History abounds in vicissitudes. From weakness and humility, men ascend
to power and place. From defeat and disparagement, enterprises are
borne on to recognition and triumph. The martyr of to-day is gratefully
enshrined on the morrow. The stone that the builders rejected is made
head of the corner. Thus it always has been, and ever will be.
Only twenty years ago, in 1835, the friends of the slave in our country
were weak and humble, while their great undertaking, just then showing
itself, was trampled down and despised. Small companies, gathered
together in the name of Freedom, were interrupted and often dispersed
by riotous mobs. At Boston, a feeble association of women, called the
Female Antislavery Society, sitting in a small room of an upper story
in an obscure building, was insulted and then driven out of doors by a
frantic crowd, politely termed at the time “gentlemen of property and
standing,” which, after various deeds of violence and vileness, next
directed itself upon William Lloyd Garrison,--known as the determined
editor of the “Liberator,” and originator of the Antislavery Enterprise
in our day,--then ruthlessly tearing him away, amidst savage threats
and with a halter about his neck, dragged him through the streets,
until, at last, guilty only of loving liberty, if not wisely, too well,
this unoffending citizen was thrust into the common jail for protection
against an infuriate populace. Nor was Boston alone. Even villages
in remote rural solitude broke out in similar outrage,--while large
towns, like Providence, New Haven, Utica, Worcester, Alton, Cincinnati,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, became so many fiery craters
overflowing with rage and madness. What lawless violence failed to
accomplish was urged next through forms of law. By solemn legislative
acts, the Slave States called on the Free States “promptly and
effectually to suppress all those associations within their respective
limits purporting to be Abolition Societies”;[1] and Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, and New York basely hearkened to the base proposition.
The press, too, with untold power, exerted itself in this behalf, while
pulpit, politician, and merchant conspired to stifle discussion, until
the voice of Freedom was hushed to a whisper, “alas! almost afraid to
know itself.”
Since then, in the lapse of few years only, a change has taken
place. Instead of those small companies, counted by tens, we have
now this mighty assembly, counted by thousands; instead of an
insignificant apartment, like that in Boston, the mere appendage of a
printing-office, where, as in the manger itself, Truth was cradled,
we have this Metropolitan Hall, ample in proportion and central in
place; instead of a profane and clamorous mob, beating at our gates,
dispersing our assembly, and making one of our number the victim
of its fury, we have peace and harmony at unguarded doors, ruffled
only by generous competition to participate in this occasion; while
Legislatures openly declare their sympathies, villages, towns, and
cities vie in the new manifestation, and the press itself, with
increased power, heralds, applauds, and extends the prevailing
influence, which, gushing from every fountain, and pouring through
every channel, at last, by quickening power of pulpit, politician, and
merchant, swells into an irresistible tide.
Here is a great change, worthy of notice and memory, for it attests the
first stage of victory. Slavery, in all its many-sided wrong, still
continues; but here in this metropolis--ay, Sir, and throughout the
whole North--freedom of discussion is at length secured. And this, I
say, is the first stage of victory,--herald of the transcendent future.
“Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers:
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!
A God! a God! the vocal hills reply:
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.”
Nor is there anything peculiar in the trials to which our cause
has been exposed. Thus in all ages is Truth encountered. At first
persecuted, gagged, silenced, crucified, she cries out from the prison,
the rack, the stake, the cross, until at last her voice is heard.
And when that voice is really heard, whether in martyr cries, or in
earthquake tones of civil convulsion, or in the calmness of ordinary
speech, such as I now employ, or in that still, small utterance
inaudible to the common ear, then is the beginning of victory! “Give me
where to stand and I will move the world,” said Archimedes; and Truth
asks no more than did the master of geometry.
Viewed in this aspect, the present occasion rises above any ordinary
course of lectures or series of political meetings. It is the
inauguration of Freedom. From this time forward, her voice of warning
and command cannot be silenced. The sensitive sympathies of property,
in this commercial mart, may yet again recognize property in man; the
watchful press itself may falter or fail; but the vantage-ground of
free discussion now achieved cannot be lost. On this I take my stand,
and, as from the Mount of Vision, behold the whole field of our great
controversy spread before me. There is no point, topic, fact, matter,
reason, or argument, touching the question between Slavery and Freedom,
which is not now open. From these I might aptly select some one, and
confine myself to its development. But I should not in this way best
satisfy the seeming requirement of the occasion. According to the
invitation of your Committee, I was to make an address introductory to
the present course of lectures, but was prevented by ill-health. And
now, at the close of the course, I am to say what I failed to say at
its beginning. Not as Caucus or as Congress can I address you; nor am I
moved to undertake a political harangue or constitutional argument. Out
of the occasion let me speak, and, discarding any individual topic, aim
to exhibit the entire field, in its divisions and subdivisions, with
metes and bounds.
* * * * *
My subject will be THE NECESSITY, PRACTICABILITY, AND DIGNITY OF THE
ANTISLAVERY ENTERPRISE, WITH GLANCES AT SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE NORTH.
By this enterprise I do not mean the efforts of any restricted circle,
sect, or party, but the cause of the slave, in all its forms and
under all its names,--whether inspired by pulpit, press, economist,
or politician,--whether in the early, persistent, and comprehensive
demands of Garrison, the gentler tones of Channing, or the strictly
constitutional endeavors of others now actually sharing the public
councils of the country. To carry through this review, under its
different heads, I shall not hesitate to meet the objections urged
against it, so far at least as I am aware of them. As I speak to you
seriously, I venture to ask your serious attention even to the end.
Not easily can a public address reach that highest completeness which
is found in mingling the useful and the agreeable; but I desire to
say that it will be my effort to cultivate that highest courtesy of a
speaker which is found in clearness.