New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-10
GARRISON.

n-ho centenary of the birth of William LLOYD
c,orr4son recalls to contemplation UNIQUE
foure in American history concerning whose ~
auance and merits opinion has d1Hered ahd Lhay
continue TO differ until the end OF time. upon
~on,o nhases of his character and work there Is
Of Course. substantial agreement. Inc purify
1o+aes and upselfishness of his personal lie,
,;s heroic devotion to what he deemed the con-
+ro11ing dirty of the time, the contrast DetWeen
+bo nancity of his original resources ana the
MAGNITUDE of the effect produced II NOT OF TIE re-
suIt achieved. the s oniicance OF the movement
of which he was the organizer and leauer-dIl'
those things are accepted as part OF the ap-
7rovnd record, Lowell INDUCED in no eXtraVa-
oance of portrayal or Of estimate wheh Ne Wrote
Of him the nows hackneyed lines
II small chamber frfendless and unseen.
rolled Ger his types one poor uniearheo young
1tn ,Iaca was dark, unfurritured and mean.
Vet there the freedom Of a race began
when we come however. to estimate in the
rqh4 If historical perspective the innuence OF
Garrison upon the welfare Of the nation and 10
s;sor;n,ina+e between his functions as moral
hero and as a national leader as an aglIator
and as a statesman, differences OF opinion arise.
There have been and there are those ID whose
ewes his career was fawless, to Whcm ne seemed
tn he 3 dfvfneiy ordained minister enforcing the
Golden Rule of the New Dispensation Ia the
enirIr of a Hebrew prophet Of the Old. With
eI,ch estimates. sincerely made, it might seem
rneracious on this occasion to ind faul1 Yet
there Will be no disloyalty to the memory OF a
great man nor any apostasy from the cause OF
truth and freedom to which his life was devoted
| in frankly recognizing other elements and feat-
ures of his career He was prominently an
agitator He has been called reformer, ana
90 he was in a degree. But reform properly in
+I1n cTrilr
systems. but also the upbuilding OF new and good
ones. Garrison sought the former end to the
large NEGLECT OF the latter. He was destroyer
mora than constructor.
He was too. as many another agitator has
been. an extremist. Upon that fact he prided
himself Urge me not" he said, to use moder-
"atjon am IN earnest--I will not equlTeeate--
aI will not excuse-I viii not retreat single
sincb--and ] will be heard" There can be no
doubt that he was in earnest, and none that be
was heard The question is whether he might
not have been equally earnest and resolute
equally gcid of equivocation and intolerant OF
excuse for the inexcusable, and yet have avoided
that bitterness or agitation which was bound to
provoke counter agitation and actually for
time to intensity the evils against which he was
working. To make some comparison between
| Garrison and the man who accomplished that
which Garrison attempted, we might say that
Lincoln was as much in earnest as he, yet did
not deny the fitting functions Of moderation in
even the climax OF the titanic struggle Nor
will further drawing Of the comparison be I'M
profitable. Garrison was secessionist. who IA
his hatred of slavery was ready to break I'D the
Union and thus sever the free from the slave
states, his moral exaltation not giving him suf
heient faith to assure him that Ia due time both
Union and Liberty would prevail. Lincoln, on
the other hand, while fully committed to the doc
trine that the Union could not permanently en-
dure half slave and half free, was above all else
devoted 70 the preservation of the Union. whether
with or without slavery for the time, because Of
his faith Ia the inevitable fall Of slavery through