The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-05-19

Almighty GOQ tnaG the black race should be
held in servitude. He gloried in his barter
ing for human flesh But even while he
spoke, his words were echoed back to him by
the moan and wall of his suffering slaves, as
they toiled under almost unbearable burdens;
beneath burning southern sun, and though
faint and weary from exhaustion and starva-
ton, they we're forced on by the brutal kick
or the powerful cut of the overseers LASH
until at last the physical wreck could go no
longer, and yielded up it's soul to him who
gave it. Such we're the conditions Re
formers saw them, yet dared not speak their
convictions, Statesmen beheld, as reflected
from a mirror the injustice OF this institution,
yet were silent. They feared opposition to it
would bring disunion. They preferred rather
to have union with wrong than disunion with
righteousness. A leader was needed; one
who could stand the laughs aud jeers of a
naughty people; one who would come boldly
forward and denounce all that was wrong,
whatever might be the cost Would he come
and could he stand the pillows of Indignation,
that would be hurled against him? A nation
stood in suspense and waited
To meet every wrong, God raises up a
great and noble man The one, chosen to
meet the wrongs of slavery, came not from
among the wealthy; came not from the col
lege halls; came not from the ranks of the
wise and learned; but born amid scenes of
poverty he came in the person of that hum
BILE, yet illustrious, grand, majestic, sublime,
and noble son of New England, William
Lloyd Garrison.
AS Americans, we are thrilled by deeds of
heroism, achieved through the agency of
American citizens. We look with pride at
the courage of Washington and his starving
troops at Valley Forge. We glory in the
grand work of Grant at Vicksburg; of Sher-
man on his march to the sea; of Sheridan on
his twenty mile ride; of Custer and his com
rades at the Big Horn; or the grand deeds of
those heroic boys before Santiago. 1t is
noble thing to risk all, even life and future
prospects, for home and country. It is an
act worthy of the greatest honor But to
fight for justice and liberty; to strive to lift
weaker race out of the bonds of human slav-
cry and degradation, approaches the Divine.
1t is the noblest of all noble worA--the life
work of Garrison.
Measured as man with invincible courage
and fidelity to purpose, he is prominent He
alone in it's supremacy. The city of Boston
was the scene of many trials and hard
ships for Garrison There it was, that
he faced the opposition of an indignant
people. There it was, that he founded the
Liberator, which for twenty years threw the
thunderbolts of justice at the slave trade,
and stood as the beacon light of liberty. Do
we for a moment doubt the mans courage?
Do we hesitate to believe him as heroic as he
was self sacrificing? Notice with me, for a
moment the difficulties under which this
paper was founded, On his side were power
ty and hardship, opposing it were wealth and
power. On one side stood one man alone and
his opinions. on the other scoffing multi
tude The solid south stood up as one man,
and hurled its frey darts CT malignity at that
one poor head Her brilliant orators were
profuse in their denunciations of him and his
course. They called him fanatic. They
pronounced him traitor a deceiver, rene
gade. But amid it all, he stood calm and
composed He had studied we'll his oppon-
ents, his subject, and his.duty
The first issue of the Liberator bore these
words for a motto-which at once startled
the world, and raised him out of the realm of
coward into that of a daring foe. II will
be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising
as justice. | am in earnest will not equi-
vocateI will not excuse-I will not retreat
single inch-And I will be heard. And he
was heard. He was bard, Courage, I'M
faltering 4 hi1e Lutherb fold before Charles
the Fifth; he sent his singing words, as, i
poisoned arrows, into the midst of the foe.
Harsh those words may have been. but is
beauty synonymous with tyranny Could