be brought against William Lloyd
Garrison. But they would here see the propriety and utility of his
calling upon his opponent to leave generalities and come to something
specific--to lay his finger on a fact which could be examined and
tested circumstantially. And what did they suppose was the truth in
the present case? Simply this, that when Mr. Breckinridge came
forward to explain the principles of the Maryland colonization scheme,
the noisy rabble who sought to mob, did so only so long as they were
under the impression that he was an abolitionist. Mr. B. and his
brother, who was along with him on that occasion, did their best to
let the meeting know that they were not abolitionists but
colonizationists, and whenever the mob learned that, they became
quiet. This was the fact in regard to that case--he would willingly
stake the merits of the whole question on the truth of what he had
just stated, and he would call on Mr. B. to say whether it was not
true; he would call on him to exhibit the placard which had been
written by Mr. Garrison, or tell what it contained. He had a copy of
the Liberator of the day referred to, and he would ask him to point
out a single word in it which could be found fault with. He would dare
Mr. B. to find a single sentence in that paper calculated to stir up a
mob, or to induce any one to hurt a single hair of his head. With
regard to the Maryland colonization scheme, he was not going to enter
upon its discussion at that hour of the evening, but the next evening,
if they were spared, he would endeavor to show the gross iniquity of
that scheme, recommended as it was by Mr. Breckinridge. In the mean
time, to return to the next charge, they were told of an active
abolitionist--Elizur Wright. And here he would at once say, that it
was too bad to bring such a charge against an individual like Elizur
Wright, than whom he knew no man, either on this or the the other side
of the Atlantic, whose nature was more imbued with the milk of human
kindness, or whose heart was more alive to the dictates of Christian
charity--it was too bad, he repeated, to bring such a charge against
that man, unless it could be substantiated beyond the possibility of
doubt. They were told that Elizur Wright had stirred up the people of
New York to insurrection, by inflammatory placards. Here indeed was a
serious charge, but they ought to know what these placards were.
Again, he would call upon Mr. B. to show a copy of the pl