And not
a straw would he place across her path, under those circumstances,
though every step bore witness to one of the most gigantic and
destructive wars in history.
Garrison did not have to wait for posthumous appreciation from his
countrymen. His steady and discriminating support of the Government, and
his ardent sympathy with the arms of the North won him appreciation in
his lifetime. Indeed, there came to him, if not popularity, something
closely akin to it during the war. His visit to the capital in June,
1864, well illustrates the marvelous changes which had taken place in
the Union touching himself and his cause. On his way to Washington the
pioneer stopped over at Baltimore, which he had not revisited for
thirty-four years, and where the Republican Convention, which
renominated Lincoln was in session. He watched the proceedings from the
gallery, and witnessed with indescribable emotions the enthusiastic
demonstrations of joy with which the whole body of delegates greeted the
radical anti-slavery resolution of the Convention. To the reformer it
was "a full indorsement of all the Abolition fanaticism and
incendiarism" with which he had been branded for years. The jail where
he had been held a prisoner for seven weeks, like the evil which he had
denounced, was gone, and a new one stood in its place, which knew not
Garrison. In the court-house where he was tried and sentenced he was
received by a United States judge as an illustrious visitor.
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