War-dated ALS signed “Wm. Lloyd Garrison,” four pages, lightly-lined on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, December 20, 1861. Letter to “esteemed friend,” Maria Mariott. Garrison eloquently condemns slavery, examines the effect of the Civil War on anti-slavery sentiment in the North, accurately forecasting emancipation, and reviews his career in the abolitionist movement. His letter begins with thanks for an image of a slave that Marriott had owned for some years: "I trust my long unintentional delay in acknowledging the receipt of the token of your friendship and esteem, transmitted to me by Mr. Macy, will be overlooked in the assurance that I was delighted, and felt highly honored, with such a kind remembrance, and shall carefully preserve it, both as a curiosity and for the sake of its estimable giver. That it was for so many years in your possession adds very much to its interest and value. Since that miniature image of the fettered slave, kneeling in mute supplication for mercy, was modelled, what multitudes of living victims have been reduced to that sad condition, and mercilessly driven to the end of their terrible pilgrimage under the cruel lash and galling yoke; and what millions are still groaning for deliverance, even in our own professedly Christian country!
Yet, blessed be God! There are gleams of light relieving the darkness of the picture; for, since the period alluded to, England, and France, and various other powers, even that of Algiers, have abolished slavery throughout their dominions, and thus registered their official verdict against the system as too monstrous any longer to be tolerated among a people claiming to be civilized. When will America be induced to follow their example? I fear never as a matter of repentance, but only through retributive judgment, and from supremely selfish motives. Still, come the extinction of slavery when it may, and as it may, it will be an event for rejoicing in heaven, and a jubilee on earth; for, of all devices to degrade and dehumanize the human soul, and to foster and license every species of iniquity, it has no parallel.
There is a strange mixture of good and evil, of hopefulness and uncertainty, of right and wrong, in the present conflict of the Government for the suppression of Southern treason; making it extremely difficult to conjecture, and quite useless to prophesy, as to what a day may bring forth. But it seems impossible for the old state of things to be restored, and, therefore, I have no fear of any thing worse following. The war has developed-it certainly has compelled-a very great change in the general sentiment of the North, for the better, on the subject of slavery, and this is daily strengthening, and tending more and more in the direction of universal emancipation, under the war power; and this is encouraging.- Let us hope that the Government will be strengthened to proclaim the jubilee, now that it may rightfully do so, and that you and I, in spirit at least, may be permitted to join in the song of the ransomed millions, before we are summoned to our spiritual homes.
I have just completed my fifty sixth year. My attention was first called to the subject of slavery in 1827; in 1828, I wrote a good deal about it, while editing a paper in Bennington, Vermont; in 1829, I went to Baltimore, to be associate editor of the 'Genius of Universal Emancipation' with my Quaker friend and predecessor, Benjamin Lundy, whom you doubtless remember; on the 1st of January, 1831, I commenced the Liberator. Thus, I have devoted thirty-two years consecutively to the cause of the oppressed, and during that long period have never ceased to be branded, by the press and the pulpit, as a fanatic and an incendiary! Outweighing all this odium is the single approval of one so good and pure as yourself." In a postscript, written in the top margin of the first page, Garrison adds, "This will be handed to you by my son William. Please accept the enclosed photograph, and the accompanying volume."
Some scattered light toning and soiling, not affecting legibility, and a few slight brushes to text, otherwise fine condition. Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope as well as an unsigned carte-de-visite of Garrison.
Garrison grew up in an atmosphere of declining New England Federalism and lively Christian benevolence-twin sources of the Abolitionist movement, which he joined at the age of 25. As editor of the National Philanthropist (Boston) in 1828 and the Journal of the Times (Bennington, Vermont) in 1828-1829, he served his apprenticeship in the moral reform cause. In 1829, with a pioneer Abolitionist, Benjamin Lundy, in Baltimore, he became co-editor of the Genius of Universal Emancipation; in 1831, he established The Liberator, which became known as the most uncompromising of American anti-slavery journals. Through The Liberator, which circulated widely both in England and the United States, Garrison soon achieved recognition as the most radical of American anti-slavery advocates. The Civil War forced Garrison to choose between his pacifist beliefs and emancipation. Placing freedom for the slave foremost, he supported Abraham Lincoln faithfully and in 1863 welcomed the Emancipation Proclamation as the fulfillment of all his hopes. Emancipation brought to the surface the latent conservatism in his program for the freedmen, whose political rights he was not prepared to guarantee immediately. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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