“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 action of the Legislature of Alabama; and a similar piece of brutality has been recommended by a committee in the Pennsylvania Legislature recently. The following is quoted from the History.
The Alabama Legislature and the Spirits—Prophecy in the Alabama Legislative Halls—Retribution.
Sometime about the month of January, 1860, the Legislature of Alabama passed a bill declaring that any person or persons giving public spiritual manifestations in Alabama should be subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars.
We have given the substance, though not the exact wording of this edict, which was met by considerable opposition, not only on the part of great numbers of Spiritualists resident in the State, but also by the governor himself, who refused to give his sanction to the bill.
Mr. George Redman, the celebrated physical test medium, had just passed through the South, and remained long enough to create an immense interest throughout its length and breadth.
The author was already engaged to deliver a course of lectures in Mobile, and numerous invitations were sent to her from other parts of the State.
As Mrs. Hardinge’s visit was anticipated at the very time when the bill above named was in agitation, its friends in the Legislature considered themselves much aggrieved by the governor’s refusal to sanction its passage, and deeming either that he was suspiciously favorable to the cause it was designed to destroy, or that their own case would be aggravated by the advent of the expected lecturer, they passed their bill over the governor’s veto, just twenty-four hours before the explosion anticipated on her arrival could take place.