,;.l','l i'!?!:ii>i'tiit,';-|(if,!i'!i:H-4r'''" Biiitlia«W.ii/- -^.^ v' '% ^^ ^ -^. -'•.»" «G .0^ ^.-^^-^c °o '\ 'bV" V . t • . '<^^ ^^^.»- .-Ji. i-""^^ -'^"-V^. COSMOPOLITAN IDEAS ON THE UNION. When that strange mixture, a northern man with southern princi- ples, and a southern ina« with northern principles, attempts to thrust himself before the public, he incurs the hazard of running ao-ainst every- body, and pleasing nobody. The only way in such case is to move forward in the straight line of truth. In this even there is danger that one's complacency may be disturbed; simple-minded straitforvvardness being unfashionable. In the present sectional and party ferment, truth itself is liable to be taken as contraband into the court of one or the other of the parties ; and it is questionable whether a neutral flag can protect the properly so as to save it fiom condemnation. If misapprehension founded on jealousy could be abated, and could hollow complaint be separated from actual grievance so that the degree of each might stand disclosed, little difficulty would be in the way of cor- rect conclusion. In addition, could men in all sections be influenced to look with reconciliation upon what must happen under the laws of popu- lation and subsistence, and thus ma'le to forego their eff"orts to prevent what cannot be prevented ; peace might soon be restored on the basis of rationality. This is a time for reason. It is no time for resentment, for mi-sapprehension ; and least of all is it a time for timidity to under- tjike its accustomed patchwork. If the people of the Union cannot look things in the face truthfully, and learn to discriminate between injustice and hollow pretense of aggression, then will there be much trouble in the future, and any delay in settlement will only add to its complications. Are we in tlie midst of an "irrepressible conflict," incapable of being assuaged ; or, if assuaged temporarily, liable to break out again upon every ferment of a national election ? In the settlement of this ques- tion, any one who allows liimself to be influenced by timid apprehen- sion will bring but a poor ingredient to the rescue. Whoever continues his contribution to the sectional or party contumely heretofore and now afloat, will do no better. If men in all sections will place themselves in the altitude of saying, " I will seek to stand on the true ground — I will endeavor to do right," there will be no lasting diflSculty. It was appreliended and prophesied by some of those who framed the government of the Union that slavery or involuntary servitude would be tlie cause of working its dissolution. The prophesy wasmad<', not so much from the supposed incompatibility of interests between the slave 2 .<^'«'^ and free States as from sectional jealousies and strife, liable to be fanned by party contumely into maddened misapprehension. A fruitful source of contention has grown out of the efforts of the South to preserve the balance of power. Desiiable as this might have been, a glance at the incidents in the flow of population at once shows its impossibility. Not territory, but population has been wanting to make slave States. In 1850, including Califoniia, four-ninths only of the territory organized into States were free. Population stood in an inverse ratio; 13,432,245 inhabiting the free Stites, and 9,654,631 occu- pying the slave States. Another incident worthy to be taken into ac- count is the passage of population from the slave to the free States. Estimating the excess of population emigrating North, and its offspring, not less than ten or twelve representatives in Congress had been taken from the South, and placed to the side of the North or account of it. It is mentioned in the compendium of the census of 1850, that " there are 726,450 persons living in slave States who are natives of free States, and 232,1 12 persons living in free States who are natives of slave States." The truth, as shown by the tables in detail, is exactly the re- verse. The 726,450 were born in the South and had emigrated to the free States. Of this number, Virginia had contributed about 184,000 — Kentucky 150,000— North Carolina about 64,000 — Missouri near 20,000 — Maryland 72,000 — Delaware near 7,000, and Tennessee over 50,000. If the whole emigration from the slave to the free States since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, together with its offspring, be taken into the account, there will be found near two millions of people of southern extraction now inhabiting the free States. This equals half the slave population of the South. It exceeds by several hundred thousands the slaveholders and their families, including all persons having proprietor- ship in slavery. By a careful analys's of the census statistics it will be perceived that the flow of the southern non-slaveholding population has been to the west and north-west — that slaves, in a nearly equal ratio, have gone to the west and south-west. Under this drain. South Carolina has increased her white population but fifty per cent, in sixty years, whilst her black population has nearly trebled. It now remains for the statesmen of that State to consider whether they have not too much indulged in the Aris- totelian doctrine of " caste and class," and whether by so doing, the political, or governing element has not been too far theorized out of the State. Had that State adopted the policy of retaining its white popu- lation, the same as Maryland, and put it to the like useful pursuits of commerce and mechanism, perhaps she would now have felt her strength, and been as little inclined to contumacy. She is now overshadowed with a black cloud in the character of her servile population. Her pride and chivalry remain, but her strength has measurably departed. Perhaps it may be well for South Carolina to consider whether it will be best to repudiate that union and that strength, which may still be her strength ; and whether she will act wisely and well to sever that bond which is still competent for the protection of all." Th< interests, tion be <^iuouv>^ WWII. xyjL Luv; urtiit ui piuiiiauie rooiii to fcxps.__ s^and on. Without discussion as to whetlier this apprehension is decep- tive, it would be quite as well to look to the possibility of making any political arrangement whereby the laws or incidents of population and subsistence, can be shaped out of their natural course in the future. Any one who attempts to cypher on this subject, must look to the whole surroundings, and make a calculation for all sides, lest he find himself at random, and the sum require to be done over ao-ain. Estimate the increase of population for the last decade at thirty-five per cent. This gives thirty-one and a half millions. At the same ratio of increase, tliere would be three millions eight hundred and Iwenty-five thousand slaves. Three hundred and fifty thousand slave- holders, with the addition of their families, may be approximately esti- mated at seventeen hundred thousand. This would leave in the south- ern states not far from seven and one half millions of white population, disconnected in proprietorship with the institution of slavery. Add to this latter item the eighteen and one half millions in the free states. This would swell the free labor population to twenty-six millions. Here then, we find the great bulk of tlie voting, governing element of the Union. This twenty-six millions with its increase, must have an abiding place — so must the seventeen hundred thousand, with its in- crease — and so of the black population connected with it. It would not be possible for even tlie slaveholding population of the South to support itself without much po-rsonal labor. The negroes are not competent, and never have been, to support themselves, and the half of a white person, on the average. Much less are they competent to support the other seven and one-half millions. This population must support itself, educate its children, and make its own wav in the scale of existence. It cannot be pensioned upon the produce of slave- labor. Some portion of it may become slave owners, but the ratio of increase in the non sbtveholding population will not be lessened by any turn in the wheel of fortune. It will ever meet the stern necessity of subsistence through its own industry. So of the whole northern popu- lation — and so, of humanity at large. " Equality in the Union, or independence out of it" ! What is the meaning of this teim ; and, what equality is referred to? Is it intend- ed to declare ihat slavery shall have representation beyond ratio? That would be a simple fallacy. Is it intended to declare that slavery shall go upon the territories where slaveholders please to take it, irre- spective of the recommendations which slavery could carry with it ? Suppose Mr. Seward should forego his "irrepressible conflict," and he, ■with the leaders of the Republican Pai It should sit down in conclave with the slavery propagandists — suppose further, that they should for once forego pirty contumely, and use their best endeavors to devise a plan for extending slavery, and to bind the country to an observance of a compact ? Ucre would be, staring them in the face, a twenty-six- million power of free labor. The vision would swell its prospect into a fifty-rail lion power in twenty-three years. The contemplation oT this vast political stienjrth, and governing power, would break up the Con- vention. Its pu.^rility would find vent in the declaration, " We could not if we would " ! Twice ten-million voices would respond, " You should not, if you could " ! ! " The South 1 The South" ! ! What is meant by this term ? One would imagine from the manner in which the word has been treated, that it was a country governed by an exclusive negro policy ; where nothing was cared for, nothing regarded, nothing made the subject of political solicitude but the master and his servants. It is spoken of as if there was no element in the South that kad, or could have natural, social, or political affinities with the free labor, and the destinies of free lahor in the country at large. It is even thought to be good policy, and expedient in some quarters, to set this element at variance with its natural political fellowship in the free States ; and, to make it an instru- ment in assisting to dissolve the Union. Suppose this to be accom- plished; what security will slaveholders have gained by the arrange- ment? Will distrust, and envy, and jealousy of their wealth, their monopoly of good land, and monopoly of force to work it, be lessened ? Will this seven and one-half millions, or, tliis thirty millions, forty- six years hence, be contented with an exclusive pro-slaverv policy ; and, more especially, if that policy be a narrow one, that shall overlook its great interests ? At present, there is room enough for all. Under sound policy, there will be for the next hundred years. Can any one, therefore, prove it to be w^ise to excite hatred, anarchy, and revolution, in ordei» to break up a government, most noted of all for common pro- tection ? If people are persuaded that revolution is the remedy for ills, fancied or real, and that a good excuse now exists, they will perhaps be as in- ventive -of rea-ons for breaking up the new confederacy. It will be composed of the same elements of free, and slave labor; and its gov- erning public opinion be manufactured through its stomach. Preju- dicial disparities, if they exist, will be as much digested through this organ as bread and meat. The only advantage the new government would have in its principles of duration, would arise from the fact, that cooler, wiser, more sagacious, and more patriotic men than those who formed the o!d government, had the framing of the new— men, who weremore competent to take in all the surroundings, and to make certain all arrangements for future population. Befo're actual dissolu- tion is tried, would it not be well to bring out the plan and organization of the new government through the instrumpntality of a " moot court" ? In this WMy, opportunity would be aflForded for examination and analy- sis. All the Hamiltons, Madisons, and Jays, in the land could put their heads together and write a new Federalist. In the meantime, let the old government stand, and the busine s of the country go on under it, until clearly demonstrated that an improvement could'be made. Involuntaiy servitude has been the theme of discussion both in this country and Europe for the last hundred years. Had we nothing but the white race, the discussion would soon end : — but, we have an ele- ment in population, the ancestry of which was brought here as prop- erty. This element, however much men may deplore, or affect to de- plore its introduction, must of necessity continue to be the subject of consideration with the whole American people. It cannot be other- wise, whether it remains in or goes out of the Union. This institution, originating in the law of force, now rests upon the foundation of mas- ter and servant, as established by law. In the maintenance of this relationship, the obligations of humanity and duty have been establish- ed and enforced by those having tlie control of legislation in the several Slate-. To such extent have the evils of slavery been assuaged, that it now has the t derating assent of the American people. It commands this guaranty for its continuance; the duration depcndiug upon the wL-e discretion that shall be thrown aiound it. It would be foul-hardy to dispute, that every human being has the right to " life," — " the pursuit of happiness" ; and, to every Avliole- eome privilege, consistent with circumstances, necessary to give effect to the last proposition. Anything not founded in principles of fair reciprocity cannot hope to recene, at this day, the assent of cultivated intellect or sensibility. The duration of any institution, government, or exercise of authority, will be measured by the degree of justice that is interwoven into its relationships. This principle, implanted in the nature of things attaches jis much to the relation of master and ser- vant as to anyibing else. If any one doubt it, let him look at the million.^, and yearly increasing millions of human beings now in servi- tude :— let him contemplate this increase through a few decades until it swells in prospect to tliirty or forty millions; surrounded by, mixed up witli,and rauiitied with republican institutions, and republican sen- timent. ^Vho, that has any ^;agacity, but must know, that it is to be guverned more and more in thelutuio, by the consent of the governed ; and, that amelioration will become more and more necessary to pro- mote content, and to command the assent, toleration, and assistance of the governing political force of the whole country. Short-sightedness oil this subject, if it prevail, will assuredly rue the day that it neg- lected to think, and to think liberally ; or, to act wisely and well. Negro philanthropy ! There is not half enough of the genuine, wholesome commodity ; but a thousand times tuo much of ill-judging, intermeddling sentimentality. Harvard University has brewed rhetoric enough to have ameliorated all the harsh incidents of slavery in Ame- rica, had it been of the right kind, and in the right direction. " We must strike high for principle," says diseased philanthropy. \ ery well— but in striking high, why mistake the negro kitchen as the ap- propriate place in which to elucidate the principles of good govern- ment * If any one has suggestions to make, let him address himseh in a proper manner to the go^verning power, whose vocation it is to make laws and ref-ulalions ; and whose interest it is to have none but whole- bome ones. °The slaveholders in the main, are the governing power, 6 politically, as well as individually, over this industrial institution. They are geneially men of education ; possess and exhibit a due pro- portion, and fair ratio of cultivation, thinking, and philosophic reason- ing. Their opportunities for observing, experimenting, concluding, and acting, cannot be less than those at a distance. If any one wishes for accurate information on the subject of negio slavery, he will not obtain it through the distorted statements of those having the motive to distort ; nor, through the rank and nauseous practices of ruffianism that have been engendered by vituperation, re- taliation, and another still more baneful cause. Let him go among the planters in the right spirit — let him say to them, — " I have heard much said and contradicted respecting this institution — I have come to satisfy myself by a personal examination." He will be shown over the plantation, and permitted to see it as it is. He will be taken to neighboiing plantations, and conducted from one to another as far as he pleases to go. He may travel over the whole country, and receive hospitable treatment. He will find slaveholders peculiarly anxious to point out to him all the impiovements in feeding, clothing, housing, and making the servants comfortable, as well as in making their labor productive. If he happen to run on any thing wrong, or much out of the way, the planter will be mortified at it ; whilst he will delight in showing the better side of things. The man of sense and liberality may readily discover, by implication, the right reasoning in the mind of the slaveholder. He may learn, that, as amongst slaveholders, re- missness in the care of servants, inhumanity, and brutality, are oppro- brious. He will learn that bright examples in slaveholding are re- garded as the strength and argument for upholding the institution : — that these, like all other good things, are the basis of toleration and respect ; and, that bad examples are but a weakening force. The Southern mind, as elsewhere, will be found sensitive and alive to the idea, that justice and humanity only can impart strength and duration to the dominion, where the government of man by man is to be main- tained. How can the comfort and happiness of the black population of the South be best promoted ? This is a fair question ; but, a question nevertheless, which narrow-mindedness is incompetent to answer. Take away the platform of diligent industry, and it would lack the means of subsistence. Take from it the feature of compulsory labor, and the war of races would immediately commence. Servitude, indeed, might be exchanged for anarchy, but it would be an anarchy maddened and heightened by the partialities of race, and prejudice of color. "Wrench the relationship of master and servant, and how long would it require, and what would be the process in re-constructing society out of the same materirils ? These are questions which must be taken in connection with known facts in the history of southern production, and in the establishment of this branch of southern political economy. Whilst the surpluses at the North have gradually been absorbed in the engagements of com- naerce and the mechanic arts, the South has been compelled by still more controlling circumstances to absorb the great bulk of its surpluses in the increase of this agricultural force. Whoever contemplates the growth and increase of this negro population, will see clearly, that the same necessity at the South is as strong now, as heretofore ; and, that the same will continue with redoubled force under the law of increase. This increase will continue to make the first call for the investment of Southern surpluses, and it will have but little beyond, wherewith to en- gage in commerce, manufactures, or foreign adventure. A large amount of northern capital has already been disintegrated from the pursuits of agriculture. It has raised up a large array of skilled labor. It is obliged from necessity to convert its rocks, its ice, and its running streams into sources of income. It is, in a measure, comp'dled to travel over the globe, seeking out new channels for enter- prise, in order to add to its means of subsistence. Southern commerce, southern mechanism, and southern improvements have, to much extent, disclosed the presence of northern capital, skill, and experience in their operations ; thus more strongly eluciclating the past, present, and future direction of southern surpluses. It equally discloses the motive of tenacity in the South for maintaining, unimpaired, its basis of produc- tion ; in other words, its great auxiliary in the means of subsistence. With respect to this industrial force of the South, there are senti- mentalities of two kinds that have been brought to bear in affecting it and its relationships. If the institution is to be attacked under the declaration of war, founded on the assumption that it is, iu and of itself, "the sum of ail iniquities," then will these philanthropists continue to make their calculations on such war footing. The following extract from a late Thanksgiving sermon aflords an epitome of the views of this class of sentimentalists : "I do not pronounce the southern people to be a barbarous people; 1 say nothing about them ; I make no charge. If the things that are done there were done here, I should say they were barbarous. _ I may not know. I do, however, unhesitatingly say that the distinctive idea of the Free States is an element of Christian civilization, and that of the South is barbaric ; and that the real conflict ia this nation today is between Barbarism and Civilization. The one is like a pure white alabaster box, full of all purities and refinements ; the other is like Pan- dora's box, full of all evils and black, black wickedness. The conflict, then, has come ; and it is my business to keep you in the ranks, and to see that you are inspired to fight with heroism." Suppose the eminent divine who got oft' the above should take that northern side of societv, which is to become, in his mind, "like a piire white alabaster box, 'full of all purities and refinements." Let him exhibit it, through his family taste for literature, by a presentation of its sore spots'. Coukl not our legislators be made to appear like political thieves? our courts of justice more than questionable in their integrity? our merchants and tradesmen to be actuated by no higher motive than the sin of covetousness ? our women prostitutes, and the li\nd filled with vice, ignorance, and crime ? Possibly money could be made out of it. In the present stale of illiberal ferment it might have a sale at the South. If a foreigner, however, who had been instructed through this presentation, should come to see this mass of human degradation and moral depravity, he would bo astonished, — not with the apparent de- pravity, *but with the excellence of our condition. Looking about, he would exclaim — "I see nothing but evidence of splendid progress! I see homes — homes that look happy everywhere ! I observe a grand educational system — children nearly all at school — the people well dressed — men substantial — women refined — boys sprightly — children promising ; and, on the whole, admirable ! Evils, of course, there must be, but not remarkable in the comparison." Another foreigner comes. With a copy of the Beecher literature in his hand he visits the South, in order to chase down and make a note of the physical dilapidation and moral delinquencies of that section. In his whole course he would be coming in contact with cultivated society. Plea- sant farms and plantations everywhere spread out — railroads ramifying the States — telegraphs, to accelerate intelligence — colleges and schools established, and a general educational system prevailing — commerce, neither languishing nor wanting in the elements to sustain it — a people disposed to order and morality everywhere found. He would also find a vast industrial force of Afi icau ancestry — taken from the most bar- barous races of that country, and disciplined by industry and practical knowledge into such degree of civilization that individuals, in some quarters, desire to have it emancipated and set to voting. Such foreigner would be astonished at the difterence between the picture and the reality. The present state of the public mind, growing out of unmerited aspersion and retaliation,' should admoni-h all of the gross impropriety of such course. This habit has had no origin in kindness. It is as much removed from good taste as the blackguard is from the gentle- man. Flies light upon sore spots and deposit their larva. Rhetorical aspersion may breed its intellectual maggots until the festering sore ceases to be endurable. Billingsgate will be Billingsgate still, whether it be pulpit-refined, or whether it be exhibited at the southern hustings. Cast about, and let any one who can delineate the advantage resulting from this cross-fire of vituperation. What evil has been assuaged ? What moral or intellectual good has been accomplished? What have agriculture, commerce, or mechanism gained by it ? And, on the other hand, bow far have the amenities between States been broken down, and intercourse between them made unpleasant and distasteful ? An- swer it who can. No society yet established, or existing, in any country, has become so free from defects or infirmities as to be exempt from irritating criti- cism. If literature, the pulpit, or the press of our country, see fit to indulge its ta«te in parading the defects, follies, or idiosyncracies of the people of another section, with a view of subserving party purposes, or of holding them up to contempt or ridicule, nothing can be expected from such course but retaliation. Resentment, in such cases, springs from the best feelings of nature. Sensitive minds seldom alluw the aflfections of nativity to be blunted. They must and will cherish a warm regard for the country that gave birth to and nourished them. The poet, in the fullowing Hues, has truthfully delineated the attachments of nativity : "And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, And estimate* the blessings which they share, Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find An equal portion dealt to all mankind. The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own, Extols the treasures of his stormy seas. And his long nights of revelry and ease. The naked negro, panting at the line, Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine ; Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave, And thanks his Gods for all the good they gave. Dear is the Alpine shed to whicli the soul conforms, And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms; And as a child, whom scaring sounds molest, Clings close and closer to its mother's breast. So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar But bind him to his native mountains more. And such the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, — His first, best country ever is at home." There are two things dear to every man's heart. It matters not what may be the weaknesses or the faults of either; humanity will not allow its mother or its country to be disparaged. No one can trench with impunity on this sacred ground. Let us inquire — has this feeling of native attachment, commendable to the last degree in its proper indulgence, blunted our vision in the broader contemplation ? Has narrowness of mind become so chronic, or patriotism so near-sighted, that we cannot look beyond neighborhood or State ? Despite partiality or prejudice, incidents will occasionally carry us to the higher point of appreciative vision. When the gallant American demanded the Hungarian refugee in the Mediterranean, in whose name did he speak ? "Do you ask the protection of the United States?" "Yes!" A word, and the double-headed eagle of Austria drooped before the high behest of the Stars and the Stripes.^ The voice of the young Carolinian was potential, when he spoke in the name of his great country and its sympathising millions. Should not this incident admonish the sons of the Palmetto State, the Granite, the Keystone, and she of the Lone Star, and all their Sisters, that we all have this great country, whose voice and justice may be rendered more and still more potential ? A country expanding from ocean on the East to ocean on the West— that warms one hand in the toind regions of the South, whilst it extends the other to the icebound regions of the North. Will we not soon be prepared to say, with significant emphasis. 10 to the people of the world, " We are your friends ".s of jiroselytisra ; but also to sound public opinion as it advanced. Its discretion has also been taxed as to the time when it should be made an open question. The first answer in South Ca- rolina was, "not now." The same answer was given in Georgia. One southern Convent'on, called for the ostensihle purpose of encouraging Southern trade, dealt daintily wiih the subject, nnd laid it over. A subsequent Convention recommended it, but left the manner in which it was to be accomplished indefinite. The subject was broached in Texas under the auspicf s of Senator Wigfall in a speech at Galveston, in 1859, and the speech, together with approving editorial comments, circulated through the State. In the meantime, the experiment was made to iniroduce a cargo of slaves into Georgia, with the avowed ob- ject of testing the question whether the law of Congress could be en- forced. In connection with this experimtnt, the supposed pliancy of the Executive and his Cabinet was openly talked about. The possible subserviency of the Supreme Court of the United States was hinted at. Oiganizations were said to be formed in the Cotton States to forward the question in the South ; at the same time leading individuals be- came identified with men at the North in the numerous experiments that have been detected on the coast of Africa and elsewhere. In order to overcome the objections which the civilized world had raised up against this traffic, it was supposed to be necessary to bring theology imo its service. " It Avas vouchsafed to the children of Is- rael," said the kidnapper, " that they should take the heathen for an in- heritance. This is the higbef law, and the Constitution and law of Congrecl to vindicate it against the acciisa'ion of manufactured falsehood, the policy of the kidnappers required that they should be mobbed into compliance, or bo mobbed out of the country. Counsels of foresight and moderation were suflBcient cause for displacing southern statesmen irom the Senate of the United States. Nor has this been all. It was feared that a national administration would be brought into power that would be competent to grapple with the kidnapping force, and that would have the inclination to do it. This, it was well known, would put an end to tho African slave-trade project "in the Union;" hence the alternative of so shaping the tactics as to provide for it " out of the Union." The preparation of public opinion in the cotton States for a dissolu- tion of the Union, has been connected with a process of open brutality hitherto unknown in our country. It would be sickening to detail the proceedings of mobs, and the murders that have been committed, in order to force the population of the cotton States into the proper state of pusillanimity. The process of dissolution must be suddenly effected, or not at all. Men had cast their die on the success of the project. Their allies in the North have been brought into requisition. lago-like, they too have aimed to intensify the jealousy of well-disposed southern people as to the aims of the Republican party. 'Jhey have apologized for southern extravagance, justified southern mobs, extenuated southern murder in its process of regulating public opinion, and have left nothing undone that could by any possibility contribute to widen the supposed breach existing between the North and South. Southern slave-trade emissaries and their northern allies have for months sat in conclave in the city of New York. The public has been astonished at the emana- tions put forth by them and through their influence. The most bitter denunciations of all, and most characteristic, have 21 been those made against Gen, Houston, Without Texas for a stamping prronnd, the African slave trade would be a diminutive business. Gen. Houston wns known to entertain insuperable objections to this inhuman traffic. His occupancy of the chair of State was a stumbling-block to any precipitate aciion. It was well known that the old hero was a lover of the South — the whole South, and all its legitimate interests and insti- tutions ; but it was equjilly well known that he was also a lover of his whole country, and that he could fL-el, and did feel, as just a sympathy and interest for white humanity in its shirt-sleeves as any other indus- trial ajjency. He could look beyond the confines of the institution in connection with which he was raised. He lovec^the Union, the govern- ment, the States, and the whole of that grand system of empire, in the establishing, maintaining, and bringing togtther of which he had con- tributed so much. It was for this, and nothing else, that General Houston 'received the appellation of " hoary-headed traitor" in the Sen- ate of the United States. It was for this, simply, that the "regulators of public opinion '' in Texas have threatened to send a mob to the Capitol of the State to hang its executive chief magistrate. The nations of Europe are now listening with astonishment,' and wondering " if this has become treason," — " if patriotism such as this has become political crime" in America! To such a degree has violence for opinion's sake become the order of the day in the cotton States, that none of the old Virginia statesmen, whose n;imes are mentioned, stripped of the prestige of their names, could there express their sentiments without being mobbed. Washing- ton could liardly compromise hanging by an alternative of tar and feathers. One of the present senators of Virginia would do little in- justice to his imagination should he console his pride of ancestry, in the vision of a great man — a noble grandfather — dangling at a rope's end from the branch of some tree in the swamps of Mississippi. Grad- ually has personal security in the cotton States ceased. How its resto- ration is to be brought about is a momentous question for the South, Presupposing that the project of Disunion had its origin in, and that it is inseparably connected with' its adjunct, the African slave trade, it may be well, perhaps, to calculate the probabilities of success in carry- ing out tlie latter project. The policy has been declared, and the sen- timent fortified by ail the experience necessary, that America must bo no further peopled through importation by an element which cannot be citizenized by common consent. It needs no argument to show that such is the fixed and unalterable decree of public opinion in the govern- ing force of the Union. No sectional attempt to violate this decree of the governing power — the people— will be suffered to succeed without acbi^:vin£j. success as "the last conclusion offeree." It matters not how extensive the combinat'on in the cotton States, England and France will not be less imperative than the middle and northern States of this Union. It admits of no conjecture as to who would have the controlling diplomatic influence with civilized nations ; and just as little conjecture as to the result. There was never a more foolish delusion than has 23 operated on the minds of those who have made the re-establishment of this interdicted traffic the basis of proposed revolution. The influence that has thus far projected and carried forward thia delusive scheme has received its main support from the non-slaveholding populntion in the cotton States. Many of this class have been made to believe that wealth, and gain, and advantage would flow to them through this traffic, were it once opened. Ambition of gain in these deluded people has been wrought upon by the projectors until their ecstasy has become wild in its defiance of the General Government. Many of them now believe themselves commissioned to perpetrate crime and murder upon thos« who would adhere to the incoming administra- tion. What will be the condition of those who have raised up this cruel delusion, when the delusion shall have passed away? Who will then be made responsible for the mobs, the murder, and the crime that shall have resulted? These are fearful questions for that chis's of men who shall be found to have been identified with the conspiracy. The attention of tlio liation, and of other nations, is now being directed to the point of discrimination between actual grievance and hollow com- phiint. The question is being examined into wiih all the astuteness that the affliction of the country demands. It will soon be known whether the American mind, as well as that of other nations, can dis- criminate between revolution based on a struggle to throw off oppres- sion, and rank rebellion, based on the motives to opening and legiti- mating the Afiican slave trade. Take away this foul project, and the clamor of Disunion will abate of its own accord. Let the country know the nature and weakness of this African slave- trade influence, and the people will soon learn to regard the strength of Disunion in its true light. We are to have no Disunion, amounting to practical separation, for the reason, that no practical motive for it exists in any part of the United States. People may as well go about their l)usiness, with the fact fixed in their minds, that we are to have stable government. They need not give way to the bugbear, that this mighty fabric of nationality is to be broken up through the influence of a few abolitionists on the one hand, and a kidnapping strength on the other; nor by misapprehension manufactured for party purposes, and having aims built upon the desire for ofiice. The people cannot aff'ord it; nor, will the governing power of the country allow it, north or souTif, A few plain words with regard to party organization : — An old dem- crat is now compelled to acknowledge that the party to Avhich he ever belonged (until ejected by the African slave-trade influence) had become incompetent to govern the countiy.. The cause of distraction in the party, and irreconcilable hatred of its parts towards each other, has been this same African slave-trade project, and the opposition, in the party, to it. To speak in a pickwickian sense, without meaning disrespect, Mr. Douglas and some others have "eaten dirt," in their endeavois to conciliate it. That Mr. Douglas finished his last repast with a dessert of rotten eggs, might have been a little astonishing to himself, though St would not have been so to some others more conversant with its LofC. 28 tactics. He fonnd the tenacity for adhering to this delusion mnch stronger, than its opposition to the election of Mr. Lincoln. In fact, Mr. Lincoln's election was desired by the African trade politicians in the cotton States, in order that it might he made aa effective pretense for breaking up the Union. .Under those circumstances, how would it have been possible for the Democratic Party to have harmonized on any line of policy. The kidnapping influence has had, at least, half possession of Mr. Buchanan. The world is now debating, whether he is more an object of scorn or pity. Had the opposition to the Republican Party succeeded, on what basis could harmony have been secured, except by encouracring the African slave trade "in the Union?" A candid con- templation cannot fail to convince the American people, that the Demo- ciatic Party, temporarily, at least, was too much out of joint for any eflFective purpose in the administration of the government. "What will the Republican Pany do?" is a question that is often asked. The writer can answer on one point. It will be a unit on the subject of the African slave trade. It will co-operate with the democracy in pursuing that project " in the Union " — " out of the Union " — on the coast of Africa, Cuba, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, or elsewhere, with all the power of extinction at the command of the government. Either its manhood is mistaken, or it will make no truce; encourage no nego- tiation ; make no promise to that portion of population, hitherto called American citizens, but who propose to take themselves out of the pale of civilization. How longtime it will require to lop off this excrescence of the Democratic Party, so as to enable it to harmonize, and to fit it for governing, is a liitlc conjectural. Perhai s four years will prove suffi- cient. When it is done, the counsel employed to take the appeal for •' the reversal of public opinion," may proceed to move for the decree. 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