246 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



brought to light, that the British government have agreed 

 to furnish two thousand arms to Costa Rica, will be seized 

 upon to stir up the jealousy of our people against British 

 interference ; the worst passions will be appealed to, and I 

 see nothing to prevent " manifest destiny " from annexing 

 Central America to the United States, and when that is 

 done, Mexico must follow. Now suppose these events to 

 come, and allow the principle to be established, now openly 

 and boldly contended for, that the United States Constitu- 

 tion carries slavery with it, or rather the right to hold 

 slaves, wherever it has authority, who does not see that the 

 destiny we are to unfold and develop is to subdue the semi- 

 barbarous nations occupying that portion of this continent 

 south of us, strike down the liberty which they have inau- 

 gurated, and make the confines of slavery coextensive with 

 our conquest. Do you ask, or rather does any one ask, 

 What has the Kansas question to do with this ? I answer, 

 everything. Make Kansas free ; let it be understood that 

 in every new acquisition, liberty and not slavery is the boon 

 which we bestow on conquered provinces and nations ; and 

 the aliment which feeds this lust of conquest, and upon 

 which it subsists, and without which it would die, is taken 

 away. I feel as if we could hardly overestimate the mag- 

 nitude of this question and its consequences. With many 

 thanks for your name, so generously given to the struggling 

 friends of the cause, and especially with my personal thanks 

 for the honor you did me in making me the organ of your 

 communication, 



I am, with the highest respect, 



Your obliged friend, 



JOHN P. HALE. 



In his love of liberty, Professor Silliman enjoyed 

 the sympathy of another old man in whom the fire 

 of youth had not been damped, and who like him 

 was a witness for human rights to the end. 



