I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BEQUEST OF Alice R. Hilgard <L WILLIAM LLOYD GARBISOK san&CD.Bn iton- MY COUNTRY IS THE WORLD: MY COUNTRYMEN ARE ALL MANKIND. WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON 1805-1879 THE STORY OF HIS LIFE TOLD BY HIS CHILDREN VOLUME IV. 1861-1879 NEW -YORK : THE CENTURY CO. 1889 Copyright, 1885 & 1889, by WENDELL PHILLIPS GARRISON and FRANCIS JACKSON GARRISON. Add l I GIFT LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. IV. WM. LLOYD GARRISON, at the age of 69 Frontispiece. Photogravure from a photograph by Eockwood, New York, taken in 1874. STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER, at about the age of 60 ... to face p. 30 From a photograph. PARKER PILLSBURY, at about the age of 60 to face p. 110 From a photograph. JAMES MILLER McKiM, at about the age of 50 to face p. 166 From a photograph. SAMUEL MAY, JR., at the age of 64 to face p. 184 From a photograph taken in 1874. RICHARD DAVIS WEBB, at about the age of 60 to face p. 232 From a photograph. EDMUND QUINCY, at about the age of 60 to face p. 256 From a photograph. FACSIMILE OF GARRISON S HANDWRITING, at long intervals, to face p. 310 iii M881028 TABLE OF CONTENTS. VOL. IV. THE END. (1861-1879.) PAGES CHAPTER I. "No UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDERS!" (1861) 1-39 The final resolve of the South to have no Union with non- slaveholding States creates a Union-saving panic in the North, and secures Republican assent in Congress to the most abject conditions of a restoration of the status quo by Constitutional amendment, with explicit guarantees for the perpetuity of slavery. Concurrently, mob violence against the abolitionists breaks out afresh, with Wendell Phillips for its chief object in Boston. Garrison employs his pen actively against the compromising cowardice of Seward and other Republican leaders. He sides with the Federal Gov ernment as against the Constitutional pretences of the seces sionists, but would seize the opportunity for a peaceable separation. He reviews President Lincoln s inaugural ad dress with anti-slavery fidelity. The attack on Sumter breaks the spell that has bound the North, and Garrison lends his full weight to the wave of public feeling which resists the overthrow of the Union. He counsels a tem porary self-effacement of the abolitionists, and omits the anniversary meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He defends his consistency as a non-resistant and (for the benefit of his English friends) as an abolitionist in his sup port of the Government at this crisis. Nevertheless, he censures the President s revocation of a military edict of emancipation, and his wishy-washy message to Congress in December. He draws up a memorial to that body, praying for an abolition enactment with compensation to loyal slave- vi CONTENTS. PAGES holders. He enforces John Quincy Adams s doctrine of the war powers of the Government over slavery, and, among his Liberator mottoes, substitutes for "The United States Con stitution is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell" the more timely Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof ! " CHAPTER II. THE HOUR AND THE MAN (1862) 40-68 Garrison defines in a public lecture the relations of the abolitionists to the war; and takes at the anti-slavery meetings a cheering view of the situation in spite of the halting policy of the Administration, for which he makes due allowances. He draws up an emancipatory appeal to President Lincoln on behalf of the Progressive Friends of Pennsylvania. He discusses the duty of abolitionists and non-resistants in face of the draft for troops. He wel comes, but with misgivings, Lincoln s preliminary Eman cipation Proclamation, recognizes the need of continuing the American Anti-Slavery Society, and strives to keep the Liberator alive by raising its price. CHAPTER III. THE PROCLAMATION (1863) 69-92 Garrison is applauded as part of the occasion at the celebra tion, on January 1, in Boston, of the issue of the President s irrevocable edict of emancipation. He urges as the next duty the immediate abolition of slavery in the Border States, to which Lincoln lends no encouragement. He makes known through the Liberator the invaluable endeavors of George Thompson and his fellow-Garrisonian abolitionists in Great Britain to fix popular sentiment on the side of the North, and welcomes an approaching third visit from his old friend and coadjutor. He joins in the notable celebration at Philadelphia of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. His oldest son volunteers for the war as officer in a Massachusetts colored regiment. CHAPTER IV. THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN (1864) 93-126 Thompson lands in February, and is made the object of marked public attention, lecturing in the National Capitol before the President and the leaders of Congress. A division arises in the abolition ranks over the reelection of Lincoln, Wendell Phillips opposing it with much vehemence, and Gar rison favoring it with equal earnestness, as does Thompson also. Garrison attends as a spectator the National Conven tion of the Republican Party at Philadelphia, which unani mously renominates Lincoln, while demanding the utter CONTENTS. Vli PAGES extinction of slavery. He proceeds to Baltimore, and finds the jail in which he was confined in 1830 demolished ; visits Washington for the first time, and is heartily received by the President, and very courteously in the Senate Chamber. In a controversy with Professor F. W. Newman of London, he defends the renomination of Lincoln, whose reelection presently crowns the repeal by Congress of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the abolition of slavery by Maryland. CHAPTER V. THE JUBILEE (1865) 127-152 Missouri follows the example of Maryland, and Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abol ishing slavery forever. Garrison opens the Jubilee Meeting held in Boston, and proclaims the Declaration of Independ ence Constitutionalized ; is pressingly summoned to New- buryport for a like occasion, and warmly greeted ; and gives notice of his intention to discontinue the Liberator at the end of the year. He is invited, together with George Thompson, by Secretary Stanton, to attend the ceremony of replacing the national flag at Sumter ; sails on the Arago with Henry Ward Beecher and other invited guests ; rejoins his son in Charleston ; addresses the freedmen in multitudes, and re ceives the most touching tokens of their gratitude ; visits the grave of Calhoun, and is recalled to the North by the news of Lincoln s assassination. CHAPTER VI. END OF " THE LIBERATOR" (1865) 153-174 The division among the abolitionists as to their proper atti tude towards the Administration, and as to the continuance of the anti-slavery organization and propaganda, culminates in an utter disagreement between Garrison and Phillips and their respective supporters. The American Anti-Slavery Society follows Phillips, and Garrison withdraws from it. A lecturing tour to the Mississippi enables him to sustain the Liberator till the close of the thirty-fifth volume, when he pens his valedictory, and terminates his career as an in dependent journalist. CHAPTER VII. THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL (1866). . .175-189 Without an occupation or accumulated savings, advanced in years, and with health impaired, Garrison contemplates a History of the Anti-Slavery Movement, but fails to begin it. His friends address themselves to raising a National Testi monial, which receives the most distinguished support, and in the end ensures him a competence. viii CONTENTS. PAGES CHAPTER VIII. To ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT (1867) 190-235 In May, Garrison accompanies George Thompson to Eng land. He visits the Continent for the first time and makes the acquaintance of the French Liberals, and in August par ticipates (as a delegate of the American Freedman s Union Commission) in the International Anti-Slavery Conference at Paris. In June he is honored with a public breakfast in London, presided over by John Bright, to which an inter national significance is given by Earl Russell s confession of his injustice towards the North during the Civil War. Similar honors are bestowed upon him in various parts of the kingdom, particularly from the workingmen and from the temperance organizations, and he is presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh. A tour in Switzerland intervenes. CHAPTER IX. JOURNALIST AT LARGE (1868-1876). . .236-266 Through Oliver Johnson, Garrison becomes a regular con tributor to the New York Independent, and writes much for that and for many other papers, chiefly upon the following topics: The Freedmen (p. 237), Temperance (p. 239), The Rights of Women (p. 242), National Politics (p. 258), Free Trade and Civil-Service Reform (p. 262). He also makes many contributions to the history of the anti-slavery cause, and is entreated to undertake his autobiography, but in vain. He celebrates rather his deceased coadjutors in funeral addresses or in obituary notices ; nor does he omit to praise the survivors. CHAPTER X. DEATH OF MRS. GARRISON. FINAL VISIT TO ENGLAND (1876, 1877) 267-286 The death of his wife and his own growing infirmities induce Garrison to seek diversion and strength by revisiting Eng land in June, 1877. His social experiences prove surpass ingly delightful, with new acquaintance and old ; and he is able in public and private to give efficient aid to several reforms, particularly to the movement for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. He bids a last adieu to Thomp son, whose end approaches. CHAPTER XL LAST YEARS (1877-79) 287-307 Garrison s bodily failing is accompanied by no falling off in mental power or diminution of interest in public affairs. He condemns Senator Elaine s support of the faithless bill to restrict Chinese immigration, and arouses public sym- CONTENTS. 1X PAGES pathy for the destitute colored refugees from Mississippi and Louisiana who flock to Kansas. In April, 1879, he visits his daughter in New York for medical treatment, and dies in that city on May 24. His remains are interred in Boston. CHAPTER XII. INNER TRAITS 308-342 Love of sports (p. 309), handwriting (p. 309), epistolary style (p. 310), dexterity (p. 311), preference of city to country (p. 311), fondness for cats (p. 312), aesthetic sense (p. 312), musical passion (p. 313), reading (p. 314), poesy (p. 315), oratory (p. 316), personal appearance (p. 319), constitution and ailments (p. 322), medical experimentation (p. 323), service and courtesy (p. 324), considerateness in the printing-office (p. 325), domestic helpfulness and happi ness (p. 326), cheerfulness in adversity (p. 327), burden of hospitality (p. 327), fondness for light (p. 329), editorial disorderliness (p. 329), accessibility and charity (p. 330), discipline and care of his children (p. 331), delightin infants (p. 332), vocal animation and humor in the home (p. 333), forward-looking and unhistoric mind (p. 334), close friend ships and fidelity to friends (p. 334), initiative in the anti- slavery agitation (p. 335), judgment (p. 336), theological emancipation (p. 336), relations to the clergy (p. 337), views on spiritualism (p. 338), his indebtedness to his wife (p. 340), devotedness to her (p. 341). WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. CHAPTER I. "No UNION WITH NON- SLAVEHOLDERS! "1861. " fT^O me," wrote George Thompson to Mr. Garrison, on hear- Nov. 23, J_ ing of Lincohi s election, " it seems that the triumph l8 ^.j I ^f just achieved has placed the cause in a new, a critical, and a trying position j demanding (if it be possible) additional vigi lance, inflexible steadfastness to fundamental moral principles, and unrelaxed energy in the employment of anti-slavery means. You have now to grapple with the new doctrine of Eepublican conservatism, and will be called to contend with those in power who ? having gained their object by the assistance derived from the abolition ranks, will use their power to repress, if not to punish, the spread of the true gospel of freedom. You have now to make genuine converts of those who have as yet only been bap tized into the faith of non-extension, and whose zeal in that direction is mere white-man-ism. Forgetting the things that are behind, you have to reach forth to the things that are before, pressing towards the object you had in view when starting the utter extermination of slavery wheresoever it may exist." The fears of this sagacious observer were quickly justi fied. While the abolitionists, without pause, renewed in #.30:186. the fall their campaign of petitions for the perfecting (in a disunion sense) of the Massachusetts Personal Liberty VOL. IV. 1 WILLIAM LLOYD GARBISON. [^T. 56. CHAP. i. Law, leading Republican papers, like the Boston Journal 1861. and Transcript, and the Springfield Republican, alarmed at once by the very success of the party in the national Lib. 30 : 186, election, and by the rapid movement of the South towards secession, earnestly advocated the repeal of the law. Lib. 30 : 205. They were reenf orced by an address to the people of the State signed by the weightiest members of the legal pro fession, as Judge Lemuel Shaw, ex- Judge Benjamin R. Curtis, Joel Parker, Sidney Bartlett, Theophilus Parsons, and by equally shining lights in the world of scholarship and letters, as George Ticknor, Jared Sparks, and the Rev. James Walker, President of Harvard College, by George Peabody, the Rev. George Putnam, ex-Governors Henry J. Gardner and Emory Washburn, and some thirty others, representing all parties. These citizens were moved (in the immoral jargon of that day) by a " sense of responsi bility to God for the preservation and transmission of the priceless blessings of civil liberty and public order which his providence has bestowed upon us." They would re peal the Personal Liberty Law from their " love of right/ 7 " their sense of the sacredness of compacts." To their aid Lib. 31 : 5. came George Ashmun, who had presided over the Chicago Convention that nominated Lincoln, and, in the last act of his truckling official life, Gov. N. P. Banks. But his suc- Lib.^p: 178 cessor, John A. Andrew, triumphantly elected in spite of NOV. 19, his having presided over a meeting in aid of John Brown s 1 30:141. family, gave immediate notice in his message to the Legis- Lib. 31 : 6. lature that reaction in deference to the Slave Power would find no supporter in him. Foiled in this direction, the ll respectable n classes fell to mobbing again, being made desperate by the quick adhe sion of the Gulf States, during January, to South Carolina in rebellion. Their fury was directed afresh against Wendell Phillips, whose lineage made him a sort of renegade in their eyes, and whose invectives were unen durable when directed against themselves. Scenes similar Ante, 3 1505. to those witnessed on December 16 attended his Music- Lib. 31 : 14 Hall discourse in Mr. Parker s pulpit, on " The Lesson of ^T. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 3 the Hour," on January 20 ; and for weeks it was deemed CHAP. i. necessary to guard his home with volunteer defenders j^. from among the young men of the congregation. W. L. Garrison to Oliver Johnson. BOSTON, Jan. 19, 1861. MS. It will be a fortnight, to-morrow, since I have been out-of- doors. I have had a very severe cold, or succession of colds (for I am growing more and more susceptible to such attacks), and a slow fever hanging about me ; and, though the latter seems to be broken up, I am still weak, so as to make any effort burden some. It is on this account I have not replied to your letter, giving me an extract from Mary Ann s, 1 relative to her vision of a plot in embryo for a murderous assault upon our dear and noble friend, Wendell Phillips. I thought it best, on the whole, to say nothing to him about it j but that his precious life is in very great danger, in consequence of the malignity felt and ex pressed against him in this city since the John Brown meeting, there is no doubt among us. Hence, we are quite sure of a mob- ocratic outbreak at our annual meeting on Thursday and Friday Jan. 24, 25. next ; and, though some of us may be exposed to personal vio lence, Phillips will doubtless be the object of special vengeance. The new mayor, Wightman, is bitterly opposed to us, refuses to Joseph M. give us any protection, and says if there is any disturbance, he Wi htman - will arrest our speakers, together with the Trustees of Tremont Temple ! What a villain ! I should not wonder if blood should be shed on the occasion, for there will be a resolute body of men present, determined to maintain liberty of speech. Whether an attempt will be made to break up the A. S. Festival at Music Hall, on Wednesday evening, remains to be seen. But all will Jan. 23. work well in the end. Phillips is to speak at the Music Hall to-morrow forenoon, Jan. 20. before Mr. Parker s congregation, and another violent demon stration is anticipated. Mayor Wightman refuses to order the police to be present to preserve order. This makes the personal peril of Phillips greater than it was before. . . . Dark as the times are, beyond them all is light. I would have nothing changed ; for this is God s judgment-day with our guilty nation, which really deserves to be visited with civil and 1 Mrs. Oliver Johnson. She had clairvoyant powers. 4 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [JEfi.56. CHAP. I. servile war, and to be turned inside out and upside down, for its i ~ i unparalleled iniquity. I fervently trust this pro-slavery Union is broken beyond the possibility of restoration by Northern com- Lib. 31 : 6, promises ; yet, when I see our meetings everywhere mobbed ii. 12. down, and the cities swarming with ruffians in full sympathy with the Southern traitors, and the Northern pulpits more satanic than ever, as far as they speak out against Abolition ism, and the Eepublican Party constantly " shivering in the wind," I am not sure but the whole country is to come under the bloody sway of the Slave Power for a time as it has not yet done. Mr. Garrison s illness confined him to the house through the entire month of January, so that he was unable to attend the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti- Slavery Society, which began its sessions at Tremont Temple on the morning of January 24, and missed being an active participant in that memorable occasion. At his request the 94th Psalm was read at the opening of the meeting by the Rev. Samuel May, Jr. The following let ter was also read by Mr. Quincy : W. L. Garrison to Edmund Quincy. MS. and BOSTON, Jan. 24, 1861. Lib. 31 : 17. My DEAR COADJUTOR : . . . I am stiU not sufficiently strong to justify me, as a matter of common prudence, in being present at our annual State gathering to-day. " The spirit is willing," and restless for liberation, " but the flesh is weak." I believe this will be the first of the long series of anniversaries held by the Massachusetts Anti- Slavery Society, which I have failed to attend held " through evil report " and " much tribulation " in storm and sunshine in the midst of impending violence, or with undisturbed composure but always held hopefully, serenely, triumphantly. It is a great cross to me to break the connection at this crisis ; especially as, judging from " the fury of the adversary," the meeting, to-day, will be the most encouraging and the most potential ever held by the Society, whether broken up by lawless violence, or permitted to proceed without molestation. The cause we advocate being not ours, but God s not ours, but human nature s appealing to all that is just, humane, noble, and true, and upheld by an omnipo- MT. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. tent arm it is beyond all defeat, unconquerable and immortal ; " therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and ^ though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." May a Divine patience, firmness, and spirit of peace be vouchsafed to all the friends of impartial freedom who may be present at the meeting to-day, not returning railing for railing, but looking calmly and joyfully to the end of this tremendous conflict with the powers of darkness namely, the liberation of every bondman on the American soil, and thenceforward the commencement of an era of universal reconciliation, happiness, and prosperity, such as the world has never yet witnessed. Yours, to break every yoke, WM. LLOYD GARRISON. The resolutions, which were presented to the meeting by Wendell Phillips, were drawn by Mr. Garrison with his usual tact, and enunciated the fundamental principles of the abolitionists in a series of quotations from the speeches and writings of Webster, Channing, and Clay, and from the first article of the Constitution of Massa chusetts. It was not easy for a Union-saving mob of Webster idolaters to take exception to, or howl down, a resolution beginning : " Resolved, That (to quote the language of Daniel Webster)," and they were compelled to listen in silence, if not with composure. The first speaker of the morning was the Eev. James Freeman Clarke, who made a forcible speech, interrupted only by occasional hisses from the rear gallery, where a crowd of turbulent fellows were gathered. The appear ance of Wendell Phillips, who followed Mr. Clarke, was the signal for a pandemonium of cat-calls, yells, cheers, hisses, songs, and derisive remarks, which the orator parried and punctuated with ready wit. At last, forbearing to strain his voice in the vain attempt to make himself heard, he quietly addressed the reporters at his feet, saying : u While Lib. 31 : 17. I speak to these pencils, I speak to a million of men. What, then, are those boys? We have got the press of the country in our hands. Whether they like us or not, they know that our speeches sell their papers. With five news papers we may defy five hundred boys. . . . My voice WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. [Mi. 56. CHAP. I, Cf. Letters ofL. M. Child, pp. 147-49. is beaten by theirs, but they cannot beat types. All hail and glory to Faust, who invented printing, for he made mobs impossible!" Those who were present on this occasion will long remember the orator s triumph in com pelling, by these tactics, the very miscreants who had drowned his voice to weary of their useless clamor, and, lapsing into comparative quiet, to beg him to "speak louder," that they might hear him. He finished his speech without further difficulty, and was followed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who had seldom appeared on an anti- slavery platform, but who came now to bear his testimony in behalf of free speech, and to face a mob for the first time. He, too, was assailed by insult and interruption, but he nevertheless held his ground and made his speech, protesting against further compromise or concession to the South. The last speaker of the morning was T. W. Higginson. 1 The afternoon session was even more exciting, for the mob, finding the police passive, and counting on the sym- l The Rev. Jacob M. Manning, the associate pastor of the Old South Church, and as liberal and progressive as his colleague (Dr. George Blag- den) was the reverse, had courageously spoken at the meeting in behalf of John Brown s family, held in Tremont Temple, in November, 1859, and was among the speakers invited to participate in this meeting of the Massachu setts A. S. Society. Heartily sympathizing, he at first agreed to do so, but subsequently wrote to Mr. Garrison that he felt he ought to withdraw his promise, as the safety of his brother-in-law, then resident in South Carolina, might be endangered if he should take part at this time. " Great God, what a country ! " he exclaimed " that I cannot speak for liberty without per illing the life of my brother ! " (MS. Jan. 8, 1861.) Mr. Garrison, from his sick-bed, dictated a reply, freely absolving him, and said: "If it were a question relating to a compromise of principle, then, I am sure, you would be as unwilling to allow father or mother, brother or sister, wife or child, to deter you from uttering your sentiments on the occasion alluded to, as I should be to exonerate you from the discharge of a duty which would then imperatively devolve upon you. But, as there is no moral obligation for you to speak at any particular meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, it simply becomes a question of expediency and sound discretion, and therefore I think you have acted considerately ... in wishing to recall your promise. . . . You have, on various occasions, shown rare moral courage and independence in bearing a frank, bold, and unequivocal testi mony against the colossal sin of our country; and your last effort, on Fast Day, in your own pulpit, must satisfy all of your determination to be true to your conscientious convictions, come what may " (MS. copy, Jan. 8, 1861). Mi. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEES. 7 pathy of the new Democratic Mayor, became more viru- /. M. lent, made speaking fruitless, and began hurling the cushions from the gallery seats to the floor below. The behavior of the audience on the floor, and especially of the women, was admirable. They quietly kept their seats, and refused to be intimidated or stampeded. The avenues to the platform were guarded by trusty friends, to prevent the mobocrats from capturing the meeting as Ante, 3:505. they did on December 3d. Presently the Mayor appeared with a posse of police, and, stating that the Trustees of the building had asked him to disperse the meeting, he requested the audience to leave. Unhappily for him, the Trustees were present and promptly denied his statement, demanding that he should read their letter, and, on his reluctant compliance, it appeared that they had requested him to quell the riot and protect the meeting ! Convicted of falsehood in this humiliating manner, before his " fel low-citizens," the " Chief Magistrate n turned to Edmund Quincy, who was in the chair, and abjectly asked his com mands. " Clear the galleries/ 7 said Mr. Quincy, and it was done. " Give us fifty policemen this evening to protect the meeting/ he continued. " You shall have them/ responded the Mayor, who, returning to the City Hall, straightway wrote an order to close the hall and " prevent Lib. 31:18. any meeting being held there " that evening. 1 This was the last triumph of pro-slavery violence in Boston. With the exception of a brief session in the Anti- Slavery Office, the next morning, the abolitionists made i Doubtless there would have been a stormy time, had the evening meet ing been held, for the mob, knowing the Mayor was in sympathy with them, and inflamed by liquor, were prepared for a murderous onslaught under the cover of darkness ; but a fearless magistrate, resolved to execute the laws, could have protected the meeting and preserved the peace, for the police force was ample. Mr. Phillips appealed in person to Gov. An drew, hoping that he would use the militia, and do, in the name of the State, what the recreant Mayor refused to do in the name of the city ; but the Gov ernor, with every desire to protect free speech, felt that he lacked the stat utory power to interfere, unless the Mayor should call upon him to do so. This led to an agitation for a Metropolitan Police, under State control, such as New York enjoyed or, rather, possessed ; but the Legislature refused to grant it. WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. . 56. CHAP. I. 1861. Lib. 31 : 9. Jan. 12, 1861; Lib. 31:10. Lib. 31 : 26. MSS. E. W. Capron and E. H. Irish to J. M. McKim, Jan. 29, 30, 1861. no further attempt to hold their meetings, but adjourned sine die, well knowing that the indignation excited by this outrage would be worth many conventions to the cause ; and so, of course, it proved. But the spirit of compro mise was still rampant, and the most abject propositions were urged for the conciliation of the seceding States and the maintenance of the Union with fresh guarantees for the protection of the Slave Power. In this the Republican leaders were conspicuous. In Congress, Charles Francis Adams, representing the Third Massachusetts District, proposed the admission of New Mexico as a State, with or without slavery, and favored an amendment to the Con stitution requiring that all subsequent amendments af fecting slavery should be proposed by a slave State and ratified by all the States (instead of the customary three- fourths). 1 Mr. Seward, speaking in the U. S. Senate, favored the repeal of the Personal Liberty laws, and the amendment of the Constitution so as to prohibit Congress from ever abolishing or interfering with slavery in any State. Thomas Corwin of Ohio, a Republican Represen tative and the chairman of the Congressional Committee of Thirty-three to devise compromise measures, not only urged the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, but declared it to be "the duty of every free State in the Union to suppress" any incendiary publications, espe cially of the " newspaper press/ 7 against slavery, and " to punish their authors." 2 Andrew G-. Curtin, the Repub lican Governor of Pennsylvania, urged the Republican legislators of that State to defeat a resolution reaffirming their party 7 s cardinal doctrine of the non-extension of 1 He subsequently withdrew his propositions, on the ground that it was " of no use to propose as an adjustment that which has no prospect of being received as such by the other party " ; and, as a member of the Committee of Thirty- three to consider the state of the country, he finally voted against making any proposition whatever (Lib. 31 : 13 ; Wilson s Eise and Fall of the Slave Power, 3 : 106). 2 Speech of Thomas Corwin in the U. S. House of Representatives, Jan. 21, 1861 ; Appendix to Congressional Globe, 36th Congress, 2d session, pp. 73, 74. See, also, the comments of Owen Love joy in his fearless speech two days later (ibid., p. 85). Mi. 56. J NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDERS. 9 slavery, and appointed delegates to the so-called "Peace CHAP. I. Congress" (convened in Washington in February) who ij&i. were utterly subservient to the demands there made by the border slave States. Had the Senators and Representatives from the seceded States only retained their seats in Congress, they could easily have insured the adoption of the measures recom mended by this " Peace Congress," and substantially em bodied in the Compromise bill which bore the name of its author, Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky ; and the guarantees thus secured to it would have given slavery a fresh lease of life and power. They included the admission of slavery Greeieys to the Territories south of latitude 36 30 ; forbade Con- A n $ gress to aboli sh the institution in places under its exclu- I 37^, 377, sive jurisdiction, and made it virtually perpetual in the District of Columbia; prohibited interference with the inter-State slave trade; required the United States to compensate the owner of any fugitive slave rescued from his clutches "by violence or intimidation" in the free States ; empowered them to sue the county in which the rescue occurred, and the county in turn to sue the indi vidual rescuers j and forbade that any future amendment of the Constitution should modify these stipulations or aifect the fugitive-slave and three-fifths representation clauses of the original instrument. Even without the votes of the seceding Senators, the Crittenden Compromise commanded 19 votes in the Senate to 20 in opposition ; 1 and the parallel propositions sub mitted by the "Peace Congress" having been also dis missed, the following amendment to the Constitution, proposed by Thomas Corwin, was adopted by the requisite two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, a large number of Republicans voting in its favor : 2 1 In the House the vote was more decisive, 113 Nays to 80 Yeas. 2 Senators Sumner, Wilson, Wade, and others in both houses of Congress were firm in resisting every step towards compromise ; but even Senator Wilson spoke so apologetically concerning the Massachusetts Personal Liberty Law, in his speech of Feb. 21, in the U. S. Senate, that Mr. Garri son was compelled to criticise him sharply (Lib. 31 : 46). 10 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 56. Wilson s " No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will FallofSiave authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, Power, 3 : within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, includ ing that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State." The answer of the South to this last act of cowardice was the bombardment of Sumter, and Northern legislators were thus saved the humiliation of giving the amendment the ratification which would probably otherwise have been wrung from the larger number of them. " The South/ 7 MS. March wrote George Thompson to Mr. Garrison, " has reversed 29- 1 86 *- vour motto, and has hoisted the banner of * No Union with JV^w-Slaveholders ! ; Thank God for it ! " Mr. Garrison s pen was never more active than during this critical period, and never more searching, faithful, and discriminating. Even from his sick room he sent forth, in January, a vigorous editorial in criticism of Mr. Jan. 12. Seward s compromise speech in the Senate. After refer ring to the significance attached to it, on account of Mr. Seward s position in the Republican party and the admitted fact that he was to be Mr. Lincoln s Secretary of State, Mr. Garrison wrote : Lib. 31: 10. " Formerly, we entertained a high opinion of the statesman like qualities of Mr. Seward, and were ready to believe, in consequence of several acts performed by him in the service of an oppressed and despised race, that he was inspired by noble sentiments, lifting him above all personal considerations j but we have been forced, within the past year, to correct that opinion, and to change that belief. His intellectual ability is unquestionably of the first order j he writes and speaks with remarkable perspicuity, and often with great rhetorical beauty ; nothing with him is hastily done ; his caution is immense ; he aims to be axiomatic and oracular. But it is evident that his moral nature is quite subordinate to his intellect, so as to taint his philosophy of action, and prevent him from rising to a higher level than that of an expedientist and compromiser. The key to his public life is contained in this very speech. Here it is: " If, in the expression of these views, I have not proposed what is desired or expected by many others, they will do me the justice to believe 2ET. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDERS. 11 that I am as far from having suggested what, in many respects, would CHAP. I. have been in harmony with cherished convictions of my own. I learned ~ early from Jefferson that, in political affairs, we cannot always do what seems to be absolutely best. Those with whom we must necessarily act, entertaining different views, have the power and right of carrying them into practice. We must be content to lead when we can, and to follow when we cannot lead ; and if we cannot at any time do for our country all the good that we would wish, we must be satisfied with doing for her all the good that we can. " Now, a declaration like this, expressed in such carefully considered language, carries upon its face nothing startling or objectionable ; because it is the merest truism to say, that where there are many minds of conflicting views to be reconciled, mutual concessions must be made to secure the desired unity of action. And where no moral principle, no sacrifice of justice, is involved, a course like this is the dictate of common sense ; otherwise, the state of society would be chaotic, and an efficient administration of public concerns impossible. But in the sen tence, l In political affairs we cannot always do what seems to be absolutely best, there is to be found the germ of all political profligacy, and the nest-egg of all those sinful compromises which have cursed this nation since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. There is no position in which men may place themselves, or be placed by others, where they can be justified, whether to reach l a consummation devoutly to be wished, or to avoid formidable danger or great suffering, in violating their con sciences, or conniving at what their moral sense condemns. Per sonal integrity and straightforward regard for the right can allow no temptation to make them swerve a hair s-breadth from the line of duty ; for they are of more consequence than all the compacts and constitutions ever made. Disregardful of this, the doctrine that l the end sanctifies the means, or that l we cannot always do what seems to be absolutely best, becomes the doctrine of devils. Mr. Seward means just this : a compromise of principle to propitiate the perverse wrongdoers of the South or his language is a mockery in this emergency. He is dealing, not with a material question of dollars and cents, but with the most momentous moral question ever presented to the world not with well-meaning but deluded men, but with sagacious desperadoes and remorseless men-stealers. All his talk of adhering to old compromises, and making additional ones to appease the ferocious and despotic South, relates to slavery, * the sum of all villany and to nothing else. Hence, he is for continuing to slaveholders the inhuman privilege of hunting 12 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [Mi. 56. CHAP. I. their fugitive slaves in any part of the North. Hence, he is 1861 willing to vote for an amendment of the Constitution, declaring that under no circumstances shall Congress have the power to abolish or interfere with slavery in any State. Hence, his readiness to enact laws subjecting future John Browns to the punishment of death for seeking to deliver the slaves Bunker- Hill fashion, and after the example of Lafayette, Kosciusko, Pulaski, and DeKalb, as pertaining to our own Revolutionary struggle. Yet, in another speech delivered at Madison, Wis consin, not long since, Mr. Seward solemnly declares : " By no word, no act, no combination into which I might enter, shall any one human being of all the generations to which I belong, much less of any class of human beings of any race or kindred be oppressed, or kept down in the least degree in their efforts to rise to a higher state of liberty and hap piness. . . . Whenever the Constitution of the United States requires of me that this hand shall keep down the humblest of the human race, then I will lay down power, place, position, fame, everything, rather than adopt such a construction or such a rule. " What shall we think of the consistency or veracity of Mr. Seward in this matter of freedom ? He knows, he concedes, in the speech we are criticising, that, under the United States Con stitution, the fugitive slave is not entitled to safety or protec tion in any Northern State ; and those who rush to the rescue of the enslaved millions at the South, as John Brown and his associates did, he is for hanging as felons under that same Con stitution. It is time for him to lay down power, place, and position ! " Look at the present state of the country ! The old Union S. c.,Aftss., breaking up daily, its columns falling in every direction four Fla., Ala. g ou th em states already out of it, and all the others busily and openly preparing to follow the national Government par alyzed through indecision, cowardice, or perfidy the national flag trampled upon and discarded by the traitors, and a mur derous endeavor on their part, by firing heavy shot, to sink a Star of the Government vessel entering the harbor of Charleston upon a Ja*.g> lawful errand, compelling her to flee in disgrace and to avoid 1861. certain destruction treason and traitors everywhere, in every slave State, in every free State, at the seat of Government, in both houses of Congress, in the army and navy, in the Execu tive department, at the head of the press, audacious, defiant, diabolical the United States arsenals and fortifications already seized, or rapidly falling into the hands of the Southern con spirators, through the blackest perfidy every movement con- 56.J NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEES. 13 templating the enforcement of the laws, and the protection of its property, on the part of the national Government, impu dently denounced by the traitors and their accomplices as coercion, tyranny, and a declaration of war with the murderous avowal that Abraham Lincoln shall never be inaug urated President of the United States, and the unquestionable purpose of these Catilines and Arnolds to seize the Capital, and take possession of the Government by a coup cPetat, which we have long prophesied would be their last desperate effort to keep the reins of power in their own grasp, and which we have no doubt will be successful, in spite of all the precautions of Gen. Scott. "In this state of things, when the elements are melting with fervent heat, and thunders are uttering their voices, and a great earthquake is shaking the land from centre to circum ference, threatening to engulf whatever free institutions are yet visible, Mr. Seward, with the eyes of expectant millions fastened upon him as the pilot to weather the storm, rises in the Senate to utter well-turned periods in glorification of a Union no longer in existence, and to talk of meeting preju dice with conciliation, exaction with concession which surren ders no principle (!), and violence with the right hand of peace ! The tiger is to be propitiated by crying pussy-cat ! and levi athan drawn out with a hook ! The word i treason or traitors is never once mentioned no recital is made of any of the numberless outrages committed no call is made upon the President to be true to his oath, and to meet the public exi gency with all the forces at his command no patriotic indig nation flushes his cheek but all is calm as a summer s morn ing, cool, compliant, unimpassioned ! His boldest word is, We already have disorder, and violence is begun. How very discreet ! It is a penny- whistle used to hush down a thunder storm of the first magnitude capping Vesuvius with a sheet of straw paper ! And this is all the statesmanship of William H. Seward, in a crisis unparalleled in our national history! Stand aside ! The hour has come, but where is the man ? " l i This article extorted a frank confession and tribute from the Boston Courier, then under the editorship of George Lunt, and the most virulent and disloyal journal in New England at that time: "We ask our readers to ponder carefully these telling and effective sentences, and to ask them selves whether there is not a good deal of truth as well as of force in them. They serve to show the degree of power which a man like Mr. Garrison wields, who plants himself upon an immutable principle, and firmly stands CHAP. I. 1861. Winfield Scott. 14 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEEISON. [^T. 56. CHAP. i. Even while commenting severely on the cowardice and !86i. recreancy of the Republican leaders whom we have named, Mr. Garrison vindicated them and their party against the false accusations hurled at them and the abolitionists alike by the Southern conspirators. Not only, he main- #.31:26. tained, had the abolitionists uniformly recognized and conceded the Constitutional limitations of the powers of Congress respecting slavery, but the Republican plat form contained not a sentiment, having a direct rela tion to slavery, contrary to the views entertained by all political parties twenty years ago. It was not that the Republican party was guilty of any aggression or inter meddling, any waywardness or injustice ; but the South had wholly changed its former position, and insisted upon undreamed-of subserviency to its tyrannical dic tation. The seceding States were therefore without excuse, guilty of "treachery, perjury, treason of the blackest character, for the worst of purposes." " Their subjugation/ he declared, "and the punishment of the leading traitors, are fully authorized by the Federal Government; and when that Government ceases to maintain its rightful sovereignty, the American Union ceases to exist." Lib. 31:27. "Under these circumstances, what is the true course to be pursued by the people of the North ? Is it to vindicate this sovereignty by the sword till the treason is quelled and alle- there, regardless of consequences. . . . His path of duty lies as clear before him as the travelled highway. He has no temptation to turn to the right hand or the left. He has no doubts, no misgivings, no questionings. Onward, straight onward, like the flight of an arrow through the air, does he move to his aim. It is not necessary for us to disclaim all sympathy with the ends and objects for which Mr. Garrison lives. To us, he and his party are all wrong ; but they are consistently, manfully, and resolutely wrong. We never read a speech or an article of Mr. Garrison s without a consciousness of the power which his deep and fervid convictions give him. . . . The incurable weakness of Mr. Seward s position is, that he is ever halting between two opinions. . . . He is obliged to say one thing at Washington, and another at Rochester ; one thing in the spring, and another in the autumn. ... He blows hot and cold; he speaks with two voices; he backs and fills; he utters a brave threat, and then seems to shrink back from the echo of his own voice " (Boston Courier, Jan. 21, 1861 ; Lib. 31 : 20). ^!T.56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEBS. 15 giance restored ? Constitutionally, the sword may be wielded CHAP. I. to this extent, and must be, whether by President Buchanan or ^ President Lincoln, if the Union is to be preserved. The Fed eral Government must not pretend to be in actual operation, embracing thirty-four States, and then allow the seceding States to trample upon its flag, steal its property, and defy its authority with impunity j for it would then be (as it is at this moment) a mockery and a laughing-stock. Nevertheless, to think of whipping the South (for she will be a unit on the question of slavery) into subjection, and extorting allegiance from millions of people at the cannon s mouth, is utterly chimerical. True, it is in the power of the North to deluge her soil with blood, and inflict upon her the most terrible sufferings ; but not to conquer her spirit, or change her deter mination. " What, then, ought to be done ? The people of the North should recognize the fact that THE UNION is DISSOLVED, and act accordingly. They should see, in the madness of the South, the hand of God, liberating them from a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, made in a time of terrible peril, and without a conception of its inevitable consequences, and which has corrupted their morals, poisoned their religion, petrified their humanity as towards the millions in bondage, tarnished their character, harassed their peace, burdened them with taxation, shackled their prosperity, and brought them into abject vassalage. . . . " Now, then, let there be a CONVENTION OF THE FREE STATES called to organize an independent government on free and just principles j and let them say to the slave States Though you are without excuse for your treasonable conduct, depart in peace ! Though you have laid piratical hands upon property not your own, we surrender it all in the spirit of magnanimity ! And if nothing but the possession of the Capital will appease you, take even that, without a struggle! Let the line be drawn between us where free institutions end and slave insti tutions begin! Organize your own confederacy, if you will, based upon violence, tyranny, and blood, and relieve us from all responsibility for your evil course ! " A somewhat similar attitude was assumed by other leaders of public opinion, who shrank from the horrors of a civil war, and the apparently hopeless task of con- 1 : 358 ~ 9 quering a united South with a divided North, and who 16 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 56. CHAP. i. believed a peaceful separation the surer and swifter way 1861. i n which, to shake the foundations of slavery. Few guessed the depth and fervor of the Union sentiment which the cannon-shot in Charleston harbor was to rouse. Disappointed by Mr. Seward s " penny- whistle," Mr. Garrison anxiously watched the bearing of the President elect, on whose patriotism, courage, and firmness the des tinies of the republic rested, and waited for his utterance. #.31:26. "It is much to the credit of Mr. Lincoln," he wrote in February, " that he has maintained his dignity and self- respect intact, and gives no countenance to any of the compromises that have yet been proposed." 1 That his inauguration would be permitted in peace seemed hardly possible, and when the telegraph announced to the country on the afternoon of the 4th of March that the Buchanan Administration had ended, and the first Repub lican President had actually assumed office and delivered his inaugural address without interruption or disturb ance, a day of feverish anxiety was succeeded, as Mr. Lib. 31 : 38. Garrison wrote, " by a night of prof oundest satisfaction and repose, ... as though not a cloud rested upon the future." 2 1 This was evidently penned just after Mr. Garrison had seen a private letter from W. H. Herndon of Springfield, 111., Mr. Lincoln s law partner, to S. E. Sewall, which concluded : " Mr. Lincoln yet remains firm as a rock. He is true game, and is strong in the faith of Justice, Right, Liberty, Man, and God. He has told me, not only once, but often and often, that rather than back down rather than concede to traitors, his soul might go back to God from the wings of the Capitol. I believe it. He and I have been partners in law for thirteen years, and I know him " (MS. copy, Feb. 1). 2 It was not without a little surprise, after the election of Mr. Lincoln and Gov. Andrew, that Mr. Garrison found himself frequently appealed to by aspirants for office under the new Administration to endorse their appli cations. Standing wholly aloof, as he did, from the Republican party or ganization, and being a frequent and severe critic of the acts of its leaders, he had not imagined that he had any influence to lend in that direction, but he consented with some reluctance to recommend two or three persons whom he believed worthy and competent to Governor Andrew, at the same time apologizing for doing so. The Governor promptly sent this cordial and characteristic reply (MS.) : "BOSTON, March 5, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR : I am much obliged to you for introducing Mr. T - of Dorchester. I shall do my best to favor the strong, real, and true-hearted 2ET.56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 17 Two columns of the Liberator were devoted to the edi- CHAP. i. tor s review of the inaugural address. Containing, as the I 86 I . latter did, a frank and unflinching acknowledgment that all who took their oaths of office to support the Constitu tion and the laws were under obligation to maintain and enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, and surrender the hunted fugitive j a declaration that the President himself took his official oath " with no mental reservations " ; and an expression of his willingness to see the Constitutional amendment just passed by Congress ratified by the Ante, pp. States, it was hardly a document to inspire the hope or the enthusiasm of the abolitionists. But, while deal ing faithfully with it in these respects, Mr. Garrison treated it with his customary discrimination and fairness. Admitting the " manly courage " of Mr. Lincoln, and the " rare self-possession and equanimity " with which he had passed through the fearful ordeal of threatened violence and assassination, he commended the President s clear and simple style, and the brevity and directness of his address. His argument against Southern secession he regarded as " compact and conclusive," and certainly the Republican Party had given the South no justification for revolt. " The position of the Republican party, on this subject, is very Lib. 31 : 38. truthfully and most explicitly defined by Mr. Lincoln in his inaugural address. Wherein does it differ from that of the old Whig or the old Democratic party, so far as non-intervention with slavery at the South, or the recapture of fugitive slaves, or the suppression of slave insurrections, or the three-fifths repre sentation, is concerned ? As if this were not enough, the party, in its Chicago platform, after recognizing the right of eateh State to order and control its own domestic institutions, accord ing to its own judgment exclusively, goes out of its way to denounce the lawless invasion by an armed force of any State or men who are sincerely with us in the Republican cause. And I am glad to try to help him. I will do so. "You need never apologize for any such introduction nor for any hint or advice you may feel disposed to give me. I hope and trust the best good of our people, of every condition, will be served by the new Administra tion. I shall support it faithfully in that hope and confidence, and shall do my little to give it the best direction. Faithfully yours, J. A. ANDREW." VOL. IV. 2 18 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. [^T. 56. CHAP. I. Territory, no matter under what pretext, as THE GREATEST OF 1861 CRIMES ! This is a cruel stigma cast upon the memory of John Brown and his martyr-associates at Harper s Ferry. What has the South to fear from such a party as this ? And how can its triumph furnish a shadow of justification for the rebellious movement of the seven Confederated States, now in open hos tility to the Union ? "See what Mr. Lincoln says in his address an address, remember ! to be read by all the civilized world respecting that thoroughly inhuman and most revolting business, the sur rendering of fugitive slaves by the people of the North ! After quoting the Constitutional clause, he says : " It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves, and the intention of the law-giver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution, to this provision as much as any other. To the prop osition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause shall be delivered up, their oaths are unanimous. " Very true, but such oaths are impious, and of no validity. Whoever returns, or consents to return, a fugitive slave to the clutches of his master, is, in the sight of God, an accomplice in man-stealing. To this extent Mr. Lincoln and the Republican party are guilty. We are equally shocked and surprised that he should gratuitously parade this infamous pledge in his inaugural address. Nor is it any atonement when he says : " In any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave ? And might it not be well, at the same time, to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States ? " These safeguards of liberty ought indeed to be provided not merely that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave, but that no fugitive should ever be carried back to bondage. The right of one man to freedom is by creation and destiny the right of every other ; and President Lincoln has no better claim to be protected than any of the hunted refugees in the Dismal Swamp. He seems to have no bowels of mercy, under the Constitution, for those who are seeking their liberty by flight, and who deserve to be specially commiserated and aided on their way. He would modify the Fugitive Slave Law (so he said before his nomination), but only to make its operation the ^T. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 19 more effectual! And yet he is the man mirabile dictu! CHAP. I. whose election causes seven of the slaveholding States to revolt, ^ and in hot haste withdraw from the Union ! Surely they must be desperately hard to conciliate ! " No transformation was ever more sudden, overwhelm ing, and amazing than that effected by the bombardment Apr. 12-14. and capture of Fort Sumter, and President Lincoln s call Apr. 15. for troops to suppress the rebellion. That which the South had expected would complete the demoralization of the North, and be the signal for riots and outbreaks in its great cities, evoked a whirlwind of patriotism that swept all before it, and caused " such an uprising in every Lib. y . 66. city, town, and hamlet of the North, without distinction of sect or party, as to seem, 7 wrote Mr. Garrison, "like a general resurrection from the dead. - To those who were puzzled to know how he, as a disunionist, could rejoice in the determination of the Government to crush the rebel lion which sought to dissolve the Union, he speedily made clear, in two lucid editorials, the difference between #.31:58, Northern Disunionists and Southern Secessionists, and the utter absence of any justification for the latter. Neither he nor the American An ti- Slavery Society had ever advocated the right of a State to secede from the Union ad libitum, without reason ; and only a revo lutionary right, for the causes set forth in the Decla ration of Independence, could justify the South in its course. " On the issue raised by the secessionists," he reiterated, in re- Lib. 31 : 63. joinder to a letter from Beriah Green, "they are wholly and fear fully in the wrong, while President Lincoln is indisputably in the right. On his side all the elements of freedom will coalesce, sym pathetically and approvingly, as against their thoroughly infernal spirit and purposes, and a thousand times over wish him success in the struggle. At the same time, as pertaining to a continued union with the South, God grant that the North may speedily see the folly, danger, and iniquity of trying it any longer ! Let ... the North take the right, with not a Border Slave State left to mar her free policy, and let the South take the left, and the consequences ! " 20 WILLIAM LLOYD GABRISON. CHAP. i. On the Sunday morning following the President s call 1861. for troops, Wendell Phillips addressed an immense con gregation at Music Hall on the War for the Union, the Lib. 31: 66. platform being decorated with the stars and stripes, "for the first time seeming to symbolize the cause of impartial freedom." Some of the very men who had hissed and hooted at him in January, were now ready to applaud him to the echo, and the scene was in every way thrilling and inspiring. The text of his discourse was suggested by Mr. Garrison : Jer. 34 : 17. " Therefore thus saith the Lord : Ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor : behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine." The selections from Scripture were likewise chosen by him, and the 50th and 51st chapters of Jeremiah seemed so remarkably applicable to the times that, when Mr. Phillips had finished his reading of them, the audience broke forth in loud applause ! The peroration of the discourse, eloquent in its prophecy, fitly expressed the instinct of the abolitionists as to the certain result of the war now inaugurated. 1 The same number of the Liberator in which Mr. Phillips s discourse appeared contained the folio wing announcement, written and signed by Mr. Garrison as President of the American Anti-Slavery Society : Lib. 31 : 66. " In view of the unparalleled excitement now existing through out the country, arising from the treasonable attempt of the Southern slave oligarchy to overturn the General Government, and to erect an exclusively slaveholding despotism upon its ruins, to the overthrow of all free institutions, it is deemed by the Executive Committee of the American Anti- Slavery Society l As a manifestation of their antipathy to Mr. Phillips, and with a lack of enterprise amazing in these days of competition in journalism, the Boston dailies, with the exception of the Advertiser, refrained by common consent from reporting or making any allusion to this discourse. Even the Repub lican Atlas and Daily See, which usually gave full reports of Mr. Phillips s speeches, and had secured one of this, was induced to suppress it. The result was a sale of sixteen thousand copies of the Liberator Extra containing it. . 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 21 a measure of sound expediency to postpone the usual anniver sary of the Society, in the city of New York, in May next, until further notice a decision which they are confident will be most cordially ratified by the members and friends of the Soci ety ; especially in view of the cheering fact that there is at last a North as well as a South, and that the present tremendous conflict is in its tendencies strongly and irresistibly toward the goal of universal emancipation, or else a separation between the free and slaveholding States in accordance with the principle of No UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS ! Let nothing be done, at this solemn crisis, needlessly to check or divert the mighty current of popular feeling which is now sweeping southward with the strength and impetuosity of a thousand Niagaras, in direct conflict with that haughty and perfidious Slave Power which has so long ruled the republic with a rod of iron for its own base and satanic purposes. " The annual meeting of the Society stands postponed until further notice." l This conclusion was the result of a correspondence be tween the leading members of the Society in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, who were united in the opinion that it would be folly to attempt to arrest the public ear at such a moment. As Mr. Garrison wrote to Oliver Johnson : " Now that civil war has begun, and a whirlwind of violence and excitement is to sweep through the country, every day in creasing in intensity until its bloodiest culmination, it is for the abolitionists to stand still, and see the salvation of God, rather than to attempt to add anything to the general commotion. It is no time for minute criticism of Lincoln, Republicanism, or even the other parties, now that they are fusing for a death- grapple with the Southern slave oligarchy j for they are instru ments in the hands of God to carry forward and help achieve the great object of emancipation for which we have so long been striving. The war is fearfully to scourge the nation, but mercy will be mingled with judgment, and grand results are to follow, should no dividing root of bitterness rise up at the North. All our sympathies and wishes must be with the Gov ernment, as against the Southern desperadoes and buccaneers ; CHAP. I. MSS. W. L. G. to O. Johnson ; E. M. Davis, J. M. Me Kim, J. S. Gib bons, O. Johnson, to W. L. G., April 19-25. MS. April 19, 1861. l For " the same weighty considerations " the usual May meetings in Bos ton were also omitted (Lib. 31 : 70). 22 WILLIAM LLOYD GARBISON. [^T. 56. CHAP. I. yet, of course, without any compromise of principle on our part. 1861 ^ e nee( i great circumspection and consummate wisdom in re gard to what we say and do, under these unparalleled circum stances. We are rather, for the time being, to note the events transpiring, than seek to control them. There must be no need less turning of popular violence upon ourselves, by any false step of our own." * The omission of the annual meeting called forth private protests and expressions of regret from a few anti-slavery friends, who deemed it a sacrifice of principle and dere liction from duty, and thought the outlook for the slave never more depressing than then. It was with these in mind, no less than the New Haven correspondent to whom he was more directly replying, that Mr. Garrison wrote : Lib, 31 :74. " There seems to be some diversity of feeling and sentiment among abolitionists, in regard to the bearing of the present civil war in our land upon the anti-slavery cause. This arises from no wish or purpose, in any direction, to retreat a hair s- breadth from the line of duty originally marked out by them, and adhered to, through countless temptations and trials, with unsurpassed fidelity ; but solely, we think, from a difference in the standpoint of judgment and observation occupied by the parties. By some, this tremendous conflict of hostile forces is regarded as without any cheering significance, or sign of promise, to those who have so long struggled for the utter abolition of slavery ; by others, it is deemed to have a mighty bearing towards hastening the day of universal emancipation, if not intention ally on the part of the Government (and they attribute no such design to it primarily), at least by the necessities of the case, being essentially the South against the North, and is there fore to be viewed hopefully. It would be absurd to deny that the war presents some very paradoxical and complex features, so as to render it extremely difficult to speak of it without being misunderstood, either on one side or on the other. Neverthe less, we shall venture to express our opinions of it in a spirit of 1 The Superintendent of Police in New York (John A. Kennedy), who had promised ample protection to the meetings of the Society in case they should be held and any violence attempted, on the pretext of suppressing "disunionism," had formerly been secretary of an anti-slavery society in Baltimore, and a partner of Benjamin Lundy in publishing the Genius prior to 1827, when he removed to New York (MS. April 13, 1861, Oliver Johnson to W. L. G.). -Ex. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 23 just discrimination, as far as in our power, leaving those who CHAP. I. cannot adopt them entire liberty to criticise or refute them in ~ our columns. . . . " For thirty years, the abolitionists have been faithfully warning the nation that, unless the enslaved were set free, a just God would visit it with tribulation and woe proportional to its great iniquity. Now that their predictions have come to pass, are they to indulge in morbid exclamations against the natural operation of the law of immutable justice, and to see in it no evidence of the growth of conscience, the power of truth, or the approach of the long-wished-for jubilee ? Surely, this would be to arraign Infinite Wisdom, to be blind to the prog ress of events. Surely, emancipation is nearer than when we believed, and the present struggle cannot fail to hasten it mightily, in a providential sense. "It is alleged that the Administration is endeavoring to uphold the Union, the Constitution, and the laws, even as from the formation of the Government ; but this is a verbal and tech nical view of the case. Facts are more potential than words, and events greater than parchment arrangements. The truth is, the old Union is non est inventus, and its restoration, with its pro-slavery compromises, well-nigh impossible. The conflict is really between the civilization of freedom and the barbarism of slavery between the principles of democracy and the doc trines of absolutism between the free North and the man- imbruting South ; therefore, to this extent hopeful for the cause of impartial liberty. So that we cannot endorse the assertion, that this is the darkest hour for the slave in the history of American servitude. No, it is the brightest ! " The readers of the Liberator had often had cause for complaint that the editorials from Mr. Garrison s pen were infrequent and irregular, but they were now treated to a stirring blast each week, and there followed successively articles on the cause and cure of the war, the relation of #.31:70, the anti-slavery cause to the war, the offer of General Benjamin F. Butler to suppress slave insurrections (if L^. 31:78, any should occur) in Maryland, the bewilderment of mind of the English people in relation to the struggle, and the Lib. 31 : 86. taunts at non-resistance on the part of those who imagined Lib. 31 : 94. that the doctrine had been " scattered to the wind " by recent events. The President and Congress were invoked 24 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^ET. 56. CHAP. i. to use their war-power to proclaim emancipation, in 1861. accordance with the doctrine laid down by John Quincy Ante, 2:75 ; Adams twenty-five years before, and the North was L *-3* 74, warne d that peace without freedom would be no peace. Gen. Butler s gratuitous offer to use his Massachusetts troops in putting down any slave insurrection was still eliciting the indignant comments of the Northern press when, presto, change ! the astute General opened the gates of Fortress Monroe to the fleeing slaves, and pro nounced them " contraband of war " ; and the anti-slavery education of the soldiers in the field and the people at home who were " no abolitionists," while anxious to save the Union, began. The " Refuge of Oppression " still Lib. 31 : 77, gathered columns of outpourings from the Southern press, x> 93! 9> and many of these were reprinted in a tract for the fur ther enlightenment of soldiers as to the spirit of diabolism prevalent at the South. 1 The object-lessons of Libby Prison, Belle Isle, Andersonville, and other Southern torture pens were yet to come, but already they were foreseen by the editor of the Liberator. Alluding to the sudden change of attitude and language towards the South on the part of many who were lately its apologists and defenders, he wrote : Lib. 31:86. "There is nothing so promotive of clearness of vision and correct judgment as to be subjected to wrongs and insults in our own persons. So long as those traitors confined their out rages and atrocities to their helpless, friendless slaves, it was all well enough, and not at all derogatory to their character as gentlemen, patriots, and Christians. They might deprive their victims of every human right, work them under the lash with out wages, buy and sell them in lots to suit purchasers, and subject them to every species of brutal violence as passion or cupidity prompted, and still not forfeit their claim to be honest, upright, high-minded men ! Nay, for abolitionists to brand them as robbers of God s poor and needy, and the basest of oppressors, was to deal in abusive language, and to manifest a most unchristian spirit ! For were they not exemplary and l The spirit of the South towards Northern Freemen and Soldiers defending the American Flag against Traitors of the Deepest Dye. Bos ton : R. F. Wallcut, 1861. JET. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDERS. 25 beloved Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist CHAP. I. brethren, whose piety was unquestionable, whose zeal for the j^. Lord was worthy of all praise, whose revivals of religion were preeminently owned and blessed of Heaven ? Were they not the very pinks of Democracy, and the most courtly and chival rous of gentlemen ? But as soon as they began to seize forts, arsenals, custom-houses, and mints belonging to the general Government, to lay their piratical hands upon Northern prop erty, to repudiate their entire Northern indebtedness, and to trample upon the stars and stripes then, indeed, another view of their character is taken, and they are suddenly trans formed from the most estimable Christian brethren and the staunchest Democratic allies into the meanest of scoundrels and the vilest of robbers ! " Truly, * wisdom is justified of her children. It will yet be seen and acknowledged throughout the North, in view of the shocking developments of the slaveholding spirit in this terrible conflict, that the abolitionists have correctly delineated the nature of slavery its disregard of all the rules of morality, all the claims of a common humanity, all the principles of justice its wolfish greed, its savage ferocity, its fiendish malignity its utter contempt and murderous hatred of who ever or whatever interferes with the extension of its domains, or attempts to limit its power its embodiment of the blackest perfidy, the most revolting licentiousness, the most unscrup ulous villany, and the most barbarous cruelty j and as there is no sin without a sinner, no oppression without an op pressor, so the abolitionists have exaggerated nothing, but have used language guardedly, justly, and with all possible truthfulness in their exposition of the Southern character, spirit, and purposes, whether in relation to their miserable vic tims, or to free institutions and the cause of freedom generally. Our Northern soldiers will find that they are not in conflict with men who are governed by the laws of civilized warfare, or by any rules of honor, but with thoroughly demonized spirits, capable of perpetrating deeds of horror such as have never been surpassed in the annals of savage barbarity." To those who asked him, " What of your peace prin ciples now ? w he replied : " This question is exultingly put to the friends of peace and Lib. 31 : 94. non-resistance by those whose military ardor is now at a white heat, as though it could not be satisfactorily answered, and de- 26 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKBISON. [-ET. 56. CHAP. I. served nothing but ridicule. Our reply to it is, that the peace 1861 principles are as beneficent and glorious as ever, and are neither disproved nor modified by anything now transpiring in the country, of a warlike character. If they had been long since embraced and carried out by the people, neither slavery nor war would now be filling the land with violence and blood. Where they prevail, no man is in peril of life or liberty j where they are rejected, and precisely to the extent they are rejected, neither life nor liberty is secure. How their violation, under any circumstances, is better than a faithful adherence to them, we have not the moral vision to perceive. They are to be held responsible for nothing which they do not legitimately produce or sanction. As they neither produce nor sanction any oppres sion or wrong-doing, but elevate the character, control the pas sions, and lead to the performance of all good offices, they are not to be discarded for those of a hostile character. . . . " But are we not giving our sympathies to the Government as against the secession movement ? Certainly because, as be tween the combatants, there is no wrong or injustice on the side of the Government, while there is nothing but violence, rob bery, confiscation, perfidy, lynch law, usurpation, and a most diabolical purpose, on the side of the secessionists. The weapons resorted to, on both sides, are the same ; yet it is im possible not to wish success to the innocent, and defeat to the guilty party. But, in so doing, we do not compromise either our anti-slavery or our peace principles. On the contrary, we wish all the North were able to adopt those principles, under- standingly, heartily, and without delay ; but, according to the structure of the human mind, in the whirlwind of the present deadly conflict, this is impracticable. As, therefore, Paul said to the Jews who would not accept of the new dispensation, * Ye that are under the law, do ye not hear the law ? Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them so we measure those who, rejecting the doc trine of non-resistance, profess to believe in the right and duty of maintaining their freedom by the sword. The worst thing they can do is to be recreant to their own convictions in such a crisis as this. " But this is, obviously, not the time to expect a dispassionate hearing on this subject. After the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, comes the still small voice. The war must go on to its consummation; and among the salutary lessons it will teach will be the impossibility of oppressing the poor and the needy, ^T. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 27 or consenting thereto by entering into a covenant with death, CHAP. I. without desolating judgments following in its train." ^ In this connection, also, Mr. Garrison endeavored to make clear the issues and the certain tendencies of the war to the many persons in England who, even among the abolitionists there, were confused and bewildered by the kaleidoscopic aspect of affairs from that distance. His replies to Dr. Guthrie of Edinburgh and the London Lib. 31 : 86, Herald of Peace were especially effective. But there was 9 IC one man who needed no instruction on the points at issue. George Thompson was already preparing himself for the task of enlightening his fellow-countrymen, and enlisting their sympathies in behalf of the American Government in its struggle with slavery in arms. George Thompson to W. L. Garrison. TYNEMOUTH, Northumberland, June 7, 1861. Lib. 31 : 102. MY DEAR GARRISON : Yours of the 21st ultimo has within the present hour reached me at this place, where I am staying for a few days, going almost daily into Newcastle to consult with my anti-slavery friends there on the progress of the cause in America, and the means we may legitimately employ to pro mote it. ... I have been a deeply interested observer of late events on your side of the ocean, and have studied them with all the powers of reflection I can command. My talk is incessantly in reference to them, and I miss no opportunity of publicly addressing my countrymen upon them. I enclose you copies of reports made of my late speeches in London and Leeds, the tenor of which I trust you will approve. I have endeavored to make myself master of the constitutional argument, in relation to the doctrine of State rights and secession, which I am often called upon to debate. I am extremely glad to find the views expressed in your letter before me so coincident with my own. I have pondered much and deeply upon the probable issues of the present war. I was occupied in writing all day yesterday upon the subject, and could not resist the conclusion, that the present struggle must end in the downfall of slavery. I dare say, if I had time to 28 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. CHAP. I. develop my process of reasoning, it would be found that our j^j ratiocinations are alike. May God grant that our hopes may be realized ! To me it appears that, by the conduct of the South, the North is released forever from the obligations imposed by the Consti tution of 87. The despots of the South are traitors in arms. They have trampled the Constitution in the dust ; they have disgraced the national flag j they are seeking the destruction of the North ; they have reversed the Declaration of Independence ; they have proclaimed the rightfulness of human slavery j they have inscribed upon the corner-stone of the atheistical edifice they seek to rear, " The black man is always, and forever, the property of the white man." If these things be so, will the North spare the accursed domestic institution ? Will the armies of New England and the free West return before they have planted the flag of personal freedom side by side with that of the Union, and decreed that slavery is forever abolished in every part of the national domain ? God forbid ! I am not discouraged because the abolition of slavery is not one of the declared objects of the President in the struggle he has commenced. I am not discouraged because the thousands who are flocking to the Federal standard, while they shout, " The Union," " The Constitution," and " Our star-spangled banner," do not also shout, " Down with Slavery ! " I am not discour aged because kidnapping has been permitted in Chicago, and General Butler has played so infamous a part in Maryland, and slaves have been driven from Fort Pickens, and even Greeley has talked with " bated breath" on the subject of slavery, in recent articles in the Tribune. No ! I have confidence in the inevitable tendency of events, and their resistless influence. The doom of slavery is sealed ! Witness, the judicial blindness of the slaveholders ! Witness, the madness that ever precedes destruction ! Witness, the universal expectancy of a nation of slaves, waiting to be " born in a day" ! Witness, the feverish excitement of the free colored population, who, when the hour strikes, and the conflagration rages, will have their part to play, and will enact it ! The spirit of John Brown walks abroad ! Being dead, he yet speaketh, and points with shadowy finger to Harper s Ferry and Charlestown ! Witness, in every com pany of every regiment forming the vast army of volunteers, some few at least who have vowed to fight, not for the restora tion of the Union alone, but for a Union ivifhout slavery a Union of free men, of all colors, from Passamaquoddy Bay to 2ET.56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 29 the northern bank of the Rio Grande ! Witness, the recent CHAP. I. pregnant utterances of politicians, statesmen, and editors, who j^ deal with slavery as a gangrene that must be cut out ! Witness, the altered tone of that recreant and guilty church which, till the roar of Charleston cannon was heard, and the stars and stripes succumbed to the black flag of secession, hugged the men-stealers of the South to its bosom, and, while it could not fellowship the Church of the Puritans on account of its Aboli- Rev. Geo. B. tionism, could break sacramental bread with the traffickers in C c/mrch 5 slaves and the souls of men ! N. Y. City. Need I say, my faithful friend and brother, how fervently my heart returns thanks to God that we are permitted to see this day ? Need I tell you that my spirit is always with you ? If my own heart condemned me for infidelity to our early vows, I should be most miserable ; but I can appeal to him who know- eth all things, and say, Thou knowest how truly I have cherished, warm as when the flame was first kindled, my friendship and love for those with whom I labored " When first we saw the cloud arise, Little as a human hand ! " Continue to trust me, and let me look forward with joyful anticipations to the day when I shall once more stand upon the soil from which I was banished by the demon of slavery, and gaze upon that vision beheld by the eye of your prophet and unequalled orator the great and (better still) the good and gracious Phillips " The Genius of Liberty on the banks of the Potomac, robed in light ; f our-and-thirty stars for her diadem, broken fetters at her feet, and an olive branch in her right hand " * GEORGE THOMPSON. The whirlwind of war, which was so rapidly hastening the end of slavery, was also threatening, by its absorp tion of public attention and drain on private resources, 1 In 1856 Mr. Thompson had made a second visit to India, where he was prostrated, in the midst of his labors, by the climate, and he returned to England apparently a helpless paralytic. The timely pecuniary aid sent him by his American friends in 1859 saved him from sore distress, and doubtless hastened his recovery, and towards the close of 1860 he became the active (but untitled) and salaried agent in England of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The arrangement proved unexpectedly fortunate and important ; for the Society, by thus sustaining Mr. Thompson in his extremity, saved and prepared him for the yeoman service which he was to perform in behalf of the American Government during the most critical period of the war. 30 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. the existence of the anti-slavery journals. The Anti- Lib. 31:75. Slavery Bugle succumbed within a month after the fall of Surnter, and the possibility of continuing the Standard soon became a matter of anxious consideration. There was a proposition to merge the Liberator with it, in the hope that the combined list of the two papers might suf fice to support one, and that Mr. Garrison, while still re maining the chief editorial writer, might be relieved of the drudgery, both editorial and mechanical, which con sumed so much of his time. But he would not listen to the project, and the necessary funds to support the Stand ard were raised by private subscriptions. It was a mat ter of doubt how long the Liberator could be kept alive, but the editor was resolved to float or sink in his own craft. He was in the best of spirits when he spoke at the anti-slavery picnic at Framingham on the 4th of July, and confident that the abolition of slavery would ere long be decreed. Objecting to a resolution l offered by Stephen S. Foster, he said : Lib. 31 : in. " I cannot say that T do not sympathize with the Government, as against Jefferson Davis and his piratical associates. There is not a drop of blood in my veins, both as an abolitionist and a peace man, that does not flow with the Northern tide of sen timent ; for I see, in this grand uprising of the manhood of the North, which has been so long grovelling in the dust, a growing appreciation of the value of liberty and of free institutions, and a willingness to make any sacrifice in their defence against the barbaric and tyrannical power which avows its purpose, if it can, to crush them entirely out of existence. When the Gov ernment shall succeed (if it shall succeed) in conquering a peace, in subjugating the South, and shall undertake to carry out the Constitution as of old, with all its pro-slavery compro mises, then will be my time to criticise, reprove, and condemn ; then will be the time for me to open all the guns that I can l " That, until the Government shall take this step [of emancipation] and place itself openly and unequivocally on the side of freedom, we can give it no support or countenance in its effort to maintain its authority over the seceded States, but must continue to labor, as we have hitherto done, to heap upon it that obloquy which naturally attaches to all who are guilty of the crime of enslaving their fellow-men " (Lib. 31 : 111). MT. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEES. 31 bring to bear upon it. But, blessed be God, that i covenant CHAP. I. with death has been annulled, and that agreement with hell j^ no longer stands. I joyfully accept the fact, and leave all ver bal criticism until a more suitable opportunity. . . . " Under these circumstances, I take great courage, and am full of hope. I should cry, l Shame to the people of the North ! if they did not, with their principles, and their ideas of govern ment, come up to the support of the Administration, offering all they have of blood and treasure, until this band of conspirators shall be put down and slavery utterly obliterated. What we ought to do is to take the resolution we have just adopted, 1 put it into our hearts, plead for it everywhere, and create a great Northern sentiment which shall irresistibly demand of the Ad ministration, under the war power, the emancipation of every slave in the land ; and then God will give us peace and prosper ity, and we shall have, for the first time, a great and glorious Union. " Oh, Mr. President, how it delights my heart when I think that the worst thing we propose to do for the South is the very best thing that God or men can do ! That while they are confiscating our property, refusing to pay their honest North ern debts, covering the ocean with their piratical privateers, tarring and feathering, hanging, and driving out innocent Northern citizens from their borders, all we threaten to do, in the excess of our wrath, as a retaliatory measure, is to abolish their iniquitous and destructive slave system, and thus give them light for darkness, good for evil, heaven for perdition ! Yes, we will make it possible for them to be a happy and pros perous people, as they never have been, and never can be, with slavery. We will make it possible for them to have free schools, and free presses, and free institutions, as we do at the North. We will make it possible for the South to be as the garden of God, under the plastic touch of liberty ; and for the nation to attain unparalleled glory, greatness, and renown. Assuredly, we have no enmity to the South ; the enmity is on the other side. Liberty knows how to be magnanimous, forbearing, long- 1 Also introduced by Mr. Foster : " That, as citizens deeply interested in the honor and welfare of our common country, we earnestly ask and de mand of our national Government that it at once proclaim an act of eman cipation to all our enslaved countrymen, wherever held, as the only honorable, just, and efficient means of settling our present national troubles, and establishing our Union upon a solid and enduring basis" (Lib. 31 : 111). 32 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. 56. CHAP. I. suffering, patient, hopeful; and therefore it is that, in the very j^j whirlwind which is now sweeping over the land, Southern men as safely reside among us as they ever did. They are not threat ened with tar and feathers, nor compelled to flee from our pres ence because of their Southern origin, but enjoy unimpaired all their constitutional rights. The brutality, the barbarity, the demonism, are all at the South. Yet, I pray you to remember that the slaveholders are just as merciful and forbearing as they can be in their situation not a whit more brutal, bloody, satanic than they are obliged to be in the terrible exigencies in which, as slaveholders, they are placed. They are men of like passions with ourselves ; they are of our common country ; and if we had been brought up in the midst of slavery, as they have been, if we had our property in slaves, as they have, if we had had the same training and education that they have re ceived, of course, we should have been just as much disposed to do all in our power to support slavery, and to put down free dom, by the same atrocious acts, as themselves. The tree bears its natural fruit like causes will produce like effects. But let us return them good for evil, by seizing this opportunity to deliver them from their deadliest curse that is Christian." In August, the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, in #.31:131. a letter to General Butler, cited the Act of Congress Wilson s approved on the 6th of that month, by which slaves ry Measures employed in the military and naval service of the rebellion were declared free, and authorized him further to receive and employ slaves escaping from loyal masters as well, keeping a careful record of such, that Congress might remunerate the masters after the return of peace. Mr. MS. Aug. Garrison read this with delight, and wrote : " It goes *W\P*G quite as far as we could expect, and is almost tantamount to a proclamation of general emancipation"; and when, John c. on the 31st of the same month, General Fremont issued his proclamation emancipating the slaves of actively dis loyal masters in his military district (Missouri), the Liber- Lib. 31:143. ator hailed it with a Laus Deo, and as the " beginning of the end." The popular response was quick and enthusi astic, even journals like the New York Herald and Boston Post admitting, for the moment, the propriety of Fremont s Sept. ii. act j but the letter of President Lincoln revoking that 2ET. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDERS. 33 portion of the proclamation chilled the hearts and hopes CHAP. i. of all who felt that the time was ripe for radical measures. 1861. To the abolitionists the disappointment was especially keen, and faith in Lincoln s purpose or desire to use his war-powers for the destruction of slavery rapidly waned. The Liberator printed the letter between heavy black #.31:151. rules, and declared the President " guilty of a serious #.31:150. dereliction of duty " in not making Fremont s proclama tion applicable to all the other slave States in revolt. The loyal press generally expressed disappointment and regret at the President s course, while the pro-slavery and semi-disloyal papers were jubilant, and altered their tone to one of fulsome praise of Mr. Lincoln, whom they now hoped to commit to a settled policy of non-interference with slavery ; and there seemed much in the events of the next three months to justify their expectations. A period of reaction set in, during which the President permitted without protest the Order No. 3 of General Halleck (who succeeded Fremont as Commander of the Missouri depart ment), forbidding his officers to receive fugitive slaves within the lines, and modified that portion of Secretary Cameron s annual report which advocated the confiscation and arming of the slaves of rebel masters. In his message to Congress, on its assembling in December, Mr. Lincoln proposed colonization as a scheme for disposing of the freed people who, under the name of contrabands, flocked to the camps of the Union armies, and he gave no word to awaken the hopes of the emancipationists that he would ere long initiate an active anti-slavery policy. The message seemed to Mr. Garrison "feeble and rambling," and he #.31:194. could find nothing to praise in it except the recommenda tion that Congress should recognize the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and Liberia. To Oliver Johnson he wrote : " What a wishy-washy message from the President ! . . . MS. Dec. 6, He has evidently not a drop of anti-slavery blood in his veins ; and he seems incapable of uttering a humane or generous sen timent respecting the enslaved millions in our land. No wonder VOL. IV. 3 34 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKEISON. [^T. 56. New York, that such villanous papers as the Journal of Commerce, the Ex press, Bennett s Herald, and the Boston Courier and Post, are his special admirers and champions ! If there be not soon an irre pressible conflict in the Republican ranks, in regard to his course of policy, I shall almost despair of the country. " In fact, I shudder at the possibility of the war terminating without the utter extinction of slavery, by a new and more atrocious compromise on the part of the North than any that has yet been made. We must continue to brand as accessories of the Southern traitors all those who, now that the Govern ment can rightfully do it under the war power, denounce and oppose the emancipation of those in bondage. A curse on that Southern loyalty 1 which is retained only by allowing it to control the policy of the Administration ! " Yet Mr. Lincoln, in his hesitancy to commit the Admin istration to that policy of emancipation which each day made more inevitable, could have pointed not only to the bitter opposition of the Border States, but to the timid ity of the Republicans of Massachusetts, who declined, at Oct. i. their State Convention in October, to respond to Mr. Sum- ner s eloquent address to them and to pass resolutions approving his utterances in favor of emancipation. The Advertiser. Republican press of Boston, too, poured contempt on the great Senator for these utterances. " The enemy in Bos- MS. Dec. ton," wrote Sumner to Garrison, in December, from Wash ington, " seem more malignant than ever," and he added : " You know that for some time I have been very sanguine that emancipation was at hand. Of course I am pained by the impediments which I find in the small ideas and little faith of men in public life. A courageous, earnest purpose would settle the question at once, for all time." " Garrison s course in the Liberator, and in l masterly inactivity/ has been statesmanlike. . . . He is wise MS. as a serpent," wrote Mrs. Chapman to J. M. McKim, in September. With the revocation of Fremont s proclama tion, and the approaching session of Congress, the time for more aggressive measures seemed to Garrison to have come, and he drew up the following Memorial to Con- i/. e., the Border slaveholding States. MT. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDERS. 35 gress, which was extensively circulated and signed, and CHAP. i. forwarded to Washington : ^ " To the Congress of the United States : Lib. 31: 154. "The undersigned, citizens of . . . , respectfully submit " That, as the present formidable rebellion against the General Government manifestly finds its root and nourishment in the system of chattel slavery at the South j as the leading conspir ators are slaveholders, who constitute an oligarchy avowedly hostile to ah* free institutions ; and as, in the nature of things, no solid peace can be maintained while the cause of this trea sonable revolt is permitted to exist 5 your honorable body is urgently implored to lose no time in enacting, under the war- power, the total abolition of slavery throughout the country liberating unconditionally the slaves of all who are rebels, and, while not recognizing the right of property in man, allowing for the emancipated slaves of such as are loyal to the Govern ment a fair pecuniary award, as a conciliatory measure, and to facilitate an amicable adjustment of difficulties $ and thus to bring the war to a speedy and beneficent termination, and indissolubly to unite all sections and all interests of the coun try upon the enduring basis of universal freedom." In an editorial on " The Time for National Deliverance," Lib. 31 : 162. he said, with all the emphasis of italics, to President Lin coln and his Cabinet advisers : " To refuse to deliver those captive millions who are now legally in your power, is tanta mount to the crime of their original enslavement ; and their blood shall a righteous God require at your hands. Put the trump of jubilee to your lips ! " In October Mr. Garrison visited Pennsylvania to attend the annual meeting of the State Anti-Slavery Society at Oct. 24, 25. West Chester, and wrote the " Statement of Principles" Lib. 34:175. there adopted a succinct exposition of the position held by the Society and by the abolitionists at large, with a final word for Mr. Lincoln again. On his way to West Chester, he tarried for a day or two in New York, where a brilliant evening reception was given him at a friend s Oct. 21. house, and he " appeared in greatly improved health, full A. s. stand- of a fine animation, exhibiting (as everywhere) his charac- ^ 31:174! teristic mirthfulness and seriousness," and made " a happy 36 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. 56. CHAP. I. 1861. speech full of good feeling, full of high hopes, full of trust in God." Dr. George B. Cheever and Horace Greeley also participated in the occasion. MS. Oliver John son, W. P. Garrison. Lyman Beecher. Boston. John M. Forbes, Sarah B. Shaw. W. P. G. O. Johnson, W. P. G. W. L. Garrison to Ms Wife. NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 1861. Yesterday, Mrs. Savin, Oliver, Wendell, and myself, went to Brooklyn in the morning, to hear Ward Beecher preach. It was the first time I had been in his spacious chapel. We were provided with the best seats, near to the pnlpit, and directly in front of the speaker. Old Dr. Beecher sat directly in front of me, and at the close of the services I gave him my hand, which he grasped cordially, and when I gave him my name, he seemed desirous to have me go to his house in the evening j but I was engaged elsewhere. Besides, age and time have done their work upon him : he is in a state of second childhood, with broken memory, and his speech badly affected, so that continuous con versation is beyond his ability. The house, which is admirably constructed for an auditorium, holds about as many as the Tremont Temple, and was crowded in every part, aisles and all. So it is always. The immense assembly united with the choir in singing, which gave much life to that part of the service. The sermon was upon the nature and functions of conscience, and was a wide-awake and racy discourse. In the audience was Mr. Forbes of Milton Hill, with his daughter. Also, Mrs. Shaw of Staten Island, who, at the close of the proceedings, pressed eagerly forward to take me by the hand, and to express the hope that I would visit Staten Island before my return home. . . . Wendell and I then spent a few moments with Ward Beecher, who seemed well pleased to see us, and who playfully said he thought he could do such a heretic as I some good, if he could only see me often enough ! . . . Last evening, we took tea and spent a very agreeable hour with the two female poets, Alice and Phoebe Gary, whose house is much visited. Horace Greeley was one of the company. We had some little discussion together on the peace question. He thinks there is no other way of dealing with tyranny than by knocking the tyrants in the head. After tea, I went with Oliver and Wendell, and Phoebe Gary, to Dr. Cheever s church, to hear one of the series of anti- slavery JET. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 37 lectures he is delivering Sunday evening. The assembly was CHAP. I. very large, and the Dr. earnest as usual, but his discourse was a ^ It hair-splitting defence of the anti-slavery character of the Con stitution, and to me excessively tedious and wonderfully absurd, in view of the history of this nation. William G-oodell was present, and, of course, enjoyed it to the brim, as it was but the echo of his own chop-logic. He grasped my hand warmly, and urged me to call and see him. In Philadelphia there were more social gatherings and delightful days and evenings with the Motts, McKims, and others of that choice circle. 1 Mr. Garrison found many of his Quaker friends deeply troubled by the fact that their sons, whom they had supposed firmly grounded in the peace principles of their Society, had been among the earliest to catch the infection- of patriotic fervor and enlist in the army, and there was scarcely a household from which one or more of the young men had not gone forth to the conflict. " I told them/ he said, with his usual cheerful philosophy, "that however much they might regret that their sons could not meet the test when it was applied, they should at least rejoice that the boys were true to their real convictions when the shot at Sum- ter revealed to them that they were simply birthright Quakers, and had not fully comprehended and absorbed the principles of their fathers. They had imagined they were on the plane of the Sermon on the Mount, and they found they were only up to the level of Lexington and Bunker Hill j but they should be honored none the less for their loyalty to truth and freedom." On his return to Boston, Mr. Garrison delivered a Sun- 1 " Garrison is a real Bishop of souls," wrote Mrs. Chapman to Miller McKim, at this time. And again : "I enjoyed the account of your meet ing in the Standard. Garrison is bringing up the rear like a good captain. Our dear chief (as Florence Nightingale calls Sidney Herbert) is one to be proud of. He is so great as a social reformer that, as H. M. [Harriet Martineau] says, in her sketch of him in the Once a Week, he is too great, as such, to be a representative man at present ; however, his example may raise up a class hereafter. I wonder why we have never republished that sketch ? I dare say Johnson did not see it, and Garrison would not give it out for the Liberator " (MS. Nov. 2, 1861). 38 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 56. NOV. to, day morning discourse on the state of the country to an ib*&: 182. audience that filled Music Hall and applauded his strong- NOV. 18. est utterances. A week later, he and Mr. Phillips con ducted the funeral services of Francis Jackson, who passed away, after a long illness, on the 14th of Novem ber, in his 73d year. 1 Like Charles F. Hovey, he left a noble bequest to the cause so dear to them both, and pro vided a fund which lasted beyond the abolition of slavery and helped to swell the contributions for the education of the freedmen. 2 More fortunate than Hovey, he survived to see the beginning of the end, and to know that the sum of all villanies was fast tottering to its fall. By the capture of Port Royal and Beaufort in Novem ber, and the immediate emancipation thus effected of the thousands of slaves in the Sea Islands of South Carolina, the problem of the education and civilization of the de graded blacks of the rice and cotton belt of that section was presented to the consideration of the philanthropic people of the North, and a few weeks later it was seri ously accepted and grappled with ; but the last weeks of the year were absorbed in exultation over the victory on the Carolina coast and the seizure of the rebel emissaries Mason and Slidell on the steamer Trent. That the chief James M. " promoter of the Fugitive Slave Law should himself be incarcerated in a Boston fort seemed a rare bit of poetic justice, and it was natural that Mr. Phillips s allusion to Dec. 19. it in his lecture (on " The War") at New York, in Decem ber, should be rapturously applauded. The lecture itself 1 They were held in the same parlors of the old Hollis Street house in which the ladies of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society met after the mob of 1835, and received a new ally in Harriet Martineau (ante, 2 : 52, 57, 60). 2 The amount was $10,000, subsequently increased by residuary rights. Mr. Garrison, who for twenty-five years was constantly indebted to Mr. Jackson s generous help in meeting the deficit of the Liberator, was also the recipient of a liberal bequest,, and the sum of $5,000 was given in aid of the Woman s Eights movement. Through a contest of the will and an unjust decision of the Supreme Court, this last provision was subsequently annulled, in consequence of which a daughter of Mr. Jackson (Mrs. Eliza F. Eddy) twenty years later bequeathed over $50,000 for the same object, as her protest against the violation of her father s will. ^T. 56.] NO UNION WITH NON-SLAVEHOLDEKS. 39 occupied seven columns of the Liberator, and is referred Lib. 31:206. to in the following letter from Mr. Garrison to Oliver Johnson : " You will see in the Liberator, this week, the speech of Mr. MS. Dec. Phillips, delivered at New York, as revised and corrected by 26> l861 himself. And such revision, correction, alteration, and addi tion you never saw, in the way of emendation ! More than two columns of the Tribune s report were in type before P. came into our office ; and the manipulation these required was a caution to all reporters and type-setters ! I proposed to P. to send his altered slips to Barnum as a remarkable curiosity, and Win- P. T. Bar- chell suggested having them photographed ! But P. desired to "fowman make his speech as complete and full as he could, and I am glad J- M. W. you are to receive it without being put to any trouble about it. Doubtless, you will be requested to make some new alterations ; for he is constantly criticising what he has spoken, and pays no regard to literal accuracy. This speech will be eagerly read, as it touches ably upon many interesting points. " Gerrit Smith at Peterboro , and Charles Sumner at Wash- AfSS. G.S., ington, both write to me in discouraging tones as to the pros- ^^- cfs pects before us. The Administration has neither pluck nor Dec. 22. definite purpose. What tremendous events will hinge upon an actual war with England ! " In the Liberator for December 13, the passage from John Quincy Adams on the iniquity of the three-fifths representation clause in the Constitution, which had so long stood at the head of the first page (replaced for a time by a corresponding extract from Dr. Channing) was supplanted by Adams s declaration of the war-powers of the Government with respect to slavery ; and the shibbo leth, " The United States Constitution is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell/ gave way to the com mand, " Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof." CHAPTER II. THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 1862. CHAP. ii. T^IARLY in the new year Mr. Garrison yielded to the 1 86 2 . ^ urgent solicitation of friends in New York, and Jan. 14. delivered a lecture, at Cooper Institute in that city, on " The Abolitionists and their Relations to the War/ which subsequently received a wide circulation in pam- #.32:14. phlet form. 1 In this he vindicated the motives and methods of the Garrisonian abolitionists; replied effec tively to the assertions that they were wholly responsible for the war, or had been equally guilty with the seces sionists in precipitating it ; answered the cry that slavery had nothing to do with the war, and the Government no right or power to touch the institution ; and declared emancipation essential for the suppression of the rebellion and for ultimate peace and union. The address, which occupied two hours in delivery, abounded in cogent and forcible passages, but we have room only for two brief quotations. To the charge that the disappearance of the " Covenant with Death " motto from the head of the Lib erator indicated a great and sudden change in his views, he replied : Lib. 32 : 14. " Well, ladies and gentlemen, you remember what Benedick in the play says : t When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. And when I said I would not sustain the Constitution because it was * a covenant l The Pulpit and Rostrum, Nos. 26 and 27 (double number), containing the above-named lecture, a pro-slavery speech in the TJ. S. Senate (Jan. 23, 1862) by Garrett Davis of Kentucky, and Alexander H. Stephens s speech (March 21, 1861) declaring African slavery the corner-stone of the South ern Confederacy. New York, 1862 (Lib. 32 : 39). 40 ^ET. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 41 with death and an agreement with hell, I had no idea that I CHAP. II. should live to see death and hell secede. 1 Hence it is that I am now x ~ 2 with the Government, to enable it to constitutionally stop the further ravages of death, and to extinguish the flames of hell forever." The other passage, forecasting the blessing which eman cipation would bring to the South, and rejoicing in the certain future prosperity of that section, anticipated the verdict which the " New South," amazed by her marvel lous growth and development under freedom, has already pronounced. 2 " Slavery is a thunderbolt in the hands of the traitors to smite Lib. 32 : 15. the Government to the dust. That thunderbolt might be seized and turned against the rebellion with fatal effect, and at the same time without injury to the South. My heart glows when I think of the good thus to be done to the oppressors as well as to the oppressed j for I could not stand here, I could not stand anywhere, and advocate vindictive and destructive measures to bring the rebels to terms. I do not believe in killing or doing injury even to enemies God forbid! That is not my Chris tian philosophy. But I do say, that never before in the history of the world has God vouchsafed to a Government the power to do such a work of philanthropy and justice, in the 1 The humor of this retort was keenly relished by the audience, and by the wider public to whom the newspapers all over the North quoted it. 2 " The New South rejoices in the Union and its wide domain, and, most of all, it is proud that the blot of slavery has been removed from its escutcheon. It says, in all heartiness and sincerity, God be praised for this crowning glory of a wonderful century " (James Phelan of Tennessee, in a speech prior to his election as member of Congress from the Memphis district, November, 1886). " Bitter to my taste as were the results of the civil war, day after day has reconciled me to them, and convinced me of the wisdom of cheerful sub mission to the will of Him who brought them about. The union of these States has been preserved and declared indissoluble. A great and disturb ing constitutional question has been finally and forever settled, and slavery has been forever abolished ; it no longer tarnishes the fair fame of a great and free republic. Because it was involved in the question of constitu tional right, I fought four years in its defence. I tell you now, upon the honor of my manhood, that I would fight eight years, though my hairs are white, against any attempt to reinstate it in any portion of this continent " (Z. B. Vance, Governor of North Carolina during the war, and U. S. Senator from that State since 1879, in a lecture delivered in Boston, Dec. 8, 1886; in Boston Daily Advertiser, Dec. 9). 42 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. [^T. 57. CHAP. II. extremity of its danger and for self-preservation, as He now 1862. grants to this Government. Emancipation is to destroy noth ing but evil ; it is to establish good ; it is to transform human beings from things into men; it is to make freedom, and education, and invention, and enterprise, and prosperity, and peace, and a true Union possible and sure. Redeemed from the curse of slavery, the South shall in due time be as the garden of God. Though driven to the wall and reduced to great extremity by this rebellion, still we hold off, hold off, hold off, and reluctantly say, at last, if it must be so, but only to save ourselves from destruction, we will do this rebellious South the most beneficent act that any people ever yet did one that will secure historic renown for the Adminis tration, make this struggle memorable in all ages, and bring down upon the land the benediction of God ! But we will not do this if we can possibly avoid it ! Now, for myself, both as an act of justice to the oppressed and to serve the cause of free - dom universally, I want the Government to be in haste to blow the trump of jubilee. I desire to bless and not curse the South to make her prosperous and happy by substituting free institu tions for her leprous system of slavery. I am as much inter ested in the safety and welfare of the slaveholders, as brother men, as I am in the liberation of their poor slaves j for we are all the children of God, and should strive to promote the hap piness of all. I desire that the mission of Jesus, l Peace on earth, good will to men, may be fulfilled in this and in every land." This lecture attracted much attention, and brought Mr. Garrison urgent invitations to speak in other places. Especially was it the wish of some of the most trusted and sagacious of the anti-slavery leaders that he and Mr. Phillips should declare the sentiments and demands of the abolitionists in relation to the war, both in public ad dresses and in personal intercourse with the President and members of his Cabinet, and the Republican leaders in Congress. They felt that if this were done, and the Liberator and Standard kept afloat, other agencies and methods useful in the past might safely be discontinued, and a greater concentration of effort secured. 1 l Holding these views, Mrs. Chapman had already withdrawn from the management of the annual Subscription Festival, and J. M. McKim now resigned his position as corresponding secretary of the Pennsylvania Anti- MT. 57.] THE HOUK AND THE MAN. 43 The annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society first CHAP. n. claimed attention, however, and to Mr. Garrison fell, as I ^ 2 . usual, the preparation of the resolutions, which were cer- #.32:19. tainly full and exhaustive. His speech, at the close of the first day s meeting, was in his happiest vein, and pur posely rose-colored, as he frankly confessed, in order to offset the rather depressing effect of some of the previous speeches, Mr. Phillips s among them, which had dwelt on the shortcomings of the President and Administration touching slavery. "What have we to rejoice over?" he repeated to doubting inquirers " Why, I say, the war ! l What ! this fratricidal war ? What ! Lib. 32:21. this civil war ? What ! this treasonable dismemberment of the Union "? 7 Yes, thank God for it all ! for it indicates the waning power of slavery and the irresistible growth of freedom, and that the day of Northern submission is past. It is better that we should be so virtuous that the vicious cannot live with Cf. ante, us, than to be so vile that they can endure and relish our com- 3- 45 1 - pany. No matter what may be said of the Government how it timidly holds back how it lacks courage, energy, and faith how it refuses to strike the blow which alone will settle the rebellion. No matter what may be said of President Lincoln or General McClellan, by way of criticism and a great deal can be justly said to their condemnation one cheering fact overrides all these considerations, making them as dust hi the Slavery Society. " I retire," the latter wrote, " because I believe that my peculiar work, in the position I have occupied, is done. The ultimate object of the Society, it is true, has not yet been attained, neither is its particular mission entirely accomplished. Slavery still exists ; and public sentiment respecting it is not yet wholly rectified. But the signs of the times in regard to the former warrant the belief that its overthrow is near, and the progress of change in the character of the latter justifies the con viction that its regeneration will soon be sufficiently complete for all our intended purposes. The Society is now at liberty to discontinue the use of some of the instrumentalities heretofore deemed indispensable. The travelling lecturer is no longer a necessity, and the agent in the office need not feel bound to his place by a sense of obligation. This latter fact, applied to my own case, I accept as an indication of duty " (Lib. 32 : 75). Mr. McKim gave practical effect to his belief by speedily identifying him" self with the movement to relieve and educate the freedmen ; and early in the summer of 1862 he made a visit of inspection to the freed people in the Sea Islands of South Carolina, accompanied by his daughter Lucy, whose musical notation of some of the weird and pathetic slave songs was the first ever published (Lib. 32 : 120, 128, 191). 44 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [>T. 57. CHAP. II. balance, and that is, that our free North is utterly unendurable 1862. to tne slaveholding South ; that we have at last so far advanced in our love of liberty and sympathy for the oppressed, as a people, that it is not possible any longer for the l traffickers in slaves and souls of men to walk in union with us. I call that a very cheering fact. Yes, the Union is divided; but better division than that we should be under the lash of Southern over seers ! Better civil war, if it must come, than for us to crouch in the dust, and allow ourselves to be driven to the wall by a miserable and merciless slave oligarchy ! This war has come because of the increasing love of liberty here at the North ; and although, as a people, we do not yet come up to the high stand ard of duty in striking directly at the slave system for its extir pation as the root and source of all our woe nevertheless, the sentiment of the North is deepening daily in the right direction. " I hold that it is not wise for us to be too microscopic in endeavoring to find disagreeable and annoying things, still less to assume that everything is waxing worse and worse, and that there is little or no hope. No ! broaden your views ; take a more philosophical grasp of the great question ; and see that, criticise and condemn as you may and should in certain directions, the fountains of the great deep are broken up see that this is fundamentally a struggle between all the elements of freedom on the one hand, and all the elements of despotism on the other, with whatever of alloy in the mixture. " I repeat, the war furnishes ground for high encouragement. 1 Why, some may exclaim, we thought you were a peace man ! Yes, verily, I am, and none the less so because of these declara tions. Would the cause of peace be the gainer by the substi tution of the power of the rebel traitors over the nation for the supremacy of the democratic idea ? Would the cause of peace be promoted by the North basely yielding up all her rights and allowing her free institutions to be overthrown "? Certainly not. Then, as a peace man, I rejoice that the issue is at last made up, and that the struggle is going on, because I see in it the sign of ultimate redemption. . . . " I do not know that some margin of allowance may not be made even for the Administration. I would rather be over- magnanimous than wanting in justice. Supposing Mr. Lincoln could answer to-night, and we should say to him : l Sir, with the power in your hands, slavery being the cause of the rebel lion beyond all controversy, why don t you put the trump of jubilee to your lips, and proclaim universal freedom 1 ? pos- ^ET. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 45 sibly he might answer : * Gentlemen, I understand this matter CHAP. II. quite as well as you do. I do not know that I differ in opinion T ^ from you j but will you insure me the support of a united North if I do as you bid me ? Are ah 1 parties and ah 1 sects at the North so convinced and so united on this point that they will stand by the Government ? If so, give me the evidence of it, and I will strike the blow. But, gentlemen, looking over the entire North, and seeing in ah 1 your towns and cities papers represent ing a considerable, if not a formidable portion of the people, menacing and bullying the Government in case it dare to liber ate the slaves, even as a matter of self-preservation, I do not feel that the hour has yet come that will render it safe for the Government to take that step. * I am willing to believe that something of this feeling weighs in the mind of the President and the Cabinet, and that there is some ground for hesitancy, as a mere matter of political expediency. My reply, however, to the President would be : Sir, the power is in your hands as President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy. Do your duty ; give to the slaves their liberty by proclamation, as far as that can give it ; and if the North shah 1 betray you, and prefer the success of the rebellion to the preservation of the Union, let the dread responsibility be hers, but stand with God and Freedom on your side, come what may ! But men high in office are not apt to be led by such lofty moral considerations ; and, therefore, we should not judge the present incumbents too harshly. Doubtless, they want to be assured of the Northern heart, feeling, cooperation, approval. Can these be safely relied upon when the decisive blow shaU be struck 1 That is the question, and it is a very serious question. . . . " Nevertheless, I think the Administration is unnecessarily timid and not undeserving of rebuke. I think that this bellow ing, bullying, treasonable party at the North has, after ah 1 , but very little left, either in point of numbers or power ; the fangs of the viper are drawn, though the venomous feeling remains. Still, it has its effect, and produces a damaging, if not paralyz ing, impression at Washington." In February Mr. Garrison lectured in Greenfield, Mass., Feb. 10. after attending the New York State Anti-Slavery Conven- Feb. 7, 8. tion at Albany, and brought home a desperate cold which lln June of this year, the popular vote of Illinois, Mr. Lincoln s own State, adopted three amendments to the State Constitution, cruelly dis criminating against colored citizens (Lib. 32 : 107). 1 46 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. 57. CHAP. ii. clung to him for several months. It was during this 1862. period that Mr. Phillips made his first visit to Washing- Mar. 14, 18. ton, where he delivered two lectures before brilliant audi ences. He received marked attentions in both houses of Congress, and had an interview with Mr. Lincoln which increased his belief that the President was on the road to emancipation. He at once wrote back to Boston, urg ing that Mr. Garrison should follow him : MS. to Ann " Assure Garrison that Washington is as safe to him as New ^862 York ; that I think he OUGHT to go on and lecture. He knows not the enthusiasm with which he will be received, nor the good he will do. One regret I have in going West is, that I lose the chance to come home and urge him on to it, and perhaps go with him. . . . He will be surprised, as I was, to find so Boston. many Music Hall faces there. On several occasions I came unexpectedly on two or three at a time." J. M. McKim. This urgency being enforced by Mr. McKim and Oliver Johnson, Mr. Garrison wrote to the latter : MS. Mar. " I have not yet been invited to visit Washington, and, there fore, have had no opportunity to accept or decline. But I am in no condition for public speaking, in consequence of the state of my throat and voice, and thus would be compelled to decline any invitation that might be proffered. I have paid dearly for my visit to Albany, as I did three years ago, though not to so great an extent. My cold has been severe and long protracted, but I am gradually throwing it off. " Phillips s reception at Washington has roused up pro-slavery spite and malice in every direction. No doubt Kentuckians had very much to do in inciting the mobocratic assault upon him at Cincinnati. It is fortunate that he escaped without injury. 1 The result of it, of course, will work well for our cause." Imprisoned by his cold and unable to speak or lecture, Mr. Garrison plied his pen industriously, and wrote three open letters, which, though addressed to George Thomp- Lib. 32 : 30, 34. 38- 1 A murderous mob assailed and broke up the meeting which. Mr. Phil lips attempted to address at the Cincinnati Opera House (March 24), and hurled rotten eggs and other missiles at the lecturer all exposed on the great stage. Though struck once, Mr. Phillips stood as calm and unmoved as was his wont in facing mobs, and extorted the admiration of his oppo nents by his fearless bearing (Lib. 32 : 53, 54). JET. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 47 son, were intended for those English abolitionists whose CHAP. n. minds were still so befogged on the issues of the Ameri- I 86 2> can war that they withheld their sympathies from the Federal Government. " Though," he wrote, "in view of #.32:30. all that has been written and published on the subject, I almost despair of removing that misapprehension in the slightest degree, yet, by the love I bear them, I feel im pelled to address this letter to you hoping it may not be wholly in vain." "As for yourself," he continued, "you need nothing from #.32:30. me, either by way of information or guidance, at this particular juncture. . . . Your mastery of American affairs is abso lute : the key to unlock them is SLAVERY, and of that key you took possession when you first came to this country in 1834, and have ever since used it with all possible skill, diligence, and success. . . . There are few Americans who are so well posted in the history of this country as yourself, while there is scarcely any one in England who seems to have any intelligent knowledge of it. Almost all your writers and public speakers are ever blundering in regard to the constitutional powers of the American Government, as such, and those pertaining to the States, in their separate capacity. Mr. Bright, in his masterly John Bright. speech at Rochdale, evinced a power of analysis and correct generalization worthy of the highest praise, and has secured for himself the thanks and admiration of every true friend of free institutions. His case is as exceptional, however, as it is creditable." These letters no doubt helped to illumine the clouded minds of some of the anti-slavery friends in England, but the same steamer which bore the last of them across the Atlantic, carried also a message of President Lincoln s to Mar. 6. Congress, which proved of potent service to Thompson and the few brave men who were sustaining the cause of the North against the overwhelming tide of adverse senti ment in Great Britain. In this message one of the clumsiest documents the author of the Gettysburg Address ever penned Mr. Lincoln recommended the adoption of Gree i ey < s a resolution by Congress to this effect : " That the United A ( j? l f n States, in order to cooperate with any State which may a: 359. 48 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 57. CHAP. ii. adopt gradual abolition of slavery, give to such State 1862. pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate it for the inconvenience, public and private, produced by such change of system 77 ; and this was promptly passed by both houses, though opposed by the members from the Border States for which it was intended. The message arrested general attention as the first attempt of the President to formulate a plan looking to the abolition of slavery ; and the evidence of a desire on his part to initiate measures to this end, gradual and indefinite as they were, sufficed to turn the current of popular feeling abroad, and to win sympathy hitherto withheld from the Government by those who were indif ferent to the constitutional questions involved in the struggle. 1 Mr. Phillips, in a lecture before the Emancipa- Mar. 10. tion League of Boston, 2 four days later, welcomed the #.32:42. message, with his " whole heart," as "one more sign of promise/ 7 " If the President has not entered Canaan, 77 he declared, " he has turned his face Zionward 77 ; and he justly interpreted the message as saying, in effect : " Gentlemen of the Border States, now is your time. If you want your money, take it, and if hereafter I should take your slaves without paying, don t say I did not offer to do it. 77 To Mr. Garrison the message caused less elation, for it proposed no limitation as to the period in which the offer might be accepted, held out no inducement for any State to emancipate its slaves immediately, and made no dis- 1 " Shall I tell you when it was that the reaction in your favor took place ? It commenced with the message of your President of the 7th [6th] of March, 1862, when he recommended the passage by Congress of a resolution prom ising indemnity to the planters of the slave States if, in their State legisla tures, they would take means to abolish slavery" (George Thompson, speech at New York, May 10, 1864. Lib. 34 : 82). 2 An organization formed in December, 1861, by Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Francis W. Bird, George L. Stearns, Frank B. Sanborn, and others, who established a weekly newspaper, the Commonwealth, which was for a time the organ of the League, and was edited by Moncure D. Conway and Frank B. Sanborn (Lib. 31 : 202 ; 32 : 146). . 57.] THE HOUK AND THE MAN. 49 MS. Mar. 18, 1862. tinction between the rebel and "so-called loyal slave States." " Why wait/ he asked in the Liberator, " for the Lib. 32 : 42. dealers in human flesh to determine when they will deem it advisable to cease from their villany as a matter of pecuniary advantage and cunning speculation with the Government, when the Government is clothed with con stitutional power to dispose of the whole matter at once, without any huckstering or delay ? Let JUSTICE be done, though the heavens fall. 7 President Lincoln, delay not at your peril ! Execute judgment in the morning break every yoke let the oppressed go free. " To Oliver John son he wrote : " I am afraid the President s message will prove a decoy duck or a red herring, so as to postpone that decisive action by Congress which we are so desirous of seeing. Let us advocate no postponement of duty." Though not yet prepared for "decisive action," Con gress was by no means inactive during the long spring session of 1862, and the record of its anti-slavery legis lation was enough to show the irresistible sweep of the current towards freedom. In February it passed an act forbidding army officers to return fugitive slaves to their masters ; in April it decreed immediate emancipation in the District of Columbia, and thus finally purged the nation s capital of the stain of slavery ; l in June it for ever prohibited slavery in all the Territories, and author ized the President to appoint diplomatic representatives to Hayti and Liberia ; in July it declared free all slaves of rebel masters coming within the lines of the Union army or found in any place vacated by the rebels, and authorized the President to " employ persons of African descent for the suppression of the rebellion, and organize and use them in such manner as he may judge best for the public welfare." It also provided for the education of col ored children, and the equal administration of the laws to the colored people, in the District of Columbia ; passed a l Loyal slave-owners were compensated at the average rate of three hun dred dollars for each slave. The bill was passed by a strict party vote, the Democrats solidly opposing it. VOL. IV. 4 Wilsons z pp. 17-223. 50 WILLIAM LLOYD GABRISON. 57. Greeleys American Conflict, 2 : 246 ; Lib. 32:83. CHAP. ii. bill for the more effectual suppression of the African slave 1862. trade 5 and provided for the enrolment of colored soldiers. All these measures received the prompt approval of the May *g. President, but in May he again disappointed the high hopes he had thus raised, by revoking the proclamation issued ten days earlier by Major-G-eneral David Hunter, commanding the Department of the South, at Hilton Head, S. C. With delightful pithiness, this old West- Pointer announced that, as the States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina had taken up arms against the United States, it had become necessary to declare them under martial law. " Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible," he continued. " The persons in these three States . . . heretofore held as slaves are therefore declared forever free." Mr. Lincoln did not wait to receive official notification #.32:83. of this from General Hunter, but based his revoking proclamation on the information contained in the public prints; and, after declaring the act unauthorized and void, and announcing that he must reserve to himself to decide " whether at any time, or in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government to exercise such supposed power," he besought the slave States to consider, ere it was too late, Ante, pp. 47, the offer of Congress to cooperate with them in any scheme of gradual, compensated emancipation. "You cannot," he added significantly, " be blind to the signs of the times." " President Lincoln ! " exclaimed Mr. Garrison, at the Lib. 32:82. close of his sharp criticisms on the proclamation, " canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook? Will he make many supplications unto thee ? Nevertheless, while renewing his criticisms at the May meetings in Boston, and pressing home to the President the responsibility which the latter had now assumed of speaking or with holding the word which would give freedom to millions of his fellow-creatures, he was again careful to balance the scales justly and make all possible allowances for him . 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 51 in his trying and difficult position, when other speakers CHAP. n. seemed too sweeping in their denunciations. 1 " Those who l ^ hold office by the will of the people/ 7 he reminded them, #.32:90. "cannot be judged wholly like private men." And he further declared : " The gains of freedom have been so Lib. 32 : 90. rapid and magnificent that we fail to appreciate them." The nineteen resolutions which he drafted for the Con vention, and which were adopted by a rising vote, fully recognized these, however, while emphasizing what re mained to be done. At the New York meetings, earlier May 6. in the month, he presented a carefully prepared " State ment of the Executive Committee of the American Anti- Lib. 32:74. Slavery Society," referring to the omission of the annual meeting the previous year, and defining the position of the Society in view of the altered state of things. 2 Joshua B,. Oiddings to W. L. Garrison. JEFFERSON, Ohio, June 12, 1862. DEAR GARRISON : Thanks for that speech before the Anti- Slavery Convention. You gave such utterance to my own feel ings that I felt truly grateful on reading it this morning. I thank God that you are yet able to attend such meetings. My friends will not permit me to be present on such occasions. Indeed, it is all I dare do to read their proceedings. Even they give rise to feelings that apparently endanger my existence. 1 Stephen S. Foster, for instance, held Mr. Lincoln responsible for the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law in the District of Columbia, whither scores of Maryland slaves nocked after the passage of the Eman cipation Act, only to be seized, imprisoned, and returned to their masters. The resolutions introduced by Mr. Garrison very properly called upon Con gress to end this " frightful paradox" (Lib. 32 : 92). 2 In a letter urging the preparation of this Statement, Gerrit Smith wrote (April 16) to Mr. Garrison : "There is one point at which the meet ing should, in my judgment, put forth a clear defence of the Garrisonian abolitionist. His influence, especially in the case of such a man as yourself or Wendell Phillips, is too important to the cause of freedom that injustice should be allowed to impair it. The Garrisonian abolitionist was formerly a Disunionist, and is now a Unionist ; and hence he is charged with being inconsistent, or at least with being a convert. . . . There is a conversion. It is, however, to him, and not of him. There is a change ; but it is around him, and not in him" (MS. and Lib. 32 : 74). MS. In Boston. 52 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 57. CHAP. II. But I rejoice to have lived so long and to have seen so much. 1862 ^ or can ^ com pl a i n that my constitution has not done me fair service. In short, I am pretty well satisfied with the past, and am full of hope for the future. Although Lincoln has failed to come up to what you and I think he might and should have done, yet he is honest in his positions and will require time to reach our positions. I start for Montreal l on Monday, and think it possible I may visit Boston before I return. Should I do so, shall hope to see God bless you ! GIDDINGS. From the May meetings in Boston Mr. Garrison went to the Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends at Long- wood, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he spoke repeatedly during the four days sessions, and prepared the Testimony of the meeting on Slavery and the Rebel lion, as well as on Peace. At his suggestion, a Memorial to the President was also prepared, and naturally the task of drafting it fell to him. Two weeks later a delegation appointed by the meeting waited upon President Lincoln at the White House, and Oliver Johnson as their spokes man read the Appeal : Lib. 32 : 102. To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States : The Religious Society of Progressive Friends, in Yearly Meet ing assembled at Longwood, Chester Co., Pa., from the 5th to the 7th of Sixth month, 1862, under a solemn sense of the perils besetting* the country, and of the duty devolving upon them to exert whatever influence they possess to rescue it from impend ing destruction, beg leave respectfully but earnestly to set forth, for the consideration of President Lincoln : That they fully share in the general grief and reprobation felt at the seditious course pursued in opposition to the General Government by the so-called " Confederate States " ; regard ing it as marked by all the revolting features of high-handed robbery, cruel treachery, and murderous violence, and therefore utterly to be abhorred and condemned by every lover of his country, and every friend of the human race. That, nevertheless, this sanguinary rebellion finds its cause, IMr. Giddings had been appointed Consul-General for British North America the previous year by Mr. Lincoln. MT. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 53 purpose, and combustible materials in that most unchristian CHAP. II. and barbarous system of slavery which prevails in that section ^ of the country, and in the guilt of which the whole land has long been deeply involved by general complicity ; so that it is to be contritely recognized as the penalty due to such persistent and flagrant transgression, and as the inevitable operation of the law of eternal justice. That thus heavily visited for its grinding oppression of an unfortunate race, " peeled, meted out, and trodden underfoot," whose wrongs have so long cried unto Heaven for redress and thus solemnly warned of the infatuation as well as exceed ing wickedness of endeavoring to secure peace, prosperity, and unity, while leaving millions to clank their chains in the house of bondage the nation, in its official organization, should lose no time in proclaiming immediate and universal emancipation, so that the present frightful effusion of blood may cease, liberty be established, and a permanent reconciliation effected by the removal of the sole cause of these divisions. That in his speech delivered at Springfield, before his election Ante, 3:420, to the office of Chief Magistrate, the President expressly de- 470> clared : " A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently hah 3 slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved I do not expect the house to fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." That this Society, therefore, urgently unites with a wide spread and constantly increasing sentiment, in beseeching the President, as the head of the nation, clothed with the constitu tional power in such a fearful emergency to suppress the rebel lion effectually by the removal of its cause, not to allow the present golden opportunity to pass without decreeing the entire abolition of slavery throughout the land, as a measure impera tively demanded by a due regard for the unity of the country, the safety and happiness of the people, the preservation of free institutions, and by every consideration of justice, mercy, and peace. Otherwise, we have fearful reason to apprehend that blood will continue to flow, and fierce dissensions to abound, and calamities to increase, and fiery judgments to be poured out, until the work of national destruction is consummated beyond hope of recovery. The President received the delegation with courtesy and respect, and listened attentively to the reading of the 54 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [Mi. 57. Lib. 32: 102., Memorial. He questioned whether a decree of emancipa tion would be more binding on the South than the Con stitution itself, which could not now be enforced there, but was reminded by Mr. Johnson that he did not on that account relax his efforts to enforce it, and that the memo rialists believed emancipation to be indispensable to his success. He then said that he felt the magnitude of the task before him, and hoped to be rightly directed in the very trying circumstances by which he was surrounded. Finally, in response to a few words of sympathy and earnest appeal from William Barnard, who quoted the words of Mordecai to Queen Esther (" For if thou altogether boldest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place ; but thou and thy father s house shall be destroyed ; and who know- est whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this 1 "), Mr. Lincoln spoke feelingly and impres sively, observing that he was deeply sensible of his need of Divine assistance. He had sometimes thought that he might be an instrument in God s hands of accomplishing a great work, and he certainly was not unwilling to be. Perhaps, however, God s way of accomplishing the end which the memorialists had in view might be different from theirs. It would be his earnest endeavor, with a firm reliance on the Divine arm, and seeking light from above, to do his duty in the place to which he had been called. 1 All through the summer the pressure upon the Presi dent increased. Individuals and delegations waited upon him and urged him to proclaim emancipation, but two ideas still possessed his mind to induce the Border Ante, pp. 47, States to agree to his scheme of gradual or immediate emancipation, as they might elect ; and to institute a movement for the removal and colonization of the freed people. The first scheme he again presented to Congress iMr. W. D. Kelley, M. C., who was present at the above interview, has given a singularly blundering account of it in the chapter contributed by him to A. T. Rice s Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln (pp. 281-283). The proper correction was applied by Oliver Johnson in the N. Y. Tribune of Sept. 6, 1885. ^T. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 55 in a message accompanying the draft of a bill curious July 14, alike for its fatuity and its financiering, for no temporal #.38:115. limit was suggested within which emancipation must be accomplished, and provision was actually made for the re- establishment of slavery, if any State should so elect, by gravely stipulating that in such case the State in question should refund to the United States the interest paid by the latter on the indemnity bonds they were to furnish to the States adopting gradual emancipation, and the bonds themselves should become void. 1 Nothing in the bill im plied that it was to apply only to the loyal (Border) States, and under its terms the rebellious States could have claimed, had they yielded and consented to it, payment for their tens of thousands of slaves already liberated by the Union armies; the indemnity provided by the General Government being based on the census of 1860, at the out break of the rebellion. To assume that States which had already repudiated their debts and their Constitutional obligations, and robbed the Government of millions of dollars worth of property, could be trusted to refund anything they had once obtained, was certainly an extraor dinary manifestation of confidence ; but any uneasiness lest the amazing proposition should be seriously consid ered by those to whom it was made, was speedily set at rest by the promptness with which most of the members of Congress from the Border States pronounced against it, and declared it useless to expect their States to respond to it. This opinion they expressed in writing, after a per- #.32:119. sonal interview with the President in which he warned July 12. them that slavery in their States would perish " by mere Lib. 32:119. friction and abrasion," if the war continued, and they had better sell their slaves now while the Government was willing to pay for them. " In repudiating [General Hunter s proclamation]/ he added, " I gave dissatisfac tion, if not offence, to many whose support the country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. 1 Any States granting immediate emancipation were to have cash down from the United States. 56 WILLIAM LLOYD GAREISON. [^T. 57. CHAP. ii. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is I ^ 2> increasing." In the same interview he held out the bait of coloniza tion of the freed people as an additional palliative, saying : " I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate gradually. Boom in South America for colonization can be obtained cheaply and in abundance ; and when numbers shall be large enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people will not be so reluctant to go." l Five weeks later, having procured an appropriation from Congress with which to make a colonizing experiment, Mr. Lincoln invited a num ber of representative colored men to hold audience with Lid. 32:133. him at the White House, and appealed to them to second his efforts to establish a colony in Central America, where some American speculators had recently acquired coal mines for which they wished to procure laborers. It seems scarcely credible that a man of such rare shrewd ness and common-sense as Mr. Lincoln usually manifested, could have talked such amazing nonsense as he discoursed in this hour s interview. Mr. Garrison, to whom the sug gestions of gradualism and colonization brought up old memories, promptly pilloried these remarks of the Presi dent in the "Refuge of Oppression, 77 pronouncing them Lib. 32: 134. " puerile, absurd, illogical, impertinent, untimely. 77 At this distance of time it is impossible to read the President^ remarks with either gravity or indignation, but it is quite otherwise with the pathetic story of the dismal collapse of the experiment in colonization actually made in Hayti. 2 Early in August Mr. Garrison visited Williamstown, 1 The Border-State Congressmen quietly answered this by adding the cost of deportation to that of emancipation, and saying: " Stated in this form, the proposition is nothing less than the deportation from the country of six teen hundred million dollars worth of producing labor, and the substitu tion in its place of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount " (Lib. 32 : 119). 2 See Mr. Charles K. Tuckerman s account in the Magazine, of American History for October, 1886 ; also, Lib. 34 : 55. For a clever travesty by "Orpheus C. Kerr" (R. H. Newell) of the President s talk to the colored delegation, see Lib. 32 : 140. . 57.] THE HOUK AND THE MAN. 57 " My address is not quite completed, but nearly so. It is simply a serious, straightforward anti-slavery arraignment of the guilt of the nation, and showing why the present national visitation has come upon us. I have written it without a meta phor, or a single flight of the imagination, or anything to relieve its sombre aspect. To old abolitionists it would be trite, but to the mass of my audience it will, perhaps, be as good as new. . . . One gets weary, however, in the constant affir mation of these moral truisms, which would seem to be as plain to every mind as the midday sun is to the vision." MS. J. M. Me Kim. Mass., and delivered an address before the Adelphic Union Aug.*, 1862 Society of Williams College, which had extended the first invitation of the kind ever received by him. " My college oration is almost completed," he wrote to Oliver Johnson, on July 31, " and will be entirely so to-day. I have writ ten it out in full, as you and McKim advised, and so I feel great relief in knowing certainly what I am going to say. But, oh! the bondage and drawback of reading it, as though I had never seen it before ! for I cannot remem ber two sentences consecutively. Such confinement in delivery will be extremely irksome to me, and, I fear, tedious to the audience ; but I am l in for it, and must do the best I can." To his son Wendell he wrote, on Aug. 1 : MS. W. L. Garrison to W. P. Garrison. BOSTON, August 10, 1862. A week ago to-day (Sunday), I was at Pittsfield,and found it to be as beautiful and attractive as eye and heart could wish. I there met Professor Fowler of Poughkeepsie, who, like myself, was on the way to Williamstown, to deliver one of the orations. . . . " Monday evening, the young student, Mr. G. C. Brown, whose home is in Pittsfield, and who engaged me to give the address before the Adelphic Union Society, drove us to Williams- town, a distance of twenty-two miles, in a sort of barouche, with a fine span of horses. The scenery throughout was a continual blending of the sublime and the beautiful, and some of the views of a very enchanting kind. We enjoyed our ride to the full. MS. John W, Fowler. 58 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 57. The day was one of the most sultry of the season. I gave Aug. 4,1862. my address in the afternoon, at 4 o clock, occupying an hour and a half. It was listened to with unbroken interest, and occasionally applauded (it was too grave and serious for much applause), and was evidently well received. 1 At the close of it, John Bas- Professor Bascorn (who introduced me) expressed his gratifica tion, and said he endorsed every word of it. The audience was not very large, as twenty-five cents were asked for a ticket ad mitting the holder to both lectures. Hardly any of the Faculty were present except Prof. Bascom. In the evening, Prof. Fow ler gave his lecture, and spoke without manuscript or notes for nearly two hours and a half! His theme was "The Crisis," which he discussed with marked ability, and delivered with great energy and eloquence. . . . There is nothing new to communicate. As usual, up to this time, " all is quiet along the Potomac." Volunteering is going on rapidly in every part of the State, so that drafting will prob ably be required to a much less extent than was apprehended. The draft became necessary, however, and as the time for it approached, Mr. Garrison discussed in two full and Lib. 32 : 150, elaborate editorials the problems presented by its appli cation to the non-resistants and abolitionists, and their duty in the premises. In these he maintained that the former (only a handful, really), who had consistently refrained from voting or taking any part in politics and government on conscientious grounds, ought to be exempt from its operation, but that all professed peace men (in cluding the Quakers) who voted, and by their votes elected as their agents a President and members of Con gress, bound by their oaths to defend the Government by military and naval force if necessary, had no just claim l The address, under the title of " Our National Visitation," was printed in full in the Liberator (34 : 138), and filled over six columns. " The timid people who expected all sorts of infidel propositions, were pleasantly disap pointed to hear a thoroughly Christian address, and one which contained a greater amount of direct quotations from the sacred Scriptures, we venture to say, than any sermon or oration that will find utterance in this town this week. . . . The address was wonderfully vitalized and wonderfully clear without denunciation and without bitterness," wrote the correspond ent of the Springfield RepnWean (Lib. 34 : 136) ; and Mrs. Child wrote : " Garrison s address is admirable ; one of the best things he ever did, which is saying a good deal" (MS., Sept. 7, 1862, to R. F. Wallcut). 2ET. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 59 to exemption. In some States the Quakers were by law CHAP. n. free from all military liabilities, on account of their peace 1862. principles, but this, he protested, was "conceding to a #.32:150. sect what belongs to conscience, irrespective of sect/ 7 and so was manifestly unjust. " For he who believes in total abstinence from war as a Christian duty, though a member of no religious body, ought to have the same tol eration as though he wore a Quaker dress and belonged to a Quaker society." "Now, as an apostle pertinently inquired in his own day, #.32:150. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? so, we say that he who votes to empower Congress to declare war, and to provide the necessary instruments of war, and to constitute the President commander-in- chief of the army and navy, has no right, when war actually comes, to plead conscientious scruples as a peace man ; but is bound to stand by his vote, or else to make confession of wrong- doing and take his position outside of the Government. He cannot be allowed to strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel 5 to play fast and loose with his conscience ; to make the amplest provisions for war, and then beg to be ex cused from its dangers and hardships in deference to his peace sentiments. The Government has a right to apply this test, and the voter has no right to complain when it is rigidly enforced in his own case. " But we submit to all the people, that such as wholly abstain from voting to uphold the Constitution because of its war pro visions, and thus religiously exclude themselves from all share in what are deemed official honors and emoluments, ought not to be drafted in time of war, or compelled to pay an equivalent, or go to prison for disobedience. If conscience is to be respected and provided for in any case, it is in theirs. " We know of no law, however, for their exemption ; and, therefore, some of them may be drafted, and put to a trial of their faith. In that case, let them possess their souls in patience and serenity, and meet without any outcry, as though some strange thing had happened unto them, whatever penalty may follow their non-compliance with the draft. There is no loss, but great gain, in suffering for righteousness sake. They surely knew the liabilities to which they subjected themselves, 60 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. CHAP. II. when they gave in their adhesion to the principles of Non- T ^ 2 Resistance ; and they will not try to shirk the cross when it is presented, but rejoice that they are counted worthy to bear it. One thing they can and should do, in order to prevent any misconceptions as to their feelings and views in relation to the conduct of those who have risen up in rebellion $ and that is, denounce it as horribly perfidious, and as having for its ob ject the overthrow of every safeguard of popular liberty, and register their testimony that the Government has exercised no injustice towards the South, nor given any occasion for such a treasonable outbreak. Thus defining their position, it will be seen by the nation that they are acting in a manner as just and discriminating toward the Government as it is upright and con scientious on their part. "It can hardly be asked by any Non-Resistant, How, if drafted, about hiring a substitute ? because what we do by another as our agent or representative, we do ourselves. To hire a substitute is, as a matter of principle, precisely the same as to go to the battle-field in person. " But if the alternative be, to pay a stipulated sum to the Government, or else be imprisoned or shot, may we pay the fine ? That is a matter for the individual conscience to decide. Speaking personally, we see no violation of Non-Resistance principles in paying the money ; because it is a choice presented between different forms of suffering, and, l other things being equal, it will be natural to wish to avoid as much of it as the case will admit. Thus, a highwayman, placing his pistol to our head, demands in our helplessness, * Your money, or your life 1 To part with the money is certainly more reasonable than to part with life ; nor, in yielding it, do we give any sanction to the demand. But if the highwayman should say, i Your money, and an acknowledgment of my right to extort it, or your life, then there would be no alternative but to die, or else prove recreant to truth and honesty. " * But, it may be said, though I should refuse to hire a sub stitute, yet, if I pay the price demanded, will not the Govern ment take the money and apply it for that purpose ? And is there any essential moral difference here ? We think there is. In hiring a substitute yourself, you actively sustain the war, and become an armed participant in it, and so violate the principles which you profess to revere. In paying a tax, you passively submit to the exaction, which, in itself, commits no violence upon others, but is only a transfer of so much property to other 2ET.57.] THE HOUE AND THE MAN. 61 hands. If, then, the Government shall proceed to apply it to CHAP. II. war purposes, the responsibility will rest with the Government, I ^ 2 not with you. This is the light in which we regard it : still, we offer no other suggestion than this l Let every one be fully per suaded in his own mind. We shall honor none the less him who may feel it his duty to take the most afflicting alternative, as the most effectual method to meet the issue before the com munity. Of that he must be the judge ; and especially must he be sure to count the cost and act intelligently." 1 With regard to abolitionists who were not non-resist ants, and who had hitherto abstained from voting on account of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution, the argument showed that as the Union was dissolved and the Government had the war-power to abolish slavery (even in the Border States, Mr. Garrison maintained), " every obstacle to CONSTITUTIONAL EMANCIPATION is taken Lib. 32 : 154. out of the way, and the Government is, and must be, if true to itself, wholly on the side of liberty. Such a gov ernment can receive the sanction and support of every aboli tionist, tvhether in a moral or military point of view." It was a happy coincidence that the same number of the Liberator in which this article appeared should also con tain President Lincoln s first Emancipation Proclamation, Sept. 22. promising a final edict of freedom to the slaves in all States or parts of States which should be in rebellion against the Government on the first of January following, 2 1 " A beautiful specimen of clear and unanswerable reasoning," was Ger- rit Smith s comment on this editorial (Lib. 32 : 155). 2 Just amonth before this (Aug. 22) Mr. Lincoln had addressed his famous letter to Horace Greeley, stating that his paramount object was to save the Union, without reference to slavery. " If I could save the Union ivithout freeing any slave, I would do it if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do be cause I believe it helps to save this Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union." The encourage ment of the letter lay not only in the growing popular conviction that the second alternative was the one he would be compelled to choose, but in his frank promise, " I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they appear to be true views " ; and in his closing assurance that while he had thus stated his purpose according to his views of official duty, he intended no modification of his "oft-expressed 62 WILLIAM LLOYD GABEISON. [JEn. 57. 1862. Samuel May, Jr. CHAP. ii. and that the editor could thus cite it as evidence of the anti-slavery purpose of the Administration. His first feeling, however, on carefully reading the document, was not one of exultation, and a friend who called to con gratulate him, the morning it appeared, was surprised to find how quietly he took it, and wondered at his lack of enthusiasm; but having indulged the hope that the proclamation, if issued, would be unreserved and sweep ing, he was disappointed and disturbed that the Presi dent should confine it to the rebellious States, giving them one hundred days of grace, and should couple with it his scheme for gradual and compensated emancipation in the Border States, and for colonization. 1 Still, he welcomed Lib. 32:154. it as "an important step in the right direction, 2 and an act of immense historic consequence," and commended especially the clauses in which the President enjoined the army and navy to obey and enforce the anti-slavery acts #.32:158. already passed by Congress. He congratulated Mr. Lin coln, too, on the abuse now heaped upon him by the semi- disloyal Democratic press which had so lately praised him without stint. Only a fortnight before, he was fearing that its influence and that of the Border States had become all-powerful with the President. MS. Sept. g to Oliver Johnson. MS., in possession Men s Li brary, Buf falo, N. Y. W. L. Garrison to Oliver Johnson. BOSTON, Sept. 9, 1862. I commend your anxiety in regard to the course to be pursued both by the Standard and the Liberator, respecting the present personal wish that all men everywhere could be free " (Greeley s Ameri can Conflict, 2 : 250). Not until two years later did it become publicly known that Mr. Lincoln had submitted the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to the Cabinet a month before he wrote this letter to Greeley (July 22), and was holding it in his deskuntil a decisive victory of the Union armies should afford him a favorable moment for issuing it. For a full ac count of Lincoln s steps towards emancipation, see J. G. Nicolay s and John Hay s chapter in the Century Magazine for December, 1888. 1 " The President can do nothing for freedom in. a direct manner, but only by circumlocution and delay. How prompt was his action against Fremont and Hunter !" (MS. Sept. 25, 1862, W. L. G. to his daughter.) 2 " Step ! " exclaimed Mr. Phillips, when this was repeated to him, " it s a stride ! " Mi. 57.] THE HOUK AND THE MAN. 63 critical state of affairs ; and fully agree with you, that there has CHAP. II. never been a time when abolitionists should weigh their words z ^" 2 (whether written or spoken) more carefully than now, in order to avoid needless persecution and baffle pro-slavery malignity. Our work, as abolitionists, is still to impeach, censure, and con demn where we must, and approve when we can ; but, in such an inflammable state of the country, the injunction: " Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves," deserves to be care fully heeded. I have always believed that the anti-slavery cause has had aroused against it a great deal of uncalled-for hostility, in consequence of extravagance of speech, and want of tact and good judgment, on the part of some most desirous to promote its advancement ; but this is a drawback which has ever affected the success of reformatory movements, and grows out of the incompleteness of human development. It is very desirable, as you intimate, that the Standard and the Liberator should harmonize, as far as practicable, in the mode of dealing with such correspondents as wish to make use of their columns to express their honest but often badly expressed senti ments on men and things. In common, on the ground of free discussion, we are both often called to publish what, on the score of good taste and fair criticism, we cannot endorse ; but I grant a larger indulgence than it would be proper for you to do, seeing that no one else is responsible for the Liberator but myself j whereas, the Standard is the official organ of the Ameri can Anti- Slavery Society, and on that account should be con ducted with more habitual circumspection. Still, I would have the Standard err on the side of liberality, rather than of exclu- siveness, so as to always indicate its fearlessness of the most thorough investigation and the strongest dissent ; while, at the same time, I would have you exercise your own good judgment, just as you have hitherto done, in determining what shall appear in the Standard. I do not feel that I can give you any advice, or that you need any. Lincoln s annual message to Congress in December made a last plea for the scheme of compensated emanci pation broached in his July message, and proposed a con stitutional amendment by which any State abolishing slavery by or before the year 1900 should be entitled to compensation from the Federal Government. A single point illustrates how far Mr. Lincoln yet was from put- 64 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. CHAP. ii. ting himself in the slave s place, and " remembering those !862. in bonds as boimd with them" for he frankly stated his Lit. 32:194. wish to postpone the day of emancipation so far that the present oppressors would not live to see it, and so need not be concerned about it j whilst the slaves, consigned to life-long bondage, were to console themselves with the " inspiriting assurance " that their posterity would be free forever ! But the proposed amendment made no provision whatever for the abolition of slavery in 1900 in such slave States as might not then have enacted it j and, as in the July message, the right to reestablish it was admitted by the stipulation that in that case the Federal Government should be reimbursed. 1 In view of this menace to the promised emancipation edict of January 1, the abolitionists had no option but to go on, and Mr. Garrison, in writing the call for the annual Subscription Festival on which the maintenance of the American Society depended, rehearsed the reasons for con tinued effort. The disagreeable alternative was also forced upon him, in common with all other newspaper publishers, of raising the subscription price of the Liberator, or sus pending its publication, the price of paper having doubled in consequence of the scarcity of cotton j and, choosing the former, he advanced the price from $2.50 to $3.00 with the new year. In a frank statement of the exigencies of the Liberator, and a retrospective glance at its history and career, he announced that the recent marvellous change in public sentiment had wrought no advantage to its sub- #.32:202. scription-list. "Other journals," he continued, "have carefully consulted this change, and given the milk needed for new-born babes, so that more is published every day on the subject of slavery, pro and con, by the newspaper press than used to be in the course of years. That others have entered into our labors, and reaped the advantage thereof, we do not regret ; it has followed in the nature l These discreditable qualifications and suggestions are not mentioned by Messrs. Nicolay and Hay in their account of this message (Century Maga zine for March, 1889). ^T. 57.] THE HOUE AND THE MAN. 65 of things, and is what we gladly looked for from the be- CHAP. n. ginning. But it explains why our circulation remains 1862. unaided by the cheering revolution which has taken place." l A quick and generous response from long-tried Lib. 33 : 2, friends and subscribers insured the Liberator another year s continuance. The last number of the year contained a letter from George Thompson, who, after laboring indefatigably to inform the English public on the issues involved in the American conflict, and delivering many addresses in various parts of Great Britain, 2 was now able to an nounce the formation of a large and influential Emanci pation Society in London, for the vigorous and systematic prosecution of the same work. The nucleus of this organ ization was the London Emancipation Committee, a little band of Mr. Garrison s friends who had for several years 1 "How does the war affect your subscription-list? The Liberator s is minus at least two hundred" (MS. Sept. 9, 1862, W. L. G. to Oliver John son). " If slavery were really abolished, I should care very little about the continuance of the Liberator or Standard, or the American Anti-Slavery Society ; but, until emancipation come, I do hope these instrumentalities will remain in the field, as hitherto. At all events, we will (if need be) go down with our colors nailed to the mast-head " (MS. Dec. 14, 1862, W. L. G. to O. Johnson). 2 " Towards the close of last year, and at the beginning of the present, I delivered a large number of lectures in Lancashire and Yorkshire, includ ing eight in the city of Manchester (six of which were in Free Trade Hall). I also gave lectures in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere in Scotland. I formally proposed to the Union Americans in London to give the whole of my time, gratuitously, to the work of agitation in this country, if they would raise a fund for the payment of the necessary expenses ; but there was no response. But, alas ! the only agency they employed was the Lon don American, which has done far more harm than good to their cause, by being the vehicle for the envenomed outpourings of G. F. Train, and the slanderous attacks upon the abolitionists of their New York correspondent. Again the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society has done nothing, and is only now thinking of saying a good word in behalf of the Proclamation. Thus, I have stood alone. The Star and Daily News have done good service among the daily London papers ; and the Spectator and Dial (the latter entirely conducted by my son-in-law, Mr. Chesson), among the weekly journals, have promulgated sound views; but what are these among the multitude of papers that have gone wrong ? " (MS. Nov. 7, 1862, George Thompson to W. L. G., Lib. 32 : 190. See, for letters and speeches of Mr. Thompson, Lib. 32 : 6, 27, 64, 65, 191, 204, 206 ; 33 : 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 33. 34, 42, 46, 54, 63, 66, 160, 174, 207 ; 34 : 3, 7, 14, 29.) VOL. IV. 5 66 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. . 57. CHAP. II. 1862. J. M. Mason. labored to excite public interest in the American anti- slavery movement, and to maintain the active alliance and cooperation established and fostered by him in his three visits to England. Thompson himself was the chairman, and his son-in-law, Frederick W. Chesson, the secretary, of this Committee. The enlarged Society in cluded such men as John Stuart Mill, John Bright, Rich ard Cobden, Lord Houghton, Samuel Lucas, William E. Forster, Peter A. Taylor, Gold win Smith, Justin McCarthy, Thomas Hughes, James Stansfeld, Jr., Prof. J. E. Cairnes, Herbert Spencer, Prof. Francis W. Newman, Rev. Baptist Noel, and Rev. Newman Hall, most of whom rendered direct and important service ; but the organizer and tire less spirit of the movement was Mr. Chesson, to whose wide acquaintance with public men, unfailing tact and address, thorough information, and extraordinary indus try and executive ability, a very large measure of credit for its success was due. The most cordial and sympathetic relations existed between the Society and Minister Adams and Secretary Moran of the American Legation. Its first task was to evoke such expressions of popular sympathy with the American Government in all parts of the kingdom as would effectually deter the English Government from lis tening to Napoleon s schemes of intervention in favor of the South, and permitting the escape from English ports of other piratical cruisers like the Alabama, and to coun teract the plottings of Mason and other rebel emissa ries in London. To the organizations which were the legitimate and direct outgrowth of Mr. Garrison s anti- slavery missions to England 1 were largely due the suc- 1 The Union and Emancipation Society, formed in Manchester in 1863, with Thomas Bayley Potter, M. P., as its President, and Thomas H. Barker as its indefatigable Secretary, had also many of Mr. Garrison s friends and co-workers among its members, and did an immense work in encouraging and supporting the strong Union sympathies of the suffering Lancashire operatives. Mr. Potter s labors were as disinterested as they were ardent, and his munificent pecuniary support his personal contribu tions aggregating 5000 enabled the Society, during the two years of its existence, to hold three hundred meetings and distribute nearly 600,000 ^T. 57.] THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 67 cessful accomplishment of that work, and the enormous CHAP. n. advantage which thereby accrued to the American cause. 1 X 862. But without the Proclamation of Emancipation to conjure with, the task would have been infinitely greater, if not impossible. On the eve of its issue, George Thompson wrote to Mr. Garrison as follows : George Thompson to W. L. Garrison. Evening of Christmas Day, 1862. MS., and In the endeavor to arrive at a sound and unprejudiced judg ment on the true state of public feeling in this country, certain facts should be kept in mind. The sentiments of our leading journals, of a portion of our public men, and of the aristocratic circles, at the present time, on the subject of slavery, are precisely similar to those which prevailed in the same quarters during the struggle for the emancipation of our own slaves. In this respect, England is neither better nor worse. Blackwood s Magazine and the Times of to-day are the same as they were in 1832 the one the essence of Toryism, tlie other of Mammon. . . . On the vital question of slavery, the heart of the people is sound. It would be impossible to carry a pro-slavery resolution in any unpacked assembly in the kingdom. I could obtain a vote of censure from the constituents of every man who has vindicated the pamphlets (Lib. 35 : 46). He clearly recognized, and continually impressed upon the workingmen of Lancashire, the fact that the struggle raging in America was their own battle, and that on the maintenance of the great republic the progress of popular institutions all over the world largely de pended (Lib. 33 : 174). In Glasgow, the vigilance and energetic measures of Mr. Garrison s steadfast friends, Andrew Paton, William Smeal, and a few others, prevented the sailing from the Clyde of a Confederate war vessel that would have been more formidable than the Alabama. l " All the anti-slavery people, with here and there an exception, support the North ; while the representatives of the old West India interests and the Conservative party generally remain true to their dishonorable traditions. . . . It has been the fashion of the Times to taunt the Emancipation Society with being deserted by all the old, well-remembered names. This is true of Lord Brougham, but not of Dr. Lushington. Several of the Buxtons, the Gurneys, the Croppers, and the Hughes have avowed their sympathy with the Northern cause ; and . . . Mr. Henry Wilberforce, the younger son of the great philanthropist, is most earnest in his advocacy of sound views on the American question, and feels deeply the dishonor which some of his countrymen have put upon themselves by their pro-South ern sentiments " (F. W. Chesson to W. L. G., Feb. 18, 1865, Lib. 35 : 46). 68 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. |/ET. 57. CHAP. II. cause of the slaveholding rebels. The Times could not obtain an j^ endorsement of its sentiments in any open meeting in the city of London or elsewhere, where an opportunity was afforded of speaking the truth. The mention of its name invariably calls forth " a groan." It should always be remembered, too, that our people are very imperfectly acquainted with the powers of your Federal Government. They know little or nothing of your Constitution its compromises, guarantees, limitations, obligations, etc. They are consequently unable to appreciate the difficulties of your President, or to comprehend the caution, forbearance, and tenderness which he displays when speaking of slavery, slaveholders, slave States, etc. Then, again, our anti- American journals have been careful to conceal the truth. They have exposed every blunder ; blazoned every pro-slavery act of general or officer in the army ; have republished the harsh criticisms of Abolition speakers, and, above all, the repeated declarations of members of the Republican party, that the war was not for the abolition of slavery. . . . None know better than you and I how much the Northern people themselves have done to furnish occasion to the adver sary, and to justify the taunts and reproaches he has hurled against them. You can understand the difficulty of my position during the first year of the war, when so many ugly facts came out illustrating the pro-slavery tendencies of your public men. You know how many plagues it has needed to bring the North to hear the command, which is not even yet obeyed, " Let my people go ! " You know how impossible it is at this moment to vindicate, as one would wish, the course of Mr. Lincoln. In no one of his utterances is there an assertion of a great principle no appeal to right or justice. In everything he does and says, affecting the slave, there is the alloy of expediency. The slave may be free if it should be " necessary," or "convenient," or " agreeable to his master." What we want to see him do is, to take his stand upon the doctrine of human equality, and man s inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. All else is paltering with conscience and with truth. ... I firmly believe that Mr. Lincoln might, if he would, extirpate, root and branch, the accursed system ; and that both God and man would support him in the deed. Oh, that he would do it and thereby secure the peace of his soul, the blessing of the slave, the applause of mankind, the verdict of posterity, and the approbation of Heaven ! CHAPTER III. THE PROCLAMATION. 1863. SPECIAL preparations had been made in Boston to CHAP. in. celebrate the promised edict of freedom on the first ^63. of January. The impressive watch-meetings held in the col ored churches on New Year s eve were followed by meet ings in Tremont Temple extending through the day and evening, and a grand jubilee concert in Music Hall was announced for the afternoon. It was confidently expected that the President s Proclamation would reach the city by noon, but as the day wore on without tidings of its issue, fears arose lest it might not, after all, be forthcoming, and the celebrations proceeded under a shadow of doubt and unrest. The Music Hall concert had been hastily but admirably arranged, and audience and musicians seemed alike animated by the occasion. Nothing could have been more uplifting than the fine orchestral and choral render ing of Mendelssohn s Hymn of Praise, Beethoven s Fifth Symphony, and Handel s Hallelujah Chorus, alternated with the reading, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, of his " Bos ton Hymn," written for the occasion, and the singing of Dr. O. W. Holmes s " Army Hymn " ; l but the painful uncertainty about the President s action marred the other wise perfect enjoyment of the great audience until a gentleman announced from the floor that the Proclama- 1 The verse in Mr. Emerson s poem which won loudest applause was that on compensation : " Pay ransom to the owner, And fill the bag to the brim. Who is the owner ? The slave is owner, And ever was. Pay him ! " 70 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 58. CHAP. in. tion had been issued and was coming over the wires. The I 86 3- storm of applause which f ollowed, and relieved the pent-up feelings of the listeners, culminated in nine rousing cheers for Abraham Lincoln, followed by three more for Mr. Garrison, who occupied a seat in the gallery, and the concert then proceeded to its triumphant finish. Surpassing even this scene was that at the evening meeting at Tremont Temple, to which a copy of the Proclamation was unexpectedly brought, just prior to adjournment, and read with thrilling effect by Charles W. Slack. As he concluded amid a wild outburst of cheering, Frederick Douglass stepped forward and led the multitude in singing, " Blow ye the trumpet, blow ! " with the chorus, never more fitting than then, " The year of jubilee has come ! " Mr. Garrison unhappily missed this, as he had gone to Medford with Mr. Phillips, Mr. Emerson, and other friends to witness the unveiling of a marble bust of John Brown, at the residence of George L. Stearns; but in the Liberator of the following day (which was held back from the press that it might contain Lib. 33 : 3. the Proclamation), he uttered his " Glory, Hallelujah ! " and hailed the " great historic event, sublime in its mag nitude, momentous and beneficent in its far-reaching consequences, and eminently just and right alike to the oppressor and the oppressed." l From that hour a dishon orable compromise became impossible. The Government was irrevocably committed to the emancipation policy, l " Freedom s first champion in our fettered land ! Nor politician nor base citizen Could gibbet thee, nor silence, nor withstand. Thy trenchant and emancipating pen The patriot Lincoln snatched with steady hand, Writing his name and thine on parchment white, Midst war s resistless and ensanguined flood ; Then held that proclamation high in sight Before his fratricidal countrymen, Freedom henceforth throughout the land for all, And sealed the instrument with his own blood, Bowing his mighty strength for slavery s fall ; Whilst thou, staunch friend of largest liberty, Survived, its ruin and our peace to see." A. B. Alcott to W. L, G. ^T. 58.] THE PKOCLAMATION. 71 and pledged to make it effectual over all the territory CHAP. in. covered by the Proclamation. The abolitionists had now 3-863. to urge Congress and the President to complete the work and extirpate slavery by abolishing it in the Border States. This duty was set forth in the resolutions relative to the Proclamation which were adopted by the Executive Com- Jan. 13. mittee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and in those Lt6 33 : 10 passed by the Massachusetts Society at its January meet- Jan. 29. ing, all of which were drafted by Garrison. 1 His speech Lzb -^ - 22 - at the same meeting was full of joy and hope. " Thirty years ago/ 7 he said, " it was midnight with the anti-slavery Lib. 33 : 22. cause ; now it is the bright noon of day, with the sun shining in his meridian splendor. Thirty years ago we were in the arctic regions, surrounded by icebergs ; to-day cf. ante, we are in the tropics, with the flowers blooming and the birds singing around us. I say this simply as a matter of contrast and comparison." 2 From England came cheering reports of the revolution in public sentiment caused there by the Proclamation. F. W. Chesson to W. L. Garrison. LONDON, January 9, 1863. MS. and I send you a copy of the Saturday Review, which contains an article on the Emancipation Society s address to the clergy. Do not, however, mistake this, or any similar, ebullition for an expression of the real opinion of the English people on the 1 Congress was also urged, in one of the resolutions, to establish a Freed- men s Bureau, "for the special purpose of guarding the rights and interests of the liberated bondmen, providing them with land and labor, and giving them a fair chance to develop their faculties and powers through the neces sary educational instrumentalities " (Lib. 33 : 22). See, also, Report of the Freedmen s Inquiry Commission (Robert Dale Owen, James McKay, and Dr. Samuel G. Howe), appointed by Secretary Stanton, on " Negroes as Refugees, as Military Laborers, and as Soldiers " (Lib. 33 : 130). 2 Mr. Phillips, who followed Mr. Garrison, was less jubilant in tone, though not less positive as to Mr. Lincoln s purpose to stand by the Proclamation, and of the ultimate destruction of slavery ; but he had just returned from Washington, where he and other Bostonians had vainly urged the President to dismiss Seward from the Cabinet as an obstructive, and his view of the immediate future was somewhat despondent (Lib. 33 : 19, 26). 72 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKBISON. CHAP. in. slavery question, or on the issues between the North and the 1863. South. The great meetings which have been held in London and various parts of the country, during the last six weeks, to express sympathy with the anti-slavery policy of the American Government, indicate what is the true state of public feeling on this side of the Atlantic. We have endured the misrepresenta tions of certain organs of our press too long, and we have now determined to endure them no longer. But always remember that, from the beginning, the best of our journals have remained true to the anti-slavery cause ; that the Star, Daily News, 1 West minster Eevieiv, Spectator, Nonconformist, British Standard, Dial, Birmingham Post, 2 Manchester Examiner, Newcastle Chronicle, Caledonian Mercury, Belfast Whig, 3 and a host of other repre sentatives of the fourth estate, have never departed from the pure faith. The working classes also have proved to be sound to the core, whenever their opinion has been tested. Witness the noble demonstration of Manchester operatives the other day, when three thousand of these noble sons of labor (many of whom were actual sufferers from the cotton famine) adopted by acclamation an address to President Lincoln, sympathizing with his Proclamation. A friend of mine who was present on the occasion tells me that the heartiness and enthusiasm of the workingmen were something glorious ; that he heard them say to one another that they would rather remain unemployed for twenty years than get cotton from the South at the expense of George the slave. Mr. Thompson has been in other parts of Lancashire Thompson, ^tely, and the meetings he has addressed have been attended with the same results. Our experience in London has been equally satisfactory. It would have done you good if you had heard Baptist Noel s speech, or attended the great meeting of the working classes which we held on the 31st of December the eve of freedom. Newman Hall s speech on this occasion was one of the best I ever listened to. He stated, in the fairest 1 The chief proprietor of the Morning Star was Samuel Lucas, a brother-in- law of John Bright ; its editors, Justin McCarthy and F. W. Chesson. The Daily News was edited by Thomas Walker, with the powerful aid of Har riet Martineau, who wrote scores of editorials on the American question. 2 The Birmingham Post published an instructive series of letters on the American question from the pen of Mr. Samuel A. Goddard, an American gentleman long resident in that city, and a brother of Mrs. Mary May. They were subsequently collected in a volume (London, 1870). 3 The Belfast Whig was the most influential journal in the north of Ire land. Its editor, Mr. Frank Harrison Hill, afterwards succeeded Thomas Walker as editor of the Daily News. . 58.] THE PEOCLAMATION. 73 1863. Richard D. Webb. manner, every conceivable argument which had been urged in CHAP. ill. favor of the Slave Confederacy, or against the policy of the Federal Government, and then replied to them seriatim, demol ishing every sophistry and gibbeting every falsehood, nntil the slavocracy had really not a rag left wherewith to conceal the revolting defects of their odious cause. The Emancipation Society includes, as you will have seen, some of the best men in the country, without distinction of sect or party. The name of John Stuart Mill one of the greatest in England stands at the head of the list. We are now arranging for a demonstration in Exeter Hall, to take place on the 29th inst. Our friends in Manchester and Birmingham are organizing branch societies in those important towns ; and applications for meetings and deputations are pouring in from all quarters. Our friend Mr. Webb, who is doing such good service in the Advocate, and in other ways more private but not less useful, tells me that Professor Cairnes s admirable work 1 is about to pass into another edition. As a proof of how extensively it is read, I may say that I have made two unsuccessful attempts to obtain it from Mudie s circulating library (the greatest in the world), where there is a large number of copies. The answer on both occasions was, that every copy was in the hands of subscribers. Mrs. Stowe s eloquent and beautiful address to the women of England is exciting great interest, and cannot fail to do much good. It was published by Sampson Low & Co. on Wednes day, in the form of a small volume j and it has since been reprinted entire in the columns of the Morning Star and the Daily News a remarkable tribute to the popularity of Mrs. Stowe in this country, as well as a proof of the earnest interest which these journals take in the good work. It could not have appeared at a more favorable moment, for on Tuesday last the Times, with a maniacal folly, which is often linked with ma lignity, published an article pleading Biblical sanction for Jan. 7, 1863. Jan. 6, 1863. l The Slave Power : Its Character, Career, and Probable Designs : Being an Attempt to Explain the Eeal Issues Involved in the American Contest. By J. E. Cairnes, M. A., Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Economy in Queen s College, Galway, and late Whately Professor of Political Economy in the University of Dublin. This work was printed at Dublin by Richard D. Webb, whose full and accurate knowledge of American slavery and anti-slavery enabled him greatly to aid Prof. Cairnes in the preparation of his work. 74 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKBISON. [^T. 58. CHAP. III. slavery, and actually suggesting that it was perhaps a religious j^" duty on the part of the slave to refuse his freedom, even if it were offered to him ! Nothing could be more calculated to stir up the religious sentiment of the country against the cause of which the Times has made itself the principal champion. This is another example of the manner in which the devil sometimes overreaches himself. George Thompson to W. L. Garrison. MS. and LONDON, Feb. 5, 1863. Since I last addressed you, I have attended meetings in the following places, viz. : Sheffield, Hey wood, Dumfries, Kilmar- nock, Greenock, Dumbarton, Paisley, Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Galashiels, Gloucester, Chel tenham, Bristol, Bath, Stroud, Kingswood, and London. The Ante, 2 : 396, mention of some of these towns will bring old scenes to your 3 ?97 2 399 ^ remembrance, when we were companions and fellow-laborers as, thank God, we still are. . . . Since I left Scotland, on the 22d ultimo, my meetings have been all on the American question and such meetings ! They have reminded me of those I was wont to hold in 1831, 32, and 33 densely crowded, sublimely enthusiastic, and all but unan- Lib. 33:33, imous. The opposition has been of the most insignificant and contemptible kind. Before this reaches you, you will have seen the report of the meetings above and below, and in the open air around, Exeter Hall. I was the same evening engaged in holding a meeting at Stroud, which did not conclude till mid night. Three nights ago, I held a meeting near my own resi dence. Thousands were excluded for want of room. These outsiders were addressed by competent persons, and the cheers raised by the multitude found their way into the meeting I was addressing, and increased the excitement of my audience. I shall rest till the 10th, and then recommence my labors, which are in great demand. This Anti-Slavery movement is assuming gigantic propor tions, and, if wisely and energetically conducted, as I trust it will be, will have a powerful, and at the same time beneficial, influence upon the counsels of your public men. It will be of vital importance in this country. It will read a salutary lesson to our public men. It will mould the decisions of our Govern ment. It will neutralize the poison diffused by our journals. It will enlighten and stir up our ministers of religion. It will ere- 2ET. 58.] THE PKOCLAMATION. 75 ate the anti- slavery sentiment of the new generation. It will CHAP. III. impregnate with the true fire the masses of our people. In a ^ word, it will put England in her old and proper position. The arrival of the President s Proclamation, of the 1st of January, gave me a degree of satisfaction and joy which words cannot express. It confirmed the hopes and fulfilled the predic tions in which I had indulged. In spite of all prognostications and appearances to the contrary, I had cherished a confident belief that Mr. Lincoln would execute the decree of Sept. 22. Nevertheless, the suspense was painful. My anxiety is now at an end as respects the fiat of emancipation, and I am waiting to see its fruits, which I trust will be abundant and peaceful. On New Year s day, I addressed a crowded assembly of unem ployed operatives in the town of Heywood, near Manchester, and spoke to them for two hours about the Slaveholders Rebellion. They were united and vociferous in the expression of their wil lingness to suffer all the hardships consequent upon a want of cotton, if thereby the liberty of the victims of Southern des potism might be promoted. All honor to the half million of our working population in Lancashire, Cheshire, and elsewhere, who are bearing with heroic fortitude the grievous privations which your war has entailed upon them ! The four millions of slaves in America have no sincerer friends than these lean, pale- faced, idle people, who are reconciled to their meagre fare and desolate homes by the thought that their trials are working out the deliverance of the oppressed children of your country. Their sublime resignation, their self-f orgetfulness, their observance of law, their whole-souled love of the cause of human freedom, their quick and clear perception of the merits of the question between the North and the South, their superiority to the soph isms of those who would delude them, and their appreciation of the labor question involved in the " irrepressible conflict," are extorting the admiration of all classes of the community, and are reading the nation a valuable lesson. Friday, 6th. Feb. 6, 1863. I have found constant occupation for William Andrew Jack son [Jefferson Davis s late coachman]. He has been very usefully employed in Manchester, Sheffield, and other places. Last week, he accompanied me in my tour in the west of Eng land, and this week he is engaged in South Wales. Next week he will be in Derbyshire, and will then proceed to Lancashire. I am happy to say, the impression everywhere produced by his 76 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEEISON. f^T. 58. CHAP. ill. addresses has been a favorable one. I shall be able to obtain for him as much work as he can do for some time to come. The London Emancipation Society is growing in numbers and in power. On the 18th, I shall speak as its representative in St. James s Hall, PiccadiUy, one of our finest West-End build ings. To-night I am going to hear Mr. Spurgeon lecture on the subject of slavery amongst Jews, Pagans, and Christians. George Thompson to W. L. Garrison. MS ^ and LONDON, February 27 [26], 1863. Lib. 33 : 46. j Ga ^ G ^. gen( ^ vou ft very i m p er f ec t acknowledgment of your letter of the 10th instant, which reached me at the house of a friend, near Manchester, on the 24th. A portion of that letter was read at the great meeting held in the Free Trade Hall, on the evening of the same day, to present an address of welcome to the captain of the Griswold. 1 I was at the same hour attending another immense gathering in the town of Hud- dersfield. I read parts of the same letter at a meeting last even- Feb. 25. ing in London, at which an Address was presented to me by ^33:46, gome kind and part i a i Mends. The papers I send with this will give you some account of these proceedings. It would be impossible to give you a list of all the meetings which have recently been held, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the anti-slavery movement in the United States, and commendation of the abolition policy of the Government and Congress. My own strength has been taxed to the utmost, and has been seriously impaired by the effort I have made to meet the demands made upon me for my presence in all parts of the country. Calls to the same effect continue to pour in upon me ; but, though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, and were I never so strong, I should be unable to accept half the invitations which are sent me. The men who a few months ago were so bold and blatant in the advocacy of the cause of the Southern rebels, are now silent. Though some of them are in Parliament, they have thus far been mute, and we hear nothing of motions in favor of recognition, or proposals for mediation. We have now an organization which will enable us to furnish an antidote to 1 The George Griswold, a vessel sent from New York to Liverpool laden with food for the suffering Lancashire operatives the contribution of New York merchants. -ET. 58.] THE PKOCLAMATION. 77 any pro-slavery poison that may be diffused through the press CHAP. in. or the legislature ; and there are men in the House of Commons ^ who are now so thoroughly conversant with the merits of the question, that any misrepresentation of facts would be met at once with an ample and overwhelming refutation. . . . I read with deep interest your speech at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Anti- Slavery Society, and have made good use of it. It came to hand very seasonably, and might have been made for the purpose of disabusing the minds of the people here. Mr. Garrison was strongly urged by Gerrit Smith and MS. Feb. other friends to visit England during the spring and add his efforts to those of George Thompson and the London and Manchester Societies, but he was unable to do so, and tried in turn to persuade Mr. Smith and Mr. Phil lips to go together. The latter was at first disposed to consider it, but finally gave up the project, in spite of many entreaties. Subsequently, Henry Ward Beecher converted an ordinary tour in Great Britain into one in behalf of the Union tjause, and held that brilliant series of meetings in which he did such effective service, and found how much the labors of the Garrisonian abolition ists had done towards familiarizing the minds of the English people with the anti-slavery question in America, and enlisting and strengthening that sympathy with the North which was so essential to the success of the Government. 1 But to return to this side of the water, and to the American Anti-Slavery Society : 1 " During my visit to England, it was my privilege to address, in various places, very large audiences, and I never made mention of the names of any of those whom you most revere and love, without calling down the wildest demonstrations of popular enthusiasm. I never mentioned the name of Mr. Phillips, or Mr. Garrison, that it did not call forth a storm of approba tion. It pleased me to know that those who were least favored in our own country were so well known in England. . . . It is true that a man is not without honor save in his own country ; and I felt that I had never had before me, in an audience here, such an appreciation of the names of our early and faithful laborers in this cause as there was in that remote country, among comparative strangers" (Speech of H. W. Beecher at Third Decade Meeting, Philadelphia, Dec. 4, 1863; Lib. 34 : 5). 78 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. [^Ex. 58. W. L. Garrison to Ms Wife. MS. NEW YORK, May 14, 1863. Our anti-slavery company was never so small before, with May ii. reference to Anniversary week. It consisted of Edmund Quincy, John T. Sargent, and myself Phillips having preceded us in the night train, in order to be fresh for his Cooper Institute S. May, Jr. speech Monday evening. At Worcester, Mr. May and his Mary May. mother joined us, and these were all the recognized abolition ists in that long and crowded train. What then ? It must be now that the kingdom s coming, And the year of jubilo " and our distinctive movement is nearly swallowed up in the great revolution in Northern sentiment which has been going on against slavery and slavedom since the bombardment of Sumter. Usually, the number of clergymen has been large and conspicuous, going on to attend their several anniversary meetings ; but, this time, I did not see a single one in all the crowd ! . . . May ii. Phillips s meeting at the Institute, Monday evening, was a splendid one, and he acquitted himself in a way to gather fresh "The State laurels for his brow. His speech was reported in full in the Count e " Tribune of Tuesday morning. At the conclusion of it, I was loudly called for, but held back. Then calls were made for Horace Greeley, who came forward and made a few remarks in his queer-toned voice and a very awkward manner. The cries were renewed for me, and I said a few words, the applause being general and very marked. When I first entered the hall, and was conducted to a seat on the platform by the side of Mayor Opdyke, the audience broke out in repeated bursts of applause. What a change in popular sentiment and feeling from the old mobocratic, pro-slavery times ! And, remember, this was a meeting called by the Sixteenth Republican Ward Association! . . . May 12. Our opening session at Dr. Cheever s Church was attended by a thronged house, and in all respects a great success. As the Tribune of yesterday contained a very full report of the proceedings, you can judge of the spirit of the occasion by a perusal of it. Our evening meeting at the Cooper Institute was also an excellent one Theodore Tilton making the open ing speech (a very good one), and Phillips following in one of his finest efforts Henry B. Stanton concluding the meeting 2Em. 58.] THE PKOCLAMATION. 79 in an impromptu, racy, and eloquent speech, after the olden CHAP. III. time. !863. Our business meetings were interesting, though small. There was a general expression of sentiment, that the Society must not be dissolved until slavery is extinct. As usual, Mr. Garrison presented a full budget of reso- Lib. 33 : 78. lutions at the New York meeting, again urging the war- powers of the President over slavery in the border States, rejoicing in the vast progress already attained, and hoping that the Society might, at its approaching thirtieth anni versary in Philadelphia, be able to " celebrate the utter extinction of the rebellion, the liberation of every bond man, the prevalence of universal peace." Two weeks later, the opening session of the New May 28. England Convention was adjourned to witness the tri umphant march through Boston of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, the first regiment of colored troops sent from any Northern State. During the spring months, while it was being recruited and drilled at Read- ville, near Boston, Mr. Garrison and Mr. Phillips had repeatedly visited the camp, and witnessed the trans formation which a United States uniform and military discipline wrought, within a few short weeks, in the humble, timid, poorly-clad colored men arriving from all parts of the North in response to the call of Governor Andrew, who enlisted the aid, as recruiting officers, of Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, and Charles Lenox Remond. Robert G. Shaw, the youthful colonel of the regiment, was the son of Mr. Garrison s warm friends, Mr. and Mrs. Francis G. Shaw, of Staten Island, and among the subordinate officers were several young men of anti- slavery birth and training, who frequently visited his house and were intimate with his children. 1 His heart 1 The " original abolitionists " did not lack representatives in the army and navy forces for the suppression of slavery and the rebellion. Among those whose sons, grandsons, or sons-in-law were thus enrolled could be named Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Mr. Garrison, James G. Birney, William Jay, Gerrit Smith, Joshua Leavitt, Abraham L. Cox, John Eankin of Ohio, 80 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. LET. 58. CHAP. in. was deeply stirred as he contemplated the perils to which !86 3 . these high-souled youths were soon to expose themselves in encountering an enemy who had threatened enslave ment to the black soldiers, and death to their white officers, if captured in battle, 1 and whose bitterness would be intensified by the sight of their Massachusetts flag. He had not, however, anticipated the test that was soon to be brought home to himself. When it became evident that enough recruits would be obtained to form a second colored regiment, to be known as the Fifty-fifth Massa chusetts, a commission as second lieutenant in it was offered to his eldest son, and the latter, who had not imbibed his father s non-resistance views, and had longed to enter the army after the adoption of the emancipation policy, eagerly embraced this opportunity of serving the cause of liberty in the way of all others that he would have chosen. The father did not shrink from the test. W. L. Garrison to George T. Garrison. MS. BOSTON, June 11, 1863. Though I could have wished that you had been able under- standingly and truly to adopt those principles of peace which are so sacred and divine to my own soul, yet you will bear me witness that I have not laid a straw in your way to prevent your acting up to your own highest convictions of duty j for nothing would be gained, but much lost, to have you violate these. Still, I tenderly hope that you will once more seriously review the whole matter before making the irrevocable deci sion. . . . In making up a final judgment, I wish you to look all the peculiar trials and perils in the face that you, in common with all others connected with the colored regiment, will have to encounter. Personally, as my son, you will incur some risks at Samuel Fessenden, Francis G. Shaw, Samuel May, Jr., Henry I. Bowditch, James Forten, Robert Purvis, Frederick Douglass, S. S. Jocelyii, Charles Follen, William H. Burleigh, Amasa Walker, and others. Henry Wilson, Joshua R. Giddings, William Slade, and Henry Ward Beecher contributed in like manner to the struggle (Lib. 35 : 139). l See Jeff. Davis s message and the bill passed by the Confederate Con gress on the subject (Greeley s American Conflict, 2 : 523, 524). JET. 58.] THE PROCLAMATION. 81 1863. John A. Andrew. May 18. the hands of the rebels that others will not, if it is known that CHAP. in. you are my son. My impression is, that upon the colored regi ments the Government means to rely to do the most desperate fighting and occupy the post of imminent danger. Your chance of being broken down by sickness, wounded, maimed, or killed, in the course of such a prolonged campaign, is indeed very great. True, this is not a consideration to weigh heavily against the love of liberty and the promptings of duty ; but it makes me tremble in regard to the effect that may be produced upon the health and happiness of your mother, should any serious, especially a fatal, accident befall you. Her affection for you is intense, her anxiety beyond expression. . . . It was a proud day for the great War Governor of Massachusetts when, in the presence of Garrison and Phillips, he delivered the State and national colors for the regiment into the hands of Colonel Shaw, at the Readville camp, and nobly declared that his personal honor was identified with theirs, and that he should "stand or fall, as a man and a magistrate, with the rise #.33:83. or fall in history of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regi ment." Prouder yet was it when he reviewed, on Boston Common, the dusky troops whom he had mustered and equipped in the face of bitter prejudice and contempt, on the one hand, and timid doubtings on the other, and saw them march through Boston streets, receiving enthusi astic greetings along the entire route, and displaying as soldierly discipline and bearing as any regiment that Massachusetts had sent to the war. As they marched down State Street, singing the John Brown song, Mr. Garrison stood, by chance, on the corner of Wilson s Lane, the spot over which he had been dragged by the mob of 1835, and there, with emotion too deep for words, he watched the solid ranks go by, the fair-haired officer at their head who was never to return. Editorially, two weeks subsequently, Mr. Garrison com mented on the gratifying manner in which the emanci pated slaves were vindicating the hopes of their friends and refuting the calumnious predictions so often made concerning them: VOL. IV. 6 82 WILLIAM LLOYD GABRISON. Lib. 33 : 94. " Of the multitudinous disparaging allegations that have been brought against the slave population by the enemies of impartial freedom, not one has been verified by the events of the war. Instead of not desiring their freedom, they have invariably shown the greatest eagerness to obtain it wherever our army has gone j and great has been their lamentation when, for any cause, they could not be admitted within the lines. Instead of using their freedom injuriously to themselves or others, they have behaved with marked propriety, and evinced no disposi- tion to commit any outrage, however slight. Instead of wishing to indulge in idleness or vagrancy, they have exhibited the utmost readiness to work even for a very inadequate remuner ation, and they are fast learning the lessons of thrift. 1 Instead of being a burden upon society or the Government, they more than pay their way when there is anything like a fair chance. Instead of indicating no wish to be taught, they manifest the strongest desire for rudimental instruction, and a remarkable aptitude to learn. Instead of being wild or intractable, none are so docile and obedient. Instead of showing a cowardly spirit when the heroic element is appealed to, they display as soldiers a courage for attack, and a disregard of danger and death, unsurpassed in the annals of warfare." The steady progress of emancipation, and rapid enlist ment of colored soldiers, increased the bitterness and viru lence of the " Copperhead " (i. e., pro-Southern) press and Mar. 6. party. In March, there were barbarous anti-negro riots at Llb 33 : 43 Detroit, resulting in loss of life and the burning of forty or fifty houses. In July, the exultations over Gettysburg and Vicksburg were not yet spent when the country was July 13-16, shocked by the anti-draft riots in New York, during which negroes and soldiers alike were shot down, hung to lamp posts, beaten, and thrown into the river, and hunted like wild beasts, and the Colored Orphan Asylum was burned to the ground. The Irish mob likewise sacked the Colored Sailors Home, and the residence of those staunch aboli tionists, Mr. and Mrs. James S. Gibbons. There was an l For an interesting statement, by Edward S. Philbrick, of the rapid development of tastes and wants for household comforts and more abun dant and varied articles of food, among the freed people of the Sea Islands of South Carolina, see Lib. 33 : 130. ^T. 58.] THE PROCLAMATION. 83 attempt at a similar outbreak in Boston, and Mr. G-arrison CHAP. in. and his family deemed it prudent to leave their house in ^^ Dix Place for a day or two. 1 Happily the riot was crushed in its incipiency by the prompt action of the authorities ; but when the Fifty-fifth Regiment departed for the South, the following week, a dress parade on the Common was abandoned, and the troops marched across the city with loaded muskets, ready for a possible attack in the Irish quarter of the " North End," where they embarked on a steamer for North Carolina. * W. L. Garrison to George T. Garrison. BOSTON, August 6, 1863. MS. We have all been made very glad, to-day, by the receipt of your pencilled note, dated Hatteras Inlet, July 31st, announc ing your safe arrival at Newbern, though a little surprised at N. C. your sudden removal with Wild s Brigade, probably to Moms Gen. E. A. island. . . . mid You may readily suppose that I was very much disappointed in not being able to see you, and give you my parting blessing and a farewell grasp of the hand, when your regiment marched through Boston. Multitudes, with myself, were greatly disap pointed that the regiment did not parade on the Common, where we all expected to take our farewell Heave. I followed you, however, all the way down to the vessel, hoping to speak to you ; but I found myself on the wrong side, and the throng was so great and the marching so continuous that I could not press my way through. After you were all on board, I went with a num ber of friends to the next wharf below, where we waited more than an hour, hoping to see you off and give you the parting salute. But the rain poured heavily down, and we were all com pelled to beat a retreat keenly regretting that we could not, even from a distance, shout farewell. Not a day has passed that we have not had you in our live- 1 " To-day, there are symptoms that a riot is brewing in this city, and, should it break out with violence, it would naturally seek to vent its fury upon such as Phillips and myself, and upon our dwellings. The whole North is volcanic. . . . My heart bleeds to think of the poor, unoffend ing colored people of New York, outraged, plundered, murdered by the demons in human shape who now hold mastery over New York. How long, O Lord, how long? " (MS. July 14, 1863, W. L. Gr. to Oliver Johnson.) 84 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEEISON. . 58. CHAP. III. 1863. Robert G. Shaw. liest remembrance. I miss you by my side at the table, and at the printing-office, and cannot get reconciled to the separation. Yet I have nothing but praise to give you that you have been faithful to your highest convictions, and, taking your life in your hands, are willing to lay it down, even like the brave Col. Shaw and his associates, if need be, in the cause of freedom, and for the suppression of slavery and the rebellion. True, I could have wished you could ascend to what I believe a higher plane of moral heroism and a nobler method of self-sacrifice ; but as you are true to yourself, I am glad of your fidelity, and proud of your willingness to run any risk in a cause that is un deniably just and good. I have no fear that you will be found wanting at any time in the trial-hour, or in the discharge of your official duties. . . . We shall wait for intelligence, from day to day, with the keenest interest trusting it may be your good fortune to enter that hot-bed of nullification and treason, Charleston, with your colored associates, victorious over all opposition. The fall of that city will give more satisfaction to the entire North than that of any other place, not excepting Richmond itself. I have my doubts whether it will be accomplished for some time. Doubtless the conflict will be long and sanguinary, but in the sequel the city must surrender. . . . Your mother s thoughts are all about you. God bless you, my boy ! Matters assumed a brighter aspect as the fall advanced. The American Anti-Slavery Society multiplied its agents #.33:170. and meetings, and a petition to Congress for emancipa tion, circulated by the Women s Loyal National League, received one hundred thousand signatures. 1 Mr. Garri son, who had spent the month of August at Plymouth, Mass., lectured frequently during the autumn, chiefly in cities and towns within easy reach of Boston. The fall elections resulted triumphantly for the Republicans, thus strengthening the Administration in its emancipation policy ; and now two of the Border States were moving to abolish slavery within their own limits, and to bring themselves into the ranks of the free States. Both in Missouri and in Maryland a strong party had sprung up l Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were the organizers and untiring workers in this movement ( Hist. Woman Suffrage/ 2 : 50-89). MT. 58.] THE PEOCLAMATION. 85 advocating immediate and unconditional emancipation, CHAP. in. and in the preliminary movements to that end which 1863. were among the issues of the November election, it found itself in the ascendancy in both States. In Tennessee and Lib. 33 : 197, Arkansas, also, prominent slaveholders, perceiving that slavery was crumbling from mere attrition between the opposing armies on their soil, advocated immediate eman cipation as the most sensible method of disposing of the vexed question and bringing matters to a settled basis, and they deemed it folly to talk of compensation. The Missouri emancipationists complained bitterly, however, Lib. 33:181, that they received no encouragement or support from Mr. Lincoln, who deprecated haste and still argued in Raymond s favor of gradualism, and they felt the weight of the Ad- ministration against their radical measures. The reluc- A . dministra - t tton, p. 401. tance of the President to press upon the Border States the immediate abolition of slavery which he had decreed for the rebellious States, and his readiness to allow a small Lib. 33 : 202. fraction of the (white) voting population in the latter to form new State governments and legislate for the f reed- men, will be, and have been already in large measure, forgotten, while the brief address which he gave at Get- NOV. 19. tysburg, between his interview with the Missourians and his transmission to Congress of the Amnesty Message, 1 will live as long as his name and fame. l In his anxiety to disintegrate the rebel Confederacy politically, and to re establish loyal State governments, Mr. Lincoln proposed, in this message, to allow one-tenth of the voters of 1860 (excepting the prominent leaders of the rebellion, and certain other classes) to organize such new governments, provided they took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution, and to the proclamations and Congressional acts relating to slavery, " so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court." Legislation by such States for the freedmen must recognize and declare their permanent freedom, and provide for their edu cation, but yet might make " temporary arrangement" for their tutelage. " While it allows those who have been in bloody rebellion to vote, it dis franchises the whole body of loyal freedmen ! " wrote Mr. Garrison of it. " It opens the way for duplicity and perfidy to any extent, and virtually nullifies the confiscation act of Congress, a measure next in importance to the abolition of slavery. Mr. Lincoln s magnanimity is weakness, and his method of disposing of those who have been emancipated by his proclama tion that of giving the sheep over to the guardianship of wolves. This must not be tolerated" (Lib. 33 : 202). 86 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 58. Raymond s " Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the ion/ recorded Mr. Lincoln in his December message, one hundred thousand are now in the United States twn, p. 427. military service, about half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks thus giving the double advan tage of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause, and supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any. No servile insurrection or tendency to violence or cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and arming the blacks." The editor of the Liberator had never expected to have war correspondence a feature of his paper, but he Lib. 33:24, printed the letters which now came to him from the s. ifs "46. omcers ari d soldiers of colored regiments, with infinitely I75l 2oo >19 more pleasure than he inserted the communications of Lib. 33:112, two or three non-resistant friends who deemed it more than ever the time for them to bear their testimony. To the latter he yielded space now and then, with his usual fairness and generosity, but he steadily declined to be dragged into any extended discussion of the peace Ante, p. 26. and non-resistance doctrine, for reasons which he had already fully set forth. Pursuant to adjournment from its annual meeting in May, the American Anti-Slavery Society met in Phila delphia on the 3d and 4th of December, to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of its formation, to rejoice over the emancipation, by the fiat of the American Govern ment, of three million three hundred thousand slaves, and, in the words of the official invitation which Mr. Gar rison, as President of the Society, extended to various friends of the cause, " not only to revive the remembrance of the long thirty years warfare with the terrible forces of Slavery, and to acknowledge the hand of a wonder working Providence in guiding the way of the little Anti-Slavery army through great moral darkness and many perils, . . . but also to renew, in the name of humanity, of conscience, and of pure and undefiled ^T. 58.] THE PROCLAMATION. 87 religion, the demand for the entire and speedy extinction CHAP. in. of slavery in every part of our country." Concert Hall, 1863. the largest assembly-room in the city, was scarcely ade quate for the throng of members and friends who gathered in joyful confidence that the end of their anti-slavery labors was near at hand; and in dramatic contrast to the conditions under which the Convention of 1833 had met, a slave-auction block now served as the speakers stand, the national colors were festooned upon the walls, and a squad of colored soldiers from a neighboring camp (which bore the peaceful name of William Penn) occupied seats on the platform at the opening session. Of the forty -five survivors of the original founders of the Society, eleven l were present ; and the racy and delightful remi niscences of the first Convention which were given by Samuel J. May, J. M. McKim, and Lucretia Mott, with an account of the women s anti-slavery societies by Mary Grew, filled what was left of the first day s sessions after the great audience had listened to Mr. Garrison s welcom ing address, to letters from absent friends, and to the reading, by Dr. William H. Furness, of the Declaration of Sentiments. The absence of Wendell Phillips and Edmund Quincy was greatly regretted. Others unable to attend, who sent letters which were read or printed, were John G-. Whittier, David Thurston, Simeon S. Jocelyn, and Joshua Coffin, of the Signers of the Declaration ; Arthur Tappan, Samuel Fessenden, John Rankin, Theodore and Angelina Weld, and Sarah Grimke, of the early supporters of the move ment; and Joshua R. Giddings, Charles Sumner, Owen Love joy, B. Gratz Brown (then leading the emancipation movement in Missouri), and John Jay (subsequently Minister to Austria), 2 of the political allies of the cause. 1 Namely, Isaac Winslow, Orson S. Murray, W. L. Garrison, Samuel J. May, Robert Purvis, Bartholomew Fussell, Enoch Mack, J. Miller McKim, Thomas Whitson, James Mott, and James McCrummell. 2 Mr. Jay wrote: "Whatever errors of opinion or of action there may have been on the part of individuals or societies at a recent date, the political principles declared at Philadelphia have stood the test of time 88 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKBISON. 58. CHAP. in. Although more than twenty years had elapsed since the 1863. cessation of personal relations between them, consequent on the division of 1840, Mr. Garrison could not refrain from sending a cordial letter of invitation to Arthur Tappan, in which he renewed his expressions of gratitude for the latter>s early support and kindness, and his ad miration for all he had done in the slave s cause. Mr. Tappan responded in the same spirit : Arthur Tappan to W. L. Garrison. MS. and NEW HAVEN, Nov. 17, 1863. " l 33 202< DEAR SIR : Few events could give me so much pleasure as the receipt of your note of the 12th inst. During the years that have intervened since we last met, I have often recalled the time when we were united in working for the slave, and regretted that any occurrence should have estranged us from each other. I shall be glad to attend the meeting at Philadelphia, but my advanced age (78th year) and growing infirmities may prevent. I am truly your friend, ARTHUR TAPPAN. John G. Whittier to W. L. Garrison. MS. and AMESBURY, 24th 11 mo., 1863. MY DEAR FRIEND : I have received thy kind letter with the accompanying circular, inviting me to attend the commem oration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society, at Philadelphia. It is with the deepest regret that I am compelled, by the feeble state of my health, to give up all hope of meeting thee and my other old and dear friends on an occasion of so much interest. How much it costs me to acquiesce in the hard necessity, thy own feelings will tell thee better than any words of mine. and trial, and have received the emphatic endorsement of the American people ; and the Anti-Slavery movement in the United States, with few exceptions that more plainly show the rule, has been marked by states manlike characteristics, now crowned with success, and by a love of country that no delay, injustice, or disappointment could impair or dis turb " (Lib. 34 : 9). JET. 58.] THE PKOCLAMATION. 89 I look back over thirty years, and call to mind all the cir- CHAP. III. cumstances of my journey to Philadelphia, in company with ^ 3 thyself and the excellent Dr. Thurston of Maine, even then, as we thought, an old man, but still living, and true as ever to the good cause. I recall the early gray morning when, with Samuel J. May, our colleague on the Committee to prepare a Declara tion of Sentiments for the Convention, I climbed to the small " upper chamber" of a colored friend to hear thee read the first draft of a paper which will live as long as our national history. I see the members of the Convention, solemnized by the re sponsibility, rise one by one, and solemnly affix their names to that stern pledge of fidelity to freedom. Of the signers, many have passed away from earth, a few have faltered and turned back, but I believe the majority still live to rejoice over the great triumph of truth and justice, and to devote what remains of time and strength to the cause to which they consecrated their youth and manhood thirty years ago. For, while we may well thank God and congratulate one another on the prospect of the speedy emancipation of the slaves of the United States, we must not for a moment forget that, from this hour, new and mighty responsibilities devolve upon us to aid, direct, and educate these millions, left free, indeed, but bewildered, ignorant, naked, and foodless in the wild chaos of civil war. We have to undo the accumulated wrongs of two centuries ; to remake the manhood that slavery has well-nigh unmade 5 to see to it that the long-oppressed colored man has a fair field for development and improve ment ; and to tread under our feet the last vestige of that hateful prejudice which has been the strongest external sup port of Southern slavery. We must lift ourselves at once to the true Christian altitude where all distinctions of black and white are overlooked in the heartfelt recognition of the brother hood of man. I must not close this letter without confessing that I cannot be sufficiently thankful to the Divine Providence which, in a great measure through thy instrumentality, turned me so early away from what Roger Williams calls " the world s great trinity, pleasure, profit, and honor," to take side with the poor and oppressed. I am not insensible to literary reputation. I love, perhaps too well, the praise and good- will of my fellow-men ; but I set a higher value on my name as appended to the Anti- Slavery Declaration of 1833 than on the title-page of any book. Looking over a life marked by many errors and shortcomings, 90 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 58. CHAP. ill. I rejoice that I have been able to maintain the pledge of that ^ signature ; and that, in the long intervening years, My voice, though not the loudest, has been heard Wherever Freedom raised her cry of pain. Let me, through thee, extend a warm greeting to the friends, whether of our own or the new generation, who may assemble on the occasion of commemoration. There is work yet to be done which will task the best efforts of us all. For thyself, I need not say that the love and esteem of early boyhood have lost nothing by the test of time ; and I am, very cordially, thy friend, JOHN G. WHITTIER. The notable speeches of the second day s sessions were Ante, p. 77. by Henry Ward Beecher, just returned from his English Henry triumphs, Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, whom the Wilson. c onven tion greeted with especial warmth for his part in abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, and Fred erick Douglass, who gave a graphic account of his recent interview with Mr. Lincoln, and paid an eloquent tribute to the President, who had won Ms entire respect and con fidence. Mr. Beecher, who had not been wont to speak at the meetings of the Garrisoniaii abolitionists, said, in his brief remarks : Lib. 34:5. " I am thankful for the privilege of looking on so many noble and revered faces, and so many young and enthusiastic persons, united together by so sacred a bond as that which unites you. I feel, not that I agree with you in everything, but that I am heart and soul with you in the main end. Toward that end we may take different paths, very likely, but when we come to gether at the end, we shall all be there. It is the end that crowns the beginning, rather than the beginning the end. I therefore feel that I am honored in being permitted to stand before you this morning, to utter these few words of sympathy and of greet ing. Your cause is dear to you just as dear to me. Your names, honored among yourselves, will never lack some wreaths, if I may be permitted to pluck any to place upon them. I thank God that he called you into existence. An uncanonical Church you are, a Church without ordination, but, in my judgment, a Church of the very best and most apostolic kind, held together by the cohesion of a rule of faith, and an interior principle. ^BT. 58.] THE PKOCLAMATION. 91 Your ordinances are few and simple, but mighty through God. CHAP. ill. Your officers are not exactly elected. Whoever has the gifts, l86s> and the inspiration behind those gifts, he is your teacher and your leader. That is the truest form of the Church. I stand here in the midst of a part of God s great spiritual, earthly Church, happy to be in your midst j asking the privilege to call myself a brother only, asking the privilege of calling you that are advanced in years fathers and mothers, and asking the privilege also to work according to the light that is given me, and, where I differ from you, of having still your confidence that I mean right. I will never work against you, as I never have. I will work with you as far as you will let me ; and we shall all be supervised by a higher Love and a diviner Wisdom, and, where mistakes are made, they will, after all, work together for the good cause. We shall meet, if not again on earth, in that land where no struggles are needed, where we shall rejoice and give thanks to Him who called, and guided, and crowned us with victory." A Memorial to Congress asking for a Constitutional amendment to prohibit slavery forever within the limits of the United States was adopted. 1 Mr. Garrison having announced that George Thompson was soon to revisit the United States, a resolution of " fraternal welcome and warm congratulation " in advance, and of recognition of his patriotic services in support of the American Govern ment, was also adopted; and then Mr. Garrison, with characteristic thoughtfulness, recalled the name and labors of Benjamin Lundy, " that honor may be given to whom honor is due, to one whose memory ought to be preserved to the latest generation as the distinguished pioneer in this great struggle." " If," he said, " I have in Lib. 34 : 17. any way, however humble, done anything toward calling attention to the question of slavery, or bringing about the glorious prospect of a complete jubilee in our country at no distant day, I feel that I owe everything in this matter, instrumentally, and under God, to Benjamin 1 The resolution introducing this Memorial was suggested and written by Charles Sumner, as he was on his way to Washington, the evening before the Convention (Dec. 2), and given to Henry C. Wright, whom he met on the Sound steamer to New York (MS. H. C. Wright). 92 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEEISON. [^T. 58. CHAP. in. Lundy." His concluding words were full of cheer, and I 86 3 . hope, and rejoicing over the blessings to accrue to the South through emancipation. So ended the last decade meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Happy would it have been if the Society had felt warranted in making that its final gather ing, and in disbanding then and there j for fate decreed that it should never again meet in such oneness of spirit. 1 1 A full report of the proceedings of the Third Decade Meeting was pub lished in the Liberator and Standard, and subsequently issued in a handsome pamphlet by the Society, with an Appendix, and a Catalogue (prepared by Rev. Samuel May, Jr.) of Anti-Slavery Publications in America, from 1750 to 1863. The fiftieth anniversary of the Society was celebrated by a meet ing in Philadelphia, Dec. 4, 1883. Only three of the original signers then survived Robert Purvis, who presided; Elizur Wright, who spoke ; and John Gr. Whittier, who sent a letter for the occasion. CHAPTER IV. THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 1864. THE new year opened with the shadow of a great CHAP. iv. sorrow resting upon the household in Dix Place. ^64. On the night of December 29, 1863, Mrs. Garrison was prostrated by a severe stroke of paralysis, which entirely crippled her left side, and for several days made her recovery doubtful. The blow was utterly unexpected, for she had ever enjoyed the best of health, and her energetic exertions, not only in the management of her domestic affairs, but in outside works of kindness and benevolence, were unceasing. Early in the month she had accompanied her husband and two of their sons to the Decade Meeting at Philadelphia, to her great enjoy ment and the gratification of her friends in that city, for her devotion to home and children had seldom allowed her to indulge in such excursions. She returned happy in the memory of her delightful experience, and in the thought that she might attempt such visits oftener in future, now that her children no longer needed her con stant maternal care, and that the approaching downfall of slavery promised more opportunities of relaxation for her husband. She had seldom looked more fresh and blooming than on the day which proved to be her last of active, vigorous health, and the friends on whom she called, on an errand in behalf of the freedmen, were impressed by her fine appearance. In the even ing she attended a lecture with her husband and chil dren, and an hour or two after she had retired for the 94 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 59. CHAP. iv. night, the blow fell which crippled her for the remainder I ^ 4 . of her life. 1 The physical strain put on Mr. Garrison in the first moments of his wife s helplessness temporarily disabled him also ; bnt he was able, in the latter part of January, to attend the Anti-Slavery Subscription Festival, and Jan. 27, 28, the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. At this meeting Mr. Phillips made an elaborate speech on the danger of a premature reconstruction of the seceded States, and the importance of demanding the political enfranchisement of the freedmen in any scheme that might be devised, as the only means of preventing the enactment of apprenticeship or other oppressive laws by their late masters. His text was a resolution, intro duced by himself, in these terms : Lib. 34: 22. " That, in our opinion, the Government, in its haste, is ready to sacrifice the interest and honor of the North to secure a sham peace, thereby risking the introduction into Congress of a strong Confederate minority to embarrass legislation, and leav ing the freedmen and the Southern States under the control of the late slaveholders, embittered by their defeat in war, and entailing on the country intestine feuds for another dozen years ; and we listen in vain, either from the leaders of the Republican party or from its journals, for any such protest as would arrest national attention, or create a public opinion definite enough to avert the sacrifice." There was good reason for exclaiming against the crude and hasty methods by which the President seemed anxious to reestablish the machinery of local self-government (by the whites) in the conquered territory held by the North ern armies, and for demanding that no State should be readmitted to the Union until equal rights, fair-play, and protection to the freedmen had been fully secured ; but 1 " How good and true she has always been ! " wrote Samuel J. May, on hearing of Mrs. Garrison s paralysis. "Unselfish, she has always found her own happiness in promoting the happiness of others. She was born and brought up in a family that seemed to me full of lovingkindness ; and I considered her the most equable and affectionate of them all. . . . How cheerful and bright she was at our meetings in Philadelphia, and how much she enjoyed them " (MS. Jan. 5, 1864, to W. L. G.). MT. 59.] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 95 to the opening sentence of the resolution Mr. Garrison, CHAP. iv. with his usual scrupulousness of phraseology, felt com- j^. pelled to take exception, and he did so as follows : "Mr. President, in consequence of a severe domestic afflic- #.34:23. tion and of bodily debility, I am not mentally or physically in a condition to make a speech j and, therefore, I shall not attempt to make one. But I wish to propose an amendment to the resolution which was submitted to the meeting by my friend Mr. Phillips this forenoon, and which he advocated with his usual ability and eloquence. As it now stands, it reads thus: " Resolved, That, in our opinion, the Government, in its haste, is ready to sacrifice tJie interest and honor of the North to se cure a sham peace, 1 * etc. " I am not prepared to bring this charge, nor to cast this im putation. I believe that there is only one party at the North that is ready to make such a sacrifice for such an object, and that is the party of Copperheads. I would therefore propose that the resolution be amended as follows : " i Resolved, That, in our opinion, the Government, in its haste, is in danger of sacrificing, 1 etc. "This, Mr. President, is what I am wilhng to admit, and what I believe ; but I would always rather err on the side of charitable judgment than of excessive condemnation. The res olution, as offered, is an impeachment of motives, not of ability or vigilance. It commits us to the assertion, that we believe the Government meaning Mr. Lincoln in particular is ready to do a most infamous act, namely, to sacrifice the interest and honor of the North to secure a sham peace, whereby the Presi dent s Emancipation Proclamation shall be rendered null and void, and the slave oligarchy restored to their original suprem acy. Now, sir, I do not believe a word of it, and therefore I cannot vote for it. To be ready to do a base thing for a base end implies both will and purpose ; it means something more than liability : it amounts to perfidy. There was a time when I had little confidence in Abraham Lincoln, and very little re spect for him : it was when, for almost eighteen months after secession had taken place, he was evidently averse to seeing that slavery had any vital connection with the rebellion, and so refused to strike a blow at its existence. But the time 96 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. [^T. 59. CHAP. IV. came at last when the President, unless he was determined to j^" 4 be wilfully and wickedly blind, was compelled to see that slavery and the rebellion were indissolubly bound up together. Then came the proclamation of unconditional and everlasting emanci pation to three million three hundred thousand slaves, leaving not one to clank his fetters in any rebel State ; and then, all that is vile and seditious in the Copperhead, pro-slavery, rebel- sympathizing element in the North burst forth against him, and to this hour continues to pour every vial of its wrath upon his head. Since that event, and in view of what has followed in the enrolment of tens of thousands of colored soldiers, I have changed my opinion of Abraham Lincoln. In proportion as he has fallen in the estimation of the disloyal portion of the North, he has risen in my own. True, he is open to criticism for his slowness, and needs spurring on to yet more decisive action ; but I am not willing to believe that he is ready to sacrifice the interest and honor of the North to secure a sham peace with the rebels. That is a very grave charge." The amendment was earnestly opposed by Mr. Phil- Ante.p. 85. lips, who instanced the President s attitude towards the Missouri radicals, his pains to humor Kentucky ("the Gibraltar of the Border-States obstacle "), and his recent Ante, p. SB. Amnesty proclamation, in confirmation. Mr. Garrison had no apology to make for the Amnesty, which he had " elsewhere condemned in unequivocal terms/ nor for the Government s course in paving the negro troops as labor ers instead of as soldiers. 1 But he maintained his objec tion to the resolution. The vote of the Society was so close as to be doubtful for a moment, but the amendment l " Laborers" received only ten dollars a month, while the pay of white soldiers was thirteen dollars. Congress at last voted equal pay to colored soldiers from Jan. 1, 1864, and the Massachusetts 54th and 55th regiments were finally awarded (by a decision of the Attorney-General) full pay from the time of their enlistment. With wonderful spirit and fortitude, they refused to receive any pay from the Government until their claim to the full amount was recognized, though in the year and a half during which the matter was unsettled their families were in want. The Legislature of Massachusetts offered them the pay withheld by the Government, but they refused it, with proper acknowledgments, and held the Government to the pledge under which they were enlisted. Gov. Andrew was unceasing in urging their claim, and addressed the President warmly on the subject, May 18, 1864 (Lib. 34 : 87). ^ET. 59.] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 97 was finally declared defeated, and the resolution adopted CHAP. iv. by a narrow majority. I ^ 4- So unusual a divergence between the two foremost leaders of the anti-slavery movement naturally attracted general attention and comment, and caused no little #.34:33. disturbance of mind in some of their immediate follow ers; but both protested that the difference was simply one of opinion and judgment, and not of fundamental principles, and Garrison defended Phillips against some of the sharp criticisms of the press, and warmly eulogized him. "The honesty of his conviction is not to be im- #.34:34. peached," he declared, " while its soundness may be ques tioned without any personal feeling. 7 " I was glad to see that you were able to be at the anti-slavery meetings," wrote Samuel J. May to Mr. Garrison, " and to attempt to MS. Feb. qualify the only expression that marred the excellence of I0> l864 what Mr. Phillips said. It does seem to me that Mr. Lincoln has shown himself anxious to be and to do right, though liable to err through the influences of his educa tion, of his evil advisers, and the complicated difficulties which beset his course of action." And J. M. McKim wrote : " Wendell s speech and resolution not only laid MS. Feb. 9, him open to criticism, but demanded and made necessary to W L G criticism. It was due to us all that there should be some objection, some disclaimer, and you were the person to make it. We can admire genius, love virtue, and honor fidelity, without surrendering to either, or to all com bined (as in this case), our judgment." Owen Lovejoy to W. L. Garrison. WASHINGTON (D. C.), Feb. 22, 1864. Lib. 34 =54. DEAR FRIEND GARRISON : I write you, although ill-health compels me to do it by the hand of another, to express to you my gratification at the position you have taken in refer ence to Mr. Lincoln. I am satisfied, as the old theologians used to say in regard to the world, that if he is not the best conceivable President, he is the best possible. I have known something of the facts inside during his administration, and I VOL. IV. 7 98 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEEISON. CHAP. IV. 1864. know that he has been just as radical as any of his Cabinet. And although he does not do everything that you or I would like, the question recurs, whether it is likely we can elect a man who would. It is evident that the great mass of Union ists prefer him for reelection j and it seems to me certain that the providence of God, during. another term, will grind slavery to powder. I believe now that the President is up with the average of the House. You will notice that the House paid the hundred dollars to the master instead of the slave. And you will have noticed, perhaps, also, that Henry Winter Davis has made a report in reference to Arkansas, where he has put in the word " white" as a qualification for voting. It is my purpose (by the way), if I am ever able to be in my seat again, to move to amend by striking out the word " white." And, if possible, I mean to bring the House to a vote on it, and let them confront the question face to face. Recurring to the President, there are a great many reports concerning him which seem to be reliable and authentic, which, after all, are not so. It was currently reported among the anti-slavery men of Illinois, that the Emancipation Proclama tion was extorted from him by the outward pressure, and par ticularly by the delegation from the Christian Convention that met at Chicago. Now, the fact is this, as I had it from his own Ante, p. 62. lips: He had written the Proclamation in the summer (as early as June, I think, but will not be certain as to the precise time), and called his Cabinet together, and informed them that he had written it and he meant to make it, but wanted to read it to them for any criticism or remarks as to its features or details. After having done so, Mr. Seward suggested whether it would not be well for him to withhold its publication until after we had gained some substantial advantage in the field, as at that time we had met with many reverses, and it might be con sidered a cry of despair. He told me he thought the suggestion a wise one, and so held on to the Proclamation until after the battle of Antietam. I mention this as a sample of a great many others. But I am wandering from my purpose, which was simply to tell you how much pleasure your position gives me. I am also very glad to see that Mr. Thompson of England speaks in friendly terms of the President. If I were acquainted with him, I would write and thank him also ; and I hope you will say so to him. I congratulate him and the country on the Sept. 16, 1862. George Thompson. 59. J THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 99 1864. change which has taken place in relation to slavery since he CHAP. IV. visited us before, and hope I may have the pleasure of seeing him in Washington during the session of Congress ; and will be glad to introduce him to the President. I have also to thank you for sending me the Liberator. During the past sessions, when pro-slaveryism was in the as cendant, I used to read your articles to renew and strengthen my faith. Very truly yours, OWEN LovEJOY. 1 Feb. 6. Lib. 34 : 25, 26, 29. Early in February, George Thompson landed in Boston on his third and final visit to America. Both in the Lib erator and in speeches and resolutions at the various anti- slavery conventions of the preceding months, Mr. Garrison had done his utmost to insure a fitting welcome for his bosom friend j 2 and the farewell soirees with which Thompson s admirers in London, Manchester, and Liver pool had honored him, were but a prelude to the series of ovations awaiting him in the land which he had so long loved and served, and which was ready now to recognize his heroism, his sacrifices, and his magnanimity. For whereas, in 1835, he had been secretly hurried out of Bos- Ante, 2 150. ton harbor, he was now received with special courtesies by the Customs officers of the United States, and treated as a distinguished visitor. The Collector of the port solicited J. z. Good- his presence at a levee, a few days after he landed, and in Feb. 10. a company comprising the representative men of the city and State he was greeted with the heartiest cheers. His first public appearance was at Music Hall, on February 16, when he addressed an immense audience on "The #.34:31. Popular Sentiment of England in regard to America and the Rebellion," and described the agitation which had 1 This worthy brother of the martyr of Alton died within five weeks after the above letter was written. Mr. Garrison then printed it, with a proper tribute to his memory (Lib. 34 : 54). 2 An interesting and valuable sketch of Mr. Thompson s life and philan thropic labors, by William Farmer, ran through seven numbers of the Liberator, filling eighteen columns probably the fullest and best outline of his remarkable career that has been written (Lib. 34 : 25, 29, 34, 37, 41, 45, 49). 100 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKEISON. C^ T - 59 - kept the British Government from interfering in the Feb. 23, American struggle. A week later, the same hall was l864> packed to its utmost capacity on the occasion of a formal reception tendered to Mr. Thompson by leading citizens of Massachusetts, the name of John A. Andrew heading the list. G-overnor Andrew presided with rare felicity, #.34:37. declaring it to be an agreeable service, and in the direct line of his public duty, to attempt the chairmanship of the meeting, and " to accord an honorable welcome to Cf. Lib. G-eorge Thompson," both for his earlier achievements and 27 :7 for his recent services in behalf of the North. Mr. Lib. 34 : 37. Thompson s response was worthy of himself and of the magnificent occasion. Mr. Garrison would fain have kept in the background, preferring that the welcome to his friend should be seen to be a spontaneous and popular one ; but the audience insisted on hearing him, and gave him three cheers as he came forward to express his delight at the atonement which Boston and Massachusetts were now offering. Addressing the Governor, he said : Lib. 34:38. " Sir, it has been the custom of those who have occupied the Executive chair in this State, to close their Fast Day and Thanks giving proclamations with the exclamation : God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ! Now, sir, in view of the altered state of things among us, in view of this glorious meet ing, justly and fairly representing the people of Massachusetts, and in view of the fact that your Excellency is here to preside on this occasion, I have to say that at last I believe Massachu setts is saved saved from her old pro-slavery subserviency and degradation saved from her blind, selfish, calculating slave- holding complicity with the South saved to honor, justice, humanity, and impartial freedom." Feb. 29. The Boston reception was speedily followed by one at #.34:39. Cooper Institute, New York, with General John C. Fre- Mar.n. mont in the chair; by another at Plymouth Church, #. 34 : 46. Brookiy^ w ith Henry Ward Beecher presiding ; by others still in Springfield, 1 Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, and l The Springfield Republican aggravated its disgraceful course at the time of Mr. Thompson s visit in 1851 (ante, 3 : 322) by now repeating its calum- -ET. 59.] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 101 Worcester, and especially at the Academy of Music in April 4, Philadelphia, on the invitation of the most prominent citi- Lti.^-ei. zens, and with Horace Binney, Jr., presiding. But the climax of dramatic contrasts to the incidents of the Eng lishman s first visit to America was reached at Washing ton, where the House of Representatives voted him the use of its Hall for the lecture which John Pierpont and others had invited him to deliver at the Capital. 1 Vice- President Hamlin presided, and the hall was thronged April 6. by a brilliant audience, which included President Lincoln, members of the Cabinet, and a majority of both Houses of Congress. At the close of the lecture, the President, Speaker Colfax, and many Senators and Representatives congratulated Mr. Thompson. Among them was Senator Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, only a few years before counsel on the pro-slavery side in the Dred Scott case, but now an earnest advocate of the Constitutional Amend ment abolishing slavery, which passed the Senate (38 to 6) Lib. 34:72. two days after Mr. Thompson s lecture. Marked atten- April*. tions were also shown the latter in the House and Senate, the following day; by Mr. Lincoln at the White House; and by Secretaries Stanton, Seward, and Chase. Mr. Garrison had at first intended to accompany Mr. Thompson to Washington, but decided not to do so, be cause, as he wrote to Oliver Johnson, who enjoyed that privilege in his stead u I wish him to be the one sole object of attention, and to have MS. Mar. concentrated upon him all the honors that might be divided 14> l86 4- between us, provided we were together. I want him thus to be individually and conspicuously noticed for various reasons especially for international ones : it will tell well in England, nies, and coolly asserting that Mr. Thompson s recent services to the Union cause were "but an act of justice and due reparation for past injuries " done by him to this country ! Mr. Thompson made a scathing reply (Lib. 30 : 50). IThe invitation was signed by twenty-four Senators and twenty-two Representatives, and assured Mr. Thompson of their appreciation of his labors "as a statesman and teacher labors which we feel persuaded have wrought an important influence for public good in both hemispheres " (Lib. 34 : 42). 102 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [>ET. 59. CHAP. IV. 1864. and help to strengthen the ties of friendship and amity between both countries. Possibly, but not probably, I may conclude to visit Washington before the final adjournment of Congress." J. M. Mc- Kim. Oliver Johnson to W. L. Garrison. MS. PHILADELPHIA, April llth, 1864. You see we are thus far on our way home. We halt here to-night to allow Mr. Thompson to be presented to the Union League, at their Club House, and to make them a brief collo quial address. It is intended to clinch the nail which he drove a week ago in the Academy of Music or, changing the figure, to cap the climax of the former meeting. McKim assures us that the speech here a week ago made a grand impression, not merely upon the intelligent mass, but upon leading men, here tofore conservative. Horace Binney, Jr., the Chairman, is a man of the very highest social standing, the representative of the wealth and culture of the city. Many eminent clergymen were on the platform among them Bishop Potter ! Verily the day of miracles is not past. I wrote you, I think, of every important incident connected with our visit to Washington. We left there Friday morning, and were in the house of dear old Thomas Garrett by 4^ P. M. In the evening there was a good audience to hear Mr. Thomp- #.34:70. son. As he was rather feeble, I opened the meeting (at his earnest request) by giving the people some account of his life. He followed in a most admirable extemporaneous address, which charmed his auditors, and of which the most radical portions were loudly cheered. The influence on the city was most happy, and dear old Thomas Garrett was more than delighted. . . . To-morrow we are off to Newark, where Mr. Thompson will speak in the evening. Then he will go to New York for a couple of days, and after that to Elmira, Syracuse, Auburn, and Rochester. I need not tell you, my dear Garrison, that I have enjoyed every moment spent in Mr. Thompson s company. The more I see of him, the more I love and reverence him, and the more I hear him, the more I admire his eloquence. How fine are his instincts, how clear his intellect, how true his heart ! How admirably poised is his mind, how rare his moral discernment, how nice his discrimination in all things ! He is so generous, so catholic in spirit, so comprehensive in his aims, that he wins Alonzo Pot ter. April 8. Wilming ton, Del. ^ T - 59 -J THE KEELECTION OF LINCOLN. 103 at once the respect and love of all whom he meets. It makes CHAP. iv. me sad at moments to think how feeble he is in body, and that ^ age and sickness are making inroads upon his constitution. Mr. Thompson s lecture engagements throughout the year were numerous, and took him as far west as St. Louis, in December. On the fifth of that month he wrote from Cincinnati to Mr. Garrison: "Within the MS. last forty-eight hours I have been in two slave States, yet here I am, safe from harm, with not so much as the smell of tar upon me." Stranger, almost, was what befell him in Connecticut in July. George Thompson to W. L. Garrison. WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, MS. MlDDLETOWN, July 20, 1864. Wednesday. Times change, and men with them. Once, as you know, I was vilified and denounced by the President and professors Ante, 2: 139. of this institution. Now, I am respectfully invited, hospitably entertained ; and students, and Faculty, and the Trustees, and the editor of the Christian Advocate encourage, caress, and Daniel applaud me. I had a truly splendid meeting here yesterday. Curr y> D - D - These commencement meetings are rare opportunities for sow ing the good seed. I had a good deal to say about you, and was rejoiced to find that the mention of your name drew forth loud and repeated cheers. The town is very fall. I am sur prised to find how many have heard me in days gone by, who I was not aware had ever come within the sound of my voice. I suppose they were the Nicodemuses of the day. . . . July 22. My meeting here was a very beautiful sight, my reception most cordial. Yesterday, I went to listen to the college exer cises ; judge of my consternation and confusion when, without a dream of such an event, I found myself made an LL. D., amidst the acclamations of all present ! This compliment was paid me as a proof of the sympathy entertained in the objects #.34:122. to which I have devoted myself, and as an atonement for the conduct of certain parties connected with the University, long ago. Dr. Whedon was present, concurring in the proceedings ; Daniel D. and also Dr. Curry, the successor of Dr. Bangs in the editor- Whed ^ n ship of the Christian Advocate and Journal. Bangs. 104 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKBISON. [JET. 59. July 23, 1864. Ante, p. 95. Lib. 34 : 23. I shall be in Northampton on Saturday, speak again in Flor ence on Sunday, and be ready to welcome you next week, should you signify your intention to come. Should you say no, I shall shorten my stay, and get back to Boston, and try to spend the 1st of August with you somewhere else. As early as January the movement in favor of Mr. Lin coln s nomination for a second term had begun to take shape in the resolutions passed by several State legisla tures in favor of that course, and found constant expres sion in many other ways. In his speech at the January meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Mr. Garrison had alluded to these manifestations of the popular will as proving that the loyal people did not believe the President ready " to sacrifice the interest and honor of the North to procure a sham peace/ 7 and he added, for himself : " Taking all things into consideration, especially in view of the fact that he has not only decreed the liberation of every slave in Eebeldom forever, but stands repeatedly committed, as no other man does, before heaven and earth, to maintain it so long as he is in office, in my judgment the reelection of Abra ham Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States would be the safest and wisest course, in the present state of our national affairs, on the part of those who are friendly to his Administra tion. No other candidate would probably carry so strong a vote in opposition to Copperhead Democracy. Such, at least, is my conviction." #.34:46. In March he repeated and emphasized this opinion in an editorial, on " The Presidency," which attracted wide attention. Declaring the approaching election to be " a matter of the gravest consideration in its relation to the stability of the Government, the suppression of the rebel lion, and the abolition of slavery," he deemed it none too early to discuss who should be the Republican candi date, in view of the various schemes that were already on foot to prevent Mr. Lincoln s re-nomination, and to push Chase, Butler, or Fremont for the position. " Standing, as we have stood for more than thirty years, outside of every party organization, yet taking the deepest S. P. Chase B. F. But ler. J. C. Fremont. JET. 59.] THE KEELECTION OF LINCOLN. 105 interest in every political struggle of national concernment as CHAP. IV. indicative of progress or retrogression, we occupy a position ^ not only absolutely independent of all party ties and obliga tions, but sufficiently elevated and disinterested to make our judgment impartial, if not conclusive to others. The crisis is too solemn to justify heat or dogmatism, or even that personal preference or rivalry which, under other circumstances, would be allowable and attended with no danger. Never was the apostolic injunction more impressive than now : Let every one be FULLY PERSUADED in his own mind and act in accordance with his clearest instincts and his highest convictions. There are, and there will be, honest differences of opinion among those who are thoroughly loyal to the Grovernment, as to the best course to be pursued ; yet it is none the less certain that the fewer these differences can be made, the less danger will there be of the success of that party at the North which is essentially, brutally, persistently pro-slavery, and eager to strike hands with the rebels of the South in an arrangement that shall be mutually satisfactory, by allowing the latter to dictate terms and have their own way. " In stating our convictions, we ask no approval of them on the part of our readers beyond what may seem reasonable and just." The policy of the Copperhead party, continued Mr. Gar rison, was clearly to sow dissensions in the Republican ranks, and profit by their division, but Secretary Chase had already bowed to the adverse decision of his own State Ohio. to his candidature, and had withdrawn his name. Fre mont could have no hope of success as opposed to Lincoln, than whom no man living had so strong a hold on the mass of the people. " Not that Mr. Lincoln is not open to criticism and censure ; Lib. 34:46. we have both criticised and censured him again and again. Not that there is not much to grieve over, and to be surprised at, in his administration, on account of its inconsistent and paradox ical treatment of the rebellion and slavery j of this we have spoken freely. Nevertheless, there is also much to rejoice over and to be thankful for ; and a thousand incidental errors and blunders are easily to be borne with on the part of him who, at one blow, severed the chains of three million three hun dred thousand slaves thus virtually abolishing the whole slave 106 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. CHAP. IV. system (the greater necessarily including the less) in quick pro- gression, as an act dictated alike by patriotism, justice, and humanity." This declaration gave great satisfaction to the loyal press and public, and was a welcome evidence to Mr. Lin coln that he was not to have the influence of the aboli tionists against him in the pending struggle, but could rely on their forbearance and faith in his purpose to carry the nation through to peace and freedom. Hitherto his own utterances respecting the emancipation policy had had, as George Thompson said, "the alloy of expedi ency." Now, for the first time, he seemed to recognize the divine hand in chastisement for national oppression, and to regard the war as something more than a struggle for the Union and the Constitution, in which the question of slavery had only a subordinate part. In his honest and thoroughly characteristic letter of April 4 to A. G-. Hodges of Kentucky, after frankly stating the rule which had guided his course with regard to the suppression of the rebellion, and under which, while himself " naturally anti-slavery," and believing " if slavery is not wrong, noth ing is wrong," he had done no official act in deference to his mere abstract judgment and feeling on slavery, he concluded with a passage which was the forerunner of the solemn utterances in his final message to Congress and his second inaugural : " In telling this tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sa ac ity- I claim not to have controlled events, but confess Administra- plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of tion^pp. three years struggle, the nation s condition is not what either party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God." * 1 " Mr. [Samuel J.] May and I have read together, this morning, the Pres ident s letter of the 4th inst. to A. G. Hodges, Esq., of Kentucky. We think it a remarkably clear and satisfactory exposition of his acts and Raymond s H Linc7lris ^ T - 59 -] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 107 The Presidential theme occupied the attention of the CHAP. iv. May meetings of the American and Massachusetts Socie- l8 7 4 . ties, to the exclusion of almost everything else, and the debates at times were earnest and exciting. Mr. Phillips, at the opening session in New York, introduced his speech May 10. with a resolution that, " while we do not criticise the Lib. 34:81. wishes of the Administration, still, as abolitionists, we feel bound to declare that we see no evidence of its pur pose to put the freedom of the negro on such a basis as will secure it against every peril"; and he proceeded to criticise the delays and shortcomings of Mr. Lincoln and his advisers, and the attempts to patch up a reconstructed State in Louisiana without giving suffrage to the negroes. " My charge," he said, " against the Administration, as an abolitionist, is, that it seeks to adjourn the battle from cannon shot to the forum; from Grant to the Senate- house ; and to leave the poisoned remnants of the slave system for a quarter of a century to come " ; and he man ifested his decided opposition to Mr. Lincoln s renomi- nation, accusing him of having, by his dilatory course respecting slavery, solidified Southern sentiment against the Union, and made a Confederacy where Jefferson Davis had only made a rebellion. " To-day," he continued, " the Lib. 34 : 81. man who takes the helm of the vessel of State in his hand has a tenfold harder work to do than Abraham Lincoln had in March, 1861, for he has got the South, as near as such a thing can be, unanimous against him." In the business meetings of the Society, Mr. Phillips was even more sweeping and extravagant in his language, for he declared that he would sooner have severed his right Lib. 34 : 83. hand than taken the responsibility which his dear and policy on the question of slavery. It is, essentially, what he said to me when he gave me an interview at Washington, on the 7th. I am glad to see from his pen what he verbally communicated to me. My remark, since I saw him, has been, that he kindly and frankly furnished me with a key to the right understanding of the course he had pursued, and that I was glad to find that I had, in England, explained his acts correctly, and had not misunderstood either his private views or the motive of his public conduct (MS. April 30, 1864, George Thompson at Syracuse, N. Y., to W. L. G., Lib. 34 : 74). 108 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 59. CHAP. iv. faithful friend Garrison had assumed in favoring Mr. j^6 4 . Lincoln s reelection. " There are no hundred men in the country," he continued, " whose united voices would be of equal importance in determining the future of the Govern ment and country. A million dollars would have been a cheap purchase for the Administration of the Liberator s May ii. article on the Presidency." And at the final session he closed his despondent speech with a renewed avowal of his hostility to Lincoln, the day of whose reelection, he #.34:86. said, "I shall consider the end of the Union in my day, or its reconstruction on terms worse than Disunion/ Mr. Garrison s rejoinders to these speeches were in har mony with his previous charitable consideration for Mr. Lincoln, in view of the perils which had surrounded Lib. 34: 82. him, " perils and trials unknown to any man, in any #.34:86. age of the world, in official station"; and he quoted Mr. Phillips s own words the year before, which contemplated Mr. Lincoln s being President four or eight years longer, in these terms : #.33:110. "I told him myself, and I believed it then, and I believe it now, j meant it then, and I mean it now, that the man who would honestly put his right hand to the plow of that procla mation, and execute it, this people would not allow to quit while the experiment was trying. Whoever starts the great experiment of emancipation, and honestly devotes his energies to making it a fact, deserves to hold the helm of the Govern ment until that experiment is finished." Mr. Garrison s hopeful view was shared by Miller j. M. Me- McKim and George Thompson, in their speeches, and Kim at all the public sessions the sympathy of the audiences was clearly with them and in favor of Lincoln. At the #.34:83. business meetings of the Society, Mr. Phillips was sup ported by Stephen S. Foster and Parker Pillsbury, and the resolution offered by him at the outset was adopted by the close vote of 21 to 18. The regular series of reso lutions introduced by Mr. Garrison, and unanimously adopted, made no allusion whatever to the Presidential question, but urged the enactment of the Thirteenth -ET. 59.] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 109 Amendment to the Constitution, and cited the massacre CHAP. iv. of colored soldiers at Fort Pillow and elsewhere as justi- I ^ 4> fying the severest accusations of the abolitionists against slavery, of which it was the natural outgrowth. W. L. Garrison to Ms Wife. NEW YORK, May 13, 1864. MS. Our two public meetings, at the Cooper Institute and at Dr. Cheever s church, were attended with large and truly respect able and intelligent numbers, and went off with high interest and hearty approval. Thompson acquitted himself admirably on each occasion. Phillips was brilliant and eloquent as usual, but somewhat contradictory in statement, and decidedly op posed to the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. Of course, I briefly expressed my dissent, and gave the reasons why I thought the people would stand by him for another term. The audiences were overwhelming in their approval of my views, though disposed generously to applaud Phillips as far as they could. I trust nothing fell from my lips which was deemed personal or unkind by dear Phillips. He is frank and outspoken in his own sentiments, and will not desire me to be less so. But I did not wish to seem to be in antagonism to himself, for I know that our enemies would like to see us or put us at personal variance, and so I said but very little in reply to two long speeches. Our business meetings would have been very harmonious, had it not been for Stephen and Parker. We had some plain s. S. Foster. things said on both sides ; but, on the whole, we got along puisbury better than I expected, and the Presidential election received no partisan countenance. Before the Boston meetings occurred, Mr. Phillips had carried his hostility to Lincoln so far as to seek and accept, for the first time in his life, the votes of a political caucus, and he appeared as a delegate from his Ward in Boston May 23. at the State Convention to elect delegates to the approach ing National Republican Convention at Baltimore. In this new role he made a speech in opposition to the reso- Lib. 34 : 87, lution endorsing Mr. Lincoln, but without the slightest effect, for it was carried by acclamation. His utter fail- 110 WILLIAM LLOYD GARBISON. . 59. CHAP. IV. 1864. May 27. Lib. 34 r ure to influence the Convention 1 served to intensify the bitterness with which, in a speech before the Emancipa- #.34:86. tion League, four days later, he spoke of Mr. Lincoln, declaring that, as the President had delayed so long before touching slavery, while he had suspended habeas corpus (" the barriers of liberty set up two hundred years ago") in sixty days, no negro in America owed anything to him. Mr. Lincoln, he asserted, did not desire to crush the rebellion, and he pledged himself to leave no stone unturned, from that time until November, to defeat his reelection. At the New England Convention, the same week, he went still farther, and accused the President of " carrying on the war now to reelect himself, to conciliate the dis loyal white man." As at New York, he was sustained in s. s. and A. these extreme views by the Fosters and Parker Pillsbury, K. Foster. w ^ e ^e defence and vindication of the President fell to Mr. Garrison, Henry C. Wright, 2 and George Thompson. The final evening meeting of the two days sessions was intensely interesting and exciting. Mr. Phillips renewed his arraignment of Lincoln, and sought to depreciate George Thompson s eulogy of the latter by impeaching his competency as a foreigner to judge as to the state of affairs in this country. This reflection elicited a rare #.34:94, outburst of eloquence from Thompson, who showed all 95 his pristine fire and power, and roused the audience to 1 Mr. Phillips made special and unsuccessful efforts, also, to have an anti-Lincoln delegation sent to the Baltimore Convention from Vermont (MS. June 13, 1865, S. May, Jr., to Mary A. Estlin). 2 Radical as he always was, none of the anti-slavery workers more clearly perceived the irresistible tendency of events, the difficulties surrounding the President s Administration, and the duty of sustaining the Govern ment, than Henry C. Wright. Travelling over a larger portion of the country than any of his associates, and thoroughly acquainted with the great West, he had peculiar opportunities for noting the drift of public sentiment and learning the opinions of all classes of people. His letters to the Liberator during 1864, when .he was constantly on his lecture missions, East and West, and watching the dangerous plots in Indiana and Illinois of the " Knights of the Golden Circle," testify to his sound sense and judg ment. On Lincoln s reelection, he declared, the preservation of the repub lic, the destruction of slavery, and the rights of the laboring classes everywhere depended (Lib. 34 : 103, 106, 110, 147, 158, 163). ^T. 59.] THE BEELECTION OF LINCOLN. Ill the highest pitch of feeling. Mr. Garrison quoted, as the Lib. 34: 94. most effective reply possible to Mr. Phillips s present attacks on the President, from speeches which his colaborer had made in 1861 and 1862, before either proclamation of emancipation had been issued, and in which he had repeatedly praised Lincoln as in advance of public sentiment, and declared himself satisfied with the rapid progress of events. Passing from these, he replied specifically to Phillips s current criticisms and complaints, expressing his conviction that the people could not do better, politically speaking, than to reelect Lincoln, and that they ought, as a matter of justice and to vindi cate the democratic principle, to keep him in office until he should be the acknowledged President of the whole United States. He also animadverted upon the Conven tion which was to meet in Cleveland the following week, May 3 i, to nominate Fremont for the Presidency : l864 " Gen. Fremont, as yet, has not shown a single State, a single Lib. 34: 94. county, a single town or hamlet in his support. Who repre sents him from Massachusetts, on the call for the Cleveland Con vention ? Two men, both non-voters, I believe, and neither of s. S. Foster, them has a particle of political influence. Now I call that the Karl Hein ~ step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Is that the best Massa chusetts can do for Fremont ? For, remember, I am speaking now of the coming man in the next election, who is to run Abraham Lincoln off the track. If I were speaking on a moral issue, I should speak in a very different manner of those whose names appear on that call ; for the man who stands alone in a moral cause, though all the world be against him, if God be for him, stands in a majority, and is conqueror. But when you come to politics, that is another sphere. Then you must have Cf. ante, men and money ; then you must have votes ; then you must 2 43<5 have something of political influence and respectability. But, with one exception, the signers to the call for the Cleveland B. Gmtz Convention have not one ounce of political weight in this Brown. country. Mr. President, we are getting on well. We are to have all our friends contend for, in the end. There is no difference among us in this respect. We all go for equal rights, without regard to race or color. We have not relaxed our vigilance or 112 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 59. CHAP. IV. our testimony ; and I am sorry to hear any intimation thrown ^ out that we do not call for the amplest justice." Mr. Phillips was dissatisfied because the National A. 8. Standard would not commend the Cleveland movement and oppose Lincoln, but the course of the paper was sus tained by the Executive Committee. " If I am required either to set the Standard in opposition to Lincoln s re- MS. June election/ wrote Oliver Johnson to Mr. Garrison, "or to 20, 1864. SU pp ress m y honest convictions in regard to the Fremont movement, its candidates and platform, I shall resign the editorial chair." The Republican National Convention met in Baltimore on the 7th of June, and unanimously nominated Mr. Lin coln for a second term. Among those who witnessed its proceedings, from the gallery, was Mr. Garrison. He was revisiting Baltimore for the first time since 1830, having just come from the Progressive Friends Meeting at Long- wood, with Theodore Tilton, editor of the New York Inde pendent. Of the Convention Mr. Garrison wrote, on his return : Lib. 34: 102. "It was well worth going from one end of the country to the other to witness its proceedings ; yet it came in my way inci dentally, and I was glad to have the opportunity to be *a looker-on in Venice. As a delegated body representing all the loyal States and Territories in the Union, it presented an impos ing appearance, and indicated, both in the choice of its candi dates and platform it adopted, the overwhelming sentiment of THE PEOPLE. Prior to its coming together, all the loyal States had, with a unanimity unexampled since the days of George Washington, officially declared in favor of the reelec tion of ABRAHAM LINCOLN ; so that its duty was simply to record its votes for the man thus unmistakably designated. From Maine to Oregon, the response was the same, with the single exception of the Radical delegates from Missouri, who, on the first ballot, voted for General Grant, in accordance with their instructions ; and then transferred their votes to Abraham Lincoln, making the grand total of 519 for his reelection. Though this unanim ity was strongly to be desired for the weightiest considerations, it was hardly to be expected ; for what had the enemies of the Administration left undone to create division in the ranks ? . 59.] THE KEELECTION OF LINCOLN. 113 1864. When the result was announced, the enthusiasm was indescrib- CHAP, iv able ; and yet it was not comparable to the electric outbreak which followed the adoption of the following resolution : " * 3. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause and now con stitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles of republican govern ment, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the republic j and that we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defence, has aimed a death-blow at this gigantic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of such an amend ment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conform ity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. " The whole body of delegates sprang to their feet as by one impulse, giving vent to their feelings in prolonged cheering and warm congratulations, again and again renewing their joyful demonstrations in the most enthusiastic manner. Was not a spectacle like that rich compensation for more than thirty years of universal personal opprobrium, bitter persecution, and mur derous outlawry ? It is impossible for me to describe my emo tions on that occasion for what had God wrought ! It was the first NATIONAL VERDICT ever recorded, in form and fact, in letter and spirit, against slavery, as a system incompatible with the principles of republican government, and therefore no longer to be tolerated in the land. It was the sublime decree Let the covenant with death be annulled, and the agreement with hell no longer stand ! It was a full endorsement of all the abolition fanaticism and incendiarism with which I had stood branded for so many years. The time for my complete vindication had come, from the Atlantic to the Pacific the vindication of all who had labored for the extinction of the sum of all villanies, whether through evil report or good report yea, the vindica tion of Eternal Truth and Justice ! " W. L. Garrison to his Wife. BALTIMORE, June 8, 1864. I arrived here in the evening train on Monday, and met with a very kind welcome from the Needleses, who were expecting my coming, with George Thompson as my companion. Since then, I have been constantly occupied in seeing the city, which VOL. IV. 8 MS. June 6. 114 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 59. CHAP. IV. has almost wholly grown out of my recollections. It is ahead "^ of Boston in population and extent, but has not as many good residences or handsome stores. The old jail that I once had the honor and happiness to occupy for a time has been torn down, and a new and handsome prison erected upon its site j so the charm was broken, and it was useless to think of visiting my old cell. 1 " High walls and huge the body may confine," etc. The city is very quiet and very clean ; and the general appear ance of the people, including the colored people, is creditable. Yesterday and to-day, I have attended the National Con vention for the nomination of President and Vice-President of the U. S. It has been a full one, and its proceedings have been such as to gladden my heart, and almost make me fear that I am at home dreaming, and not in the State of Mary land. Even my friend Phillips would have been highly gratified l " Our travelling companion was no other than that fanatical, heretical, and incendiary gentleman, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison of Bunker Hill whose company in the cars, a few years ago, would not have rendered a jour ney southward eminently enviable ; to whom, however, on his late journey, as far south of Mason and Dixon as we could get, all hats went off, all hands were thrust in welcome, and all hospitable honors shown in the midst of which the bewildered man stood a modest and meek-minded conservative before those more fiery radicals on whom the new pentecost has fallen with its tongues of flame. Not having been in Baltimore since he was there impris oned, thirty-four years ago, and never in his life having been in Washing ton (honest man !), his journey was full of strange emotions at every turn. Condemned as a criminal for speaking in a slave city against slavery, he returned to that city to find it so far regenerated that to-day Baltimore is ready to give a larger proportional vote than Boston for universal liberty. The court in which Mr. Garrison was tried and sentenced is now presided over by a radical Abolitionist Judge Hugh L. Bond, one of the most indefatigable and influential Unionists in the State, who, to gratify our curiosity, hunted up from the old records of the court the time-yellowed papers of indictment against Mr. Garrison, which that gentleman, putting on his spectacles, perused with eyes as full of merriment as we noticed in Horace Greeley s, on being dismissed from his contempt of Judge Barnard s court. As we had threatened to put Mr. Garrison into his old cell, and shut him up for a night, we were disappointed to learn that the city author ities, not foreseeing how they were spoiling a good historical incident, had torn down the old jail and built a new one in its place where, however, not the opposers but abettors of slavery and treason are now confined ! Thus the gallows which was built for Mordecai, is used for hanging Haman ! Eight or nine of the original jurymen who gave the verdict against Mr. Garrison are still living, and Judge Bond jocosely threatened to summon them all into court, that Mr. Garrison might forgive them in public ! We bargained in advance for a photograph of the scene " (Theodore Tilton, in the Independent; Lib. 34 : 104). JET. 59.] THE KEELECTION OF LINCOLN. 115 1864. Wm.G. Brownlow. with the tone and spirit of the Convention. In the speeches CHAP. l\ made, every allusion made to slavery as a curse to be extirpated, and a crime no longer to be tolerated, has been most enthusi astically responded to ; in several instances the assembly rising to their feet, and giving vent to their feelings in rousing cheers. . . . Each evening there has been a mass meeting held in Monument Square, addresses made, and the most radical sen timents rapturously applauded, without a single Copperhead daring to peep or mutter. This evening there will be an immense ratification meeting held in the same Square, with speech-making, etc., etc. I have been introduced to various members of the Conven tion ! among them the redoubtable Parson Brownlow, who looks very sick, and is probably not long for this world. I have made up my mind not to speak in public, either here or in Washington, though there is a desire to hear me in both places. . . . I am very well indeed, and find the jaunt, with all its fatigues, good for me. WASHINGTON, June 9, 1864. MS. If I am not dreaming, I am at last in the Capital of the United States. Eight from the cars, this forenoon, Judge Bond Hugh L. of Baltimore and Tilton took me up to the White House, and B ond.Tkeo- forthwith introduced me to the President, who was receiving a group of persons fresh from the Baltimore Convention, congrat ulating him on his renomination. He received me very heartily, and expressed a desire to see me again, and I expect to do so to-morrow. He referred to my imprisonment in Baltimore thirty-four years ago, and said : " Then you could not get out of prison ; now you cannot get in " referring playfully to the demolition of the old prison. I was . . . introduced to a large number [of persons] from various parts of the country, many of them of more or less prominence. Leaving the East l The temporary president of the Convention was the Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, D. D., of Kentucky, Mr. Garrison s old-time Colonization antagonist (ante, 1 : 448-450), now a warm advocate of the Constitutional Amendment. Another indication of the revolution in public sentiment was the action of the General Conference of the M. E. Church, at Philadel phia in May, excluding from membership all persons guilty of holding, buying or selling slaves, and receiving a deputation from the colored Con ference, in session at the same time ; and of the Old School and New School Presbyterian General Assemblies, at Newark, N. J., and Dayton, O., in favor of emancipation (Lib. 34 : 99). 116 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 59. Edwin M. Stanton. W. P. Fes- senden, B. F. Wade, M. S. Wil kinson, E. D, Morgan. MS. Room, we went to see Secretary Stanton, and had a long private interview with him of a most interesting character. I was very much pleased with him, and have no doubt of his thorough going anti-slavery spirit and purpose. 1 But I cannot give par ticulars. Secretary Chase is out of the city. Neither Seward nor Blair will get a call. From the White House, we then went to the Capitol, and there found Congress in session. We sent in our cards to Sum- ner and Wilson, who instantly came out and insisted on our going upon the floor of the Senate, where we really had no right to be. Sumner conducted me to John P. Hale s chair, which I occupied for some time Hale not being present. A great number of the Senators were introduced to me ; among them were Fessenden, Wade, Wilkinson, Morgan, etc. Quite a sensation was produced by my presence. Sumner and Wilson were exceedingly marked in their attentions. Tilton and I went afterwards to see where we could find a room at the principal hotel to occupy, but our application was in vain. Every hotel is more than full. Fortunately for us, Senator Wilson insisted on our coming to his hotel (the Wash ington), and by his influence got a room for us. We have dined and taken tea with Wilson, who is unremitting in his attentions. To-morrow we shall go to the House of Representatives to Arlington Heights etc., etc. . . . WASHINGTON, June 10, 1864. At the White House. I am now at the White House, with Tilton, waiting to have a second interview with the President. He has been receiving, for the last hour, the delegates from the several States that voted for his nomination at the Baltimore Convention. I have no special desire to see him again, except that yesterday he expressed the hope that I would call again ; for I know he must be bored with callers. l As a boy, Stanton had often sat on the knees of Benjamin Lundy, who used to visit his father s house when on his anti-slavery missions. In a letter urging Mr. Garrison to visit Washington, Senator Wilson wrote (MS. Peby. 11, 1864) that, in a recent interview with Secretary Stanton, the latter stated that his father gave Lundy the money to start his paper, and " then remarked that there was one person whom he wished to see before he died, and that person was yourself. I therefore write to request you to pay your numerous friends here a visit, and at the same time gratify the wish of the Hon. Secretary." ^JT.59.] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 117 PHILADELPHIA, June 11, 1864. MS. It is now 3 o clock P. M. I left Washington this morning, and have just arrived here very dusty and tired, but in good health and spirits. Yesterday noon, Tilton and I had an hour s private interview with the President at the White House, and it was a very satis factory one indeed. There is no mistake about it in regard to Mr. Lincoln s desire to do all that he can see it right and possi ble for him to do to uproot slavery, and give fair-play to the emancipated. I was much pleased with his spirit, and the familiar and candid way in which he unbosomed himself. Last evening I spent with Solicitor Whiting (the brother of William Anna), and had a good time. 1 In his interview with the President, Mr. Garrison said to him : " Mr. Lincoln, I want to tell you frankly that for every word I have ever spoken in your favor, I have spoken ten in favor of General Fremont " ; and he went on to explain how difficult he had found it to commend the President when the latter was revoking the proclama tions of Fremont and Hunter, and reiterating his purpose to save the Union, if he could, without destroying slavery ; " but, Mr. President," he continued, " from the hour that you issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and showed your purpose to stand by it, I have given you my hearty support and confidence." Mr. Lincoln received this good- naturedly, set forth the difficulties under which he had labored, and expressed his anxiety to secure the adoption of the Constitutional Amendment, that the question might be forever settled and not hazarded by his possible death or failure of reelection. The resolution in favor of it adopted at Baltimore had been prepared and introduced at his own suggestion. The Amendment failed to pass the House of Represen tatives before Congress adjourned for the summer, 2 but 1 Solicitor William Whiting, whom Secretary Stanton appointed to ex pound the war powers of the Government under the Constitution, espe cially as relating to slavery, was a son of Mr. Garrison s early and steadfast supporter, Col. William Whiting of Concord, Mass. 2 The vote was 93 in favor to 65 against, less than the necessary two- thirds. 118 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 59. CHAP. iv. was saved from final defeat by a motion to reconsider, 1864 which carried it over to the winter session. Thanks to the untiring exertions of Senator Simmer, the long spring session did not end until the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 Lib. 34:99, and 1850 had both been swept from the statute-books. One of the obstacles he encountered was reported in the following private note : Charles Sumner to W. L. Garrison. MS SENATE CHAMBER, DEAR MR. GARRISON: 23d April, 64. You will see what has occurred in the Senate. We were on the point of passing a little bill repealing " all acts or parts of acts " for the surrender of fugitive slaves, when John Sherman L. S. Foster; of Ohio interfered to keep alive the old act of 1793 ; and Foster ante, i : 392. o j Connecticut has followed with an elaborate speech vindicat ing the atrocity. The vote in favor of slave-hunting stood 24 to 17, including ten Republicans in the majority. 1 If the anti-slavery sentiment had not become so sluggish, this could not have taken place. Cannot you help to revive it? The practical measures are to clean the statute-book of all support of slavery. Ever yours, CHARLES SUMNER. Not only was the repeal of both laws secured by Mr. Sumner, but through his efforts the coastwise slave-trade, which Mr. Garrison had earned his prison-cell by denounc ing in 1830, was abolished, and the exclusion of colored witnesses from United States Courts prohibited. No less cheering than these gains was the action of the newly- reconstructed States of Arkansas and Louisiana, in adopt ing free Constitutions, the former by popular vote, and the latter by a Constitutional Convention j but in both cases i The position taken by these Republican opponents was, that, having sworn to support the Constitution with its slave-hunting proviso, they could not vote to repeal all acts for the rendition of fugitive slaves, though they had already voted for the Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery ! Such of these conscientious gentlemen as he could not convert, Mr. Sumner persuaded to absent themselves when the final vote was taken, and Messrs. Sherman and Foster were among these (Lib. 34 : 118). -ET. 59.] THE BEELECTION OF LINCOLN. 119 only a fraction of the voters of 1860 participated, and the CHAP. iv. influence of the Administration at Washington was con- I8 ~Z trolling. Much more significant, therefore, was the regen eration of Maryland, which worked out its own salvation, Lib. 34:107. and adopted, in June, a Constitutional amendment by which, on its ratification by the people in October, slavery was at once and unconditionally abolished, without any pecuniary compensation to the masters. 1 In November came the triumphant reelection of Lincoln, an event whose importance was justly estimated by the friends of Union and Emancipation abroad, anxious #.34:6, watchers of the progress of the campaign. To these Mr. 54> I I 5 8 7 5 1 . 177 Garrison s support of the President had given the liveliest satisfaction, which was increased by his rejoinders to two letters written by Prof. Francis W. Newman of London Lit. 34:106, University, a solitary sympathizer with the utter distrust "i- 118 -^ 8 - of Mr. Lincoln shown by Mr. Phillips and his followers. In the first of these Mr. Garrison wrote : " I am neither the partisan nor eulogist of President Lincoln, Lib. 34 : 114. in a political sense. Since his inauguration, I have seen occa sion sharply to animadvert upon his course, as well as occasion to praise him. At all times I have endeavored to judge him fairly, according to the possibilities of his situation and the necessities of the country. In no instance, however, have I censured him for not acting upon the highest abstract principles of justice and humanity, and disregarding his Constitutional obligations. His freedom to follow his convictions of duty as an individual is one thing as the President of the United States, it is limited by the functions of his office ; for the people do not elect a President to play the part of reformer or philan thropist, nor to enforce upon the nation his own peculiar ethical or humanitary ideas, without regard to his oath or 1 Potential in causing this remarkable conversion was the perception of the poor whites of Maryland that the free enlistment of colored troops in the State would wonderfully aid in filling the State s quota, and relieve themselves from entering the army. See the speech of Henry Winter Davis in Congress, Feb. 25, 1864, Lib. 34 : 65. The amendment, though adopted by 53 to 27 votes in the Convention, would have failed of ratification but for the soldier vote, which gave it a bare majority (Lib. 34 : 107, 171). For Mr. Garrison s jubilant letter on its ratification by the people, see Lib. 34 : 198. 120 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. . 59. CHAP. IV. 1864. MS. J.E. Cairnes, F. IV. Newman. their will. His primary and all-comprehensive duty is to main tain the Union and execute the Constitution, in good faith, according to the best of his ability, without reference to the views of any clique or party in the land, and for the general welfare. And herein lies the injustice of your criticism upon him. You seem to regard him as occupying a position and wielding powers virtually autocratic, so that he may do just as he pleases yea, just as though there were no people to con sult, no popular sentiment to ascertain, no legal restrictions to bind." i Harriet Martineau to W. L. Garrison. AMBLESIDE, August 10, 1864. I have been thinking of you with strong sympathy for a long time past. Indeed, as you know, I always did ; but I mean par ticularly since your precious wife s illness, and since the pecu liar trial ... of your being misunderstood and unkindly treated by old comrades and disciples who should have dis trusted their own judgment rather than doubt you. ... If there was any way in which I could publicly express my own views in the matter, I should be very glad to bear my testimony to what seems to me our entire agreement on the question of Mr. Lincoln s character, deserts, and claims to reelection ; and to express my hearty admiration of the magnanimity of your conduct, as well as of the justness and clearness of your views in the most critical hour of the history of your Republic. All who know me here know what I think ; and if it could be of any use (which I hardly suppose), its being understood on your side of the water, I should be glad that it was known. Professor Cairnes called here ten days ago. I seldom or never see any visitor now (being too ill), except near neighbors and friends $ but I could not send away that stranger-friend (for we had never met) without a word, and I rejoice that he came. He had been travelling, and had not seen the Liberator contain ing Mr. Newman s letter. He took it away with him ; and when he brought it back next day, he expressed strong surprise, well as he knows Mr. Newman, at the absurdity, and regret l " I regarded your father as a man of noble nature, but with concentrated views I do not say narrow, because they were as wide as a race and included their emancipation. But in his reply to Prof. Newman there was that largeness of view and recognition of outside difficulties which we call the statesmanlike quality of mind" (MS. May 14, 1887, Geo. Jacob Holyoaketo W. P. GL). ^ET. 59.] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 121 at the tone of that letter. . . . Professor Cairnes and I were CHAP. iv. anxious each to know what the other thought of Mr. Lincoln, r ~ and of your course j and it was pleasant to find how entirely we agreed. . . . We judge it best to avow on all reasonable occasions our wish for Mr. Lincoln s reelection, and our respect for the patriotism and wisdom of abolitionists who are forbearing with his human frailties, for the sake of the national welfare. ... I say as much as circumstances permit in honor of Mr. Lincoln in the Daily News, and I shall try my best to work in that, the best possible direction. Yours, dear friend, affectionately, H. MARTINEAU. Thomas Hughes to W. L. Garrison. 3 OLD SQUARE, LINCOLN S INN, MS. LONDON, Sept. 9, 1864. Lib - 34 = 158. MY DEAR SIR : I cannot resist writing you a line, though you have probably scarcely ever heard my name, to say how right and wise I and many other Englishmen think the course you have taken npon the question of supporting Mr. Lincoln for re election. I was much pained by Professor Newman s letter to you ; still more by the line which many of the leading American abolitionists have taken upon the question, and by the tone they have thought fit to adopt as to yourself. I think I may safely say that the great majority of Englishmen who have really taken the trouble to study the question, agree with me in thinking that Mr. Lincoln has proved himself thoroughly honest and trustworthy in the fearfully difficult and trying position in which your nation have placed him, and that these qualities far more than outweigh his faults, which have been only such as arise from caution and distrust of himself. It would be impertinent in me to add any opinions of my own as to your great revolution. My only excuse for writing at all is, that I have taken the deepest interest for many years in American politics, and especially in the noble stand which you and others have made against slavery in the United States ; and I could not remain silent when some of the ablest and best of your own friends are turning against you for conduct which seems to me most wise, and consistent with all you have said and written for the last thirty years. Whatever other issue your tremendous struggle may have, it seems clear that God will, through it, make an end of slavery on 122 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 59. 1864 CHAP. IV. your continent j and that end will have been cheaply purchased even ^ *k Union should perish. Believe me, with all good wishes for your own and your coun try s future, Mogt tmly yourg> THOS. HUGHES. Brig.-Gen. Geo. F. Shepley. Gen. N. P. Banks. #.34:55. 63- Letter to Gov. Mi chael Hahn. MS. May 5, 1864. As we have already stated, one of Mr. Lincoln s chief offences, in the eyes of Mr. Phillips and his supporters, was his apparent willingness to have Louisiana read mitted to the Union without enfranchising the freed- men. They pointed to the fact that when the free colored men of New Orleans, who had raised a regiment for the defence of the city within forty-eight hours, pending a threatened rebel attack, had asked to be enrolled as voters at the election which soon after ensued for the reorgani zation of the State, the Military Governor who had in voked their aid, and was now ordering the election, and the General commanding the Department, refused their application. Military power could abrogate the provisions of the old State Constitution so far as to allow white sol diers and sailors to vote, but declined to recognize those who were black. The assumption that Mr. Lincoln was either hostile or indifferent to the matter was erroneous, however. On the contrary, he favored the extension of the suffrage to such colored men as were qualified by intelligence or by having borne arms in defense of the Union, and he suggested that a provision to that effect be made in the new Constitution. 1 In May, Miller McKim wrote from Washington to Mr. Garrison : " I have had an interview with the President since I have been here not of my seeking. I . . . have seen some of the correspondence between Mr. Lincoln and New Orleans. It is greatly to Mr. Lincoln s credit as a friend to the black man. Mr. Lincoln is in advance of his party on the question of negro suffrage. Not in advance of all, but of the majority." 1 Under pressure from General Banks, a clause authorizing the Legis lature to extend the suffrage to such citizens was finally inserted (Lib. 34 : 182). ^ T - 59 ] THE REELECTION OF LINCOLN. 123 In his reply to Professor Newman, who had especially CHAP. iv. dwelt upon the Louisiana question, and condemned the I ^ 4m President for not enfranchising the colored men of that State, Mr. Garrison asked : " By what political precedent or administrative policy, in any Lib. 34: 118. country, could he have been justified if he had attempted to do this ? When was it ever known that liberation from bondage was accompanied by a recognition of political equality ? Chat tels personal may be instantly translated from the auction-block into freemen ; but when were they ever taken at the same time to the ballot-box, and invested with all political rights and im munities ? According to the laws of development and progress, it is not practicable. To denounce or complain of President Lincoln for not disregarding public sentiment, and not flying in the face of these laws, is hardly just. Besides, I doubt whether he has the constitutional right to decide this matter. Ever since this government was organized, the right of suffrage has been determined by each State in the Union for itself, so that there is no uniformity in regard to it. In some free States, colored citi zens are allowed to vote j in others, they are not. It is always a State, never a national, matter. In honestly seeking to preserve the Union, it is not for President Lincoln to seek, by a special edict applied to a 1 particular State or locality, to do violence to a universal rule, accepted and acted upon from the beginning till now by the States in their individual sovereignty. Under the war power, he had the constitutional right to emancipate the slaves in every rebel State, and also to insist that, in any plan of reconstruction that might be agreed upon, slavery should be admitted to be dead, beyond power of resurrection. That being accomplished, I question whether he could safely or advanta geously to say the least enforce a rule, ab initio, touching the ballot, which abolishes complexional distinctions ; any more than he could safely or advantageously decree that all women (whose title is equally good) should enjoy the electoral right, and help form the State. Nor, if the freed blacks were admitted to the polls by Presidential fiat, do I see any permanent advantage likely to be secured by it ; for, submitted to as a necessity at the outset, as soon as the State was organized and left to manage its own affairs, the white population, with their superior intelli gence, wealth, and power, would unquestionably alter the fran chise in accordance with their prejudices, and exclude those thus summarily brought to the polls. Coercion would gain 124 WILLIAM LLOYD GABKISON. CHAP. IV. nothing. In other words, as in your own country, universal ^ suffrage will be hard to win and to hold without a general preparation of feeling and sentiment. But it will come, both at the South and with you ; yet only by a struggle on the part of the disfranchised, and a growing conviction of its justice, l in the good time coming. With the abolition of slavery in the South, prejudice or l colorphobia, the natural product of the system, will gradually disappear as in the case of your West India colonies and black men will win their way to wealth, distinc tion, eminence, and official station. I ask only a charitable judgment for President Lincoln respecting this matter, whether in Louisiana or any other State." l In the closing numbers of the Liberator volume, Mr. Garrison laid stress on the grave problems involved in Lib. 34: 194. the reconstruction of the rebellious States, at the hands of Congress, and on the duty of securing the enactment of Lib. 34: 190. the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. For this Amendment the President, in his Message to Congress, made an earnest plea, and solemnly renewed his vow never to retract or modify his Proclamation, or to return to slavery any person emancipated by its terms, or by any Lib. 34 : 199. of the acts of Congress. " If the people should, 7 he added, " by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to reenslave such persons, another, not I, must be their instrument to perform it." Once more the expediency of consolidating the Liber ator and Standard was privately considered, the ever- increasing cost of paper making it difficult to sustain l Another indictment, constantly reiterated, against Mr. Lincoln was his assent to the Labor System established in Louisiana by General Banks, who was accused of having forced the freedmen back under their old mas ters and reduced them to a state of serfdom scarcely better than slavery. Mr. Garrison refused to accept these assertions until he could investigate the matter, and it subsequently appeared that they were altogether unjust- and exaggerated. The Labor System, which insured employment at fair wages to the men, and provisions and shelter for their families, saved hun dreds from the demoralization and death which decimated them when they swarmed about the Union camps ; and the Educational System, which went hand in hand with it, gave instruction to more than 11,000 children. Both departments were under the charge of radical abolitionists and friends of Mr. Garrison, Major B. Rush Plumly of Philadelphia, and Rev. Edwin M. Wheelock of New Hampshire (Lib. 34 : 155, 160, 181, 182 ; 35 : 30, 34). .T. 59.] THE BEELECTION OF LINCOLN. 125 both, 1 but it was finally decided to increase the price of CHAP. iv. each, and try to prolong their individual existence until !86 4 . the passage and ratification of the Amendment should warrant their discontinuance. To Oliver Johnson, who had strongly urged their union, on the ground that Mr. Garrison would thus be relieved of the toil of the printing- office, and could, by editorial correspondence with the Standard, easily satisfy the Liberator subscribers, whose interest in the paper was largely personal to him, the latter wrote : " I am not insensible to the compliment intended to be con- MS. Nov. veyed in the assurance, that it is what I write that alone in- 26> l864 terests the readers of the Liberator; but I am not willing to believe, after an editorial experience of thirty-eight years, that, aside from my own lucubrations, I have neither the tact nor the talent to make an interesting journal. This touches me too closely. If the Liberator has been at all effective in the past, it has been owing to its completeness, as a whole, from week to week, and not to what I have written. This is the true value of every journal. My selections have cost me much labor, and they have been made with all possible discrimination as to their interest, ability, and appositeness. The amount of communi cated original matter has always been much larger than that of the Standard; and though not always of special interest or value, 1 An additional embarrassment arose, in the case of the Liberator, from the action of the Hovey Committee, who had hitherto paid for one hundred copies of the paper, for gratuitous circulation. They now stopped the appropriation, " on the alleged ground . . . that the Liberator, for the countenance it has given to President Lincoln and his administration, ; has no more claim to be circulated by the Committee than any other Republican paper " (Lib. 34:210). The Draper Brothers of Hopedale, Mass., Edward Harris of Woonsocket, R. L, Samuel E. Sewall, and others vol untarily assumed the burden thus dropped by the Committee. From Henry Ward Beecher there came the following gay and characteristic note (MS.) : BROOKLYN, Feb. 4, 1865. MY DEAR MR. GARRISON : I have had the Liberator sent to me, free, for several years ; on the principle, I presume, that I needed it. So long as I was in a state of nature, I consented to have a free gospel preached to me. But, as I have made up my mind, at length, that slavery is an evil, and ought to be abolished, I suppose that I can find no good reason for taking the Liberator without paying for it. I am truly yours, H. W. BEECHER. Please find a check for $25.00. 126 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 59. CHAP. IV. it has made the Liberator less a transcript, and more readable j^" on that account. " The Liber ator~h.&s> an historic position and a moral prestige which would be lost should it be merged in the Standard. True, the loss would be the same should the paper be discontinued ; but I shall try to prevent this by increasing the subscription price for the next volume. I confess to a strong desire to keep it along till the Amendment of the Constitution is secured, and slavery abolished. It will then have accomplished its anti- slavery mission. . . . " Though you may still feel that the plan you have urged, as to the union of the two papers, is wisest and best, I know you will readily acquiesce in the decision to which I have come ; especially as that decision seems to accord with the judgment of the Executive Committee at the present time. "Accept, dear Johnson, a renewal of my grateful acknowl edgments for your many kindnesses, and the lively interest you have ever evinced in my welfare and happiness. I have not a more attached or a more disinterested friend in the world than yourself. And the anti-slavery cause has never found a truer advocate or a more faithful laborer than you have been from the hour you espoused it." CHAPTER V. THE JUBILEE. 1865. SWIFTLY following the example of Maryland, Mis- CHAP. v. souri joined the ranks of the free States at the x ^ St beginning of the new year, and abolished slavery within Jan. n. her borders without a day of grace or a cent of compen sation to the slave-masters. 1 As if shamed to decency by this signal repentance of her neighbor, Illinois tardily Lib. 35 . 28. repealed her infamous " Black Laws " ; and on the last day of January the Thirteenth Amendment to the Con stitution, forever abolishing slavery in the United States, triumphantly passed the House of Representatives at Washington by the requisite two-thirds majority. " With Lib. 35 . 18. devout thanksgiving to God, and emotions of joy which no language can express," Mr. Garrison announced the event to his readers, and when the salute of one hundred guns in its honor was fired by Gov. Andrew s order, he went up to the Common to enjoy the sight and listen to the reverberations. At the Governor s suggestion and request, the church bells were rung throughout the State ; and it was while sitting in the quiet Friends 7 Meeting at Amesbury that Mr. Whittier heard these, and, divining the cause, framed in thought his inspired lines of praise and thanksgiving ( " Laus Deo ! " ), which Mr. Garrison never wearied of repeating. A Jubilee Meeting was Feb. 4. speedily convened in Music Hall, which was crowded with an enthusiastic audience, and when the chairman (Josiah 1 The new Constitution was adopted in State Convention without sub mission to popular vote. The clause abolishing slavery passed by a vote of 60 to 4 (Lib. 35 : 11). 127 128 WILLIAM LLOYD GABRISON. [-&T. 60. CHAP. v. Quincy, Jr.) introduced Mr. Garrison as the first speaker 1865. of the evening, the latter received such an ovation that he was unable to proceed for several minutes. His speech was naturally exultant, anticipating the future greatness and prosperity of the country, and its influence upon other nations, and (by way of impressing upon his hear ers the full significance of this latest triumph) rehearsing the pro-slavery clauses of the Constitution which were now abrogated by the Amendment. We quote his words of rejoicing, at the beginning : Lib. 35:22. "Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: In the long course of history, there are events of such transcendant sublimity and importance as to make all human speech utterly inadequate to portray the emotions they excite. The event we are here to cel ebrate is one of these grand, inspiring, glorious, beyond all power of utterance, and far-reaching beyond all finite compu tation. (Applause.) . . . " Sir, no such transition of feeling and sentiment as has taken place within the last four years, stands recorded on the historic page ; a change that seems as absolute as it is stu pendous. Allow me to confess that, in view of it, and of the mighty consequences that must result from it to unborn gen erations, I feel to-night in a thoroughly methodistical state of mind disposed at the top of my voice, and to the utmost stretch of my lungs, to shout l Glory ! Alleluia ! l Amen and amen! (Rapturous applause l Glory ! * Alleluia! Amen and amen ! being repeated with great unction by various per sons in the audience.) Gladly and gratefully would I exclaim with one of old, * The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. (Applause.) With the rejoicing Psalm ist I would say to the old and the young, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good j for his mercy endureth forever. To him alone that doeth great wonders ; for his mercy endureth forever. To him that overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea; for his mercy endureth forever. And brought out Israel from among them, with a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm j for his mercy endureth forever. (Loud ap plause.) i Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord ! " Mr. Chairman, friends and strangers stop me in the streets, daily, to congratulate me on having been permitted to live to ^T. 60.] THE JUBILEE. 129 witness the almost miraculous change which has taken place in CHAP. v. the feelings and sentiments of the people on the subject of slavery, and in favor of the long rejected but ever just and humane doctrine of immediate and universal emancipation. Ah, sir, no man living better understands or more joyfully rec ognizes the vastness of that change than I do. But most truly can I say that it causes within me no feeling of personal pride or exultation God forbid ! But I am unspeakably happy to believe, not only that this vast assembly, but that the great mass of my countrymen, are now heartily disposed to admit that, in disinterestedly seeking, by all righteous instrumentalities, for more than thirty years, the utter abolition of slavery, I have not acted the part of a madman, fanatic, incendiary, or traitor (immense applause), but have at all times been of sound mind (laughter and cheers), a true friend of liberty and humanity, animated by the highest patriotism, and devoted to the welfare, peace, unity, and ever increasing prosperity and glory of my native land! (Cheers.) And the same verdict you will render in vindication of the clear-sighted, untiring, intrepid, unselfish, uncompromising anti-slavery phalanx, who, through years of conflict and persecution misrepresented, misunderstood, ridi- duled, and anathematized from one end of the country to the other have labored l in season and out of season to bring about this glorious result. (Renewed applause.) You will, I venture to think and say, agree with me, that only RADICAL ABOLITIONISM is, at this trial-hour, LOYALTY, JUSTICE, IM PARTIAL FREEDOM, NATIONAL SALVATION the Golden Rule blended with the Declaration of Independence ! (Great ap plause.) . . . " Do we realize the grandeur of the event we are assembled Lib. 35 : 23. to celebrate ? It is not merely negro emancipation, but uni versal emancipation. (Cheers.) It is not merely disenthralling four millions, but thirty-four millions. (Renewed cheers.) It is not merely liberating bodies, but souls outwardly and in wardly alike. It is an act, not in hostility to the South, but for the general welfare the good of the whole country. It is not to depress or injure any class, but to promote all human inter ests. In fine, it is the Declaration of Independence, no longer an abstract manifesto, containing certain glittering generali ties, simply to vindicate our Revolutionary fathers for seceding from the mother country j but it is that Declaration CONSTI TUTION ALIZED made THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND VOL. IV. 9 130 CHAP. V. 1865. WILLIAM LLOYD GAEKISON. 60. MS. Feb. 35- Geo. J. L. Colby. Household Ed., p. 357- for the protection of the rights and liberties of all who dwell on the American soil. (Cheers.) " * And now came an invitation from the citizens of New- buryport, begging their former townsman, to whom, during the entire anti-slavery struggle, they had as a community turned the cold shoulder, to return to his old home and receive their congratulations on the triumphant culmination of his life-work. " The town of your nativity sends you greeting on the successful passage of the act of Congress," concluded the letter, which bore the signatures of twenty-eight of the leading citizens. In compliance with this request, which was as gratifying as it was unex pected, Mr. Garrison visited his birthplace on the 22d of February, and delivered an address to an audience which packed the City Hall to overflowing and received him with the greatest enthusiasm. The editor of the Herald presided and made the welcoming address, and Whittier, too modest, as usual, to appear in person, wrote for the occasion the beautiful hymn included in his collected works not less felicitous than his "Laus Deo," nor less in consonance with Mr. Garrison s spirit and devout thought. This, too, the latter constantly read and quoted as expressing better than any words of his own the song of praise in his heart : " Not unto us who did but seek The word that burned within to speak, Not unto us this day belong The triumph and exulting song. " Nor skill, nor strength, nor zeal of ours Has mined and heaved the hostile towers ; Not by our hands is turned the key That sets the sighing captives free. " A redder sea than Egypt s wave Is piled and parted for the slave ; i Another meeting to celebrate the Amendment was held in Tremont Temple, February 13, under the auspices of the colored people ; Phillips, Garrison, and Thompson being among the speakers (Lib. 35 : 27). MS. Mar. 17, 1865. ^T. 60.] THE JUBILEE. 131 A darker cloud moves on in light, CHAP. v. A fiercer fire is guide by night ! ^ " The praise, Lord ! is Thine alone, In Thy own way Thy work is done ! Our poor gifts at Thy feet we cast, To whom be glory, first and last ! " " The remembrance of my recent visit to Newbury- port," wrote Mr. Garrison to Jacob Horton, "and the generous and handsome reception which was accorded to me by the citizens, for dear Liberty s sake, will carry with it a delightful aroma while memory lasts." The demon stration, tardy atonement as it was on the part of the old town, was typical of the utter revolution in public senti ment towards the editor of the Liberator, and of the general respect and confidence which he now enjoyed. His opinions were sought and his influence solicited by men prominent in public or political life, and in a way at times quite amusing to him, as when one of the Repub lican leaders of Massachusetts begged him to urge Mr. Lincoln to summon Governor Andrew to his Cabinet. " The President recognizes you as one of the Powers a Radical with a substratum of common sense and prac tical wisdom. He will heed your suggestions," wrote this gentleman. But Mr. Garrison disclaimed any such influence, and did not now attempt to dabble in political wire-pulling or Cabinet-making. His only intercourse with the President was the social hour he spent with him Ante, p. 117 in June, 1864, and the only favors he ever asked of him were the careful consideration of charges against an officer under arrest, whom he believed to be innocent, but who must nevertheless stand or fall by the evidence that might be adduced ; and the acknowledgment of a painting l presented to Mr. Lincoln by citizens of Boston several months before, no word from its recipient having 1 "Waiting for the Hour," an oil painting by W. T. Carleton of Boston, representing a Watch Meeting of Slaves on the night before the Emanci pation Proclamation, Dec. 31, 1862. MS. Jan. 18, 1865, J.M. Forbes to W. L. G. 132 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [;T. 60. CHAP. v. ever reached the donors. The officer in question was !86s. released, and the following " ingenuous and appreciative letter " of thanks sent for the picture : President Lincoln to W. L. Garrison. MS. and EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, 7th February, 1865. MY DEAR MR. GARRISON : I have your kind letter of the 21st of January, and can only beg that you will pardon the seeming neglect occasioned by my constant engagements. When I received the spirited and admirable painting, " Waiting for the Hour," I directed my Secretary not to acknowledge its arrival at once, preferring to make my personal acknowledgment of the thoughtful kindness of the donors j and, waiting for some leisure hour, I have com mitted the discourtesy of not replying at all. I hope you will believe that my thanks, though late, are most cordial, and I request that you will convey them to those asso ciated with you in this flattering and generous gift. I am, very truly, your friend and servant, A. LINCOLN. 1 w. r. Sher- An order of General Sherman, assigning the abandoned jTn. n i6, lands in the Sea Islands for settlement by the freedmen, Lib*is : .24. Caving occasioned some misapprehension and adverse comment, the Secretary of War deemed it advisable to write to Mr. Garrison personally concerning it : Edivin M. Stanton to W. L. Garrison. MS. WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, Feb. 12, 1865. DEAR SIR : I take the liberty of enclosing to you a copy of the " Minutes" of an interview between General Sherman and (Sic.) myself with the Colored Ministers and Church Members of l " It was my privilege once, and once only, to talk with Abraham Lincoln, at Petersburg, Va., April 6, 1865. His face, his figure, his attitudes, his words, form the most remarkable picture in my memory, and will while memory lasts. I spoke to him of the country s gratitude for his great deliverance of the slaves. His sad face beamed for a moment with happi ness as he answered in exact substance, and very nearly in words : I have been only an instrument. The logic and moral power of Garrison, and the anti-slavery people of the country and the army, have done all " (Daniel H. Chamberlain, ex-Governor of South Carolina, in N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 4, 1883). -Efr. 60 -] THE JUBILEE. 133 Savannah, during my late visit to that city. The occasion was CHAP. v. one of deep interest to me, and will no doubt be interesting to ^ you, besides serving to correct misapprehensions and misgiv ings in the minds of many persons. The order of General Sherman assigning lands to the colored people was made the day after that interview. His order has been criticised as evincing hostility to the blacks by setting them apart by themselves, as if they were an inferior race. But you will not fail to observe that this point was distinctly presented to the Ministers and others present, all of whom, with one exception, expressed a decided sentiment in favor of their separation, and assigned their reasons. The question was one upon which the General and myself felt much embarrassment, but we thought the intel ligent persons whom we consulted were best able to form an enlightened judgment by which we could safely be guided. With great regard, I am truly yours, EDWIN M. STANTON. The dramatic incidents of the war had been many and striking, and each month brought its fresh example of retributive justice, of strange contrast and coincidence. There was the occupation of General Lee s estate at Ar lington as a Freedmen s village (with its Garrison and #.34:1, Lovejoy Streets) and national cemetery; of John Tyler s and Henry A. Wise s residences by schools for colored #.32:155; children the daughter of John Brown teaching in the 34: J; 35: latter, with her father s portrait hanging on the wall ; and of Jefferson Davis s plantation on the Mississippi as a #.34:15, " contraband " camp, and its final purchase and cultiva tion by his former slaves ; the teaching of a freedman s school in Maryland by the son of Frederick Douglass, #. 33 :i 3 6. near the place whence his father had escaped ; the burn ing of Harper s Ferry by General Hector Tyndale of Phil- Lib. 33 : 27. adelphia, who three years before had visited the town with his fellow-citizen, J. M. McKim, to claim the body of John Brown and take it to the North ; * the appointment of l " That right hand which lifted the coffin of John Brown to its place at the station, by the orders of his Government put the first torch to the hotel in which he [Tyndale] was insulted ! And the conflagration was not stopped until, with poetic justice, he commanded his brigade to spare the engine- house, the Gibraltar from which the brave old man fired his first gun at Virginia slavery " (Speech of Wendell Phillips, Jan. 29, 1863. Lib. 33 : 27). 134 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. . CO. CHAP. V. 1865. Speech of Wendell Phillips, Jan. 28, 1864. Lib. 34:22. Brig. -Gen. Edward A. Wild. Lib. 34: 91. #.35:179; Lib. 34:114. #.35:56. #.35:39- March 9. John Brown s trusted friend, George L. Stearns, as Assist ant Adjutant-General of the United States for the enrol ment of colored troops, with headquarters at Nashville " appointed to do, under the stars and stripes, in broad daylight, by wholesale, what Virginia murdered Brown for trying to do in detail." There was the case of an in dignant Union General who directed a brutal slave-owner to be tied up and flogged by the slave women whom he had himself been scourging. Colored schools in South Carolina and Louisiana and a camp of colored soldiers in Kansas bore the name of William Lloyd Garrison ; and one of the gunners who aimed the first great Parrott gun at Charleston was a Liberator subscriber. But scenes and events still more dramatic and impressive were to come, and it is not probable that the United States will ever see the parallel in this respect of the ninety days ending with the month of April, 1865. Threatened by the triumphant Northern march of Sher man s army, the rebel forces defending Fort Sumter and Charleston abandoned both, and they fell into the hands of the Union forces on the 18th of February. Three days later the 55th Massachusetts Eegiment entered the city, singing exultantly the John Brown song ; and when Lieut. George Thompson Garrison halted his company in the streets, he was greeted by James Redpath, the biographer of John Brown, and the then correspondent of the New York Tribune. Redpath it was who now went promptly to work to establish free schools in the deserted " cradle of secession," ignoring all complexional distinctions among the pupils. The slave-pens were broken open, and mot toes from Isaiah, Garrison, and John Brown inscribed therein ; and the steps of the auction-block in the Mart, up which so many thousands of unhappy victims had walked to meet their fate, were sent to Boston, there to be exhibited in meetings in behalf of the freedmen, and to incite contributions for the educational societies. Their first appearance was at Music Hall, together with the sign (" MART ") which had hung in front of the auction-house, . 60.] THE JUBILEE. 135 and the lock of the room in which women had been sub jected to examination before sale ; and all three relics of barbarism were then presented to the local Freedmen s Aid Society by Charles Carleton Coffin, war correspond ent of the Boston Journal, who had brought them from Charleston. Mr. Garrison s ascent of the steps, from which he made his speech, was the event of the evening and when he had put the " accursed thing under his feet," the scene was " one of unusual interest and excitement, the audi ence raising thunders of applause and waving hundreds of white handkerchiefs." " I attended," he wrote to a friend, "a similar meeting, for a similar purpose, at Lowell on Wednesday evening last, and, on taking the block, was greeted with the strongest demonstrations of applause, prolonged and repeated, as though there were to be no end to them. What a revolution ! " With the rebellion rapidly approaching its " last ditch," the Confederacy in such straits that even General Lee ad vocated arming the blacks for its defence, the doom of slavery assured, and the President of the United States, in his inaugural address, reverently recognizing the jus tice of the Divine judgments meted out to North and South alike for their guilty complicity in enslaving their fellow-creatures, Mr. Garrison felt that the time had come for him to prepare the " Nunc dimittis " of the Liberator. The issue of March 24th contained this formal announce ment of his purpose : "We have concluded to discontinue the Liberator at the close of the present year, which will complete its THIRTY-FIFTH vol ume. As we commenced its publication for the express purpose of effecting the extinction of slavery, and as that sublime event has been consummated by a constitutional decree of the nation, so that henceforth no slave is to be held within the domains of the American Union, it seems to us historically fitting that the Liberator should simply cover the whole period of the struggle, and terminate with it. Unless, therefore, something should occur beyond our present belief or anticipation to make it nec essary to change our decision, we shall not prolong the exist ence of the paper beyond this YEAR OF JUBILEE ; and have CHAP. V. 1865. #35:42. MS. Mar. 17, to Jacob Horton. Mar. 15. Century Magazine, Aug., 1888. Mar. 4. Lib, 34 : 46. 136 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. . 60. CHAP. V. 1865. April* April 4. Lieut. G. T. Garrison. instructed our General Agent to take no subscription for a longer period." The first days of April brought the downfall of Rich mond and that memorable Monday morning when " Massa Linkum," entering the city with only a corporal s guard of attendants, was received with the wildest demonstra tions by the emancipated blacks, and almost overwhelmed by their tokens of joy and gratitude. Mr. Garrison was one of the multitude assembled in Faneuil Hall on the afternoon of the following day to exult over the event, and to enjoy the unwonted spectacle of Robert C. Win- throp and Frederick Douglass speaking from the same platform. There were loud calls for himself after Doug lass had finished his brilliant speech, but he had already left the hall in order to speak at a Freedmen s Aid meet ing in Chelsea, where the steps of the auction-block were again a feature of the occasion. Just before he was invited to mount them (over a rebel flag captured by his son s regiment), a telegram was put into his hands, and the applause with which his ascent of the steps was greeted was redoubled when he read aloud to the audience a dispatch from the Secretary of War, inviting him to be present, as a guest of the Government, at the ceremony of raising the stars and stripes on Fort Sumter, on April 14, the fourth anniversary of the surrender of the fort and inauguration of the war. 1 A similar invitation was extended to George Thompson, and a state-room was as signed for their joint use on the steamer Arago, which conveyed the invited guests from New York to Charles ton. On reaching New York, Mr. Garrison received the following telegram : " WASHINGTON, April 7, 1865. " The Adjutant-General has been directed to give Captain Garrison a furlough while you are at Charleston. I hope Mr. Thompson accompanies you. A formal invitation was for- i Major- General Robert Anderson had been appointed to perform the act, and Henry Ward Beecher engaged to deliver an oration on the oc casion. . 60.] THE JUBILEE. 137 warded to him 1 to your care, by mail, and a duplicate will be sent to Fortress Monroe, where I expect to join your party. " EDWIN M. STANTON." The announcement that Mr. Garrison was to go to Fort Sumter caused general delight and approbation. " Nothing more satisfies me that slavery is annihilated beyond any hope of resurrection than the deference, kind ness, and congratulation extended to me by those who are the unerring representatives of public opinion," he wrote to his wife, on the eve of his embarking. " The American Anti-Slavery Society may reasonably conclude that its specific mission is ended." CHAP. V. 1865. MS. Apr. 7. W. L. Garrison to his Wife. SUNDAY MORNING, April 9, 1865. Yesterday, at 12 o clock, M., the Arago slowly and majestically left the pier on her way down the harbor for Charleston ; with a fair wind, a bright sky, and a slight undulation of the waves. There was nothing to be desired in the matter of favorable omens. Up to this hour, everything has gone with us as though we had the elements under our own control a splendid sunset last evening a night so brilliant and entrancing that I did not turn into my berth till a late hour. This day the air is warmer, and as beautiful as it can be, and we have come with so little motion that scarcely any have been sea-sick, and, for a wonder, I have experienced no trouble whatever on that score. . . . Everything has been provided on a liberal scale, and we are l " I could write much of my own feelings," said George Thompson, in a letter to R. F. Wallcut (April 8), " as I look back upon the thirty years and six months which have elapsed since I landed on the shores from which I am now departing. Then I was denounced by a slaveholding President for preaching the doctrine of Universal Liberty. To-day, I am the guest of an anti-slavery President, on board a United States Government vessel, on an expedition to the city of Charleston, S. C., to see a flag raised which is not only the symbol of Union, but of Freedom. ... In former years, the question was often put to me, Why don t you go to the South ? To-day I answer, I am going ; going to celebrate the triumph of Garrisonian abo litionism in Charleston ; going in company with Garrison himself ; going to tread a once slave-cursed soil soon to be redeemed, regenerated, and dis enthralled by the irresistible Genius of Universal Emancipation " (Lib. 35 : 58). MS. New York harbor. 138 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKBISON. . 60. CHAP. V. 1865. Noah H. Swayne. William D. Kelley. Charles An derson. Robert An derson. Richard S. Storrs, Jr. Capt. Francis A.Davies. Samuel Sco- ville. Henry Wilson. John A. Dix. Abner Doubleday. Henry M. Smith. living as though we were at a first-class hotel. When we go round Cape Hatteras, we shall probably be put to a much severer test. We have about eighty invited guests on board, bound to see the flag raised at Sumter. Among these are Judge Swayne of the U. S. Supreme Court ; Judge Kelley of Philadelphia ; Lieut.- Governor Anderson (brother of the General) of Ohio ; General Anderson and a portion of his family ; Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, with his wife and children ; Rev. Dr. Storrs of Brook lyn, who is to perform the religious services this forenoon ; Professor Davies of West Point, and other Professors 5 Rev. Mr. Scoville, son-in-law of Mr. Beecher, with his wife j Senator Wilson; General Dix and General Doubleday; several mer chants ; and others whom I [am] unable to identify by name or profession. All on board have been very courteous and atten tive to George Thompson and myself, and they are manifestly pleased that we are on board. I have had several talks with General Anderson, and he is particularly gratified that we are of the company. He is a very amiable and modest man, and looks and reminds me more of John Brown than any one I have seen. He seems to be quite religious in his spirit, and rever ently recognizes the hand of God in all the wonderful events which have taken place. The New York Times, Tribune, and Herald have their reporters on board. Mr. Smith, editor of the Chicago Tribune, is his own reporter. There is no stiffness of manners. Every one is ready for con versational interchange j and though we are heterogeneous in the professions and pursuits of life, yet there is entire harmony on the slavery question. Secretary Stanton has evidently made his selections with care. 1 1 " Social intercourse was universal ; conversation taking a wide range, but having special reference to the state of the country, and its future peace and security. Great apprehension was very generally expressed lest a mistaken leniency should be shown to the leading actors in this horrible rebellion, and concessions made in the reconstruction of the revolted States which would breed another explosion, and again endanger the sta bility of our Government. Judge Holt was particularly strong and emphatic upon these points. There seemed to be but one feeling ; and that was, that sound policy as well as abstract right demanded that the fullest justice should be meted out to the colored population of the South, whose terrible wrongs had brought this tempest of fire and blood upon the land, and upon whose loyalty and valor the chief reliance must be placed in holding the South hereafter to the performance of her constitutional duties " (W. L. G. in Lib. 35 : 66). . CO.] THE JUBILEE. 139 SUNDAY, 6 p. M. We have passed Cape Henry, and [are] going up to Fortress Monroe, where we shall arrive in the course of another hour. How long we shall remain there, we cannot tell j probably not more than an hour or two. Several additional guests are to come on board, among them Secretary Stanton, if he can leave his post. 1 . . . Dear Thompson and I have a state-room together. He is very kind and attentive to me, bringing me my coffee before I leave my berth in the morning, as he rises earlier, and assiduous to do all in his power to make the jaunt pleasant to me. As all has gone well with us thus far, I trust it will to the end. But my thoughts are more with you and the dear ones at home than at Fort Sumter, saving that the prospect of our seeing George brings him before me continually. Will it not be a joy ful surprise to him to meet me and Mr. Thompson *? CHAP. V. 1865. G. T. Gar rison. W. L. Garrison to Ills Wife. CHARLESTON, S. C., April 15, 1865. We had a fine passage from Fortress Monroe to Hilton Head, where we arrived on Tuesday night. I experienced no sea sickness of any account, and therefore enjoyed the trip exceed ingly. We had a beautiful moon with us all the way each night, and at times the scene was magical. Our good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Severance, Mr. Pillsbury (brother of Parker), 2 Mr. Dodge, and a number of others were there to give me a warm welcome to the shores of Carolina. The next day we went in the steamer Delaware to Savannah, and passed by Fort Pulaski and many other objects of interest, and saw the remains of the formidable obstructions placed in the Savannah river to keep our war ves sels at bay. We found carriages waiting for us on our arrival, and went through the principal streets of Savannah, which is a city of mingled gentility and squalor, but entirely dead in regard to all business affairs. Thursday evening we left Hilton Head in the Arago for Charleston, where we arrived at daybreak, out side of the bar. At 11 we left for Fort Sumter, and got there a little after 12. A large concourse present. The exercises of 1 The pressure of official bxisiness compelled him to relinquish the trip, most fortunately, as it proved. 2 Mr. Severance was Collector of the Port at Hilton Head. Mr. Pillsbury soon afterwards became the Republican Mayor of Charleston. April IT.. T. C. and C. M. Sever ance, Gilbert Pillsbury, J. G. Dodge. April 13. April 14. nson. 140 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 60. CHAP. V. the highest interest. Beecher s discourse a good one. The en- thusiasm immense. Everything went off grandly. Have no time for particulars, as I expected to return home this evening in the Arago, but have concluded to remain one week longer, and go again to Savannah and Florida, along with Henry Ward Theodore Beecher and family, Tilton, George Thompson, Henry Wilson, Tilton. etc>? etCt gkall probably go to Richmond before getting home. So, be entirely easy about me. To-day, we have had three thousand colored people turned out to greet us, and a great procession to escort us, with a band of music, through the principal streets, all the way raising shouts to make the welkin ring ! Also, a long procession of girls and boys. 1 We have had a magnificent meeting in Zion s Church thousands present which was powerfully addressed by Judge Wm. D. Kelley, George Thompson, Theo. Tilton, Henry Wilson, and Kelley " also by myself. My reception was beyond all description en thusiastic, and my feelings were unutterable. G. T. Gar- As for our dear George, I have not yet seen him, but expect to in the course of a few hours. He returned with his company last evening, from the interior, with 1,200 slaves, now freemen. I understand he is in good health, and long to embrace him for your sake and mine. When I get back, I shall have a volume of interesting things to communicate to you and the children. God preserve and bless you all ! I can add no more, for the boat leaves immediately. "With the exception of a brief editorial in the Liberator, on his return, the above is the only personal record left by Mr. Garrison of his experiences in South Carolina. Writing hurriedly in both instances, he failed to note several incidents which we must mention here, quoting from the narratives of others who accompanied him. First April 13. in order was a visit, on the day before the Sumter fes tivities, to Mitchelville, a village of three thousand inhab- Lib. 35:76. itants " the first self-governing settlement of freedmen in the country." 2 Here the members of the Aragtfs party iTwo thousand school children had been enrolled and organized by James Redpath in less than two months. 2 Situated a mile and a half from Hilton Head, and named in honor of the lamented General O. M. Mitchel, who had shown himself an earnest friend of the emancipated race during his command of that Department, until his death in October, 1862. MT. GO.] THE JUBILEE. 141 CHAP. V. 1865. were received in a church densely crowded by the colored people, who thrilled their guests by the fervor with which they sang their hymns and songs, beginning with those which they had been wont to sing in their days of bond age, and ending with " The Day of Jubilo hab Come," and " John Brown s Body." The meeting was emotional throughout, and " from the most hysterical contraband Lib. 35 : 76. to the dispassionate judge there was no reserve or re straint in the general flow of tears." Mr. Garrison, who was " rapturously welcomed," began his address by read ing Moses s triumphal song, Exodus XV., " and then, for half an hour, magnetized his colored constituents, as he detailed the early history of the anti-slavery movement in America, and sang the praises of the Proclamation which had answered all their prayers." He was followed by Judge Kelley, Theodore Tilton, Judge Kellogg, Joseph Hoxie, and George Thompson, the second of whom aroused the audience most thoroughly. Of the Sumter celebration, Mr. Garrison wrote : Wm. D. Kelley. Stephen Wright Kel logg. Robert An derson. " The day proved to be very fine, and was ushered in by #.35:66. salvos of artillery. All the vessels in the harbor, including the naval fleet, put on their gayest attire, and the national ensign floated from all the principal fortifications, except Fort Sumter. The services at the Fort were in the highest degree impressive. . . . The speech of General Anderson, previous to hoisting the identical flag which, after an honorable and gallant defence in 1861, he was compelled to lower, was very brief, but uttered with deep feeling ; and the address of Mr. Beecher was as hap pily conceived as it was eloquently expressed, and elicited the most rapturous applause from an immense assembly, thrilled by the sublimity of the scene. " To add to the joy and exultation of the occasion, the intelli gence had most opportunely arrived that morning of the surren der of General Lee with his army to General Grant ; thus giving assurance that the rebellion had gone down just as the i stars and stripes were about to be unfurled on Sumter henceforth the banner of universal emancipation ! " Previous to the raising of the flag the steamer Planter, Capt. Robert Smalls, which, it will be remembered, ran the rebel gauntlet in 1862, came to the fort loaded down with between 142 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. 60. CHAP. V. 1865. April 14. Joseph Holt. Lib. 35:69. Lib. 35 : 76. 2000 and 3000 of the emancipated race, of all ages and sizes. Their appearance was warmly welcomed, and their joy seemed to be unbounded. Capt. Smalls was subsequently introduced to many distinguished gentlemen, to whom he narrated his inter esting adventure with lively satisfaction. " On the evening of that day, a handsome banquet was given at the Charleston Hotel, by General Gillmore, to the invited guests who came in the Arago ; at the conclusion of which eloquent and stirring speeches were made by Judge Holt, Judge Kelley, Hon. Joseph Hoxie, Lieut.-Governor Anderson, George Thompson, Theodore Tilton, and others. The speech of the occasion was made by Judge Holt, which was one of the most forcible speeches to which we ever listened, and delivered with great energy." * Mr. Thompson and Mr. Garrison were also among the speakers at the banquet, the latter being heartily cheered as he rose to respond to the toast in his honor. Brief as were his remarks, we can quote only the opening and concluding paragraphs : "My friends, I am so unused to speaking in this place (cheers and laughter) that I arise with feelings natural to a first appearance. You would scarce expect one of my age and antecedents to speak in public on this stage, or anywhere else in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. (Cheers.) And yet, why should I not speak here ? Why should I not speak anywhere in my native land ? Why should I not have spoken here twenty years ago, or forty, as freely as any one *? What crime had I committed against the laws of my country ? I have loved liberty, for myself, for all who are dear to me, for all who dwell on the American soil, for all mankind. The head and front of my offending hath this extent, no more. . . . " I am here in Charleston, South Carolina. She is smitten to the dust. She has been brought down from her pride of place. The chalice was put to her lips, and she drunk it to the dregs. I have never been her enemy, nor the enemy of the South. Nay, l Major-General Anderson, in responding to a toast in his honor, had paid a warm tribute to Secretary Stanton, General Dix, and Judge Holt for the support which, as members of Buchanan s Cabinet, they had given him during his defence of Sumter in 1861 ; and Judge Holt, in his reply, urged that no mercy or forbearance should be shown the guilty leaders of the rebellion, whose treasonable plottings he had seen in Washington during the stormy winter of 1860-61. .T. 60.] THE JUBILEE. 143 I have been the friend of the South, and, in the desire to save CHAP. v. her from this great retribution, demanded in the name of the jj7 living God that every fetter should be broken, and the oppressed set free. 1 I have not come here with reference to any flag but that of freedom. If your Union does not symbolize universal emancipation, it brings no Union for me. If your Constitution does not guarantee freedom for all, it is not a Constitution I can subscribe to. If your flag is stained by the blood of a brother held in bondage, I repudiate it, in the name of God. I came here to witness the unfurling of a flag under which every human being is to be recognized as entitled to his freedom. Therefore, with a clean conscience, without any compromise of principles, I accepted the invitation of the Government of the United States to be present, and witness the ceremonies that have taken place to-day. "And now let me give the sentiment which has been, and ever will be, the governing passion of my soul : Liberty for each, for all, and for ever. (Cheers.) " Before retiring for the night to his room at the Charles ton Hotel, the editor of the Liberator paid a fraternal visit to the office of the Charleston Courier, 2 where, true 1 The following tribute to Mr. Garrison by a South Carolinian will not be out of place here. In an address on the "Parallelisms of Negro Slavery and Protection in the United States," delivered in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 19, 1886, Mr. John J. Dargan, President of the South Carolina Free Trade Association, said : " The North furnished, up to the outbreak of the war, many able and zealous defenders of the right of human bondage. But in the fulness of time there arose a party in New England led by William Lloyd Garrison. Words fail me when I contemplate the moral stature of this man. Grand, noble embodiment of liberty and justice, of courage and perseverance. He was for putting aside all calculations on consequences, and doing right, giving justice, and establishing freedom. . . . For . . . his fearless fight for liberty in America, his native State of Massa chusetts had then only vituperation and imprisonment and stones and the hangman s halter to bestow upon him. But now it has come to pass that a citizen of South Carolina, upon whose soil he dared not set his foot twenty-five years ago, lest he be swung to the first convenient tree, as a malefactor blacker in crime than that unrepentant one who hung by Christ on the cross a South Carolinian now proclaims his unbounded admiration for the man s courage and foresight, and his immeasurable gratitude to him for doing more, probably, than any other one man to liberate South Caro lina from the curse of negro slavery." 2 This journal, but recently a noisy secession sheet, was now conducted by Northern men who had taken possession of the deserted office and types, and made a loyal paper of it. 144 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. . 60. Courier, April 15, 1865. April 15. Lib. 35 : 76. April 15. Abraham Lincoln. to his instincts, he took the composing-stick and put in type a paragraph of Mr. Beecher s oration of that after noon, on which the printers were at work. The next morning 1 a visit was paid to the grave of Calhoun, the party consisting of Messrs. Beecher, Garri son, Thompson, Tilton, and others. One of these (Rev. A. P. Putnam) shall describe the incident : " One of the most impressive scenes I have witnessed was Wm. Lloyd Garrison standing at the grave of John C. Calhoun. It was on the very morning when Abraham Lincoln died. The cemetery is a small one opposite St. Philip s church. The monument of the great advocate of slavery and nullification is built of brick, and covered with a large, plain slab of marble, inscribed with the simple name, Calhoun. He who slept beneath was the very soul of the hated institution when Garrison began his mighty warfare against it. The latter had now lived to see the power of his great antagonist pass away ; and just as the illustrious Emancipator who gave to the system its final blow was breathing his last, the reformer laid his hand upon the monument before him, and said impressively, Down into a deeper grave than this slavery has gone, and for it there is no resurrection. It was a fitting hour for such words to be spoken. Garrison was the proper man to speak them. The tomb of Cal houn was the appropriate place for their utterance. It was a scene that a painter might well attempt to reproduce upon can vas. Later in the morning, I entered the vast building which is known as Zion s Church, and which is used by the colored people as their principal place of worship. It was crowded with an immense audience of three or four thousand blacks. Gen. Saxton 2 was presiding over the meeting, and around him in the pulpit were some of the most eminent public men and leading abolitionists in the country. The space in front was filled with l"On Saturday morning ... I was standing in front of St. Michael s church with William Lloyd Garrison. Just then the band of the 127th Regiment came down Meeting Street, playing Old John Brown most superbly. Only listen to that in Charleston streets! exclaimed Gar rison, and we both broke into tears. I had many such startling and almost incredible surprises during my visit" (Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler in the Evangelist, Lib. 35 : 70). 2 Major-General Rufus Saxton, the philanthropic Commander of the De partment, and worthy successor to General Mitchel in his vigilant regard for the interests of the freedmen. ^T. 60.] THE JUBILEE. 145 military officers, teachers, and missionaries from the North, and CHAP. v. members of the excursion parties of the Arago and the Oceanus. 1 T ^ s> Garrison was standing in the pulpit, receiving an address from a liberated slave who stood below, and whose name was Samuel Dickerson. The negro spoke in behalf of the emancipated thousands who surrounded him, and in words of thrilling elo quence extended a joyful welcome to their distinguished visitor and friend. They all recognized in him the leader of the great movement which had broken their chains. Pointing to two little girls near by, who were neatly dressed, and were holding beautiful bouquets in their hands, the freedman said, in most pathetic and impassioned tones, that, but a brief time before, he had no power to claim them as his own, although they were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Now, sir, he con tinued, through your labors and those of your noble coad jutors, they are mine, and no man can take them from me. Accept these flowers as the token of our gratitude and love, and take them with you to your home, and keep them as a simple offering from those for whom you have done so much. I do not pretend to give the language of this eloquent black orator, but only the main thought of his speech. Hardly one of the distinguished men who followed him spoke with greater accu racy, as none of them did with greater power. " The little girls ascended the pulpit stairs, and presented their flowers to Mr. Garrison, who made a most fitting and touching reply. It seemed to me that it must have been the proudest moment in the reformer s life. To stand in the city of Charles ton, S. C., in the presence of a vast assemblage of freed men and women, whose fetters he had done so much to break, and to receive from little emancipated children the humble memorial of the thankfulness and affection of the poor who were ready to perish, must indeed have been a sufficient reward for the laborious services he had rendered, and all the obloquy he had endured in their behalf, through more than thirty years of con flict with wrong. . . . 1 The Oceanus was a steamer chartered by residents of Brooklyn, N. Y., mostly members of Mr. Beecher s church, for the excursion, and carried on this occasion 186 passengers, among whom were Joshua Leavitt, Hon. Edgar Ketchum, Aaron M. Powell, Revs. O. B. Frothingham, John W. Chadwick, A. P. Putnam, and Theo. L. Cuyler. An interesting and valuable record of this trip was subsequently published, which included a report of the speeches at the above-described meeting The Trip of the Steamer Oceanus to Fort Sumter and Charleston, S. C., Brooklyn, 1865. VOL. IV. 10 146 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. [^ET. 60. CHAP. V. " The enthusiasm of that assembled multitude at the first ~ mention by one of the speakers of the name of Abraham Lin coln was such as to defy description. It was intense, wild, and almost fearful. The vast crowd cheered, and clapped their hands and waved their handkerchiefs some screaming for joy, and others raising their hands and clasping them in grat itude to God, and hundreds weeping the tears they could not repress as they thought of their great friend and benefactor. How little did any of us dream that, on that very morning, he lay silent in death at Washington ! " It had been intended to hold this meeting in the open air, and stands for the speakers had been erected in Citadel Square, which was thronged at an early hour. When Mr. Garrison arrived on the scene, at ten o clock, he was greeted with deafening shouts, and the enthusi astic freedmen, defying all attempts to restrain them, lifted him aloft and bore him in triumph on their shoulders to the speakers 7 stand. The adjournment to the church was made on Senator Wilson s account, as he could not speak out-of-doors, and the meeting was opened by the speech of welcome already alluded to, for which, and for Mr. Garrison s rejoinder, we must here find room. Ad vancing to the pulpit with his children, Samuel Dickerson thus addressed Mr. Garrison : #.35:72. " SIR : It is with pleasure that is inexpressible that I wel come you here among us, the long, the steadfast friend of the poor, down-trodden slave. Sir, I have read of you. I have read of the mighty labors you have had for the consummation of this glorious object. Here you see stand before you your handiwork. These children were robbed from me, and I stood desolate. Many a night I pressed a sleepless pillow from the time I returned to my couch until the close of the morning. I lost a dear wife, and after her death that little one, who is the counterpart of her mother s countenance, was taken from me. I appealed for her with all the love and reason of a father. The rejection came forth in these words : Annoy me not, or I will sell them off to another State. I thank God that, through your instrumentality, under the folds of that glorious flag which treason tried to triumph over, you have restored them to me. And I tell you it is not this heart alone, but there are mothers, ^T. 60.] THE JUBILEE. 147 there are fathers, there are sisters, and there are brothers, the CHAP. v. pulsations of whose hearts are unimaginable. The greeting that x ^ 5 they would give you, sir, it is almost impossible for me to express ; but simply, sir, we welcome and look upon you as our saviour. We thank you for what you have done for us. Take this wreath from these children ; and when you go home, never mind how faded they may be, preserve them, encase them, and keep them as a token of affection from one who has lived and loved. (Cheers.)" Mr. Garrison spoke as follows : " MY DEAR FRIEND : I have no language to express the feel- Lib. 35:72. ings of my heart on listening to your kind and strengthening words, on receiving these beautiful tokens of your gratitude, and on looking into the faces of this vast multitude, now happily liberated from the galling fetters of slavery. Let me say at the outset, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto God be all the glory for what has been done in regard to your emancipation. I have been actively engaged in this work for almost forty years for I began when I was quite young to plead the cause of the enslaved in this country. But I never expected to look you in the face, never supposed you would hear of anything I might do in your behalf. I knew only one thing all that I wanted to know that you were a grievously oppressed people ; and that, on every consideration of justice, humanity, and right, you were entitled to immediate and unconditional freedom. " I hate slavery as I hate nothing else in this world. It is not only a crime, but the sum of all criminality ; not only a sin, but the sin of sins against Almighty God. I cannot be at peace with it at any time, to any extent, under any circumstances. That I have been permitted to witness its overthrow calls for expres sions of devout thanksgiving to Heaven. " It was not on account of your complexion or race, as a people, that I espoused your cause, but because you were the children of a common Father, created in the same divine image, having the same inalienable rights, and as much entitled to lib erty as the proudest slaveholder that ever walked the earth. " For many a year I have been an outlaw at the South for your sakes, and a large price was set upon my head, simply because I endeavored to remember those in bonds as bound with them. Yes God is my witness ! I have faithfully tried, in the face of the fiercest opposition and under the most depress ing circumstances, to make your cause my cause ; my wife and 148 WILLIAM LLOYD GABKISON. [^T. 60. CHAP. V. children your wives and children, subjected to the same outrage j^" 5 and degradation ; myself on the same auction-block, to be sold to the highest bidder. Thank God, this day you are free ! (Great cheering.) And be resolved that, once free, you will be free forever. No not one of you ever will, ever can, consent again to be a bondman. Liberty or death, but never slavery ! (Cheers.) " It gives me joy to assure you, that the American Govern ment will stand by you to establish your freedom, against what ever claims your former masters may bring. The time was when it gave you no protection, but was on the side of the oppressor, where there was power. Now all is changed ! Once I could not feel any gladness at the sight of the American flag, because it was stained with your blood, and under it four millions of slaves were daily driven to unrequited labor. Now it floats purged of its gory stains ; it symbolizes freedom for all, without distinction of race or color. The Government has its hold upon the throat of the monster Slavery, and is strangling the life out of it. " In conclusion, I thank you, my friend, for your affecting and grateful address, and for these handsome tokens of our Heavenly Father s wisdom and goodness, and will try to preserve them in accordance with your wishes. 0, be assured, I never doubted that I had the gratitude and affection of the entire colored population of the United States, even though personally unknown to so many of them j because I knew that upon me heavily rested the wrath and hatred of your cruel oppressors. I was sure, therefore, if I had them against me, I had you with me. (Applause.) But, as it is now time to organize this meeting, it will not be proper for me to go on with these remarks any fur ther, except to say that, long as I have labored in your behalf, while God gives me reason and strength I shall demand for you everything I claim for the whitest of the white in this country. (Great cheering.) " Beyond the words of panegyric with which he subse quently introduced Senator Wilson and George Thomp son to the eager assemblage, Mr. Garrison made no further speech at this meeting, preferring to yield the time to others. One other experience yet awaited him when, in company with Senator Wilson and others, he April 15. visited towards evening the camp of the 55th Massachu- . 60.] THE JUBILEE. 149 setts Regiment, about three miles from the city, to find CHAP. v. and embrace his soldier-son. There were gathered, in all I 86 5 . the rags and wretchedness in which they had made their exodus, the twelve hundred plantation slaves or " contra bands" whom his son s company had just convoyed from the interior to the coast. They presented a picture of the misery and degradation of slavery and slave-life such as Mr. Garrison had never before witnessed, and had scarcely conceived ; and most deeply was he affected by it, and by the manifestations of gratitude with which the. poor creatures gathered about him when told by some of the officers that he had always been their friend. Even more touching was an incident which pointed the differ ence between their low estate and that of the blacks of Charleston. " Well, my friends," said Mr. Garrison to them before leaving the camp, "you are free at last let us give three cheers for freedom ! n and, leading off, he gave the first cheer. To his amazement, there was no re sponse, the poor creatures looking at him in wonder, and he had to give the second and third cheers also without them. They did not know how to cheer. On Monday morning the little group of the Arago s pas sengers who had remained behind, on the steamer s return to New York, left Charleston for the purpose of visiting Florida. The incidents of their departure were thus de scribed by Mr. Beecher : " The streets were full of colored people. I supposed that Lib. 35:84. they had just come in from plantations for they were being brought into Charleston by hundreds and thousands by our soldiers returning from raids through the adjacent country ; but they said they were going to see Mr. Garrison and Mr. Thompson off. And we could have found our way to the steamer by following this crowd. When we reached the wharf, it was black ; and yet it glowed like a garden. They had but little to bring as testimonials of their remembrance and grati tude j but what they had they brought. One had a little bunch of roses. Another had a bunch of jessamines and honey suckles. Others had bunches of various kinds of flowers. I saw Mr. Tilton loaded down with these treasures that had been Tilton. 150 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKEISON. |>ET. 60. CHAP. V. showered upon him, and struggling beneath his burden as he j^g came on board. And they were thrown up on the steamer to Mr. Thompson and Mr. Garrison, and whatever person showed himself by the rail. And they lay about in bowlsful, and bas- ketsful, and heaps in the corners so abundant that we knew not how to dispose of them. They were all they had to bring by which to express their gratitude towards those that they sup posed had befriended them. No, not all j one poor, decrepit old woman came with a straw basket containing about two quarts of ground-nuts, which she wished to give us. A young woman came with some dainty little cakes that had been carefully pre pared in some kitchen. There were various little delicacies brought for us, that we might eat them and remember the givers. I shall not forget these scenes. I shall not forget the cheers and acclamations of that dusky throng, as speeches were made to them. And when the boat moved off, I felt that we had left behind many of the Lord s elect, and that it were bet ter for a man that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea, than that he should lay one finger of harm on these little ones of Christ." A spirited meeting was held on the wharf, James Red- path presiding, and Samuel Dickerson made an eloquent farewell speech, to which Garrison, Thompson, and Tilton responded. Major Delaney, a colored member of General Saxton s staff, also spoke. The hundreds of school chil dren present sang patriotic songs with great energy. As the steamer swung off, Dickerson was seen kneeling at the end of the wharf, with one arm about his little daughters, and holding above them with the other an American flag 5 and with this tableau ended the never- to-be-forgotten experiences of the three days in Charles ton. Gathering a mass of the flowers which the grateful freedmen had showered upon their friends, George Thomp son disappeared for a time, as the steamer made her way out of the harbor, and then, returning, led his companion to their state-room, where he had fairly covered the latter s berth with the fragrant offerings. " Garrison ! " he said, " you began your warfare at the North in the face of rotten eggs and brickbats. Behold, you end it at Charleston on a bed of roses ! " ^T. 60.] THE JUBILEE. 151 The intended journey to Florida was rudely interrupted by the news of President Lincoln s assassination, which April 14, reached the party at Beaufort. To quote Mr. Beecher : " We had returned to Beaufort, and were on the eve of going Lib. 35 : 84. upon shore to enjoy a social interview, before setting out for Savannah, when a telegram came to Senator Wilson from Gen. Gillmore. As the boy that brought it passed me, I jocosely asked him some questions about it. Presently Senator Wilson came out of his cabin, much agitated, and said, Good God ! the President is killed! and read the dispatch. It was not grief, it was sickness that I felt. " In one half -hour we had wheeled upon our keel, and were plowing our way back to Hilton Head, whither we had tele graphed to have steam raised upon the Suwo Nada, that we might leave immediately for the North. We could see no more sights. We had no more heart for pleasure. The heavens seemed dark. Nothing was left, for the hour, but God, and his immutable providence, and his decrees. I leaned on them, and was strengthened. But, oh, the sadness of that company, and our nights and our days voyaging back ! We knew nothing but this: that the President had been assassinated. All the rest was reserved for our coming into the harbor. We hoped to have returned with great cheer, and to have come up this noblest bay of the world to see it lined with tokens of joy and beauty ; but, instead of that, on a dreary morning, drenched, chilled, and seasick, we came creeping up the bay under a cloudy sky, fit symbol of our nation s loss, and betook ourselves to our several homes." No stop was made at Fortress Monroe on the return voyage, which was so hastily ordered that the steamer had only one hour s supply of coal left on reaching New York. Mr. Garrison often spoke of the immense relief it was to all, on landing, to find that the assassination of the President had not affected the stability of the Govern ment of the country in the slightest, and that the North was as united in feeling as it was after the fall of Sumter in 1861. Lieut. Garrison s furlough was voluntarily extended by Secretary Stanton to enable him to accompany his father to Boston. In September, 1865, the Secretary visited 152 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON". [^T. 60. CHAP. v. Boston and renewed his acquaintance with Mr. Garrison, 1865. to whom he wrote on his arrival : MS. Sept. " One of the anticipated pleasures of my visit to Boston was 1 8, 1865. {- o gee vou ^ an( j ^ Tfffii occasion me much regret should anything prevent our meeting. The invitation to witness the ceremonies at Fort Sumter was a just tribute to your great labors and sac rifices in the cause [of] freedom and human rights, and without your presence much of the significance of the event would have been incomplete. . . . Although conscious that the terms of commendation in which my services during the war are so kindly mentioned by you, are beyond my merit, I am happy to know that they are approved by you, who from earliest youth have been an object of my respect and admiration. With sin cere regard, I shall ever be faithfully your friend." CHAPTER VI. END OF "THE LIBERATOR." 1865. THE debates at the January meetings of the Massachu- Jan. 26, 27, setts Society in Boston had turned almost wholly upon the question of reconstruction and negro suffrage ; Mr. Phillips vigorously opposing the readmission of Louisiana or any other of the seceded States with the word white in their constitutions, and declaring that " no Lib. 35:18. emancipation can be effectual, and no freedom real, unless the negro has the ballot and the States are prohibited from enacting laws making any distinction among their citizens on account of race or color." Mr. Garrison urged that those Northern States which denied suffrage to the blacks within their own borders could not, with any consistency, make a similar denial on the part of the Southern States a sufficient reason for refusing them readmission to the Union, and he therefore proposed the following resolutions as supplementary to the series in troduced by Mr. Phillips : " 7. Resolved, That if, as reconstructed, Louisiana ought not Lib. 35: 18. to be admitted to the Union because she excludes her colored population from the polls, then Connecticut, New Jersey, Penn sylvania, and all the Western States ought not to be in the Union for the same reason ; and while they are guilty of this proscription, it is not for them to demand of Louisiana a broader scope of republican liberality than they are willing to take in their own case. 1 iMr. Garrison had already pointed out, in an editorial reviewing the whole subject of "Equal Political Rights," that the new Constitution of Louisiana was really more favorable to the colored people than that of any 153 154 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEEISON. [Mi. GO. CHAP. vi. " Whereas, ever since the organization of the National Gov- "- ernment till now, every State in the Union has claimed and exercised the right to determine on what conditions any of its inhabitants shall wield the ballot the General Government taking no cognizance of the special inclusion or exclusion per taining to its electoral law ; and whereas, it is not to be presumed that any State will consent to have this established prerogative wrested from it, and a wholly different rule forcibly prescribed, either on the plea of military occupancy or by act of Congress, without an amendment of the National Constitution ; and whereas, by the conflicting laws or constitutions of the several States in the matter of voting, colored citizens who are electors in one State are disfranchised in another, and thus this usage is attended with invidious and oppressive features, and ought not longer to prevail among a people claiming to be one in nation ality of spirit, purpose, and destiny ; and whereas, with a wise regard to the future peace and welfare of the republic, and especially the allegiance of the Southern section of it, no one class should be left to ostracize another, under the plea of State sovereignty ; therefore, " 8. Resolved, That Congress should lose no time in submit ting to the people an amendment of the Constitution, making the electoral law uniform in all the States, without regard to complexional distinctions." Both of these resolutions, with a third, providing for the dissolution of the Society on the final adoption and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, were laid on the table at the final session, while those proposed by Mr. Phillips (which also suggested a Constitutional amend ment forbidding all discriminations against color) were adopted. So far as the claims made in behalf of the col ored race were concerned, there was no vital difference between the speakers or the resolutions, but there was an essential difference in the spirit in which public men and measures were named and criticised ; and this, on the part of some, had become so distasteful to Mr. Garrison that he preferred to absent himself from the second day s ses- of the Northern States outside of New England, all which (with Connecti cut) were more or less prescriptive. See Lib. 35 : 133. His own position coin cided with Simmer s, that the seceded States were in a Territorial condition, and there should be no haste in readmitting them (Lib. 35 : 6). ^T. 60.] END OF THE LIBEEATOE. 155 sions which, the Society voted to hold, in extension of the CHAP. vi. original call. " Old things have passed away/ 7 he declared, I 86 S . " and behold, all things have become new." "I recognize the fact, with devout gratitude to God. I will Lib. 35:26. not cast imputations upon the motives of any man, or any body of men, for this sudden change, nor taunt them with being bay oneted up to it by abolitionists. I have no such impeachment to make. I thank God that they are now clothed, and sitting hi their right minds ; and that is all I care to know. I give them my heart and my hand and, instead of prognosticating only evil, and filling the air with doubts and apprehensions of danger in the future, I choose rather to believe that the people have passed the Rubicon, that they have burned the bridge be hind them ; that they have drawn the sword and thrown away the scabbard, and never mean to make any further compromise with slavery, but do mean to annihilate it. To say that this Government is disposed to put Union first and the black man afterwards, is to assert what is not true. The Government does not say so. The Government affirms, before the civilized world, that it puts liberty with Union ! the liberty of the black man alongside of the Union, or else no Union. What is gained by casting wrong imputations ? What is the use of prophesying evil, only evil, and that continually ? Is that the way to encour age the people to go forward ? If their faces are simply turned Zionward, let us thank God that they are so turned, even if they have not taken a step toward Zion. Their faces are in the right direction ; and God speed them onward until they reach Zion and sing its songs of praise ! . . . Let us, then, cheer on the vast multitude whose hearts are beginning to palpitate with our own. Let us rejoice that they have entirely changed, in spirit and feeling, towards us and the cause of the oppressed ; and not say or insinuate that they will betray freedom for Union the earliest moment they can. Let us be just, magnanimous, hopeful, cooperative, and thus stimulate them to complete the work so well begun. That is the philosophy upon which I act." Several of the speakers having bluntly intimated, at the same meeting, that he had fallen behind, and, being no longer the man for the crisis, should now yield the leader ship to Mr. Phillips, he repudiated any claim to leadership, declaring that he had been "one only of a multitude of #.35:25. 156 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. |>T. 60. CHAP. vi. noble men and women in various parts of the country, 1865. whose combined efforts have all been necessary to bring about the marvellous change in public sentiment which we now see, and over which we now rejoice." Lib. 35:25. " I cannot allow," he continued, " because it is not true, that Mr. Phillips is more firmly anchored in anti-slavery principle than I am, or more inexorable in the application of that prin ciple. Have I not always declared, that all proscriptive coin- plexional distinctions are cruel, unnatural, and wicked before God ? I deny here, not in the spirit of rivalry but as a matter of justice, that he precedes me, or the humblest member of this Society, a hair s-breadth in demanding that equal justice be done to the black man as to the white man. I protest, there fore, against this alleged difference between Mr. Phillips and myself as though there had been a retreat, or standing still, or getting behind the times, on my part, and a bold, radical advance on his part, separating us from each other. There is no such antagonism, isolation, retraction, or precedence. Neither is he in advance, nor am I behind j neither does he lead, nor are the abolitionists led. We all stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and march in a solid phalanx against the common foe God alone being our leader. Wherein we may chance to differ relates not to the principles we cherish, the doc trines we disseminate, or the claims we make for the colored population, whether bond or free j but solely as to the relative amount of praise or blame, of satisfaction or complaint, to be expressed or awarded concerning certain public men and meas ures in their bearing upon the cause so dear to us all. And herein we shall differ in opinion, more or less, according to the standpoint we occupy, the information we possess, or the ability we have to perceive and understand the relation of 9 e vents in this tremendous convulsion of the country." Mr. Phillips also uttered his protest against the attempt to extol him at the expense of his friend : Lib. 35:26. "Allow me," he said, "one word, which I utter with the greater pleasure and frankness because my friend, Mr. Garri son, has left the hall, that there is nothing more unpleasant to me than any allusion to him and myself as antagonists. What ever may have been the immediate cause of my anti-slavery life and action, he is, in so true and full a sense, the creator JET. 60.] END OF THE LIBEEATOK. 157 of the anti-slavery movement, that I may well say I have never CHAP. VI. uttered an anti-slavery word which I did not owe to his inspira- tion ; I have never done an anti-slavery act of which the pri mary merit was not his. More than that : in my experience of nigh thirty years, I have never met the anti-slavery man or woman, who had struck any effectual blow at the slave system in this country, whose action was not born out of the heart and conscience of Wm. Lloyd Garrison. I do not forget the half- dozen anti-slavery sermons which sparkle along our history, the quiet scruples of some tender consciences, the passive dis approbation of Friends, their protection of individual fugitives, or the devoted life of Lundy, still, the anti-slavery movement is Garrison s work, and, as agitators, we all owe to him the breath of our nostrils ; and I do not see to-day, that, in regard to the great principles of the cause, there is any difference be tween him and myself. . . . Whatever, therefore, may be the conclusion of this debate, I recognize the same leading mind at the head of the anti-slavery struggle. In times past, none but his own modest lips ever dreamed of denying him that title ; in time to come, we shall need, find, and welcome the same leader." The question whether the American Anti-Slavery Soci ety should dissolve or continue its operations caused an unusually large attendance at the annual meeting in May, in New York, not only of the old and long-tried members, but of others, hitherto seldom seen at these meetings, whose attitude towards the Society had suddenly changed from indifference or hostility to a professed conviction that its dissolution would now be an alarming peril to the freedom and enfranchisement of the blacks. Mr. Garri son at once introduced the subject in these resolutions : " Whereas, . . . it is decreed by the nation that all fet- Lib. 35 : 81. ters shall be broken, every bondman set free j and " Whereas, it is not for Abolitionists to affect exclusiveness, or to seek isolation from the great mass of the people, when the reasons which compelled them to take such a position no longer exist ; therefore, " Resolved, That, uniting our thanksgivings to God with those of the emancipated millions at the South for the wonders he has wrought, and rejoicing with joy unspeakable that the year of 158 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [Mi. 60. CHAP. VI. jubilee is come/ so that further anti-slavery agitation is on- jjj^j called for, we close the operations and the existence of this So ciety with the present anniversary." To this, Mr. Phillips opposed the following motion : Lib, 35 : 81. " Resolved, That since the Constitutional Amendment abolish ing slavery is not yet ratified, and consequently the system of slavery stands in the eye of the law untouched ; and whereas, there are still thousands of slaves legally held within the United States ; therefore, this Society calls upon its members for fresh and untiring diligence in finishing the work to which they originally pledged themselves, and putting the liberty of the negro beyond peril." May 9, 10. The debate on these propositions continued through two 82, 8 3 s 5 , 86. days, that of Mr. Phillips being supported by C. L. Remond, Frederick Douglass, Eobert Purvis, S. S. Foster, and Anna E. Dickinson, while Samuel May, Jr., Oliver Johnson, and William I. Bowditch favored continuing the Society only until the Thirteenth Amendment should have been of ficially ratified. The point having been made that the Society was pledged to continue until negro suffrage should be secured, because the elevation of the free people of color was one of the objects set forth in its Declara tion and Constitution, Mr. G-arrison rejoined that, as the author of the Declaration, he felt competent to interpret it. Lib. 35 : 81. " This Society," he continued, "is The American Anti- Slavery Society. That was the object. The thought never entered my mind then, nor has it at any time since, that when slavery had received its death-wound, there would be any disposition or occasion to continue the Anti- Slavery Society a moment longer. But, of course, in looking over the country, we saw the free colored people more or less laboring under disabilities and suffering from injustice, and we declared that, incidentally, we did not mean to overlook them, but should vindicate their rights and endeavor to get justice done to them. The point is here. We organized expressly for the abolition of slavery ; we called our Society an Anti- Slavery Society. The other work was incidental. Now, I believe slavery is abolished in this coun try; abolished constitutionally ; abolished by a decree of this nation, never, never to be reversed; and, therefore, that it ^T. 60.] END OF THE LIBEKATOK. 159 is ludicrous for us, a mere handful of people, with little means, CHAP. VI. with no agents in the field, no longer separate, and swallowed ^^ up in the great ocean of popular feeling against slavery, to assume that we are of special importance, and that we ought not to dissolve our association, under such circumstances, lest the nation should go to ruin ! I will not be guilty of any such absurdity." Mr. Phillips, with impassioned rhetoric, insisted that the Thirteenth Amendment was not yet legally ratified, be littled the Freedmen s aid and educational movements which were already accomplishing noble results, and declared that he was not going to haul down his flag. "I never shall leave the negro until, so far as God gives ^.35:82. me the power, I achieve it [absolute equality before the law absolute civil equality]." "Who proposes to do so?" asked Mr. Garrison, who further punctuated the speech, when printed in the Liberator, with a keen Lib. 35 : 82. running commentary. To him the constant insinu ation that those opposed to prolonging the Society s existence were deserters or backsliders, seemed alike of fensive and amusing ; and when Robert Purvis and Anna E. Dickinson pathetically entreated him to remain at his post, and " hold the standard," he replied with a dignity, power, and eloquence of which the printed report gives hardly an adequate impression. We can quote only the alpha and omega of his speech : "If this were a struggle about fundamental principles, it #.35:85, would be a grave occasion to me, and I should regard this dis cussion as of very considerable importance. But as there is really nothing of principle at all involved in it as it is only a question of usefulness, only a matter of opinion whether this Society has essentially consummated its mission, as originally designed I feel perfectly indifferent as to the manner in which it shall be decided. Nothing is more clear in my own mind, nothing has ever been more clear, than that this is the fitting time to dissolve our organization, and to mingle with the millions of our fellow-countrymen in one common effort to establish justice and liberty throughout the land. (Ap plause.) . . . 160 WILLIAM LLOYD GARKISON. [-T. 60. CHAP. VI. " My friends, let us not any longer affect superiority when we are not superior (hear, hear) let us not assume to be better than other people when we are not any better. (Applause, and cries of Hear, hear.) When they are reiterating all that we say, and disposed to do all that we wish to have done, what more can we ask? And yet I know the desire to keep together, because of past memories and labors, is a very natural one. But let us challenge and command the respect of the nation, and of the friends of freedom throughout the world, by a wise and sensible conclusion. Of course, we are not to cease laboring in regard to whatever remains to be done j but let us work with the millions, and not exclusively as the American Anti- Slavery Society. As co-workers are everywhere found, as our voices are everywhere listened to with approbation and our sentiments cordially endorsed, let us not continue to be isolated. My friend, Mr. Philhps, says he has been used to isolation, and he thinks he can endure it some time longer. My answer is, that when one stands alone with God for truth, for liberty, for righteousness, he may glory in his isolation j but when the prin ciple which kept him isolated has at last conquered, then to glory in isolation seems to me no evidence of courage or fidelity. (Applause.) " Friends of the American Anti-Slavery Society, this is no 1 death-bed scene to me ! There are some in our ranks who seem to grow discouraged and morbid in proportion as light abounds and victory crowns our efforts (applause) ; and it seems as if the hour of the triumph of universal justice is the hour for them to feel the saddest and most melancholy ! We have had something said about a funeral hereto-day. A funeral because Abolitionism sweeps the nation ! A funeral ? Nay, thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, it is a day of jubilee, and not a day to talk about funerals or death-beds ! It is a resurrection from the dead, rather ; it is an ascension and beatification ! Slavery is in its grave, and there is no power in this nation that can ever bring it back. But if the heavens should disappear, and the earth be removed out of its place, if slavery should, by a miracle, come back, what then? We shall then have millions of supporters to rally with us for a fresh onset ! " I thank you, beloved friends, who have for so many years done me the honor to make me the President of the American Anti-Slavery Society. I never should have accepted that post if it had been a popular one. I took it because it was unpopu lar ; because we, as a body, were everywhere denounced, pro- ^ T - 60 -] END OF THE LIBERATOR. 161 scribed, outlawed. To-day, it is popular to be President of the CHAP. VI. American Anti-Slavery Society. Hence, my connection with it terminates here and now, both as a member and as its presid ing officer. I bid you an affectionate adieu." The final vote was taken after another appeal from Mr. Phillips, and resulted in the rejection of Mr. Garrison s resolutions by a vote of 118 to 48, and so the continuance of the Society was decided. Tumultuous applause greeted the announcement of the result, which was renewed when the Nominating Committee reported Mr. Garrison s name for reelection as President for the ensuing year; but he of course declined to serve, and Mr. Phillips, who was then chosen as his successor, offered a resolution of fervid tribute to the retiring President, which was adopted by a rising vote, and acknowledged in a few grateful words by the recipient. 1 Thus did Mr. Garrison dissolve his connection with the Society which, more than any other man, he had founded, and over which he had presided for twenty-two years. Doubtless he would have been willing to continue l The tribute was certainly sincere and heartfelt on the part of the ma jority of the Society who voted it, and was accepted in that sense by Mr. Gar rison ; but the Nominating Committee did not deem it necessary to pay a similar compliment to the retiring members of the Executive Com mittee, only one of whom was renominated. Edmund Quincy, Anne War ren Weston, Sydney Howard Gay, Samuel May, Jr., and Henry C. Wright all shared Mr. Garrison s views essentiaUy, and with him withdrew from the Society. A resolution of thanks to the retiring editors of the Standard (Oliver Johnson and Edmund Quincy), with especial commendation of their conduct of the paper during the war, was introduced by S. May Jr but was adroitly referred to the new and hostile Executive Committee, who finally passed it in an emasculated form which the subjects of it refused to accept and returned with trenchant letters (Lib. 35 : 98). Mr. Quincy could not resist the opportunity to poke a little fun at the Society and its Executive Committee. " Regarding, as I do," said he, "the existence of an Anti-Slavery Society at this time as not merely an anachronism and an ab surdity, but as an impossibility, I must regard the ladies and gentlemen in question, officially, as Non-existent, and the Society they profess to repre sent as a Nonentity. Holding these views, I cannot consent, by accepting this Resolution, at once to deny them and to stultify myself." See, also )hver Johnson s farewell to the readers of the Standard (Lib. 35 : 88), and pp. 387-390 of his Garrison and his Times, for a full and accurate state ment of the causes which led to the division in the anti-slavery ranks VOL. IV. 11 162 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEKISON. . 60. CHAP. vi. in that position until the last State had ratified the Con- 1865. stitutional Amendment, if he had believed that the Soci ety wonld then dissolve ; but he saw that it had passed tinder the control of those with whose habitnal attitude he could no longer sympathize, and that it was useless to try to cooperate with them. He perceived, too, that the force of habit was strong with many of the old friends of the cause, to whom the annual meetings and festivals and conventions had been meat and drink for many years, and who, reluctant to break up old and delightful associ ations, inclined a willing ear to the arguments that the Society was never more needed than now. When such came to him almost in tears at having been compelled to vote against his proposition, he cheerily assured them that he was not disturbed in the least by it, and begged them not to be, as it was not a matter of the slightest importance. For himself, his course was clear, and the step resolutely taken of resigning the position he had so long held, and declaring himself a co-worker with the great multitude now in favor of freedom and equality, increased the weight and influence in public estimation which his conduct during the previous year had secured him. He absented himself (as did Edmund Quincy and Samuel May, Jr.) from the sessions of the New England May 31. Convention in Boston, and delivered in Providence, the June i. following day, an address on the assassination of Presi dent Lincoln, before the Union League of Rhode Island. #.35:108. In this he candidly reviewed Mr. Lincoln s course on the slavery question, from the time of his election until his death, exposing its fluctuations and inconsistencies, yet recognizing also the vast difficulties by which he was sur rounded, and paying a just and discriminating tribute to his lofty traits of character this man of " absolute faith in the people, sound judgment, ready tact, abiding cheer fulness, inflexible perseverance, large common sense, strong powers of reasoning, incorruptible integrity, and unalloyed patriotism." He repeated the address in Lynn JET. 60.] END OF THE LIBEKATOK. 163 MS. June n. on the following Sunday to a great audience, and then June 4,1865. made his annual pilgrimage to the Progressive Friends 7 Meeting at Longwood, with George Thompson as his com- June s-io. panion. " Think of six long, consecutive sessions, with the mercury ranging towards 90, and the meeting-house packed like a bee hive in winter," he wrote to his wife. " The laboring oar as to talking and speechifying fell, as usual, to my lot j in addition to which I had to preside as chairman. ... I drew up nearly all the Testimonies that were adopted by the Yearly Meeting on Peace, Temperance, the Rebellion, Slavery, etc." The remainder of June and the whole of July he spent quietly at Rockledge, 1 going daily to the city to attend to his editorial duties, yet contriving to obtain much needed rest, and enjoying the charm and seclusion of his suburban retreat. His letters to his wife, who was spend ing several weeks at Providence at this time, under treat ment for her paralysis, continually allude to his delight in the " romantic and cosy home." "The foliage of the MSS.Juiy trees is complete, and the birds are as merry and vocal as though just liberated from bondage." 2 From the day the Constitutional Amendment was 1 At the end of August, 1864, the Garrison family left the house in Dtx Place which they had occupied for eleven years, and removed to Roxbury, where a pleasant frame house, situated on high ground near the old Rox bury fort of Revolutionary days, was purchased. A picturesque ledge of rocks adjoined the estate, which consisted of nearly half an acre of ground, and the whole region was one of much natural beauty. The house, which was soon christened " Rockledge," was elevated by terraces thirty feet above Highland street, and had abundance of air and sunlight, which the surrounding foliage in no wise interrupted, while the upper windows com manded extensive views of the harbor and country. The change from city life was beneficial not on sanitary grounds alone. The distance from town (a half -hour s ride by horse-car) was sufficient to check the constant stream of callers and visitors to whom Dix Place had been of such con venient access, and to abate that liberal hospitality which Mrs. Garrison s disablement now forbade. 2 In July he was surprised by receiving an official notice of his having been made an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cam bridge. This was brought about by his old friend, Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, who thought it time that Harvard should honor the founder of the anti- slavery movement (MS. July 23, 1865, W. L. G. to H. E. G.). 164 WILLIAM LLOYD GABKISON. [^T. 60. CHAP. vi. passed by Congress Mr. Garrison took the ground (held I 86s. also by Senator Sumner) that its ratification by three- fourths of the loyal States would be sufficient for its adoption, as the seceded States, which had not yet been readmitted to a place in the national councils, were mani festly incompetent to pass upon it ; and as the requisite number had acted before the 4th of July, he regarded the Amendment as legally carried then, and for the first time in many years spent the national holiday in Boston, enjoying its celebration. The question of giving the ballot to the freedmen was constantly agitated during the summer, and the Republi can press and leaders, including some of the most con- Lib. 35:101, servative, steadily gravitated towards its adoption as an "SKIS 81 article of party faith. Several of the fall State Conven- #.35:173- tions declared in favor of negro suffrage, and where there was hesitation actually to adopt the principle, the importance of securing the rights of the freedmen be fore readmitting any State was recognized and affirmed. #35:159, Nevertheless, the Republican State of Connecticut de- I6l> I62> feated, in October, by a majority of 6500, an amendment to its own Constitution enfranchising its colored citizens, # 35 : J 59- and the new State of Colorado inserted the word white in its Constitution. The disloyal element at the South were encouraged by this, and by symptoms that President Johnson regarded them with less disfavor than formerly, and desired their readmission to representation as soon as their legislatures should have endorsed the Thirteenth Amendment and repudiated the rebel debt. Swallowing Wilson s this bitter pill, they proceeded to enact proscriptive laws against the freedmen, and tried to regain control of them ky inhuman codes paralleling those which prevailed in slavery days. Outrages upon the blacks were of daily oc currence, and systematic efforts were made to terrorize and subject them. " These atrocities excite in us no surprise," #. 35 : 134. wrote Mr. Garrison, who regarded them as confirming all that the abolitionists had asserted as to Southern barbar ity towards the negro. Still, while his heart was saddened . 60.] END OF THE LIBERATOK. 165 Andrew Johnson. by these cruel demonstrations, he felt assured that they CHAP. vi. would be overruled for good, and would " help to consoli- t ^ s> date the loyal sentiment of the country in opposition to any relaxation of the strong arm of the General Gov ernment," and "to the admission of any one of the revolted States into the Union for an indefinite period." In common with others, he tried to regard hopefully the course of the new President, and to believe that his inten tions were right j * but hope grew fainter from month to month, as Johnson s purpose to restore the entire political control of the returning States to the whites, without any guarantees whatever for the protection of the f reedmen, became evident. " The aspect of things at the South is somewhat portentous," he wrote to Henry C. Wright, in MS. Oct. 2. October. " If the rebel States, reconstructed so as to leave the colored people at the mercy of the savage whites, are suddenly admitted into the Union, there will assuredly be a terrible state of affairs, perhaps leading to a war of extermination. I begin to feel more uneasy about the President." Late in September he attended the Champlain Valley Agricultural Fair, at Vergennes, Vermont, in company with the Eev. Edwin H. Chapin, and had " an unspeak ably pleasant" time and a cordial reception. Both, in their addresses, dwelt upon the questions of the day and the importance of negro suffrage. A fortnight later Mr. Garrison was in Philadelphia, on business connected with the American Freedman s Aid Commission, an organiza tion comprising the principal Freedmen s Educational and Aid Associations in the East and West, which had hitherto been working independently of each other, but were now brought into harmonious operation through the Lib. 35 : 170. efforts of J. M. McKim. Of this new organization Bishop Matthew Simpson was made President, and Mr. Garrison First Vice-President, Mr. McKim being the Corresponding !No one was more hopeful than Mr. Phillips. "I have never expressed a doubt with regard to President Johnson," he said in May ; " I believe in him. I believe he means suffrage " (Lib. 35 : 86). Sept. 28. Oct. ii. 166 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. [^T. 60. :> CHAP. vi. Secretary of the Eastern Department. 1 Later in the month I ^6 S . Mr. Garrison and Mr. McKim visited Maine in behalf of the Commission, holding large meetings and forming auxiliary associations in Portland and Bangor. 2 As the autumn advanced, the treasury of the Liberator again ran low, and, in order to replenish it and enable him to carry the paper to the end of the year, the editor reluctantly left his post and undertook a lecture tour in the West, which occupied five weeks and absorbed the month of November and the first week of December. NOV. 2. The trip, which began at Lockport, N. Y., was a hard and exhausting one for Mr. Garrison. He gave his lecture (a two hours discourse on " The Past, Present, and Future of Our Country ) from four to six times each week, and suffered both from hoarseness and ophthalmia ; but he lost no appointment, and had the satisfaction of earning fifteen hundred dollars more than his year s salary in a single month. As usual, too, the social en j oyments of the j ourney were more than a compensation for its hardships. In almost every city he was the recipient of courtesies and attentions from old and new friends ; beyond Michigan NOV. 16-20. all was new to him, and he saw Chicago and the Missis- NOV. 22. sippi River (at Quincy) for the first time. Unexpected glimpses of George Thompson (also on a Western lecture tour), at Detroit, and Gerrit Smith, at Chicago, were among the pleasant incidents of the journey. At Prince- NOV. 20. ton, Illinois, he paid his respects to the widow and children of Owen Love joy, and at Springfield was the guest of W. NOV. 26. H. Herndon, Lincoln s law partner, with whom he visited the tomb of the martyr-President. On his return journey he travelled with members of Congress on their way to 1 Its object was " to promote the education and elevation of the Freedmen, and to cooperate to this end with the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands," which had been established early in the year by Con gress, with General O. O. Howard as Chief Commissioner. 2 At Portland, Mr. Garrison s early antagonist, John Neal (ante, 1 : 99, 383), entered heartily into the movement. "Mr. Garrison and I used to have some hot contests," said Mr. Neal. " Who was wrong and who was right ? " asked Governor Israel Washburne. I was wrong, " said Mr. Neal, frankly, "and Mr. Garrison was right " (Lib. 35 : 174). /v * ^ET. 60.] END OF THE LIBEKATOK. 167 Washington for the opening of the new session. " I am CHAP. vi. constantly urging the importance of not admitting any of j^. the rebel States into the Union until a longer probation/ he wrote to his wife, " and find leading men to accept my views. 77 After his long absence at the West, 1 Mr. Garrison had hoped to devote the last three weeks of the year wholly to the Liberator, but he had scarcely reached Boston before he was summoned to New York to attend a committee Dec. 15. meeting of the American Freedman 7 s Aid Commission ; and three days later he was compelled to fulfil an engage ment at Philadelphia, for a lecture at the Academy of Music. Even while he was speaking, the telegraph wires Dec. 18. were bearing to every part of the land the official procla mation of Secretary Seward, issued that day, announc ing the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, and its COD sequent incorporation as a part of the Constitution. Hurrying back to Boston, the editor of the Liberator took the composing-stick and himself set up the proclamation for insertion in the number just going to press, the last issue but one of the paper, and to it appended this paean : Dec. 22. " With our own hands we have put in type this unspeakably Lib. 35:20 cheering and important official announcement that, at last, the old l covenant with death is annulled, and the l agreement with hell no longer stands. Not a slave is left to clank his fetters, of the millions that were lately held in seemingly hopeless bond age. Not a slaveholder may dare to present his claim of property in man, or assume the prerogative of trafficking in human flesh and blood. Henceforth, personal freedom is secured for all who dwell on the American soil, irrespective of complexion or race. It is not merely the abolition of slavery, with the old recognized right of each State to establish the system ad libi tum, but it is the prohibition, by f the supreme law of the land, duly ratified, to enslave a human being in any part of our na tional domains, or to restore what has been overthrown. It is, 1 During this and many previous absences, Charles K. Whipple kindly assumed much of the editorial care of the paper. Samuel May, Jr., and Edmund Quincy contributed editorials, the latter giving an admirable review of the Liberator s career, in the last number before Mr. Garrison s return (Lib. 35 : 190). 168 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. . 60. CHAP. VI. consequently, the complete triumph as well as utter termination ~ of the Anti-Slavery struggle, as such. " Rejoice, and give praise and glory to God, ye who have so long and so untiringly participated in all the trials and vicissi tudes of that mighty conflict ! Having sown in tears, now reap in joy. Hail, redeemed, regenerated America! Hail, North and South, East and West ! Hail, the cause of Peace, of Liberty, of Righteousness, thus mightily strengthened and signally glorified! Hail, the Present, with its transcendent claims, its new duties, its imperative obligations, its sublime opportunities ! Hail, the Future, with its pregnant hopes, its glorious promises, its illimitable powers of expansion and devel opment ! Hail, ye ransomed millions, no more to be chained, scourged, mutilated, bought and sold in the market, robbed of all rights, hunted as partridges upon the mountains in your flight to obtain deliverance from the house of bondage, branded and scorned as a connecting link between the human race and the brute creation ! Hail, all nations, tribes, kindreds, and peoples, l made of one blood, interested in a common redemp tion, heirs of the same immortal destiny ! Hail, angels in glory and spirits of the just made perfect, and tune your harps anew, singing, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints ! Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy : for all nations shall come and worship be fore thee : for thy judgments are made manifest. " For the one remaining number of the Liberator Mr. Garrison s children besought him to at once prepare his valedictory editorial, leaving to others the drudgery of the proof-reading and mechanical details of the paper. The proofs he insisted on reading himself, and the outside pages he also "made up" from the galleys, but the inside pages he finally allowed his friend and assistant, Winch- ell Yerrinton, to make up, under his direction ; a con siderable portion of the editorial page being given to letters of congratulation and farewell from old and tried friends. When these were inserted, less than a column s space was left in which to complete his valedictory, and, the number being already late for the press, he wrote the remainder of it with the printers standing at his elbow for JET. 60.] END OF THE LIBERATOE. 169 " copy," which he doled out to them a few lines at a time. CHAP. vi. The final paragraph he set with his own hands, and then I 86 5 . stepped to the imposing-table or stone 1 to insert it in the vacant place awaiting it. Evening had come, and the little group 2 in the printing-office gathered silently about to witness the closing act. As the form was locked for the last time by the senior Yerrinton, all present felt a 1 This old stand, which had done duty in the Liberator office for twenty- five or thirty years, was purchased by a brother printer and abolitionist, George W. Stacy of Milford, Mass., and subsequently (1885) returned by him to Mr. Garrison s family. " How many days and nights have I wear ily bent over it in getting ready the paper for prompt publication ! " wrote Mr. Garrison to Mr. Stacy (MS. Oct. 23, 1878). "What a stone of stumb ling and a rock of offence it was to all the enemies of emancipation ! " 2 Consisting, besides Mr. Garrison, of his sons George and Frank, and J. B. and J. M. W. Yerrinton, the printers of the paper. In expressing his sadness at the termination of their long business connection, Mr. Garrison wrote to the senior Yerrinton : " The little printing-office has daily brought us together, and enabled us to know each other as intimately as it is possi ble, in every phase of human thought and feeling. I wish to improve this opportunity to testify to the unfailing good temper and kindness of spirit and manner which you have manifested amidst all the annoyances and per plexities connected with type-setting, bad proof, illegible manuscript, etc., etc. Never has there been a sharp or hasty word between us. Your dispo sition has been so good that mine must have been crabbed indeed at any time to have caused a ripple upon the surface of our feelings towards each other. Blessed with good health, you have been always at your post not even indulging, for once, in that occasional recreation which seems to be almost indispensable to the recuperation of mind and body. Such assidu ity and steadiness I have never known, and call for especial recognition. But your work on the Liberator has not been a mere mechanical perform ance. You have mingled with it the liveliest interest in the welfare of the paper, in the principles it has inculcated, in the humane and godlike object it has aimed to achieve. . . . For many a year it was anything but reputable to be even the printer of the Liberator ; but that reproach is now wiped out, and in the future will make your memory honored " (MS. Jan. 1, 1866). To the son, J. M. Winchell Yerrinton, Mr. Garrison sent this trib ute: "I have known you ever since you were a little boy ; and in all the wide range of my acquaintance there is no one I more highly respect and esteem. . . . The best phonographic reporter in this country, you have held an important relation to those grand reformatory changes which have taken place within the last quarter of a century. But for your marvellous skill, where would have been the eloquent speeches of Phillips and others but in the dim remembrance of those who listened to them ? And your heart has been in the work. In many ways and on an extended scale, you have been a public benefactor, and a most efficient instrument in dissemi nating light and knowledge thoughts that breathe, and words that burn " (MS. Jan. 1, 1866). 170 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 60. CHAP. vi. sense of loss and bereavement. Mr. Garrison alone pre- 1865. served his wonted cheerfulness and serenity. From the death-bed of the Liberator, he went directly to a Com mittee meeting of the New England Freedmen s Aid Society, his face towards the resurrection and the life of Freedom. The last number of the Liberator fitly reproduced the Salutatory from the first, followed by the editor s Lib. 35 : 206. VALEDICTORY. THE LAST NUMBER OF THE LIBERATOR. " The last ! the last ! the last ! O, by that little word How many thoughts are stirred That sister of THE PAST ! " The present number of the Liberator is the completion of its thirty-fifth volume, and the termination of its existence. Commencing my editorial career when only twenty years of age, I have followed it continuously till I have attained my sixtieth year first, in connection with the Free Press, in New- buryport, in the spring of 1826 ; next, with the National Philan thropist, in Boston, in 1827 ; next, with the Journal of the Times, in Bennington, Vt., in 1828-9 j next, with the Genius of Universal Emancipation, in Baltimore, in 1829-30 j and, finally, with the Liberator, in Boston, from the 1st of January, 1831, to the 1st of January, 1866 ; at the start, probably the youngest member of the editorial fraternity in the land, now, perhaps, the oldest, not in years, but in continuous service, unless Mr. Bryant, of the New York Evening Post, be an exception. Whether I shall again be connected with the press, in a similar capacity, is quite problematical ; but, at my period of life, I feel no prompting to start a new journal at my own risk, and with the certainty of struggling against wind and tide, as I have done in the past. I began the publication of the Liberator without a subscriber, and I end it it gives me unalloyed satisfaction to say without a farthing as the pecuniary result of the patronage extended to it during thirty-five years of unremitted labors. From the immense change wrought in the national feeling and sentiment on the subject of slavery, the Liberator derived ^ T - 60 -] END OF THE LIBEBATOK. 171 no advantage at any time in regard to its circulation. The CHAP. vi. original " disturber of the peace," nothing was left undone at ^ the beginning, and up to the hour of the late rebellion, by Southern slaveholding villany on the one hand, and Northern pro-slavery malice on the other, to represent it as too vile a sheet to be countenanced by any claiming to be Christian or patriotic ; and it always required rare moral courage or singular personal independence to be among its patrons. Never had a journal to look such opposition in the face never was one so constantly belied and caricatured. If it had advocated all the crimes forbidden by the moral law of God and the statutes of the State, instead of vindicating the sacred claims of oppressed and bleeding humanity, it could not have been more vehemently denounced or more indignantly repudiated. To this day such is the force of prejudice there are multitudes who cannot be induced to read a single number of it, even on the score of curi osity, though their views on the slavery question are now pre cisely those which it has uniformly advocated. Yet no journal has been conducted with such fairness and impartiality ; none has granted such freedom in its columns to its opponents ; none has so scrupulously and uniformly presented all sides of every question discussed in its pages ; none has so readily and exhaust ively published, without note or comment, what its enemies have said to its disparagement and the vilification of its editor ; none has vindicated primitive Christianity, in its spirit and pur pose "the higher law," in its supremacy over nations and governments as well as individual conscience the Golden Rule, in its binding obligation upon all classes the Declaration of Independence, with its self-evident truths the rights of human nature, without distinction of race, complexion, or sex more earnestly or more uncompromisingly ; none has exerted a higher moral or more broadly reformatory influence upon those who have given it a careful perusal ; and none has gone beyond it in asserting the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. All this may be claimed for it without egotism or presumption. It has ever been " a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well." It has excited the fierce hostility of all that is vile and demoniacal in the land, and won the affection and regard of the purest and noblest of the age. To me it has been unspeakably cheering, and the richest compensation for what ever of peril, suffering, and defamation I have been called to encounter, that one uniform testimony has been borne, by those who have had its weekly perusal, as to the elevating and quick- 172 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKEISON. [^ET. 60. CHAP. VI. ening influence of the Liberator upon their character and lives ; ^ and the deep grief they are expressing in view of its discon tinuance is overwhelmingly affecting to my feelings. Many of these date their subscriptions from the commencement of the paper, and they have allowed nothing in its columns to pass without a rigid scrutiny. They speak, therefore, experiment ally, and " testify of that which they have seen and do know." Let them be assured that my regret in the separation which is to take place between us, in consequence of the discontinuance of the Liberator, is at least as poignant as their own ; and let them feel, as I do, comforted by the thought that it relates only to the weekly method of communicating with each other, and not to the principles we have espoused in the past, or the hopes and aims we cherish as to the future. Although the Liberator was designed to be, and has ever been, mainly devoted to the abolition of slavery, yet it has been instrumental in aiding the cause of reform in many of its most important aspects. I have never consulted either the subscription -list of the paper or public sentiment in printing, or omitting to print, any article touching any matter whatever. Personally, I have never asked any one to become a subscriber, nor any one to contribute to its support, nor presented its claims for a better circulation in any lecture or speech, or at any one of the multitudinous anti-slavery gatherings in the land. Had I done so, no doubt its subscrip tion-list might have been much enlarged. In this connection, I must be permitted to express my surprise that I am gravely informed, in various quarters, that this is no time to retire from public labor ; that though the chains of the captive have been broken, he is yet to be vindicated in regard to the full possession of equal civil and political rights ; that the freedmen in every part of the South are subjected to many insults and outrages ; that the old slaveholding spirit is showing itself in every available form ; that there is imminent danger that, in the hurry of reconstruction and readmission to the Union, the late rebel States will be left free to work any amount of mischief ; that there is manifestly a severe struggle yet to come with the Southern " powers of darkness," which will require the utmost vigilance and the most determined efforts on the part of the friends of impartial liberty etc., etc., etc. Surely, it is not meant by all this that I am therefore bound to continue the publication of the Liberator ; for that is a matter for me to determine, and no one else. As I commenced its pub- ^ T - 6 END OF THE LIBERATOR. 173 lication without asking leave of any one, so I claim to be com- CHAP. vi. petent to decide when it may fitly close its career. ^ Again it cannot be meant, by this presentation of the ex isting state of things at the South, either to impeach my intelli gence, or to impute to me a lack of interest in behalf of that race for the liberation and elevation of which I have labored so many years ! If, when they had no friends, and no hope of earthly redemption, I did not hesitate to make their cause my own, is it to be supposed that, with their yokes broken, and their friends and advocates multiplied indefinitely, I can be any the less disposed to stand by them to the last to insist on the full measure of justice and equity being meted out to them to retain in my breast a lively and permanent inter est in all that relates to their present condition and future welfare ? I shall sound no trumpet and make no parade as to what I shall do for the future. After having gone through with such a struggle as has never been paralleled in duration in the life of any reformer, and for nearly forty years been the target at which all poisonous and deadly missiles have been hurled, and having seen our great national iniquity blotted out, and free dom * proclaimed throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof," and a thousand presses and pulpits supporting the claims of the colored population to fair treatment where not one could be found to do this in the early days of the anti- slavery conflict, I might it seems to me be permitted to take a little repose in my advanced years, if I desired to do so. But, as yet, I have neither asked nor wished to be relieved of any burdens or labors connected with the good old cause. I see a mighty work of enlightenment and regeneration yet to be accomplished at the South, and many cruel wrongs done to the f reedmen which are yet to be redressed ; and I neither counsel others to turn away from the field of conflict, under the delusion that no more remains to be done, nor contemplate such a course in my own case. The object for which the Liberator was commenced the extermination of chattel slavery having been gloriously con summated, it seems to me specially appropriate to let its exist ence cover the historic period of the great struggle; leaving what remains to be done to complete the work of emancipation to other instrumentalities (of which I hope to avail myself), under new auspices, with more abundant means, and with millions instead of hundreds for allies. 174 CHAP. VI. 1865. WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON. . 60. Most happy am I to be no longer in conflict with the mass of my fellow-countrymen on the subject of slavery. For no man of any refinement or sensibility can be indifferent to the approba tion of his fellow-men, if it be rightly earned. But to obtain it by going with the multitude to do evil by pandering to des potic power or a corrupt public sentiment is self -degradation and personal dishonor : " For more true joy Marcellus exiled feels Than Caesar with a Senate at his heels." Better to be always in a minority of one with God branded as madman, incendiary, fanatic, heretic, infidel frowned upon by " the powers that be," and mobbed by the populace or con- JohnBrmon. signed ignominiously to the gallows, like him whose " soul is marching on," though his " body lies mouldering in the grave," or burnt to ashes at the stake like Wickliffe, or nailed to the cross like him who "gave himself for the world," in defence of the RIGHT, than like Herod, having the shouts of a multitude crying, " It is the voice of a god, and not of a man ! " Farewell, tried and faithful patrons ! Farewell, generous bene factors, without whose voluntary but essential pecuniary con tributions the Liberator must have long since been discontinued ! Farewell, noble men and women who have wrought so long and so successfully, under God, to break every yoke ! Hail, ye ran somed millions ! Hail, year of jubilee ! With a grateful heart and a fresh baptism of the soul, my last invocation shall be : "Spirit of Freedom, on! Oh ! pause not in thy flight Till every clime is won To worship in thy light : Speed on thy glorious way, And wake the sleeping lands ! Millions are watching for the ray, And lift to thee their hands. Still Onward ! be thy cry Thy banner on the blast ; And, like a tempest, as thou rushest by, Despots shall shrink aghast. On ! till thy name is known Throughout the peopled earth ; On ! till thou reign st alone, Man s heritage by birth ; On ! till from every vale, and where the mountains rise, The beacon lights of Liberty shall kindle to the skies ! " BOSTON, DECEMBER 29, 1865. WM. LLOYD GARRISON, CHAPTER VII. THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 1866. NO act of Mr. Garrison s could have afforded more CHAP. vn. convincing proof of his unselfishness than his vol- l8 7 6 . untary discontinuance of the Liberator, and his joyful recognition of the accomplishment of its immediate object. 1 Certainly it was not without a pang of regret that he gave up the paper and its office, the loss of which and of his long-established editorial routine made him feel, as he expressed it, " like a hen plucked of her f eathers." Old habits he could not at once shake off. Many of his exchanges continued to come to him, and he would read and clip from them as industriously as though he were still purveying for the Liberator ; and during the few weeks in which the office of the Massachusetts Anti- Slavery Society (which had also been the subscription- office of the Liberator) was continued, he went to it almost daily, as of old. The Society itself voted, at the January meeting, by a majority of three to one, not to Jan. 24, 25. disband, after a debate in which the argument in favor of dissolution was sustained by Mr. Quincy, Mr. May, and s. May, jr. Mr. Garrison, who all withdrew from the organization. The importance of continuing it was urged with much intensity of feeling and language by Mr. Phillips and his supporters, whose imputation that the retiring members were deserting the cause was warmly resented by Mr. l " The Euthanasia of the Liberator " was celebrated by Edmund Quincy in the N. Y. Independent of Jan. 11, 1866. Notable articles on the career of the paper and its editor also appeared in the London Daily News of Jan. 9 (by Harriet Martineau), N. Y. Nation (by O. B. Prothingham), and N. Y. Tribune (by H. B. Stanton) of Jan. 4, and in other leading journals. 176 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. O&T. 61. Garrison in the debate, a,nd subsequently in the N. Y. Independent. The Society whose existence was declared of such vital consequence continued the Standard, but did nothing more for the next four years than hold an annual meeting. Its office was closed. In February, Mr. Garrison made his second and final visit to Washington, for the sake of spending a few days Jan. 3, with his daughter, who had recently become Mrs. Henry 1866. viUard and gone there to reside. He lectured in Phila- Feb. 3. delphia to a large audience, on his way thither, and spent Feb. 17-26. ten days at the Capital at a peculiarly exciting time, when the apostasy of Andrew Johnson to the party which had elected him first became open and pronounced, through his veto of the Freedmen s Bureau Bill, and his disgrace ful harangue in denunciation of Congress to a crowd in Feb. 22. front of the White House, on Washington s Birthday. W. L. Garrison to W. P. Garrison. MS. WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 1866. I have come here at a very interesting and opportune period. This is a live Congress, and every day is big with events of national importance. I have heard several very radical speeches Richard in the Senate one by Senator Yates, " flat-footed " in favor of B FWade universal (male) suffrage ; another by Senator Wade, on his proposed amendment of the Constitution, allowing no man to be reflected to the office of President of the United States a very bold speech in its utterance ; and a third, by Senator Lyman Trumbull, distinguished for logical power and vigor of treat- Trumbull. men ^ pulverizing the President s veto [of the Freedmen s Bureau Bill] , and showing him to have falsified all its provisions and purposes. I have also listened to the reading of a speech by that Kentucky factionist, Garrett Davis, in support of the veto. The Copperhead strength is very weak, in intellect and num bers, in both houses of Congress. Henry Vil- Last evening, I called with Harry at Secretary Stanton s residence, but he and his wife had gone out to spend the O. O. How- evening. FncJm : i Tllis f r enoon, I had a brief interview with General Howard, Bureau. who is, of course, full of uncertainty as to what is to be the 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 177 duration or power of the Bureau ; but he told me that he had an interview with the President yesterday, who gave him to un derstand that he should speedily announce, by proclamation, that the war has ended and peace been restored j and that the Bureau would continue until a year from that date, according to the terms of the bill constituting the Bureau. He is not, how ever, to be depended on, especially as all Rebeldom and Copper- dom are so warmly espousing his cause. To-morrow promises to be a very lively day in the Senate, on the subject. Senator Wilson is to introduce another bill, providing for the continu ance of the Bureau two years from May next, with enlarged powers ; but if it pass, the President will doubtless veto it, as in the former instance. To-day (22d) Washington is all astir. The day is superb a to the weather like an April day in Boston and Pennsyl vania Avenue is thronged by all sorts of people. An immense mass of secessionists and Copperheads are holding a meeting at the Theatre, to sustain the recreant President ; and I under stand he is to address them ! I am sure the bottomless pit is equally jubilant. I have just come, with Franky, from the Capitol, where a most fitting and eloquent eulogium has been bestowed upon the char acter and services of the late Henry Winter Davis by Senator Creswell of Maryland. The hall of the House was crowded in every part. The Judges of the Supreme Court were present the leading military men dignitaries of all kinds Senators and Representatives, etc. I got in after the oration began, and was standing back near the door, when Speaker Colfax got his eye upon me, and instantly sent a messenger to conduct me to a seat near to Secretary Stanton, Judge Chase, and other notables. After the services, I spoke to Stanton, who expressed great regret that he was not at home last evening, and said he would not be absent again if I would call. 1 I was introduced to a large number of Senators, Representa tives, and persons from various parts of the country, and warmly received. To-morrow evening I am to lecture in the Union League Hall. . . . On Sunday evening I expect to address the col ored people in one of their churches. 1 Mr. Garrison s first call on reaching Washington was on Senator Sum- ner (Feb. 18). " Sunmer almost made a declamatory speech about universal suffrage, and intends making another in the Senate on the same subject " (MS. Feb. 19, 1866, W. L. G. to H. E. G.). VOL. IV. 12 CHAP. VII. 1866. Henry Wil son. F. J. G. J. A. J. Creswell. Schuyler Colfax. E. M. Stan- ton. S. P. Chase. 178 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKEISON. . 61. CHAP. VII. 1866. Wm. R. Hooper. Feb. 25. Feb. 27. Mar. 29, 1866. Mar. 7, Harriet Beecher Stowe. MS. June 6, 1866, IV. L. G. to S. J. May. The Union League Hall was a small room holding but four hundred persons, but it was the only one that could be obtained for Mr. Garrison s lecture, all other halls and churches (including the Unitarian) being refused to the gentleman who had invited him to speak in Washington. The Odd Fellows 7 Hall was first engaged, but the propri etors, on learning the name of the lecturer, demanded a bond that no colored person should be admitted, which was of course refused. It was a larger and more enthusiastic assemblage which Mr. Garrison addressed in the Rev. Henry Highland Gar net s church, the following Sunday evening, and he re ceived a fervent welcome from his colored friends. On both occasions he expressed himself with emphasis con cerning the President s veto and speech 5 and, on his way northward, he lectured to a great audience at the Acad emy of Music in Brooklyn, declaring that the language in which Andrew Johnson had assailed Congress, in his speech at the White House, was in itself a sufficient ground for his impeachment and removal from office. This proposition he urged further in an article in the N. Y. Independent, the last but one that he was able to write that year, and in a lecture which he delivered in Auburn, Syracuse, and elsewhere. In the month of January he had experienced a severe fall in Boston, as he was on his way to spend the evening at the house of James T. Fields, with Mrs. Stowe, Gov ernor Andrew, and other friends, and struck the icy pavement with such violence that his right hand and shoulder were badly bruised, and his arm almost para lyzed for a time. He had hardly recovered from the effects of it when he had the misfortune to fall a second time, as he was hurrying to a train, and again struck heavily on his right arm and shoulder. This accident caused him many months of suffering, and effectually disabled him from any literary or other work for the rest of the year. It supplied, too, a sufficient reason for his not attempting a task to which he was strongly urged by ^T. 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 179 his friends, namely, the preparation of a History of the CHAP. VIL Anti-Slavery Movement in the United States. While he ^e. was at work on the last number of the Liberator, he had Dec. 27, received an earnest request to undertake such a work, from the publishing firm of Ticknor & Fields, who subse- MS. July quently made a very liberal proposition to that end. Mr. 3> 3 Garrison provisionally accepted it, but he had many MS. July 5. doubts and misgivings on the subject, and, after two years of alternating resolution and hesitation, he aban doned the idea. The only overt step he took towards it was the hiring of an office in the city, to which the files of 1868. the Liberator were taken for his examination and review ; but the days and weeks he had proposed to devote to them were spent in writing letters and clipping the current news papers, and the first line of the History was never written. " Be merciful ! " he wrote to one of his children, who was MS. Mar. impatient to have him begin the work. "It is a matter 2 w P. G requiring the gravest deliberation before I actually com mit myself one way or another. I confess, I do not feel competent to the mighty task, and fear I shall make a fail ure of it, if I try." Nearly two years later, in writing to Samuel J. May, in commendation of the Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict which the latter was then pub lishing serially in the Boston Christian Register, he thus expressed himself : " I am now thinking seriously of devoting the next year, if MS. Dec. spared, to writing a History of the Anti- Slavery Struggle, and 9> l867 shall feel grateful for any aid you can render me. Unfortu nately, my memory of persons and events grows more and more like a sieve j and a good memory is a most important auxiliary in such a connection. How to shape the work will be puzzling the subject is so vast, the actors so many, the incidents so multitudinous. You lovingly fear I shall not do justice to myself. Certainly, how to dispose of myself, without seeming to be egotistical by personal references on the one hand, or affectedly modest by omitting them on the other, will be a diffi cult and delicate task. But I shall try to avoid extremes, and to write with all possible simplicity and directness. It is of very little consequence in regard to any record of ourselves. Time 180 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. . 61. CHAP. VII. 1866. June 14. makes mockery of fame. Enough that the Right has triumphed, that Slavery is overthrown, and that God is glorified." During the spring and summer months of 1866, Mr. Garrison tried various treatments and remedies for his torturing pains, but time alone brought him relief or cure. Whist became a favorite diversion to him, and he spent many an evening playing the game with his children and with George Thompson, who had now become a neighbor in Roxbury and was almost daily interchanging calls with his old comrade. More than ever Mr. Garrison devoted himself to his wife, who, though sadly crippled, found much solace in reading and in correspondence with her absent children. The domestic event of the year was the birth Chas. L. Mitchell. Agnes Gar- at Rockledge of their first grandchild, whose advent gave them unspeakable delight, and whom Mr. Garrison never wearied of carrying in his arms, lulling to sleep, or enter taining with song or piano. He refused to sign a petition, presented by George Shea of New York, for Jefferson Davis s release from Fortress Monroe, and had no disposition to join Gerrit Smith and Horace Greeley in that movement. Always opposed to capital punishment, he declared that if Davis, with his colossal guilt, escaped the gallows, hanging ought certainly to be forever abolished. The election, in the fall of 1866, of a former compositor on the Liberator as the first col ored member of the Massachusetts Legislature afforded him great satisfaction. Deprived of his income from the Liberator, prevented by his injuries from writing or lecturing, his wife per manently crippled, and his children not yet in a position to relieve him of pecuniary care, Mr. Garrison naturally contemplated his rapidly melting resources with much anxiety, unaware that a movement was already on foot to relieve him from all future concern on that score, and to make him comfortably independent for the remainder of his days. Near the end of March, a number of gentle men met at the house of Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, and formed themselves into a Committee for the purpose of Mar. 28. 2En. 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 181 raising a national testimonial to Mr. Garrison, in grateful CHAP. VIL and honorable recognition of his part in bringing about ^ the great consummation of universal freedom and homo geneous institutions in the United States. Ex-Governor Andrew accepted the chairmanship with great hearti- John A. ness, and wrote the Address to the Public, to which a national character was unmistakably given by the ap proving signatures gladly appended in every case of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Chief Justice of Massachusetts, the State s Senators and Representa tives in Congress, Senators and Representatives from six teen other States (including Missouri), the Chief Justice of the United States, the President of the Senate, the eminent L. s. Foster, poets and litterateurs of the country, and leading citizens Eme ^ of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Chicago. The Longfellow, press also cordially endorsed the movement, which was so quietly initiated that Mr. Garrison knew nothing of it for several weeks, and was taken utterly by surprise when it was announced to him. The following is a transcript of the circular to the Public : National Testimonial to William Lloyd Garrison. The accomplishment of the Great Work of Emancipation in the United States directs our minds to the duty of some fit pub lic recognition of the man who must in all future time be re garded as its visible leader. WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, then in the twenty-sixth year of his age, established the Liberator newspaper in 1831, and thenceforward devoted his abilities and his career to the pro motion of " immediate and unconditional emancipation." After the lapse of thirty-five years of the most exacting labor, of con troversy, peril, and misconception, he has been permitted to see the object gained to which he, at first almost alone, consecrated his life. The generation which immediately preceded ours re garded him only as a wild enthusiast, a fanatic, or a public enemy. The present generation sees in him the bold and honest reformer, the man of original, self -poised, heroic will, inspired by a vision of universal justice made actual in the practice of nations ; who, daring to attack without reserve the worst and 182 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 61. CHAP. VII. most powerful oppression of his country and his time, has out- j^ lived the Giant Wrong he assailed, and has triumphed over the sophistries by which it was maintained. In this difficult and perilous work, his labors have been so exclusively directed to the single aim of the overthrow of Amer ican Slavery, and so absorbing and severe, that, with abilities capable of winning fortune as well as reputation, he is now, in respect to worldly honors and emoluments, as he was at the commencement of his career. We ask simply to arrest the attention of the American people to the obligations they owe to this American. Although he contended for the rights of human nature and thus, in a degree, made mankind his constituency yet here was the field of his enterprise, and ours was the land to be immedi ately redeemed. He was the advocate of no private interest, he was the repre sentative of no sect or party ; with no hope of worldly profit to be reaped from the measures and the principles he urged, he was the conspicuous, the acknowledged, the prophetic leader of the movement in behalf of the American Slave now consum mated by the Edict of Universal Emancipation. It cannot mar the dignity of his position as a man of honest intellectual and moral independence, to receive a substantial testimonial of the good- will and grateful respect of his friends and countrymen ; nor can it be more than an honorable recog nition on the part of the uncounted multitudes, of all parties and sections, who must confess themselves to have become his debtors, to give to him such a testimonial, and to make it substantial. We, the undersigned, do therefore invite all people who re joice in the destruction of Slavery, in the reestablishment of the Union on the basis of Universal Freedom, who appreciate his past service in the cause of Liberty, and the dignity and judg ment with which he has accepted and interpreted the more recent events of public history, to unite with us in presenting a national testimonial of not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars to our fellow-countryman WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.* APRIL 25, 1866. l The following letters were appended to the circular : DEAR SIB: WASHINGTON, April 11, 1866. I am glad that you and others have taken in hand the project of a testi monial to Mr. Garrison. His earnest and disinterested labors in the great ^T. 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 183 Mr. Garrison often said that lie prized this document, CHAP. vn. with its signatures, more than all the pecuniary results I ^ 6 . that might follow from it. As to these he was never sanguine, having seen many an ambitious attempt to reward public benefactors or commemorate popular heroes fail miserably, and knowing well that the career of even a successful reformer does not appeal to the popular fancy like that of a victorious general or an idolized political leader. And in truth, with all its weight of names, the Garrison Testimonial owed its success in a very large measure to the untiring devotion of the Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, Eev. Samuel May, Jr., to the prac tical work of securing subscriptions. 1 For two years, under many disadvantages, he gave himself unremittingly to the task, until, in the spring of 1868, the result was announced to Mr. Garrison in the following letter : The Testimonial Committee to W. L. Garrison. BOSTON, March 10, 1868. BostonDaUy Advertiser, DEAR SIR : The undersigned, a committee appointed to obtain May 16, for you a national testimonial in acknowledgment of your preeminent services in forwarding the abolition of American slavery, having brought our labors nearly to a close, think the time has arrived to present you with a statement of the result. We have received in all, after deducting every necessary expense, thirty-one thousand dollars, which we are happy now cause of Emancipation, of which he may almost be said to be the pioneer, may be most fitly so recognized. His best reward is the triumph of the cause, achieved already, though not yet perfected; but let there be added to that most precious sense of grand results from work nobly done, such a recognition by the people as will be equally honorable to them and to him. Yours very truly, _. _ _. S. P. CHASE. Charles Sumner, in a letter to the Committee, said: "Mr. Garrison s sublime dedication of himself all alone to this cause, at a moment when it was disregarded, can never be forgotten in the history of this country. I trust that no effort will be spared to carry out the idea of securing an honorable token of the grateful sentiments which his name must always inspire among the friends of Human Rights." iMr. May also visited Washington and secured the signatures attached to the Address to the Public. 184 WILLIAM LLOYD GAERISON. [^T. 61. CHAP. VII. to place in your hands ; and this sum we have reason to believe 1866 w ^^ ^ e i ncrease( i one or two thousand dollars more from sources where we know a subscription has been undertaken, but is not yet finished. The testimonial is in every sense national. Contributions to it have come from every quarter of the country, from all classes, the rich and the poor, the educated and the unlearned, from persons of both sexes, of every religious and political opinion, and of every race. The sums we have received have been given always cheerfully, often joyfully, the donors declaring it a privilege and an honor to share in the offering. Distinguished philanthropists of other countries have also, unsolicited, added their offerings to this testimonial fund. It gives us the highest gratification to present this national tribute to you as the leader and inspirer of the movement against American slavery, which has resulted in one of the greatest moral triumphs the world has ever witnessed. Having devoted yourself from early manhood wholly to the cause of human freedom, regardless of all personal dangers and sacrifices, you have now the joy of living in a country of which all the inhabit ants are free. Whatever trials and sufferings may await the race for which you have labored, they can never again be reduced to slavery. Our pleasure on this occasion is saddened only by the recol lection that our chairman, the late Governor Andrew, who entered into the plan of the committee with all the energy of his sympathetic nature, using both his tongue and pen to promote it, cannot place his name with ours here. No one would have rejoiced more than he in the accomplishment of this effort. We trust, Mr. Garrison, the offering we present will cheer you and Mrs. Garrison during the remainder of your lives, be they longer or shorter, not merely by the material resources which it brings, but by the precious recollection that it is the gift of a grateful generation of your countrymen and friends. May you long be spared, a living example, to your country and the world. Your friends, SAMUEL E. SEWALL, J. INGERSOLL BOWDITCH, WILLIAM E. COFFIN, WILLIAM ENDICOTT, JR., SAMUEL MAY, JR., EDMUND QUINCY, THOMAS RUSSELL, ROBERT C. WATERSTON. JET. 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 185 W. L. Garrison to the Testimonial Committee. BOSTON, March 12, 1868. RESPECTED FRIENDS : In replying to your very kind letter of the 10th instant, transferring to my hands the truly generous sum obtained by you as a national testimonial, in recognition of my labors in the anti-slavery cause through a long and perilous struggle, I shall try in vain to find words adequately to express my feelings. I can only tender to you my heartfelt thanks for this signal proof of your personal esteem and good-will. I am so constituted as not to fear the frowns of men, when conscious of being in the right ; yet no one should desire more strongly than I have always done to secure the regards of the wise, the good, and the true, next to the approval of my own conscience as unto God. All controversy, where no principle is involved, no right to be vindicated, no wrong to be redressed, is utterly distasteful to my temperament. If, therefore, for a long series of years, I was " a disturber of the peace " and " a troubler of Israel," it was not of my choice or seeking ; but necessity was laid upon me so to act, by the heinous wrongf ulness of chattel slavery, by the Christian obligation to remember those in bonds as bound with them, by the irresistible claims of outraged human nature, and by a more than patriotic interest in the welfare of my native land. Little indeed did I know or anticipate how prolonged or how virulent would be the struggle, when I lifted up the stand ard of immediate emancipation, and essayed to rouse the nation to a sense of its guilt and danger. But, having put my hand to the plow, how could I look back 1 For, in a cause so righteous, I could not doubt that, having turned the furrows, if I sowed in tears I should one day reap in joy. But, whether permitted to live to witness the abolition of slavery or not. I felt assured that, as I demanded nothing that was not clearly in accordance with justice and humanity, some time or other, if remembered at all, I should stand vindicated in the eyes of my countrymen. In the very first number of the Liberator I said : " It is pretended, that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by the Ante, 1 : 225. coarseness of my invective and the precipitancy of my measures. The charge is not true. On this question my influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming years, not perniciously but beneficially not as a curse but as a blessing ; and posterity will bear testimony that I was right." Happily, I have not had to wait for posterity for my vindi cation a generous and complete vindication. But, by the 186 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [.Err. 61. CHAP. VII. mighty power of a wonder-working Providence, I have been permitted to see the gory system of slavery annihilated, and its four millions of captives set free. My reproach has been turned into commendation, and my shame into honor. In approval of this testimonial, I see the honored name of Chief Justice Chase, of the U. S. Supreme Court, himself an early and fearless champion in the same good cause that of the Hon. James Speed of Kentucky, late Attorney-General of the United States the names of Senators and Representatives in Congress from Maine to Oregon the names of the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, and Chief Justice of Massachusetts the names of eminent merchants, lawyers, collegiate professors, poets, phi lanthropists, editors, etc., etc. In view of a list so broadly representative, and distinguished for such intellectual, moral, and political weight added to this the list of approving con tributors to the fund I feel the prof oundest humility mingled with the deepest gratitude. Some of these I have never seen, and probably shall never see in the flesh ; but I wish to thank each one of them as in his immediate presence. Among the contributors abroad are the honored names of John Bright, John Stuart Mill, William E. Forster, Thomas B. Potter, Sam uel Morley, John Cropper, and Arthur Albright. The moral verdict rendered by such an array is prized by me incompa rably above all the gold and silver ever coined. While it has particular reference to my career, for the reasons set forth in the appeal, it also means much more than this namely, the vindication of the anti-slavery movement as such, and of all who have faithfully labored to secure its triumph. Its design, therefore, is neither pecuniary reward nor personal exaltation ; but is vitalized and made all-embracing by the sublime histor ical event to which it relates. Having never sought the applause of my fellow-men, nor asked any favors at their hands, nor claimed to be more than others in labors and sacrifices in the cause of the oppressed, I trust no one will be found so unjust as to impute to me a wish to have any of my co-laborers thrown into the shade. Long before I took up the advocacy of the rights of man, without regard to race or complexion, many had done the same, in their way and according to the light given them. Liberty has never been without her witnesses on earth. The Declaration of Inde pendence contains, in its " self-evident truths," all the aboli tionism I have ever enunciated. So does the Golden Rule. Certainly I have never sought to put myself up, nor any fellow- ^T. 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 187 worker down. As to where I have stood and what I have done, CHAP. VII. by the help of God, for the extinction of slavery in this land, ig "^ the fury of the oppressor in the past is a more sure certificate than any that can now be given me by the friends of freedom. Yet, without co-workers from the greatest to the least, and in every position in society, my labors had been almost in vain, and peradventure the year of jubilee indefinitely postponed. Of this testimonial I may be permitted to say, that none was ever more unsought or more unexpected ; none more sponta neous or more honorable was ever proffered. Under the guise of self-abnegation, I might decline it ; but I have labored in vain if I have now to prove my disinterestedness by refusing to ac cept this mark " of the good-will and grateful respect of friends and countrymen." He who insists upon always giving, but never receiving, may possibly discover that he is actuated by a false pride and a selfish exclusiveness. Perceiving the spirit and object which have prompted this testimonial, and the complete justification of a once hated but now gloriously triumphant cause embodied in it, I accept it in no dependent sense, nor as a pecuniary reward for any sacrifices made or labors performed, but with becoming self-respect, and with untrammelled free dom of thought, speech, and action. I accept it, moreover, not as relating to any other question than that of slavery, not as an approval of all my methods of action or modes of expression (for some of these I should be quite sure to alter on a critical revision, now that the heat and smoke of the conflict are ended), but exactly for what it is intended to sanction and commend, to wit the cause of universal freedom, and an unswerving advo cacy of that cause, at whatever cost or peril. By the abolition of slavery, notwithstanding the pangs and dangers of our pres ent transitional state, we may ultimately hope for all crowning mercies upon our beloved country. For brass there shall be brought forth gold, and for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. Every man shall sit under his own vine, and there shall be none to molest or make afraid. My pleasure, gentlemen of the committee, is saddened in this connection, as well as your own, in view of the sudden demise of your lamented chairman, ex-Governor Andrew, who honored me with his friendship and confidence when friends and sup porters were " few and far between," and who took a more than friendly interest in the inception and completion of this testi monial, himself writing the appeal to the people, and exerting his influence to get it responded to, to the full extent therein 188 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEKISON. 61. CHAP. VII. 1866. designated. Were lie now living, no one would take more pleasure in the result than himself. His loss is a national be reavement. For, since the tragical death of President Lincoln, what public man has been so widely lamented as himself ? So gentle, yet so forcible! so conciliating, yet so outspoken! so modest, yet so intrepid ! so yielding where no sense of duty was involved, yet so inflexible in the maintenance of his principles ! so full of " the milk of human kindness," yet so like a flame of fire against injustice ! so thoroughly domestic in his affections and habits, yet so ready at all times to be sacrificed in the serv ice of his country ! among the most manly of men, the most upright of statesmen, and the best of patriots ! What he did as Governor of the Commonwealth, during the late slavehold- ing rebellion, both for the State which he represented and the nation whose liberties he upheld, is it not a signal part of the history of the times, to be admiringly rehearsed by a grateful posterity *? In him the hunted fugitive slave always found an advocate ready to interpose all his legal ability and forensic eloquence to shield him from the terrible fate of rendition ; for the millions in bondage he cherished the deepest sympathy ; and the entire colored population of the republic should ever cherish his memory with grateful emotions. Again warmly thanking you as a committee, and all who have in any manner participated in procuring this testimonial, I remain, with the highest personal regard, Yours, for a free country and a free world, WM. LLOYD GARRISON. The English contributions alluded to by Mr. Garrison aggregated nearly three hundred pounds, and some of these were transmitted through James Russell Lowell, who made it the occasion for writing the following note : J. E. Lowell to W. L. Garrison. MSt ELMWOOD, 29th Dec., 1866. MY DEAR SIR : In sending me some subscriptions by friends in England towards the " Garrison Testimonial," Mr. Thomas JohnBright. C. Ryley copies a passage from the letter of Mr. Bright, enclos ing a 5 contribution. As I am sure the extract must give pleasure to you and yours, I recopy it : " It is true I have ten times more applications for subscrip tions than I can comply with, but I gladly send you 5 towards . 61.] THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL. 189 the Garrison fund. I know no nobler man than Wm. Lloyd Garrison, and no man more rejoices that he has lived to see the l866 . great day of freedom than I do. I hope he will believe that our small contributions to the fund but faintly express the esteem and affection which his English friends feel towards him." Allow me, my dear sir, to add my own hearty sympathy with Mr. Bright s words, and to say that nothing could have been more in keeping with the uniform wisdom of your anti-slavery leadership than the time you chose for resigning it. With great respect, Very truly yours, J. R. LOWELL. CHAPTER VIII. To ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 1867. CHAP. VIIL I71ROM the time the destruction of slavery was an j^" 7> JL assured fact, Mr. Garrison had cherished the hope that he might once more revisit his transatlantic coadju tors, and rejoice with them that Cowper s boast, " Slaves cannot breathe in England ! " could now be applied to America. The fact that his daughter and her husband, and his youngest son, were then abroad and urging him to join them ; the hope that travel and change of scene might accelerate his recovery ; the temptation to visit the International Exposition at Paris ; and an appointment by the American Freedman s Union Commission to repre sent it at an International Anti-Slavery Conference to be held in that city in August, all combined to determine his going, and George Thompson, after three years resi dence in America, decided to return to England with him. On the 8th of May, they sailed together from Boston on the Cuba. A host of friends gathered at East Boston to see them off, and preparations had been made to escort them down the harbor with the Revenue Cutter, which Thomas Collector Russell offered for the purpose, but a heavy rain Rwfitobert prevented this. Mr. Waterston, of the Testimonial Com- C l %% fers ~ m ittee, announced to Mr. Garrison that Thirty Thousand Dollars had been collected and placed to his credit, and as the Cuba swung into the stream and began her voyage, the guns of the gaily dressed Revenue Cutter fired a part ing salute in his honor, which was repeated by the boys of the School Ship Massachusetts, who manned the yards of that vessel and gave three rousing cheers. 190 2EfS. 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 191 The voyage to Liverpool was quick and uneventful. Mr. Garrison proceeded directly to Paris, parting with Mr. Thompson at London, and crossing the Channel, for May 20. the first time, between Folkestone and Boulogne. The wretched accommodation for passengers on the Channel steamers amazed him, and in trying to compute the yearly aggregate of misery caused thereby to tens of thousands of travellers, he became, as he declared, " too indignant to be seasick." The next four weeks he devoted to sight seeing in Paris, in company with his children, and was charmed by the gay and brilliant city. He made many visits to the great Exposition, and never wearied of strolling or driving through the parks and along the boulevards, or of excursions to St. Cloud and Versailles. The shop windows had an especial fascination for him. He had never before shown any interest in diamonds or precious stones, but the great jewelry shops in the Palais Eoyal arcades fairly dazzled him. Every day brought its novel experience, and was so fully occupied that he found scant time for recording his impressions ; hence, his letters present little that is quotable. He saw the great military display of the 6th of June, when Napoleon enter tained his guests the Czar Alexander and King William of Prussia (accompanied by Bismarck) with a review of sixty thousand troops in the Bois de Boulogne. " As a spectacle," he wrote, " it was the most gorgeous and MS. June 7, the most imposing of any I have ever witnessed, or ever expect to witness. The sun shone clearly out, adding to the brilliancy and effectiveness of the scene. ... Of course, in a moral point of view, this mighty warlike display gave me no pleasure, but rather much pain at seeing such a perversion of human nature in support of usurpation and oppression. As the royal party rode out of the park, they were fired upon by a Pole, who doubtless intended to kill the Emperor of Russia, but he only succeeded in killing the horse of an officer riding by the side of the royal carriage, the pistol bursting in his hand. He was immediately arrested. " I have dined with Madame Coignet and Miss Dowling, who have been at the head of the Freedmen s movement in Paris. 192 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. . 62. John Lemoinne. Nicholas Tourgue- neff ; ante, 3:421. Edouard Laboulaye. Charles Pollen. Augustin Cochin. MS. June 14, 1867, to W.L.G.Jr. Henry Vil- lard. . . . I there met the Editor of the Journal des Debats, but as he could not speak English, nothing passed between us. I have also dined with Monsieur Tourgueneff, my Russian admirer, and a nobleman by nature as well as by station. ... I have also had a very agreeable interview with the celebrated Professor Laboulaye, who strongly reminded me, in his sweet, gentle manners, and in the shape of his head, of the lamented Professor Follen. Even he is not allowed to address a class or assemblage of persons in more than two places in the whole city of Paris ! Everything here is under governmental espionage and dictation, and therefore in a volcanic condition, although the volcano is capped for the present." Mr. Garrison met still another eminent Frenchman : " Two or three days ago, I wrote a letter to M. Cochin, expressive of my admiration of his character and works in rela tion to Slavery and the Results of Emancipation, and my desire to have an interview with him, if agreeable, before leaving Paris for London. He immediately wrote a very cordial note in reply, and then drove in his carriage a long distance to our hotel, and sent up his card, with the letter. As I happened to be all alone, ... I could not read his letter, which was written in French ; and as the servant who brought me the letter and card could not understand a word of English, I could not make any response ; and so M. Cochin had to drive home without seeing me ! He left an invitation to have me take breakfast with him the next morning, and Harry, at my request, went along with me to act as my interpreter. We were very heartily received ; but though Cochin, I am assured, can speak very well in English, yet his diffidence was apparently so great about it that he chose to carry on the conversation wholly in French, talking with great fluency and animation, Harry inter preting what he said as he went along. We stopped only twenty or thirty minutes, declining to take the breakfast which we saw spread in another room, though he assured us that his wife (whom we did not see, as she probably expected to see me at break fast) could speak English readily. Cochin is in the prime of life, has a fine countenance, and in his manners is a finished gentleman, as well as one of the most eminent men in France for his literary and scientific ability. His family descent is old and high." This was only one of many experiences in which his ig norance of any language but his own was a sad drawback MT. 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 193 to Mr. Garrison s happiness. He was, however, constantly CHAP. vin. meeting countrymen and friends in Paris, and he was I ^ 7> pleased to be recognized and addressed by two of the colored waiters at the American restaurant of the Expo sition. He spent a very agreeable evening with William J^lne i. Cullen Bryant, whom he had never before met, and who had been appointed a fellow-delegate with him to the Anti- Slavery Conference. On the 15th of June he returned to London, accom panied by his daughter and son. He had little time for looking about the city and noting the changes since his last visit in 1846, before he was overwhelmed by letters and notes of invitation, and proffered courtesies from friends in London and in other parts of the kingdom. After George Thompson, his first call was on John Bright, whom he happened never to have met in his previous visits. Their interview was delightful for its cordiality and June 19. informality, seeming rather like the meeting of old friends. The next day he paid his respects to the Duke and Duchess June 20. of Argyll, at Argyll Lodge, Kensington, desiring to testify his appreciation of the Duke s unfaltering support of the Northern cause during the civil war, and his grateful remembrance of the friendship and support of the Duchess of Sutherland, whose daughter, a young girl in 1840, now greeted him as the Duchess of Argyll. Five of her twelve children were brought into the room to see him whose name had ever been an honored one in her mother s house. A day or two later he received a note from the (Dowager) Duchess of Sutherland herself, who was now a great in valid and sojourning at Chiswick House, one of the seats of the Duke of Devonshire. The Duchess of Sutherland to W. L. Garrison. -T. CHISWICK, June 21. DEAR SIR : I did not hear without great emotion that you are returned to England, and I look forward with great happiness to meet you in these better times. I am anxious to know how long you stay, VOL. IV. 13 MS. 194 WILLIAM LLOYD GABKISON. 1867. MS. June 24. June 26. CHAP. VIII. for if your time allows of a little delay, I would wait a little in hopes of being rather more free from violent pain. Believe me, dear sir, yours sincerely, HARRIET SUTHERLAND. I have been very ill for the last month. To this, Mr, Garrison replied that he hesitated to in trude on her in her invalid condition ; but she quickly re sponded : " However unwell, I would not on any account not see you, 7 and she requested him to come to luncheon at Chiswick House, and sent her carriage for him and his children. She was still too unwell to leave her room, and the Duke and Duchess of Argyll and Marquis of Lome entertained her guests at luncheon, and did the honors of the house. Mr. Garrison was ushered without delay into the chamber of the Duchess, by her daughter, and wel comed with great warmth and feeling. She made him bring his children in to see her, after luncheon, and when the house, with its treasures of art, its rooms in which Fox and Canning had died, and its beautiful grounds with their superb cedars of Lebanon, had been shown them by their attentive hosts, and they were about to return to the city, Mr. Garrison was again taken to his staunch friend for the parting which was final for this life. The Duchess died in the following year. Under the escort of Mr. F. W. Chesson (Mr. Thompson s son-in-law), Mr. Garrison visited the House of Commons, and was introduced to John Stuart Mill and James Stans- feld, Jr., the latter the son-in-law of his old friend, Wm. H. Ashurst ; and at Stansfeld s house, a few evenings later, he renewed with delight his acquaintance with Joseph Mazzini. Oct. 27, 1868. June 20, 1867. June 23. Introduction to Life and Writings of Mazzini, 1872. " Of course," he afterwards wrote, " a quarter of a century makes perceptible changes in us all changes which are ren dered the more striking by a separation for so long a term. But Mazzini s altered appearance affected me sadly. There were, indeed, the same finely shaped head ; the same dark, lus trous eyes j the same classical features ; the same grand intellect ; the same lofty and indomitable spirit ; the same combination of MT. 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 195 true modesty and heroic assertion, of exceeding benignity and CHAP. VIII. inspirational power, as in the earlier days ; but, physically, he ^ was greatly attenuated, stricken in countenance, broken in health, and evidently near the close of his earthly pilgrimage. But, no marvel ! During our long absence from each other, what mighty intellectual forces he had brought into play ! what exhausting vigils he had been obliged to keep, and labors to perform ! what cruel betrayals, what hairbreadth escapes, what fiery trials had been his ! . . . Through all these trying vicissitudes he had passed, and well might the outward man show signs of marked infirmity to say nothing of the flight of time. But I was painfully convinced that he had greatly injured himself his nervous temperament being finely wrought by his one bad habit of excessive smoking ; a habit which had mastered his self-control, the evil effects of which he readily admitted, which (as he told me) was fastened upon him by his long solitary imprisonment, and from the craving demands of which he was endeavoring to escape by an effort to lessen the number of cigars used by him daily. Lamenting that so great a soul should be in such self-imposed bondage, I earnestly besought him to summon all his powers, and, both for his own safety and as a noble example to others, resolve to go for im mediate and unconditional emancipation. Nothing could be more respectful, more sweet, more gentle than the manner in which he received my entreaty." Other friends whom he met were Peter A. Taylor, M. P. for Leicester, and his wife, ardent friends of the North in the war days, Thomas Hughes, and Justin McCarthy, then editing the Morning Star. Invitations to breakfast or dinner came to him from the son and grandson of his early friend, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and from Lord Houghton, at whose house he met Anthony Trollope and Hepworth Dixon. Trollope had a low opinion of the negro, and discussed him from the ethnological standpoint in a manner that stirred Mr. Garrison s indignation, and led him to handle the novelist in a vigorous and summary fashion delightful to his host, who recalled the incident ten years later. A day was spent at Richmond with the Due d Aumale and his nephews, the Comte de Paris and Due de Chartres, at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Auguste 196 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. . 62. Morning- Star, June 24, 1867. CHAP. viii. Laugel, the latter a daughter of Mrs. Chapman. In I 86 7 . addition to all these occupations, Mr. Garrison was be sieged 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 in 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 5 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 . 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 197 intellectual and moral worth been assembled in London. Mr. Bright presided, with Mr. Garrison on his right, and the Duke and Duchess of Argyll on his left. On the right of Mr. Garrison sat Earl and Countess Russell and their daughter, and at the same or other tables were John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Professors Maurice and Huxley, William E. Forster, and many other members of Parliament, Sir Charles and Lady Trevelyan (daughter of Zachary Macaulay), Miss Cobden, Lady Lyell and Miss Lyell, Professor Fawcett and wife, Professor Beesly, Victor Schoelcher, 1 "W. Vernon Harcourt, Jacob Bright, Justin McCarthy, Edward Miall, Frederic Harrison, Geo. J. Holyoake, William Black, and scores of others. Of Mr. Garrison s English anti-slavery friends there were the Ashursts, Stansfelds, Shaens, Taylors, Thompsons, and Chessons ; and Richard D. Webb came over from Ire land for the occasion. America was represented by the U. S. Consul at London (Mr. Morse), and by a number of anti-slavery friends who were happily in London Mrs. Chapman s daughters and the Rev. William Henry Chan- ning being among these, while Miss Sarah Remond, Bishop Payne of the African M. E. Church, Rev. J. Sella Martin, and William and Ellen Craft well represented the enfranchised race. The American Minister sent the fol lowing letter, which was read by Mr. Chesson : 54 PORTLAND PLACE, June 25, 1867. SIR : Permit me to express my great gratification in receiving the honor of an invitation to be present on the interesting occa sion so complimentary to my countryman, Mr. Garrison. It cannot but be gratifying to perceive so cordial a disposition among Englishmen to recognize his long and arduous services in the cause of philanthropy. It is with much regret that I find myself unable, from the pressure of my engagements on that day, to attend j but I pray you to assure the Committee of the obligation I feel myself to be under for their courtesy. I am, very truly yours, C. F. ADAMS. CHAP. Vlli. 1867. Henry Fawcett. E.S. Beesly. To F. W. Chesson. W. L. G. Breakfast, P- IS- 1 As Colonial Minister under the French Republic of 1848, Schoelcher pre cipitated the abolition of slavery in the French colonies. 198 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 62. Mr. Chesson also read a letter from the Comte de Paris : To F. W. YORK HOUSE, Twickenham, S. W., June 26. W. L. G. SIR : Engagements of long standing will prevent me from Breakfast, being present at the breakfast which will be given on Saturday to Mr. Garrison. I regret it extremely, and I hasten to beg you to thank the Committee in the Comtesse de Paris s name, as well as my own, for the amiable invitation which you have trans mitted to us. I wish at least to avail myself of that opportunity to tell you how much I sympathize with the mark of esteem and respect which you are about to give to the courageous and indefatigable champion of emancipation. The abolition of slavery is indeed a cause dear to every liberal heart, whatever may be its country ; and as we all belong to an epoch which, besides its faults, has also its greatness, we may be proud to see it wipe off this shameful stain on our civilization. The cause of humanity has definitively triumphed, thanks to the energy of a free people. Slavery is henceforth condemned by public opinion, even in the countries where the law allows it still an ephemeral existence. But those who have served this cause can never forget that at a time when its success appeared only as an impracticable utopia, it had enlisted already a handful of eloquent defenders, and that prominent amongst them was William Lloyd Garrison. After consecrating his life to a task so difficult at the outset, he has had the happiness to see the accomplishment of the salutary revolution for which he labored. He has at last been conspicu ous, even for his moderation, in the midst of that American people which, formed in the manly school of liberty, has shown itself as great in victory as in adversity. While we pay deserved homage to those who receive during this life the recompense of their devotion to their principles, it is impossible not to associate with them the memory of those who have been the martyrs of their cause, from the name, already historical, of Lincoln, to the last of those who are inscribed on the long and precious lists published in America, and so justly called " The Eoll of Honor." In receiving a man whose character honors America, I thank you, Sir, for having thought of me, and for having counted on my sympathy for all that is great and noble in that country, which I have seen in the midst of such a terrible crisis. I remain, Sir, yours truly, Louis PHILLIPPE D ORL^ANS, Comte de Paris. ^T. 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 199 Letters expressing sympathy with the objects of the CHAP.VIII. meeting were also received from the Earl of Shaftesbury, ^ Lord Houghton, Sir Charles Lyell, Sir T. F. Buxton, Goldwin Smith, Charles Buxton, M. P., Professor J. E. Cairnes, Thomas Hughes, M. P., and many others unable to attend. Of these we give but one : Sir Charles Lyell to F. W. Chesson. 73 HARLEY STREET, June 22, 1867. w. L. G. Breakfast, DEAR SIR : I regret that my engagements are such as to pre- p. 17. vent me from assisting in the arrangements for a public break fast to Mr. Garrison, who has done so much for a cause in which I warmly sympathize. I will do what I can in making the intended meeting known among those who I know will be glad to contribute to its success. Believe me, dear Sir, Very truly yours, CHARLES LYELL. 1 Those who were familiar with Mr. Bright s oratory averred that he had never spoken with more grace and simple eloquence, or with deeper tenderness and feeling, than characterized the beautiful address with which he introduced the post-prandial exercises of the occasion. Its effect upon his audience was most impressive, and a common baptism of spirit seemed to pervade the great assembly, which listened as if entranced. His opening words were as follows : " The position in which I am placed this morning is one very W. L. G. unusual for me, and one that I find somewhat difficult ; but I con- Br k fa st sider it a signal distinction to be permitted to take a prominent part in the proceedings of this day, which are intended to com memorate one of the greatest of the great triumphs of freedom, and to do honor to a most eminent instrument in the achievement 1 Here it will not be inappropriate to cite the following private tribute from Charles Darwin (MSS. to W. P. G., October, 1879): "I thank you also for the Memorials of Garrison, a man to be forever revered." " It will ever be a deep gratification to me to know that your Father, whom I honor from the bottom of my soul, should have heard and approved of the few words which I wrote many years ago on Slavery." (See the Journal of a Voyage, passim, and particularly the chapter on Brazil.) 200 WILLIAM LLOYD GAREISON. . 62. CHAP. VIII. 1867 W. L. G. Breakfast, p. 19. Ante, 2:97, 180. W. L. G. Breakfast, p. 20. of that freedom. (Hear, hear.) There may be, perhaps, those who ask what is this triumph of which I speak. To put it briefly, and, indeed, only to put one part of it, I may say that it is a triumph which has had the effect of raising 4,000,000 of human beings from the very lowest depth of social and political degra dation to that lofty height which men have attained when they possess equality of rights in the first country on the globe. (Cheers.) More than this, it is a triumph which has pro nounced the irreversible doom of slavery in all countries and for all time. (Renewed cheers.) Another question suggests itself How has this great matter been accomplished 1 ? The answer suggests itself in another question How is it that any great matter is accomplished ? By love of justice, by constant devotion to a great cause, and by an unfaltering faith that that which is right will in the end succeed. (Hear, hear.) " Recalling the trials and perils attending the earlier stages of Mr. Garrison s career his imprisonment at Baltimore, the Boston mob, and the Georgia law Mr. Bright continued : " Now, these were menaces and perils such as we have not in our time been accustomed to in this country in any of our polit ical movements (hear, hear) and we shall take a very poor measure indeed of the conduct of the leaders of the emancipa tion party in the United States if we estimate them by any of those who have been concerned in political movements amongst us. But, notwithstanding all drawbacks, the cause was gath ering strength, and Mr. Garrison found himself by and by sur rounded by a small but increasing band of men and women who were devoted to this cause, as he himself was. We have in this country a very noble woman who taught the English people much upon this question about thirty years ago ; I allude to Har riet Martineau. (Cheers.) I recollect well the impression with which I read a most powerful and touching paper which she had written, and which was published in the number of the Westminster Eeview for December, 1838. It was entitled l The Martyr Age of the United States. The paper introduced to the English public the great names which were appearing on the scene in connection with this cause in America. . . . When I read that article by Harriet Martineau, and the description of those men and women there given, I was led, I know not how, to think of a very striking passage which I am sure must be . 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 201 familiar to most here, because it is to be found in the Epistle to CHAP. vm. the Hebrews. After the writer of that epistle has described the great men and fathers of the nation, he says : l Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephtha, of David, of Samuel, and the Prophets, who through faith subdued king doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. I ask if this grand passage of the inspired writer may not be applied to that heroic band who have made America the perpetual home of freedom? (Enthusiastic cheers.) . . . " Then came the outbreak which had been so often foretold, so often menaced j and the ground reeled under the nation during four years of agony, until at last, after the smoke of the battle-field had cleared away, the horrid shape which had cast its shadow over a whole continent had vanished, and was gone for ever. (Loud cheers.) An ancient and renowned poet has Unholy is the voice Of loud thanksgiving over slaughtered men. It becomes us not to rejoice, but to be humbled, that a chastise ment so terrible should have fallen upon any of our race ; but we may be thankful for this that that chastisement was at least not sent in vain. (Hear.) This great triumph in the field was not all; there came after it another great triumph a triumph over passion, and there came up before the world the spectacle, not of armies and military commanders, but of the magnanimity and mercy of a powerful and victorious nation. (Cheers.) The vanquished were treated as vanquished, in the history of the world, have never before been treated. There was an universal feeling in the North that every care should be taken of those who had so recently and marvellously been enfranchised. Immediately we found that the privileges of in dependent labor were open to them, schools were established, in which their sons might obtain an education that would raise them to an intellectual position never reached by their fathers ; and at length full political rights were conferred upon those who, a few short years, or rather months, before, had been called chattels, and things to be bought and sold in any market. (Hear, hear.) And we may feel assured, that those persons in the Northern States who befriended the negro in his bondage will not now fail to assist his struggles for a higher position. May we 1867. W. L. G. Breakfast, P. 21. 202 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 62. CHAP. VIII. not say, reviewing what has taken place and I have only ^ glanced in the briefest possible way. at the chief aspects of this great question that probably history has no sadder, and yet, if we take a different view, I may say also probably no brighter page "? (Cheers.) To Mr. Garrison more than to any other man this is due } his is the creation of that opinion which has made slavery hateful, and which has made freedom possible in Amer ica. (Hear, hear.) His name is venerated in his own coun try venerated where not long ago it was a name of obloquy and reproach. His name is venerated in this country and in Europe wheresoever Christianity softens the hearts and les sens the sorrows of men; and I venture to say that in time to come, near or remote I know not, his name will become the herald and the synonym of good to millions of men who will dwell on the now almost unknown continent of Africa. (Loud cheers.) " But we must not allow our own land to be forgotten or de preciated, even whilst we are saying what our feelings bid us say of our friend beside me and of our other friends across the water. We, too, can share in the triumph I have described, and in the honors which the world is willing to shower upon our guest, and upon those who, like him, are unwearied in doing good. We have had slaves in the colonial territories that owned the sway of this country. Our position was different from that in which the Americans stood towards theirs; the negroes were far from being so numerous, and they were not in our midst, but 4,000 miles away. We had no prejudices of color to overcome, we had a Parliament that was omnipotent in those colonies, and public opinion acting upon that Parlia ment was too powerful for the Englishmen who were interested in the continuance of slavery. We liberated our slaves ; for the English soil did not reject the bondman, but, the moment he touched it, made him free. We have now in our memory Clark- son, and Wilberforce, and Buxton, and Sturge ; and even now we have within this hall the most eloquent living English champion of the freedom of the slave in my friend and our friend, George Thompson. (Great cheering.) Well, then, I may presume to say that we are sharers in that good work which has raised our guest to eminence ; and we may divide it with the country from which he comes. (Hear, hear.) Our country is still his ; for did not his fathers bear allegiance to our ancient monarchy, and were they not at one time citizens of this commonwealth ; and may we not add that the freedom which now overspreads ^ET. 62-] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 203 his noble nation first sprang into life amongst our own ances- CHAP. VIII. tors? (Enthusiastic cheering.) ^ " To Mr. Garrison, as is stated in one of the letters which have just been read to William Lloyd Garrison it has been given, in a manner not often permitted to those who do great things of this kind, to see the ripe fruit of his vast labors. Over a terri tory large enough to make many realms, he has seen hopeless toil supplanted by compensated industry ; and where the bond man dragged his chain, there freedom is established forever. (Loud cheers.) We now welcome him amongst us as a friend whom some of us have known long ; for I have watched his career with no common interest, even when I was too young to take much part in public affairs ; and I have kept within my heart his name, and the names of those who have been associ ated with him in every step which he has taken j and in public debate in the halls of peace, and even on the blood-soiled fields of war, my heart has always been with those who were the friends of freedom. (Renewed cheering.) We welcome him, then, with a cordiality which knows no stint and no limit for him and for his noble associates, both men and women ; and we venture to speak a verdict which, I believe, will be sanctioned by all mankind, not only those who live now, but those who shall come after, to whom their perseverance and their success shall be a lesson and a help in the future struggles which remain for men to make. One of our oldest and greatest poets has fur nished me with a line that well expresses that verdict. Are not William Lloyd Garrison and his fellow-laborers in that world s work are they not On Fame s eternal bead-roll worthy to be filed ? " The enthusiastic plaudits which followed Mr. Bright s peroration were renewed when the Duke of Argyll came forward to propose the formal Address of Welcome, which had been written by Groldwin Smith. He prefaced his reading of it with a brief speech, from which we also quote : " Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : It is hard to follow W. L. G. an address of such extraordinary beauty, simplicity, and power ; but it now becomes my duty at your command, Sir, to move an address of hearty congratulation to our distinguished guest, William Lloyd Garrison. (Cheers.) Sir, this country is from time to time honored by the presence of many distinguished 204 WILLIAM LLOYD GAEKISON. [^Ex. 62. CHAP. VIII. and of a few illustrious men j but for the most part we are con- jjjjT tented to receive them with that private cordiality and hospi tality with which, I trust, we shall always receive strangers who visit our shores. The people of this country are not preemi nently an emotional people ; they are not naturally fond of public demonstrations ; and it is only upon rare occasions that we give, or can give, such a reception as that we see here this day. There must be something peculiar in the Cause which a man has served, in the service which he has rendered, and in our own relations with the People whom he represents, to justify or to account for such a reception. (Hear, hear.) As regards the Cause, it is not too much to say that the Cause of negro emanci pation in the United States of America has been the greatest cause which, in ancient or in modern times, has been pleaded at the bar of the moral judgment of mankind. (Cheers.) I know that to some this will sound as the language of exaggerated feeling j but I can only say that I have expressed myself in language which I believe conveys the literal truth. (Hear, hear.) " I have, indeed, often heard it said in deprecation of the amount of interest which was bestowed in this country on the cause of negro emancipation in America, that we are apt to forget the forms of suffering which are immediately at our own doors, over which we have some control, and to express exaggerated feeling as to the forms of suffering with which we have nothing to do, and for which we are not responsible. I have never objected to that language in so far as it might tend to recall us to the duties which lie immediately around us, and in so far as it might tend to make us feel the forgetfulness of which we are sometimes guilty, of the misery and poverty in our own country ; but, on the other hand, I will never admit for I think it would be confounding great moral distinctions that the miseries which arise by way of natural consequence out of the poverty and the vices of mankind, are to be compared with those miseries which are the direct result of positive law and of a positive institution, giving to man property in man. (Loud cheers.) . . . " If such be the Cause, what are we to say of the Man and of the services which he has rendered to that cause ? We honor Mr. Garrison, in the first place, for the immense pluck and courage which he displayed. (Cheers.) Sir, you have truly said that there is no comparison between the contests in which he has had to fight and the most bitter contests of our own 2BT. 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 205 public life. In looking back, no doubt, to the contest which CHAP.VIII. was maintained in this country some thirty-five years ago ^ 7 against slavery in our colonies, we may recollect that Clarkson and Wilberforce were denounced as fanatics, and had to en counter much opprobrium ; but it must not be forgotten that, so far as regards the entwining of the roots of slavery into the social system, in the opinions and interests of mankind, there was no comparison whatever between the circumstances of that contest here and those which attended it in America. (Hear, hear.) The number of persons who, in this country, were enlisted on the side of slavery by personal interest was always comparatively few ; whilst, in attacking slavery at its headquar ters in the United States, Mr. Garrison had to encounter the fiercest passions which could be roused. (Hear, hear.) That is, indeed, a tremendous sea which runs upon the surface of the human mind when the storms of passion and of self-interest run counter to the secret currents of conscience and the sense of right. (Cheers.) " Such was the stormy sea on which Mr. Garrison embarked at first if I may use the simile almost in a one-oared boat. He stood alone. (Cheers.) And so in our reception this day of Mr. Garrison, we are entitled to think of him as representing the increased power and force which is exerted in our own times by the moral opinions of mankind. (Hear, hear.) It is true, indeed, that we have lately seen some of the most tremendous and bloody wars which history records ; and I, for one, must admit that the time has not yet come it is not even yet in sight when we can beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning-hooks ; but if we look to the great events to which I have referred, we shall see that in our own time the march of great battalions has generally been in the wake of the march of great principles (hear, hear) that in the freedom of Italy, in the consolidation of Germany, and still more in the recent contest in America, we are to look to the triumphs of opinion as, in the main, the triumphs which have been won. (Cheers.) I can understand the joy which must be felt by a great sovereign, or by a great general, when, standing amidst the heaps of slain, he can feel that he has won the independence of a country, or, still better, has established the independence of a race. We can all, however, understand still better the joy of him who, like our distinguished friend, after years of obloquy and oppression, and being denounced as the fanatical supporter of extreme opinions, finds himself acknowledged at last by his 206 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [^T. 62. CHAP. VIII. countrymen and the world as the prophet and apostle of a j^L triumphant and accepted cause. (Cheers.) " One word in regard to the nation which Mr. Garrison rep resents. Let us remember with joy and thankfulness that only a few years ago the present reception could not have been given to Mr. Garrison. He was not then the representative of a people, of a country, or of a government. He was the representative only of a party in the United States, and I have always held that public receptions or meetings in foreign countries, or at least in other countries, for I will not call America a foreign country (immense cheering) I mean public assemblies or conventions taking part with particular parties of another country, are sometimes almost as apt to do as much harm as good. (Hear, hear.) Now, thank God, Mr. Garrison appears before us as the representative of the United States ; freedom is now the policy of the Government and the assured policy of the country, and we can to-day accept and welcome Mr. Garrison, not merely as the liberator of the slaves, but as the representa tive also of the American Government. (Cheers.) This country desires to maintain with the American people not merely rela tions of amity and peace ; it desires to have their friendship and affection. (Cheers.) It is not merely that that country has sprung from us in former times. It is that it is still to a great extent springing from England. (Hear, hear.) It is hardly possible to go into any house of the farming class in that part of the country with which I am particularly connected, without being told that a brother or a sister, a daughter or a son, has gone to the United States of America, and is nourishing in the free States of Ohio or Illinois. (Cheers.) I think we ought to feel, every one of us, that in going to America we are going only to a second home. (Cheers.) Such are the relations which I trust we shall see established between the two countries. (Hear, hear.) Surely it is time to forget ancient differences (loud cheers) differences dating from the days of Burgoyne s retreat, or our failure before the ramparts of New Orleans. I maintain that there is hardly an Englishman in this country I am sure there is no one in this room who is not almost as proud of Washington as he is of Wellington (cheers) the memory of both belonging, indeed, to the common heritage of our race. (Hear, hear.) "Therefore, on all these grounds on the ground of the Cause of which he was the great champion, of the peculiar services which he has rendered to that cause, and of the People . 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 207 whom he represents, we desire to give Mr. Garrison a hearty CHAP. vili. welcome. (Cheers.) " The Duke then read the Address : " To William Lloyd Garrison, Esq. 11 Sir : We heartily welcome you to England in the name of thousands of Englishmen who have watched with admiring sympathy your labors for the redemption of the negro race from slavery, and for that which is a higher object than the redemption of any single race, the vindication of the universal principles of humanity and justice ; and who, having sympa thized with you in the struggle, now rejoice with you in the victory. " Forty years ago, when you commenced your efforts, slavery appeared to be rapidly advancing to complete ascendency in America. Not only was it dominant in the Southern States, but even in the free States it had bowed the constituencies, society, and, in too many instances, even the churches to its will. Commerce, linked to it by interest, lent it her support. A great party, compactly organized and vigorously wielded, placed in its hands the power of the State. It bestowed polit ical offices and honors, and was thereby enabled to command the apostate homage of political ambition. Other nations felt the prevalence in your national councils of its insolent and domineering spirit. There was a moment, most critical in the history of America and of the world, when it seemed as though that continent, with all its resources and all its hopes, was about to become the heritage of the slave power. "But Providence interposes to prevent the permanent tri umph of evil. It interposes, not visibly or by the thunderbolt, but by inspiring and sustaining high moral effort and heroic lives. " You commenced your crusade against slavery in isolation, in weakness, and in obscurity. The emissaries of authority with difficulty found the office of the Liberator in a mean room, where its editor was aided only by a negro boy, and supported by a few insignificant persons (so the officers termed them) of all colors. You were denounced, persecuted, and hunted down by mobs of wealthy men alarmed for the interests of their class. You were led out by one of these mobs, and saved from their violence and the imminent peril of death almost by a miracle. You were not turned from your path of devotion to your cause, 1867. W. L. G. Breakfast, pp. 29, 30. Ante, i : 244, 245. 208 WILLIAM LLOYD GAKKISON. [^T. 62. CHAP.VIII. and to the highest interests of your country, by denunciation, j^ persecution, or the fear of death. You have lived to stand vic torious and honored in the very stronghold of slavery j to see Ante, p. 141. the flag of the Republic, now truly free, replace the flag of Ante, pp. slavery on Fort Sumter ; and to proclaim the doctrines of the 141-144- Liberator in the city, and beside the grave, of Calhoun. " Enemies of war, we most heartily wish, and doubt not that you wish as heartily as we do, that this deliverance could have been wrought out by peaceful means. But the fierce passions engendered by slavery in the slave-owner determined it other wise ; and we feel at liberty to rejoice, since the struggle was inevitable, that its issue has been the preservation, not the ex tinction, of all that we hold most dear. We are, however, not more thankful for the victories of freedom in the field than for the moderation and mercy shown by the victors, which have exalted and hallowed their cause and ours in the eyes of all nations. " We shall now watch with anxious hope the development, amidst the difficulties which still beset the regeneration of the South, of a happier order of things in the States rescued from slavery, and the growth of free communities in which your name, with the names of your fellow- workers in the same cause, will be held in grateful and lasting remembrance. " Once more we welcome you to a country in which you will find many sincere admirers and warm friends." Earl Russell, at the invitation of Mr. Bright, now came forward to second the Address. Remembering his un friendly attitude towards the American Government dur ing the critical period of the rebellion, the Committee of Arrangements had not thought of inviting him to the Breakfast, and were surprised at receiving an intimation from him that he wished to be present. Even then they refrained from asking him until they had consulted Mr. Garrison, who unhesitatingly assented. Earl Russell s motive for wishing to take part in the proceedings was revealed in his speech, which was as honorable to him as it was surprising and gratifying to his audience. He said : ^rvalkfasi " ^ s one ^ ^ is sincere admirers and warm friends, I heartily pp. 31-33. join in this welcome to Mr. Garrison, and I hold it a distin- ^ET. 62.] TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. 209 guished honor to share in the tribute of admiration which is CHAP. VIII. being offered to him this day. It is the characteristic of our ^ race that, amidst evils unnumbered, and miseries unrelieved, though often deeply felt, and institutions which condemn mill ions to what seems a hopeless servitude, the Almighty has planted in some breasts a f eeling of indignation against wrong, a zeal to redress the evils which press upon the most wretched of their fellow-men, that raises up deliverers for mankind, who will not rest until the evils they struggle against are done away, until the balance is redressed, and the fortunes of their race seem to brighten. Such a spirit is found in our guest of to-day. Mr. Garrison felt for the evils of his fellow-men of an oppressed race ; he devoted himself to the object of removing them j he was ready to encounter death itself in the pursuit of that salutary and worthy object j and he has been happy enough to live to see the victory of freedom over slavery, and to grapple with it in the form which has prevailed both in America and our own colonies, and which my noble friend who spoke before me has well designated as one of the worst evils that have afflicted mankind. (Cheers.) " Having said this with respect to Mr. Garrison, you will per mit me to join in another sentiment which has been expressed by the Duke of Argyll, that this may be an occasion which will tend to draw closer the ties of friendship and affection which ought to bind us to the United States of America. (Loud cheers.) So far, unfortunately, the condition of mankind has been such that men seem to seek every occasion of difference with each other, in order to found upon those differences rela tions of hostility and mutual hatred. Difference of class, dif ference of race, difference of religion, difference of situation, difference of domestic institutions, all seem to be grounds on which those who are natural enemies to love and affection seek to implant sentiments of hatred and hostility, leading often to bloody wars, and consequences the most calamitous to mankind. If this be so, and I am afraid it is little in our power to pre vent those causes from having this operation, may we not con sider that the ties existing between us and the United States of America, having our birth from the same ancestors, having both the blessings of Christianity, having (though with differ ent institutions) the same love of freedom, should lead us to replace by a thorough and entire affection the old leaven of hatred and ill-will which has sometimes troubled their connec tion <? Should not these considerations impress us with affection VOL. IV. 14 210 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. [.Err. 62. CHAP. VIII. and regard for our brethren in America, and make us perpetu- j^~ 7 ally friends ? (Loud cheers.) " Well, I have my own faults to acknowledge in this respect, because I certainly thought, when the Slave States of America endeavored to establish their independence, and at the same time to continue and perpetuate the institution of slavery, that the Northern States ought at once to have proclaimed not only their own abhorren