ent in our attempts to procure abolition--is
allowed to subside, tell me, Sir, when, and where, and by what
means it is again to be roused into activity. I must say, for
one, that though I sympathize with my sable brethren, when I
hear of them being spared even one lash of the cart-whip; yet
when I take a more enlarged view of their condition--when I
consider the nature of that system under which they are placed,
and when I look forward to their deliverance, and the means by
which alone it is to be effected, I am tempted, and almost if
not altogether persuaded, to deprecate that insidious thing
termed "mitigation," because it directly tends to perpetuate the
mighty evil, which will by and by throw off the improvements by
which it is glossed over as quite unnatural to it, will
ultimately grow up again into all its former dreadfulness, and
continue to wither and crush beneath it, all that is excellent
and glorious in man.

'But if our rulers and legislators will undertake to emancipate
the slaves, and do it as it ought to be done, immediately, I beg
those who set themselves against such a measure, to point out
the danger, and to prove it. The _onus_ lies upon _them_. And
what evidence do they give us? Where is it to be found? In what
circumstance shall we discover it? From what principles and
probabilities shall we infer it? We must not have mere
hypothesis--mere allegations--mere fancied horrors, dressed up
in frightful language. We must have proof to substantiate, in
some good measure, their theory of rebellion, warfare, and
blood. If any such thing exists, let them produce it' * * * 'But
if you push me, and still urge the argument of insurrection and
bloodshed, for which you are far more indebted to fancy than to
fact, as I have shown you, then I say, be it so. I repeat that
maxim, taken from a heathen book, but pervading the whole Book
of God, _Fiat justitia_--_ruat caelum_. Righteousness, Sir, is
the pillar of the universe. Break down that pillar, and the
universe falls into ruin and desolation. But preserve it, and
though the fair fabric may sustain partial dilapidations, it may
be rebuilt and repaired--it _will_ be rebuilt, and repaired, and
restored to all its pristine strength, and magnificence, and
beauty. If there must be violence, let it even come, for it will