to pass its verdict. While he would
therefore take no farther notice of any new matter contained in the
last speech, there were several remarks necessary to be made, to
elucidate subjects that had already been several times before them.
The first case was that of Amos Dresser the abolitionist whipped at
Nashville. He would pass over what Mr. T. had said relating to his
(Mr. B.'s) notice of the discrepancy in the number of Elders in the
Nashville Church. He had treated that gentleman with great candor in
the matter, which he had returned with incivility and injustice, and
there he was content to let it rest. But how stood the facts of the
case itself? Amos Dresser is reported to have said that there were
seven elders of the church; that all of them were on the committee of
vigilance of Nashville; that _most_ of them were among his triers, and
that _some_ of them had administered the communion to him the
preceding sabbath. Now let us admit that this is literally
true--(which I believe however is not the case, in at least three
particulars)--how does it justify Mr. Thompson in asserting as he did
at London and elsewhere "that on that Lynch Committee _there sat seven
Elders and one Minister, some of whom_ had sat with the young man at
the table of the Lord on the preceding Sunday"? Mr. Thompson
positively contradicts his own and only witness when he says that all
the seven elders sat as triers;--he enlarges his testimony when he
insinuates that they not only concurred in his punishment, but were
present and active in its infliction; and he infers without the least
authority, and adds it to the words of the witness, that those very
elders who administered the Lord's Supper to Dresser, on Sunday
"ploughed up his back"--as Lynch Committee men on a subsequent day of
the same week. How in the name of common honesty is such deceitful
handling of the truth to be tolerated in a Christian community? Oh!
what a spectacle would we behold--if I had but the privilege before
some competent tribunal--to take the published accusations of this man
in my hands and force him to reveal on oath the whole grounds on which
he makes them!--Mr. B. then stated that after he entered the house
to-night two packages had been put into his hands, which he could not
examine then, as he was just about to open the discussion. He had
snatched a moment during the interval to glance his eyes over their
contents, and considered it his duty to say a few words in