“He who, at the present time, judges of the progress of the anti-slavery cause in the United States, by statistics of the formation of new societies, or the activity and efficiency of the old, will obtain no adequate idea of the truth.  The unfortunate divisions among the American abolitionists, and, the difficulty of uniting, for any continuous effort, those who differ widely as to the proper means to be used, and measures to be pursued, have, in a great measure, changed the direction and manifestation of anti-slavery feeling and action.  Thus, while public opinion, in all the free States, is manifestly approximating to abolition, and new converts to its principles are daily avowing themselves, it is exceedingly rare to hear of the formation of a new anti-slavery society, and there are few accessions to those which are already in existence.  Yet the fresh recipients of the truths of anti-slavery doctrine find abundant work for their hands to do, even without the pale of organized societies, in purifying the churches with which they are connected, and in counteracting the pro-slavery politics of the country.

“The two great political parties in the United States, radically disagreeing in almost all other points, are of one heart and mind, in opposing emancipation; not, I suppose, from any real affinity to, or love for the ‘peculiar institution,’ but for the purpose of securing the votes of the slave-holders, who, more consistent than the Northern abolitionists, refuse to support any man for office, who is not willing to do homage to slavery.  The competition between these two parties for Southern favor is one of the most painful and disgusting spectacles which presents itself to the view of a stranger in the United States.  To every well wisher of America it must be a matter of interest and satisfaction to know, that there is a growing determination in the free States to meet the combination of slave-holders in behalf of slavery, by one of freemen in behalf of liberty; and thus compel the party politicians, on the ground of expediency, if not of principle, to break from the thraldom of the slave power, and array themselves on the side of freedom.

“It is an undoubted fact, that, at the present time, the various denominations of professing Christians in the United States are more deeply agitated by this question than at any former period.  The publication of such books as Weld’s ‘Slavery as it is,’ has unveiled the monstrous features of slavery to the Christian public in the Northern States.  The blasphemous attempts of Southern professors and ministers, to defend their abominable practices upon Christian grounds, have powerfully re-acted against them at the North; and church after church, especially in New England, is taking the high stand of the late General Convention in London, in withholding its fellowship from slave-holders, and closing its pulpit against their preachers.