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William Lloyd Garrison - The Abolitionist by Archibald H. Grimke
page 66 of 356 (18%)


or with deep, stern gladness sang he to "The Guiltless Prisoner" how:

"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."


"Is it supposed by Judge Brice," the guiltless prisoner wrote from his
cell, "that his frowns can intimidate me, or his sentence stifle my
voice on the subject of African oppression? He does not know me. So long
as a good Providence gives me strength and intellect, I will not cease
to declare that the existence of slavery in this country is a foul
reproach to the American name; nor will I hesitate to proclaim the guilt
of kidnappers, slave abettors, or slaveowners, wheresoever they may
reside, or however high they may be exalted. I am only in the _alphabet_
of my task; time shall perfect a useful work. It is my shame that I have
done so little for the people of color; yea, before God, I feel humbled
that my feelings are so cold, and my language so weak. A few white
victims must be sacrificed to open the eyes of this nation, and to show
the tyranny of our laws. I expect and am willing to be persecuted,
imprisoned, and bound for advocating African rights; and I should
deserve to be a slave myself if I shrunk from that duty or danger." The
story of the trial of William Lloyd Garrison, from which the above brave
words are taken, fell into the hands of that noble man and munificent
merchant, Arthur Tappan, of New York. From the reading of it he rose
"with that deep feeling of abhorrence of slavery and its abettors which
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