Mr. George Thompson, M.P. for the Tower Hamlets, has crossed
the Atlantic to promote a better understanding, in some way, be- tween the T.:neigh Radicals and the United States Republicans. His first reception in Boston appears to have been concentrated misunderstanding : the Yankees totally repudiated any moral ob- ligation to understand Mr. George Thompson at all. The English missionary, indeed, allowed himself to appear in company with charmers to whom the Yankee adders have the habit of being ob- stinately deaf—William L. Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and other impersonators of the Anti-Slavery party. The citizens of learned Boston determined to drown the voices of the oratars: they began with groaning and hissing; then they cheered "for the Union, Daniel Webster, old Briggs, and Jenny Lind "; they groaned " for John Ball"; "a ring was formed on the floor, and one or two com- menced dancing" ; the gas was turned down ; and the proceedings terminated with the canticle " We will not go home till morning,," in general chorus ! Mr. 'Thompson is one of those mild men who have the pluck to face any scene without flinching, and it is probable he was more disgusted than frightened. At a dis- tance the account reads like a farce of Transatlantic propor- tions. It suggests, indeed, the somewhat tardy question, why Mr. George Thompson should cross the Atlantic to address the Yankees on a topic they will not hear, and court such thrice-piled hyperbole of a public snubbing ? It suggests some other reflections. The people that select this anode of silencing a respectable foreign visiter must.unquestionably be the rudest people within the pale of civilization. The incident shows for the thousandth time, how little the Americans have learned to venerate real freedom of dis- cussion, or even of thought. It also shows how thoroughly they are afraid of the one topic. This is a sort of cowardice which in England we can scarcely understand : in this country there is no subject of public affairs which we are afraid to talk about ; and we cannot help feeling a sort of pity for the people driven to such expedients for enforcing silence about its domestic monster.
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