Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-08-09
William Lloyd Garrison.

In offering William Lloyd Garri-
son tribute of admiration, there is
no need for melting out with nicely the
proportion which his labors, as COM
pared with other causes, bore to the
final issue of the struggle. 1t suffices
to remark that he rendered just that
service, but for which subsequent
events could not have taken the course
they have done. He quickened the
national conscience to the recognition
of the crime which it had treated
with connivance, and gathered round
him and led the forlorn hope who
were willing to do battle with gig
antic wrong at any hazard, simply be-
cause they had an invincible faith in
right, and who, quite irrespectively
of what might come of their work
and sacrifice, felt the obligation to
give them without reserve. 1t was
he that kindled the light toward which
the eyes of his fellow countrymen
were turned, first in rage, then in
conviction, afterward in shame, ulti-
mately in manly resolution. 1t was
he who, taking his stand upon the
highest moral and religious ground,
flashed thought after thought of burn
ing Indignation into the slumbering
mind of his nation, and made it i'm
possible for it to sleep in the pres
ence of that foul and ravening mon
ster. 1t was he who touched the
transformed demon with the spear
of heavens truth, and made it start
up in its own hideous form before the
people over whom it had thrown the
spell of its fascination. 1t was he
that awakened echoes from within
which once heard could never be for,
gotteE-the still, small voice which
was distinctly audible above the mur.
murS of human Selfshness and the
thunders of disturbed guilt, The
events which followed-the election
of Mr.. Lincoln, the secession Of the
Southern States, the sanguinary civil
war, the first military proclamation
against slavery, the constitutional
amendment which swept away the
"peculiar d m st C institution"
were merely the outward shapes which
the spirit evoked by Mr.. Garrison
and his colleagues assumed on either
side-the pathway along which, witt
more or less prescience, it pushed it;
way toward the goal. No doubt they
helped to precipitate emancipation
but they would never have been-or
at any rate, would never have tended
toward the great issue, but for thu
national sentiment which he was tn,
chief instrument in quickening, nour
ishing, and stimulating into activity.
1t was fitting that England shoulC
show how heartily she rejoices in th'
result, deeply as she may have deplor
ed the bloody strife in which the fet
ters were struck off the limbs of tn
swarthy children of toll. The mora
earthquake which swallowed up sIav
cry restored America 10 her prope
self. Time will be required to effac,
the traces of that catastrophe and t,
heal the injuries which the convulsioI
of agony has left behind it upon tn
body polite; but with the extinction
of involuntary sergitude were dc
strOyed many Of those germs of evi
which threatened the healthy develop
ment of her true national life. /
tolerated wrong secretly cherisheo
taints the moral nature, whether O.
individuals or of nations, in it's yer
springs; but when that wrong
deadly, when it is not merely toleI
ated, but gloried in, when it is exalt
ed into authority, when it becomes
standard to which manners, habits
proprleties, morals. religion, are mad
to conform, there is no possibility o
foreseeing the extent to which its col
rupting and perverting energy Wi
ultimately operate in overspreadin
life with death, and changing goo
; into evil. The crime which Americ
hugged to her bosom spoiled her 70
playing her part worthily in tn
worlds affairs. and, had she not re
nounced it, would, in course of time
have converted her into the mighties
national champion of lawlessness an
sin. Happily, the better elements o
her character got the ascendancy owe
her, and the danger is at an end
Not merely are her slaves free, bu
she has freed herself for nobler an
more glorious, because a truer an
more beneficent career than she coul
else have aspired to enter.
Slavery gone, is there any reaso
to prevent England and America froI
cultivating the friendliest regard fo
one another? What rivalry wort
speaking of remains for them, but
rivalry in good works? Which sha
: do most towards elevating humanit
offers a worthy sphere for future con
petition. In that sphere let ther
henceforth contend for national 81
premacy. In combating misery, i
diffusing the light of knowledge, i
raising the degraded, in shielding th
oppressed, in restraining fierce pas
sions, in fostering liberty of though
and action, and speech, they ma
henceforth work side by side, and fin
ample scope for their characteristic
and varied energies. Here there j
no room for the petty jealousie
which divide nations, or for the bicE
erings which too often condense then
selves into war. The breakfast give
to Mr.. Garrison was, in effect, a
earnest of this union and rivalry bt
tween the two great countries, an
; showed them to be essentially one i
4 Iao o,,k - l. L i. - 20 4 l.