William Lloyd Garrison and his times; or, Sketches of the anti-slavery movement in America, and of the man who was its founder and moral leader

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Cape Cod Community College Library-LeamiDf Resources Center

Wtllmn Brewster Nickersan

CAPE COD COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Preface

TO THE REVISED EDITION.

With the reception accorded to the first edition of this work, on the part both of the public and the press, I have every reason to be gratified. Published by subscription, it met v^ith a ready sale •wherever it was offered ; but only a small part of the field where it might reasonably have been expected to find a welcome has ever been canvassed, and the present edition, appearing under more favorable auspices, will not, it is hoped and believed, fall upon a glutted market.

More than a few of the surviving associates of Mr. Garrison have expressed to me their earnest thanks for this sincere but all inadequate tribute to his character and memory, and for the effort to present a historical outline of the movement with which his name will be forever identified. The time to write an impartial history of that movement will not come until long after all those who took part in it are in their graves ; but as one of the actors I have sought to make a contribution of some value to the materials for such a history, and to meet a want of the present time. That I have not been wholly unsuccessful in the execution of this purpose the unsolicited and spontaneous testimony of eminent persons on both sides of the Atlantic encourages me to believe.

" I would not thank you," says an American woman of high literary and social reputation, whose own services in the anti-slavery cause were of inestimable value, — "I would not thank

VI PEEFACB TO THE REVISED EDITION.

you for having written ' "William Lloyd Garrison and his Times ' until I should be able to do so intelligently. And now, after having read it aloud in our family circle, I hasten to say, what I am confident must be the general judgment, that it is a true presentment and an imj)ortant service to posterity. Although critical appreciations must needs vary, not only with the degrees of knowledge as to persons and things, but by reason of different standards of conduct and character, yet I am confident that nothing will, by any qualified person, be found to impair the integrity of the narrative, or mar either the grand outlines or the broad lights and shadows of the times."

Many other testimonials of a similar character have been received from persons whose names, if ]» felt quite at liberty to use them, would add weight to their opinions.

" I thank you most heartily," says an evangelical divine of world-wide reputation as a staunch defender of the Orthodox faith, " for your very interesting volume of the biography of Garrison. How few of the men whose whole life has been in any age consecrated to one grand and worthy object have ever been permitted, as he was, to behold and rejoice in its attainment, and to receive the applauses even of opponents as well as friends. With all his toils and conflicts he was always remarkable for his cheerful and confident spirit, contented and uncomplaining if only he had the privilege of speaking his mind and rousing his fellow-men against the oppressor in behalf of the enslaved. His was a noble soul, and I rejoice with my whole heart in all his praises as well as his success."

" Let me assure you," says another evangelical clergyman, occupying a conspicuous pulpit in one of our Western States, " of my very high appreciation of your noble tribute to one of the proudest moral heroes of any age, and of your faithful history of one of the greatest reforms of the world. The story is a thrilling one, and it is fortunate that we can have it from

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. Yil

the pen of one who played so large a part in the drama. The record brings a sad indictment against the Northern people, and the church and clergy ; but they deserve it, and for one I see no use in extenuating their fault and apologizing for it. It simply shows how good men may utterly fail to comprehend the principles they preach, and under stress of great temptation may be false to the gospel they exalt. It is a strange instance of moral blindness."

Similar testimony is borne by another eminent clergyman, the pastor of an evangelical church in one of the Middle States. "I am glad," he says, "that the one living man who could and should give such a record to the public has done it. It is the record of a strange, disjointed time, when men on all the continent walked in darkness and knew not at what they stumbled, and called the darkness light. So far as I have seen or can judge, you have grasped the vital principles of the great conflict, and set forth with vividness and power the salient facts. It must ever be cause of joy to you that you accepted the call, heard by so few, to be of that small number — the contempt of all the prond — who moved forward to make the first determined and persistent effort to storm the great fortress of legalized and consecrated oppression."

An eminent Professor in a Theological Seminary of extremest orthodoxy writes me to say : " Many thanks for your good and true book. There is no part of my past life that I contemplate with more satisfaction than the period, short though it was, of my association with the real Abolitionists. I am perfectly well aware of the smallness and insignificance of my part in the great drama ; but it is something to have been permitted to speak 'a few times on their platform the thoughts of my heart, and to have seen the agonizing contortions of the monster slavery. I have often said that of all the men I have ever seen Mr. Garrison was the most unflinchingly true to his

Vlll PEEFACE TO THE EEVTSED EDITION.

moral convictions. I feel even my imperfect knowledge of him to have been an inspiration in this particular. I said all this and much more to my theological students at the time of his death."

These unsolicited expressions of feeling and opinion from eminent ministers of the gospel, who would no doubt permit me to use their names if I should ask them to do so, are but specimens of a multitude of testimonials that might be offered if it were desirable. They more than console me for the attempts made in certain quarters to discredit the statements I was compelled to make in regard to the support given to slavery by the great body of the American church and clergy, and to create the false impression that those statements were inspired by hostility to evangelical Christianity. This impeachment, however plausible it may be made to ajDpear, has no warrant in truth, but is dictated solely by a desire to screen the men who did more than all others to mislead the nation in regard to slavery by blunting the consciences of the people and lulling them to sleep over its sinfulness, peril, and shame.

There is yet one more testimonial too striking and valuable to be omitted here, the author of which, I am sure, will pardon me for mentioning his name. The Rev. Henry Bleby, for more than forty years a missionary of the British Wesleyans to the Negroes of the West Indies, and who is thoroughly familiar with the history of the anti-slavery movement both in England and America, uses these strong words : " I think you have given a faithful and well-drawn portrait of one of the greatest and best men that modern times have produced, and who was the first philanthropist of his age. You have done justice, but not more than justice, to the true practical godliness, the wonderful power of foresight and discrimination, the undaunted bravery, and the indomitable firmness and perseverance possessed and persistently displayed by our departed friend. In

Preface To The Revised Edition. IX

William Lloyd Garrison were embodied many of the elements of character which made John Wesley one of the greatest benefactors of the human race. In my more than seventy years of experience among men I have met with many of the great and good, but I have known no one whose character and life more fully commanded my profound veneration than Mr. Garrison ; and I regard it as one of the great privileges of my life that I was permitted to form acquaintance with him and to enjoy his friendship.

" In the perusal of your book," continues Mr. Bleby, " I was particularly jDleased that you had done such ample justice to the religious character of our mutual friend, rebutting the slanders which narrow-souled bigots heaped upon him, and developing in his history a life beautifully adorned throughout with the purest and richest fruits of that true piety which consists not in crude opinions, but in loving God with all the heart and soul and mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. You have put this subject in a most clear and satisfactory light.

" It is not," he farther says, " without a feeling of regret that I am compelled to acknowledge that your strictures, severe as they are, upon the unfaithfulness of Christian churches and ministers in the early days of the anti-slavery struggle are just and well merited. You could not have done justice to your subject without making prominent those humiliating facts which proved how largely all but a few of the American churches were corrupted by slavery."

The commendation of this venerable missionary of the Cross, whose life was often in peril among the devotees of slavery in the British West Indies, and who in his honored retirement enjoys the confidence not only of the Methodists of England, but of Christians of every name, enables me to bear with composure the aspersions of a distinguished representative of American Methodism, who, unable to refute so much as one of my state*

X PEEFACE TO THE "REVISED EDITION.

ments, has the temerity to charge me with writing what is " unhistorical and false" concerning his church. Mr. Bleby was in the West Indies during the reign of terror which preceded emancipation, when the chapels of the missionaries were burned down, and the faithful preachers hunted like wild beasts in the yain attempt to overawe and silence the Abolitionists. He was a coadjutor of the almost martyred Baptist missionary, "William Knibb, and, like him, was summoned before a Committee of the British Parliament as a witness to the atrocities of slavery. He understands as well as any other living man the whole question of slavery, especially the subterfuges of its champions and apologists in the United States. The " welldone " of this devoted servant of Christ more than outweighs all the sinister disparagements of the men who would, if it were possible, blot the records of history to save the reputation of ecclesiastical cowards and tricksters.

Doubts of the accuracy and fairness of my account of the Lane Seminary explosion (see Chapter X.) having been whispered in some quarters, it is due to my readers as well as to myself that I should cite the testimony of the one witness who, above all others, is qualified to speak upon the subject with authority. " I have read over again," says the venerable Theodore D. Weld, "your account of the Lane Seminary affair in your Life of Garrison. I marvel at the accuracy, perfect fairness, and impartiality with which you have treated the whole subject. Personally connected with all the details, and vividly recollecting them all, I exult in the fact that you have not only in your statements of facts given them just as they were, but you have so stated them that all right-minded persons must see that you have not done it in the spirit of a partisan."

The notices of the work in the British as well as the American press have generally been more favorable than might have been expected. In one instance only has criticism fallen to the

PEEFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. XI

level of j)ei'sonal discourtesy, and that was in the Methodist Quarterly Review^ of whose editor it should be considerately remembered that he unfortunately formed in early life a habit of speaking of Abolitionists generally and Mr. Garrison in particular in terms of reproach. This writer attacked me in the New York Tribune while a portion of my sketches were passing through that journal, charging me with libelling the churches, the Methodist church especially, "in the interest of semi-infidelity." In my first edition, yielding to a very natural temptation, I devoted several pages to the task of repelling his accusations. I am now convinced that it was a mistake to import into the body of such a work a controversy necessarily so personal, especially as I had previously replied to the charges in the paper where they appeared. The passage referred to is therefore omitted from the present edition, all the more readily because my assailant has since virtually admitted the truth of the statements which he at first pronounced " unhistorical and false." In his Introduction to Matlack's "Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church," lately published, describing the state of the country while the Abolitionists were fighting their battle, he unwittingly says : " Patriotism, politics, commerce, social influence, churchly ties, all united in condemning not the menacing Slave Power but the Northern resistant to its despotism. The lamb and not the wolf was guilty of disturbance. It was firmly held by all those interests that the man who rebelled against the agreed terms of 'Union' and peace was a genuine disturber, an enemy of the public peace, a destroyer of the institutions of the country, to be rigidly and thoroughly silenced." If these words of the Rev. Dr. Whedon are to be regarded as any more substantial than a rhetorical mist, they must be understood as confirming all that I have said in this work of the moral delinquency of the American churches and clergy in respect to slavery.

Xll PEEFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION".

Besides correcting some minor errors, which, in spite of great care, crept into the first edition, I have hereunto added a chapter, for the purpose of answering the criticism of two religious journals, which have sought to break the force of my testimony in regard to the complicity with slavery of the chief religious organizations in the country and their ecclesiastical leaders and guides. On this subject I have not a word to retract, for I have neither exaggerated anything nor set down aught which the utmost Christian charity required me to suppress. Tf in any respect I have erred, it is in speaking less than the truth and making the lines of my picture all too light. Of the verdict of posterity upon this point I entertain neither fear nor doubt. The facts are of record, and they can neither be blotted out nor concealed from the impartial historian.

This work is neither a history nor a biography, but only a series of sketches of one of the grandest moral movements of ancient or modern times. Of its fragmentary and imperfect character I am painfully sensible. It needs another volume to tell as it ought to be told the story of the Garrisonian movement from 1840 to the close of the conflict in 1865. Such a volume, which would give something like completeness to my sketches, it is in my heart to prepare, if only my life and health are spared and there shall be a demand for it.

OLIVER JOHNSON. 104 Madison Avenue, New York, September 15, 1881.

PREFACE.

Some months since the writer of these pages was invited to contribute to the " New York Tribune " a short series of papers, embracing some of his recollections of the American Anti-Slavery Movement, and of the persons most prominently connected therewith. His attempt to fulfil this task was received with so much favor in various quarters, that he was induced, the Editor of the " Tribune " kindly consenting, to go far beyond his original intention, and take a rapid survey of the whole movement, which, beginning in the labors of William Lloyd Gakkison", in 1829, finally led to thft abolition of slavery by the exercise of the powers of war, as a means of putting down the Eebellion. The sketches thus written are now gathered, with some slight revision, and with large additions, into a volume, at the suggestion of many of the writer's old friends, and in the belief that in this form they will meet a public want.

The writer desires it to be understood that this volume doea not claim to be a complete history of the Anti-Slavery Movement, either in its moral or political aspects. His purpose is simply to make a contribution, which he hopes will be of some value, to the materials for such a history, which may be written by another hand, when the prejudices and passions engendered by the conflict have passed away. The author has attempted, in a series of brief sketches, to present an outline, first, of the action of the Abolitionists up to the divisions of 1839-40 ; and,

XIV PREFACE.

secondly, after stating as impartially as he is able the circumstances and causes of those divisions, to follow the course of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and those who co-operated with it, under the lead of Mr. Garrison, to the close of the conflict. This plan, it will be seen, does not embrace a history, however brief, of the anti-slavery political parties, or of the labors of those who worked through these instrumentalities to prevent the extension of slavery, and to resist its encroachments upon the institutions of freedom. Without intending to disparage, in any degree, the action of those parties, or of the men who labored in and through them, but, on the contrary, while gratefully acknowledging the importance and value of what they accomplished, the writer has chosen to confine himself mainly to an account of the MORAL AGITATION, which was the original cause and constant stimulus of political action ; and this because, while the progress of the movement, in a political sense, was necessarily conspicuous, and is therefore certain to attract the attention of the historian, — indeed has already been treated with great fullness and ample justice by the Hon. Henry Wilson, in his " History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," — the distinctively moral forces, which were so powerful in moulding public sentiment, are far less likely to receive the attention they deserve.

Mr. Garrison is the central figure in these pages, which contain an outline of his life and public career as the founder and leader of the Anti-Slavery Movement. He will be forever honored, not, indeed, as the first American to denounce slavery as a sin and seek its abolition, — for in this a multitude of honorable and eminent men were before him, — but the first to unfurl the banner of immediate and unconditional emancipation, and to organize upon that principle a movement which, under God, proved mighty enough to accomplish its object. The laurel will be the more willingly placed upon his brow because he never

PREFACE. XV

claimed it for Mmself, or in any way sought to win the applause of his countrymen. In his speech at the Breakfast given in his honor in London, in 1867, he said : —

" I must here disclaim, with all sincerity of soul, any special praise for anything that I have done. I have simply tried to maintain the integrity of my soul before God, and to do my duty. I have refused to go with the multitude to do evil. I have endeavored to save my country from ruin. I have sought to liberate such as were held captive in the house of bondage. But all this I ought to have done."

Having been associated with Mr. Garrison from the beginning, and served the cause at times not only as a lecturer, but as temporary Editor of " The Liberator," and later, at different periods, as Editor of the Ohio " Anti-Slavery Bugle," the " Pennsylvania Freeman," and the " National Anti-Slavery Standard," the writer has enjoyed unusual opportunities for observing the progress of the cause, for studying its principles and the nature and character of the opposition arrayed against it, as well as for becoming acquainted with the men and women by whose toils and sacrifices it was carried forward, through great difS.culties, to a successful issue. With Mr. Garrison himself he was on terms of the closest intimacy, from the founding of " The Liberator" to the day of his death, and is therefore entitled to speak of his character, his aims, purposes and spirit, with something like authority. In doing so, however, he has aimed to speak not as a partisan, but as a conscientious if not a quite impartial observer. He has written of matters and things, " all of which he saw, and part of which he was " ; and yet, writing sometimes in haste and without opportunity to consult original documents, it will be strange if he has not fallen into some minor errors, which, however, it is believed, will not impair the integrity of his narrative.

XVI PREFACE.

Of one deficiency the author is deeply sensible. He has done but scant justice to many noble workers in the cause, whose zeal, devotion, and unswerving loyalty entitle them to the gratitude of mankind. Most of these, indeed, limited as he was for space, he has not been able so much as to name. But their " record is on high," and they have their reward in the remembrance of what they did to open the way for the emancipation of four millions of slaves. Let me here record, and make my own, the tribute paid to them by Mr. Garrison, himself, in London, in 1867 :

" Here allow me to pay a brief tribute to the American Abolitionists. Putting myself entirely out of the question, I believe that in no land, at any time, was there ever a more devoted, self-sacrificing, and uncompromising band of men and women. Nothing can be said to their credit which they do not deserve. With apostolic zeal, they counted nothing dear to them for the sake of the slave, and him dehumanized. But whatever has been achieved through them is all of God, to whom alone is the glory due. Thankful are we all that we have been permitted to live to see this day, for our country's sake, and for the good of mankind. Of course we are glad that our reproach is at last taken away ; for it is ever desirable, if possible, to have the good opinions of our fellow-men ; but if, to secure these, we must sell our manhood, and sully our souls, then their bad opinions of us are to be coveted instead."

If this volume shall serve to give to the people of this and future generations a clearer apprehension of the instrumentalities and influences by which American slavery was overthrown, the writer's highest ambition will be fulfilled.

81 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, N. Y.

INTRODUOTIOiSr.

I DO not know that any word of mine can give additional interest to this memorial of William Lloyd Garrison, from the pen of one of his earliest and most devoted friends, whose privilege it has been to share his confidence and his labors for nearly half a century; but I cannot well forego the opportunity afforded me to add briefly my testimony to the tribute of the following pages to the memory of the great Reformer, whose friendship I have shared, and with whom I have been associated in a common cause from youth to age.

My acquaintance with him commenced in boyhood. My father was a subscriber to his first paper, the " Free Press," and the humanitarian tone of his editorials awakened a deep interest in our little household, which was increased by a visit which he made us. When he afterwards edited the "Journal of the Times," at Bennington, Yt., I ventured to write him a letter of encouragement and sympathy, urging him to continue his labors against slavery, and assuring him that he could " do great things," an unconscious prophecy which has been fulfilled beyond the dream of my boyish enthusiasm. The friendship thus commenced has

XViii INTRODUCTION.

remained unbroken through half a century, confirmmg my early confidence in his zeal and devotion, and in the great intellectual and moral strength which he brouofht to the cause with which his name is identified. During the long and hard struggle in which the Abolitionists were engaged, and amidst the new and difficult questions and side-issues which presented themselves, it could scarcely be otherwise than that differences of opinion and action should arise among them. The leader and his disciples could not always see alike. My friend, the author of this book, I think, generally found himself in full accord with him, while I often decidedly dissented. I felt it my duty to use my right of citizenship at the ballot-box in the cause of liberty, while Garrison, with equal sincerit}^, judged and counselled otherwise. Each acted under a sense of individual duty and responsibility, and our personal relations were undisturbed. If, at times, the great anti-slavery leader failed to do justice to the motives of those who, while in hearty sympathy with his hatred of slavery, did not agree with some of his opinions and methods, it was but the pardonable and not unnatural result of his intensity of purpose, and his self-identification with the cause he advocated ; and, while compelled to dissent, in some particulars, from his judgment of men and measures, the great mass of the anti-slavery people recognized his moral leadership. The controversies of Old and New organization, Non-Resistance and Political action, may now be looked upon by the parties to them, who still survive, with the philosophic calmness which

INTRODUCTION. XIX

follows the subsidence of prejudice and passion. Wq were but fallible men, and doubtless often erred in feeling, speech and action. Ours was but the common experience of Eeformers in all ages.

" Never in Custom's oiled grooves The world to a higher level moves, But grates and grinds with friction hard On granite bowlder and flinty shard. Ever the Virtues blush to find The Vices wearing their badge behind, And Graces and Charities feel the fire Wherein the sins of the age expire."

it is too late now to dwell on these differences. I choose rather, with a feeling of gratitude to God, to recall the great happiness of laboring with the noble company of whom Garrison was the central figure. I love to think of him as he seemed to me, when in the fresh dawn of manhood he sat with me in the old Haverhill farm-house, revolving even then schemes of benevolence ; or, with cheery smile, welcoming me to his frugal meal of bread and milk in the dingy Boston printing-room ; or, as I found him in the gray December morning in the small attic of a colored man, in Philadelphia, finishing his night-long task of drafting his immortal " Declaration of Sentiments" of the American Anti-Slavery Society ; or, as I saw him in the jail of Leverett Street, after his almost miraculous escape from the mob, playfully inviting me to share the safe lodgings which the State had provided for him ; and in all the varied scenes and .situations where we acted together our parts in the great endeavor and success of Freedom.

XX INTRODUCTION.

The verdict of posterity in his case may be safely anticipated. With the true Eeformers and Benefactors of his race he occupies a place inferior to none other. The private lives of many who fought well the battles of humanity have not been without spot or blemish. But his private character, like his public, knew no dishonor. No shadow of suspicion rests upon the white statue of a life, the fitting garland of which should be the Alpine flower that symbolizes Noble Purity.

JOHN G. WHITTIER. 10th Mo, 3, 1879.

I

Preliminary — The Revolutionary Period — The Quakers — Benjamin Lundy — The Hour and the Man — Birth and Boyhood of Garrison — He Learns the Trade of a Printer — Becomes a Writer and an Editor — In Boston and Bennington — Joins Lundy in Baltimore — His Imprisonment, .... 19

n.

Garrison's Imprisonment, and its Effects at the North — The Release — Whittier, Clay, Tappan — Partnership of Lundy aud Garrison Dissolved — Tribute of the Latter to the Former — Founding of . " The Liberator" in Boston rather than in Washington — Garrison on a Lecturing Tour — Boston and the Cotton Traffic — Garrison Appeals in Vara to the Clergy — Dr. Lyman Beecher aud Jeremiah Evarts — " The Liberator " Born in a Dark Time — Purposes and Hopes of its Founder — Responsibility of the Church, . 35

HI.

The First Volume of " The Liberator ; " Its Size and Appearance — Scenes in the Office — Distinguished Visitors — Mr. Garrison's Alleged " Bitterness " — Alarm of the Slaveholders — Incitements to Kidnappers — Indiff'erence at the North— The Nat Turner Insurrection — Appeal of " The National Intelligencer " to the North — Mr. Garrison's Defence, .50

IV.

Mr. Garrison's Early Orthodoxy — No Odor of Heresy about him until long after the Churches and the Clergy had Rejected his Message — A Christian at the Last no less than at the First — Reluctance of Ministers to Pray in Anti-Slavery Meetings — Rev. Amos A. Phelps and his Book— The A. B. C. F. M., and other Religious Societies — The Freewill Baptists — Some Personal Experiences — A Libel Suit, 67