Garrison, W[illia]m Lloyd, letter, Roxbury, [Mass.], March 5, 1875, to [William] Still.

Transcription


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Roxbury

March 5, 1875

Dear Mr. Still:

The postman has just brought me your letter of the 3d inst., so that my reply can hardly reach you in season for your Committee meeting to-morrow noon.

Please say to the Committee that I am very much obliged to them for their courteous invitation to me to attend the centennial anniversary of the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, &e., next month; but there is no prospect that I shall be able to be present, for I am still a good deal crippled and a constant sufferer from a rheumatic ailment which has afflicted me for the last two years, though I am at

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present somewhat better than formerly. I should almost be willing to undertake a pedestrian tour to Philadelphia, if I could only be assured of the free use of my limbs by the time the celebration is to come off.

If I can do no more, I will at least try to send a letter, expressive of my feelings, to be read on the occasion as a substitute for my presence, should the Committee think proper.

How deeply it is to be regretted that the common school provision (as intended by Mr. Sumner) was eliminated from the Civil Rights Bill! Yet the passage of the Bill as it is, by Congress, is more than Southern Rebeldom can bear, and will doubtless lead to many scenes of violence; but it indicates progress in the right direction. No doubt an attempt will be made to

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repeal it at the next session of Congress, and perhaps successfully, by the Rebel-Democracy, into whose hands it now looks as if the control of the Government is to pass at the close of Grant's administration. How he is hated and maligned, and also feared, by all the enemies of equal rights, North and South!

But, though the prospect is a dark one, let us abate nothing of heart or hope as to the final result, which, if the friends of impartial freedom remain true to the cause which they long ago espoused under far more trying circumstances, cannot fail to be still more in accordance with the claims of justice and humanity than our present highest attainment.

Faithfully yours,

Wm. Lloyd Garrison

§

Title

Garrison, W[illia]m Lloyd, letter, Roxbury, [Mass.], March 5, 1875, to [William] Still.

Description

William Lloyd Garrison acknowledges the receipt of William Still’s letter requesting a reply by a certain date; reports that there is no possibility of his attending the centennial of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, to which he has been invited, on account of his ill health; offers to send a letter expressing his feelings, which could be read at the event, if it is desired; comments on a federal civil rights bill; and reflects on the poor prospects for equal rights after the end of President Grant’s administration.

Date

1875-03-05

Rights

public domain

Format

3 p.

Identifier

rutgers-lib:26932

Citation

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1838-1909, “Garrison, W[illia]m Lloyd, letter, Roxbury, [Mass.], March 5, 1875, to [William] Still.,” Peter Still Digital Edition, accessed March 29, 2024, https://stillpapers.org/items/show/56.

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