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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 Glasgow, 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! how 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 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 inheritance. 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 contrary, an earnest desire to promote his safety, his honor, and his happiness. 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 uncompromising discharge of duty, 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 after much investigation, and many conflicts, I have reached the conclusion, 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 your 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 overthrow 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 measures, but the simplest means of making known our principles? Having 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. Believing 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 warning men against the danger of delay; and exhorting them to repentance? The abolitionists have done no more. To have done less, would have been to prove themselves unfaithful to the high and heaven-born 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 pardoned 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 gentleness 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 in conduct, to exercise some small portion of the same candor and kindness, and consideration towards the former. Let not that man be most hateful in their eyes, who of all others is most earnestly engaged for the deliverance of the slave.

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 delivered and recorded for perusal when I am gone to give account of my sayings upon earth, I can with every feeling of sincerity aver, that 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 upon 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 devoted 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 cannot dissolve; of one, who, though still young, has for ten years toiled with unremitting ardor, and unimpeached disinterestedness in the cause of the bleeding slave; of one, who, though accused of scattering around him fire-brands, arrows and death; though branded as a madman, an incendiary, and a fanatic; though denounced by the State, 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 marble, no funeral oration, no proud escutcheon, no partial page of history 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 engaged. May the God of the oppressed bless him, and keep him humble, and cheer him onwards in his rugged path! May his lion heart 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 wish of his heart may be fulfilled; and that the time may soon come, when, looking abroad over his beloved country with the soul of a Patriot, and the eye of a Philanthropist and a Christian, he shall not be able to discover in State, 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 the 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. I 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 there I trust that we, who have been antagonists on earth, will together meet and celebrate the glories of a common redemption from the sorrows and the sins of earth. (Mr. Thompson resumed his seat amidst loud and long continued cheers.)

Mr. THOMPSON moved that the cordial thanks of the meeting be given to the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, for his able, dignified, and impartial conduct in the chair, and also to Dr. Kidston, who presided on Thursday evening, which was carried with acclamation.

APPENDIX

In reading the foregoing discussion, we have been utterly astonished at the grossness and magnitude of the falsehoods – not to mention the numerous miscolorings and misrepresentations – which the reverend apologist for slavery has, with brazen 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 misstatements and inaccuracies with such lavish liberality, that his opponent would be absolutely unable, in the time allotted to him, to correct them all, and thus contrive to make some of his falsehoods, 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 the supposed ignorance of the British people. Some of his falsehoods, mistakes, and misrepresentations, 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 notice 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 editor of the emancipator. 'The only knowledge I have on this subject,' says Dr. C., 'is what 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, 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, probably felt that that individual was himself a host, – when or where has the alleged admission been made? Never. Nowhere. The assertion is untrue.

During the same evening, page 7, Mr. B. tells his audience that 'of the twelve [free] states, at least four, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Maine never had a slave.' What says the United States' census? In 1830, there were 2 slaves in Maine, 6 in Ohio, 3 in Indiana, and 747¹ in Illinois. In 1820, 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 like Armfield and Woolfolk, gentlemen 'of engaging and graceful manners,' reported to be 'mild, indulgent, upright, and scrupulously honest,' but the foreign trade is piracy by the law of the land. Very meritorious truly! and worthy of abundant eulogy! to prohibit piracy on the high seas, or the African coast, while selling permission to do along her own coast, and on her own territories, the same acts which, when done abroad, constitute piracy. But to what does her abolition of even the foreign slave trade amount? Do her cruizers ever capture a slave ship? Seldom, if ever. Does she consent to such arrangements, in her treaties with other nations which are in earnest in their endeavors to suppress the slave trade, as will prevent her flag from being made a protection to the detestable traffic? No. The N. Y. Journal of Commerce, in a recent article very truly asserts, 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 deliverer. We are a drawback – a dead weight on the cause of bleeding humanity.' And a late number of the Edinburgh Review, 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 others, she permits her flag to be used as a hindrance.

The next assertion of Mr. B's that we notice, is the astounding 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 reputation – 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 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 this assertion, the answer of the editor of the Emancipator. '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 public convention and the public lecture, and we most solemnly declare, that we never heard George Thompson, on any occasion, 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 objections 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 because 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 conviction, page 15. Perhaps it is correct, but if so, there are a great many insane men in the free states, or a great many who 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.

On page 20, Mr. B. accuses Garrison of having written placards to stir up a mob against him, when he lectured in Boston, in behalf 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 of the accusation, but none was produced except the word of the accuser – evidence on which, any reader who compares his assertions in several other instances, with 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 the two 'African princes,' who had been sent to the Maryland Colonization Society to be educated, and that Elizur Wright was the instigator of the measure, on pretence that the boys had been kidnapped. See page 20. The truth of this matter as given in the Emancipator, on Mr. Wright's authority, 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 passenger, and consigned to some one in Baltimore. To make sure of the means of prosecuting a legal inquiry, a writ was obtained, 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 fugitive 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 abolition of the slave trade for twenty years, 'was one of the brightest virtues in the escutcheon of America,' A dark escutcheon, then, must be hers, if the protection of the slave trade for twenty years is the 'brightest' spot on it. The 'importation of such persons,' &c. (meaning slaves,) 'shall not be prohibited 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 heaven.' Page 34. Of this assertion of Mr. B., we have only to 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 demonstration absolute of the most "unpardonable ignorance, or a purpose to mislead." Witness the fact, that the man who teaches 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 Synod 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 stealing 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 lawful 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 testify 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 upon 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 ways, 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 runaway 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 the carelessness and perfect impunity with which, as a matter of fact, black men are and may be shot when attempting an escape from their thraldom. And, once more, witness the fact, 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 such 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,' (see page 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 'inevitably 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 declares 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 witness. 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 representations to this effect, sent to the officer of the United States' army, commanding the expedition, the massacre was suspended.' —Child's Oration.

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 principles, 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, from 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 Colonization Society, 'on the ground that its operations were injurious to the colored race in America.' To this the Emancipator says, 'This is partly true and partly not. The Society was decidedly opposed, at the outset, both by the colored people and by those who, up to that time, had been most active in promoting the cause of emancipation. As early as August, 1817, the subject came before the "American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery," &c., at its session in Philadelphia. This body, representing for the most part Friends, and made up of delegates from abolition and manumission societies in different 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 colonization shall be permitted to go into effect without an immutable pledge from the slaveholding states of a just and wise system 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 compromise with the prejudices of slavery, or with the slavery of prejudice. The same arguments that are now urged against emancipation, unless the subjects of it be removed from our territory, were used with more plausibility when abolition was an experiment, yet they were combatted with success."