Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 3

[385] self-respect, was met derisively and with shouts of laughter. Even the Sabbath—their holy Sabbath—was no restraint on their¹ rowdyism, so that it became necessary for the Mayor to be in attendance with a constabulary force. In the evening, so protracted and outrageous was their interruption, that an attempt was made to arrest one or two of the leading rioters, when a scene ensued that baffles description. The officers were violently assaulted, blows were freely interchanged, knives were drawn, and sword-canes were menacingly flourished, and it was not till two arrests had been made, with great difficulty, that anything like order was restored. And this was the best defence of the plenary inspiration of the Bible that pious, evangelical Hartford had to make on the occasion! After the adjournment, the theological ruffians (some of them the sons of Southern men-stealers and cradle-plunderers) gathered around the doors and took possession of the staircase, uttering foul language and insulting various persons; but the especial object of their murderous spite was “ Garrison! Garrison!” —and they vociferously exclaimed, “Where is Garrison?” “Bring him out!” “Put a halter about his neck!” —etc., etc.² But we passed through them, unattended, and fortunately without injury—probably not being distinctly recognized.

Strange to say, however, the worst and grossest of the interruptions were directed against a woman, Mrs. Ernestine L. Rose, of great dignity of carriage and of unusual³ ability. Mr. Garrison himself had escaped, even on Sunday evening, with slight discourtesy. “Notwithstanding the pointedness and cutting character of many of the remarks of Mr. Garrison,” Proceedings Hartford Bible Convention, p. 365. says the official report, ‘addressed more particularly to the turbulent, they were listened to with marked attention throughout, demonstrations of any kind being but very few.’ Argumentatively considered, they were not as weighty or, perhaps, as ‘dangerous’ (from the clerical point of view) as Joseph Barker's, who, as an ex-clergyman, had some advantages in a technical discussion. The pith of Mr. Garrison's speech lay in the resolutions with which he introduced it, and which incidentally attest the influence of his antislavery