[401] conduct, though it may admit of some palliation, is both dastardly and criminal, and certainly most unwise and impolitic for themselves. In their struggle to obtain those rights and privileges which belong to them as men, and of which they are now ruthlessly deprived, I sympathize with all my heart, and wish them a speedy and complete victory! But I cannot approve of any rude behavior, or any resort to violence, to advance their cause; that cause is just, and can best be promoted by moral and peaceable instrumentalities—by appeals to reason, justice, and the law of God—by an unwavering reliance upon that truth which is mighty to the pulling-down of strongholds.This fair and fearless treatment of a delicate question by a foreigner,1 which the patient reader may contrast with the behavior of Drs. Cox and Hoby in the United2 States, was rewarded by the subsequent distribution, as a Chartist handbill, of a reproachful letter addressed to3 Mr. Garrison by Charles McEwan. He was charged, after having read the former handbill in full, with having ‘eluded its contents,’ and recommended self-reform as the first and most essential duty,—‘as you were given to understand that a great amount of our suffering arose from intemperance.’ On the contrary, rejoined Mr.4 Garrison: ‘Those with whom I happened to become acquainted never opened their lips to me in regard to ’
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1 That the question had been present in Mr. Garrison's mind before leaving London, is shown by a letter of W. H. Ashurst's to him, dated July 26, 1840 (Ms.): ‘What were the points of information you wanted, when you asked me what law book would give you information as to the oppressive laws by which the poor are bound down and made serfs in England? I supposed you needed it for use as an editor.’ ‘I could not enjoy the beautiful landscapes of England,’ writes Mr. Garrison to S. J. May, on Sept. 6, 1840 (Ms.), ‘because of the suffering and want staring me in the face on the one hand, and the opulence and splendor dazzling my vision on the other.’ ‘I was much pleased,’ continues the same letter, ‘with Scotland —better pleased than with England. Her scenery, indeed, is not so beautiful, but it is far more grand and sublime; and she has enough of beauty to atone for what is wild and rude in her formation. I like her people better than I do the people of England: they are more like New Englanders in their appearance and manners. I was exceedingly pleased with the Irish friends I saw in Dublin, and received from them a welcome most cordial and ardent.’
2 Ante, 1.480.
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