37

LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 411

Government was committed as a remedy for the ills of Ireland. As he sat in
front of the Government leader, an able debater awaiting the moment to
begin his speech I saw in the face of Mr. Gladstone a blending of opposite
qualities. There were the peace and gentleness of the lamb, with the strength
and determination of the lion. Deep earnestness was expressed in all his
features. He began his speech in a tone conciliatory and persuasive. His
argument against the Bill was based upon statistics which he handled with
marvellous facility. He showed that the amount of crimes in Ireland for
which the Force Bill was claimed as a remedy by the Government, was not
greater than the same class of crimes in England; and that therefore there was
no reason for a Force Bill in one country more than in the other. After mar-
shaling his facts and figures to this point, in a masterly and convincing man-
ner, raising his voice and pointing his finger directly at Mr. Balfour, he
exclaimed, in a tone almost menacing and tragic, "What are you fighting
for?" The effect was thrilling. His peroration was a splendid appeal to
English love of liberty. When he sat down the House was instantly thinned
out. There seemed neither in members nor spectators any desire to hear
another voice after hearing Mr. Gladstone's, and I shared this feeling with
the rest. A few words were said in reply by Mr. Balfour who, though an able
debater, was no match for the aged Liberal Leader.

Leaving public persons of whom many more could be mentioned, I turn
to the precious friends from whom I parted at the end of my first visit to
Great Britain and Ireland. In Dublin, the first city I then visited, I was kindly
received by Mr. Richard Webb, Richard Allen, James Haughton and others.
They were now all gone, and except some of their children, I was among
strangers. These received me in the same cordial spirit that distinguished
their fathers and mothers. I did not visit dear old Cork, where in 1845 I was
made welcome by the Jenningses, the Warings, the Wrights and their circle
of friends, most of whom l learned had passed away. The same was true of
the Neills, the Workmans, the McIntyres, and the Nelsons of Belfast. I had
friends in Limerick, in Waterford, in Enniscorthy and other towns of Ireland,
hut l saw none of them during this visit. What was true of the mortality of
my friends in Ireland, was equally true of those in England. Few who first
received me in that country, are now among the living. It was however my
good fortune to meet once more Mrs. Anna Richardson and Miss Ellen
Richardson, the two members of the Society of Friends, both beyond three
score and ten, and who, forty-five years before, opened a correspondence
with my old master and raised seven hundred and fifty dollars with which to
purchase my freedom. Mrs. Anna Richardson, having reached the good old