Glimpses of old Glasgow

Laymen

The Brothers Smeal

WILLIAM and ROBERT SMEAL were well known and very much respected in the east-end of Glasgow, Both were men of piety and genuine worth, and highly esteemed for their works' sake by all who had the privilege of their friendship. Members of the Society of Friends, which of all the religious denominations in our country most strenuously advocated civil and religious liberty in the days when the British Parliament was strongly pro-slavery, they denounced the trade in human beings. They supported Clarkson and Wilberforce, who in the House of Commons pleaded earnestly for the abolition of the slave trade. Bitterly opposed at first this Christian movement grew in strength, and the time came when, adapting the words of an eloquent orator, the sun shone upon freemen all over the British possessions, and the moment the foot of a slave touched British soil the fetters fell from his limbs and he walked abroad in all the majesty of a freeman.

In bringing about this happy consummation the brothers Smeal, Mr. John Murray of Bowling, and others, were conspicuous, and there were no hearts more joyful or thankful than were those of the subjects of our notice when they could lay aside their armour, congratulating themselves on the brave fight fought and the glorious victory won. Nor was this rejoicing confined to the advocates of emancipation. Men who had at first supported the traffic in the bodies of men, women, and little children, through the arguments of George Thompson, were awakened to the horrors of the trade, and joined in the rejoicing of 1st August, 1834. Twenty millions of money were paid by Government for the redemption of the slaves.

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As men of peace they were ever on the watch-tower advocating the arbitrament of the pen rather than the sword. In many other schemes of usefulness did they take part. The British Friend was for twenty years jointly edited by them, and was continued by Robert for other twenty-three years, until his death in 1886. William Smeal was, perhaps, the better known of the two brothers, actively supporting as he did most of the public beneficent movements of his day; yet Robert, by his writings, wielded an influence perhaps none the less than did his more public-spirited brother.