which he edited for thirty-five years. He claimed for the slave "complete and immediate emancipation," no gradual emancipation, no packing the slave off to distant lands to find a home where he could, but "complete and immediate emancipation." He and Elizabeth Heyrick in England, sounded this note almost simultaneously. In speaking of Benjamin Lundy I told you how Lloyd Garrison was sentenced to fine and imprisonment. Arthur Tappan—one of two brothers whose earnest and unvarying devotion in this cause deserves far more than a passing mention—paid the fine, and after seven weeks' imprisonment Lloyd Garrison was liberated. From prison he went north, delivering anti-slavery lectures as he went, always urging immediate and unconditional emancipation.
Lloyd Garrison's language was denounced as vituperative, denunciatory, and severe. Even some most friendly to him were frightened by his passionate earnestness. But hear how he defends himself. "I am aware," he says, "that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No!—no! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead!" It is not wonderful that his enemies trembled beneath the lash of his tongue; his pen, we are told, was, "if possible, more severe, caustic, and exasperating than his speech." While friends generally doubted and questioned, the slaveholders were stung to madness. In South Carolina a reward of 1,500 dollars was offered for the apprehension and conviction of anyone circulating the Liberator. In the district of Columbia twenty dollars' fine or thirty days' imprisonment was awarded to any free colored person for taking the Liberator from the post, and if unable to pay the fine or prison fees he was to be sold into slavery. In Georgia 5,000 dollars were offered for the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of the editor. All this had no effect in frightening William Lloyd Garrison. "I am not discouraged," he says, "I am not dismayed, but bolder and more confident than ever."
PRICE ONE PENNY.
London: Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
