matter can be annihilated. It may disappear for a time; but it lives in
some shape or other, in some place or other, and will rise with
renovated strength. Let us then be up and doing. In the simple and
stirring language of the stout-hearted Lundy, all the friends of the
cause must go to work, keep to work, hold on, and never give up." The
closing paragraph is this powerful peroration: "I will say, finally,
that I despair of the republic while slavery exists therein. If I look
up to God for success, no smile of mercy or forgiveness dispels the
gloom of futurity; if to our own resources, they are daily diminishing;
if to all history our destruction is not only possible but almost
certain. Why should we slumber at this momentous crisis? If our hearts
were dead to every thought of humanity; if it were lawful to oppress,
where power is ample; still, if we had any regard for our safety and
happiness, we should strive to crush the vampire which is feeding upon
our life-blood. All the selfishness of our nature cries aloud for a
better security. Our own vices are too strong for us, and keep us in
perpetual alarm; how, in addition to these, shall we be able to contend
successfully with millions of armed and desperate men, as we must,
eventually, if slavery do not cease?" Exit the apprentice, enter the
master. The period of preparation is ended, the time of action begun.
The address was the fiery cry of the young prophet ere he plunged into
the unsubdued wilderness of American slavery.





CHAPTER III.