[30] of refinement, literature, intelligence, and religion! No comments can add to the infamy of this fact. 2. It was perpetrated in the open daylight of heaven, and was therefore most unblushing and daring in its features. 3. It was against the friends of human freedom—the liberty of speech—the right of association—and in support of the vilest slavery that ever cursed the world. 4. It was dastardly beyond precedent, as it was an assault of thousands upon a small body of helpless females. Charleston and New Orleans have never acted so brutally. Courageous cravens! 5. It was planned and executed, not by the rabble, or the workingmen, but by “gentlemen of property and standing from all parts of the city”—and now [October 25] that time has been afforded for reflection, it is still either openly justified or coldly disapproved by the “higher classes,” and exultation among them is general throughout the city. . . . 7. It is evidently winked at by the city authorities. No efforts have been made to arrest the leading rioters. The Mayor has made no public appeal to the citizens to preserve order; nor has he given any assurance that the right of free discussion shall be enjoyed without molestation; nor did he array any military force1 against the mob, or attempt to disperse them except by useless persuasion; on the contrary, he complied with their wishes in tearing down the anti-slavery sign. He was chairman, too, of the pro-slavery meeting in Faneuil Hall, at which Washington was cheered for being a slave-Holder! . . .The conduct of Mayor Lyman on this occasion has now been honestly set forth. It was promptly arraigned in the Liberator by the Rev. Henry C. Wright,2 and3
This text is part of:
1 ‘Once more let me add,’ says Mr. Garrison, at a later date (Lib. 5.197), ‘that I have condemned the Mayor only in view of the oath of office which he has taken, and of the form of government which he and the people believe they ought at all hazards to maintain. For myself I ask no physical violence to be exerted for my protection, and I acknowledge no other government than that of the Most High.’
2 Under the signature ‘Hancock.’ Mr. Wright was not satisfied with one norm de guerre: ‘Law,’ ‘Wickliffe,’ ‘Cato,’ ‘Justice,’ are others which he employed at this time in the Liberator. He was a native of Sharon, Conn. (1797), who turned from hat-making to the ministry, studying at Andover from 1819 to 1823, and being licensed to preach in the latter year. He was settled till 1833 at West Newbury, Mass. He joined the New England A. S. Society in May, 1835, and first met Mr. Garrison on Nov. 6, 1835. See his Autobiography.
The Century Company. , 1885-1889.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.