Only when we see the Rebellion as it is, in its true light, face to face, do we see our whole duty.

Then must the patriot, whatever his personal prejudices or party associations, insist, at all hazards, that Slavery shall not be suffered to escape from that righteous judgment which is the doom of the Rebellion.

No false tenderness, no casuistry of politics, must intrude to save it anywhere; for you cannot save Slavery anywhere without just to that extent saving the Rebellion.

Show me anywhere a sympathiser with Slavery, and I show you a sympathiser with the Rebellion.

Fortress, camp, citadel, each and all, must be overcome; but the animating soul of every fortress, camp, or citadel throughout the Rebellion is Slavery.

Such a blow is in strict obedience to the laws of Nature; and we are reminded by the great master of thought, Lord Bacon, that only through such obedience can victory be won,--vincit parendo.

It is in conformity, also, with all the attributes of God; so that His Almighty arm will give strength to the blow.

Thus do we bring our efforts in harmony with the sublime laws, physical and moral, which govern the universe, while every good influence, every breath of Heaven, and every prayer of man, is on our side.

We also bring ourselves in harmony with our own Declaration of Independence, so that all its early promises become a living letter, and our country is at last saved from that practical inconsistency which has been a heavy burden in her…

But there is a wide-spread political party, which, true to its history, now comes forward to save belligerent Slavery,--even at this last moment, when it is about to be trampled out forever.

Not to save the country, but to save belligerent Slavery, is the object of the misnamed Democracy.

It is actual surrender and capitulation that are offered, in one of two forms: (1.) by acknowledging the Rebel States, so that they shall be treated as independent; or (2.) by acknowledging Slavery, so that it shall be restored to its old…

Both allow the country to be sacrificed for the sake of Slavery: one by breaking the Union in pieces, that a new Slave Power may be created; and the other by continuing the Union, so that the old Slave Power may enjoy its sway and…

How futile to think that there can be any consent to the establishment of a Slave Power taken from our Republic!

Such a surrender would begin in shame; but it would also begin, continue, and end in troubles and sorrows which no imagination can picture.

I do not dwell on the shame that would cover our Republic, but I ask, on the threshold, how you would feel in abandoning to the tender mercies of the Rebellion all those who, from sentiment or conviction or condition, now look to the…

Would that I could make it sink deep into your souls!

Let this be done, let the Rebel grip be unloosed, and you will hear their voices, as joyously and reverently they hail the national flag.

And there, also, are the slaves, to whom the Rebellion is an immense, deep-moated, thick-walled, heavy-bolted Bastile, where a whole race is blinded, manacled, and outraged.

The patriot Unionists, who have kept their loyalty in solitude and privation, like the early Christians concealed in catacombs, and also the slaves, who have been compelled to serve their cruel taskmasters, must not be sacrificed.

Perhaps there is no character in which the National Government may exult more truly than that of Deliverer.

Rarely in history has such a duty, with its attendant glory, been so clearly imposed.

It is a crusade, not to deliver the tomb, but to deliver the living temples of the Lord, and it is destined to exercise a transforming influence beyond any crusade in history.

If you agree to abandon patriots and slaves in the Rebel States, you will only begin your infinite difficulties.

Surely no swiftness of surrender can make you abandon Maryland, now redeemed by votes of citizen soldiers,--nor West Virginia, received as a Free State,--nor Missouri, which has been made the dark and bloody ground.