red
abuse heaped by Mr. Thompson on the people of the free states, for
their expressions of devotion to the Union and the Constitution, and
their determination to aid, if necessary, in suppressing by force--all
force used by, or on behalf of the slaves. Is it then true, that Mr.
Thompson and his American friends, did contemplate a servile war? If
not, why denounce the North for saying it should be suppressed? Were
the people of America right when they charged him and his co-workers
with stirring up insurrection? If not, why lavish every epithet of
contempt and abhorrence upon those who have declared their readiness
to put a stop to the indiscriminate slaughter and pillage of a region
as large as Western Europe? Such speeches as that I have this night
heard go far to warrant all that has ever been said against this
individual in America, and to excuse those who considered him a
general disturber of their peace, and were disposed to proceed against
him accordingly. It was, however, the opinion of many that Congress
had no power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Mr. B.
said his opinion was different; yet it must be admitted that the
obstacles to the exercise of this power were of the most serious kind,
and such as, to a candid mind, would free those who hesitated, from
the charge of being pro-slavery men. Perhaps the great reason against
the exercise of that power, even if its existence in Congress were
clear, was, that it would inevitably produce a dissolution of the
Union. When he spoke of the free states bringing about the abolition
of slavery in the South, he was to be understood as meaning that these
states, in accordance with what had been so often hinted at, should
march to the South with arms in their hands, and declare the slaves
free. Now, even supposing that the people of the North had no regard
for the peace of their country--that they were perfectly indifferent
to the glory, the power, and the happiness resulting from the Federal
Union--was it certain, that by adopting such a course, they would
really advance the welfare of the slave? Every candid man would at
once see that the condition of the slave population would be made more
hopeless than ever by it. The fourth proof brought forward by Mr.
Thompson, in support of his proposition that America was chargeable,
in a national point of view, with the guilt of slavery, was the fact
that the different states were bound to restore all run-away slaves.