hropist must weep over their unfortunate
situation, and the patriot shudder in anticipation of a calamity which
it may defy human wisdom to avert; still it would be unfair to charge
the existence of slavery among us to the policy of the United States,
or to brand their present owners as the instruments of an evil which
they cannot remove. And while others boast that they are free from
this dark spot, let them remember, that but for them our national
escutcheon might have been as pure and unsullied as their own.[4]

We are indebted to the Dutch for their introduction into Virginia, and
to the ships of other than slave holding communities, for their
subsequent unhallowed transportation to our shores. Yet those who were
mainly instrumental in forging the chains of bondage, have since
rendered the condition of the negro slave more intolerable by
fomenting discontent among them, and by "scattering fire brands and
torches," which are often not to be extinguished but in blood.

Notwithstanding those two great evils which have resulted from the
discovery and colonization of America, yet to these the world is
indebted for the enjoyment of many and great blessings. They enlarged
the theatre of agricultural enterprise, and thus added to the
facilities of procuring the necessaries of life. They encouraged the
industry of Europeans, by a dependence on them for almost every
species of manufacture, and thus added considerably to their
population, wealth and happiness; while the extensive tracts of
fertile land, covering the face of this country and inviting to its
bosom the enterprising [11] foreigner, has removed a far off any
apprehension of the ill effects arising from a too dense population.

In a moral and political point of view much good has likewise resulted
from the settlement of America. Religion, freed from the fetters which
enthralled her in Europe, has shed her benign influence on every
portion of our country. Divorced from an adulterous alliance with
state, she has here stalked forth in the simplicity of her founder;
and with "healing on her wings, spread the glad tidings of salvation
to all men." It is true that religious intolerance and blind bigotry,
for some time clouded our horizon, but they were soon dissipated; and
when the sun arose which ushered in the dawn of our national existence
scarce a speck could be seen to dim its lustre. Here too was reared
the standard of civil liberty, and an example set, which may