you prefer to go. It should, however, be borne in
mind that this power is inherent in all communities, and has been
exercised in all time. And it were well for the advocates of abolition
principles to remember that the final, and, if necessary, forcible
separation of the parties is surely preferable to the annihilation, or
the eternal slavery of either; while it is infinitely more probable
than the instant emancipation--the universal levelling--or the general
mixture for which they contend. He had still left a _third principle_
advanced by the abolitionists on which to comment, but as only two or
three minutes of his allotted time remained, he would not enter on the
subject; but would read, for the information of the audience a speech
delivered by Mr. Thompson at Andover, in Massachusetts, the seat of
one of our largest theological seminaries, as reported by a student
who was present. He wished this speech to be put on record for the
information of the British public.

Students--I shall first speak of the natural and inalienable
rights to discuss slavery. It is not a question; you ought to
do it; you sin against God and conscience, and are traitors
to human nature and truth, if you neglect it. Whoever
attempts to stop you from the exercise of this right,
snatches the trident from the Almighty, and whoever dares to
put manacles upon mind must answer for it to the bar of God.
It belongs to God, and to God exclusively. You are not at
liberty to give respect to any entreaty or suggestion or to
take into consideration the feelings of any man or body of
men on the subject. The wicked spirit of expediency is the
spirit of hell, the infamous doctrines of the demons of hell;
and whoever attempts to preach it to the rising youth of the
land, preaches the doctrine of the damned spirits. It is the
spirit of the flame and faggot, revealing itself as it dares,
and corrupting the atmosphere so as to prevent the free
breathing of a free soul. Where are the students of the Lane
seminary? Where they ought to be;--from Georgia to Maine, and
from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains--far from a
prison-house where fetters are forged and rivetted. They
could not stay in a place where a thermometer was hung up to
graduate the state of their feelings. It was not till Dr.
Beecher consulted the faculty at New-Haven and Andover, to
see if they would