The Liberator

SCOTLAND.

[From the Glasgow Journal of January 27.]

SOIREE IN THE MONTEITH ROOMS,

IN HONOR OF

MR. GEORGE THOMPSON.

Monday, a Soiree was held in the Monteith Rooms, Buchanan street, in honor of Mr. George Thompson, the enlightened and uncompromising advocate of Negro Emancipation. At seven o'clock, the large and splendid hall was crowded with a brilliant assembly, awaiting in anxious expectation the illustrious individual whom they were met to honor. Shortly after the hour, he entered the room, accompanied by several members of the Glasgow Emancipation committee and their friends, among whom were the Rev. Dr. Kidston, Rev. Messrs. Anderson, King, and P. Brewster, of Paisley; Messrs. James Johnston, R. Kettle, &c. &c. The reception of Mr. George Thompson was beyond description, and forcibly exhibited how highly the assembly appreciated the valuable services he had rendered to the glorious cause of emancipation. The applause having subsided, it was moved that on account of the absence of Dr. Wardlaw, W. P. Paton, Esq. should take the chair, and the motion having been carried by acclamation.

The Chairman said he was exceedingly sorry that Dr. Wardlaw had been prevented by domestic affliction from presiding among them, as had been intimated. He regretted the absence of an active and zealous friend of the cause, which they were met to honor, in the person of one of its most distinguished advocates, because he would have filled so much better the honorable office to which they had appointed him. For himself, if he might lay claim in any degree to the honor, it was from his having long been the advocate of freedom—universal freedom. (Cheers.) And if anything could encourage him to undertake the duties of the office it would be to see, on looking round him, so many countenances in which he could read that their sympathies were united in the same holy cause.

The Rev. WM. Anderson, in rising to move the first resolution, was received with loud cheering. He spoke nearly as follows. When our excellent guest first appeared among us, it was with a warm heart; he came to hearts as warm—warm with sympathy for the afflicted Negro, and warm with zeal for the breaking of his bonds. In these circumstances, one meeting was enough to unite us, one stroke was enough to weld the glowing materials into an indissoluble brotherhood. The sentiments of friendship we have conceived for him, are, no doubt, to be ascribed chiefly to that community of sympathy to which I have just adverted. But I feel I would be doing injustice to Mr. T., were I to ascribe it entirely to that cause. His personal, individual, qualifications have, undoubtedly, had great influence in the matter. I refer not to his intellectual qualifications. Such gifts, unless connected with moral qualities, make no conquest of the heart. What, then, is the case of our friend in this respect? He came among us with powers of discussion, powers of debate, powers of analyzing evidence, power of classifying evidence, powers of exposing it, powers of confirming it, powers of reasoning, powers of declamation, powers of humor to make us laugh, powers of pathos to make us weep, powers of fire to stir us up to vengeance, powers as varied as those of the lyre of Timotheus, and of greater strength—(enthusiastic cheers.) Such powers, that we all at once gave way, and put him in the first place, that of the elder brother of our Emancipation family—the Captain of our great moral enterprise. (Renewed cheering.) And how did he bear himself under these honors? Did his morality break down? Did any of us ever see any symptom of self-conceit in him, or of nurtured vanity? Did any of us ever feel he had cause for complaining of his presuming over him? Never. We have indeed seen his eye, that which his Maker gave him to be used for holy purposes, gathering fire and sparkling with the consciousness of the power of the thunderbolt which he was forging within his bosom for the destruction of his adversary; but when he had launched it and scathed him, and prostrated him, could we gather from any expression either of word or look, that he took personal consequence to himself for what he had done? (Cheers.) No, all the expression was, the Slave has done this for you, Sir; but for him I would not injure a feeling of your heart. It is this destitution of personal vanity, I am convinced, in very trying circumstances, which has won for our friend the peculiarly tender endearment with which we all regard him. The time came, when the battle having been fought for the Negroes of our own Colonies, that spirit which first carried us into the field, and which acquired strength during the conflict, sought for other adventures of benevolence. It is a spirit which will not be at rest, so long as there is a slave on the earth. (Cheers.) Our attention was turned to America, and dearly as we loved Mr. Thompson, and perilous although the adventure was, we grudged him not to the oppressed of that land. It appeared perilous from the beginning. In these perilous circumstances we sent forth our friend; and now that he is with us again in health and life, let us bless God for his preservation. What has he accomplished? We expect much. We had had experience of his talents, his zeal, his fortitude, and of his prudence too. For, notwithstanding the ardor of his mind, and the provoking circumstances in which he managed our own cause, who ever heard an ungentlemanly expression drop from his lips? High as our confidence was in him, he has labored to an extent far beyond our calculation; and far beyond our calculation has been his success. He has kindled a flame in America, it is said, which will not be extinguished. This is not the correct representation. He has gone with the torch of liberty throughout its forests, kindling it at a thousand points, and soon it will be a universal conflagration. According, then, to the motion which I am about to make, let us unite in blessing God for our friend's achievements, and that, through perils he is among us to be employed as God, and we under God, may afterwards see fit to determine. (General cheering, which lasted for some time.)

The motion was seconded by Mr. Patrick Lethem, and agreed to by enthusiastic acclamation.

Mr. THOMPSON, on rising, was greeted with the most enthusiastic applause, which was renewed again and again. On its subsiding, he observed that he well recollected the feelings which, on a similar occasion to the present, about two years ago, had embarrassed and well nigh overpowered him, nor were his emotions on the present occasion less calculated to embarrass and paralyse.

You have been listening with delight, continued Mr. T., to the extraordinary eloquence of my friend—if there be anything by which I am more affected than another—if there be any sounds that fall on mortal ears, which thrill my mind more than others, they are the sounds of eloquence, and such eloquence as that to which we have now been listening. But in proportion to the delight with which, under other circumstances, I should have listened to my friend, has been my distress on this occasion. His eloquence has been devoted to the multiplication and to the magnifying of my merits and my abilities. His splendid tribute I know not how to acknowledge, because, in sincerity, I renounce all claim to the panegyric; but while I renounce all claim to the praise our friend has bestowed on me, let it not be supposed that I am insensible to the kindness and to the confidence in me that has prompted it. There is only one thing which, next to the approbation of my conscience, and the approbation of my God, I prize above your approbation, and that is what I believe I have obtained—the blessing of the perishing. (Applause.) O, Sirs, if there is one thing which has rewarded me more than another, more even than your smiles and your repeated assurances of support, sent to me across the Atlantic, by those who have so steadfastly, so zealously, so undeviatingly managed the affairs of this Society, it has been when traversing the streets of Boston, and New-York, and Philadelphia, to meet the black man with the tear of gratitude standing in his eye—to see and to feel that I had his blessing out of a full heart. I do not say more than what I feel when I say I would rather have the blessing of the outcast, the perishing, the persecuted negro of America, than to walk o'er rose-strewed paths, under triumphal arches, with the oppressor of the black man, crying Hosanna, Hosanna, in the highest. (Great applause.) That reward was what I sought, and I hope I did not do it even for that. I trust that in all my labors in America I have gone upon the principle upon which all here act when they do act, viz: because they are obliged to do it—obliged by their consciences, by a constraint which is far higher and stronger, even by that great principle to which the apostle refers when he says, 'The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge.' &c. (Applause.) Our friend has well said that the Mission was a perilous one. It was a perilous one, and you, at this moment, I believe, have no just conception of the perils to which all the friends of Abolition are called to pass through. They have not alone to sacrifice reputation, and honor, and fame, for they who have been at the very pinnacle of popularity suddenly fall into the depth of infamy; but they have to face positive dangers, and the malice and false accusations of all the prejudiced and interested. I was particularly marked out for their attacks because I was a foreigner, because I had come from a distant shore. In vain did I appeal to their splendid Missionary enterprises so deeply fixed on the affections of the American citizens. In vain did I point them to those who were endeavoring to stop the rolling car, and quench the funeral pile, and make the resplendent glories of the cross eclipse the crescent of Mahomet. (Rapturous applause.) They contended that I was a foreigner, attacking their political institutions, and they sought to banish me as a traitor and an incendiary. Yet, remembering what I had promised to you, and to my God, and to his suffering children, I went forward. (Cheers.) Our friend has said, it has been a successful mission. Thank God it has been so. This night I call upon you devoutly to render thanks to him who has honored our efforts with so much success, and who has blessed the humble endeavors of the humble individual whom you now honor. I keep within the bounds when I say that my mission has far transcended my most sanguine expectations.

When I last parted from you I expected to be absent for a period of three years, but during the one year I have spent in America, much more has been effected than I believed would have been done at the end of three years—(loud cheers.) The whole country is aroused—every newspaper is discussing the subject—many of them ably and fearlessly taking the right side of the question. I may mention one, the New-York Evening Post, one of the ablest supporters of the existing administration. The whole population is roused; every class, every condition, upon that wide spread territory are discussing the question—(cheers.) I did not think to see at the end of one year upwards of three hundred Anti-Slavery Societies, all energetic, composed of men and women devoted beyond the powers of any language I can employ to describe. I did not expect so soon to see the servants of God of all denominations rising and putting on the harness in this sacred cause; I did not expect, Sir, to see christian America, at the end of one year, already in the attitude of Sampson feeling for the pillars of the temple, that, lifting it from its foundation, it might tumble for ever to the earth. (Vehement cheering.) And yet that is the attitude of America at this moment, nor will it be long ere this Sampson grasps the columns of this blood-stained fabric. (Continued cheering.) The other evening when I was speaking of what the Methodists, and Presbyterians, and Baptists, and Congregationalists were doing, and what the Unitarians were going to do, I did not recollect to say that those ministers of different denominations who have been brought over, were once prejudiced as strongly as were those whose documents I read to you, and the reading of which caused, I doubt not, your very flesh to creep. To corroborate this sentiment, Mr. Thompson read one or two extracts from a letter which he had received from a respected minister in Boston, in which he solemnly renounced his former prejudices against the colored population, and pledged himself henceforth to engage heart and hand in the great question of immediate emancipation. Mr. T. then concluded his eloquent speech, which was listened to throughout with the most intense interest, with the following well merited tribute of respect to Dr. Wardlaw and other zealous laborers in the same noble cause. I must, however, before I sit down be allowed to express my unfeigned regret that a domestic calamity should prevent us from having amongst us to-night our beloved friend Dr. Wardlaw, who has stood by this cause through evil and through good report, and who, though calumniated, defamed, traduced, has meekly, yet boldly, unostentatiously, yet unflinchingly, advocated this cause. Oh, Sir, let us prize such men, let us love them, let us remember that the great and the good are on our side, that the greatest and the best are with us, that the Wardlaws and the Heughs, and the Andersons, and the Brewsters, and the Kidstons, and the Kings, are on our side. You will remember, when I referred at that tremendous meeting in another place, to the striking contrast between the supporters of him who has been endeavoring to accomplish your wishes in a distant land, and the supporters of another gentleman who has now the cabalistic initials of M. P., appended to his name. (Great laughter.) Then, I could stand forth and say, 'I am supported by those whom God supports,' and I am still so supported. I do not think I have lost a friend in Glasgow. I can only say I have done nothing to deserve to lose one; and if I have offended by being too faithful, I would still be faithful, and if I saw my friends on earth dropping off like leaves in autumn, and I had no one to support me, I would still stand upon the rock of truth and confide in the God of truth. I know, however, you are still with me, you still richly reward me, and I believe you will continue to labor along with me till not only the Antilles shall be free, but until the Southern States of America shall be free, and all the other Slave-cursed districts of the world shall be free, until there shall not be on the circumference of the globe, one man yielding to the ruthless hand of a despot, an unwilling and sorrowful labor. (Loud and long continued cheering.)

Mr. Jas. Johnston rose for the purpose of reading a letter addressed to the Ladies of Great Britain, by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Associations of New-England, signed by the accomplished, pious, and heroic President and Secretary, who so admirably conducted their meeting, when surrounded by the gentlemen savages of Boston.

The letter was addressed to the Ladies, but he did not think that it would be necessary for the gentlemen present to shut their ears while he read it. It contained nothing which would be likely to make them esteem the fair sex less.

To the Women of Great Britain.

Dear Friends,

We write to you from the heat of a commotion, unparalleled in our remembrance, and the scene we witness, and wish we could find adequate words to describe, is one of awful sublimity.

But how can we embody so vast a subject in so slight a sketch as time permits? How can we in a few words picture to your minds the awakening of a nation from a dream of Peace, and Freedom, and Glory, to a reality of Strife, and Slavery, and Dishonor?

Here are the noble few, half-spent, yet strong in heart, struggling to stay the headlong descent of the many. Here are the frantic many rushing down to the abyss, with eyes yet closed, and brains yet under the influence of their feverish dream. Here are the miscalled wise and prudent, the mistaken, benevolent and compassionate, the imbecile and office-seeking Statesman, the time-serving and timid Clergy—the Wealthy, the Fashionable, the Literary, the blind-leaders of the blind, the self-styled religious, all joining to heap opprobrium and persecution upon those who would fain save them from the swift-walking destruction that threatens our noon-day.

Foremost among this band of steadfast hearted stands George Thompson. We fervently thank God who put it into the mind of Great Britain to send him to our aid. His piety and eloquence, his incorruptible integrity, his devoted self-sacrifice, his unrivalled talents, have given a wonderful impulse to the cause. In proportion to his usefulness has the cry been raised that he should depart out of our coasts. Now that his life is in danger from the assassin every moment that he remains in this country, we, too, think it is time that he should depart. What a revelation has the past year flashed upon our minds.

Slavery has infected the life-blood and inflamed the heart of the nation. It is a literal fact that never among the bloodiest race of the most persecuting age, was concealment more necessary to preserve the life of a defender of unpopular truth. Such a one has not merely assassination to apprehend—he holds his life and property at the mercy of a mob of those who call themselves the 'wealth and standing, the influence and respectability of the country,' who are striving to establish an aristocratic order of things, without those adjuncts and circumstances which in Europe seem to justify such an order. Scenes of outrage have become so common as to follow regularly upon the expression of our opinions. The spirit of northern Liberty is commanded to yield to the spirit of southern Slavery, and we are made to feel in our own persons that the violation of the rights of the black man has made the rights of the white man insecure.

So simple a matter as the annual meeting of our society, caused the representatives of the slave interest in this city to rush to the spot in numbers, not less than 4 or 5,000, for the avowed purpose of putting a stop to the meeting, by taking the life of Mr. Thompson, who they conjectured was to address us. Not finding him, they seized Mr. Garrison, and his life was hardly saved by the most desperate exertions.

Mr. Thompson has been for weeks a prisoner to his room. The abolitionists dare not allow him to risk his life further. Notwithstanding their wrongs, they are true patriots, and independently of their fervent friendship to the man, and the deep sense of the value of his life to the cause, they shudder at the probability, that his blood may be upon the head of this people, if he remains longer. Even his wife and little ones are unsafe. These are horrible truths. We can find no words to express our sense of grief and indignation; therefore, we make no comments. We are obliged to bear the sense of them constantly in our minds, and this is a severity of infliction which compels us to confess them. We do so with the hope that we may have your sympathy and your prayers, and in the confidence that every contemplation of the present crisis, will strengthen us to renewed exertions. One of your authors justly observes, 'the time of preparation for a better order of things, is not a time of favorable appearances. We see on reflection, that the state of a nation has changed for the better, when it has passed from deathly lethargy, though to convulsive life.'

These considerations are for the present grievous, yet shall they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. It is not until the Angel troubleth the pool that it has virtue to heal the impotent who lie about it. Not until men's minds are hot in the furnace, that they yield to the weight of evidence and argument; and we must not wonder that the blows of these appointed instruments bringing out sparkles of fiery indignation.

While the strong are thus engaged in endeavoring to soften and influence, we who are weak, are yet strong in purpose, to continue to use all righteous, christian, and suitable means, to effect the same great objects. Amid our many afflictions, we are sorrowing most of all, that we must see his face no more, whom you have sent to give us aid, strength, counsel, and courage. He has done all this most effectually, and is hunted for his life as his reward. But a different reward awaits him—the blessings and the thanks of every friend of human freedom, that now breathes, or ever shall breathe, on this Globe—the joy of the host of heaven over the multitudes his ministrations have blessed—the command which, if ever mortal could, he may confidently anticipate, to enter also into the joy of his Lord.

Dear Friends, we boast a common ancestry and language; our hearts and our hopes too are one. You, as well as ourselves, claim kindred with those 'devout and honorable women,' the puritan mothers of New-England. They were wont to commend themselves to their friends in 'the love of Christ.' Do we not the same when we say, yours in the love of freedom.

In behalf of the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Associations in New-England.

(Signed)

MARY S. PARKER, President.

MARIA W. CHAPMAN, Sec. For. Cor.

The Rev. D. King moved the second resolution, expressive of indignation at the conduct of America, with regard to the slave population. In moving this resolution, he wished it particularly understood that the indignation expressed, was solely on account of their errors. He disclaimed on his part all personal enmity to the American anti-abolitionists. He wished to act in accordance with that great scripture doctrine, which teaches us to hate sin, but to love the sinner, and endeavor through this affection to turn him from the error of his way. And certainly there was much room for compassion with regard to the erroneous notions entertained in America on this head. He pitied the slave master, for he was in a state of slavery more degrading than that of the poor negro. His bondage was that of the mind, and consequently was as much greater than the other, as mind was superior to matter. But however much he might speak thus of the offender, he would not in any wise spare the offence. For should he speak in an indifferent spirit of the conduct of the anti-abolitionists, then would he show that he had not a proper love for the benefits of freedom. He would protest therefore against the conduct of our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, not alone on account of the evil itself, of which they were guilty, but also on account of its consequences—on account of the injury to the cause of freedom from these acts being attributed by the enemies of human liberty, to their free system of government. When acts of cruelty are perpetrated in despotic countries—in Turkey for example, we would at once place it to the account of their system of government; but in America this could not be said with truth, and thus it came that their good was evil spoken of. Looking to the immediate results, it might seem as if it would be better to say less about this foul blot on the American character, but he was in this matter, as in every other, determined to state the truth, and leave the consequence in the hands of the divine will. (Cheers.) Truth could afford to make many
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sacrifices, and although deserted by many ministers of christianity! though Republican America was acting in express violation of the obvious dictate of its own constitution, yet still they could remember that there was one to defend the right cause—He, who in coming into this world said he came to bear witness to the truth, and with Him on their side, they had no reason to be afraid. (Cheers.) But America had an excuse to make for her sin. It was ever so with sin; there was always some excuse. If no other, there was at least that old one, the woman gave it me and I did eat.' (Cheers.) The Americans, then, defending themselves, resorted to this excuse; that it was not the fit time yet for emancipating their slaves. They were quite willing to make them free, but the slaves were not prepared for freedom. Here was a double wrong committed; for not only did they keep men in bondage, but pretended that it was because they were not able to use their freedom aright. But if slaves in America were unfit for freedom, who had been the cause of that? If the slave masters were unwilling to use exertions in preparing them for acting as freemen, who was to blame? If they would not take pains to instruct them, so that they might exercise with propriety the simple boon of liberty, then the guilt and the folly rest upon their own heads. (Cheers.) But it was impossible to believe that the Americans were speaking in earnest when they spoke thus, for surely we might think that if they hated slavery, and considered that the want of education was the only objection, they would endeavor to remove it as speedily as possible. But it was easy to see that their pretensions to liberality on this score were quite unfounded, as they had, instead of endeavoring to enlighten and expand the minds of these poor members of the human family, enacted that no one should teach a slave to read or write, under a very severe penalty. They also pretended that it was impossible for us on this side the Atlantic to form an idea of what slavery is in the United States. It was only by going over to that country, that they could view it as all very proper to maltreat the black population. (Cheers.) Among the many arguments by which the common people in America seek to justify their conduct; it was said that the skin of the blacks gave out an offensive odour, and that this was one cause of the prejudice entertained against them. But with regard to this point, we are not left to gather all our intelligence of them from the American slave owners. Some of them occasionally reached the shores of this country, and so far as he had learned of them, those who came here did not contaminate the atmosphere as they were charged with. Indeed, it was utterly impossible there could be any thing in the effluvia proceeding from their bodies, or else the nobility and gentry would not be so fond of black servants. (Cheers.) The fact was that what they complained of, did not belong to slaves at all; it was after they became free that the smell was felt to be disagreeable. There was one thing, on account of which he felt glad, that they were able to stand up and feel in condemning the sin of America, that we were not self-condemned; that they could not say to us with truth, 'Physician, heal thyself.'— The Americans were ill pleased at this, however, for it showed from the example of our colonies, how safely emancipation might be effected, without any of those frightful consequences which were predicted as likely to follow the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies. For surely it cannot be said now, that there will be any danger from that quarter; and as little cause have the Americans to fear any of these terrible results, which, according to many authorities among them, would most certainly follow the immediate emancipation of all the slaves in the United States. (Cheers.) If America would follow his advice, he would let the example of this country be copied by America in every thing save the clogging restrictions. One galling circumstance with regard to slavery in the United States was its being so frequently held up by the Tories as an argument against liberal constitutions, and this could never be satisfactorily answered, until immediate, complete, and unconditional emancipation be obtained for the negro. (Cheers.)

Mr. Kettle said, is it not a melancholy spectacle, Mr. Chairman, that in Republican America, which owes its origin as a nation to its having been the refuge of the oppressed and persecuted puritans, and laying claim as it does to being a land of freedom—I say, Sir, is it not heart-sickening, that in such a country, claiming such a character, practical oppression, civil disability, and social despotism, should be found legalized and domesticated as if to hold up to public derision all that is sound in its civil polity, and all that is sincere in its profession of christianity.— The fact, Sir, at first, no doubt, excites our astonishment, and perhaps our indignation; but if we look back to its origin, we shall find more occasion for our pity and compassion. I do not stand up, Sir, as the apologist of Slavery or of Slave-holders; were I to do so, every line of my motion would frown upon me, as well as every feeling of my nature. But, Sir, we should keep in mind that America had become a Slave-dealer, before she became her own mistress, and that her present circumstances are a part of the Colonial inheritance left her by us. Would, Sir, that she had had the principle, and the wisdom, to do with Slavery what she did with her allegiance to this country—to have cast it away from her forever, as unworthy of a land of freemen. Had the first act of her independence been the total abolition of slavery,

Hail, Columbia, happy land,

might then, Sir, and might now, have been said or sung with tenfold more truth. The love of mammon, however, unhappily overcame the love of justice; and as in every case, where the laws of God are set aside, the perversity of man breeds and brings to maturity its own punishment, so has it been, and so will it be with America. As long as she continues an oppressor, she may increase her population, she may extend her commerce, but there is a worm in the bud, which, if not destroyed, will blast her beauty, and bring her down to the dust of desolation. Her bondmen, like those in Egypt, have now increased, and the difficulty of their liberation, viewed as a mere matter of profit and loss, has also increased; and however much we in this country may be convinced of the propriety of their immediate emancipation, yet, we must keep in mind that many of the Americans view the matter through a very different medium. They look at it, Sir, through a pair of moral spectacles, having one lens compounded of interest and avarice, and the other of pride and prejudice, both of which meet in a common focus causing crooked things to look straight, and abominable things bright and beautiful. It is upon no other principle that I can account for the views and sentiments of Governor McDuffie. They could not otherwise have come out of any human head living in a christian country, in the 35th year of the 19th century of the christian era. What, Sir, is America to be told,— busy, bustling, canal-cutting, rail road-making, forest-clearing, city-raising, ship-building, every-where-penetrating America,—that domestic Slavery is the corner stone of her commercial and political prosperity? Is the sapient Governor to put on the spectacles I have referred to, and after reading certain select portions of the bible with them, to tell America, the country of Cotton Mather, and Jonathan Edwards, and Timothy Dwight and Edward Payson, besides a host of pious females, whose biography has shed on it a lustre brighter far, in our estimation, than that of its politicians and philosophers—that it is one of the plainest appointments of God, an ordinance so distinctly instituted that it cannot be misunderstood, that they must buy and sell, and beat and buffet their fellow creatures, and fellow christians, provided they happen to be a little dark in the complexion, and harness them like oxen, and put out the eyes of their understandings, and shut up their souls in perpetual darkness! Nay, Sir, that they are chalked off, by the great father of the human family, the God of the universe, for that special end, colored and shaped for the very purpose; and were they placed in any other position than that of slaves, the order of nature would be disturbed, and there would be an immense chasm in personal, social, and national morality! After all, Sir, I feel a kind of respect for this Theological Governor. There is something downright and straightforward about him, and I would far rather have a man honest in a bad cause, than one who acknowledges its badness, and after a few extenuating buts, either pleads for, or passively submits to its continuance. This latter class of persons are the protectors of nearly all the legalized evils that exist in the world. They are the very body guard of corruptions, moral and political. They are always in the way of reform, raising their barricadoes of opposition, admitting all the while, the correctness of your statements, the truth of your principles, yet holding in dread abeyance the application of the measures sanctioned by them. Such persons may be compared to 'damaged clocks, whose hands and bells dissent—conduct sings six, when conscience points at twelve.'. Truly, Sir, they are objects of pity: what an uncomfortable world this must be to them! They are doomed to a constant warfare betwixt custom and conscience. They are governed by something extrinsic to themselves, apart from their reason, and must go where the public opinion of their own little selfish circle may lead them. It is but natural, Sir, that a man's speculative opinions, or I might say, admitted principles, should be a little in advance of their full practical exhibition. We are so much creatures of habit, and so averse to condemn ourselves, by altering our opinions and practices, that conscience must raise a pretty loud clamor, before we listen to, and obey it. Let us therefore hope, Sir, that those who now remain neutral on this great moral question, will, without much further delay, disband their prejudices, and take up a position more becoming American citizens, to say nothing of christian character.

I now come, Sir, to the last part of my motion, which refers to a class who at all times demand our esteem and affection, and who at the present time have a peculiar claim on our aid, our admiration, our sympathy, and our prayers. I mean, Sir, the Christian Abolitionists of America. Upon them, under God, lies the work of ridding their country of this moral and spiritual pestilence. It was the Christian principle of this country that carried Emancipation here, and I am widely mistaken in my opinion of the religion of America, if the same cause produce not the same effect there. Who can read the writings of Garrison and Birney, or hear of the faith and fortitude of the female abolitionists of Boston, and call this in question? We cannot but admire them, or rather I should say, admire the grace of God in them. We have only to think what was lately our own circumstances, in order to sympathise with them, and to keep in mind that the heat of the furnace of their trial is seven-fold that of ours; and oh, let us not forget that as Christian brethren engaged in a delicate and difficult, but clearly defined duty, they have a special claim on our prayers—that God may direct and sustain them—that they may carry about with them the spirit of Christ—pity for the oppressed, and prayer for the oppressor. We are far removed from them, and can help them but little, but God can help them. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. He helped us in our late successful struggle, and has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. He can do the same for them. Let us therefore lift up our individual and united intercessions to Him, in the name of our Great High Priest, on their behalf, resting assured that if we put our trust in Him, in this matter, he will not allow our expectation to perish, and that America will yet stand forth among the nations of the earth, with head erect, free, not in name but in reality, religious and happy.

Mr. Thompson, on again presenting himself was received with deafening cheers. Sir, it falls to my lot to close the proceedings of this joyous evening by acknowledging the compliment to myself, and the individuals with whom my name is associated, in the resolution just passed. It would be vain for me to attempt to pronounce a suitable eulogium upon the names of Arthur Tappan and William Lloyd Garrison, names now covered with infamy and reproach, but ordained to stand out in imperishable characters amidst the annals of American philanthropy. Mr. Tappan, though neither an orator nor an author but a modest Christian, and a respectable merchant—had by his munificent donations been one of the main props of the cause of Abolition in America. Mr. Thompson then gave a very long and interesting account of the commencement of Mr. Tappan's acquaintance with Mr. Garrison, and their joint labors down to the present time. When the latter, five years and a half ago, lay incarcerated in a dungeon for exposing the horrors of American Slavery, the former, who, up to that time, had never seen Mr. Garrison, and scarcely heard of him, entering deeply into his wrongs, sent forward to Baltimore the amount of the fine, and redeemed the man who subsequently became his closest friend, and the acknowledged champion of the glorious cause of American Emancipation. (Great cheering.) Mr. Thompson related a number of anecdotes illustrative of the zeal, sufferings, and danger of Mr. Tappan, and then proceeded to speak in terms of the loftiest admiration of his friend and fellow-laborer, Mr. Garrison. Mr. Thompson also read a part of a letter sent to him by Mr. Garrison, while he was at St. John. These extracts produced a deep sensation in the audience. The christian temper—the martyr-like intrepidity, and devout gratitude which breathed in every sentence, must have placed the writer high in the esteem and affections of all who were privileged thus to become acquainted with him. Mr. Thompson expressed an earnest hope, that the man whose burning words he had just read, would one day speak for himself and his cause, before a Glasgow auditory—(tremendous cheering.) After relating a variety of anecdotes, many of them highly interesting, illustrating the safety of immediate emancipation—the capacity of the negro—his pacific disposition—his gratitude towards his benefactor—and the folly and wickedness of the prejudice that seeks to sink him below his legitimate rank amongst the family of God, concluded by reminding his friends around him, that they were enlisted in the cause of universal Emancipation—Emancipation for all, in every clime, who groaned under the fetters of domestic slavery. He also entreated his friends constantly to bear in mind that their battle was to be fought upon Christian principle, and by christian means, their object being identified with the glory of God, and the spiritual freedom of the human race. Thus fighting for God, and looking constantly to him for direction and support, they could not err. They could never be defeated.— yet, a little while, and the monster would be slain, and when their holy triumph was attained, Angels in Heaven, with the ransomed and the victors upon earth, would join in shouting, 'Hallelujah, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' (Loud and long continued acclamation.)

It was twelve o'clock ere the assembly broke up, and so highly delighted did all seem that not the slightest symptom of weariness or anxiety to get away was manifested to the last. Indeed, Mr. Thompson, who was the last to address them, was warmly cheered, and encouraged to go on in his last speech.

At a Public Soiree, given in honor of Mr. Geo. Thompson, on the evening of 25th January, instant, and most numerously and respectably attended, the following Resolutions were unanimously adopted:-

1st. That this Meeting, with unmingled delight, welcomes the return of Mr. Thompson from America—seizes this early opportunity to express its high admiration of the blameless propriety, distinguished talent, and noble self-devotion, with which he has prosecuted the great object of his mission to the United States, in the face of national prejudice, interested denunciations, and lawless violence—and feels devoutly grateful to that God who, amidst such opposition, has crowned his labors with signal success, and through many perils, brought him again safely to these shores.

2d. That this Meeting has heard, with deep grief and indignation, of the misrepresentation calumny, riot, and blood-thirsty violence employed against the friends and advocates of freedom in the United States of America by many of their people in maintenance of their criminal prejudice against their fellow-citizens of color, their wicked and extensive system of iron-bondage, and their unhallowed trade in human beings, and this Meeting most solemnly declares its belief that such a prejudice, such a system, and such a trade, are not only opposed to the great principles of their free constitution, but are an open and awful defiance of the rights of humanity, the principles of justice, and the obligations of the Divine law—a perpetuation of ignorance, oppression, cruelty, and the ruin of immortal souls— fearfully provoking the judgments of the Almighty against their land and nation.

3d. That whilst this Meeting deeply laments the conduct of many Christians in the United States who, active in other fields of Christian duty, remain neutral in this momentous conflict, or lend their influences to the enemy, it has also great cause of thankfulness to God that many able, enlightened, and pious philanthropists in all parts of the United States, have organized themselves with heroic firmness in the cause of immediate and universal Negro Emancipation—that this Meeting affectionately proffers its friendship and co-operation to these kindred Societies—desires to strengthen their hands and to cheer their hearts, and pledges itself to aid them by its active exertions, its sympathies, and its prayers.

4th. That this Meeting, whilst it highly appreciates the labors of all who have attached themselves to the cause of the Negro in the United States, cannot resist the loud call for a special tribute to the three men pre-eminently honored under God, by their high talent, their great sacrifices, their bold defiance of every danger, and their fixed high principle, to originate, sustain, and carry to its present strong position, the National movement in America for immediate Negro Emancipation, and it does, therefore, tender its most heartfelt thanks to WM. Lloyd Garrison, Arthur Tappan, and George Thompson

WILLIAM P. PATON, Chairman.