The  Dr.  with  his  usual  sagacity  has  not  failed  to
observe  the  results  of  the  Congressional  discussions
upon  the  public  mind,  but  he  ought  to  have  carried
his  reasoning  a  little  farther,  and  have  fallen  back
upon  first  principles;  however,  hear  the  eloquent
language  of  the  Dr.  himself.
"  From  another  ground  I  draw  the  same  conclu-
sion. Agitation  was  once  the  best  service  that  could
be  rendered  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  Congress
Hall  the  best  place  for  it.  The  North  understood
it  so,  and  desired  it;  the  South  understood  it  so,  and
feared  it.  Silence,  absolute,  was  the  demand  in
1837,  and  the  slaveholders  at  that  time  used  every
means,  most  unscrupulously,  to  enforce  it.  But
how  is  it  now  ?  The  discussions  of  slavery  have
been  almost  uninterrupted  through  the  period  of  the
last  Congress,  and  they  were  led  off  in  almost  every
instance  by  the  pfo-slavery  leaders  !  Whatever  this
change  means  in  other  respects,  it  is  a  significant
one  touching  the  policy  of  agitation  and  debate  in
the  Capitol  for  out-door  piyrposes.  And  the  effect  of


468  NEOROMANU.
