The about slavery was at the highest, the whole receipts of the society were under three thousand pounds — a scanty allowance in this most charitable of States. In the list of the vice-presidents and committee you will not find one single name of public note, except that of Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips. men whose names we know best in Europe, in connexion with the anti-slavery cause-Charles Sumner, Ward Beecher, Lovejoy, Wade, and Fremont-are not members of the Committee. The explanation of this is obvious. The fundamental tenet of the Abolitionists is that slavery is a crime with which an honest man can hold no communion. Now the whole of the United States' constitution rests upon the assumption that slavery, even if an evil, is not a crime which the Government is called upon to deal with. It is very difficult, therefore, for any man to be an Abolitionist, in our English sense of the word, and yet to take part in American public life. The Ultra-abolitionists say, that the Republicans have solved the problem of serving both God and mammon. Certainly, the creed of the Republicans consists in being as hostile to slavery as is consistent with loyalty to the Union and the Constitution; while the Abolitionists hold the converse doctrine, and are as loyal to the Union as is consistent with hostility to slavery. Between the holders of these conflicting doctrines there may be sympathy, but there cannot be co-operation. VOL. II. In May, 1860, just before the presidential canvass which resulted in the return of Mr. Lincoln, the AntiSlavery Society put forth the following resolutions as their programme for the year: 66 "Resolved-that in the language of Henry Clay, "Those who would repress all tendencies towards liberty and emancipation must go back to the year "of our liberty and independence, and muzzle the "cannon which proclaims the annual joyous return. "They must revive the slave trade, with all its train of "atrocities. They must blow out the moral lights "around us, and extinguish that greatest torch of all, "which America presents to a benighted world, pointing "the way to their rights, their liberties, and their happiness; and when they have achieved all their purposes, their work will be yet incomplete. They must "penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light of reason and the love of liberty. Then, and not till 66 66 66 66 then, when universal darkness and despair prevail, can you perpetuate slavery, and repress all sympathies "and all humane and benevolent efforts among free men, in behalf of the unhappy portion of our race "doomed to bondage. 66 66 66 66 66 "That they who are for suppressing the anti-slavery agitation, are really labouring for the complete suppremacy and enduring sway of the slave power, that they who are deploring the excitement of the times arising from this question, are really lamenting that "there is any manhood or moral sentiment left in the “land, and arraigning the Almighty for inspiring the "human mind with a detestation of robbery, injustice, "and oppression. "That to compromise with the dealers in human flesh, to accede to any of their demands, to enter into "an alliance with them from which they shall derive "strength and security, to acknowledge in any manner "the rectitude or necessity of their cause, is to participate in their guilt, to ensure general demoralisation, "to lose the power of a virtuous example, and to be"tray the cause of freedom universally. 66 66 * * * "That the party which talks of the 'glorious Union' "existing between the North and South, and of the duty of maintaining it as an object of paramount importance, is smitten with judicial blindness, talks of "what has never been, and, in the nature of things, can never be possible, is either the dupe or the ally of a stupendous imposture, which an insane and criminal experiment of threescore years has demonstrated is working the overthrow of all the safeguards of free"dom, and consequently is a party neither to be trusted nor followed. 66 "That in the words of the lamented Judge Jay, the "Union is a most grievous moral curse to the American people:-to the people of the South, by foster"ing, strengthening, and extending an iniquitous and 66 66 "baneful institution to the millions among us of Afri" can descent by rivetting the chains of the bondman, "and deepening the degradation of the freeman—to "the people of the Free States, by tempting them to trample under foot the obligations of truth, justice, "and humanity, for those wages of iniquity with which "the Federal Government rewards apostates to liberty "and righteousness.' 66 66 "That the 'glorious Union,' ever since its formation, "has signified nothing but the supremacy of a Southern "slave oligarchy, who have always dictated the policy “of the nation, and who claim a Divine right to rule, according to their pleasure, alike the slaves and their plantations and the people of the Free States, with"out remonstrance or interrogation, and as the con"dition of the perpetuation of the 'glorious Union,' "aforesaid. 66 66 66 "Resolved, therefore, that the motto of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 'No Union with Slaveholders,' "commends itself to the reason, conscience, and hearty adoption of every man claiming to be loyal to the "Declaration of Independence; and it becomes the "solemn duty of the North to carry it into immediate practice, as demanded by every instinct of self-preservation, and by all that is obligatory in the claims "of justice and humanity." 66 This, in American phrase, was the "platform" of the Abolitionists. It is worth while to compare with it the profession of faith of the Republican party, as put forth in President Lincoln's inaugural address : 66 66 66 'Apprehension seems to exist among the people of "the Southern States that, by the accession of a Republican administration, their property, and their peace, and personal security, are to be endangered. "There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed the most ample evidence to "the contrary has all the while existed, and been open "to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public speeches of him who now addresses you,-I "do but quote from one of these speeches when I "declare that 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, "to interfere with the institution of slavery in the "States where it exists.' I believe I have no lawful 66 66 right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. "Those who nominated and elected me did so with the "full knowledge that I had made this, and had made 66 many similar declarations, and had never recanted "them. And more than this, they placed on the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves "and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:-'Resolved, that the maintenance, invio"late, of the rights of the States, and especially the "right of each State to order and control its own "domestic institutions according to its own judgment 66 66 exclusively, is essential to that balance of power 1 |