ghty smash, raise the cap of
Liberty on the lofty pole of Democracy, and let the sinews of men obtain
their just triumphs over the flimsy rubbish of intellect and capital!
Tyranny alone makes differences. All men are equal!"--He concluded his
harangue just in time to save a fit, for it was given with all the fuss
and fury of a penny theatre King Richard; in fact, I felt at one time
strongly inclined to call for "a horse," but, having accepted the
deputation, I was bound to treat its members with courtesy; so I
replied, "Sir, your elegantly expressed opinions of royalty, &c.,
require nothing but ordinary knowledge to show their absurdity, so I
will not detain you by dwelling on that subject; but, sir, you
studiously avoid alluding to the condition of the slave, and, by seeking
for a fault elsewhere, endeavour to throw a cloak over the subject of
this meeting. You tell me the poor in England need much clothing and
food--that is very true; but, sir, if every pauper had a fur cloak and a
round of beef, I cannot see the advantage the negro would derive
therefrom. Again, sir, you say the negro is better off than many of our
poor; so he is far better off than many of the drunken rowdies of your
own large towns; yet I have never heard it suggested that they should be
transformed into slaves, by way of bettering their condition. Take my
advice, sir; before you throw stones, he sure that there is not a pane
of glass in your Cap of Liberty big enough for 3,000,000 of slaves to
look through. And pray, sir, do not forget, 'Tyranny alone makes
differences. All men are equal!'"

A slam of the door announced the departure and the temper of
Recriminator, and it also brought upon his feet another deputy who had
kept hitherto quite in the background. He evidently was anxious for a
private audience, but that being impossible, he whispered in my ear,
"Sir, I am an abolitionist, slick straight off; and all I have got to
say is, that you are a soap-suddy, milk-and-water friend to the slave,
fix it how you will." Seeing he was impatient to be off, I whispered to
him in reply, "Sir, there is an old prayer that has often been uttered
with great sincerity, and is probably being so uttered now by more than
one intelligent slave: it is this, 'Good Lord, save me from my friends.'
The exertions of your party, sir, remind me much of those of a man who
went to pull a friend out of the mud, but, by a zeal without discretion,
he jumped on his friend's he