The Portland daily press., 1868-01-25
w alIker,s AuDanI.

II Is now almost forty years since a panic
was raised In several oi the Southern States,
by the discovery OF an iphanmatory pamphlet
called IAN Appeal to the Colored Citizens cf
the World, !" which was found here and there
iu the hands of the more intelligent slaves.
Very few copies of this little book ever came
into the hands of white men North or Souh
The author. David waiker,was fugitive slave,
and in 1929 when the pamphlet was written,
was living IN Boston. He was negro of pow
ful.hnt unframed intellect. and his little tract
is full OF rude force sometimes absolutely
startling in its earnestness. tt wasprinted at
the expense of alfew eolored men who had
earned something more than q living, and the
author himself undertook the dangerous bust
ness Rof distributing it through the South.
This was years it must be Remembered, be-
lore Mr.. Garrison began his agitation against
slavery. Walker had done his own think
ing. He tod his people that they were
the most degraded and a9ject set OF beings
that ever lived since the world began" He
told item that 'the Christians of America"
treated them f'more cruel aud barbarous than
any heather nation did ans people whom it
had reduced to the same condition" He urg-
ed them to resist to the last "the colonization
MAN" to educate themselves aud prepare to de-
f.nd themselves. Over and over again he in
ssts upon the necessity of education "Do
you suppose, 'he says one man OF sense and
learning would submit himself his father
mother, wife and children, to be slaves to
wretched man like HIMSELF" 1t would be
hard to say what better advice could be given
to an enslaYed race. 1t would be impossible
for any man = show more courage and deyo-
ton than this unlettered slave, who went
back to South Carolina, to Charleston, to the
State and city whence he had escaped, on this
grand, unselfish mission of his 5000
His appeal met with no response. He re-
turned to Massachusetts, siekened and almost
driven to frenzy by the oppression he saw, dis
I appointed and discouraged by the apathy of
his race. He was crushed by anxiety for the
future ofhis children. In this little book he
complains that "the school committee forbid
the colored children learning grammer."
When Garrison began his gallant fight
against slavery, Walker named son for him,
Edward Garrison Walker. Such education as
he could provide for his children they had,
but poverty and illness at length cut short his
still fingered along the Southern horizon.
The day of emancipation was near at hand,
but the morning was cloudy and David Walk
er saw 70 signs of the glorious dawn. His
life had apparently been wasted in fruitless
struggle. -. s.-...-. ............ ..--,.f
His son, Edward Garrison, seems to have
inherited his fathers force of character, and
was born to a happier destiny. In free Massa-
ehusetts he made his way, graduating five OF
sig years ago from Cambridge Law School
and entering Immediately upon the practice
Of his profession. His Office in Charlestown is
under the shadow of the venerable monument
which marks the scene of the first, battle in
the war for national independence. There
where Robert Toombs threatened to cali the
roll of his slaves eyioFed lawyer, the son
Of e, sits secure and deyotes his energies
to the service of his clients as quietly as if his
ancestors had come over in the Mayfower in
stead Of a slave ship, and raised Indian corn
for themselves instead of cotton for their mas
tiers. He is happily married to a woman OF
his own race. His practice is large, and his
ability is uneontested. He has been an active
| politician, and in 1866. as our readers will re-
lature to represent bis native city. In the
Legislature his position, though not conspicu-
Gus, was highly honorable. 1t was his first
| term, and he is not yet thirty With becoming
mo lesty he kept himself in the background
yet showed on the occasions when it was nee
essary to speak for his constituents, that he
was not an unworthy son of David Walker,
He has always been a Republican in politics
as would be expected, and is understood to
have favored the license law during the can
vass last fall. HH fIt H-H.aH Ht
Such is the man who is to address the
citizens of Portland Monday evening
on the fruits Of emancipation. Nc
filter orator could have been select.
ID. In his own person he illustrates the ca
pacity of his race for improvement. His faith
er was an illiterate slave, and here in the next
generation we have man who at the bar and
in the legislative chamber has already made
his mark. His name alone is sufficient an.
swer to the insane theorists who still MAINTAIN
that the negro is incapable of improvement
md unfit for citizenship. He is here to enforce
the lesson which his father strove to teach
to appeal, not now to his own race alone bu
to all classes of Americans, to educate the
freedmen and deal Justly by them. We trus
he will have an audience worthy of his merit.
and Of the great act he comes TO celebrate.