ded with his discourse.
Not, however, as before, did the{299} learned doctor proceed. The
exclamation of Thompson must have reechoed itself a thousand times in
his memory, during the remainder of his speech, for the doctor never
recovered from the blow.

The deed was done, however; the pillars of the church--_the proud, Free
Church of Scotland_--were committed and the humility of repentance
was absent. The Free Church held on to the blood-stained money, and
continued to justify itself in its position--and of course to apologize
for slavery--and does so till this day. She lost a glorious opportunity
for giving her voice, her vote, and her example to the cause of
humanity; and to-day she is staggering under the curse of the enslaved,
whose blood is in her skirts. The people of Scotland are, to this day,
deeply grieved at the course pursued by the Free Church, and would
hail, as a relief from a deep and blighting shame, the "sending back the
money" to the slaveholders from whom it was gathered.

One good result followed the conduct of the Free Church; it furnished
an occasion for making the people of Scotland thoroughly acquainted with
the character of slavery, and for arraying against the system the moral
and religious sentiment of that country. Therefore, while we did
not succeed in accomplishing the specific object of our mission,
namely--procure the sending back of the money--we were amply justified
by the good which really did result from our labors.

Next comes the Evangelical Alliance. This was an attempt to form a union
of all evangelical Christians throughout the world. Sixty or seventy
American divines attended, and some of them went there merely to weave
a world-wide garment with which to clothe evangelical slaveholders.
Foremost among these divines, was the Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox, moderator
of the New School Presbyterian General Assembly. He and his friends
spared no pains to secure a platform broad enough to hold American
slaveholders, and in this partly succeeded. But the question of slavery
is too large a question to be finally disposed of, even by the{300}
Evangelical Alliance. We appealed from the judgment of the Alliance,
to the judgment of the people of Great Britain, and with the happiest
effect. This controversy with the Alliance might be made the subject of
extended remark, but I must forbear, except to say, that this effort to
shield the Christian character of slaveholders greatly served to open a