CHAP. VIII. an exceptional case like that of Prof. Laboulaye being very rare. Even he, though accurate, is a good deal fettered and limited in his English speech."

1867.

His regret was augmented during the two days' sessions of the International Anti-Slavery Conference, which met in Paris on the 26th and 27th of August, in the Salle Herz, for he could neither understand nor enjoy the eloquent speeches of Laboulaye (who presided, in the absence of the venerable Duc de Broglie) and Cochin,1 or even the brief remarks of his friend and fellow-countryman, John C. Palfrey,2 who ventured to address the meeting in French; and the exordium of his own carefully prepared speech, on the second day, was a lament that he was obliged to listen to the French and Spanish speakers as though he had neither a head nor a heart to respond to their noble sentiments, and a declaration of his "abiding faith in the feasibility of a universal language, at some period or other."

The Conference was convened by the French Emancipation Committee, the Spanish Abolition Society, and the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and both delegate and non-delegate members (including among the latter the women, to whom Prof. Laboulaye paid a graceful compliment) were invited to vote on the resolutions presented as the conclusions of the assembly. Of discussions there were none, for, under the stringent laws of the Second Empire respecting public meetings, a special authorization for the gathering had to be obtained from the Minister of the Interior, and the limitation to two days compelled a pre-arranged and inflexible programme. The various papers read or contributed dealt with the East African slave trade, slavery in Cuba and Brazil, and the results of emancipation in the British Colonies and the United States; and addresses beseeching their

1 M. Cochin reminded Mr. Garrison and his children of Wendell Phillips in his personal appearance.

2 Other American members of the Conference were James A. Thome of Cleveland (ante, 1 : 454) and Levi Coffin of Cincinnati.

1867.

sympathy and coöperation in suppressing slavery and CHAP. VIII. the slave trade in their dominions were subsequently presented in the name of the Conference to the sovereigns of Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, and Zanzibar.

Mr. Garrison, who was warmly recognized and greeted by the Conference as its most eminent member, gave a brief retrospect of the anti-slavery struggle in America, and presented the cheering statistics furnished him by the American Freedman's Union Commission as to the work already accomplished in the education and elevation of the freedmen, upon whom the elective franchise had now been conferred, under the reconstruction law recently enacted by Congress. He closed with words of cheer to the abolitionists of Spain, Portugal, and Brazil, and with a warm tribute to the Duc de Broglie, whom, as the coadjutor of Wilberforce, Clarkson, Buxton, and Macaulay, he had hoped to meet; to the French Republicans of 1848, who, during their brief control of the Government, had promptly abolished slavery in the Colonies; and to Laboulaye, Cochin, Gasparin, Hugo, and Schoelcher,1 "for their powerful testimonies against slavery universally, their clear perception and faithful exposure to the people of France of the real nature and object of the late slaveholding rebellion in the United States, and their valuable support of the American Government in the hour of its greatest extremity."

Circumstances beyond his control prevented Mr. Garrison from fulfilling a conditional promise made before leaving London, to return and attend a grand Temperance fête at the Crystal Palace on Sept. 3d. The disappointment to the thirty thousand people gathered there on that day, many of them from distant parts of the kingdom,

1 Victor Schoelcher (ante, p. 197) had resided in London since the Coup d'État of 1851, and declined to attend the Conference while France was still under the Emperor's heel. It was difficult for Laboulaye and Cochin, in their addresses, to conceal the bitterness and humiliation with which they regarded the espionage and repression of public assemblies by the official censor.

Mar. 23.

1867.

Report of Paris A. S.

Conference,

p. 38.

CHAP. VIII. Was very great; but he sent a letter of testimony which was printed and distributed to the multitude.

1867.

Aug. 31.
Sept. 1.

Sept. 4.

On the 29th of August Mr. Garrison and his children left Paris for Switzerland, where they spent the entire month of September. They were accompanied during the first fortnight by their friends, Mr. and Mrs. George A. Blanchard of Concord, New Hampshire, and by Richard D. Webb, who had come from Dublin for the purpose and to attend the Anti-Slavery Conference as well. More delightful company it would have been hard to find. The Blanchards were the best of fellow-travellers, and Mr. Webb's wit and jollity were inexhaustible, keeping the party in constant merriment. Their course followed the usual track from Geneva to Chamonix, where Mr. Garrison's agility in descending the Flégère made him foot-sore for days; but the glorious views of the Mont Blanc range, surpassing anything he had ever seen, were ample recompense. His spirits rose with the increasing grandeur of the scenery and he sang exuberantly. The familiar lines from Byron and Coleridge were frequently repeated by him and Mr. Webb, who discussed many a topic of mutual interest as they drove or walked or sat together during their journeyings and restings; and their friendship of twenty-seven years ripened to the closest mutual affection. The weather was perfect, the skies cloudless. They had a day of rare delight at a little pension near Castle

1"I spent three weeks with the Garrisons in Paris and Switzerland. It was a time of intense enjoyment, for I exceedingly liked my companions. As to Mr. Garrison himself, he is the most delightful man I have ever known-magnanimous, generous, considerate, and, as far as I can see, every way morally excellent. I can perceive that he has large faith, is very credulous, is not deeply read, and has little of the curiosity or thirst for knowledge which educated people are prone to. But, take him for all in all, I know no such other man. His children are most affectionate and free with him-yet they have their own opinions and express them freely, even when they differ most widely from his" (MS. Feb. 5, 1868, R. D. Webb to E. Quincy). "People who travel together have an excellent opportunity of knowing and testing one another. . . I have never on the whole known a man who bears to be more thoroughly known, or is so sure to be loved and reverenced" (MS. Oct. 9, 1867, R. D. Webb to E. P. Nichol).