He desired the free States to be awakened to the gravity of the situation, to be thoroughly alarmed, and to repent of their sins against the South.

He wished it understood from ocean to ocean that the position of the Republican party was inconsistent with loyalty to the Union, and that its permanent success would lead to the destruction of the government.

It was not unnatural that with these extreme views he should be carried beyond the bounds of prudence, and that, in his headlong desire to rebuke the Republican party as enemies of the Union, he should aid in precipitating a dissolution of the government before the Republicans could enter upon its administration.

He thus became in large degree responsible for the unsound position and the dangerous teachings of Mr.Buchanan.

In truth some of the worst doctrines embodied in the President's evil message came directly from an opinion given by Judge Black as Attorney-General, and, made by Mr.Buchanan still more odious and more dangerous by the quotation of a part and not the whole.
It was soon manifest however to Judge Black, that he was playing with fire, and that, while he was himself desirous only of arousing the country to the dangers of anti-slavery agitation, Mr.Buchanan's administration was every day effectually aiding the Southern conspiracy for the destruction of the Union.