[13] Perceiving that it would be impracticable for me, or any other person, to address the ladies; and believing, as I was the only male abolitionist in the hall, that my presence would serve as a pretext for the mob to annoy the meeting, I held a short colloquy with the excellent President of the Society, telling her that I would withdraw, unless she particularly desired me to stay. It was her earnest wish that I would retire, as well for1 my own safety as for the peace of the meeting. She assured me that the Society would resolutely but calmly proceed to the transaction of its business, and leave the issue with God. I left the hall accordingly, and would have left the building2 if the staircase had not been crowded to excess. This being impracticable, I retired into the Anti-Slavery Office, (which is separated from the hall by a board partition), accompanied by my friend Mr. Charles C. Burleigh.3 It was deemed prudent to lock the door, to prevent the mob from rushing in and destroying our publications.4 In the meantime, the crowd in the street had augmented from a hundred to thousands. The cry was for “Thompson! Thompson!” —but the Mayor had now arrived, and, addressing5 the rioters, he assured them that Mr. Thompson was not in the city, and besought them to disperse.6 As well might he have attempted to propitiate a troop of ravenous wolves. None went away—but the tumult continued momentarily to increase. It was apparent, therefore, that the hostility of the throng was not concentrated upon Mr. Thompson, but that it was as deadly against the Society and the Anti-Slavery cause.7 This fact is
This text is part of:
1 Right and Wrong, 1836, (1) p. 30.
2 The ladies thought he had done so ( “ Right and Wrong,” 1836, [1] p. 31).
3 Besides Mr. Burleigh and Mr. Garrison, the only gentlemen present were Mr. Henry G. Chapman and Dr. Amos Farnsworth, of Groton. The two latter retired from the hall with the expelled ladies.
4 ‘I immediately sat down, and wrote to a friend in Providence a description of the incidents of the day as they were transpiring’ (W. L. G., “20th Anniversary,” p. 25. So Mr. Burleigh, in Lib. 5.171).
5 Garrison Mob, pp. 16, 17.
6 This was at the bottom of the lower staircase, where the officers he had previously posted there prevented further ingress of the mob.
7 ‘The Mayor ought not to have concerned himself, or cared, whether Mr. Thompson was to be present or absent; nor was it sound policy in him to comply with the demands of the rioters, by assuring them that Mr. Thompson was not in the city. By so doing he weakened his own authority, and strengthened the hands of violence. He erred, also, most grievously —through weakness rather than malice, I doubt not—in assuring them that I had left the building. It was not for them to know whether Mr. Thompson or myself was present—but it was for the Mayor to disperse the mob, and maintain the supremacy of the laws’ (Lib. 5: 191).
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