its destiny,
and is organizing itself to assume the government of the
Republic. It will henceforth meet you boldly and resolutely here
(Washington); it will meet you everywhere, in the territories and
out of them, where-ever you may go to extend slavery. It has
driven you back in California and in Kansas; it will invade you
soon in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Texas. It
will meet you in Arizona, in Central America, and even in Cuba.

* * * * *

"You may, indeed, get a start under or near the tropics, and seem
safe for a time, but it will be only a short time. Even there you
will found States only for free labor, or to maintain and occupy.
The interest of the whole race demands the ultimate emancipation
of all men. Whether that consummation shall be allowed to take
effect, with needful and wise precautions against sudden change
and disaster, or be hurried on by violence, is all that remains
for you to decide. The white man needs this continent to labor
upon. His head is clear, his arm is strong, and his necessities
are fixed.

* * * * *

"It is for yourselves, and not for us, to decide how long and
through what further mortifications and disasters the contest
shall be protracted before Freedom shall enjoy her already
assured triumph.

"You may refuse to yield it now, and for a short period, but your
refusal will only animate the friends of freedom with the courage
and the resolution, and produce the union among them, which alone
is necessary on their part to attain the position itself,
simultaneously with the impending overthrow of the existing
Federal Administration and the constitution of a new and more
independent Congress."

Mr. Lincoln said during a discussion of the impending crisis:

"I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do
not expect the house to fall, but I do expect that it will cease
to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.
Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of
it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief
that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates
will push it fo