charged with saying that they were
sent from God, when they possessed the fury of demons,--charged,
finally, with having "thrown the cause" of emancipation "a _hundred
years_ farther back than it was five years ago." These are fearful
indictments, and Mr. Breckinridge has a weighty duty to fulfil
to-night, for he is bound to sustain them. They have been brought by
himself, a Christian minister, the professed friend of the slave; and
he must, therefore, abundantly support them by incontrovertible
evidence, or stand branded before the world as the worst foe of human
freedom--the foul calumniator of the friends and advocates of the
oppressed, the suffering, and the dumb.

He would lay the principles of the American abolitionists before the
audience in the words of their solemn and official documents. He would
go back to the commencement of the five years mentioned by his
opponent, and read from the "CONSTITUTION of the NEW-ENGLAND
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY," a lucid exposition of the principles and
objects of the first Anti-Slavery Society (technically so called) in
the United States.

"We, the undersigned, hold that every person of full age and
sane mind, has a right to immediate freedom from personal
bondage of whatsoever kind, unless imposed by the sentence of
the law for the commission of some crime.

We hold that man cannot, consistently with reason, religion,
and the eternal and immutable principles of justice, be the
property of man.

We hold that whoever retains his fellow man in bondage, is
guilty of a grevious wrong.

We hold that a mere difference of complexion is no reason why
any man should be deprived of any of his natural rights, or
subjected to any political disability.

While we advance these opinions as the principles on which we
intend to act, we declare that we will not operate on the
existing relations of society by other than peaceful and
lawful means, and that we will give no countenance to
violence or insurrection.

With these views, we agree to form ourselves into a society,
and to be governed by the rules specified in the following
constitution, viz:

ARTICLE 1. This Society shall be called the New-England
Anti-Slavery Society.

ARTICLE 2. The object of the society will be to endeavor, by
all means sanctioned by law, humanity, and religion, to
effect the Abolition of Slavery in the United S