Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 1

[119] also, pen a paragraph—perhaps an article, or so—and then— the subject is exhausted!! They cannot, for the lives of them, discover how the condition of the colored race can be meliorated by their exertions—(neither can any one else, unless they make themselves acquainted with the subject, and muster up virtue and courage to act, as other reformers have done）—and they retire from the field of labor, many of them, ere one drop of sweat has earned the trifling reward of a cent. We will not, however, pursue this part of the subject, lest our friend Garrison may think that we are about to insinuate a vote of censure against him, in anticipation! In truth, we do hope that he will remain true to the cause. Though he may not adopt the language which the immortal Cowper puts in the mouth of his perfect patriot, viz.:

In Freedom's field advancing his firm foot,¹
He plants it on the line that Justice draws,
And will prevail, or perish in her cause;

still, we trust he will always be found on the side of humanity, and actively engaged in the holy contest of virtue against vice— philanthropy against cruelty—liberty against oppression. We also hope and trust that, unlike many others, he will be enabled to see that argument and useful exertion, on the subject of African Emancipation, can never be exhausted until the system of slavery itself be totally annihilated. As well might a lukewarm reformer have queried the Apostle Paul, in his days, relative to the exhausting of his argument, as for a short-sighted philanthropist to propound a similar question respecting the abolition of slavery now.

‘We make the foregoing extract,’ rejoined Mr. ² Garrison, in copying it in the Journal, ‘for the purpose of assuring the editor that our zeal in the cause of emancipation suffers no diminution. Before God and our country, we give our pledge that the liberation of the enslaved Africans shall always be uppermost in our pursuits. The people of New England are interested in this matter, and they must be aroused from their lethargy as by a trumpet-call. They shall not quietly slumber while we have the management of a press, or strength to hold a pen.’

Lundy was soon convinced by the frequency and fervor of Mr. Garrison's articles on slavery, and by his