xi Unable to hide the bloody stains that disfigure their polluted garments conscious of their full exposure to the detestation and rebuke of a horrorstricken world—and despairing of ever regaining an honorable reputation until they emancipate the victims of their lust and avarice-they have sought to destroy the advocates of righteous liberty, with wolf-like ferocity and fiendish hate. Especially have they planned to abduct and murder the man, who, having been signally instrumental in breaking the fetters of eight hundred thousand slaves in the British Colonies, heroically came to these shores to assist in emancipating a still larger number of bleeding captives. But, thanks be to God, he has walked unharmed through the fire which they kindled to consume him, and the smell thereof has not passed upon his garments. He has gone! But not to cease from his labors in the cause of mercy. He has a mighty work to perform in England, and there he will toil like an unbound giant. With the materials which he has industriously accumu. lated in this country, and which he has carried with him, he cannot fail to rouse up and concentrate the entire sympathies and energies of the people of Great Britain, in opposition to American slavery; and it is by the pressure of public sentiment abroad, as well as at home, that the bloody system is to be tumbled into ruins. Let the same withering public sentiment prevail throughout Christendom respecting the guilt of slaveholding, as now obtains in opposition to the diabolical slave trade, and the day of jubilee will be ushered in without delay. Our pride, as a nation, will not be able much longer to bear the taunts and jeers of the world, in view of our hypocrisy, falsehood and oppression; and our consciences, seared though they be as with a hot iron, will yet be awakened to remorse and repentance by the thunders of Sinai and the melting accents of Calvary. The Christians of Great Britain, of all denominations, will multiply their warnings, rebukes and exhortations to their brethren in this country,—and not in vain. He has gone! The dagger of a murderous nation has been pointed at his heart, and he has been hunted like a 'partridge upon the mountains. He came to us on an errand of mercy, drawn by the ties of Christ, and spared no pains to bring us to repentance for our manifold transgressions. To flatter us was easy-but he loved the truth and hated falsehood. He would not suffer sin upon us, because he loved us in his heart, and would have laid down his life for our salvation. Yet he was pursued like a wild beast, his name cast out as evil, and he was reckoned among the enemies of the republic! He has gone! But the foreign MAN-MONKEY remains behind, to show us how exactly he can grin like an ape, look like an ape, climb and chatter like an ape, and finally die like an ape-and his popularity and patronage are increasing daily! He is no emissary-no enemy -but an acquisition to liberty and equality!-[Alluding to a French harlequin then performing in this country in the character of a monkey. xii The following Letter should have been inserted in the body of the work, preceding that which will be found on page 106. It refers to the mob in Boston, October 21st, 1835. "THURSDAY AFTERNOON, OCT. 22, 1835. MY BELOVED BROTHER GARRISON : I re The news has reached me of yesterday's proceedings in Boston. joice that you have escaped the jaws of the lion, and are yet among the living-the living to praise God. To Him let us render our humble acknowledgements. May you be sustained under your present afflictions, and survive to behold the triumph of those principles which you have for some years lived only to advocate! I sympathise with you, and every sufferer in our holy cause, and could almost envy you the honor of having been assailed by a blood-thirsty multitude. Put your trust in that Being who smiles at the wrath of men, and will cause it to advance his glory. After all, what have our enemies done? what have their tar and feathers, their demolitions, their lacerations, scourgings and hangings effected? Have they extinguished the truth? No. Have they shaken our principles? No. Have they proved wrong to be right; falsehood, truth; cruelty, kindness; or slavery, liberty? No. Have they shaken the throne of the Eternal? Have they stopped the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, that the cry of the slave cannot enter? No! None of these things have occurred. Our principles live, and are triumphing in every direction. The God of the American slave sits high on his throne, counting the sighs and groans of his people, and will come down to deliver. Abolitionists live, and multiply, and daily wax stronger and stronger in the work of mercy they have laid hold upon, nor can any scourges our enemies can plait, nor any gibbets they can erect, be aught but the emblem of their own infatuation and madness. I think I see the end of these outbreakings. The opposers of this cause have themselves a bitter lesson to learn. They will rouse a spirit which will speedily turn and rend them, when it is too late to prevent it. Let them make mob-law paramount to all other law, and those respectable instigators will at no distant day be destroyed by the recoil of their own weapons. Our cause advances rapidly, majestically, and gloriously-who can stay its course? I have not time to write more. My heart is with you. As the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, so is my soul to your soul. Your joys, sorrows, perils, persecutions, friends and foes, are mine. May God direct us in this crisis, and enable us with meekness and wisdom to do his perfect will, and cheerfully suffer every thing which awaits us. Your unalterably attached friend and brother, LECTURE AT LOWELL, MASS. On Sunday evening, October 5th, GEORGE THOMPSON, Esq. the abolitionitst, delivered a lecture on Slavery in the Town Hall, Lowell. The spacious room was filled some time before the commencement of the proceedings, and when Mr. Thompson began his lecture, there were upwards of one thousand persons present. The meeting was opened with singing and prayer. The following is a faint sketch of Mr. Thompson's discourse, which occupied an hour and three quarters in the delivery. He (the lecturer) felt truly grateful for the present very favorable opportunity of discussing before an American audience, the merits and bearings of a question, which, more than any other that could agitate their minds, was connected with the honor, happiness, and prosperity of the people of this land. He besought a kind, patient, and attentive hearing. He asked no favor for his doctrines, his arguments, or his opinions. Let these be subjected to the severest ordeal. Let them be tested by reason, truth and scripture, and if they squared not with the dictates and requirements of these, let them be repudiated. The West Indies had already witnessed the operation of the great measure, which the justice and humanity of the British Nation had obtained for the slave. All eyes were now turned towards the United States of America, to see if that land of Liberty, of Republicanism, of Bibles, of Missions, of Temperance Societies, and Revivals, would direct her matchless energies to the blessed work of enfranchising. her slaves, and elevating her entire colored population. As a feeble and unworthy instrument in the hand of Him, without whom there was neither wisdom, nor strength, nor goodness, he (Mr. T.) had come amongst them to tell of the conflicts and triumphs he had witnessed in his native land, and to encourage, and, if possible, aid his brethern here in the accomplishment of a similarly great and glorious object. His was no sectarian or political embassay. Higher and broader principles than those of politics or party animated and sustained him. He came not to uphold the dogmas of a faction, or to expound the charter of human rights according to the latitude, longitude, clime, or color. As a citizen of the world, he claimed brotherhood with all mankind. The medium through which he contemplated the varied tribes of this peopled earth, was one which blended all hues, and brought out only the proud and awful distinctive mark of one common nature the image of God.' He honored that 'image' in whomsoever he found it, and would labor lest a prize so glorious should be lost, lest a being so capable should be wretched here and forever. Such were the views he cherished, and the principles he maintained, and he hoped he should be enabled to discuss them with temper and christian charity. He knew that men were all compounded of the same common elements-all sinful, erring and guilty; and, therefore, it became not any human being to assume the tone of innocence or infallibility, but to address himself to others as their fellow sinner, and be grate. ful to God, if divine grace had caused him in any degree to differ from the rest. He deemed such feelings perfectly consistent with a fearless denunciation of vicious principles and oppressive practices. Towards sin in every form, no mercy should be shown. A war of extermination should be waged with the works of the devil, under all their manifold and delusive appearances, and that man was the truest and kindest friend of the sinner, who, with a bold and unsparing hand, dragged forth to light and condemnation the abomination that would have ruined his soul. After this introduction, the lecturer took a compendious. view of slavery as its exists in the Southern States. He spoke of it as reducing man to the condition of a thinga chattel personal-a marketable brute-the property and fee simple of his fellow-man-consigning the helpless victim to bondage, wretchedness, ignorance and crime here, and ruining his soul forever and ever. The lecturer next proceeded to speak of the prevailing prejudice against the free people of color, and attributed it principally to an antichristian and guilty feeling of pride. That this prejudice did not originate in a natural repugnance to color, was evident from the fact, that while the colored person remained in a state of civil and intellectual degradation, no indisposition was shown to the nearest physical approach. It was only when the colored person attempted to rise in intellect or station to a level with the white, that the hatred and prejudice appeared. He (Mr. T.) solemnly and affectionately exhorted all who heard him to renounce their cruel and unholy antipathies. This prejudice was an offence against God. The controversy was not with him who wore the colored skin, but with the being who had formed him with it. Who was bold enough to stand before God, and vindicate the prejudice which dishonored and defaced the image and superscription of the Deity, as stamped upon his creature man? Such was the state of things in these christian States. What was the remedy? The immediate emancipation of the whites from prejudice, and the blacks from slavery. Mercy implored it. Justice demanded it. Reason dictated it. Religion required it. Necessity urged it. Fear cried, 'No! The danger of immediate emancipation !' Prejudice exclaimed, 'You want to amalgamate the races to break the cast-to lift the blacks into our ranks. It must not be !' A misguided Patriotism spread the alarm, The Union is in danger!' Interest muttered, 'You will ruin our manufacturesyou will destroy our commerce-you will beggar the planter !' Despotism vociferated, Let my victims alone! Rob me not of my dominion!' and a Mistaken philanthrophy would set on foot a piecemeal reformation, and recommend gradualism for the special benefit of the pining slave. Whom, then, should they obey? He boldly answered, God; who required that men should cease to do evil.' But that he might not be accused of dealing only in abstract views of this question, he would take up the various objections to immediate emancipation, and endeavor to show |