3, the President promulgated the
emancipation proclamation the anti-slavery chapter was closed. The
Union, which heretofore had been paramount to liberty, was now
subordinated to it, and Mr. Garrison's antagonism necessarily ceased
with the new amendment to the Constitution. He had been accustomed
to denounce that instrument as a "covenant with death and an
agreement with hell," but, as he expressed it, he had "never
expected to see Death and Hell secede." Foreseeing the inevitable
consequence of the war, he gave heartily his moral support to the
Government in the struggle between it and the slave power. His
non-resistance principles and abhorrence of war in no way diminished
his interest in the great conflict, and his sympathies of necessity
were with the soldiers of freedom. His eldest son, George Thompson
Garrison, not sharing his father's scruples, enlisted in the
Fifty-fifth Colored Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, attaining
the rank of captain.

The renomination of Lincoln for a second term, in 1864, developed a
breach in the ranks of the old abolitionists, Mr. Garrison and his
adherents supporting Lincoln, and others, under the lead of Wendell
Phillips, advocating the choice of General Fremont. The latter
candidate, however, withdrew from the field before the election.

In April, 1865, Mr. Garrison, with his English friend George
Thompson, was invited by the Government to be present as its guest
at the ceremony of raising the Stars and Stripes above the
surrendered Fort Sumter, and was received at Charleston with great
enthusiasm by the emancipated slaves. The news of President
Lincoln's assassination hastened the return of the party to the
North.

The practical extermination of the slave system by the adoption of
the 13th Amendment convinced Mr. Garrison that the purpose of the
Anti-Slavery Society and of _The Liberator_ had been accomplished.
He therefore withdrew from one and discontinued the other. After
thirty-five years of a stormy and precarious existence the last
number of _The Liberator_ was issued December 29, 1865. "Nothing
could have been more in keeping with the uniform wisdom of your
anti-slavery leadership than the time you chose for resigning it,"
wrote Lowell to Mr. Garrison a year later.

The recognition of the pioneer's unselfish service thereupon took
shape in a national testimonial reaching a sum exceeding thirty
thousand dollars, thenceforth lifting his life above the pecuniary
c