abolition of
slavery, may yet be realized. Be thankful, that repentance can avail in
every case of iniquity; that it can loosen the grasp of the man-thief,
as well as that of the money-thief: of the oppressors of thousands as
well as of hundreds:--of "three millions," as well as of one million.

But, were I to allow, that the obstacle in question, is as great, as you
regard it--nevertheless will it not increase with the lapse of years,
and become less superable the longer the work of abolition is postponed?
I suppose, however, that it is not to be disguised, that,
notwithstanding the occasional attempts in the course of your speech to
create a different impression, you are in favor of perpetual slavery;
and that all you say about "ultra abolitionists" in distinction from
"abolitionists," and about "gradual emancipation," in distinction from
"immediate emancipation," is said, but to please those, who sincerely
make, and are gulled by, such distinctions. I do not forget, that you
say, that the abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania was proper. But, most
obviously, you say it, to win favor with the anti-slavery portion of the
North, and to sustain the world's opinion of your devotion to the cause
of universal liberty;--for, having made this small concession to that
holy cause--small indeed, since Pennsylvania never at any one time, had
five thousand slaves--you, straightway, renew your claims to the
confidence of slaveholders, by assuring them, that you are opposed to
"any scheme whatever of emancipation, gradual or immediate," in States
where the slave population is extensive;--and, for proof of the
sincerity of your declaration, you refer them to the fact of your recent
open and effective opposition to the overthrow of slavery in your
own State.

The South is opposed to gradual, as well as to immediate emancipation:
and, were she, indeed, to enter upon a scheme of gradual emancipation,
she would speedily abandon it. The objections to swelling the number of
her free colored population, whilst she continued to hold their brethren
of the same race in bondage, would be found too real and alarming to
justify her perseverance in the scheme. How strange, that men at the
North, who think soundly on other subjects, should deduce the
feasibility of gradual emancipation in the slave states--in some of
which the slaves outnumber the free--from the fact of the like
emancipation of the comparative handful of slaves in New York and
Pen