CHAP. VI. 1846. Lib. 16:22. AT CHAPTER VI. THIRD MISSION TO ENGLAND.-1846. T the annual meeting of the Massachusetts AntiSlavery Society on January 30, 1846, the following resolution, of Mr. Garrison's moving, was adopted: "That the special thanks of this Society are proffered to our untiring coadjutor, Henry C. Wright, for the fidelity with which he has unmasked the vaunted Free Church of Scotland for conniving at the great iniquity of American slavery, by soliciting and receiving its pecuniary assistance and religious coöperation; for all his labors abroad, to secure in aid of our anti-slavery enterprise the generous sympathies and Christian coöperation of the good and philanthropic in England and Europe; and, in particular, for the revelation which he has made to them as to the guilty compromises of the American Union - thus invoking their moral abhorrence of such an unholy compact, and securing their righteous testimony against it." The secession of the Free Church of Scotland from the Established Church was consummated in May, 1843. The grounds of separation involved the voluntary abandonment of State support for the ministers of the denomination, and made necessary the raising of a Sustentation Fund. Before the date in question, therefore, Dr. Rev. Thos. Chalmers had arranged for an oecumenical collection, of which the American contingent was not to be despised. Charleston, the cradle of lovers of freedom-"in the abstract" was very prompt to respond to this appeal. Lib. 14:57. Seven different "Evangelical" denominations begged the Rev. Thomas Smyth, D. D., to preach a sermon on it and pass the contribution box in his Presbyterian church, Chalmers. 1846. which he did, with many touching references to "tyranny CHAP. VI. and oppression," and many tropes in which Liberty cut a pretty figure. This discourse had the desired effect in raising a sum of money, to which the mayor of the city contributed his mite and his name. And so pleased was the schismatic pastor of Free St. David's, Glasgow, that he reprinted the Rev. Dr. Smyth's unmoral rhetoric, with a prefatory note. To his surprise, however, a wellinformed, but irreverent, Glasgow editor exposed "the Lib. 14:57 flashy, high-sounding, unmeaning words" of the Charleston divine; and, hoping that the money had not yet arrived, looked to see the Free Church treasurer send it back by return of steamer, as blood-stained, together with a sermon "suited to the circumstances of slaveholders," for the special benefit of the Rev. Dr. Smyth. Lib. 14:34. The poor editor found his excuse, perhaps, in the fact that religious Scotland was just then greatly exercised by the news that a South Carolina judge had passed sentence of death on a Northern man, John L. Brown, for 51,62,66,67. aiding the escape of a female slave. The incident, except among abolitionists,1 created no excitement in this Lib. 14:67. country. In England it was pathetically commented on 87. in the House of Lords by Brougham and by the Lord Lib. 14:67. Chief-Justice Denman, who spoke, as William Ashurst 2 wrote to the Liberator, "in the name of all the Judges of Lib. 14:87. England on this horrible iniquity." O'Connell thundered against it before the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Lib. 14: 102. Society. A memorial to the nonentity known as the Churches of Christ in South Carolina, "as representing those of other provinces, confederated in the United States of America," was drawn up and signed by more Lib. 14:67, than 1300 "ministers and office-bearers of Christian churches and benevolent societies in Lancashire, London, and elsewhere in England." Hardly was this surpassed by the Scotch conscience, which called great meetings 1 See Whittier's poem and prefatory note on this incident on p. 89, vol. 3, of his Writings, ed. 1888. 2 Under the nom de guerre of "Edward Search." 77. 67.77. Lib. 14:67. Lib. 14:66, some under the lead of the Glasgow Emancipation Society, but vigorously supported by the clergy; one, a town meeting, at Edinburgh, summoned by the Magistrates and Council. What more natural than to couple Brown's case with the action of the Free Church in accepting contributions from American slaveholders-and South Carolinian in particular? John Belton O'Neall; The British protest-O'Connell's above all, the Southern judge bearing an Irish name1-was heard and felt in South Carolina; and, whether or not it was heeded, Brown's sentence was commuted to whipping. The Free Church was less sensitive, and its collecting agents, already landed in Lib. 14:66. America, were guided neither by the home feeling nor by the timely admonition of the abolitionists. From the Tappans and their associates of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society they received in silence a long and Lib. 14:65. solemn warning not to prosecute their tour through the South, since it would inevitably commit them to the palliation of slavery. They were also fully advised, in the same communication, of the pro-slavery character of the Presbyterian organization in this country. This letter, dated April 2, 1844, was followed by one Lib. 16:73. privately addressed on April 27 by Mr. Garrison to the Rev. William Chalmers, one of the Commissioners, inviting him to be one of the speakers at the approaching anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York. Mr. Chalmers, however, was not prone to make entangling alliances. He had happened to be in New Bedford on April 13, 14, when Mr. Garrison was lecturing on Non-Resistance, the Sabbath, the Ministry, and the Church; and though he took good care not to go and listen to him, he prudently preserved the placard announcing the lectures, and carried it to Scotland, that it might serve to explain the difficulties of the American churches with reference to the anti-slavery movement. Not only was he shocked by the subjects presented, and 1 "How he [O'Connell] abhorred him for his name! Let his O be blotted out at any rate, and then nail the rap to the counter" (Lib. 14:102). the reported views advanced by the lecturer, but his keen CHAP. VI. eye detected on the placard a sneer at the Sabbath, which 1846. had not been designated by its holy name, but simply as "the next day"-to Saturday! So on May 1 he sat down and declined the invitation on the ground of conflicting engagements-not, however, withholding the pointed remark to Mr. Garrison, that, while having his own views as to slavery, he did not itemize Sabbath, Ministry, and Church among the sum of all villanies. Then, on the good advice of a shrewder friend, he pocketed the letter instead of mailing it, and gave it to the light through a Lib. 16:73. Scotch paper a year later-meantime having, with his colleagues, picked up some twenty thousand dollars of American money as the reward of discretion on the con- F. Douglass troverted topic of slavery. MS. Jan. 29, 1846, to F. Jack son. Nevertheless, the cry of the Glasgow Emancipation So- Lib. 14: 206. ciety, "Send back the money!" was not relaxed. Henry C. Wright, who had survived the rigors of the water-cure 73, 75. Lib. 15:83. Lib. 15:135. 189, 190. at Graefenberg and returned to Scotland, gave a power- Lib. 15:66, ful reënforcement to the movement, to which rallied also, across the border, Clarkson and George Thompson, and the Chartist leader, Henry Vincent. To their aid came over ocean, in the autumn of 1845, James N. Buffum of Lynn, and Frederick Douglass, who first took Ireland in Lib. 15:178, their way, and then lent a hand in the agitation, till, in January, 1846, the latter could report, "Old Scotland MS. to F. boils like a pot!" The most extraordinary popular demonstrations were made against Free Church edifices-of course without the instigation or sanction of the abolitionists proper. The slaves' blood was realistically imi- Lib. 16:53, tated with splotches of red paint on walls or steps, with or without the corresponding legend; and "Send back the Jackson. 87. money!" was placarded all over Auld Reekie. Not a newspaper in Scotland could abstain from the mêlée, at Lib. 16:87. the height of which Thompson was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh. The thoughts of the American group naturally turned to their old leader at home, as if his presence might give 69. Lib. 15:1, 75, 81; 16: 73, 85, 102. CHAP. VI. the coup de grâce. The disunion doctrine - political non1846. fellowship with American slaveholders- had been vigorously expounded by Henry C. Wright, and coupled with the burning and related doctrine of ecclesiastical non-felLib. 16:35, lowship; and a tract of his on the former subject was circulated by the thousand. The Free Church leaders, bent on retaining the American contributions, passed from general apologies for slaveholding to attacks on the Old Organization, and in especial on Wright and Garrison for their Sabbatarian heresies. On April 21, this phase of the controversy was dwelt upon by Mr. Wright at a great meeting of the Emancipation Society at the City Hall in Glasgow; and George Thompson, after payLib. 16:86, ing a most sincere and feeling tribute to his transatlantic friend, offered on behalf of the Society a resolution of sympathy with Mr. Garrison and his co-workers, and an invitation to come over and help the cause in Great Britain — with particular reference to an anti-slavery conference to be held in London in August. These proceedings were published in the Liberator of May 29. 87. 22, 1846. The proposal was very tempting. The opening year had found Mr. Garrison in poor health and much pecuniary embarrassment arising from the financial condition of the Liberator. Generous friends could and did gratefully relieve the one;1 and all knew the truth of what Wendell Phillips expressed in writing to Mrs. Garrison of her husband: "I think his health needs, every few years, that he should throw completely off the burden of the paper." On the other hand, the country was now plunged in the Mexican War; never had there been a more signal occasion for impressing upon the popular conscience the 1 MSS. Jan. 1, 1846, W. L. G. to Mrs. Louisa Loring; Jan. 6, Ann and Wendell Phillips to W. L. G. and wife; Jan. 12, W. L. G. to F. Jackson; Jan. 21, S. Philbrick to W. L. G. Mr. Phillips wrote: "I owe you, dear Garrison, more than you would let me express, and, my mother and wife excepted, more than to any other one. Since within the sphere of your influence, I trust I have lived a better man. I rejoice to say this here, because the very intimacy of our relation has always made me delicate of saying it in public, though I am glad to feel that most men know it to be true." |