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Preface.

HAVING been the first publicly to unfurl the banner of IMMEDIATE and UNCONDITIONAL EMANCIPATION in this country, and to expose the true character, tendency and design of the AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY, as the handmaid of SLAVERY, it is not surprising that, for a period of more than twenty years, (occupied unceasingly and uncompromisingly in advocating the cause of a people 'meted out and trodden under foot,') WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON has been subjected to every kind of popular odium, misrepresentation, and abuse. Nor is it singular, that, in view of the religious sanctions which have been thrown around the horrible slave system, North and South, (and, therefore, the necessity imposed upon him to arraign and expose the American church and clergy as stained with blood and deeply polluted,) he has been every where stigmatized as a heretic and an 'infidel,' by the same class and in the spirit which cried out against Jesus, that he was 'not of God, because he did not keep the Sabbath day,' and accused him of having a devil. The mode of attacking the true Reformer is essentially the same in every age: he is ever at first pronounced guilty of heresy and sedition, though no one is more loyal or more orthodox than

himself orthodox in his regard for the truth, and loyal in his support of a righteous government. It is the infatuation of those, who are terrified and inflamed at his appearance, to imagine, that if they can succeed in destroying. his reputation, or, more certainly still, his life, the cause which he espouses will sink with him out of sight, and out of the world, for ever. Hence their eagerness for his crucifixion-justifying themselves by the plea, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die'-'It is better that one man should die, than that the whole nation should perish.'

'The man is thought a knave or fool,

Or bigot plotting crime,

Who, for the advancement of his kind,

Is wiser than his time.

For him the hemlock shall distil;

For him the axe be bared;
For him the gibbet shall be built;

For him the stake prepared;

Him shall the scorn and wrath of men
Pursue with deadly aim ;

And malice, envy, spite and lies,

Shall desecrate his name;

But Truth shall conquer at the last,

For round and round we run,

And ever the right comes uppermost,

And ever is justice done.'

6

Of the thousands who have joined in the absurd outcries against Mr. GARRISON, it may be safely presumed that many of them, being entirely devoid of candor, have yet

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to read the first sentence he has ever written, on any subject; while many others have had no opportunity to obtain his sentiments, embodied in a convenient form, who, nevertheless, honestly suppose that what they have heard so constantly reiterated against him must be true. For the sake of the latter class, in particular, as well as to subserve the cause of Reform in general, it has been deemed advisable to make the following SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF MR. GARRISON; containing, as they do, his severest denunciations, his strongest impeachments, and his most radical sentiments touching the various reformatory enterprises in which his feelings are so deeply enlisted. It is a volume both for his friends and his enemies; for the latter, to reveal to them the folly and injustice of their treatment of one whose spirit breathes only of 'peace on earth and good will towards men,' whatever their clime and complexion; and for the former, to strengthen and animate them in their coöperative labors for the advancement of that glorious period, when Liberty shall be proclaimed throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof.

We purposely abstain from making any comments of our own on the career of Mr. GARRISON, by whom praise is subordinated to principle, to whom censure gives no uneasiness, and whose characteristic language (uttered in the midst of fiery trials) has uniformly been-'Is the inquiry made, how do I bear up under my adversities? I answer-like the oak-like the Alps-unshaken, stormproof. Opposition, and abuse, and slander, and prejudice,

and judicial tyranny, are like oil to the flame of my zeal. I am not discouraged, but more confident than ever. Am I to be frightened by dungeons and chains? I will not hold my peace. The cause is worthy of the loftiest ambition and the noblest genius. To it I am wedded, as long as I shall have a pen to wield, or a voice to speak. Poverty may assail me with her hungry whelps; Persecution may light its fires; Slander may spit out her venom; and Judicial Power attempt to intimidate; all will be in vain. Wherever oppression, fraud and violence exist, I am for exposing to merited infamy the robber and the tyrant; wherever there is a virtuous struggle for liberty, there is my heart.' Whether this language was uttered in the spirit of self-inflation or bombast, or whether it emanated from a sincere and earnest mind, let the rise and progress of the Anti-Slavery enterprise, since it was uttered, determine.

If Mr. GARRISON has had the most formidable opposition to contend with, and received an unequalled amount of abuse, he has also been greatly cheered and strengthened by the generous appreciation and warm commendations of the friends of impartial freedom, on both sides of the Atlantic; such, for example, as are embodied in the following poetical effusions, elicited by a kindred sympathy for the enslaved on the part of their authors. They are herewith appended, not merely on account of their personal testimonies, but also because of their intrinsic excellence, both as to style and sentiment.

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