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Page 6
On the 18th of July, 1849, a large meeting of the coloured citizens of
Boston was held in Washington Hall to bid him farewell. At that meeting
the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:--
"_Resolved_,--That we bid our brother, William Wells Brown, God speed in
his mission to Europe, and commend him to the hospitality and
encouragement of all true friends of humanity.
"_Resolved_,--That we forward by him our renewed protest against the
American Colonization Society; and invoke for him a candid hearing
before the British public, in reply to the efforts put forth there
by the Rev. Mr. Miller, or any other agent of said Society."
Two days afterwards he sailed for Europe, encountering on his voyage his
last experience of American prejudice against colour.
On the 28th of August he landed at Liverpool, a time and place memorable
in his life as the first upon which he could truly call himself a free
man upon God's earth. In the history of nations, as of individuals,
there is often singular retributive mercy as well as retributive
justice. In the seventeenth century the victims of monarchical tyranny
in Great Britain found social and political freedom when they set foot
upon Plymouth Rock in New England: in the nineteenth century the victims
of the oppressions of the American Republic find freedom and social
equality upon the shores of monarchical England. Liverpool, which
seventy years back was so steeped in the guilt of negro slavery that
Paine expressed his surprise that God did not sweep it from the face of
the earth, is now to the hunted negro the Plymouth Rock of Old England.
From Liverpool he proceeded to Dublin where he was warmly received by
Mr. Haughton, Mr. Webb, and other friends of the slave, and publicly
welcomed at a large meeting presided over by the first named gentleman.
The reception of Mr. Brown at the Peace Congress in Paris was most
flattering. In a company, comprising a large portion of the _elite_ of
Europe, he admirably maintained his reputation as a public speaker. His
brief address, upon that "war spirit of America which holds in bondage
three million of his brethren," produced a profound sensation. At its
conclusion the speaker was warmly greeted by Victor Hugo, the Abbe
Duguerry, Emile de Girardin, the Pastor Coquerel, Richard Cobden, and
every man of note in the Assembly. At the soiree given by M. De
Tocqueville, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the other fetes given
to the Members of the Congress, Mr. Brown was received with marked
attention.
Having finished his Peace mission in France, he commenced an
Anti-slavery tour in England and Scotland. With that independence of
feeling which those who are acquainted with him know to be his chief
characteristic, he rejected the idea of anything like eleemosynary
support. He determined to maintain himself and family by his own
exertions--by his literary labours, and the honourable profession of a
public lecturer. His first metropolitan reception in England was at a
large, influential, and enthusiastic meeting in the Music Hall, Stone
Street. The members of the Whittington Club--an institution numbering
nearly 2000 members, among whom are Lords Brougham, Dudley Coutts
Stuart, and Beaumont; Charles Dickens, Douglass Jerrold, Martin
Thackeray, Charles Lushington, M.P., Monckton Milnes, M.P., and several
other of the most distinguished legislators and literary men and women
in this country--elected Mr. Brown an honorary member of the Club, as a
mark of respect to his character; and, as the following extract from the
Secretary, Mr. Stundwicke, will show, as a protest against the
distinctions made between man and man on account of colour in
America:--"I have much pleasure in conveying to you the best thanks of
the managing committee of this institution for the excellent lecture you
gave here last evening on the subject of 'Slavery in America,' and also
in presenting you in their names with an honorary membership of the
Club. It is hoped that you will often avail yourself of its privileges
by coming amongst us. You will then see, by the cordial welcome of the
members, that they protest against the odious distinctions made between
man and man, and the abominable traffic of which you have been the
victim."
For the last three years Mr. Brown has been engaged in visiting and
holding meetings in nearly all the large towns in the kingdom upon the
question of American Slavery, Temperance, and other subjects. Perhaps no
coloured individual, not excepting that extraordinary man, Frederick
Douglass, has done more good in disseminating anti-slavery principles in
England, Scotland, and Ireland.
In the spring of 1851, two most interesting fugitives, William and Ellen
Craft, arrived in England. They had made their escape from the South,
the wife disguised in male attire, and the husband in the capacity of
her slave. William Craft was doing a thriving business in Boston, but in
1851 was driven with his wife from that city by the operation of the
Fugitive Slave Law. For several months they travelled in company with
Mr. Brown in this country, deepening the disgust created by Mr. Brown's
eloquent denunciation of slavery by their simple but touching narrative.
At length they were enabled to gratify their thirst for education by
gaining admission to Lady Byron's school at Oakham, Surrey. In the month
of May, Mr. Brown and Mr. and Mrs. Craft were taken by a party of
anti-slavery friends to the Great Exhibition. The honourable manner in
which they were received by distinguished persons to whom their history
was known, and the freedom with which they perambulated the American
department, was a salutary rebuke to the numerous Americans present, in
regard to the great sin of their country--slavery; and its great
folly--prejudice of colour. A curious circumstance occurred during the
Exhibition. Among the hosts of American visitors to this country was Mr.
Brown's late master, Enoch Price, who made diligent inquiry after his
lost piece of property--not, of course, with any view to its
reclamation--but, to the mutual regret of both parties, without success.
It is gratifying to state that the master spoke highly of, and expressed
a wish for the future prosperity of, his fugitive slave; a fact which
tends to prove that prejudice of colour is to a very great extent a
thing of locality and association. Had Mr. Price, however, left behind
him letters of manumission for Mr. Brown, enabling him, if he chose, to
return to his native land, he would have given a more practical proof of
respect, and of the sincerity of his desire for the welfare of Mr.
Brown.
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