Lundy. To reassure his doubting leader, Garrison took upon himself
publicly a vow of perpetual consecration to the slave. "Before God and
our country," he declares, "we give our pledge that the liberation of
the enslaved Africans shall always be uppermost in our pursuits. The
people of New England are interested in this matter, and they must be
aroused from their lethargy as by a trumpet-call. They shall not quietly
slumber while we have the management of a press, or strength to hold a
pen." The question of slavery had at length obtained the ascendency over
all other questions in his regard. And when Lundy perceived this he set
out from Baltimore to Bennington to invite Garrison to join hands with
him in his emancipation movement at Baltimore. He performed the long
journey on foot, with staff in hand in true apostolic fashion. The two
men of God met among the mountains of Vermont, and when the elder
returned from the heights the younger had resolved to follow him to the
vales where men needed his help, the utmost which he could give them. He
agreed to join his friend in Baltimore and there edit with him his
little paper with the grand name (_The Genius of Universal
Emancipation_), devoted to preaching the gospel of the gradual
abolishment of American slavery. Garrison was to take the position of
managing editor, and Lundy to look after the subscription list. The
younger to be resident, the elder itinerant partner in the publication
of the paper. Garrison closed his relations with the _Journal of the
Times_, March 27, 1829, and delivered his valedictory to its readers.
This valedictory strikes with stern hammer-stroke the subject of his
thoughts. "Hereafter," it reads, "the editorial charge of this paper
will devolve on another person. I am invited to occupy a broader field,
and to engage in a higher enterprise; that field embraces the whole
country--that enterprise is in behalf of the slave population."

"To my apprehension, the subject of slavery involves interests of