In treating this interesting subject, the author has striven to speak in a calm and dispassionate manner,—the only way, indeed, in which a matter involving such great and varied interests ought to be spoken of. He has endeavored to look at it not merely from a civil and a moral point of view, but also from a spiritual one—from which it has not, perhaps, been sufficiently contemplated. He has sought to show the workings of a Divine Providence in the permission of negro slavery, the probable object of that permission, and the means already in operation by which the same Providence designs to bring it gradually to an end. He has sought to make the reflecting, and particularly the religious, portion of the community who are interested in this subject, feel and realize—what in principle they must know to be true—that this great concern, affecting, as it does, the welfare of so many millions of human beings, has not been abandoned by an overruling Providence, and is by no means disregarded by a God of goodness—as some in their haste and passion seem to think—but that He is working for it quietly, but effectively, and that in due time He will show His hand, and bring forth the desired result.
Finally, the writer has endeavored, in discussing this somewhat exciting subject, to do justice to all parties concerned: to exonerate the Americans, his countrymen, so far as he thinks they deserve exoneration; to
