Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-06-17
anti GIouGrp.


kpU(OH vi IIJuCltUA DUuN[uACJ
A FUGITIVE SL1 We,
At the Anniversary Of the american Antj-SIa-
oery Socicty i'm the Tabernacle,
on I&esday Morning.
Mr. Douglass was introduced to the audience
by VIM. Lloyd Garrison, Esq, President of the
American Ant-SIayery Society," and, upon ta-
king the platform, was greeted with enthusias-
tic and long-contnued applause by the vast con-
course which filled the spacious Tabernacle to
overlooking. As soon as the audience became
silent, Mr.. Douglass with, at first, slight
degree of embarrassment addressed them as
follows:
am very glad to be here. ] am very Glad to
represent at this Anniversary glad again to min
gle my voice with those with whom have stood
Identified with those with whom | have labored,
for the last seven years, for the purpose of undo
ing the burdens of my brethren and Fastening
the day of their emancipation
do not doubt but that large portion of this
audience will be disappointed, both by the man.
ar and the matter Of whatI shall this day set
forth. The extraordinary and unmerited eulo-
ges which have been showered upon me, here
and elsewhere, have done much to create expec-
tations which, | am well aware | can never hope
to crafty. am here, simple man, knowing
what have experienced in Slavery, knowing it
to be a bad system, and desiring, by all Christian
MEANS to seek its overthrow am not here to
please you with an eloquent speech with a rein-
ed and logical address, but to speak to you the
sober truths Of heart oyerborne with gratitude
to God that we have in this land, cursed as it is
with Slavery, so noble band to second my eff
forts 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 I'M
| fortunately cursed
| Since the last time | had the pleasure of min
Cling my voice with he voices of my friends on
this platform, many interesting and even trying
events have occurred to me. | have experen-
ced within the last eighteen or twenty months,
many incidents, all of which it would be inter
esting to communicate to you; butmany of these
| shall be compelled to pass over at this time,
and confne my remarks to giving general out
line of the manner and spirit with which have
been hailed abroad and welcomed at the differ
ent 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 claimed to
own me as his property | had written "a book
giving history of that portion of my life spent
in the gall and bitterness and degradation of
Slavery, in which also identified my oppressors
as the perpetrators of some of the most atrocious
crimes. This had deeply inccnsed them against
me, and stirred up within them the purpose of
revenge, and, my whereabouts being known, |
believed it necessary for me, if | would preserve
my liberty, to leave the shores of America, and
take up my abode in some other land, at least
until the excitement oCcasloned by the publica
ton of my Narrative had subsidized. | went tc
) England Monarchiaa England to get rid O
Democratic Slavery; and | must confess that al
the very threshold was satisfied that had gone
r to the right place. Say what YOU will of Eng
land--of the degradaton-of the povorty-ant
there is much Of it there-sly what you will o
the oppression and suffering going on in Eng
land at this time there is Liberty there, there is
Freedom there not only for the white man bu
, for the black man also The instant that step
: ped upon the shore and looked into the faces Of
4 the crowd around me, ] saw in every man a rec
: ogniton Of my manhood, and an absence,
perfect absence, of everything like that disgust
: ing hate with which we are pursued in this coun
try. Cheers | looked around in vain to see il
: any mans face token of the slightest aversion
: to me on account of my complexion. Even tn
5 cabmen demeaned themselves to me as they die
e to other men, and the very dogs and pigs of oil
y England treated me as man! | cannot, how
r ever, my friends, dwell upon this anti-Preludic
y or rather the many illustrations Of the absence
: of Prejudice against color in England but vii
= proceed, at once, to defend the Right and but
l. of invoking English aid and English sympath
/ for the overthrow of American Slavery, for TIT
= education of Colored Americans, and to forward
in every way the interests Of humanity; mas
S much as the right of appleang to England 70
o aid in overthrowing Slavery in this country ha
a been called in question: in public meetings AM
e by the press, in this City
/ cannot agree with my friend Mr.. Garrison i
Q relation to my love and attachment to this lane
IS | have no love for America, as such; | have n
/ patriotism. | have no country. What countr
81 have |? The Institutions of this Country do nc
d know me-do not recognize me as man.
II am not thought of, spoken of, in any direction
a. out of the Anti-Slavery ranks, as man. | an
lie not thought of or spoken of, except as piece {
4, property belonging to some Christian Slaveholc
err, and all the Religious and Political Institution
st of this Country alike pronounce me Slave ant
to chattel. Now in such country as this | car
e not have patriotism. The only thing that link
a me to this land is my family, and the painful cor
ri seriousness that here there are 100000 of m
he fellow creatures grooming beneath the iron rod {
I'd the worst despotsm that could be devised eve
r in Pandemonium-that here are men and brett
In rem who are identified with me by their complies
e. ion, identified with me by their hatred of Slavery
5, identified with me by their love and aspiration
e, for Liberty identified with me by the stripes W
at on their backs, their inhuman wrongs and Cruz