Have no fears about that--his
redemption draws nigh, the nearer we draw to him. Central and South
America, _must be our future homes_. Our oppressors will not want us to
go there. They will move heaven and earth to prevent us--they will talk
about us getting our rights, and offer us a territory here, and all
that. It is of no use. They have pressed us to the last retreat--the die
is cast--the Rubicon must be crossed--go we will, in defiance of all the
slave-power in the Union. And we shall not go there, to be idle--passive
spectators to an invasion of South American rights. No--go when we will,
and where we may, we shall hold ourselves amenable to defend and protect
the country that embraces us. We are fully able to defend ourselves,
once concentrated, against any odds--and by the help of God, we will do
it. We do not go, without counting the cost, cost what it may; all that
it may cost, it is worth to be free.
In going, let us have but one object--to become elevated men and women,
worthy of freedom--the worthy citizens of an adopted country. What to us
will be adopted--to our children will be legitimate. Go not with an
anxiety of political aspirations; but go with the fixed intention--as
Europeans come to the United States--of cultivating the soil, entering
into the mechanical operations, keeping of shops, carrying on
merchandise, trading on land and water, improving property--in a word,
to become the producers of the country, instead of the consumers.
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