Ask the Scholar

George Thompson writes to William Lloyd Garrison discussing his illness which has prevented him from writing to friends or working, so that his "debts have been continually increasing, and I am at last obliged to declare myself insolvent, and ask my friends fully to forgive me, having nothing to pay." He tells Garrison, "Your friend is an invalid, with a weak stomach & a weak head." Thompson congratulates Garrison on his success expanding the anti-slavery movement in the United States and promises that he is still following the progress of the movement in America. He claims, "I devour with eagerness every thing in the shape of information respecting your Anti-Slavery movement" and credits his "short residence in the United States" with allowing him to understand the significance of events. He describes his work with the London Aborigines Protection Society, "a most praiseworthy and valuable institution, founded ... with a view to the improvement of the condition of the native inhabitants of our Colonies, and the world at large." He says he has sent Garrison newspapers containing "a pretty full exposition of the principles and plans of this society." Thompson links his work on behalf of the slave with speaking against the "oppressions practiced by British rulers upon one hundred million of our fellow subjects in our Eastern empire" in India, hoping his efforts will "effect an early alteration in the administration of public affairs in India." He then discusses the "case of Mr. W.H. Bushby" stating that it is "by no means easy to find employment for such persons as Mr. Busby" and would "counsel him against leaving America." Thompson also shares news of his family and asks Garrison to tell Maria Weston Chapman that they have recently found "the splendid present of an embroidered apron [given] to Mrs. Thompson" and that his next letter will be to her. He then asks Garrison "for the what I should esteem the greatest favor you could confer upon me - viz the regular transmission of your paper [the Liberator]?"