[292] having succeeded in abolishing slavery, which was its deadliest curse? Delivered from that, is it still doomed to perish? No; as long as we have a free press, free speech, free inquiry, and free schools, we shall never go down, Mr. President. We shall go upward and onward—Excelsior to the end. And so we are to have the great battle of the world fought out on our soil for all mankind. Thank God for our boundless domains, broad enough to take in the whole of the population of the globe; and all mankind are coming to us in samples and specimens, and large samples and specimens. And for the first time in the history of the world all races of men on our soil are looking each other in the face and asking the question whether they can dwell together in unity, whether they cannot stand by one another in regard to their rights and liberties. And thus far the experiment has mightily succeeded. For, whatever may be our political and party differences on the day of election, we do not find that nationalities are divided here, but issues pertaining to our own soil and our own institutions are the dividing lines, and we blend together in one mighty mass, though differing in our notions. I therefore say that it is the sublimest spectacle on earth that is now being presented to the gaze of mankind, and my hope is boundless as to the future.Rev. E. W. Allen, a son of the old proprietor of the Herald, was present, and described in glowing phrase the apprentice boy who had lived in his father's house and1 won the affection of the whole family; and Mr. Frank W. Miller, son of Mr. Garrison's fellow-workman in those2 days, followed. Not the least interesting feature of this altogether delightful occasion was the confession by Mr. George C. Rand3 that he, as a printer's apprentice, had helped print and distribute the incendiary handbill which4 precipitated the mob of 1835.5
This text is part of:
1 Ante, 1.55.
2 Rev. T. H. Miller; ante, 1.41.
3 Mr. Rand left a sick bed to attend the dinner, and died two months later. He was the first printer of “Uncle Tom's Cabin.”
4 Ante, 2.9, 10, 11, 35.
5 ‘It was a very gratifying and handsome reception extended to me by the Franklin Club, and I am sure you would have greatly enjoyed the occasion, as all present manifestly did. My connection with the printer's craft is to me a source of unspeakable pride and delight, and it had everything to do with shaping my career, and literally putting into my hands the great instrumentalities for the final overthrow of the slave system. Had I not been a practical printer—an expert compositor and able to work at the press—there had been no Liberator’ (Ms. Oct. 23, 1878, W. L. G. to George W. Stacy).
The Century Company. , 1885-1889.
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