Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-04-24
William Lloyd Garrison.

handling its bones. The request of a
number Of persons, many Of them OF
acknowledged standing and influence
in the community, for the autobio-
graphy of the latter gentleman, is a
tiattery which it was hardly to be ex-
pected he could withstand. He has
better reason even than his old-time
: c0ntrore to be satisfied, for he has Sc
cured q comfortable fortune at last by
his unenviable reputation as IN agita-
tor That he should be wiling to
rake over the fires of his own kindling
forty years ago, after becoming wit,
ness to the devastation they had caus-
ed, is the unwelcome token ola malig-
nant spirit quite as much as of person
Al vanity, and suggests everything but
. the propriety gifts fresh exposition by
reviying what charity is willing to veil.
1t is not i'll the role Of practical benev-
olence to his fellow.men that Mr. Gar
rison will justly figure in an such record
as is requested, for he VIGOROUSLY an
nOunced that he came not to bring
peace but the sword, and he gloried
most when his revilings of excellent
citizens and patriots provoked the
greatest tumult. Nor did he ever adj
nit that he had gained a footing for his
cause until he saw corresponding fac
ton Of fire-eaters rising in the South
AS the one individual whose denunci-
ations of the Constitution and the
Union were implacably fierce and re-
belliously truculent, his autobiography
can be Of no value except as n most
serious warning. He confesses, in his
reply to this request, that the struggle
in which he was forty years engaged
succeeded in ''rending the nation by
the antagonistic clements which it
aroused" As for assuming to bear
off the trophies Of the war for the
Union, million dead and living
Union soldiers rise up to forbid it.
The war was brought Oh by the
overt act Of resistance to the authority
Of that Constitution which Mr.. Gar
rison himself had for forty years de-
noumced and delied. When the reck
less blow was struck, it was another
class Of people than Mr. Garrison and
his faction that splang to arms. The
great Democratic party of the North
came to the front of the peril as one
man, and declared with uplifted hands
that the Union must and shall be pre-
served. TWAS their promptand patriot
ic action, the inspiration Of the noblest
impulse ofthe human heart, that set
the deep current and made it flow IT.
resistibly but in one way. They turn
cd the scale Of doubt at once, and
never until they openly denounced the
conversion Of holy warfare to malig-
nant and selfish ends did partisan
virulence presume to hazard the issue
by recklessly seeking to ALLEVIATE them
as patriots. 1t failed, as might have
been expected. That is the record,
and it will stand. 1t may be clouded
by falschood for u time, but its COM
plete restoration is to SHINE with all
the greater lustre. And Democrats
thank none but the soldiers for taking
the country successfully through the
trial OF arms, when everything that
was precious hung trembling in the
balance so long. For Mr.. Garrison to
bind their laurels on his brow would be
good deal more than preposterous.-
Since the date Of the peace, now eight
years away, he has done nothing and
said nothing that implies the magnan-
unity OF the statesman or the generous
sympathy Of the iphilanthropist. He
never had the heart or brain to say to
the vanquished South what the lament
ed John A. Andrews so earnestly, so
wisely and so generously proposed as
soon as the Southern troops had gone
home His autobiograph may depict
the character Of persistent agitator,
Of one whose aim it has beeen to break
up communities of men but he blind
ly mistakes, and so do others for him,
if they imagine that any description of
his career that he can set down will
furnish an example for the guidance
of ingenious youth Or the strength
ening of the sentiment OF true patriot
ism.-BOston Post.
"A Hartford subscriber writes that
he is just recovering from smallpox,
and will be on in a few days to renew
his subscription. We won't mind