Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/642

630 GAKKISON GAKROTE self in a mobocratic spirit, insomuch that for several years the holding of an anti-slavery meeting almost anywhere in the free states was a signal for riotous demonstrations, im- perilling property and life. Mr. Thompson's arrival from England in 1834 inflamed the public mind to such a degree that at length, by the advice of his friends, he was induced to desist from his labors and return to his na- tive land. In October, 1835, a meeting of the female anti-slavery society of Boston was riot- ously broken up by a collection of persons, described in the journals of the day as "gen- tlemen of property and standing." Mr. Gar- rison, who went to the meeting to deliver an address, after attempting to conceal himself from the fury of the mob in a carpenter's shop in the rear of the hall, was violently seized, let down by a rope from the window to the ground, and, partly denuded of his clothing, dragged through the streets to the city hall ; whence, as the only means of saving his life, he was taken to jail by order of the mayor, upon the nomi- nal charge that he was " a disturber of the peace." He was released on the following day, and, under protection of the city authorities, escorted to a place of safety in the country. These scenes of violence were followed by a discussion of the peace question, in which he took an earnest part as a champion of non- resistance; and in 1838 he led the way in the organization of the New England non-resis- tance society. About this time the question of the rights of women as members of the anti-slavery societies began to be mooted, Mr. Garrison contending that, so far as they wished to do so, they should be permitted to vote, serve on committees, and take part in discus- sion, on equal terms with men. Upon this question there was a division of the Ameri- can anti-slavery society in 1840; and in the " World's Anti-Slavery Convention," held that year in London, Mr. Garrison, being a delegate from that society, refused to take a seat be- cause the female delegates from the United States were excluded. In 1843 he was chosen president of the society, and continued to hold the office till 1865, when, slavery having been abolished, he resigned, deeming the time had come for the dissolution of the society. In 1846 he made his third visit for anti-slavery purposes to Great Britain. In 1843 a small volume of his " Sonnets and other Poems" was published in Boston ; and in 1852 appeared a volume of "Selections" from his writings. He was ever earnestly opposed to the forma- tion of a political party by the abolitionists, from a conviction that such a measure would inevitably corrupt the purity of the movement and postpone the day when emancipation might be secured. He never sought or contemplated the abolition of slavery in the states by con- gress or any other branch of the national gov- ernment, his views as to the powers of that government over the subject being the same that were generally held by statesmen of all parties at the north, as well as by many at the south. His first idea was that slavery might be abolished by moral influence, with such in- cidental aid as the national government could constitutionally afford, and without disturbing the union of the states; but upon this point he at length changed his opinions, his observa- tion of the movements of political parties and his reflections upon the provisions of the con- stitution relating to the subject leading him to the settled conclusion that some of the condi- tions of compact between the free and the slave states were immoral, and that a dissolution of the Union was necessary to the freedom of the north and the emancipation of the slaves. He continued to urge this opinion until the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 changed the entire aspect of the slavery question, and he saw clearly that the system must inevitably be overthrown by the exercise of the war powers of the national government. Thence- forth he bent his energies to the work of has- tening that consummation ; and in April, 1865, by invitation of the secretary of war, he joined the party of northerners who went to South Carolina to see the flag of an emancipated Union raised upon the battlements of Fort Sumter. The first number of the "Libera- tor," issued in 1831, found the whole nation asleep over the wrongs and dangers of slavery ; the last number, issued on the last of December, 1865, after 35 years of conflict with the slave power, recorded the ratification of an amend- ment to the constitution of the United States, for ever prohibiting the existence of slavery. The paper was thus discontinued at the very moment when the object for which it was es- tablished was fully consummated. Soon after the close of the war, a large number of per- sons, including some of the most eminent in the land, united in presenting to Mr. Garrison the sum of about $30,000, in token of their appreciation of his unremitting labors for the abolition of slavery. In 1867 he once more visit- ed Great Britain, where the most distinguished citizens and statesmen united in honoring him for his devotion to the cause of the oppressed. GARROTE, a mode of execution practised in Spain and the Spanish colonies. The criminal is seated, and leans his head back against a support prepared for it. An iron collar closely encircles the throat, and the executioner turns a screw, the point of which penetrates the spinal marrow where it unites with the brain, and causes instantaneous death. Formerly the garrote was merely a cord put round the neck and suddenly tightened by the twisting of a stick inserted between the cord and the back of the prisoner's neck. Hence the name of this mode of execution, garrote in Spanish signifying stick. Its origin may probably be traced through the Moors or Arabs to the oriental punishment of the bowstring, which in its primitive style it exactly resembled. Afterward an iron col- lar was used by which the criminal was sud- denly strangled. The piercing of the spinal