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Page 61
Whoever the future historian of the Anti-Slavery movement may be, he
will not be able to compile a correct history of this great struggle,
without consulting the writings of Edmund Quincy, a member of one of
the wealthiest, patriotic, and aristocratic families in New England: the
prestige of his name is a passport to all that the heart could wish.
Descended from a family, whose name is connected with all that was
glorious in the great American Revolution, the son of one who has again
and again represented his native State, in the National Congress, he
too, like Wendell Phillips, threw away the pearl of political
preferment, and devoted his distinguished talents to the cause of the
Slave. Mr. Quincy is better known in this country as having filled the
editorial chair of _The Liberator_, during the several visits of its
Editor to Great Britain. As a speaker, he does not rank as high as some
who are less known; as a writer, he has few equals. The "Annual Reports"
of the American and Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Societies for the past
fifteen or twenty years, have emanated from his pen. When posterity, in
digging among the tombs of the friends of mankind, and of universal
freedom, shall fail to find there the name of Edmund Quincy, it will be
because the engraver failed to do his duty.
Were we sent out to find a man who should excel all others in
collecting together new facts and anecdotes, and varnishing up old ones
so that they would appear new, and bringing them into a meeting and
emptying out, good or bad, the whole contents of his sack, to the
delight and admiration of the audience, we would unhesitatingly select
James N. Buffum as the man. If Mr. Buffum is not a great speaker, he has
what many accomplished orators have not--_i.e._, a noble and generous
heart. If the fugitive slave, fresh from the cotton-field, should make
his appearance in the town of Lynn, in Massachusetts, and should need a
night's lodging or refreshments, he need go no farther than the
hospitable door of James N. Buffum.
Most men who inherit large fortunes, do little or nothing to benefit
mankind. A few, however, spend their means in the best possible manner:
one of the latter class is Gerrit Smith. The name of this gentleman
should have been brought forward among those who are first mentioned in
this chapter. Some eight or ten years ago, Mr. Smith was the owner of
large tracts of land, lying in twenty-nine counties in the State of New
York, and came to the strange conclusion to give the most of it away.
Consequently, three thousand lots of land, containing from thirty to one
hundred acres each, were given to coloured men residing in the
State--the writer of this being one of the number.
Although universal suffrage is enjoyed by the whites in the State of New
York, a property-qualification is imposed on coloured men; and this act
of Mr. Smith's not only made three thousand men the owners of land, but
created also three thousand voters. The ability to give, and the
willingness to do so, is not by any means the greatest quality of this
gentleman. As a public speaker, Mr. Smith has few equals; and certainly
no man in his State has done more to forward the cause of Negro
Emancipation than he.
We have already swelled the pages of this chapter beyond what we
intended when we commenced, but yet we have called attention to only one
branch of American Reformers. The Temperance Reformers are next to be
considered. This cause has many champions, and yet none who occupy a
very prominent position before the world. The first temperance newspaper
published in the United States, was edited by William Lloyd Garrison.
Gerrit Smith has also done much in promulgating temperance views. But
the most noted man in the movement at the present time, and the one best
known to the British public, is John B. Gough. This gentleman was at one
time an actor on the stage, and subsequently became an inebriate of the
most degraded kind. He was, however, reclaimed through the great
Washingtonian movement that swept over the United States a few years
since. In stature, Mr. Gough is tall and slim, with black hair, which he
usually wears too long. As an orator, he is considered among the first
in the United States. Having once been an actor, he throws all his
dramatic powers into his addresses. He has a facility of telling strange
and marvellous stories which can scarcely be surpassed; and what makes
them still more interesting, he always happens to be an eyewitness.
While speaking, he acts the drunkard, and does it in a style which could
not be equalled on the boards of the Lyceum or Adelphi. No man has
obtained more signatures to the temperance pledge than he. After all, it
is a question whether he has ever been of any permanent service to this
reform or not. Mr. Gough has more than once fallen from his position as
a teetotaler; more than once he has broken his pledge, and when found by
his friends, was in houses of a questionable character. However, some
are of opinion that these defects have been of use to him; for when he
has made his appearance after one of these debaucheries, the people
appear to sympathize more with him, and some thought he spoke better. If
we believe that a person could enjoy good health with water upon the
brain, we would be of opinion that Mr. Gough's cranium contained a
greater quantity than that of any other living man. When speaking before
an audience, he can weep when he pleases; and the tears shed on these
occasions are none of your make-believe kind--none of your small drops
trickling down the cheeks one at a time;--but they come in great
showers, so as even to sprinkle upon the paper which he holds in his
hand. Of course, he is not alone in shedding tears in his meetings,
many of his hearers usually join him; especially the ladies, as these
showers are intended for them. However, no one can sit for an hour and
hear John. B. Gough, without coming to the conclusion that he is nothing
more than a theatrical mountebank.
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