to their source, must go back to the first era
of Christianity, and to the authoritative promulgation of the Divine law
of love by the lips of the Savior of mankind himself. In the darkest
times, since that period, the true doctrine of the unlawfulness of
slavery has never been wholly lost, being in fact a part of the
imperishable substance of vital Christianity.

From 1832 until the division referred to in an early portion of this
work, the anti-slavery societies multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
The following account of the present state of the cause is furnished by
my friend, John G. Whittier.

"He who, at the present time, judges of the progress of the
anti-slavery cause in the United States, by statistics of the
formation of new societies, or the activity and efficiency of
the old, will obtain no adequate idea of the truth. The
unfortunate divisions among the American abolitionists, and, the
difficulty of uniting, for any continuous effort, those who
differ widely as to the proper means to be used, and measures to
be pursued, have, in a great measure, changed the direction and
manifestation of anti-slavery feeling and action. Thus, while
public opinion, in all the free States, is manifestly
approximating to abolition, and new converts to its principles
are daily avowing themselves, it is exceedingly rare to hear of
the formation of a new anti-slavery society, and there are few
accessions to those which are already in existence. Yet the
fresh recipients of the truths of anti-slavery doctrine find
abundant work for their hands to do, even without the pale of
organized societies, in purifying the churches with which they
are connected, and in counteracting the pro-slavery politics of
the country.

"The two great political parties in the United States, radically
disagreeing in almost all other points, are of one heart and
mind, in opposing emancipation; not, I suppose, from any real
affinity to, or love for the 'peculiar institution,' but for the
purpose of securing the votes of the slave-holders, who, more
consistent than the Northern abolitionists, refuse to support
any man for office, who is not willing to do homage to slavery.
The competition between these two parties for Southern favor is
one of the most painful and disgusting spectacles which presents
itself to the view of a stranger in