Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 4

[5] arm—it is beyond all defeat, unconquerable and immortal; ‘therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.’

May a Divine patience, firmness, and spirit of peace be vouchsafed to all the friends of impartial freedom who may be present at the meeting to-day, not returning railing for railing, but looking calmly and joyfully to the end of this tremendous conflict with the powers of darkness—namely, the liberation of every bondman on the American soil, and thenceforward the commencement of an era of universal reconciliation, happiness, and prosperity, such as the world has never yet witnessed.

Yours, to break every yoke,

Wm. Lloyd Garrison.

The resolutions, which were presented to the meeting by Wendell Phillips, were drawn by Mr. Garrison with his usual tact, and enunciated the fundamental principles of the abolitionists in a series of quotations from the speeches and writings of Webster, Channing, and Clay, and from the first article of the Constitution of Massachusetts. It was not easy for a Union-saving mob of Webster idolators to take exception to, or howl down, a resolution beginning: ‘Resolved, That (to quote the language of Daniel Webster),’ and they were compelled to listen in silence, if not with composure.

The first speaker of the morning was the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, who made a forcible speech, interrupted only by occasional hisses from the rear gallery, where a crowd of turbulent fellows were gathered. The appearance of Wendell Phillips, who followed Mr. Clarke, was the signal for a pandemonium of cat-calls, yells, cheers, hisses, songs, and derisive remarks, which the orator parried and punctuated with ready wit. At last, forbearing to strain his voice in the vain attempt to make himself heard, he quietly addressed the reporters at his feet, saying: ‘While¹ I speak to these pencils, I speak to a million of men. What, then, are those boys? We have got the press of the country in our hands. Whether they like us or not, they know that our speeches sell their papers. With five newspapers we may defy five hundred boys. . . . My voice ’