To the Public
In the month of August, I issued proposals for publishing "The Liberator" in Washington City; but
the enterprise, though hailed in different sections of the country, was palsied by public
indifference. Since that time, the removal of the Genius of Universal Emancipation to the Seat of
Government has rendered less imperious the establishment of a similar periodical in that quarter.
During my recent tour for the purpose of exciting the minds of the people by a series of
discourses on the subject of slavery, every place that I visited gave fresh evidence of the fact, that
a greater revolution in public sentiment was to be effected in the free States -- and particularly in
New-England--than at the South. I found contempt more bitter, opposition more active,
detraction more relentless, prejudice more stubborn, and apathy more frozen, than among
slave-owners themselves. Of course, there were individual exceptions to the contrary. This state
of things afflicted, but did not dishearten me. 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 their Northern apologists
tremble -- let all the enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble.
I deem the publication of my original Prospectus unnecessary, as it has obtained a wide
circulation. The principles therein inculcated will be steadily pursued in this paper, excepting that I
shall not array myself as the political partisan of any man. In defending the great cause of human
rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties.
Assenting to the "self-evident truth" 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. In Park-Street Church, on the Fourth of
July, 1829, in an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but pernicious
doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to make a full and unequivocal recantation,
and thus publicly to ask pardon of my God, of my country, and of my brethren the poor slaves, for
having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and absurdity. A similar recantation, from
my pen, was published in the Genius of Universal Emancipation at Baltimore, in September, 1829.
My conscience is now satisfied.
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.
It is pretended, that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by the coarseness of my invective
and the precipitancy of my measures. The charge is not true. On this question my influence, --
humble as it is, -- is felt at this moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming years
-- not perniciously, but beneficially -- not as a curse, but as a blessing; and posterity will bear
testimony that I was right. I desire to thank God, that he enables me to disregard "the fear of man
which bringeth a snare," and to speak his truth in its simplicity and power. And here I close with
this fresh dedication:
"Oppression! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow;
But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now --
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place
Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow,
I also kneel -- but with far other vow
Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base: --
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalising sway -- till Africa's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land, --
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod:
Such is the vow I take -- So Help Me God!"
William Lloyd Garrison.
Boston, January 1, 1831.
[Poem by Thomas Pringle, Secretary of the London Society for the Abolition of Slavery
throughout the British Dominions]
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