If all these pains and sorrows had redounded in any respect to the honor of the country, or had contributed in any way to the strength of the Union, then we might confess, perhaps, that something at least had been gained.
Sumner reflects on the suffering caused by slavery and questions whether any honor or strength has come from it for the nation.
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It is a cause which, though long kept in check throughout our country, as also in Europe, now confronts the people and their rulers, demanding to be heard.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
But so long as War exists as an Institution this terrible inconsistency must appear.
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