the children of '76
fought.

"But when the battle-smoke shall disappear, and the cannon's fearful
tones are heard no more, then will mankind more fully realize the
blessings outflowing from the mighty struggle in which they so valiantly
contended! No longer will their eyes meet with those bound in the chains
of physical slavery, or their ears listen to the heavy sobs of the
oppressed child of God. But o'er a land dedicated to the principles of
impartial liberty the King of Day will rise and set, and hearts now
oppressed with care and sorrow will rejoice in the blessings of
uninterrupted freedom.

"In this eventful revolution, what the patriots of the past failed to
accomplish their descendants will perform, with the timely assistance of
invisible powers. By their sides the heavenly hosts will labor,
imparting courage and fortitude in each hour of despondency, and urging
them onward to a speedy and magnificent triumph. Deploring, as we do,
the existence of slavery, and the means to be employed to purge it from
America, yet our sympathies will culminate to the cause of right and
justice, and give strength to those who seek to set the captive free,
and crush the monster, Slavery. The picture which I have presented is,
indeed, a hideous one. You may think that I speak with too much
assurance when I thus boldly prophesy the dissolution of the American
Confederacy, and, through it, the destruction of that gigantic
structure, human slavery! But this knowledge was not the result of a
moment's or an hour's gleaning, but nearly half a century's existence in
the seraph life. I have carefully watched my country's rising progress,
and I am thoroughly convinced that it cannot always exist under the
present Federal Constitution, and the pressure of that most terrible
sin, slavery!"

Had the people of this country been sufficiently enlightened to
investigate these messages fairly, they would have seen that there was
sufficient evidence that this warning really came from Washington, and
the pulpit would have enforced its solemn truths. But our destiny was
fixed; Washington knew that his voice would not be heeded, and that
war could not be prevented.

Again came the warning in 1860, through the lips of a more
intellectual medium, more capable of expressing the bright thought of
the higher world. Mrs. E. Hardinge Britten tells the story in her
"History of American Spiritualism," pages 416-419. She refers to the
stupid and criminal a