given the Jews their peculiarities, fitting them for His purposes with regard to them; and to the Irish laborer He has given his willingness and strength to dig, making him the builder of your railways.  If we fulfil our trust, with regard to the blacks, according to the spirit and rules of the New Testament, I believe God will be our defender, and that all his attributes will be employed to maintain our authority over this people for his own great purposes.  We have nothing to fear except from white fanatics, North and South.’

“‘I have no idea,’ said the Judge, ’of dooming every individual of this colored race to unalterable servitude.  I am in favor of putting them in the way of developing any talent which any of them, from time to time, may exhibit.  More of this, I am sure, would be done by us, if we were freed from the necessity of defending ourselves against Northern assaults upon our social system, involving, as these assaults do, peril to life, and to things dearer than life.  But I see tenfold greater evils in all the plans of emancipation which have ever been proposed than in the present state of things.’

“The pastor of the place, who was present, had not taken much part in the discussion, though he had not purposely kept aloof from it.  He was Southern born, inherited slaves, had given them their liberty one by one, and had recently returned from the North, where he had been to see two of them—­the last of his household—­embark as hired servants with families who were to travel in Europe.

“Some of us asked him about his visit to the North.  Said he, ’I went to church one day, and was enjoying the devotional services, when all at once the minister broke out in prayer for the abolition of slavery.  He presented the South before God as “oppressors,” and prayed that they might at once repent, and “break every yoke,” and “let the oppressed go free.”  I took him to be an immediate emancipationist, perhaps peculiar in his views.  But in the afternoon I went into another church, and in prayer the minister began to pray “for all classes and conditions of men among us.”  I was glad to see, as I thought, charity beginning at home.  But the next sentence took in our whole land; and the next was a downright swoop upon slavery; so that I regarded his previous petitions merely as spiral movements toward the South.  If the good man’s petitions had been heard, woe to him and to the North, and to the slaves, to say nothing of ourselves.

“’I stopped after service, and, without at first introducing myself, I asked him if he was in the habit of praying, as he had done to-day, for slave-holders.  He said yes.  I asked him if it was a general practice at the North.  He thought it was.  I inquired if he would have every slave liberated to-morrow, if he could effect it.  “By all means,” said he.—­“Would they be better off?” said I.—­“Undoubtedly they would,” said he.  “But that is not the question.  Do right, if the heavens fall.”—­“What