Taking it for granted, then, that a great change is about to take
place in the social state of the South, and taking it for granted
that slavery on which it is based must, under the pressure of the
forces which are bearing upon it, pass sooner or later away, a point
which we are not disposed just now to consider even debatable, a
great question comes up, What shall be the future condition of the
colored race in this land? How shall the problem be solved? What
shall be done with the slave? Hasty and inconsiderate persons
may find ready answers, but it seems to us that just now there is
no question of so great intricacy, and certainly no one of equal
moment to which an American can address himself. We propose in the
remainder of this article to discuss it. It is not a subject on
which it is well to dogmatize; we have learned that there is room
for a very wide diversity of opinion; the most that any one can
hope to do is by discussion to endeavor to elicit light. After all
the Providence of God will do the work; it is for us to be abreast
of that Providence, ready to accept the trust and do the work which
it assigns us.

We have dwelt thus long on the causes, and what we consider to be
the true meaning of the war, because only by a right apprehension
of them can we be prepared to deal with this great question. Those
who are at the head of the government appreciate it most fully, and
the President in his message frankly intimates that the only true
hope of a lasting settlement of our national difficulties must be
found in the ultimate emancipation of the blacks. But aware of the
objections which must arise to the setting free of four millions
of slaves and their remaining in the country, he proposes that a
system of colonization shall be inaugurated by which they may be