Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, vol 1 | Page 6

impossible
for me to express the feelings of my heart at the kind and generous
manner in which I have been received upon English shores. Just when I
had begun to realize that a whole wide ocean lay between me and all
that is dearest to me, I found most unexpectedly a home and friends
waiting to receive me here. I have had not an hour in which to know the

heart of a stranger. I have been made to feel at home since the first
moment of landing, and wherever I have looked I have seen only the
faces of friends. It is with deep feeling that I have found myself on
ground that has been consecrated and made holy by the prayers and
efforts of those who first commenced the struggle for that sacred cause
which has proved so successful in England, and which I have a solemn
assurance will yet be successful in my own country. It is a touching
thought that here so many have given all that they have, and are, in
behalf of oppressed humanity. It is touching to remember that one of
the noblest men which England has ever produced now lies stricken
under the heavy hand of disease, through a last labor of love in this
cause. May God grant us all to feel that nothing is too dear or precious
to be given in a work for which such men have lived, and labored, and
suffered. No great good is ever wrought out for the human race without
the suffering of great hearts. They who would serve their fellow-men
are ever reminded that the Captain of their salvation was made perfect
through suffering. I gratefully accept the offering confided to my care,
and trust it may be so employed that the blessing of many "who are
ready to perish" will return upon your heads. Let me ask those--those
fathers and mothers in Israel--who have lived and prayed many years
for this cause, that as they prayed for their own country in the hour of
her struggle, so they will pray now for ours. Love and prayer can hurt
no one, can offend no one, and prayer is a real power. If the hearts of
all the real Christians of England are poured out in prayer, it will be felt
through the heart of the whole American church. Let us all look upward,
from our own feebleness and darkness, to Him of whom it is said, "He
shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth."
To him, the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.'--These are the words,
my friends, which Mrs. Stowe has written, and I cannot forbear to add a
few words of my own. It was our intention, as the invitation to visit
Great Britain came from Glasgow, to make our first landing there. But
it was ordered by Providence that we should land here; and surely there
is no place in the kingdom where a landing could be more appropriate,
and where the reception could have been more cordial. [Hear, hear!] It
was wholly unexpected by us, I can assure you. We know that there
were friendly hearts here, for we had received abundant testimonials to

that effect from letters which had come to us across the Atlantic--letters
wholly unexpected, and which filled our souls with surprise; but we
had no thought that there was such a feeling throughout England, and
we scarcely know how to conduct ourselves under it, for we are not
accustomed to this kind of receptions. In our own country, unhappily,
we are very much divided, and the preponderance of feeling expressed
is in the other direction, entirely in opposition, and not in favor. [Hear,
hear!] We knew that this city had been the scene of some of the greatest,
most disinterested, and most powerful efforts in behalf of emancipation.
The name of Clarkson was indissolubly associated with this place, for
here he came to make his investigations, and here he was in danger of
his life, and here he was protected by friends who stood by him through
the whole struggle. The names of Cropper, and of Stephen, and of
many others in this city, were very familiar to us--[Hear, hear!]--and it
was in connection with this city that we received what to our feelings
was a most effective testimonial, an unexpected letter from Lord
Denman, whom we have always venerated. When I was in England in
1836, there were no two persons whom I more desired to see than the
Duke of Wellington and Lord Denman; and soon I sought admission to
the House of Lords, where I had the pleasure both of seeing and
hearing England's great