W. L. GAERISON. 377 



But this compromise was not, like the compromise of 

 the constitution, binding on the nation, and only to be set 

 aside by a constitutional amendment. It was simply 

 a parliamentary measure, and as such could be repealed 

 at any future session. However it satisfied the South ; 

 the North had many things to think of; and all 

 remained quiet for a time. But only for a time. The 

 mysterious principle which constitutes the Law of Pro- 

 gress produces similar phenomena in various countries 

 at the same time, and it was such an active period of 

 the human mind which produced about forty years ago 

 a Parisian Revolution, the great Reform Bill, and the 

 American agitation against slavery. There was a man 

 in a Boston garret. He possessed some paper, pens 

 and ink, and little else besides ; and even these he 

 could only use in a fashion of his own. He had not 

 what is called a style ; nor had he that rude power 

 which can cast a glow on jagged sentences, and uncouth 

 words. This poor garretteer, a printer in his working 

 hours, relied chiefly on his type for light and shade, 

 and had much recourse to capital letters, italics and 

 notes of exclamation, to sharpen his wit, and to 

 strengthen his tirades. But he had a cause, and his 

 heart was in that cause. When W. L. Garrison com- 

 menced his Liberal the government of Georgia set a 

 price upon his head, he was mobbed in his native city, 

 and slavery was defended in Faneuil Hall itself/'sacred to 

 the memory of men who cared not to live unless they 

 could be free. The truth was, that the Northerners 

 disliked slavery, but nationality was dear to them ; 

 and they, believed that an attack upon the " domestic 

 institution " of the South endangered the safety of the 

 Union. But the Abolitionists became a sect ; they 

 increased in numbers and in talent ; they would admit 



