent path of duty is either an easy or a plain one. Whether it is that
there are express stipulations in the original instruments conveying-
the slaves in trust for certain purposes ; or whether the general prin
ciple of law, which would transfer to the State, or to the heir of the
first owner, the slaves with their increase, — upon a failure of the in
tention of the donor, either by act of God, or of the parties themselves,
embarrass the subject ; it is very certain that wiser and better men
than either Mr. Thompson or myself, are convinced that these vilified
churches have no power whatever to set their slaves free. If the
churches were to give up the slaves, it could only have the effect, it is
believed, to send them into everlasting bondage to the heirs of the
original proprietors. They-have therefore justly considered it better
for the slaves themselves that they should remain as they were in a
state of nominal servitude, rather than be remitted into real slavery.
Such is the real state of the few cases which have first been exhibited
as the sin, if not the actual condition of the American churches ; and
then exaggerated into the utmost turpitude by hiding every mitigating

125 4
circumstance, adding some purely new, and distorting all things-
Whether right or wrong, the same state of things exists amongst the
Society of Friends in North Carolina, to a partial extent, and in
another form. They did not consider themselves liable to just cen
sure, although they held title in and authority over slaves, as individ
uals, while they gave them their whole earnings, and had collected
large sums from their brethren in England, which were applied to the
benefit of these slaves. It is not now for tbe first time that charges
have been made against the Church of God — that Judah is like all
the heathen. But all who embark in such courses — have met with
the common fate ofthe revilers of God's people ; and they, with such
as select to stand in their lot — may find in the word of life a worse
end apportioned for them, than even for those, they denounce, in case
every word they utter had been true. We bless God that no weapon
formed against Zion can prosper. There was one other instance
which he had noted under this head as requiring some comment, which
could not bear omission, regarding the private members of the Chris
tian churches in the United States, of whom a casual hearer or reader
of Mr. Thompson's speeches would believe that the far greater part
actually owned slaves; that very few, and they almost exclusively
abolitionists, considered slavery at all wrong ; that with one accord
they deprived the slaves of all religious privileges, and used them,
not only as a chattel, but as nothing else than a chattel. Accord
ing to our last census, there were about 11,000,000 of whites,
2,000,000 of slaves, and 400,000 free blacks in America, making a
total of nearly thirteen and a half millions. All the slaves were gath
ered into the 12 most southerly states, free blacks were not far from
half in the free and half in the slave states, and ofthe whites over
7,000,000 were in the free, and less than 3,000,000 in the slave
states. The best information I possess on this subject, authorizes me
t0 say — about 1 person in 9, throughout the nation, black and white,
is a member of a Christian church, the proportion being somewhat
larger to the north, and comparatively smaller at the south. There
are, therefore, above 1,100,000 white Christians in the United States,
of which about 800,000 live in the 12 free States, and neither own
slaves nor think slavery right ; leaving rather over 330,000 for the
12 slave States. Now, if these white Christians in the slave States
own all the slaves, and the other 8-9ths of the whites owned none at
all, there will be only about 6 slaves to each Christian there, a num
ber far below tbe average of the slave holders ; and all the North,
and all the South, except Christians, free of charge and guilt, in the
specific thing. But if we divide these Christians into families, and
suppose there may be as many, as one in three or four of them, who
is a head of a family, say 100,000 ; and that they own all the slaves :
in that case, there would be an average of twenty slaves to every white
head of a Christian family in the slave States. But here again all the
slaves would be absorbed ; all the North innocent, above two-thirds
of the Christians at the South proved to be not slave holders at all ;

I2G7 #
and all the followers of the devil wholly innocent of that crime.
These calculations demonstrate that these accusations are as ground
less and absurd as any of the preceding. And while it is painfully
true that in the slaveholding, States far too many Christians do still
own slaves ; it is equally true, that they bear a small proportion to
those who own none, even in those Slates. If we suppose the Chris
tians in America to be about on an equal footing as to wealth with other
people ; and to have no more conscience about slavery, than those
around them in the slave States ; and that twenty slaves may be taken
as the average, to each master ; and a ninth of the people pious, as
stated before, it follows that only about 11,000 professors of religion
can be slaveholders ; or about one in every hundred of the whole
number in the nation. Yet every one of the above suppositions is
against the churches, and yet upon this basis rests the charges of a
candid, affectionate Christian brother against them all ! The only re
maining illustration of Mr. Thompson's proneness to represent a little
truth, in such a way as to have all the effects of an immense misrep
resentation, regards his own posture, doings and sufferings in America.
"Fourteen months of toil, of peril, and persecution, almost unpar
alleled ;" " there: were paid myrmidons seeking my blood ;" " there
were thousands waiting to rejoice over my destruction ;" "when any
individual tells George Thompson who has put his life into his hands,
and gone where slavery is rife ; when I, George Thompson, am told
I am to be spared," &cc. Similar statements, ad infinitum, fill up all
his speeches; and are noticed now, not for the purpose of comment
ing on, or even contradicting them, but of affording my countrymen,
who may chance to See the report of this discussion, specimens, as
our certificates often run "of the modesty, probity, and good de
meanor," of the individual.
He would pass next to a fourth general objection against Mr.
Thompson's testimony, as regards America, which was, that much of
it was in the strictest sense, positively untrue. For instance, Mr.
Thompson had twice put a runaway slave forward upon the platform
at London ; or at least connived at the doing of it ; who stated of
his own knowledge, that a Mr. Garrison, of South Carolina, had paid
500 dollars for a slave, that he might burn him, and that he had done
so without hindrance or challenge, afterwards. This statement Mr.
T. has never yet contradicted in any one of his numerous speeches,
although he must have known it to be untrue. 1 have myself several
times directed his attention to the subject, and yet the only answer- is,
"expressive silence." Then I distinctly challenge his notice of the
case; and while I solemnly declare, that according to my belief, who
ever should do such an act in any part of America, would be hung :
1 as distinctly charge Mr. Thompson, with giving countenance to, and
deriving countenance from this wilful misstatement.
As an other instance of the same kind, you are told that a free
man was sold from the jail at, Washington city, as a slave, without
even the form of atrial; which is farther aggravated by the assertion

127
that this is vouched as a fact, on the testimony of 1000 signatures
This matter, when Mr. Thompson's own proof is produced, resolves
itself into this: that Mr. Thompson, said, there had been a- thousand
signatures to a certain paper, which said, that a certain man taken up
as a runaway slave, said he was free! If he Was a slave, the whole
case falls ; whether he was a slave or not, was a fact that could have
,been judicially investigated and decided, if the person most interest
ed, or, any other, had chosen to demand it. So that in point >of fact
Mr. Thompson's whole statements, touching this oft repeated case'
areallpurefy gratuitous.. And with what horror, must every good
man hear that Mr. Thompson, within the last two or three'weeksr
told a crowd of people in Mr. Price's Chapel, Devonshire Squared
London, in allusion to this very case, that the poor black had ."de.-
monstrated his fkeedom," and afterwards been "sold-'into ever
lasting bondage! " And yet upon this fiction he bases one of his
most effective "illustrations of American slavery," and'some of his
fiercest denunciations of the American people. " Oh ! shame, where
is thy blush !: He could if time permitted exhibit other cases, — in
principle perhaps worse than these ; in which neither the false asser
tions of Moses Roper — nor the pretended evidence of misrepresented
petitions existed to make a show of evidence ; and which nothing but
the most extraordinary ignorance, or recklessness could explain.
Such are the assertions made by himself or his coadjutors in his pres
ence, that slaves are brought to the district of Columbia' from all the
slave states for sale; that five years is the average number, that slaves
carried to the Southern States live ; that slaves without trial, or even
examination, were often executed, by tens, twenties, and even thir
ties; that the hanner of theUnited States, which floated over a slave
dealing congress, ,ira the midst of the slave market of the entire nation,
had the word "Libeity" upon it (which single sentence contained
three misstatements ;) that religious men weighed: children in scales,
and sold them by the pound like meat; — that there were 2,000,000
of slaves in America who never heard the name of Christ; that no
white man would ever be respected after he had been seen to shake
hands with a, man of colour ; all which unnameable assertions are
contained, along with double as many others like them, in one single
newspaper (the London Patriot of June 1, 1835;) and in a portiori
of the report of only two of Mr. Thompson's meetings ! Alas !i for
poor human nature ! Having now gone through all that his time per
mitted him to. say, of the proof against America, he would lay be
fore them some counter testimony upon several, parts of- this great
subject. He had at one time greatly feared that ' b'e' migty be obliged
to ask them to believe his mere word, perhaps in the face of other proof;
but through the providence of God, he had beenput in possession: of
a very limited file of American newspapers," from the contents of
which he thought he should be able to make out as strong a case for
the truth, as he had proved the case against it to be weak and rotten.
There were so many denominations of Christians in America, that he

128
would only tire the meeting by enumerating them. They were of
every variety of name and opinion. As to many of them he knew
but little, and the present audience perhaps less. The Societies of
Friends generally did not tolerate slaveholding among their mem
bers; neither did the Covenanters. The Congregationalists, or Inde
pendents, had not, he believed, a dozen churches in all the Slave
States, and, of course, they should be considered as exempt from the
charge. It was, however, the less necessary to occupy ourselves in
general remarks, inasmuch as Mr. Thompson had laid , the stress of
his accusations on the three great denominations of America. " He
took all the guilt of this system, and he laid it where 1 On the
Church of America. When he said the Church, he did not allude
to any particular denomination. He spoke of Baptists, Presbyteri
ans, and Methodists, the three great props— the all-sustaining pillars
of that blood-cemented fabric;" Such were the words of Mr. T.,
and it would therefore be needless to trouble ourselves about the mi
nor, if we could settle the major to our satisfaction. As to two of
these denominations, he should say but little ; his chief and natural
business being to defend that one of which he knew most. In regard
to the Baptists, he was sorry to be obliged to say, tbat he believed
they were the least defensible of the three denominations, now princi
pally implicated; indeed that some of their Associations had taken
ground on the whole case, from which he entirely dissented, — and
which, he was sure, had given great pain to the majority of their own
brethren. He begged leave to refer them to the work of Drs. Cox
and Hoby, just through the press, in which he presumed, for he had
not seen it, they would find an authentic and ample information on this
and every other point relating to that denomination in America. In
relation to the Methodists, his knowledge was both more full and more
accurate. Their discipline denounced Slavery, and prohibited their
Members from owning slaves, and though their discipline itself was
not carried into effect with rigid exactness, he did not believe that
there was a Methodist Church in the United States, or upon the
Earth, which owned slaves, as a Church. He believed that very
few Methodist preachers — -indeed, almost none, owned any slaves,
and nothing but the most direct proof could for a moment make him
believe, that one of them was a slave-dealer. The whole sect, or at
least the great majority of it, might be considered as fairly represented,
in the following Resolutions passed in the Conference, held at Balti
more; and which could be a set off to those read by Mr. Thompson,
from one. of the northern Conferences.
METHODIST'S RESOLUTIONS ON ABOLITION.
At a late meeting of the Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church held at Baltimore, the fbllowing preamble and Resolutions were unanimously
adopted, and the names of all the members and probationers present, in number, one
hundred and fifty-seven, were subscribed, and ordered to be published. The secretary
was also directed to furnish Rev. John A. Collins, with a copy for insertion in the Globe
and Intelligencer, of Washington City.
Whereas great excitement has pervaded this country for some time past on the subject
of abolition ; and whereas such excitement is believed to be destructive to the best inter
ests of the country and of religion ; therefore

129
1. Resolved, That " we are as much as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery."
, ™. That we are opposed in every part and particular to the proceedings ofthe abolition-
IS'o' *n'on- look lo the immediate indiscriminate, and general emancipation of slaves.
3. That we have no connexion with any press, by whomsoever conducted, in the inter
est of the abolition cause.
As to hi| own Connection, the Presbyterian, he would go as fully
as his materials permitted, into the proof of their past principles,
and present posture. And in the first place he was most happy to
be able to present them with an abstract of the decisions of the Gene
ral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of
America. He found it printed in the New York Observer, of May
23, 1835, embodied in the proceedings of the Presbytery of Mont
rose, and transcribed by it no doubt from the Assembly's digest.
As early as A. D. 1787, the ' Synod of N. York and Philadelphia issued an opinion ad
verse to slavery, and recommended measures for its final extinction ; and in the year 1795
the General Assembly assured " all the churches under their care, that they viewed with
the deepest concern any vestiges of slavery which then existed in our country ;" and in
the year 1815 the same judicatory decided, " that the buying and selling of slaves by way
of traffic, (meaning, doubtless, the domestic traffic,) is inconsistent with the spirit of the
gospel." But in the year 1818, a more full and explicit avowal of the sentiments of the
church was unanimously agreed on in the General Assembly. " We consider, (say the
Assembly,) the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another, as a gross
violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature ; as utterly inconsist
ent with the law of God, which requires us to love pur neighbor as ourselves; and as
totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, which enjoin,
that " whatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." They add,
" It is manifestly the duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of the present day, when
the inconsistency ef slavery, both with the dictates of humanity and religion, has been
demonstrated, and is generally seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest and
unwearied endeavors to correct the errors of former times, and as speedily as possible, to
efface this blot on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery
throughout Christendom and if possible, throughout the world."
If, said Mr. B., he had expressed sentiments different from these,
Or if he had inculcated(as the principles of his brethren any thing dif
ferent from these just and noble sentiments, let the blame be heaped
upon his bare head. These sentiments they had held from a period
to. which the memory of man. runneth not" to the contrary. Here to
night, 3000 miles off, God enabled him to produce a record proving
an antiquity of half a century, in full maturity ! How grand, how far
sighted, how illustrious is truth — compared with the wretched and
new born, and blear eyed fanaticism that carps at her! These are
the principles of the Presbyterian church of the United States. She
has risen with them, she will stand, or, if it be God's will, she will fall
with them. But she will not change them less or more. The Gen
eral Assembly is but now adjourned. They have had this question
before them — perhaps have been deeply agitated by its discussion.
But so tranquilly does my heart rest on the truth of these principles,
and on the fixed adherence to them, by my brethren, that nothing but
a feeling that it would be impertinent, in one like me, to vouch for a
body like that, could deter me from any lawful gage, that allits decis
ions will stand with its ancient and unaltered principles. ' In accord
ance with these principles the great body of the members of that
church had been all along acting.— There were about 24 synods under
the care of the General Assembly, of which about one third were in
17

130
the slave country. The number was constantly increasing, on which
account, and in the absence of all records, he could not be more ex
act. The synods in the free states stood, he believed, without excep
tion, just where the Assembly stood, on this subject. In the slave
states, much had been done — much was still doing — and in proof of
this as regarded this particular denomination — in addition to what he
had all along declared, with reference to the great emancipation party,
in all of those states, he asked attention to the several documents he
was about to lay before them. The first was a series of resolutions
appended to a lucid and extended report, drawn up by a large com
mittee of Ministers and Elders of the synod of Kentucky — in obedi
ence to its orders after the subject had been several years before that
body. That Synod embraces the whole, state of Kentucky, which is
one of the largest slave states in the Union. The resolutions are
quoted from the New York Observer, of April 23, 1836.
1. We would recommend that all slaves now under 20 years of age, and all those
yet to be born in our possession be emancipated, as they severally reach their 25th year.
2. We recommend that deeds of emancipation be now drawn up, and recorded in
our respective County Courts, specifying the slaves we are about to emancipate, and the
age at which each is to become free.
This measure is highly necessary, as it will furnish to our own minds, to the world,
and to our slaves, satisfactory proof of our sincerity in this work ; and it will also secure
the liberty of the slaves against contingencies.
3. We recommend that our slaves be instructed in the common elementary branches
of education. 4. We recommend that strenuous and persevering: efforts be made, to induce them to
attend regularly upon the ordinary services of religion, both domestic and public.
5. We recommend that great pains be taken to teach them the Holy Scriptures ; and
that to effect this, the instrumentality of Sabbath Schools, wherever they can be enjoyed,
be united with that of domestic instruction.
The plan revealed in these resolution, was the one of all others,
which most commended itself to his (Mr. B.'s) judgment. And he
most particulary asked their attention to it, on an account somewhat
personal. He had several times been publicly referred to in this
country, as having shown the sincerity of his principles in the manu
mission of his own slaves. He was most anxious that no error should
exist on this subject, which he had not at any time, had any part in
bringing before the public, and which, as often only as he was forced
to do so, had he explained. The introductory remarks of the Chair
man, had laid him under the necessity of such an explanation, which
had not so naturally occurred, as in this connexion. He took leave,
therefore, to say, that this Kentucky plan, was in substance the one
he had been acting on for some years before its existence ; and which
he should probably be among the "'earliest, if his life was spared, fully
to complete. He considered it substantially the same as their system
for West India Emancipation ; only more rapid as to adults, more
tardy, cautious, and beneficent as to minors ; and more generous, as
being wholly without compensation. In plans that affect whole na
tions, and successive generations, questions of time are of all others,
least important ; of all others the most proper to make bend to the
necessities of the" case. He went only to say further, that his brother,
the Rev. Dr. Breckinridge., of whom Mr. Thompson speaks with such

131
affectation of scorn, had entered this good field before him, and taken
one course with his manumitted slaves. That a younger brother, whose
name, along with nine other beloved and revered names, is attached
to this Kentucky report, had also entered it before him ; and taken a
second course, a different course still, in liberating his. When he came,
last of all, he had taken still a third, different from each ; while other
friends had pursued others still. What wisdom their combined, and
yet varied experience could have afforded, was of course useless ;
now that all the deepest questions of abstract truth, and the most dif
ficult of personal practice, were solved by instinct, and carried by
storm. The next extract related to the great slave holding Slate of North
Carolina, and revealed a plan for the religious instruction and care of
the souls of the slaves, intended to cover the States of Virginia,
Georgia, and South Carolina, all slave States of the first class, as well
as the one in which it originated. Its origin is due to the Presbyte
rian Synod, covering the whole of that State. The extract is from
the New York Observer of June 20, 1835.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OP SLAVES.
" The Southern Evangelical Society," is the title of a proposed association among
the Presbyterians at the South, for the propagation of the gospel among the people of
color. The constitution originated in the Synod of North Carolina, and is to go into ef
fect as soon as adopted by the Synod of Virginia, or that of South Carolina and Georgia.
The voting members of the Society are to be elected by the Synods. Honorary mem
bers are created by the payment of thirty dollars. All members of Synods united with
the Sociefy, are corresponding members; other corresponding members maybe chosen
by the voting members. Article 4th of the Constitution, provides that " there shall not
exist between this Society anchany other Society, any connexion whatever, except wilh a
similar Society in the slave holding States." Several resolutions follow the Constitu
tion; one of these provides that a presbytery in a slave holding district of the country,
not united with a Synod in connexion with the Society, may become a member by its own
act. The fifth and sixth resolutions are as follows :
Resolved, 5, That it be very respectfully and earnestly recommended to all the heads of
families in connexion with our congregations, to take up and .vigorously prosecute the
business of seeking the salvation of the slaves in the way of maintaining and promoting
family religion.
Resolved, 6, That it be enjoined upon all the presbyteries composing this Synod, to
take order at their earliest meeting, to obtain full and correct statisticaKiriformation as to
the number of people of color, in'the bounds of our several congregations, the number in
actual attendance at our several places of worship, and the number of colored members
in our several churches, and make a full report to the Synod at its next meeting, and for
this purpose, that the Clerk of this Synod furnish a copy of this resolution to the stated
Clerk of each Presbytery. '**
The next document carried them one Slate farther South, and re
lated to South Carolina, in which that horrible Governor M'Duffie,
who seems to haunt Mr. Thompson's imagination with his threats of
" death without benefit of clergy," 'lives, and perhaps still rules. It
is taken from the same paper as the next preceding extract :
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES.
We cheerfully insert the following letter from an intelligent .New Englander at the South.
To the Editor of the New York Observer. , _
I am apprehensive that many of your readers, who feel a lively interest m the-
welfare of the slaves, are not correctly and fully informed as to their amount of religious
instruction. From the speeches of Mr. Thompson and others, they might be led to be
lieve that slaves in our Southern States never read a Bible, hear a gospel sermori, or par
take of a 'gospel ordinance. It is to be hoped, however, that little credit will be given to
such misrepresentations, notwithstanding the zeal and industry with which they are dis
seminated.

133
What has been done on a single plantation.
I will now inform your readers what has been done, and is now doing, for the moral
and religious improvement of the slaves on a single plantation, with which I am well ac^
quainted, and these few facts may serve as a commentary on the unsupported assertions of
Mr. Thompson and others. And here I could wish that al) who are so .eady to denounce
every man that is so unfortunate as to be born to a heritage of slaves, could go to that
plantation, and see with their own eyes, and hear with their own ears, the things which I
despair of adequately describing. Truly, I think they would be more inclined, and bet
ter qualified to use those weapons of light and love which have been so ably and justly
commended to their hands.
On this plantation there are from 150 to 200 slaves, the finest looking body that I have
seen on, any estate. Their master and mistress have felt for years how solemn are the
responsibilities connected with such a charge; and they have not shrunk from meeting
them. The means used for their spiritual good, are abundant. They enjoy the constant
preaching of the gospel. A young minister of the Presbyterian church, who has received
a regular collegiate and theological education, is laboring amongthem, and derives his en
tire support from the master, with the exception of a trifling sum which he receives for
preaching one Sabbath in each month for a neighboring church. On the Sabbath, and
during the week, you may see them filling the place of worship, from the man of grey
hairs to the small child, all neatly and comfortably clothed, listening with respectful,
and in many cases, eager attention to the truth as it is in Jesus, delivered in terms adapt
ed to their capacities, and in a manner suited to their peculiar habits, feelings and cir
cumstances ; engaging with solemnity and propriety in the solemn exercise of prayer,
and mingling their melodious voices in the hymn of praise. Sitting among them are the
white members of the family encouraging them by their attendance, manifesting their in
terest in the exercises, and their anxiety for the eternal well-being of their people. Of
the whole number, forty-five or fifty have made a profession of religion, a__d others are
evidently deeply concerned.
Let me now conduct you to a Bible class of ten or twelve adults who can read, met
with their Bibles to study and have explained to them the word of God. They give une
quivocal demonstrations of much interest in their employment, and of an earnest desire
to understand and remember what they read. From hence we will go to another room,
where are assembled eighteen to twenty lads, attending upon catechetical instruction,.
conducted by their young master. Here you will notice many intelligent countenances,
£yid will be struck with the promptitude and correctness of their answers.
But the most interesting spectacle is yet before you. It is to be witnessed in the
Infant School Room, nicely fitted up and supplied with the customary cards and other ap
purtenances. Heje, every day in the week, you may find twenty-five or thirty children,
neatly clad- and wearing bright and happy faces. And as you notice then- correct deport
ment, hear their unhesitating replies to the questions proposed, and above all when they
unite their sweetvoices in their touching songs, if your heart is not affected and your eyes
do not fill, you are. the hardest-hearted anddriest-eyed visiter that has ever been there. But
who is their teacher? Their- mistress, a lady whose amiable Christian character and most
gifted and accomplished mjrid and manners are surpassed by none. From day to day,
month to month, and year to year, she has cheerfully left her splendid halls and circle of ¦
friends, to visit her school room, where, standing up before those young immortals, she
trains them in the way in which they should go, and leads them to Him who said, " sutler
little children to come unto me."
From the Infant School room, we will walk through a beautiful lawn half a mile, to a
pleasant grove commanding a view of miles in extent. Here is a brick chapel, rising for
the accommodation of this interesting family ; sufficiently large to receive two or three
hundred hearers. When completed, in beauty and convenience it will be surpassed by
few churches in the Southern country.
On the plantation you might see also many other things of great interest. Here a ne
gro is the overseer.. Marriages are regularly contracted. . No negro is sold, except as a
punishment for bad behaviour, and a dreaded one it is. None is bought, save for the pur
pose of uniting families. Here you will hear no clanking of chains, no cracking of whips;
(I have never seen a blow struck on the estate,) and here last, but not least, you will find
a flourishing Temperance Society, embracing almost every individual on the premises.
And yet the "Christianity of the South is a chain-forging, a whip-plaiting, marriage dis-.
couraging, Bible-withholding Christianity '."
I have confined myself to a single plantation.. But I might add many most interesting
?acts in regard to others, and the state of feeling in general, but I forbear.
Yours, &c. A NEW ENGLAND MAN.
He would now connect the peculiar and local facts of the preced
ing statement, with the whole community of slave holders, in the
same State ; and show by competent and disinterested testimony, the

153
real and common state of things. The following extracts were from
a letter printed in the New York Observer, of July 25, 1835 :
I have resided eight years in South Carolina, and have an extensive acquaintance with
the planters of the middle and low country. I have seen much of slavery, and feel com
petent to speak in regard to many fact's connected with it.
What your correspondent has stated of the condition of one plantation, is in its essen
tial points a common case throughout the whole circle of my acquaintance.
The negroes generally, in this State, are well fed, well clothed, and have the means of
religious instruction. According to my best judgment, the work which a slave here is
required to do, amounts to about one third the ordinary labor commonly performed by a
New England farmer. A similar comparison would hold true in regard to the labor of
domestics. In the family where I reside, consisting of nine white persons, seven slaves
are employed to do the work. This is a common case.
In the village where I live, there are about four hundred slaves, and they generally at
tend church. More than one hundred of them are members of the church. Perhaps two
hundred are assembled every Sabbath in the Sunday Schools. In my own Sunday School
are about sixty, and most of them professors of religion. They are perfectly accessible,
and teachable. In the town of my former residence, in New England, there were three
hundred free blacks. No more than eight or ten of these were professors of religion, and
not more than twice that number could generally be induced to attend church,- , They
could not be induced to send their children to the district schools, which were always
open to them, nor could they generally be hired to work. They are thievish, wretched
and troublesome. I have no hesitation in saying, and I say it deliberately, it would be a
great blessing to them to exchange conditidns with the slaves of the village in which I
now live. Their intellectual and moral characters, and real means of improvement,
would be promoted by the exchange.
There are doubtless some masters who treat their slaves cruelly in this State, but they
are exceptions to the general fact. Public opinion is in a wholesome state and the man
who does not treat his slaves kindly, is disgraced.
Great and increasing efforts are made to. instruct the slaves in religion, and elevate their
characters. Missionaries are employed solely for their benefit. It is very common for
ministers to preach in the forenoon to the whites, and in the afternoon of every Sabbath
to the blacks. The slaves of my acquaintance are generally contented and happy. The
master is reprobated who will divide families. Many thousands of slaves of this State
give evidence of piety. In many churches they form the majority. Thousands of them
give daily thanks to God that they or their fathers were brought to this land of slavery.
And now, perhaps, I ought to add, that I am not a slave-holder, and do not intend to
continue in a slave country ; but wherever I may be} 1 intend to speak the TRUTH.
The next document related particularly, to Virginia, — the largest
and most powerful of the Slave States ; but had also a general refer
ence to the whole south, and the whole question at issue. The sen
timents it contained were entitled to extraordinary consideration, on
account of the source of them. Mr. Van Renselear, was the son of
one of the most wealthy and distinguished citizens ofthe great free state
of New York. He had gone to Virginia, to preach to the slaves. He
had every where succeeded ; was every where beloved by the slaves,
and honored by their masters. He had access to perhaps forty plan
tations, — on which he from time to time preached, — and which
might have been doubled, had his strength been equal to the work.
In the midst of his usefulness — the storm of abolition arose. _ Mr.
Thompson, like some baleful star landed on our shores; organized a
reckless agitation, made many at the north frantic with folly — and as
many at the south furious with passion. ]Vlr. Van Renselear, like
many others, saw a storm raging which they had no power to control;
and like them withdrew from his benevolent labors. The following
brief statements made by him at a great meeting of the colonization
society, of New York, exhibit his own view of the conduct and duty
pf the parties.

134
The _tev. Oortlandt Van Renselear, formerly of Albany, but who has lately resided in
Virginia, addressed the meeting, and after alluding to the difference of opinion which pre
vailed among the friends of Colonization, touching the present condition and treatment of
the colored population in this country, proceeded to offer reasons why the people of the
North should approach their brethren in the South, who held the control of the colored
population, with defference, and in a spirit of kindness and conciliation.
These reasons were briefly as follows: 1. Because the people ofthe South had not
consented to the original introduction of slaves into the country, but had solemnly, earn
estly, and repeatedly remonstrated against it. 2. Because having been born in the pres
ence of slavery, and accustomed to it from their infancy, they could not be expected to
view it in the same light as we view it at the North. 3. Slavery being there established by
law, it was not in the power of individuals to act in regard to it as their personal feelings
might dictate. The evil had not been eradicated from the state of New York all at once :
It nad been a gradual process, commencing with the law 1799 and not consumated until
1827. Ought we to denounce our Southern neighbors if they refuse to do the work at a
blow ? 4. The constitution of the United States tolerated slayery, in its articles appor
tioning representation with reference to the slave population, and requiring the surrender
of runaway slaves. 5. Slavery had been much mitigated of late years, and the condition
of the slave population much ameliorated. Its former rigor was almost unknown, at least
in Virginia, and it was lessening continually. It was not consistent with truth to repre
sent the slaves as groaning day and night under the lash of tyranical task-masters. And
as to being kept in perfect ignorance, Mr. V. had seldom seen a plantation where some of
the slaves could not read, and where they were not encouraged to learn. In South Caro
lina, where it was said the gospel was systematically denied to the slaves, there were
twenty thousand of them church members in the Methodist denomination alone. He
knew a small church where out of 70 communicants, SO were in slavery. 6. There were
very great difficulties connected with the work of Abolition. The relations of slaveTy
had ramified themselves through all the relations of society. The slaves were compara
tively very ignorant ; their .character degraded ; and they were unqualified for immediate
freedom. A blunder in such a concern as universal abolition, would be no light matter.
Mr. V. here referred to the result of experience and personal observation on the mind of
the well-known Mr. Parker, late a minister of this city, but now of New-Orleans. He had
left this city for the South with the feeling of an immediate abolitionist ; but he had re
turned with his views wholly changed. After seeing slavery and slave-holders, and that at
the far South, he now declared the idea of immediate and universal abolition to be a gross
absurdity. To liberate the two and a half millions of slaves in the midst of us, would be '
just as wise and as humane, as it would be for the father of a numerous family of young
children to take them to the front door, and there bidding them good bye. tell them they
were free, and send them out into the world to provide for and govern themselves. 7. For
eign interference was, of necessity, a delicate thing, and ought ever to be attempted with
the utmost caution. 8. There'was a large amount of unfeigned Christian anxiety at the
South to obey God and do good to man. There were many tears and prayers continually
poured out over ihe condition of their colored people, and the most earnest desire to miti-
gale their sorrows. Were such persoas to be approached with vituperation and anathe
mas 1 9. There was no reason why all our sympathies should be confined to the colored
race and utterly withheld from our white southern brethren. The- apostle Paul exhibited
no such spirit. 10. A regard to the interest of the slaves themselves dictated a cautious
and prudent and forbearing course. It called for conciliation : for "the fate of the slaves
depended on the will of their masters, nor could the north prevent it. The late laws
against teaching the slaves to read had not been passed until the Southern people found
infiamatory publications circulating among the colored people. 11. The spirit ofthe gos-
Eel forbade all violence, abuse and threatening. The apostles had wished to call fire from
eaven on those they considered as- Christ's enemies ; but the Saviour, instead of approv
ing this fiery zeal, had rebuked it. 12. These Southern people, who were represented as
so giossly violating all Christian duty, had been the subjects of gracious blessings from
God in the outpourings of his Spirit. 13. When God convinced men of error, he did it in
the spirit of mercy; we ought to endeavor to do the same thing in the same spirit.
The only remaining testimony relates to the states of Louisiana
and Mississippi, in the south west. The letter from Which it is taken
is written by a son of that Mr. Finley, who perhaps more than any
one else, sel on foot the original scheme of African colonization ; and
whose name, as a man of pure and enlarged benevolence and wisdom,
the enemies of his plans quote with respect. The son well deserves
to have had such a father. New-Orleans, March li, 1835.
In my former letter I gave you some account ofthe leading characters amongst the free
people of color who recently sailed from this port in the Brig "Rover," for Liberia. I
then promised you in my next to give you some account of the emancipated slaves who

135
wi.i.din the B!"?e e ?Pf dition- This promise I will now endeavor to fulfil, and I will begin
wun me case ot an individual emancipation, and then state the case of an emancipated
individual C° Wlth ^ acc0I">t of the emancipation of several families by the same
The first case alluded to is that of a young woman emancipated by the last will and tes
tament ot the late J udge James Workman, of this city, the same who left a legacy of ten
tnousand dollars to the American' Colonization Society. Judge Workman's will contains
tne lollowing clause in relation to her, viz :— " I request my statu liber, Kitty, a quarteroon
girl, to be set free as soon as convenient. And I request mv executors may send her, as
she shall prefer, and they think best, either to the Colinization Society at Norfolk, to be
sent to Liberia or to Hayti; and if she prefer remaining in Louisiana, that they may en
deavor to have an act passed for her emancipation ; if the same cannot be attained other
wise ; and it is my will that the sum of three hundred dollars be paid to her after she shall
be capable of receiving the same. I request my executors to hold in their hands money
. for this purpose. I particularly request my friend John G. Greene to take charge of this
girl, and do the best for her that he can." Mr. Greene provided her with a handsome out
fit, carefully attended to her embarkation, and the shipment of her freight, and placed
her under the care of the Rev. Gloster Simpson.
The next case, alluded to above, is that of a family of eleven slaves emancipated for
faithful and meritorious services, by the will of of the late Mrs. Bullock, of Claiborne
county, Miss. Mrs. Moore, the sister and executrix otVMrs. Bullock's estate, gave them
700 dollars to furnish an outfit and give them a start in the cblony.
The third and last case alluded to above, consisted of several families, amounting in the
whole to 26 individual slaves belonging to the estate of the late James Green, of Adams
county, Jlississipi. The following interesting circumstances concerning their liberation,
were communicated to me by James Railey, Esq., the brother-in-law and acting executor
of Mr. Green's Estate. Mr. Green died on the 15th of May, 1832, the proprietor of about
130 slaves, and left Mr. Railey, his brother-in-law, and his sisters, Mrs. Railey and Mrs.
Wood, executors of his last will and testament. Mr. Green's will provides for the uncon
ditional emancipation of but one of his slaves — a faithful and intelligent man named Gran
ger, whom Mt5. Green had raised and taught to read, write, and keep accounts. - He acted
as foreman for his master for about five years previous to his death. Mr. Green, by his
will, left him 3000 dollars, on condition that he went to Liberia, otherwise, 2000 dol
lars. Provision was also made in the will for securing to him his wife. Granger has been
employed since the death of Mr. Green, until recently, as pverseer for Mr. Railey, at a
salary of 600 dollars per annum. Granger declines going to Liberia at present on account
of the unwillingness of his mother to go there. SheiB very aged and infirm, and he is very
much attached to her. She was a favorite slave of Mr. Green's mother, who emancipated
her and left her £ legacy of 1000 dollars. Granger came to this city with Mr. Railey to
see his friends and former fellow-servants embark : and when he bade them farewell, he
said, with a very emphatic tone and manner, " I will follow you in about 18 months."
The executors of Mr. Green's estate were by no means slack in meeting the testator's
wishes concerning these people. Mr. Railey accompanied them to New-Orleans, and
both he and Mrs. Wood, whoalso was in New-Orleans while they were preparing to em
bark, took a lively and active interest in providing them with everything necessary for
their comfort on the voyage, and their welfare after their arrival in the Colony, and placed
in my hand 7000 dollar's for their benefit, one thousand dollars of which were. appropriated
towards the charter of a vessel to convey them to the Colony with the privilege of 140
barrels freight— sixteen hundred dollars towards the purchase of an outfit, consisting of
mechanics' tools, implements of agriculture, household furniture, medicines, clothing,
&c, and the remaining four thousand four hundred dollars, partly invested in trade, goods,
and partly in specia, were shipped and consigned to the Governor of Liberia, for their
benefit, with an accompanying memorandum made out by Mr. Railey, showing how much
was each one's portion.
I will close this communication by relating one additional circumstance communicated
-to me by Mr. Railey, to show the interest felt by Mr. Green in the success ofthe
scheme of African Colonization. The day previous to his death, he equesterd Mr. Railey
to write a memorandum of several things which he wished done after his death, which me
morandum contains the following clause, viz :— " After executing all my wishes as express
ed by Will, by this memorandum, and by verbal communications, I sincerely hope there will
be a handsome sum left for benefitting the emancipated negroes emigrating from this State
to Liberia; and to that end I have more concern than you are aware of."
I am authorized by the Exeeutors to state that there will be a residuum to Mr. Green s
estate of twenty or thirty-five thousand dollars, which they intend to appropriate in con
formity with the views of Mr. Green expressed above. Yours, &c,
ROBERT S. FINLEY.
And now I rest the case, and commit the result to an elightened
public. Here are my proofs and arguments showing as I believe
conclusively, that the slanderous accusations against my country and my

136
brethren which I have come to this city to repel, — are hot only fals_.j
but incredible. Here are my testimonials, few and casually gathered
up, but yet, as it seems to me, irresistibly convincing* that the people
and churches of America — in the very tiling charged, — have been and
are acting, a wise, self-denying and humane part. That they, should
move onward in it as rapidly as the happiness of all the parties will al
low, must be the wish of all good men. That obstacles should be inter
posed through the error, the imprudence, or the violence of well mean
ing but ill-judging persons, is truly deplorable. But that we should be
traduced before the whole world, when we are innoceent ; that we
should first be forced into most difficult circumstances; and then forced
to manage those circumstances in such a way as to cause our certain ruin,
by the very same people ; or in default of submitting to both requir-
ments,be forced first into war, and afterwards into a state of bitter mutual
contention, only less dreadful than war itself, is outrageous and intolera
ble. While we justly complain of these things, we discharge our
selves of the guilt attributed to us, and acquit ourselves to God and
our consciences, of all the fatal consequences likely to follow such
conduct. Mr. THOMPSON rose, and spoke in nearly the following words :
Mr. Chairman, If I were to say that I rose on the present occasion without a
feeling of anxiety regarding the issue of the discussion now drawing
to a close, I should say what is not the truth. I cannot remember
that I ever stood before an auditory in a more interesting or responsi
ble position. The question before us is one of rrfomentous magni
tude ; and that branch of it which to-night claims our special atten
tion, is of all others, the mojt solemn and delicate. I am, therefore;
anxious, deeply anxious, respecting the impression which shall rest
upon the minds of this assembly, when I have occupied the attention
of yourself and of it, for a portion of time equal to that which has
been expended by my opponent. If, however, I were to say that I
rose with any feeling of alarm in the contemplation of the result of
that ordeal through which I am about to pass, I should speak that
which would be equally at variance with the truth. So far from in
dulging any fear, or wishing to propitiate this audience, I pray that
for the sake of truth, humanity, and the country represented by my
opponent ; for the sake of our character in the sight of God at the
audit of the great day ; there may be a severe, jealous and impartial
judgment formed, according to the evidence which shall be submitted.
Or, if it be impossible to hold the balance strictly even, I ask that the
bias for the present, may be in favor of my opponent. It is true, I
am not an American. It is true, 1 was in the United States but four
teen months. It is true, I never crossed the Potomac ; never saw a
slave, unless that slave had been brought to the North by some tem
porary resident. Receive, therefore, with caution and suspicion my '
statements. Let there be every discount upon my assertions which

1ST
my youth and rashness, my want of observation and experience de
mand. At the same time I ask that every proper degree of respect
shall be paid to the witnesses I shall bring before you ; and thai how
ever my testimony may be doubted, theirs at least may -have the
weight which their character, and station, and opportunities shall ap
pear to entitle them lo.
I am accused of monstrous injustice towards America, when I say
that in ihat country slavery wears its most horrid forms. In saying
this,.! must not be understood as speaking according to the actual
physical condition of the slave, or even of his legal and polircal con
dition, apart from the religion and institutions of the J.md in wire Ii he
lives. I judge not by the number of links in his chain ; ihe number
of lashes inflicted on his back ; the nature of his toil, or the qiaiity
or quantity of his food. It is, when irrespective of the treatment of
the body, I find two millions of human beings regarded as merchan
dise ; ranked with the beasts of the field, and reduced by the neglect
of their immortal minds to the condition of heathens; it is when I
find this awful system in full operation, surroundfed by the harriers
and safeguards of the Liw and ihe Constitution, in ihe Unii*d Slates
of North America : the land of Republicanism, and Christianity, and
Revivals, that I say, Slavery in America wears a form more horrid
than in any other part of the world. Yes, Sir ; when I am told that
in tbat land, liberty is enj'iyed to a geater extent than in any other
country ; that the principles on whicii this liberty and independence
rest are these : " God created all men free and eqiul." '¦ Resistance
lo Tyrants is obedience to God ;" and see also two millions of cap
tives ; their dungeon barred and watched by proud Republican1!, and
boasting- Christians ; I (urn wilh horror aid indignation away, ex
claiming as I quit the sickening scene, S avery wears its most loath
some form in the United States of America !
Before I come to that portion of my Address which I shall pre
sent as a reply lo Mr. Breckinridge, I beg to s.iy one word in vindi
cation of the character and temper of Amerban Abolitionists; and I
am glad on ibis occasion to be able to cite the testimony of a genile-
nian, whom Mr. Breckinridge has not declined' to call his friend ; I
mean James G. Birney, Esq., formerly residing in the same State
with Mr. B., and now in Cincinnati. Mr. Birney made a visit to the
North last year, for tbe purpose of ascertaining for himself, by actual
observation and intercourse, the real character of the Abolitionists,
and the manner in whicli they prosecuted their work. Having doue
this, he thus writes :
List spring I attended the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention 5 was present at. ths several
-meetings of the American Anti-Slavery Society in Ne-w York, and at the Anti-Playery
Convention held in Boston. On these several occasions, I became acquainted, and delibe
rated with, it may be, not less than one thousand persons, v.-ho maybe fairly set down aa
among the most intelligent of the abolitionists. Subjects on which the mostdiyerse opin
ions were entertained, and which to ambitious and untrained .minds would be agitating and
*-,dissensious in the extreme, were discussed with the most. calm and unruffled composure.
And while some of the leading journals were teaming with the foulest and thafalsest
charges of moral and political turpitude ; while "there were produced in their <i. wntDHe*
placards, calling on the mob for appropriate deeds, and designating tho time aijd place of
18

138
holding their meetings, that its violence might know at what point it might most effectu
ally spend itself; yet, never elsewhere have I seen so much of sedate deliberation of
sober conclusion, of dignified moderation, sanctified by earnest prayer to God, not only
for the oppressed, but for the oppressoi of his fellow; not only for such as they loved, but
for tlieir slanderers, and persesutors, and enemies.
The above is a fair account, so far as my knowledge enables me to speak, of the char
acter of those whom you are pleased to describe "a band of fanatical abolitionists."
Light and rash minds, unaccustomed to penetrate to the real causes of great revolutions
in public sentiment, will, of course, think and speak contemptuously of them, while the
philosophic observer clearly sees, that such antagonists of error, armed with so powerful
a weapon as the Truth, must, at all times, be invincible ; and that in the end they will be
triumphant. A word, too, before I come to the state of the churches, with re
gard to Mr. Breckinridge's concluding topic last evening ; to which I
had not, of course; any opportunity to reply ; and, as the time allotted
for this discussion is now determined, I shall be permitted io dwell a
few moments on the subject. Mr. Breckinridge did, I am ready to
acknowledge, with tolerable fairness, state the views of the abolition
ists with regard to prejudice against color ; that it was sinful, that it
ought to be abandoned, and that the colored man should be raised to
the enjoyment of equal civil and religious privileges with the whiles.
But .after he bad laid down, generally speaking correctly, the views
of the abolitionists, he proceeded to put the most unfair interpreta
tion upon those views, and strangely contended that they were direct
ly aiming to accomplish the amalgamation of the races in the fullest
sense of that word. Once again, 1 deny this. Once again I appeal
to all that tbe abolitionists have ever written or spoken : to their pub
lished, official, solemn, authori'ative disclaimers ; and I say on my
behalf and on theirs, that with the intermixture of " the races," as
they are called, (a phrase I do not like.) the abolitionists have noth
ing to do. What they have ever contended for is this, tbat the col
ored man should now be delivered from the condition of a beast ;
that he should cease to be regarded as the property of his fellow
man ; and that according lo the laws of the state regulating the qual
ifications of citizens, he should be admitted to a participation of the
privileges that are enjoyed by other classes of the community. We
have never asked for more. We have left the doctrine of amalga
mation to be settled by our opponents. The slave holders are the
amalgamationists whose licentiousness has gone far to put an end to
the existence of a black race in the South, and who are still carrying
on, to use their own expression, " a bleaching system," whitening
tbe population of the South, so that you may now discover all shades
of colored persons ; from those who are so fair that they are scarcely
distinguishable from the whites, to the pure black of the unmixed ne
gro. But my opponent defeated himself. While attempting to ex
pose the folly and wickedness of amalgamation, he at the same time
contended that the thing was physically impossible ; that even a par
tial amalgamation could only be brought about, by polygamy or pros
titution, but that general amalgamation was hopeless, because physi
cally impossible. If the thing be utterly beyond the reach of the
abolitionists, why dread it as an evil ? Why not let the abolitionists
pursue their foolish and impracticable schemes ? Why so much, wrath

139
against them for aiming at that whicli nature has rendered unattaina
ble. I leave Mr. Breckinridge to find his way out of this difficulty
in the best manner he is able.
Again, we are told, that in attempting to bring about amalgamation,
and in preventing Colonization, we are interfering wilh the purposes
of God ; fighting against His ordinances, and exposing Africa to the
horrors of extermination, should the descendants of Shem or Japhet
colonize her shores, and not the black man who has sprung from her
tribes. I confess I am somewhat surprised, when told by a Presby
terian clergyman of Calvinistic sentiments, that I am to regulate my
conduct towards my fellow-men by the purposes of God, rather than
by the law of God. This is surely a new doctrine ! What, I ifsk,
have I to do with she decrees of the Almighty? Has he not given
me a law by which to walk ? Has he not told me to love my neigh
bor as myself? to "honor all men?" Am I not told that God hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth? Where is the prohibition to marry with Shem or Ham.
I know of no directions in the Old Testament respecting marriages,
save such as were founded on religious differences, and I have yet to
learn that there are any in the New Testament. That blessed Book
declares, that in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, circum
cision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all
are one. Tbe only injunction 1 am aware of is this, "be not une
qually ydked together with unbelievers."
Mr. Breckinridge made a considerable parade of his knowledge of
Universal History, and pretended io build his flieory upon the most
correct historical data. While upon this subject of amalgamation and
-extermination, I will take the liberty of suhmitting one or two in^
•quiries to Mr. Breckinridge.
Is there any law in America forbidding ministers to celebrate mar
riages between Japhethite American Christians and Jewesses, (by
birth, even if Christians by faith,) and Jews, (even if Christians ) to
marry Japhethite, American females? If there be not, then, 'why
may Shem and Japhet intermarry, but Ham with neither? Again:
If there be no such law, then the doctrine about Noah's three sons, is
not a principle on which the American people act, but Mr. B.'s indi
vidual dogma, got up to defend a line of conduct really proceeding
without reference to any such principle. If it be said that Jewish
and Japhethite Americans are very nearly, if not altogether, of tire
same color; and that there are no political evils to be dreaded from
tbe intermixture of Jews with Japhethites; I reply, that, admitting
the truth of boih these representations, is not the sin of mixing Noah's
sons, and counter-working the designs of God, the same in ihe case
of "Shem and Japhet as it would be in the case of Japhet or Shem
•with the tribes of Ham ? Again, ,_,,.._
Did the Romans, (Japhethites,) exterminate the Jews, (Shemttes?)
Did the Arab Shemite conquerors of Egypt exterminate tbe an
cient inhabitants (Hamites,) who still exist, and are known by the'
name of Copts or Copbti ?

140
Did not the Tartars, now Turks, a (Japhethite tribe,) when thny
conquered the Caliphs, embrace the religion of the conquere I, who
were Mohainedans and Shemiies ?
Did not the Shemiie Mohainedans conquer the Persians, (Japheth
ites.) a part of whom, who would not embrace the Mohamed.an re
ligion, and could not be tolerated by the Mohainedans in theirs, (viz.
fire worship;) flee to India, where ihey still exist, known by the name
of Guebers, while the rest of the people, embracing Mohamedanism,
amalgamated with their conquerors ; and is not the modern Persian
language a proof of this, in which all the terms of religion and sci
ence are Arabx, (Shemiie,) the rest of the language being a coHuvies
of the Deri, Zend, and Pehlavi dialects, which the most eminent phy-
lologisis consider as all resolvable into Sanscrit, the most ancient Ja
phethite speech existing?
The cases of the Romans and Jews, and- of the Arab conquerors
of Egypt and the Copts, are instances of conquest without extermina
tion ; the parlies remaining dissevered by re'igious differences. The
cases of the Tartar-Turks, and tbe Arab., anti of the Arabs and the
Persians, are cases ol conquest without extermination, and wilh amal-
g imation; ihe conquerors in tbe first case having adopted the reli
gion of i lie conquered, and the conquered in the second case, that of
the conquerors.
Instead of tbe Americans proceeding in their conduct towards the
colored people with any reference either to the divine laws or the di
vine decrees, ihey act solely under the influence of their pride and
prejudice. How tlieir prejudice was in the first place produced, it is
not necessary at ibis time lo inquire. I may just remark that color
has long been the bulge of slavery. Long have the negroes been an
enslaved and degraded clas*. Tbe child is tutored to look upon a
colored man as an inferior, and this feeling of superiori' v, implanted
early in the mind of tbe child, growing wilh his growth, and strength
ening wilh his strength, becomes at last a confirmed and almost in
vincible principle, disposing, him with eagerness to adopt any views of
revelation which will permit him to cherish and gratify his pride and
haired towards the colored man. Hence has arisen the aristocracy
of the skin. Fence the many lament.b'e departures from the spirit and
piecepls of the gospel, every day witnessed in the United Slates.
Two illustrations of the force of prejudice are now before me. The
fir. t is a short article fiom tbe New York Evangelist, copied into
the Scmisli Guardian of this city. I will read it entire. It is as
follows: A Hvrti Case. A native born American applied to our authorities this morning for a
license tn driv? a or t. He has been for years employed ns :i porter in Pearl Street, prin- f
cip-illy among the bo. ksellers, who were his petitioners to the number of foi t\ firms. He
is in honest, temperate, and in every respect a worth v man ; of an amiable' disposition,
muscul tt Tom., and of good address, and every way calculated for the situation Le seeks;
besides b»in-j „ member of the Society of l-'riends, a sufficient reef rrmeiidnlicn of itself;
f"r the pffi-e is now filled in pa.t by swearing, drunker, quarrelling foreigners? who are
d .ilv disturbing the quiet of our streete by their broils, and endangering the lives of our
citizens by their infuriate conduct.

141
Wm. S. Hewlett was refused by our Mayor, on the ground of public opinion I because
"  guilty of a skin
.Not colored like his own."
r HeW,1-ttt owns ProPerty in William Street, tn the amount of 2C,CC0 dollars ; but pre
fers, unlike many of no more income, a lite of industry and economy, to keeking '¦ otium
cum dignitate." '

* " What man seeing this,
And having human feelings, does not blush,
And hang his head to own himself a man."
The next is found in a letter written by a Professor Smith, of the
Wesleyan University, Connecticut, who, while vindicating the Univer-
s ty from the charge of having expelled a young man "for the crime
ol color," makes the following admission :
"That it would be difficult, in the present state of public feeling, to preserve a color
ed individual from inquietude in any of cur collegiate tchuols, and lo reader his connec
tion with them tolerable, is not denied.7'
1 9ome now, (continued Mr. T.) to the state of tbe American
Churches, in regard to Slavery ; and to attempt a justification of the
heavy charges I have brought againsl them. If at the close of this
address it shall appear ihat I have unrepresented the Christians of
America ; that I have staled as facts, things which are untrue, I sol
emnly call upon those who have hitherto vindicated my reputation,
and sustained me as tbe truthful advocate of tbe cause of human
rights, to discard me as utterly disqualified to be their representaiive
in so sacred a work, because, capable of pleading for JUSTICE at
the expense of TRUTH.
Of slaveholding ministers in America, Mr. Breckinridge has assert
ed, that they are as ONE IN A THOUSAND, or at most, as
ONE IN FIVE HUNDRED. The first document 1 shall quote
to disprove this assertion, will be a letter in the " Southern Religious
Telegraph," of October 31, 1635, addressed to tbe Presbyterian
Clergy of Virginia ; written to warn those ministers against pursuits
calculated to injure their spirituality, destroy their usefulness, and pre
vent those revivals of religion with which other portions of the Church
of Christ had been favored ; also to account for an apparent declen
sion in piety in the State generally. Ii is proper to remark, that the
letter from which I make the present extract, was not written to pro
mote the cause of abolition ; that the writer never imagined it would
be used on such an occasion ; and that the newspaper in which il ap
pears is jaro-slavery to the very core.
" tn one region of country, where I am acquainted, of rather more than THIRTY
Presbyterian ministers, including missionaries. TWENTY are farmers, viz. (planters
and SLAVEHOLDERS,) ON A PRETTY EXTENSIVE SCALE; three are school
teachers; one is a farmer and a teacher ; one, a farmer and a merchant, and joint proprie
tor of iron works, which must be ui operation on the Sabbath ; and one is a farmer and
editor of a political newspaper. These farmers generally superintend their own business.
THEY OVERSEE THEIR NEGROES, attend to their stock, make purchases, and visit
the markets to make sale of their crops. They necessarily have much intercourse with
their neighbors on worldly business, and not unfrequently come into unpleasant collision
with the merchants."
O, Sir, what a revelation of things is here ! These are not the cal
umnies of George Thompson, but the confessions of one, striving

142
earnestly to awaken the attention of the Virginia 'clergy to a sense of
' the degradation and barrenness of the church, and to direct their at
tention to tbe main causes of such lamentable effects.
Next, permit me to request your attention to an extract from "An
Address to ihe Presbyterians of Kentucky, proposing a plan for the
instruction and emancipation of their slaves ; by a Committee of the
SYNOD OF KENTUCKY. Cincinnati : published by Eli Tay
lor, 1835." We shal), in this document, get at the opinion of men,
sensitively jealous for the honor, purity, and usefulness of ihe Pres
byterian churches, from which Mr. Breckinridge is A DELEGATE.
What say they of slavery in general, and the practice of THEIR
CHURCH in particular:
"Brutal stripes, and all the various kinds of personal indignities, are not the only spe
cies of cruelty, which slavery licenses. The law does not recognize the family relations
of a slave ; and extends to him no protection in the enjoyment of domestic endearments.
I'he mpmbers of a slave family may be forcibly separated, so that they shall never more
nice, until the final judgment. And cupidity often induces the masters to practise what
the law allows. Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn
asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts are daily occurring in the
midst of us. The shrieks and the a^ony, often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim
with a trumpet-tongue, the iniquity and cruelty of our system. The cry of these sufferers
goes up tn the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. There is not a neighborhood, where these
heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or road that does not be-
¦hold. the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose chains and mournful countenances-
tell that they are exiled by force from all that their hearts held dear. Our church, years
ago, raised its voice by solemn warning against this flagrant violation of every principle of
merov, justice, and humanity. Yet WE BLUSH TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU AND'
TO THE WORLD, THAT. THIS WARNING HAS BEEN OFTEN DISREGARD
ED, EVEN BY THOSE WHO HOLD TO OUR COMMUNION. CASES HAVE
OCCURRED, IN OUR OWN DENOMINATION, WHERE PROFESSORS OF THE
RELIGION OF MERCY HAVE TORN THE MOTHER FROM HER CHILDREN,
AND SENT HEIt INTO A MERCILESS AND Rl.TLJRNLESS EXILE. YET
ACTS OF DISCIPLINE HAVE RARELY FOLLOWED SUCH CONDUCT."
Follow me now into the GENERAL ASSEMBLY of (he Pres
byterian Church of the United States, convened in Pittsburgh, Penn
sylvania, in May, 1835, and let the individual who addresses you be
.forgotten, while you listen to the things uttered in the midst of that sol
emn convocation. At the lime when the passages I am about to
read-, were spoken, there were sitting in that Assembly, men from all
parts of the counlry. The Southern Churches fully represented by
row upon row of ministers and elders from every region of the
slavehoiding States. In ihat Assembly, one year from this time, did
-the Rev. J. H. Dickey, of the Chilicothe Presbytery, Ohio, (a cler
gyman who had passed thirty years of his life in a slave State.) and'
Air. Stewart, a ruling elder from the Presbytery of Schuyler, Illinois,
make the following statements, which have remained, I believe, un
contradicted to this hour.:
" He (Mr. Dickey,) believed there were many, and great evils in the Presbyterian
Church ; but the doctrine of slaveholding, he was fully persuaded, was the worst heresy
now found in the Church." '
" Mr. STEWART — I hope this Assembly are prepared to come ontfully, and declare
their sentiments, that slaveholding is a most flagrant and heinous SIN. Let us not pass
it by in this indirect way, while so many thousands and thousands of our fellow-crea
tures are writhing under the lash, oftpn inflicted too by MINISTERS AND ELDERS
-OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH."

14S
" IN THIS CHURCH, a man may take a free born child, force it away from its pa*
rents, to whom God gave it in charge, saying, ' Bring it up for me,' and sell it as a beast,
or hold it in perpetual bondage, and not only escape corporal punishment, but really be
esteemed an excellent Christian. NAY, EVEN MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL,
AND DOCTORS OF DIVINITY, may engage in this unholy traffic, and yet sustain their
high and holy calling."
**#_*##. *_K
'¦ELDERS, MINISTERS, AND DOCTORS OF DIVINITY, ARE WITH BOTH
HANDS EJN GAGED IN THE PRACTICE. * * * * * * A Slave
holder who is making gains by the trade, may have as good a character foi honesty as any
other man." *_#**_*-**__
"No language can paint the injustice and abominations of slavery, But in these United
States, this vast amount of moral turpitude is (as I believe) justly chargeable to the Church.
I do not mean to say those church members who actually engage in this diabolical prac
tice, but I mean to say THE CHURCH. Yes, Sir, all the infidelity that is the result of
this unjust conduct of the professed followers of CHRIST; all the unholy amalgamation;
all the tears and groans ; all the eyes that have b.ien literally plucked from their sockets ;
all the pains and violent deaths from the lash, and the various engines of torture, and all
the souls that are, or will be eternally damned, as a consequence of slavery in these
United States, ARE ALL JUSTLY CHARGEABLE TO THE CHURCH; AND
HOW MUCH FALLS TO THE SHARE OF THIS PARTICULAR CHURCH YOU
CAN ESTIMATE AS WELL AS I."
*#_•###**#_.
"The judgments of God are staring this Church full in the face, and threatening herdis-
solution. She is all life and nerve in mutters of doctrine, and on some points where men
may honestly differ; while sins of a crimson dye are committed in open day, BY MEM
BERS OF THIS CHURCH WITH PERFECT IMPUNITY."
I appeal to you, Sir, and this audience ; did George Thompson
ever utter charges against the American churches more awful than
those contained in the extracts I have read — extracts from speeches
made in the General Assembly of lire body from which Mr. Breckin
ridge is a delegate ? I leave for the present the Presbyterians, and
proceed to notice the state of the
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.
Mr. Breckinridge displayed great regard for the reputation of this
body. He believed they were almost free from the sin of slavebold-
'ma — their discipline was most emphatic in its condemnation of it, and
he defied me to show that any Methodist was engaged in the infernal
practice of slave trading. First, as to the probable extent of slavery
in the church. On this point I shall quote from a solemn and authen
ticated document issued by a number of ministers in the Methodist
Episcopal body in New England, entitled :—
"An appeal on the subject of Slavery, addressed to the members of the New England
and New Hampshire conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church ;" and signed by
SHIPLEY W. WILSON.
ABRAM D. MERRILL.
LA ROV SUNDERLAND.
GEORGE STORRS.
Boston, Dec. 19th, 1834. JARED PERKINS.
Jn answer to the question —
" When will slavery cease from our church, if we continue to al
ter our rules against it as we have done for some years past ?" they
observe —
" But we will not dwell on this part of our subject ; it is painful enough to think of; and
as members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and as Methodist preachers, we readily
confess we are exceedingly afflicted with a view of jt, and still more with a knowledge of

144
the fact, that the "great evil" of slavery has been increasing, both among the membership
and ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, al a fearful rate, for thirty or forty years-
past. Tlie general minutes of our Annual Conference's, announce about 80,000 colored
members in our church ; and it is highly probable, from various reasons which might be
named, that as many as sixty thousand, or upwards of these, are slaves; but what propor
tion of these and others, are enslaved by the Methodist members and Methodist preachers,
we have no means of determining precisely ; but the alterations which have heen made in
the discipline, show at once that the number is neither few nor small ; and if this evil was
a " great" one fifty years ago, what must it be now? What will it be fifty or a hundred
years hence, should the discipline be ALTERED as it has been during half a century past?
Who can tell where this "great" and growing "evil," will end? We frequently heir
Christians and Christian ministers expressing the greatest fears for the safety of the "po
litical" union of these United States, whenever the subject of slavery is mentioned ; but
no fears as to the prosperity and peace of the Christian church, though this "evil" be
ever so " great," and though it be increased every day a thousand fold. But can it be
supposed that any branch of the Christian church is in a healthy and prosperous state,
while it slumbers and nurses in its bosom so great an evil,/'
In reply to the challenge to produce one instance of a slave trad
ing Methodist, I give the following from "Zion's Watchman," a
Methodist newspaper, published in JNew York. It is from a letter of
a correspondent of that paper : i
" A man came among us where I was preaching, a class-leader, from Georgia, having a
regular certificate, who appeared to be very zealous, exhorting and praying in our meet
ings, &c. 1 thought I had got an excellent helper ; but, on inquiring his business, 1 found
he' was a SLAVE TRADER : come on purpose to buy up men, women, and children, to
drive to the South I ! ! I expostul ited with him ; but he said it was not thought wrong
where he came from. I told him we could not countenance such a thing here, and that
we could hold no fellowship with him." He farther told me that on inquiring of a slave
he had with him, what sort of a master he was, he replied, " I have had four masters, but
this is the most cruel of them all ;" and told him, as a proof of it, to look at his back,
which, slid the minister, "wis cut with a whip, from his head to his heels! !" The Rev.
S. W. Wilson, of Andover, Uniled States, gives also an extract of a letter he,hari seen
from a gentlem in of high standing, who was at the South at the time of wiiting, which
says. '• The South is too much interested in the continuance of slavery, to hear any thing
upon the subject. The preichers ofthe gospel are in' the same condemnation, and
METHODIST PREACHERS ESPECIALLY. Tho principal reason why the Metho
dists in these regions are more num. rous and popular thin other denominations is, THEY
STICK SO CLOSELY TO SLAVERY!! THEY DENOUNCE BOTH THE ABO
HTIONISTS AND THE COLONIZATIONISTS."
To show the extent to which THE BAPTIST CHURCHES
SHARE THE GUILT OF THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY
IN AMERICA, it will be sufficient to read an extract from a letter
addressed to the Board of Biotist ministers in and near London, by
the Rev. Lucius Bolles, D. D., the Corresponding Secretary of the
American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. The testimony is the
stronger, because the whole letter is a carefully written apology for
Southern religious slaveholders, and an attempt to silence the remon
strances of the English churches.
"There is a pleasing degree of union among the multiplying thousands of Baptists
throughout the land. Brethren from jill parts of the rountry meet in one General Con
vention and co-operate in sending the gospel to the heathen. Our Southern brethren are
liberal and zealous in the promotion of evervholy enterprize for the extension of the eos-
pel. THEY ARE, GENERALLY, BOTH MINISTERS AND PEOPLE, SLAVE
HOLDERS." In this connection, I may notice the recommendation of the work
of Drs. Cox and Hoby. We are assured by Mr. Breckinridge,
(though he confesses he has not read the book,) that every represen
tation it contains relative to slavery among " the Baptists in America,"
may be relied on. That book, thus endorsed by Mr*. B.,. informs us

145
that the deputation were permitted to sit in the convention at Rich
mond, Virginia, only on condition of profound silence, touching the
wrongs of more, than two millions of heathenized slaves. We are
gravely told that the introduction of abolition would have bee,n " an
INTRUSION, as RUDE as it would have been UNWELCOME."
It would, says the Delegates, have " FRUSTRATED every object
of our mission;'* "awakened HOSTILITY, and kindled DIS
LIKE ;," « roused into EMBITTERED ACTIVITY feelings be
tween Christian brethren, which must have SEVERED the Baptist
churches.'; It would have occasioned the "UTTER CONFU
SION OF ALL ORDER, the RUIN of all Christian feelino-," and
"THE DESTRUCTION ,OF ALL LOVE AND FELLOW
SHIP;" and the Convention would either have been " DISSOLV
ED" by "MAGISTERIAL INFLUENCE," or " THE DEL
EGATES WOULD HAVE DISSOLVED THEMSELVES."
Yet this was 'f a sacred and heavenly meeting," in wbi6h "the kind
liest emotions, the warmest affections, the loveliest spirit towards our
selves, (the Baptist Delegates,) towards England and mankind" ex
isted ! Oh, Sir, is it possible to draw a more affecting picture of the
withering and corrupting influences of slavery, than is here pre-f nted to
our view in this description of the triennial convention of Baptist min
isters, assembled in the city of Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1835.
AMOS DRESSER'S CASE. '**
I proceed to notice the case of Amos Dresser ; the, young man who
was so inhumanly tortured by the citizens and professing Christians of
the city of Nashville, Tennessee. I can assure my opponent, that
the discrepancy in my statements which he bas noticed, is an erior in-
reporting. I am not aware of having ever stated the number qf el
ders in the committee to be eleven. My statement of the case has
always been simply this — that Mr. Dresser, a pious and respectable
young man, was apprehended in Nashville, on suspicion of being an
abolitionist; brought before a Vigilance Committee, and. according
to " Lynch Law," was sentenced to receive twenty lashes with a
cowskin, on his bare back. That he was so punished ; and that upon
the Committee were seven elders of the Presbyterian church, and
one Cainphellite minister. The whole case as narrated by Mr. Dres
ser, and published in the Cincinnati Gazette, is now before me. The
Committee, by which Mr. Dresser was tried and sentenced, is called a
" Committee of Vigilance and Safety."
The following are the names of the seven elders in the Presbyte
rian Church : JOHN NICHOL,
ALPHA KINGSLEY,
A. A. CASSEDAY, ,
WM. ARMSTRONG,
SAMUEL SEAY, '
S. V. D. STOUT.
S. C. ROBINSON.
The name of the Campbeliite Minister, THOMAS CLAIBORNE.
19

146
The Committee, after examining his books, papers, and private
memoranda, and hearing his defence, found him guilty — 1st. "Of be
ing a member of an Anti-Slavery Society in Ohio." 2d. " Of hav
ing in his possession periodicals published by the American Anti-
Slavery Society." And 3d. "They BELIEVED he had circulat
ed these periodicals, and advocated in the community the principles
they inculcated." The Chairman, (says Mr. Dresser,) then pro
nounced that I was condemned to receive twenty lashes on my bare
back, and ordered to leave the place in twenty-four hours. This
was not an hour previous to the commencement of the Sabbath.
Mr. Dresser gives the following account of the infliction of the
sentence :
"I knelt to receive the punishment, which was inflicted by Mr. Braughton, the city
officer, with a HEAVY COWSKIN. When the infliction ceased, an involuntary feeling
of thanksgiving to God, for the fortitude with which I had been enabled to endure it,
arose in my soul, to which I began aloud to give utterance. The death-like silence that
prevailed for a moment, was suddenly broken, with loud exclamations, " G— d d — m him,
Btop his praying." I was raised to my feet by Mr. Braughton, and conducted by him to
my lodging, where it was thought safe for me to remain but for a few moments.
'/Among my triers, there was a great portion of the respectability of Nashville.
Nearly half the whole number, professors of Christianity, the reputed stay of the church,
supporters of the cause of benevolence in the form of tract and missionary societies and
Sabbath schools, several members and most of the elders of the Presbyterian church,
from whose hands, but a few days before, I had received the emblems of the broken body,
and shed blood of our blessed Saviour." (!!!!)
^"^ Mr. Breckinridge has twice referred to the appearance of a runa
way slave at my lectures in London, and has accused me of carrying
him about with me, to enact interludes during my meeting. I can
assure Mr. Breckinridge that I never had any thing to do with the at
tendance of Moses Roper at my meetings, or with the speeches he
delivered. On neither of the occasions mentioned had I any knowl
edge of his being in the chapel until I found him among the rest of
my auditors. As for denying the facts stated by him, knowing as I
do the brutalizing effects of slavery, and the state of society in the
slave States of America, it is out of the question. 1 see nothing in
the facts stated by Moses Roper at all improbable. Since I last came
to this city, I have read in an American newspaper, an account of an
affair in Tennessee, at which the blood runs cold. A black man hav
ing committed some crime, was lodged in prison by the authorities,
but being demanded by the citizens, was given up to them, tied to a
tree, and BURNT ALIVE ! During my residence in the United
States, a negro was burnt alive, according to a sentence given by one
of the constituted tribunals of the State ! It was called an exempla
ry punishment, and many of the papers throughout the country were
filled with long and learned articles, justifying the horrid outrage.
Mr. Breckinridge may point to the laws and the constitution of the
country, but I tell him they and the authorities appointed to enforce
them are alike powerless. 1 point him to the atrocities of Lynch
law all over the land ; to the brutal massacre of the gamblers in Mis
sissippi, where men in the broad daylight were dragged forth, and tied
by the neck to branches of trees, their eyes starting from their sockets,

147
and their wives driven across tbe river, in' opferi boats ; their lives
threatened, for daring to ask for the dead bodies of their husbands.
I ask if any law reached the fiends in human shape, who perpetrated
these deeds. I ask Mr. Breckinridge if any law punished the felons
of Charleston, who, seizing the public conveyances, violated the con
stitution, and the law of the State, by robbing the mail bags of their
contents, and burning them ? Did not the Post Master General en
couragingly say, "I cannot sanction, "but I will not condemn what
you have done. In your circumstances I would have acted in a sim
ilar manner." Need I remind Mr. Breckinridge of the mobs at the'
North ; the riots of New York ; the sacking of Mr. Tappan 's house,
and the demolition of colored schools? Laws there may be, but
while slavery exists, and is defended by public sentiment, and while
the ferocious prejudice against color remains, they will want the " ex
ecutory principle," without which they are but cruel mockery.
A glance at the moral and religious state of the slave* population
will show the amount of care and attention exercised by the Chris
tian churches at the South.
What says the Rev. C. C. Jones, in a sermon preached before two
associations of planters in Georgia, in 1831?
" Generally speaking, they (the slaves,) appear to us to be without God, and without
hope in the world, a NATION OF HEATHEN in our very midst. We cannot cry out
against the Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the common people, and keeping
them in ignorance of the way of life, for we WITHHOLD the Bible from our servants,
and keep them in ignorance of it, while we will not use the means to have it read and ex
plained to them. The cry of our perishing servants comes up to us froin the sultry plains
as they bend at their toil ; it comes up from their humble cottages when they return at
evening to rest their weary limbs ; it comes up to us from the midst of their ignorance,
and superstition, and adultery, and lewdness. We have manifested no emotions of hor
ror at abandoning the souls of our servants to the adversary, the roaring lion that walketh
about seeking whom he may devour."
Again : what said the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, in a
report on the state of the colored population, in respect of religious
instruction ?
" Who would credit it, that in these years of revivals and benevolent effort, in this
Christian Republic, there are over TWO MILLIONS of human beings in the condition
of HEATHEN, and in some respects in a worse condition. From long continued and
close observation, we believe that their moral and religious condition is such, that they
may justly be considered the HEATHEN ofMhis Christian country, and will bear com-
narison with heathen in any country of the world. The negroes are destitute of the gos
pel, and EVER WILL BE UNDER THE PRESENT STATE OF THINGS. In the
vast field extending from an entire State beyond the Potomac, to the Sabine River, and
from the Atlantic to the Ohio, there are to the best of our knowledge, not TWELVE
men exclusively devoted to the religious instruction of the negroes. In the present state
of feeling in thfe South, a ministry of their own color could neither be obtained NOR
TOLERATED." Again : what says a writer in a recent number of the Charleston,
South Carolina, Observer ?
"Let us establish missionaries among our negroes, who, in view of religious knowl
edge, are as debasingly ignorant as any one on the coast of Africa ; for I hazard the asser
tion, that throughout the bounds of our Synod, there are at least one hundred thousand
slaves, speaking the same language as ourselves, who never HEARD of the plan of sal
vation by a Redeemer."

143
A writer in the Western Luminary, a respectable religious paper
in Lexington, Kentucky, says,
" I proclaim it abroad to the Christian world, that heathenism is as real in the slave
States as it is in the South Sea Islands, and that our negroes are as justly objects of at
tention to the American and other Boards of Foreign Missions, as the Indians of the
Western wilds. What is it constitutes heathenism ? Is it to be destitute of a knowledge
of God j of his holy word ; never to have heard scarcely a sentence of it read through
life j to know little or nothing of the history, character, instruction and mission of Jesus
Christ ; to be almost totally devoid of moral knowledge and feeling, of sentiments of
probity, truth and chastity '! If this constitutes heathenism, then are there thousands,
millions, of heathen in our beloved land. There is one topic to which I will allude, which
will serve to establish the heathenism of this population. I allude to the universal licen
tiousness which prevails. It may be said emphatically, that chastity is no virtue among
them ; that its violation neither injures female character in iheir own estimation, or that
of their master or mistress. No instruction is ever given 5 no censure pronounced. I
¦peak not of the world ; 1 speak of Christian families generally."
Again : I give the words of the son of a Kentucky slaveholder,
who became an abolitionist at Lane Seminary, and has since induced
his father to emancipate his slaves. Hear James A. Thome.
" Licentiousness. 1 shall not speak of the far South, whose sons are fast melting away
under the UNBLUSHING PROFLIGACY which prevails. I allude to the slaveholding
West, [tis well known that the slave lodgings, I refer now to village slaves, are expos
ed to the entrance of strangers every hour of the night, and that the SLEEPING
APARTMENTS OF BOTH SEXES ARE COMMON.
" It is also a fact, that there is no allowed intercourse between the families and ser
vants, after the work of the day is over. 'I'he family, assembled for the evening, enjry a
conversation elevating and instructive. But the poor slaves are thrust out. No ties of
sacred home thruwn around them ; no moral instruction to compensate for the toils of the
day ; no intercourse as of man with man ; and should one of the younger members of the
family, led by curiosity, steal out into the filthy kitchen, the child is speedily called back,
thinking itself happy if it escape an angry rebuke. Why is this? The dread of moral
contamination. Most excellent reason ; but it reveals a horrid picture. THE SLA ..
CUT OFF FROM ALL COMMUNITY OF FEELING WITH THEIR MASTER,
ROAM OVER. THE VILLAGE STREETS, SHOCKING THE EAR WITH THEIR
VULGAR JESTINGS, AND VOLUPTUOUS SONGS, OR OPENING THEIR
KITCHENS TO THE RECEPTION OF THE NEIGHBORING BLACKS, THEY
PASS THE EVENING IN GAMBLING. DANCING, DRINKING, AND THE
MOST OBSCENE CONVERSATION, KEPT UP UNTIL THE NIGHT IS FAR
SPENT, THEN crown THE SCENE WITH INDISCRIMINATE DEBAUCHE
RY. WHERE DO THESE THINGS OCCUR? IN THE KITCHENS OF
CHURCH MEMBERS AND ELDERS !
I shall now take the liberty of reading two letters from highly re
spectable gentlemen in the South, tn friends in New England. The
first is from a clergyman in North Carolina, to one of the Professors
in Bowdoin College, Maine.
"You remember that when I was with you last summer, I was much opposed to the
Anti-Slavery Society, and contended that the colonization scheme was a full, and the only
remedy, for the evils of slavery, and that I made a sort of lalk before the students on tbe
subject of slavery. It was a poor talk, for it was a miserable theme. I do not think what
1 said had any effect against the Anti-Slavery pebple, or at all strengthened the cause of
the Colonization Society. Be this as it may, I feel it a duty I owe both to myself and to
the. friends I have with you, to say, that my views and feelings; which were then .waver
ing, have since, after mature deliberation and much prayer, been entirely changed, and
that I am now a strong Anti-Slavery man. Yes, after mature reflection, I am the sworn
enemy of slavery in all its forms, with allits evils. Henceforth it is a part of my religion
to oppose slavery. I am greatly surprised, that) should in any form have been the apolo
gist of a system, so full of deadly poison to all holiness and benevolence as slavery, the
concocted essence of fraud, selfishness, and cold-hearted tyranny, and the fruitful parent
of unnumbered evils, both to the oppressor and the oppressed, the one thousandth part of
which has never been brought to light. *

149
— " ?i° 3l°I1T.as,k' ^y.*1' chi«>ge, after residing in a slave country for twenty years. You
recollect the lines of Pope, beginning, ' . ' '
' Vico is a monster of such frightful mein,
That to be hated, needs but to be seen.'
I had become so familiar with the loathsome features of slavery, that they ceased to of
fend: besides, I had become a Southern man in all my feelings, and it is a part of our
creed to defend slavery. I had also considered it was impossible to free the slaves in this
country, but it is unnecessary to investigate the ground of my former opinions. As to
the Colonization Society, I have this among many objeciions that it has two faces, one
tor the North, and a very different one for the South. If the agents of the Colonization
faociety will come here and say what I heard them say in New York, I will insure them a
good coat of tar and feathers for their labor. That Society has few friends bere, a fewlarge
slaveholders who by it hope to send off the free people in their neighborhood, and a few
others, whose consciences are not quite easy, get a salvo by advocating the Colonization
Society. These last are many of them ministers. The mass of the people regard it as a
Yankee plan, and hate it of course. 1 remember, among other things, I told the students
in my address, that the only way to do away slavery was to give us more religion. This
argument then seemed to be good. Send us preachers said 1, and as religion spreads,
slavery will melt away, it cannot stand the gospel. I did not reflect that the religion we
have here, justifies and upholds slavery. Our religion does not permit the preacher to
touch the subject jt is not the whole gospel. 1 have not yet seen the man who would
venture to take for his text, ' Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal.'
If every man in the country was a professor of religion, the religion we have, it would
not much help the cause I think that I can safely say that as a general thing, the Pres
byterians are by far the best masters, and give more attention to the religious instruction
of their slaves than others, but I know one of these, an elder, who contends that slavery
is no violation of the law, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself/ and whose slaves
are driven in the field with the long whip ! But it is just to add, that they are not over
worked, and they are well fed and clothed. You are at liberty to inform the students, and
others who heard me on that occasion, that 1 am now an anti-slavery man ; but I do not
wish the letter published with my name to it, as it would be copied" by other papers, and
find its way back, and do me injury, for no man is free, fully to express his thoughts in
this country."
The next is from a merchant in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Clergy
man in New Hampshire. Saint Louis, Jan. 18, 1835.
Very Dear Brother.
I want to say a good deal to you, Brother, on the subject, which seems to interest you
much at this time. 1 am now, and was before I left Hartford, an abolitionist ; and that too,
from deep and thorough conviction that the eternal rule of right requires the immediate
freedom of every bond-man in this and every other country. Since my residence in this
slaveholding State, 1 have seen nothing which should tend to alter my previous sentiments
on this subject, on the contrary much to confirm me in them. You, who reside in happy
New England, can have but very faint conceptions of the blighting and corrupting influence
of Slavery on a community. " Although in Missouri we witness Slavery in its mildest form,
yet it is enough to sicken the heart of benevolence to witness its effects on society gene
rally, and its awfully demoralizing influence on the slaves themselves : being counted as
property among the cattle and flocks of their possessors, (forgive the word,) their stand
ard of morality and virtue is on a level (generally) with the beasts with which they are
classed : and I am credibly informed that many emigrants from the slave states, who own
plantations on the Missouri River, finding themselves disqualified by their former habits of
indolence to compete with emigrants of another character in enterprize, turn their atten
tion to the raising of slaves as they would cattle, to be sold to the Negro dealers to go
down the river. What sort of standard of virtue, think you, will have place on such a
plantation; and at what period in the history of our country will these degraded sons of
Africa be christianized under existing circumstances.
The ungodly man who is a slaveholder, is well enough pleased with the efforts and
views of the Colonization Society, because he can manage to throw off responsibility, and
date fara-head the time when he shall be called upon to do right; but state to him the
sentiments and principles of the abolitionists, and he at once begins to froth and rage — all
the malignity of his nature is called into action— and why? He feels the pressure
of responsibility, he acts very like an impenitent sinner, pricked with the truth, and
like him too, he either comes on the side of right, or is hardened into a stern opposer.
It is gratifying to notice the gradual influence the abolition principles are obtaining over
the hearts and consciences of every slaveholding community, especially over the hearts
of Christian slaveholders. Many of them who have allowed the subject to have a place
in their thoughts, are greatly agitated, and dare not sell or buy again for their peace-sake.
But more of this another time."

150
I shall now lay before the meeting the sentiments of General
George M'Duffie, Governor of the State of South Carolina ; as con
tained in a message delivered by him to the two branches of the Leg
islature, towards the close of the last year. I charge these sentiments
upon the State, 1st, because the representatives of its citizens, in a
series of resolutions presented to the Governor, unanimously express
ed their special approbation of them ; and 2dly, because I am not
aware that any protest has been entered against them by any part of
the Christian community. Sentiments more atrocious were, perhaps,
never penned.
The first extract, recommending legislation, has reference to the
diffusion of Anti-Slavery publications.
"IT IS MY DELIBERATE OPINION THAT THE LAWS OF EVERY COM
MUNITY SHOULD PUNISH THIS SPECIES OF INTERFERENCE BY DEATH
WITHOUT BENEFIT OF CLERGY, REGARDING THE AUTHORS OF IT AS
ENEMIES TO THE HUMAN RACE. Nothing could be more appropriate than for
South Carolina to set the example in the present crisis, and I trust the Legislature will
not adjourn till it discharges this high duty of patriotism."
Let us look at the theological views of this profound Statesman on
the subject of Slavery.
NO HUMAN INSTITUTION, IN MY OPINION, IS MORE MANIFESTLY
CONSISTENT WITH THE WILL OF GOD, THAN DOMESTIC SLAVERY, and
no one of his ordinances is written in more legible characters than that which consigns
the African Race to this condition AS MORE CONDUCIVE TO THEIR OWN HAP
PINESS, THAN ANY OTHER OF WHICH THEY ARE SUSCEPTIBLE. Wheth
er we consult the sacred Scriptures or the lights of nature and reason, we shall find these
truths as abundantly apparent as if written with a sun-beam in the heavens. Under both
the Jewish and Christian dispensations of our religion, DOMESTIC SLAVERY existed
with the unequivocal sanction of its prophets, its apostles, and finally its great Author.
The patriarchs themselves, those chosen instruments of God, were slaveholders. In fact
the divine sanction of this institution is so plainly written that " he who runs may read "
it, and those over-righteous pretenders and pharisees, who affect to be scandalized by its
existence among us, would do well to inquire' how much more nearly they walk in the
way of godliness, than did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That the African negro is DES
TINED BY PROVIDENCE TO OCCUPY THIS CONDITION OF SERVILE DE
PENDENCE, is not less manifest. It is marked on the face, stamped on the skin, and
evinced by the intellectual inferiority, and natural improvidence of his race. THEY
HAVE ALL THE QUALITIES THAT FIT THEM FOR SLAVES, AND NOT
ONE OF THOSE THAT WOULD FIT THEM TO BE FREEMEN, they are utterly
unqualified not only for rational freedom, but for self-government of any kind. They are
in all respects physical, moral and political, inferior to millions of the human race, who
have for consecutive ages dragged out a wretched existence under a grinding political des
potism, and who are doomed to this hopeless condition by the very qualities which unfit
them for a better. It is utterly astonishing that any enlighted American, after contem
plating all the manifold forms in which even the white race of mankind are doomed to
slavery and oppression, should suppose it possible to reclaim the Africans from their des
tiny. THE CAPACITY TO ENJOY FREEDOM IS AN ATTRIBUTE NOT TO
BE COMMUNICATED BY HUMAN POWER. IT IS AN ENDOWMENT OF
GOD, AND ONE OF THE RAREST WHICH IT HAS PLEASED HIS INSCRU
TABLE WISDOM TO BESTOW UPON THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH. IT
IS CONFERRED AS THE REWARD OF MERIT, and only upon those who are
qualified to enjoy it. Until the "Ethiopian can change his skin," it will be vain to at
tempt, by any human power, to make freemen of those whom God has doomed to be
slaves, by all their attributes.
Let not, therefore, the misguided and designing intermeddlers who seek to destroy our
peace, imagining that they are serving the cause of God by practically arraigning the
decrees of his Providence. Indeed it would scarcely excite surprise, if with the impious
audacity of those who projected the tower of Babel, they should attempt to scale the
battlements of Heaven, and remonstrate with the God of wisdom for having put THE
MARK OF CAIN AND THE CURSE OF HAM upon the African race instead of
the European.

151

The Governor then proceeds to give his views on the political bear
ings of the question, and thus sums them up : —
FVlf!.ETH^™ALEE'l?,ERi!FORE' INSTEAD OF BEING A POLITICAL
wh^i,tW !.? CORNER STONE OF OUR REPUBLICAN EDIFICE. No patriot
Wl», L eSt"natos our Pn'deges, will tolerate the idea of emancipation, at any period
IZfJ" Ir. It'- I" ?" a"^ condlt'°ns of pecuniary advantage, however favorable. I
r?irmi? ontmnk,.of °P?mng a negotiation for selling the liberty of the State at once,
as for mak ng any stipulations for the ultimate emancipation of our slaves. So deep is
my conviction on this subject, that if I were doomed to die immediately after recording
these sentiments, I could say in all sincerity, and under all the sanctions of Christian.!?
and patriotism, God fokbid that my descendants, in the remotest generation^
MESTIC 'SLAVERY"1111511 THA" * C0MMDSITY HAVING THE institution of LO-
The conduct of the clergy of South Carolina, may be inferred
from the following account of a great pro-slavery meeting, held in
the city of Charleston, to denounce in the most malignant spirit, the
abolitionists of the North :
(Fiom the Charleston Courier.)
GREAT AND IMPORTANT PUBLIC MEETING.
One of the most imposing assemblages of citizens in respect of numbers, intelligence
and respectability that we have ever witnessed, met yesterday morning at the City Hall,
to receive the report of the Committee of twenty-one, appointed by the meeting on the
4th inst. on the incendiary machinations now in progress against the peace and welfare of
the Southern States. THE CLERGY OF ALL DENOMINATIONS ATTENDED
IN A BODY, LENDING THEIR SANCTION TO THE PROCEEDINGS. AND
AIDING BY THEIR PRESENCE, TO THE IMPRESSIVE CHARACTER OF
THE SCENE !
After thundering forth the most violent threats against the discus
sion of the subject of slavery, the meeting closed with the following
"resolution :
On the motion of Captain Lynch,
" Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are due to the Reverend gentlemen of
the Clergy in this city, who have so promptly, and so effectually, responded to public
sentiment, by suspending their SCHOOLS in, which the free colored popula
tion were taught j and that this meeting deem it a patriotic action worthy of all
praise, and proper to be imitated by other teachers of similar schools throughout the
State." ,
The following document will speak for itself. I commend it to the
consideration of ministers of Christ throughout the world.
CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY. ON SLAVERY.
Extract from the minutes of Charleston Union Presbytery, at their meeting on the 7th
of April, 1836.
With reference to the relation which the church sustains to the institution of slavery,
and the possibility of attempts to agitate the question in the next General Assembly, this
presbytery deem it expedient to state explicitly the principles which they maintain, and
the course which will be pursued by their commissioners in the Assembly. It is aprinci-
ple which meets the views of this body, that slavery as it exists among us, is a political in
stitution, with which ecclesiastical judicatories have not the smallest right to interfere;
and in relation to which<any such interference, especially at the present momentous crisis,
would be morally wrong and fraught with the most dangerous and pernicious consequen
ces. Should any attempt be made to discuss this subject, our Commissioners are expect
ed to meetit at the very threshold, and of any report, memorial or document, which may
be the occasion of agitating this question in any form. And it is further expected, that
our Commissioners, should the case require it, will distinctly avdw our full conviction of
the truth of the principles which we hold in relation to this subject, and our resolute de
termination to abide by them, whatever may be the issue ; that it may appear that the sen
timents which we maintain, in common with Christians at the South, of every denomina
tion are sentiments which so fully approve themselves to our consciences, are so identi
fied with our solemn convictions of duty, that we should maintain them under any circum-

152
stances ; and at the same time, the peculiar circu instances in which we are placed, consti
tute an imperious necessity that we should act in accordance with these principles, and
make it impossible for us to yield any thing in a matter which concerns not merely our
personal interests, but the cause of Christ, and the peace, if not the very existence of the
.- Southern community.
Should our Commissioners fjiil of accomplishing this object, it is expected that they
will withdraw from the Assembly, with becoming dignity ; not willing to be associated
with a body of men who denounce the ministers and members of Southern churches as
pirates and men-stealers, or who co-operate with those who thus denounce them.
In conclusion, this Presbytery would suggest to their Commissioners the expediency of
conferring with the Commissioners from other Southern presbyteries, that there may be
a common understanding between them as to the course most suitable to be pursued at
this crisis, and on this absorbing question. And may that wisdom which is from above,
which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, be their guide in
managing the important trust committed to their hands.
Resolved, That this expression of our views be signed by the Moderator and Clerk ;
that a copy be given to each of our Commissioners to the General Assembly, and that it
be published in the Charleston Observer. £t ^ BUl ST Moderator
B. Gildersleeve, Temporary Clerk.
Resolutions of the Presbyterian Synods of South Carolina and
Georgia, December, 1834.
" Resolved unanimously, That in the opinion of this Synod, Abolition Societies, and
the principles on which they are founded, in the United States, are inconsistent with the
best interests of the slaves, the rights of the holders, and the great principles of our po
litical institutions."
The following declaration of sentiments has been published in
Charleston, South Carolina, by the Board of Managers of the Mis
sionary Society, of the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church :
" We denounce the principles and opinions of the abolitionists in toto ; and do solemn
ly declare our conviction and belief, that, whether they were originated, as some business
men have thought, as a money speculation, or, as some politicians think, for party elec
tioneering purposes, or, as we are inclined to believe, in a false philosophy, over-reaching
or setting aside the Scriptures through a vain conceit of higher moral refinement, they are
utterly erroneous, and altogether hurtful. We consider and believe thatthe Holy Scrip-
tares, so far from giving any countenance to this delusion, do unequivocally authorize the
relation of master and slave. We hold that a Christian slave must be submissive, faithful
and obedient, for reasons of the same authority with those which oblige husbands, wives,
fathers, mothers, sisters, to fulfil the duties of these relations. We would employ no one
in the work who might hesitate to teach thus ; nor can such an one be found in tbe whole
number of the preachers in this Conference."
One. other document in reference to South Carolina, viz., the reso- -
lutions recently passed by the " Hopewell Presbytery." On the
subject of domestic slavery, this Presbytery believe the following facts
have been most incontrovertibly established, viz :
1. Slavery has existed in the church of God from the time of Abraham to this day.
Members of the church of God have held slaves bought with their money, and born in their
houses ; and this relation is not only recognized, but its duties are defined clearly, both
in the Old and New Testaments.
II. Emancipation is not mentioned among the duties of the master to his slave.
While obedience "even to the froward" master is enjoined upon the slave.
III. No instance can be produced of an otherwise orderly Christian, being reproved,
much less excommunicated from the church, for the single act of holding domestic
slaves, from the days of Abraham down to the date of the modern Abolitionists.
IV. Slavery existed in the United States before our ecclesiastical body
WAS ORGANIZED. It IS NOT CONDEMNED IN OUR CONFESSION OF FAITH, AND HAS AL
WAYS EXISTED IN OUR CHURCH WITHOUT REPROOF OR CONDEMNATION.
V. Slavery is a political institution, with which the Church has nothing to do, except
to inculcate the duties of master and slave,, and to use lawful spiritual means to have all,
both bond and free, to become one in Christ by faith.
Regarding these positions as undoubtedly true, our views of duty constrain us to adopt
the following resolutions :

153
Resolved, That the political institution of domestic slavery, as it exists in the South, is
Assembl " Constltutlonal subject of discussion, much less, of action by the General
Resolved, That so, soon as' the General Assembly passes any ecclesiastical laws, or
recommends any action, which shqjl interfere with, this institution, this Presbytery will
regard such laws and acts as tyranical and odious ; and from that moment will regard itself
independent of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.
n 7-1™ J ' our deleSates to 'he approaching Assembly are hereby enjoined to use
. all Christian means to prevent the discussion of domestic slavery "in the Assembly : to
protest in our name, against all acts that involve or approve abolition: and td withdraw
from the Assembly and return home, if, in spite of their efforts, acts of this character
shall be passed."
From the official account of the proceedings of the Synod of
Virginia, I lake the following
REPORT ON ABOLITION.
"The Committee to whom were referred the resolutions, &c, have, according to or
der, had the same under consideration : and respectfully report that in their judgment
the following resolutions, are necessary and proper to be adopted by the Synod =at the'
present time.
" Whereas, The publications and proceedings 'of certain organized associations com
monly called Anti-slavery, or Abolition Societies, which have arisen in some parts of our
land, have greatly disturbed, and are still greatly disturbing the. peace ofthe church, and of
the country ; and the Synod of Virginia deem it a solemn duty which they owe to them
selves and to the community, to declare their sentiments upon the subject ; tlTerefore,
"Resolved unanimously, That we consider the dogma fiercely promulgated by said asso
ciations; that slavery as it actually exists in our slaveholding States, is necessarily sinful,
and ought to be immediately abolished, and the conclusions which naturally follow from
that dogma, as directly and palpably contrary to the plainest principles of common senso
and common humanity, and to the clearest authority of the word of God.
"2. Resolved unanimously, That in the deliberate judgment ofthe Synod, it is the duty
of all ministers of the gospel to follow the example bf our Lord and Saviour, and of his
apostles in sirnilar circumstances, in abstaining from all interference with the state of
slavery, as established among us by the Commonwealth, and confining themselves strictly
to their proper piovince of inculcating upon masters and slayes the duties enjoined upon
them respectively in the sacred Scriptures, which must tend immediately to promote the
welfare of both, and ultimately to restore the whole world to that state of holy happiness
which is the earnest desire of every Christian heart.
" The above preamble and resolutions having been severally read, and adopted by para
graphs, the Moderator asked and obtained leave to vote with the Synod, on the adoption
of the entire report. The question being put, it was unanimously adopted, every member
it is believed, giving it a hearty response."
The last document I shall quote on this part ofthe subject, is one
which will fill this meeting with horror ; but it is right that it should
be placed on record, to show the opinion entertained hy a minister of
the Presbyterian church of his brethren and fellow Christians, and to
show also, what kind of communications pass current among the pro
fessed disciples of Christ in a slaveholding community.
" To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations within the bounds of West Hanover
Presbytery :
" At the approaching stated meeting of our Presbytery, 1 design to offer a preamble
and string of resolutions on the subject of the use of wine in the Lord's Supper ; and also
a preamble and a string of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and abomina
bly wicked interference of the Northern and Eastern fanatics, with our political and civil
rights our property and our domestic concerns. You are aware that our clergy, whether
with o'r without reason, are more suspected by the publie than are tho clergy of other de-
' nominations. Now, dear Christian brethren, I humbly express it ajs my earnest wish . that
you quit yourselves like men. If there beany stray goat of a minister among us, tainted
with the blood-hound principles of abolitionism, let him be ferreted out, silenced, excom.
municuled, and left to the public tp dispose of him in other respects.
" Your affectionate brother in the Lord, " ROBERT N. ANDERSON." ! ! 1
20

154
I trust I have adduced sufficient evidence upon this heart-rending
topic, and abundantly proved the allegations I have deehied itmy duty
to bring against the American churches. No pn3 can accuse me of
wishing that any thing should be believed upon my bare assertion. I
have furnished documentary proof of the truth of all my statements.
Presbyterians, and Conferences, and Ministers, and Elders, and Sy
nods, and Assemblies have spoken for themselves through their solemn
and accredited Speeches, and Letters', and Reports, and Resolutions.
Judge, therefore, whether I have libelled America ; whether I am the
foul traducer tbat some would have you believe, but for believing
which they supply you no ground, save their own ill-natured vitu
perations. Let the facts 1 have brought before you be deliberate
ly considered, and let such a verdict be given as will approve itself to
the world and to God. Before sitting down, however, I must ob
serve, that it has always given me the sincerest pleasure to notice any
Anti-slavery movements among the clergy of America. With de
light I have stated the fact, that in the General Assembly of 1835,
there were FORTY EIGHT immediate Abolitionists. I refer again,
on the present occasion, with unfeigned satisfaction, to the ind cations
of a better state of things in many portions of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Breckinridge has quoted the Assembly's views on the subject of
Slavery ; so have I. In the recent meeting of the United Secession
Synod, held a short time since in Edinburgh, I stated fully the senti
ments of the Presbyterian body in America. At the same time, I
could not omit naming one striking fact, viz. that in J 816, the Assem
bly struck out of the Confession of the Church, the following note,
adopted in 1794, and which contained the doctrine of the church at
that period on the subject of slaveholding. The note was appended
to the one hundred and forty-second question of the larger catechism.
"1 Tim. 1: 10. The law is made for MAN STEALERS. This crirhe among the
Jews exposed the perpetrators of it to capital punishment; Exodus 21 : 16 ; and the apos
tle here classes them with sinners of the first rank. The word he uses, in its original im
port, comprehends all who are concerned in bringing any of the human race into slavery,
OR IN RETAINING THEM. IN IT. Hominum fures, qui servos vel libeios abducunt,
retinent vendunt, vel emunt. Stealers of men are alb those who bring off slaves or free
men AND KEEP, SELL, OR BUY THEM. To steal a free man, says Grotius, is the
highest kind of theft. In other instances, we only steal human property, but when we
steal or(retain men in slavery, we seize those who, in common with ourselves; are consti
tuted by the original grant, lords of the earth. Genesis' 1 : 28. Vide Poli synopsin in loc."
Why this note has been cancelled, I shall not attempt to say.
Neither Mr. Breckinridge nor this Assembly need be at any loss lo
imagine for what reasons so strong and unequivocal a passage was
omitted by a body in which so large a proportion were slaveholders.
I have recently read, and publicly commended, an address put forth
by the Synod of Kentucky, containing a very faithful, though appall
ing disclosure of the state of Slavery in Kentucky ; and expressing
an earnest hope that the members of the Presbyterian body will,
without delay, take steps to promote the education and emancipation
of the slaves. t Let me also, state, that the following ecclesiasrical
meetings have passed resolutions, and many of them adopted rules of

155
church membership, in accordance with the views of the American
Anti-Slavery Society. Some of them have specially approved the
principles and measures of that, Ijody. I beg, while I read this list, to
remind Mr. Breckinridge that these form a part of that ragged regi
ment, respecting which he was so merry in one of his by-gone
speeches. SYNODS of Utica and Cincinnati.
Eastern Sub-Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
PRESBYTERIES of Delaware, Champlain, Erie, Chillicothe, Detroit, and Genesee.
General Association of New York.
Central Evangelical Association. <
Cumberland Baptist Association. — Equally divided. ,
One Hundred and Eighty-Five Baptist Clergymen.
The vast majority of the New England and New Hampshire Conferences of Episcopal
Methodists, and a large number of individual Churches.
Thus is the cause advancing ! The purifying leaven is extending
through all the country. The elements which are ordained to redeem
America from the pollution and infamy of slavery, are working
mightily. When I went to the United States, I took the principles
I found lying comparatively forgotten, and proclaimed them abroad.
I planted myself upon the American Bible, and the American De
claration of Independence, and preached from these thatthe varied
tribes of men are of one blood,, and that all men should be " free and
equal." I have not labored in vain. There is now a mighty and in
domitable host of pure and ardent friends to the freedom and eleva
tion of the long degraded colored man. Let us thank God and take
courage, and expect with confidence the speedy arrival of the happy
day, when the soil of America shall be untrodden by the foot of a slave.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said he regretted to be obliged to say
anything more on this subject, which he had wished to consider con
cluded, so far as he was concerned, at the close of his preceding
speech. He felt obliged, however, by the importance of the whole
case, to consume a portion of this, his last address — and which he had
desired to occupy in a different way — in making a kw explanations
which seemed indispensable. It would be observed, first, that the
great. bulk of the testimonies produced throughout, and especially in
his last spesch, by Mr. Thompson, were individual opinions and
assertions, often of obscure persons, and therefore-, for ought the
world could tell, fictitious persons ; or if known persons they were
often men of the world, and avowedly acting on worldly principles,
and therefore, no more affording a criterion of the state of the Ameri
can churches, than the immoralities of any public functionary here,
could be justly made a rule of judgment of the faith and morals of
British Christians. A considerable portion also were taken from the
transient and heated declamations of violent patty newspapers, which
wrested from their original purpose and connection, might mean what
never wa. meant, or even, if fairly collated, expressed what their au
thors, perhaps, would now gladly recall. How far would it be proof
of the assertions of Mr. T. of America — if in some other land, some

156
•ligot should quote as indisputable, Mr. Thompson's story of the color-
:d man in Washington City, whose assertion, at third hand, fhat he
was free, authorised the declaration that "he had demonstrated his
freedom," and yet after all had been sold into everlasting slavery
without a trial ! And yet many of his proofs are of no more value
to him, than his assertions ought to be to any who come after him. It
is next most worthy of note-, that so far as all his proofs establish any
thing against either any portion of the American nation or the Ameri-
.an church, they all run upon the assumed truth of all my explana
tions of their real state and operations. It is the slaveholding por
tion, it is the comparatively small body of slaveholding professors
of religion, it is the minority of the nation, the very small minority
of the Christians of it, implicated continually ; and therefore, if every
word produced were true, the sweeping conclusions from them would
be gro^s fraud on the prevailing ignorance of all American affairs.
But what is most important to observe, and what must be palpable to
the capacity of every child who has attended to this discussion, the
weightiest of Mr. Thompson's proofs ceased to be proofs at all, the
moment the facts, cant words and circumstances connected are ex
plained. He used words in one sense which he knows you will
understand in another — sporting at once with your good feelings and
your want of minute information while all the result is false as to us,
and unhappy as to every thing concerned, except "Othello's occupa
tion" which meanwhile is not gone. When decided and perhaps
violent terms are used against "abolition" or "abolitionists" or "anti-
slavery" or "the anti-slavery society," they are adduced to con
vince you that those who use them are pro-slavery men : that they
understand the terms as you do ; and that it is an expression of rank
hostility to all emancipation on the part of the American tyrants, in
whose nostrils according to this gentleman the slave and freedom
equally stink ! A metaphor nearly as full of truth as decency. The
fact however is, that although many would decline the use of the
harsh and vindictive language which, caught from abolitionists, has been
turned against them; yet the bulk of the real sentiments, as brought
forward by Mr. Thompson as proofs of American slavery, on account
of American hatred to his peculiar plans, principles and spirit in
attempting its removal, are true, just and defensible. — And I am rea
dy to advocate and to defend much that he by a disingenuous citation
has made at first odious, and then characteristic of America. They
prove only that he and his coadjutors are most odious to the country,
which is a fact never denied except by himself or tbem. And to
what has the whole current of his testimony tended if hot to show
that they might reasonably have expected and did a great deal to de
serve such a conclusion. — But it is now impossible to enter again upon
these matters and upon the case as presented, he was willing for
the world to pass its verdict. While he would therefore take no far
ther notice of any new matter contained in the last speech, there
vteie several remarks necessary to be made, to elucidate subjects that

157
bad already been several limes before them. The first case was that
of Amos Dresser the abolitionist whipped at Nashville. , He would
pass over what Mr. T. had said relating to his (Mr. B.'s) notice of ,
the discrepancy in the number of Elders in the Nashville Church. !
He had treated that gentleman with great candor in the matter, which
he had returned with incivility and injustice, and there he was content
to let it rest. But how stood the facts of the case itself? Amos
Dresser is reported to have said that there were seven elders of the
church ; that all of them were on the committee of vigilance of Nash
ville ; that most of them were amonghis triers, and that some of them
had administered the communion to him the preceding sabbath. Now
let us admit that this is literally true — (which I believe however is not
.llie case, in at least three particulars) — how does it justify Mr. Thomp
son in asserting as he did at London and elsewhere " that on that
Lynch Committee there sat seven Elders and ont Minister, some of
whom had sat with the young man at the table of the Lord on the
preceding Sunday "? Mr. Thompson positively contradicts his own
and only witness when he says that all the seven elders sat as triers ; —
he enlarges his testimony when he insinuates that they not only con
curred in his punishment, but were present and active in its infliction;
and be infers without the least authority, and adds it to the words of
the witness, that those very elders who administered the Lord's Sup
per to Dresser, on Sunday "ploughed up his back"— as Lynch Com
mittee men on a subsequent day of the same week. How in the name
of common honesty is such deceitful handling of the truth to be tole
rated in a Christian community? Oh! what a spectacle would we
behold — if I had but the privilege before some competent tribunal —
to take the published accusations of this man in my hands and force
him to reveal on oath the whole grounds on which he makes them! —
Mr. B. then stated that after he entered the house to-night two packa
ges had been put into his hands, which he could not examine then, as
he was just about to open the discussion. He had snatched a mo
ment during the interval to glance his eyes over their contents, and
considered it his duty to say a few words in reference to each. One
of them was a little volume from the pen of Dr. Channing, of Boston,
on the subject of slavery,' just passing through the press of an enter
prising bookseller of Glasgow, who had done him the favor of present
ing to him, in very kind terms, the first copy of theedition. They
who would take the trouble of looking over the printed report ofJMr.
Thompson's second address to the Glasgow Emancipation Society,
would find that in speaking of the Unitarians of America, he had
used the following language :— "One of, their greatest men, a giant in
intellect, had already taken the right view of the subject, and there
could not exist a doubt that ere long, he would bring over the body
to the good cause." In this sentence,, as it-stands in the speech, at
the end of the words " giant in intellect,"— stands a star,— at the bot
tom of the pao-e another, before the words "Dr. Channing." Now
it so happens that in this little book, there is a chapter headed "Aboli-

153
tionism."- I have looked through it casually, within the last hour ;
and I beseech you all lo read it carefully, and judge for yourselves,
of the utter recklessness with which Mr. Thompson makes assertions.
The other parcel, contained a letter from an American gentleman re
siding in Britain, and one half of the New York Spectator, of Octo
ber I, 1835. Under the head of editorial correspondence, is an article
above a column and a half in length devoted in great part to Mr.
Thompson. Amongst other passages, it adverts to his doings at
Andover, and the charges made against him there, on such weighty
authority : and in that connexion has the following explicit' paragraph :
Mr. Thompson in conversation with some ofthe students repeatedly averred that every
slaveholder in the United States OUGHT TO HAVE HIS THROAT CUT; or DE
SERVED TO HAVE HIS THROAT CUT; although he afterwards publicly denied
that he had said so. But the proof is direct and positive. In conversation with one of
the theological students in regard to the moral instruction which ought to be enjoyed by
the slaves, he distinctly declared THAT EVERY SLAVE SHOULD BE TAUGHT
TO CUT HIS MASTER'S THROAT! I state the fact—knowing the responsibility I
am assuming, and challenge a legal. investigation.
On this tremendous document, I make but two remarks — The first is
that Francis Hall & Co. the publishers of the Spectator, were-in
character and fortune, perfectly responsible to Mr. Thompson. The
second is, that if Mr. Thompson's rule of judgment was just, in that
branch of this same case — in the exercise of which he declared that
another paper in New York could never be got to publish his excul
patory certificates in regard to this very transaction, because the pub
lisher knew them to be true ; then we are irresistibly bound on his
own showing to conjecture, that for the same reason he declined
taking up the challenge of the Spectator. There was only one more
topic on which he seemed called on to remark; and that he had seve
ral times passed over, out of consideration of delicacy. It had all
along been his aim to use as little freedom as possible with the names
of individuals — and he could declare, that he had implicated by name,
no one except out of absolute necessity — that he had forborne to say
true but severe things of several who had been most unjustly com
mended during this discussion — and had omitted of the ver/ few he
had censured by name, decidedly worse things, than those he had
uttered of them — and which he might have uttered both truly arid
pertinently. Amongst the cases of rather peculiar forebearance, was
the oft cited one, of a misguided young man, by the name of Thome,
who went from Kentucky to New York to repeat a most audacious
speech which was no doubt prepared for him, before an assembly
literally the most mixed that was ever convened in that city : having
delivered which, he departed with the pity or contempt of 9 lOths of
all the decent people in it, and went I know not whither, and dwells
I know not where. The victory as there trumpeted, and now cele
brated, of which he was part gainer, consisted of two portions—the
destruction of the colonization cause — and the degradation of Ken
tucky, his native state. The death of the Society was signalised by
,a subscription pf six thousand dollars on the part of its friends ; and

159
the infamy of Kentucky was illustrated by the ready stepping forward
?[• sons t0 confr°nt and confound tlie ingrate who com
menced his career of manhpod, by smiting his parent in the face.
Who made the defence, may be surmised from' Mr. Thompson's bit
terness—I will not trust myself to repeat his name. But this thou
sands can testify — that never was a great cause more signally success
ful—never were folly and wickedness more thoroughly beaten into the
dust — never did any community heap more cordial and unanimous
applause upon an effort of great and successful eloquence.
And now, Sir, (said Mr. B., addressing Dr. Wardlaw, the Chair- '
man of the meeting)— I repeat the expressions of my regret, that
these last moments allowed to me should have. been required for any
other purpose than that which so sacredly belonged to them. Ex
hausted by a series of most exciting, and to me perfectly new con
tentions, I am altogether unequal to the task, which I should yet es
teem myself degraded if I did not attempt in some way to perform.
To this large committee which has so kindly taken up this subject —
so considerately provided for every contingency — so delicately con
sidered all my wishes, and even all my weaknesses — to these respect
ed gentlemen surrounding us upon this platform, whose conduct amid
very peculiar circumstances has been towards me, full of candor,
honor, courtesy and Christian kindness, it would have been most
gross ingratitude, to have forborne this public expression of my regard
and cordial thanks.
For yourself, Sir, what can I say more, or how could I say less, than
that in that distant country, which I love but too fondly, there are
scores, there are hundreds, who would esteem all the trials through
which this strife has led me, and all the weight of responsibility which
my posture has forced me to assume, more than counter-balanced by
the privilege of looking upon your venerated face. It is good to live
for the whole world ; and it is but just to receive in recompense the
world's thanks.
And you, my respected auditors, whose patience I must needs have
so severely taxed, and who have borne with much that possibly has
tried you deeply, you who have given me so many reasons to thank
you, and not one to regret the errand that brought me here ; if 'in the
course of providence, you or yours, should be thrown on whatever
spot my resting place may be, you need but say, " I come from Glas
gow, and I need a friend," and it shall go hard with me, but I will
find a way to prove, that kindness is never thrown away.
But even as we part, let us not forget that cause which has chained
us here so long. We are free. Alas ! bow few can utter these
words with truth ! We are Christian men. Alas !• what multitudes
have never heard our Master's name. Oh ! how horrible must
slavery be, when God himself illustrates the power of sin by calling
it bondage ! Oh ! how sweet should union with Christ be thought,
when he proclaims it glorious liberty ! Freedom and redemption are
in our hands ; the heritage in trust for a lost world. It is not then

160
our own souls only, but our divine Lord, and our dying brethren, that
we sin against and rob, when we; mismanage or pervert this great in
heritance. We needs must labor ; but let us do it wisely. And
though we may differ in many things, in this at least we can agree, to
importune our heavenly Father to prosper by his constant blessing
what we do aright, and overrule by his continued care all that we do
amiss. (Cheers.)
Mr. THOMPSON then rose amidst much cheering, and said,
Sir, after the valedictory address to which we have just listened, it
would ill become me to touch upon any topic calculated to disturb
feelings which I trust and believe that address has awakened in the
breasts of this assembly. Sir, it is my conviction, that I and those
with whom it is my joy and honor to act, in the advancement of the
cause of Universal Emancipation, are much misunderstood. We
are represented as the violent, acrimonious, ferocious and sanguinary
foes of the slaveholder ; when, if he could look into our inmost hearts,
he would discover no enmity to him abiding there, but on the contra
ry, anearnest desire* to promote his safety, his honor, and his happi
ness. If we act as we do, it is not that we love him less, but that we
love truth and freedom more. It is not with us a matter of choice
that we pursue our present course, but one of stern imperative duty ;
because we believe that God will vouchsafe his blessing only to those
who preach the doctrine of an immediate, entire, and uncompromis
ing discharge of duly, leaving to Him the consequences flowing from
obedience to His law. To discover truth wherever it is hidden,
should be the aim and effort of every rational mind. It has been my
desire to arrive at truth upon the great question of Slavery ; and af
ter much investigation, and many conflicts, I have reached the con
clusion, that slaveholding is sinful ; that man cannot hold property in
man; that to do right, and to do it now, fearless of results, is the
doctrine of the Bible ; and that a simple and strict compliance with
the Divine Law, is man's noblest and safest course. These being my
settled views, I say to the slaveholder, give immediate freedom to
vour slaves. To the non-slaveholder, I say, preach a pure doctrine ;
grapple with the prejudices and fears of the community around you ;
strive to raise the tone of public morals, and create a public sentiment
unfavorable to the continuance of slavery. To the private Christian,
I say, betake yourself to prayer, and the study of the Scriptures ; and
invoke a blessing upon every righteous instrumentality for the over
throw of the abomination. To the minister of the gospel, I say, be
bold for God; cry .aloud, and spare not, till the- merchants of the
earth cease to make merchandise of slaves, and the souls of men.
Much fault is found with our measures. What, Sir, are our meas
ures, but the simplest means of making known our principles ? Hav
ing deliberately and prayerfully adopted certain views, we take the
ordinary, common sense, every day methods of making those views
known, and of recommending them to the adoption of others. Be-

161
lieving slavery to be sin, is it strange that we hate it, and speak
strongly respecting it ? Believing immediate emancipation a duty, is
it strange that we pray, and preach, and print about it? That we
take all peaceful means of making known the great truth ; of warn
ing men against the danger of delay ; and exhorting them to repent
ance? The abolitionists have done no more. To have done less,
would have been to prove themselves unfaithful to the high and
heaven-barn principles they profess. They court investigation. They
scatter their publications on the winds to be read by all. They have
not an office nor a book that is not open to the inspection of all.
Their language to all who suspect their motives or their designs is,
"search us, and know our hearts; try us, and know our thoughts ;
and see if there be any wicked way in us." If in the ardor of their
zeal, and inherited' infirmities, and surrounded by influences, from
which none of us are exempt ; they sometimes apply epithets and
bring charges with too little discrimination, "something should be par
doned to the spirit of liberty ;" something granted to the advocates of
outraged humanity ; to those, who, remembering them that are in
bonds as bound with them, plead as for mothers, children, sisters, and
brothers; at present lost to all the joys and purposes of life. Sir, I
think it hard that on all occasions like these, the heaviest artillery should
be levelled against the abolitionists, and the small arms only directed
against the slaveholder. I call upon those who, act with such gentle
ness towards the latter individual ; who are so fearful of doing him
injustice and so readily to discover in him any thing that is amiable in
character, or extenuating iu conduct, to exercise some small portion
of the same candor and kindness, and consideration towards the for
mer. Let not that man be most hateful in their eyes, who bf alt
others is most earnestly engaged for the deliverance of the slave. t
A word before we part, for my honored co-adjutors on the other
side of the Atlantic. Should this be the last address of mine ever de
livered and recorded for perusal ivhen I ara gone to give account of
my sayings upon- earth, 1 can with every feeling of sincerity a ver, thjtt
to the best of my knowledge and belief, there is not to be found on
the face of the earth at the present time, engaged in any religious or
benevolent enterprise, a body of men more pure in their motives,
more simple and elevated in their aim, more dependent ufjon divine
aid in their efforts, or, generally speaking, more unexceptionable in
their measures, than the immediate abolitionists of the United States
of America. It has been my high privilege to mingle much with de
voted Christians of all denominations in my native land, and to enjoy
the friendship of some of the noblest and most laborious of living
philanthropists ; but I have not yet seen the wisdom, the ardor, the
humanity or the faith of the abolitionists of America exceeded.
Another word and I have done. It is for one whom I love as a
brother, and to whom my soul is united by a bond which death can
not dissolve ; of one, who, though slilF young, has for ten years toiled
with unremitting ardor, and uninipeaehed disinterestedness in the cause
21

162
of 'the bleeding slave; of one, who, though accused of scattering
around hiin fire-brands, arrows and death ; though branded as a mad
man, an incendiary, and a fanatic ; though denounced by the Stale,
and reviled by a portion of the church, possesses a soul as peaceful
and as pure as ever tenanted our fallen nature. I speak not to exalt
him or gratify his love of praise. I know he seeks not the honor that
cometh from man, nor the riches that perish in the using. He looks
not for his reward on earth. With the approbation of his conscience,
he is content; with the blessing of the perishing, he is rich ; with the
favor of God, he is blessed forever. He seeks no monumental mar
ble, no funeral oration, rto proud escutcheon, no partial page of histo
ry to perpetuate his name. He knows that when resting from his
labors, the tears of an enfranchised race
Shall sprinkle the cold dust in which he sleeps,
Pompless, and from a scornful world withdrawn :
The laurel, which its malice rent, shall shoot;
So watered, into life, and mantling throw
Its verdant honors o'er his grassy tomb.
That man is William Lloyd Garrison. Sir, I thank God for
having given him to the age and country in which he lives. He is a
man pre-eminently qualified for the mighty work in which he has en-
gagedi, May the God, of the oppressed bless him, and keep him
humble, and cheer him onwards in his rugged path ! May his lion
heah never be subdued ! May his eloquent pen never cease to move
while a slave breathes to require its advocacy ! Heaven grant, and I
can ask no more, that the wisli of his heart may be' fulfilled ; and that
the time may soon come, when, looking abroad over his beloved coun
try with the soul of a Patriot, and the eye of a Philanthropist and a
Christian, he shall not be able to discover in Stale, or city, or town,
or hamlet, a lingering trace of a tyrant or a Slave !
I shall not, Sir, attempt (turning to the Chairman,) to express the
feelings of my heart towards you, or my opinion of ihe manner in
which you have discharged the duties of the Chair, through four of
the evenings of this discussion. I cordially unite with the gentleman ,
opposite, in thanking you for the dignity and strict impartiality with
which you have borne yourself. 1 know you look for the reward of
your labors of love in another and a better world. In that world may
we all meet ! There our jars and discords will be at an end. There
we shall see, eye to eye ; and know, even as we are known. There,
in the presence of one Saviour, our joys, our voices, our occupations
will be one; and thetre I trust that we, who have been antagonists on
earth, will together meet and celebrate ihe glories of a common re-
redemption from the sorrows and the sins of earth. . (Mr. Thompson
resumed his seat amidst loud and long continued cheers.)
Mr. THOMPSON moved thai the cordial thanks of the meeting
be given to the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, for his able, dignified, and im
partial conduct in the chair, and also to Dr. Kidston, who presided
on Thursday evening, which was carried with acclamation.

APPENDIX.

In reading the foregoing discusssion, yee have been utterly
astonished at the grossness and magnitude of , the falsehoods —
not to mention tbe numerous miscolorings and misrepresenta
tions — which the reverend apologist for slavery has,, with braz
en effrontery, unblushingly uttered even though aware of the
fact that they were to be published to the world. It would
seem as if feeling the necessity of defending a desperate cause
by desperate means, he had resolved to pour out his misstate
ments and inacuracies with such lavish liberality, that his oppo
nent would be absolutely unable, in the time alloted to him, to
correct them all, and.thus contrive to make some of his false
hoods, because uncontradicted, pass for truth, and some of his
distortions and perversions for fair representations. The event,
we cannot help thinking, will show that he has presumed with
far too much rashness on tbe supposed ignorance of the British
people. Some of his falsehoods, mistakes, and misrepresenta
tions, which were either wholly unnoticed, or not fully answered
by Mr. Thompson, for want, as he has informed us, of time to
do it, we shall briefly nbtice here,
First, however, we would call attention to the remark, that
'he is not a slaveholder,' with which Dr. Wardlaw introduced
Mr. Breckinridge to the audience, and in reference to it quote
part of a letter from Dr. A. L. Cox of New York, to the edi
tor of the emancipator. ' The only knowledge I have on this
subject,' says Dr. C, ' is wliat I derived from the confession of
R. J. Breckinridge, extorted at an anniversary meeting of the
Colonization Society in this city, in the spring of 1834.' After
mentioning some of the circumstances which led him to speak,

164
the letter goes on to say, -Just as Robert J. Breckinridge was
on the point of speaking, one of the assembly inquired, ' Is he
a slaveholder?' The orator seemed somewhat disconcerted,
but answered ' I have that honor.'
In the first evening's discussion, page 6, Mr. Breckinridge
says that the British people ' had sent out agents to America,
who had returned defeated. They have failed — they admit they
have failed in their object.' To say nothing ^of the accuracy
which speaks in the plural number of a single individual, and
which can easily be excused to one who in encountering him,
probffbly felt that that individual was himself a host, — when or
where has the alleged admission been made ? Never. No
where. The assertion is untrue.
During the same evening, page 7, Mr. B. tells his audience that
' of tbe twelve [free] states, at least four, Ohio, Indiana, Illin
ois, and Maine never bad a slave.' What says tbe United
States' census? In 1830, there were 2 slaves in Maine, 6 in
Ohio, 3 in Indiana, and 747* in Illinois. In 1S20, there were
190 in Indiana, and 917 in Illinois. In 1810, Indiana contained
237, Illinois 168. In 1800, there were 135 in Indiana. But
Mr. B. says, that ' since 1785, till this hour, there never had
been one slave in any of these states.'
'America,' he tells us, ' was the first nation upon earth, which
abolished the slave trade and made it piracy.' See page 8.
This will be unwelcome news to Messrs. Franklin and Armfield
of Alexandira, D. C, whose standing advertisements in the
Washington papers, offer cash for negroes of both sexes, from
12 to 25 years of age, and announce the 'regular trips' twice
a month, of their vessels engaged in the slave trade between the
District and New Orleans. It will be unpleasant intelligence
in the city of Washington, where for $400 a year, the ' trade
or traffic in slaves ' is licensed for the benefit of the canal fund.
It will be news to the keepers of the prisons in the District, who,
in their official capacity, carry on the slave trade by selling men
' for their prison and other expenses, as the law directs.'
But Mr. B. means the foreign slave trade, not the domestic.
The latter, indeed, may be licensed, and protected, and deemed
honorable as it is lucrative. Those who engage in it, may be
* Called indented apprentices, Inn from the connection in which it stands in the
census, wo infer that they are virtually slaves.

16&
like Armfield and Woolfolk, gentlemen « of engaging and graceful
manners,' reported to be ' mild, indulgent, upright, and scrupu-
lousy honest,' but the foreign trade is piracy by the law ofthe land.
Very meritorious truly! and worthy of abundant e-ulogy ! to
prohibit piracy on the high seas, or the African coast, while sell
ing permission to do along her own coast, and on her own terri
tories, the same acts which, when clone abroad, constitute piracy.
But to what does her abolition of even the foreign slave trade
amount? Do her cruizers ever capture a slave ship? Sel
dom, if ever. Does she consent to such arrangements, in
her treaties with other nations which are in earnest in their en
deavors to suppress the slave trade, as will prevent her flag from
being made a protection to tbe detestable traffic ? No. The
N. Y. Journal of Commerce, in a recent article very truly as
serts, that 'We neither do any thing ourselves to put down the
accursed traffic, nor afford any facilities to enable others to put
it down. Nay, rather, we stand between the slave and his de
liverer. We are a drawback— a dead weight on the cause of
bleeding humanity.' And a late number of the Edinburgh Re
view, speaking of the application of the British Government
to this, for its co-operation, says, ' The final answer, however,,
is, that under no condition, in no form, and with no restrictions,
will the United States enter into any convention or treaty, or
make combined efforts of any sort or kind, with other nations
for the suppression of the trade.' With what face, then, can
she claim praise for having merely made' a law, which she
almost never executes, and to the execution of which, by oth
ers, she permits, her flag to be used as a hindrance.
The next assertion of Mr. B's that we notice, is the astound
ing one, that America, ' as a nation, has done every thing'in her
power' for the abolition of slavery. See page 8. This, while
the national domain is the home of slavery and the seat of the
slave trade ! While the domestic slave trade, so far from being
abolished by the National Legislature, as it may constitutionally
be, is shielded and licensed ! This, while the moral, power of
the nation is slumbering, or if awake, arrayed to a great extent,
in the defence of slavery ! That a man who values his reputa
tion—that a minister of the gospel of Mr. B's intelligence and
knowledge of- the country's condition and history in regard
to this matter, should make such a declaration, is truly most

166
wonderful. Could he have expected it to be believed ? Could
he have believed it himself?
Mr. B., page 15, by way of explaining why Mr. Thompson
was so differently received in Glasgow and Boston, applauded
in the one place, and abused in the other, says that he took up
the question of slavery as one of political organization. We
give to tlris assertion, the answer ofthe editor of the Emancipa
tor. ' This we pronounce utterly and unequivocally false. We
were with Mr. Thompson, while he was in this country, as much
probably as any other one individual. We were with him in
private and in public, in the house and by the way, in the pub
lic convention and the public lecture, and we most solemnly
declare, that we never heard George Thompson, on any occa
sion, take up or discuss the question of American Slavery, ' as
one of civil organization.' He always discussed it primarily
and essentially as a moral and religious question, and never went
into its political relations and bearings, except to answer the obr
jections of cavillers and opponents. And we are astonished
that R. J. Breckinridge should dare to make such an assertion,
when, we venture to say, he never heard George Thompson in
America.' The same editor has furnished a better solution than Mr. B's,
of the — not very difficult — problem of Mr. Thompson's different
reception in Boston and Glasgow. 'For the same reason that
Knibb, and'Taylor, and Burchell did not meet with the same
reception in Glasgow and Jamaica — because, and simply be
cause the slave spirit was diffused through the land, infecting
and corrupting alike the leading influences of Church and State,
so that Mr. T. could not condemn slavery and prejudice ' in
Boston as in Glasgow,' without constraining the conviction and
the outcry from the implicated and the prejudiced, "so saying
thou condemnest us also." '
'There is not a sane man in the free .states, who does not
wish the world rid of slavery.' This Mr. B. states as his con
viction, page 15. Perhaps it is correct, but if so, there are a
great many insane men in the free states, or a great many whp
have a very strange way of manifesting their wishes. The fact
is notorious, that Northern men who remove to the South, almost
uniformly become slaveholders the moment their convenience
or pecuniary interest can thereby be promoted.

167
On page 20, Mr. B. accuses Garrison of having written placards to
stir up a mob against liim, when he lectured in Boston, in be
half of colonization. A charge more utterly false was never
made, and it requires a great exercise of charity to believe that
Mr. B. did not know its falsehood. It will have been seen that
Mr. Thompson challenged proof ofthe accusation, but none was
produced except the word of the accuser — evidence on which,
any reader who compares his assertions in several other instan
ces, wf# facts, will place very little reliance.
Another of Mr. B's accusations against ' some of the friends
of the Anti-Slavery Society,' is, that they procured a writ to
take tbe two ' African princes,' who had been sent to the Mary
land Colonization Society to be educated, and that Elizur
Wright was the instigator of the measure, on pretence that the
boys bad been kidnapped. See page 20. The truth of this
matter as given in the Emancipator, on Mr. Wright's author
ity, is that, on learning that two native African boys, supposed
to be slaves, were on board a schooner in New York harbor,
bound for Baltimore, Mr. Wright made inquiries on board, and
could only learn that they were brought from Africa by a -pas
senger, and consigned to some one in Baltimore. To make sure
of the means of prosecuting a legal inquiry, a writ was obtain
ed, but as soon as Mr. W. discovered that the lads were sent to
this country to be educated, he ordered the officer not to serve it.
The next slanderous charge uttered by the reverend delegate
is, that Elizur Wright tried to stir up a mob to liberate a fugi
tive slave confined in New York prison. The story of course
is wholly false. '
In the second evening's discussion, Mr. B. says, page 34, the
admission of a clause into the Constitution prohibiting the abo
lition of the slave trade for twenty years, 'was one ofthe
brightest virtues ih the, escutcheon of America.' A dark es
cutcheon; then, must be hers, if the protection of the slave
trade for twenty years is the ' brightest ' spot on it. The ' impor
tation of such persons,' Sec. (meaning slaves.) 'shall not be pro
hibited prior to 1808,' says the Constitution. ' The brightest;
virtue in her escutcheon ! ' exclaims Mr. Breckinridge.
' It was well known that the slavery existing in the<United
States was the mildest to be seen in any country under heav
en.' Pa-'e 34- Of tn's assertion of Mr. B., we have only to

168
say in the words of the Emancipator, ' It is " well known that
the slavery existing in the United States," is not " the mildest to
be seen in any country under heaven," and to say so is demon
stration absolute of the most " unpardonable ignorance, or a pur
pose to mislead." Witness the fact, that the man who ieaches the
slave to read, or gives him the religious tract, or the Bible even,
does it at his peril. Witness the fact, on the testimony of the
Snyod of South Carolina and Georgia, that the large majority of
the slave population are " heathen, and will bear comparison
with the heathen in any country in the world." Witness the
slave-code every where — particularly the following, which is the
law of North Carolina, and in Georgia nearly the same, " that
if any person hereafter shall be guilty of killing a slave, he
shall, upon the first conviction, suffer the same punishment as if
he had killed a free man " — (i. e. if any white man is witness,.
and will come forward to testify in the case, for the testimony
of a million of colored men would go for nothing,) and "Provided
always, that this act shall not extend to the person killing a
slave outlawed, (and running away, concealment, and the steal
ing of a hog, or some animal of the cattle kind, to sustain life,
outlaws him,) or to any slave in the act of resistance to his law
ful owner or master or to any slave DYING UNDER
MODERATE CORRECTION "—thus by the very law
which prohibits, giving the master express license to kill as many,.
and as often as he pleases, provided he will only take care to do
it, first, when no white men are present who will inform or testi
fy against him, or secondly, when the slave is an outlaw ; or,.
thirdly, when he lifts his hand in opposition to his master, no
matter how cruel the punishment or how base the. design upore
his or her person ; or, fourthly, by " moderate correction." Let
him only see to it, that it is done in one or all of these wstys-r
and under one or all these circumstances, and if reckless enough
to do so,, he may kill ad libitum, and nobody to say why do ye
so. Witness the fact, trumpeted through all the papers; within
five years, that a Southern man seeing another passing across
his grounds in the evening, and supposing that he was a runa
way slave, shot him dead, because, although he hailed him, he
did not stop — when lo ! it appeared that he had shot a white
neighbor, and that, the wind being high, he did not hear, and
therefore did not stop at the summons ! — a striking illustration of

169
the carelessness and perfect impunity with which, as a matter of
fact, black men are and may be shot when attempting an es
cape from their thraldom. And, once more, witness the faqt,
that the way to emancipation is hedged up in this country so as
it is in no other " country under heaven," and then say what
but " ignorance, or a purpose to mislead," could lead to sueh
statements ? '
' Perhaps the great reason against the exercise of that power'
[to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia,] was, that it
would inevitably produce a dissolution of the Union.' Put
' this and that together.' * There is not a sane man in the free
states, but wishes the world rid of slavery ; ' the free states
contain ' seven millions out of the eleven millions of the white
population of the Union ; ' (see page 7,) ' a large minority in the
slaveholding states, in some nearly one half of the population,'
(seepage 13,) ' are zealously engaged in furthering the abolition of
slavery,' and yet the exercise by Congress of its constitutional
power to abolish slavery in the national district would ' inevita*
bly dissolve the Union.' Verily, the old proverb hath well said
that a certain class.of persons should have a good memory.
Mr. B. sneers at ' Mr. Thompson's argument about the
standing army employed in keeping down the slaves,' and de
clares that it was ' complete humbug, founded upon just nothing
at all.' Will the citizens of Southampton county, Virginia, who
called in the aid of the U< S. dragoons to quell an insurrection
a few years ago, corroborate his testimony ? ' An officer of the
United States' army, who was in the expedition from fortress
Monroe, against the Southampton slaves in 1831, speaks with
constant horror of the scenes which he was compelled to wit
ness. Those troops, agreeably to their orders, which were to
exterminate the negroes, killed all that they met with, although
they encountered neither resistance, nor show of resistance :
and the first check given to this wide, barbarous slaughter grew
out of the fact, that the law of Virginia, which provides for the
payment to the master of the full value of an executed slave,
was considered as not applying to the cases of slaves put to
death without trial. In consequence of numerous representa
tions to this effect, sent to the officer of the United States' army,
commanding the expedition, the massacre was suspended.' —
Child's Oration. 22

170
And what says Mr. B. to this assertion of John Q. Adams,
that were it not for the protection of the western frontier against
the Indians, and of the Southern slaveholder against his human
' machinery,' this country would scarcely have any need of a
standing army. Is that ' complete humbug ' too ?
Mr. B. ventures to say that ' there are not ten persons in the
whole state of Kentucky, holding anti-slavery principle's, in the
Garrison sense of the word.' Page 40. We know not how
many there may be now, but in 1835, a constitution of a state
society, framed on anti-slavery principles, ' in the Garrison sense
of the word,' was signed by more than forty persons.
Mr. B. tells about a minister who was driven, he says, froni
Groton, Mass., by the storm of abolitionism, and who seems to
have fled to Baltimore, doubtless, seeking a congenial climate.
See page 40. But Mr. B. forgot to mention the many cases in
which the slave spirit, ' like a storm of fire and brimstone from
hell,' has driven faithful pastors from their charges, just for the
crime of praying and preaching' now and then for the enslaved.
Mr. B. says of a document from which his opponent quoted
certain Maryland laws that placed the ' benevolent colonization
scheme ' in any thing but a favorable light, that it was said in
America, and he believed truly, to contain not the laws, but only
schemes of laws which never passed the Assembly. See
page 47. On this the Emancipator remarks, ' This was never
alleged against the pamphlet. The pamphlet contains the
laws precisely as they stand in the statute book of Maryland,
as Mr. B. would have seen had he ever taken the trouble to
compare them. And for him to make such assertions, without
having done so, is only another instance of " unpardonable
ignorance, or a purpose to mislead." '
In the third evening's discussion, Mr. B. asserted, page 50,
that Mr. Garrison was among the first who opposed the Coloni
zation Society, ' on the ground, that its operations were injurious
to the colored race in America.' To this tbe Emancipator
says, ' This is partly true and partly not. The Society was de
cidedly opposed, at the outset, both by the colored people and
by those who, up to that time, had been most active in promot
ing the' cause of emancipation. As early as August, 1817, the
subject came hefore the " American Convention for Promoting
the Abolition of Slavery," &c, at its session in Philadelphia.

171
This body, representing for the most part Friends, and made
up of delegates from abolition and manumission societies in dif
ferent parts of the country, after a full discussion, appointed a
committee on the subject. That committee reported, that
" they must express their unqualified wish, that no plan of col
onization shall be permitted to go into effect without an immuta
ble pledge from the s.Iaveholding states of a just and wise sys
tem of gradual emancipation ; " and they conclude their report,
which was approved and adopted by the Convention with the
following resolution : —
" Resolved, As a sense of this Convention, that the gradual
and total emancipation of all persons of color, and their literary
and moral education, should precede their colonization."
When the Convention met again in 1819, the Pennsylvania
society, in sending up a statement of its views and proceedings,
warned the " abolitionists of our country to retain in view the
lessons of experience, and avoid substituting for them, schemes
however splendid, yet of questionable result ; " and added, " for
ourselves there is but one principle on which we can act. It is
the principle of immutable justice ! We can make no compro
mise with the prejudices of slavery, or with the slavery of pre
judice. The same arguments that are now urged against eman
cipation, unless the subjects of it be removed from our ter
ritory, were used with more plausibility when abolition was an
experiment, yet they were combatted with success."
Mr. B. says, page 52, it ' would be difficult, if not utterly
impossible, for evidences of friendship to the Colonization So
ciety from an avowed friend of slavery to be culled out, as
occuring within the last three or four years.' Says the Emanci
pator, " So far is this from being true, that the most decisive
evidences of this sort are found, within the last three or four
years. Scarce a pro-slavery mob, or speech, or meeting, dur
ing this whole time, but has contained, in one and the same
breath, a condemmnation of abolition and a comendation of col
onization." After quoting the resolution against the Colonization Society,
in Boston last year, Mr. B. remarks, 'that the verbiage of this
resolution, showed its parentage. No one who had ever heard
one of Mr. Thompson's speeches could, for a moment, doubt the
authorship of the resolution ! ' This is a small mistake indeed,

172
fthd among so many great ones, scarce meritsanotice,but to show
that Mr. B's sagacity in conjecture, exceeds not much his ve
racity in assertion, we just mention in passing, that the ' author
ship of the resolution ' belongs not to Mr. Thompson.
' The abolitionists,' says Mr. B. page 54, have been going
about, from Dan to Beersheba, not only attacking and vilifying
the whites, for proposing to colonize the blacks, with their own
free consent; but equally attacking the blacks for availing them
selves of the offer.' An assertion utterly false, and wickedly
slanderous. On page 55, Mr. B. introduces an extract from an address of
some of the Cape Palmas Colonists to their friends in America,
for the purpose of showing the prosperity of the Colony. In
.connection with this, let the following letter from a colonist be
read: — ' Cape Palmas, Mat 5th, 1834.
Dear Mother, — I write you with regret. It is true, I wrote
to you of my passage, how I enjoyed it. I spent a very agree
able time, and also on my first arrival ; but now I am distressed,
and all Mr. C's family also. * * * O ! I am sorry ! yes, sorry
that I ever came to this country. It is true, mother, had I
taken your advice, I would not have been here. I have suffered
and all my family, and Mr. C's family too, and we still continue
to suffer. Not a cent of money have any of us got. Now,
mother, if you can get any gentleman to advance the amount of
three hundred dollars, or two hundred and fifty dollars I will
work for them for it four years. I will serve as a waiter in
a house, or any thing at all, to pay for it. My wife says she
would maintain herself and sister, if that could get her home
once more, for here they can do nothing, for we are not able, '
the country is so sickly — we have been sick ever since we have
been here-—* * * I will serve any way or at any thing. I will
sell myself as a slave, for the sake of getting HOME once more.
Try for me, if you please, for my family's sake. If I was by
myself, I might scuffle for myself.'
In a subsequent letter, dated August 3, 1834, this same writ
er communicates the additional intelligence, that Mrs. C ' died
of grief.'
' Every benevolent and right thinking person must see, that the
scheme of colonizing Africa by black men, is necessary to en
lighten Africa, and prevent the extirpation of the black man
there.' So says Mr. Breckinridge. Doubtless it was to en
lighten the poor natives, and prevent their extirpation, that a

173
brisk traffic in rum, tobacco, gunpowder, and spear-pointed
knives, has been carried on with them by black men colonized
in Africa — that nine pound balls from ' a gun of great power '
were discharged into a body of eight hundred men, standing
within sixty yards, pressed shoulder to shoulder, in so compact
a form that a child might easily walk upon their heads from one
end of the mass to the other ' and ' every shot literally spent
its force in a solid mass of living human flesh * — that by fraud
and injustice the colonists excited the hostility of the Africans,
and stirred up a war with King; Joe Harris, which resulted in the
slaughter of numbers of the ignorant barbarians, who were un
able to cope with the superior arms, and discipline, and mili
tary prowess of the American blacks — \he ' missionaries in the
holy cause of civilization, religion^ and free institutions.' f
' America,' says Mr. B., ' was christianized by colonization.'
Yea, verily ! and in this case we have another precious exam
ple of the enlightening, civilizing, and christianizing influence
of colonies. The poor Indian has felt, and faded away before
it, along the Atlantic-shores, and-still the 'missionary' work is
going on at the far southwest. Ask the Seminoles and the
Creeks if colonization has not Christianized America. Ask
the shades of Metacom, and Canonicus, and Sarsacus ; ask the
feeble remnants of the mighty tribes which once dwelt from the
lakes to the Gulf, and from the ocean to the Alleghany, and
learn of them the process of christianization which colonies
have introduced into America. Is it by a similar process that
'colonizing Africa by black men,' is to ' prevent the extirpation'
of the natives of that continent ?
'The climate' of Africa; Mr. B. says, page 58 'suits the
black man, while hundreds of white men have fallen victims to
it.' And how many ' hundreds of black men ' have fallen vic
tims to it ? Those especially who have gone from the North-
em states, have found it as fatal as have the whites themselves,
nor has it been very remarkably healthy to any portion of the
colonists. Mr. B. is ve>y certain that colonizing Africa will destroy the
slave trade. He says the colonists ' would put an end to the
* See Gurlfey's Life of Ashman, page 139. , .
t Speech of Henry Clay. Tenth Annual Report of the American Colonization
Society.

174
trade the moment they were able to chastise the pirates, or make
reprisals on the nations to which they belonged. Nothing is
plainer, than that any nation that will make reprisals, will have
none ofthe inhabitants stolen. If reprisals were made effective,
the slave trade would be immediately stopped.' A Christian
mode of reforming vices and removing evils, truly! ' Any nation
that will make reprisals I ' ,So, if Peter steals John's child,
John must steal Peter's by way of reprisal, and that will put a
stop to the mischief at once ! And why not reprisals prevent
all other kinds of violence, as well as man-stealing ? If an Eng
lishman shoots a Frenchman, let a Frenchman shoot an Eng
lishman in return, and the quarrel is settled, and peace restored !
For ' nothing is plainer, than ,tbat any nation that will make re
prisals, will have none of the inhabitants ' shot. Does past his
tory sustain this doctrine ? Do present facts sustain it ? No
longer let our clergy preach, that 'all they who take the sword,
shall perish by the sword.' ' Nothing is plainer,' than that
those nations ' which take the sword ' to ' make reprisals,' ' will
have none of the inhabitants ' injured by the sword. But
where is the need of colonies? If the ' Foulabs ' will only
steal as many men, women, and children, from the ' Ialoffs,' as
the latter from the former, ' nothing is plainer than tbat these
two tribes will have none of the inhabitants stolen.' Do the
various African tribes never make reprisals ? How happens it
then, that the slave trade, and the whole business of man-steal
ing has not been long since suppressed ?
' On one hundred leagues of the African coast,' says Mr. B.,
' it is already to a great degree suppressed ' by the operatidn of
the colonization societies and their colonies. To this the
Emancipator says, ' These statements are far, very far from true,
and we can account for them only on the ground of" unpardon
able ignorance, or a purpose to mislead." Again and again
have we been assured, and on colonial colonization authority too,
that the trade still goes on in the vicinity ofthe colony as brisk
ly as ever, nay, that it is even prosecuted within the limits of
the colony, and in sight of Monrovia itself. Indeed, at this
very moment the colony, instead of being able to suppress or
destroy the trade, is in danger of being itself destroyed by it,
and is sending out its appeal to this country for help, praying
that some " American vessels " may be sent upon the coast to

175
seize the traders, and to protect the colony. Let our friends in
this country and in England 'peruse the following extracts from
the Liberia Herald just received in this country, and then say
what shall be thought of the man or the men who, in the face of
such and similar testimony repeatedly received, can unblushingly
pretend " that on one hundred leagues of the African coast, the
trade is already to a great degree suppressed ? "
Extracts frdm late Liberia papers, received at the office ofthe
N. Y. Commercial Advertiser : —
" Slave Trade. — This nefarious traffic is again lifting its hor
rid head in our vicinity, and increasing in a fearful ratio. With
in one hundred miles of the settlement,' there are at this very
time, at least four factories for the purchase of slaves, and one
of them not more than eighteen miles off I The consequences
are most severely felt by the colony. It is now impossible to
purchase rice, at any rate that would not starve the most fortu
nate man. In our immediate vicinity, it is reported, slavers
have lately given the natives a musket for four cross ! the retail
price of which, in the colony, is six .dollars ! To the Spaniards,
in view of a succesful voyage, the profits of which are so enor
mous, goods are of no value ; but it is far otherwise with us.
The natives, like other men, disposed to get the most for their
articles, will of course sell to those who will give the highest.
This being the case, we ask, how are the people of this colony
to live ? We have sometimes thought if the people of the
United States once knew the inconvenience to which the slave
trade subjects us, and what an effectual check it is upon the
advancement and prosperity of the colony, and how little of
those surplus and useless millions, whose proper place of depos-
ite has created so much contention, that without an exception,
saints and sinners, politicians, philosophers, colonizationists, and
abolitionists, anti-colonizationists, anti-abolitionists, and anti-all,
would rise up, and with one general voice decree, that a small
armed vessel shall ply between Sherbro Islands and Kroo coun
lry, and thus effectually protect a few poor OUTCASTS, while
millions of their brethren are faithfully slaving to enrich us at
home." And so, notwithstanding the Paradise to which they have
gone, and their " free consent " to go, they are " poor outcasts "
when they get there after all ; and the very trade which they
were sent to abolish, is in a fair way of abolishing them, unless
government vessels go put to their aid ! '
Of the remark said to have been made by him at the coloni
zation meeting, in 1834, that certain emigrants to Liberia ' were

176
coerced away, as truly as if it had been done with a cart-whip,'
Mr. B. says ' it was an unfair report" got up by Mr. Leavitt, the
editor of the N. Y. Evangelist, to serve a special purpose.'
The Emancipator answers the assertion thus, ' This passage has
been quoted and requoted in this country, in times and ways well
nigh innumerable, but, to the best of our knowledge, it was
never before pronounced an unfair report, either by Mr. B. or
any other individual. And now, while we leave Mr. Leavitt to
answer for himself on the question of its fairness, we take the
liberty to say, that if unfair, it will not relieve Mr. B. of difficul
ty. For if the report be fair, and Mr. B. did say the things
attributed to him, why then, as every body knows, he said what
was true. If, however, it be unfair, and he did not say those
things, then as every body knows, he did not say what was true,
and what, if he had spoken the truth, he would have said. For
that they were " coerced away as truly as if it had been done
with a cart-whip," every body knows to be fact.'
Mr. Leavitt' s Note to the Editor of the Emancipator,
' In reply to Mr. Breckinridge's allegation, that I " got up" a
report of his speech, " to serve a special purpose," I will only
say, that Mr. Breckinridge did prudently to go across the Atlan
tic before he made that charge. My character as a fair re
porter, will not be affected here by such insinuations. I have
no doubt that the report in question gives the ideas Mr. B.
uttered, mostly in the very language he used. My recollection,
in this case, is very distinct, and the words taken down at the
time.
JOSHUA LEAVITT.
Mr. B. says, that ' in many instances the bad laws had be
come worse, and good laws had become bad, solely through the
imprudent conduct of Mr. Thompson's associates.' Some of
the most urighteous, barbarous, and abominable laws ever enact
ed in this land, whose rulers have so long occupied the ' throne of
iniquity,' and been so often and so deeply guilty of ' framing
mischief by a law,' are cited in Stroud's Sketch, a work publish
ed several years before ' Mr. Thompson and his associates ' had
commenced their ' imprudent ' measures. Those laws certainly
were not occasioned by their imprudence. It is nearly a hun
dred years at least, since these statutes of pandemonium began to
disgrace American legislation.

177
In the fourth evening's discussion, Mr. B. assorts, page 88,
that theN Y. Observer and Boston Recorder, ' print more mat
ter weekly than all the abolition* newspapers in America, put
together, do in half a year.' It is really matter of astonishment,
that he should venture the utterance of such a glaring falsehood.
He ought to have learned to keep at least within the bounds of
probability in his fictions. There were at the time when bis
assertion was made— to say nothing of the' monthlies— not
less than eight or nine weekly anti-slavery papers, some of
which circulated more widely than the Recorder, and not
much less widely than the Observer. If we do not mistake,
Mr. B. told a story at least forty or fifty times as large as the
truth, and we are by no means sure that the proportion is not
much larger.
Mr. Thompson, for the purpose of showing what the aboli
tionists are doing in one department of their work, 'produced
copies of the Slaves Friend, Anti-Slavery Record, Anti-Slave
ry Anecdotes, Human Rights, Emancipator, Liberator, New
York Evangelist, Zion's Herald, Zion's Watchman, Philadel
phia Independent Weekly Press, Herald of Freedom, Lynn
Record, New England Spectator, he, and an Anti-Slavery
Quarterly. Of these, Mr. B. said ' some of them were, he be
lieved, long ago dead; some could hardly be said ever to have
lived ; some were purely occasional ; the greater part as
limited in circulation, as they were contemptible in point of
merit. Not above two or three of the dozen or fifteen that had
been produced before them were, in fact, worthy to be called
respectable and avowed abolition newspapers.' Now for the
truth. Not one of them was ' long ago,' or is now ' dead.' Only
one of them is ' purely occasional ' — the Anti-Slavery Anec
dotes — but, with that exception, all are now alive, and nearly
every one has a circulation as extensive as that of the Record
er — some, as already stated, still more extensive. And beside
these which Mr. Thompson exhibited, there are several other
weekly and monthly anti-slavery publications, which are neither
dead, nor likely soon to be.. The Philanthropist, (its publica
tion suspended indeed, for a short time by the destruction of its
press, but soon to be resumed,) the Friend of Man, the Ameri
can Citizen,' the,. Vermont , Telegraph, the Middlebury Free
Press the Vermont State Journal, and a number more, weekly,
23

178
and some monthly periodicals are 'avowed abolition newspa
pers,' some of them devoted almost exclusively to this cause, and
all ' respectable ' both in character and extent of circulation.
Some of them are of the very highest order in point of ability
and merit, of the weekly periodicals of the country. Mr. T.,
therefore, instead of exaggerating in regard to the number of
the abolition papers, fell considerably short of the truth.
' Was he [the inhabitant of Louisiana] to be told then, that
he should turn off i_is slaves V &c, asks Mr. B., page 90, Cer
tainly not — at least, not by abolitionists. They propose that the
slaves should be permitted to remain on the plantations and
work as free laborers, where their services will be needed, and
will be mutually advantageous to themselves and their employers.
Mr. B. denies, page 90, that any person legally free, ' was
ever sold into everlasting slavery/ but his denial is only another
evidence of the facility with which he can ntter, not only gross
falsehoods, but falsehoods which contradict notorious facts, and
which of course cannot escape detection. Mr. T. has fully ex
posed this falsehood, by presenting documentary evidence ofthe
fact denied.
Of Mr. B's declarations, on page 91, to which we refer the
reader, the Emancipator says, ' All this, if not " gratuitous
folly," is at least, unfounded and reckless assertion, which we
have scarcely ever seen equalled.'
We ask our readers to turn back, and read again the para
graph on page 97, ending ' to COERCE such emigration, might
be a MOST SACRED DUTY.' This has frankness at least,
if it has no other good quality to recommend it. But it is the
frankness of the tyrant, who, confident of his power to effect
his purposes, fears not to avow them, however iniquitous or
abominable. And if there be frankness in letting out the de
sign, there is most unblushing impudence in calling its execution
' a sacred duty.' What utter heartlessness too, and what obli
quity of moral vision does it exhibit. And this man dares to
rank himself with the friends of the colored people ! Such a
friend as the Holy Inquisitors of Spain, to the heretical Protes
tants, whom they deem it their ' sacred duty to coerce ' with
rack and fire, to a renunciation of their heresies. Such a friend
as Louis XIV., to the Huguenots, — James I., to the Puritans,
and Charles II., to the Scottish Covenanters.

179
On page 98, Mr. B. introduces what he calls a speech of Mr.
T. at Andover, as reported by a student in the Theological
Seminary. Mr. T. has met this anonymous report with counter
testimony, not anonymous, but we will add that of the editor of
the Emancipator, who says, ' Mr. B. although so often pretend
ing that he had no documents, &c, here read the false and dis
torted account of Mr. Thompson's speech on this occasion,
published at the time in the Boston Courier, and signed C.
Having been there at the time, we here record our testimony to
the fact of its being false and distorted in its representations.'
Mr. B. on page 109, alludes to what Mr. Thompson has said
* about Dr. Sprague having part of his church curtained round
for persons of color,' and says he notices it ' only because it was
told as a specimen story.' In the same connection he evidently
endeavors to create the impression that the religious privileges
of the free colored people are equal to those of the whites. On
this, the Emancipator remarks, ' We can testify to the truth of
the story in regard to Dr. Sprague's church ; and although every
church does not separate the blacks from the whites with so
rauch care, or in precisely the same way, yet it is strictly true,
that almost, without exception, the separation is made and care-;
fully kept up, and this not only in the ordinary worship of the
Sabbath, but even when the ehurch gather about the table of
their crucified and common Lord, to partake of the emblems of
llis dying love.' And after admitting that colored men have, in
a few instances, been admitted to theological seminaries, and to
a seat in ecclesiastical bodies, the editor adds, and truly, as all
familiar with the facts can testify, ' Such instances, however,
are few and far between, and whenever they do occur, the in
dividuals concerned are, in many ways, made to feel their infe
riority and to know their place. The impression made by Mr.
B's representation would be, as a whole, incorrect.'
Mr. B. asserts, page 110, that the free blacks ' iu nearly every
part of America,' enjoy all civil rights ' to a degree utterly un
known to millions of British subjects,' in various parts of the
empire, and ' even in England itself.' 'It would be easy,' says
the Emancipator, ' to show that he is wrong in several particu
lars.' And then, as one, refers to the fact, that the colored man
is not secure in his rights or person, but may be dragged into
slavery, even from free states, without a jury trial. This one
fact is certainly sufficient to disprove Mr. B's assertion.

180
'But,' says Mr. B. ' If any rights have been denied them,'
as for instance, that of preaching the gospel, ' which Virginia
had lately done,' it was all owing to the fury of abolition. See
page 110. Yet Stroud cites a law of Virginia, dating back as far
as 1819, and being then but the re-enactment of a law before
in force, which rendered all assemblies of slaves and free ne
groes in a meeting house or other place by night, or at any
school for teaching reading and writing, by day or night, unlaw
ful assemblies, and subjects any person, slave or free black,
found in them, to the punishment of twenty lashes, by order
of a justice of the peace. Stroud, page 89.
Mr. B. in the true colonization spirit, takes occasion to slan
der the colored people, accusing them of 'insolence and im
prudence,' and of ' insulting females in the streets of our cities,'
and ' setting up claim of perfect domestic equality with their
masters,' fee. See page 114. We give the Emancipator's note
on this wicked accusation, which is as cruel as it is false. ' This
whole representation is false. Nothing can be more so. The
modest deportment and the spirif of forbearance manifested by
the colored people, from the outset, has been of the most marked
as well as praiseworthy character, and in instances not a few,
has secured to them the approbation of avowed enemies of the
anti-slavery cause.' We add our own testimony, so far as our
observation has extended, to the truth of this statement.
In the fifth evening's debate, Mr. B. complains, page 120, that
Mr. Thompson ' did not tell them that none of the ministers in
twelve whole states were or could easily be slaveholders, see
ing they were not inhabitants of a slave state.' And why should
he. Would not the mere knowledge of the fact, that ' they
were not inhabitants of slave states ' render it unnecessary that
his hearers should be particulary informed that they were not
slaveholders ? Does Mr. B. believe that the people of Glas
gow supposed Northern ministers to be generally slaveholders ?
We say generally, for we should not dare to assert that ' none '
of them < were,' whether they ' easily could be ' or not. If we
have not been misinformed, and we believe we have not, it has
been our fortune, good or ill, to hear a northern slaveholding
minister preach, a minister too, whose .pastoral charge was in
the very cradle of this/ree nation.

181
' The overwhelming mass of American ministers,' says -Mr,
B ., ' never owned a slave, and those who had, were exceptions
from the general rule.' Mr. T. has demolished this position
with a most tremendous broadside of evidence. We add the
following quotation, which we find in the Emancipator, from a
document published a few months ago, by the Synod of South
Carolina and Georgia. ' The number of our ministers is but little
more than half the number of our churches, and of those min
isters not one fifth sustain any pastoral relation.' The num
ber of ministers is about 100, ' and many of them are obliged
to devote a part or the whole of their time to teaching, farm-
ing, or some other secular employment, to procure a support for
their families.' Farming we all know, means in the slave states,
' slaveholding and slave-driving.'
Mr. B. seems very indignant at the declarations of his oppo
nent, and Moses Roper, (a colored man who had been present
at some of the meetings which Mr. T. addressed,) that slaves
in America were owned, not only by ministers and church
members, but even by churches themselves. He calls Roper's
statement, ' the poor negro's silly falsehood,' and says,, page 123,
' If there be above five congregations in all America, that own
slaves, I never heard of them.' He then mentions three of which
he has heard, all in the Southern part of Virginia. The Eman
cipator, in a note on this part of Mr. B's speech, remarks, ' True,
it is not the general practice for churches or ecclesiastical socie
ties at the South, to own slaves as church property, yet we sup
pose that the practice is by no means uncommon ; and the proof
is threefold : first, that a number of instances of the kind are
actually known ; second, that when such instances do occur,
they never produce any special sensation in the public mind —
are never spoken of as special and extraordinary cases, and
never subjects such church to reproof or the loss of ecclesias..-
cal fellowship with other churches; and third, that ministers
very generally at the South hold slaves, and that oftentimes
when they are unable to buy for themselves, some kind friend
makes them a present of one or two for house servants ; and if
to the ministry, why not, the church ? ' It then goes on to en
umerate two instances, beside those admitted by Mr. B., of
churches holding slaves, and one of a bequest of slaves to tbe
Missionary Society, [A. B. C. F. M.] and gives also an ad ver-

182
tisement of the sale of certain property ' belonging to the estate
of the late Rev. Dr. Truman,' including land, ' a library chiefly
theological' and ' twenty-seven negroes, two mules, one horse,
and an old wagon.' The note thus continues, ' And when these
notices appeared in the Southern prints, no body was struck with
amazement ; no protestation was given to the public that they
were extraordinary cases ; no christian minister or christian
newspaper, as we are aware, ever lifted their voice against them
as rare cases, or bore their testimony against them as being as
monstrous as they were rare. What then is the inference ?
Why, that such things, if not general, are yet never regarded
as singular or uncommon. Now add to these, and others that
might be named, the cases admitted by Mr. B., and to this, add
the fact that Mr. Paxton at least felt that his church in Virginia
could emancipate the fifty slaves they owned, but would not,
and then say whose statements have most of the " silly false
hoods " about them, those of Mr. B,, or the despised but honest-
hearted negro ? '
Mr. B. seems to regard it as a mighty grievance, that when
there are so few slaveholding ministers, church members, and
churches in America, his opponent should charge the guilt of
slavery upon the whole American church. But why is not the
whole church guilty, if any of its members persist in committing
the sin, and yet are regarded as worthy members, in regular
standing ? — if any of it's ministers with hands polluted by the
abominable thing, are still allowed, without any ecclesiastical
censure, not only to dispense the bread of life from the store
house of God's word, but to distribute the emblems of Christ's
body and blood, to those who come around the table to com
memorate a Saviour's dying love ? — if any of its branches,
claiming to hold God's image as property, and treating as ' chat
tels personal,' their Saviour, in the person of ' one of the least
of these ' his ' brethren,' are fellow-shipped as sister churches,
and unreproved for their iniquity ? ' Who dare pretend,' asks
the Emancipator, ' That the American church does not uphold
and countenance christian slaveholders in their conduct ? True,
there are individuals, and individual churches not a few, who
do not, but who bear a faithful testimony against them. But
how- is it with the governing influences of the church ? Their
character and their acts, and not those of a minority, however

183
large or respectable are the character and the acts of the
church. What then is the position of the governing influences
of the American church in regard to American slavery ? It is
that of protection and countenance. The proceedings of the
last General Convention of the Baptists, and the last General
Conference of the Methodists, and the last General Assembly
ofthe Presbyterians are our confirmation — and they are "confir
mation strong as holy writ." At this very moment, these three
bodies stand before the world as the three great Patrons and
Protectors of American slavery. Deny it as they will, the gains
of the oppressor, the hire kept back by fraud is in their coffers,
the blood ofthe oppressed stains their garments, and they refuse
to confess or forsake their sin.'
Mr. B. would doubtless have thought it very uncharitable to
cause alarge army of Israelites to turn their backs before their
enemies, and suffer a shameful and disastrous defeat, just be
cause there was one Achan in the camp.
We cannot but think that the reverend disputant rather unfor
tunate in his reference to the book of Drs. Cox and Hoby, (see
page 128,) for information about the connection of the Baptists
with slavery. In looking there for light on that particular point,
the reader might chance to stumble on some things about the
wicked prejudice against the black man, as well as some senti
ments in regard to the treatment of slaves and free blacks gen
erally, that would ill accord with the expressed notions of the
Presbyterian delegate.
On page 133, Mr. B. introduces a letter, published in the N.
Y. Observer, and signed Truth, which represents the negroes of
South Carolina as ' generally well fed, well clothed,' and enjoy
ing ' the means of religious instruction,' and declares that ' great
and increasing efforts are made to instruct them in religion, and
elevate their characters.' We request our readers to turn back
and read the whole letter, and then to compare it with the fol
lowing extracts from a report on the subject of the religious in
struction of the colored people, published in 1834, by the Syncn?
of South Carolina and Georgia. ' We believe that their (tie
colored population's) moral and religious condition is sucb; as
that they may justly be considered the heathen of this christian
country, and will bear comparison with heathen in anyyrountry
in the world.' ,

184
'The negroes are destitute ofthe privileges ofthe gospel, and
ever will be, under the present state of things. There were
some exceptions to this, the Synod say, and they " rejoice " in
it ; but although our assertion is broad, we believe that, in gen
eral, it will be found to be correct.'
' They can have no access to the the scriptures. They are de
pendent for their knowledge of Christianity, upon oral instruc
tion. Have they then that amount of oral instruction, which,
in their circumstances, is necessary to their enjoyment of the
gospel ? They have not. From an entire state beyond the
Potomac to the Sabine, and from the Atlantic to the Ohio, there
are, to the best of our knowledge, not twelve men exclusively
devoted to the religious instruction of the negroes.'
The report then goes on to say that ' the negroes do not have
access to the gospel through the stated ministry of the whites,'
that ' a very small proportion of the ministers in the slave-
holding states, pay any attention to them,' that ' they have no
churches, neither is there sufficient room for their accommoda
tion in white churches,' and that, in some cases, for want of a
place within, 'the negroes who attend, must catch the gospel as
it escapes by the doors and windows.' ' We venture to say,'
the report continues, ' that not a twentieth part of the negroes
attend divine worship on the Sabbath. Thousands and thou
sands hear not the sound of the gospel, or ever enter a church
from one year to another.'
The report says too, that they ' do not enjoy the privileges
of the gospel in private, at their houses, or on their planta
tions. If the master is pious, tbe house servants alone, and
frequently few or none of these attend family worship. In
general it does not enter into the arrangement of the planta
tions, to make provision for their religious instruction. We
feel warranted, therefore, in the conclusion, that the negroes
are destitute of the privileges of the gospel, and must continue
to be so, if nothing more is done for them.1
' We are astonished,' say the Synod, 'thus to find Chris
tianity in absolute conjunction with Heathenism, and yet con
ferring few or no benefits.'
Our readers, after comparing the above with the letter read
by Mr. B., can decide how much right the author of that let
ter had to sign it ' Truth.'

1S5
Mr. B., page 155, endeavors to escape the force of the im
mense weight of evidence with which his antagonist presses
him to the earth, by sneering at the witnesses as 'obscure,' and
for aught that could be known,*' fictitious persons,' although
the names are generally given, and yet he quotes evidence to
sustain himself, which is absolutely anonymous. See page 132.
The Emancipator pertinently asks, ' Can Mr. B. tell us who
"Truth " and " A New England man " are ? Or are the per
sons as " fictitious " as their stories ? '
Upon Mr. B.'s assertion that Mr. Thompson's testimonies
were of this worthless character, the Emancipator has the fol
lowing note. * We beg our readers to stop here, and go back
and count the, documents^ and they will find that the very re
verse of what Mr. B. has stated is the fact; and that while
Mr. B.'s main proofs are, first, his own assertions, and, second,
the assertion of individuals, or of anonymous writers in parti-:
san newspapers, Mr. Thompson's main proofs are the formal
resolutions and declarations of ecclesiastical bodies, and of
those who represent the governing influence in church and state,
and that the testimony of individuals, so far as it is used, is
brought in only as confirmatory ofthe other."
On page 158, Mr. B. attacks Mr. J. A. Thome of Kentucky,
with characteristic virulence, because, in a speech at an Anti,-
Slavery meeting, that young man had boldly exposed the abom
inations of slavery in his native state. For this act his slan
derer calls him ' the ingrate who commenced his career of man
hood, by smiting his parent in the face.' But he cautiously
avoids attempting — what he was doubtless sensible would be a
somewhat difficult task — to disprove the statements of Mr.
Thome. It is a little remarkable tbat the facts stated by Thome,
and denied by Mr. B. and his brother at the time, were con
firmed abundantly by an article published in the Western Lu
minary, a Kentucky paper, on the very day on which Mr.
Thome made his statement in New York. Thus without, any
concert or arrangement, two witnesses at a long distance from
each other, testified to the same facts, and unfortunately for the
credibility of Mr. Breckinridge, those were the facts which he
was almost at the same time stoutly denying. Other witnesses
of unimpeachable veracity, have since attested the same facts, *
24

186
and now Mr. B.'s impotent efforts to discredit Mr. Thome,
only serve to show his own vexation, malignity and falsehood.
We do not pretend to have noticed all the" slips of Mr. B..'s
• unruly member ' in this discussion, or to have pointed out
every instance in which he has labored with all that ability and
ingenuity which we readily admit he possesses, to create false
impressions on the minds of his audience ; but enough have
been pointed out to show in some measure, the degree of con
fidence which ought to be reposed in his veracity as a witness
and his candor and fairness as a reasoner.
A few trifling errors into which Mr. Thompson has fallen,
we feel bound to correct ; in proceeding to which, however,
we cannot but remark that considering the shortness of the time
which Mr. T. spent among us, the amount of labor which he
performed in lecturing, addressing conventions, debating, &c.
&c. and the large portion of his time necessarily consumed in
social intercourse with his extensive circle of acquaintance-
nay, the very considerable share of it which was required for
the mere answering of applications to lecture, which came from
every quarter ; we are actually astonished at the extent and
minuteness of his information, the mass of facts and documents
which he has contrived to collect, and what is more, at the
general — the almost , uniform accuracy of his knowledge of
American affairs. The reader has seen how completely fur
nished he was, how armed at all points, and ever ready to Iay
his hand on the very weapon which was needed at any stage of
the conflict, whether to parry the blow aimed at himself, or to
send home to his antagonist's bosom, a vigorous thrust which
neither the dexterity of sophistry could elude, nor the buckler
of brazen falsehood ward off. Indeed the mass of his docu- '
ments, and the readiness and aptness to the purpose with which
he used them, seems to have been one of the chief causes of
the bitter vexation which his opponent continually betrays.
That he should have fallen into a few mistakes is nothing sur
prising — that he should have fallen into so few, is indeed won
derful, and proves the industry and diligence with which he
labored at times. when from the fatiguing nature, and great
amount of his public efforts, one would have supposed he must
have been obliged to indulge in perfect repose. But to the
errors.

187
He stated the first evening, page 12, that there were now,
exclusive of the publications of the Anti-Slavery Society, one
hundred newspapers boldly advocating the principles of aboli
tion. ' There are,' says the Emancipator, ' about that num
ber friendly to our cause, and that occasionally speak in our
behalf, but not that boldly advocate our principles,' or, as per
haps would be the' more accurate mode of expression, that do
not boldly advocate our principles, in their application to the
subject to which we apply them.
On the seeond evening, Mr". Thompson in speaking of the
New York State Anti-Slavery Convention, page 30, said there
were 600 delegates at Utica the first day, and that when driven
away by a mob, these went to Peterboro', and were there join
ed by 400 more, making 1000 in all. In reality," it was esti
mated that nearly or quite 1000 went to Utica, and of these
only about 400 went to Peterboro'. The error is indeed im
material. In the fourth evening's debate, Mr. T. alluding to Kaufman's
slanderous story about him, calls Kaufman ' the son of a slave
holder, and heir to slave property.' Such was supposed to be
the case, and we were not aware that this supposition was er
roneous, till we met, in the Emancipator's note to this remark
of Mr. T., an intimation that this report had been contradict
ed. ' Mr. K. is from Virginia, 'says the note, ' but we believe
not a slaveholder or heir to slave property.'
These are all the errors we have observed in the statements
of Mr. Thompson, and these are of so little moment that we
should not have considered them worthy of notice in his oppo
nent. It is perhaps unnecessary in concluding, formally to acknowl
edge, what the reader cannot fail to have perceived, our large
indebtedness to the editor of the Emancipator for aid in the
preparation of this appendix. The truth is, our hands are at
this time so plentifully filled with business, that we have had
but little time, to spare for this work, and were glad to avail
ourselves of the labors of one who had, to such good purpose,
just gone over the ground before us.
C. C. BURLEIGH.
Boston, Sept. 22, 1836.

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