Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 4

[196] Laugel, the latter a daughter of Mrs. Chapman. In addition to all these occupations, Mr. Garrison was besieged by callers at his lodgings, and had little time to prepare himself for the impending demonstration in his honor which he greatly dreaded.

Announcement was made, shortly after his arrival in¹ London, that ‘a Public Breakfast in honor of William Lloyd Garrison, the leader of the Anti-Slavery Party in the United States,’ would be held at St. James's Hall, on Saturday, June 29, at noon, and that John Bright, Esq., M. P., would preside on the occasion. The price of tickets was placed at ten shillings each, and the presence of ladies was invited. The Committee of Arrangements consisted of more than fifty gentlemen, all of them well known, and most of them eminent for their political, social, literary, or scientific standing. The Duke of Argyll headed the list as Chairman, with the Hon. E. Lyulph Stanley as Vice-Chairman, and they were supported by Lord Houghton, Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill, and Sir George Young; by members of Parliament like John Bright, John Stuart Mill, William E. Forster, James Stansfeld, Jr., Charles and Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Peter A. Taylor, Thomas Hughes, Thomas Bayley Potter, and Joseph Cowen; by members of the bar like Serjeant Parry, W. Vernon Harcourt, and William Shaen; by philosophers, scientists, and litterateurs like Herbert Spencer F. D. Maurice and T. H. Huxley, Goldwin Smith, Richard H. Hutton, William Howitt, Frederic Harrison, and William Black; and by journalists like Justin Mc-Carthy, A. H. Dymond, and F. W. Chesson.

That these names were lent in no perfunctory spirit is evident from the fact that four-fifths of the Committee were present at the Breakfast. The fine hall was thronged. Upwards of three hundred ladies and gentlemen sat down at the tables, which occupied the floor of the hall. The galleries, too, were filled with eager spectators, and a hundred persons tried in vain to buy breakfast tickets at the door. Seldom had an audience so distinguished for