Then ensued the following colloquy between Garrison and the master: G.--"Sir, what right have you to that poor creature ?" M.--"My father left him to me." G.--"Suppose your father had broken into a bank and stolen ten thousand dollars, and safely bequeathed that as a legacy; could you conscientiously keep the money?
For myself, I had rather rob any bank to an indefinite amount than kidnap a fellow-being, or hold him in bondage; the sin would be less injurious to society, and less sinful in the sight of God." M.--"Perhaps you would like to buy the slave and give him his liberty ?" G.--"Sir, I am a poor man; and were I ever so opulent, it would be necessary, on your part, to make out a clear title to the services of the slave before I could conscientiously make a bargain." M--"Well, sir, I can prove from the Bible that slavery is right." G.--"Ah! that is a precious book--the rule of conduct.

I have always supposed that its spirit was directly opposed to everything in the shape of fraud and oppression.

However, sir, I should be glad to hear your text." M.( hesitatingly)--"Ham--Noah's curse, you know." G.( hastily)--"Oh, sir, you build on a very slender foundation.

Granting even--what remains to be proved--that the Africans are the descendants of Ham, Noah's curse was a _prediction_ of future servitude, and not an injunction to oppress.

Pray, sir, is it a careful desire to fulfill the Scriptures, or to make money, that induces you to hold your fellow-men in bondage ?" M.( excitedly)--"Why, sir, do you really think that the slaves are beings like ourselves ?--that is, I mean do you believe that they possess the same faculties and capacities as the whites ?" G.( energetically)--"Certainly, sir, I do not know that there is any moral or intellectual quality in the curl of the hair, or the color of the skin.