less, but slavery more, and those, therefore, he formally relegates
thenceforth to a place of secondary importance in the endeavors of the
future. It is obvious that the colonization scheme has no strong hold
upon his intelligence. He does not conceal his respect for it as an
instrument of freedom, but he puts no high value on its utility. "It may
pluck a few leaves," he remarks, "from the Bohon Upas, but can neither
extract its roots nor destroy its withering properties. Viewed as an
auxiliary, it deserves encouragement; but as a remedy it is altogether
inadequate." But this was not all. As a remedy, colonization was not
only altogether inadequate, its influence was indirectly pernicious, in
that it lulled the popular mind into "a belief that the monster has
received his mortal wound." He perceived that this resultant
indifference and apathy operated to the advantage of slavery, and to the
injury of freedom. Small, therefore, as was the good which the
Colonization Society was able to achieve, it was mixed with no little
ill. Although Garrison has not yet begun to think on the subject, to
examine into the motives and purposes of the society, it does not take a
prophet to foresee that some day he will. He had already arrived at
conclusions in respect of the rights of the colored people "to choose
their own dwelling place," and against the iniquity of their
expatriation, which cut directly at the roots of the colonization
scheme. Later the pro-slavery character of the society will be wholly
revealed to him. But truth in the breast of a reformer as of others must
needs follow the great law of moral growth, first the blade, then the
ear, and then the full corn in the ear. It is enough that he has made
the tremendous step from gradual to immediate and unconditional
emancipation on the soil.

At this period he tested the disposition of slaveholders to manumit
their slaves. The Colonization Society had given it out that there was