George Thompson Speech at New York, At the Meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, published May 23, 1835

[From the rapid and impassioned style of Mr. T’s delivery, it becomes difficult, indeed impossible to give a very close report of all he said.  We attempt only a sketch touching on the leading points, and giving enough of his language to enable the reader to form some idea of his very fervid mode of address.  He was heard with profound attention by all, but with very different feelings by different portions of his auditory, as they abundantly manifested on more occasions than one.]

He commenced his address by declaring that the feelings of his heart were too deep for utterance. When he thought where he stood, of the topic on which he was called to speak, upon the mighty interests which were involved — upon his own responsibility to God-upon the destinies of thousands which might hinge upon the results of the present meeting — and when he reflected upon the ignorance, the wickedness, and the mighty prejudices he had to encounter; on the two and a half million of clients, whose cause was committed to his feeble advocacy, with all their rights, eternal and irreversible, he trembled, and felt almost disposed to retire. And when, in addition to all, he remembered that there were at this moment, in this land, in perfect health, in full vigor of mind and body, countrymen of his own, once pledged to the very lips in behalf of this cause, and with an authority which must command a wide and powerful influence, who had yet left it to the care of youth and ignorance, he felt scarce able to proceed, and almost willing to leave another blank in the history of this day's proceedings.

He had said that he had prejudices to overcome; and they met him with this rebuff — “you are a foreigner.” I am, said Mr. T. I plead guilty to the charge: where is the sentence? Yet I am not a foreigner. I am no foreigner to the language of this country. I am not a foreigner to the religion of this country. I am not a foreigner to the God of this country. Nor to her interests — nor to her religious and political institutions. Yet I was not born here. Will those who urge this objection tell me how I could help it? If my crime is the having been born in another country, have I not made the best reparation in my power, by removing away from it, and coming as soon as I could to where 1 should have been born? (Much laughter.) I have come over the waves of the mighty deep, to look upon your land and to visit you. Has not one God made us all? Who shall dare to split the human family asunder? who shall presume to cut the link which binds all its members to mutual amity? I am no foreigner to your hopes or your fears, and I stand where there is no discriminating hue but the color of the soul. I am not a foreigner, I am a man: and nothing which affects human nature is foreign to me, (I speak the language of a slave.)

“But what have you known about our country? How have you been prepared to unravel the perplexities of our policy and of our party interests? How did you get an intimate acquaintance with our customs, our manners, our habits of thought and of action, and all the peculiarities of our national condition and character, the moment you set your foot upon our shores?” And is it necessary I should know all this before I can be able or fit to enunciate the truths of the Bible! to declare the mind and will of God as he has revealed it in his word

“But you do not care about us or our welfare.” Then why did I leave my own country to visit yours? It was not certainly to better my circumstances: for they have not been bettered. I never did, and I never will, better them by advocating this cause. I may enlarge my heart by it: I may make an infinite number of friends among the wretched by it: but I never can or will fill my purse by it. “But you are a foreigner — and have no right to speak here.” I dismiss this — I am weary of it. I have an interest in America, and in all that pertains to her. And let my right hand forget its cunning, and let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I am ever capable of maligning her, or sowing the seeds of animosity among her inhabitants. He might truly say, though in the words of another,

I love thee, witness heaven above,

That I this land, — this people love;

Nor love thee less, when I do tell

Of crimes that in thy bosom dwell.

There is oppression in thy hand—

A sin, corrupting all the land; —

There is within thy gates a pest—

Gold—and a Babylonish vest.

Repent thee, then, and swiftly bring

Forth from the camp th’ accursed thing;

Consign it to remorseless fire—

Watch, till the latest spark expire;

Then strew its ashes on the wind,

Nor leave an atom wreck behind!

Yet while he said this, he would also add, if possible, with still stronger emphasis, Let my right hand forget her cunning, and let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I desert the cause of American abjects — or cease to plead, so long as the clanking of chains shall be heard in the very porch of the temple, and beneath the walls of your capitol. If any shall still say, I have no right to speak, I will agree to quit the assembly, on condition that that objecter will furnish to me a plea which shall avail in the day of judgment, when my Maker shall ask me why I did not do, in America, that which all the feelings of my heart, and all the dictates of my judgment, and all the principles too, of God's own gospel, so powerfully prompted me to do? If the great Judge shall say to me “When human misery claimed you, why did you not plead the cause of suffering humanity?’ will any one give me an excuse that will avail as a reply to such a question? Is there any such excuse? [Here he paused.] Shall it be because the misery for which I should have pleaded was across the water? If this is the principle, then cease your splendid embassies of mercy to China and Hindoostan: abandon the glorious missionary cause: and let us read in your papers and periodicals no more of those eloquent and high toned predictions about the speedy conversion of the world.

“But you are a monarchist, you were born the subject of a king, and we are republicans.” Yes, and because I loved the latter best, I left the dominions of a monarch, and came to the shores of a free Republic. I gave up the tinsel and the trappings of a king, for the plain coat and the simple manners of your President. But granting me to be a monarchist, will that do as an excuse before the King of kings, the Lord of lords?

“But, we quarrelled once. You taxed us, and we would not be taxed: and now we will have nothing more to do with you.” Indeed; and may our artizans construct your machinery, and our Irishmen feed your furnaces, and dig your canals; may our advocates come to your bar, and our ministers to your pulpits, and shall all, all be made welcome but the advocate of the Slave? Should I be welcome to you all, if I had but renounced the cause of humanity?

“But the newspapers abuse you — they are all against you; and therefore you had better go back to where you came from.” Yes: if I fear the newspapers. But supposing I care nothing about the newspapers, and am heartily willing that every shaft that can fly from all the presses of the land shall be launched against me, is it a good reason then? Leave me, I pray you, to take care of the newspapers, and the newspapers to take care of me: I am entirely easy on that score.

But now as to the question before us. The gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. Birney,] has gone very fully into its civil and political bearings: that aspect of it I shall not touch: I have nothing to do with it. I shall treat it on religious ground exclusively; on principles which cannot be impugned, and by arguments which cannot be refuted. I ask the abolition of slavery from among you, not because it dooms its victims to hard labor, nor because it compels them to a crouching servility, and deprives them of the exercise of civil rights: though all these are true. No: I ask for the illumination of the minds of immortal beings of our species; I seek to deliver woman from the lash, and from all that pollutes and that degrades her; I plead for the ordinances of religion; for the diffusion of knowledge; for the sanctification of marriage; for the participation of the gospel. And If you ask my authority, I answer there it is (pointing to the Bible) and let him that refutes me, refute me from that volume.

The resolution I offer has respect to the moral and spiritual condition of your colored population, and I do say that while one sixth of your entire population are left to perish without the word of God, or the ministry of the gospel, that your splendid missionary operations abroad, justly expose you before the whole world, to the charge of inconsistency. Your boast is, that your missionaries have gone into all the world; that you are consulting with the other christian nations for the illumination of the whole earth; and you have your missionary stations in all climes visited by the sun, from the frosts of Lapland to the sunny isles of Greece, and the scorching plains of Hindoostan; amidst the Christless literature of Persia, and the revolting vices of Constantinople. God grant that they may multiply a thousand fold — and continue to spread, till not a spot shall be left on the surface of our ruined world, where the ensign of the cross shall not have been set up. But will you, at the same time, refuse this gospel to one sixth of your own home-born population? And will you not hear me, when I ask that that word of life, which you are sending to the nations of New Holland and all the islands of the farthest sea, may be given to your slaves? When I plead for two millions and a half of human beings in the midst of your own land, left nearly, if not wholly, destitute of the blessings of God's truth? What spiritual wants have the heathen which the poor slaves have not? And what obligation binds you to the one, which does not equally bind you to the other? You own your responsibility to the heathen of other parts of the world, why not the heathen of this continent? And if to the heathen of one portion of the continent, why not to the no less heathen in another portion of it?

The resolution has reference to the diffusion of the Bible: and here I am invulnerable. You have offered to give, within twenty years, a copy of the Scriptures to every family of the world; you are now translating the sacred volume into all the languages of the earth, and scattering its healing leaves wherever men are found; and may I not say a word for the more than two millions at your door? Men whom you will not allow so much as to look into that book? Whom you forbid to be taught to read it, under pain of death? Why shall not these have the lamp of life? Are these no portion of the families of the south, whom you are pledged to supply? Is it any wonder there should be darkness in your land, that there should be spiritual leanness in your churches, that there should be Popery among you, when you thus debar men of the Bible? Is it not a fact, that while you have said you will give a Bible to every family in the world, not one of the families of slaveholders in the Southern States is to be found included in the benefaction? Of all the four hundred and sixty thousand families of your slaves, show me one that is included in your purpose or your plan. There is not one. If it would be wicked to blot out the sun from the heavens; if it would be wicked to deprive the earth of its circumambient air, or to dry up its streams of water, is it less wicked to withhold the word of God from men? to shut them out from the means of saving knowledge? to annihilate the cross? to take away the corner stone of human hope? to legislate away from your fellow-beings the will of God as recorded in his own word.

In view of the retributions of the judgment, I plead for these men, disinherited of their birthright. And once for all, I say, that every enterprise to enlighten, convert, and bless the world, must be branded with the charge of base hypocrisy, while millions at home are formally and by law deprived of the gospel of life, of the very letter of the Bible. And what has been the result Christianity has been dethroned; she is gone: there is no weeping mercy to bless the land of the slave; it is banished forever, as far as human laws can effect it. Brethren, I know not how you feel, nor can I tell you how I feel, when I behold you urging, by every powerful argument, the conversion of the world, while such a state of things is at your door; when I see you all tenderness for men you never saw; and yet seeming destitute of all pity for those you see every day.

Suppose, now, that in China the efforts of your missionaries should make one of the dark heathen a convert to the peaceful doctrine of the cross. What would be the duty of such a convert? Learning that there was a country where millions of his fellow sinners were yet destitute of the treasure that had enriched him for eternity, would he not leave the loved parents of his childhood, and the place of his father's sepulchres, and tracing his way across the waters, would he not come to bestow the boon upon men in America? Would he not come here to enlighten our darkness? And would he not be acting reasonably? according to the principles and commands of the very Bible you gave him?

And now I ask, what is the christianity of the South ! Is it not a chain-forging christianity? a whip-platting christianity? a marriage denouncing, or, at best, a marriage discouraging christianity. Is it not, above all, a Bible withholding christianity? You know that the evidence is incontestible. I anticipate the objection. “We cannot do otherwise. It is true, there are in South Carolina not twelve slaveholders who instruct their slaves; but we can't help it; there is an impassible wall; we can't throw the Bible over it; and if we attempt to make our way through, there stands the gibbet on the other side. It is not to be helped.” Why? “SLAVERY is there.” Then away with slavery. “Ay, but how ! Do you want the slave to cut his master's throat?” By no means. God forbid. I would not have him hurt one hair of his head, even if it would secure him freedom for life. “How then are we to get rid of it? By carrying them home?” Home? where? Where is their home? Where, but where they were born? I say, let them live on the soil where they first saw the light and breathed the air. Here, here, in the midst of you, let justice be done. “What! release all our slaves? turn them loose? spread a lawless band of paupers, vagrants, and lawless depredators upon the country?” Not at all. We have no such thought. All we ask is, that the control of masters over their slaves may be subjected to supervision, and to legal responsibility. Cannot this be done? Surely it can. There is even now enough of energy in the land to annihilate the whole evil; but all we ask is permission to publish truth, and to set forth the claims of the great and eternal principles of justice and equal rights; and then let them work out their own results. Let the social principle operate. Leave man to work upon man, and church upon church, and one body of people upon another, until the slave States themselves shall voluntarily loose the bonds and break every yoke. All this is legitimate and fair proceeding. It is common sense. It is sound philosophy. Against this course slavery cannot stand long. How was it abolished in England? By the fiat of the legislature, you will say. True: but was there no preaching of the truth beforehand? Was there no waking up of the public mind? no appeals no investigations? no rousing of public feelings, and concentration of the public energy Had there been nothing of this, the glorious act would never have passed the Parliament; and the British dependencies would still have mourned under the shade of this moral Bohon Upas.

It was well said by one of the gentlemen who preceded me, that there is a conscience at the South; and that there is the word of God at the South; and they have fears and hopes like our own: and in penning the appeals of reason and religion we cannot be laboring in vain. I will therefore say, that the hope of this cause is in the churches of God. There are church members enough of themselves to decide the destinies of slavery, and I charge upon the 17,000 ministers in this land, that they do keep this evil within our country; that they do not remember them that are in bonds as bound with them; that they fatten on the plunder of God's poor, and enrich themselves by the price of their souls. Were these all to do their duty, this monster, which has so long been brooding over our land, would soon take his flight to the nethermost hell, where he was begotten. How can these refuse to hear me? They are bound to hear; Unitarians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, be their name or their sect's name what it may, are bound to hear — for a minister is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts: and if they shall withhold their aid when God calls for it, the Lord will make them contemptible in the eyes of all the people.

Finally: this Anti-Slavery Society is not opposing one evil only; it is setting its face against all the vices of the land. What friend of religion ought to revile it? Surely the minister of Christ least of all; for it is opening his path before him; and that over a high wall that he dare not pass. Can the friend of education be against us? A society that seeks to pour the light of science over minds long benighted: a society that aims to make the beast a man: and the man an angel? Ought the friend of the Bible to oppose it? Surely not. , Nor can any of these various interests of benevolence thrive until slavery is first removed out of the way.

Mr. T. in closing, observed that he had risen to-day under peculiar feelings. Two of his countrymen had been deputed to visit this country, one of them a member of the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, who had been appointed with the express object of extinguishing slavery throughout the world, and belonging to a christian denomination which had actually memorialized all their sister churches in this land on the subject. My heart leaped when I learned they were to be here: especially that one of them whose name stood before the blank which is to be left in the record of this day's proceedings. Where is he now? He is in this city: why is he not here? The reason I shall leave for himself to explain. Sir, said Mr. T., in this very fact I behold a new proof of the power of the omnipotence of slavery: by its torpedo power a man has been struck dumb, who was eloquent in England on the side of its open opposers. What! is it come to this? Shall he or shall I advocate the cause of emancipation, of immediate emancipation, only because we are Englishmen? Perish the thought ! before I can entertain such an idea I must be recreant to all the principles of the Bible, to all the claims of truth, of honor, of humanity. No sir: if man is not the same in every latitude; if he would advocate a cause with eloquence and ardor in Exeter Hall, in the midst of admiring thousands, but because he is in America can close his lips and desert the cause he once espoused, I denounce, I abjure him. Let him carry his philanthropy home again; there let him display it in the loftiest or the tenderest strains; but never let him step his foot abroad, until he is prepared to show to the world that he is the friend of his kind.

The following resolution was offered by Mr. Thompson, and adopted by the Society.

Resolved, That the practice of suffering a sixth portion of the population of this Christian land to perish, destitute of the volume of Revelation, and the ministry of the Gospel, is inconsistent with the profession of zeal for the conversion of the world.

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. 66-74; The Liberator, Boston Massachusetts, Saturday, May 23, 1835, p. 2-3

Gerrit Smith to Dr. George C. Beckwith, Secretary of the American Peace Society

Let us thank God that anything, even though it had to be the insanity of the whole south, has brought slavery to its dying hour. Never more will the American Peace Society witness the need of raising armies to put down a treasonable onslaught upon our government. For the one cause of so formidable an onslaught will be gone when slavery is gone. Besides, when slavery is gone from the whole world, the whole world will then be freed, not only from a source of war, but from the most cruel and horrid form of war. For slavery is war as well as the source of war. Thus has the Peace Society as well as the Abolition Society, much to hope for from this grand uprising of the north. For while the whole north rejoices in the direct and immediate object of the uprising—the maintenance of government; and while the abolitionists do, in addition to this object, cherish the further one of the abolition of slavery, the Peace men are happy to know that the abolition of slavery will be the abolition of one form of war, the drying up of one source of war, and of one source of occasions for raising armies.

SOURCES: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith: A Biography, p. 256-7

George Thompson to William Lloyd Garrison, October 28, 1834

PoRTLAND, (Me.) Oct. 28, 1834.

MY DEAR GARRIsoN,

It is now more than a fortnight since I parted with you in Boston, on my way to the Anti-Slavery Convention at Augusta. The time has rolled rapidly away. Each day has brought with it duties and occupations, which have either absorbed the mind in the study and discussion of the “great question,” or engaged the feelings of the heart in communion with those who are nobly seeking the welfare of the oppressed. Besides the claims exerted by kind friends and solemn duties upon the heart and head, the eye has been continually arrested by some new object. Wherever I have travelled, by land or by water, I have been constantly reminded that I am in New and not Old England. The size, beauty, construction, and management of your unrivalled steam vessels: — the splendid autumnal tints of your forest foliage; — the appearance of your cities and towns, as they are seen from the deck of one of your floating palaces, as she proudly approaches the port, “walking the water like a thing of life;” — your stage coaches and tavern accommodations; — your hedgeless fields, covered with antediluvian fragments, or the stumps of hundreds of demolished trees, or plentiful crops of Indian corn and pumpkins; — the garbs and vehicles of your happy, enterprising and independent Yankee farmers; — your beautiful meetinghouses, every where visible, their modest spires directing the mind of the thoughtful traveller upward to nature's God; — All these novel and striking scenes, calculated to interest, most deeply, every intelligent stranger. In my mind they have awakened new and strong emotions. Nor have I been less affected by the more romantic portions of the scenes I have witnessed. Every thing is full of thrilling association and historical interest. Already, in imagination, I have lived a thousand years upon your soil. I have roamed the banks of the Kennebeck and the Penobscot with the Indian hunter; — I have plunged with him into your pathless woods,

“Where rang of old the rifle shot;”

have mingled with the untutored worshippers of the “Great Spirit;” — have listened to the eloquence of barbarian sages, and witnessed the deeds and death of generations, whose kindlier fate it was to ‘have their being ere science guided the white man to those shores, and the hand of an insatiate dominion commenced by the guilty work of conquest, robbery, and extermination. I have passed downwards through the bloody period of your political regeneration, and have caught a spark of genuine patriotism from off the purest altar on which its hallowed fire was ever seen to glow — the heart of Washington. I have lived through ages yet to come. I have seen this people rise like Nineveh of old; and “proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth and ashes, from the greatest even to the least; and cry mightily to God, and turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.” I have heard the omnipotent voice of Justice thundering in the Capitol, and echoing from the Halls of Legislation in the South. I have seen exulting millions trample in the dust the galling chain of an execrated tyranny, and with uplifted hands invoke the blessing of God on a nation, that had at last broke “every yoke,” and set “the oppressed free.” But I will forbear to describe further the visions I have had of the past and the future, and return to speak of recent efforts in which I have been honored to join — efforts, to bring near the day of redemption, which, in fancy, I have already realized.

Sunday, Oct. 12. I spent this day in Portland. In the morning, I accompanied Gen. Fessenden to the meetinghouse of the Third Parish, and heard a very excellent sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Dwight. In the afternoon I enjoyed the privilege of addressing a congregation of colored persons in the Abyssinian church. This was the first time I had ever worshipped in a place, exclusively appropriated to colored persons; nor had I ever, on any occasion, seen so many assembled together. I analyzed my mind, with some anxiety, to discern, if, in these entirely new circumstances, any feelings of prejudice or dislike were called forth. I can with truth declare, that I experienced none. The attention paid to the services was apparently deep. The deportment of all, decent and devout. The singing good; and the whole appearance of the audience that of intelligence and respectability. In the evening I lectured in the First Christian church. The audience numbered upwards of 1200. I was heard with the greatest patience and attention for upwards of two hours.

Monday, 13. Proceeded with Mr. Phelps to Brunswick, and in the evening lectured in the Rev. Mr. Titcomb's church, to a numerous and respectable auditory. The students from Bowdoin College were all present.

Tuesday, 14. Left Brunswick, and reached Hallowell about 6 o'clock.

Wednesday, 15. Went to Augusta, the Capital of this state. At 11, the Anti-Slavery Convention assembled. — I was introduced by a very kind and flattering speech from Gen. Fessenden; and on his motion, was elected a corresponding member of the Convention. In the evening, I delivered a somewhat long address. Was very hospitably entertained by the Rev. Mr. Tappan. Some remarks of mine, during the speech referred to, gave offence to a certain party in the town; and the first manifestation of their displeasure, was to visit the house of my host, about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, and break nine or ten squares of glass.

Thursday, 16. Attended the morning meeting of the Convention. A little before 1, was called out of the Convention by Mr. Tappan, and informed that five gentlemen were in an anti-room waiting to see me. On being introduced to them, they said that they came from a meeting of citizens, that morning held, to inform me, that my speech of the previous night, had given great offence — that I was regarded as a foreign emissary, an officious intermeddler, &c. &c. — and that, therefore, I should not be permitted to attend the afternoon sitting of the Convention, but must leave the town immediately. I returned a calm and respectful answer, declining, however, to say whether I should comply with the “Notice to quit.” At dinner, I consulted with some friends, and it was finally arranged that I should abide at Mr. Tappan's until the remaining business of the Convention was transacted, and then retire to Hallowell, the neighboring town, and lecture there in the evening. During the afternoon sitting, the Convention passed a resolution, unanimously welcoming me to this country, and recommending me to the confidence and hospitable attention of the Christian community. At 5, I bid farewell to Augusta. At 7, I lectured in the Baptist church, Hallowell, to a very numerous and attentive auditory. A number of my opponents from Augusta were present. The people of Hallowell, however, had determined, that no “foreign interference” should prevent them from hearing my address. I was therefore permitted to lecture in peace, and I have since heard, that my address produced a good impression.

Friday, 17. At 10 o'clock Mr. Grosvenor of Salem, Mr. Bacon, and myself, started for Waterville. On arriving at the College, we were very warmly greeted by Professor Newton. In the evening, I lectured in the Baptist Church to a very large auditory, including all the students from the College. The utmost attention was paid to my address, which lasted two hours.

Saturday, 18. Saw a number of the students. Received a letter and some verses, expressive of the feelings of all the students towards me, and wishing me “God speed,” in my labors in this land. The Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society in the College, writing to Mr. Phelps, says, — “Mr. Thompson had a large congregation last evening, and our students enthusiastically admire him. His coming here, brought over ALL that remained in the College, at least.” General Fessenden of this place, who was at Waterville with me, and has two sons in the College, told me last night, that after my lecture, six students who had previously opposed the abolitionists, requested permission to sign the Constitution of the Anti-Slavery Society, and be promoters of the cause they had hitherto withstood. Thirty-nine of the students became monthly subscribers of 123 cents to the funds of the American Anti-Slavery Society, making a total of about 59 dollars a year.

Monday, 20. Brunswick. In the morning, at 12, Mr. Phelps and myself met upwards of seventy students in the College chapel, and had a familiar conversation respecting various disputed points — the students proposed questions, and we answered them. In the afternoon, at 2, we held a small meeting at the Conference Room, in the village, where we had a very interesting conversation with a select company. In the evening, at 7, I lectured in the Baptist church to a full house.

Tuesday, 21. In the morning, at eight, we met upwards of one hundred students in the College chapel, and had a second friendly discussion on various points connected with the question. They seemed exceedingly sorry that we were obliged to depart in the course of that day. At 1 o’clock, we left for Portland.

Wednesday, 22. Held a meeting in the evening in the Friends' meeting house. The place was crowded. Speeches were made by the Rev. Mr. Adams of Brunswick, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Grosvenor of Salem, and myself. There is reason to believe, that some were converted, and many others half won over.

Thursday, 23. In the afternoon, at 3, about 120 ladies assembled in the Friends’ meeting-house, and were addressed by the gentlemen named above. The ladies agreed to meet again on Saturday afternoon. I have no doubt that a flourishing society will be established among the ladies of this city. In the evening, at 7, I met the Committees of the two male Anti-Slavery Societies in this place. Mr. Phelps and myself were earnestly requested to prolong our visit, and hold meetings as often as possible. Mr. Phelps agreeing to stay as long as I would, and feeling a conviction that we might be useful, I consented to delay my departure for a few days.

Friday, 24. In the evening, Mr. Phelps and myself held a meeting in the meeting-house of the Third Parish, and delivered addresses. The audience was very numerous, respectable, and attentive.

Saturday, 25. In the afternoon, at 3 o'clock, we had a large audience of ladies in the above church. Long addresses were delivered by Mr. Phelps and myself.

Sunday, 26. In the evening, at 7, lectured in the Second Christian church. Although the weather was most inclement, the church was filled.

Monday, 27. Met the colored people in the Abyssinian church. Prayers were offered by the Rev. Messrs. Coe and Blackman; also by the Rev. Mr. Munro, colored ministers. Mr. Phelps and myself gave addresses. The attendance was exceedingly good. We pointed out to our colored brethren the great necessity of their exhibiting a pure and blameless conduct, both for their own sake and for the good of the cause of emancipation, which might be materially advanced or retarded according to the impression made upon the public mind by their public and private demeanor.

You have now before you a very brief notice of my proceedings during the last sixteen days. These days have to me been full of interest and instruction. Proofs are every where abundant, that the cause of Truth is spreading mightily. It must, I think, greatly cheer you, my dear brother, to see the principles, which, a few years ago, you advocated almost alone, and in the face of danger, persecution, and poverty, thus going forth in their omnipotence – promising soon to pervade the whole land, and pull down the strong holds of robbery and oppression. Let us go onward. God is with us. While principle is our guide, no weapon formed against us will prosper. Let us beware of “expediency.” It is the harlot on whose knees too many good and great men sleep, and are shorn of their strength.

That you may soon see the desire of your heart, in the redemption of your beloved country from the twin abominations of Prejudice and Slavery, is the prayer of

Yours, affectionately,

GEO. THOMPSON.

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. 11-16

Gerrit Smith to Reverend Ralph Randolph Gurley, November 24, 1835

Peterboro, November 24,1835.

Rev. R. R. Gurley, Secretary of American Colonization Society.

My Dear Friend, — Great as the pleasure would be to me of meeting, at the approaching Anniversary of the American Colonization Society, with my beloved fellow laborers in the cause of African Colonization, I must not, for this alone, make a journey to Washington. Could I connect with the anticipation of this pleasure the prospect of gaining over the Society to the views which I have so long, but in vain, pressed upon its adoption, the journey would then be made most cheerfully; but the present circumstances and complexion of the Society afford anything but such a prospect.

You well know, my dear sir, how faithfully I labored, at the Anniversary of the Society in January, 1834, and for a year before; and how much I have written to that end since, to bring back the Society to its constitutional and neutral ground, respecting the subject of slavery. The ineffectualness of these efforts is manifest in the fact, that the Society is now, and has been for some time, far more interested in the question of slavery than in the work of colonization — in the demolition of the Anti-slavery Society, than in the building up of its colony. I need not go beyond the matter and spirit of the last few numbers of its periodical for the justification of this remark. Were a stranger to form his opinion by these numbers, it would be, that the Society issuing them was quite as much an anti-abolition, as colonization society: and this would be his opinion of a society, which has not legitimately anything to do with slavery, either as its opponent or advocate — of a society of which I said in my speech before it, in January 1834, and justly, I believe, that “such is, or rather such should be its neutrality, on the subject of slavery, that its members may be free, on the one hand, to be slaveholders; and on the other to join the Anti-slavery Society.” It has come to this, however, that a member of the Colonization Society cannot advocate the deliverance of his enslaved fellow-men, without subjecting himself to such charges of inconsistency, as the public prints abundantly cast on me, for being at the same time a member of that Society and an abolitionist.

It was not until some six or eight months since, that I began to despair of seeing the Colonization Society cease, within any short period, if ever, from its interference with the subject of slavery. No more than a year ago, and I was still confident that the Society would retrace its errors, and be again simply a Colonization Society: and then how soon a harmonious, successful and glorious Society!

I still owe a considerable sum on my subscriptions to the funds of the Colonization Society. It is true that the conditions on which these subscriptions were made, have not been fulfilled, and that it is now too late to fulfill them. It is further true, that most of the sum I still owe has some years to run before it is due. But I sympathize with the Society in its embarrassments, and herewith enclose you my check for the whole balance — viz., three thousand dollars. It is my wish, though I would not insist on its taking this direction against the judgment of your much esteemed board — that the whole sum be applied towards the cancelment of the debts of the Society.

At some future period, and under happier auspices, the American Colonization Society may possibly cease to meddle with slavery; and to claim that it is the remedy, and the only remedy for that evil. It may then confine its operations to their constitutional sphere, and employ all its means in the benevolent and delightful work of aiding the free people of color in our country to escape from the unrelenting prejudice and persecution under which they suffer, and to obtain in a foreign land the honorable and happy home which is cruelly and wickedly denied to them in their own. I may then have it in my heart and in my power to contribute again to your treasury. In the mean time, I cannot conscientiously do so, — nor, indeed, do anything else from which my approbation of the Society could be justly inferred.

It is proper for me to say, that I am brought to this determination earlier than I expected to be, by the recent increase of my interest in the American Anti-Slavery Society. From its organization to the present time, I have looked to that society as, under God, the best hope of the slave and of my country. Since the late alarming attacks, in the persons of its members, on the right of discussion, (and astonishing as it is, some of the suggestions for invading this right are impliedly countenanced in the African Repository) I have looked to it, as being also the rallying point of the friends of this right. To that society yours is hostile, I will not say without cause — without even as much as the certainly very great cause which it has for being the enemy of yours. However that may be, it is enough for my present purpose and to justify me in standing aloof from your society, to know that the Anti-Slavery Society has now become identified with this threatened right; and that if it fall, as your society is diligently striving that it shall, this great and sacred right of man will fall and perish with it.

With great regard, your friend,

Gerrit Smith.

SOURCE: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith: A Biography, p. 166-8

Robert Purvis

PURVIS, Robert, president of the “Underground Railway,” was born in Charleston, S. C, Aug. 4, 1810. His father was an Englishman and his mother a native of Charleston, though her mother, Dido Badaracka, was a Moor, born in Morocco about 1754. When Dido was twelve years old she and an Arab girl having been decoyed by a native to see a captured deer were seized, put on the hacks of camels and carried over the country to a slave mart. From this place they were shipped with a cargo of kidnapped Africans to Charleston. Being a comely girl, bright and interesting, she was purchased by a wealthy maiden lady at whose death she was emancipated and granted an annuity of $60. William Purvis, father of Robert, prospered as a cotton-broker in Charleston, from which business he retired in 1819 with a competency. He was an abolitionist even at that early day. The following year he sent his wife and their three sons to Philadelphia with the design of going thence to England to reside permanently. The execution of this plan was prevented by his untimely death. But this did not occur until he had established a school for colored children in Philadelphia and paid the teacher himself for one year. Robert obtained a liberal education. When twenty years of age he became deeply interested in the slavery question through meeting Benjamin Lundy, founder of the antislavery movement in America. He learned to hate slavery as intensely as he loved liberty. In 1831 he read the first copies of the “Liberator,” founded by William Lloyd Garrison, and from that time to the emancipation proclamation no American labored for those in bondage with more self-sacrificing devotion. Mr. Purvis was one of the sixty persons who met in Philadelphia Dec. 4, 1833, and founded the “American Anti-Slavery Society,” which accepted without reservation a declaration of principles formulated by Garrison, viz.: slavery under all circumstances a sin; emancipation a fundamental right and duty; colonization a delusion; church apologies for slavery in the Bible evidence of guilt; statesmanship that sought to suppress agitation a fraud; liberty and slavery incompatible under one government. This society was the nucleus of an intense and powerful moral agitation, the uncompromising spirit and indomitable course of its members making the abolition of slavery feasible and necessary. State societies were formed and Mr. Purvis was president of the Pennsylvania society for many years. When the “Underground Railroad,” an organization to assist fugitive slaves to their liberty, came into existence in Pennsylvania, in 1838, he was made its president and is now (1892) the only surviving member. His most efficient helpers were two market women in Baltimore — one white and the other colored — who obtained genuine passports which they gave to slaves who wished to escape. These passports were returned to them and used again by other fugitives. A son of a slaveholder in Newbern, N. C, engaged in the lumber trade, sent many fugitives to Philadelphia. The homes of Thomas Garrett and Samuel D. Burris, of Delaware, were also important stations from which many were aided in their flight north of Mason and Dixon's line. Many of the fugitives reported at Mr. Purvis' home in Philadelphia where he had a compartment constructed which could only be entered through a trap door underneath one of the rooms. This was deemed perfectly safe should any search be made by authorized officials. In the division among the abolitionists in 1840 he stood with Garrison in favor of recognizing the equal rights of women as members of the anti-slavery societies, and in stern opposition to the organization of abolitionists into a political party. His fidelity to the cause he avowed endeared him to all his associates, as he never surrendered a principle or consented to a compromise. In 1861, when it became necessary to adopt heroic measures, he labored to induce the government to place the civil war openly and avowedly on an anti-slavery basis and to bend every effort to the establishment of a new Union from which slavery should be forever excluded. The poet Whittier and Robert Purvis were the survivors of the sixty members who formed the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. In an article published in the “Atlantic Monthly” Mr. Whittier says, “When Robert Purvis rose to speak in the convention, his appearance at once attracted my attention. I think I never have seen a finer face and figure, and his manner, words and bearing were in keeping.” At the semi-centennial anniversary of the society held in Philadelphia, in 1883, Mr. Purvis presided.

SOURCE: James T. White & Co., Publisher, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 1, p. 413

Wm. Lloyd Garrison’s Speech

We make the following extract from a speech by Wm. Lloyd Garrison, in answer to Wendell Phillips at Boston, on the anniversary of the American Anti-slavery Society, May 10, 1864:

Our friend Phillips has said, very truly, that the American people, have laid down the principle, that once in four years they mean to look their Administration in the face, and see if it is worth while to change it. But have not committed themselves to the one term principle – they have not been so foolish as that; they say that every four years they will look and see whether they will change their President or not; but they hold to the principle that they may keep him in office for eight, twenty or fifty years, if he and they live long enough, and they like each other well enough. {Applause.} So they are coming together this season to look at him and I can only express the conviction of my own mind, that when they shall come together, and shall look the fact in the face, that no man in this nation is now so hated and detested by the rebels of the South and all the north who sympathize with the rebels, as Abraham Lincoln, they will make up their minds that he will do to “run the machine” four years longer. {Enthusiastic applause.}

A voice – Butler is more hated.

The President continued – Grant there are many sad things to look in the face, grant that the whole of Justice has not been done to the negro; grant that here or there, there are things which are to be deplored and to be redressed; still, looking at the question broadly and comprehensively and philosophically, I think the people will ask another question – whether they themselves have been one hair’s breadth in advance of Abraham Lincoln? {Applause.} whether they are not conscious that he has not only been fully up with them, but on the whole a little beyond them? As the stream cannot rise higher than the fountain, so the President of the United States amenable to the public sentiment, could not, if he wished to do it, transcend public sentiment in any direction. {Applause.} For my own part, when I remember the trial through which he has passed, the perils which have surrounded him – perils and trials unknown to any man, in any age of the world, in official station – when I remember how fearfully corrupt was the public sentiment of the north, to say nothing of the south – when I remember how nearly a majority, even at this hour is the seditious element of the north – and then remember that Abraham Lincoln has struck the chains from the limbs of more than three millions of slaves; {applause} that he has expressed his earnest desire for the total abolition of slavery, that he has implored the Border States to get rid of it; that he has recognized the manhood and citizenship of the colored population of our country; that he has armed upwards of a hundred thousand of them, and recognized them as soldiers under the flag; when I remember that this Administration has recognized the independence of Liberia and Hayti [sic]; when I remember that it has struck the death blown at the foreign slave trade by granting the right of search; when I remember that we have now nearly reached the culmination of our great struggle for the suppression of the rebellion and its cause, I do not feel disposed, for one, to take this occasion, or any occasion to say anything very harshly against Abraham Lincoln. {Loud and prolonged applause.}

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, July 9, 1864

NOTE: The Date of Mr. Garrison’s Speech was printed in the paper as May 10, 1894, an obvious printer’s error. I have corrected the error here to avoid any confusion.