Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 4

[235] Cardinal Manning being among the other speakers, and Sir Wilfred Lawson occupying the chair. The vast hall was packed to overflowing with an audience of five thousand persons, whose enthusiasm was tumultuous when Mr. Garrison rose to speak. Rising en masse, they greeted him with prolonged cheering and waving of handkerchiefs, and when he could finally make himself heard, he declared himself almost overwhelmed by the ‘marvellous and sublime spectacle’ of such a gathering, which far surpassed in size and earnestness any temperance meeting he had ever seen. At a Vegetarian banquet the following evening, he made a brief speech, confessing that he was not a convert to that theory, but that if the demonstration of its soundness were to rest on the vigorous octogenarian who presided, the case would certainly be made out.

John Mawson came to Manchester to take a last farewell of Mr. Garrison,¹ and James Haughton was there from Dublin to renew the old friendship. Other friends were at Liverpool to say the parting word—George Thompson, Richard D. Webb, and Miss Estlin of Bristol among² them. On the morning of the 25th a complimentary breakfast was given to Mr. Garrison by Mr. James R. Jeffrey, a prominent merchant of Liverpool, and the evening of the same day was spent with a delightful company at the home of Mr.Crosfield and Mrs. William Crosfield, the latter a niece of James Cropper. The next day Mr.³ Garrison, with his son, sailed for home on the Java, having as fellow-passengers Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, Miss Anne Warren Weston, and other friends, whose cheerful companionship mitigated the discomforts of the rough and uncomfortable voyage; and on the 6th of November Boston was reached and the fourth transatlantic journey ended.