“’Virginia—­once proud and independent Virginia, already half captive to the North—­will soon take her place as the frontier slave State;—­Maryland, with her Southern principles, eaten out by Northern men, will then assume to her the relation that Pennsylvania now bears to Maryland;—­nay, it is but too obvious that, as things are now working, in process of time, and that not slowly, slavery must cease to exist in all the provision-growing States,—­its northernmost line will be the line of the sugar, the rice, and the cotton culture,—­the climate alone affording to the slave-holder that shelter which justice could not offer from the rapacity of his pursuers.  Will the Southern still accept the shadow without the substance of equal and confederate powers?  Be his relation, then, what it may—­independent, confederate, or colonial—­for one, we say, let it be defined.  To the misery of the slave, let him not add the meanness of the dupe.  Let him remember, that time and corruption have often achieved what would have defied the power of the sword;—­in a word, let the slave-holder think, while yet, if yet, he has power to act.’”

I have now concluded an imperfect attempt to delineate the present state of the anti-slavery cause, on the North American continent, with incidental notices of the past history of the efforts of its friends.  In regard to the future, my hopes are built on the continuance of these efforts, and on the concurrent aid afforded by the march of events, both in the United States and in the world at large, under the manifestly over-ruling power of that gracious Being, who sometimes employs human instrumentality to accomplish His purposes of mercy; but who works also Himself, by His immutable laws, and by the dispensations of His providence.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX A. P. 30.

ANTI-SLAVERY EPISTLE OF “FRIENDS” IN GREAT BRITAIN.

    “From our Yearly Meeting held in London, by adjournment from the
    20th of the 5th Month to the 29th of the same inclusive, 1840.

    “To the Yearly Meetings of Friends on the Continent of North
    America.

“DEAR FRIENDS,—­We think it a favor to us, and we accept it as an evidence that our Lord is mindful of us, that from one time to another, when thus assembled for mutual edification, and the renewing of our spiritual strength, we are in any small measure brought afresh to the enjoyment of that love which flows from God to man, through Jesus Christ our Savior; and under its blessed influence quickened to exercise of mind, not only for the health and prosperity of all those professing the same faith with ourselves, but for the coming of the kingdom of God upon earth, and the universal prevalence of righteousness and truth among men.  This love has often brought us in Christian compassion and tenderness of spirit,