The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-27
THE PRESENT SITUATION.
lecture by William Lloyd Garrison 1
Hro0EIvn

diousness about their personal comfort of
Brooklyn lecture-goers, the attendance was
quite sparse, not more than 500 persons being
present when the lecture began. At O'Clock
Mr.. Garrison entered, accompanied by Mr..
Aaron NJ Powell. The latter gentleman ad-
dressed the audience briefly. , --...
He referred to an error made In the adver-
tising OF the lecture, the subject OF which it
was said was impeachment" The proper title
of the lecture he stated to be "The Present
Situation" The gentleman then referred to the
late action of Congress with reference to recon
struction, and said that it was due TO that body
not to close the present session failing to have
lmpeached the President, Andrew Johnson.
Having referred to the lifelong combat with
slavery OF the eloquent gentleman who was
about TO address them, Mr. Powell introduced
the lecturer, MIR. William LLOYD Garrison. .-
Mr.. Garrison spoke of his failing health, and
OF his inability to do justice to the subject
under consideration There we're orators, he
said, who brought the house down. This he
could not hope to do; but he might venture TO
hope to bring the house up-elevate his
audience to a clear understanding of branch
OF the great subject that to-day agitated the
great heart OF the nation. His consolation, he
said, had lately been that his voice was not
needed to heighten the adherence of slavery.
Now that the fetters of the slave were broken,
1t was OF no Importance whether he spoke or re-
NAMED silent; nevertheless, where there was
wrong to be r1ghted he could not remain an
unmoyed and inactive spectator; an effort must
be made by him, however feeble, to abolish that
wrong. The question of the hour relates to
reconstruction and citizenship; to the restora-
ton OF harmony throughout the entire repub-
lic The lecturer then proceeded to expose the
state of feeling in the South. antagonistic not
only to Congress, but to the people of the
North. In the North itself be said there was
no serious difference of opinion among the loyal
ranks as to the claims of the negro to an equal
suffrage, nor was there any serious difficulty in
the way OF his obtaining It, as obtain it he
assuredly would.
He then described viv1dly the chaotic state of
things in the South, the exercise of the old
dominion there; blacks being sold into tempo
rary slavery for crime; schools broken up;
teachers com PEELED to fly the country; school
houses burned down; outrages Of every kind
committed, in order to make the slave emanci-
patton mockery. 1t was argued, he sad by
superficial observers, that this state of things
was an evidence OF the unwholesome working
OF the system; but this, he said, would be
indeed shallow and false reasoning. To con-
clude that the condition OF affairs in the South
was such q one that the neero suffered more
persecution than when he was a slave, was
wrong. Why? Because we now learn of the
brutallties rs they are coDsummated. There is
nothing OF oppression that is not now made
manifest in the light of freedom.
Whereas, In the midnight gloom OF slavery
there was more cruel wrong perpetrated in q
single day, of which the world without heard
no tldings, than was even now consummated in
twelvemonth. Then there was the daily drag
ging to the slave market of hundreds, thou
sands, and no voice was raised or but few, for
many years. Since the emancipation of the
slaves not halt-a-dozen cases had been re-
ported as having occurred in all the South, and
yet such an indignant Outcry arose throughout
the land that be who dares repeat it knows his
risk. The negroes blood reddened the soil
around the whipptng-block; now, even as
convicted felon, be is not subjected to the lash.
He (the lecturer) was not surprised at this
state of things.
When he reflected how the slave oligarchy
were stripped of their property; that their hopes
of successful rebellion came to naught; that
their vaunted prowess and pride were humbled,
till they bit the dust at the feet of their con-
Ouerors, and those the very men whom of all
others they most detested-the mudsills OF the
North--he could not wonder that they would
writhe and twist, and give vent IN sounds natu-
raj to them of their abhorrenCe of the people who
had thus blasted all their hopes, much less was
he lastonished that they should still grow more
reckless, still more daring in their desperation
when the astounding proposal was made to
transfer the negro from the whipping-block to
the ballot-boX When he remembered all this
he was not surprised at anything that might be
said or done, whose object was to show that
emancipation was q failure u.
BY the laws OF the human mind these Rebels
could not act otherwise than they do. Nothing
he could say could clearly illustrate che state
of Southern feeling as that state of mind was
illustrated in the two first books of paradise
Lost.n 1t was only necessary to substitute for
the name of the arch 6end himself that OF Jet
ferson Davis; tor Belial, Stephens; for Beelze-
bub, Mason; for Luciter, Lee; for Moloch,
Toombs; for Mammon, Benjamin; for Pande-
monium, the Southland the parallel was com
plete The lecturer then recited the address OF
Satan to his egions, where they are urged by
the fierce eloquence of the dend to rise again
against the "tyraLny of Heaven" What a
paradox, he said-the tyranny of Heaven! Yet
SO it was with these men, who would now rise
again against the North, at whose feet they lay
conquered. Smarting under her defeat, the
South would try again how most 20 offend hel
enemy.
This, he said, was the very spirit Of the yln-
dietive Rebels to-day; they were still banker
ing after their independence, deeming in the
words of Milton, THAT to reign is worth ambi-
fiop, even in He'll; better to reign IN He'll than
serve in Heaven" Mr.. Garrison then went ON
to read extracts from the Southern papers, illus
( trative of the state OF feeling there aud replete
with everything that was intolerant and abusive.
The South, he said, is just as rehelious to-day
as Ii was In 1860. We have still the most AFRO
giant people TO deal with that ever God permitted
to disturb the peaceful progress of a great
country If however, he said, such revela.
fious as these had followed the overthrow oi
slavery, It would have proved that the evils
attributed to the system had been grossly ex
aggerated, and that slave-o wners had been done
Injustice 20. But the question is of the South
What should be done with her? Obviously WI
should do by her as we would be done by. Nc
VenRe ance should be inflicted; nothing beyOnC
what Justice demanded and the necessities o
the case required. In view Of the worse thar
SAVAGE manner in which the South conducted
The var and the fact that the Rebellion wa
altogether caueeless IL would not be very sur
prislng IL malediCtions to the utmost should b.
heard on every hand, but on the contrary Their
was no other wish throughout the North thai
that TO repair her losses. This she could no
understand, or believe .re ~
No one had been arTaIgned for treason; a.
almost universal amnesty had been granted
and nrOpeTty restored. In, the plans of recoI
n0thinO had haen DrODOSed for TN