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

Such conduct on the part of a civilized and Christian community—the most respectable cooperating with the vilest citizens—was, after all, faintly described by Mr. Garrison's phrase, ‘heathenism outdone,’ applied, and justly applied, only to the initial proceedings. It was his last comment upon the affair, and very short, but the severity of it touched the Canterbury persecutors to the quick, particularly the five men whose names were printed in black letters—the magnates of the little village. ‘Your remarks in the last Liberator were awfully¹ cutting,’ writes Henry Benson; and Miss Crandall herself interposed with a prudential consideration:

Permit me to entreat you to handle the prejudices of the² people of Canterbury with all the mildness possible, as everything severe tends merely to heighten the flame of malignity amongst them. “Soft words turn away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.” Mr. May and many others of your warmhearted friends feel very much on this subject, and it is our opinion that you and the cause will gain many friends in this town and vicinity if you treat the matter with perfect mildness.

Mr. Garrison was, however, making war on the common enemy, and his ‘harsh language’ was still in order. He had also put his finger on the right spot when he declared the Canterbury mania to be ‘one of the genuine flowers of the colonization garden.’³ ‘Be it so,’ cried Andrew T. Judson, one of the five, and then or shortly afterwards a life-member of the American Colonization Society, as was also Dr. Andrew Harris, of the same black-list.⁴ ‘Be it so,’ said Squire Judson, in an address⁵ to the Colonization Society signed by the civil authority and selectmen under date of March 22, 1833. ‘We appeal to the American Colonization Society, to which our statement is addressed—we appeal to every philanthropist, to every Christian—we appeal to the enlightened ’