ates a slave before the law, denied every civil
right and every social privilege, literally a man without a country,
and forced to cross the Atlantic among the cattle in the steerage of
the steamboat. During his sojourn in Great Britain an English lady,
Mrs. Ellen Richardson, of Newcastle, had raised seven hundred and
fifty dollars, which was paid over to Hugh Auld, of Maryland, to secure
Douglass's legal manumission; and, not content with this generous
work, the same large-hearted lady had raised by subscription about
two thousand five hundred dollars, which Douglass carried back to the
United States as a free gift, and used to start his newspaper. He had
met in Europe, as he said in a farewell speech, men quite as white as
he had ever seen in the United States and of quite as noble exterior,
and had seen in their faces no scorn of his complexion. He had
travelled over the four kingdoms, and had encountered no sign of
disrespect. He had been lionized in London, had spoken every night of
his last month there, and had declined as many more invitations. He had
shaken hands with the venerable Clarkson, and had breakfasted with the
philosopher Combe, the author of _The Constitution of Man_. He had won
the friendship of John Bright, had broken bread with Sir John Bowring,
had been introduced to Lord Brougham, the brilliant leader of the
Liberal party, and had listened to his wonderful eloquence. He had met
Douglas Jerrold, the famous wit, and had been entertained by the poet
William Howitt, who made a farewell speech in his honor. Everywhere he
had denounced slavery, everywhere hospitable doors had opened wide to
receive him, everywhere he had made friends for himself and his cause.
A slave and an outcast at home, he had been made to feel himself a
gentleman, had been the companion of great men and good women. Urged
to remain in this land of freedom, and offered aid to establish
himself in life there, his heart bled for his less fortunate brethren
in captivity; and, with the God-speed of his English friends ringing
in his ears, he went back to America,--to scorn, to obloquy, to
ostracism, but after all to the work to which he had been ordained,
and which he was so well qualified to perform.

VII.

Douglass landed April 20, 1847. He returned to the United States
with the intention of publishing the newspaper for which his English
friends had so kindly furnished the means; but his plan meeting with
opposition from hi