CHAP. VI. 1865. ening influence of the Liberator upon their character and lives; and the deep grief they are expressing in view of its discontinuance 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, experimentally, 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 subscription-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 lication without asking leave of any one, so I claim to be competent to decide when it may fitly close its career. Again-it cannot be meant, by this presentation of the existing state of things at the South, either to impeach my intelligence, 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 interest 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 freedom "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 antislavery 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 freedmen 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 consummated, it seems to me specially appropriate to let its existence 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. CHAP. VI. 1865. CHAP. VI. 1865. 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 approbation of his fellow-men, if it be rightly earned. But to obtain it by going with the multitude to do evil-by pandering to despotic power or a corrupt public sentiment is self-degradation and personal dishonor: "For more true joy Marcellus exiled feels or con 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 John Brown. 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 benefactors, without whose voluntary but essential pecuniary contributions 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 ransomed millions! Hail, year of jubilee! With a grateful heart and a fresh baptism of the soul, my last invocation shall be: N° CHAPTER VII. THE NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL.-1866. 1866. act of Mr. Garrison's could have afforded more CHAP. VII. convincing proof of his unselfishness than his vol. 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 feathers." 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 AntiSlavery Society (which had also been the subscriptionoffice 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. 1 "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. Frothingham), and N. Y. Tribune (by H. B. Stanton) of Jan. 4, and in other leading journals. Feb. 8, 1866. Jan. 3, 1866. Feb. 3. Garrison in the debate, and 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 with his daughter, who had recently become Mrs. Henry Villard and gone there to reside. He lectured in Philadelphia 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 disgraceful harangue in denunciation of Congress to a crowd in front of the White House, on Washington's Birthday. Feb. 22. MS. Richard B. F. Wade. Lyman Trumbull. Henry Villard. O. O. How W. L. Garrison to W. P. Garrison. - 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 in the Senate - one by Senator Yates, "flat-footed "in favor of universal (male) suffrage; another by Senator Wade, on his proposed amendment of the Constitution, allowing no man to be reëlected to the office of President of the United States a very bold speech in its utterance; and a third, by Senator Trumbull, distinguished for logical power and vigor of treatment, 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 numbers, in both houses of Congress. Last evening, I called with Harry at Secretary Stanton's residence, but he and his wife had gone out to spend the evening. This forenoon, I had a brief interview with General Howard, who is, of course, full of uncertainty as to what is to be the |