XIV.

REFORM AND DEFORM - PEACE CONGRESS.

THE temperance cause in England is low, and few care to be associated with it. Wine and beer drinking are very common, and men in all professions seem to be as yet untaught in the principles of abstinence. I did not dine with friends, in any one instance which I now remember, in which wine was not on the table, and freely used by more or less present. The clergyman, as he enters and leaves his pulpit, deems it useful to sustain him; and in this respect the congregation freely imitate him. Well do I remember the first time I preached in England: as I came down out of the pulpit into the vestry in the rear, two deacons, one with a bottle and tumbler, and the other with a plate of crackers, met me, saying, "Ye'll take a little, wont ye, brother E.?" The whole scene was so novel, and to me so unexpected, and withal so ludicrous, that I could not avoid an uncivil laugh, at the same time assuring them that I did not need the "good creature." They were surprised that a man whom they had hitherto regarded as in his right mind should refuse a glass of wine. I attended several temperance meetings, and found them of an entirely different character from such gatherings in America. The teetotalers, as they. are called, are to England what the rabid, hot-headed come-outers are to this country. Instead of working as temperance men have done among us, they are violent,

denunciatory, and rash, dealing their blows alike among friends and foes. Whoever does not see the subject as they do, is blacked and lampooned without mercy. Thus good men keep aloof, and dare not trust themselves in company with those who have more zeal than judgment, and who are ready to call down fire upon every head which does not wear the same distinctive badge with themselves. One meeting which I attended was taken up in trying to prove that Sabbath schools, as conducted in England, are promotive of crime; and statistics were introduced to show how large a proportion of criminals have ever been connected with these institutions. The impression made on my mind was, that temperance men must exhibit a more lovely spirit, ere their principles can prevail to any great

extent.

I think, also, that much of the anti-slavery of England is spurious. Englishmen are loud in their de nunciation of our national sin, and almost every week the walls of Exeter Hall ring with some declamation upon the wrongs of American bondage. Well, it is bad enough, earth and heaven knows. No speech can set it forth in a more odious light than it deserves. It is "the sum of all villainies," and no man has a right to defend it. But with the anti-slavery of England I have no patience. It often consists of a curious compound of national spleen and spite, prejudice and revenge. The speeches which are made upon the subject are generally in a taunting, bitter spirit, which no American, however strongly he may be disposed to oppose slavery, can but resent. The citizen of the States is expected, when he makes a speech, to cast some slur back upon his country; and if he does not do it, he is not applauded. Ministers

are treated with disrespect, and shut out of pulpits; statesmen are vexed and plagued by remarks founded on an entire misapprehension of the condition of things in this country, and every means taken to lacerate the feelings of those who are here the sincere friends of freedom. A minister of London said to me one day, "You will preach for me to-morrow, brother E., will you not?" Yes, if you desire it." "But under

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stand,” he added, "I invite you on condition that you have no love of the fugitive slave law, and no fellowship with those who have." "I shall not preach for you," I replied, "on any such conditions. You know me to be from a free state, and opposed to slavery; and your 'condition' is a thrust at my country. I shall not preach for you." He apologized and argued; but I would not consent. Perhaps I exhibited some Yankee obstinacy; but I could not help it. I told him plainly that the flings at our nation come with ill grace from England, by whom the curse of slavery came upon us; from England, whose colonies we were when it was introduced; by whom, for years, until it became too strong to be managed, it was sustained; a nation whose hands are scarcely washed from its stains, and whose suffering poor are calling for redress in vain.

One night, I attended an anti-slavery meeting in Freemasons' Hall. Several speakers were introduced, all of whom came down upon America with a vengeance. One of the speakers asked, "What can Britons do to alleviate the woes of slaves in the States?" When he had taken his seat, Horace Greeley was introduced, who went into the subject in a fine style. In a very deliberate manner, and yet in a way that they could. not misunderstand, he told them to be consistent, redress the wrongs of their own suffering poor, and come

up to the true idea of liberty, and our people would soon follow the example. It was very amusing to witness the effect upon the assembly. Those composing it were too polite to retire or hiss, but a freemason sitting on a hot gridiron could not have been more uneasy than most of them.

Almost every negro who goes from this country is caught up, hugged with desperation, and almost loved to death. If he can show a scar on his back, his fortune is made; and if he can tell a few vulgar, silly stories, he is a wonder of wonders. I would give a negro his due. If he has intellect, goodness, and piety, I would so far respect him, and treat him as kindly as I would a white man under similar circumstances. But the idea of catching up a negro simply because he is a negro, and thrusting him into the pulpit, and on the platform, where a white man, with equal ability and goodness, would not be allowed to stand, is a great piece of folly, which the English just now are desirous of committing to any extent. On the very evening on which I arrived in London, I attended a monstrous Sabbath school meeting, at which were present about five thousand Sabbath school teachers, who were admitted by ticket. Several excellent speeches were made, when an old man got up and went into the slavery question. On the platform was a negro who has been wandering over this country, every where received with kindness, and admitted to pulpits into which he never could have entered if he had been a white man, with no more ability. The old man, — whom I understood to be Rev. John Burnet, — after introducing himself in some incoherent and inconsistent remarks, turned round, and began to address him

self to this negro. He congratulated him upon the

fact that he was no copper-color, half-and-half man, — I use his very words, but a real jet black. Thus applauding him, he shook him by the hand, and flung up his arms, and cried, "England and Africa forever!" No child who had received a new toy could be more pleased than was this aged minister in having a negro to pet and flatter. And the whole congregation enjoyed it much. It gave them an admirable opportunity to vent their spleen at our country, and they could not resist the temptation to improve it.

At the close of the meeting, this negro was called upon to speak. He arose completely intoxicated with the praise he had received. The poor fellow scarcely knew which way to turn, or how to act, and his whole speech was one of the most ridiculous harangues I ever heard. He informed the audience, what they sincerely desired to hear, that there was no liberty, and not a single freeman, in America. To one who was a stranger to our institutions, he would have given the impression that we were a nation whose only product was the bowie-knife, and whose only glory was human slavery. But he could not long refrain from speaking of himself, even to abuse our country; and he began to eulogize his own career, and exult in the favor which he had received from the people of England. "Why," said he, "when the reverend gentleman took me by the hand, my heart swelled up as big as a good fat ox." Thus he continued some fifteen minutes in a strain of foolishness and abuse, which was received by one of the finest audiences ever collected in the world with shouts of approbation. While relating some fact connected with his past experience, he wished to mention something which he said to his wife. Says I, mother Then checking himself, he remarked, "When

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