Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-07-15
HONORs TO GARRISON.

to London, has received an invitation,
which was rendered 10 him by English
men, prominent among whom we're
members Of the British aristocracy,
These honors we're paid him on the
ground Of bis services to humanity and
freedom" 7o %
Probably no other man in this country
has labored so assiduously in the cause
Of negro emancipation. The end pro-
posed by him was one which commanded
the sympathies Of the philanthropic, and
was fayorite object Of many among the
wisest and best American statesmen and
patriots But the means he adopted TO
secure that end were abhorrent to the
principles and sentiments of those men !;
and success through such means was a
solution. so disastrous as to make it GER
tain that it was purchased at too high q
price Gsrrison's zeal in behalf Of the
negro, operating on peculiarly one
sided, one.idead mind like his, led him
to view every Southern man and woman
as a tyrant and oppressor as, in short,
wretch, worthy only of reprobation and
damnation. He, therefore, for years ex,
hausted the Language of invective against
the whole Southern people. As he held
them up 20 the execration Of the world,
they were enemies of the human race.
Helpers Impending Crisis" is a sum
mary OF the Garrisonian creed expressed
in Garrisonian language. His teachings
bore fruit That fruit was crop OF
intense animosities Before his day, the
South and the North indeed showed
some line Of division between them, but
nothing more marked than is observable
in any other country between the in
habitants of different sections Of 1t. The
Southerner would occasionally ridicule
Brother Jonathan, and the Yankee would
occasionally get his back up" at some
peculiarly ludicrous pretensions of the
+. F. VS. But there was no hearty i'll
will between the two, Notwithstanding
the differences due to difference of eli
mate and social institutions, and per-
haps Of origin. They did not feel like
strangers toward each other, much less
like enemies, but treated each other and
felt toward each other like members of
the same political family. After the
labors Of Garrison began to tell, these
relations began TO change. The efforts
to instil feelings of hatred against
Southerners into the minds Of Northern.
ers were but too successful Northern
ers we're taught TO feel that Southerners
we're little better than wild beasts, whom
IL was duty to hunt down, at any rate
70 be rid Of IN sotne way -ay Garrison,
finding the Constitution an obstacle to
his designs, denounced our political
Union as league with death and q
covenant with hell. He wanted
it dissolved: and donbtlass for the
sole purpose of being able to
treat the South as an alien enemy, and
10 carry the sword and torch of war into
il 1t must be berecollected that Garrison,
through his whole career, never used
argument or appeals to reason and the
better feelings of mans nature. His
mind seems to be constructed upon q
plan which makes it impossible for him
to effect any thing through the use of
rational instruments. All, therefore,
that he brought to bear in behalf Of his
cause was sheer dsnunciation of some
millions of human beings, our own
countrymen, who we're invariably held
mp and reprobated as monsters Of mi.
guilty. The appeal was to passion, and
passion only, Naturally, as it began to
be seen that such appeals we're having
their effect upon thousands Of minds
susceptible on the subject of slavery,
the Southern people became excited.
These people knew that they were not
the monsters which Garrison described
them to be, and they resented his libels.
However willing they might be to have
slavery extinguished, they did not relish
the idea of being extiIguished with it.
They held, as they had right to hold, of
an Institution sanctioned by time, custom
and the laws, that slavery was o matter
within their own special cognizaneej and
they did not choose TO have its abolition
ism forced upon them from without, in
manner not approved by their own ex-
perience and judgment The agitation
set on foot by Garrison weakened the
strength Of the emancipation feeling,
which at one time pervaded q large part
Of the slsveholding States. It made
peaceful solution of the question vastly
more difficult. By its creation Of the
fercest animosities aud intense mutual
hatreds, it made civil war and all the dire
Of such war inevitable.
And to-day, if q real restoration Of the
Union is Impossible, il return TO the
old relations Of brotherhood is impossi-
BILE, the cause of it may be looked for in
the state Of feeling created by the agits-
lion commenced and carried on chiefly
by Garrison. The work" that he has
really accomplished ia not ovsrstated in
.he following summary of the New York
Empress: |
First-The political annihilation of
.en States of a "once glorious Union"
Second-The aubversion Of free sys-
.em of government, and the establish
nent of military despotism in its stead. |
Third-The enslavement of Northern |
sbor and industry, by imposing upon it |
. burthen of debt which this generation |
,an never shake off |
The same paper, IN answering the |
question why British aristocrats should |
ionor q man who has achieved such q
york, adds: E1I
Because, it has weakened about the
,nly rival whose power and progress
had 10 fear, on the face Of the
,lobe
Because, il has swept the American
lag from the seas, and made Britannia,
,nce more, the ruler Of the waves.
Because ii has familiarized our people
nth monarehial and other strong
government" ideas, which threaten
inally 10 extirpale whatever of repubh
anism is here left
Because, government thus being
allure on this side of the Atlantic, there
Ieed be less apprehension Of peoples
evoh against the sristocracy at home
or equal rights"