pan came forward and paid the
exorbitant fine imposed upon Garrison, and he went forth a more
inveterate foe of slavery. This incident gave the world one of the
greatest reformers since Martin Luther. Without money, social
influence, or friends, Garrison lifted again the standard of liberty.
He began a lecture tour in which God taught him the magnitude of his
work. Everywhere mouths were sealed and public halls closed against
him. At length, on January 1, 1831, he issued the first number of "The
Liberator," which he continued to edit for thirty-five years, and
discontinued it only when every slave in America was free! His methods
of assailing the modern Goliath of slavery were thus tersely put:

"I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of
emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker
Hill, and in the birthplace of liberty. That standard is now
unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the spoliations of
time or the missiles of a desperate foe; yea, till every chain be
broken, and every bondman set free! Let Southern oppressors
tremble; let their secret abettors tremble; let all the enemies
of the persecuted Black tremble. Assenting to the self-evident
truths maintained in the American Declaration of
Independence,--'that all men are created equal, and endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' I shall strenuously
contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave
population.

* * * * *

"I am aware 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.