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

[347] Courage, Kossuth! be true—fear not the trial!
     Pluck out thy right eye, and thy right hand lose!
Though on thy head be poured out every vial,
     To wear a padlock on thy lips refuse!
And thou shalt gain, through lofty self-denial,
     A brighter crown than all the world can choose.

The poem was composed in time for insertion in the volume of “Selections from the Writings and Speeches of William Lloyd Garrison” already described. A¹ reperusal of it perhaps prompted the following letter:

Rev. William H. Furness to W. L. Garrison.

Philadelphia, Dec. 30, 1851.

² You must let me thank you for the book which I received³ from you this morning, and which I am glad to possess, and for the valued expression of your regard accompanying your autograph. How heartily I reciprocate it, how entirely I confide in you, I cannot tell you.

I wrote to Mr. E. Quincy the other day about Kossuth, and asked him to show you what I said. He may not have thought it worth while, or he may not have had an opportunity. Let me take occasion to repeat to you what I said to him. I do it with more confidence because our friend McKim, whose sound⁴ moral judgment you know, is, I believe, entirely of my mind in regard to this extraordinary man.

I felt with you at the first that he was trimming, and I thought of him with sadness, for I had rather have a great and true man than the political liberation of twenty Hungarys. But some things he has said since he came here have given me, as⁵ I think, an insight into his position. He was seen to read very attentively the Anti-Slavery Banner extended across the street at the Anti-Slavery Office, which was large and imposing. It read: ‘welcome the exile!— “every Inhabitant OF⁶ the land should be equal before the Law.” —Kossuth.’ It represented the old bell⁷ with the inscription on it, ‘proclaim Liberty to all the land,’ etc. When he reached his quarters at the hotel, in his first speech he said, ‘In the air which you breathe, the passage of time into eternity is marked by that bell which proclaimed liberty to all the land; but liberty is not in ’