Come it must, did we say? It has already come in one sense. The people, the bone and sinew of the country, are nearly ready for the change. The workingmen of the North can perceive the disadvantage Slavery is to them; how it degrades labor, and prevents the exaltation of the laborer; but their leaders are wily, and will endeavor to persuade them, that the Union is of more consequence than the abolition of Slavery. There can be no question, if it were not for the leaders in church and state, that a dissolution of the Union would be speedily brought about; but these men, always the curses of society, stand in the way of all improvement in this respect. If the people had been allowed to act according to their own impulses, would Zachary Taylor have been elected President of this nation? Witness the mighty gathering of freedom's hosts at Buffalo; and see to what a pitch popular feeling arose, when the nomination of men known to be thoroughly opposed to slavery extension was made known! The noise of acclamation, arising from nearly 50,000 hearts, sounded throughout this nation, like a thunder-clap in the ears of selfish and unprincipled leaders. No event ever produced such a change in the policy of corrupt men, as this demonstration of the first fruits of the spirit of freedom. Politicians as corrupt as putridity itself, trembled and cried aloud for help. A universal howl of despair went up from the hell of Slavery; but the faces of the sons of freedom every where grew bright, as the countenance of the mother is lit up with joy when she beholds her first-born child lying in her arms. If such a mighty change took place as the result of this, the morning light of freedom, what will be the howlings of the wicked, and the rejoicings of the good, when the sun of emancipation, shall shine in all the brightness of its meridian splendor, upon the dark and gloomy caverns of Slavery, as will be the case when a similar convention shall nominate a man for the presidency of the Northern Union?
If the faces of the southerners and their allies were elongated then, what will be their length when the news of such a convention shall reach their ears? We repeat it, the people are nearly ready for this change; and only need the word of command from their leaders, to adopt as their watchword, "No more union with slave-holders." But unprincipled leaders never will be converted only by the people advancing before them; therefore our work lies with the people.
Men and women of America, descendants of those pioneers of freedom, who braved the vicissitudes of fortune in a new and wilderness land, that liberty might be bestowed upon their children; sons and daughters of the warriors of Lexington and Bunker Hill; children of the patriots of the revolution; is there none of that spirit of liberty which actuated your fathers, remaining within your hearts? Have the fires of freedom become so nearly extinct in your breasts, as to leave no spark of liberty there, which can be made to ignite the hearts of cotton which surround you? Burns there no flame of indignation in your souls, at the remembrance of the insults you have received at the hands of the South? Say, ye children of proud and tyranny-hating parents, are ye sunk in such abject submission to your oppressors, that no trampling under foot your own and the Slave's rights, can arouse ye from your stupor? O, is there no portion of that hatred of tyranny, which prompted your fathers to say, "resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," left within your bosoms? Then, indeed, are you recreant to the principles your fathers struggled with adversity's power to establish, the base and degenerate sons of noble and energetic sires.
One word more, and our task is finished. What is the South, that ye should cling so closely to her? Is she not a polluting harlot, deceiving you by her gay attire, and attempting to seduce you from the path of virtue by her blandishments? Yea, has she not already beguiled your simple hearts, and now that she has bewitched you, and obtained power over you, seeking but to insult and cast contempt upon you? O, let us break away from her polluting embraces, and return to virtue and integrity. "Come out from her, my people, and be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues."