The crushed worm may yet turn under the heel of the oppressor.

I warn them, then, with all solemnity, and in the name of retributive justice, _to look to their ways;_ for in an evil hour, those sable arms that have, for the last two centuries, been engaged in cultivating and adorning the fair fields of our country, may yet become the instruments of terror, desolation, and death, throughout our borders.
It was the sage of the Old Dominion that said--while speaking of the possibility of a conflict between the slaves and the slaveholders--"God has no attribute that could take sides with the oppressor in such a contest.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God _is just_, and that his justice cannot sleep forever." Such is the warning voice of Thomas Jefferson; and every day's experience since its utterance until now, confirms its wisdom, and commends its truth.
WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?
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Extract from an Oration, at Rochester, July 5, 1852 Fellow-Citizens--Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day?
What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?
Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?
and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings, resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful.

For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him?
Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits?
Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs?
I am not that man.