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

[285] desire, before you leave this country, to tender to you the expression of our deep gratitude for the invaluable service you have rendered the sacred cause of Liberty and of Social Purity, by the repeated public expression of your sympathy with and approval of the principles and labors of the Repeal Association.

We desire also to express our acknowledgment of the strength and hope we have derived from personal intercourse with you, or from reading your encouraging words—words which derive an extraordinary force and vitality from the fact of your own noble life-work for the redemption of the slave.

As women, especially,—and in the name of hundreds of women of the Association we represent, as well as our own,— we thank you, from the depths of our hearts, for the stand you have made in America, throughout your life, for the principle of the absolute equality of all human beings; and, more lately, in our own land, for the application of that principle as between men and women, in presence of the moral law.¹

Another farewell reception was given at the house of William Crosfield, Jr., on the evening of the 24th of August, and on the following day Mr. Garrison and his son began their homeward voyage in the Bothnia, landing in New York ten days later.²³

‘Now that our transatlantic tour has been consummated,’ he wrote to his daughter, on returning to⁴ Rockledge, ‘it seems almost like a delicious dream; and yet, from beginning to end, nothing could be more realistic. We did not pass an idle hour, whether in England, Scotland, or Wales, but were busily engaged either in sightseeing or receiving or making calls, or participating in social parties drawn together to give us a most cordial reception. . . . Nothing could exceed the courtesies and kindnesses showered upon us by our multitudinous ’