Page:The African Slave Trade (Clark).djvu/87



right to demand that the Secretary for Foreign Affairs adopt strong measures to prevent the establishment of a new and more extensive market for the slave trade than had ever before existed."

Before the tribunal of Heaven, before the court of civilization, our nation must stand condemned of the guilt of placing obstacles in the way of the abolition of the slave trade. The nation, of all others, which the world had a right to expect would do her duty upon this question, has been false to the first principles of justice, false to the common dictates of humanity. The great free republic has stretched out her arm to prevent Europe from breaking off the fetters from the enslaved children of Africa. What a chapter in the history of America for the historian to write two centuries hence! But a darker chapter is just now opening. Another harvest from the seeds of iniquity that have been scattered broadcast over the land, is beginning to ripen.