Three Years in Europe | Page 6

American Committee in
connection with the Peace Congress were also desirous of sending to
Europe coloured representatives of their Society, and Mr. Brown was
selected for that purpose, and duly accredited by them to the Paris
Congress.
On the 18th of July, 1849, a large meeting of the coloured citizens of
Boston was held in Washington Hall to bid him farewell. At that
meeting the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:--
"Resolved,--That we bid our brother, William Wells Brown, God speed
in his mission to Europe, and commend him to the hospitality and
encouragement of all true friends of humanity.
"Resolved,--That we forward by him our renewed protest against the
American Colonization Society; and invoke for him a candid hearing
before the British public, in reply to the efforts put forth there by the

Rev. Mr. Miller, or any other agent of said Society."
Two days afterwards he sailed for Europe, encountering on his voyage
his last experience of American prejudice against colour.
On the 28th of August he landed at Liverpool, a time and place
memorable in his life as the first upon which he could truly call himself
a free man upon God's earth. In the history of nations, as of individuals,
there is often singular retributive mercy as well as retributive justice. In
the seventeenth century the victims of monarchical tyranny in Great
Britain found social and political freedom when they set foot upon
Plymouth Rock in New England: in the nineteenth century the victims
of the oppressions of the American Republic find freedom and social
equality upon the shores of monarchical England. Liverpool, which
seventy years back was so steeped in the guilt of negro slavery that
Paine expressed his surprise that God did not sweep it from the face of
the earth, is now to the hunted negro the Plymouth Rock of Old
England. From Liverpool he proceeded to Dublin where he was warmly
received by Mr. Haughton, Mr. Webb, and other friends of the slave,
and publicly welcomed at a large meeting presided over by the first
named gentleman.
The reception of Mr. Brown at the Peace Congress in Paris was most
flattering. In a company, comprising a large portion of the elite of
Europe, he admirably maintained his reputation as a public speaker. His
brief address, upon that "war spirit of America which holds in bondage
three million of his brethren," produced a profound sensation. At its
conclusion the speaker was warmly greeted by Victor Hugo, the Abbe
Duguerry, Emile de Girardin, the Pastor Coquerel, Richard Cobden,
and every man of note in the Assembly. At the soiree given by M. De
Tocqueville, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the other fetes given
to the Members of the Congress, Mr. Brown was received with marked
attention.
Having finished his Peace mission in France, he commenced an
Anti-slavery tour in England and Scotland. With that independence of
feeling which those who are acquainted with him know to be his chief
characteristic, he rejected the idea of anything like eleemosynary
support. He determined to maintain himself and family by his own
exertions--by his literary labours, and the honourable profession of a
public lecturer. His first metropolitan reception in England was at a

large, influential, and enthusiastic meeting in the Music Hall, Stone
Street. The members of the Whittington Club--an institution numbering
nearly 2000 members, among whom are Lords Brougham, Dudley
Coutts Stuart, and Beaumont; Charles Dickens, Douglass Jerrold,
Martin Thackeray, Charles Lushington, M.P., Monckton Milnes, M.P.,
and several other of the most distinguished legislators and literary men
and women in this country--elected Mr. Brown an honorary member of
the Club, as a mark of respect to his character; and, as the following
extract from the Secretary, Mr. Stundwicke, will show, as a protest
against the distinctions made between man and man on account of
colour in America:--"I have much pleasure in conveying to you the best
thanks of the managing committee of this institution for the excellent
lecture you gave here last evening on the subject of 'Slavery in
America,' and also in presenting you in their names with an honorary
membership of the Club. It is hoped that you will often avail yourself
of its privileges by coming amongst us. You will then see, by the
cordial welcome of the members, that they protest against the odious
distinctions made between man and man, and the abominable traffic of
which you have been the victim."
For the last three years Mr. Brown has been engaged in visiting and
holding meetings in nearly all the large towns in the kingdom upon the
question of American Slavery, Temperance, and other subjects. Perhaps
no coloured individual, not excepting that extraordinary man, Frederick
Douglass, has done more good in disseminating anti-slavery principles
in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
In the spring of 1851,