essential unity of the great anti-slavery movement. The apparent
lack of harmony and the real confusion in the history of the
subject arose from the peculiar character of one remarkable man.

The few owners of slaves who had assumed the role of public
defenders of the institution were in the habit of using violent
and abusive language against anti-slavery agitators. This
appeared in the first debate on the subject during Washington's
administration. Every form of rhetorical abuse also accompanied
the outbreak of mob violence against the reformers at the time of
Garrison's advent into the controversy. He was especially fitted
to reply in kind. "I am accused," said he, "of using hard
language. I admit the charge. I have not been able to find a soft
word to describe villainy, or to identify the perpetrator of it."
This was a new departure which was instantly recognized by
Southern leaders. But from the beginning to the bitter end,
Garrison stands alone as preeminently the representative of this
form of attack. It was significant, also, that the Liberator was
published in Boston, the literary center of the country.

There is no evidence that there was any direct connection between
the publication of the Liberator and the servile insurrection
which occurred during the following August.* It was, however, but
natural that the South should associate the two events. A few
utterances of the paper were fitted, if not intended, to incite
insurrection. One passage reads: "Whenever there is a contest
between the oppressed and the oppressor--the weapons being equal
between the parties--God knows that my heart must be with the
oppressed, and always against the oppressor. Therefore, whenever
commenced, I cannot but wish success to all slave insurrections."