The Anti-Slavery Mission of George Thompson to the United States, 1834–1835

C. Duncan Rice

doi:10.1017/S0021875800009889

The Anti-Slavery Mission of George Thompson to the United States, 1834–1835

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009

C. Duncan Rice

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C. Duncan Rice: Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen

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During the fifteen months from August 1834 to November 1835 nothing caused so much excitement in the American press, both pro-slavery and abolitionist, as the anti-slavery mission of the British reformer George Thompson. In the event, Thompson's visit ended in his escaping from a mob-ridden Boston on the New Brunswick packet. William Lloyd Garrison, no doubt secretly satisfied with the discredit reflected on his opponents by the mobs supporting them in this way, also consoled himself and the readers of the Liberator with the reflection that Thompson, ‘By his presence, and the power of his victorious eloquence, and the resistless energy of his movement…has shaken the land from side to side… At the mention of his name, republican tyrants stand aghast, and their knees smite violently against each other.’ In retrospect he appears wildly optimistic: it took another thirty years to free the Negro from ‘republican tyrants’, and even then the success was incomplete. It was achieved by methods Garrison abhorred, which certainly owed little directly to the efforts of Thompson. If his mission was of any importance it was so in the sense that it polarized opinion on slavery more sharply. He came to provide a useful focal point for the preconceived likes and dislikes of American citizens who could work themselves up to a new enthusiasm over the slavery issue by hating him as a ‘foreign incendiary’, or adulating him as the slaves' Lafayette. On the other hand, Thompson was only one of several possible focal points, and it is likely that even in 1834 it would have been easy to find some other individual to centre controversy around and produce exactly the same polarization effect if he had never set foot on American soil.

Type: Research Article
Information: Journal of American Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , April 1968 , pp. 13 - 31

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875800009889 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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^{page 13 note 1} G. Thompson to W. L. Garrison, 25 Nov. 1835, in Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses of George Thompson during his Mission in the United States, from Oct. 1st., 1834, to Nov. 27th., 1835 (Boston, 1836), p. 117Google Scholar.

^{page 13 note 2} Liberator, 5 Dec. 1835.

^{page 13 note 3} Extract from New York Courier and Inquirer, 11 May 1835, in Liberator, 30 May 1835; Liberator, 29 Aug. 1835; W. L. Garrison, op. cit., introduction, pp. v–vii.

^{page 14 note 1} Lillibridge, G. D., Beacon of Freedom, the Impact of American Democracy upon Great Britain, 1830–1870 (Philadelphia, 1955), passimGoogle Scholar; Koht, H., The American Spirit in Europe (Philadelphia, 1949), pp. 34–59CrossRef Google Scholar; Thistlethwaite, F., The Anglo-American Connection in the Early Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia, 1959), passimCrossRef Google Scholar. Cf. Barnes, G. H., The Anti-Slavery Impulse (New York, 1933), p. 18Google Scholar.

^{page 14 note 2} Griffin, C. S., Their Brothers' Keepers (New York, 1960), pp. 23–63 and passimGoogle Scholar; G. H. Barnes, op. cit. pp. 17–28; Cole, C. C., The Social Ideas of the Northern Evangelists (Columbia, 1954), pp. 116–24Google Scholar.

^{page 14 note 3} Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Edinburgh, 1960) by Gloria Clare Taylor, ‘Some American reformers and their influence on reform movements in Great Britain, 1830– 1860’, passim; Quarles, B., ‘Ministers without portfolio’, Journal of Negro History, 39 (1954)CrossRef Google Scholar; Klingberg, F. J., ‘Harriet Beccher Stowe and social reform in England’, American Historical Review, 43 (1938)CrossRef Google Scholar; Shepperson, G. A., ‘Frederick Douglass and Scotland’, Journal of Negro History, 38 (1953)CrossRef Google Scholar; Shepperson, G. A., ‘The Free Church and American Slavery’, Scottish Historical Review, 27 (1958)Google Scholar.

^{page 14 note 4} These are: Mesick, J. L., The English Traveller in America, 1785–1835 (Columbia, 1922)Google Scholar; Berger, M., The British Traveller in America, 1836–1860 (Columbia, 1943)Google Scholar; Nevins, Alan, America through British Eyes (New York, 1948)Google Scholar.

^{page 14 note 5} Berger, M., ‘American slavery as seen by British visitors, 1836–1860’, Journal of Negro History, 50 (1965)Google Scholar.

^{page 15 note 1} There is a short sketch of Stuart in the Dictionary of American Biography. See also G. H. Barnes, op. cit. pp. 14, 35; F. Thistlethwaite, op. cit. p. 112; Charles Stuart to Theodore Weld, 19 May 1828, 30 Apr. 1829, 15 May 1837, in Barnes, G. H. and Dumond, D. L. (eds.), Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimke Weld, and Sarah Grimke, 1822–1844, vol. 1 (New York, 1934), pp. 19–20, 25, 284Google Scholar.

^{page 15 note 2} Liberator, 24 Jan. 1840; Dykes, Eva Beatrice, The Negro in English Romantic Thought (Washington, 1942), p. 153Google Scholar; M. W. Chapman to Elizabeth Pease, 25 Aug. 1839, in Garrison Papers, Boston Public Library—referred to hereafter as Garrison Papers.

^{page 15 note 3} Sturge, J., A Visit to the United States in 1841 (London, 1842), pp. v–viGoogle Scholar; J. Sturge to J. G. Whittier, 9 Feb. 1841, in Richard, H., Memoirs of Joseph Sturge (London, 1865), pp. 224–5Google Scholar.

^{page 15 note 4} Rawley, J. A., ‘Joseph John Gurney's visit to America, 1837–1840’, Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 49 (1963)CrossRef Google Scholar; British Friend, 29 Apr 1843, 30 June 1843.

^{page 15 note 5} Thistlethwaite, op. cit. p. 89; E. S. Abdy to M. W. Chapman, 24 May 1844, in Chapman Papers, Boston Public Library—referred to hereafter as Chapman Papers.

^{page 16 note 1} Martineau, H., Society in America (2 vols., London, 1843), vol. 1, p. 4Google Scholar, cited in Berger, op. cit. p. 13; Chapman, M. W., ‘Memorials of Harriet Martineau’, in Chapman, M. W. (ed.), Harriet Martineau's Autobiography (2 vols., Boston, 1877), vol. 11, pp. 225–234Google Scholar.

^{page 16 note 2} Garrison, W. P. et al. , William Lloyd Garrison, 1805–1879: The Story of His Life, Told by His Children (4 vols., New York, 1885), vol. 1, pp. 480–1Google Scholar; Liberator, 5 Sept. 1835.

^{page 16 note 3} This subject has been partly explored in Shepperson, G. A., ‘Thomas Chalmers, the Free Church of Scotland and the South’, Journal of Southern History, 33 (1957)Google Scholar, and in the two articles cited in footnote 3, p. 14 above. There is a huge pamphlet and ballad literature, e.g. Thompson, G. and Wright, H. C., The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery, Substance of Speeches Delivered in the Music Hall, Edinburgh, during May and June, 1846 (Edinburgh, 1846)Google Scholar. Also, Glasgow Emancipation Society, Free Church Alliance with Manstealers—Send Back the Money (Glasgow, 1846)Google Scholar. A number of relevant ballads is in the Bodleian Library, and the controversy is fully covered in the Anti-Slavery Reporter, the British Friend, and most Scottish newspapers from the appropriate period.

^{page 16 note 4} Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Edinburgh, 1960) by Grant, A. C., ‘George Combe and his circle, with particular reference to his relations with the United States of America,’ p. 200Google Scholar.

^{page 17 note 1} George Thompson to Anne Warren Weston, 15 Aug. 1851, Chapman Papers; George Thompson to R. D. Webb, 12 Apr. 1852, Garrison Papers; George Thompson to Webb, 15 Apr. 1852, ibid.; R. D. Webb to John A. Collins, 24 Jan. 1841, ibid.; Webb, R. D., The National Anti-Slavery Societies in England and the United States, or Strictures on ‘A Reply to Certain Charges Drought Against the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, etc., etc.; by Lewis Tappan of New York, United States: With an Introduction, by John Scoble’ (Dublin, 1852), pp. 9–11Google Scholar; Special Report of the Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society; during Eighteen Months, from January, 1851, to June, 1852; With a Statement of the Reasons for Its Separation from the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (London, 1852), pp. 7, 9–10, 36Google Scholar; Anti-Slavery Advocate, Feb. 1853.

^{page 17 note 2} Abdy to M. W. Chapman, 24 May 1844, Weston Papers, Boston Public Library—referred to hereafter as Weston Papers; Abdy to R. D. Webb (?), May 1846, ibid.

^{page 17 note 3} Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, Held at Edinburgh, May, 1847 (Edinburgh, 1847), pp. 263–7Google Scholar.

^{page 17 note 4} Collins, J. A., Right and Wrong among the Abolitionists of the United States; or, the Objects, Principles and Measures of the Original American Anti-Slavery Society Unchanged (Glasgow, with an introduction by Miss Martineau, 1841), p. 4Google Scholar; M. W. Chapman, ‘Memorials of Harriet Martineau’, loc. cit., pp. 137–40.

^{page 17 note 5} Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Yale, 1960) by Temperley, H. R., ‘The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1839–1848’, pp. 303 ffGoogle Scholar; G. C. Taylor, op. cit., chapter III passim.

^{page 18 note 1} I have not seen the unpublished ‘fellowship dissertation’ by Professor Raymond English, ‘George Thompson and the climax of philanthropic radicalism, 1830–1842’. There is a brief sketch in the Dictionary of National Biography.

^{page 18 note 2} Biographical Sketch and Portrait of George Thompson, Esq. (reprinted from India Review, Jan. 1843, Calcutta), pp. 1–3; offprint from Norwich Advertiser (Norwich, 1846)Google Scholar, copy in the Boston Public Library; obituary on ‘The Late George Thompson’, in British Museum; Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Lectures of George Thompson, with … a Brief History of his Connection with the Anti-Slavery Cause in England (Boston, 1836), introduction, pp. v–xGoogle Scholar.

^{page 18 note 3} Liberator, 22 Mar. 1834. A number of Thompson's debates with Breckenridge are published in W. L. Garrison (ed.), Lectures of George Thompson, but several British editions from 1833 are also extant.

^{page 18 note 4} Thompson to Garrison, 5 Oct. 1833, in Liberator, 11 Jan. 1834; Thompson to Garrison, 27 Mar. 1834, Garrison Papers.

^{page 18 note 5} Thompson, G., A Voice to the United States of America from the Metropolis of Scotland; Being an Account of Various Meetings held in Edinburgh on the Subject of American Slavery, Upon the Return of Mr George Thompson from His Visit to That Country (Edinburgh, 1836), pp. 33–4Google Scholar; Thompson, G., The Speeches Delivered at the Soiree in Honour of George Thompson, Esq., in the Renfrewshire Tontine Inn, on the Evening of Wednesday, 25th Jan., 1837 (Paisley and Glasgow, 1837), pp. 5–13Google Scholar; Burleigh, C. C. (ed.), Reception of George Thompson in Great Britain (Boston, 1836), pp. 108–17Google Scholar.

^{page 19 note 1} London Patriot, 13 Jan. 1840; Thompson, G., Paradise Regained by Sir James Graham, Bart. (Carlisle, 1842)Google Scholar.

^{page 19 note 2} Minute for 6 Sept. 1838, Glasgow Emancipation Society Minute Books, vol I, Mitchell Library, Glasgow; Glasgow Emancipation Society Annual Report, 1839, p. 26; Anti-Slavery Reporter, 26 Feb. 1840; Thompson to R. Allen, 22 Dec. 1840, Bodleian Brit. Emp. MSS. S. 18, C 154/204; Thompson to R. Allan, 19 Oct. 1841, ibid. C 154/205; Biographical Sketch and Portrait of George Thompson, p. 11.

^{page 19 note 3} Glasgow Emancipation Society Annual Report, 1843, pp. 42 ff.; British Friend, 31 Oct. 1843, 31 May 1843.

^{page 19 note 4} Anti-Slavery Advocate, Feb. 1855.

^{page 19 note 5} Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Lectures of George Thompson, pp. xii–xxGoogle Scholar.

^{page 20 note 1} R. Purvis to Garrison, 13 July 1834, in Liberator, 23 August 1834.

^{page 20 note 2} ‘A Staffordshire Gentleman’ to J. Coffin, undated, Liberator, 21 June 1833; N. Paul to Garrison, 10 Apr. 1833, Liberator, 22 June 1833; Joshua Phillips to Garrison, 6 June 1832, Garrison Papers.

^{page 20 note 3} Thompson to Garrison, 5 Nov. 1833, in Liberator, 11 Jan. 1834; Thompson to Garrison, 27 Mar. 1834, Garrison Papers; Minutes for 12 Dec. 1833, 8 Jan. 1834, 15 July 1834, 4 Aug. 1834, Glasgow Emancipation Society Minute Books, vol. 1.

^{page 20 note 4} Minute for 12 Dec. 1833, Glasgow Emancipation Society Minute Books, vol. 1; Glasgow Emancipation Society Annual Report, 1835, pp. 8, 15; Liberator, 12 Apr. 1834.

^{page 20 note 5} Minute for 8 Jan. 1834, Glasgow Emancipation Society Minute Books, vol. 1.

^{page 20 note 6} Ibid.; George Thompson to Committee of G.E.S., 18 Feb. 1834.

^{page 21 note 1} Liberator, 13 Sept. 1833.

^{page 21 note 2} See for instance, Minute for 24 Jan. 1834, Glasgow Emancipation Society Minute Books, vol. 1.

^{page 21 note 3} Thompson to R. Purvis, 9 Aug. 1834, Garrison Papers.

^{page 21 note 4} Liberator, 10 Aug. 1833, 11 Jan. 1834, 22 Mar. 1834, 12 Apr. 1834, 3 Sept. 1834.

^{page 21 note 5} Thompson to Garrison, 24 Sept. 1834, Garrison Papers.

^{page 21 note 6} Liberator, 27 Sept. 1834.

^{page 21 note 7} Chapman, M. W. (ed.), Harriet Martineau's Autobiography, vol. 1, p. 337Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 1} May, S. J., Some Recollections of Our Anti-Slavery Conflict (Boston, 1869), pp. 115–25Google Scholar; Johnson, O., William Lloyd Garrison and his Times (Boston, 1880), pp. 133–6Google Scholar; W. P. Garrison et al., op. cit. vol. 1, pp. 434–67.

^{page 22 note 2} A. Rand to Garrison, 3 Dec. 1834, in Liberator, 6 Dec. 1834, also reprinted in Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses by George Thompson, pp. 30–3Google Scholar; Thompson to Elizur Wright, 25 Dec. 1834, MS. Collections, New York Historical Society.

^{page 22 note 3} Thomas, J. L., The Liberator; William Lloyd Garrison (Boston, 1963), p. 195Google Scholar; Thompson to R. Purvis, 24 Feb. 1835, Weston Papers; H. Benson to G. W. Benson, 25 Feb. 1835, Garrison Papers; A. Buffum to Garrison, 5 Mar. 1835, in Liberator, 6 Dec. 1835, also reprinted in Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses by George Thompson, pp. 41–9Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 4} H. Benson to G. W. Benson, 27 Mar. 1835, Garrison Papers; A. Buffum to Garrison, n.d., in Liberator, 4 Apr. 1835.

^{page 22 note 5} Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses by George Thompson, pp. 61–72Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 6} Liberator, 18 July 1835, 25 July 1835, 1 Aug. 1835, 8 Aug. 1835.

^{page 22 note 7} Liberator, 10 Oct. 1835.

^{page 23 note 1} Liberator, 17 Oct. 1835.

^{page 23 note 2} W. P. Garrison et al., op. cit., vol. 11, pp. 9, 21; J. L. Thomas, op. cit. pp. 200–6.

^{page 23 note 3} Debora Weston to Mary Weston, 22 Oct. 1835, Weston Papers; Ann Warren Weston to Mary Weston, 30 Oct. 1834, ibid.

^{page 23 note 4} Thompson to Henry C. Wright, 25 Nov. 1835, Garrison Papers.

^{page 23 note 5} Ann Warren Weston to Mary Weston, 30 Oct. 1835, loc. cit.; Garrison to Helen Benson Garrison, 26 Oct. 1835, Garrison Papers.

^{page 23 note 6} Garrison to Helen Benson Garrison, 9 Oct. 1835, ibid.

^{page 23 note 7} Extract from New York Courier and Inquirer, 11 May 1835, in Liberator, 30 May 1835.

^{page 23 note 8} S. J. Forten to J. M. Smith, 8 Sept. 1835, Child Papers, Boston Public Library; G. L. L. Row to Garrison, 27 Oct. 1834, Garrison Papers; Fragment of Diary of Debora Weston, Weston Papers, entries for 28 May 1835, I Aug. 1835; R. Reed to Garrison, 15 July 1835, in Liberator, 18 July 1835; MS. Draft of Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society Report for 1836(?), in possession of American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass., p. 1.

^{page 24 note 1} May to Garrison, 24 Nov. 1834, Garrison Papers; H. Benson to G. W. Benson, 25 Feb. 1835, ibid.

^{page 24 note 2} Diary of Debora Weston, loc. cit., entry for 8 Nov. 1835.

^{page 24 note 3} See also G. L. L. Row to Amos Phelps, 21 Nov. 1834, Phelps Papers, Boston Public Library, and Phelps to C. Phelps, 18 July 1835, ibid.

^{page 24 note 4} Extract from New York Journal of Commerce, in Liberator, 25 July 1835.

^{page 24 note 5} Extract from Boston Courier, in Liberator, 1 Aug. 1835.

^{page 25 note 1} John Rankin to Thompson, 28 May 1835, in Scrap Books Collected by George Thompson and F. W. Chesson, vol. 1, in Library of Congress; Cutting from New York Observer, ibid.; Liberator, 16 May 1835, 23 May 1835; cf. Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses by George Thompson, p. 74Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 2} Glasgow Chronicle, 6 Mar. 1836; extract from Birmingham Reformer, in Liberator, 5 Sept. 1835; minute for 1 Mar. 1836, Glasgow Emancipation Society Minute Books, vol. 1; Glasgow Emancipation Society Annual Reports, 1836, p. 23; London Patriot, 1 June 1836, reprinted in Burleigh, C. C. (ed.), The Reception of George Thompson in Great Britain (Boston, 1836), pp. 116–32Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 3} Liberator, 12 Dec. 1835; extract from New York Courier and Inquirer, reprinted in Liberator, 30 May 1835.

^{page 25 note 4} Thompson in Angelina Grimke Weld, 15 June 1839, in Barnes and Dumond (eds.), op. cit., vol. 11, pp. 774–7.

^{page 26 note 1} W. P. Garrison et al., op. cit. vol. 11, p. 4.

^{page 26 note 2} E. Wright to Weld, 18 Nov. 1835, in Barnes and Dumond (eds.), op. cit. vol. 1, p. 246.

^{page 26 note 3} ? to Caroline Weston, 3 Nov. 1835, Weston Papers; S. E. Sewall to Garrison, 27 Oct. 1835, Garrison Papers.

^{page 26 note 4} Garrison to Knapp, 19 Nov. 1835, ibid.; Liberator, 5 Dec. 1835.

^{page 26 note 5} C. C. Burleigh (ed.), op. cit. pp. 3–5.

^{page 26 note 6} Liberator, 31 July 1840, 20 Nov. 1840; W. P. Garrison et al., op. cit. vol. 1, pp. 497–8; M. W. Chapman, ‘Memorials of Harriet Martineau’, loc. cit. vol. 11, p. 294; S. J. May to Mary Carpenter, 29 Dec 1843, May Papers, Boston Public Library; Garrison to Webb, 1 03 1845, Garrison Papers; Vindex on the Liability of the Abolitionists to Criminal Punishment, and on the Duty of the Non-Slaveholding States to Suppress Their Efforts (Charleston, 1835), passimGoogle Scholar; Hammond, J. H., Two Letters on Slavery in the United States, Addressed to Thomas Clarkson, Esq (Columbia, 1845), passimGoogle Scholar.

^{page 26 note 7} Thompson to A. Kelley Foster, 17 Feb. 1851, Abby Kelley Foster Papers, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester.

^{page 27 note 1} Extract from New York Courier and Inquirer, in Liberator, 30 May 1835.

^{page 27 note 2} A copy of the Boston handbill is reprinted in J. Thomas, op. cit. p. 198. The only copy of the Salem handbill, dated 30 Oct. 1835, is preserved in Scrap Books Collected by George Thompson and F. W. Chesson, vol. iii, loc. cit.

^{page 27 note 3} Extract from Salem Landmark, in Liberator, 15 Nov. 1834. This argument was repeated after the 1851 Springfield riot in Simmons, G. F., Public Spirit and Mobs. Two Sermons delivered at Springfield, Mass., on Sunday, February 23, 1851, after the Thompson Riot (Springfield and Boston, 1851), p. 27Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 4} Extract from New York Courier and Inquirer, 13 Sept. 1834, in Liberator, 11 Oct. 1834.

^{page 27 note 5} Reprinted in Liberator, 25 Feb. 1835.

^{page 27 note 6} Whedon's second letter is reprinted in Liberator, 28 March 1835; Extract from New York Courier and Inquirer, 11 May 1835, in Liberator, 30 May. 1835.

^{page 28 note 1} Extracts in Liberator, 30 May 1835, and Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Lectures of George Thompson, pp. xxi–xxiiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 28 note 2} J. G. Birney to L. Tappan, 28 Nov. 1835, in Dumond, D. L. (ed.), Letters of James Gillespie Birney, 1831–1857, vol. 1 (New York, 1938), p. 275Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 3} Extract from Boston Recorder, in Liberator, 21 Nov. 1835.

^{page 28 note 4} Cuttings from Boston Daily Advocate, 24 Oct. 1835, Salem Landmark, 24 Oct. 1835, and We, the People, n.d., in Scrap Books Collected by George Thompson and F. W. Chesson, vol. 11, loc. cit.; William Ellery Channing to Dr Warren, 19 Aug. 1835, Channing Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

^{page 28 note 5} Liberator, 17 Oct. 1835, 24 Oct. 1835, 31 Oct. 1835.

^{page 29 note 1} Thompson to Garrison, 22 Oct. 1835, in Glasgow Chronicle, 19 Jan. 1836. This and other Glasgow Chronicle articles on Thompson's trip were reprinted and distributed by the Glasgow Emancipation Society as offprints—copy in Smeal Collection, Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Also partly reprinted in Liberator, 31 Oct. 1835, in Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses by George Thompson, pp. 106–16Google Scholar, and in Collins, J. A., The Anti-Slavery Picknick (Boston, 1842), pp. 12–15Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 2} [Theodore D. Weld], Slavery As It Is, Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (Various British and American editions, 1840– ).

^{page 29 note 3} Thompson to Garrison, 27 Nov. 1835, in Garrison, W. L. (ed.), Letters and Addresses by George Thompson, pp. 117–18Google Scholar; Thompson's American Scrapbooks are now preserved in Library of Congress as vols. I–III of Scrapbooks Collected by George Thompson and F. W. Chesson (19 vols.).

^{page 29 note 4} E.g. C. C. Burleigh (ed.), op. cit., passim; Report of the Discussion on American Slavery in Dr Wardlaw's Chapel, between Mr George Thompson and the Rev. R. F. Breckenridge … June, 1836 (Glasgow and Boston, 1836)Google Scholar; Thompson, G. et al. , A Voice to the United States from the Metropolis of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1836)Google Scholar; cuttings and MS. memoranda in Scrap Books Collected by George Thompson and F. W. Chesson, vol. VI, loc. cit.; Aberdeen Herald, 15 Apr. 1837, 22 April 1837.

^{page 30 note 1} Thompson, G., A Voice … from the Metropolis of Scotland; Remonstrance on the Subject of American Slavery by the Inhabitants of Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven (Glasgow, 1837)Google Scholar; Letter on American Slavery. The Association of Congregational Churches in Aberdeen and Banff Shires, to their Congregational Brethren in the United States of America (Aberdeen, 1837)—in Aberdeen Herald, 15 04 1837Google Scholar; The Earnest Expostulation of Christians of All Denominations in Montrose and its Vicinity, with the Christians of the United States of America (Montrose, broadsheet, 1837)Google Scholar; J. R. Campbell to Elizur Wright, 4 Aug. 1837, E. Wright Papers, Library of Congress.

^{page 30 note 2} G. C. Taylor, op. cit. pp. 60 ff.

^{page 30 note 3} R. D. Webb, op. cit. p. 5.

^{page 30 note 4} Proceedings of the General Anti-Slavery Convention, Called by the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and Held in London, from Friday, June 12th., to Tuesday, June 23rd., 1840 (London, 1841), pp. 32–35Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 5} Anti-Slavery Reporter, 24 Sept. 1846; Glasgow Emancipation Society Annual Report, 1846, p. 8; Anti-Slavery Advocate, Sept. and Nov. 1854; Anti-Slavery Watchman, Jan. 1854; Thompson to L. A. Chamerovzow, 25 July 1859, Bod. Brit. Emp. MSS. S. 18, C 37/7; Thompson to L. A. Chamerovzow, 28 July 1859, ibid. C 37/8.

^{page 31 note 1} For dates and locations of these periodicals see Union Guide to British Periodicals.

^{page 31 note 2} Liberator, 5 Dec. 1835.

^{page 31 note 3} The preparation of this paper was helped by advice from Professor George Shepperson of the University of Edinburgh, and Professor Paul Buck of Harvard University. The author is extremely grateful to both. He would also like to thank Mr Owen Edwards of the University of Aberdeen for some useful textual suggestions.

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