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

‘ [511] of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers. Slavery will be overthrown before a majority of all the people shall have called voluntarily, and on the score of principle, for its abolition’—a striking prophecy, fulfilled to the very letter.

Mr. Garrison's first letter to the Hon. Harrison Gray¹ Otis was in a different tone, being tempered by a still lingering respect and personal attachment:

In proceeding to review your speech, I am filled with ² sorrowful emotions. I remember how intimately associated is the name of Otis with the revolutionary struggle that emancipated this nation from the thraldom of the mother country. You have dishonored that name—you have cast a stain of blood upon your reputation. You have presumed to lift up your voice, even in the very Cradle of Liberty, in panegyric of the vilest “brokers in the trade of blood,” in denunciation of the best friends of insulted freedom, and in support of “A bargain” which, according to your own showing, is a loathsome compound of selfishness, oppression and villany. Well, therefore, in respect to yourself particularly, may I feel sad and indignant. Some of the earliest effusions of my³ pen were in earnest and generous defence of your character against the calumnies of your political adversaries; for in one particular, at least, there is a coincidence of suffering between us,—all manner of evil having been uttered against us falsely. It is my lot to be branded throughout this country as an agitator, a fanatic, an incendiary, and a madman. There is one epithet, I fervently desire to thank God, that has never been applied to me:—I have never been stigmatized as a slaveholder, or as an apologist of slavery. No— no! Bad as my traducers conceive me to be, they have never reduced me so low in the scale of humanity, nor so cruelly impeached my honesty, nor so aspersed my patriotism, as to bring so scandalous and degrading an accusation against me. As they have been too conscientious to throw that calumny upon my character, I cheerfully forgive them all the rest, and thank them for their magnanimity.

On other occasions, sir, I have been your advocate. With youthful ardor I supported your nomination for the office of⁴ Governor of this Commonwealth. My maiden speech before a⁵ Boston audience was in your behalf, successfully urging the