Excerpt from The Issue, Presented in a Series of Letters on Slavery Rev. Silas McKeen: Dear Brother, - The subject to which you particularly call my attention is no longer a "delicate subject." I am willing to say nothing to you in relation to it, which I would not desire to say to every minister, every man and woman in New England. The time has come when, as you say, "Something, by way of light and persuasion on the subject of Slavery, must be done," - and I may add, not for the South alone. I regret that I cannot answer your very candid letter, before the "Convention on the subject of slavery," which, you say, is to be held in Portland on the 12th inst. That is now impossible. But I will pray the Author of all light to direct you, and I trust the candor expressed in your letter, and which I know pervades your character, will characterize the meeting, and that it may result in great good to the poor slaves, for whose benefit it is called. It appears to me that two inquiries, when you are met, will exhaust the subject. First, What can we do? And then, What ought we to do? It is plain that you ought not to do what you cannot do, - probably not all even that you can do. You cannot interfere with the subject by legislation, at least, so far as the respective states are concerned. That is settled by the Constitution. You can, however, seek an amendment of the Constitution. This is provided for in the instrument itself. And only in that method prescribed for amending the Constitution, can you act on the subject through the government. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.