MR. THOMPSON said that before proceeding to the subject decided upon
for that evening's discussion, he must, in justice to 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. Breckinridge 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 forward. 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 evidence upon every branch
of the subject, and was willing to return to it at any moment,
confident that the arguments he could produce, and the facts by which
he could support them, would, in 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 bring before you 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 persons that have been charged upon this platform with being
a handful, "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 peaceful
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
indictments, and 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 of the slave; and
he must, therefore, abundantly support them by incontrovertible
evidence, or stand branded before the world as the worst foe 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 read from the "CONSTITUTION of the NEW-ENGLAND
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY," a lucid exposition of the principles and
objects of the first Anti-Slavery Society (technically so called) in
the United States.
"We, the undersigned, hold that every person of full age and
sane mind, has a right to immediate freedom from personal
bondage of whatsoever kind, unless imposed 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
any 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 governed 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 sanctioned by law, humanity, and religion, to
effect the Abolition of Slavery in the United States, to
improve the character and condition of the free people of
color, 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 OF 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 concerned, 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 common country which
come under its control, especially in the district of
Columbia, and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any
State that may hereafter be admitted 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 intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with
the whites of civil and religious privileges; but the Society
will never in any way countenance the oppressed in
vindicating 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 member 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 all 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 institutions 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 and 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 harmony of
views subsisting among its members. All regarded slave-holding as
sinful. All considered immediate emancipation 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 "the end sanctifies the means." But all deemed it a
solemn duty to pursue, 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 resorted 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 insufficient, 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 thing! Great Britain had the
power, by adopting a system of prohibitory 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 abolitionists
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," "disorganizers," "amalgamatists"--as
promoting "disunion," "rebellion," 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
of calumny and misrepresentation. How totally absurd was it to charge
upon the abolitionists the design of promoting amalgamation, while,
under the system of slavery, an unholy amalgamation 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 fathers, 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 imputations cast
upon them by their enemies, he would read from two documents put forth
during the great excitement which prevailed through the United States
in August last. The American 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, that the State
Governments have within their respective jurisdictions, and
that it is their 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 which 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 that duty and policy require its
immediate 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 have never read our
publications, and that those who make it, offer to the public
no evidence from 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 is to _put an end_ to the
criminal amalgamation that prevails wherever slavery exists."
These were only extracts from the address, which was of considerable
length, and 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 your 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 land, 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, whether religious or political, which, in its
sovereign pleasure, he may adjudge to contain an incendiary
article? Surely we need not remind you, that if you submit to
such an encroachment on your liberties, the days of our
Republic are numbered, 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. Dom. Cor._
ABRAHAM L. COX, M. D., _Rec. Sec._
LEWIS TAPPAN, }
JOSHUA LEAVITT, } Members
SAMUEL E. CORNISH, } of the
SIMEON S. JOCELYN, } Executive
THEODORE S. WRIGHT, } Committee.