My Dear SmealSmeal, William

William Smeal (1793-1877) was a Glasgow Quaker and a successful tea merchant. He was a leading member of the Glasgow Emancipation Society and often served in its powerful position of secretary. He and his brother, Robert, also edited and published the British Friend, a monthly Quaker journal, in 1843. A friend and devoted supporter of William Lloyd Garrison, Smeal believed with Garrison that abolitionism could be achieved only under a program that pursued such related reforms as peace, temperance, and women's rights with equal fervor. A strong Union supporter during the Civil War, Smeal and Andrew Paton prevented some clippers bound for the Confederacy from leaving Glasgow. Garrison and Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 2:398, 402; 4:67, 222-23, 283; C. Duncan Rice, The Scots Abolitionists, 1833-1861 (Baton Rouge, La., 1981), 37, 41-44; Temperley, British Antislavery, 210-13. : Contrary to my expectations—the desired documents relating to myself and SmythSmyth, Thomas

A Presbyterian minister of Scots-Irish descent, Thomas Smyth (1808–73) was born in Belfast, Ireland, and educated at Belfast College and in London at Highbury College. After immigrating to the United States with his parents in 1830, he continued his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary before his ordination the following year. From 1834 until his death, he was the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, South Carolina. A prolific writer of doctrinal treatises and devotional literature, Smyth also wrote an ethnological justification of African slavery titled The Unity of the Human Races (New York, 1850). In 1843 Princeton University awarded him a doctor of divinity degree. Smyth figured prominently in the early fortunes of the Free Church of Scotland, raising a large share of the approximately $9,000 that the Free Church collected from proslavery churches in the South. When some members of the Free Church began expressing abolitionist sentiments, Smyth threatened to discontinue southern financial support. In July 1846, both Douglass and Smyth were in Belfast to influence the General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church. While Douglass and other abolitionists urged that the Free Church “send back the money,” Smyth wanted the church to take a proslavery position and counterattacked with the slogan “Send Back the Nigger.” After an attempt to discredit Douglass surfaced, Douglass sued Smyth for defamation of character. To avoid further controversy at the assembly, church leaders asked Smyth not to participate. Lib., 26 April 1844; Louisa Cheves [Smythe] Stoney, ed., Autobiographical Notes, Letters, and Reflections by Thomas Smyth, D.D. (Charleston, SC, 1914), 217–19; Thomas Smyth, The Claims of the Free Church of Scotland to the Sympathy and Assistance ofAmerican Christians (Edinburgh, Scot., 1844); idem, The Character of the Late Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D., and the Lessons of His Life, from Personal Recollections (Charleston, S.C., 1848), 13–17; Blackett, Building an Antislavery Wall, 83–97; J. F. MacLear, “Thomas Smyth, Frederick Douglass, and the Belfast Antislavery Campaign,” South Carolina Historical Magazine, 80:288–94 (October 1979); George Shepperson, “Notes and Documents: Thomas Chalmers, the Free Church of Scotland, and the South,” Journal of Southern History, 17:520–26 (November 1951); idem, “The Free Church and American Slavery,” 132–33; ACAB, 5:600; DAB, 14:377–78. have not yet reached me. I left the whole matter in hands of friend StandfieldStandfield, James

James Standfield (c. 1809–c. 1861), a grocer and secretary of the Belfast Anti-Slavery Society, was one of the city’s most active abolitionists during the 1840s. A member of the Established Church of Ireland, Standfield as early as 1843 urged Irish Presbyterians to exclude proslavery foreign churchmen from their pulpits. Well into 1844 he refrained from attacking the Free Church of Scotland for accepting donations from the U.S. South, but in 1845 he introduced Douglass to the Free Church controversy. Early in 1846 Standfield defended Douglass’s threatened libel suit against visiting American clergyman Thomas Smyth. He also led an antislavery rally with Douglass and the Reverend Isaac Nelson in Belfast, where Standfield presented a petition against the acceptance of slaveholders’ donations to the Free Church. As late as June 1860, Standfield criticized Belfast Presbyterians for receiving money collected in American slave states. Lib., 1 August 1845, 4 September 1846; Merrill and Ruchames, Garrison Letters, 3:423n; J. F. Maclear, “Thomas Smyth, Frederick Douglass, and the Belfast Antislavery Campaign,” South Carolina Historical Magazine, 80:288–89, 294 (October 1979); Riach, “Ireland and the Campaign against American Slavery,” 130–31, 276–78, 297–303, 332–33, 531. . Who was to let me know as soon as Smyth signed the retractation. As they have not come to hand I presume Smyth is hesitating about signing—if so legal measures will be resorted to. It was with this understanding with my Lawyer & Mr. Standfield that I left Belfast.

I think as the slander was first uttered in Belfast—that the retractation should first appear there—and as the Belfast Committee has the matter in hand—they would I doubt not like to complete the work. I feel Sincerely obliged by your interest in the Subject—and shall be glad when the whole account is published in Belfast if yourself and PatonPaton, Andrew

Andrew Paton (1805-84) was a leading member of the Glasgow Emancipation Society in the 1840s and 1850s. A loyal friend and supporter of William Lloyd Garrison and his doctrine of nonresistance, Paton aided numerous American abolitionists who visited Scotland, including Douglass, Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Henry Clarke Wright. Paton ardently endorsed the North during the Civil War and on at least one occasion prevented a clipper built for the Confederacy from leaving the Glasgow docks. Paton was a successful local businessman involved in the processing of malt. Garrison and Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 3:175; 4:67, 223, 283, 402; Rice, Scots Abolitionists, 53, 88, 130, 135, 158, 162, 199, 213. will give it publicity in Glasgow.—I have just arrived here—and write this in great haste

Please remember to Mrs. Smeal—

& Believe me very Sincerely yours

F Douglass

Simpson Hotel—26 Granger Street New Castle upon Tyne.

11. O^Ck Saturday night

1 Aug 1846

William Smeal Esq

161 Gallowgate Glasgow