Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-05-28
[REronrep roa THE rRIuvNr.]

lhEiohAEb EbN iItL ih4htNLI
-
Mr.. DOUGLASS was introduced to the audi
ence by WIN LLOYD GARRISON, Esq, Presi
dent of the American Anti-Slavery Society
and, upon taking the platform, was greeted
with enthusiastic and long-continued applause
by the vast concourse which filled tho spa,
cious Tabernacle to Overlooking. As soon a:
the audience became silent, MIR. ID. with, al
first, a slight degree of embarrassment, ad.
dressed them as follows;
! am very glad to be here. l am very clad
10 be present at this Anniversary y, glad again
10 mingle my voice with those with whom |
have stood identified, with those with whom
| have laborcd. for the last seven years, for
the purpose Of undoing the burdens of nv
brethren and fastening the day Of their cman-
c%ipation.
| do not doubt but that a large portion Of
this audience will be Disappointed. both by
the manner and the matfer Of what ] shall this
day set forth. The extraordinary and un-
merited eulogies which have been showered
upon me. here and elsewhere, have done
much TO create expectations which, ] am well
aware, | can never hope to crafty. ] am not
here 10 please you with an eloquent speech,
with a refined and logical address, but to
speak to you the sober truths of a heart over
DOIlC Win HIdllluuB W hOu tillL we nave IN
this land, cursed as il is with Slavery, so no.
bic a band to second my efforts and the efforts
of others in the noble work of undoing the
Yoke of Bondage, with which the majority
of the States Of this Union are now so UNI
fortunately cursed.
Since the last time / had the pleasure of
mingling my voice with the voices Of nv
friends on this platform, many interesting
and even trying events have occurred to me.
l have experienced, within the last eighteen
or twenty months, many incidents, all Of
which 1t would be interesting TO COMMUNE
cate TO you but many of these ! shall be
compelled TO pass over at this time, and con-
fine my remarks to giving a general outline
of the manner and spirit with which | have
been hailed abroad, and welcomed at the diff
ferent places which ] have visited during my
absence of twenty months.
You are aware, doubtless, that my object
in going from this country was to get beyond
the reach of the clutch of the man who claim
ed to own Inc as his property. ] had writ
len a book giving a history of that portion of
my life spent in the gall and bitterness and
degradation of Slavery, and in which | also
identified my oppressors as the perpetrators
of some of the most atrocious crimes. This
had deeply incensed them against me, and
oiiiICu up vi llitlh III Pun IOoD u y
venge, and, my whereabouts being known,
l believed it necessary for me, if / would pre-
serve my liberty, to leave the shores of Anne
RIGA and take up my abode ia some other land,
at least until the excitement occasioned by
the publication of my Narrative had sub
sided. ] went to England, Monarchical
England, TO get rid of Democratic Slavery {;
and | must confess that, at the very threshold
| was satisfied that | had gone to the right
place. Say what you will Of England-of
the degradation-of the ~poverty-and there is
much of it thcre-say what you will of the
oppression and suffering going on in England
at this time-there is Liberty there, there is
Freedom there, not only for the white man,
but for the black man also. The instant that
| stepped upon the shore and looked into the
faces of the crowd around me, ! saw in eve
ry man a recognition of my manhood, and an
absence, a perfect absence, Of everything like
that disgusting hate with which we are pur-
sued in this country. [Cheers.] | looked
around in vain to see in any mans face a
token of the slightest aversion TO me on ac-
count of my complexion. Even the cabmen
demeaned themselves to me as they did to
other men, and the very dogs and pigs of old
England treated me as a man ! cannot,
however, my friends, dwell upon this anti
Il Nv u aAltl Wv "a ahAto VI
the absence of Prejudice against Color in
England, but will proceed at once. to defend
Lhe Right and Duty of invoking English aid
and English sympathy for the overthrow OF
American Slavery, for the education of CO.
loIed Americans, and 10 forward, in every
way, the interests of humanity inasmuch as
the right of appealing TO England for aid in
oveTthrowing Slavery in this country has
been called in question, in public meetings,
and by the press, in this City.
! cannot agree with my friend Mr.. CARR
son in relation TO my love and attachment to
this land. | have no love for America, as
such; | have no patriotism. | have no coun.
try. What country have ]? The l~nslilu.
tons of this Country do not know me-dc
not recognize me as a man. am not thought
of, spoken Of, out of the Anti-Slavery ranks
as Il man. | am not thought Of or spoken of
except as a piece of property belonging &c
some Christian Stakeholder, and all the Re.
ligious and Political Institutions of this
Country alike pronounce me a Slave and a
Chattel. Now, in such a country as this,
cannot have patriotism. The only thing tina,
links me to this land is my family, and the
painful Consciousness that here there are
100000 of my fellow creatures groaning
beneath the iron rod of the worst despotisn
that could be devised even in Pandemonium
that here are men and brethren who are
identified with me by their complexion. iden-
tilted with me by their hatred of Slavery,
identified with me by their love and asPira-
tons for Liberty, identified with me by the
stripes upon their backs, their inh9man
wrongs and cruel sufferings. This, and this
only, attaches me to this land, and brings Inc
here with you, and with his country a tlarge,
for the disenthrallment of my oppressed coun,
lrymen, and to overthrow this system OF Sla-
very which is crushing them 10 the eaTth'-