36

OverviewTranscribeVersionsHelp

Facsimile

Transcription

Status: Needs Review

188 LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

opposition to his views. Phrenology explained everything to him, from the
finite to the infinite. I look back to the morning spent with this singularly
clear-headed man with much satisfaction.

It would detain the reader too long, and make this volume too large, to
tell of the many kindnesses shown me while abroad, or even to mention all
the great and noteworthy persons who gave me a friendly hand and a cordial
welcome; but there is one other, now long gone to his rest, of whom a few
words must be spoken, and that one was Thomas Clarkson—the last of the
noble line of Englishmen who inaugurated the anti-slavery movement for
England and the civilized world—the life-long friend and co-worker with
Granville Sharpe, William Wilberforce, Thomas Fowell Buxton, and other
leaders in that great reform which has nearly put an end to slavery in all parts
of the globe. As in the case of George Combe, I went to see Mr. Clarkson in
company with Messrs. Garrison and Thompson. They had by note advised
him of our coming, and had received one in reply, bidding us welcome. We
found the venerable object of our visit seated at a table, where he had been
busily writing a letter to America against slavery; for, though in his eighty-
seventh year, he continued to write. When we were presented to him, he rose
to receive us. The scene was impressive. It was the meeting of two centuries.
Garrison, Thompson, and myself were young men. After shaking hands with
my two distinguished friends, and giving them welcome, he took one of my
hands in both of his, and, in a tremulous voice, said, "God bless you,
Frederick Douglass! I have given sixty years of my life to the emancipation
of your people, and if I had sixty years more they should all be given to the
same cause." Our stay was short with this great-hearted old man. He was
feeble, and our presence greatly excited him, and we left the house with
something of the feeling with which a man takes final leave of a beloved
friend at the edge of the grave.

Some notion may be formed of the difference in my feelings and circum-
stances while abroad, from an extract from one of a series of letters addressed
by me to Mr. Garrison, and published in the Liberator. It was written on the
1st day of January, 1846.

"My Dear Friend Garrison:

"Up to this time, I have given no direct expression of the views, feelings,
and opinions which I have formed respecting the character and condition of
the people of this land. I have refrained thus purposely. I wish to speak
advisedly, and, in order to do this, I have waited till, I trust, experience has
brought my opinion to an intelligent maturity. I have been thus careful, not

Notes and Questions

Nobody has written a note for this page yet

Please sign in to write a note for this page