First, the meeting was opposed by certain influential clergymen; and when they found themselves too feeble to resist, they transferred all their opposition to me.

There is no petty cavil they had not recourse to, to thwart and discourage, and even when all had succeeded I was treated with personal discourtesy and annoyance at the public dinner.

The seeds of strife, afterwards destined to bear such deadly fruit, had already begun to manifest themselves, and petty calumnies were insinuated in the name of religion and morality.

From that great meeting the crowd retired quickly, and, almost as instantaneously, its effect faded from the public heat.

All that remained was soreness and distrust.
No event worth a memory marked the close of 1845, or the first months of 1846.