In conclusion, he would recommend to Mr. Thompson, should he ever return to America, he need not be so tremendously prudent in regard to his personal safety, if he would just not be so tremendously imprudent in the principles and proceedings he advocated, and the statements he made with regard to the conduct of the American people. He had now gone over the assertions of Mr. Thompson, regarding the Maryland colonization scheme, and he trusted that he had shown the unfounded nature of those assertions. All that had been said by Mr. T. as to the principles and objects of the colonizationists, and the scope and influence of their course, had no other proof than the writings of those persons, who for some years, had formed a very small portion of the supporters of this great interest; and who, without exception, belonged to those classes, who at first, as had already been admitted, supported it, for reasons, some of which were entirely political, others perhaps severe to the slaves, and others unjust or inconsiderate towards the free blacks. But that directly opposite views, statements and arguments, could be more amply procured from the still greater, and still proportionately increasing party, who support this cause, as a great benevolent and religious operation, must be perfectly known to the individual himself. If he admit this, said Mr. B., it will show his present course to be of the same uncandid kind with all the rest of his conduct towards America, in selecting what answered his purpose; that always being the worst thing he could find, and representing it as a fair sample of all. It will do more, it will show that what he calls proof is no proof at all. But if he denies my repeated representations as to the various classes of the original supporters of the parent society, and the present state of them, I am equally content; as, in that case, all America would have a fair criterion by which to test his statements. As to the Maryland plan, and that pursued by the united societies of Philadelphia and New York, if they have any supporters except such as love the cause of the black man, of temperance, and of peace, the world has yet to find it out.
The time being expired, Mr. B. sat down.
FOURTH NIGHT—THURSDAY, JUNE 16.
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.