1895.] 1^^ [Potts. 



attendance. Not knowing many of them, I guessed that the South was 

 hirgely represented, and that not unlikely sympathy with the North 

 would be a minus quantity. The chair was taken by Mr. John Crop- 

 per, a man deservedly respected in Liverpool and far beyond, for his 

 deeds of benevolence. I think it was Mr. Robertson Gladstone (elder 

 brother of Mr. William E. Gladstone) that moved the following reso- 

 lution : 



'"That in the opinion of this meeting the war now raging in the 

 United States of America originated in the institution of slavery and in 

 the antagonism which that system inevitably presents to the institutions 

 of freedom ; that in the great national crisis now created by the announce- 

 ment of the Emancipation policy, the Federal Government is entitled to 

 the generous sympathy of every Englishman, and to the moral support 

 which such sympathy always affords ; that to ensure these from the in- 

 habitants of Liverpool it is now deemed advisable, by means of lectures 

 and public discussions, to fully instruct the public mind on the true con- 

 ditions of the American question, preliminary to a general aggregate 

 meeting for the adoption of an address to President Lincoln.' 



"A debate of an interesting character sprung up. Mr. James Spence,* 

 the S of The Times and author of The American Union, was present, and 

 in eloquent terms denounced the hypocrisy of the North and praised the 

 chivalry of the South. Slavery was pronounced 'scriptural ' and ' patri- 

 archal,' and poor Onesimus was trotted out once more to prove that injus- 

 tice is the very highest form of justice. He sat down with an air of tri- 

 umph which I can never forget. Applause was loud and continuous. 

 Before it was over a man that I then only knew by name, but knew inti- 

 mately ever after, was on his feet waiting for attention. Mr. Spence was 

 a dainty-looking little man, with a pleasant voice and graceful presence. 

 The man about to reply (John Patterson by name) was a burly Ulster- 

 man with loud voice and energetic action. As soon as Mr. Patterson got 

 a hearing he took a little Bible out of liis pocket and first addressed him- 

 self to the task of answering the Scriptural arguments of Mr. Spence. He 

 made the house ring with denunciations of man-stealers and of oppressors 

 of the poor. The year of jubilee was not forgotten — in fact, the little 

 pocket- Bible had the effect of a gigantic bomb-shell. Neither before nor 

 since have I heard so able an ex tempore rejoinder. There was no occa- 

 sion for further discussion. The resolution was put and carried almost 

 unanimously. An Emancipation Society was founded and a committee 

 formed to carry out the objects of the resolution. On the motion of our 

 old friend, Mr. C. E. Rawlins, I was asked to be Honorary Secretary, and 

 thus came my official connection with the Socitjty which lasted till the 

 end of the war. 



' ' As you wish to know the names of those most active amongst us, I give 



* [A different person from the James Spence of the firm of Spence, Richardson & Co., 

 of Liverpool, whom we have mentioned elsewhere in the foregoing article, a strong 

 friend of the United States.— W. J. P.] 



