The frightful excesses of the Walpurgis period of the agitation reacted through the free States to an extraordinary extent in favor of Abolition.  The greater the horror committed by the wild-cat-like spirit, the greater the help which the reform derived therefrom.  The destruction of property, and the destruction of life instead of putting down the hated Abolitionists aroused in the public mind apprehensions and antagonisms in respect of mobs, which proved, immediately and ultimately, of immense advantage to freedom.  This revulsion on the part of the North from lawless attempts to abolish Abolitionism, affected almost unavoidably, and in the beginning of it almost unconsciously, the friendly dispositions of that section toward slavery, the root and mainspring of these attempts.  Blows aimed at the agent were sure, regardless of the actor’s intention, to glance and strike the principal.  In spite of mobs then, and to a remarkable degree because of mobs, Abolitionism had become a powerful motor in revolutionizing public opinion in the free States on the subject of slavery.

CHAPTER XIV.

BROTHERLY LOVE FAILS, AND IDEAS ABOUND.

During those strenuous, unresting years, included between 1829 and 1836, Garrison had leaned on his health as upon a strong staff.  It sustained him without a break through that period, great as was the strain to which it was subjected.  But early in the latter year the prop gave way, and the pioneer was prostrated by a severe fit of sickness.  It lasted off and on for quite two years.  His activity the first year was seriously crippled, though at no time, owing to his indomitable will, could he be said to have been rendered completely hors de combat.  Almost the whole of 1836 he spent with his wife’s family in Brooklyn, where his first child was born.  This new mouth brought with it fresh cares of a domestic character.  He experienced losses also.  Death removed his aged father-in-law in the last month of 1836, and four weeks later Henry E. Benson, his brother-in-law.  Their taking off was a sad blow to the reformer and to the reform.  That of the younger man cast a gloom over anti-slavery circles in New England; for at the time of his death he was the secretary and general agent of the Massachusetts Society, and although not twenty-three, had displayed uncommon capacity for affairs.  The business ability which he brought into his office was of the greatest value where there was such a distinct deficiency in that respect among his coadjutors, and the loss of it seemed irreparable.