The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-01 00:00:00

schools were established where they had not hereto-
fore been known ; and, finally, full political rights
were conferred upon the people who only twelve
months or two or three years before had been de-
scribed as chattels, and things to be bought and
sold in any market. (Loud cheers.) We may,
therefore, feel that those persons in the Northern
States who befriended the slave in his bondage will
not now forsake him in his freedom. May we not
say, on a review of what has taken place, that his-
tory has no sadder fame; and may we not, if we
take a little different view, say that history has no
brighter fame? (Cheers.) To Mr. Garrison, in
the first instance, this is due. The creation of that
opinion that has made slavery hateful and freedom
possible in America is due in great part to him.
His name is venerated in his own country, where
not long ago it was a name of obloquy and re-
proach ; and it is venerated in this country and in
Europe, and wheresoever Christianity softens the
heart and lessens the sorrows of mankind. (Cheers.)
And in time to come his name will become the herald
and synonyme of good to millions of men who will
dwell on the now almost unknown continent of
Africa. But we must not allow our own character to
be forgotten or depreciated, even whilst we are
saying favourable things of our friend here and
our friends across the water. We can share in
this triumph. (Cheers.) We have liberated
slaves. Our position was different ; our negroes
were not so numerous, and were 4,000 miles
away ; we had no prejudices of colour ; we
had a Parliament omnipotent over those colonies,
and public opinion, acting here upon Parliament,
was far too powerful for the resistance of those who
were interested in the continuance of slavery. Still
we liberated slaves, and English soil did not reject
a bondman ; at the moment he touched it it made
him free. We had our Clarkson, our Wilberforce,
our Buxton, and our Sturge ; and we have in this
hall the most eloquent champion for the freedom of
the slave that England has ever possessed in our
friend George Thompson. (Great cheering.) We
may share in some degree in the renown of our
guest, and may divide with the country from which
he comes these honours. Our country once was
his, and is still; for did not his fathers bear allegi-
ance to our ancient monarchy, and were they not
at one time citizens of this English commonwealth ;
and may we not boast that the freedom which now
overspreads his noble nation has sprung into life
amongst our common ancestors. (Cheers.) But
to Mr. Garrison it has been given, in a manner not
often afforded to those who do great things of this
kind, to see the great fruit of his great labour over
a territory large enough to make many realms. He
has seen hopeless toil supplanted by a compensated
industry, and where a bondman dragged his chains
there freedo:n is enthroned for ever. (Great cheer-
ing.) We welcome him among us as a friend whom
some of us have long known. We welcome him
with cordiality which knows no stint or limit.
(Cheers.) And we venture to pass a verdict which
will be sanctioned by all inankind—not only by
those now living, but by those who will come after
us, and to whom his struggles, and those of his
noble associates and their great success, shall be a
help in those struggles which remain for men and
nations. (Cheers.) One of our oldest and greatest
poets has furnished a line which shall declare that
verdict. He would. not ask—Are these persons
renowned now for their great work? But of Wil-
liam Lloyd Garrison, and the noble men and women
who were associated with him, he would say—Are
they not

" On Fame's eternal bead-roll worthy to be Sled ?"
(Loud and prolonged cheering.)
The Duke of ARGYLL said it was hard to follow
an address of such extraordinary beauty, simplicity,
and power ; but it became his duty to move an ad-
dress of hearty congratulation to their distinguished
guest, Mr. William Garrison. (Cheers.) After a
few remarks from his grace, the following address
was read :
To Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Esq.—Sir, We heartily
welcome you to England in the name of thousands
of Englishmen who have watched with admiring
sympathy your labours for the redemption of the
negro race from slavery, and for that which is a
higher abject than the redemption of any single
race, the vindication of the universal principles of
humanity and justice; and who, having sympathised
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 advanc-
ing to complete ascendancy 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 organised
and vigorously wielded, placed in its hands the power
of the State. It bestowed political offices and hon-
ours, and was thereby enabled to command the
apostate homage of political ambition. Other ha-
tions 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 perma-
nent 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 weak-
ness, and in obscurity. The emissaries of authority
with difficulty found the office of the Liberator in a
mean room, where ite editor was aided only by a
negro boy, and supported by a few insignificant
persons—so the officers termed them—of all colours.
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 im-
minent peril of death almost by a miracle. You
were not turned from your path of devo-
tion 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 honoured in the very strong-
hold 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 Libe-
rator 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 peace-
ful means. But the fierce passions engendered by
slavery in the slave-owner determined it otherwise ;
and we feel at liberty to rejoice, since the struggle
was inevitable, that its issue has been the preserva-
tion, 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 mode-
ration 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.which you
willm ofirnedwme welcomeany you to a country in
sin-
cere and warm friends.
Earl RussEr.i. was received with long-continued
applause. He said, as one of many sincere admirers
of freedom, he joined in this welcome, and held it
to be a distinguished honour to take part in such a
tribute of admiration to Mr. Garrison. It is the
fortune of our rice that if many evils beset man-
kind, and the « oppressor's wrong" is often deeply
felt, and institutions sometimes prevail to condemn
million to hopeless servitude, the Almighty tins
planted in some breasts a heart of indignation
against wrong, and a readiness to encounter any
evil—even martyrdom— in order to deliver man-
kind, so that these evils are done away. (Cheers.)
That spirit :is found in Mr. Garrison. The
noble earl joined in the hope that this occasion will
tend to draw closer the ties of friendship and
affection that ought to unite us to America, and
make us perpetual friends—(cheers) ; and went on
to say—l have my own fault to acknowledge in
this respect, because I certainly thought that
when the slave States of America endeavoured
to establish their independence, and at the same
time to perpetuate the institution of slavery, the
Northern States ought at once to have pro-
claimed not only their abhorrence, but the aboli-
tion and destruction, of slavery. Distance and want
of knowledge of the circumstances of America made
me fall into error in this respect. (Cheers.) I was
afterwards convinced by the distinguished and
eminent man who represents the United States in
this country—l mean Mr. Adams—(cheers)—l was
convinced by him, in frequent conversations on the
subject, that I had not rendered due justice to Mr.
Lincoln, who was the friend of freedom, and not