and refuse to consult the general welfare, then the fault is not ours if
a separation eventually takes place."

Considering that he was in his twenty-fourth year, and that the
Abolition movement had then no actual existence, the orator evinced
surprising prescience in his forecast of the future, and of the strife
and hostility which the agitation was destined to engender.

"But the plea is prevalent," he said, "that any interference by the free
States, however benevolent or cautious it might be, would only irritate
and inflame the jealousies of the South, and retard the cause of
emancipation. If any man believes that slavery can be abolished without
a struggle with the worst passions of human nature, quietly,
harmoniously, he cherishes a delusion. It can never be done, unless the
age of miracles returns. No; we must expect a collision, full of sharp
asperities and bitterness. We shall have to contend with the insolence,
and pride, and selfishness of many a heartless being.

"Sirs, the prejudices of the North are stronger than those of the South;
they bristle like so many bayonets around the slaves; they forge and
rivet the chains of the nation. Conquer them and the victory is won. The
enemies of emancipation take courage from our criminal timidity.... We
are ... afraid of our own shadows, who have been driven back to the wall
again and again; who stand trembling under their whips; who turn pale,
retreat, and surrender at a talismanic threat to dissolve the Union...."
But the difficulties did not daunt him, nor the dangers cow him. He did
not doubt, but was assured, that truth was mighty and would prevail.
"Moral influence when in vigorous exercise," he said, "is irresistible.
It has an immortal essence. It can no more be trod out of existence by
the iron foot of time, or by the ponderous march of iniquity, than