hest censure for the authors
of the mischief, and not for the catspaws which they use. I believe it was
Shakespeare who said, "Where the offence lies, there let the axe fall";
and, in my opinion, this man Douglas and the Northern men in Congress
who advocate "Nebraska" are more guilty than a thousand Joneses and
Stringfellows, with all their murderous practices, can be. [Applause.]

We have made a good beginning here to-day. As our Methodist friends would
say, "I feel it is good to be here." While extremists may find some fault
with the moderation of our platform, they should recollect that "the
battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift." In grave
emergencies, moderation is generally safer than radicalism; and as this
struggle is likely to be long and earnest, we must not, by our action,
repel any who are in sympathy with us in the main, but rather win all that
we can to our standard. We must not belittle nor overlook the facts of our
condition--that we are new and comparatively weak, while our enemies are
entrenched and relatively strong. They have the administration and the
political power; and, right or wrong, at present they have the numbers.
Our friends who urge an appeal to arms with so much force and eloquence
should recollect that the government is arrayed against us, and that the
numbers are now arrayed against us as well; or, to state it nearer to the
truth, they are not yet expressly and affirmatively for us; and we should
repel friends rather than gain them by anything savoring of revolutionary
methods. As it now stands, we must appeal to the sober sense and
patriotism of the people. We will make converts day by day; we will grow
strong by calmness and moderation; we will grow strong by the violence and
injustice of our adversaries. And, unless truth be a mockery and justice
a hollow lie, we will be in the majority after a while, and then the
revolution which we will accomplish will be none the less radical from
being the result of pacific measures. The battle of freedom is to be
fought out on principle. Slavery is a violation of the eternal right. We
have temporized with it from the necessities of our condition; but as sure
as God reigns and school children read, THAT BLACK FOUL LIE CAN NEVER
BE CONSECRATED INTO GOD'S HALLOWED TRUTH! [Immense applause lasting some
time.]

One of our greatest difficulties is, that men who know that slavery is a
detestable crime and ruinous to the nation a