ire race.

RECEPTION SPEECH [10]. At Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12,
1846

Mr. Douglass rose amid loud cheers, and said: I feel exceedingly glad of
the opportunity now afforded me of presenting the claims of my brethren
in bonds in the United States, to so many in London and from various
parts of Britain, who have assembled here on the present occasion. I
have nothing to commend me to your consideration in the way of learning,
nothing in the way of education, to entitle me to your attention; and
you are aware that slavery is a very bad school for rearing teachers of
morality and religion. Twenty-one years of my life have been spent in
slavery--personal slavery--surrounded by degrading influences, such
as can exist nowhere beyond the pale of slavery; and it will not be
strange, if under such circumstances, I should betray, in what I have
to say to you, a deficiency of that refinement which is seldom or ever
found, except among persons that have experienced superior advantages to
those which I have enjoyed. But I will take it for granted that you know
something about the degrading influences of slavery, and that you will
not expect great things from me this evening, but simply such facts as I
may be able to advance immediately in connection with my own experience
of slavery.

Now, what is this system of slavery? This is the subject of my lecture
this evening--what is the character of this institution? I am about
to answer the inquiry, what is American slavery? I do this the more
readily, since I have found persons in this country who have identified
the term slavery with that which I think it is not, and in some
instances, I have feared, in so doing, have rather (unwittingly, I
know) detracted much from the horror with which the term slavery is
contemplated. It is common{318} in this country to distinguish every bad
thing by the name of slavery. Intemperance is slavery; to be deprived of
the right to vote is slavery, says one; to have to work hard is slavery,
says another; and I do not know but that if we should let them go on,
they would say that to eat when we are hungry, to walk when we desire to
have exercise, or to minister to our necessities, or have necessities at
all, is slavery. I do not wish for a moment to detract from the horror
with which the evil of intemperance is contemplated--not at all; nor do
I wish to throw the slightest obstruction in the way of any political
freedom that an