"June 27, 1834."
The opinion of Henry Clay, Esq.—March, 1837.
"I regret extremely the agitation of the question of immediate abolition. Without impugning the motives of those who are concerned in it—indeed with great respect for some of them, I must say in all sincerity, that I do believe it is attended with unmixed mischief. It does no good, but harm to the slave; it engenders bad feelings and prejudices between different parts of the Union, and it injures the very cause which it professes to espouse. Instead of advancing, I believe that it has thrown back to an indefinite time the cause of gradual emancipation—the only mode of getting rid of slavery that has been ever thought to be safe, prudent or wise in any of the States in which slavery now exists.
"Hoping that you will excuse the delay which has occurred in my transmission of an answer to your letter, I am gentlemen,
With great respect, your ob't servant,
Henry Clay."
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original.