Ernest Crosby, Garrison the non-resistant

[68] founded upon it, into the midst of a period in which men feel instinctively that other less clumsy methods of treatment are better. We owe a lot of trouble to the Q. E. D.'s. And Garrison's mistake was not that he adopted a wrong principle, but that he was ahead of his times. He believed that the declaration of the non-resistant convention would sweep over the country as the Declaration of Independence had done, only with a more profound and intense effect, as it was infinitely wider in scope. But two things are necessary to the success of a cause-not only a prophet, but also a people capable of understanding the prophet; and this audience was lacking to Garrison. He would have liked to be a leader to guide the world into the paths of peace. He had to content himself in this regard with acting as a pioneer to stake out the land which some day mankind will occupy. His immediate leadership was confined to a cause which in comparison was limited and local.

But was this non-resistance principle of Garrison's a true one? And is there any prospect that it will triumph in the future? As an axiomatic statement its final sanction must be found in the individual consciousness. Answer for yourself. Is there nothing at the bottom of your heart which suggests to you at your best moments that the exercise