Do we apprehend the evils of sudden abolition? We had better consider the perils of prolonging chattel slavery in this land of liberty. “Oppression maketh the wise man mad.” Only the brutish man will long endure brutal treatment himself, or tolerate its infliction upon another. If despotism breeds disaffections, slavery begets insurrections, as light enters the house of bondage. And the light is advancing—fearfully. Appalling dangers are just ahead. The mixed race is rapidly increasing. The hottest blood of the South flows in the veins of slaves, who are often scarcely distinguishable in complexion from their oppressors. Abolition deferred may come too late. Provocations, slight compared with those of slavery, drove our fathers to rebellion. The worst passions are inflamed by the atrocities of the chattel system. The revolting scenes of the inter-State slave trade, the abominations of slave breeding, the barbarities of the cotton field and rice swamps, the ferocities of the slave hunt with blood-hounds in the South, and with more savage men in the free States, the imprisonments and lynchings of Northern men found in the slave States and suspected of holding abolition sentiments, the many collisions between slavery and freedom, which have in some instances proceeded to bloodshed and death, have caused much irritation and deep indignation throughout the country. Freemen are exasperated; good people are aroused; the moral sense of the nation is shocked and tried to the utmost. The sentiments of patriotism, devotion to the Union, and respect for federal law, are lowered in the public mind. Faith in free institutions, and hope of their perpetuity are seriously shaken. Sectional animosities are rife. The republic is no longer a unit, for the hearts of the people are sundered. Issues the most radical divide us: freedom and slavery! There is determination on either side, and strong feeling. There can be no reconciliation and no respite in this fraternal strife. Nothing can end it but the removal of slavery. Only this can avert the evils that now threaten the republic. Emancipation or ruin is the alternative which the tide of events is forcing on us. It is now a time of trial, a crisis. The elements are fraught with trouble. Peacemakers are abroad, but agitators are stronger than they. This is no time to cry peace. Men behold the oppressions that are done under the sun, done under “the stars and stripes,” and they are stirred. There is no leisure for speculation and conjecture. Let no time be wasted in idle fears, or in useless efforts at pacification. The conflict must continue; God wills it! Let his people commit the cause to him. Let them betake themselves to prayer.