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

[153] the reported views advanced by the lecturer, but his keen eye detected on the placard a sneer at the Sabbath, which had not been designated by its holy name, but simply as ‘the next day’—to Saturday! So on May 1 he sat down and declined the invitation on the ground of conflicting engagements-not, however, withholding the pointed remark to Mr. Garrison, that, while having his own views as to slavery, he did not itemize Sabbath, Ministry, and Church among the sum of all villanies. Then, on the good advice of a shrewder friend, he pocketed the letter instead of mailing it, and gave it to the light through a¹ Scotch paper a year later—meantime having, with his colleagues, picked up some twenty thousand dollars of² American money as the reward of discretion on the controverted topic of slavery.

Nevertheless, the cry of the Glasgow Emancipation³ Society, ‘Send back the money!’ was not relaxed. Henry C. Wright, who had survived the rigors of the water-cure at Graefenberg and returned to Scotland, gave a⁴ powerful reinforcement to the movement, to which rallied also, across the border, Clarkson and George Thompson, and⁵ the Chartist leader, Henry Vincent. To their aid came⁶ over ocean, in the autumn of 1845, James N. Buffum of Lynn, and Frederick Douglass, who first took Ireland in⁷ their way, and then lent a hand in the agitation, till, in January, 1846, the latter could report, “Old Scotland boils like a pot!” Ms. to F. Jackson. The most extraordinary popular demonstrations were made against Free Church edifices—of course without the instigation or sanction of the abolitionists proper. The slaves' blood was realistically⁸ imistated with splotches of red paint on walls or steps, with or without the corresponding legend; and ‘Send back the money!’ was placarded all over Auld Reekie. Not a newspaper in Scotland could abstain from the melee, at⁹ the height of which Thompson was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh.

The thoughts of the American group naturally turned to their old leader at home, as if his presence might give