WEDNESDAY Dec. 3, 1834.
MR. GARRIsoN —
A brief and hasty sketch is all I can now send you of occurrences in our good
little town of Lowell, during the visit of our invaluable friend Thompson, He
came among us on invitation, to give lectures on Sabbath, Monday and Tuesday
evenings of the present week. We had obtained permission of the Selectmen to
occupy for the purpose the Town Hall, a room in which town meetings are held,
and the use of which is usually granted, on any respectful application, for any
object which is not unlawful or manifestly immoral.
On Sabbath
evening, Mr. Thompson gave a splendid lecture, in which he entirely swept away
the pretended support of slavery from the bible. The audience was large, and
listened with delight till a late hour. They suffered no interruption, except
the throwing of a large stone at a window, which was arrested by the sash and
fell harmless on the outside.
Notice was
given on Sabbath evening, that the lecture on Monday evening would commence at
8 o'clock; and that we would meet for discussion at half past six; Mr. Thompson
extending a most respectful and friendly invitation to all who had objections
to our principles or measures, to be present and state them, and to all who had
inquiries, to propound them.
On Monday,
the Board of Managers sent special messages, of the same purport, to gentlemen
who had taken an active part in public against the formation of our Society
last winter. They declined the invitation unanimously, and we had not a single
objector or inquirer at the meeting, except abolitionists. This was much
regretted; for anti-slavery men are anxious to have the whole subject
thoroughly sifted, and every argument brought against them fairly examined, in
the hearing of the people. However, we managed to have some of the most
formidable objections stated, and our friend entertained the assembly by
refuting them, one after another, in the most lively and entertaining manner.
Then followed
a lecture of nearly two hours length, on the history of St. Domingo — that
history which on so many minds is a spectre to warn them against the liberation
of slaves; but which, when truly narrated, is so triumphant an example of the
perfect safety of immediate emancipation even in circumstances as unpromising
as can possibly be conceived. Very few left the hall till the lecture was
ended, notwithstanding its length and some untoward events now to be mentioned.
In the early
part of the lecture, a small company of low fellows disturbed the assembly just
without the door, in the entry at the head of the stairs, by loud stamping,
vociferation and hisses. This was continued at intervals for near half an hour,
when peace-officers, who had been sent for, arrived, and immediately the
disturbers were quiet as lambs, and continued so till the close. Some time
after, three missiles were thrown at the building behind the speaker. The third
or last, a large brickbat, came through the window, passed near the speaker's
head and fell harmless before the audience in front of the rostrum. This
missile must have been thrown with great force, to pass into the second story
of a high-posted building, and fly so far from the wall. A slight change of its
direction would have silenced the eloquence of our friend forever, except that
the barbarity of the deed would have given, what he had already said in behalf
of the oppressed, a more glorious immortality. Praised be the Arbiter of life,
that he yet survives to plead for the outcasts. Nothing daunted, he spoke some
time after this, and the meeting closed n peace.
But the
elements of turbulence and confusion had but begun to move. Yesterday, we heard
of little but ‘wars and rumors of wars;’ much that was rumor only; but too much
that was real, for the honor of Lowell or of New England. The most sagacious
never seriously apprehended greater disturbance on the ensuing evening. Our
board of managers met early in the afternoon, who unanimously and calmly
resolved to claim the protection of the Selectmen, and to proceed with the
meeting. The Selectmen, like true guardians of the public welfare, had been on
the alert during the day. They received our application in a very gentlemanly
manner, and promised us protection to the extent of their authority. The time
arrived. With Mr. Thompson, we met the Selectmen in their room adjacent to the
Hall. The night was exceedingly dark; the building was approachable on all
sides; and not a window had a blind or a shutter, except that behind the
speaker, which had a temporary barrier on the inside which remains to-day a
disgraceful monument of the infuriate temper of some men in Lowell. The
Selectmen still pledged us all the aid they could render; but doubted
whether it was practicable, with the preparations which time permitted, to save
the assembly from violence through the windows from without. Under these
circumstances, we felt it an act of discretion and humanity, without any
sacrifice of principle to adjourn the meeting to 2 o'clock this
afternoon at the same place. This was done, and no further violence
occurred. Mr. Thompson is now giving his concluding lecture on the practical
part of the subject, and I have stolen away to write lest I should be too
late.
The
mal-contents were not satisfied to retire home after our adjournment last
evening. They re-opened the Hall, and held a sort of mobocratic caucus, though
remarkably still and orderly for one of that kind. They passed, and have to-day
published, resolutions, ‘deeply deploring the existence of slavery’ — most
sincerely, no doubt — and saying that the agitation of the subject here is very
bad — that the Town Hall ought not to be used for the purpose eand
communicating this wise opinion to the Selectmen. Those officers, however, have
stood firm to their duty to-day.
The meeting
is closed, and my letter must go. I cannot, however, forbear to say, that the
handbills and other menaces of yesterday did us much good. Many, who are not
friendly to our principles, said, ‘This is no question of abolition—but whether
law and order shall prevail in Lowell, or whether mobs shall rule.’ They
besought us to proceed, and were ready to render us every assistance in their
power. The occurrences of the week will do much for the cause of truth and
liberty in our town, and you may tell the whole country that abolition in
Lowell is neither dead nor wounded.
Yours truly,
A. RAND.
SOURCE: Isaac
Knapp, Publisher, Letters and Addresses by G. Thompson [on American
Negro Slavery] During His Mission in the United States, From Oct. 1st, 1834, to
Nov. 27, 1835, p. 30-3
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