rs, and would stretch forth her hand for their rescue?

By the Constitution of the United States, the whole physical
power of the North is pledged for the suppression of domestic
insurrections; and should the slaves maddened by oppression
endeavor to shake off the yoke of the task-master, the men of the
North are bound to make common cause with the tyrant, to put down
at the point of the bayonet every effort on the part of the slave
for the attainment of his freedom. And when the father, husband,
son, and brother shall have left their homes to mingle in the
unholy warfare; "to become the executioners of their brethren, or
to fall themselves by their hands," will the mother, wife,
daughter, and sister feel that they have no interest in this
subject? Will it be easy to convince them that it is no concern
of theirs, that their homes are rendered desolate and their
habitations the abodes of wretchedness? Surely this consideration
is of itself sufficient to arouse the slumbering energies of
woman, for the overthrow of a system which thus threatens to lay
in ruins the fabric of her domestic happiness; and she will not
be deterred from the performance of her duty to herself, her
family, and her country, by the cry of "political question."

But, admitting it to be a political question, have we no interest
in the welfare of our country? May we not permit a thought to
stray beyond the narrow limits of our own family circle and of
the present hour? May we not breathe a sigh over the miseries of
our countrywomen nor utter a word of remonstrance against the
unjust laws that are crushing them to the earth? Must we witness
"the headlong rage of heedless folly" with which our nation is
rushing onward to destruction, and not seek to arrest its
downward course? Shall we silently behold the land which we love
with all the heart-warm affection of children, rendered a hissing
and a reproach throughout the world by the system which is
already "tolling the death-knell of her decease among the
nations"?

No; the events of the last two years have "cast their dark
shadows before," overclouding the bright prospects of the future,
and shrouding our country in more than midnight gloom; and we can
not remain inactive. Our country is as dear to us as to the
proudest