ction to
the cause of freedom throughout the world, and, consequently, as
undeserving of British confidence and patronage, signed by
William Wilberforce, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Zachary Macaulay, and
other illustrious philanthropists. On arriving in London I
received a polite invitation by letter from Mr. Buxton to take
breakfast with him. Presenting myself at the appointed time,
when my name was announced, instead of coming forward promptly
to take me by the hand, he scrutinized me from head to foot, and
then inquired, somewhat dubiously, "Have I the pleasure of
addressing Mr. Garrison, of Boston, in the United States?" "Yes,
sir," I replied, "I am he; and I am here in accordance with your
invitation." Lifting up his hands he exclaimed, "Why, my dear
sir, I thought you were a black man. And I have consequently
invited this company of ladies and gentlemen to be present to
welcome Mr. Garrison, the black advocate of emancipation from
the United States of America." (Laughter.) I have often said,
sir, that that is the only compliment I have ever had paid to me
that I care to remember or tell of. For Mr. Buxton had somehow
or other supposed that no white American could plead for those
in bondage as I had done, and therefore I must be black.
(Laughter.)

It is indeed true, sir, that I have had no other rule by which
to be guided than this. I never cared to know precisely how many
stripes were inflicted on the slaves. I never deemed it
necessary to go down into the Southern States, if I could have
gone, for the purpose of taking the exact dimensions of the
slave system. I made it from the start, and always, my own case,
thus: Did I want to be a slave? No. Did God make me to be a
slave? No. But I am only a man, only one of the human race; and
if not created to be a slave, then no other human being was made
for that purpose. My wife and children, dearer to me than my
heart's blood, were they made for the auction-block? Never! And
so it was all very easily settled here (pointing to his breast).
(Great cheering.) I could not help being an uncompromising
abolitionist.

Here allow me to pay a brief tribute to the American
abolitionists. Putting myself entirely out of the question, I
believe that in no land, at any time, was there ever a more
devoted, self-sacrificing, and unco