Some Recollections of Our Antislavery ConflictMay, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph)
History
Some Recollections of Our Antislavery Conflict
May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph)
Antislavery movements -- United States
Henry B. Stanton came with Mr. Thome as another delegate from the Lane
Seminary Antislavery Society to the May meetings of 1834. This then
young man also evinced so much zeal in the cause, so much power as a
speaker and skill in debate, that soon after the dissolution of his
connection with the seminary, in the month of October of that year,
he was appointed an agent of the American Antislavery Society, and,
for ten years or more afterwards, Mr. Stanton continued to do us most
valuable service by his eloquent lectures, his pertinent contributions
to our antislavery papers, and his diligence and fidelity as one of the
secretaries of the National Society.
But Theodore D. Weld was the master-spirit among the Lane Seminary
students. Indeed, he was accused by the Trustees of being the
instigator of all the fanaticism and incendiary movements that had
given them so much trouble and threatened the ruin of the institution.
Accordingly, it was moved that Mr. Weld be expelled. No breach of law
was charged upon this gentleman; no disrespect to the Faculty, nor
anything implicating in the least his moral character, only that he was
the leader of the Abolitionists. Still, the proposition to expel him
was favored by the majority of the Trustees. When, therefore, the final
action of the Board had determined the students to ask for a dismission
from the seminary, Theodore D. Weld, with becoming self-respect, chose
to remain until he should be cleared by the Faculty of all charges of
misconduct. As soon as the Board had had a meeting and withdrawn their
accusation, he applied for and received an honorable dismission.
Then he accepted an appointment as an agent of the Antislavery Society,
at a salary less by half than was offered him by another benevolent
association. And throughout the Western and Middle States, and
occasionally in New England, he lectured with a frequency, a fervor,
and an effect that justify me in saying that no one, excepting only
Mr. Garrison and Mr. Phillips, has done more than Mr. Weld for the
abolition of American slavery.
What a loss it would have been to the cause of liberty, if the Faculty
and Trustees of Lane Seminary had been wiser men!
GEORGE THOMPSON, M.P., LL.D.
I am careful to affix his _titles_ to the name of this distinguished
friend of humanity, because they indicate, in some measure, the
estimation to which George Thompson has risen both in England and in
the United States. The former title was conferred upon him in his own
country, the latter in ours. But both nations owe him much more than
_titles_. By each he should be placed high on the list of its public
benefactors, and the two should unite to give him every comfort that he
may need in his old age, and enable him to provide well for all who
are dependent upon him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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