“Where is the mother who has not shed tears and suffered real tortures, for her children’s sake?
“Who is the good king, the worthy emperor, the gifted chieftain, who have not suffered unspeakable mental agonies, or even death, for their people’s sake?
“Is not our Christian religion the highest expression of the wisdom, mercy and love of God! But what is Christianity if not the very incarnation of that eternal law of divine justice in our humanity?
“When I look on Moses, alone, silently dying on the Mount Pisgah, I see that law, in one of its most sublime human manifestations, and I am filled with admiration and awe.
“But when I consider that law of justice, and expiation in the death of the Just, the divine Son of Mary, on the mountain of Calvary, I remain mute in my adoration. The spectacle of the crucified one which is before my eyes, is more than sublime, it is divine! Moses died for his people’s sake, but Christ died for the whole world’s sake! Both died to fulfill the same eternal law of the divine justice, though in a different measure.
“Now, would it not be the greatest of honors and privileges bestowed upon me, if God, in his infinite love, mercy and wisdom, would put me between his faithful servant, Moses, and his eternal Son, Jesus, that I might die as they did, for my nation’s sake!
“My God alone knows what I have already suffered for my dear country’s sake. But my fear is that the justice of God is not yet paid: When I look upon the rivers of tears and blood drawn by the lashes of the merciless masters from the veins of the very heart of those millions of defenceless slaves, these two hundred years: When I remember the agonies, the cries, the unspeakable tortures of those unfortunate people to which I have, to some extent, connived with so many others, a part of my life, I fear that we are still far from the complete expiation. For the judgments of God are true and righteous.
“It seems to me that the Lord wants, to-day, as he wanted in the days of Moses, another victim—a victim which he has himself chosen, anointed and prepared for the sacrifice, by raising it above the rest of his people. I cannot conceal from you that my impression is that I am the victim. So many plots have already been made against my life, that it is a real miracle that they have all failed, when we consider that the great majority of them were in the hands of skillful Roman Catholic murderers, evidently trained by Jesuits. But can we expect that God will make a perpetual miracle to save my life? I believe not. The Jesuits are so expert in those deeds of blood, that Henry IV. said that it was impossible to escape them, and he became their victim, though he did all that could be done to protect himself. My escape from their hands, since the letter of the Pope to Jeff Davis has sharpened a million of daggers to pierce my breast, would be more than a miracle.
“But just as the Lord heard no murmur from the lips of Moses, when he told him that he had to die, before crossing the Jordan, for the sins of his people, so I hope and pray that he will hear no murmur from me when I fall for my nation’s sake.
“The only two favors I ask of the Lord, are, first, that I may die for the sacred cause in which I am engaged, and when I am the standard-bearer of the rights and liberties of my country.