GARRISON, WILLIAM L. 



BQ9 



tion, in a State where slavery had been un- 

 known for many years, could not expect to 

 survive expenses unless it introduced and pre- 

 sented soiiio novel features. Such were soon 

 t<> l>o found in the columns of the "Libera- 

 tor." It did not advocate, but it demanded, the 

 immediate emancipation of every slave in the 

 land. Thorn it stopped on that point. It did 

 not advocate or present any system of mea- 

 sures for the support, maintenance, occupation, 

 protection, or education of the slaves thus sud- 

 denly to be set free. The intelligence of the 

 country at that time revolted at such a doc- 

 trine as barbarous and inhuman. The logic of 

 the "Liberator" was of this sort: Slavery is a 

 sin against Almighty God; therefore it should 

 cease instantly. On this position all was based. 

 If it was pointed out that no provision was 

 made for the emancipated, the answer came 

 that sin against God should cease immediate- 

 ly; and it was further added, in effect, that 

 those who are fighting for the destruction of 

 such a huge and horrible sin have no time to 

 look after consequences. Mercy was not an 

 ingredient of the contest. Whoever pooh- 

 poohed the doctrine, as was often done at that 

 time, was a foe to God and man. The manner 

 adopted by Mr. Garrison in which to conduct 

 his cause was that of "moral suasion"; but 

 it was to be used with such a force and vim of 

 invective, such reproach, denunciation, and 

 extravagance of language, as would put his 

 mother-tongue to its utmost tension. After 

 an existence of two or three years, the paper 

 reached the conclusions to which its doctrine 

 led. Therefore every arrangement of society, 

 every institution, organization, or individual, 

 that was socially, politically, or professionally 

 an obstacle unwittingly to the success of this 

 vehement effort for the extermination of the 

 sin of slavery, or was deemed to be such an 

 obstacle, was not spared. The Constitution of 

 the United States, under which the institutions 

 of the States were sheltered from the inter- 

 ference of non-residents, was denounced as 

 "a league with hell"; and the Union which 

 flourished under it was declared to be a " cov- 

 enant with death." The Christian clergy of 

 the country were branded as " a brotherhood 

 of thieves" ; and the American church was stig- 

 matized as "the bulwark of American slave- 

 ry," and American Christianity as "the forlorn 

 hope of slavery." Sensitive and scrupulous con- 

 sciences in country parishes, who read these 

 statements, were moved in all parts of the 

 North to manifest their innocence by a call lor 

 a public meeting to denounce slavery and slave- 

 holders. This awoke the Union sentiment of 

 the people, and, without distinction of party, 

 they turned out to suppress all such "disunion 

 agitators," as they were called. Autislavery 

 societies were formed, and in 1834 an anti- 

 slavery lecturer from England, George Thomp- 

 son, was introduced. This caused scenes of 

 mob violence in Boston and in every other 

 place where meetings were held. A mob of 



"gentlemen of property and standing" in Boa- 

 ton broke up the meeting there, caught Garri- 

 son as he was hiding in the lot't of a carpi-li- 

 ter's shop, let him down by a rope from tlio 

 window to the ground, took oil mot of his 

 clothes, and dragged him through the streets 

 with a rope to the City Hall, where he was 

 rescued by the orders of the Mayor, Harrison 

 Gray Otis, and sent to jail as "a disturber of 

 the peace." Riots broke out in all directions. 

 Portions of 1834, and all of 1885, were a reign 

 of terror. Sober, sensible men lost their heads. 

 Abolitionists, however respectable in church 

 and state, talked they ever so mildly for the 

 negro, were hunted from city to city. Arthur 

 Tappan's house in New York was gutted. Un- 

 offending colored men were shot. Antislavery 

 presses were thrown into the streets. Anti- 

 slavery assemblies, gentle and orderly, were 

 broken up. The halls wherein they met were 

 stormed and shattered, and even church edi- 

 fices were burned to the ground. Thompson, 

 in the mean time, fled the country. These 

 scenes resulted from the agitation among the 

 people of the Northern States, not through 

 any hostility to emancipation, not through any 

 sympathy for slavery or the interests of slave- 

 holders as such, but because it assailed the 

 Union sentiment of the people. The issue it 

 presented was immediate abolition or disunion, 

 and separation from all fellowship with those 

 who were guilty of such sin. The epithet 

 "Union-saver" was early manufactured and 

 applied to those who opposed the doctrines of 

 Mr. Garrison. But the violence of the agita- 

 tion soon ran its course after this manifestation 

 of the decided and irresistible opposition in 

 the heart of the people to whatever threatened 

 to endanger the Union. The activity of Mr. 

 Garrison and his immediate friends, however, 

 did not slacken. Moral suasion was applied to 

 tender consciences with blistering strength, 

 and the number of champions gradually in- 

 creased. At one of the anniversaries of the 

 Antislavery Society in New York a proposi- 

 tion was made, chiefly by members from that 

 city, to carry the question into politics. This 

 was opposed and condemned by Mr. Garrison. 

 A warm discus-sion ensued, but the New York 

 members came off successful. Mr. Garrison 

 was the President of a "non-resktant" soci- 

 ety, and disposed to eschew politics, and prob- 

 ably had no confidence in jin attempt to obtain 

 results by political action. He returned to 

 Boston, and confined himself to his adopted 

 manner of agitation, which he continued until 

 the close of the war. The'section of the mem- 

 bers who adopted political action commenced 

 simply another method of effort, and based 

 it on another and sympathizing organization. 

 They put forward their candidates for offices 

 and gave them their votes. But their progress 

 was slow. They gave up the cognomen of 

 Abolitionists, and called themselves the " Lib- 

 erty party " ; but what tended more than any- 

 thing else to increase their numbers was the 



