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

[464] brought about, was a sufficient return for his labor; but elsewhere he encountered timidity, as in the case of Professor Ware, or antipathy, as in the case of Pro-Palfrey, or virulence, as in the case of Dr. Gannett. It¹ was perhaps at his instigation that Mr. Garrison addressed the following stirring appeal to the greatest light of the Unitarian world, the Rev. Dr. Channing:

W. L. Garrison to William Ellery Channing.

Boston, January 20, 1834.

² Rev. And dear sir: I have taken the liberty to send you a few anti-slavery publications, the perusal of which, by you, I shall esteem a noble recompense. Let me invite your attention particularly to the Lectures of the Rev. Mr. Phelps, which cover the whole ground of controversy, and which I deem unanswerable.

Guilty as it is, there is yet hope for this nation. There are more than seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. The slumber of half a century has been broken up, and henceforth there is to be no repose until the monster slavery be slain. The deaf begin to hear, and the blind to see. The weak are made valiant, and the timid strengthened through faith in the promises of Him who is pledged to ‘maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor.’ The noise of the conflict is already like the voice of many waters. Truth is going on from conquering to conquer. The mystery of iniquity, alias the American Colonization Society, is now stripped of its disguise, and seen in its naked deformity. There is hope for the nation.

It is true, not many mighty have as yet been called to this sacred strife. Like every other great reform, it has been commenced by obscure and ignorant men. It is God's mode, commonly, to choose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; because his foolishness is wiser than men, and his weakness stronger than men. In having entered early into this great cause, I arrogate not to myself any superior wisdom or goodness. Some providential circumstances turned my attention to it; and humble as I was, I feared my God too much, and hated the base plunderers of my species too cordially, and pitied the poor bleeding slaves too sincerely, to shrink even single-handed from a conflict with the enemies of