RIDGE said, he would now proceed with what remained of the
argument on the general question. He had been asked to point out the
responsible parties in regard to slavery, and this was what he was
about to do. It was indeed much more easy to show who were the
responsible parties than to prove the innocence of those unjustly
accused--it was perhaps his duty to do both--the first he had been
attempting. It would be easy to do the other, and he trusted, that
after he had done so--if the good people of Glasgow on any future
occasion should meet to pass resolutions applauding Mr. Thompson, for
the vast sacrifices he had made, and the suffering he had endured in
the cause of emancipation, they would not again feel obliged to pass
resolutions condemning the whole American nation, as the vilest nation
that ever existed, for maintaining slavery. He would say, then, that
he considered the owners of the slaves, as in the first place,
responsible. The slave-owner had two important duties to perform in
reference to those of his fellow-beings, who were held in bondage. In
the first place, he was bound to inform himself of the whole question,
in its length and breadth, and having done so, he ought, in the
speediest manner possible, consistent with the happiness of the slaves
themselves, to set them free. This was the duty of a slave-owner, as
an individual. But, as his lot might be cast in a slaveholding state,
it was his duty, in addition to freeing his own slaves, that he should
use every lawful means to enlighten public opinion. Whatever faculties
he possessed, it was his duty to use them in the attempt to remove the
prejudices of those whose minds were not yet enlightened on this
important question. But, while it was his duty to do this, he was to
refrain from every thing which would naturally tend to exasperate the
minds of the masters. He was not to go and take hold of a man by the
throat, and say, 'You are a great thieving, man-dealing villain, and
unless you instantly give your slaves liberty, I will pitch you out of
this three story window.' That was not the mode in which a prudent man
would go to work. And he (Mr. Breckinridge) would like, above all
things, to make Mr. Thompson, and his fellow-laborers sensible of this
important truth; that in their efforts to give freedom to the slaves,
nothing could be done without the consent of the slave-owners. And
unless it was kept in view, Mr. Thompson might labor, to use an
American ho