different in quality. Mr. Todd, stung to the quick by Mr. Garrison's denunciations, brought suit against him for libel. A trial in a slaveholding court and before a slaveholding jury could have but one result. Mr. Garrison was found guilty and fined in the sum of fifty dollars and costs of court. If he had been a rich man he probably would not have consented to pay a single cent of the sum demanded of him. But he was too poor to pay, and so of necessity went to jail. There ́ was no effort on the part of the patrons of "The Genius" to avert his fate. The excitement in Baltimore was almost as intense as that in Jerusalem when Jesus was led away to be crucified. "And they all forsook him and fled" was hardly more true in the one case than in the other of those who before had professed to be friendly to the cause and its champion. But the young Abolitionist was neither cast down nor dismayed, nor did he for a moment waver in his adherence to the principles he had avowed. He would make no apology, nor retract a single word. He knew that the ultimate. effect of his imprisonment would be to arouse popular hostility to slavery, and promote the cause of emancipation. His undaunted spirit found utterance in two sonnets, which he inscribed with a pencil on the walls of his cell, as follows:

THE GUILTLESS PRISONER.

Prisoner! within these gloomy walls close pent,
Guiltless of horrid crime or venal wrong-
Bear nobly up against thy punishment,

And in thy innocence be great and strong!
Perchance thy fault was love to all mankind;
Thou didst oppose some vile, oppressive law;
Or strive all human fetters to unbind;

Or wouldst not bear the implements of war:-
What then? Dost thou so soon repent the deed?
A martyr's crown is richer than a king's!
Think it an honor with thy Lord to bleed,
And glory midst intensest sufferings!
Though beat, imprisoned, put to open shame,
Time shall embalm and magnify thy name!

FREEDOM OF THE MIND.

High walls and huge the BODY may confine,
And iron grates obstruct the prisoner's gaze,
And massive bolts may baffle his design,

And vigilant keepers watch his devious ways: Yet scorns th' immortal MIND this base control! No chains can bind it and no cell inclose: Swifter than light, it flies from pole to pole,

And, in a flash, from earth to heaven it goes! It leaps from mount to mount-from vale to vale It wanders, plucking honeyed fruits and flowers; It visits home, to hear the fireside tale,

Or in sweet converse pass the joyous hours:

'Tis up before the sun, roaming afar,

And, in its watches, wearies every star!

II.

Garrison's Imprisonment, and Its Effects at the North-The Release —Whittier, Clay, Tappan-Partnership of Lundy and Garrison Dissolved-Tribute of the Latter to the Former-Founding of "The Liberator" in Boston rather than in Washington-Garrison on a Lecturing Tour-Boston and the Cotton Traffic-Garrison Appeals in Vain to the Clergy--Dr. Lyman Beecher and Jeremiah Evarts-"The Liberator" Born in a Dark Time-Purposes and Hopes of its Founder-Responsibility of the Church.

THE news of Mr. Garrison's imprisonment was received with fierce exultation at the South, while many Northern people openly said: "It is just what he deserves; a man so reckless of the public welfare as to attempt to stir up an excitement on the slavery question ought to be brought up with a round turn." The expressions of mild indignation and sympathy that found utterance here and there were qualified by regrets that a man engaged in so good a cause should be so wild and fanatical as to demand the instant emancipation of the slaves. "The Boston Courier," edited by that famous journalist, Joseph T. Buckingham, a man of singular independence of spirit, while not approving Mr. Garrison's views and methods, did yet appreciate his unselfish devotion to liberty and his willingness to suffer in a good cause. It published the sonnets which he inscribed on the walls of his cell, and, if my recollection is not at fault, printed one or two letters from him, written during his imprisonment. I was then in Boston, and full of a boy's enthusiasm for my hero, whom I had never seen, but had admired from the time of his connection with "The National Philanthropist." I was often a visitor at a Cornhill book-store, which was a place of resort for the ortho

dox clergymen of Boston, including my own pastor, the Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher. Newspapers, religious and secular, were on file there for the accommodation of visitors, and at times conversation was free upon topics of public interest. Well do I remember the discussions in that circle of Mr. Garrison's imprisonment, and how few of all those who took part in them expressed more than a qualified sympathy for the prisoner, while most of them spoke of him as a visionary and a fanatic. Indeed, the whole community seemed to be far more deeply impressed by what they thought the fanaticism of the new champion of the slave than by the injustice and shame of imprisoning a man for a too ardent devotion to liberty.

But the discussion thus excited in different parts of the country, though lacking in a true appreciation of the crisis, exerted a wholesome influence, and prepared the way for the growth of a more enlightened public sentiment. Expediency was a very popular word in those days, being held to embody the very highest wisdom in all things relating to slavery. Everybody was ready to affirm that "slavery in the abstract" was something dreadful, the very acme, indeed, of human wickedness; but for slavery in the United States every man's mouth was full of apologies. Texts of Scripture were cited for its defence as freely as if it had been the very corner-stone of the Christian faith, and the Constitution of the United States was appealed to as the very charter and bulwark of the hateful system. At the bottom of all the wretched casuistry by which men silenced the demands of justice in their hearts, was this one fact the slaves were black; or, to use the word more deeply freighted with atheistic contempt of human nature than any other, "niggers." If, by a miracle, the slaves had been made white, all excuses for slavery would have been overthrown, and the whole people would have risen up as one man to

demand its instant abolition. Gradualism in that case would have become intolerable, and immediate emancipation the popular cry. Mr. Garrison's primary fault was his belief in the absolute humanity of the negro; but this was just what fitted him for the work to which he was called of God, and that made his appeals to the consciences of men so powerful.

The story of his release, after an imprisonment of forty-nine days, is of almost romantic interest. John G. Whittier, then unknown to fame, was the editor of "The New England Review," at Hartford, having succeeded the late George D. Prentice, who was called by the friends of Henry Clay to become the editor of "The Louisville Daily Journal." Whittier and Garrison were not unknown to each other. When the latter was editing "The Free Press," at Newburyport, the former had sent to him for publication several of his earliest poems, in which Mr. Garrison saw indications of the genius now universally recognized. Educated in all the best principles and traditions of Quakerism, there was even then burning in his heart that love of freedom which subsequently burst forth in impassioned verse. He was deeply moved by the imprisonment of his friend, and naturally anxious to do what he could for his deliverance. He was a great admirer of Henry Clay, and cherished the hope that he might one day become President. Of course, he knew that Mr. Clay was a slaveholder, but he had faith in him as at heart a true friend of freedom, for he had observed his efforts to provide for the ultimate abolition of slavery in Kentucky, and admired his eloquent defence of the Greeks in their struggle for freedom. He wrote to the Kentucky statesman, asking his interposition in behalf of the "guiltless prisoner" at Baltimore, and begging him to open his prison-door by paying his fine. Mr. Clay responded promptly, making some preliminary inquiries which indicated a purpose to comply with