Any slaveholding States which should return
to such a Union might fairly be supposed to return with the purpose of
peaceable emancipation. The President's Proclamation simply means
this: Come in and emancipate peaceably with compensation; stay out and
I emancipate, nor will I protect you from the consequences.
Will our sisters in England feel no heartbeat at that event? Is it not
one of the predicted voices of the latter day, saying under the whole
heavens, "It is done; the kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ"?
And now, sisters of England, in this solemn, expectant hour, let us
speak to you of one thing which fills our hearts with pain and
solicitude. It is an unaccountable fact, and one which we entreat you
seriously to ponder, that the party which has brought the cause of
freedom thus far on its way, during the past eventful year, has found
little or no support in England. Sadder than this, the party which
makes slavery the chief corner-stone of its edifice finds in England
its strongest defenders.
The voices that have spoken for us who contend for liberty have been
few and scattering. God forbid that we should forget those few noble
voices, so sadly exceptional in the general outcry against us! They
are, alas! too few to be easily forgotten. False statements have
blinded the minds of your community, and turned the most generous
sentiments of the British heart against us.
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