The New York Herald incites popular violence against the anniversary meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society in that city. Garrison presides, and speaks with the utmost composure in the midst of a mob led by a local bully, with CHAPTER XI.—GEORGE THOMPSON, M. P. (1851).......313-338 Thompson renews his old triumphs in the Eastern and Mid- dle States, and takes a leading part in the celebration of the The Hungarian refugee comes to the United States seek- ing national aid for his country. Fully informed in advance of the existence of slavery and the dominance of the Slave Power, he affects neutrality and flatters the South. Garri- son, on behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society, ex- CHAPTER XIII.—THE BIBLE CONVENTION (1853)......378-401 Garrison revisits the West, and attends a large number of conventions; in particular, that at Hartford, Conn., to dis- cuss the authority of the Scriptures, called by Andrew Jack- son Davis, and mobbed by divinity students. His reputation among sectarians on both sides of the Atlantic suffers a still The abrogation of the Missouri Compromise produces a powerful reaction at the North, by which the abolitionists profit in respect of greater freedom of speech. Garrison CHAPTER XV.- THE PERSONAL LIBERTY LAW (1855)..415-433 Massachusetts, at the instigation of the abolitionists, makes its Personal Liberty Law more stringent in obstruction of the Fugitive Slave Law. Celebration of the twentieth anniver- The pro-slavery atrocities in Kansas do not carise Garrison to regard the border-ruffian otherwise than as a fellow-man, or to view the newly formed Republican Party as an aboli- tion organization. But, as between Frémont and Buchanan CHAPTER XVII.—THE DISUNION CONVENTION (1857)..448-464 The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. Garrison takes part in a Dis- union Convention held at Worcester under the auspices of T. W. Higginson and other residents of that city. Another and more representative convention at Cleveland is pro- jected, but is abandoned in view of the financial panic. The Both Seward and Lincoln overtake Garrison's declaration (as Garrison notes the Republican party's falling off in principle in view of its approaching electoral triumph; yet judges it fairly in accordance with its own standards. He justifies John Brown's Virginia raid by the Bunker Hill code, and, as a WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. IF CHAPTER I. RE-FORMATION AND REANIMATION.- 1841. CHAP. I. 1841. F a man's reputation were his life, the scene of this biography would now properly shift once more to England. Collins's mission to raise funds for the support Ante, 2:415. of the Standard encountered the obstacles for which Mr. Garrison had prepared him "in consequence of the intro- Ante, 2:417. duction of the new-organization spirit . in Eng Ante, 2:429. Lib. 11:174; MS. Mar. 2, 1841, Collins to E. Quincy. land,” in connection with and as a sequel to the World's Ante, 2:353, Convention. The defence of the old organization was 368,370,431. imposed upon him from the start, and this, of course, involved a special vindication of its leader-a task made doubly difficult after Colver's slanders had been industriously put in circulation under the official cover of the Executive Committee of the British and Foreign AntiSlavery Society. "The Sabbath [Chardon-Street] Convention," wrote Collins to Mr. Garrison, from Ipswich, the home of Clarkson, on January 1, 1841, "has completely changed the issue. Woman's rights and non-governmentism are quite respectable when compared to your religious views." In a recent interview, procured with much difficulty, and only in an unofficial capacity, with VOL. III.-1 MS. 1841. Robert Owen. Ante, 2:390. MS. CHAP. I. Clarkson, his family were unwilling to have Collins touch on the subject of the division among the American abolitionists. Allusion to this or to Mr. Garrison led the venerable philanthropist to speak of the evils resulting from destroying the Sabbath or religion, and of the dangerous influence of Owenism. "It required no sagacity," adds Collins, "to see his design in referring to Owen, etc. Owenism, in Great Britain, is considered double-distilled infidelity. Your views are being considered of the Owen school.1 You are the Great Lion which stands in my way." Likewise, on February 3, Collins writes to Francis Jackson: "Garrison is a hated and persecuted man in England. Calumny and reproach are heaped upon him in the greatest possible degree." And, in a letter to Mr. Garrison himself, Richard D. Webb, on May 30, reported that Joseph Sturge, the weightiest member of the London Committee, regarded the mere defence of Garrison and Collins by Elizabeth Pease and William Smeal "as a species of persecution directed against himself, and as a gratuitous giving up of the slave's cause." When Miss Pease had obtained from America a truthful statement of Mr. Garrison's part in the Chardon-Street Convention, at the hands of the Ante, 2:425. Quaker James Cannings Fuller, the London Committee refused her request to give it the same currency which they had given to Colver's libel. MS. MSS. Jan. 14, Mar. 17, 1841, E. Pease to Collins. MSS. Apr. 27, E. Pease to J. Scoble (May ?), 1841, to Collins. MS. W. L. Garrison to Elizabeth Pease, Darlington, England. BOSTON, March 1, 1841. I am very much obliged to you for your letter by the Britannia, and do not regret, on the whole, that bro. Collins has concluded to remain until the sailing of the steamer of the 4th inst., though I trust he will not miss coming at that time, for his presence here now is indispensable. In whatever he has been called to encounter, on your side of the Atlantic, by the evil spirit that reigns there, as well as here, in the anti-slavery ranks, I deeply sympathize with him. The 1"Socialism is thrown upon us both" (MS.-1841, Collins to W. L. G.). 1841. attempt of Nathaniel Colver to injure his character is exciting CHAP. I. among all the true-hearted friends of our cause among us an intense feeling of indignation and abhorrence; and in the sequel it will be sure to recoil upon the head of that unhappy man. Equally abortive will be the effort of N. C. to affect my relig- N. Colver. ious character by his absurd and monstrous statement to Joseph Sturge, that I have headed an infidel convention. Even supposing the charge were true, I should like to know by what authority British abolitionists, as such, undertake to judge me, for this cause, on the anti-slavery platform. I need not say to you, that the charge is both groundless and malicious; that my religious views are of the most elevated, the most spiritual character; that I esteem the holy scriptures above all other books in the universe, and always appeal to "the law and the testimony" to prove all my peculiar doctrines; that, in regard to my religious sentiments, they are almost identical with those of Barclay, Penn, and Fox; that, respecting the Sabbath, the church, and the ministry, Joseph Sturge and I (if he be a genuine Friend) harmonize in opinion; that I believe in an indwelling Christ, and in his righteousness alone; that I glory in nothing here below, save in Christ and him crucified; that I believe all the works of the devil are to be destroyed, and our Lord is to reign from sea to sea, even to the ends of the earth; and that I profess to have passed from death unto life, and know by happy experience that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. •The truth is, N. Colver has a mortal antipathy to all the distinctive views of Friends, and he regards them all as infidel; yet he writes to Joseph Sturge as though he fully agreed with him as to the nature of the Sabbath, and as though I held purely infidel views on this subject!! Why does not Joseph Sturge, as an honest man and a sincere friend to the anti-slavery cause (I will not refer to his former professions of personal friendship for me), inform me by letter of what he has received from N. Colver and others, touching my religious character ? Why does he not express a wish to hear what I can say in selfdefence? I confess, I am grieved and astonished at his conduct, and am forced to regard him much less highly than I once did. By the next packet, I hope to be able to address a letter to him on this subject. I am sorry, very sorry (and very much surprised, too), that Lib. 11: 37, bro. Collins should have applied to the London Committee for 42. |