left the meeting, which was thrown into great confusion. A few days
afterwards, however, another meeting was held--one of the largest and
most effective that had been ever held in Edinburgh--at which were
present Mr. John Shank More in the chair, the Rev. Dr. Thomson, Rev. Dr
Gordon, Dr. Ritchie, Mr. Muirhead, the Rev. Mr. Buchanan of North Leith,
Mr. J. Wigham, Jr., Dr. Greville, &c. The Lord Provost proceeded to read
extracts from the speeches made at the meeting, showing that the
sentiments of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, so far back as 1830, as
uttered by some of its most distinguished men,--not violent agitators,
but ministers of the gospel, promoters of peace and order, and every
good and every benevolent purpose,--were in favor of the immediate and
total abolition of slavery in our colonies. He referred especially to
the speech of Dr. Andrew Thomson on this occasion, from which he read
the following extract: "But if the argument is forced upon me to
accomplish this great object, that there must be violence, let it come,
for it will soon pass away--let it come and rage its little hour, since
it is to be succeeded by lasting freedom, and prosperity, and happiness.
Give me the hurricane rather than the pestilence. Give me the hurricane,
with its thunders, and its lightnings, and its tempests--give me the
hurricane, with its partial and temporary devastations, awful though
they be--give me the hurricane, which brings along with it purifying,
and healthful, and salutary effects--give me the hurricane rather than
the noisome pestilence, whose path is never crossed, whose silence is
never disturbed, whose progress is never arrested by one sweeping blast
from the heavens--which walks peacefully and sullenly through the length
and breadth of the land, breathing poison into every heart, and carrying
havoc into every home--enervating all that is strong, defacing all that
is beautiful, and casting its blight over the fairest and happiest
scenes of human life--and which from day to day, and from year to year,
with intolerant and interminable malignity, sends its thousands and tens