rliest evidences of Mr. Garrison's interest
in the slavery question was an editorial article by him commenting
severely on the bill passed by the House of Assembly of South
Carolina to forbid the teaching of reading and writing to the
colored people.

To Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker, and at that time editor of the _Genius
of Universal Emancipation_, in Baltimore--a paper devoted to the
gradual abolition of slavery--belongs the honor of first attempting
to awaken public sentiment on the subject. Upon his visit to Boston,
August 7, 1828, he made the acquaintance of Garrison, whose eyes he
opened to the iniquity of the slave system. During the same year Mr.
Garrison accepted the invitation of a committee of prominent
citizens of Bennington, Vt., to edit the _Journal of the Times_, a
weekly newspaper devoted to the re-election of John Quincy Adams
against Andrew Jackson. While started for campaign purposes, the
_Journal of the Times_ declared for independence of party and
advocated the suppression of intemperance, the gradual emancipation
of the slave, the doctrines of peace, and the so-called American
system of protection for fostering native industry.

Attracted by the anti-slavery utterances of Mr. Garrison, Lundy
resolved to invite him to share in the editorship of his paper,
walking from Baltimore to Bennington for the purpose. His
earnestness had the desired effect upon Mr. Garrison, who accepted
his proffer and relinquished the _Journal of the Times_. Before
going to Baltimore Mr. Garrison was invited to address the
Congregational societies of Boston on July 4th, at the Park Street
Church, and took for his theme "Dangers to the Nation." The poet
John Pierpont was present and wrote a hymn for the occasion. The
address was a stirring denunciation of slavery and a rebuke to the
nation for its pretentious devotion to liberty. The speaker was
accused by a Boston paper of slandering his country and blaspheming
the Declaration of Independence.

Upon his arrival at Baltimore, Garrison, having convinced himself of
the necessity of immediate and unconditional emancipation, it was
agreed, inasmuch as Lundy adhered to the methods of gradual
emancipation, that each should sign his own editorials.

Mr. Todd, a Newburyport merchant, having allowed his ship to be used
in the inter-state slave trade between Baltimore and New Orleans,
Mr. Garrison faithfully denounced in unmeasured terms his
fellow-townsman, and asserted the equal w