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Show J atnes Freeman Clarke. luded to it; never spoken of it at length. The rca on of my ab -tinence was ·imply thi , that I saw no neccs. ity for speaking. The subj ct is being so thoroughly di5cu cd in Congres , in the Legi ]ature , in the ncw " papcr~, in public mceting8, and in private discus ion, that it docs n0t now cern so ncces ary to speak of it in the pulpit. But such an event a~ this calls up too many thoughts to allow me to be silent; and I therefore choose for my subject, "TnE CAUSES AND CoNSEQUENCES oF TIIE LATE AFFAIR AT HARPER's FERRY." And I take for my text the twentieth verse of the sixth chapter of :Mark: ".And Herod feared John, knowing that he was a Just man." An nttempt has been made to a cribe this event to the teachings of the Anti-Slavery party in this country. \Vell, they are the cau. c of it, in one seuse, just a Samuel Adams and Josiah Quincy, James Otis and ratrick H enry, were the cause of the bloodshed at L exington and Bunke r's Hill; and just as the preaching of Chri tianity was the cau e of the religious wars which followed. 'Vhoe,·er opposes tyranny and wrong in any hape, with word~, will often cau e a conflict of deeds to follow. Jesus ~aid , ''I cwne not to send peace, but a sword." lie knew that his teachings would not be peaceably accepted- would be re isted- and that bloodshed would follow. But where rests the responsibility? Not on Jesus, though his Go pel has been the occasion of ·war; not on James Otis and Patrick IIenry, though their words were the occasion of war; not on those who oppo e evil, but on those who maintain and defend it. Therefore, not on Anti-Slavery teaching, but on Pro-Slavery teaching, North and South, on the men and new papers in vVa hington and Boston, who unite with the opprc ors to put clown Freedom and quench its light in the blood of its advocates; on these and such as these rests the re. ponsibility of this tragedy. James Freeman Clarke. I. The first cause of this sad affair is SLAVERY itself. There is an "irrepres ible conflict" between Freedom and Slavery. The oppo~ ition is radical and entire; there can be no peace nor permanent truce between them, till one has conqu ere~ the othe~·· ~ithe~· Slavery i right or it is wrong. The radtcal. questwn IS thts: Can one man belong to another, as 1Hs property, or not? To this question there can be but two answers- Yes, or No. There is no intermediate answet-. To this question the whole country formerly said No. North and South, every one used to say that Slavery was wrong. The great minds at the South- \Va hington, J efferson, Patrick IIcnry, Madison, 1\Ionroe, Chri~topher Gadsden of South Carolina- all believed that Slavery was wronoin principle and bad in its influence, and must gradually com: to an end. The evidence of this is ample. One fact I will mention. The territory north and west of the Ohio was cons~ crated to Freedom, and secured again.' t S lavery by a proVJ.' O, passed by the votes of Southern as well as Northern statesmen. 'Vhcn, afterward , the people of the T erritory of Indiana petitioned Congre s to be allowed to hold Slaves for a time, on account of the difficulty in procuring free labor, their petition was r eported ad\'crscly upon, by a committee, the chairman of which was Randolph of Virginia, who said, " They will thank us hereafter for r ejecting their petition." . At that time all admitted that Slavery, in its principle and m the abstract, was wrong; and all said, " We expect, by degrees, and gradually, to put an end to it." . There '1\~as no war then between Slavery and Freedom; no "liTe pre, tble con fi ict; " for all were on the side of Freedom. But time pa 'sed by and Sla\·ery did not come to an end. The immen c expan ion in the consumption of cotton and . . ' Its mcreasing price- the demand always overlapping the supply -made its culture the most profitable work done in |