Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 3

Chapter 2: the Irish address.—1842.

‘What is to be done with that mammoth Address from⁵ Ireland? I know it is to be rolled into the Annual Meeting, but is that to be the end of it? Might not the Address, with a few⁶ of its signatures, including O'Connell's, Father Mathew's, and some of the priests' and other dignitaries', be lithographed? The mere sight of those names, or facsimiles of them, rather, and especially the autographs of them, would perhaps more powerfully affect the Irish among us than all the lectures we could deliver to them, were they never so willing to hear. It is a great object, a very great object, to enlist the Irish in our cause. There are five thousand of them in this small city. Might not one be almost sure of winning them over to the cause of humanity, could one but go before them with that big Address on his shoulders? I have thought I would like to try the experiment, after our Annual Meeting, and would the more willingly do so from having learned, since coming hither, that [44] your friend is “mightily popular among the Irish of Lowell,” though he is personally unknown to almost every mother's son of them. They have probably heard of his “blarney,” let off in their behalf on sundry occasions and in various places.’

The production of this ark of the covenant was certainly among the thrilling incidents of the three days of “hightoned feeling, triumphant enthusiasm, and complete satisfaction,” Jan. 26-28, 1842; Lib. 12.23. occupied by the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society. It took place in Faneuil Hall, before a⁷ great gathering, in which one seemed to discern large numbers of friendly Irishmen in a proper state of⁸ excitement. Mr. Garrison, who presided, read the Address— with due emphasis, we may be sure. Colonel Miller⁹ spoke to it, alleging Irish blood in his Vermont veins. Bradburn, confessing himself the son of an Irishman, moved a resolution of sympathy with Ireland, then in the throes of the Repeal agitation. James Cannings Fuller, an actual old-countryman, told how he “stood in our Irish House of Peers when Castlereagh took the bribe for the betrayal of Ireland.” Feb. 5, 1800. Wendell Phillips, with only the credentials of his eloquence, joined in what (but for its sincerity) might be called the ‘blarney’ of the occasion. To no purpose, so far as the immediate object was concerned. On February 27, 1842, Mr. Garrison (whose Irish descent might also have been paraded) wrote to¹⁰ Richard Webb by the hand of Thomas Davis:¹¹

‘Our meeting in Faneuil Hall, to unroll the Irish Address,¹² with its sixty thousand signatures, was indescribably enthusiastic, and has produced a great impression on the public mind. I am sorry to add, and you will be not less ashamed to hear, that the two Irish papers in Boston sneer at the Address, and¹³ denounce it and the abolitionists in true pro-slavery style. I fear they will keep the great mass of your countrymen here¹⁴ from uniting with us.’

Not only was the Irish press everywhere unanimous in this attitude, but the foremost Catholic prelate in the land, Bishop Hughes of New York, impugned the genuineness¹⁵ of the Address, and, genuine or not, declared it the duty [45] of every naturalized Irishman to resist and repudiate it with indignation, as emanating from a foreign source. All the Irish Repeal associations—at the South¹⁶ particularly—took the same line, with explicit devotion to the existing ‘institutions’ of their adopted country, however much they might deprecate slavery in the abstract. In short, the Address was no more successful than we can suppose a similar one, headed by Parnell in these days, would be, urging the Irish to abjure the ‘spoils system’ and to cling to the civil-service reformers. At a second, widely advertised exhibition of the Address in Boston in April, with Bradburn ‘trying the experiment’ and Phillips assisting, hardly any Irish were visible even to the¹⁷ eye of faith. The instinct of this, the lowest class of the white population at the North, taught it that to acknowledge the brotherhood of the negro was to take away the sole social superiority that remained to it, to say nothing of the forfeiture of its political opportunity through the Democratic Party. When the summer heat had brought the customary tendency to popular turbulence in this country, the Irish rabble of Philadelphia made their inarticulate, but perfectly intelligible, reply to the Address, by¹⁸ murderous rioting, directed in the first instance against a peaceable colored First of August procession, and ending with the burning of a ‘Beneficial Hall’ built for moral purposes by one of the more prosperous of the persecuted —a close parallel to the destruction of Pennsylvania¹⁹ Hall.²⁰

The meeting in Faneuil Hall (for we must return to it) had for its main object to urge abolition in the District²¹ of Columbia. As it fell to Mr. Garrison to preside, so to him was intrusted the drawing up of the resolutions. [46] These asserted once more the power of the Federal Government over the District; noticed the insolent exclusion of memorials on this subject emanating from the Legislatures of Massachusetts and Vermont; and (amid immense applause) returned thanks to John Quincy Adams for his bold and indefatigable advocacy of the right of petition. The following may not be summarized:

7. Resolved, That when the Senators and Representatives of²² this Commonwealth, in Congress, find themselves deprived of the liberty of speech on its floor, and prohibited from defending the right of their constituents to petition that body in a constitutional manner, they ought at once to withdraw, and return to their several homes, leaving the people of Massachusetts to devise such ways and means for a redress of their grievances as they shall deem necessary. (Applause.)

8. Resolved, That the union of Liberty and Slavery, in one just and equal compact, is that which it is not in the power of God or man to achieve, because it is a moral impossibility, as much as the peaceful amalgamation of fire and gunpowder; and, therefore, the American Union is such only in form, but not in substance—a hollow mockery instead of a glorious reality. (Applause.)

9. Resolved, That if the South be madly bent upon perpetuating her atrocious slave system, and thereby destroying the liberty of speech and of the press, and striking down the rights of Northern citizens, the time is rapidly approaching when the American Union will be dissolved in form as it is now in fact.

At the moment alike when these resolutions were prepared and were “adopted by an almost unanimous vote and in the most impressive manner,” Lib. 12.18. it is clear from internal evidence that news had not yet been received of closely related proceedings in Congress. That body had, as usual, at its opening, in Edmund Quincy's happy phrase, been “resolved into a national Anti-Slavery Debating Society, with John Quincy Adams as leader” Lib. 12.31.; the petitions of his presenting being (also as usual) flatly not received, or the question of their reception being regularly laid upon the table. On the 24th of January, 1842,²³ however, the ex-President offered a petition from Haverhill, [47] Mass., praying for a peaceable dissolution of the Union. It was the first of the kind that had ever reached Congress, and, curiously enough, it did not proceed from professed abolitionists: the first signer was a Locofoco²⁴ (alias Democrat) of high standing. Nor were the motives alleged ostensibly anti-slavery, but economic: there were, it affirmed, no reciprocal advantages in the Union; the revenues of one section were drained ‘to sustain the views and course of another section, without any adequate return.’ Moreover, Mr. Adams moved the reference of the petition to a committee with instructions to report adversely. What followed, therefore, would have been in the highest degree extraordinary but for the Southern consciousness that a Northern proposal of disunion was deadly to slavery.

Wise of Virginia, with a Border State precipitancy,²⁵ hotly declared that the person who presented such a petition ought to be censured, and his colleague Gilmer lost²⁶ no time in making a motion to that effect. This was superseded on the following day by resolutions concocted²⁷ in caucus, and presented in the House by Marshall of²⁸ Kentucky–again a Border State taking the lead. The preamble is a landmark in the history of Southern opinion of the sacredness of the Union:

‘Whereas, The Federal Constitution is a permanent form of²⁹ Government, and of perpetual obligation until altered or modified in the modes pointed out by that instrument, and the members of this House, deriving their political character and powers from the same, are sworn to support it, and the dissolution of the Union necessarily implies the destruction of that instrument, the overthrow of the American Republic, and the extinction of our national existence. A proposition, therefore, to the Representatives of the people to dissolve the organic law framed by their constituents, and to support which they are commanded by those constituents to be sworn, before they can enter upon the execution of the political powers created by it and intrusted to them, is a high breach of privilege, a contempt offered to this House, a direct proposition to the Legislature and each member of it to commit perjury, and involves [48] necessarily, in its execution and its consequences, the destruction of our country and the crime of high treason.’

The final therefore of this tremendous ratiocination was³⁰ that Adams ought to be expelled; but rather let the House censure him most severely, and turn him over to his own conscience and the indignation of the American people. It was all the worse, said Marshall, in remarks of the same calibre with his resolutions, that Mr. Adams had asked for a committee to report against the petition for disunion, since this implied that the proposition was entertainable. The venerable object of this child's-play declined to make any reply till the censure should be voted; but he had the clerk read the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, enforcing the right and duty to alter or abolish forms of government which had become intolerably oppressive. He desired to tell the petitioners that it was not yet time to adopt this mode for the redress of their grievances of the past ten years, though he stood ready to prove, by a review of the recent attitude of certain Southern States toward certain Northern,³¹ ‘a settled system and purpose,’ on the part of the former, ‘to destroy all the principles of civil liberty in the free States, not for the purpose of preserving their institutions within their own limits, but to force their detested principles of slavery into all the free States.’ ‘If,’ he continued, ‘the right of habeas corpus and the right of trial by jury are to be taken away by this coalition of the Southern slaveholders and the Northern Democracy, it was time for the Northern people to see if they could not shake it off; and it was time to present petitions such as he had done.’ He repeated, it was not time to resort to disunion till other means had been tried.

The attempt at censure failed on a direct vote (by 106³² to 93), but at the North it excited indignation where it did not provoke laughter, and increased the disposition in that section to ‘calculate the value of the Union,’ and³³ to murmur what Webster termed those ‘words of delusion [49] and folly, “Liberty first and Union afterwards.” ’³⁴ The Southern colleagues of Mr. Adams on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which he was chairman, withdrew, and sundry other Southern members refused to take their places—‘the precursor of great and important changes which are near at hand,’ as Mr. Garrison judged. “Nothing can prevent the dissolution of the American Union but the abolition of slavery.” Lib. 12.31.

This conviction had now complete possession of him.

W. L. Garrison to G. W. Benson at Northampton, Mass.

Boston, March 22, 1842.

³⁵ If all be well (and, so mutable are all things here below, we can promise nothing as to the future without prefixing an if), I shall go to Albany about the 21st of April, in company with C. L. Remond, to attend an anti-slavery convention which our friends intend to get up in that city, with special reference to the Irish Address.³⁶ We shall carry that Address along with us. There is a pretty large Irish population in Albany, and an Irish Repeal Association; but the Argus has had the effrontery and folly to deny the authenticity of the Address, and, of course, a meeting called with especial reference to it will be pretty sure to be well attended, and to create a wholesome excitement. In going or returning, I shall endeavor to visit Northampton (most probably on returning), and, if practicable, make Remond accompany me. I intend, if I can, to add Wendell Phillips to our company. So, you may make your arrangements, at your leisure, for at least one ‘incendiary’ meeting in your place.

Do not forget to suggest to my friend Child the importance of³⁷ preparing, without delay, a stirring Address to the friends of the American Anti-Slavery Society, urging them to take prompt and effectual measures to insure a full attendance at the approaching anniversary, from all parts of the free States; and setting forth, in strong terms, the necessity of a large representation on the occasion. For my own part, I avow myself to be both an Irish Repealer and an American Repealer. I go for the repeal of the union between England and Ireland, and for the repeal of the union between the North and the South. [50] We must dissolve all connexion with those murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, and murderers of liberty, and traffickers in human flesh, and blasphemers against the Almighty, at the South. What have we in common with them? What have we gained, what have we not lost, by our alliance with them? Are not their principles, their pursuits, their policies, their interests, their designs, their feelings, utterly diverse from ours? Why, then, be subject to their dominion? Why not have the Union dissolved in form, as it is in ³⁸ fact—especially if the form gives ample protection to the slave system, by securing for it all the physical force of the North? It is not treason against the cause of liberty to cry, ‘Down with every slaveholding Union!’ Therefore, I raise that cry! And, O, that I had a voice louder than a thousand thunders, that it might shake the land and electrify the dead—the dead in sin, I mean—those slain by the hand of slavery.

How marvellously Providence works! The Irish Address, I trust, is to be the means of breaking up a stupendous conspiracy, which I believe is going on between the leading Irish demagogues, the leading pseudo-Democrats, and the Southern slaveholders. Mark three things. First—The Irish population among us is nearly all ‘Democratic.’ Second—The Democratic party is openly and avowedly the defender and upholder of the ‘peculiar institution’ of slavery. Third—The cry in favor of Irish Repeal is now raised extensively throughout the South, and sustained by the leading Democratic journals—and why? To secure the aid of the Irish voters on the side of slavery, and to bring their united strength to bear against the anti-slavery enterprise.³⁹ Also, if possible, by sending over⁴⁰ donations to Ireland, to stop O'Connell's mouth on the subject of slavery, and to prevent any more ‘interference’ on that point, from that side of the Atlantic! Hence, I observe, at the Repeal meetings in various parts of the country, resolutions and⁴¹ declarations which amount to sacred pledges, that these ‘repealers’ will stand by Southern institutions at all hazards! Now, by the Address, which will cause every toad to start up into a devil as soon as he is touched, we shall be able to probe this matter to the bottom. If O'Connell and our friends in Ireland remain true to us, and renew their spirited attacks upon American⁴² [51] slavery, and cry out against this unholy and frightful league between Southern slave-drivers and his countrymen in America, then it will put down at the South this pretended sympathy for Ireland, and be the means of advancing our movement still more rapidly.

In this week's Liberator, I shall publish copious extracts from⁴³ O'Connell's speeches, for the last ten years, against American slavery. They will scathe like lightning, and smite like thunderbolts. No man in the wide world has spoken so strongly against the soul-drivers of this land as O'Connell.

Is it not heart-cheering to know that the British Government⁴⁴ will not give up the slaves of the Creole?⁴⁵

A month after the date of the above letter, Mr. Garrison addressed his readers on the subject of the approaching anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society at New York. It was time, he said, that milk should give place to meat; and, enumerating questions of policy not definitely settled, he placed first in importance “the duty of making the repeal of the Union between the North and the South the grand rallying-point until it be accomplished, or slavery cease to pollute our soil. We are for throwing all the means, energies, actions, purposes, and appliances of the genuine friends of liberty and republicanism into this one channel, and for measuring the humanity, patriotism, and piety of every man by this one standard. This question can no longer be avoided, and a right decision of it will settle the controversy between freedom and slavery.” Lib. 12.63.

The vital force of this programme was at once manifested by the eagerness with which the pro-slavery press⁴⁶ of New York city copied the article, and used it to invoke mob violence against the abolition assembly. Mr. Garrison returned to the subject a fortnight later, disclaiming for the American Society any responsibility for his individual utterances, but attacking anew the national idolatry for the Union:

We affirm that the Union is not of heaven. It is founded⁴⁷ in unrighteousness, and cemented with blood. It is the work of men's hands, and they worship the idol which they have made. It is a horrible mockery of freedom. In all its parts and proportions it is misshapen, incongruous, unnatural. The message of the prophet to the people in Jerusalem describes the exact character of our “republican” compact:

Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people.⁴⁸ 14-18. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass [53] through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then shall ye be trodden down by it.

Another message of the same inspired prophet is equally applicable:

Thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and⁴⁹ trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, dwelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly, at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of a potter's vessel that is broken to pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found, in the bursting of it, a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

Slavery is a combination of death and hell, and with it the North have made a covenant and are at agreement. As an element of the Government it is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. As a component part of the Union, it is necessarily a national interest. Divorced from Northern protection, it dies; with that protection, it enlarges its boundaries, multiplies its victims, and extends its ravages.

In the same number of the Liberator the editor printed with ‘unfeigned surprise, deep mortification, and extreme regret,’ a circular addressed to the press of New-York by the Executive Committee of the American Society, and signed by James S. Gibbons and Lydia Maria Child. They regretted that the Liberator articles on disunion⁵⁰ had been ‘so construed as to commit the Society, in the public view, in favor of an object which appears to them entirely foreign to the purpose for which it was organized, viz., Dissolution of the Union.’ The Committee had not authorized the reports that disunion would, at the next anniversary, be made a prominent feature of the Society's operations. It was no part of the object of the American Anti-Slavery Society to promote the dissolution of the Union—a measure which the Committee, by implication, condemned as not ‘strictly consistent with morality and the rights of citizenship.’ While, however, the Society stood uncommitted as to [54] its deliberations, and would not be bound by the previously expressed opinions of any of its members, neither would it be deterred from taking action for itself by any threats of violence.⁵¹

Mrs. Child's opposition was unexpected, for, only a few weeks before, she had stated in the Standard her⁵² conviction, of two years standing, that disunion was the only way out of Northern complicity with slavery. Thereupon she was not surprised when a friend, writing from⁵³ Boston, informed her: ‘We launch, this campaign, the great question of repeal of the Union, and mean to carry it through the Commonwealth.’ A little later she⁵⁴ repeated her own readiness for the doctrine, though she deprecated making a test question of it, as did J. S.⁵⁵ Gibbons.

With characteristic delicacy, Mr. Garrison decided to absent himself (for the first time) from the anniversary of the American Society. Public announcement of his intention was made in the Liberator of May 13, on which⁵⁶ date he wrote as follows to his brother-in-law:

W. L. Garrison to G. W. Benson.

Boston, May 13, 1842.

⁵⁷ You will see, by the Liberator of to-day, that I did not go to New York, and the reasons why I remained at home. I regretted to be absent from the meeting on account of the stormy aspect of things, created by the diabolism of the New York daily press; but, in consequence of the peculiar position in which I stood to the Executive Committee, by their unfortunate disclaimer, I deemed it very important that the action of [55] the American Society, at its present anniversary, should be entirely unbiassed by anything that I might say or do; so that it might appear, beyond all cavil, that the Society marked out its own course, and came to its own conclusions, without any aid from me. I hear that the meetings are proceeding in a very quiet manner, and that none of the sons of Belial have rallied either to molest or make afraid. The great question of a repeal of the Union has been boldly and earnestly discussed; but I do not know how the debate terminated. To-morrow morning, all our Eastern delegates will return—about 250 of whom went on in the Mohegan, via Stonington–and then all the particulars will be made known. I have not at any time supposed that a majority of old organizationists are prepared openly to go for repeal; for the question is one of recent agitation, and should be carefully examined before a verdict is made up, either pro or con. Yet I have no doubt whatever, that, in the progress of the discussion, all who mean to be consistent, uncompromising abolitionists will ere long be found on the side of repeal.

As for the disclaimer of our New York friends, I am sorry it was made; not only as it took a false position, but as it was extorted under circumstances that seemed to indicate a lack of self-possession, and an improper dread of mobocratic violence. It was certainly an error of judgment; but how different is this from a dereliction of principle! It need not, and will not, I trust, create any breach of friendship, or lead to personal alienation, in any quarter.

For the annual meeting itself Mr. Garrison had prepared a letter of like tenor with the foregoing:

W. L. Garrison to the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Boston, May 9, 1842.

⁵⁸ Dear friends: After much reflection, I have come to the conclusion not to be present at the annual meeting of the Parent Society in New York. The motives which induced me to forego the pleasure of being with you on that interesting and important occasion, I trust will be accurately understood and duly appreciated. In a recent number of the Liberator, I ventured to state (not with the intention of committing the Society to any definite course of action, but merely on my own responsibility), [56] that among the topics that would undoubtedly be presented for discussion at the meeting in New York, would be the subject of a repeal of the Union between the North and the South—or, in other words, between liberty and slavery—in order that the people of the North might be induced to reflect upon their debasement, guilt, and danger in continuing in partnership with heaven-daring oppressors, and thus be led to repentance. In behalf of the Society, you have deemed it both necessary and proper publicly to disclaim any such purpose; and have led the country to infer, not only that no such topic will be introduced, but that its discussion would be foreign to the object of the anti-slavery enterprise—that it does not legitimately come within the constitutional sphere of the Society. Under these circumstances, I am most anxious that a free and unbiassed opinion should be expressed by the Society on this point, and that every appearance of personal anxiety on my part, as to its decision, should be avoided. I am determined not to allow it to be said that the Society was influenced by my presence and activity to reverse the position of its Executive Committee—to disclaim the disclaimer—and to occupy new and untenable ground in relation to this great question of repeal. It is for this reason that I remain at home. I think the Executive Committee have seriously erred in judgment, but I do not esteem them any the less, and am as ready to give them my hearty cooperation for the overthrow of slavery as at any previous period of my life. A difference of opinion and an abandonment of principle are heaven-wide from each other. Of the latter, I do not believe the Committee will ever be guilty. I hope nothing will be done hastily, unkindly, or rashly; and that the blessings of the Almighty will be with you all.

With unabated regard, I remain, yours, to the end of the conflict,

Wm. Lloyd Garrison.

Meanwhile, the Liberator hoisted its flag in the shape of a declaration first placed at the head of the editorial column on May 13, 1842, and kept standing there for the⁵⁹ remainder of the year:

A repeal of the Union between Northern Liberty and Southern slavery is essential to the abolition of the one and the preservation of the other.

The New York meeting proved to be ready not only to⁶⁰ discuss disunion, but to adopt unanimously a resolution involving a modified form of it, in these words—“That the Constitution of the Union ought to be altered so as to prevent the national Government from sustaining slavery, as well as from requiring the people of the several States to sustain it.” Lib. 12.82.⁶¹ On the naked issue as presented by Mr. Garrison in the Liberator, the meeting showed a divergence of opinion. The first resolution offered was in the negative:

Resolved, That inasmuch as the people of the Northern States have been guilty, jointly with the South, of enslaving men; and inasmuch as the people of the Northern States in general, nor even the mass of abolitionists, have ever petitioned for the abrogation of the slaveholding features of the Constitution, nor proved that such petitions, if supported by the free States, would be unsuccessful, therefore we see no reasonable ground, at this time, for asking for a dissolution of the Union. Lib. 12.82.

A substitute, moved by Henry C. Wright and seconded by Edmund Quincy, read as follows:

Resolved, That the provisions of the United States Constitution in relation to slavery, and the history of our Government, which shows that free and slave institutions cannot exist distinct and independent under the same Constitution, both prove that fidelity to our principles as abolitionists, and to the cause of human rights, imperatively demands the dissolution of the American Union. Lib. 12.82.

The long and animated debate which ensued, and in which we remark Wendell Phillips and Abby Kelley among the advocates of the Garrisonian doctrine, showed⁶² a decided majority in its favor, but no action was deemed advisable, and no vote was attempted. Many of the participants returned to renew the discussion at the New England Convention in Boston. Henry C. Wright was⁶³ [58] ready with fresh resolutions, offered on behalf of the business committee:

Resolved, That the principles of anti-slavery forbid us, as⁶⁴ abolitionists, to continue in the American Union, or to swear to support the Federal Constitution.⁶⁵

Resolved, That so long as the South persists in slaveholding, abolitionists are bound to persist in urging a dissolution of the Union, as one of the most efficient means “to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

One may still, with Edmund Quincy, prefer this axiomatic formula to the more extended display of motives which Mr. Garrison thought proper in the following resolves from his pen, introduced also through the business committee. They had originally been prepared for the Essex County Anti-Slavery Society in February, 1842:⁶⁶

Whereas, the existence of slavery is incompatible with the⁶⁷ enjoyment of liberty in any country;

And whereas, it is morally and politically impossible for a just or equal union to exist between Liberty and Slavery;

And whereas, in the adoption of the American Constitution and in the formation of the Federal Government, a guilty and fatal compromise was made between the North and the South, by which slavery has been nourished, protected, and enlarged up to the present hour, to the impoverishment and disgrace of the nation, the sacrifice of civil and religious freedom, and the crucifixion of humanity;

And whereas, the South makes even moral opposition to her slave system a heinous crime, and avows her determination to perpetuate that system at all hazards, and under all circumstances;

And whereas, the right of petition has been repeatedly [59] cloven down on the floor of Congress, and is no longer enjoyed by the people of the free States—the liberty of speech and the press is not tolerated in one-half of the Union—and they who advocate the cause of universal emancipation are regarded and treated as outlaws by the South;

And whereas, by a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, the right of trial by jury is denied to such of the people of the free States as shall be claimed as goods and chattels by Southern taskmasters,⁶⁸ and slavery is declared to be the supreme law of the land; from which decision there is no appeal to any higher judicatory, except to the people on the ground of revolutionary necessity;

And whereas, to reverence justice, to cherish liberty, and to promote righteousness, are the primary duties of every people, from the performance of which they cannot innocently escape by any compact or form of government; therefore,

1. Resolved, That the consequences of doing right must ever be more safe and beneficial than those of doing wrong; and that the worst thing Liberty can do is to unite with Slavery, and the best thing is to withdraw from the embraces of the monster. [60]

2. Resolved, That the American Union is, and ever has been since the adoption of the Constitution, a rope of sand (so far as the North is concerned), and a concentration of the physical force of the nation to destroy liberty and to uphold slavery.

3. Resolved, That the safety, prosperity, and perpetuity of the non-slaveholding States require that their connexion be immediately dissolved with the slave States in form, as it is now in fact.

Bradburn was the chief opponent of Mr. Garrison, who⁶⁹ was again satisfied to have the question freely considered in all its bearings without forcing it to a formal vote. This policy of forbearance was everywhere observed at anti-slavery meetings throughout the year. According to the disposition of each society or assembly, the disunion resolutions were either adopted, or (as commonly)⁷⁰ laid upon the table. Disunion was in the air. The first petition to Congress had been followed by others—from Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts again (this last,⁷¹ most elaborate, as David Lee Child's compositions were wont to be, and able). But meantime the conspiracy for the annexation of Texas began to rear its head anew. Southern State legislatures adopted resolves in favor of⁷² it which met with a willing reception in Congress, while those in opposition fell under the ban of anti-slavery⁷³ petitions until the inconsistency became too glaring.⁷⁴ Recruiting for the Texan army (even under clerical⁷⁵ auspices) went on openly, at the North as at the South, after the invasion of Texas by Mexico in March. When,⁷⁶ on April 13, a Representative from New York moved in Congress to suppress the Mexican mission, as being an instrumentality of annexation, Slade of Vermont⁷⁷ seconded him, declaring that he would not give a snap of his⁷⁸ finger for the Union after the annexation of Texas. To Botts of Virginia, offering a preposterous pledge on the⁷⁹ part of the South, not to annex Texas if the abolitionists would disband, Mr. Garrison replied: ‘The annexation of⁸⁰ Texas will be the termination of the American Union, and [61] therefore the South will have more to lose than to gain by it.’ Dr. Channing, in a sequel to his pamphlet on the⁸¹ “Duty of the Free States,” was ready to make slavery extension (though not slavery itself) a ground of disunion:

Better that we should part than be the police of the slaveholder, than fight his battles, than wage war to uphold an oppressive institution. So I say, let the Union be dissevered rather than receive Texas into the confederacy. This measure, besides entailing on us evils of all sorts, would have for its chief end to bring the whole country under the Slave Power, to make the general government the agent of slavery; and this we are bound to resist at all hazards. The free States should declare that the very act of admitting Texas will be construed as a dissolution of the Union. Lib. 12.97.

In the nature of the case, it could not be the Liberty Party that would join Mr. Garrison in his attacks on the Constitution and Union, under which it had undertaken to thrive and prevail. Common prudence dictated that⁸² it should avert from itself the odium sure to attach to the doctrine of disunion (however qualified) among a Union-worshipping people; that it should assist in fastening the odium on the Old Organization. This course⁸³ was promptly pursued by the People's Advocate of New Hampshire, which, from being an independent paper under the editorship of St. Clair and others, had shrunk⁸⁴ to a department in Leavitt's Emancipator. Speaking for the Liberty Party men of Ohio, in distinction from some of their brethren in the East, Salmon P. Chase wrote:

‘We think it better to limit our political action by the political ⁸⁵ power, explicitly and avowedly, rather than run the risk of misconstruction by saying that we aim at immediate and universal emancipation by political action. We regard the Liberty Party not so much as an abolition organization as a political party, willing to carry out the principles of abolitionists so far as they can be legitimately attained by political action. We think that all these objects can be accomplished in full harmony with the Constitution, which instrument, as we believe, does not sanction nor nationalize slavery, but condemns and localizes it. [62] We seek, therefore, to put an end to constitutional slavery, that is, to slavery in the District of Columbia, in Florida, and in American vessels upon the seas, and to restore the Government to its true constitutional sphere. If we can accomplish this, slavery must die; and we may accomplish this without insisting on more than the fulfillment of the guarantees of the Constitution.’

In other words, Mr. Chase went for the Constitution as it was, and the Union as it was. One of his associates, writing at the same time to the Xenia (Ohio) Free Press, even more frankly defined the difference between the political and the moral agitation:

Abolitionists seek to exterminate slavery everywhere, by⁸⁶ all rightful means, religious, moral, and political. Liberty men strive to get rid of slavery, not everywhere, but wherever it exists within the proper range of political action; to deliver the Government from the usurped control of the Slave Power . . . by imparting energy and activity to the action of all the departments, through the introduction into important offices of a far larger proportion of intelligent, non-slaveholding freemen.

‘It is obvious that a man who is not an abolitionist at all May be A Liberty man; for he may anxiously desire and zealously labor for these objects, though he may not be prepared to devote himself to the more general objects of universal emancipation.’

Mr. Chase's letter was appropriately addressed to the managers of a New York Liberty Party Convention in Syracuse in October, where for the first time the lines⁸⁷ were drawn so as to exclude all but party members from sharing in the proceedings. These managers, annoyed by the activity of the agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society in their preserves, complained that it and its organ encouraged abolition connection with the Whig or Democratic Party. A most voluminous onslaught was therefore made on the Society and the Standard by⁸⁸ William Goodell, in an address to the political abolitionists of the State, read at the above convention. Mr. Garrison gave up a whole page of the Liberator to it; so did Torrey⁸⁹ [63] of his Tocsin of Liberty,⁹⁰ with this emphatic endorsement: “The simple truth is, the American A. S. Society has linked itself to pro-slavery, to get friends—and, like the Colonization Society, it has become an obstacle in the way of progress which must be removed. I trust the address will do the work in this State. We have too much to do to allow us to maintain a long contest over so slight a matter.” Lib. 12.173.

It seemed desirable to meet this Liberty Party manifesto by sending Mr. Garrison to Central and Western New York, which was virgin soil in his experience, whether as a lecturer or a tourist. He had, since June came in, been extremely active in the field, making a memorable first visit to Cape Cod, together with⁹¹ campaigns in Maine, New Hampshire, and various parts of Massachusetts. His adventures in the Mohawk Valley and beyond—the beautiful region settled by New England emigrants, and popularly known as ‘the West’ even down to the date of this narrative—are related in the following letters, which give a glimpse of the bright and the dark sides of apostolic abolitionism:

W. L. Garrison to his Wife.

Waterloo [N. Y.], Nov. 21, 1842.

⁹² Up to the present time, ‘all's well’ with me; but, as I anticipated before I left home, I have been so busily occupied in attending meetings and seeing friends, letter-writing has been out of the question. I am now at the dear hospitable home of Thomas McClintock, and at this moment am writing in a room crowded with rampant abolitionists, whose tongues are all in motion, and their hearts in joyous commotion. Whether, under these circumstances, I shall be able to write an intelligible scrawl, is at least quite problematical.

‘To begin with the beginning.’ I arrived at the Brighton⁹³ depot half an hour before the cars came along; from thence I took the train for Albany, where I arrived at 7 o'clock in the⁹⁴ [64] midst of a cold rain-storm. I might have immediately taken another train onward, and arrived at Rochester (450 miles from Boston) on Sunday afternoon. Wishing to keep my rest⁹⁵ unbroken, I concluded to tarry overnight, and went to a Temperance hotel near the depot, and in the morning left for Utica,⁹⁶ arriving in that beautiful city at 2 o'clock P. M. Here I concluded⁹⁷ to remain until the next morning. On going up Genesee Street, in quest of a Temperance house, I met Alvan Stewart going to church. We shook hands with each other, and he politely asked me to go and stop with him overnight. I declined, not wishing to incur any special obligations at that time, or in that quarter; but, on his invitation, I spent the evening with him and James C. Jackson (whose headquarters are now in Utica), and we had a talk on a great variety of topics, not excepting third-partyism. I spoke very plainly on the last topic, and made them both rather uneasy; for poor James evidently felt that he stood on a sandy foundation.⁹⁸

Early on Monday morning, I left in the cars for Rochester,⁹⁹ and arrived at that place in the afternoon, where I met with a most cordial reception from friends Post, Burtis, and others.¹⁰⁰ Dear bro. Collins, to our astonishment, arrived from Buffalo the same evening, in feeble, but improved, health.¹⁰¹ Abby Kelley did not get along till the next day at noon. She came¹⁰² from Waterloo, in company with friend McClintock, wife, and daughter Mary. Our meetings continued in Rochester, three times a day, from Tuesday morning until Friday, 1 o'clock P. M. In consequence of the bad weather, and the very bad state of¹⁰³ the travelling, and the uncertainty of my arrival, etc., etc., there were not so many delegates from abroad as were expected; [65] though some came a distance of 30 or 40 miles. In the daytime, our meetings were respectably attended in point of numbers, and by some of the choicest spirits in the land. In the evening, they were crowded to overflowing. They were held in the Second Presbyterian Church. The deepest interest was manifested in them from the opening to the close. W. L. Chaplin¹⁰⁴ was present, and endeavored to act the champion for the third party; but he made miserable work of it. On taking the vote on a resolution condemnatory of that party, it was carried by a very large majority, though all persons were allowed to express¹⁰⁵ their views. The result was most unexpected to myself, inasmuch as nearly all the abolitionists in this section of the¹⁰⁶ country have been carried away by this unwise measure. Neither Remond nor Douglass was present, but there was no lack of¹⁰⁷ speech-making. I have had to talk a great deal, of course, for there has been a special curiosity to see and hear me; and it is a satisfaction to me to know that my remarks have been received with much favor generally.

On Friday afternoon, I started from Rochester for Farmington,¹⁰⁸ in company with J. A. Collins, J. C. Hathaway, and Abby Kelley, in Joseph's team. It was a very blustering and severe day, and¹⁰⁹ we suffered considerably from the cold, but had a warm reception on our arrival at Farmington. The next day, we had two¹¹⁰ meetings in the Orthodox Quaker meeting-house, which were addressed by Abby and myself—principally by W. L. G. The day was raw and gusty, and the audience in the forenoon not very large; but in the afternoon, the house and gallery were well filled, though very few Quakers were present, owing to a strong prejudice against us, as well as to the weather. In the evening, a large company (chiefly Quakers) assembled at Hathaway's house. . . We talked on phrenology, mesmerism, anti-slavery, non-resistance, etc.

In the morning, Joseph took his team, and brought us to¹¹¹ Waterloo, where we arrived yesterday (Sunday) at 1 o'clock.¹¹² At 2 P. M., the Court House was crowded by a dense assembly, which was addressed by Collins and myself. Last evening, another crowded auditory convened at the same place, and were addressed by Abby, Jacob Ferris (a splendid young¹¹³ orator), and myself—I occupying the greater part of the time in blowing up the priesthood, church, worship, Sabbath, etc., as [66] they now exist. A very deep impression was evidently made. This evening, I am to deliver a lecture on slavery in the same¹¹⁴ place; and at 12 o'clock at night shall leave in the cars for Syracuse to attend the conventions to be held in that place, commencing to-morrow forenoon. This is pretty close work,¹¹⁵ and draws upon all my mental and physical powers; but, thus far, my health remains good, and my lungs do not seem to suffer from so much speaking. Collins's pleuritic complaint hangs on to him, and his whole constitution seems to be greatly impaired. He will probably not return until after the Utica conventions. Abby Kelley is tasking her lungs too severely, and ought to be more careful for the future. She will continue in this part of the country during the winter.

My dear one, how are you and the little ones, and all the household? Do send me a letter to Utica, and give me all the little domestic particulars that you can think of. I shall hasten back to you, on the wings of love, as soon as possible. To-day¹¹⁶ we are all thrilled with emotion to think that poor Latimer's¹¹⁷ case is to be decided now. Great interest is felt in it here and elsewhere, and thousands are waiting with much anxiety to learn the result of the trial. All hope that Latimer will be rescued.¹¹⁸ The Liberator has just come, and is extremely interesting. [67] A thousand kisses for you and the babe¹¹⁹ and boys, and love to all.

W. L. Garrison to his Wife.

Syracuse, Nov. 27, 1842.

¹²⁰ I wrote to you a hasty letter from Waterloo, giving you some of the outlines of my visit to Rochester. Although many interesting events have occurred since that time, I shall wait till I see you before I go into the particulars. Up to this hour, I have enjoyed myself far beyond my expectations. The spirit of hospitality, in this section, exceeds anything to be found in New England, with comparatively rare exceptions. Money is about ‘as scarce as gold dust,’ but there is no lack of food and the other necessaries of life, and to these you are heartily welcome. All the towns that I have visited are uncommonly agreeable in their appearance, and exhibit a neatness, taste, and regularity that have taken me by surprise. If the aspect of things is so pleasant now, in bleak winter, what must it be in the prime of summer? I wish you could be with me, and so do many others, who would delight to extend to you the warm hand of friendship. If all things shall go well with us, and our means will allow of it, what say for a trip with me, next summer, to Niagara Falls? [68]

The friends at Waterloo were the kindest of the kind. I delivered three addresses in that place, to crowded houses,—the last on Monday evening,—the effect of which was visibly¹²¹ beneficial to our cause. At 12 o'clock that night, I left in the cars for Syracuse, accompanied by friends Collins (who was far from being well) and J. C. Hathaway, where we arrived at 5 o'clock A. M. G. W. Pryor, Jacob Ferris, W. O. Duvall, and Abby Kelley arrived during the forenoon, in a private conveyance. We all came to the splendid mansion occupied jointly by Stephen Smith and Wing Russell (formerly of New Bedford), where we, and many others, have all been entertained with a hospitality and kindness never exceeded in my experience. Poor Collins had to go to bed at once, and has scarcely been able to sit up even to this hour. To-day he is somewhat better, and may possibly¹²² leave to-morrow afternoon for Utica, under my care. He has had all possible attention paid to him, and as good nursing as he could have obtained in this wide world. He is nearly disabled from the service, at least for some time to come. This morning (Sunday), G. W. Pryor, S. S. Foster, Abby Kelley, and Mrs. Russell left for Vernon, on their way to Utica, in a carryall. The day is cold and blustering, and a snowstorm beginning to set in.

On Tuesday forenoon, our Convention opened in this place,¹²³ under circumstances by no means auspicious. Not a¹²⁴ meetinghouse could be obtained for us, and we were forced to meet in a hall three stories high, called ‘Library Hall.’ Handbills had been placarded about the town, announcing that Abby Kelley, C. L. Remond, Frederick Douglass, and W. L. Garrison would be at the Convention; but, notorious as we are, and great as is the curiosity usually manifested to see and hear either of us singly, our meeting in the forenoon consisted only of eleven persons, all told! These were nearly all of our own company. We appointed J. C. Hathaway President, and J. N. T. Tucker Secretary, and then adjourned. In the afternoon, we had a small audience; but, such was the feeling we excited in the meeting, by our scorching remarks and ‘ultra’ resolutions, the hall was crowded in the evening, when I opened my budget of heresies on the subject of temple worship, the church, the priesthood, the Sabbath, etc., which created no small stir. The next day, S. S. Foster arrived,¹²⁵ and we soon had the town in¹²⁶ commotion. [69]

During the [next] day, a considerable number of persons were¹²⁷ in attendance, and the discussions assumed so exciting an aspect that, at the close of the afternoon meeting, it became apparent that we should have a riot in the evening—all in defence of the clergy and the church! When the evening came, the hall was densely filled, partly by a highly respectable assemblage, and partly by a troop of mobocrats, having their pockets filled with rotten eggs and other missiles. Jacob Ferris opened the meeting in a short but eloquent speech, which, as it contained¹²⁸ nothing specially offensive, was listened to without disturbance. Our friend S. S. Foster then took the platform, and was allowed to proceed without much interruption until he made his favorite declaration, in his most excited manner, that the Methodist Episcopal Church is worse than any brothel in the city of New York. Then came such an outbreak of hisses, cries, curses! All order was at an end. Several ruffians rushed toward the platform to seize Foster, but were not allowed to reach him. The tumult became tremendous. Several citizens, who were well known, attempted to calm the storm, but in vain. Rotten eggs were now thrown, one of which was sent as a special present to me, and struck the wall over my head, scattering its contents on me and others. Next, a number of benches were broken, and other damage done; and, finally, the meeting was adjourned, in much disorder, to meet at the same place, the next day, at 10 A. M. We all got through the mob safely, though they kept a sharp lookout for Foster and myself, having prepared, as it was said, tar and feathers to give us a coat without any cost to ourselves. [70]

In the morning (Thursday [Friday]) we met agreeably to¹²⁹ adjournment; but on the opening it was announced that we could not have the use of the hall during the day, unless we would become responsible for all damages that might be done to the building; and that we could not be allowed to occupy the hall in the evening on any conditions, such was the excited state of the public mind. This announcement led to a most animated discussion. We refused, of course, to give any such guaranty, as that would be a strong inducement to the mob to do all the injury they could to the hall. Syracuse was held up to the infamy of the world, in terms of merited severity, as a town under mobocratic sway, worthy to be associated with Boston, New York, and Utica, in 1835. Finally, the requisition¹³⁰ was withdrawn, and we were allowed to continue our meetings through the day, but not in the evening. In the afternoon, Foster obtained a very respectful hearing in defence of his terrible charge against the Methodist Church, and produced an impression decidedly in his favor. He was followed by a pettifogging lawyer and editor, named Cummings, in reply, who kept the audience in a roar of laughter by his ridiculous nonsense and silly buffoonery. He was put forward by the mobocrats (as well as another lawyer, named Hillis), as the champion¹³¹ of Church and State; but all he said worked mightily in our favor. At dark a motion was made that we adjourn sine die; but our opponents outnumbered us, and voted to adjourn the meeting until the next morning. The hall, however, was not opened to them, and we, of course, did not go to the place.

The whole town is in a ferment. Every tongue is in motion. If an earthquake had occurred, it would not have excited more consternation, or made more talk. But we have no doubt that the result will be good for our cause. We sent the resolutions we intended to discuss in the Convention, relating to the church¹³² and the clergy, to the clergymen in this place, by a committee; but the corrupt and cowardly creatures did not dare to come and discuss them with us before the people. To-day, however¹³³ (Sunday), in ‘coward's castle,’ they are denouncing us as ‘infidels,’ etc., and warning the people against us. This, too, will do good. Already the tide is turning in our favor, and, in a short time, genuine anti-slavery will obtain a strong foothold here.

Our next convention is to be held at Utica, on Tuesday next,¹³⁴ and will continue in session at least three days. As bro. Foster¹³⁵ will be there, I presume we shall have a repetition of the scenes [71] in Syracuse, as he is remarkably successful in raising the spirit¹³⁶ of mobocracy wherever he goes. Possibly, we may have quiet meetings;¹³⁷ but, come what may, may we all be faithful to the cause. I could wish that bro. Foster would exercise more judgment and discretion in the presentation of his views; but it is useless to reason with him, with any hope of altering his course, as he is firmly persuaded that he is pursuing the very best course.

On Friday evening next, I expect to lecture in Albany, and¹³⁸ on Saturday night hope to embrace you and the dear children again, in health and safety. . . . I am pretty well worn down with exertion. During the ride from Waterloo to this place, in the night, I took cold, and have been troubled with influenza ever since; so that I have spoken at our meetings here with great difficulty, in consequence of hoarseness. I am now better. Fear not about my taking care of myself. On my return, I have many marvellous things to relate to you about animal magnetism, having seen many experiments, and in which I am a full believer. . . .

Mr. Garrison's system, overtaxed by the fatigues of his tour, was ripe for the contagion which he found raging¹³⁹ among his little ones, on his arrival home:

‘Garrison was very ill,’ wrote Edmund Quincy to Richard¹⁴⁰ D. Webb, ‘as ill, I suppose, as a man could be and live. He said, and from his description I have no doubt of it, that his scarlet fever was no whit less virulent or less abominable than¹⁴¹ the small-pox in its most malignant form. His family has been¹⁴² in much trouble the past year. His brother James, a poor drunken sailor, was upon his hands for a long time, and died last summer [autumn]. Garrison's behavior to this poor fellow¹⁴³ was very beautiful. Then his wife's sister, Mary Benson, was ill for a long time, and also died in his house.¹⁴⁴ Then all his¹⁴⁵ [72] children had the scarlet fever, and some of them, I believe, the lung or brain fever, and his wife the rheumatic fever; and, in addition to all his troubles, the funds of the Liberator fell short towards the end of the year, and he was without money for his necessary expenses, though I suppose he had credit. All of which circumstances made the last a very trying year to him.’

Announcing his brother's demise to G. W. Benson, Mr. Garrison wrote:

‘As his case had long been hopeless, his release from the¹⁴⁶ flesh is cause of consolation rather than of sorrow. He retained his senses to the last, and died with all possible fortitude and resignation, being perfectly aware that his end was approaching. . . . I intend that the funeral arrangements and¹⁴⁷ ceremonies shall be as plain, simple, and free, as possible. Liberty of speech shall be given to all who may attend. I shall probably have a testimony to bear against the war system, the navy, intemperance, etc., in connection with J.'s history, and also¹⁴⁸ against that religion which sustains war and its murderous enginery.’¹⁴⁹

It is hard to decide whether the story of James Garrison's career would make a more powerful peace or temperance tract. Certain is it that if fate had designed the most striking contrast in the fortunes of two children of the same parents, it need not have provided otherwise than it did in the case of this unhappy man and his brother. At first glance it would appear as if the elder had simply inherited the vices of his father; the younger, the admirable virtues of his mother. Doubtless the fondness [73] for strong drink was inherited by James, and likewise the disposition to follow the sea. Yet, but for the mother's poverty, we can imagine that a wise discipline might have saved him from both these pitfalls, and that he might have become a useful and respected if not an eminent citizen. He had a beautiful person, a powerful physique, a good heart, a good intellect. The little schooling that he got made him an excellent penman,¹⁵⁰ with but slight traces of illiteracy in his compositions. These are sensible, shrewd, humorous, graphic, deeply pathetic—in particular, the autobiography which he attempted, evidently for publication as a warning against intemperance. The high spirit which was wasted in stubbornly going to the bad, in resenting injustice and imposition at the risk of wounds and death, and in enduring without a murmur the atrocities incurred in the service of his country, might have graced a martyr in a cause as noble as his brother's.

The alcoholic habit was fastened upon James Garrison at the age of fourteen, while yet a shoemakers apprentice in Lynn, owing to the custom of serving black-strap to the workmen. Once master of him, it led him, with an occasional reprieve and vain attempt to establish himself in an honest employment on land, through every degree of abasement and physical suffering—now the literal bedfellow of swine, and now the victim of all those forms of torture which made the navy of his day truly hells afloat. At twenty-two, in the British service, he was flogged¹⁵¹ through Admiral Rowley's fleet at Port Royal, Jamaica,¹⁵² for desertion (not without cause), receiving one hundred [74] and fifty lashes: he names the ships to which the launches were successively taken, and the fellow-sufferer who died¹⁵³ under the terrible infliction. In January, 1824, he had¹⁵⁴ escaped to New York, and in September shipped for the first time in the United States navyin the North Carolina seventy-four at Norfolk. ‘I considered myself,’ he records, ‘an adept in the usages of a man-of-war; but I was mistaken, and soon found out I was destined to treatment to which I had before been a stranger, and which I considered that no officers belonging to any civilized country could adopt.’ His introduction to American naval cruelty was given him by the future opener of Japan to ‘civilization,’ Matthew C. Perry, then first lieutenant.¹⁵⁵

We draw the veil over what followed, under the American flag, until James Garrison, a mere wreck, was rescued from the navy by his brother. But an earlier experience had in it an element which connects while it contrasts the lives of both. Towards the close of 1819, while Lloyd was in his early printer's apprenticeship, James, then in his twentieth year, bound himself to one Benjamin Sisson, a Savannah pilot—a slaveholder, cruel and tyrannical, whose wretched treatment at last drove James to run away. On the road to Charleston he was overtaken; and now, as if the South were taking satisfaction on his poor body for the future anti-slavery warfare of his brother, James Garrison was subjected to punishment such as slaves had meted out to them for similar offences. Stripped naked, and hung to a tree by his thumbs so that his toes would just touch the ground, he was almost flayed alive [75] with rods. He fainted with pain, only to be revived with cold water and freshly tormented till he begged Sisson to shoot him. When this monster¹⁵⁶ was wearied rather than glutted, he desisted. The next day he mounted his horse for the homeward journey, and, fastening a rope to James's¹⁵⁷ body, forced him to keep up on foot. A second flogging, on shipboard at Savannah, nearly finished the boy, and when his lacerated back was viewed by the Mayor and other white men, they were shocked at a sight which no negro had ever afforded them. To save his neck, Sisson and his wife had to nurse James as if he were their darling.

The worst details of these barbarities were concealed from Fanny Garrison while she lived, by her wayward son. Before he had become a sailor, and even while living near his mother in Baltimore (‘the noblest of mothers,’ he thought her), she had ‘lost the run’ of him, and was heart-broken when she learned that he kept away from her, who would have done anything to redeem him. At last ‘I crawled into her presence like one who had committed murder and was afraid of every one he met. We went into a room by ourselves, and Mother, falling on her knees, poured forth her soul in prayer to God to have mercy on her son.’ No influence, however, could overcome his inveterate habit and his roving disposition. In spite of her entreaties, he chose the sea for his living. “My parting from Mother on this occasion was dreadful. I cannot describe my feelings. When we came to shake hands and bid the last farewell, my Mother kneeled and took both my hands, kissed me, and gave me her blessing. I could not say farewell. My heart was full, and I trembled like an aspen leaf shook by the wind. We parted for the last time on earth.” 1818-1819. In his trunk he afterwards found a letter from her which he could never read without weeping.

What intemperance and cruel suffering had spared of [76] James Garrison's battered hulk drifted at last by a kind Providence into the port of Boston, where a brother's love was ready to be proved superior to all temptations to disownment.

W. L. Garrison to Secretary Paulding.¹⁵⁸

Boston, December 14, 1839.

¹⁵⁹ I have a brother, James H. Garrison, who is now attached as a seaman to the U. S. Ship Columbus at the Navy Yard in Charlestown. He has been in the naval service of his country for the long period of sixteen years. It is rather more than¹⁶⁰ four months since his last enlistment. During nearly all this time he has been on the sick-list, wholly incapacitated to perform any labor. His disease is a difficult one to eradicate from the system, if it be not immedicable; and must, for an indefinite period, render him of little or no value to the Navy. . . . Through the kindness of Commodore Downes and Capt. Storer,¹⁶¹ I have been permitted to take him to my house for a few weeks¹⁶² past, in order to procure for him such medical treatment, and pay him such attention, as his case demands and a brother's affection could prompt. He is now in a somewhat better condition than when he was removed, but it is wholly uncertain how much he may yet be called to suffer under surgical operation, or how soon he will be able (if ever) to discharge the duties of a seaman in the U. S. service. Of course, under these circumstances, to have him remain under pay cannot be a very desirable object to the Government, the burdens of which should be lessened wherever and whenever it is practicable. My object, therefore, in writing this letter is respectfully and earnestly to solicit of you the immediate discharge of my brother from the Navy, upon the usual conditions. I cannot doubt your kindness in this matter, and shall gratefully appreciate its exercise.

It may have additional weight with you to add, that, during the sixteen years in which he has done not only the state but the country some service, it has not been my privilege to enjoy his society more than a fortnight until his recent sickness. He¹⁶³ is an only brother in whose welfare I feel a deep interest; and none the less because of the buffetings and perils through which he has been called to pass from boyhood. You will, I am sure, make the case your own, and act accordingly.

The next three years were spent by James Garrison under his brother's roof, with a temporary stay at¹⁶⁴ Brooklyn during the latter's journey to England. In the summer of 1841, he made a voyage to New Brunswick, to visit his relations. He had taken the pledge of total abstinence, but was betrayed by the captain into breaking it, yet on the whole kept steady until he landed in Boston in August. Then that fatality which seemed to him to have its iron grip upon him, suppressing every effort of his fallen manhood to rise again, brought him to the Liberator office during his brother's absence in New Hampshire. While the latter, with Rogers, was making¹⁶⁵ the woods of the White Mountains ring with the anthems of the free, or rejoicing in the conversion of their¹⁶⁶ companion from the smoker's habit, James Garrison for the thousandth time fell, a victim to circumstances:

‘Had I have come out home when I left the vessel, all¹⁶⁷ perhaps would have been well. But no, it was not to be until the cup of my bitterness was full; and none but God and myself can tell what I have suffered in body and in mind for my rashness. A great number of the Ohio's, Macedonian's, and Grampus's ship's company being ashore, I had a great many old shipmates among them. Suffice to say, I was led on to destruction. Coming to my senses, I thought of you, of Helen, of Mary, Mother,¹⁶⁸ and the Home (the only one I ever knew) [where] I had spent so many happy hours. The amount of suffering and expense I had caused you all, the breaking of my pledge, the promises I had made to reform—all rushed to my mind like the advancing roar of some mighty whirlwind. To drown those dreadful thoughts, I procured two ounces of laudanum, with a full determination to put a stop to my wretched existence.’

The attempted suicide was baffled, and once more, and to the end, the hapless man found a refuge in the home ever open to him in Cambridgeport. He lacked the nerve to tell his brother what had happened, so wrote a frank account, which he left on his table; his mind balancing between futile plans of engaging anew as a sailor, and a half-formed resolve still to make away with his hated life. Thus the affecting paper closed: [78]

I am not writing this to show you my good or evil qualities,¹⁶⁹ for I am confident you know them all. But my only wonder is, how you can put up with such treatment even from a brother. I write without flattery, for I am well assured you know it yourself—there is no one, under such circumstances, who would receive under his threshold such a brother. How often and often has it been said to me in Boston, by men in good standing in life, and by those who have only heard of you by hearsay, “James H. Garrison, I would give all I possess in this world to have such a brother.” But I have abused that brother's lenity, and how can I expect any clemency from his hands?

I do not ask it; but one boon I crave: Forget you ever had such a brother. To-morrow I go into Boston. I thank you for your kindness this last time, for when I came out, I was laboring under the mania potu and deliriums, and my hand is not steady yet. I have suffered, and that greatly, this last few nights, with that terrible disease, which none knows but those who have experienced it: it is horrid, indescribable! I am sorry for poor Mary, Mother, and Helen. I know their feelings are mortified, but what will they be when they see this? But as I do not wish to conceal anything from them, I must expect their condemnation on him who has acted so improperly. I hope they will receive my thanks for their past kindness, the remembrance of which I shall hold dear in this throbbing bosom while life retains its empire. What I have written is facts without exaggeration. My mind could not rest until I had told you all. I stated it in writing, as I could not do it verbally, my mind being too much agitated. Mary Benson; Mrs. Sally Benson; Mrs. Garrison.

The month in which James Garrison passed away was marked by two other deaths of much greater consequence. On Sunday, October 2, Channing breathed his last at¹⁷⁰ Bennington, Vt.,¹⁷¹ close beside the printing-office in which Garrison had pledged himself to Lundy to make the cause of abolition his life-work. His last public effort had been in behalf of the slave, for at Lenox, on August 1st, he delivered an admirable address in eulogy of West India emancipation and of the anti-slavery enterprise in his own country. The next day, in Boston, Henry G. Chapman¹⁷² died in his thirty-ninth year, with Roman philosophy: [79]

‘I happened,’ wrote Edmund Quincy to Richard Webb,

to¹⁷³ call not long after his departure, and was invited, as one who had long stood in the relation of a brother to the family, to the chamber of death. It was the most striking scene I ever beheld. The body was surrounded by the surviving family; Maria standing, with all the composure and peace of a guardian angel, at¹⁷⁴ its head, and his venerable father seated in resignation at his feet. The serenity of Mrs. Chapman was as perfect as I had ever seen it, and she told all the little incidents of the last few hours with the utmost tranquillity. Her sisters were not all as calm as she, but they all felt the power of her peace upon them.

At the funeral, she evinced the same tranquillity. Samuel J. May was invited to perform the usual services, at Chapman's request, not as a priest but as a friend, out of regard to the feelings of his father and mother. After he had made a prayer,¹⁷⁵ Garrison, who had been told by Mrs. Chapman if he had any word to utter not to withhold it, made a very excellent address, to the no small astonishment of certain of the relatives, who had not looked for an anti-slavery lecture at such a time. Neither Mrs. C. nor any of the family put on mourning, which was a¹⁷⁶ strange thing in a community where the chains of custom and public opinion are like links of iron.

‘A day or two afterwards, I went to town to see her, apprehending that when the excitement was over, a reaction might take place. But I found her in the same angelic peace that I had left her. She said she had no feeling of separation; that she had gone down with him to the brink of the River, and that he had gone over and she returned. And the household fell naturally back into its usual liveliness and helpfulness, without any effort or affectation.’¹⁷⁷

With one more death we close the chapter. The Non-¹⁷⁸ Resistant expired, on June 29, 1842, for want of means— conclusive evidence that the Non-Resistance Society was¹⁷⁹ [80] not identical with Garrisonian abolitionism.¹⁸⁰ The Society, nevertheless, held its fourth annual meeting, and had¹⁸¹ already, in September, 1841, at Mr. Garrison's instance,¹⁸² authorized Henry C. Wright to go abroad as a sort of general missionary for the causes of peace, abolition, temperance, chastity, and a pure and equal Christianity. The suspension of its organ, however, beyond hope of¹⁸³ recovery, showed that the limit of organized growth had been reached, and that the millennial expectations of the Declaration of Sentiments must be fulfilled in some other¹⁸⁴ form. ‘It does not follow,’ wrote Mr. Garrison in review of Judge Jay's “War and peace,” “that the Almighty will crown with success all means and measures alike, for the furtherance of the cause of peace. . . . It is not enough that we have a good cause; this will avail us little or nothing unless the principles which we advance and the measures which we adopt to carry it forward are just and appropriate.” Lib. 12.83. The most appropriate peace¹⁸⁵ measure in America was clearly the abolition of slavery.