public the real object for which a convention
was to be called--that of making this a Slave-holding State....

Having had the good fortune, through every period of my life, to
live in great harmony with my fellow man, the enmity and
persecution I have lately had to encounter, have created a new
state of feeling, and caused me to look into my own conduct to
see whether it has been correct. In this review I have been
gratified to find I have not given just cause of offense to any
one; but I have been grieved to perceive with what virulence I
have been pelted, when the only complaint against me is, that I
am a friend to the equal rights of man, and am considered a
barrier to my opponents acquiring the power of oppressing their
fellow man. Under this view of my situation, I am gratified that
Providence has placed me in the van of this great contest; and I
am truly thankful that my system is so organized as to leave no
room for doubt, fear or hesitation. My opinions have long since
been maturely formed, and my course deliberately taken, and is
not now to be changed by detraction, prosecutions, or threats of
"_Convention or death_."

I beg you excuse my troubling you with the perusal of so long a
letter, and that you will pardon me for having said so much of
myself, in consideration of its connection with the great
question now agitating this State, by interesting yourself in
which you have displayed so signal and praiseworthy an instance
of your benevolence--for which I pray you to accept the grateful
thanks of your friend,

EDWARD COLES.

Answering this January 21, 1824, Mr. Vaux said:

The part which thee has been called to act, privately as well as
publicly and officially, in regard to the rights of mankind, and
for the upholding of the principles of justice and mercy toward a
degraded and oppressed portion of our fellow beings, ought to be
regarded as a manifestation of Providential power, concerning
which we must always believe the same Divine interposition will
be extended in every exigency. I am altogether satisfied that it
is reserved for thee to witness the triumph of truth and
beneficence in the struggle to which thee has been exposed; and,
what is of infinitely greater value, as it respects thyself, to