Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 3

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I have been greatly refreshed by my visit to this country. I shall return with a vast accumulation of facts upon the subject of slavery, and illustrative of the universality of the Slave Power. These facts and illustrations I shall, whenever I have the opportunity, spread before my countrymen, with such commentaries as will enable them to understand the true position of the great question. . . . I will try to make the people of England understand the nature of the benefit which this discussion is conferring upon those who embrace sound views: how such persons are coming to the appreciation of great truths long corrupted or concealed by slavery; how they are beginning to walk in a clearer light, and to regard men and things from a higher point and through a juster medium; how, whilst promulgating purer doctrines, they are daily gaining knowledge and experience, and are exercising fortitude and faith and perseverance. . . . To those before me who are laboring in this cause, I would say,— You are not laboring for your country alone, but for the world. Make haste to free this land from the pollution of slavery, and your character from the stain it has cast upon it,—then shall your righteousness go before you, your influence, like another atmosphere, shall encircle the globe, and you shall be the heralds and the instruments of freedom to all the nations of the earth. (Loud cheers.)

It was high time, for physical reasons, that Mr. Thompson should be taking his departure. His proposed rest during the Parliamentary recess had been turned into a gigantic labor, which returned him to his own country almost a used — up man. With an excursion to¹ Philadelphia during the first week in June, he closed his American tour. There remained the farewell soiree arranged for him by vote of the New England Convention, and held in² Boston on June 16 in the large hall over the Albany³ Railroad depot — a feast at which more than a thousand plates were spread. Edmund Quincy of right presided. Phillips and Parker were among the speakers. Garrison delivered⁴ the parting address. It was a glorious occasion, but we must pass over its details.

Thompson sailed in the America on June 25, and, with⁵ hardly any respite, was obliged to face his constituents,