The nation was seized by a military madness, and in the furore, the cause of the slave went to the wall, and _The Spirit of Liberty_ was discontinued.

Its predecessor, _The Christian Witness_, had failed under the successive management of William Burleigh, Dr.Elder, and Rev.
Edward Smith, three giants in those days, and there seemed no hope that any anti-slavery paper could be supported in Pittsburg, while all anti-slavery matter was carefully excluded from both religious and secular press.

It was a dark day for the slave, and it was difficult to see hope for a brighter.

To me, it seemed that all was lost, unless some one were especially called to speak that truth, which alone could make the people free, but certainly I could not be the messenger.
For years there had ran through my head the words, "Open thy mouth for the dumb, plead the cause of the poor and needy." The streams sang them, the winds shrieked them, and now a trumpet sounded them, but the words could not mean more than talking in private.

I would not, could not, believe they meant more, for the Bible in which I read them bid me be silent.