DELIVERED AT LENOX, ON THE FIRST OF AUGUST, 1842, THE ANNIVERSARY OF EMANCIPATION, IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. BY WILLIAM E. CHANNING, LENOX, MASS.: . PUBLISHED BY J. G. STANLY. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. I have been encouraged to publish the following address by the strong expressions of sympathy with which it was received, I do not indeed suppose, that those, who listened to it with interest and who have requested its publication, accorded with me in every opinion which it contains. Such entire agreement is not to be expected among intelligent men, who judge for themselves. But I am sure, that the spirit and substance of the address met a hearty response. Several paragraphs, which I wanted strength to deliver, are now published, and for these of course I am alone responsible. I dedicate this address to the Men and Women of Berkshire. I have found so much to delight me in the magnificent scenery of this region, in its peaceful and prosperous villages and in the rare intelligence and virtues of the friends whose hospitality I have here enjoyed, that I desire to connect this little work with this spot. I cannot soon forget the beautiful nature and the generous spirits, with which I have been privileged to commune in the Valley of the Housatonick. Lenox, Mass., Aug. 9, 1842. THIS day is the anniversary of one of the great events of modern times, the Emancipation of the Slaves in the British West India islands. This Emancipation began Aug. 1st. 1834, but it was not completed until Aug. 21st. 1838. The event indeed has excited little attention in our country, partly because we are too much absorbed in private interests and local excitements to be alive to the triumphs of humanity at a distance, partly because a moral contagion has spread from the South through the North and deadened our sympathies with the oppressed. But West India emancipation, though received here so coldly, is yet an era in the annals of philanthropy. The greatest events do not always draw most attention at the moment. When the May flower, in the dead of winter, landed a few pilgrims, on the ice-bound, snow-buried rocks of Plymouth, the occurrence made no noise. Nobody took note of it, and yet how much has that landing done to change the face of the civilized world! Our fathers came to establish a pure church; they little thought of revolutionizing nations. The emancipation in the West Indies, whether viewed in itself, or in its immediate results, or in the spirit from which it grew, or in the light of hope which it sheds on the future, deserves to be commemorated. In some respects it stands alone in human history. I therefore invite to it your serious attention. Perhaps I ought to begin with some apology for my appearance in this place; for I stand here unasked, uninvited. I can plead no earnest solicitation from few or many for the service I now render. I come to you simply from an impulse in my own breast; and in truth had I been solicited, I probably should not have consented to speak. Had I found |