The Underground Railroad
language, which is a very common complaint indeed, and he said
in his first number: "I am aware that many object to the
severity of my language, but is there not cause for such
severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as
justice. I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not
excuse, I will not retract a single inch, and I will be heard".
(Cheers.) And that, after all, expresses to a great extent the
future course of his life.
But what was at that time the temper of the people amongst whom
he lived, of the people who are glorying now, as they well may
glory, in the abolition of slavery throughout their country? At
that time it was very little better in the North than it was in
the South. I think it was in the year 1835 that riots of the
most serious character took place in some of the northern
cities; during that time Mr. Garrison's life was in the most
imminent peril; and he has never ascertained to this day how it
was that he was left alive on the earth to carry on his great
work. Turning to the South, a State that has lately suffered
from the ravages of armies, the State of Georgia, by its
legislature of House, Senate, and Governor, if my memory does
not deceive me, passed a bill, offering ten thousand dollars
reward, (Mr. Garrison here said five thousand) well, they seemed
to think there were people who would do it cheap, (laughter)
offered five thousand dollars, and zeal, doubtless, would make
up the difference, for the capture of Mr. Garrison, or for
adequate proof of his death. Now, these were menaces and perils
such as we have not in our time been accustomed to in this
country in any of our political movements, (hear, hear) and we
shall take a very poor measure indeed of the conduct of the
leaders of the emancipation party in the United States if we
estimate them by any of those who have been concerned in
political movements amongst us. But, notwithstanding all
drawbacks, the cause was gathering strength, and Mr. Garrison
found himself by and by surrounded by a small but increasing
band of men and women who were devoted to this cause, as he
himself was. We have in this country a very noble woman, who
taught the English people much upon this question, about thirty
years ago; I allude to Harriet Martineau. (Cheers.) I recollect
well the impression with which I read a most powerful and
touching paper which she had written, and which was published in
the number of the _Westminster Review_ for December, 1838. It
was entitled "The Martyr Age of the United States." The paper
introduced to the English public the great names which were
appearing on the scene in connection with this cause in America.
There was, of course I need not mention, our eminent guest of
to-day; there was Arthur Tappan, and Lewis Tappan, and James G.
Birney of Alabama, a planter and slave-owner, who liberated his
slaves and came north, and became, as I think, the first
presidential candidate upon abolition principles in the United
States. (Hear, hear.) There were besides them, Dr. Channing,
John Quincy Adams, a statesman and President of the United
States, and father of the eminent man who is now Minister from
that people amongst us. (Cheers.) Then there was Wendell
Phillips, admitted to be by all who know him perhaps the most
powerful orator who speaks the English language. (Hear, hear.) I
might refer to others, to Charles Sumner, the well-known
statesman, and Horace Greeley, I think the first of journalists
in the United States, if not the first of journalists in the
world. (Hear, hear.) But besides these, there were of noble
women not a few. There was Lydia Maria Child; there were the two
sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, ladies who came from South
Carolina, who liberated their slaves, and devoted all they had
to the service of this just cause; and Maria Weston Chapman, of
whom Miss Martineau speaks in terms which, though I do not
exactly recollect them, yet I know described her as
noble-minded, beautiful and good. It may be that there are some
of her family who are now within the sound of my voice. If it be
so, all I have to say is, that I hope they will feel, in
addition to all they have felt heretofore as to the character of
their mother, that we who are here can appreciate her services,
and the services of all who were united with her as co-operators
in this great and worthy cause. But there was another whose name
must not be forgotten, a man whose name must live for ever in
history, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who in the free State of Illinois
laid down his life for the cause. (Hear, hear.) When I read that
article by Harriet Martineau, and the description of those men
and women there given, I was led, I know not how, to think of a
very striking passage which I am sure must be familiar to most
here, because it is to be found in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
After the writer of that epistle has described the great men and
fathers of the nation, he says: "Time would fail me to tell of
Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephtha, of David, of Samuel,
and the Prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned
to flight the armies of the aliens." I ask if this grand passage
of the inspired writer may not be applied to that heroic band
who have made America the perpetual home of freedom?
(Enthusiastic cheering.)
Thus, in spite of all that persecution could do, opinion grew in
the North in favor of freedom; but in the South, alas! in favor
of that most devilish delusion that slavery was a Divine
institution. The moment that idea took possession of the South
war was inevitable. Neither fact nor argument, nor counsel, nor
philosophy, nor religion, could by any possibility affect the
discussion of the question when once the Church leaders of the
South had taught their people that slavery was a Divine
institution; for then they took their stand on other and
different, and what they in their blindness thought higher
grounds, and they said, "Evil! be thou my good;" and so they
exchanged light for darkness, and freedom for bondage, and good
for evil, and, if you like, heaven for hell. * * * *
There was a universal feeling in the North that every care
should be taken of those who had so recently and marvellously
been enfranchised. Immediately we found that the privileges of
independent labor were open to them, schools were established in
which their sons might obtain an education that would raise them
to an intellectual position never reached by their fathers; and
at length full political rights were conferred upon those who a
few short years, or rather months, before, had been called
chattels, and things to be bought and sold in any market. (Hear,
hear.) And we may feel assured, that those persons in the
Northern States who befriended the negro in his bondage will not
now fail to assist his struggles for a higher position. * * *
* * * *
To Mr. Garrison more than any other man this is due; his is the
creation of that opinion which has made slavery hateful, and
which has made freedom possible in America. (Hear, hear.) His
name is venerated in his own country, venerated where not long
ago it was a name of obloquy and reproach. His name is venerated
in this country and in Europe wheresoever Christianity softens
the hearts and lessens the sorrows of men; and I venture to say
that in time to come, near or remote I know not, his name will
become the herald and the synonym of good to millions of men who
will dwell on the now almost unknown continent of Africa. (Loud
cheers.) * * *
To Mr. Garrison, as is stated in one of the letters which has
just been read, to William Lloyd Garrison it has been given, in
a manner not often permitted to those who do great things of
this kind, to see the ripe fruit of his vast labors. Over a
territory large enough to make many realms, he has seen hopeless
toil supplanted by compensated industry; and where the bondman
dragged his chain, there freedom is established for ever. (Loud
cheers.) We now welcome him amongst us as a friend whom some of
us have known long; for I have watched his career with no common
interest, even when I was too young to take much part in public
affairs; and I have kept within my heart his name, and the names
of those who have been associated with him in every step which
he has taken; and in public debate in the halls of peace, and
even on the blood-soiled fields of war, my heart has always been
with those who were the friends of freedom. (Renewed cheering.)
We welcome him then with a cordiality which knows no stint and
no limit for him and for his noble associates, both men and
women.
After this eloquent and able speech by the chairman, the honor of
proposing an address to Mr. Garrison devolved upon the Duke of Argyll,
who introduced the subject in the following glowing speech:
SPEECH OF THE DUKE OF ARGYLL.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN:--It is hard to follow an
address of such extraordinary beauty, simplicity and power; but
it now becomes my duty at your command, sir, to move an address
of hearty congratulation to our distinguished guest, William
Lloyd Garrison. (Cheers.) Sir, this country is from time to time
honored by the presence of many distinguished, and of a few
illustrious men; but for the most part we are contented to
receive them with that private cordiality and hospitality with
which, I trust, we shall always receive strangers who visit our
shores. The people of this country are not pre-eminently an
emotional people; they are not naturally fond of public
demonstrations; and it is only upon rare occasions that we give,
or can give, such a reception as that we see here this day.
There must be something peculiar in the cause which a man has
served, in the service which he has rendered, and in our own
relations with the people whom he represents, to justify or to
account for such a reception. (Hear, hear.) As regards the
cause, it is not too much to say that the cause of negro
emancipation in the United States of America has been the
greatest cause which, in ancient or in modern times, has been
pleaded at the bar of the moral judgment of mankind. (Cheers.) I
know that to some this will sound as the language of exaggerated
feeling; but I can only say that I have expressed myself in
language which I believe conveys the literal truth. (Hear,
hear.)
I have, indeed, often heard it said in deprecation of the amount
of interest which was bestowed in this country on the cause of
negro emancipation in America, that we are apt to forget the
forms of suffering which are immediately at our own doors, over
which we have some control, and to express exaggerated feeling
as to the forms of suffering with which we have nothing to do,
and for which we are not responsible. I have never objected to
that language in so far as it might tend to recall us to the
duties which lie immediately around us, and in so far as it