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[156]

Shipwreck, from striking on a reef while making Halifax1 harbor in a fog, was narrowly avoided, and the voyage completed in a leaking vessel. Richard Webb, the last to bid him adieu in 1840, was waiting anxiously at2 Liverpool to greet his return,3 and with him Henry C. Wright.4 Their happy reunion took place on July 31, and, after a few days' rest, the three friends went up to London, where5 George Thompson met them and took the two Americans to his own home in Waterloo Place, some three miles from6 the heart of the city. Mr. Garrison wrote to his wife:

To be once more with George, is a revival of days gone by.7 He is still the same loving, faithful friend—the same playful, mirthful, entertaining companion—the same modest,8 unpretending man—the same zealous and eloquent advocate—the same warm and sympathizing friend of suffering humanity— that he was eleven years ago, when he was in our country. I do not perceive that either time, or his immense labors, have made any striking change in his personal appearance. He looks about as young as he did in the U. S.

The first attraction and occupation for Mr. Garrison was the World's Temperance Convention, held on August 4 at the London Literary Institution. Though not a delegate, he had well-nigh the same title, of pioneer, to be the chief transatlantic figure in its proceedings that he had in the World's Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840.

1 Lib. 16.123.

2 Ante, 2.404;

3 Webb had been remembered by his faithful correspondent, Edmund Quincy, who wrote by the hand of Garrison (Ms. July 14, 1846): ‘You will be glad enough to see the bearer of this, that is, if he don't forget to deliver it to you or post it to you. The Pioneer may be depended upon in many capacities, but I am not quite sure of him as a two-penny postman. I cannot but think that he will do a good service to the cause on your side. At any rate, he must do your hearts and his own health good. We are sorry to part with him, but think it will be for the best. We think pretty well of him here, though he has one swingeing fault. It is a horrid trick he has of being right. Nothing illustrates the Christian character of the Cab [the cabful of old organizationists?] more than their willingness to forgive him for this vice. It is generally supposed that he rules us with a rod of iron, and that we can't call our souls our own; whereas, he is more often overruled on points of difference, and we have almost always had to acknowledge, in the end, that he was right and we were wrong. Now this you must allow to be very provoking and hard to bear. Still, I don't wish to prejudice you against the man. I only wish to put you on your guard.’

4 Lib. 16.146.

5 Aug. 3, 1846.

6 No. 6.

7 Ms. Aug. 1, 1846. (The date is too early.)

8The date is too early.)

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