Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 2

‘ [171] upon my anti-slavery course. . . . It was, indeed, a death-knell to the hopes of seditious plotters in our ranks, and of open and avowed enemies. It is worthy of remark, moreover, that all the speakers were applauded, except Mr. Fitch.’ This was on the evening of September 27. The day had passed without any demonstration from the appellants, who had nevertheless been earnestly laboring with twenty-four orthodox clergymen in several¹ private caucuses, from which lay delegates were excluded. Their spokesman at last, on the day following, was Deacon Gulliver, who forced upon the meeting a topic which it would have avoided. He was, at Mr. Garrison's own request, allowed to read a personal attack, to which the Convention listened in silence and then proceeded to pass resolutions of adhesion to the principles of 1833, ‘and not to the opinions of any man or set of men.’ The abolitionists of Massachusetts, they said, ‘know no man, or set of men, as leaders in this enterprise’; anti-slavery was not the cause of any party or sect, and should not be identified with or made responsible for individual views on other subjects. They approved the action of the Board of Managers as to ‘certain Appeals.’ Touching the immediate work for the Society, they dwelt upon the impending annexation of Texas, and the urgency of sounding a general alarm, bringing influence to bear on Congressmen, and procuring a protest from the next Legislature, while not ceasing to catechise candidates at State elections on the question of adding new slave States, on the right of petition, the power of Congress over slavery in the District and over the inter-State slave trade, etc.

The action of this Convention (to which, by the way,² female delegates were admitted) determined the ascendency of Mr. Garrison, not only in Massachusetts, but in New England, which was largely represented at Worcester. Primarily it was a tribute to his personal character in a region where he was intimately known, and where his presence never failed to disarm prejudice and