They often talked to
each other of the progress of the war and conferred in secret as to
what they might do to aid in the struggle. Worn out with long bondage,
yearning for the boon of freedom, longing for the sun of liberty to
rise, they kept their peace and left the result to God." Mr. Douglass,
whom this same Bishop Gaines speaks of very inappropriately as a
"half-breed," seemed able to grasp the feelings both of the slave and
the freeman and said: "From the first, I for one, saw in this war the
end of slavery, and truth requires me to say that my interest in the
success of the North was largely due to this belief." Mr. Seward, the
wise Secretary of State, had thought that the war would come and go
without producing any change in the relation of master and slave; but
the humble slave on the Georgia cotton plantation, or in the Carolina
rice fields, knew that the booming of the guns of rebellion in
Charleston was the opening note of the death knell of slavery. The
slave undoubtedly understood the issue, and knew on which side liberty
dwelt. Although thoroughly bred to slavery, and as contented and happy
as he could be in his lot, he acted according to the injunction of the
Apostle: "Art thou called being a servant, care not for it; but if
thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
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