informed on the subject; and intelligent men among the abolitionists
know it, as well as any one else. The officious inter-meddling of
abolitionists with Southern slavery, never has, and never can effect
anything for the slave; it has served but to retard emancipation, and
to rivet the chains of slavery. This opinion has been expressed a
thousand times, by the wisest and best men, that our nation has ever
produced--men, who enjoyed the best opportunities for forming correct
opinions on the subject. Henry Clay said, in a letter, written in
1845, "I firmly believe that the cause of the extinction of negro
slavery, far from being advanced, has been retarded by the agitation
of the subject at the North."

I believe slavery to be an individual and a national evil--a dire
calamity--and would rejoice to see it extinguished by any means
compatible with the safety, peace and prosperity of the nation, the
best interests of master and slave; and in the fear of God Almighty,
before whose bar I know that I must shortly appear, I sincerely,
firmly and solemnly believe, that if the free states had stood aloof,
and left the discussion and disposition of it entirely to the slave
states, several states which are now slave states, and are likely to
remain so, would have long since made provisions for the emancipation
of their slaves. And I moreover believe, that if the North would now
desist from all interference with it, the evil would be eradicated
from the United States, some hundreds of years sooner than it will be,
provided she persists in her present course. This is a legitimate
conclusion from the foregoing historical facts. Abolitionists can do
nothing, and men of intelligence well know it, that will mitigate the
evils of slavery, or eradicate it from the South. It is entirely
beyond their reach, they cannot control it; and if the object of
intelligent men in the North was the abolition of slavery, they would