The Underground Railroad
might tend to make us feel the forgetfulness of which we are
sometimes guilty, of the misery and poverty in our own country;
but, on the other hand, I will never admit, for I think it would
be confounding great moral distinctions, that the miseries which
arise by way of natural consequence out of the poverty and the
vices of mankind, are to be compared with those miseries which
are the direct result of positive law and of a positive
institution, giving to man property in man. (Loud cheers.) It is
true, also, that there have been forms of servitude, meaning
thereby compulsory labor, against which we do not entertain the
same feelings of hostility and horror with which we have
regarded slavery in America.
* * * * *
It was a system of which it may be truly said, that it was twice
cursed. It cursed him who served, and it cursed him that owned
the slave. (Hear, hear.) When we recollect the insuperable
temptations which that system held out to maintain in a state of
degradation and ignorance a whole race of mankind; the horrors
of the internal slave-trade, more widely demoralizing, in my
opinion, than the foreign slave-trade itself; the violence which
was done to the sanctities of domestic life; the corrupting
effect which it was having upon the very churches of
Christianity, when we recollect all these things, we can fully
estimate the evil from which my distinguished friend and his
coadjutors have at last redeemed their country. (Cheers.) It was
not only the Slave states which were concerned in the guilt of
slavery; it had struck its roots deep in the free States of
North America. * * *
We honor Mr. Garrison, in the first place, for the immense pluck
and courage he displayed. (Cheers.) Sir, you have truly said
that there is no comparison between the contests in which he had
to fight and the most bitter contests of our own public life. In
looking back, no doubt, to the contest which was maintained in
this country some thirty-five years ago against slavery in our
colonies, we may recollect that Clarkson and Wilberforce were
denounced as fanatics, and had to encounter much opprobrium; but
it must not be forgotten that, so far as regards the entwining
of the roots of slavery into the social system, in the opinions
and interests of mankind, there was no comparison whatever
between the circumstances of that contest here and those which
attended it in America. (Hear, hear.) The number of persons who
in this country were enlisted on the side of slavery by personal
interest was always comparatively few; whilst, in attacking
slavery at its head-quarters in the United States, Mr. Garrison
had to encounter the fiercest passions which could be roused. *
* * *
Thank God, Mr. Garrison appears before us as the representative
of the United States; freedom is now the policy of the
government and the assured policy of the country, and we can
to-day accept and welcome Mr. Garrison, not merely as the
liberator of the slaves, but as the representative also of the
American Government. (Cheers.) * * * *
THE ADDRESS TO WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, ESQ.
"SIR:--We heartily welcome you to England in the name of
thousands of Englishmen who have watched with admiring sympathy
your labors for the redemption of the negro race from slavery,
and for that which is a higher object than the redemption of any
single race, the vindication of the universal principles of
humanity and justice; and who, having sympathized with you in
the struggle, now rejoice with you in the victory.
"Forty years ago, when you commenced your efforts, slavery
appeared to be rapidly advancing to complete ascendency in
America. Not only was it dominant in the Southern States, but
even in the Free States it had bowed the constituencies,
society, and, in too many instances, even the churches to its
will. Commerce, linked to it by interest, lent it her support. A
great party, compactly organized and vigorously wielded, placed
in its hands the power of the state. It bestowed political
offices and honors, and was thereby enabled to command the
apostate homage of political ambition. Other nations felt the
prevalence in your national councils of its insolent and
domineering spirit. There was a moment, most critical in the
history of America and of the world, when it seemed as though
that continent, with all its resources and all its hopes, was
about to become the heritage of the slave power.
"But Providence interposes to prevent the permanent triumph of
evil. It interposes, not visibly or by the thunderbolt, but by
inspiring and sustaining high moral effort and heroic lives.
"You commenced your crusade against slavery in isolation, in
weakness, and in obscurity. The emissaries of authority with
difficulty found the office of the _Liberator_ in a mean room,
where its editor was aided only by a negro boy, and supported by
a few insignificant persons (so the officers termed them) of all
colors. You were denounced, persecuted, and hunted down by mobs
of wealthy men alarmed for the interests of their class. You
were led out by one of these mobs, and saved from their violence
and the imminent peril of death, almost by a miracle. You were
not turned from your path of devotion to your cause, and to the
highest interests of your country, by denunciation, persecution,
or the fear of death. You have lived to stand victorious and
honored in the very stronghold of slavery; to see the flag of
the republic, now truly free, replace the flag of slavery on
Fort Sumter; and to proclaim the doctrines of the _Liberator_ in
the city, and beside the grave of Calhoun.
"Enemies of war, we most heartily wish, and doubt not that you
wish as heartily as we do, that this deliverance could have been
wrought out by peaceful means. But the fierce passions
engendered by slavery in the slaveowner, determined it
otherwise; and we feel at liberty to rejoice, since the struggle
was inevitable, that its issue has been the preservation, not
the extinction, of all that we hold most dear. We are, however,
not more thankful for the victories of freedom in the field than
for the moderation and mercy shown by the victors, which have
exalted and hallowed their cause and ours in the eyes of all
nations.
"We shall now watch with anxious hope the development, amidst
the difficulties which still beset the regeneration of the
South, of a happier order of things in the States rescued from
slavery, and the growth of free communities, in which your name,
with the names of your fellow-workers in the same cause, will be
held in grateful and lasting remembrance.
"Once more we welcome you to a country in which you will find
many sincere admirers and warm friends."
EARL RUSSELL and JOHN STUART MILL, M.P., at the close of the address,
followed with most eloquent speeches, conferring on the honored guest
the highest praise for his life-long and successful labors in the cause
of freedom. After these gentlemen had taken their seats, the Chairman
proposed that the address should be passed unanimously.
The Chairman's call was responded to by the whole assemblage lifting up
their hands; and Mr. Garrison, presenting himself in front of the
platform, was received with an enthusiastic burst of cheering, hats and
handkerchiefs being waved by nearly all present.
SPEECH OF MR. GARRISON.
Mr. Garrison said:--Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,--For
this marked expression of your personal respect, and
appreciation of my labors in the cause of human freedom, and of
your esteem and friendship for the land of my nativity, I offer
you, one and all, my grateful acknowledgments. But I am so
profoundly impressed by the formidable array of rank, genius,
intellect, scholarship, and moral and religious worth which I
see before me, that I fear I shall not be able to address you,
except with a fluttering pulse and a stammering tongue. For me
this is, indeed, an anomalous position. Assuredly, this is
treatment with which I have not been familiar. For more than
thirty years, I had to look the fierce and unrelenting hostility
of my countrymen in the face, with few to cheer me onward. In
all the South I was an outlaw, and could not have gone there,
though an American citizen guiltless of wrong, and though that
flag (here the speaker pointed to the United States ensign) had
been over my head, except at the peril of my life; nay, with the
certainty of finding a bloody grave. (Hear, hear.) In all the
North I was looked upon with hatred and contempt. The whole
nation, subjugated to the awful power of slavery, rose up in
mobocratic tumult against any and every effort to liberate the
millions held in bondage on its soil. And yet I demanded nothing
that was not perfectly just and reasonable, in exact accordance
with the Declaration of American Independence and the Golden
Rule. I was not the enemy of any man living. I cherish no
personal enmities; I know nothing of them in my heart. Even
whilst the Southern slave-holders were seeking my destruction, I
never for a moment entertained any other feeling toward them
than an earnest desire, under God, to deliver them from a deadly
curse and an awful sin. (Hear, hear.) It was neither a sectional
nor a personal matter at all. It had exclusive reference to the
eternal law of justice between man and man, and the rights of
human nature itself.
Sir, I always found in America that a shower of brickbats had a
remarkably tonic effect, materially strengthening to the
back-bone. (Laughter.) But, sir, the shower of compliments and
applause, which has greeted me on this occasion would assuredly
cause my heart to fail me, were it not that this generous
reception is only incidentally personal to myself. (Hear, hear.)
You, ladies and gentlemen, are here mainly to celebrate the
triumph of humanity over its most brutal foes; to rejoice that
universal emancipation has at last been proclaimed throughout
the United States: and to express, as you have already done
through the mouths of the eloquent speakers who have preceded
me, sentiments of peace and of good-will toward the American
Republic. Sure I am that these sentiments will be heartily
reciprocated by my countrymen. (Cheers.)
I must here disclaim, with all sincerity of soul, any special
praise for anything that I have done. I have simply tried to
maintain the integrity of my soul before God, and to do my duty.
(Cheers.) I have refused to go with the multitude to do evil. I
have endeavored to save my country from ruin. I have sought to
liberate such as were held captive in the house of bondage. But
all this I ought to have done.
And now, rejoicing here with you at the marvellous change which
has taken place across the Atlantic, I am unable to express the
satisfaction I feel in believing that, henceforth, my country
will be a mighty power for good in the world. While she held a
seventh portion of her vast population in a state of chattelism,
it was in vain that she boasted of her democratic principles and
her free institutions; ostentatiously holding her Declaration of