Miss Anthony had made a short trip to Washington immediately upon her return from Nebraska, to confer with the select committees on woman suffrage and also to make final arrangements for the approaching National Convention. It met in Lincoln Hall, January 23, 24 and 25, 1883, and she presided over its deliberations.
In response to many urgent letters written by Mrs. Stanton from England, and encouraged by friends at home who felt that she needed a long rest after more than thirty years of uninterrupted public work, Miss Anthony decided to make a trip abroad. As Rachel Foster contemplated a few years' study in Europe, the pleasant arrangement was made that she should undertake the financial management of the journey, act as interpreter and give Miss Anthony the care and attention her loving heart would suggest.[12] Miss Anthony's sixty-third birthday being near at hand, the friends in Philadelphia, led by the Citizens' Suffrage Association, Edward M. Davis, president, tendered her a reception, which circumstances rendered it necessary to hold on the 19th instead of the 15th of February. The Philadelphia Times gave this account:
The parlor of the Unitarian church was filled to overflowing on the occasion of the farewell reception to Miss Susan B. Anthony. After prayer by Rev. Charles G. Ames, Robert Purvis, who presided, said in a brief and earnest address: "I have the honor, on behalf of the National Suffrage Association, to present to you these resolutions testifying to their high regard, confidence, and affection." After the applause which the resolutions evoked, Mr. Purvis continued: "I present these with feelings which I can not express in words, for my thoughts take me back in vivid recollection to those stormy periods of persecution and outrage when you, Miss Anthony, with the foremost in the ranks of the Abolitionists, battled for the freedom and rights of the enslaved race. You have lived, with many compeers, to see the glorious result of your labors in redeeming from the infamy and degradation of chattelism 4,000,000 slaves. That done, your attention was turned to the greater question—in view of numbers—of woman's emancipation from civil and political debasement."
Upon rising to reply Miss Anthony received an ovation. She said: "I feel that I must speak, because if I should hear all these words of praise and remain silent, I should seem to assent to tributes which I do not wholly deserve. My kind friends have spoken almost as if I had done the work, or the greater part of it, alone, whereas I have been only one of many men and women who have labored side by side in this cause. Philadelphia has had the honor of giving to the world a woman who led the way in this noble effort. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were active in the good work ere my attention had been called to it. It was through their influence that I was led to consider and accept the then new doctrine. Alone I should have been as a mere straw in the wind.... I have known nothing the last thirty years save the struggle for human rights on this continent. If it had been a class of men who were disfranchised and denied their legal rights, I believe I should have devoted my life precisely as I have done in behalf of my own sex. I hope while abroad that I shall do something to recommend our work here, so as to make them respect American women and their demand for political equality...."
Letters, telegrams, flowers and gifts were received in great numbers.[13]
May Wright Sewall had this graphic description in the Indianapolis Times, owned and edited by Col. Wm. R. Holloway, an earnest advocate of woman suffrage:
The few days spent in Philadelphia by Miss Anthony prior to sailing were a series of fêtes. She spoke to over one thousand girls of the Normal School on the public duties of women; was officially invited to visit the Woman's Medical College; was given a reception by the New Century Club; was tendered a complimentary dinner by Mrs. Emma J. Bartol, in her own elegant home, where ten courses were served and toasts were drunk to the guest of honor.... Letters of introduction, quite unsolicited, poured in from friends and countrymen personally unknown to her, who thus showed their desire to facilitate her meeting with the stars of various desirable circles abroad. At the public reception, Robert Purvis presented the following testimonial, beautifully engrossed on vellum, and encased in garnet velvet with gold borders:
"Resolved, That the National Woman Suffrage Association of the United States does hereby testify its appreciation of the life-long devotion of Susan B. Anthony to the cause of woman; that it acknowledges her as the chief inspirer of women in their struggle for personal liberty, for civil equity, and for political equality; that as one of the foremost of American women it commends her to the women of foreign lands.
"Resolved, That the members of the association rejoice in the approaching holiday of their beloved leader; that they will follow her wanderings with affection and sympathy; that during her absence they will steadfastly uphold the principles to which her life has been devoted; that on her return they will welcome her to a resumption of her labors and hold themselves ready to work under her able and devoted leadership."
Among the numerous letters and telegrams were messages from Wendell Phillips, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Mary Clemmer, Helen Potter, Emma C. Bascom and Dr. Alida C. Avery.... Probably no testimony was more enjoyed than the following:
"Rochester, N. Y., the Home of Susan B. Anthony: In this open letter old friends and neighbors unite with all who honor the birthday of its true citizen, and express the sincere wish that Miss Anthony in her sojourn in strange lands may find what she has in full measure here at home—a genuine appreciation of her true womanliness, her sturdy adherence to honest conviction and her heroic stand, against all opposition, for the higher education and enfranchisement of women. Wishing her Godspeed and a safe return, we, the undersigned, do not need to assure her that neither the triumphs nor the defeats of her future public life will change our estimation of her, for to us she will ever remain what her life among us has proved her to be—a good, true woman, self-consecrated to the cause of woman in every land."
The signatures include the names of eighty of the leading men and women of Rochester; among them editors of the papers of both parties, pastors of the prominent churches, university professors, bankers, politicians, etc. Honor, if tardy, surely comes at last to the prophet in her own country. A song written for the occasion and inscribed to Miss Anthony, by Annie E. McDowell, one of the first editors of a woman's paper, was splendidly sung by Mr. Ford, the composer, who had set it to music.
Among the telegrams was this from her brother, D. R. Anthony: "Sixty-three years have crowned you with the honor and respect of the people of America, and with the love of your brothers and sisters." From the friends in Washington, D. C., came a plush case, on whose satin lining rested an exquisite point lace fichu and sleeve ruffles. A New York gentleman sent $100 to be used toward the purchase of an India shawl, writing: "I don't believe in woman suffrage, but I do believe in Susan B. Anthony." The Cheney Brothers sent a handsome black silk dress pattern; Helen Potter, a steamer rug; the Fosters, a travelling bag; Adeline and Annie Thomson, a silver cup; Robert Purvis, a gold-handled umbrella, and there were various other tokens of remembrance. Many of the leading papers contained an editorial farewell, with a hearty compliment and Godspeed. The Chicago Tribune, edited by Joseph Medill, offered this tribute:
The best known and most popular woman in the United States, engaged in public work, is Susan B. Anthony, the co-worker of Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Mott and others in the anti-slavery movement, and the fellow-laborer of Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the woman's rights movement. She ranks first among the warriors in this latter contest, because she has lived her life in its service and there has been no side issue to it. Neither father nor mother, husband nor children, have diverted her mind from her hobby, or led her to cease for a day from the prosecution of the task she set out to accomplish.... Miss Anthony is an American woman whom the better class of English people particularly, and of foreigners generally, will delight to honor, and one that her country-women are pleased to have represent them. She is, in point of character and ability, one of the few of her sex who have made themselves a name and a place in the history of her time....
She has had occasion to speak sharply, to lecture women severely, when in her heart she would have preferred to praise; but women love her dearly all the same, and trust her implicitly. In integrity, stainless honor and generosity of sentiment and of deed she has no peer. She has stood the storm of raillery and abuse she aroused, as the leader of the "shrieking sisterhood," with perfect equanimity, and while others were cowed by the ridicule which was hardest of all to bear, Miss Anthony busied herself using this opportunity to show to women the real opinion of them entertained by the stronger sex.
Only those who are aware of the great and beneficent changes made in the laws relating to the rights of property, for instance, can at all estimate the good accomplished by these brave women. Almost all the leaders in the movement are gone. Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, both elderly women, now remain in the work, and Miss Anthony alone still labors with the old-time zeal and freedom. She is at her best mentally and physically, and is likely to live many years to follow up the work she is now doing. The best lesson that women can learn from her life is that success in any one thing is secured only by the sacrifice of many others, and that for a woman to reach the highest place in her chosen pursuit is for her to work with an eye single to it, counting it a privilege to forego pleasures and affections which tend to distract and divide attention. Miss Anthony knew this secret of success, as she has proven.
When the history of the reform work done in this country in this century is written, no individual laborer will have higher praise than that which belongs to Miss Anthony. Honest, sincere, tolerant and kind, she has won the homage of her adversaries; for while there is but a small minority of men and women who believe in woman suffrage, there are none who fail to pay tribute to the sterling qualities of this representative woman.
The Kansas City Journal said good-by in these graceful words: "Susan B. Anthony will celebrate her sixty-third birthday tomorrow, and in a few days will sail for England.... She goes abroad a republican queen—uncrowned to be sure, but none the less of the blood royal, and we have faith that the noblest men and women of Europe will at once recognize and welcome her as their equal. Fair winds waft her over the sea and home again!"
The two ladies sailed from Philadelphia on the morning of February 23, and a special dispatch to the New York Times thus announced their departure: