oval of God upon the atrocity.

It is unquestionably true, although it be upon false issues, that the
sympathies of the civilized world are united against us. The name of
slavery is hateful to the ears of freemen and of those who desire to be
free. The wise and just subordination of an inferior to a superior race,
is rashly confounded with the old systems of oppression and tyranny,
which stain the pages of history and have excited the righteous
indignation of the world. We are supposed to have proved recreant to the
great principles and examples of the liberators of mankind. It is almost
impossible at present to disabuse the public mind of Europe and of the
North of this shallow prejudice. In the meantime, whilst carrying out
the designs of Providence in relation to the negro race, we must rest
for a while under a cloud of obloquy and abuse. Let us be faithful to
our sublime trust, and future ages will appreciate the grandeur and
glory of our mission.

The pro-slavery sentiment is of recent development. It is more recent
than any of the great inventions which have created the distinctive
forms of our modern civilization. It is more recent than many of the
great innovations of thought which now agitate mankind. The great and
good fathers of our Republic unquestionably entertained anti-slavery
sentiments or predilections, and the flippant Abolitionist thinks he has
silenced us forever by quoting the opinions of Washington and Jefferson
and Madison on this subject. The anti-slavery sentiment of that era was
partly derived from the radical influence of the French revolution, the
mad frenzies of which fearful convulsion, the fanatics of the North may
yet repeat in the Western hemisphere. It was partially also deduced
from narrow, uncertain and sometimes false premises. The lapse of time
has secured us a better stand-point. Africa has been explored and the
African studied, anatomically, socially, morally, ethnologically and
historically. Not only the physical science of man but the philosophy of
history itself has been almost created since the days of the revolution.
The question of slavery has been thoroughly sifted. The metaphysical and
theological as well as the political bearings of the subject have been
closely scrutinized. Liberia is before us with its feeble and precarious
existence, with its little torch of civilization nearly extinguished by
the foul atmosphere of surrounding heathenism. St. Domingo is before us
wit