persecution of those who have been led astray, but by showing, in all suitable ways, their unyielding attachment to the Constitution and Government, in its unavoidable struggle against such an unlawful combination, and by convincing the people of the South, that there is a sympathy in the North, that will not abandon them in the trying and perilous condition, into which they have been thrown by this seditious movement? And would we advise an authoritative suppression of this sedition? We say not, that we would. Ours is a Government of forbearance, because it is the Government of the people. As we have reason to suppose, that the public generally have not even yet discovered the true position of the Anti-slavery Society, in relation to the Constitution, much less can we presume to say, that the members of that Society, as a body, have ever imagined, that they were involved in the responsibility of seditious action against the Government of their country. We charitably believe, that for the most part, their benevolent sympathies have been worked upon by the exaggerated statements and high colored pictures of more artful, of ambitious, and less innocent men; and that, when left to choose between sedition and the Union, they will unhesitatingly prefer the latter, even though the former, if it had been a lawful enterprise, might still seem to them a worthy and desirable object. But, if the extremity must unavoidably come, to dissolve the Union and the Government, or encounter this movement by the strong arm of authority, with our present views of its seditious character, we cannot entertain a doubt, on which side it would be our duty to engage. Nevertheless, our confidence in the good sense of the people, leads us to hope for better things. CHAPTER III. THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY OF 1838.