It was not the index
of mere prejudice and hate. "Yes," he thought, "she is capable of
giving me a fair hearing; the others are not. Mr. Baron," he said,
"your views are natural, perhaps, if not just. I know it is asking
much of human nature when you are suffering and must suffer so much,
to form what will become the historical judgment on the questions at
issue. The law under which the North is fighting is the supreme one--
that of self-preservation. Even if we had let you alone--permitted
you to separate and become independent without a blow, war would
have come soon. You would not and could not have let us alone.
Consider but one point: your slaves would merely have to pass the
long boundary line stretching nearly across the continent, in order
to be on free soil. You could compel their return only by conquering
and almost annihilating the North. You will say that we should think
as you do on the subject, and I must answer that it is every man and
woman's right to think according to individual conscience, according
to the light within.
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