THE MAKING
OF THE
AMERICAN NATION,
Oil
THE RISE AND DECLINE OF OLIGARCHY
IN THE WEST.
BY
J. ARTHUR PARTRIDGE,
AUTHIOR OF' COALITIONS AND FRONTIERS IN 1860-1,"
"THE FALSE NATION AND ITS'BASES;'
OR WTHY THE SOUTH CAN'T STAND."'
"DEMOCRACY." ETC.
E PLURIBUS UNUM."
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT  AND  CO.




" The whole Freedoml of man consists either in spiritual or
civil liberty.  The enjoyment of those never more certain, than
in a free commonwealth. Both which, in my opirion, may
be best and soonest obtained, if every county in the land were
msavde a kind of subordinate covmmonalty or cozvionwealth,."M'ilton.
" The Reformation made another enormous stride, when at
the American Revolution the State and the Church were
solemnly and openly dissevered from  one another." —Draper,
Intellectual Development of Europe.
" Not Democracy in America, but free Christianity in Anmerica, is the real key to the study of the People and their
Institutions."- Goldcvin Smith.




THE MAKING
OF THE
AMERICAN NATION;
on
THE RISE AND DECLINE OF OLIGARCHY
IN THE WEST.
" Cette vieille Europe m'ennui.' —Napoleon.
"Soon after the Reformation a few people came over for
conscience sake. This apparently trivial incident may transfer
thegreat seat of empire into America."-John Adams.
"America is therefore the land of the future where, in the
ages that lie before us, the burden of the world's history shall
reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary
of the historical lmnber-roomn of old Europe." —Hegel.
" As interesting mankind the question was, shall the Reformation developed to the fulness of free inquiry, succeed in its
protest against the middle ages."-Baancroft.
" The more a man is versed in business the more he finds
the hand of Providence everywhere."- Chatham.
"You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am
not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that
it will cost us to maintain this DECLARATION. Yet through
all the gloom, I can see that the end is more than worth all
the means; and that posterity will triumph in that day's
transaction." — John Adams, 3rd July, 1776.
"The Declaration of Independence constituted a sacred
pledge in the name of God, solemnly given by each State, to
abolish slavery soon as practicable, and to substitute Freedom
in its place." —John Quincy Adadms, 1844.




"It is therefore very probable that mankind would have
been at length obliged to live constantly under the Government
of a single person, had they not contrived a kind of Constitution that had all the internal advantages of a Republican, together with the external force of a monarchical Government.
I mean a Confederate Republic.  "A Republic of this kind
* * * may support itself without any internal corruption.
* X* It possesseth all the advantages of large monarchies."
"Should a popular insurrection happen in one of the States,
the others are able to quell it. Should abuses creep into one
part, they are reformed by those that remain sound." —2ontesguiezt. Vol. I. pp. 165-7. Edition of 1777.
" I regret to saay, that I only see, at the present time, two
Governments which well fulfil their providential mission; these
are the two Colossi at eiter end of the world-one at the extremity of the new, the other at the extremity of the old
world. Whilst our old European centre is like a volcano,
consuming itself in its own crater, the two nations, Oriental
and Occidental, proceed unhesitatingl!y, towards perfection, the
one at the will of one man, the other by liberty. Providence
has confided to the United States of America the care of
peopling and of gaining over to civilization all that immense
territory which extends from the Atlantic to the South Sea,
and from  the North Pole to the ]Equator. The Government,
which is but a simple administration, has only; up to the present
time put in practice the old adage, laissez faire, laisser passer,
to favour that irresistible instinct which impels towards the
West the peoples of America."
"In Russia, it is to the imperial dynasty that we owe all the
progress which, for a century and a half past, has been rescuing
that vast empire from barbarism.  The imperial power has to
struggle against the old prejudices of our old Europe; it must
centralize, as closely as possible, in the hands of an individual,
the force of the state, in order to destroy all the abuses which
would perpetuate themselves under the shelter of communal
and feudalfranchises. It is only from him that the East can
receive the amelioration which it is awaiting."-louis Napoleon
Bonaparte-Life and Works. Vol. I., pp. 253, 254,




CON TENTS.
PREFBCE.
INTRODUICTION.
BOOK I.
PAGE
CHAPTE R I.-The Case stated...           35-50
CHAPTER II.-General Questions..   51-70
CHAPTER III. —The English Standpoint..  71-108
CHAPTER IV.-American Nationality and Democracy.....   109-143
CHAPTER V.-Mares' Nests, or John Bull and the
Chivalry.... 145-163
BOOK II.
AMERICAIN UNITY AND NATIONALITY.
CHAPTER I. —Material Bases of Unity: Geography,
Strategy, Climate, Mountains and Rivers 165-186
CHAPTER II. —Unity of Ideas and Interest: The
Constitution and Genius of America    187-224
CHAPTER III.-Moral forces of America. Unity of
principle and purpose...   225-239
BOOK  III.
HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.-1670-1777. Union and Nationality;
Origin, Consolidation, and Progress of
the Nation..                    242-280
CHAPTER II.-1777 -1833. Disunion and Denationalisation. The era of compromise    281-300
CHAPTER III.-1833-1860.  BATTLE.  Decline of
Slave Power.....  301-327
CHAPTER IV. —1860.  VICTORY. Oligarchy cast
out                                  329-389
BOOK IV.
CHIr'PrER I.-" Right" of Secession..      391 —416
CHAPrTER I1L.-Reconstluction..   417 —523




From page 1 to page 163 was written and printed
during the heat of the American struggle, in fact,
soon after the war begun. The arguments concern
the particular question of American Unity, and the
universal question of Democracy. The first is still
considered an open question, whilst the last has to
be explored by the light of this its first real precedent. That the mere tense, as to events now
recent, is in the pages indicated, in the future instead of the past, will doubtless be considered a
blemish by some, whilst others will consider that
success establishes argument.  The author can
only state the fact, and submit the matter to the
reader's judgment.
A volume " on Democracy," arose out of the
present work, and is published concurrently
with it.




PREFACE.
"Nation is a moral essence."- BBurkce.
"'The Republicans are the nation."-Jeqffleson.
" A People cannot rise but by a principle or a snan."_fazzini.
"Future History approaches. Historical effigy will no longer
be the man-king; it will be the Milan-People. True History henceforth charged with the education of the royal infant, the People,
will study the successive movements of Itumanity. In that
(ordinary) History there is everything except History. The
lamp, which smokes on the opaque frontage of royal accessions,
hides the starry reflection that the creators of civilization
throw over ages." —Hugo.
"There is nothing in the world so sound as American Society.
America has left behind it the cerements of the feudal system,
hereditary aristocracy, primogeniture, entails, and the established Church."  Goldwin Smnith.
" Individuality will be a term of greater comprehension, and
nations free and enlightened, will hereafter become one complex
Individual, as single men now are." —FVolney.
"To realise these grades, of Individual National Genius,
is the boundless impulse of the world-spirit, the goal of its
irresistible urging."-l-egel.
"' Another good expedient would be to settle colonies in two
or three parts of such a (conquered) State; because if that is
not done, it will be necessary to maintain a standing army there.
Colonies, though nothing like so expensive, are more to be depended on and much less disgustful."-Machiavel. (The Prince.)
" We have done much, but still much remains. Time and
time's influences are with us. We could almost afford to sit
still and let these influences work."-Shermanz to Grant, 1864.
"If Europe leaves America to Republicanism —well. If she
interferes, we interfere, and the right hand of our resistance
is clasped in brotherhood with the Radicals of Europe to upset
every throne on the Continent."-Wendell Phillips.
THREE mnighty problems, inl which  all Peoples
and systems are concerned, are now, in the fulness
of time, nearly  workled  out upon the American
continent.
The making of the Amlerican Nation.
The making of the American DemocrTacy.




-iv               PREFACE,
The making of the first Federal Republican
Empire.
A Natton is made of material Bases, Individuality and Organic Functions. By the first it exists;
by the second it exists as a nation; and by the
third it thinks, administrates, and acts.
-A Democracy is made of a fourfold Freedom; —
of School, Press, Church, and Assembly.
A - Federation is made and preserved by an adjustment of relations between the parts and the whole.
Due and full consideration therefore of the
American Federal Republic, has to do1st. With the material Bases of that nation, or
its Territory, Labor, and Population.
2nd. With its national Individuality or Oneness
of Ideas and Interests, of Institution, Race, Language, Boundary? and Religion.
3rd. With the completeness of its Organic Functions, that is, of its Legislature and Executive.
4th. With the origin and power of its Democratic
Equality, in School, Press, Assembly, and Church.
5th. With the result,-Material, Political, and
Religious Development.
6th. With the result of tkzat, namely, powers of
Association, which compel political Equality.
7th. Withl the conflict of State Rights and the
principle of Inequality, with the national bases,
functions, and unity.
And lastly, With the final casting out of oligarchy secured by the recent war.




PREFACE,                  v
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC has been made by and
depends upon the complete development and due
adjustment of the rights and properties of the
Individual, State, and Nation.
THE NATION has been made by the'(approximate) completion of the universality of its basis,
in Education and the Suffrage, —by the adjustment
of its relations with the " States," and by the revindication of the national Sovereignty, after fifty
years of abeyance.
The DEMOCRACY is being made by the completion of Individual Right,-even to the negro. By
universal educational Develo9gpment, which secures
association, which everywhere and always produces Equality, the completion of Freedom.
The,REPUBLICAN EMPIRE is established by a
settlement of the Principle of Federation on natural and indefeasible grounds. It is this principle
of such vast and almost boundless applicability in
the future, which suggests a possibility of combination and Unity on a scale never before supposed
to be practicable.
Thus it appears that u  Nation,"   Demiocracy,'"
and " Federation," fulfil and complement each
other. To a given nationality are confided by the
Supreme the destinies of a certain portioi) of the
Humnran race.  Gradually a mental, moral, and
religious Freedom, develops an intensest "' individuality" into a universal Statesmanship, makes
nation and Government one, and as a Democracy, gives to the People entire Freedom, and to
b2




vi                PREFACE.
the Legislature and Executive its collective wise
dom and united Will.
There can be no true Democracy without an
educated People: no complete nation that is not
also a Democracy: here is at least something
like finality in politics, for here are completeness
of power and universality of right.  Such nations
and Democracies can alone enter as Units into
still vaster Federal Unities.
Thus the making of a nation that is also a Democracy and a Confederation, involves the existence
of a completer, a stronger, a sounder, a more comprehensive, and a loftier Unity, than has hitherto
been known.
All nationality is a LIVING ORGANISM, and
will give all that it hath for its life; but this
organism is strong in proportion to its vast area and
inexhaustible resources, to the complexity of its
interrelations and civilization, and to the perfection,
simplicity, and universality, of the principle of
political Equality and individual preparedness on
which it is based.
Democracy requires great things, and it achieves
great things, but the world's future is with it.
That Federated Democratic Empire has before it
a mighty mission, to react upon the world, "1 and
lead its isolated and fragmentary nationalities into
a higher unity," involving order, equality, and
economy of power,-Freedom, organization, and
the lightening of burdens everywhere.




PREFACE.                  vii
The material, political, and moral elements of
America are now completing.  Her material resources are unequalled.  Her political power
comes of an unrivalled material, political and
religious fireedom, and as slze hcas prove], there is
in the whole world no concentration of will so
intense, all pervading, and terrible,as that of a
Democracy.
The woral elements represent permanence and
stability.  The contest America has waged for
national Life, was also a contest for Morality and
Principle.
That making also meant the ascendency of the
nationality over its two deadly foes, — materialismn
and olicarcly.  It meant the definitive victory of
national Unity not only over law-made classes
(the vice of the old world), but over sectional and
sinister interests supported by:" State" power.
It is the NEXT STEP in the world-logic of
History, to the English and French Revolutions,
which settled on the carcases of Kings, the principle of the right divine of Peoples.
The Royal Nattion is at last definitively constituted.  The People sit at last in their own Purple,
— with no equal yet in the world, and with no
master save their conscience, their reason, cand
their God. Here then is the platform for a new
and indefinite advance in political science and combinations, and in social and Individual well-being.
England halts for wvant of mature elements of
Equality.  America stopped because the two ex



viii               PREFACE.
tremes of politics were both represented in her
body politic, and one had got to be destroyed
before the nation could advance. The majority
in power and value were prepared for self-government.  A  Section wouldc continue to rule over
others, and meanwhile, keep those others in a state
in which they could be ruled.  Between them was
essential war, and from the highest point of view,
the nation, before it could proceed, simply had
got to destroy the speciality of the section.  It
did its duty and destroyed it.  Broadly speaking,
for the nation self-government was a fact, but for
the section Slavery was also a fact, and one of the
two mu-st destroy the other.
Nor was it a local question only.  It was a
question Vwhether tluzmazity could  advance from
Chlristianity to the first self Governed Nation in
ezghteen huncdred years, or whzether it must pass
throcugh some vast cycle of blood, ruZin cand reaction,
of wzhich tose eighteen hzundred years may have
been but a fractio2.
America has done in fouryears a workl of giants
and of ages.  Rather, perhaps, all nations and all
time had prepared that nation for victory, as she
in turn has prepared Victory for all the world and
all the Future.
The work before her now is twofold.  To comlplete the destruction of Oligarchy, and the reconciliation of Demlocracy with Centralisation.  Each
is but a part of the world involving question of
the organisation of Democracy, or the reconciliation




PREFACE.                 ix
of Freedom with order. Obviously the only way
to solve this problem is to give to every individual
the means of learning to combine the two in himself. The freedom and the fitness for Freedom
must be as universal as the concentration of power
is intense.
This can only be achieved by a nation fit to
receive and determined to possess political E quality.
The main object of this work is therefore to
trace the Historical Development of that PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY in Education, in religion,
and in politics, entrusted by God to the care and
final vindication of the American nation.
Hitherto the world has assumed some inherent
antagonism between Freedom  and Centralisation.
A  true Demlocracy has at last established itself,
that not only develops an intenser Centralisation
than Despotism ever boasted, but that develops,
and also vindicates it, by a completer Freedom
than ever before could be permitted.
Freedom had before been shown to be compatible with order.  History now  goes a step
further, and proves that Democratic Equality is
the postulate and complement of organised power,
that Republican Equality by affirming individual
Freedom, consolidates national Unity, and that
Federal IRepublicanism solves the problem of the
safe and unlimited increase of an Empire.
But that this principle of Equality,-the last
and most important element, nay, the very essence




x                 PREFACE.
and soul of Democracy, has been tested by a
desperate contest, and an irrevocable victory, the
world need not have concerned' itself much about
the mere " Making of the American nation," and
its settlement as the mightiest conglomerate of
empire History has known.
It is precisely because it is not a lnere question
of territorial expansion, but rather a settlement by
court of zultimate appeal of the final question in
politics, a question  affecting  all systems and
Peoples, the question whether Individuality must
for ever give way to Unity, whether Freedom and
order can or cannot be reconciled, whether the
full Development of the man consists, or is
incompatible with the perfectest organisation of
the State.
Hitherto Government has always been a compromise (and after some infinitesimnal sort-must
always be a compromise) between Necessity and
Right, between Force and Consent, between Progress and Disease.
The essence of Government is order. Order
must reign by force or by consent. If force is
used against Right the Government is destroyed.
If consent is not yielded to the Right the People
perishes. Force is cheap and can be used by the
Few; (" anyone," said Cavour, "can govern by
martial law.") Consent to bad Government is
consent to ruin. Good Government can come only
of general Intellectual and moral Development.
Where the Government of the all is good Govern



PRLEFACEI                 A
nent, there only are the means and the end both
answered, there and there only is Democracy,there only is a Royal and also a loyal nation.
Broadly and absolutely, then, there are two great
elements of interest in this American question,; the
one of intensest interest, to that People; the other
of universal interest.
~
Federal Republicanism, —in the true sense of it
— a new element in politics, is rendered possible by
new manhood and material Developments.
The State, or t State right" system, avoiding
the old error of Federations,-the Imperium in
Imperio, maintains the proper local element of
right, energy, occupation, and dis-centralisation.
This new element would maintain the Balance
between, and has in fact forcibly adjusted the
differences of the parts and the whole, between
the Nation, " State," and Individclual.
Each State would successfully maintain and be
upheld in its juzst local claims by the universal
public opinion, and "' locality " would thus hold its
own against centralisation; each Individual, on
the other hand, helping to constitute the national
opinion and Sovereignty, would also help to set
aside and coerce any traitorous abuse of Freedom
and "locality," by whatsoever strength supported.
Had the American nation betrayed their trust,
chaos would have reigned in political philosophy,
and dismay would have smitten all Peoples.
Step by step, tyrannies had been isolated,




xii               PREFACE.
weakened, and destroyed, and freedom had matured
and advanced towards Equality, but the last and
greatest question  remained,-whether Equality
could ever be adopted as a principle of Government, or whether its existence in America was a
mere creature of the hour, of the country, or of
the race,-part of an immature civilisation and a
scattered people. Whether the universal people do
verily gravitate towards Democracy, or whether
political science has exhausted itself in the mixed
constitutional Governments. Whether nations as
well as Individuals can verily reign, and whether
the interests and the rights of " the All" are compatible with a "balanced" and orderly Government.
The result of the American struggle has not confounded but confirmed the conclusions of centuries.
America alone amongst nations has appealed to
the whole and to the all. Her manhood was
developed in Religion, in Politics, and in Education, and under this threefold stimulus and partnership in Democracy, the good and the bad; the North
and the South, the Republic and the Oligarchy,
grew together, till Lincoln and the Judgment.
And there is this further Law, which is perhaps
of the essence of the question,-those whzo will
not appeal to the all, dare not atppeal to the whole.
Those who would not serve the People, can only
partially develop even the instruments of oppression. Tyrants who do not dwarf, emasculate,
corrupt -or destroy their agents, have not studied
"the Prince," and may be safely trusted to destroy
themselves.




PREFACE.               xiii
Democracy not only appeals to and lives by the
complete Development of national manhood, but
it cannot live without it.
Thus, either by the comparative weakness or the
positive evil of systems imperfect or bad, does the
cause of the all advance.
Freedom, removed beyond the reach of the
enervating traditions and overpowering influence
of corporate bodies, Hierarchies, Castes, and
Coalitions, hostile to it in Church and in State,
develops itself naturally and irresistibly into the
principle of Equality. When a nation is free, the
Individuals who compose it will always use their
freedom to seek after Equality.
DEVELOPMENT (the term Education is corruptecld to mean mere learning) and ASSOCIATION
are the means whereby mankind advances. The
two together give power and unity to the People.
They are the premises of which the logical conclusion is EQUALITY.
The History of the world is a struggle for and
against these factors of Democracy.
~
And what is all this-but the very actual
History of the making of the American nation and
Democracy? —two hundred years, compressed in
about as many words and seconds. Americans
are a nation and search out Unity. Americans are
a Democracy, they will have their representation
complete. All nations will follow them.
In man are the forces, and they will out. Men




Xir               ]PREFACEK
who cannot see the necessity, of a gradually completed representation, will feel the ultima ratio of
revolution, destroying them and their phantasies
together. In politics there is no finality but with
the all.  Democracy is the goal of progress. The
fate of selfish and perverse oligarchies, if not their
blood  will be upon themselves or upon their
children.
" The making of the American nation" and Democracy thus appears to solve Problems which have
been propounded in vain since the world began.
These difficulties are inherent in Government,
but they affect all questions as to the extension of
territory, or the character and value of the iuationality, and will at once be appreciated by every
reader who will consider how, in every age and
Government of the past, centralisation has overpowered individual or provincial rights, or how
individual or local self-assertion have destroyed
national unity.
Thus, from  Despotism to anarchy, from excess
of freedom  to excess of organisation, the world
has swayed, till it had well nigh settled down to
disbelief in political perfectibility, and to accept
the dangerous heresy-as in France, that a good
autocrat is a good systemr,-in England, that a (so
called) mixed constitutional Government, is not
only the ne plu.s utltra of political science, but
really the form of Government under which England is to remain.
At last there comles forth a true Federal Republic




PREFACE.                 xv
whichl after infinite preparation and controversy,
is proved to be a nation, and as such is definitively
constituted, and proclaims to the world " here is an
arrangement which is not a constituted anarchy"
(Hegel) like Germany, nor an oligarchy like England, nor an autocracy like France,-which is
neither a compromise, a sacrifice, an interregnum,
nor an expedient,- which preserves Unity and
Individuality, organisation and local rights, not
in spite of but by means of each other, by a NEW,
but also a true, a complete, and a natural interprectation of the rights and properties of each.
It seems to me worth while to turn aside to see
this great sight, to see how these things are done
in America, and whether and to what extent, they
can be repeated elsewhere.
The thing is called FEDERAL REPUBLICANISM.  It implies a state of Society in which these
things are possible, and it will lead to a complete
re-modelling, not of the science, but of the practice
of politics.
In the present state of the world's History, and
of political science, when hostile Principles are
still contending in the West, and conflicting hostile
theories are on their trial everywhere; —when the
principles of Freedom and Slavery; of the rule of
the Collective Reason, or the deputed Power; of
virtual and actual representation; of autocracies,
Prerogatives, monarchies, oligarchies, privileges,
representations, and Democracies, have been sub



xvi               PREFACE.
mitted to the ultima ratio of nations;-when the
latest, the intensest, the strongest, and the worst
of oligarchies, is smitten in its Den by the best
Democracy that ever existed, —the only one that
ever proved its right to exist;-when political
dogmas, North and South, have been framed with
absolute precision and candour, and urged with the
inexorable logic of war; during such a contest,
I say, of Principles and Parties, to bring into a
focus, to concentrate and organise the essential
FACTS respecting the nation and the cause, which
occasioned, which maintain, and which will settle
the controversy, is, if honestly and carefully performed, a service not without importance in the
present, or meaning for the future.
It were a question for ideologists, and as such
would have its value, " what were a perfect Government for perfect men?"  It is a question for
antiquarians, 4 whether Governments that are
passed were suited to nations that are gone?''
The question of questions for living, fighting,
and praying men, was lately, whether America was
or was not ripe for Democracy; whether America
was or was not a nation: With some it is still a
question, whether influences which involve the
future of the whole world, are or are not now to
go forth upon it. Whether the nation, colonised,
educated, fitted, prepared, as the child and chamnpion of Democracy, is now to stand up before God
and the Peoples, to vindicate or to betray the truth
of the unity and equality of the race, —of the




PREFACE.                 xvii
force that resides in the COLLECTIVE REASON of a
nation, and in the recuperative energies of free
Institutions. Whether America is the last, and the
greatest of failures, or the first, the greatest, and
the only Rupublic.
The Americans are on their trial, not the Principles. Principles are not on their trial, they are
before and after Peoples, eternal, and "1patient,
because eternal."
Oligarchy has been on its trial since the world
began, and has constantly been condemned and
respited times without number, simply because
"the world's government must be carried on."
Democracy rests on Christianity, which taught the
natural unity and equality of man, and the means
to realise it, and, as a principle, Democracy can
never go on its trial, till Christianity go with it.
The question in any age, and of any race and
form of Government, is, "is the actual form suited
to the actual race?"  What is the perfect theory
as applied to an instructed People, is not the question for uninstructed Peoples, nor ever will be.
Let us then believe in, and rest upon the unchangeable, while we question the questionable,
and assail that which ought to be, because it can
be, destroyed.
We have seen that the strongest, the completest
military, social, and political organisation of oligarchy the world ever knew, has not been strong
enouglh to break down the Democracy of America.
We shall see that America is fit for Democracy,




xvii-           PREFACE.
-for that.rule by and for the all, to which the
world tends as surely as to the judgment!
And knowing what to doubt and what not to
doubt,-what to investigate in order to test and
destroy, and what to examine in order to exalt
and to imitate,-let us also make sure of one
thing more,-that the truth can be attained respecting this American nation, and can be attained by
uIs, now. That truth is one and indivisible, that it
is made for man and man for it, that it is made to
be understood by human reason, and that the
collective human reason of an educated nation, is
likelier to reduce it to practice, than are the units.
Democracy looks through every man back to
that which is behind him- in him,-the Soul,the Infinite,-God.
All other theories look to that which is about a
manl,-his property, his rankl his " qualifications."
But these are only questions of adjustment and
preparation,-as answering the question, "a for what
instalment of self-goverment is this nation ready?
~
America now attains its majority. The hour
of its manhood has struck.  For a complete
nationality it wanted two things; —a thorough
application of the principles of Freedom and
Equality irrespective of skin-caste, and a more
complete administrative unity.
These things the war has provided or is the
means of providing. The Slave fight was a " big




PREFACE.                xix
job." It was the fiery ordeal through which America
had to pass from federation to nationality.
"THE SOUTH" has been the occasion; FREEDOM
AND EQUALITY of conditions the motive power;
and the various NATIONAL UNITIES, the ultimate
bases upon which the movement depends.
Two centuries ago England exported that Nation
and that Democracy to America,-but it was in
retail, in little, in embryo. Nevertheless all but time
and numbers, was furnished by this nation, for that.
Usually, Democracy does not make Civilisation,
but Civilisation Democracy. There, Freedom and
Religion had already made men Priests and Kings
unto themselves, and thus completed and planted
in the boundless West, Democracy, Civilisation,
and Nationality, worked together, and each upon
the other, till they produced another English
nation, without certain institutes of Feudality and
relics of Barbarism, certain forms of force or
favour in Church and in State still surviving and
fastened upon ourselves.
The laws,-economic, moral, and political, that
govern nations, reveal, at the present epoch, no limit
to American nationality Southward, until central
America is reached, the region of Panama, where,
whether formally or not, there will be of necessity
a real neutralisation between all the living and
trading nations of the earth. For Panama will
become the greatest thoroughfare, and most important Highway for all nations.
e



Ad-       ~IPREEFACE.
I here, assume, for reasons amply  detailed
hereafter, that the American nation is ready
for and worthy of Democracy, and that they
are now putting beneath their feet their only
dangerous foe,-Oligarchy, with its eldest-born,
Slavery. For if Slavery, or any other phase of
Oligarchy, —save that natural one which will rise
and fall for ever with individual character and
talent, -prevail in America, then, there is for it,
neither Democracy nor National Unity, but Disunion and foreign alliances, and for other Peoples
whose cause it represents, but a return to the
vicious inane cycles of the political past.
The American nationality rests now, upon a
Unity of Ideas, Circumstances, and Interests; of
Race, Language, Literature, Religion, Institution;
also upon-the natural material unities of its mountain and water systems, and upon the powerful
artificial ones, of commerce, coin, banks, postservice, weights and measures, telegraph, rail, and
revenue.
The more one knows of the facts of National
History,-the more complete one's comprehension
of the principles of Statesmanship, the more
thorough will be the acquiescence in the irresistible
influence of such a combination of all the factors
of Nationality.
Nor does the natural Territorial Unity  of
America stay with the present limits of the nation.
Northwards as Southwards must the propa



PREFACE,                xxi
gandism of Freedom and neighbourhood naturally
and ultimately extend.
The Lakes of Canada are moving roads,-not
barriers. The races and languages of Canada are
French as well as English, and as much American
as either. American Eagles and English Sovereigns divide the circulation of gold, while the
silver coinage is almost exclusively American.
The influences that tend to unite Canada with
America, if not in name, in reality and substance,
may be peaceful and slow, but they are irresistible.
It is notorious how Napoleon, in a tract prepared
at Ham, pointed out how a certain spot near
Panama possesses all the requisites for a great,
world-centre of commerce.
I mention elsewhere these ideas of Napoleon
III. as to Panama. Similar purposes visited
the mighty mind of Pitt, who said, "you must
take Panama." But see the sequel as to the
necessary effects of this transit on the commerce
of the world in favour of America, and see Captain
Pim's " Gate of the Pacific," as to the idea that
America intends to retain and to monopolise its
advantages, and the consequent necessary abandonment by England of Australia, New Zealand, and
British Columbia.
The leading facts of this great question have
been familiar to everybody but the English, ever
since the last century, when the Abbe Raynal
wrote,-"- Some careful observers affirm  that a
2




xxii                  PREFACE.
quiet possession of the Mosquito country would
one day be more valuable to Great Britain than
all the Islands which that nation possesses in the
West Indies."
It is a strange comment on English " Statesmanship " that with the keys of the Gates of the East
and of the West, of Suez and  Panama, in the
hands of her possible enemies, England makes
no worthy effort at neutralisation of transit routes.
The master'of Miexico would of course control
the Tehuantepec route, and his power in respect to
the other two passages cannot fail to be enormous.
According to a report presented to Congress and
hereafter referred to, the securing to Americans
the Panama passage will give to much of the
American Pacific commerce, an advantage equal to
fourteen thousand miles, as compared with the old
relations between American and English shipping.
"' When in the History of all time," we may well ask with
Buchanan (Message, January, 1861), "when  has a confederacy been bound together by such strong ties of mutual
interest. Each portion of it is dependent upon all, and all
upon each portion for prosperity and domestic security. Free
trade throughout the whole supplies the wants of one from the
productions of another, and scatters wealth everywhere."
And the political standpoint is still stronger, now
that Slavery is dead, —
"The question then is," says Mill (Representative Government, p. 310), "whether the different parts of a nation
require to be governed in a way so essentially different, that
it is not probable the same Legislature and the same ministry
or administrative body will give satisfaction to them all,
unless this be the case, which is a question of fact, it is better,for them to be completely united."




PREFACE.                xxiii
And in this view it should be remenmibered, that
although the rebellion began with fraud and conspiracy against the Union, with Lynch law and
compulsion on the majority of Southerners, and
in violation of the State Constitutions, -yet the
necessities of war, its intense purpose, its absolute
discipline, its supreme devotion to an idea, and the
habitual dedication of life itself to a" cause,-may
have educated many Southern partisans to a height
of character in direct contrast with their cause.
Let others sing the glories of the chivalry that
fights for human wrongs; we acknowledge with
thankfulness, that the nation of negroes can never
now be used as the labour basis of the far South,
-that they are identified with. the American nation,
and the cause of freedom,-that instead of being
available for a future slave empire, they will carry,
as they only could, a propagandism of freedom into
warmer latitudes that " may be hereafter acquired"
for the nation.
The great fighting South was the intensest
concentration of Power for evil, since Satan sat on
his burning throne, and his legions were still for
war! It was the most complete administrative
military Despotism that ever existed, but it had
opposed to it the Genius and Individuality of the
Teutonic race,-the Democracy, the Law and Freedom loving race, which will have before all things
equal social and political conditions,-the great
Puritan race which never had a conqueror and




xxiv              PREFACE.
never will. The Norman race, the Cavaliers, the
race that cares not for inequality, if splendidly
led, was beaten in England by that other, and it
has gone to America only to be still further depleted by the larger emigration of Puritans, by the
Negroes, and by ever repeated additions of the
German stock. The South was an  Oligarchy
organising a Democracy, hence its strength and its
weakness. It had against it ultimately the natural
race-tendency of the ideas of the majority of the
American people, the greater strength of the Puritan
ideal, and its superior wealth, eqliplment, and population.
The South was strong.   It organised and
fought as a Slaveholding Oligarchy only can.
it led a Democracy that could fight as men of
Individual thought and action do. It fails because there is such a thing as moral, industrial,
social, and political propagandism, and because between it and the North, there is no adequate difference of race, language, or institution, boundary,
climate, or Religion.
A word here upon two other subjects.  First,
why has the rule of the All not produced even
better " Government" in America? Second, why
have not' civil rights" been more completely
acted upon there in the matter of " Equality?"I
I melan during some thirty years before the war.




PREFACE.                  xxv
To the first question I answer, " Democracy has
failed only so far as its postulates have not been
granted."
Democracy demands development. Americans
have, to a certain extent, been partially educated,
uneducated, and wrongly educated.  As far as the
cause prevails the result follows.
The South, a third part in numbers, has been
wrongly, perversely, educated. Another large division has been partially educated, by and for frontier
life.  Immigrants are often partially  educated,
uneducated, and wrongly educated. In a word,
Democracy fails where it is not Democracy. Other
systems fail, because they are those systems.
This mis-development of the South has poisoned
the last sixty years of National History, and the
balance of parties, North and South, Democrats
and Republicans, lent, from the question of President downwards, a factitious value to compromises,
" availabilities" and intrigues.
This contrary principle-the. principle of Oligarchy in Politics and in Society —gathered itself
up against Equality, and until that mighty issue is
tried out, minor ones must wait.
"'Tis dangerous when a meaner nature comes
"Betweein the pass and fell incensed points
"Of mighty opposites."
Slavery and Oligarchy not only warred directly
against Freedom, but they warred against the intellect and progress of the country which was for




xxvi              PREFACE.
many years organised almost exclusively in reference to this one question.
~
The same reasons might be alleged for any
imperfect apprehension of the right use of Equality.
But the leading cause doubtless is that America
has, throughout her entire existence, waged a war
of opinion, diplomacy, or arms, for Equality,
against all opponents. War for a Principle, is not
favourable to criticism of it. In its mighty reaction
against an Inequality of four thousand years, it
has been concerned chiefly to assert Equality,Equality the great fountain of intellectual development.  And as for the last thirty years the
greatest foes of Equality have been certain American factions, the question actually considered in
American politics has been, not who is the ablest
statesman, but who will best promote or oppose
the progress of Slavery and Oligarchy. The next
step will now be to distinguish and to organise,
and in organising to allow to governing qualities
and to governing intellects their proper and natural
rank and place.
The American Declaration of Independence but
enunciated the theory, its revolution but vindicated
the fact, towards which all history had been gravitating-the fact of the political equality of the
race.   That great People has now again vindicated the conclusions of History and the Title




PREFACE.                 xxvii
Deeds of the Republic.  It took four thousand
years, and the raw material of scores of other
nations to make this royal one, and three thousand
miles of sea were not too much to keep the Holy
Alliance from its throat.
How, after the principle of Equality is seen to be
absolutely safe, the practice of it may be rectified
by a truer interpretation of the principle itself;
how the nation will settle down after assured victory, we know not. But this we know, that, if
at the present epoch it be found that ignorance
p.revents Equality from being universal, ignorance
will speedily be banished, and that a universal
statesmanship will reconcile Freedom and Equality,
by reconciling opinion with truth. Whatever else
she does, America will not go back to Oligarchy.
The results of national life are cumulative, and
it is not for nothing that the Anglo-American
nation has been true to the principles of its origin
through every trial that the Forces of Evil have
been able to stir up against it from within or from
without.
There is an age for all things. Oligarchy is a
necessity of the infancy of States. Democracy
belongs to their manhood, and is possible as soon
as the majority of Individuals possess the governing
qualities.
" Order is the first law of earth;" and because
until now, the world has usually seen Individuality
bow to the necessities of law, it forgets that the
only warrant of Law is necessity, and that any rule




xxviii                PREFACE.
of the Few can only be provisional. Order was
made for man; not man for order.
But to have established, however roughly and
imperfectly, the fact, towards which all things from
creation have gravitated, that a nation  can exist
on the Principle of Equality in the threefold relationships of man to the Spiritual, the Political, and
the Social-this, were America sunk in the ocean
to-morrow, or were the " chivalry" of the dark
ages again to assail it, and with success, —this, I say,
is the greatest (secular) conclusion respecting the
Progress of the species, and the science of Human
advancement, ever yet settled in Politics.
The National salvation has been worked out at
the fearful cost predicted, and almost imprecated
by one of the greatest of Americans.@'
M Mr. Adams had repeatedly and almost alone assailed the
21st, or Gag Rule, which denied the right of petition against
Slavery.  In 1843 he spoke of the Government as having become the most perfect despotism in the Christian world.
It was only two years before (1841) that Mr. Adams had
been assailed by an organised attempt to destroy his influence by a vote of censure of the House, on a question of
petition, but he commenced his defence in a manner which
showed it would cover the whole question of Slavery, referring
to the precedent of Burke and Warren Hastings, and pledged
himself to close his defence as soon as possible consistently
with duty,-probably in vinety days. This opened the eyes of
the Slave party, and they moved to table the question.
Such was the effect of Adams's eloquence on this occasion,
that one of his assailants, who had risen to confront him, unconsciously retained his position like a " standing corpse,"
after Adams had concluded, and with no other sign of life




]PREEFACE.                    xxix
~
Well has it been said that, " for the first time in
the whole History of the Human Race, a people
than a nervous tremor, which pervaded his system. This assailant afterwards said of another,-"' Well, if Keim has fallen
into old Adams's hands, may God have mercy on his soul."
It was during the debate, in 1843, that an incidental remark
was made by Mr. Adams, that was often quoted in subsequent
years. Mr., Dillett, of Alabama, a man of age and of talents
above the mediocrity of members, was speaking upon this
report. Like other Representatives from the South, he appeared anxious to assail Mr. Adams. He held in his hand the
report of a speech delivered by the object of his assault to
the coloured people of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. From this he
read the following passage: —" We know that the day of your
redemption must come.  The time and the manner of its
corning we know not. It may come in peace, or it may come
in blood; but, whether in peace or in blood, let it come."
Having read this sentence, he invoked attention to it, and
in order that all might appreciate it, he read it a second time;
and as his voice died away, Mr. Adams, in his seat, with peculiar emphasis, added, " 1 say now, let it conme." Dillett, apparently
indignant at what he regarded the audacity of Mr. Adams,
added, " Yes, the gentleman now says let it come, though it
cost the blood of thousands of white men."  To which Mr.
Adams rejoined: " 2'houglz it cost the blood of millions of white
Mnen, let it come; let justice be done though the heavens fall!"
These words rose from the lips of the aged patriot like the
prayer of faith from one of heaven's anointed prophets. A
sensation of terror ran through the ranks of the Slaveholders.
Dillett stood apparently lost in astonishment, and all were
silent and solemn until the Speaker awoke members to the
subject before them by declaring, " the gentleman from Massachuzsetts is out Of order."-[Gidding's History of the Rebellion,
its Authors and Causes. Pp. 167-9, 217-18.]




xxX                PREFACE.
to the extent of twenty millions, have risen up and
said, -' we will forfeit our prestige before the world;
we will jeopard our name even as a great republic;
we will run the risk even of a terrible civil war,
such as the world has never seen; we will do all
this sooner than we will suffer that human slavery
shall be extended one inch.'"
If America fall from Equality to Oligarchy, she
must fall after her greatest sacrifices for the right,
she must fall through two hundred years of History,
she will carry with her to destruction the culminating hopes of the future, and leave the greatest
of all political problems to be solved by some more
favoured nation.
Such fears respecting American Destiny are the
very drunkenness of folly. Nations never die but
by Suicide, and America has but just given proof
of a renovated morality and life.
But the full consideration of these questions belongs to a work especially on " Democracy," in
which I have attempted their discussion.
~
Now that a Democratic nation is established, the
pace of politics will be a very different affair. It
will be seen throughout the world that Democracy
must prevail; it will be settled that education shall
prepare for it.
That which alone can guarantee good and equal
government in permanence, will also render im



PREFACE.               xxxi
possible that hite,'to immutable political situation,
a successful alliance between the positively and the
negatively bad, between those who profit by partial
rule, and those who hope to profit by it.
When a sufficient number of the All possess
power, that of the sections will vanish, and instead
of some ridiculous sort of protestantism in politics,
we shall have (politically) a wholesome destruction
of the genus " Whig," whilst Toryism will then be
outnumbered and outvoted.
In America, oligarchs and slaveholders could
neither have intrigued nor fought without the
" Democrats."  In England the " Quarterly"
preaches actual war against Democracy; but just
as the South waited too long, until Republicanism
and free Labour had demoralised the Border States,
and cast the Balance of Power against it, so, in
like manner, has Toryism already lost the day.
And the eras correspond. The " Quarterly" and
the Slaveholders should both have gone to war
before 1832, before Equality, 4which has gained
since then victory upon victory, was either properly
organised or adequately led.
Equality and oligarchy can never long co-exist,
in any country. Where the bases of Development,
Free School, Press, Church, and Assembly, can
be made sure, there the rule of minorities is iunpossible, and the triumph of Equality is guaranteed
by Nature, History, and God.
The principle of "' Equality of conditions," which




xxxii              PREFACE.
is also the master passion of America, is the great
antagonist of the South, of Secession, and of Olig-.
archy.
Had the war ended without a victory, this passion and principle of Equality would effectually,
and in due course, by the quiet resistless energies
of its propagandism, destroy Oligarchy.
It is a stock remark that Celts love Equality,
but will tolerate Despotism; and that Teutons will
have Freedom, will not have Despotism, but will
put up with privileged orders, and unequal conditions.
The perfecting mongrel breed of America will
have neither Despotism nor Inequality,-but the
latter they hate with a perfect hatred.'
Nothzing can oppose itself to the ultimate progress in America, of Freedom and Equality.
The Education, self-restraint, and Loyalty of
American Democracy, are a guarantee that' equal
conditions" will be abiding amongst them, and
with these neither Slavery nor any other political
phase of Oligarchy can co-exist.
In the American constitution Slavery existed as
a fact,-Freedom  as a Principle.  The Nation
could attain its due proportions only as the principle of Freedom should destroy the fact of
Slavery,-first of the body, and progressively of
Intellect and Soul.
Had Slavery not been in the nation, this war
had not been.  " The war" simply showed that




PREFACE.              xxxiii
the nation was on its promotion. That it was going
to be neither a failure nor a suicide. That it must
dispose of its barbarous and factious Slave growth,
before it could prove and complement its nationality, and'" mount up higher."
" The world hath passed me like a ship at sea,"
must be somewhat the feeling of all who have
discussed or regarded this question, not believing
in American Nationality.
Impertinence has chased impertinence, and
every point raised by ignorance and kept by presumption has run its career, and died its natural
death, but those questions only that relate to the
present and future of the nation, remain.
" Well, he could hardly have missed it if he
kept on," was the comment of a Yankee up)on
the discovery of America by Columbus.
The foundations of the Nation are as broad and
as solid as those of the Continent, and the supposition that such a nation could be swept away or
dismembered by such a rebellion, as that which
has just been subdued, was always regarded by me
as one of the most marvellous of all intellectual
heresies. Such a conclusion proves a wide spread
ignorance not only of the essential facts, and special
constituent elements of the American nation, but
of the conditions and meaning of Nationality
generally.




xxxiv             PREFACE.
I should have thought it easier far, to sail
westward for ever from Europe, and yet to miss
America, than, comprehending anything of what
is a " Nation," and especially of the glorious proportions and majestic strength of the American
nation, to assume that it could fall away in its
early youth, with its world-work undone, and
time-tasks unperformed.
The man does not live, who) could worthily
describe that Nation, or unfold its unmatched resources. But who can follow its History, from its
source in the Democratic Puritanism  of middleclass England, —see how it loved to think, and
yearned to worship, —trace its struggles for Individual, Municipal, and National rights,-read its
Declaration,-mark its spontaneous reconstruction, -read its claims upon  " the immutable
" laws of human nature, and the traditions. of
~ English immunities,"-note how  the Godlike
contagion of its ideas swept back over Europe,
till it lighted up in the North those flames of
Moscow that might indeed have been' the Aurora
of the liberties of all Peoples,"- mark its combination of entire Freedom with intense loyalty, its
thirty years struggle against Slavery, its final
Battle for Freedom and Nationality in one, the
preludes of its second Reconstruction under the
auspices of its great Puritan President, and how
Action and Reaction every where wait for its
issues, -- who,  I ask, can see, and know, and




PREFACE.;              xxxvs
understand these things, and doubt of American
Democracy or Nationality, without doubting also of
all other Histories, Philosophies, Moralities, Principles, and Facts, together?
Democrats and Conservatives, Copperheads and
the South, will doubtless endeavour to reinstate
the situation which formerly gave power to the
South, and place to Democrats. If they succeed
before the negro can receive the suffrage, they may
virtually reinstate the rebellion.
To this end they may use the question of the
Southern debt or of the negro suffrage, as a platform to unite upon, and if Southern Freedom be
acknowledged without guarantees for Negro Equality, then the Principle of the war, and of the National History and life will have been surrendered.
The North however is strong enough and clear
enough to insist upon Negro Equality,-the best
free labour propagandism-not only as a principle,
but as a material guarantee of victory. Until that
be attained no peace or settlement is possible, and the
basis of representation will remain an open question.
The life of a nation is an organic whole, and the
science of politics is absolute, and as far from
doubt as from fear. The American nation will
be true to the principles of its origin, life and
progress. To reinstate the rebellion would be but
to reinstate its defeat.
d




xxxv               PREFACE.
A nation that has been created for Equality,
organised on Equality, and that has fought the
great battle of its life for Equality, cannot reverse,
its habitudes except through a process constantly
repeated and indefinitely prolonged. All precedents confirm the conclusion that America will
complete her Equcality as between Individuals, her
Freedom as between Individuals and the State, her
adyjustments as between State and Nation, her
strength and coherence as a National and Federative
Unity.
It was in 1775 that John Adams spoke of that
"alteration of Southern constitutions which must
certainly take place if this war continues, and will
gradually bring all the continent nearer and nearer
to each other in all respects."  The latent war of
passions and ideas will continue for a time. In
that war the weapons of the North and of the
nation, are, in a word, all the elements of prosperity let loose during the last five years. The
march of ideas and of interests, of that Education
which in the last century Jefferson souight to carry
into the South, the propagandism of free labour
and free thought, -the Americanising of the So uth,is a process from which the South can never extricate itself save by cutting itself adrift from that
continent. Free Ideas, capital and labour, will
carry Equality into the heart of the South, and
will overwhelm  and  destroy Inequality in the
North,-_ the irrepressible conflict must be settled.




PHREFACE.             xxxvii
The Border States are now  the North, and
Republicanism will be both Government and nation.
But to glance for a moment at the highest view,
it must be admitted that there is after all no finality
in mere politics. Democracy is more than Politics,
and has to do with manhood. The development and
organisation of the whole as to the Individual, and of
the All as to numbers, is the completed work of Democracy, and the energies of States have finally to
be transferred from old world questions of protection of rights, to those of new developments and
combinations of power. We train the material,
mental, and moral manhood of nations, that, having
thus worked out and through political questions, we
may concentrate manhood upon itself.
This then is the final justification of politics,
it prepares the platform upon which man may be
prepared for the Infinite.
As I have said, the steps by which nations
advance are Development,-Association,-Equality. What may be the struggles by which this
progress is to be consummated, is with futurity;
we behold, not in nations, but in HUMANITY,
the final unity, in Individual and National Development, its preparation; and  in the Federal
Principle, its formal bond. And doubtless the
completion of this first nation upon the basis of individual political Equality, secures the next great step
in the series along wlhicl Humanity has to advance.
lrro0ir CLUB,
31cay, 1866.








INTRODUCTION.
"THE gradual development of the equality of conditions, is
therefore a providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a Divine decree: it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as
all men contribute to its progress.
The whole book which is here offered to the public, has been
written under the impression of a kind of'religious dread produced
in the author's mind by the contemplation of so irresistible a
revolution, which has advanced for centuries in spite of such
amazing obstacles, and which is still proceeding in the midst of
the ruins it has made.
I know without a special revelation, that the planets move in
the orbits traced by the Creator's finger. * * * *
If the men of our time were led by attentive observation and
by sincere reflection, to acknowledge that the gradual and progressive development of social equality is at once the past and
future of their history, this solitary truth would confer the sacred
character of a divine decree upon the change.  To attempt to check
Democracy would be in that case to resist the will of God."
1De Tocqueville, p. 21, Introduction.
13








INTRODUCTION.                     3
CONTENTS.
FIVE popular errors on national questions.-The Prima
facie view. —Guarantees of freedom and nationality peculiar
to the North.-The raison d'6tre of the rebellion.-Complex
and simple issues.-The " Heaven and Hell amalgamation."The Science of Politics.-Three items of national power.The material unity.-The Mlan.-The Institution. —Men and
principles.- -Material and Spiritual force.-Mortal poison of materialism. —Incalculable force of a complete nation.-Recognised
tests of nationality.-Material Bases.-Organic functions.Unity.-Material and Geographical Unity.-Individual value.
-Balance of Institutions and principles.-Historical morality
and development. —Result. - The epic of slavery. - Former
peace, essential war.-Materialism  and Slavery.-The crisis of
American Destiny.-Completion of American nationality and
freedom. — Southern " Nationality."-Majority against it.Leading principles, associations, and ideas against it. —]Equality.
-Freedom. —Nationality.-Independence.-Influence of the
army. The historical use of the South.-History and Principles of America. —Freedom.-Democracy.-Principle. —American Constitution.-Recognition of Slavery.-Effect of " Sovereign State." —Political genius and mobility of the nation. —
Elevation and reconstruction of the nation.-Party divisions,
reactions, and platforms. —Organic whole of History.- Primary
Truths.-General conclusions.
IN reasoning upon great national questions there
are five errors against which we must guard.
By the first, men exalt the material means and
issues, above the moral. They put armies before
opinion.
The second, is that they make no allowance for
the momentum  of ideas, and of passions, in great
crises. -  For the logic, which having committed
men to a side, carries them  on to lengths they did
not intend; for the enthusiasm of great assemblies
and a common cause, and the passion that hurls
B 2




4  INTRODUCTION.
men on to conclusions. Men who are pledged for
life or death, will always destroy or use the men who
cannot act with equal energy and decision, on the
one side or the other.
The third: is to forget the perspective of events,
and allow the present to overshadow the future,
without giving to either its true significance.
The fourth, is a false ideal of that complex and
marvellous thing - national life. He who knows
not somewhat of the oryanic whole,-of the essential
facts of a nation's history, can form no sound theory
of political causation, —has no right to any opinion,
either on its present or its future, or on the value
or relative significance of any particular fact.
But the worst and most childish error of all,
would be to suppose that the leading men of a
section, however large, of a country with unity of
race, language, institutions, boundary, and religion,
can, at will) constitute it a kind of Banyan-tree
nationality, and wipe out and reverse, even by an
agony of volition, the results of the past centuries,
or the overruling facts of the present age.
We have no ambition to write for those who
assume, that because the republican " experiment"
has been attacked,-therefore it has failed, or that
because it is being tried, — therefore it is condemned.
The American constitution and nation, are to be
judged by theory or by result. Men who judge by
result must wait for it. But neither theory nor
fact can possibly condemn a nation, because it has
had once in its life, a three years' rebellion: which
after three years is still only a rebellion.
Judged by facts which shew its strength, and con



INTRODUCTION.              -5
sidering that it started without Generals, and organisation, against a foe well led and disciplined, we
may say that the sheer fighting force, fidelity, and
Patriotism, of American Democracy, have done a
work not unworthy to compare with the results of
even Napoleon's campaigns, and this either in improvement in discipline and Generalship, the number
of men under arms, the numbers of rebels put hors
de combat, the strategic value of positions gained,
or the mighty reach of territory reconquered.
In character and national morality the progress
is still greater.
Why then should it be supposed that there canll
be two American nations, in America?
Is it an old and common thing on the earth, for
a nation of one race, language, Boundary, Institution, and religion, suddenly to fall in twain at the
summons of any power or interest whatsoever?
It may be said " There must be some leaven
"' working in the South that we know not of." We
answer, this is but the delusion of those who will
not believe that the South is defeated till they
know that it is destroyed.
Let those who have studied and learnt the meaning of the word "  NATION" -its tenacity and intensity, and who know by precedent, how only one or
two of the above named Unities, have defied all
disintegrating energies for ages, and at last conquered them-answer, - why the contrary result
should happen in America,-and give their reasons.
True, there is a vague idea that North America
is " too large for one nation," and people have
heard men scoff at the i Heaven-invented constitution of America," till they think themselves entitled




6              INTRODUCTION.
to assume that it does not contain any new invention
in Statesmanship,-that it is not calculated to hold
together vast conglomerations of men, and thus
they make tleir false subscriptions, —as other honest
and God fearing men, without being able even to
define that to which they subscribe.
" Lie nods to lie, each falsehood has it brother,
And half the foolish thing reflects the other."
One might have supposed that the obvious and
marvellous intensity of the nationality in question,
and its obvious and marvellous Territorial Unity,
might counteract, even with those who only regard
the surface, the idea that " America is too large
for one nation."  America is larger than other
countries!-well, and is not the nationality more
intense, and the unity of territory more obvious
and complete?
But further, do we not know that the phantom
nationality of the South, exactly coincides with the
interests of avarice, lust, and oliqarckzy, that give to
the South its desperate purpose, and relentless
grasp?  The combined energies of Proprietors
accustomed to use up the labour and life of slaves,
and enabled by their monopoly to charge the
balance of the Slave's loss on the rest of the world;
of Libertines who had a monopoly in Lust, as well
as in Cotton, and want to keep both; of Oligarchs
who by the nature of the cotton trade, and the
whole nature and necessities of their position, were
accustomed to despise and use the common people;
— are not all these we ask, more than enough to
account for the rebellion?
And finally, were all the precedents and conclu



INTRODUCTION.                  7
sions of all the rebellions of the world reversed, is
it of no account that America is the country of the
common People, —a country which this rebellion
would dismember,  and a people it would disfranchise; the nation, of which the great writer
on Democracy, declares, that they will destroy all
attempts at introducing " unequal conditions"? It
is a nation of refugees from oligarchies in Europe,
and they are scarcely the nation to offer to oligarchy an asylum there.
Many, however, will never learn what is a nation,
of which every member possesses his full rights, and
a stake in the progress and conservatism of the
country, until the lesson is forced upon them by
the success of the American nation. That lesson
the world wants every way.
To others, it will suffice to remember the
guarantees of freedom, of equality of conditions,
of municipal rights, and therefore of nationality,
which are nezo and special to America.
Either that part of the American nation, called
the South, will retain Slavery, or will relinquish it.
If it retain it, without the former monopolies, it
will be destroyed by it.  If it relinquish it, it
abandons the only real barrier and speciality, that
can separate between it, and the rest of the nation.
The South finds itself in this dilemma.-Of two
things one,-Slavery will remain, or cease. If it
remain, it will destroy the South, for there will
be now no partnership with the free North, to mitigate the natural results, economic, social, or political, of Slavery.  If Slavery fail, and fall away,
then there will remain no distinctive interest or
characteristic, strong enough to  encomnter the




8             INTRODUCTION.
propagandism of free Northern influences, and of
oneness of race, institution, language, boundary, and
religion. Slavery could not exist without creating an
oligarchy, with all its worst peculiarities, and binding it up in indissoluble bonds of interest, caste, and
character, with the mean white. Slavery, in America, could not fail, without leaving oligarchy for
execution. Therefore either Slavery will remain, and
destroy the South,-or it will fall away, and leave its
distinctive features and class interests to perish.
What then is the raison d'etre and meaning of
the rebellion?-The rebellion is a result, and a
cause. The gradual growth of Individual freedom
and national power, compelled Slavery to choose
between a constitutional, and a violent Death. It
chose the latter.
But the South was also a cause. The principles
of national authority and personal freedom demanded their completion. What should accomplish
it? The North was to be chastised for complicity
with Southern crime. What was to be the instrument of chastisement?  Slavery was to be destroyed, with or without the South. What was to
be-the agency? Vengeance was to descend on the
South. Through whom? Why the completing
of American  nationality,-the chastisement of
northern complicity,-the destruction of slavery —
the avenger of the negro, — were all to be found in
the idea of NATIONALITY which held fast the South
in strong delusion or in strong pretence. It visited
the North with war, and the South with war, and
pestilence, and famine. And Jeff. Davis has assisted
at the "making of a nation,"-but that "nation"
is not "1 the South."




INTRODUCTION.                 9
The South will always command in history a
strong antiquarian interest, but when Jeff. Davis
and his three Demons pestilence, famine, and war,
shall have swept the South clear, or when the
thunders and lightnings of the North shall have
destroyed cities, compared with which, Sodom was
chaste, and Gomorrah clean, —then, also, antiquated
reputations will expire by the score in England,
and new reputations, also, that might otherwise have
lived and flourished, will fall still-born and dead.
No man who misunderstands Democracyin America can hope either to be believed, understood, or
trusted: as a leader of Liberalism in England.
It is not even true that the American " Constitution is in danger," in the ordinary sense of the
words. It is contrarywise true, that no Government on the face of the earth is less on its trial,
than is the American.
Every constitution is in danger, when the nation
advances beyond it to great conquests in morality,
in social science, and in Statesmanship. But even
this advance is not revolutionary in America, for
the nation but returns to the raison d'etre, sanctions,
and origin of the nationality, and to the Declaration,
its first authentic formula.
The constitution is in danger of being saved. It is
rescued from pettyfoggers, and interpreted largely
and loyally, by the, context of the events of that
age, and the characters and interests of the founders;
and shall a miserable constitution-monger tell us
that salvation is " danger," and that to bring that
formula up to the nation, and back to its title deeds,
is " destruction?"  We say there is so little truth
in such assertions that it is impossible to make even




10              INTRODUCTION.
good lies out of them. It. were as reasonable to
complain that a Sinner is in danger when he is
saved, -because he is transformed into a Saint.
Those who exclaim against this danger to the
constitution, either believe that Slavery was matter
of municipal law, or national. If they say it was matter of municipal law only, and that the nation could
not take cognizance of it, then they challenge in
one breath the deepest law and fundamental right
of the nation's existence, and deny to it also the
right of self-preservation,-for the nation exists as
the champion of freedom, and it can only continue to
exist as it destroys slavery. If they say it is matter
of national concern and action —so says the North,
If they arraign Northern interpretation, they
cannot arraign its action, unless they either deny
that Slavery is a national danger, or that a nation
has a right to save itself.
We leave such men to the superb disdain of a
Mirabeau,- quoting the Roman. They taunted him
with violating forms.  He ended the debate and
the argument, with,-"- Gentlemen, I swear that I
have saved France!"
How else can we address such men? It is the
crime of Lincoln not that he thrusts at Slavery
through the Constitution, but that he saves America, and vindicates Democracy.
~
But while Democracy is surely triumphing in
America, Democracy in England is hesitating,
inconsistent, and divided, and it is fronted by the
corporate unities of various monopolies in Church
and in State, and by divers relics of Barbarism,




INTRODUCTION.             1 1
still strongly entrenched behind their strongholds
of Feudality.  It is branded as " uncertain, enfeebled, debauched."  In this situation, the best
service that can be rendered to progress in England,
is to make clear to Englishmen, the Principles,
meaning, and results of the great Democratic revolution in the west, where popular institutions have
a clear field, and to shew that all there that tends
to revolution, is of oligarchy, Slavery, and a spurious
Democracy, and that Conservatism and Radicalism,
order and the People, march hand in hand to the
destruction of these their ancient enemies, with a
step that neither hastens nor rests, and a purpose
that cannot vacillate.
The great writer on American Democracy has
remarked, that complex ideas have no chance, in
the popular mind, against simple ones. A simple
and plausible proposition, essentially false, will
often be accepted rather than a complex and involved statement of the truth.
" Slavery " is one of these " simplicities." Nobody, except Mr. Spence and Exeter Hall, wants
to have it proved that Slavery is wrong. But it is
clear that the Sin of it attaches somewhere, and
accordingly, partisans distribute the responsibility
North or South, as their knowledge and wisdom,
prejudices, or ignorance, may dictate. The question
of responsibility involves dates and facts, patience
and judgment, and so it comes to pass that we
have ninety-and-nine men stirring up this main
sewer of the South, and the hundredth, perhaps,
really able to shew how the South has sinned, and
how far the complicity of the North has and has
not extended.




~12           IINTRODUCTION.
The "' Heaven and Hell amalgamation Society"
didn't answer in America, though Clay was its
chairman, and Douglas its "vice." Its members
quarrelled. But Democracy will have settled it all,
and expelled the evil one, and started again, almost
before " Civis Romanus" has discovered that the
English people don't approve of interference, even
in a piratical, indirect, and unlawful shape.
The Heaven and Hell amalgamation Society
didn't answer in America. How should it? There
it came at once into collision with human nature,
and was not bolstered up by all sorts of interests,
monopolies, and corporations, sole, multitudinous,
or international, of Priest, Despot, or Holy Alliance.
America is not tied down to the Past, by institutions
that prevail by physical force, that cannot express
what they mean to modern minds, and that, if they
could, would speak the jargon, the superstitions, or
the necessities of the dark ages.
From 1777 to 1833,-56 years,-was the lease
America gave to slavery, and then the building
began to fall in upon the' Slaveholders. Eighteen
hundred years has Europe had, since Paul preached
on Mars' Hill, and Christian slaves were tortured in
Nero's Garden, and, on the whole, Europe is still an
inextricable den of slaves and Despots, and' non-intervention," the best that England can do to help it.
America has done evil and has suffered, but for
Europe to reprove her for fifty years of compromise,
as against its own eighteen hundred, is like Satan
reproving Saints for sin.
When the old and badly whitewashed sepulchre
shall have been first cleansed of its own dead men's
bones and rottenness, it will be time enough for




INTRODUCTION.               13
Europeans to turn out and laugh at the undertakers,
who are carrying the last great national sin of
America to an early grave.
"' Independence" is another instance of the onesidedness of which we complain. Every body is
ready to shout for it. Every body believes in it.
It involves the question of nationality, which is
a "jargon" or a philosophy,-as the case may
be. To investigate any particular case is a very
different matter.  It requires reading, research,
statesmanship. It involves that rare combination,
-passion for the right, and judicial appreciation
of facts and Principles.
It is our intention, then, to thrust back on the one
side, the sensationists who shriek against Slavery,
without teaching who fastened and fastens it, on
the American nation, or how it is to be destroyed;
and, on the other, the sensationists who shriek for
Southern:" Independence," without understanding
that other question upon which it depends,-the
question of the anti-Slavery morality and martyrdom, the morality, unity, Integrity, and Intensity,
of the mighty American nation, the completest, and
the strongest secular agent God ever created, and
which, having set its face towards the right, cannot
be crushed, dissolved, or divided, by any power
human or infernal.
It will be our endeavour, for the benefit of political infidels, to shew how the puzzle of the
American nationality was put together, and what
it is, that henceforth they may not vainly imagine
the possibility of its being taken to pieces by "' the
South."
In the minds of men who have won the right to




14             INTRODUCTION.
an opinion, there need be no doubt about the
character and prospects of the respective forces now
contending upon American soil.
Indeed the chapter on'" the false nation" will
soon possess that antiquarian interest, of which we
spoke, as shewing that parties once existed in England, whose belief in the " nationality" and success
of the South, it was necessary to combat.
Politics is a science, not guesswork. We know
what is a "nation," and what is not a nation, by
signs which stupidity or carelessness alone could
not succeed in mistaking.
The science of Politics knows only three elements
of national existence; —The material Unity and
Ethnical force, of Geography or climate. The
Man. The Institution.
In the two latter items, the American struggle
is accomplishing, or demonstrating the progress of
a radical revolution that will affect all Men, Institutions, Nations, and Governments.
For the " Man," the principles of Freedom and of
Loyalty are being tested and complemented. The
American citizen is learning to admit the equal
manhood of the Black, to crush out that anarchy
which calls itself Freedom, and to submit himself
to that administrative unity which war demands,
and which the nation needs.
The' Sovereign State," is learning, that in
America, the future can contain no probable conditions of success, for a State that attacks at once
the Interests of the Individual, and the rights of
Government. It knows full well, that never again
in America will a rebellion be backed up by a
mighty and enthralling class interest, coincident




INTRODUCTION.                1 5
with a large and well defined territory.  It is
the Individual who rules both " State," and nation
by universal suffrage. His municipal interests are
distinct from his national interests. As member of
a " State," he will guard the first. As the unit of
a nation he will guard the last. And as the nation
increases in power and glory, his sentiment of
nationality will increase in intensity and force,
whilst his municipal rights will become more particular and defined.
The "Nation," is learning and teaching the
world, the strength of a nation of free men and free
Institutions. And the world is learning the counterpart lesson, that the era of Intervention against
the Peoples is past, and that though oligarchy itself
be endangered by the contagious influences of a successful Democracy, it will only aggravate and precipitate the danger, to attempt to use the People of
the old countries against the Government of the
people of the new. It is " Americans for America,
and America for the Americans."
But before we get involved in the discussion of
items of power so tremendous, let us pause at the
threshold to take a deeper view yet of two of them.
-Of the PEOPLE who constitute or utilise each
element, material, Intellectual or spiritual; and
of the PRINCIPLES which create Institutions,
which guide or destroy men and nation, and constitute the decisive element in every contest. We
have lately been told* that " the modern mind,
" staggers under the weight of accumulated fact~,: Phillimore's George IIl.




16               INTRODUCTION.
"1 which it has neither the strength to grasp, nor the'" sagacity to methodise," yet above the tempest of
Battle there, and the unresting sea of speculation
here, there is a science of Politics,-there are,
thank God, Principles, which stand like the everlasting mountains, and there are facts that fit
beyond dispute the precedents of the past. These
principles of Statesmanship and morality, stand
above the turmoil of the present," as stand the Stars o'er thunder,"
and no man bent on the clear seeing, strong feeling,
and whole telling, of the truth, and who studies
causes and not results, need mistake ignifatui for
principle.
The answer to the question,' what is a given'" nation?" depends on the answer to another question,-'" what are its MEN? " Every man sees how
the strength of a nation, at any given time, must
depend upon the average strength at that time, of
the Individual man. Its character upon his character. Its Intellect upon his Intellect. Its highest,
completest, sublimest efforts, upon his spiritual elevation and power.
But the net political result,-how a full proportion of Physical stamina and strength, of Morality,
of Intellect, of Spiritual energies, —all working
together, must bring about such a grand total of
power, purity, and completeness, as the world has
not seen yet,-this the world is not prepared to
appreciate, precisely because, perhaps, it has, as yet,
neither seen nor possessed these qualities in a really
national sense.
Yet the possession of these qualities in due pro



INTRlODUCTION.               17
portion and subordination, is manifestly the crucial
and absolute test of the value of any given nationality, —they are its past,-and will create its future.
For to know the momentum of a Nation's progress,
-Its force of will, —Its moral power,-Its strength
in relation to the opposing forces, and to other
national entities, -volitions, -progresses, —forces,
to know these things, or, in other words, to know
aught of the future of a nation, we must ascertain
the proportion between all the other qualities and
forces of that nation, and that central force which
moves and actuates them, namely,- Czaracter or Principle.  This is not anatomy,-but Life.  The soul,
not the accidents of a people.
The Bases, the Unities, the organic Functions of
a nation, —all these should grow, consolidate, and
mature; but the spiritual part of a nation, its
character, its moral power, its generative force,
grows by constant destroyings and constant new
creations.  It is a battle always beginning, never
ending.
The one absolute question for the future is,-'Does the spiritual advance with the material?"
If not,-the mortal poison of materialism may
but feed upon its strength.
If not,-all the " Unities" may be unities in
decay, despair, Death.
If not,-the very strength of its " Executive " may
do execution on itself, and its " administration " may
administrate Suicide.
Schools, suffrages, institutions, are but means to
an end. The end is the advance of the People in
spiritual energy and initiative.  This is the end
c




18             INTRODUCTION,
of national life. It is also its eternal recommencement.
Without this,-material advancement and appliance; the just balance between the Individual and
the Nation; the honor of Nation and Government
before the world;-all these have neither guarantee
nor aim; raison d'etre, nor use.
In this matter of Principle, the North was defective, but it has purged its crime, and reversed its
action. The South remains inveterate and desperate.
Neither nation: nor constitution, can at any time be
more or less than its Men make it. It is only when
manhood is shackled or debased by constitutions,
that "constitutions are in danger."  When the
million-folded man-power of a nation elevates
itself, it is only the inadequate, the antiquated, or
the dangerous part of the constitution, that can
be in danger.
The real ultimate question, therefore, is after all,
-"- Can the general common people add the fore,
" thought and self restraint of Legislators, to the
" energy of a Democracy?" We can only say they
have the best guarantees for this consummation in
America, - Education, responsibility, habit, and
property. We reply, with De Tocqueville, " it is
" by the enjoyment of a dangerous freedom, that
" the Americans learn the art of rendering the
~ dangers of freedom less formidable."
Since the feudal times, how  has the number
multiplied, of men capable of that combination of
self restraint, and energy, which is the secret of
dominion! Formerly, it was assumed that only a




INTRODUCTIO t*[:           1 9
handful of Gentles,-Statesmen, Churchmen, and
Warriors, were thus competent. But what more
or what less than these same qualities, have the
thousands of the "middle classes" that succeed
them in England, or the tens of thousands of
the " Common People " in America?
The People's Government there, seems to us to
display at least as much submission to authority,
as many sacrifices for freedom, as intense a nationality, as any Government of their masters.
As long as there is Government by the all, — as
long as that Government is wielded, according to
the necessity of the situation, for progress and
Freedom, we care not though they manufactured
constitutions as fast as Greenbacks, —the national
life will still progress, and its guarantees will still
remain.
But we waste words in arguing this. Man is but
a pupil in social science till he has learnt how to
govern himself. If the Individual man cannot
become fit to be intrusted with his own political
destiny, how can it be guided and secured? The
Americans have already solved the problem, but if
it were insoluble, what becomes of human nature
and responsibility?
As then the only ultimate question about the
fundamental principle of Democracy is so easily
answered, it is not a matter for doubt, but for
political Infidelity only.
It is thus a question between Democratic and
Oligarchic Institutions, and Slavery is only a part
of that question.
c2




20              INTRODUCTION:
The canker of a long peace, —a peace that was
not peace,-a false and adulterous peace,-a peace
of compromises and degradations —a peace that
lowered and debased the material, Intellectual,
and Spiritual energies of the nation, could not destroy it. If that could not, what can?
Such a peace was essential war against the
Nation and Society. If it could not destroy the
Nation, the Nation will destroy it.
And now, though even the present generation
of Americans consent to separate,-of two things,
one —either the nation, North and South, would
gradually fall away, and as a nation perish and
decline; or the propagandism of free labour,
of equal political conditions, and of nationality,
would gradually supersede, plant out, and destroy " Secesh," with its oligarchic Institutions,
its slave labour, its surrender of American soil and
influence, and its alliances with the alien.
The present generation arose from out the infaimy of the last. The next would have a less
steep ascent, and fewer difficulties.'The enemy
would be without and not within, and all influences would fight for reunion.
Give it but time, and " Squatter Sovereignty"
alone would be more than a match for the South.
American Slavery has an epic to itself, and yet is
but an episode in the mightier epic of American
freedom.
Its episode of eighty years shews its dealings
with Man, the primum mobile and ultima ratio of
politics. How it debased him in all his relation



INTRODUCTION.                21
ships, social and political, and how  he, having
risen against the wrong, and cast it off, reversed
the process of degradation, set right his position
and relationships throughout, and ascended to
greater heights of citizenship, and freedom, than
those from which he had fallen.
The present war is, in fact, the nation's salvation.
It rescues it from two mortal dangers, -materialism and slavery. Had Slavery not been identified with a certain territory and interest, —had it
met any other foe than a free democracy,-had it
been possible for slavery to amalgamate with the
North, the fate of the Nation had then been sealed.
Servile vices, (idleness, carelessness, deceit, cowardice, stupidity,) matched by those of the tyrant,
(cruelty, avarice, violence, lust, and war,) would
hzave sunk and lost the American nation, as they have
sunk and lost all nations that ever tried them.
The subtle social and political poison had then
decomposed the nation, and eat into its heart, like
rottenness into Death.
On this pivot turned, the future of the people, and
the fortunes of the Western world.
As God would have it, Slavery could not be domesticated North. Southern genius, leisure, culture,
and intellect,-the specialities of the actual Cotton
trade, and of Northern Democracy, Puritanism, and
Religion, guaranteed war, and not peace. The non
extension platform of 1860, claimed life and freedom
for the North, whilst the South incorporated essential disease and death into its constitution.
And so the world turns the other way. It is the
Slave faction, and not the American nation, that is
to be destroyed.




22             INTRODUCTION.
Why then, in conceding national morality to the
Americans, deny them  its just consequences,  or
assume that Destiny has a quarrel against them.
Why attribute to them the blindness which would
keep apart, when their interest is Union, or to their
Government or the rebellion, the power to resist
the irresistible? The Americans must truly become
another people, before any Government there could
defy opinion, or challenge the constitutional conditions which express its changes or enact its will.
It is not in the power of any one, or two, generations, to resist or supersede causes and influences so
deep-seated, so prolonged, so unanimous, and so
universal, as those which have made the American
nation, and assured its Nationality and Independence.
History contains no example of such a change, and
History never before knew either an unity so strong,
a sympathy so complete and electric, or a freedom
so universal.
It is equally true, that neither slaveholders, nor
their followers, and victims, have any pretence to
nationality apart from the American nation. It is
equally true that their ascendancy can be but temporary, and that the interests of Slave, mean white,
and master, are utterly, and absolutely, and essentially, irreconcileable.
The theory of faction and treachery, accounts for
all the South has done, or can do.
~
The phrase "United States" of America, has a
good deal to answer for, and is but another instance,
of how much there is, for the majority, in a name.




INTRODUCTION.               23
The completest Nation:- the intensest Nationality
under the sun, remains in the European official
mind, " as it was in the beginnings," scarcely more
than a mere league, or association of States,
although it has long since surpassed every other
nation in all those free and equal conditions of
thought, operation, activity, progress, and manhood,
which alone are the factors of nations.
The main twofold result of the present contest is
obvious, namely, the completion of national Unity,
and Individual freedom; the former, through habits
engendered by the enforced centralisation of war,
the latter by the removal of slavery, its interests,
and associations.
Great must have been the pre-existing force and
depth of national feeling, great and long matured
the strength of Principle, and elevation of character, that took the open issue of abolition at the
risk of Disunion.
There is no parallel prima facie case for Southern'" nationality." The Slave interest was exactly
coincident with the revolt, and it involved intense
caste prejudices and overwhelming material interests, which seized upon and absorbed all the
resources of the South, and subjected them to the
matchless discipline and genius of the two hundred
thousand aristocrats who overruled the Union nmajority in the South, and made the rebellion.
The Slave interest is not "national," for it is
contrary to the laws of economics, as well as of
morals, and of Statesmanship.
The Slaveholding oligarchy can shew no credentials of national delegation, for the majority
was against them, and the strongest passions and




24             EINTRODUCTION.
primary ideas of the whole American people are
those of equality, freedom, nationality and independence, each of which the South would undermine and destroy.
- Under any possible circumstances, other than
the actual ones of long treasonable preparation, and
early success, the idea that the American country
and nationality could be permanently affected by
an immoral fractional interest, however strong in
arms and discipline, would never have been accepted as matter of debate..Nor, in the last resort, would it be simply a
question, whether citizens at all times, and in all
places, and in all reverses, would voluntarily support the Government.
The People have elected a Government, voted a
war, and created an army, and now the war has a
life of its own, a will of its own, a way of its own.
It is a life -within a life, a power, for a term, above
a power, a will, for a term above a will. Unless
the general will of the people turn against the war,
there cannot even be a crisis.
There are recognised tests, of strength, and of
nationality, which can only be applied by observation of the present, or analysis of the past,-by witnessing present action, and examining History,
and chiefly by the latter.
American  nationality must be vindicated in
respect of;Its Territory,-or Geographical Unity.
The " Man," —his Freedom, Character,.and
Power.




INTRODUCTION..25
The "c Institutions,"-their Balance, and their
adjustment to the National Life.
The Individuality, character, will, resulting from
these, and constituting the Unity or aggregate National life.
First; we shall shew,-the Geographical Unity
of America, in the chapter so headed.
Second; that Man, theprimum mobile and ultima
ratio of all things Human, attains, in America, his
greatest average value, and mobility, so to speak.
That he is completer in himself, and of more effect
and value for social or political combination.
Third; tlhe peculiar Institutional Balance, established by the " Sovereign State," and by the " Constitution and Genius of America," between the
Principles of Freedom and Authority, i.e. between
the Man and the Government.
Fourth; that America has, on the whole, been
conspicuously faithful to the true Principles which
are its inner political life, and for the vindication
of which it was created,-the principles of Freedom and Democracy. That it therefore makes its
title clear to political immortality.
Fifth.;-the result of these perfected and balanced
materials, upon the American nation.
While therefore these pages will prove that the
South has no elements of nationality, our chief
concern is with that great nation which it will
assist to establish on eternal foundations. For we
find that in the light of those great principles
which preside over the destinies of nations, and the
evolutions of centuries, and which are indeed of the
substance of the future, the Slave power is being
used to punish the complicity of America in the




26            INTRODUCTION.
Slave system, and to bring out into greater distinctnesss, and power, the great principle of American
nationality, —as involving Individual freedom, administrative centralisation, popular Government,
and national morality,-a combination of which
America is the chief exponent, and which will
crown the glorious edifice of her Democracy.
When the South has done this work, it can have
no other. It will fall into contempt, or be dashed
into pieces like a potter's vessel.
In collating the Facts, which constitute the
History of the American nation, and discussing the
Principles upon which that nation is to be judged,
we have chiefly regarded those which illustrate
the process of the growth and consolidation of the
central executive, and also of the Freedom and
Morality of the Individual, (the unit, there, of
Government, as well as of the State.)
The making of the American nation has involved
the development and Union of its three great constituent forces and elements.
1st. Individual Freedom and Equality as a matter
of Economics, and Statesmanship,-of conservatism, of morality, of material prosperity and of
political value.
2nd. Democracy,-which will secure the power,
and Balance, and Unity, of the Government, as a
pledge of the power of the people, and as a defiance of intervention from without, and which
renders hopeless any insurgent oligarchy, either
now, or in the future.
3rd. Principle, which has now for, forty years,




INTRODUCTION.              27
conducted against Slavery, a war of protest, agitation, martyrdom, and arms.
These forces, deeply rooted in the History, Laws,
manners, customs, opinions, and Constitution, of
the American nation, render the essential future
of America a settled question.
With Freedom completed and balanced,-Democracy rid of its only dangerous enemy, and
Equality purged of its only contradiction and
weakness, the American nation may be regarded as
made, —a glorious and completed agent for the
future good of that Continent and the world.
We have been brief where we could, and ample
when we must. In some cases mere summary or
suggestion of detail, well and generally known,
suffices, in others it has been necessary to insist
on facts admitted, but scarcely recognised, or recognised but not appreciated.
For instance, in discussing the American Constitution, there are three points on which we would
insist again and again.
1st. The quasi recognition of Slavery. This has
often been denied by the prejudiced portion of the
Anti-Slavery party, who therein deny one of the
most glorious results of the war, for undoubtedly
one of the greatest of the " labours of Lincoln" will
be the expunging of Slavery from the Constitution.
2nd. The peculiar political effect of the third
great constituent element in American politics, is,
-- The Sovereign State," which completes the
Balance, of the Constitution and is the vehicle for
one of the intensest passions of America,-the passion for equality. This effect everybody admits, and
few appreciate. Otherwise how should we hear




28             INTRODUCTION.
so much of the' danger of Despotism" in a land
which contains that momentous element, —34 armed
and organised nuclei for provincial Independence
and Freedom,-How should we hear so much of the
";want of a new centre of ambition for active and
turbulent Intellects," —when 34 such centres already
exist, of the average size of European kingdoms?
&c. &c.
Some men insist on a controversy between the
State and the Government (as others, between Free
will and Destiny) but there need be nothing but
harmony between them.
The 3rd point respecting the constitution, is notorious, but apparently often overlooked by learned
and conscientious writers, who treat of it as fixed,
rigid, and unalterable. They will forget that as
the nation possesses legislative functions, it can, in
a legitimate way, amend and alter the constitution, and moreover that were organic change essential, there is, apart from the sectional Slave interest, no reason.why,-in a country where nothing
is deemed venerable that can be improved upon, in
a country of the most equal conditions of knowledge
and of property, and of the most intelligent political constituency, and the most thorough political
organisation also,-such organic changes should not
be peaceably and thoroughly carried out.
We have said that we are not going to prove
Slavery an evil. De Tocqueville said in substance
all that has been said since on that score, and there is
a proverb beginning-"' The more you stir," which
always forewarns me from that topic. Persons
ignorant of such things should repair to elementary
schools. If a man really believes in Slavery, the




INTRODUCTION.               29
only way to convert him were to sell him into it.
Some men can neither feel, think, nor act, without
stimulus, and in this country, the B"stirring" has
been done so well and vigorously, that we should
think even "evangelical" nostrils have had enough.
Slavery has certain economic and political results,
and with these we, and the American Union, and
nation, have to do, because abolition will rid the
Union of those results, and because the effort to
cast out Slavery will elevate, strengthen, purify,
develop, and reconstruct, the nation.
Nor do we want to shew the connection between
Slavery and the war. It is self-evident, and is
affirmed by secesh ordinances, and by the leaders
on both sides. He who doubts it has no right to
any opinion on the subject. He has not examined
it, or if he has, he is, politically, past printing,
preaching, or, praying for.
For our investigation, there is no need of authorities on doubtful points.
We want only and always, History, Insight, and
Common Sense.
And the History with which we have here to
do, is of two sorts; First, that which is matter of
common agreement,-which is not controverted —
the great outline facts, of American settlement,
and progress. Second, the history of the rallies,
divisions, reactions, and objects, of parties, as affecting the essential character of the nation, or its
sections, and the relationships between the Individual, and the Government.  This is a mere
question of Platforms,  formal records, division




30              INTRODUCTION.
lists, &c. For these things we rely on G"Parties
and their Principles," by Holmes," whose work is
scarcely more (and as such most important) than a
dry impartial record, or Hansard analysis.  It
extends from the year 1787, and the great division
on the Slavery question in North Western territory, to the recent " Dred Scott" case.
History (whether of man or nation) is an organic
whole, shewing the Life, Individuality, character,
-Destiny.  It really contains the present, and the
future, as well as the past. For Destiny itself is
but the last inevitable step in a Syllogism, of which
the major premiss is Principle, and the minor premiss History.
In the main, therefore, we must rely only on the
plain and intrepid use of our senses, and on the
great primary truths of human nature, and if any
man can get round, or above, or beneath these, he
is welcome.
With regard to this Book, of course it will be
easy to discover faults in plenty. Our object is to
take, on behalf of the Truth, herein, as many
blows as may be necessary, and to give as many
and as hard as we can. The rules of the ring are
better out of it than in it.  Train well.  Hit hard,
and fair —and keep your temper.
Reviewing, of course, every rational man would
welcome. We complain, only, as that great
profession complains, of liars, who are not " reviewers," men who not only attribute to an author
assertions he has not made, but who reverse his
meaning, and garble his phrases.  Such men are
* "A manual of political intelligence, exhibiting the origin,
growth, and character of national parties."-Arthnur Holmzes.




INTRODUCTION.              31
found up and down in literature, but they cannot
succeed even in disgracing the profession. They
can destroy nothing that would not fail without
them. They are mere obstructives and figurants,
— fles de joie, ready to prostitute themselves in
ink, — eunuchs of literature, without any generative
force or reproductive intellectual energy.
We repeat that we can come to no other conclusion, than that the American Nationality, Freedom,
and Unity, are the least reproachable, and the
mightiest secular agents, God ever created on this
earth.
True, it may be objected, and " it is part of this
" very strength that is now divided against itself."
We reply that here is the key to the whole
question, and that when a portion of a nation
contends with the prevailing genius and dominant
principles of the nation, with the larger numbers,
the loftier principles, the truer economics, the purer
religion, the more comprehensive material unity,
and with the national unities of race, language,
institutions, religion,-for the sake of establishing
an oligarchy, schism, and a false labour system,
-that portion of the nation simply denies the law
of its own existence, and repudiates the source of
its strength. It seeks the dismemberment of the
whole, but will only consummate the suicide of
the part.
The South wants to be a second American
nation, plus oligarchic and slave institutions, but,
inasmuch as American nationality means republi



32             INTRODUCTION.
canism and freedom, the South must either affirm
those principles and remain part of the nation, or
deny them and die.
The South is a reductio ad absurdum. If it could
destroy so much of American nationality and freedom, as to allow of oligarchy and slavery, oligarchy
and slavery would destroy it, and it would be
swept from the earth by the arms, or supplanted
by the influences of the true American nation that
surrounds it.
If these things be so, the war will have achieved
all that the North wanted for itself, and all that
the war demanded against the South.
1st. It will have destroyed the most formidable
enemy the Union ever had.
2nd. It will have completed American freedom
and nationality, elevated the Individual, proved
the strength but settled the limits of the Sectibnal
State power, and strengthened the Unity, and centralisation, of the Government.
3rd. It will have purged the constitution of
Slavery, purified the national morality, and cleared
the national character.
4th. It will enable North and South to return to
a complete and unqualified Union, after extirpating
the Slave faction, the enemy of both.
It completes the nationalisation which began two
centuries ago, which has been the prevailing tendency, and is the permanent destiny of America;
-which was the work of Washington, and is probably to be the greatest secular fact of all ages.




BOOK I.
THE CASE STATED.
GENERAL QUESTIONS.
THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.
AM&ERICAN NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY.
"l'MARES' NESTS;"
OR, JOHN BULL AND THE CHIVALRY.
"The time cannot be foreseen at which'a permanent inequality of
conditions will be established in the new world."-De Tocgueville.
" You are deceiving me or yourselves. The -- people is not
corrupted by the political opinions of Europe, and therefore its fate
does not depend upon a Battle."-VNaEpoleon the 1st to Joseph.
" If reFublican pricwiples are to perish in America, they can only
yield after a laborious social process, often interrupted, and as often
resumed; they will have many apparent revivals, and will not
become totally extinct till an entirely newo people shall have succeeded to that which now exists." —ADe Tocqueville, 429, Vol. 1.
" They will not endure aristocracy. All men and all powers,
seeking to cope with this irresistible passion (for equality) will be
overthrown and destroyed by it." —De Tocqueville.
D








CHAPTER I.
THE CASE STATED.
THE QUESTION.-THE FORCES. —THE SITUATION.
CONTENTS.
TIiE Case stated.-The making and un-making of Nations.The comparative or the absolute.-Strength or Nationality,
recog'nised tests.-Facts and Principles.-Believers in the old
systems.-Results-The military situation and actual achievements.-Causes; and ultimate forces.-Territory.-Population.
-Institutions.-The alternative.- Can Democratic Equality
and Nationality be maintained in America?-What each party
has to prove and to do.
The Forces Engaged.-Northern parties and Principles.
Nationality.-Democracy. -Independence.-State Sovereignty.
-Material Interests. —Geographical lUnity.- Principle.
The Situation.-Essential Antagonism. —Quarrel must be
fought out now.-Relations of Principles and parties.-The
logic of war.-Tactical wars, and wars of Principle.-The march
of opinion.-Statesmanship South, and necessity and principle
North.-Solidarite of good, and of evil.-Suicide of the South.
TIE Making, and the Un-making of Nations, is in
the Man, the Institution, and the Government, and
in the dealings of these with the material Bases of
Power.
All considerations on the American struggle
depend ultimately, upon the answer to these three
questions;-First, " What is a Nation?"  Second,
" What is the American Nation?"  Third, " What
D 2




36             THE CASE STATED.          [BOOe I.
" is the force that assails it, and which of the two,
"I commands more completely, those motives of': action) and influences, which affect Individuals,
~ Associations, or States, and ultimately, the Na" tion?"
It is this last question that we propose to state
in the present chapter, and it involves also the
question of:" the Forces" or Interests and Principles,
that uphold the North, and of 1" The Situation," or
absolute nature of the Crisis.
But the enquirer must first clearly define to himself, whether he seeks the Comparative, or the Absolute,-whether he merely wants to know which
of two powers is the stronger, or which of two rivals
is the real Nation.
For there are two kinds of tests, whereby a pretending nation or power may be judged. One or
other of them will be relied on, according as the
enquirer is an expert or an ignoramus, in political
science, or as he proposes to decide between rival
nationalities, or only between two powers, neither of
which may be a nation.
It is necessary, therefore, at once to come to an
understanding as to what these tests are, what they
are worth, and why they are to be rejected, or how
employed.
If we only enquire which is the stronger, we
may estimate the actual results of the war, and the
present military situation.
But if we want to know which is the real nation,
we must consider the ckaracteristics of nationality;
and apply its all comprehensive and exhaustive
tests.  The prizes of victory are included in the




CHAP. I.]      THE ICASE STATED.             37
"4 material bases "-Territory, Wealth, Population.
The "1 Military Situation," results, of course, from
the Nation's Bases, Functions, and Life, and these
again correspond with the ultimate " Forces" Material, Intellectual, and Spiritual.
Of Facts concerning the American rebellion, and
of vague speculations upon their results, the world
has had enough and a nausea.
What is wanted now is to know what can be
determined, and what cannot,-to bring the undoubted facts of the case, in juxtaposition with
unquestionable Principles of Statesmanship, and see
what they have to say to one anothler,-whether the
future of America, is altogether an open question,
or which, out of several alternatives in the broad
issue of her Destiny, has got to be chosen.
The alternatives are few, the essential facts clear,
and the Principles eternal.  The general issues
ought not to remain obscure to those who know
that the history of a Nation is an organic whole,
who see how Principles do laugh.
" Their fierce and infinite laugh at things that cease,"
at the phantom victories of their adversaries, or
who believe in progress, in the Peoples, and in
God.
It is curious to see how believers in the old
system of Government by the one, or the few,
look upon what they term the great 1" experiment"
of Government by the all.
They were always surprised that Democracy
could walk.  They always expected to catch it
tripping. They always supposed, that once down,
it could never get up again.




38             THE CASE ST~TED.          [Boox I.
And now, that it has been attacked by certain
rebellious provinces called " the South," which, in
its essence, is a mixture of avarice and oligarchy,
they say, the Democratic "experiment" has failed,
and the Constitution,-Heaven save the mark, is for
ever gone.
It were a truism to assert that the MAN,-the
Individual, properly educated, has in him the
nucleus of all just Laws and Constitutions, and it
cannot be denied that America supplies the grand
desideratum, and has taken the false traditional
systems out of his path and given him a clear field.
The natural inference can only be missed by those
who regard results, and not causes, and who are
intent on the actual Military Situation, and actual
achievements, without regarding the ultimate forces.
But this question of ultimate forces, is identical
with the question of "L Nationality," for faction, however strong, only survives the fortunes of war to fall
before the disasters and disruptive agencies of peace.
The materials of, and the agencies in, the Making
of a Nation, and its outward and visible signs, cannot be matter of doubt or debate.
There must be adequate territory, sufficiently
connected together,-adequate and united population, sufficiently brave, moral, industrious, orderly,
-and institutions fitted to express, control, protect, unite, and elevate.
The Unmaking of a Nation, is in the want, more
or less, of these conditions of Nationality.
A scattered and disunited territory, with no
defined boundaries, inadequate, disaffected, or depraved population, and institutions, that conduce




CHAP. I.]     THE CASE STATED.             39
to repression or anarchy,-these defects are the
"unmaking of nations."
Let these truths test the issues of the great
quarrel in the West.
The South claims part of the Territory, and
Population of the Union. But in its origin, composition, and end, it is essentially oligarchic.
Of two things,-then, —one;
Either these belong to the North, and the
Southern revolt will end in extirpation of Slavery,
with its anti-national, and anti-democratic tendencies, interests, and classes,-in the completion
of the principle of Individual freedom,-and in
greater administrative unity, and centralization,in other words, (for all these things were yet
inchoate in America) —in the " Making of the
American Nation;"Or;In the unmaking and dismemberment of that
Nation by the South.
The contest must be treated, either as a phase
which in the fulness and completion of the National
American life, must have arrived some time, and
ought in fact, to have been expected and welcomed,
-or as a first warning of National decay and dissolution. If deprived of the free use of its mighty
river system, of a third of its population and wealth,
and of its relative power and prestige, Democracy
might as well never have created the American
Nation.
We prefer to take, —and to prove, this contest to
be not the dismantling, but the crowning, of the
glorious edifice of new-world Democracy.




40            THE CASE STATED.           Boor I.
~
In this particular struggle, it were even possible
for the South to overcome the armies of the North,
and yet to be, after all, no " Nation."
Victory does not establish nationality. Public
opinion is the last arbiter.
On the other hand, the nationality of the North
being admitted, Northern victory implies, for itself,
merely the suppression of a revolt, but for the
South,-annihilation.' Southern nationality," has got to be proved or
won; Northern nationality to be disproved or
triumphed over. Tlie South has done neither.
The result of all this is that Southern advocates
have to prove;1st. That the South can repel Northern L"Invasion."
2nd. That the South is a Nation.
And Northern advocates have to prove,1st. That the North  will quell the present
" rebellion."
2nd. That those two great prizes of Victory, —
viz., the Territory yet held, and the Population now
overawed and used by the South,-must return to
the American nation. Because with respect to the
former, the North has such inextricable interests,
such natural advantages for attack, that it would
not and could not relinquish it. And because, as
influencing the latter, freedom and equality of conditions, democratic institutions, and the union,
are the master passions of all American citizens.
Unless therefore they can be uprooted, and the
American nature and nation entirely changed, sectional independence, Slaveocracy, and the Slave




CHAP. I,]      THE CASE STATED.              41
Trade, must be destroyed, for they are contradictions in terms of the American existence and
nationality.
The essential meaning and result of the rebellion,
if it succeed, would be Disunion by means of oligarchic institutions, and influences. The result of
Northern success, would be union and democratic
institutions.  We contend that disunion, with permanent oligarchic institutions, is impossible in
America, but disunion with democratic institutions, would be disunion only in name.
If then it be proved, that Equazlity of Conditions
must, in any conceivable event, be maintained in
America, it is proved that the rebellion has failed.
Again, if the South be a Nation, the material or
Geographical Unity of America is defective.  If
that material Unity is complete, then the South
wants that territorial basis, without which a nation
cannot exist.
There is also another difficulty for Southern
enthusiasts to overcome. Is it possible in this
world of Law and of God, that a great nation be
dismembered and destroyed at the end of a long
agitation, martyrdom, and struggle against its
master sin, and by and on behoof of those who
tempted it, and were indeed the chief sinners?
When the Devil cometh out of a nation, it may
be torn sorely, but it is that it may not be destroyed.
Having thus stated the case as between North
and South, we come now to the summary of the
Forces and Principles contending on the side of the
North, and the fate and comparative power of
which we propose to examine.




42               THE FORCES.          [BooE i.
THE FORCES.
Principles and Parties.
We say then that the South can not stand, and
that the present struggle will prove it,-and that,
whether, it be settled by the sense of the majority,
or by war, or whether by the gradual replacement
of Slave labour by free, or whether North and
South in their death-grapple, topple together
headlong into revolution.
Because the rebellion assails the fundamental
Principles of American existence,-material, political, social, moral;- the marrow, the heart, the
essence, the soul, the spirit of it.
It assails,1st. American NATIONALITY.  Nationality
is the intensest principle and passion that animates
communities,-for it is man's instinct of self-preservation million-folded, and of all nationalities,
the American is the intensest.
2nd. American DEAMOCRACY, rightly so called.
Government by and for the all. General equality
of conditions.
3rd. National American  INDEPENDENCE.
The Statesmen of all countries find America too
strong.
4th. STATE  SOVEREIGNTY.  The South
denies the personal rights of the Individual;




CHAP. I.]        THE FORCES.               43
violates the constitutional rights of the Majority;
and is, not only from the necessities of war, but in
its nature, by its origin and genius, and by its
acts, a Despotism. It therefore is unfriendly to
Sovereign State rights.  The narrowing circle of
Slave States live upon that which injures the life of
the other States. A false " Democracy," and a
false " State Sovereignty," plotted together against
the North, but People and States repudiate the
crimes, the mistakes, and the dictation of that
which, even in the South, is only a section.
5th. The MATERIAL  INTERESTS of the
American people, in American Unity, Free soil and
Labour, and also in the four preceding items. These
material interests are backed by forces constantly increasing, and now arrayed against the Slave interest.
They are mentioned in detail under the head, "R econstruction."  The Population which will wield
them, increases faster than that of any other country
in the world, and if it were as dense as in England,
would amount to Twelve Hundred Millions, and
to nearly half that number, if as densely settled as
Massachussetts.
6th. The GEOGRAPHICAL UNITY of America.
7th. To these must be added the force of PRINCIPLE. For we contend that the North wars for
the restriction and extinction of Slavery, that the
South had neither a constitutional, nor a revolutionary right to revolt, and that it revolted to
maintain Slavery.
These Influences,  Principles, and Powers are
each of the mightiest the world has yet seen, and




44                THE FORCES.    [BlOOx I.
they present obstacles, material, moral, social, and
political, - obstacles internal and  external, to
Southern nationality.
They are all fully treated of in the sequel.
In all contests, the first question always asked is,
" Who and what are the Parties?" and the second
--  Which of them will command the preponderC: ance of forces, material, intellectual, and moral —:~ of sentiment, of organization, and of battalions."
A third question, -" What are the Principles
involved?" is usually not asked, although  the
answer would at once unmask the real forces,
shew the powers and pertinacity of the agencies at
issue) and determine every essential question, save
that of time.
For the main question now is, and always is in
great contests, —" Is there enough power and uryency: of the spiritual sort, to use, to energise, and to' organise, whatsoever pozoer there mayz be of the
" material sort."
But it is not enough to know that certain Principles contend,-that one of them is true, and must
triumph, the other false, and to fail; we want to
know further;Whether the relations of the actual contending
parties to each other, and to the Principles for
which they contend, are such, as that the issue will
be fought out by them NOW?
The answer to this question,-  GCan either party
L avoid the extreme controversy, the experimentum
" crucis?" depends on " The Situation."
We say, that the American quarrel must be
fought out,-that the combatants cannot retire from




CHAP. I.]        THE SITUATION.              45
the contest.  That the Principles, and Jthe Situation, involve the destruction of the Unity, the
Nationality, and the Institutions, of the North,-or
the defeat or extermination of the Slaveholders,
their faction, and L"institution."  At the end of
this struggle, there will remain neither a Slave
empire, nor a mere Federal Government, but either
a score or two of rabble States, or a completed
American Nation, with an infinite expanse of territory, and soon, 200 millions of population.
THE SITUATION.
Relations of Principles to Parties.
Having pointed out the forces engaged, the next
question arises,-" Can either party by declining
"L the contest, leave it undecided?"
The negative of this question is but a truism,
if what we have just stated be true. The Situation
is one that admits of no compromise.
Every situation has its logic, and the logic is
Destiny to those involved in it.
The logic of War is to beat, or be beaten; to
draw all things and men irresistibly to the one side
or the other.  War avails itself of all the powers,
resources, and passions, of a nation.   It treats
doubt as treason, and indecision as treachery. Its
logic is inexorable, and every step leads peremptorily to another step, and still another, until the




46             THE SITUATION.          [BoOK I.
conclusion. War has a beginning, two sides, and
an end,
The logic of peace may for individuals, be compromise, evasion, postponement. Nevertheless it
for ever silently prepares, for Parties, and Peoples,
the ultimate alternatives of acquiescence or dishonour, Principle or Defeat.
There are " tactical" contests that are not war,
that have all the evils of war, and none of the
advantages of peace. Diplomatic wars. Mechanical wars. Wars without principle or issue; that
Diplomacy begun and Diplomacy may end; that
came from hypocrisy and insincerity, and terminate
in evasion, and doubt.
They begin in falsehood; continue in murder;
end in: -nothing.
There are'" wars of Principle," that appertain
necessarily to an epoch. That outcome from the
striving spiritual life of a nation.  That must
come. That are " irrepressible." They cannot be
avoided, and must be fought out. They have their
natural laws, their normal conditions, their inevitable unalterable issues.
They begin in Truth; the battle they set is for
friends a sacrament, for foes an execution, for
Humanity an epoch.
The Crimean war was a sham war. The Allies
waged Peace upon Russia. They dared not pronounce the name of Poland, for thereafter each of
them might want Russia against the other. It ended
in Circassian Blockades, in Black Sea " Neutrality," and in 1" non-intervention."




CHAP. I.]       TiHE SITUATION.            47
The war of America upon Slavery is a real war.
It is part of the great battle for equality. Its logic
is not to halt, or to temporise, but to beat or be
beaten. America has pronounced its " Poland,"
for the origin, development, and issue, of the war
is abolition.  It comnes of the eternal feud between
right and wrong. It leads somewhither. It means
something. It could not be avoided. It must be
brought to an issue. They who believe in God and
in human nature, will interpret the issue one way.
They who believe in the Devil and anarchy,another.
But all the fools on the one side, and all the
devils on the other, all the doubters and imbeciles,
democrats, and copperheads, north, and all the
foam and fury of slave drivers, south, can now
only precipitate, or deepen and aggravate the issue,
prepared for 80 years.
"The mills of the Gods grind slowly,
But they grind exceeding small."
The result has passed beyond the control of
the combatants. It is a war of " Principles."  It
is gradually drawing the whole heart and energies
of the North into it. The North has progressed an
epoch in two years. The North arms negroes, and
the South hangs them. According to the Times
correspondent, over 700,000 of them have already
been emancipated. But this is not all. Black and
White, approach the sacrament of a common political Faith, and a common ordeal and a common
nationality. Freedom has had to overcome, first
prejudices, and then treason. The march of opinion
has been imore steady, relentless, and powerful,




48            THE SITUATION.           [Boo I.L
than the march of armies, and it promulgates its
laws amidst the thunders and lightnings of battle.
Statesmanship and a crisis, have done in the
South, what Necessity and Principle, have done in
the North:
There were irresolute men in the South. Statesmen took an advanced position, knowing that the
logic of the situation, must drive the herd to follow.
For it is nonsense and imbecility to hold property
in man, without holding also the right and the
power to maintain it.
There were irresolute men in the North, as everywhere else, but the logic of the South soon became
their necessity, for it demanded that the North itself should become a slave.
And the logic of the Situation, which dominated
both, was this-' If Slavery be allowed, the Declaration and
" the free heritage of the People must be disallowed.
" If Property in man be a Principle, then it is
" Property everywhere, - by water as well as by
"' land,-in the Territories, as well as in the States.
"l What's right is right, and Felony can't be Pro6' perty, or Property felony."
The North, therefore, had to accept the external
Slave trade, as well as Slavery,-to defy all nations
on the  right of search",-to repress abolitionism,
-to swallow Dred Scott cases,-to be the servant,
soldier, and slave, the drudge and the tool, of the
South, —or gradually to unite against its aggressions, and ultimately to fight for the right, one and
indivisible.
This was the question. i Could the Nation be
" committed to an Anti-Slavery War?"




CHAPS. I.]      THE SITUATION.               49
" The Puritans from Abraham's bosom" worked
at it, and necessity and the South, worked also.
Once solved, the rest was easy. The Situation once
probed, the issue once understood and joined, there
could be but one solution. The. ultimate result, was
from the first, to the Statesman or the believer, but
a stark, staring, blank, palpable, insurmountable,.truism,-but it has taken three years already, and
may take more, to work it down and out to the
level of all the fools and infidels in the North.
That done, all is done, and now, two years after
the South resorted to the most ruthless conscription
that ever swept over a desolated country, taking
striplings and patriarchs alike, now  Lincoln has
behind him, not a congerie of States, but a nation
growing day by day, in Unity, determination, and
power.
Whether, then, we consider the material forces,
the great Principles at issue, or the spiritual forces
that are arising to inspire and lead the Battle, we
can come to no other conclusion than that the
South must submit, or that the parties must contend
to the last.
If one be more than three,-if the national
instinct of self preservation be replaced by an
instinct of suicide,-if a high heroic spirit of self
sacrifice leads to national perdition, —-then  the
North will fail.  If not, not.
It is the South that denies and destroys itself.
It began by asserting the right of Secession. It is
evident that without nationality, secession must
kill secession. It began by asserting the expediency and the principle of slave labour.  It ends




50              THE SITUATION.           [Boox I.
by vainly wishing to turn the labourers into Soldiers to fight for their freedom. It began by denouncing all interference with the natural and
Christian institution of Slavery. It ends by trying
to persuade the Slaveholder to allow his nigger to
fight for the right of destroying his "' property."
It has for three ages degraded the whole Southern
White population by slavery. It now would elevate the whole Black population at one stroke to
the dignity of preserving their tyrants by arms.
It started to maintain Slavery, and in order not to
be beaten, it must destroy that for wzhch it exists,
Thus Suicide, Individual, Political, and Moral?
closes the scene over the South.
Squatter Sovereignty, and free labour and opinion,
are the likeliest weapons to decide the contest, but
however that may be, it is a war of principle, a
war of essential and irrepressible antagonism.
The beginning of the war was abolition. The
sides are Freedom or Slavery, the end cannot be
compromise. It will be a Government by and for
the all, or of the all, by and for the few.
That is the logic of the Situation,-and it is
absolute.




CHAPTER IIL
GENERAL QUESTIONS
INVOLVED IN
TIlE AMERICAN QUESTION.
DEMOCRACY AND CHRISTIANITY.
LESSONS OF THE FOUR GREAT REVOLUTIONS.
SOLIDARITi1 OF PEOPLES.
REPUBLICANISM, FEDERATION, AND AMERICAN
NATIONALITY.
FUTURE ENGLISH ALLIAINCES.
THE  ANGLO-AMERICAN  RACE,,
SLAVERY AND OLIGARCHY.
FREEDOM OF THE OCEAN.
"Thee organisation and establishment of Democracy in Christendom is the great political problem of the time."-De Tocqueville.
" That Providence has given to every human being a degree of
reason necessary to direct himself in the affairs which interest him
exclusively, is the grand maxim upon which civil and political
Society rests in the United States."-De Tocqueville.
" And thus of necessity, by reason of the existence of some few
really free states, will the empire of civilisation, freedom, and with
it universal peace, gradually embrace the whole world." —Ficlte.
4' In a word, free states, I think, must ever look with suspicion
on an absolute monarchy." —Dewzostenes.
"The day will come when a single fibre left of this Institution
will produce an hereditary aristocracy, which will change the form
of our Government from the best to the worst in the world."
Thlos. Jefferson.
" Between North and South, there is at this moment raging a
controversy, which goes as deep as any controversy can, into the
elernentary principles of hunzma nature, and the sympathies and
antipathies which, in so many men, supply the place of reason and
reflection. The North is for freedom; the South is for slavery.
The North is for freedom of discussion; the South represses freedom of discussion with the tar brush and the pine faggot."
"Times," January, 1861.
E2




52               GENERAL QUESTIONTS.                [Booc IL
"The issue (of the war) is to them  (the South) one of life and
death, and whoever raises it hereafter, if it be not decided now,
must expect to meet the deadly animosity which is now displayed
towards the North.
"The success of the -Soutlh,-if it can succeed,-must lead to
complications and results in other parts of the world, for which
neither they nor Europe are prepared. Of one thing there can be
no doubt, a Slave State cannot long exist without a SLAVE TRADE.
The poor whites, who have now to fight, will demand their share of
the spoil. The land is abundant, and all that is wanted to give
them fortunes is a supply of slaves. Tlhey will have that in.spite
of their masters, unless a stronger power than the Slave States prevents the accomplishment of their wishes."- -W. H. Russell.
" Monarchy had no motive to emigrate. *  *  *  The Feudal
Aristocracy could not gain new life among the equal hardships of
the wilderness. *  *  *  *  Priesteraft did not emigrate."
" The settlement of New England was the result of implacable
differences -between Protestant Dissenters and the Established
Anglican Church. *  * *  Nothing but the wide ocean, and the
savage deserts of America could hide and shelter them from the
fury of the Bishops. *  *  *  An entire separation was made
between State and Church."-Bancroft.
"The relations of the rising colonies, the representatives of
Democratic Freedom, are chiefly with France and England,'* * 
with the Parliament of England which was the representative of
aristocratic liberties, and had ratified Royalty, Primogeniture, corporate charters, the Peerage, Tithes, Prelates, prescriptive Franchises, and every established immunity and privilege." — Bancroft.
"Their Independence would agitate the globe, would assert the
freedom of the Oceans as commercial highways, vindicate power in
the commonwealth for the united judgment of its People, and
assure to them the right of a self-directing vitality." —Bancroft.
"England became not so much the possessor of the valley of the
West, as the transient trustee, commissioned to transfer itfrom the
iFrance of the middle ages to the free People who were working for
Humanity a new existence in America."-Bancroft.
"If Europe leaves America to Republicanism, well.  If she
interferes, we interfere, and the right hand of our resistance is
clasped in brotherhood with the radicals of Europe, to upset every
throne on the Continent."- Wendell Phillips.




CHAP. II.]       GENERAL QUESTIONS.                    3
CONTENTS.
Gov:,RNMENTS and Peoples.-The foundation of all stable
systems.-Christianity in relation to the Principles of conservatism  and radicalism — The five stages.-Christianity, the
printing press, the English, American, and French revolutions.
-Solidarite of Peoples.-Democracy, the problem of all ages.The crowning victory of Democracy.-Manhood. —Representation.-N-ationality. —-Association.-The fundamental Principles
of the four great revolutions -American Puritanism. —Providential education of the Peoples. - Democracy of the future.
-Oligarchy in America. -Aristocracy "revolting."-England
not with them. —The bases of anti-popular Policies.-America
drills.-The army of the future. — Universal questions.English questions,-India, Canada, and Cotton.-Universal
popular reaction.-The perils of England. —Tho tendencies of
anti-English policy.-Slavery a part of Oligarchy. —Fate of
Democracy.-The Exodus of Oligarchy.-Essential antagonisms in the future.-The political Unity of America. —The
Principle of Federation.-Tremendous import of the general
issues.-Number and inveteracy of the questions.-The interest universal. —The Settlement absolute.
FoR four thousand years the People had had
experiments of Governing tried upon them.
Government by the few  had repressed the life
and energies of the many. Government by the
many  had  resulted  in  anarchy.   Scarcely  ever
were freedom and authority united, and never for
long, or thoroughly.
On the whole, it cannot be concealed, that certain brilliant exceptions only proved the rule of
Government to be neither good, nor indifferent,
but after the average and alternating fashion, of
Priest, Beast, Fool, or Devil.
The Priest ruled men's Bodies by misleading




54           GENERAL QUESTIONS.         [Booe I.
their souls. The Beast ruled their souls by em —
bruting their Bodies. The Fool attempted to make
the past fit the present, and to hand down the
present to the future. The Devil had only to
combine and perpetuate the faults of his brethren.
America asked the question propounded by the
same race in England.  Is this state of things fated
to be eternal? Is it of the nature and essence of
Government, and of man, that Governments shall
be unstable and farmed by families, factions, or
individuals?
Eighteen hundred years before, Christianity,the soul of all revolutions, as of all conservatism,
— had already answered this question. If the Soul
be immortal, its welfare must be the rule of action,
-not that of State anatomy, of a class, or of a
system.  The culture, character, and Destiny of
the Individual, must be the foundation of all social
and political systems.
The value of the individual, —of the unit,-this
great principle,-the very savour and salt of all true
conservatism, and the root itself of Radicalism,
were destined to decompose all systems opposed
to it.
Absolutism, Priestcraft, Oligarchies,-all that did
not allow of, or that could not consist with, the
freedom, morality, intelligence, self-government
and progress of the MAN, were but as so many
forms of a more refined or postponed anarchy, —so
many lies or half lies, that must of necessity fall
away, as this single central truth should be proclaimed and accepted.
This Truth taught the 1Man to govern himself7




CHAP. II.]   GENERAL QUESTIONS.            55
by principles of self-government and restraint that
would not conflict, but coincide with, the rights of
others, and the just authority of the State.
But this Truth had first to be revealed, and then
propagated It must be gradually taught by precedent, and commended by example, as each great
epoch brought its lesson and its moral.
Christianity, we say, made this change possible.
The Printing press made it practicable. It gave
an impulse to propagandism, power to public opinion, and a basis to the Principle of popular association.
The English revolution made the first precedent
of representative Popular Sovereignty.
The Americans, upon a wider bases of popular
Sovereignty, established the principle of National
Independence.
The French sought upon these principles the
Union of all Peoples against all tyrannies.
The present contest is the result of ai great
national movement against an insurgent oligarchy.
It is not a revolution, but a reconstruction upon the
principles of the revolution. It affirms Authority
and Freedom,-Democracy, Morality, and Nationality, at once.
The friends of Slavery are the foes of all true
nationality and popular propagandism. They resolve themselves into two classes,-Oligarchs and
Anarchists. Those who do not believe that the
People can ever be prepared for self Government,
and those who plot that the self Government of the
American People shall now end.
But with;"non Intervention" against Peoples,




56           GENERAL QUESTIONS.       [BooE I.
they may plot but they cannot execute. T/hey
cannot combine, and are little likely to succeed
in destroying and reversing the results of all the
blood and enterprise of the three great revolutions
of the world, or in bringing back the era of revolutions, and the old-world cycles when the Individual and the State contended.
The question of all ages has been how to complete and maintain a Nation by the Principles of
Democracy.
The effort, and test, and progress of civilisation,
is how to involve ever a fuller complement of the
national intelligence and will in the Government,
and thereby to build upon the broadest base, and
to achieve the good of a greater and ever greater
proportion of the all.
Democracy is the self-government of Peoples,
and self-government is the crowning victory of
morals and of Statesmanship.
Freedom generates self-command; self-command
justifies freedom.
It is the double problem of the best Government
and the broadest base.
A good autocrat is a bad principle of Government, for Kings must die, but nations are eternal.
To set for the universal national life, the Hazard
of the Die of a single life, is but gambling on a magnificent scale.  Autocracy is better than anarchy.
Oligarchy better that autocracy. But oligarchy,
autocracy, and anarchy, are alike weak, vicious,
and incomplete, and Democracy ts that towards and
of which all other forms of Government are but
approaches, delegations, and assumptions, - the
will and the well-being of the universal people.




CHAP II.]    GENERAL QUESTIONS.            57
When the History of the World began we know
not, but we know that the reign of the People was
made possible only by the Christian religion, and
that the History of 4 the People," began with the
history of America.
The first revolution levelled the exclusive pretensions of Judaism, revealed the infinite in Mans
made right co-extensive with the Soul, and evoked
therefrom the energies of Progress, and the necessity of Law.
Other revolutions are but the completions, or
developments of the first.
The second revolution,-the English, asserted
the rights of man under the principle of representation.
The third,-the American, established the rights
of " Nationality," and combined the two fundamental conditions of national life, namely, freedom,
and executive efficiency. The one by the reconstruction of 1787, the other, by "the Declaration."
The fourth,-the French, established, and sublimely yearned and fought for the crowning Principle of Democracy, its cement, its guarantee, its
Unity,-the " Solidarite of Peoples,"-the right
and the necessity of Democracy all over the world,
to stand by its order.
And all three, we say, are based upon Christianity, which teaches the infinite value of the Soul,
and its personal and relative duties and rights.
Manhood. Representation. Nationality. Association.
Christianity taught the rights of man.  The
rights of man involved the rights of nations. The




58             GENERAL QUESTIONS.             [BOOe I.
rights of nations involve the duties of protecting
them by international association.
And these things, as they spring from  Christianity, must partake of its nature.  Democracy
must be intelligent and self-restrained, or it can
neither understand its relative duties, or maintain
its own rights.
It is here that the general Intelligence and conservatism of the American comes in with decisive
weight.  In republics man must be educated to
self-restraint, and respect for law, the embodiment
of the social compact, and of the will of the People.
Without this, republics cannot exist.
"This Government, the offspring of our own choice, completely free in its principles, and containing within itself a
provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and support. Respect for its authority, &c. are duties
enjoined, by the fundamental principles of true liberty." *
~ Nationality always asserts itself. But it is when
nation helps nation, that we have the crowning
victory of the People,-a power of organisation
and self-denial, that ensures the ultimate, though
gradual, triumph of Principle over force. The growing solidation of the Peoples, and an increasing
division and distrust among Despots, are the natural
results of the universal, social, and political progress of the masses.
This question is profoundly stirred by the conflict in America, and the contradictory sympathies
and endeavours of Governments and Peoples, in
relation thereto.
W Vashington's Farewell.




CHAP. II.]    GENERAL QUESTIONS..59
It behoves, now, Democracy to be consistent,
calm, clear, and resolute.  It must take its stand on
the fundamental principles of Christianity, and the
three other great revolutions of the world, for they
furnish, each a step, towards the final logic of
victory.
In revolutionary epochs all fear of consequences
is cast off,-Thought is free, and passion wings it,
passion,-sentiment, —vwithotut which nothing is ever
thought out, or fought out, without which mere Intellect has no generative force, without which no
great deeds are ever done. Then are first principles
established, and we witness the greatest efforts of
the most majestic attributes of Man.
The central thought and life of each of these
revolutions, (however diversely time and circumstances may have influenced its development) was
the same-the value of the Individual Soul.  De
Tocqueville (let us repeat it) says of American
puritanism, that it was" Not merely a religious doctrine, but corresponded in many
"points with the most absolute Democratic and republican
"theories. The General principles were all recognised and
" determined by the laws of New England. The intervention
" of the people in public affairs, the free voting of taxes, the
"responsibility of authorities, personal liberty, and trial by
"Jury."
The Charter of Frenchmen; —the Declaration
of the " rights of man," was nearly coincident in
point of time, and is identical in substance, with
the great settlement of American  liberties.   It
declared all men free and equal.  It declared the
responsibility of all officials to the sovereign people.




60          GENERAL QUESTIONS.         [Boo IL
Their right to change the Government, and to
meet in public assembly. Their right to prompt
justice, to authentic trial, —and to freedom of
worship and of the press.
Except in America, these Principles have everywhere been defrauded of their victories. Nowhere
else is responsibility to the people, and representation of the people, completely carried out, and
universal Democracy has long looked to America
for the grand moral impulse.
The complete realisation of the principle of Democracy, belongs inevitably to the providential
education of the Human race.  Soon or late, it
must come, and we believe it is coming now.
Broadly stated, Autocracies and Oligarchies tend
only to complete the few. Representative Governments tend to complete the many. Democracies
tend to complete the all.
In whatever epoch, or with whatever " enlightenment," Man will not be governed for himself, till
he is governed by himself, he cannot become
a creature "looking before and after," in politics,
except by the exercise of those faculties of self
Government, in respect of all his relationships;
here and hereafter, which are his right and his duty
as Man.
All this, we think, is absolutely plain, —from the
laws of hunan selfishness, the necessities of social
order and advancement, and the capabilities of the
Human Soul.
For in a measure it may be said, —that Autocracy at its best affirms little but the fact and
necessity of Order and Law,-that Oligarchies and




CHAP. Ii.]   GENERAL QUESTIONS.            61
partial representations are a compromise between
Law  and Freedom, —and that all tend (as the
firmamental universe through space) to some point
of final adjustment of Law and Freedom, Order
and Authority, the Man and the Institution, to be
reached by the Democracy of the future.
The Logic of History is as simple and sublime
-as it is absolute; at every stage, from Caesar to the
Citizen, from the autocrat to the broadest based democracy, the two conditions of all organised life
have had to be realised, or the system that could
not realise them has been destroyed for want of
them. Thus, from cycle to cycle, has the world
been put back or forwards, to learn the needful
lesson, or take the rightful prize. Order and Progress, Loyalty and Right, Conservatism and Radicalism, are the positive and negative poles of
politics, but really own one life and law.
The two must be equally present in every completed revolution. Despair may begin a revolution
but it cannot end it.  And wherever a yet larger
number of men are prepared by self restraint and
energy, by that mutual trust which can alone render combination against authority possible, to take
the next step, the nation will always be the stronger
and the world will always be the better for the
change.
Thus the fight of thought, of agitation, or of
arms, will be fought in every nation, as larger and
still larger numbers of qualified men knock at the
doors of power, and from autocracy to oligarchy,
from oligarchy to representation, from representa



62            GENERAL QUESTIONS.         [Boox I.
tion of the few, to representation of the all, will
nation after nation be completed in politics and in
men.
But the same energies, habits, principles, that
enable individuals to combine against domestic
wrong, will impel nation also to combine with
nation against their oppressors.
This battle of the future is scented from afar by
all parties, who see in the freedom, and loyalty,
and union, of Americans, their own representative
or antagonistic forces.
Accordingly, the Aristocrats all over the world
are 4" revolting!"-In America by arms; in Europe,
by opinion, although the letter of the law, as well
as the spirit of equity, is. against the South.
The Aristocrats are at last "I revolting!"  It is an
instructive spectacle, and Gentlemen who never
before approved of revolutions, have now acquired
a holy horror of repression, and will carry it with
them to their dying day.
The great Democratic nation is in danger of succeeding.  It is being "made."  This is the heart
and essence of the American question, and it is the
head and front of the North's offending, for in the
perfectibility and progress of the People, the
oligarchs of all countries believe and tremble.
The third great stage of. the conflict between
Democracy and Oligarchy has arrived.
The Solidarite of Despots has destroyed itself by
its own extravagance and Obstinacy.  It exists no




CHAP. II.]    GENERAL QIUESTIONS.          63
longer. The People bid for the premiership of the
world, and parvenu Emperors bid against Legitimists for their alliance.  Legitimacy is " demoralised." It has gone on tick to England for eighty
years, but now its accomplices here are revoking
their suretyships, and its securities are beginning to
be overhauled.
The Solidarite of Peoples is completing. Their
power has broken down the old monopoly of
Statecraft, and ventilated the foetid recesses of
Diplomacy.
The first and second stages of the conflict are at
an end. Holy alliances against Peoples are no
longer the certain and safe events they were, and
the great fact that England, formerly the heart and
soul of those alliances, is now at least not with
them, has made itself duly felt.
The beginning of the end is at hand.
Legitimacy is divided against itself. The dogma
of " Non-Intervention,"  a wonderful doctrine,
neither moral nor Statesmanlike, which half betrays
and half helps the right, is gladly preached and
accepted by those who know what will follow
when the People shall intervene for the People.
The third stage approaches, and will end in
favour of Democracy, this balance between the
past and the future. The Peoples contemplate
Intervention on the right side.  Intervention /or
the Peoples. The Union of the Peoples for common objects, with or without, against or by means
of the Governments.  The destruction of those
popular jealousies, and of that ignorance, which
were the basis of all anti-popular policies. When




64           GENERAL QUESTIONS.          [BoCK -I.
reaction is seen to be hopeless, it will become identified with revolution, and will array against it all
true conservative instincts.
This Solidation of the Peoples,-their essential,
active7 material, triumphant, Unity, has already
had its baptism of blood, its discouragements, and
its triumphs. It arose in 1790, (as one of those
manias by which, according to Plato, the soul
ascends to God.) Itgave its impulse to all nations,
and it fell, to rise again.
Whenever the Solidarit6 of Peoples is completed,
and meets that of Despots, there must be the real
final struggle.
The mightiest leverage is in America, for there
Democracy is entirely at one with conservatism.
America is the most advanced parallel of approach,-the most dangerous sap, —the only complete and substantive platform, from which the
great guns of Democracy can assail, for the benefit
of mankind, the strongholds of absolutism.
But there will be a Solidarit6 of Citizens, as
well as of Nations,-within, as well as without,for democratic, and national, as well as for international, objects.  That Solidarit6 is called AssoCIATION. This power has been one of the mightiest
in America, and the English People are learning it
fast, and are applying its leverage to Political, as
well as to social problems. With the British Constitutionfor fulcrum, and Popular combination for the
lever, even the political world of England may soon
be moved.
While America, then, drills and completes herself for the conflict she will probably be called




CHAP. II.]   GENERAL QUESTIONS.               65
to sustain with Europe, against some form or other
of Aristocracy, be it remembered that unless chaos
come again, the army of the future will have to
be assembled beneath the banners, and under the
moral sanction, of American Democracy triumphant.'The intelligent will and action of the all is of
necessity the goal of the political future. Education is the road to it, and universal suffrage is its
expression. Progress and safety, together, are the
object of all Statesmanship.   Progress, without
enlightenment, is the dream  of fanatics, or madmen. Safety, without progress towards the universal rights of the People, is the fiction of those
whom the universal People are destined to crush,
or to banish from all share in practical politics.
By Oligarchy we mean Government by and for
the few, for whatever may be said to the contrary,
Government always stands by its order, and Government by the few will always be Government
for the few. But inasmuch as few Governments
are Democratic in theory, and all are oligarchic in
practice, this American question is a question for
all nations.
America deals with the facts of the rebellion,
and the principles that energise and direct it.
Europe has to do with the moral effect of the
results of the contest, and with its principles,
which are universal.
~
The Battle of God in the West, has for its issue
three causes triumphant, each in its order.  1st,
F




66          GENERAL.QUESTIONS.        [Bool I.
The right, the capacity, and the earlier practice
of self Government by the Peoples everywhere.
2nd. The vindication, by American Reunion, of
this Atlantean Statesmanship that teaches man to
believe, politically, in himself, and in God, and to
look to the universal people, to bear up in economics,
in politics, and in religion, the adamantine pillars
of a State. 3rd. The enfranchisement of the
particular negro race, which constitutes about an
eighth of the American population, and which
represents the rights of labour all over the world.
The political future of Man. The permanence
of the American Union.  The freedom of the
Slave.  These three are a cause one and indivisible. Without the Slave free, the Union goes,
and if the Union goes, ALL go, for this generation.
The cause of the North is the cause of the World.
The World sees it. The World knows it.  The
World's opinion sides with the North, and every
throb of the Hell-drum of the South, as it calls
more than the " first male" of every household to execution, proclaims the Exodus of the
African, and summons the manhood of every nation
to ask where and what are its rights, and how it is
that everywhere the Press and the parasites of the
few, hate the North, and would make war against it.
For the World, the question of self-Government
by the Peoples everywhere.  For England, the
questions of the future of the great Anglo-Saxon
Continent; of India, Canada, and the Cotton felony
and famine.  For America, the questions of free
labour, of free and centralised Government, and




CHAP. II.]   GENERAL QUESTIONS.           67
the Union sooner or later restored, and enlarged.
Such, and of no less awful magnitude and importance, are the questions directly affected by every
act done, and opinion expressed, for, or against the
American Union.
Historians will undoubtedly point to the present
crisis, as the period whence an universal popular
reaction set in,-when the great Independencies of
England began to assume a new position with
regard to her,-when the importance of India was
immensely developed. Were it not for the almost
personal interference of our Democracy,-our nobodies, and our unpaid Clergy, it would almost
have appeared that the consolidation of the American Union, whether completed by the sword, or
begun afresh a pas de gyant by peaceful influences,
the vindication of its constitution for conservatism
and progress,-the sympathy of Canadians for her
heroic struggle,-the contempt of the world for the
conduct of some anti-English leaders of the English oligarchy and press, —the bad political company into which the results of the cotton felony
threatened to drag us,-and our inveterate vestry
statesmanship, petty policy and mighty exhausting
expenditure, had all combined to jeopardise our
moral position, and relative power before the world,
and involve us in another great war against the
cause of Freedom.
Great as is the struggle, and great as are the
results of all sorts already realised in this American warfare, it cannot be allowed that these things
are aught or less than a speckl in that mighty
F2




68           GENERAL QUESTIONS.         [BOOK I.
system  of means, influences, and issues, which
America sets before the world.
Thus the questions at issue in America are not to
be circumscribed by even the widest limits that
have generally been set for them.
The question is not between Freedom and Slavery,
in the limited acceptation of the terms, for Slavery
is a system of oppression and suicide, and will
either be destroyed, or fail. Slavery is doomed,
and is not a question, but an irritation only.
The outside question is whether the principle of
treason and unjustifiable revolt shall triumph in
the new world. But the essential question, in its
largest and completest aspect, is whether that
system of balanced right between man and man,
and between the Man and the Government, established and preserved there for 80 years, shall be
rebuked and degraded before the world, —whether
the great Anglo-Saxon race, and the tributary
races it has assimilated, and those free institutions,
in religion and politics, for which the world's
martyrs have fought and died, shall now have on
their side, a great, a successful, a united, and advancing People, to fight the battles of the future, and
to stand by the side of the veritable English people,
in the essential contests that must come from essential antagonisms, in the History and emancipation
of the Human race.
The greatest facts not only of the present era,
but in the secular history of the world,-are the
spread of one race over the whole of one Contitinent; the Federation of many separate states,




CHAP. II.   GENERAL QUESTIONS.            69
each of the average size of an European kingdom,
under one Government; and their existence, and
probable continued existence, under Institutions
really free and democratic.
The tremendous import of the general issues;
involved in this special issue between Slavery and
the constitutional Government of America, may
well stagger the apprehension of those who do not
advance to them full panoplied with Principle, and
with a proper sense of responsibility. But it should
steady the minds of those who do thus advance.
Let us repeat and emphasize these issues;They are, for the World, the question of selfGovernment by the Peoples everywhere.  For
England, they affect, more or less deeply, the questions of Democratic Institutions, of India, Canada,
and the Cotton Felony and Famine, and of the Anglp-American Continent. For Ameerica, the questions
of free labour, of territorial Integrity, of free and
centralised Government, of the Union, sooner or
later restored and enlarged, of Nationality and
Independence.
The political future of Man.
The Permanence of the American Union, and
the integrity of its nationality.
The freedom of labour, and of the Negro.
These questions have their full meaning at home
as well as abroad, for there really exist in England
but two Parties, —Tze party that believes in and is
prepared to trust the People, and the party that does
neither.
The nitmber, the magnitude, the inveteracyv of
the questions involved, and the essential and inti



70            GENERAL QUESTIONS.         -[BooK I.
mate relations of the two parties to thenm, account for
the interest mankind take in the struggle, but they
also demonstrate the folly of expecting that anything less than an absolute settlement of the Situation is possible.




CHAPTER III.
THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.
THIE ANGLO-SAXON CONTINENT.
PANAMA.
CANADA.
INDIA, AND THE ENGLISH STAPLE,
OLIGARCHY AND DEMOCRACY.
THE CONSTITUTION UNBALANCED.
LAND TENURE.
POPULAR ASSOCIATION.
THEE REACTION REACTED UPON.
"The two or three main ideas which constitute the basis of the
Social theory of the United States were first combined in the
Northern British colonies, the States of New England.
" In England the stronghold of Puritanism was in the middle
classes, and it was from the middle classes that the majority of the
emigrants came.
" The general principles which are the groundwork of modern constitutions, were all recognised and determined by the laws of New
England.-The Americans are a very old and enlightened People,
&c. That portion of the Englis8 People, which is commissioned
to explore the wilds of the new world." —De Tocguqeville.
"Already (1690) the plebeian outcasts, the Anglo-Saxon emigrants, were the hope of the world." —Bancroft.
" That the first adventurers and settlers of his Majesty's colony
and dominion brought with them, and transmitted to their posterity
and all other his Majesty's subjects since inhabiting, all the privileges, franchises, and immunities, that have at any time been held
by the People of Great Britain."
Resolution inw Virginia Assembly, 1765.
"That the inhabitants of the English colonies, by the immutable
laws of nature, the Principles of the English Constitution, crc. have
certain rights."
Resolution of 12 Colonies at Philadelphia Congress, 1774.
"Permit us to be as free as yourselves, and we shall esteem a Union
with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happiness."
Address of Congress to the People of Great Britain.




72           THE ENGLISH  STANDPOINT.               [Boon I.
"Representation and taxation must go together; they are inseparable. For genuine sagacity, for singular moderation, for solid
wisdom, manly spirit, sublime sentiments, and simplicity of language,
the Congress of Philadelphia stands unrivalled. * * * America has
all the reason in the world to believe you mean her death or her
bondage. I pledge myself never to leave this business."
Lord Chatham, in the Lords, 1775.
"The idea of virtual representation is the most contemptible that
over entered into the head of man." —Mr. Pitt, 1766.
"When a nation modifies the electoral qualification, it may
easily be foreseen that sooner or later that qualification will be
entirely abolished. There is no more invariable rule in the history of Society."-De Tocqueville.
"Should Angels and Archangels come down from Heaven to
govern us, public liberty must be in danger whenever a free constitution is dependent on will; and a free constitution is dependent
on will, whenever the will of one estate can direct the conduct of all
three."-Bolingbroke.
"The English Government will be no more, either when the
Crown shall become independent on the nation for its supplies, or
when the representatives of the People shall begin to share in the
executive authority."-De Lolme.
" Besides these more general questions England has some of her
own. Foremost among them all is the suppression of the Slave
Trade."- Castlereagh's Instructions to ]Wellington for Congress of
Verona.
" Almost all ancient legislators, especially Moses, grounded the
success of their ordinances concerning virtue, justice, and morality,
upon securing hereditary estates, or at least, landed property, to
the greatest possible number of citizens."-Niebuhr.
" It is of the nature of property to run into large masses. Public
laws should be so constructed as tofavor its diffusion as much as
they can."-Paley.
" If men are to remain civilized or to become so, the art of associating together must grow and improve, in the same ratio in which
the equality of conditions is increased." —De Tocqueville.




CHAP. III.]   THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.               73
CONTENTS.
English Puritanism.-Freedom and Law with the North.The Anglo-Saxon race, History, and Continent.-Root of American nation, and of Slavery —Panama, and English Commerce,
and Napoleon. - Policy of England.-America, France, Russia,
and the South.-The chief seat of Anglo-Saxon power already
transferred to America.-England will want American alliance.
-Perspective of Events.- The English Cotton Felony and
Compromise. - Imperial Statesmanship. - Intermeddling in
Europe and neglect in India. -- The " London Cotton Plant"
story of the trade as affecting prices in England. - English
monopoly depresses India, and elevates the South.-English
subsidy to the South.-Ten millions per annum to Slaveholders.
-Rise in value of Slaves and Plantations. — The great Tory
reaction from Charles II. to the Reform Bill. - The reaction
reacted upon.-Fraud, compromise, and postponement, its chief
weapons. - Recognition of South as Belligerent. - Hungary,
Poland, and the South.-Who governs England?-Middle class
partially retrograde.-Upper and " lower" classes advancing.
-Murder and non-Intervention.-The European situation.The cycle of results.-Democracy in England.-Theory and
practice of the EnglishConstitution.-Representation, and Foreign Policy. - Reaction.-Primogeniture.-Law of progression.
-American progress and English policy. -" Recognition."The army of revolt.-The great representative class abuse.English Policy in a transition State. —English Democracy waits
the momentum from American successes.-A word to the wise.
THE sangue azul of the world,-the bluest of all
bloods -- the conqueror of conquerors, — the old
Puritan English blood, and brood, now fights and
vTins its third great battle.  The first, established
on the body of the Stuart the fact of popular Sovereignty.  The second, settled the theory, and went
-far to establish the fact, that human Government




74      THlE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.        [BooK I.
exists for the diffusion of equal happiness, and the
vindication of equal rights. These two were struggles for the principle of freedom, the present is for
those of freedom and authority combined.  The
first were against great odds. The present has on
its side the great preponderance of material, as
well as of moral power.
Not, as heretofore, with authority against right,
but against authority, - against law, against the
letter as well as the spirit of right, have the representatives of the world's oppressors at last to contend.
Freedom and law are one in Northern practice,
-in Southern practice,- anarchy and oppression.
To this pass has the world's cause come, but it
has reached it through a stormy road.
The third great struggle of the Puritans now
culminates. The cause was adherence to Principle.
The champions are come of the great English revolution. There is no great question which the
issue will not decide, for it tries over again, and
as in a court of last appeal, all the great spiritual
controversies which before have shaken the world.
The rights of representative Government was the
issue against the Stuart. The rights of Nationality
was the issue against George the III. The present
contest includes these, but it is deeper down. It is
for conservatism as well as for progress. Not only
will it settle the right of the universal people to representation, and of the Americans to nationality,
and also their power to have them and to hold
them, but it will teach the enemies of mankind,
that the People know what is freedom and what




CHAP. III.]   THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.        75
license, and the bounds between them. That they
will not allow license to slave drivers, because it is
called " freedom;" an unnatural separate existence to rebels, because it is called " nationality;"
or anarchy to " sovereign  states," because it is
claimed by " Democrats." Freedom and Law are
at last balanced, and Despotism and Anarchy are
proved to be one.
A nation is the mightiest Integer in this world's
combinations. It is not easily made. It does not
easily die.
Of all the mighty nations in the world the American nation is the most progressive. It grapples
with its roots the heart of the Anglo-Saxon traditions and nationality. It will reach from the Gates
of the Pacific to the Pole and from the Atlantic to
the Pacific.
It increases its Population by half in ten years.
It increases its wealth at a rate unknown before.
It is the country of equal social and political conditions.  It has now overcome the deadly temptation of partnership in Southern shame.
The root of the American nation, is as concerning the flesh, in the Anglo-Saxon race; as concerning the spirit, it is of the Puritans.
Other breeds are there, and other spirits, but the
blood and the speech of the English stock, rule,
and it is by the sword of the spirit of the Puritans,
that the great nation must conquer.
The root and Principle of Slavedom, is aristocracy in its worst sense. The assertion of the special
and exceptional rights of the few, and the denial of
equal spiritual, mental and physical rights to the
many.




76       THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.    [BooK I.
It is the exact contrary of American Democracy
and race, of the Puritan blood and politics,-of the
love of the People, and the fear of God.
America is England plus a larger sphere, a clearer
stage, and democratic institutions.  Americans
enjoy the rights Englishmen have fought for, but
which are there set forth in express declaration, and
cleared of all doubt. The strength of the branch
proves the vigour of the tree.
American questions are English, almost as much
as they are American. The English are for America, and the opposition to the People of both
countries by the anti-English faction that was beaten
once for all by Cromwell and the Ironsides, proves
it. The Continent may be called the Anglo-American, or ANGLO-SAXON CONTINENT. The
race, the Anglo-American or Anglo-Saxon race.
American History is but the continuation of English History upon a vaster area, and a clearer stage.
The Great Federation is a vindication of that union
of freedom with self-Government, which marks the
Manhood of nations, and which marks as yet few but
the English. Democracy is the principle towards
which all free nations must tend till it is attained,
inasmuch as they tend towards universality of
rights and enlightenment, which are Progress, which
tend to Unity, and which constitue the only alternative of revolution.
~
But although everything in Morality, Policy, and
Commerce, pointed to an alliance with the North,
we have left the chances to others, and through the
sympathies of our rulers against the Integrity of




CHAP. III.]   THE ENGLISH STAN.DPOINT.     77
the Northern Continent, have offered a dangerous
opportunity to Napoleon.
Napoleon, as is the trick of his race, seizes now,
a hundred years before the age, the " Gates of the
Pacific," at Panama, even as his predecessor seized
the Key of the East at Suez.
It is a mechanical success, and is not intended
either to menace or insult any great national forces
or principles in America.
If the people of one nation were ever to be
safely led against the people of another living
nation, three thousand miles from  the base of
operations, this is not the " epoch," nor are the
French the nation that could be led with impunity against a brother nation, fighting for freedom,
for Democracy, and for good Government.
"1 The Gates of the Pacific" might seem a glorious
prize to a mere Soldier, but Napoleon knows that
there are prizes still more inciting and glorious to
Americans, —the prizes of American Nationality,
Unity, Independence, and not only so, but that the
servants of these, could put into the field the
"' stronger battalions."
Panama will doubtless be the great thoroughfare
for the commerce of the future.  Napoleon may
hold it for civilization, or exchange, or neutralisation,-he can scarcely attempt to hold it for conquest.
But Panama is a mechanical, a tactical affair
only. Napoleon means not to menace or rouse the
invincible energies and immortal hate of the
American nation.  It has nothing to do with
the deep permanent things of the Western world.




78       THE ENGLIStI  STANDPOINT.    [BooK I,
It only constitutes a makeweight in European
(Austrian) compromises, or the most splendid prize
in the world wherewith to negociate with that
power in America that shall ultimately conquer.
Panama is indeed a marvellous instance of how
a profound intellect discovers at the ends of the
earth, instruments of his will, and threads that can
be woven into the warp and woof of policy.
Panama is held for the Americans whenever they
can redeem the pledge, but it may be held against
the English.
It is the furthest parallel of approach against her
commerce and authority in the West, just as Suez
in the East.
These are " far off," it is true, but they are lines
of circumvallation, through which England will
have to pass, for the nearest and best approaches to
her mighty " Independencies," and to her mightier
trade.
The most obvious view is that the Isthmus is a
makeweight in Austrian compromises. This is not
unimportant.  But it does not vitally concern
England, and it must be remembered that whoever
may hold the South, whether Confederates or
Federals, they will not be friends of England. Till
Canada is annexed, there will be jealousies about
that territory. If the 1" South" dies out, it will be
what it always has been,-part of America. Should
it succeed, our Government will have incurred
the enmity of the greatest naval power in the
world, and also of its friends and allies.
The policy of England has again been Isolation
and barrenness.




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.      79
Thus to the Government of the future, the safety
of the Union, the freedom of the Slave, the right
administration of India, the safe settlement of the
Cotton question, the future of Canada and our relations arising therefrom with the United States,
there must be added other questions of our position
and policy in relation to the key of one of the
world's greatest thoroughfares.
The greatseat,-startling as the assertion may
seem, - of Anglo-Sacxon power, is ALREADY
TRANSFERRED to thze American Continent, and
we see no cause for alarm, no omen of misfortune
to England or the English, when we look in vain
even to the Canadian lakes or rivers, for an ultimate barrier against the unifying power of natural
and social influences and propagandism, which may
cause the great American Anglo-Saxon races to
flow into one Confederation. Family and personal
virtues, have given them power to multiply, and
spread, and subdue nature. Peaceful pursuits have
taught them to manipulate its products.  Their
strength and stamina have enabled them to resist,
alike, oppression and assimilation.  Why should
the Anglo-Saxon race go to pieces or remain in
fragments, as all other races are coming together?
The pride of our common race, origin, and history,
and the future world-wide interests of freedom,
and popular institutions, may be better vindicated,
and more deeply involved, than we now suspect, in
the widest theory of American Unity. The Canadian lake chain is no barrier, but the contrary.




80       THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [Boox I.
Commerce, intermarriage, neighbourhood, association, language, race, religion, and boundary, all
tend, soon or late, to draw together the great
English Continent, in everlasting bonds of interest,
sympathy, and love.  In this process, it is not
English territory that would be absorbed, it is the
great English race that would unite. Nor must it
be forgotten, that that race, having conquered and
utilised America, would by natural tendency, join
with the nation of their Father's home, in the reciprocations of peace, or, if needs be, in the sterner
alliances of war.
Time will settle these things; The only impolicy,
as regards America, is that which would give to
time, vengeful and rankling memories to assuage,
instead of mutual connecting links, and interests, to
multiply and confirm.
War with America would be truly a civil war,
and a i; Statesmanship" that rejected the natural
staple of India, and considers it " natural" to form
an alliance with the Slaveholding South to get
that self same staple at a higher price, is a policy
which it will now be impossible to impose on the
English nation.
Slavery must go, for it is not self-supporting, and
the free nation on whom it leant, has cast it out, and
off. Other questions must come, and when they come,
where will be the balance of righteous power, and
will England be prepared, and will the empires she
has given the world, be willing, ready, and'whole,
when something will he in question?
Every agency will then be wanted and worked
on the one side or the other. The English Govern



CHAP. II1.]  TilE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.      81
ment may want America then.  The world will
want America then. And now, every individual
man and woman in England, should realize that
he and she both feel and want America's influence
now, and should see to it that Governmental action
shall not have made communion of action impossible, between Englishmen here, and Anglo-Americans there.
A home in America has proved the most valuable thing on earth to fugitives of all nations.
The influence of American freedom, is the most
valuable influence on earth to the oppressed or
depressed of all nations, who remain where they
are.
Next to the Christian Religion, of which America is the most influential advocate, the American
Government and constitution is the most precious
possession which the world holds, or which the
future can inherit.
An enthusiasm that acts in the present, and an
appreciation of the whole far-reaching character
of the crissi,-qualities elsewhere oftener found
separate than together, are part of the political
character of the American people, and we must
try to appreciate them.  It is our first duty as
onlookers to estimate the true character and just
perspective of these great events.
In the life of a nation, even were it a small one,
and of a race, were it ignoble, eighty years are
almost as one day, and three years a hardly appreciable point of time. In crises so stupendous as




-2-       THE ENGLISH,STANDPOINT.    [Boox IL
this, man reaches a stage when passion, and vengeance, and immortal love, and fixed eternal hate,
lift human nature to heights, and sink it to depths,
unintelligible to the ordinary " practical man."
Accordingly, the friends of the South in England,
have already proved themselves the only unpractical men. They exult over the Southern "nationality," which is but a faction, and ignore the
American nationality, the intensest yet created.
They are in fact the only utterly hopeless partisans.
They talk about' the needful," and " Bankruptcy,"
and'" Wall Street," and " the price of Bullion,"doubt whether negroes will fight for freedom, or
whether, because a certain State is a manufacturing State, it will not join secesh,-for the sake
of monopoly " in woollens," for example. They
forget that when battle is once begun the noblest
and truest faith will always last and fight the
longest, and " gain definitively the last victory."
America, just now, hasgot the measles. She has
been passing through the diseases of childhood,-and
as she throws the disease outward, the process will
ultimately strengthen and purify her infant constitution. But, lo! all the state quacks of Europe
are talking of her unnatural growth and proportions, prophesying of decay and'amputation of
members, or taking up their parable concerning
atrophy and exhaustion,-while all the while the
patient is only conscious of a healthy and desirable outcome of impurities, worked out at last
by an athletic constitution to the surface, and soon
to be worked off it.
This is about as it should be.  There is no want




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.      83
of farsightedness. The Diplomatists, who, in any
European war, would seek to commit this country
on the side of Legitimacy, against the peace and
the interests of the People, tremble at the success of
the American experiment, and would recommend
to America the right divine, not of rulers but of
rebels, and the Sovereignty, not of Legitimate
authority, but of revolting states. In America the
rebels are the Oligarchy, and an Oligarchy, though
a rebellion, is always right!
But the crisis of the Northern life is already past,
and the suicide of the South goes on swimmingly.
No nation, true to principle, -ever yet foundered in
stress of battle, or in any lesser trial. The Soutlh
imagined that the North would not dare to emancipate, or that it was not pure enough to desire
emancipation. It rested also on the broken reed of
European convulsions, recognitions, and interventions.
The course of this struggle has pointed a moral
at which the whole world has turned pale. For
eighty years, England and America have attempted,
in the face of that world of which they have been
the greater part, to compromise a felony,-and they
have failed.  The natural laws that govern the
universe have indicted these two coluntries,'and
prosecuted them to conviction. Civil war and industrial bankruptcy are the penalties.
Compromises in Northern politics, and in English cotton trade, have well nigh got the world
between them into a dead lock. Morality now has
demonstrated itself to be also Statesmanship and
Finance, and the question now is, not whether
G 2




84       TEIE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.    [BooK I.
the world  will attend to the Slave question, but
whether it will settle it so that it shall not arise
again to confound us,-settle it in accordance with
the principles of commerce, philanthropy, statesmanship, and religion. The question has gone the
old established round and come back to the old
foregone conclusion. Principle came at the first
as a choice, next as an alternative with defeat, and
lastly as an avenger and a doom. The two stages
of hypocrisy and compromise, and then of constitutional warfare, have passed away, and the stage
of open war has come. Freedom and Slavery,
slavery and trade,-two essentially antagonistic
principles, have been pretending,-the greatest
organised hypocrisy the world ever saw,-to live
together in unity, and now the farce is over and
the piece damned.  The Slaveholding states have
been the great moral teachers. The North has
learnt that in all compromises the right is in danger
of losing, —has already lost its best vantage ground.
The North has chosen principle instead of defeat,
and learnt how to do, as well as for what to die.
The Emancipation Act propitiates the principle of
justice, and settles the ultimate issue of the war.
A policy of Despair has urged on the Slave power
for forty years, and it has yet to conduct it to its
end.
But has England, — the England -of Lancashire,
of Canada, and of India, no remorse to bear, no
folly to recant, no lesson to learn, no policy, industrial or Imperial, to undo and to reconstruct? We
have had India now long enough, if we ihad had also
a MAN, unhanded by manikins at home, and Lilli



CHAP. III.]  TIHE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.        85
putians at Calcutta, to settle the democratic rights
there as to land tenure, and reconcile them with
the feudal rights. To adjust law practice to the
traditions of the people, and to natural equity,
and to bear ourselves as a Christian nation,
in a manner neither inconsistent, aggressive, nor
weak,
But the old moribund traditions,-partnerships
old and new with " Chivalry" against mankind,
are yet we fear of more living weight in the
English cabinet, than all the majestical future of
Imperial interests, or of Anglo-American and
Anglo-Saxon destinies, and Indian rights. As Earl
Russell said,-"- They have no time to examine
great questions!" Still Statesmen called " English"
exist as little better than watch dogs of the Rhine,
and as guardians of the interests of those 38 infinitesimal blasphemies called German States. In
foreign affairs they care more for an acre on the
Rhine, than an Empire in the East, and all their
philosophy, and all their function, has been till
lately, how to govern the world so as to obstruct
the territorial unity of France, and how to uphold
the mechanical structure called the Austrian Empire,
at the price of Italian unity, and Hungarian freedom.  It seems true that till these men —the last
of them, are clean gone for ever, the industrial
necessities and opportunities of this country, and the
opportunities of India, will not be made a primary
object of Statesmanship.
When the last of the " Austrians" is gone, the
English Empire may have a chance, but till then,
Imperial Statesmanship, must, we fear, be left to




86       THE ENGLISU STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
individual Statesmen, inadequately sustained by
public opinion.
Until Englishmen will resolutely attend to their
own essential needs and greatest interests, and to
the rights of our great dependencies, the opportunities of empire will be lost, the claims of subject
races to justice and intelligent Government will
be mocked, the resources of the world will be
undeveloped, revolution will menace order in the
East, and collapse threaten industry at home, and
above all, the great lesson now taught us by America will be unrecognised and unlearnt.
It is, after all, a coincidence, not strange but
most emphatic, that politicians amongst us, called,
with no complimentary intent, " American," should
be those same men who Izave time to'examine great
questions, who have accordingly comprehended the
great dangers and opportunities of India to England,
and tried before the danger Came, witlout ceasing,'as without success, to awake the nation to a sense
of them.
Adjustment of representation to population, has
done much to save America. It has made power
commensurate with right.  Could English policy
be much meaner, narrower, or worse, with some
such conservative-democratic element.  Is it a
fact, that England has lost the art of Empire, or
that Englishmen yet remain unrepresented?  The
West salutes the future with a policy of reconstruction and hope. Is it that ourv constitution is
unbalanced,-that for ourselves, and for the West
and East, we seemed so long incapable of moving,
and of forcing obstructives to move themselves out




C11rP. III.]  THE ENGLISH -STANDPOINT.       87
of the nation's pathway, and to occupy one of the
most splendid positions in the world, for something
less fatal than the repudiation of all foresight in
Government, and all prevision in Trade.
~
Nothing but English Statesmanship could have
transferred the Cotton trade from  India to the
South, and it is owing to that that Murder and
Cotton have grown together to the harvest there
for 80 years. Enterprise and Freedom created the
South, and partnership with free states and free
men has sustained it, and in 60 years multiplied
its staple, from  5000 bales to 5,000,000.  The
Northerner, Whitney, invented for the South the
Steam Gin. Free men invented, and free labour
made for it, railways and steamboats.  The North
found, for the South, capital, of which the South
repudiates the interest.  England found for the
South a sum  of ~25,000,000 invested in American railways, and for some years kindly made
an annual present to the South of a cool
~10,000,000 in the way of unnatural and extra price
for Cotton.@ Finally, for the South, African Slaves
have worked, and the South, hitherto, empowered
by political partnership with the North, has kept
the Slave a Slave, and has had leisure to plot politically against the well being of its neighbours
and dependents.
In 1806 the West Indies contributed about 30
per cent of the Cotton that came to Liverpool.
* It was calculated in 1856, that an advance of one farthing
per lb. on the consumption amounted to nearly a million
sterling.




88        THIE ENGLISH STANDPOINT    [ BooK I.
They now send. per cent. The West Indies were
governed by English proconsuls, but were not in
social or political pGartnership with a free nation.
The destruction of that country enured to the benefit of the South.
In 1806 India sent us 7,787 bales. In 1818,
-247,659 bales, or 1-6th more than the South.
In 1856 it sends us 463,000 bales, while the
South sent us 71 per cent out of our whole
consumption. And what was the cause of this?
From  1834 to 1848, the East India Company,"
having received =300,000,000, for the development
of Indian resources, spent on its roads, irrigation,
&c. ~1,400,000, little more thon Id. in the pound.
Englishmen, neglecting the warning of the Statesman, Bright, who, in 1848, moved for a Committee
upon the growth of Cotton in India, allowed their
Government, to allow the East India Company, to
allow their Directors, to strangle India, by withholding transit facilities, land rights, &c. and so,
forcing back and down the struggling and rising
commerce in our National Staple.  Thus has the
South prospered.
But in 1860 two causes arose to destroy the
South, which through the follies and crimes of the
world had swollen to unnatural proportions and
suicidal insolence.
Politically the South wanted more Slave States,
mechanically made, to counterbalance the votes
and power of Free States, naturally arising. Economically the South wanted more Slave States to
feed the land waste of her barbarous system.
* Evidence of iMr. 5angles, Chairman of the Directors.




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.     89
The South by violence, conspiracy, and perjury,
would have cut up the free territory for these base
needs and uses, but the North stood at bay.
Hence Secession, civil war, and destruction of
Cotton, and ultimately, of the political structure of
the South. In 1844-5 cotton was about 4d. In
1846-7 it rose to 7d. and 9d. In 1858, the monopoly which England had conferred upon the South,
told fearfully against herself.  India was wanted.
Cotton rose 3d. a pound, and about ~7,000,000
sterling went out of the pockets of John Bull and
into the pockets of the "Chivalry."  England that
ransomed her own slaves at ~20,000,000, pays
with one hand ~1,000,000 a year to stop the
Slave Trade, and with the other pays the South
seven to ten millions a year, to raise the value
of Slaves, and plantations, and Slave produce,-thus
practically enabling it and forcing it, to secure
fresh slaves from Africa, and paying in increased
price of Cotton, the insurance dues on every Slaver
nthat sails.
Liverpool, built, like the South, with blood;
began, like it, to totter. Cotton is up. India and
England down. The murder is out. Its partnership with Cotton, and England, and Slavery, and
America, at an end. Morality has strangely turned
out to be economics, and might, had any body
tried her, have turned out to be Statesmanship.
And now after a circumbendibus of eighty years,
and by way of India, Lancashire, and Eastern and
Western America, the rogues have turned out to
be fools, and the prospect of outwitting nature and
God, only a gigantic hoax, in which each member




90        THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
of the partnership suffers exactly in proportion as
he has sinned!
The People of America will see to it that the
Slave power does not repeat its treason. Will the
People of England see to it that their Statesmen
do not repeat theirs?
~
The History of England, from Cromwell to that
curious measure, the Reform Bill, is the history of
the great Tory reaction, counteracting extensively
all that has been good and progressive in England,
and using its power against all that is good and
progressive abroad. It is the history of the conquest and degradation of the English People by a
clique and a faction. The history of England
during the time of Cromwell, and also since 1832,
is the history of the successful struggles of Democracy and Puritanism, against the influences of
the reaction.
It was the great conservative reaction that
brought back the sanguinary and lecherous Stuart
to succeed Cromwell, the "first of Englishmen,"
and that made the next hundred years a blank in
English achievements.
George III. and the reaction followed even to
America, the political progress of the great English
revolution, and would have strangled the Hercules
in the cradle.
The reaction, and George III.) assailed the republic of France, declared their determination to
uphold Austria and the French king, drove the
democracy of Paris mad, and created the spirit that




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.       91
welded the French nation into one,-that created
Napoleon, and made his career possible.
But now the influence of faction is less,-that of
the People, more.
The influence of great towns is augmenting, that
of great lords is decreasing.
The influence of the many is more; that of the
few, less. Oligarchy declines, Democracy advances.
Fraud, where it can, succeeds now  to force.
Still Secret Diplomacy does sometimes by stealth,
evil, that would otherwise be not only infamous,
but impossible, and hastens, where it can, to delude,
or forestall opinion.
The Reaction is so far reached upon, that fraud,
compromise, and postponement, are now its chief
weapons.
Though the Reform Bill was a dishonest measure, giving to feudality in the counties, what it
took from corruption in the towns, yet the popular
reaction it stirred, has been a power ever since, and
if a righteous struggle can but last, the Democracy
and Puritanism of England are always.aroused to
the help of the right, and sometimes checkmate,
sometimes overpower the foe.
The Oligarchy of England " recognised" as Belliqerents the Oligarchy of the South, in a few
weeks after their rebellion against Democracy and
freedom began.
The Democracy of England would have " recognised" the pirate ships by destroying them.
But Public opinions-English Democracy and
Puritanism,-'-bestirred itself. They could not however undo the quasi "recognition," and " Belli



92        THIE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
gerents" can claim the right to buy contraband
of war.  And the Government that prosecuted
Kossuth, and that prosecutes recruiters for a nation
centuries old, so far irrevocably secures in a few
weeks, and against the will of the English people,
the immunities and advantage of English markets,
for the friends of Oligarchy and Slavery, to use
against Democracy and Freedom.
Thus they tempted the South to goad on the
North to war against us. Thus they tempted the
South to stop and challenge on the high seas all
the English marine, lest it carry I contraband " to
its enemy, our friend, and blood relation.
The question clearly remained for us to answer,
— "i Who governs England,"-" where is the sovereignty of the People?" asserted by Cromwell, and
transplanted by us to America.  Oligarchs fain
would have forced us to destroy it there, as well as
as in France, and hastened to yield advantage to
its deadly foes.
The friends of progress, of improvements in the
practice, and of initiative in the science of Governing, are of two classes. The People with reason
undebauched and instincts uncorrupted; and the
higher classes (in every true sense of the expression), whose completed culture, ample leisure, and
disciplined reason, enables them  to comprehend
human questions in their historical Integrity, and
to apply the world-logic of events to politics. The
"4 great middle class " of England, too much affected
by the mortal poison of materialism, too exclusively occupied with trade and professions, apes
mechanically a conservatism which many of their




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.         93
betters have abandoned, is:"educated" out of
sympathy but not up to faith, is refined enough to
sneer, but not strong enough, in head, or heart, in
fortitude, in enthusiasm, in leisure, in generalisation, or in ideas, to believe.
Well then, if the centre of England is so far
demoralised  and weak, the flanks must wheel
round, and cover it, and hide it, in the day when
Enylislh opinion has to be expressed before the
world.
The People scent their own battle, and will see
to it, that their country, their strength, their repute,
their future, is not prostituted by figurants of Statecraft, and filles de joie of policy, for Southern uses,by the same criminal and inane crew who assisted
at the destruction of Hungary, and the:" neutralisation" (?) of the Black Sea,-who put, and so long
kept, Austria in Italy, and have at various times
prevented the resurrection of Poland.
The shrieks of Poland resound for the fifth time
throughout Europe. Why does England crouch
still, at the feet of the Czar, in company with
Austria the jackal of Russia, and Prussia, " bien
bete et bien fausse?"
Because the dead old George, and the dead old
Tories of the Holy Alliance rule us still. Because
we inherit the results of their deeds. Because we
have left Europe practically unbalanced, between
Russia and France. Because we fear the strength
of France if we aided her to intervene, and the
weakness of Russia if Poland were re-established!
The public law of Europe means license for
barbarism and physical strength, and the purest,




94        THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.    [Boox I.
if not the wisest politicians, advocate neutrality
between right and wrong, because, without neutrality, there would be complicity. Europe still
suffers many of the wrongs and the mistakes
saddled upon it by the great wars against progress
and democracy, and is incapable of demanding of
Russia, the fulfilment even of her distinct undertakings and guarantees entered into for valuable
consideration, and of the plainest requirements of
common sense, and international adjustment.
Europe cannot or dare not pronounce the name
of Poland) and looks on while Prussia assists Russia
in murdering her. The reason why, is that eighty
years ago England went to war for legitimacy,
Austria, and retrogression, against France, and
Democracy, and is still bound by a thousand ties
in that direction. Intervention brought us within
a cycle of results of which some are not yet developed, and others not yet passed away.  "Nonintervention " is the philosophy and the policy with
which we salute the victims of that intervention,
and the phrase, " the right, not the duty to intervene," expresses the Christianity and wisdom, that
caps the anticlimax of imbecility and dishonour.
Democracy in England did not at first become
articulate on  secession.  It has spoken partly
through Trades' Union, and partly at the instance
of various societies friendly to the slave of colour;
but as a political question affecting every living
soul upon the earth, both in principle, and in most
intimate results, especially the rights of the all
against the usurpations of the few,-the People of
England have scarcely delivered themselves ade



CHAP. III.]    THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT             95
quately in support of their natural allies in America.
But the English Lion only slumbers.  His last
repast was of a class abuse of strictly economic
laws. It is thirty years since he made a mouthful
of a great political wrong.  Let then his keepers
take warning firom the social law expounded by De
Tocqueville, p. 67, vol. 1. and already quoted.
" When a nation modifies the electoral qualification, it may easily
"be foreseen that sooner or later that qualification will be entirely
" abolished. There is no more invariable rule in the History of
"Society. For after each concession, the strength of the Democracy
"increases, and its demands increase with its strength."
And now the just opinion and self restraint of
the Democracy of England and  of Lancashire,
have immensely increased the strength, and fortified
the position, of that Democracy for the coming
reaction.
Every Government ought to be, or to be in the
way of becoming, Democratic in its principles, —
because, in every country, good Government tends
to make the vast majority educated, and orderly,conservative and free.
The only lasting conservatism,-the only conservatism  that can be conserved, is the conservatism of a true Democracy.
Every Government, therefore, that opposes obstacles to the physical wellbeing, and intellectual
and religious culture, or the adequate representation,
of the People, is a Government of ignorance,
atheism, and revolution.
We are not of those who would have Democratic




96        THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
Institutions thoughtlessly adopted, but the essence
of Democracy is Government by the public opinion
of an instructed People, and we hold it to be the
duty of all-of Kings, Lords, Commons, and Press,
to work together for the advent of Democracy to
power. Every man who does not so work, does,
not so much postpone Democracy, as precipitate
and aggravate revolution.
This is the answer to those who may ask " would
you apply American institutions to this country?"
Remove every corporate, fiscal, or other unnatural obstacle, from the path of knowledge and
religion, and then, let any Institutions come that
may. For an instructed minority to dictate to an
instructed majority, is,-not monarchy, oligarchy,
or representation,-but a triumph of physical force
over ideas.
The Georges sent this country galloping towards
a republic. It is the greatest praise of Victoria,
that almost every element of irritation, save that
of an unbalanced constitution, has been removed,
but as our good Queen reigns without governing,
the usurpers who wield her functions, to deny the
People their rights, have an abundant interest in
withholding the suffrage from those who, at once,
understand, and condemn their policy.
If in any country, the power of an instructed
and orderly majority, does not, through whatever
fictions or forms, rule that country,-its Government, either past or present, is judged, and is condemned.
But what are the facts about "4 Institutions" in
England?




CHAP. IIL]   THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.        97
Does the Monarch rule?
Do the Lords rule?
Do the Commons either rule or represent the
People?
The first is perhaps too much a formality, the
second is very much an obstruction: the third is
six-sevenths of a farce.-For the theory is that
Lords and Commons are distinct estates and powers,
and that the Commons represent the people. The
fact is that only one million out of seven have the
suffrage, and that the representatives they return,
represent the Lords more than the People. The
Principle, is that enunciated by Chatham an hundred
years ago, in both houses;-"  Riepresentation and
"; taxation must go together. They are inseparable.
"6 The idea of virtual representation is the most'" contemptible that ever entered into the head of
man.'
The grand desideratum is that theories and procedures should be ruled by the fundamental principles of the British Constitution. —That the balance
of the Constitution be restored, and that the CoMMONS should represent the veritable People and
their interests.
To decide what is in England the ruling power,
would require an investigation into the various
branches of administration, of internal, external,
and colonial questions, the discussion of which, is
not the object of this Book. Sometimes it is public
opinion d'stempered by Lord Palmerston, jockeyed
by Mr. Disraeli, or " stemmnecld" by Lord Derby.
In some cases it is one or other of these Gentlemen,
driven Calong by Public opinion like thistle down
H




98        THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [3ooK I.
before the whirlwind. In some, public opinion
knows nothing of the matter in hand, till it is out
of hand. In some, the dead old George III., and
even his " dogeship," George II., rule us fiom their
graves, by force of old-world connection and traditions. In some the true People do, and undo, at
will.
One special element, disturbing the balance of
social and political forces in England, has received
some attention of late. We refer to our peculiar
land laws. The genius of John Bull, as yet developed, is to insist on liberty, but to tolerate
inequality,-nay, rather to like it than otherwise.
The operation of the law of primogeniture, which
is neither original Saxon, nor even Norman, has,
in concert with the enormously increased price of
land) created an oligarchy, constantly increasing in
wealth, and decreasing in numbers, and which, up
to the time of the Reform Bill and of the Repeal of
the Corn Laws, ruled England absolutely.
Saxon England distributed estates amongst all
the sons without primogeniture.
Norman law gave the eldest son the best estate,
the primuvr patrisfeudum only, but as a law of
conquest and precaution it parcelled out England
amongst its conquerors, and limited the English
estate from father to eldest son.
The holders of these fiefs, were, when English
population was about two millions, as one in forty.
Now they are only as one to two thousand, and, subject to disposition by the testator, all his land in the
three kingdoms, (and in the colonies, goes to the
eldest son.




CRAP. III.].THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.     99
Thus is the Norman conquest perpetuated and
intensified over Englishmen.
This oligarchy has sometimes stood between the
Throne and the People, to the advantage of the
latter. For the last eighty years it has joined the
Throne against the People, or stood between them
to the disadvantage and prejudice of both.
It would soon become a question, whether the
growing numbers of the People, without the growing
rivalry in wealth-power created by commerce,
would not: in due time, make primogeniture a kind
of reductio a-d absurdum.
The weakness of the Anglo-Saxon race for inequality, provided it be tempered with liberty, has
been most dangerously tampered with and aggravated by the grasp which the Conqueror still lays
upon the land of the English, and by the thousandfold oligarchic influences built upon that foundation.
It requires but a short resumrn of Anglo-European
events, to show in what position the People and
the Government really stand to one another and
the world, and to prove that power should not be
so much where it is, and should be more where it
is not. To prove that tlfe constitution is unbalanced,
because the principle of representation which is
the basis of our liberties is not enacted, and that
inasmuch as the People do not really elect, representatives do not really represent. To prove that
had this principle of the Constitution been enacted,
the great measures which have weakened the national strength, tarnished the national honour, perpetuated the ignorance, and impoverished the conH 2




100       THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
dition of the People, by unjust and unnecessary
wars) and by wars on the wrong side, would have
been reversed.
The first American war, against which Chatham
and Burke thundered, was not a People's war.
The war against the Republic of France was a
war by an oligarchy and an autocrat, for Legitimacy, against the People.
The Russian war of intervention against Hungary
would have led the English People into war for
Hungary, but English policy was for dynasties,
and not for Peoples.
The Crimean war was popular, for the People
would have made it useful. The People would
have pronounced the name of Poland, and would
not have been content with immaterial Guarantees,
-with Black Sea " neutralisation," and Circassian
blockades.
The Italian war found us neutral, or talking
cabout English Interests in the Adriatic, because our
diplomacy, which had put Austria into Italy, could
scarcely be expected to drive her out for the sake
of the Italians.
We have deserted Poland from 1772 until now,
from jealousy of France and alliances with Russia,
arising from the necessities of our position as
enenmies of the People, and allies of reaction.
What, we ask, on all these great questions, would
have been the policy of the People?
Would it not have been conservative for Europe,
and destructive only of those powers and influences
which cannot co-exist with real peace, or with any
-definitive settlements?




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.      101
The responsibility for these things must rest
either with THE PEOPLE, THE MEN  01or THE
SYSTEM.
The PEOPLE have struggled for representation.
The honest part of the Reform Bill would have
given it to them, the dishonest part gave it back
from them. True, the religious, or rather "; evangelical" section of Englishmen, may have neglected
citizen duties in the haute politique, but the cause
we seek is not here.
Is it then the great representative MEN? They
have been parties to all these European transactions. Was it connivance or Imbecility?  Shall
one say, for instance, of Lord Palmerston, that his
prodigious energies have been willingly and mainly
employed in withholding that which must inevitably
be granted, and in upholding that which must
inevitably fall, or, as such are the actual results,
shall we say that he has been overruled and used,
and has weakly preferred a spurious, and classpopularity to fame?
Or shall we say it is " the SYSTEM " that " did it
all?"  The question then is, who wants the system
and who upholds it?-This system which lets these
I creeping things " of office
"Get tip into the ark."
~
The first stage in the downward course, and it
has been a long one, was wrong doing. For eighty
years Diplomatic England was little else than the
procuress of Austria. For eighty years dealt she
at the body of freedom her deathful stabs, and but




102        THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.    [Boor I.
for the unrepresented masses it had gone hard
lately, that she did not run up her flag side by side
with the black infernal flag of the Slaveholder, and
range it against the great republic of the People.
The second stage was publicity.  The world now
knows these things.
The third stage was contermpt, isolation, neutralisation, and rigid " non-intervention."
The fourth stage must be reaction, or destruction, or decay.
We think we see symptoms of a mighty reaction
for freedom, representation,  and a just foreign
policy,-of a time when the People shall be represented, when Lords and Comnmons shall be really
distinct powers in the State, when we shall no
longer be glad in order not to be infamous in
our Diplomacy and our arms, to take no side at all,
and to allow the mighty heart of England to throb
in vain, and her mighty arm to be shortened.
The nation must in time abdicate its place, or
show its servants that it is Sovereign:"The Problem solving in Politics always is, how Power shall
"6 be developed, or how the Policy ancl the Politicians shall be
" destroyed."
"The development is an Imperial question,- Providence
"secures it for the whole."
"The destruction is a provincial question, each country may' settle it for itself."
Granted that America, by force of her own race,
appliances, and institutions, and by assimilation of
picked men (colonists) of all nations, shall continue




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOI1NT.      -103
to progress at the present ratio; granted also that
European policy be one of short-sighted jealousy
and intervention, and Europe may soon be waging
a war 3000 miles from its base of operations,
against a power that, acting on the defensive, might
as well, for all practical purposes, be infinite.
For according to the outworn policy that suckled
the fools of the anti-French era, and long maintained, at the charges of the English exchequer,
and to the dishonour of the English nation, the
vermin of legitimacy in Europe, we ought, long
since, to have found our natural ally in the South,
which seeks to divide a possible rival, which
represents "interests," as opposed to rights, and
the few, as opposed to the all. And we ought,
long since, to have declared war against the North,
the natural enemy of the classes that rule us, for
do we not there perceive a great rival maritime
power to be humiliated, a democracy which, if it
succeed, will propayate its virus through all institutions, a nation of rival manufacturers, and a people
who believe not in the " balance of power" for
Europe, and who will not allow the " Balances"
to be set up by Europeans in America?
This is the animus of all attempts to "recognise" a country that does not exist. If a faction,
a minority in a minority in the North, had waged
war against the Union for freer institutions, we
should have had no motions for recognition.
These 190,000 slaveholders, polished, skilful,
capable and strong,-with their train of slavebrokers and slave drivers, their black harems,
their devil's chaplains, and their devil's huntsmen,




104       THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
and their millions of mean whites helping themn,
in the name of nationality, to tread down one
nation that they may assail the organic life of
another -these " seekers of a country" have, forsooth, "'sympathisers."   The  synmpathy shown
them but lifts the curtain from thatc mzqhty army of
revolt existing in all comutries, which views with
terror, ludicrous, abject, but malignant, the approaching destruction, by and for the people, of
the last great representative abuse of class privileye
that exists in America. The North has destroyed
all other class interests, and has set the individual
and the nation free to run a career, without special
class and corporate interests to handicap them in
the world-race,  Slavery is a class interest) and
class interests throughout the world stand by their
order. The order of the few ag'ainst the all,-of
power against right,-of caste and class against
principle,-of privilege against the multitude, —of
the isolated against the universal.  Such is the
motley and multitudinous host set against those
who to-day figlht the great representative battle of
the human race.
This is the battle of the Peoples every where,
but it is the special battle of the American people,
the price and the crown of their unity. If they
fight it not out, they will be divided, degraded,
reviled, and accua'sed amongst all Peoples, and to
the end of time.
ForttLmately7 English policy and power is in a
transition state.  Fortunately also, that diabolic
jest called Secret Diplomacy is passing away. The
collision may be avoided.




CrAP. III.] THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.         105
There are but two parties in England. The party
that believes in and trusts the people, and the
party that does not.
There are but two parties in America, and they
are virtually the same.
The same party and principles divide the two
countries and policies.   But America is in a
crueller crisis, and England has no corporate antinational and anti-popular power, so strong, so
logical, so consistent, and so desperate as the Slave
power.
Government by and for the all, or by and for
the few, is the question with both, but England
proceeds with  less speed, and they say, with
greater safety, to place her centre of authority and
representation nearer the real centre of her political gravity.
The masses may be 6blndly drifting towards a
great constitutional conflict, but they are none the
less approaching it. The situation exhibits all the
presages of such a conflict, and explains the present paralysis of parties.  There is popular contempt of official supineness; there is official blindness with regard to popular progress and strength.
There is a determination on the part of certain
leaders to stem the tide of Democracy, and on the
part of others there is the fear to lead it on. Meanwhile the power and intelligence of the unrepresented people accumulates behind these obstacles.
They are thinking, perhaps, that in the matter of
American Dermocracy,-of recognition of a pirate
Empire of six weeks standing,- of non intervention
and non recognition of an ancient nation now




106      THIE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [BooK I.
being slaughtered before the eyes and within the
hearing of Europe,-and in the matter of Domestic
reform, Democracy could scarcely cost more, or do
the work worse.  The oligarchy cannot much
longer combine pity for the misfortunes, and admiration of the self-restraint,  with denial of the
rights of the masses. And the masses are learning
fast and well the grand lesson of AssoCIATIoN, —of
political, as well as social, co-operation and combination, which America has so long practised,
and which so many of the speciosities and dilettanti
of English political life, are ignorantly helping the
masses to achieve.
Thus English politics stand still, awaiting the
mighty momentum which American Democracy
triumphant will impart to its English counterpart.
The question of the FREEDOM OF THE OCEAN we
cannot here discuss. England has for ages made
her might the right and the wrong of the maritime
world. " Against what shores have not the bloody
prows of our vessels dashed themselves?"  America, especially, remembers that as long as we had
the power to compel it, their vessels knew but one
path, the path that led to England.  Since their
marine arose to power, there has existed a second
might and right upon the ocean, and freedom and
law are gradually growing out of the change.
It is long since in time of full peace we seized
merchantmen of the French to the value of thirty
millions of livres, and took captive eight thousand
of their seamen, but even now we hear that tame
Corsairs in the Commons send out English Pirates
to prey upon American merchantmen, and dare to
boast of the outrage in the Halls of Legislation.




CHAP. III.]  THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.             107
It is perhaps time that the opinions urged by
Chatham  and Burke, in 1766, upon the English
Parliament on behalf of America, and. in favour of
actual representation, should be acted upon on
behalf of England.  Thus the influence and good
offices of English Statesmen may be repaid, after a
hundred years, by the American nation.
Let us here repeat,-actual representation, and
a separation of the different Estates of the realm,
are of the essence of the British constitution.
" Whoever," said Chatham in 1770, " understands the theory
of the English constitution, and will compare it with the fact,
must see at once how widely they differ. We must reconcile
them to each other, if we wish to save the liberties of this
country. The constitution intended that there should be a
permanent relation between the constituent and representative
body of the people. As the House of Commons is now formed
that relation is not preserved, it is destroyed."
It is still almost as necessary to quote Lord
Coke, as Otis found it in 1765;-" that it is against
Magna Charta, and against the franchise of the land,
for freemen to be taxed but by their own consent."
We have still to wish, in the words of Lord
Camden, in an American Debate in 17G66,-  that
the maxim  of Machiavel was followed, that of
examining a constitution at certain periods according to its first principles; this would correct abuses,
and supply defects; and that the representative
authority of this kingdom was more equally
settled."   We have still to better the instruction
contained in the famous 6" Bedford Protest " in the
latter year, and signed by thirty-three Peers, of
course including a goodly sprinkling of Bishops,




108       THE ENGLISH STANDPOINT.   [Bore I.
that " the plea of our North American Colonies of
not being represented in the Parliament of Great
Britain, may, by the same reasoning, be extended to
all persons in this island who do not actually vote
for members of Parliament."  Without endorsing
this idea to its full extent, we have still to combat
the old Tory doctrine that representation is not in
the Bill of Rights, and that Parliament holds power
not as a representative body but in absolute trust.
The fact is that the Commons represent the
Peers, and that the masses have no suffrage.
Chathaml recommended the liberal aristocracy to
join the People. But whether they do or not, political science has now armed the People with a new
weapon, which will replace Prerogative with popular sovereignty, and Privilege with equality of
conditions.  Thus witz th the true Britis  constitution
as fulcrum, and the Principle of Popular ASSOCIATION as lever, the battle of the People and of the
Gonstitution may be fought and won.
A word to the wise is enough. It were pity to
waste even that word upon men who are neither
good enough nor bad enough for practical purposes,
-who show their hatred of sin by backing up the
sinners, and their political honour by prostituting
it to the Slavedriver or the Austrian, —who have
no mental generative force, whether for good or
evil,-who claim for single events, that " they establish a principle," —and whose ill-digested facts,
and faithless philosophy, recognise, and would have
England recognise, t7zat Nigztmnare of felons and
fools,-a permanent Slave Empire!




CHAPTER IV.
AMERICAN NATIONALITY AND
DEMOCRACY.
THE ARGUMENT.
"The spirit of nationality is at once the bond and safeguard of
kingdoms; it is something above laws, something beyond thrones,
-the impalpable element of the inner life of states. But antinationality is the confusion and the downfall of kingdoms,-it is a
blight and a mildew to the heritage of the people," —Burke.
"One event at least is sure, at a period which may be said to be
near, the Anglo-Americans will alone cover the immense space between the Polar regions and the Tropics, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. * * *
"' One hundred and fifty millions of men will be living in North
America, equal in condition, the progeny of one race, owing their
origin to the same cause, and preserving the same civilization, the
same language, the same religion, the same habits, the sacme manners, and imbued with the same opinions, propagated under the
same forms. The rest is uncertain, but this is certain; and it is a
fact new to the world, —a fact fraught with such portentous consequences as to baffle the efforts even of the imagination."
De To cqueville, pp. 4,53-6, vol. 2.
"The Sovereignty of the People is the last link in the chain of
opinions which binds the whole Anglo-American world. That Providence has given to every human being a degree of reason neces.
sary to direct himself in the affairs which interest him exclusively,
is the grand maxim upon which civil and political society rests in
the United States. The father applies it to his children, the master to his servants, the township to its officers, the province to its
townships, the State to the provinces, the Union to the States;
and when extended to the nation it becomes the doctrine of the
Sovereignty of the People."-De Tocqueville, 428, vol. 2.
"The Union is an accident, * * * but the republican fortm of
Government seems to me the natural state of the Americans, which
nothing but continued action of hostile causes, always acting in the
same direction, coulc change into a monarchy."
De Tocqueville, p. 424, vol. 2.




10            AMERICAN NATIONALITY                   [BooKR I.
" Government is founded, not on force, as was the theory of
Hobbes, nor on compact, as was the theory of Locke and the Revolution of 1688; nor on property, as had been asserted by Ilarrington.  It springs from the necessities of our nature, and has an
everlasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God.  > - *  *@
Thiis supreme power is originally and ultinmately in the people; and
the people never did in fact freely, nor can rightfully make an unlimited renunciation of this divine right. Kingeraft and priest.
craft are a trick to gull the vulgar. The happiness of mankind
demands that this grand and ancient alliance should be broken off
for ever. *  *  *  To bring the powers of all into the hands of
one, or some few, and to make them hereditary, is the interested
work of the weak and the wicked. *  *  *
"' There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the law of
nature, and the grant of God Almighty, who has given all men a
right to be free.
" The grand political problem is to invent the best combination of
the powers of legislation and execution: *  *~  * but the first and
simple principle is EQUALITY and TIE POWER OF THE WHOLE."
" The colonists are men; the colonists are therefore freeborn; for
by the law of nature, all men are freeborn, white or black. No
good reason can be given for enslaving those of any colour.
"' Nor do the political and civil rights of the British colonists
rest on a charter from  the crown.  Old Magnza Charta was not
the beginning of all thingys; nor did it rise on the borders of
chaos out of the unformed mass.
" Acts of Parliament against the fuyndamental principles of the
British constitution are void."
c" The world is at the eve of the highest scene of earthly power
and grandeur that has ever yet been displayed to the view of mankind.
"Who will win the prize is with God. But Auman nature must
and will be rescued Jfronz the general slavery that has so long
trizmnphed over the species."- Otis, on the American Crisis, 1764.
" Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and
dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into
fulturity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried
away all before him. Amnerican Izdependence was then and there
born." —President Adams, on the speech of Otis against "writs of
assistance" in 1761.




CHAP. IV.]         AND DEMOCRACY.                     111
CONTENTS.
Conditions. — American nationality, freedom  and Democracy.-What is a nation? —What is the American nation?
— Prima Facie. —'With compensation or without.-Democracy and the South.-The South a faction.-Six reasons.Precedents, Facts and Analogies. - Objections answered."Strength of South."-Bases of national movements. -Principle or Interest.-Internal and External Strength.-Individual,
State, Nation. —Relation between thein.-The Tests of Peace.
-The strongest Principles and greatest numbers.-" Statesmanship and Unity " of South. —Dilemma of South.-Slavery
and Decay.-Freedom  and Democracy.-Election returns.Secession a minority in South.-Irreconcilable Interests.-'War of Principle and " live Stock." —Southern results so far.Argument from  Strength; Material, Intellecual, Spiritual.Argument from nationality. - Elements of. -- Questions of
GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, CONSTITUTION, PRINCIPLES and NATIONALITY. —-The making of the Nation.-Leading characteristics of America. —Unity and Community.-Six points.-The
Royal Nation.-The South per coltra. —The five monopolies on
which it has lived. —Mean Whites, Slaves, and Despots.-Secession kills Secession. - Narrow basis of South. — lUniversality and oneness of America.-Who shall separate?
" If the men of our time were led by attention and observation,
and by sincere reflection, to acknowledge that the gradual and progressive development of social equtality is at once the past and
future of their history, this solitary truth would confer the sacred
character of a divine decree upon the change. To attempt to check
democracy wzould be in that case to resist the will of God."
lDe Tocqueville, p. 21, Introduction.
WE have shown how we propose to  prove that
the South is no nation.
But it were a poor thing to establish only the
nationality of America. It is our business to prove,




112       AMERICAN NATIONALITY          [Booi I:
that America possesses all the elements and conditions of nationality in such complete and magnificent development, as to make it tze royal nation of
the future, and to carry it beyond all shadow of
present parallelism, even with the great English
nation that gave it birth: that colonized it with its
best men, and laid the deep foundations of its
glory in the common law, and traditionary rights
of Englishmen.
During the greatest era England has known,the era of Sidney, and Raleigh, and Elizabeth, and
Burleigh, and Milton, and Slhakespeare, and Blake,
and Cromwell-England sent forth many of her
noblest, to reproduce and magnify herself in the
great Anglo-Saxon Continent of the West.
We propose to discuss in this chapter certain
general considerations respecting the conditions of
American nationality; to state the specific form of
proof which those considerations ought to assume;
and also to institute a comparison between the
characteristics of the Slave faction, and of the
American nation.
The present epoch has to do with American
nationality, and its struggles to complete itself
against treason, sectional action, and oligarchic influences. American Democracy represents authority, nationality, and freedom. Its natural enemy
is oligarchy, in the form of Slavocracy, attacking
nationality, democracy, and order, all at once.
There is, therefore, first, the question of nationality and its guarantees; and secondly, the question of its character and conditions, as they exist
in America.




CHAP. IV.]    AND DEMOCRACY.              113
The general questions which thus challenge the
judgment of mankind, as the main items of the
" American question," strictly so called, assume
the following specific shape:1st. Can America reunite?
2nd. What political future is to rule her (to be)
enormous population, and the vast territory which
it will inhabit? How will the war test leave her
Institutions? will the People remain masters) or is
Government by and for the all a problem still receding into futurity from the passionate grasp of
the million —still mocking the prescience of philosophy, and the hopes of those who believe in
Man?
3rd. The Slave Trade, as a main feature of one
of the contending systems.
In other words, what of American Nationality,
Freedom, and Democracy, as opposed to a divided
nationality, and a government by and for the few,
whether it be termed slaveocracy, monarchy, oligarcly,
or Despotism?
It must be borne in mind, that the complete
answer to these questions depends upon the
answer to the three questions before stated, and
which it is the object of the whole book to
answer, namely,-" What is a Nation?" and
": What is the American Nation?" and, " What is
the South?" But, we think that a conscientious
attention to certain general considerations on the
conditions and characters of American nationality
might have saved Secessionists a good deal of
inane talk about Independence, and Englishmen




114       AMERICAN NATIONALITY        [BooK I.
perhaps, all attempts at a third great war against
republics, and popular institutions.
We have seen that the Americans, though a
young nation, are an old people, and an old Democracy. "' A Democracy," says De Tocqueville,
" more perfect than any which antiquity had
": dreamt of, started in full size and panoply from
"the midst of an ancient feudal society."  The
same great writer also remarks, —" The Americans
" are a very old and enlightened people, who have
" fallen upon a new and unbounded country, where
"L they may extend themselves at pleasure, and
" fertilize without difficulty. This state of things
" is without a parallel in the history of the world."
They are, " That portion of the English people
" which is commissioned to explore the wilds of
" the new world." *
When therefore we behold an old and strong nation, disturbed by rebellion, we naturally at first
sight, conclude that the disturbance is but temporary.
If we find that the country is peopled by one
race, governed by uniform institutions, animated
by one political genius, speaking one language,
worshipping one God, settled in a compact territory, with well defined boundaries, we conclude
that the cause of offence must be strong, deepseated, and desperate, indeed, that could crown
such a rebellion with success.
If we discover that the rebels had constitutional
modes of redress of grievances, to the use of
which they were open, and free, and invited, we
D* De Toequeville, pp. 66, 68, v. 3.




CHAP. IV.]    AND DEMOCRACY.              115
stand amazed at the profligacy that should reject
constitutional opposition, and appeal to arms.
And this feeling would become still stronger, if it
appeared that they constituted a leading and
powerful party in the State.
But if it be seen that a rebellion a priori so
causeless and hopeless, has in fact been already
driven from some of its chief positions for offence,
defence, and commissariat, and that these defeats
have been sustained notwithstanding a long preparation of plans and amassing of monies and
material, and notwithstanding that military genius
has disciplined, organised, and led the whole, —
then we are reduced to ask what can possibly have
brought about such an undertaking, and what
now can possibly avert its total failure?
Nations with real rights and real grievances,
with no hope of constitutional redress, separated
and alien in language, religion, race, territory, and
institutions, have rebelled and failed since the
world began. Why shall these rebels,-whose
cause apparently reverses all known conditions of
success, and includes all known conditions of ultimate failure,-why should they hope?
Probably the truth is they do not hope. Doubtless despair enters largely into their calculations.
Doubtless their rebellion is but a phase in the
essential progress and discipline of the mighty
nation that bore them.  But as their friends in
England hope or pretend to hope, for them, we
will shew hereafter -that the circumstances which
occasioned the rebellion will destroy it.
We say then, istly, Slavedom saw the natural
2




116       AMERICAN NATIONALITY        [Boox I.
superiority and steady progress of free labour, free
votes, and free institutions, and saw in them its
Executioner.  Thze Slave Interest rmust do, or die.
It might as well do, before the dying.
2ndly.-It was led by 200,000 men who had
amongst them many of culture, leisure, and genius.
Their prestige, reputation, fortunes,-all, were set
to win or lose by Slavery.
3rdly.-They were followed by some 6,000,000
C4 mean whites," identified with them by prejudice,
material interest, pride of race and party, and by
necessity.
4thly. —They were supported by Slaves who had
neither energy, union, resources, opportunity, or
will for freedom.
Thus the 200,000 Slaveholders have an absorbing interest in supporting Slavery, and an extraordinary concentration of power enabling them.
We put aside here the Southern constitution,
which declares, "I that no law against slavery shall
a be introduced," and consider only military necessities.
The South will either retain Slavery or not.
If it do not retain it, it would Compensate or it
would not compensate. It cannot dare entertain
the project of compensating the owners of three
and a half millions of slaves. That would make the
South too dear a place to live in. Free labour
would repudiate the obligation, and the men who
alone can assume it, are already experienced repudiators, and would not be trusted.  The Slave
constitutes near half the population of the South,
to free him, and promise to his masters compensa



CH AP. IV:]  AND DEMOCRACY.              117
tion, is but to establish the alternative that he
shall either remain, and, in some way or other,
pay his own ransom, or run away to avoid the
impost.
But without compensation, what is the prospect? The North compensates,-the South does
not. The North only wanted to limit Slavery and
keep it out of the " Territories."  The South uses
up the Slaveholders, and wages a desolating war
to destroy their property, and institutions, for the
sake of which the war was commenced.  The
North would have proceeded by order and vote.
The South seceded against its own majority, and
occupies regions, some of which Richmond papers
now describe, as "n reeling with disaffection."
For what then are these enthusiastic Southerners
going to remain true to the men who have passed
upon them the greatest practical joke since the
world began?
Are they to remain in allegiance to the men,~ to
the Institutions, or to the mere " idea" of fractional
Southern Independence?
"1 The men" have deceived them. ": The Institutions" are oligarchic. The Independence, even
though bolstered up by Frenchmen, would be
absorbed or destroyed by the greater American
nation.
WVlzy? For what reason?  By what inducements? How should they —could they — or would
they remain with a party that has jeopardised American Independence, exchanged a republic for a
Despotism, and a servant of the people's choice,
for a self elected Dictator?




118        AMERICAN NATIONALITY    [Bboi I.
The South argues that it is, or will become, a
nation, and that its Battle for Independence proves
it.
The North argues that the South is no nation,
because:1st. The ethnical elements (white and black) are
unreconciled and unreconcileable. Two hostile and
essentially different races do not constitute a nation.
The South is divided by races.
2nd. As concerning even the white race South7
the non-Secession votes were in 1860 in the majority, the "I Union" and;; Squatter Sovereignty
democrats" polling together 138,000 more than
the Secesh candidate. A " nation" is not a minority on its own ground.
3rd. All the interests of the Southin Separation
have disappeared, save those of the few remaining
actual Slaveholders, and the civil and military
chiefs. All permanent interests of the South are
towards re-union, which guarantees a freer Government, national Independence, and a loftier sphere
of ambition for great and good citizens, both in the
central Government, and in the various offices of
the great sovereign States.
4th. The North is in military occupation of by
far the greater part of " Southern " territory. Especially of the great river that bisects it, and that
interpenetrates it by its confluents; also its fleet
commands its coasts and seas.




CHAP. IV.]    AND DEMOCRACY.               119
5th. The Unique Geographical Unity,-the most
remarkable of any country, in fact the most remarkable material arrangement, bearing directly
on politics, in the world,-renders permanent division impossible. This division can only be thoroughly appreciated by men of culture and intellects
who know the vast influence of climate, mountain
ranges, and rivers, on the political destinies of
races.
6th. The Unique political unity, wherein a variety
of causes unite to make the American nationality
the strongest, compactest, and intensest, yet created,
— absorbing all others that enter it, and little likely
indeed to let go or lose either by influences or
arms, any part already incorporated with it.
Upon this Statement there are, in the first place,
several things quite obvious and incontestable.
1st. The intense, the disciplined, and the longprolonged unity of feeling, interest, and action, in
the ruling race South, guarding its interests against
the North, and against the Black; together with the
actual subservience and degradation of the Slave,
and the genius for command and organisation
amongst the Whites, are more than sufficient to
account for any apparent unity during a three
years' fight.
2nd. That civil wars have repeatedly been desperate, and much longer than the present one, without
ultimate division.
3rd. That if ordinary precedents of successful
revolt were all for instead of against the South, it
might be assumed that an old nation, with all the




120        AMERICAN NATIONALITY    [Boox I.
" unities," can certainly not be disintegrated by a
three years' fight, properly denominated a civil
war.
4th. That American unity,-strong enough in
1777 to resist the war of George III.,-deliberately
reorganised and constituted a nation in 1787, with
executive) administrative, judicial and legislative
unity,-has, during the last ninety years, and owing
to general equality of conditions, and various circumstances lastly mentioned, grown in consolidation
and nationaity at a rate out of all proportion to any
other precedent.
5th. To erect in America a duality of power,
similar to that which Austria and Prussia constitute
in Germany, is impossible. The Duality would be
only nominal. The one American nation would
remain one as regards the world, and one in Democracy and institution. Any such change would involve one of two alternatives,-either the Southern
Government, essentially an oligarchy, will overturn
the Independence of the Sovereign States, and form
an Empire, or that Independence will remain intact
under a change of name. The first result, all precedent, authority, and argument forbid.  The
second would be no real change as regards the
outer world, and as regards America would for
reasons hereafter given, leave the essential Unity
unimpaired, and without any permanent influences
to undo its nationality. America would never for
long allow the flag of Democracy to be prostituted
to European Diplomacy, nor Government by the
few, to deny and undo her opinions, manners, and




CHAP. IV.]   AND DEMOCRACY.              121
laws,-her very History, Prihciples, ragson d' tre,
and Life.
Oligarchy would be a failure. Double Democratic Government a phantom or a Lie. The worst
and most hopeless of all failures possible in America
would be that of any party allying itself with
foreigners against American Independence, Integrity, or Nationality. The bayonets of the Allies
that thrust back the Bourbons on the French destroyed the Bourbons for the French, and any similar
party in America would be destroyed before it could
announce its projects.
6th. Were all these considerations reversed, a
true nation is never to be despaired of; reunion can
never be hopeless where the race and the boundary
are one. The Unity of the German race has always
been relied on to accomplish an unity of Institution,
- although Germany contains two armed, equipped,
and organised powers, one of them old enough to
be the heir of the Coesars,-and though German
State Sovereignty is more like American State
Sovereignty in its divisions and severalty before the
English war, and contains a Democratic element,
but indifferently organized and led.
Germany contains a Kingdom, an Empire,
thirty-six Sovereign States, two religions, and three
varieties of Institutions, and yet it will doubtless
one day be one, for its race and boundary are one.
America has every bond of Union known to
History, or the philosophy of History. Is it wise
to speculate on its Disunion?




122        AMERICAN NATIONALITY        [Boox I.
It is not, however, to be denied, that with an
adequate territory and population, and a centripetal force, greater, for the time being, than the sum
of the centrifugal forces, the making of a nation
is not a hopeless question. Notwithstanding all
deficiencies of morality, or industrial effort, the
nation may hold its own, and await the chances of
improvement and consolidation.
Can it stand? is the question. Is it strong? And
morality and industry enter into the calculations,
because they are elements of strength.
But it is not enough to say that because it has a
competent territory and population, the South
has but to will to be free. We grant the truism
implied. But the will depends on Principle and interest, and the interest must be permanent and general,
and the Principle strong and universal, or it affords
no support for National movements.
" Independence," without this proviso, were but a
phrase, signifying the figment and crotchet of a
faction, and having nought to do with the symbol
of a nation's Unity or will.
To establish the idea of "National Independence," shew us first your:" Nation," and therein,
the material power which is to achieve independence, and the national ideas and interests that are
to sustain the national will in the struggle.
To talk of Independence as the 1" cause," before
this is shewn, is neither to deceive others, nor to
deceive yourselves. It is a begging of the question.




CHAP. IV-]    AND DEMOCRACY.              123
Policy and arms, opinions and material forces,
are the weapons in all wars.
If the South conquer, it must by the first, divide
and paralyze Northern Will, or by the second, repel
its armaments.
But the same course is open to the North. It
also may divide to conquer; it also may present
inducements to paralyze the Southern Will, or they
may be presented by the evil necessities of the
South itself.
Thus the question,- -   Can the South stand
against outward foes?" would be followed, were it
met successfully, by the more formidable question,
-can it stand against internal foes? and we have
to ask of the South the double question,-lst. Can
it defeat Northern arms? and 2nd, after victory,
would there be and remain a central power of
cohesion, adequate to resist the forces of dissolution, and of alien internal interests. In other words,
would the interests of the People, and of the separate Sovereign States tend most to the old Union,
to the new Confederation, or to a still further subdivision of authority?
The simplicity and energy of a Despotism, might
for a time be possible in America. But an educated well-to-do people, bred to use and trust
opinion, as the ultimate power, is naturally suspicious of the professional arbitrament of war, and
regards it as a clumsy and ineffective settlement of
internal questions.
And so let peace return-,-let the Slave power
only die the gradual death it was dying before the
present war, and which political economy and




124       AMERlICAN NATIONALITY       [BooK I.
human nature guarantee to it,-let a war against
intruding foreigners arise or be forced on, or any
serious impeachment of the Monroe doctrine be
attempted,  and the nation would again appear.
There are two things which will for ever prevent a
long-lived Despotism, in America. The " State"
organization, and the Individual. Of the three
powers that rule America,-the national Government, the Sovereign State, and the Individual, —
Despotism  will always meet with two, ready
organized and equipped, to oppose it.
Slaveholders, " State rights" men, Copperheads,
and Democrats, constitute the party of the South.
But they are not a fixed quantity. They will be
led by interest or principle, towards the North,
and the question is, H" Can the  interests and
principles of the rebellion tempt the adherents of
American Unity, Nationality, Freedom, and Democracy?" —  " Which is impelled by the stronger
motives of action, and can command the greater
numbers?"
The weapons of the North are free labour, Democratic Institutions, and a territory, a race, a religion, and a language, one throughout the Continent.
The weapons of the South are Statesmanship,
Generalship, and an unity of interest between
Leaders and People, covering exactly the same
ground at any given time as the slave interest.
In arms, the materials of revolt, will be made
the most of.
Its policy is clear, and so is its failures whlen we
know how many of the 4,000,000 Blacks have




CEAP. IV.]   AND DEMOCRACY.              125
already left the South and joined the North,-that
the North is converted to emancipation, and is
baptized with the Negro in one baptism of fire,that men naturally and always seek equal conditions of existence-that if Slavery last, the blight
it casts upon all but the privileged classes in the
South will continue,-and that, if Slavery comes to
an end, the rebellion must end with it, or change
altogether its declared objects and policy.
Such is the Problem the South has got to solve.
Such being the weapons and the policy of the
respective parties, let us see what materials there
are in America, to which they can severally address themselves.
The motives that animate the Slaveioiders are
indeed of the strongest that can animate any body
of men without Principle,-Property, Station,
Interest,-the habit, the ability, and the ambition,
to command. But the Slaveholders cannot number
over 190,000, nor their followers over 5,000,000.
The Slave Barons will fight to the end, but Slavery
being notoriously injurious to all the interests and
rights of labour, the rank and file cannot be expected to follow unless under the lure of an indefinite extension of the Slave area and Slave trade,
and these would bring their own punishments and
their own overwhelming antagonisms.
Of State rights men and Democrats, it is evident
that unless personally involved in the Slave trade,
they have four of the strongest of human motives
to draw them to the side of nationality, freedom,
equality, and Independence.  Material interests




126         AMERICAN NATIONALITY    [BOOK I.
would range them against Slavery, and under any
fair dealing with State rights, their inducements to
deny their country would be slender indeed.'It is the fatal position of the South that it must
choose between Interest and Principle. It cannot
have both, and the one that it chooses will be
destroyed by the other in the South, and be overmatched by its contrary from the North. If it
choose " Independence" as its principle, that will
be overmatched by "Nationality," which is a
passion and a principle with every American. If
it choose Interest, it must come to the Slave trade,
and defy the Principles of freedom, and democracy, and all the forces of their propagandism.
If the South be slave, then its Industry will
decline or perish, for its monopolies are gone. If
the South be free, then its Industry will live, but
its Institutions cannot remain oligarchic.
If it be said that the South stands, and will
stand, because it can govern, do, and dare; that it
moves as one man, and vibrates with one passion,
and is therefore a nation,-we reply that the precedents and probabilities are all the other way;
that a few years war never yet placed a fixed
eternal gulf between men of the same race, and
language, and boundary; that every such nation
that has been rent by such wars, (the thirty years'
war for instance) has survived them; that passion
subsides; that interest in the long run governs the
course of nations; and that there never yet was
a Government that could not find and apply a
leverage adequate to..shake such an heteregeneous




CEAP. IV.]     AND DEMOCRACY.            127
edifice as the South (to say nothing of the crumbling of its corner stone). Further, we know that
in the South Union movements were from the first
put down by force, and that (as we shall shew
hereafter in detail) an analysis of the election returns proves two things, the Union of the North
in 1860, and the Disunion of the South.  The
Slave party in " convention," split 16 to 17, on
the question of:" Squatter Sovereignty," or a
complete Slave code.  It adjourned in order to
agree, but the split remained, and Lincoln entered
through it. The North plumped for Lincoln in the
electoral vote. His majority on the whole popular
vote over the Slave democrat, was 1,009,657, or
more than two to one.  The Slave Democrat
polled only 72 Southern votes against 48 on the
electoral vote. He polled, on the popular vote,
500,000 less than the other Slave Democrat candidate.
Finally, this ultra Slave faction, a minority in a
minority, passed in South Carolina in four days
after Mr. Lincoln's election, a secession convention
Bill, vainly hoping that the North would at once
repudiate him; South Carolina for some time
stood alone for war and secession, every other
State having given a popular vote against it;
the escaped slaves demonstrate how far the black
nation, 4,000,000 strong, is party to:" Southern
Unity;" and the 5,000,000 mean whites, must, —
when the bond which Slavery creates out of a
common greed, a common hate, and a common
fear, is dissolved by emancipation,-have interests,




128       AMERICAN NATIONALITY         [BooI I.
political, social, and industrial, hostile to the Slave
Barons, their masters.
War, we repeat, must be carried on either for
Interest or Principle. It is not in the mass of
human nature to wage war long for mere pride,
vain glory, or hypocrisy, the South never waged
their war for freedom, and in the Union it had not
only freedom but even license.
There was an immense live Stock down South.
The South called it " chattel;" the North, " man."
The Southern masses fought for power to retain
and multiply their live stock, and for territory to
turn it out in. The oligarchs fought also for political power over the masses.  They would lead
their middlemen, the mean whites, against the free
North, and ratify the bondage of the Slave, for a
consideration, and the mean white, must stay where
and as he was, or attempt to dissolve the partnership.
Here are no elements of " eternal war."  It is
a fraudulent and delusive compact, a case for the
police. Men will fight for a time for their " chattels,"
but with the chattel, goes their cause of fighting.
The few will fight on for power, and vengeance,
but the many, if they have not a high principle to
sustain them, or strong interest to induce them,
will gradually fall away.
Once it is seen that the Slaves are going and
gone, that the " Stock" involves a ruinous sacrifice, and it will be seen that there is no more
"principle," no more " interest," no more "Pa" triotism," no more "Independence" at stake in
the Slaveholders rebellion, than there would be




CHAP. IV.]    AND DEMOCRACY.              129
stuff for the making of a respectable "war of
Principles," between the:" Little-endians" and the
"Big-endians" of Gulliver.
The naked question will then stand confessed,Can the military despots of the South complete its
ruin?
The conclusions to which we are irresistibly led
by this general inquiry are, firstly, that not only
will the American nation reunite,-it cannot remain
separate.
2nd;-That the American constitution, a new
thing in Statesmanship, affords guarantees for the
freedom of the Individual and the efficiency of the
Government, never before approached in practice.
Though called a republic, it radically differs from
all preceding republics. One thing alone impeaches
the Institutional Unity of America, and that it is
supposed by all the world will vanish during the
struggle. Further, that foreign Intervention on
behalf of the Slave faction, would only sting the
American nationality into ten-fold intensity and
power.
3rd;-That the Slave trade and faction, even
in its prime, appears, in the light of History, and
to those who have gained the true perspective ot
passing events, already, but a filthy and blasphemous dream,-but a moment in the History of
America,-but a speck in that mighty system ot
influences and means, which concurred and concur
to make the American nation.
But none of these things are here taken for
K




130         AMERICAN NATIONALITY          [Booe I.
granted.  If they are-not inexorably proved, the
fault is with the author's ability, not with his
intention.
We have now to show, in outline, the mode of
investigation, and specific form of proof we apply.
It is " exhaustive," it has been arduously and conscientiously carried out, and will afford the readiest
means of checking, and (if wrong) of controverting
its conclusions.
To argue from isolated results, (a battle, victory,
or defeat) is quackery.  To understand causes, is
political science.
It would be easy to add up on one's fingers, the
elements of success in war, and to decide which
party is the stronger.
In all great contests the elements of success are
the Material, the Intellectual, and the Spiritual.
The first, for the basis, the second to organize and
lead, the third to energize and inspire.
1;-The Material,  armies, equipments, food,
monies, ships, men liable to military service, railways, natural boundaries, climate, mountain, and
river, &c.
2;-The Intellectual,-Generalship, Statesmanship, discipline, and organization, &c.
3;-The Spiritual,-the supreme motive energies, leading and inspiring the material and Intellectual.
Compare then the elements of success, North and
South,-their numbers, value, and power.
Of the first, the North has an overwhelming
superiority.




CHAP. IV.]      AND DEMOCRACY.             1331
Of the second, the Statesmanship of Lincoln
shows to no disadvantage, for it is victorious.
Southern Generalship, though so brilliant, loses its
hold of territory, and Northern discipline is becoming complete. Moreover, against a true nations
military genius never finally prevails.
Of the third, the highest motive energy of the
South, is the idea of " Independence," but it is an
idea contradicted by Slavery, and by the principle
of secession, and hampered by oligarchy, which
affronts the intensest passions of the American
People.
Independence, nationality, a true'labour system,
Democracy, and Equality, and, above all, and
essential to all, a determination to destroy Slavery,
-these are the ideas that lead the North.
The motive energy of the South, is the wish for
Independence to perpetuate Slavery, — which is
oligarchic, Despotic, immnoral, and unprofitable,by the destruction of the great republic which
offered it all legal redress, -by introduction of
foreign alliances and arms, - and by undoing
and denying the spirit of the Great Declaration
and of the Constitution.
Compare these forces, North and South, noting
their respective order and value.-The result is the
result of the war.
But the object of this Book is to prove that this
contest is " the making of the American nation."
And we have seen that, according to some, the
North may beat the South now, and yet the South
must ultimately become a nation; according to
others the South may beat the North now, and
ie 2




132        AMERICAN NATIONALITY         [BooK-I.
yet not possess the elements of permanent national
life.
The strength, gallantry, genius, endurance, and
resources of the South are admitted, but the admission does not admit the nationality. The question
is, is the South a nation, and can it undo the nationality of the North? The question further is, of
what kind and degree is the American nationality.
A  complete nation is one that has complete
and whole its MATERIAL BASES, ITS INDIVIDUALITY, AND ITS ORGANIC FUNCTIONS.
By the first it exists; by the second it exists as
a nation; and by the third it thinks, administrates,
and acts.
The material Bases of a nation, consist of its
Territory, Labour, and Population.
The Individuality or Unity of a nation, consists
of a oneness of circumstance, ideas, and interests,
and this results from a oneness of Institutzon, Race,.Boundary, Language, and Relzgion.
The organic functions of a nation are its Legislatwve, and Executive.
We have then to investigate, as the nation's
bases) its MATERIAL UNITY, its Geographic,
Strategic, and climatal conditions, its Labour system; and its Population.
The Geography of a country,-its climate, mountain and water system, —powerful in social, commercial, and military affairs,-unchangeable,-inviting, enabling, or preventing intercourse,-can, as
an ethnical force, hardly be over-estimated in any
countrv. In America the river system is of colossal




CHAP. IV.]      AND DEMOCRACY.             133
development, and unites with climate' and mountain, and rail, and telegraph, in all the emphasis of
five-fold power, and with all the distinctness of a
predetermined plan, to prepare a fitting material
unity for the mighty American nation.
Its HISTORY, revealing, from a whole view
of the nation's life, its genius and character, its
Individuality and soul; and shewing also the Princzples that now contend upon its soil, and the
manner of its past and present dealings with those
great factors of nationality.
Its CONSTITUTION, showing its organic and
Legislative functions, and especially the peculiar
relations established by this new invention in
Statesmanship, between the Individual, and the
nation, and between both, and that third element
of power, peculiar to America, — namely, the
~ Sovereign State."
The nationality of the North being admitted,
and that of the South in question, there must be
this difference in the application of the above tests
to the one and to the other, and in the conduct of
the argument,-the nationality of the South has to be
rigorously tested at every point-that of the North has
to be tested only in regard to those elements of nationality zwhich are claimed by both parties.
These are; -- 1st. the territory in military occupation of the South. 2nd. The Population within
their lines.  3rdly. The political principles that
animate, not only that population, but the whole
nation, and which will really decide this contest.




134        AMERICAN NATIONALITY        [BOOK I.
These subjects remain for treatment in due course.
WhFat then are to be the results of this appeal to
arms s?  We undertake to show in the sequel, tlat
the South is not a nation in any sense, material,
moral, or spiritual.
Of all the arguments upon which this conclusion
is sustained, those from the geographical unity of
America, and to the intense character of its nationality, are perhaps the most important, though they
are the least explored, and, in fact, have never yet
been adequately expounded.
In comparing the characteristics of the Slave
faction, and its great antagonist, the reasons for
belief in the ultimate triumph of American nationality, Freedom, and Democracy, have always appeared to the author to rest on demonstrations as
incontrovertible as any of those accepted facts in
nature, or truisms in morals, upon which universal
belief reposes, and from which universal activity
springs.
To know that the history of America for the last
thirty-five years (nearly half the nation's life) has
been the history of a protest against Slavery,
always becoming more emphatic, practical, and
strong,-a protest so effective, as to procure at last
a majority, and so earnest, as to engage in war to
enforce it;-to know this, ought to enlist the sympathies, engage the hopes, and command the confidence, of any who comprehend what is moral




CHAP. IV.]     AND DEMOCRACY.               135
force, or who "understand their own epoch," or
any other.
To know for what the South contends, and that
Slavery means, as essential a contrariety of interest
between the millions of mean whites, and the
thousands of the ruling Whites, as it does between
the latter and those who are more especially their
slaves,"-to know this ought to at once expose
the fiction and falsehood of Southern'nationality."
To know the special geographical unity of America, its great rivers, its mountain ranges, its
climate, and its railway and telegraph system,
ought to suggest to all, in favour of the political
unity of America (even west of the Rocky Mountains), a prima facie case of peculiar strength.
To know the extraordinary force of the American nationality, the rapidity with which it assimilates, the tenacity with which it holds; to know
the universal, intimate, and essential interests for
which the North contends, and how for their sake
its Democracy submits to the necessities of a central
will and organization; to know these things ought
to rally the force of all the precedents of the past
around the conviction, that without extermination
the North cannot be conquered.
To know these things,-the moral forces of the
North, its elements of essential unity, as contrasted
with the essential contrariety of the South, its superiority in food, money, and numbers, its geographical unity, its fleet, bisecting " Secesh" through
the Mississippi, and threatening it everywhere, —
to know that the strength of the North is of a




136         AMERICAN NATIONALITY         [Boo1 I.
nature to increase, and the strength of the South
of a nature to decrease,-to know  these things
ought to have at once secured the unhesitating
unanimous verdict of any who are capable of appreciating them.
But above all these considerations, each bearing
so remorselessly against Southern  pretensions,
rises that of the History, if it be regarded as a
whole, with its thirty years of determined agitation, leading straight to Freedom or War. The
History of this great Slave fight should be noted
with especial attention, for it is the history of the
completed freedom of the individual, and of the
subordination of the insurgent State Sovereignties
to the national unity. It is therefore the history
of the strengthening and elevating of the units, and
of the consolidation of the unity, or in other words,
it is really the history of the makcing of the American nation. If we are to despair of America, we
must reverse our conclusions, and deny our belief
in History, in human nature, and in God.
It is believed that a simple categorical statement
of the material and moral elements of this nationality, and the history of their development, ought
to do more than anything else to settle English
opinion on American questions.
~
But let us here summarily compare the broad
and naturall and impregnable foundations of the
North, with the narrow and artificial bases of the
South.




CHAP. IV.]       AND DEMOCRACY.               137
The following were the temporary, unnatural,
and abnormal conditions, or rather MONOPOLIES,
of Slavedom.* They are gone, and Slavery must
follow. But for them it could not have continued.
1st. The Cotton monopoly. The South would
get rich on Cotton at 3ed. Since 1844 it has gradually risen to 4d, 7d, 9d, &c., and England has
for some time lost ~10,000,000 a year by dependence on the South, because English'" Statesmanship " has secured the South against competition.
2nd. The Slave interest, through its connection
with the Union, used it politically, for fugitive
Slave laws; commercially, for capital, transit facilities, &c.; and mechanically, for inventions, such
as Whitney's cotton gin. The South has used the
Union and plotted against it. The South has
never stood upon its own merits.
3rd. The South lived on the premature wasted
life and unpaid labour of the Slave, and now declares the revival of the African Slave trade to be
politically necessary in order to occupy the "1 territories."
4th. Southern culture admitted neither of rotation of crops, nor skilled labour, and lived on a
* Professor De Bow gives the aggregate number of Slaveholders at 347,525 in 1850, and Mr. Helper, gives the following
classification:
Actual Slaveholders.... 186,551
Entered more than once...   2,000
Non-Slaveholding Slave-hirers.. 158,974
Total.... 347,525




138          AMERICAN NATIONALITY          [BooK I.
costless territorial expansion, through an indefinite
area of unexhausted land.*
5th. By a compulsory labour system, degrading
the principle of labour; by the creation of a "high
and haughty spirit" of skin caste; by constituting
the holding of Slaves, even of one or two, the
badge of aristocracy; by training the whole white
population in habits of associated command, maintained and maintainable only by physical force,
and in all those military characteristics which belong to a despotic oligarchy in danger; by all that
political situation, which left no alternative between aggression, or submission and decay; —by
all these circumstances there has been gradually
created in the South, in the space of fifty years, an
immense mass of material, by no means raw, for
the Southern armies.  Thus' it comes to pass that
these men, united and nerved by political and
social passions of terrible force; struggling for a
national " industry," as well as for political preponderance and existence; with the pride of an
aristocracy, and the wants of a democracy; equipped with all the appliances of civilization, and
inflamed with more than the ferocity of savages;
are so fitted for fighting, that but one other class
in all the world can excel them  in it.  They are
fit for fighting and fit for nothing else.
Such is the Genesis in Trade, in Politics, and in
X "Slavery cannot be confined within certain limits without
producing the destruction of both master and slave. There is
not a slaveholder in this house or out of it, but who knows that
whenever confined * * * * it is only a question of time as to
its final destruction."- JTudye athrner, of Georgia.




CHAP. IV.]     AND DEMOCRACY.               139
Power, of the the Southern revolt. It is the
mightiest and completest class interest ever known,
but manifestly sectional, unstable, narrow, and revolutionary, vainly looking for intervention from
Europe, or for disunion in the North. It denies
the principle of authority and the principle of individual right, and therein denies ultimately the principle of its own existence, strength, and unity. Its
Slave system will either stand or fall. If it is to
stand, the "political" superstructure must fall,
and be sacrificed to it before free competition.  The
Slave empire has within it the seeds of organic
disease and inevitable death. Either the revolt
will be itself revolutionised by the conversion of
the slave man into the free, or firee trade in labour
and in Cotton, will once more vindicate itself.  The
South works with borrowed capital, it works with
stolen men upon a desolated soil, and without the
skill and energies of freedom.  It will become
either a wilderness or a re-construction, for the
laws of trade are the laws of human nature and of
God. Thus much for the Labour question, and the
individual right question, but neither is the principle of authority mocked.  Southern " Sovereign
States" have been supplied with a precedent, they
will soon or late be supplied with the motive, and
Secession will kill secession.
~
To live, Secession must not only destroy the armaments of the North, it must destroy also those
material, moral, and intellectual conditions which
have made the American nation, and would remake




140        AMERICAN NATIONALITY        [.BooK I.
it, and of which UNITY of will and COMMITUNITY of spirit are the leading characteristics.
Thus the Geography, the mechanics, (mechanical
facilities and appliances), the institutions, the material interests, and the universal Statesmanship of
America, all operate in one direction, —to make
unity and community its leading and abiding characteristics. This is well known by the South,
which does its possible to countervail it, and by all
intellzgent haters of freedom, and lovers of the South
in Europe.
1st. The mountain ranges which elsewhere combine with climate, to separate the earth into zones
or belts'from East to West, are not so placed there.
They run from North to South, and are tapped at
frequent openings.
2nd. The river system, which widens as the
Continent widens Northward, connects the whole
with its various conditions of climate and production.
3rd. Always excepting the 190,000 Slaveholders:
there is an equally conspicuous absence of inveterate
corporate and class' interests, obstructions, influences, and institutions in Church, in State, and in
land tenure, which everywhere else create artificial
obstacles to the communion and intercourse of men,
to the acquisition of property, to the fusion of races,
to the union of interests, and the progress of civilisation.
4th. Whether for ideas, men, or things, transit
facilities are cheaper, more numerous, more profitable, swifter, and more universal, than the world
ever knew before. Banks) Telegraphs, the Steam




CHAP. IV.]      AND DEMOCRACY.                 141
press, the Steam boat, the Postal service, the rail,
and revenue system, &c., perfect the vehicles of
national sympathy, exchange, and interaction.
5th. The equality of man politically, the universality of suffrage, the existence of a mighty uniform
class with equal intelligence universally diffused,
and the stake which almost every man possesses
in the representation, in the progress of the country,
and stability of the Government.
6th. The marvellous power of their habits of
political, industrial, intellectual, and moral association.
Thus as to the meaning of Providence foreshown
in the Geography of the New World, and verified
by partial analogies in the history and Geography
of the Old. But America is prepared for maturer
races, a later epoch, and a prepared civilisation.
There are no barriers from West to East, and the
great river system takes a like direction, or departs
from it only to bring fresh regions within the scope
of its influences. The great idea to be obeyed and
sought out in America is evidently that of s2reading,
sharing, unitzin,-not of dividing, isolating, or confining.
These influences, whether in peace or war,
demand especial notice, as they must effect special
results.* It is not for nothing that the hand that
divided Europe and Asia, North and South, by
natural barriers, and into numberless nationalities,
* Strabo said of the then thinly inhabited Gaul, that the
course of its rivers showed it to be destined for the home of a
single nation. All men who have known how to understand
and use the situation have availed themselves of these influences.




142        AMERICAN NATIONALITY       [BooK I.
and that kept back the mighty West until the forefixed time, has placed no such barriers on the
American continent. That is a place prepared for
all peoples and nations, who are becoming one by a
process of amalgamation more rapid and complete
than was ever known before.  This crisis is the
making of the American nation, because it has
proved its possession of all the qualities and forces,
material, moral, and spiritual, which go to make up
a nation,
For ourselves we cannot but see in the thirty
years virtual, preceding the three years actual
Battle against Slavery, the crowning victory of the
highest attribute of American nationality, adding
to all the other attributes that make that nationality
the strongest and intensest in the world, a loyalty
to Principle, which will keep it at one with God's
purposes in its progress and futurity.
The salt of America has been enough to savour
even the South.
We see no incongruity in the completest and intensest nationality, being set to occupy the largest,
and also compactest, territory.
We see in the great civil war, precisely the
means,-the only means, that could have prepared
America for the " weight of Glory " that the future
and God hold out to her.  The only means that
could have drilled her Democracy to maintain
against the Devil and all oligarchs and oligarchic
powers, the integrity of the American Continent
and nation.
Why should not the greatest nation utilise and
hold the greatest Continent?




CHAP. IV.]     AND DEMOCRACY.            143
Why should not the purest People work out for
man the greatest problem of the future?
Why should not the only Democracy in the world
realise the hopes of all ages? Why should not this
Royal nation enact the thoughts that have flushed
the purple visions of earth's greatest Intellects?
UNIVERSALITY and ONENESS are written
on the Geography of America by the hand of God,
-Were imprinted on her indelibly by that glorious
Statesmanship that would not obstruct human
nature by imposing the past on the future, nor
divide the nation into close corporations with hostile
interests, nor weaken by swathing it in murderous
bonds and old-world formularies. Miracles in
mechanics also, help to enact and confirm political
institutions.
The soil and the nation, —the body and soul, of
America, are thus one by a thousand influences,one in interest, in intercourse, in sympathies, and
in politics, as nation never was before.
Who shall separate them? What can disunite
them? Assuredly not that 190,000 head of Slaveholding carrion in the Gulf States, that " lives in
the saddle and is sparsely settled" over that region,-that exists on the unpaid labour, and wasted
lives, and degraded souls of other men, - that
reduces prostitution to a science in economics,that is accustomed to sell its own flesh and blood
into slavery, - and that is called " chivalry," by
newspapers, which, on the question of Slavery, have
been the common houses of ill fame for all the
world!








CHAPTER V.
"M AARE' S -NESTS;"
OR
JOHN BULL AND "THE CHItVALRY."
BEGGING OF QUESTION.
CONTRADICTIONS.
SERVILE WAR.
SLAVERY AND BIBLE.
UNITY, —" DESPOTISM."
DESPOTISM,-" UNITY."
RIG:HT OF SECESSION.
SLAVERY PROFITABLE.
SLAVERY AND NATIONALITY.
CONFEDERATE "BOlNDS."
"I sing how casual bricks in airy climb,
Encountered casual cow hair, casual lime;
How rafters borne through wondering clouds elate,
Kissed in their slope blue elemental slate,
Clasped solid beams in chance directed fury,
And gave to birth our renovated (Drury)."
"I swear to fear, revere, and serve God; to suffer death rather
than renounce Christ; to maintain the rights of the People, the
widows, and the orphan; to offer no wilful or deliberate offence to
any one; never to be engaged in any transaction for the pure love
of gain." —Oach on taking tie degree of Esquire.'* * "En obant de vous tout orgueil. * * Soyez loyal en faits,
et en dits. * * Soyez secourables a pauvres et orphelins."
Mbiother of Bayard to her Son.
"Sez John C. Calhoun, sez he,' Human rights airnt no more
Right on this'ere floor,
No more than the man in the moon,'-sez he."
Biglow Papers.
L








MARE'S-NE ST S.
"In short I firmly do believe in Humbug generally,
For it's a thing that I perceive to have a solid vally;
This hath my faithful shepherd been, in pastures sweet hath led me,
And this'11 keep the people green, to feed as they have fed me."
IN the " Carnival of Cant" of Slaveholders, the
following theories and contradictions have been
running a muck at each other and at everything else
that is intelligible.
The " begging of the American question," is a
feat sturdily persisted in by the friends of the
" Chivalry" or in the interests of Slavery, after
many exposures. It is not to the credit of the
leaders of English public opinion, that the impostures require now even a slight notice.
It is asserted that the 6,000,000 whites, South,
are a nation, and therefore cannot be exterminated,
and tlhat because they cannot be exterminated, they
cannot be subdued.  That this rebellion, though
to maintain Slavery, is a glorious undertaking.
It is asserted that the 4,000,000 negroes, South,
are not a nation. That they ought not to be emancipated till convenient to the white nation.  That
for them to fight for freedom, would be a bad war,
because it would be a "' servile war."
It is asserted that " the South is an aristocracy."
That an aristocracy ought to lead, that chivalry
must conquer, and that a war to set them  in their
proper place, is a war of nature and necessity.
It is asserted that Slavery is sanctioned by the
Bible, and that therefore it is a divine institution,
L2




148          MARE'S-NESTS; OR         [Boox I.
for which religion permits or demands an armed
propagandism.
It is asserted that free labour will not pay; and
that white labour cannot last in the South.
Other such assertions as that " Slavery has
nothing to do with the war," are relegated now to
very low-art tumblers in the political sawdust.
They pay no longer, for even " the gods" know that
they are lies, and nothing more.
The fashion that speaks of Unity in the North,
as'" Despotism;" and Despotism in the South, as
" Unity;" is to be set down as an instance of that
rare and unhoped for good fortune which sometimes
favours the most audacious speculators on the folly
of mankind.
The " strategists" who talk of the advantages
accruing to the South, from " moving on interior
lines," now that it is driven into a corner, and
cannot move on the exterior lines, have also met
with their share of appreciation.
The Three assertions or propositions,-that the
Bible authorizes Slavery; that free labour will not
pay in competition with Slave labour; that the
right of Secession is inherent in Individual States,
need no repetition, for they may be said to commit suicide directly they are clearly formulated.
The BIBLE indicated to the Jews certain modes
by which the evils of Slavery, as practised by surrounding heathen, were to be mitigated and reduced
to a minimum, as far as was possible to the civilization of that age. The Bible lays down concerning Slavery no princples, but authorized, through
Moses, certain administrative reforms, changing




CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY."  149
slavery into servitude. But the whole scope and
purpose of the Book, and of the religion of human
nature and of God, is to make men free in the
Truth, by binding them under one law of equality,
brotherhood, and lovingkindness, - members one
with another in Christ's body, the Church. To
charge, then, Slavery upon this system and this
Book, is not merely a lie in terms, -it is a generic
lie, a lie against their whole genius, scope, nature,
and tendency, as well as against their particular
inculcations and commands.
It is an indignity to Truth and Honesty, - it
is a complicity with charlatans against the value
of evidence and reason, to apply its rules and formulas elaborately to transparent falsehood. It
matters little, comparatively, that there exist in a
State a certain number of Liars. It matters infinitely more that palpable Lies should be habitually deferred to as arguments, examined as onesided truths, or treated with the honours of controversy.
It is far better to meet flat falsehood dogmatically,-to tell the Doyg le lIes, —and to pass on about
one's business.
With regard to the phantasy that man free, is
not equally equipped for LABOUR with man enslaved, it involves the same falsehood, the same
doubt of God and man, the same impious impeachment of the ways of God with man. La
mort sans pArase is the only answer that reason
can give to such sophistry. Without argument,
we may repudiate once for all, the idea that any,contradiction of the laws of God and of nature,




150            MARE'S-NESTS; oR         [BOOK I.
can be permanently profitable to any participator
in the transaction. The superiority of free labour,
as shewn by its results in America, has, however,
been demonstrated ad nauseaem.
The Principle of A" STATE SOVEREIGNTY," when
brought to mean individual State license and
national dissolution, is matter, not for argument,
but for contempt and ridicule against those who
uphold it in theory, and for a war of execution
against those who uphold it in arms.
But supposing it granted, for argument's sake,
that every thing relating to, the supposed internal
interest of each State, is to be absolutely settled by
such State. Is there to be argued from this doctrine of severalty of interest, a community of crime,
a sufferance of aggression, and a complicity in
national suicide? The acquiescence in an organized
system of barbarous cultivation, depending on
organized crime, that must spread or die,-the one
law of whose existence is ayyggression, and evermore
aggression?  We say such " State Sovereignty"
would make each State despotic over the fate of the
Union; would be a reversal of the natural relationships between Republic and State, making the
State supreme, and the Republic itself a slave. The
assertion, as regards America, of a constitutional
right to nurse and aggravate a desperate organic
disease in the republic, or as regards the world, to
constitute that incomparable nuisance a Slave empire, is an assertion which certainly does not deceive
thoe who make it. If right, or reason, or religion, remain upon earth, then the right to constitute or to extend an empire founded upon the




CuAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY."  151
unmanning of man, is not the doctrine of men, but
the doctrine of Devils, and as wrong in every
economic or statesmanlike sense, as in morals, and
religion.
~
The argument for " NATIONALITY" founded upon
Slavery, is also a contradiction in terms. Nationality depends upon Freedom and Law, upon the
strength and virtue of the Individual, and the
coherence of the State.  Slavery opposes both,
and will destroy them or be destroyed by them.
At the early stage, Slavery may only encounter
individual and municipal rights, but if it lives and
grows, it must assail the national life.
The imputed " COURAGE" of the chivalry involves an abuse of language, or rather of thought.
To praise them for a courage common to criminals,
prizefighters, gladiators, and beasts, were no praise.
It is only the courage which attacks the rights of
others. There is a courage of beasts and a courage
of men. There are, who praise for mere animal
courage, a race that has carried on a sixty years'
war of tyrants, atheists, cowards, panders, misers,
and pimps, upon the rights, the chastity, the
honour, the intellect, and the souls of a subject
race. There are, who call the hearty fighting for
such a system, C courage," we don't. There is no
true courage without moral sanctions. Courage is
not the willingness to incur danger for the sake of
committing a crime, or inflicting an injury.
Confederate " BONDS" may also turn out to be a
contradiction in terms. The men who forged a




152           MARE'S-NESTS; oa        -[BooK I.
constitution for Kansas, and passed off armed desperadoes, imported for the feat, as voters,-who
violated the Ballot Box, and sent in false returns,
— who violated the Missouri compact, made for' consideration,"-who conspired to assassinate
Lincoln,-who seized the national property, and
used it against the nation, -who repudiated money
obligations, and repudiated the constitution —Twho
recommended the legalising of the forgery of
notes —these men are now headed by the arch
repudiator Jeff. Davis, who considers it " unconstitutional," to pay  certain  State debts, who
charged the English Government with repudiation, and talked of " The Times," as a " pensioned
press," and C hired advocate," and charged the
i" London Change" with hiring it to denounce
him.*
The word of Jeff. Davis is no doubt as good as
his " Bond," and we presume the " London
Change" relies upon that, or on, Southern " nationality," for payment.  It seems to us that
there is not very good security either for the
will or the Deed,-for the " Principle" or the
Interest.
SERVILE WAR has been unsparingly denounced
by men who do not object to war on principle.
But if any war can be justified, it appears to us
that a servile war, undertaken with probability of
success, is a fortzori, justifiable.
* See pamphlet hereon, by the Hon. Mr. Walker. Ridgway, 1863.




CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY."  153
War is Sacrament or Murder, and they who
instigate the doing of the one, are only worse
than those who prevent the taking of the other.
Peace at any price denies the first, and war at any
price affirms the last.  To risk life, either the
yielding or the taking of it, for any cause that is
-not holy,-that is not dearer and more sacred
than life, is a crime and a bad calculation.  To
refuse the sacrifice of individual life, when the
conditions of a great perpetual national life are to
be achieved, is not the teaching of prudence, of
nature, of Humanity, of Statesmanship, or of God.
Those who deny the rights of the individual,
and the rights of the Nation, affirm  anarchy,
Murder, and Secesh.  Those who deny to the
Negro the Sacrament of Battle, when his manhood and his nationality are in question, are either
less or worse than men.
The right of the Negro to fight for his freedom
and  nation, is denied by none but anarchists,
peace-at-any-price-men, and Secessionists. Nevertheless, the rights of freedom, nationality, and
order, must be denied or affirmed together.
We leave to others the great crime of discussing
an institution, which our very instinct teaches us
to abhor. There are some things not to be argued
about, but to be destroyed. Who that believes in
God, can disbelieve in man? The fool hath said in
his heart, there is neither People nor God, and in
Politics, according to Carlyle, the fool is the only
absolutely fatal personage.
A servile war has probably been prevented by
Lincoln's proclamation, which is calculated to pro



154            MARE'S-NESTS; OR         [Booi I.
duce, not -an insurrection, but a stampede, to be
followed by the substitution of free for slave
labour, and a re-organisation of the whole industrial system of the South. That, we say, is the
probable result of the Proclamation, and it presents ample scope for meditation. We say, however, and on this stand fast, that in this war for
equality of races, the slave of all men, ought to
take a part. He has the most legitimate interest,
and the most valid warrant.  He must get his
freedom, peacefully if he can, but get his freedom.
This will not involve servile war, unless the Slaveholder will have it so.
There are black Yankees yonder, and what will
the slave naturally do, believing that the North
will receive him, and protect him as soon as he
can reach it? Will he tarry in the South to
plunder, to kill, to ravish, to destroy,-in the
Soutlh where he has been, is being, and will be
burnt alive, flogged to death, or riddled with bird
shot?  We should think not!  This contraband
will take the liberty to smuggle himself.  This
chattel will cut and run. The servile war is nonsense. When Black meets White, it will be, not
as Slave against Master, but as man to man.
Meanwhile, the question is, whether a man running for his life, may use his instincts of defence,
and if not, why not?
But further, we say to those who fear a servile
war,-" you have settled that war is sometimes
"n just and necessary, you have settled even that a
"' war of treason and treachery against a reasonable
": majority, may be just and necessary. Let us




CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY." 1,55
" understand the difference between a white war,; and a black war.  Is a war against -Slavery,
" worse than a war for Slavery? If you assert
" this, your quarrel is not so much with a servile
" war, as with your own servile nature, and with
L the God who made the black man's soul in the
" likeness of God. The black man has a right to
" his freedom. The white man, you cannot deny,
" has refused him that freedom, refuses it, and will
" refuse it,-nay in oaths, and blasphemy, and
" blood, has assumed before the world that that
" system shall continue for ever a corner stone of
" the Slave Republic, even as Clhrist is the corner
i; stone of the Christian faith."  A servile war is
horrible, you say. We answer there has been Battle
for 80 years in the South, but it has been battle all
on one side, battle on the shrinking flesh and
degraded intellect of the African race, who now
are nearly as many as their oppressors.  That
battle has been horrible too, and alas, there are
"' who can bear to look on torture, but who dare
" not look on war."  The White would not be
taken unawares by the Black,-as the Black has
always been by the White, —and overwhelmed
by midnight massacre. There would exist between them the conditions of open war. Of what
are these people afraid, —which is the worse, the
sharp short war of battle, or the long prolonged
the real servile war, on all means and appliances
that might bring to the Negro's soul, education,
self respect, honour, religion? Neither argument
nor action can be detained for those who are too
slow or too low to appreciate the vast cumulative,




1!56          MARE'S-NESTS; OR          [BooK I.
and destructive, and deteriorating results, of three
generations of unresisted oppression on the rights
of a subject race.
Place then in the scales, a servile war, and servility itself. Servility, that ignoble coward war
on the souls, virtue, intellect, shortened lives, and
miserable bodies, of now three generations, and
which, in mere blood, to take your lower ground,
has cost more than fifty pitched battles. Place, we
say, these in the alternative, and there can be no
question which, on any reasonable aspect, is the
better or the least bad. Otherwise it would appear
that the objection is, not to war in the abstract or
in theconcrete, not to any war against Slaves, not
to a war by a minority against a majority, but
simply and only to a war by Slaves for freedom!
If the sword of the South were no sharper than the
wits of their advocates: the war, like the argument,
would be remarkably one-sided.  For all these
arguments against a servile war amount to this —
that the slave has not the inherent essential rights
of a man, —that his master has better right to do
him wrong than he has to oppose wrong,-in other
words, that wrong is right and right wrong.
The hour of the Slave's redemption is now,) and
they who would defer his hopes would destroy them.
-He has the greatest stake and the greatest right in
this contest.  If Jefferson Davis has made of the
South a nation, who first made the Slaves a people,
with rights, energies, passions, interests, will,-all
that is comprised in the word'" Soul."  We say it
is the supreme hour, —the passion-hour of the
Slave's redemption. Let not prudes and doctrin



CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY."  157
naires entangle us in vain words, which holy
human nature, in the straightforward and magnanimous rush of its instinct, denies. If it be
glorious for the South to fight for freedom to enslave the Black, it is more glorious for the Black
to fight for freedom, —nay, if he do not fight, let
him be accursed!
We say then to the Slave, " if the Stampede will
" not do, and the South, after all the sevenfold
" plagues and warning of Battle will not let ye go,
" then we say —go, and if the Red Sea itself even: of a servile war cover your enemies,-go. On
" one condition only ye can rightly stay. If the
" Southern lie is true, that ye be beasts and not men,; then sulbmit, renounce your Fright of insurrec-:C tion,' temporise, till the hour has passed for action,
" let your wives be victims of lust for ever, your
" children be slaves for ever, and yourselves de" scend to dishonoured graves,-but if not,-if ye
~ be Men, Husbands, Fathers, Christians,-ARISE!
" AND IN THE NAME OF GOD, AND your NATION,S' STRIKE!"
Necessity and common sense have established
the maxim, that a man must stand by the certain
consequences of his own act.
Certain men in the South have for eighty years
been mixing fire and gunpowder, and belabouring
gun-cotton.  The result threatens.  They  go
screeching through creation, —what? " Their folly?
Their suicide? The wrong done to Society? Their
repentance?" No! Slavery is too devilish a thing
to produce candour. They proclaim, rather, the




158           MARE'S-NESTS; OR         [BooK I.
Satanic nature of the Gunpowder.  The infamous revolutionary spirit, so dangerous to Society,
of the gun-cotton. And they make of the world
the idiotic demand, that they shall be guaranteed
in their vested rights of mixing the powder, and
beating the cotton, and that the world shall see to
it that no explosion come!-Depend upon it the
world has something else to do than to constitute
itself an insurance office for the special behalf and
interest of its chiefest criminals.
But change the names from powder to man, and
what have you then?
If there be anything in right, or in morals, he
who holds Slaves, steals their freedom, and is a
scoundrel. He-not the Slave. He must degrade
them, get, as thoroughly as he can, the manhood
out of them, for that it is that is so apt to explode.
He is again, and throughout, a scoundrel. He,not his chattel. He must at the last be prepared
to shoot them down when they seek their own,their freedom,-themselves. He is a murderer, or
if they succeed, as of course they must at last, if he
falls, he is a suicide, and that is all. What else
can the man be, who wars against God, nature,
freedom, and manhood? It is only the fool turned
idiot, and the idiot committing suicide. The world
is then well rid of them, their blasphemous theories,
their thousand-fold body and soul murders. They
believe neither in the People nor God, but in the
Devil only, and his " Iliads."  The laws of God
and nature will not be altered for murderers, but
murderers will be altered by them. " Let them
perish " is not an imprecation, but a necessity set




CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY."  159
from eternity in the very nature of God, of whose
likeness they would make a Slave!
Let us then at least get this rubbish about a
" servile war" gone. Well may the Pythoness of
the North exclaim in the Capitol:" When we are at war with the Devil, we are not particularly sorry to hear of an insurrection in Hell."
What do these Southern advocates want altered?
The law to suit the system, or the system to suit
the law. Would they have mankind debased to suit
Slavery, or Slavery abolished to suit man. They
cannot have both. Let them say which. They
who want Slavery without its natural result, want
a thing to be and not to be at the same time. Once
for all,-to put the world askew, because Slaveholders and their advocates don't like its constitution and laws, is a concession that will be made
neither to the monstrous practical folly of Slaveholders, nor to the credulity of their advocates.
Any fool —any animated atom, or speck of lifedust, may break a commandment. The archfiend
could not set at nought —Law. If they violate
Law, so much the worse for them. They must now
stand aside, when God, in his own time, has brought
round their violence and treason to work for order
and for freedom.
Away with these drivellers about a servile war,
they know neither what is war nor what is peace.
Against the Slaveholder is the manhood of the
Slave. Behind the manhood of the Slave, constituting it, stablishing it, fighting for it, is-God.
~
It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at, that in a




160           MARE'S-NESTS; OR           [BooK I.
country that has six to one of its manhood unrepresented, the favoured few should cherish sundry
little prejudices against the many elsewhere. A
fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind. And it
will perhaps be necessary for the many to conquer
their rights here, before the few will be convinced
of the value of the rights of manhood, either here,
or there, or of the national loss resulting from their
denial.
However, let us now catalogue the "notions"
imported, for the use chiefly of the English middle
classes, by speculative politicians down South.
We cannot, for their sakes, much regret that the
lot is depreciated full 50 per cent. Indeed it is
curious that in the third year of the young "' nation," its loans, and its arguments, should not be
worth one half their original values, respectively,
and that its territory also should have been cut in
two by the forces of the " vanquished " North.
The argument for " STATE SOVEREIGNTY," which
assumes a provision for national suicide in the parent constitution, and which by its own raison d'etre
necessarily adopts such a provision for itself,-for
" RIGHT of secession," because a country refuses
its territory as the theatre for the extension and
perpetuation of a gigantic national crime, —for
NATIONALITY," on the acknowledged basis of an
acknowledged offence agarnst individuals and nations, against economics, morality, religion, and
God,-for " Freedom," on the part of six millions,
that they may perpetuate Slavery on four millions,
-for " CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS," of a minority,
that has ruled the majority for 80 years, and, at
the first hostile election, appeals from  the constitu



CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIVALRY."  161
tion to arms — for " STATE RIGHTS," that six States
may impose on twenty-eight the deadly wrong and
propagandism of an institution always destructive
and oppressive, and that cannot support itself without assailing the riglzts of otlzer " States,"-for a
separate and " peculiar INSTITUTIONs" that inflicts a
community of suffering on every righteous interest,
and on every uncompromised individual, within
the baleful circle of that institution's action or influence,-for a "LABOUR SYSTEM," which shortens
the lives of its victims, turns its own labourers into
chattels, and degrades the principle, and would
deny the rights of labour all over the world.
The argument that a false nation, born of treason, with Blasphemy for its sponsors; reducing
oppression and lust to a science for forcing labour,
and feeding the labour market; producing equality
of races by licentiousness, while denying it to
right; which degrades" lwhite trash" to fight for
it, and breeds black chattels to work for it; whose
territory is divided into halves by Northern arms,
and penetrated everywhere by Northern rivers or
mountains; whose race is divided into nearly equal
and hostile sections; whose governing class is a
close corporation of 190,000, with the essential
ultimate interests of the whole population against
them; —The argument that this would be " nation,"
with no real grievances to escape, and no substantial advantages to fight for, has the right, the power,
or the possibility, to permanently establish itself
in separation from and defiance of the country of
which it forms a part,-six millions out of thirtyone,-with whom it has a language, race, instituM




162           MARE'S-NESTS; OR -        [BOOK I.
tions, boundary, and nominal religion, in common,
-that it can defy the re-uniting influences of intimate neighbourhood, and the supremacy of free
systems of thought, politics, labour, and communication, throughout a conterminous territory of 2000'miles,-that it could prevent the ultimate entire
reconstruction of its own unnatural labour system
by those influences,-that it can offer any guarantees of stability, good neighbourhood, peace, or
even commercial interchange, with other nations,
-that it can be for one moment accepted by
Americans as a " republic," or by the world as a
nation having any rights that rest not on wrongs,
any position that is tenable, any character that is
not evil, any law of existence that does not deny
higher laws of existence, of the individual within,
and of the nation from which it would wrench itself,
or the "'equal right of nationality" of any one
State which now joins it in revolt; — That this
argument, for the existence, right, constitution, or
recognition, of such a commurnity,-an argument
that is a jumble of self evident contradictions, of
assumptions against fact, precedent, policy, law,
right, government, and nature, — an argument
against argument, appealing to religion by blasphemy, to rigqht by wrong, for nationality against
nationality, by an oligarchy for a republic;-that
such an argument could have been put forth seri6usly, or received believingly, argues so confused
an intellect, and so depraved a heart, such an
amount of unbelief, folly, impolicy, or complicity
with wrong, as should alarm human nature for
itself, and rally the better part of all nations around




CHAP. V.] JOHN BULL AND "THE CHIIVALRY."  163
the  "army  of execution"  from  the north, and
around those institutions that are the Despair of
partial interests, and evil influences, all over the
world.
"What if a million mole-hills were to league
Their meannesses together, with clue pomp,
And to some mountain say,'In the name of God!
Whither dost thou aspire?' Does any deem
That great imperial creature would descend
To the mud-made world below, and parley there
At its own footstool, and lay down its crown
Because its height was so intolerable?"
M o;







BOOK 11.
AMERICAN  UNITY  AND  NATIONALITY.
CHAPTER I.
MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.
GEOGRAPHY, STRATEGY, CLIMATE, MOUNTAINS AND
RIVERS7 CANALS7 COMMERCE7 BANKS, REVENUE7 RAIL7
TELEGRAPH, COIN, AND POSTAL SERVICE.
CHAPTER II.
UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.
RACE, LANGUAGES LITERATURE, RELIGION7
BOUNDARY7 AND INSTITUTION.
CHAPTER III.
THE MORAL FORCES.
UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE.








CHAPTER I.
THE MATERIAL UNITY OF AMERICA.
GEOGRAPHY, STRATEGY, CLIMATE, MOUNTAINS AND
RIVERS, CANALS, COMMERCE, BANKS, REVENUE7 RAIL7
TELEGRAPH7 COIN7 AND POSTAL SERVICE.
" Every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.
The North * * * The South * * * The East * * * The West,
must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets
to the weight, influence, and future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of
interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can
hold that essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with
any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious."
Washington, Farewell Address.
These outlets, East, West, and South, are indispensable; which
of the three may be best is no proper question, all are better than
either, and all of right belong to that people and their successors
for ever. True to themselves, they will not ask where the line of
separation shall be; they will vow rather that there shall be no such
line. Physically speaking ive cannot separate."
Abtraham Lincoln, Message, 1862.
"The geographicalposition of the country contributed to increase
the facilities which the American legislators derived from the manners and customs of the inhabitants; and it is to this circumstance
that the adoption and maintenance of the Federal system is mainly
attributable." —De Tocqueville, p. 257-8, v. 1.
"The peculiar structure of the Allegcangy ridge, beginning in
New lampshire, running across the New England States, through
Pennsylvania and West Virginia, stopping in the northern part of
Georgia. X* X X Now all the world over, men that live in mountainous regions have been men for liberty, and from the first hour
to this, the majority of the population of Western Virvginia, which
is in this mountainous region, the majority of the population of
Western Tennessee, of Western Carolina, and of North Georgia,
have been true to the Union."-H-t. Ward Beecher.




168          MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.                [Boos II.
"It (North America) contains every variety (within the temperate
zone) of climate and produce, a greater extent of mines,-coal, iron,
gold, silver, and quicksilver than all Europe. A vast system ofnavigable streams, exceeding in cheap water communication all Europe.
The shore-line of its rivers is 122,784 miles, employing an interior
steam tonnage exceeding that of all the world, and the cost of canals
of equal capacity, would have been more than aT-EN  TBILLIONS of
DOLLARS, and would have been subject to tolls and lockage. Its
hydraulic power, timber, and raw material exceed those of all
Europe. It has constructed more miles of telegraph and rail than
all the world."-Condensed from "Letter on American Resources,"
by the HZon.Robert J. Walker.
" That after cheap food, the next great desideratum is cheap transit, so that everything may be procured from the localities where,
from natural facilities, it can be obtained with the least labour.
"That railways worked with quick trains cannot convey the
guantity.
" I say that the cost of transit by rail is absolutely destructive of
the great traffic of a continental country; —that what Dr. Lardner
says is literally true-" that goods generally cannot bear the cost of
railway transit," and consequently, as shown in America, that
where there is not water transit, the great mass of goods are not
moved at all, and all trade in them is prevented. If it were not
for the water-line from the Upper Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic,
not one barrel of flour would be shipped out of one hundred that
are at present brought down.
"' In the United States, the difference of the cost of the two
modes is well known, and the effects of it clearly shown. On the
Erie Canal, a through traffic of about 300,000 tons a month is con.
veyed, during the seven months that it is open, at a charge (not cost)
of Id. per ton per mile; and on the parallel railway the through
traffic, during the five months that the canal is closed by frost, is
under 10,000 tons a month. The report of the state engineer of
New York, for 1853, is full of the most important information on
this subject."-Sir A. Cotton, late chief engineer of Madras, in
"Letter to the Society of Arts."
*** The above bears partly upon the material unity of America,
and partly on its material resources. It shows the extent, cheapness, durability, and indestructibility of its water carriage. But
the water system is mostly connected, directly or indirectly, with the
Mississippi, which is the chief factor of the material unity of
America.  Sir A. Cotton's authority is very high, and his letter
was written to urge the needs of Irrigation and improved river
navigation in India.




CHAP. I.]          MATERIAL UNITY.                    169
CONTENTS.
Opinions of Washington, Lincohln, Jefferson, De Tocqueville, Napoleon I., Beecher. -The material problem of the
South. -Nature against the South.-Special and extraordinary
Geographical IUnity of America.-Proved by Precedent, Authority, and War.-All countries own this Law of Material'Unity.-The only unalterable conditions and influences.Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, Russia, Turkey, Poland, &c.Mountain and Water systems, and Climate.-Three leading
positions as to American Unity.-The Mississippi, 27,000
miles of navigable water. —The only certain outlet.-America
will not strangle herself.-A fortiori.-South, North, East,
West, and Centre; moral, political and commercial aspects.Future  Capital. —Naval and Military  Strategy. —Immense
interior and coast navigation and tonnage.-Rail and Telegraph, Post and Revenue. —West of Rocky Mountains.Canada and Mexico.-The task before the South.-Summary.
"There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is
our natural and inevitable enemy. It is New Orleans."
"The occlusion of the Mississippi is a state of things in which
we cannot exist. * * * The use of the Mississippi is so indispensable that we cannot hesitate one moment to hazard our existence for its maintenance. Whatever power, other than ourselves,
holds the country West of the Mississippi, becomes our natural
enemy." —Thos. Jeefferson, 1802, 1803.
"The Times is a great power, the greatest perhaps in the world,
except the Mississippi."-Lincoln to Times' correspondent.
"So long as he held it (New Orleans) he had in his hands the
future greatness of the United States, and would never have ceded
it, were he not desirous of creating a counterpoise to the maritime
strength of England."-Napoleon I.
La Galissoniere pleaded that, considering the want of maritime
strength, Canada and Louisiana were the bulwarks of France
against English ambition. —Zffemoire on French Colonies, 1750.
" New Orleans is the key to Mexico."-Sp anislsAmbassador, 1766.
The Problem, and the dream  of the South is,




170       MIATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.   [BOOK II.
how to dissever the Gulf and Border States firom
the North, and to connect them with the great
western valley of the Mississippi, and the ancient
and mighty realm  of Mexico.*  It is the business
of the present chapter to show  that nature has
beforehand rendered this scheme visionary and impossible. The fiat of her perpetual and indestructible influences rendered a United Slave Empire as
impossible as it is infamous. Those who deny the
pertinence of this mode of reasoning, or its special
applicability to America in  consequence of the
special and extraordinary geographical unity of that
continent, will not deceive many others, even if
they succeed in deceiving themselves, for any man
who can look at a map, and has studied history,
will admit the importance of the argument.
The geographical unity of America is proved by
Precedeht, Authority, and War.  Historical analogies everywhere prove the force of geographical
unity.   Authorities prove it.   The course and
strategy of the present war prove it. The policy
of the first French settlers was shaped by it. The
* This idea is as old as 1706, when Col. Burr organized the
expedition for which he was afterwards tried. President Jefferson, writing to La Fayette, said of Burr, " His conspiracy
"has been one of the most flagitious of which history will ever
"furnish an example. He meant to separate the Western
" States from us, to add Mexico to them, place himself at their
"head, establish what he would deem an energetic government,
"and then provide an example, and an instrument, for the sub"version of our freedom. The man who could expect to effect
"this with American materials must be fit for Bedlam."
Burr's first enterprise was to have been to seize New
Orleans, the Gate of the Mississippi, "which he supposed
would powerfully bridle the upper country."




CHAP. I.]      MATERIAL UNITY.              171
possessors of New  Orleans, Port Hudson, or
Vicksburg, must either grasp the great natural
artery, and cut the spinal cord of the aggregate
national life, or hold it for the nation against all
comers.
The special and extraordinary material unity of
the American continent, is one of the most remarkable and influential facts in the whole world.
Other countries-all countries, feel the irresistible power of this natural Law.
The energies of civilization, and the genius of
war, can only act through existing material conditions. Of these, the mightiest, and the only ones
that remain, are those great geographical features
that present unalterable conditions of attack and
defence, and a certain unceasing influence in an
uniform direction.
As Italy was kept in pieces, very much by her
extreme length and narrowness, her open coasts,
and midland mountain ranges, - as the natural
fortresses of Switzerland for ages kept despotism
at bay,-as the nearness of Ireland to England
has retained her to the British sceptre,-as the
great material disturbing force of this continent,
for two centuries, has been the natural effort of
Russia to seek her outlets at the Sound and the
Bosphorus, and to communicate with Europe
through Poland, which has, on her side, no great
natural military frontier, —as in all these instances,
tihme and space, represented by geographical facilities or obstacles, have constituted a Principle,
have become immutable material guarantees for




172      MVATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.  [BOOIC II.
uniform efforts in a certain direction, and have thus
produced, and must ever produce, certain great results,-so in America, where the natural features
are on a vaster scale, and material unity more
marked than in any otlher country of the world, we
are bound to inquire, when considering the issues
of the present struggle, on which side are these
marked advantages, and against whom are these
material obstacles? For whom declare these permanent influences, so apt to prevail in the end,
and which are before and after every conflict, and
always the same?
It has constantly been observed by philosophers,
that the mountain ranges, beginning with the Pyrenees, and under the names of the Alps, the
Balkans, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, traversing
Europe and Asia from West to East, are amongst
the mightiest agencies the world has known,
hoarding certain influences on the one side, and
damming them back on the other, until, in the
course of Providence, and the increase of population, &c., the fresh and strong energies of northern
barbarian nature have been let loose upon the effete
and crumbling civilisations of the South,-upon
systems refined into weakness, or enervated by
vice, to destroy that which deserved destruction,
or to share in that which had been thus prepared
for their use.
But this is only one of the material agencies
that help to constitute and guarantee the unity of
nations.
The natural material Unity of a'Nation is




CHAP. I.]     MATERIAL UNITY.              173
constituted by its water and mountain systems,
and its climate, and supplemented by its rails and
telegraphs, and services of Post and Revenue.
The first thing which a Statesman or a Soldier,
who has to keep, take, or make a Nation, does,
is to look at the map.  Let us imitate this example.
Three leading positions are to be noted, as
affecting the geographical and strategical unity of
America.
lst.-The Mississippi, and general river system
wlich connects the North and North-west and
the South, and bisects " Secesh," is the only indestructible means of conveyance.  It is moreover the cheapest, and although artificial roads
rival it in foreign trade, the Nortli and North-west
cannot allow any possible enemy to possess it.
2nd.-While the great river connects North and
North-west with South, the rails, lakes, and canals
from North-west to North-east take the produce of
the West Eastwards and Europewards, and must
continue to do so, and indissolubly unite the whole
North, in bonds of intercourse, interest, and habit,
— socially, commercially, and politically.  They
render the attempt to disunite one section of the
North from the other, a hopeless task, and connect
the West with the East, as thoroughly as the
Mississippi connects both with the South.  The
rail and water systems of the North do not counteract the influence of the Mississippi, but they all
work together for one political, strategical, commercial, and social, unity of the Continent.
3rd.-The mountain ranges do not, as through



174       MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.   [BooK II.
out Europe and Asia, sever North from South;
they rather connect them.
Although all State maxims and analogies, drawn
from the history of empire in the past, combine
as it seems to us, to show that separation is for
the United States without the range of the possible, yet the American question can scarcely be
discussed in deference to:them, inasmuch as the
history of mankind furnishes no precedent, nor the
whole geography of the world a parallel, to the
material and moral conditions under which this
American contest must be decided.
The Mississippi represents, nay it is, the spinal
cord, and arterial system, of the Body of the
American Nation. Where is there a river like the
Father of waters, connecting with the' ocean 27,000
miles of navigation?  Yet its mere mileage and
volume are as nothing compared with the peculiarity of its position as regards the territory, the
strategy, the commerce, and the nationality, of
America.  It may, without undue emphasis, be
affirmed, that next to the characteristics of the
race itself, the Mississippi is the mightiest element
in this question. It may almost be said to control the future of America, whether in peace or
war. It constitutes its physical unity, and makes
disunion a synonym  for eternal war and hampered commerce, whilst in every year of real
union it will make war more disastrous and inmpossible.




CHP,. I.]     MATERIAL UNITY.             175
It forms a colossal moving road, wide and interminable, traversing the entire length of a vast
continent, connecting its extremities, and the cities
built upon its banks; and hour by hour, as commerce lives and millions grow along its banks, its
freedom becomes a more and more essential condition and appanage of the American Nation.
Towards its outlet, it is for hundreds of miles
thinly-peopled. It is permanently conditioned at
its mouth, for a comparatively enervated race, by
a tropical sun and a prodigal soil. Now, the
river is with the hardy North, and gives it easy
transit as against the forced marches of the enemy;
and always as population and freedom of movement increase in the South, unrestricted water-way
will become more and more essential, and its advocates more numerous.
The Mississippi can never constitute the boundary between nations. Indians, France and Spain,
have held it, but the limitation has each time failed.
In 1803 it was in Ohio and Kentucky that violent commotions arose when the treaty right of deposit at
New Orleans was suspended, for even then, every
American understood the significance of their mighty
river. As it stretches northward a thousand miles,
the same political, commercial, and social necessity culminates; the freedom of the river becomes
ever more essential, and the relative numbers and
strength of those who would impede it become
more insignificant; till it at last divides in twain
and holds in its mighty embrace the most probable seat of the future empire of the people.




176     MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.    [Boor II.
A situation unparalleled in the unity of its material and geographical conditions; in fertility and
in climate; in its moral conditions; and in the
spirit, energy, enterprise, freedom, intelligence, and
common enthusiasm of the race, now beating down
and out of their Republic and constitution the only
element of weakness which the thirty-four Empire
States have detected after eighty years.
This mighty North-west and Centre is growing
faster than North and South together.  It has
freer and more natural conditions of human life,
energy, enterprise, and expansion, and more essential antagonism to the oligarchic South. But there
is one thing that will always be fatal to it or to Secession.  While the gunboats of the Empire can
always be made free of the Canadian inland seas,
it possesses no water outlet which is always open
and cannot be destroyed, except the Mississippi;
for Canals are destructible, and the Gulf of St.
Lawrence is in half frozen latitudes. The Northwest and Centre CANNOT let the river go, nor do
the possible guarantees exist, nor can they ever be
invented, whereby an alien South could secure to
them a free navigation.
The Mississippi is the gate of the North-west
and Centre, —tley will keep the keys.  It is the
door of their house,-they will protect its threshold.
It is their tlhoroughfare,-they will have no tollkeepers and no obstructions.  It is their moving
road, —they will have no shooting from belhind the
hedge, no batteries to rake from shore to shore, for
600 miles.  The Mississippi takes them  to their
best customers in peace, and it floats throughl the




CHAP. I.]      MATERIAL UNITY.               177
empire a navy equal to 100,000 fighting men.  It
bisects the Slave empire in the South and West,
just as her tributaries invade its central territory,
and as mountain ranges bisect, and offer opportunities against it, from the Potomac to South
Tennessee.
The North-west, East, and Centre must be conquered, and dead, and buried, before the mouths of
the river will be surrendered to any other keeping.
The world cannot expect America to strangle
herself,
Were the South an empire full fledged to-morrow,
it would still be war, latent or patent, still war,
irrepressible, eternal, and exterminating,-till the
nation reunite, or till human nature be changed,
the mountains of the border land and central South
collapse, or the river flow back to its source.  It
were better and more peaceful even to let war
capitalize the loss, and make a full end.
There exist, it is true, no adequate precedents
for the Mississippi, and the political effect of its
position, but as far as precedents go, they enforce
the " a fortiori" as applied to her.
The Danube flows not to the ocean, but it was a
prime object of Russia, as against Austria, to close
its mouth against large vessels.  The Rhine is but
a gutter without an outlet. The nearest parallel,
showing the force of geographical position, is found
in the history and necessities of Russia, and her
yearning to possess her outlets, and to get the keys
of her house, at the Sound and the Bosphorus. It
was this geographical necessity that dictated to
Peter the terms of his Testament, and that pointed
N




178      MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.  [Boor II.
the road to Constantinople; but what have been
the necessities of non-commercial, autocratic Russia, and her means of enforcing them, compared
with the needs and the power of America towards
a similar end?
The Mississippi unites a vast threefold territory.
Some may conceive it possible for the South-west,
and the South-east, to neutralise the stream. A
situation of uneasiness, and in which one side, the
West, would have to the Atlantic, in case of quarrel,
no cheap and indestructible access, being barred
by Panama. But no equal bargain, or any bargain
at all, is possible for the North-west and central
States.  They must have a direct water-way for
through and intermediate traffic to and from the
South and the ocean,-for a disability there would
act as a prohibition on Commerce, and as paralysis
in war..
But the rivers that in Disunion would roll down
war, are destined rather to distribute plenty, and
to cause to grow rich as friends, instead of striking
as enemies. By any hostility of which they can be
made the instrument, no human soul or interest
save about 190,000 head of slaveholders, in the
shape of cotton-growing autocrats, can really
benefit.
It results then, we say, from a complete view of
the whole Geographical question, in its moral,
political, and commercial aspects, that, be America
slave or free, she CANNOT be divided.
Moreover, all the tendencies and future of the
North lean still more decisively than the present
situation against the supposition that this highway




CHAP. I.]     MATERIAL UNITY.             179
of empire can be tampered with. Amongst these
is the ideal of the future, favoured by many, that
the capital of America be somewhere at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, the natural
centre of her Unity. Will America have her seat
of Empire and centre of civilization, subject to a
state of siege, or to periodical wars to raise it?
and can any power exist, or continue to exist in
America, whose interest, or within whose power it
might be, to beleaguer that capital a thousand miles
off? Ye diplomatists and strategists of Europe,
say,-has not America reason here?
But let us more directly consider the bearing of
the science of military and naval strategy upon.
this question, and realise the fatal difficulties of the
Southern position, even were its moral and commercial aspects ignored. We have seen that in
self defence, the North, North-west, and Centre
cannot let the Mississippi go, and that they would
always have means to prevent such a catastrophe.
Let us now see what a weapon the interior and
coast line navigation would become-has become —
in their hands, as against a Southern rebellion.
We shall see in the sequel, that the whole coast
line of the United States, including bays, sounds,
and rivers, up to the head of tide-water, is 33,663
miles, of which 5,120 is maritine front. There are
therefore upwards of 28,000 miles of navigable
water between the maritine front and the head of
tide-water. The shore line of their rivers. above
tide-water is 122,784 miles. Of this stupendous
N




180       MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.   [BooR II.
water mileage, more than one-half is navigable by
steam, employing an interior steam tonnage exceeding that of all the internal steam tonnage of
the rest of the world. They have also more deep,
capacious, and safe harbours, accessible at all tides,
than all Europe, with more than twenty capable
of receiving the Great Eastern.*
Through all the interior territory, rivers flow
into the Mississippi and Ohio, and Federal gunboats interpenetrate.  Upwards of seventy rivers
running from the North pierce the South.  The
coasts of the South also will always be exposed,
for it can create no equal navy.
Again, her mountain ranges extend from north of
the Potomac along North Carolina, to and through
the southern boundary of Tennessee, even to the
state of Mississippi. Hence the reason why the
South carried the war to the frontiers.  Here is an
open strategy either way for North or South if they
be twain,-strongholds and weapons of affront, and
mutual offence indestructible and ever ready for
use. Thus do the mountains, as well as the rivers,
war against disunion. Thus no halfway house or
compromise of territory is possible. The South
must have Washington or nothing. The mountain ranges from  Carolina to Washington will
either be the outposts of the capital overawing the
South, or the outposts of Richmond, threatening
or commanding the North. The mountains connect with the North, and so far sever from  " the
South," almost all but the first tier of States next
* This calculation is on the authority of the lIon. Robert J.
Walker, late Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.




CHAP. I.]      MATERIAL UNITY.              181
to the ocean, and for the mere Gulf States no man
cares.
We say then Strategy forbids disunion,or would
cancel it if effected, and consider what a mighty
thing strategy is. The great water and land features of Continents, a chief element in all struggles
for empire, remain from eternity to eternity, as it
were, in comparison with man's transient pursuits, and direct or circumnscribe, age after age, the
movements of armies and of fleets. It is a coincidence often remarked that battles are constantly
repeated over the same positions, and it is in fact
only when great commanders arise,-one in an era
or a century, capable of understanding nature, and
impressing her into the service, that this everlasting influence comes adequately out in war, and
teaches what the Creator meant politically by His
outer world.  Thus do the labours of great men,
and the progress of the race, fill up the predestined
outline of the future. Thus does the history of
mankind, translate the hieroglyphics of God!
The three great rules of military science, which
it of course applies according to actual geography,
are in substance as follows;1st. Concentrate. Beat minorities by majorities,
2nd. Operate by the shortest lines, and, by gain.
ing time, thus again concentrate.
3rd. Move on, and destroy the enemies' communications and supplies.
Now mark the conditions under which these
maxims have to be applied to thle present contest.
Supposing the South to be a separate power, not
lying helplessly at the feet of the North, but a real




1 82     MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.  [Boox II.
independent people, we have seen that it could at
any time, and in any quarrel, blockade the inner
country, at a distance of a thousand miles, and
strangle much of its commerce, impose duties, levy
tolls, occasion breaking of bulk, necessitate land
transit, and intercept vessels of war.
What would result from this?  On the one side,
-that of Northern unity, we see the strongest inducement that could be offered to a nation, namely,
the avoidance of a standing and imminent menace
to commercial life, and political honour. And
that same side is also endowed by nature with an
unchangeable vantage gr-ound and system of natural
means, in alliance with superior numbers, wealth,
intelligence, and appliances, to prevent or to remove this peril, and to turn back its point against
the South, with deadly effect.
For what would the Mississippi say evermore to
the North. It would cry aloud, " Here are rich
"4 slopes and open pastures, and I am the way to
" them. I will bear you rapidly and safely through
I: some 10,000 miles of water way that penetrates' and interpenetrates the South. I am your stra";tegy. I will concentrate your masses on the
** fractions of the foe. I will give you the shortest,
" because the easiest and swiftest lines. I will
" open behind, or on the flank, of every Southern
" army, communications by which you may cut
I theirs off."
Whether the future of America be peace or war,
the eighty or ninety thousand miles of internal
steam navigation, will be one of its mightiest facts.
Were the South for a time successful, here are




CrHAP. I.]       MATERIAL UNITY.                183
for the North perpetual guarantees of re-union,
and irresistible inducements to war against that
side which would-be Statesmen and Generals,
without a suspicion of the irony of their position,
attempt in argument to maintain.
America has more miles of rail and telegraph than
all the world, and iron roads, of course, may compete with water roads, but each have their place, and
each their advantages and disadvantages. Most of
the through traffic to Europe, and much of mediate
traffic elsewhere, will of course go by way of New
York, and through canals to other centres, which
claim also financial and business facilities, but
more than enough remains, and must always remain, to warrant all we have said of the great river,
and its tributaries.  They afford cheap transit
-always, cannot be worn out, removed, and broken
up like iron in war, and are always essential.
With reference to the territory west of the Rocky
Mountains, the natural features do not at first sight
point so decisively to their incorporation with the
political unity of America,* but a territory bounded
on one side by the sea, and stretching for twenty
degrees alongside an immense continent, both inhabited by a race of intense activity, and with the
same language and institutions, cannot, according
* The Hon. Malcolm Cameron is reported o have stated
at the London Tavern, on the 21st January, 1863.
"Which (Rocky) mountains have hitherto been deemed a
serious obstacle to communication from East to West, but a
thorough survey has now proved the existence of passes which
are but gentle heights and rolling knolls clothed with verdure
on the flanks, and offering no real obstacle to the traveller from
the East, who seeks by that route to reach the gold regions."




184      MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.   [Boosi II.
to all experience, remain unabsorbed by the influences of peace, or unsubdued by the energies of war.
The future, and probably peaceful absorption
of Canada, and the annexation of Mexico, are
sufficiently obvious, according to all the probabilities of statesmanship. There is no substantive
barrier either way, and southwards Panama is the
natural boundary, and the Black Yankees are the
natural settlers. But these questions are discussed
elsewhere, and are not as yet distinctly put in issue
by the present conflict.
In reference to Banks, Coin, Commerce, tRevenue
regulations, weights and measures, and Postal service,
the effect of their being conducted on a national
system is, with the exception of the first, too obvious to require comment in a book of this description.
The effect, however, of Chase's national banking system is misunderstood by many well-wishers
of America, and is misrepresented by all her enemies who understand it. It is properly treated of
in the chapter on ": Reconstruction."   We here
refer the reader to Chase's first annual report of
Dec. 1861, and to the subsequent ones. He asserts
that Government had constitutional powers to regulate commerce, coin, and credit circulation, which
last then depended on the laws of thirty-four States,
and on some 1600 Banks, whose circulation commonly was in inverse ratio of solvency.  He has
substituted a circulation secured by national bonds,
but based upon private means and credit, thus




CHAP. I.]'MATERIAL UNITY.             185
binding most of the 1642 banks, and their interests,
connection, stock, and note holders, and customers, to
the Union. The' State" bank system furnished
Secession mainly with funds. Those banks are now
generally insolvent, and with the present system
the rebellion could scarcely have occurred.
Whatever may be otherwise thought of Chase's
finance, this cannot be doubted, —that it is an immense accession to the cause of national unity, and
it settles a question debated since 1780, when
Hamilton and Knox, Jefferson and Randolph were
divided in opinion as to its constitutionality.
We say then, that the teaching of geography confirms all other teachings, that America, whatever
else she be, will be for ever one. Of all countries in the world, she more than any other country, must be one,-for reasons commercial, social,
and political, and cannot be otherwise. If any
man thinks otherwise, he has only to remodel
military science; to alter mountain ranges; to
turn back the Mississippi, or open Niagara, and
guarantee perpetual free passage through frozen
latitudes northward; to quench for ever one of
the intensest and most powerful nationalities; to
reverse motives of self interest; and to extinguish
the greed of commercial gain and genius of commercial enterprise. He has only to do these little
things, and a few other trifles like them, and the
Slave empire may flourish in the stead of the
North, to the destruction of free institutions. For
if Slavedom flourish: it must expand. Then the




186      MATERIAL BASES OF UNITY.   [BOOK IIL
mightiest fabric of human Government,-thevastest
empire,-the best and widest education system,the most orderly and peaceful and progressive nation,-the home and refuge of all the world, where
all races, however languishing elsewhere, suddenly
spring under new conditions into life, enterprise,
and a career, —the nation which alone has complete religious and political freedom, where man
is man, without let, hindrance, partiality, or handicapping,-all this will be scattered, broken, destroyed, and reversed. Rival states, diplomacies,
policies, standing armies, frontier fortresses, tariffs,
and interests, will take the place of that glorious
political fabric which the future is impatient to
consummate and crown..
Thank God, however, all this is but the Statecraft of fools,-the dream of the weak and the
wicked, and these misbegotten twins of the South,
with the treason they have spawned between them,
will soon be consigned, after a pause of conflict, for
America, but as one short dismal day,-to the places
whence they came.




CHAPTER II.
UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.
THE CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS OF
THE AMERICAN NATION.
POPULAR, " STATE," AND NATIONAL
SOVEREIGNTIES.
LABOUR. FREEDOM. LAW.
BALANCES OF THE CONSTITUTION.
PROPAGANDISM OF FREEDOM.
EQUALITY OF CONDITIONS.
POWER OF ASSOCIATION.
" No race of Kings have ever presented above one man of common sense in twenty generations. *.s *   If all the evils which
can arise from the republican form of our Government, from this
day to the day of judgment, could be put into a scale against what
this country (France) suffers from its monarchical form in a week,
or England in a month-the latter would preponderate."
Jefferson, 1787.
"Communities have existed aristocratic from their earliest origin, and which became more democratic in each succeeding age.
" But a people having taken its rise in civilisation and democracy,
which should gradually establish an inequality of conditions until
it arrived at inviolable privileges and exclusive castes would be a
novelty in the world; and nothing intimates that America is likely
to furnish so singular an example." —De Tocqueville, p. 433, v. 1.
" The Union is an accident *  * but the republican form  of
Government seems to me the natural state of the Americans, which
nothing but continued action of hostile causes always acting in the
same direction could change into a monarchy."
" Although the Anglo-Americans have several religious sects,
they all regard religion in the same manner. They are unanimous
upon the general principles which ought to rule Society. From
Maine to the Floridas, from the Missouri to the Atlantic Ocean
the people is held to be the legitimate source of all power. The
same notions are entertained respecting liberty and equality, the
liberty of the press, the right of association, the jury, and the re.
sponsibility of the agents of Government.  We find the same
uniformity in the moral and philosophical principles which regulate the daily action of life and govern their conduct. They are not
only united together by these common opinions, but they are separated from all other nations by a common feeling of pride * * and
are not very remote from believing themselves to belong to a distinct race of mankind." —De Tocquevile, v. 2, p. 424: p. 383, v. 2,




188     UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.  [BooK II.
" The temporal Interests of all the several parts of the Union
are intimately connected, and the same assertion holds true of those
opinions and sentiments which may be termed the immaterial interests of men."-De Tocqueville, p. 382, v. 2.
" The observer who examines the present condition (1836) of the
United States upon this principle (that Society means a similarity
of opinions, thoughts, and impressions), will readily discover, that
although the citizens are divided into twenty-four distinct Sovereignties, the.y nevertheless constitute a single People; and he may
perhaps be led to think that the state of the Anglo-American Union
is more truly a state of Society than that of certain nations of
Europe which live under the same legislation and the same prince."
De Tocqueville, p. 383, v. 2.
" Associations ought, in democratic nations, to stand in lieu of
those powerful private individuals whom the equality of conditions
has swept away.
" As soon as several of the inhabitants of the United States have
taken up an opinion which they wish to promote, they look out for
mutual assistance; and as soon as they have found each other out
they combine, From that moment they are no longer isolated men,
but a power seen from afar, whose actions serve for an example and
whose language is listened to."-De Tocqueville, p. 226, v. 3.
" The colonists from Maine to Carolina; the adventurous companions of Smith; the Puritan felons that freighted the fleet of
Winthrop; the Quaker outlaws that fled from jails with a Newgate prisoner as their Sovereign;-all had faith in God, and in the
Soul."  *  *  " The American mind in the largest sense eclectic,
struggled for Universality while it asserted Freedom."-Bancroft.
" But the Confederate States of America had been long accustomed to form a portion of one empire before they had won their
independence.  *  * "  They amended their laws, and saved
their country." —De Tocqueville, pp. 236, 238, 248, v. 1.
" The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States." —Art. IV. Sect. 1,
American Constitution.
" Their constitution rests upon a novel theory which may be
considered a great invention of political science. In all confederacies formed before the American constitution of 1789 the Allied
States reserved to themselves the right of ordaining and enforcing
the laws of the Union. The American States agreed that the Federal Government should not only dictate the laws but execute its
own enactments. This alteration produced the most momentous
consequences."-De Tocqueville, p. 235, v. 1.




CHAP. II.]    CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.                189
CONTENTS.
GENIUS of the nation,-Intensity-Self.reliance.-Loyalty.
-Devotion to Principles of Equality.-Willingness to change.
— Power of association.- Constitution unique —THE NATION
THE  CoNSTITiUTION.-Committee of the whole nation.Instances.-Conservatism of universal suffrage. —The Balance
of the Constitution.-The state and nation preserve authority.
-Individual and state preserve freedom.-The main chance.rreedom and nationality,-Centralisation and Independence.Nationality and faction.-Effect of intelligence on centralisation.-BASIS OF FEDERAL SUCCESS INDESTRUCTIBLE.-Balance
of Interests. -State Organisation versus Despotism.-Freedom versus Oligarchy.-Thirty Millions of Kings.-Freedom
and Law.-Independence and Union.-Opinions before armies
or "State" influence. - Fundamental Principles. -  Order,
Equality, and Union versus "Secesh."-Propagandism of North.,-MASTER PASSIONS OF NORTH.O-Dignity of Labour.-National Independence and Loyalty. - Conservatism  of Free
Labour.-PRoPAGANDISM  OF FREEDOMR.-Interlacing Boundary.-Aggression of Slavery; moral, commercial, and political.
Universal uniform  class, versus oligarchy. —Slavery versus
equality.-Industry, genius, conservatism, and morality of
America.-Slaveholding peace fatal.-Slavery and the Caucus.
-Party discipline. - Conservatism versus centralisation.Popular initiative.-Counterpoise to centralisation.-TTHE REAI
GovERNMENT. —Special circumstances and conservatism  of
American Democracy.-Democratic nations may always save
themselves. -Equal conditioned Democracy destroys oligarchy.
"One of the circumstances wlich most powerfully contribute to
support the Federal Government in America, is that the States
have not only similar interests, a common origin, and a common
tongue, but that they are also arrived at the sanme stage of civilisation. I do not know of any European nation, however small, which
does not present less uniformity in its different provinces than the
American people. Maine and Georgia, at the opposite extremities
of a great empire, are in the natural possession of more real inducements to form a confederation, than Normandy and Brittany, which
are only separated by a bridge." —De Tocquzeville, pp. 257-8, v. 1.
THE circumstances that promote the Individuality, or the political, social, and intellectual




190   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.:[BooKI II.
Unity of a nation, are a oneness of Race, Language, Literature, Religion, Boundary, and Institution. Out of these, or some of them, is nationality
created, and, in proportion to their completeness,
is its intensity and strength.
The GENIUS of the nation is before and after the
constitution. Nevertheless, as the intention of the
founders and of the People of America was embodied in the CONSTITUTION, and as the Constitution
has had and has its effect upon the Genius of the
nation, and is now, save as to Slavery, its tolerably accurate expression and embodiment, we shall
discuss the three leading aspects of the Constitution,
namely, its Legislative, administrative, and judicial
Unity; its peculiar Democratic provisions and influence; and its special Balance between the rights
and functions of the Individual, of the State, and
of the Nation.
The net result of all thlis, namely, NATIONAL UNITY,
is proved by fact and authority. By the opinions
of representative men. By the text of resolutions
unanimously adopted. By the text of the Constitution, and by the existence, attributes, and action of
the nation.
Of these, the first two, the opinions and resolutions, we must refer to their more appropriate
place hereafter, in the Book on the History of the
making of the Nation. The second and third,
namely, the direct and necessary result of the
actual Constitution, and the character and specialities of the Nation as it exists, we discuss in the
present chapter.
We have shown that the strength and value of




CAPx. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.     191
the spirit of nationality,-in other words, of the
national Unity,-depends upon the strength and
value of each component part, and on its capacity
to combine and work together with the others.
The man must be free, educated, loyal.  The
" Sovereign State" must be organised,-its rights
admitted and its sphere defined: and the Constitution must give full legitimate play to the energies,
freedom, rights, and will, of the Individuals, and of
the Secondary Institutions or States, and yet be
precise enough and strong enough to maintain
legality and order.
In fact, STRENGTH and ADJUSTMENT, Unity and
Power, are the two ideas that go to make up that
of a great and complete nation.
We find accordingly, that the American Constitution has five leading characteristics, corresponding also with the Genius of the nation, adjusted
thereto, and, in fact, growing thereout. It has, in
the first place, the principles of Popular Sovereignty, State Sovereignty, and National Sovereignty, each complete, better defined, and better
combined, than in any other nation.
To combine them in a practical constitutional
Balance, two things are required; First, absolute
respect for the law as long as it is Law; and,
Second, a definite, manageable, and assured mode
of alteration, when any part of such Constitution
shall have become ill adjusted to the changing
forces or altered character of the nation. These
two elements of conservatism  and progress, the
Genius and Constitution of the American nation,
combine in a remarkable degree. Americans stand




19'2    UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [BooK II.
by their laws, because they made and can unmake
them. They stand by the Constitution as it is,
knowing that no imaginable power can bind it
upon them against their will.
This power of amendment constitutes the fourth
peculiarity of the Constitution.
The Guarantee of the Republican form of Government is the fifth characteristic.
These constitutional and national peculiarities of
America, as a federated Republic, sprang from the
political Genius of the nation, and its truth to
nature, and to the necessities of the situation.
The Genius of the American nation has five
leading characteristics.
The Intensity of its nationality, and the rapidity
and completeness with which it absorbs other races.
Its contempt for other countries and Governments, and reliance on itself.
Its devotion to the principle of equality of conditions.
Its obedience to the actual law, and readiness to
change both law and constitution, when necessary.
ITS EXTRAORDINARY POWERS OF ASSOCIATION.
All these tend almost equally against Disunion,
Secession, Slavery, and Despotism.
~
The first Principle of the American Constitution
to which we have referred as springing from the
Genius of the nation, and coinciding therewith, is
the Principle of POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.  " The
People of the United States are the independent
and equal source of all its powers."
"He that will understand," says Ba.ncroft, " the political




CHAP. II.]    CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.               193
character of New England in the 18th century, must study
the constitution of its towns, congregations, schools, and
militia. Allt New _England was an aggregate of organized democracies. Nearly all were descended from English emigrants
of the time of Charles I. and II. They were, therefore, of
homogeneous origin.  They were frugal and industrious, and
there was not enough of Slavery to affect their character."
"The plain  meeting-house was everywhere the central
point; near it stood the public school; the farms were freeholds and without quit rents. In every hand was the Bible.
Every home was a house of prayer. In every village all had
been taught, many had comprehended a methodical theory of
the Divine purpose of the creation, and of the destiny of man."
" New York had been settled under large patents of lands
to individuals; New England under grants to towns; and the
institution of towns was its glory and its strength. The inhabited part of Massachusetts was recognised as divided into
little territories, each of which, for its internal purposes, constituted a separate integral government, free from supervision,
having power to choose annually its own officers; to hold
meetings of all freemen at its own pleasure; to discuss in those
mneetings any subject of general interest; to see that every
able-bodied man within its precincts was duly enrolled in the
militia, and always provided with arms, ready for immediate
use; to elect and to instruct its representatives; to raise and
appropriate money, for the support of the ministry, of schools,
of highways, of the poor, and for defraying other necessary
expenses within the town."
It was the resolution of the Colonists to maintain entire liberty, both in Church and State,
that drew from  Wentworth the exclamation, " The
very genius of that nation of People leads them
always to oppose, both civilly and ecclesiastically,
all that ever authority ordains for them."
"It was incessantly deplored by royalists of later days, that
the law which confirmed these liberties had received the unconscious sanction of William the Third, and the most extensive
interpretation in practice.  Boston even, on more than one
0




194    UNTITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Boox II'
occasion, ventured in town-meeting to appoint its own agent
to present a remonstrance to the Board of Trade. New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine, which was a part
of Massachusetts, had similar regulations. But the complete
development of the institution (iDemocracy) was to be found
in Connecticut and the Massachusetts Bay. There each township was also substantially a territorial parish; the town was
the religious congregation; the independent church was established by law; the minister was elected by the people, who
annually made grants for his support."
"3Iassachusetts was divided into little complete democracies in Church and in State. Calvinism addressed all and
was Democracy. It rested on the chosen and made of the elect
every man a kcin and a priest between God and the People."@
Second, there is the Principle of STATE SOVEREIGNTY and municipal right: "' The People or the
States, retain all powers not conferred by them on the
general Government."   And by Article X. amuendment to the Constitution, it is provided that" The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the People."
Third, the Principle of NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.
The national compact is set forth in a written constitution; and special powers thus conferred were
submitted to State conventions, and sanctioned by
the direct consent of the People.
"All former confederate Governments," says De Tocqueville, "presided over communities, but that of the Union rules
over individuals. Hence the term  of federal government is
clearly no longer applicable to a state of things which munst be
styled, an incomplete national government.  The absence of
this new species of confederation has been the cause which
has brought all unions to civil war, to subjection, or to a stagnant apathy."
- The above is condensed from Bancroft's account of the
old thirteen Colonies, but is in his own words.-See pp. 168,
169, 170, v. 1. American Revolution.




CHAP. II.]   CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.              195
The direct, natural, and intended result of the
actual constitution was national.  The result of a
supreme  Executive, Legislative, and  Judiciary,
could not be other than national.
" All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a
congress of the United States," &c. Art. I., Sec. 1, American
Constitution.
"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the
United States."  Art. II., Sec. 1.  " The President shall be
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the U. S. and.
of the Militia of the several States, &c. He shall have power,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to makce
treaties." Art. II., Sec. 2.
"The judicial Power of the UI. S. shall be vested in one
supreme Court."  Art. III. See. 1. " The judicial Power shall
extend to all cases in Law and Equity, arising under this constitution, the laws of the U. S., and treaties made, or which
shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting
ambassadors, &c.; to all cases of Admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies between two or more States; between
a State and citizens of another State; between citizens of different States," &c. Art. III., See. 2.
The Principle of national Sovereignty is also
proved by the national character of the laws of
Taxation and Commerce, and Trade; of national
credit or debt; of coin, and weights and measures;
of post offices and post roads; of patents and copyrights; of laws respecting piracies on the seas;
respecting war, and army, and navy, &c.; and of
provision for amendments of constitution, and
adoption of state debts.  It is also proved by the
guarantee of the Republican form of Government,
by the supremacy of the Constitution and the oath
to it, by the purchase of territory by national
funds, and the cession of territory. By the originating of revenue Bills in the People's House; the
o02




196    UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Booic I.
payment of members by the U. S. treasury; the
election of President by the majority; the proportion of representatives to population, and the
necessary rules of Congress, assuming it to be a
representative body, one and indivisible.@
Fourth; there is a definite plan for altering and
AMENDING the Constitution. (Article V.)
Fifth; a distinct guarantee to each State, by the
whole power of the United States, of the REPUBLICAN form  of Government, &c.  "The United
States shall guarantee to every State in this Union
a Republican form of Government, and shall protect each of theim against Invasion; and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive,
(where the Legislature cannot be convened) against
domestic violence." (Article IV. Section IV.)
But there is a further Principle, that in speaking
of the nationality of America, we must especially
remember, namely, that where the Freedom  and
Equality of the Individual is thus reasonably provided for, the fact of neighbourhood, the habits of
society, and the power of combined action, and the
clashing policy and hostile interests of foreign
Powers, will always insure a development of the
forces of nationality in proportion to the homogeneity of the parts within, and the antagonism that
threatens their unity from without.
* For those who want a technical and complete account of
the proofs of nationality from the Constitution, we know no
more satisfactory summary than "gRawlins' American Disunion."-Hardwicke, London, 1862. It appears as reliable
and accurate as Spence's is unreliable and inaccurate and onesided, and it would be difficult to express a more favourable
opinion in stronger language.




CHAP. II.]    CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.           197
Once- ensure Freedom, and create a nation, and
any other provisions against nationality are contradictions in terms of the essentialforces of the situation.  Once create the national life, and let it
protect the individual life, and enact the reasonable
individual will, and no other possible enactment
against that life or nation can prevail against it.
It would be cast out as abnormal, or reconciled as
natural and true.
There are also many other subsidiary guarantees
of freedom and equality of conditions, and therefore of Unity of Ideas and Interests, which are part
and parcel of the Genius and Constitution of America, or of one or other of them.  They have been
catalogued by Hinton (p. 313, v. 2) as follow:"A separation of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
authorities, more complete than in England; the degree of
control, possessed by the People by frequent elections, either
directly or indirectly, over all those authorities, and public
functionaries; rotation in office; the prohibition of orders of
nobility; the substitution of a temporary President for an
hereditary King; the abolition of the right of primogeniture;
the absence generally of exclusive privileges; the absence
of a national church and tithes; equality of all denominations
of Christians; the admission (and practice) of its being a
public duty to educate the whole community; and the frequent
reference of great affairs to the people in convention."
These Principles, guarantees, and conditions, are
in strict accord with the origin and objects of the
founders of the nation.
Volumes might be written, and have been written,
to elucidate verbal specialities in the American
Constitution, but as the fundamental Principles




198   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Boox II.
and primary elements of all Government are those
of relative and balanced right of the Individual, of
associations of Individuals, and of the Government,
and as the present revolt arises out of contrary
interpretations of State rights, and from the invasion by the Southern principles of Slavery and
oligarchy, of the rights of State, of Man, and of
Nation, we prefer at once to consider the real
question,-namely, "' whether the rebellion is contrary to, or in harmony with, the Genius and
Constitution of the American nation," and whether
the Nation will not now use the Constitution to
cast out these hostile principles and to reassert
those of Freedom, Order, and Nationality.  By the
answers to this question will the rebellion stand or
fall.
A constitution should consecrate and assert the.
principles of national Life. It should permit the
conservative and progressive forces of nationality
to adjust and to enact themselves.
It is our business to show that, in this respect,
the American Genius and Constitution completely
coincide.  That as regards progress, the People
are the source whence all power issues, and the
tribunal to which it is responsible. That they
have the initiative in amendments and alterations.
That as regards conservatism, the people are lawabiding and property-owning, and that the organization of the States and of Government, are
adapted to exercise and maintain municipal rights,
and national interests.
The American Constitution is indeed, in this
respect, unique in History, and political science is
incomplete till its results shall be worked out.




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.       199
The man who attempts to argue American questions, from analogies of any other Government or
Federation in the past or present, reckons without
his host, and argues against his facts.
It would of course be as reasonable to augur the
same political results from the constitution of England as it is, and as it would be, were every county
of ours a separate Sovereign State, with Parliament,
Senate, and militia, separately organised and led,
and had every man here a direct stake in the welfare,
and a voice in the destiny of his country. Where
a constitution is used by the few, as an instrument
for exploiting the many, or in any country where
the great question of equality of conditions is unsettled, a rent in the constitution is a serious thing
indeed, —quite a case of the "' Throne and the altar"
on the one side, and of revolution (or process of
ejectment with the recovery of damages for mesne
profits fraudulently appropriated) on the other.
On the one side, it would take an impossible conservative reaction; on the other, a thirty years
agitation to recover lost ground.
But in America the NATION IS THE CONSTITUTION, and there, if anything goes amiss
with the constitution, the nation resolves itself into a
Committee of the whole nation, and settles the matter.
They did this in 1787,-they have been occupied
since then with the old-world question of equality
of conditions, intruded upon their industrial, social,
and political systems by slavery; but they are
already preparing to celebrate the settlement of
that question, by a re-adjustment of the Constitution to the national life.
The political Genius of the American people




200    UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [BooK II.
seems likely, therefore, to avoid the three dangers
of national life,-Apathy, immobility, and revolution.
At the last Presidential election the People determined to return Lincoln. The law, that, not
the people, but men chosen by them, should elect
the President, stood in their way. By a mere
volition the people broke to pieces this part of the
constitution, and made a previous compact with the
electors. It was an act of audacious conservatism,
achieved by a Democracy. They broke the constitution and saved the Union.
Again, it has been feared in England, that the
Federation will be welded by war into a Despotism,-that centralisation will endanger freedom.
But already,-before the idea is much ventilated
here, it has been discussed, not so much with a
view to a possible Despotism, as to strengthen and
increase the popular initiative. One alteration
proposed is the removal of the proviso for the
three-fourth proposal, and the four-fifth ratification of alterations in the Constitution, and the
substitution therefor of some clause that shall be
less cumbrous, and yet not revolutionary.
In America every man has a vote and a revolver, and belongs also to a State with complete
organisation. Opinion will not support his use of
the revolver against the country, because in four
years, at farthest, he can use his vote more effectually. The right of insurrection never comes till
the right of voting is denied; and whenever the




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.     201
universal rights of the men who compose the
" States" are assailed by Despotism, then, and not
till then, will the State organisation be used by
the Nation against the central Government.
In America every individual has a stake in the
country, and a voice in State, and national affairs.
There, thirtv-four " Sovereign States," possess,
each an organisation, ready to express or to enforce opinion, whether as regards the individual,
or the central Government.
There the Government rules (not as in other
confederacies over separate States, but) over each
individual.
In America there is not merely the Individual
and the Government, but a State organisation,
which will guard equally against encroachments of
the Government upon Freedom, and of other
States upon national rights, or upon its own.
The question, therefore, respecting Individual
or State action, is, whether, if the central Government became Despotic, the 34 organised States
would not successfully combine with individual
votes and influence against it; and on the other
hand, whether the Individual, and the Government, would not always join, as they now have
joined, to suppress any anti-national and fractional
effort of certain States?  Whether nationality
would not always be too strong for treason, and
"* State rights" too strong for Despotism?
We have already said, " Give us the assurance
of the Freedom, Equality of Conditions, and nationality of America, and we leave it to others to
amuse themselves with inconsequential theories,
unsubstantial questions, and airy nothings, about




202   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [BooK II.
" the Constitution." Even the questions, how,
and by what agency the South is to be subdued,
or whether or no it may gain temporary victories,
form temporary alliances, or even occupy Washington, are subordinate to the larger questions of
Freedom, Equality, and Nationality, and if these
remain, the Constitution can only be changed for
the better.
We believe that the Constitution and the Geographical Unity of America, and those opinions,
customs, manners, and sentiments, that are before
and after and stronger, than law, so settle the
main chance in America, that nothing human or
infernal can unsettle it; and that -the power
does not exist, that could destroy American Nationality, or its social and political equality of
conditions.
We believe that the force and depth of that
Nationality is so evident tkere, that no American,
no Southerner even, ever yet dreamt of its permanent division.  Notwithstanding the increased
centralisation and administrative unity which followed the English war, yet for many years before
the present contest became imminent, theorists
speculated on some future derangement of the
balance of power, between "State Sovereignty,"
and  the central Executive, apprehending  the
gradual increase of the former; and it was De
Tocqueville who said, " I repeat my assertion, that
the present tendency (1836):of American Society
appears to me to become more and more Democratic."
This tendency, represented in the North by the
so-called Democratic party, and combined with a




CHrP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.       203
special class interest, geographically and politically
defined, threatened the integrity of the Union, the
morality of the Nation, and the efficiency of its
Executive.
But the action of this sectional democratic force,
taken precisely in the only way that could have
compelled the North to resist, insulted the morality, defied the Nationality, strengthened the
Executive, and has called forth such a force of
opinion in favour of centralisation and national
authority, and has been forming such habits of
respect for and sulbmission thereto,-as to more
than redress the balance, and still further to nationalise the Government.  This has been done
to such an extent that ages must pass before the
effect can be undone.
The war, then, on both sides, lessens for the
time, the power of the " States," and begets habits
of submission and centralisation, which will outlive
the war.
We have now to discuss whether any possible
event can compel or induce the Sovereign People
either to surrender their nationality to Southern
faction or their independence to domestic Despotism.
lst.-Would they surrender their Nationality?
Supposing  that the South allied itself with
foreigners, and so appeared to achieve its Independence, would that ultimately endanger the
Nationality?  We say, on the contrary, it would
arouse the Nation in tenfold strength against the
treason that would use foreign dictation, to thrust




204   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Booir II.
that one inconsistent, irreconcilable, anti-national
interest, upon the Nation. And we ask what possible power exists that could finally undo the
habits of a hundred years' Union,-the effects of
oneness of Race, Language, Boundary, Institution,
and Religion? What Interest then could oppose
successfully, the natural tendency to reunite?
What influence could counteract those other influences?
The material unity would remain. The social
unity would return. The Constitution, laws, customs, habits of thought, ambition, and prestige of
race, contempt of old world traditions and influences, the mutual dependence of North and South,
for shipping and harbours, for produce and consumption, for freight and transit, —of the Northwest for communion with Europe,-of North, West,
and South and East-of all, for the use of their
one great natural moving road, the Mississippiall would combine to reunite America: nor folly,
nor sin, alone, can have invented the delusion of the
severance of such a country, and both together
can hardly account for the hallucination.
But, 2ndly,-Is it supposable that under any circuimstances, the Sovereign States would yield to a
centralised Despotism?
We answer, to Unity, for military purposes, they
will; but to Despotism, never. To a so-called
Despotism, that should not destroy Equality, such
submission would seem  to some possible, but
with Equality and Nationality remaining, and with
such counteracting elements of power as the
Sovereign States, organised and equipped, and
with common anti-Despotic interests, Despotism,




CHAP. II.]   CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.             205
as distinguished from  Unity, is impossible; for it
could not exist without assailing some interest or
principle  common to the Nation, and then  the
People and the States, would take the opportunity
and would combine to destroy it.
"If at all times," says De Tocqueville (p. 282, v. 4), " education enables men to defend their independence, this is most
especially true in democratic ages. Men require much intelligence, knowledge, and art, to organise and maintain secondary
powers, * * and to create * * such free associations, as may
be in a condition to struggle against tyranny without destroying public order."
" Hence the concentration of power, and the subjection of
individuals, will increase amongst democratic nations, not only
in the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance."
We need only add to this, that the North makes'ignorance" impossible, while the South makes
knowledge criminal.
The basis of Lincoln's policy, and of Federal
success, as against the Slave _power, is absolutely
indestructible.*
It rests upon the Balance of power, which two
out of the three elements of the political system
would always be interested in maintaining against
the oppressions of the third.
Of the three forms of power in America, the
Individual, the:" Sovereign State," and the Nation,
there would always, as far as can be foreseen, remain,
between two of them, a general unity of interest
and natural alliance on the side of the national
interests and will. The " Individual"would advocate
* Save on a wilder hypothesis of national demoralisation
than need be noticed.




206   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Boor II.
and uphold freedom. The "; State" would present
an organisation always able, ready, and willing to
oppose a Despotismn that should menace State
interests. The Individual, and the national Government, would always be desirous of restricting
undue "s State" powers. Between these forces any
sectional immoral Slave State interest must, soon
orlate, be ground to pieces. If the demands of a
State be popular, the universal vote will enact
them. If they be excessive, the jealousy of other
States, the will of the Individual, and of the nation,
will combine against them.
These conservative interests, and energies, have
not failed even against a combination of (Slave)
States, coinciding with a certain geographical line,
and compelled by interest and policy to hold
together against the Union.
It is, and always must be, to the interest of the
American citizen, and within his power, to use the
" State" for two purposes —lst, to maintain national
Unity, and (except Slavery) the Constitution substantially as it is; —2nd, to resist any attempt at
centralised Despotism.
THIRTY  MILLIONS OF KINGS rule America. Each knows right well that his Sovereignty
depends on the common respect for the Law, and
that the respect of the world for the power and
the principles of Democracy, and the national
institutions, depends upon the Union.
Opinion is omnipotent in America. It upholds,
first, the Sovereignty of the People, and then the




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.      207
Union. It rules the Government through the Press
and Conventions, and we refuse to believe that any
American, South or North, in his wildest or most
deluded moments, ever believed or wished that
America could, or ought to, be divided.
In America, the " State" which constitutes such
a novel item in political combinations, is, after all,
but a weapon to be used by opinion.
An Union with those false " Democrats," who
would exact " State rights" against the national
Sovereignty, and force, against opinion, has always
been sought as the necessary basis of the policy of
the Slave States and factions.
Thus for thirty years they attempted to debauch,
and for three, have attempted to defy, opinion.
The situation always was, an Union of the compacted slave South, with any States, or persons,
having a quarrel with the national Government.
Such was the natural policy of a system that degraded and lessened the productive power of the
individual, and so injuring both him and the Nation,
could not but look to an ultimate struggle with
both.
But against the combination that always really
involved sectional failure or national division, the
Free soil or abolition party, appealed naturally, necessarily, and successfully, to the general opinion of
the country.
The major question in America always is, first,
what is opinion, and afterwards, what are the armaments, or have been the Battles.
The dignity of Labour, arising from the Equality,
and freedom of the Individual; -the Union, and na



208    UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [BooK II.
tional Independcence, and submission to the autkority
of the Law, these are the master passions of America,
and quite as applicable to the parallel, and quite as
appreciable by the inhabitants of the South, as of the
North.
It is notorious that since open war began 700,000
negroes have left their owners.  For 80 years the
effort to retain them, was in reality, a chronic
civil war waged by fugitive slave laws, and laws
of death for the second teaching of slaves to read.
It was a war against all intellect or intelligence,a war against all news of Slave insurrections,-a
war of Lynch law upon propagandists, missionaries,
or free speakers,-a war by armies of overseers,
and blood hounds,-by manacles, the lash, the
gibbet, and the stake.
Before the overt war, the Slave was retained in
his place, with only partial insurrections, (which
the South has not succeeded in keeping entirely
from the outer world)-because, though they might
rise, they had no place to run to. All this is
changed. There are cities of refuge for the Black,
round a frontier of 2000 miles. The North has gone
from connivance, to neutrality, and from neutrality,
to propagandism, and help. The gun-boats of the
Republic will haunt every river, and every shore,
and instead of missionaries to hang, and negroes
to burn, there is the armed Puritan race of the North,
four times outnumbering Secesh, who, from the
fatal hour when the South made Slavery a national
question, have resolved that it is a national danger
to be avoided, and a public foe to be destroyed.
The South tried Propagandism, and were beaten




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.        209
by their own weapons. At the stage when this
system began to assert its power without the range
of the individual state, and to encroach on the
universal right, whether of State or individual,
which the sovereignty of the Republic was bound
to protect at that stage,-then the chronic civil war
became open national war, the private demoralisation of the South, became a public nuisance, and
the conservatism of the North, became armed resistance, by virtue of a National necessity.  The
casus belli was that the North would not constitute
itself and the whole continent a slave empire.
The mere existence of North and South, side by
side, as hostile or neutral communities, the one
republican, free, progressive, and intelligent, the
other oligarchic, slave, retrograde, and ignorant,
would suffice, alone, in a few years, not only to
prevent the extension of slavery, but to dissolve
the fabric of imposture and of violence as it
stands, —unless we settle it now in the teeth of
progress, that monopoly is the natural state of trade,
-that slavery is the natural and chosen state of
man,-and in the face of modern conclusions on
self-government, that oligarchic rule, is, after all,
the best guarantee for the progress and perfection
of the individual.
That Despotic Governments cannot safely permit the neighbourhood of free people, and that the
first will destroy the last, or the last absorb the
first, is the teaching of every philosopher, orator,
and statesman, since the world began.  And yet
we have the statesmen of oligarchic England, and of
all Despotic, priest-ridden, and corporation-ridden
Tp




210   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [BooK IT.
countries, recommending, and pretending to believe
in, the co-existence side by side, of two opposite
systems of politics and industry, —with a continuous, and even an interlacing boundary, of thousands of miles — with the same spoken and written
language, and  a  similar institutional form  of
Government!
Border States in contact with free institutions
and peoples, imbibing their education and habits of
thought by force of self-interest, will learn to curse
the influence of the despotic the ignorant South, and
will transmit to its population their own ideas, and
thus destroy the bases of the slave state, or remove
the nnnatural despotic element, and naturally reunite the South with the great free republic. The
slave empire will destroy itself, or the population
will work itself fiee by means of outer agencies and
influences, and thus preserve themselves by casting
out the institution.
The Propagandism of freedom is omnipotent, for
it avails itself of all agencies, and works success
even by its opponents.
In rapturous mood, on all other occasions, the
advocates of slavery are accustomed to extol the
"' diffusive power of opinion,"-the "penetrative
force of thought,"-the " generative and regenerating energies of ideas;" and they marshal these,
with immense jubilation at the forefixed and
sure result, against stone walls, rifled cannon,
priests, edicts, excommunications, and armies. It




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.         211
is a pet phrase with those liberal writers, that the
bayonets will think, and all the literateurs of the
world are accustomed to give, in imagination, any
odds, on the universal battle of moral, against
physical force.
Moreover, all this is affirmed with respect to old
countries, where every vantage is against the right,
where cordons sanitaires have been for ages drawn
round the traditions of mis-government, to keep
and conserve the pestilence, in intensest virus, for
retrograde propagandism.
But when these same men come to talk of
America, all their judgments seem reversed, and
all their ideas confounded.  Th/ere, it is the evil
opinions that are to go from conquering to conquer.
Why? it would apparently be cruelty to inquire.
America has hitherto been supposed to be a country of entire and absolute personal freedom before
the Law; there: opinion, as the " TiZmes" well said,
pulsates through  the millions like an  electric
current. It is the country of mad experiments,
lightning  trains, steam  printing-presses,  mass
meetings of citizens by the acre, caucases, universal
suffriages,.conventions, and unequalled systems of
communication, natural, artificial, and universal.
There, is unrivalled skill in mechanism.  There,
intelligence  is universal, as are also habits of
ready speech and action.  If these differentiae
do not account for the astounding conclusion,
that this Slave oligarchy, of all things in the
world, (which rested on a slave industry, and a
mass of degraded whites, their' victims, and their
tools, and on the accident that England paid them
P 2




212   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Boox II.
a monopoly price) is safe from the spread of intelligence, and of universal self-interest —then the
reason must be sought in the narrowness, or pronounced and isolated character of its boundary, in
the just nature of its institutions, and in the conciliatory character of its leaders! But mountains and
rivers pierce its territory through and through, the
frontier counts its miles by the thousand; the institution is that of Slavery, and its necessary concomitants, ignorance, vice, degradation, and despotism.  Death for teaching slaves to read,-the
blood-hounds for, those who run, —an industry such
as is suited to low intelligence, and a policy which
ever vibrates between industrial ex7haustion, territorial expansion, and political aggression.
These are the national, territorial, and political
conditions, of propagandism in America.
Everywhere, and always, Slavery first perpetrates oppression, and then commits suicide.  The
aggression of American Slavery, we have shown to
be threefold, - moral, commercial, and political;
and it rests on three monopolies,-of the Slave's
life and work, -- of the Englishman's staple, and of
the mean White's sword and life. Slavery rests and
must rest upon something and somebody else, out
of whom it takes the life or the life's work,-and
the vampires of the press who aid it, are only one
remove better.  The one assaults the peace of the
world, the other assails its common sense. But the
public opinion of the world is beyond their reach.
Soiled reputations may reform, but rotten institutions must die, for the world demands its own. Soon
or late, and rather soon than late, the mean White




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.        213
and the Slave, will labour honestly and freely,the Englishman will pay a free trade price,-and
as the result of these inevitable movements, the
Slave oligarchy, if it be not first subdued, will
perish amidst the derision and the contempt of the
world.
~
The oligarchic rule of the South, its contempt
for labour, and its grasp at supremacy, are essential conspiracy and inevitable war against free
institutions.
Nature is the true propagandist, and nature has
freer sway in America than elsewhere. From the
mighty North-West and North, will issue irresistible influences, if not invincible legions. Through
the North-West, we are told, that " for days and
days together, for hundreds aud hundreds of miles,
the traveller passes through States larger than
European Kingdoms.  Everywhere, railways and
towns, growing up, and the wild soil of the prairie
turned without effort into the richest corn producing country, and pasture for the world."
The ideas and feelings of these countries, which
are growing at a rate to dwarf both North and
South together, are in diametrical opposition to
Slavery, and to oligarchic rule.  Not only is there
no aristocratic class, no dominant sect, but this
universal uniform class are opposed to any artificial agencies, except those that protect the citizen,
as he advances with nature and God towards the
future. We repeat, the dignity of labour, the freedom of the individual, and the authority of the law,
together with a full appreciation of the means by




2 1 4   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.  [BooK II.
which these can be retained, are the master passions
of tte  iorth, ingrained into  tile genius of the
nation, by the circumstances of its origin and independclence, the boundless expanse of territory, its
history, institutions, principles, antipathies, and
aspirations.  What tlhen will happen, now that the
North is no longer restrained by compromises and
pruderies, and that the South las shattered by war
the bonds of the slave constitution?   Why, the
190,000 slave-holders mlay command, organise, and
administrate never so well, but the material of
their armies, the instruiment of their executive the
victims of their domestic policy, will discover that
their interests lie apart froum their masters, and are
as essentially diverse therefrom, as are those of the
Slaves. The masters, will, in fact, find thenmselves
comluanders without the faithful, organisers with
nobody  to  organise, and  administrators with
nothing to administrate. The common Whites and
Slaves will find out that they ymay be friends, and
that they ought to combine against those who live
upon their disunion, and WITE their own natural
allies in the North.  The first class will be no
longer able to keep the second degraded, that it
may keep the third at work.  The second class
will see that it has been abased in character,
means, and life, that a slender faction which has
laid the world under contribution, may grow  rich.
Thie third has constantly been in insurrection, constantly attemlpting escape, and is now invited to
go ez mzasse, and carry with it the base of the
whole Southern "national" structure, or'to stay
and revolutionize it into a real nation.




CHAP. II.]   CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.        215
The Slave empire assaults the political equality,
the industrial well-being, the genius, constitution,
and morality, of the American Nation. It cannot
expand, either in territory or influence. It cannot retain its Slaves, nor resist the Propagandism
of the North.
The results of Slavery are economic, moral, and
political. It lowers the producing power of the
man. It degrades his moral and intellectual capacity, tending to make the one revolutionary,
and the other aimless, and everything that degrades the individual of necessity weakens the
State. It also creates an aristocracy, bound to
defend it, and to propagate it. It is localised to a
certain climate, and so involves local combination.
It compels antagonism  with the general body
politic, because it necessitates the defence of local
against general interests.  It secures a natural
alliance with the State Sovereignty party throughout the Union, which it thus divides geographically and politically.  Well might De Tocqueville
say,-" If ever America undergoes great revo" lutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race; they will owe their' origin, not to the equality, but to the inequality
" of conditions."*
Slavery, thus allied with the spirit and interests
of aristocracy on the one hand, and the interests
of a spurious but powerful Democracy on the
other, could not fail, during peace, to form a combination of tremendous power.  It was, however,
always certain, that the oppressive nature of their
* Pp. 227-8, v. 3.




216    UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [BooK: II.
system would bring them at last into openly hostile relations with the spirit of nationality, and
with the material and moral interests of the mnajority.i
During peace, the Democrats had not to choose
between Slavery and the Union, nor the Aristocrats between Peace and the chance of confiscation by war.  Mighty as are the evils of Slavery,
they had been a thousand times more deadly and
infernal, could they have combined the forms and
restraints of peace, with essential war upon mankind.
They who dream that'opinion will enact State
Sovereignty, as against national Sovereignty, forget those changes, that, as long ago as 1836, caused
De Tocqueville to pronounce the American Government rather an " incomplete national," than
a Federal one.  They forget that since then, more
than a third has been added to the age and consolidation of that nationality.
They who drivel about parties coming to the
rescue of Secession, forget that Secession attacks
the three  fundamental principles of American
* With regard also to the influence of Literature on nationality,
the census is " the great evangel." It must be thoroughly studied,
by any one who would thoroughly understand the forces of the
Propagandism of Freedom in America, or the " Unity of its Ideas
and Interests." See, for instance, table 37, census of 1860, show.
ing the annual number of copies of newspapers and periodicals in
(Slave) Maryland to be 20,721,472, in (Free) Massachusetts,
102,000,760. Maryland possessed only 57 organs of opinions, all
political, that is, in favour of Slavery, not a religious, literary, or
scientific journal in the State i




CHAP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.        217
politics and life,-order, and equality, and the
Union.  It attacks order, for order comes of Law,
and Secession goes to anarchy. It attacks equality
in a double sense, for it wars with the national
authority in the name of Slavery. Secession, is, in
fact, of the essence of the worst form of aristocracy. It puts itself above the law, and does
battle for the interests of the few. AL But," says
De Tocqueville, " an Aristocratic Nation, which in
"' a contest with a Democratic People, does not
~ succeed in ruining the latter at the outset of the
" war, always runs a great risk of being con~ quered by it;"* and, further, " as soon as there
" is a regular war, the party which represents the
" State is always certain to conquer."
The splendid political genius of the Americans,
each of them educated, and each with a voice and
stake in the commonweal, may be trusted to foresee political dangers, and to thwart political plots
of the sections.  The danger that a Statesman
would foresee, the Nation will provide against, for
they are all discussed, estimated, and understood.
If any man believes that opinion and Public
will, beginning thirty years ago a small minority,
gradually leavening the lump, and at last constituting itself the Government, and deliberately engaging in war for a Principle, will give either
occasion or power to any " State Sovereignty"
principle, to interfere with and reverse constitutional action, and deliberate, sustained and heroic
resolve,-on him  rests, heavily enough, the onus
of proof.
P -P. 240, V. 4.




218   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.  [BooK II.
American opinion, while it is the greatest power,
is also (except as influenced by Slavery) the most
sensitive, just, and intelligent, expression of power
in the world.
The great antagonistic institutions of America
have been unquestionably Slavery and the Convention or Caucus.  They are the opposite terms
and instruments in this great controversy.
The mechanism of the Caucus, is the perfection
of party discipline.  It ascertains what is the most
urgent and popular expression of the opinion of
each party, and who is its most popular candidate,
and gives, as far as practicable, to the opinion and
the man thus arrived at and selected, the united
suffrage of the party.  It is evident that the
Caucus system  has these results;-at each recurring period, an idea, or a measure, must be enunciated, clear enough and important enough to be
the battle cry of a party; the next great national
requirement is in fact proclaimed and declared,
and then pressed upon the President, who is to be
elected as its apostle and executor. The process
clears the national mind, expresses the national
will, and points out the man who is to enact it.
In other countries public opinion expresses itself
without this extreme discipline, and besides, it is
there usually controlled by other organisations
of Despotism or Oligarchy,-of Church, of State,
of Corporation, and it is only in a paroxysm or a
crisis, a famine or a war, or after long and weary
agitation, that the national will prevails, and the
next step can be taken.
The vast numbers of electors in America, and




CHAP. II.]   CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.        219
the vast distances between them, rendered this invention in political warfare, a necessity.
Thus the Caucus gives the uttermost force of
expression, (within the bounds of the Constitution)
to the popular will.  It settles beforehand the
terms on which the chief magistrate,-the very
centre and arm of centralisation itself -shall seek
the suffrages of the People, and it binds him  in
honour and in interest to carry out tlhe " Platform" and the policy of those who elected him.
Nor can this influence be- altogether confined to
questions actually decided by  the  party  conventions, each of which has a policy settled in
principle, if not in detail, for every important
contingency likely to arise.. The Caucus is the People's Initiative.  It is before and after every President.  It gives him his
cause and his position beforehand; during office it
discusses and settles his competency; and it rewards or degrades him by re-election or by extinction.
As the most powerful and sensitive development
and assertion of the principle of association, it
promotes the development of opinion, by teaching
men to look to its coming power. It is always
discounting futurity, and helping to realise it.
It defines the position of the Nation on every
question; it prepares against, as well as for opinions, and to an extent, protects the country
against sudden gusts of feeling, or unforeseen
tempests of passion.   By party discipline the
Nation  may thus pronounce itself whilst the
executive prepares to act, and so by revealing a
coming reaction, may steady and temper action.




220   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS.  [BooK II.
It is, for the same reason, the best antagonist and
counterpoise for excessive centralisation, for it is
the shadow of the future thrown back upon the
present; showing to power its limitations,-or its
doom.
In the supreme matter of Slavery, it has acted
as the compensatory movement of the executive;
at the height and climax of executive power, it
shows to him who is the depositary of all its forces,
a force that already undermines and reverses, or
ratifies and confirms his action, and prepares to
enable him to repeat it.
The Caucus, we repeat, prepares, develops, tempers, expresses, and enacts, the national will.  It
is an outlet and safety valve for dangerous passion;
a check against the mighty energies of administrative centralisation, when they are opposed to the
people; while it gives to the executive, or takes
away from  it, the hopes and the substance of the
imminent future.
We share none of the fears respecting the exercise of this mighty power. If the President's term
is too short or too long,-causing him to yield too
much or too little to the popular element, the
American nation is most interested in setting it
right, and is most likely to know how to do it."
" For myself," said De Tocqueville, " who now look back from
" this extreme limit of my task, * * * I cling with a firmer
" hold to the belief, that for democratic nations to be virtuous
"and prosperous, they require but to will it.  Many maintain
" that nations are never their own masters. Such principles
"are false and cowardly, and can never produce aught but
"feeble men and pusillanimous nations."
It is in vain to allege against this popular initia



CHmP. II.]  CONSTITUTION AND GENIUS.       221
tive that the People cannot be expected to shorten
their own arm, or lessen or adjust their own power.
This might be true in other countries, where the
people rush into power as an unknown delirium, or
where the constitution contains no provision for
the readjustment of right or the reassumption of
privileges once surrendered.
If the political prescience, the material stake, the
universal education, the habit of power, and association, and thought, and forethought, of the
American people, cannot save the American nation
from suicide, the predicament is certainly not to be
remedied by placing power in the hands of the
few, or retracing through the ages the weary inane
cycles of the errors and crimes of the hundred,
the twenty, the ten, the seven, the three, or the
one,-of republics without the People,-of aristocracies where the worst ruled,-or of monarchies
where one good king would be succeeded on an
average by fourteen bad ones.
The Republic has nearly steered itself through the
most tremendous moral and material crisis that ever
occurred. The Pilot that weathered the storm is
the Pilot to retain the helm. At some point the
appeal to the people must come, and in a country of
universal suffrage, it is idle to think of evading it,
or of either saving, or destroying the country by
procuration.
The intelligence, energy, and freedom, of American citizens, soon work every system of means to
the utmost. You cannot have American institutions, without free and full political discussion, and
that must create great parties, which will inevitably




222   UNITY OF IDEAS AND INTERESTS. [Booir II.
introduce discipline and organisation into their
contentions, and find that a mob of voters has no
chance against an army of partizans, disciplined by
the Caucus, and with "; Platform," and' candidate,
selected and agreed upon beforehand.
In any future contest, then, respecting terms of
peace or war, or forms of Government, the public
opinion of the majority will decide.
It were well for partisans of the South to remember, that a majority of the most equal-conditioned population in the world, are not likely to
favour a policy that would jeopardise their national
independence, or an aristocracy that depends for
its existence upon the extension of a system of
unequal conditions, both in social and political life.
We repeat the words of De Tocqueville,
~"They will not endure aristocracy.  All men
and all powers seeking to cope with this irresistible
passion (for equality), will be overthrown and destroyed by it."




CHAPTER III.
THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA.
UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE.
"iNATION IS A MORAL ESSENCE."-Bturke.
"I' f they cannot settle this question (Slavery) for themselves they
can no longer claim a national character." —T2imes, Oct. 22, 1863.
" The angel of MARTYRDOM and the angel of VICTORY are
brothers; but the one looks up from Earth, and the other looks
down from Heaven, and it is only, when, from epoch to epoch, their
eyes meet between Heaven and Earth, that creation is embellished
with a new life, and a People arises, Evangelist or Proplhet, from
the Cradle or the Tomb." —2azzini.




224    THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA.  CBooic II.
EXTRACTS FROM  SECESSION  ORDINANCES
OF
SOUTH  CAROLINA, ALABAMA, TEXAS, & VIRGINIA.
* * " The non-slaveholding States. Those States have assumed
the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic Institu.
tions."
"The election of Abraham Lincoln, &c. by a sectional party,
avowedly hostile to the Domestic Institutions, &c., is a political
wrong," &c.
" The power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a
weapon with which to strike down the interests and property of the
people of Texas, and her sister slaveholding States," &c.
" The Federal Government having perverted said powers, not
only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression
of the Southern slaveholding States."
EXTRACT FROM BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE.
"This does not proceed solely from the claim * * to exclude
Slavery from the Territories, nor from efforts to defeat the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law."
" All for which the Southern States have contended is to be let
alone."
"Never in the palmiest days of the anti-slavery agitation in this
country, even when they were upon the eve of victory, was there
one-half the amount of anti-slavery sentiment in England that had
existed for the last ten years in the United States of America. He
would take senator for senator, writer for writer, man for man,
woman for woman, labour for labour, penny for penny, shilling for
shilling, pound for pound-and he could prove the truth of what
he had stated. The chairman had referred to the hustling of Wilberforce at Liverpool in the early days of the anti-slavery agitation,
but where, he asked, would they find the martyrs?  Men and
women in America had made themselves of no reputation; had
taken the spoiling of their goods joyfully; had been cast out of
Church and State; had had their trade ruined; their characters
libelled; even had their lives taken; and never faltered."
George T/womrson, 1863.




CHaP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 225
CONTENTS.
Two generic lies about nations. —Morality or Principle as
one of the factors of Nationality.-Making and Unmaking.The march of opinion.-Its Origin, History, Genius, and
Struggles in America.-Its moral revolution, martyrdom, and
victory.-Statesmanship and morality. —Its army of execution.
— Sacrifices for freedom. —The unpardonable sin of Peoples. —
The cause and meaning of de-nationalisation.-The worst heresy
to doubt of Nations.-The great appeal to America.-Slavedom and Nationality.
" The permanent renunciation of sound principles and natural
laws, must in due time bring ruin. No great career can be before
the Southern States, bound together solely by the tie of having a
working class of negro bondsmen.  Assuredly it will be the
Northern Federation, based on the principle of freedom, with a
policy untainted with crime, with a free working class of white
men, that will be the one to go on and prosper, and become the leader
of the New World." —Saturday Reviewv, March, 1861.
" The doctrines of popular liberty, within the short space of two
centuries, have infused themselves into the life blood of every rising
State from Labrador to Chili."
"I have dwelt longer on the character of the early Puritans of
New England, for they are the parents of one-third the whole
white Population of the United States."-Bancroft.
THERE are but two grand generic lies that the
Devil himself can tell to man or nation.
The one is, "L Thou shalt die, obey as thou mayest
the laws of human nature and of God."
The other is, " Thou shalt not die, have thou
therefore thine own will and way."
The one has encouraged the South in its struggle
against constitutional liberty and negro rights, and
has said to evil, not only'" Thou shalt not surely
die," but,'' Thou shalt surely live.",Q




226   THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [BooK II.
The other has said to the North, struggling for
its own rights, and the heritage of all future ages,
i" Curse God and die,-Life is a lottery,-Destiny a
riddle, and results are not consequences."
In applying the principles of morality to the
question of nationality, it is essential to remember
this distinction between the making and the unmaking of a nation.
Whilst morality has always sustained, and will
always sustain a nation that already exists with
adequate material elements of Power, it by no
means follows, it were mere fanaticism to affirm,
that morality can create a Nation without them, or
furnish them at once to order.
If, therefore, we prove the morality of the North,
its faithfulness as a whole, and as a Government,
to the national ideal and destiny, there remains no
room for suspecting a flaw in the nationality and
vital force; whilst to prove the nationality of the
South is a very different question, for admitting
(which Heaven forbid) its morality-its nationality
may be yet a thousand years off, or the elements of
it may not exist even in futurity itself.
For the evil principle, South,-intense faith and
desperate action. —For the good principle, North,feeble faith and languid action. That was once
the situation.
To strengthen the faith of the North in the good,
or weaken that of the South hi the bad, was the way
-and the only way —to the end. Of two parties,
one having a strong faith and a bad cause, and
the other a weak faith and a good cause —what
better can be said, than, " Let them fight on,-the




CiaP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 227
one till it be purified and triumph, the other till it
surrender or be destroyed."
Faith and morality, together, are the cement of
society, and the very chrism of nationality. To
suppose that a lower faith can overcome a higher,
or an immoral nation a moral one, is to suppose
that which human nature, history, and common
sense, reject as monstrous and impossible.
Slavery is consistent, logical, desperate.
Democracy also must avail itself of all the
natural forces of the situation. It has discovered
that it cannot fight Slavery with Slavery, nor
Aristocracy with a bastard Democracy.  It still
had to discover that it can fight a race better led
and disciplined than itself, only by a loftier faith, and
a more concentrated purpose, and a reason of State
absolutely one.
The key to all the bewilderment and bedevilment of America is, that she represents a great
and pure principle,-the principle of Government
by and for the all, and that she has not been great
enough and pure enough thoroughly to work out
the principle in practice.
We, in England, must confess to an analogous
error.  Many of our organs of opinion, and
public men have been dazed by the facts, —the
outside facts of the day. They note the marches
of armies, and ignore those of principles; and the
most wonderful march in the war,-perhaps in
any war,-the march of ideas from " Non-extension," in 1860, to I" Abolition, and Negro Regiments," in 1862, is not appreciated as a sign of
the life, virtue, and power of the American Democracy.                             Q 2




228   THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [Boo II.
America will now hold those principles fast, and
hold them high, through whatsoever ordeal the
task may take her.
But America? in the matter of Slavery, must be
tried by her Peers, if the trial is to result in aught
but an ideal verdict. She must be judged by the
difficulties of her position, and in comparison with
other nations who affect to judge her, and with the
faction that' attempts to dismember her. Those
who would taunt the North with compromise must
remember) in the first place, the immense difficulties that beset the infant Republic. Their army
had only been saved from starvation by forced
levies, their commissariat had been without money
or credit, and Congress scrip worthless.*
Secondly, mark the apparent harmlessness and
great advantage of Slave labour in the first rough
work of the Settler's life.
Next, mark the difference between the will of
the nation and the act of the Executive.  Also the
majority of votes required to pass an act, and the
immense and prolonged efforts made habitually,
even by the English nation, before it can force on
the Executive a new and just course- of action
or policy.
Fourthly, the North had an uphill fight for
Principle, against the South, for livelihood and
institutions.
Fifthly, the majority in power and value has been
l Had they forgone the Union to extirpate Slavery, was not
England ready to ally itself with the South, in influences or in
arms, and so to uphold Slavery, and to force it back upon them?




CHAP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 229
steadily gravitating northwards, and bringing constitutional solution nearer and nearer at a rapid
rate.
Sixthly, an effective party in the nation
was always anti-Slavery, and kept up a neverending series of efforts, which were, in fact, a prolonged constitutional battle against Slavery. In
proof of these assertions, it is only necessary to
remember the leading facts of the historical development of the struggle.
It is impossible to study intelligently the contest
in America without perceiving that it is an attempt
on the part of the South to snatch by violence the
power that has for forty years been receding
from it. —An attempt to set aside the laws of
human nature and of God, in economics and civilization.
There may be some, but there are not many,
who can look on the origin, history, genius, and
struggles of America, and declare that her broadbased representation cannot make her strong or
stable, —that her love of freedom cannot make her
progressive, —or that her thirty years of war, latent
or patent, secret or open, against Slavery, will
not result in a purer freedom. That in the only
land where the People are entirely identified with
the Government, the People will despair of the
Republic,-that the individual and the State have
not, in America, rights adjusted and balanced, and
that with these advantages,-with the individual
man-power all complete, and the State working
therewith in harmony, America is not fit for the
world-race, or able to win in it against the Slave



230   THE MOItAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [BOOK II.
baptized bantling of the South, or the handicapped
nations and outworn political creeds of the old world.
The American anti-Slavery movement had in it
all the elements of a great and successful moral
revolution.
It begun, or rather recommenced, about thirty
years ago, in contempt, and dishonour, and martyrdom. It advanced in numbers, influence, and
organisation. It became more and more aggressive. It was shown to be as right in Statesmanship and economics, as it was in morality. New
elements of power constantly gathered round what
seemed at first but a naked germ of Principle.
It became the ruling power. It carried its President.  It committed the Nation to a struggle
against the evil principle. It has rapidly educated
the nation into the right position, and at last to
secure the triumph of the right, and the present
and futu'e of the country, it sends out its army of
execution against those who persist in the alternative of their own destruction, or their country's
ruin.
Dastards and imbeciles,-men of compromise
and duplicity, there are in plenty, but, on the
whole, the movement has been marked by an
earnestness, a spiritual power, a persistence, an
unanimity, and a success, unequalled in the whole
history of the world.
The American Democracy was trained for peaceful progress,-the South,-to plot, to rule, and to
fight. The North is learning to fight, and the
history of America will doubtless be the history of
the triumph of the innate and indestructible vitality




CHAP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 231
of popular institutions, over the most deadly, and
insidious, and violent form of aristocratic influence.
There are more men, there is more faith,-better
battle, and better blood in America now on the trail
of slavery, than ever yet was poured out in oblation upon earth, or cried upon the God of battles.
The sword of the spirit of that great People will
go from conquering to conquer. The momentum.
of right thought, conviction, feeling, will, cannot
but increase. The " war of execution" will prevail.
The only deadly unpardonable sin of Peoples is
the failing to revolt successfully against injustice.
America has revolted against the Slave power.
The war is an anti-Slavery war. The South
fought it first against morality, then against the
Constitution, and now it fights against the Nation
armed. Unless this war be a fiction, entire as it
is glorious,-unless the struggle of 40 years against
Slavery, in Pulpit, Press, Platform, Senate, be a
delusion,-the emancipation proclamation a phantasy,-the hanging in front of God, of the pirate,
a sacrifice to Beelzebub,-the receiving of negro
ambassadors, an insult to the Black-the stampede
of 700,000 negroes, a popular error,-the famine
down South a pretence,-and the Blockade an
ocular illusion,-unless all these be fictions,
phantasies, and fables, then we say America is
in earnest against Slavery, and that for America,
the laws of human nature, and of God, are contending.
The result is always beforehand awarded to
those who can work, fight, and wait, for the right.




232   THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [Boor II.
The remaining questions are merely those of
detail and of time. The American quarrel is so
good and so earnest that bad generalship cannot
ruin it.
Where, as in the case of the South, a Nation, if
it be made, must be made out of the fragments or
ruins of another, we are called to witness the
grand and rare spectacle of the death and execution,-of the birth-agonies and genesis of nations.
The extremest penalty which Heaven itself can
visit on deep seated, long prolonged, and colossal
crime, on the one side, and the very crown and
climax of intense or sustained heroism and virtue,
on the other. We see the greatest crime, and the
greatest punishment,-the highest virtue and the
greatest reward.
A new Nation, means that a new race has been
separated from the world, that it has been isolated
from without, and knit together within, that institutions are ready, a great cause proclaimed, and that
a new and spiritual life animates the whole.
In a word, there exist certain circumstances,
ideas, and interests, which, in the one case, have
made the failing Nation so weak, and low, and infamous, that the life cannot be sustained in it; and, in
the other, have made the rising Nation so strong,
and true, and valuable, that the grand and holy
aggregate life can no longer be withheld from the
world.
The question challenged then comes to this, —
what, in the sight of God and the People, are the




CHRAr. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 233
crimes, the weaknesses, and the suicidal courses,
of America, that she should die the death, and
undergo the sentence of denationalisation; what
are the virtues, the energies, the coherence, the
lasting bonds, of the South, that the voice should
go out to her through Creation, " Well done, good
and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over
" a few things, be thou ruler over many!"
It is to this, —if they be either reasoners, diplomatists, or Christians,-that they dare us, who say
that the South is being built up' a nation."
But the last heresy, and the worst, is that which
doubts of nations. There be heretics that doubt
of man; heretics that doubt of God; but the heresy
that doubts the progress of a nation that has shown
such moral heroism, such decision for the truth,
such disdain of the. easy and profitable path of
infamy, as America has shown, doubts, not that
nation alone, but man, God, and the People, all at
once. He doubts, - the imbecile, and that at bottom
comes to this, he has no sound theory of political
causation upon which to believe anything.
It is a heresy of ignorance and fear. A heresy
that ignores the moral of History, the progress of
the race, the momentum of ideas, the logic of revolutions. It is a mistake that none can make
who will learn the facts, or who are moved to
action for the good and the true, for they who do
the work know of the doctrine of the People. The
Heresy we denounce is the most tremendous indictment of the moral Government of the universe that
could be framed. It impugns all the facts and
Government of the past, and would leave man




234   THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [Booe II.
without a motive, and the future without reliable
issue.
In the rear of the camp of Lincoln, as of that of
Cromwell, and of Washington, prowl the ghouls
of party and the harlots of reaction, demoralising
opinion, and retarding success. The doubters and
the moderates, that have their uses in ordinary times,
but are the worst enemies of the People in a
crisis.
For us, we stand, as the world must stand, upon
the future of the great democracy of America;
based as it is upon the rock of universal suffrage,
and having now for thirty years, been in open and
declared constitutional warfare against the only
great wrong that cries out against that country,a wrong that England forced her to receive, and
that the aristocracy of slavedom, till 1860, forced
her to keep.
But History alone can properly exhibit the moral
attitude of the American nation, and the patience,
practical ability, moderation, and determination
brought to bear upon the successful solution of
this question.  Slavery was bad enough for the
Slave, but the dangers to the national character
from vices of compromise, political intrigue, and
oligarchy, were worse. From these vices agitation
and war have delivered the nation.
The present is not the first struggle for principle, but the last. Secession and civil war only
complete the trials which the Star Chamber and
the pillory inflicted on the same race. Davis is
but a parody of Wentworth, of Laud, and of the
Stuarts. Lincoln, and Chase, and Butler, and Fre



CHAP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 235
mont, take  up  the  work of Cromwell, and the
theory that Religion alone is a match for blood, is
carried out in New England by her Puritans against
the Cavaliers of the South.   We  recognise the
same race, the same parties, and the same cause.
"The King and Council," says Bancroft, speaking of the
year 1635, "already feared the consequences that might come
from the unbridled spirits of the Americans. The severe censures in the Star Chamber, the greatness of the fines which
avarice rivaled bigotry in imposing; the rigorous proceedings
with regard to ceremonies, the suspending and silencing of
multitudes of ministers, still continued; and men were'enforced by heaps to desert their native couzntry.'  The injured
party even learned to despise the mercy of their oppressors.'The mutilated defenders of liberty again defied the vengeance
of the Star Chamber; came back with undiminished resolution
to the place of their honourable infamy, and manfully presented
the stumps of their ears to be grubbed out by the hangman's
knife.' Rising superior to fear, they derided the power, which,
vainly desirous of producing passive obedience, only displayed
its own feebleness by inflicting peunishments without attaining
its end.  The dungeon, the pillory, and the scaffold, were but
stages in the progress of civil liberty towards its triumph."
And so rapid was the progress of these principles in the New
rorld, that the same writer shews us, quoting Winthrop, how
within a few years (in 1643), the United Colonies of New
England were " made all as one."  " Protection against Dutch
and French, security against savages, the liberties of the Gospel
in purity and peace, these were the motives of the Confederacy,
which left a hope that a new and a better UNION would spring
from the root."
Bancroft also makes the following remarks on
the character and conduct of the Colonists.
" Church membership was the only qualification required for
the office of Commissioners, of which there were two from each
colony."  "It had been as unnatural for a right New Eingland




'236    THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [Book II.
man to live without an able ministry as for a smith to work his
iron without a fire."  "The State was a model of Christ's
kingdom upon earth." "New England was a religious plantation, not a plantation for trade." " He that made religion as
twelve and the world as thirteen, had not the spirit of a true
New England man." " Of divorce I have found no example."
" Cruelty to animals was a civil offence."  " As Ireland will not
brook venemous beasts, so will not that land vile livers." " One
might dwell there from year to year and not see a drunkard, or
hear an oath, or meet a beggar." The consequence was universal
health. The average duration of life, as compared with
Europe, was doubled. I have dwelt longer on the character of
the early Puritans of NVew England, for they are the parents of
one-third the whole white population of the United States. Each
family has multiplied on the average to one thousand souls.
To New York and Ohio, where they contribute half the population, they have carried the Puritan system of free schools,
and their example is spreading it through the civilised world."
" The fanatic for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty; for in
the moral warfare for freedom his creed was a part of his army
and his most faithful ally in Battle. Puritanism constituted, not
the Christian clergy, but the Christian people, the intepreter
of the Divine will. The voice of the majority was the voice of
God; and the issue of Puritanism was therefore popular
Sovereignty."
Such was the character,-such the purposes of
the men, whose doctrines of popular liberty, according to this same writer) I  have infused themselves into the life blood of every rising state from
Labrador to Chili."
Strangely enough " The philosophy of Slavery"
lately maintained that a free system of Labour and
of politics could not be adapted to the whole of the
Western Continent,-had not in it the element of
Catholicity, and accordingly, had it been possible,
New  England and  her Puritanism  was to have




CHAP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 237
been left " out in the cold," and the Union reformed
without her. But the highest glory of the Puritan
race is that their principles are of universal application,-that they are the only principles of universal application, and that they have leavened
the whole lump and body politic of the Republic.
But wherefore need we argue this matter? Does
not the Old World resound with the conflict of
opinion on the battle set by America against
Slavery, —Black and White?  Does not the New
World shake with the tramp of the legions of
Freedom?  From the hour when her final war
of Independence was over, and her nationality
vindicated by Sea and Land, she turned her attention to internal foes. The same great historic
qualities, —the character that deserved, the patience
that organised, and the determination that achieved
victory, are working throughout her story. Now
the united and universal support of the Emancipation war, is unconquerable, insurmountable proof
enough of the " moral Forces,"-of the i" unity of
Principle and purpose," of the American nation.
That there can be no unity without truth,-no
nationality without strength and morality in the
Individuals, and adequate social and political cohesion between them,-this is but a truism. That
national morality superadded to the material basis
of power ensures nationality, is equally a truism.
It is also notorious that the American nation
went into this fight advisedly and with their eyes
open, first against extension of Slavery, —for its
destruction, and then for its destruction directly.
Witnesses to their devotion come from all sides —
South, North, and neutral. " There are numbers




238    THE MORAL FORCES OF AMERICA. [BooK II.
of young men," says a neutral paper," "1 of education and wealth, serving as private soldiers in the
American  army,-serving from  pure patriotism
and devotion to that which they deem a righteous
cause,-fighting and dying with perfect patience
and willingness, and mixed up and confounded all
the while with the lowest of the low and the vilest
of the vile."
The Secession Ordinances and Buchanan's message prove that the sin of the North was that it
"' would not let Slavery alone." For thirty years it
has been marshalling its moral forces against
Slavery, until at last it wields against it the material forces also.
Wherefore then do we hesitate?  What element
of nationality does America lack?  We say this
war is her crown and consummation. It is the
completing of the edifice.  It is the last step in
advance, of the most advanced nation.  Individual
Freedom had been fought out before America.
America was to develop the creative energy that
results in the "collectzve reason."  The collectzve
morality is now also equally vindicated, and when
this shall have been made more complete through
suffering, then indeed shall the State emerge from
the baptism  of blood, "like the fabled spirit of
beauty and love, out of the foam of the evertroubled ocean."
John Brown died not in vain., His blood was
the seed of Victory.  The Statesmen indeed of the
Betrayal,-of the compromise era, may have to die
* "Daily Telegraph," March 17th, 1863, by its Special Correspondent, neither Puritan by nature, nor ascetic by habit.




CHAP. III.] UNITY OF PRINCIPLE AND PURPOSE. 239
out) or to go out, before Victory can come. But
for America there has been, and is, the martyrdom,
and there will be the Victory.
No one of the positions taken up by America on
this question has she abandoned.  Shall she be
abandoned?
"Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to
bring forth," saith the Lord God?
And shall the million-fold man-power of America,
be brought thus far through the birth-agonies of
deliverance from Slavery, and not complete its
entrance into the world of freedom, morality, and
nationality?
God said to America, "Canst thou destroy;" Slavery? Art thou worthy and able to take now
"' the next essential step in thy national existence and
"- progress? If so, come up and be first among the
"i nations; if not, descend and grovel amongst the
" lowest!"
That was the great appeal to American Principle. Let those who can, consider what manner
of men are they, who knowing how America has
responded, can yet say to Slavedom,-"- Eat the
"6 fruit of wrong, and drink its sweets, bring forth
"; thy corner-stone with shouting,-Thou shalt not' surely Die, -Jeff. Davis has made of thee a
" nation!"
We say of Slavedom, " Let it vanish in the gulf;~ of political perdition that yawns for it." Let
America, and free institutions, live for ever!








BOOK  III.
HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
1607-1777.
UNION AND NATIONALITY.
ORIGIN: CONSOLIDATION, AND PROGRESS O F THE
NATION.
CHAPTER II.
1777-1833.
DISUNION AND DENATIONALIZATION.
THE ERA OF COMPROMISE.
CHAPTER III.
1833-1860-.
B A T T L E.
DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.
CHAPTER IV.
1860-.
VICTORY.
OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.




"' The contest began in America. The American question therefore was, shall the continued colonisation of North America be made
uinder the auspices of English Protestantism and popular liberty,
or shall the tottering legitimacy of France, in connection with
Roman Catholic Christianity, win for itself new empire in that
hemisphere P? The question of the European Continent was, shall
a Protestant revolutionary kingdom like Prussia be permitted to
rise up and grow strong within its heart P Considered in its Unity,
as interesting mankind, the question was, shall the BReformation
developed to the fulness of Free inquiry, succeed in its protest
against the middle ages?
"'Frederick beat down the dominion of the aristocracy of the
middle ages by a military monarchy.
" The Providence which rules the world had elected Washington
to guide the fiery coursers of revolution along untried paths, and to
check them firmly at the goal." —Bancroft's Revolution,Vol. I. p. 359.
" Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this
new world for conscience sake. This apparently trivial incident
may transfer. the great seat of empire into America."-John Adams.."William  Smith, the semi-republican historian of New York
(1757), urged a law for an American Union, with an American
Parliament."  "The defects of the first plan will be supplied by
experience. The British Constitution ought to be the model, and
from our knowledge of its faults, the American one may rise with
more health and soundness in its first contexture, than Great
Britain will ever enjoy." - Bancroft's Revolution, Vol. 1, pp.
246, 305.




HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
1607 —1777-87.
UNION AND NATIONALITY.
ORIGIN, CONSTITUTION, AND PROGRESS OF THE
NATION.
" But a new Principle was forcing itself into power. Successions
of increasing culture, and heroes of the world of thought, had conquered for mankind the idea of thefreedom of the Individual. The
creative eneryy that resides in the COLLECTIVE REASON wuas
next to be revealed. From this the State was to emerge, like the
fabled spirit of beauty and love, out of the foam of the ever-troubled
ocean.
" This is the praise of Winm. Penn, that in an age a * X X when
Russell stood for the liberties of his order, and not for mere enfranchisements; when Harrington, and Shaftesbury, and Locke,
thought Government should rest on Property,-Penn did not
despair of HUMANITY, and though all History and Experience
denied the Sovereignty of the People, dared to cherish the noble
idea of man's capacity of self Government. x* * * Penn believed that
God is in every conscience, his light in every soul, and therefore
stretching out his arms, he built'a FREE COLONY Fox ALL MANKIND.' * * * The pure enthusiast, a voluntary exile, was come to
the banks of the Delaware, to institute' THE HOLY ExPERIMENT.'"
" Wm. Penn, in 1697, had proposed an annual congress of all the
provinces on the Continent of America. x * Franklin revived
the great idea, and breathed into it enduring life. * * Franklin
(1775) had already projected a plan (for a Confederacy) and had
brought the he heads of it with him. * * * Having for his motto,'join or die,' he sketched the outline of a CONFEDERACY which
should truly represent the whole American People."
" But in the mind of FRAN:KLIN the love for UNION attained still
more majestic proportions, and comprehended the great country
back of the Appalachian mountains. He directed attention to the
vast convenience of Inland Navigation by the lakes and great
rivers. Thus did the.Freedomn of the American colonies, their
UNION, and their extension through the West, become the three
great objects of the remaining years of Franklin."-Bancroft,
R 2




244                     HISTORY.                   [Boos  III
" On the one hand an increasing production of means of power
and prosperity in Society; on the other, a more equal distribution
among individuals, of the power and prosperity provided.
"Is this all?  Have we exhausted the natural and common
meaning of the word Civilization? * * * *
" Another development * * * of individual life, of man himself,
of his faculties, sentiments, ideas.
"Two facts, then, are comprised in this great fact * * the
progress of Society and of HUMANITY. * * * *
"If we examine the nature of the grand crises of civilization
* * * It has always been of individual or social development;
always facts which have changed the internal man, his faith, his
manners, —or his external condition, his situation in his relation
with his fellows."-GvIzoT on Civilization.
6' Vast regions of America! EQUALITY keeps them from both
luxury and want, and preserves to them purity and simplicity with
_Freedom. Europe will find there the perfection of her political
societies, and the surest support of her well-being."-Turgot, 1750
(afterwards a minister of France).
" They sailed for the wilderness far away from Popery and Prelacy, from the traditions of the Church, from hereditary power, from
all dominion but the Bible, and what arose from natural reason
and the principles of EQUALITY. * **  Against a feudal aristocracy,
the plebeian reformer summoned the spotless nobility of the elect
fore-ordained from the beginning of the world. Calvinism acknowledged no patent of nobility but that of the elect with its seals of
eternity. Calvinism addressed all but rested only on the chosen.
It dissented from Dissent, invited every man to read the Bible, and
made itself clear to the common mind by teaching as a divine revelation the UNITY of the race and the natural EQUALITY of man. It
sought new truth, and stood up against the middle age and its
power of Church and State, hating them with a fierce and unquenchable hatred."-Bancroft.
"She will give to the People of her Colonies her own form of
Government * **  and great Peoples will arise even in the forests
whither she (England) sent them to inhabit."-Alontesquieu, 1748.
" The seeds of many a noble State have here been sown in climates kept desolate by the wild manners of the ancient inhabitants,
and an asylum is secured in that solitary world for Liberty and
Science," —David Hume.




CHAP. I.]      UNION AND NATIONALITY.                 245
CONTENTS.
General Resume.-Principles and Origin. —Race, Terri.
tory, and Constitution.-Slavery and Nationality.-The five
Eras in the history of American Nationality.-Freedom  and
Authority.-Seven stages of their completion.-The cycle of
American History.-Rleconstruction or ruin.
Americans a very old People.-Main ideas and Principles.Puritanism.-Democracy.-Republicanism.-The "Savour of
Gospel antiquity."-Emigration of middle classes.-Modern
Principles of Government therein recognised.
First Settlement, 1606. —First New England code, 1641.First Confederation, 1643.-First germ of fugitive Slave law.First show of Independence, 1638. —First attempt to realise
the territorial unity of America.-Second Confederation, 1754.
— Rejected on questions of British supremacy and taxation.English Impolicy.-1765-1774, Colonial resolutions summoning a general Congress, and affirming natural and legal rights.
-1775, Chatham's celebrated speeches against English policy.
-1776, The Declaration. -1777, Article 4, reference to Slaves.
-Franklin's Evidence in House of Commons.-Cromwell's
policy.-Taxation and Representation.-1778, Provision against
unconstitutional opposition. —Main object of the new Constitution.-NATIONAL  CENTRALISED  GOVERNMENT.-Opinions,
Facts, and Necessities. -1780, General emancipation movement.
-1784, Six States to three, and sixteen members to seven for
abolition after 1800 in Territories.-Passed as to north-west of
Ohio.
" By the side of the principle of the freedom of the individual, and
the freedom of the separate States, the noblest work of human intellect was consummated in a FEDERATIVE UNION. And that union
put away every motive to its destruction, by ensuring to each successive generation the right to better its condition, according to the
increasing intelligence of the living people."-Bancroft.
THE future and the past belong to one organic
whole of History, in which Providence develops
its designs; and Destiny itself, is but the last inevitable step in a syllogism, of which the premises are in the facts and the philosophy of the
past.




246              HISTORY.            [Booe III.
The history of that portion of mankind, called
the American nation, gathers up, thus far, the
results of its Democratic and Puritanic Principles
and origin,-of its unique constitution, which gives
citizen rights to all, and introduces into politics
(with an effect before unknown) the third element
of the "Sovereign State,"-of its geographical
unity, and of its intense nationality, and contrasts
these magnificent elements of power and prosperity
with the results of its one blot and contradiction.
We are now at a point where all these elements of
greatness contend, quite successfully, with the one
element of evil, which, by denying freedom and
associative power to the individual, denies greatness and permanence to States.
The History of the making of the American
nation has to do, in the first place, with the ORIGINAL COLONISTS, and the Plzysical, Mloral and
Intellectual characteristics and status which they
brought with them, and transmitted to their descendants. Secondly, with the position, peculiarities, extent, and resources of the CONTINENT,
upon which they settled. Thirdly, with the form
of Government and CONSTITUTION which they
adopted.
The intention here is, not to write the History
of America, but to concentrate as in a focus such
facts concerning the general Ideas, Principles, Interests, and Parties, as have, from  its beginning
even until now, had to do with those two principles
of FREEDOM AND EQUALITY, which, as opposed to
SLAVERY AND OLIGARCHY, have been and are "' the
laking of the American nation,"




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.               247
1st7 then, as to the RACE; the Ideas, and Principles of the Colonists.
And here the most remarkable fact is, the nature
of those prevaili',g influences, by which the intensest
nationality in the world has been formed and assimilated, out of all that the world had of diverse,
and contrary,- ethnical, moral, intellectual, and
physical. All principles have contended there for
the mastery, and we see which are the strongest.
" It was," says Bancroft, " the peculiar fortune of the United
States, that they were severally colonised by men, in origin,
religion, faith, and purposes, as various as the climes which
are included within their limits."*  They came from England, Holland, France, Spain, Sweden, Finland. From China,
even, they come! " Gathered from every corner of Europe,
spread over the surface of America, of all religions and
tongues." It was, in 1754, admitted, even by Franklin, and in 1767, argued by French diplomatists,
that they were as little likely to unite among
themselves, as to remain united with England.t
Nevertheless, the English race  and  principles
were dominant, and gave unity and homogeneity
to the new national type.  s"Time and humanity, the
principles of English liberty, the impulses of European philosophy, and the policy of France, were (in 1768) all assisting
to emancipate America."+
For instance, in Virginia, our first colony, settled
in  1607,  "of the first one hundred and five emigrants
there were but twelve labourers, and with not a house standing, there were forty-eight gentlemen to four carpenters."'
The next arrival "were dissolute gallants, packed off to
* Bancroft's " United States," v. i. p. 255.
IDurand to Choiseul.
+ Bancroft's " Revolution," v. iii. p. 190.




248                  HISTORY.                 [Boox III.
escape worse destinies at home, broken tradesmen, gentlemen
impoverished in spirit and in fortune, rakes and libertines,men more fitted to corrupt than to found a commonwealth.
Amidst the horrors of famine, a band of thirty escaped to become pirates, and of four hundred and ninety persons, in six
mlonths, indolence, vice, and famine reduced the number to
sixty."-Bancroft's United States, v. i. pp. 140-1. 154-6. 248.
But they were  Englishmen, and  this colony
soon got possession of its own affairs, was the first
State in the world to establish universal suffi-age,
secured freedom of trade, independence of religious
societies, and exemption from foreign taxation, and
were, in fact, the foremost to throw  off the " old
dominion," and to be on with the new.
"We were a free People," said Penn, in 1674, with the
sublime simplicity of the Statesman and the Christian, "we
were a free People by the creation of God, by the redemption
of Christ, and by the careful provision of our never to be for.
gotten honourable ancestors."
The words of De Tocqueville on the character
of the Colonists have been already quoted, but the
reader will pardon their repetition here.
"' The Americans (De Tocqueville, p. 66, v. 3) are a very old
and a very enlightened People, who have fallen upon a new and
unbounded country, where they may extend themselves at pleasure, and which they may fertilize without difficulty. This state
of things is without a parallel in the history of the world."
" The two or three main ideas, which constitute the basis of
the social theory of the United States, were first combined in
the Northern British Colonies, the States of New England.
They now extend their influence  over the whole American
world.
" These settlers all belonged to the more independent classes
of their native country. The call which summoned them from
tile comforts of their homes was purely intellectual; and in
facing the inevitable sufferings of exile, their object was the
triumph of an idea. Puritanism was not merely a religious
doctrine, but it corresponded in many points with the most




CHAP. I.]      UNION AND NATIONALITY.                 249
absolute democratic and republican theories. It is impossible
to read the opening paragraph (of Morton's " New England's
Miemorial," Boston, 1826) without an involuntary feeling of
religious awe; it breathes the very savour of Gospel antiquity.
In England, the stronghold of Puritanism was in the MIDDLE
CLAssEs, and it was from the mziddle classes that the majority of
the enmigrants came. A DEMocRAcY more pebfect than any which
antiquity had dreamt of, started infull size and panoply,from
the midst of an ancientfeudal society.
"The general PRINCIPLES which are the groundwork of modern constitutions-Principles which were imperfectly known in
Europe, and not completely triumphant even in Great Britain
in the 17th century, were all recognised and determined by the
laws of New England:: the intervention of the People in public
affairs, the free voting of taxes, the responsibility of authorities,
personal liberty, and trial by Jury, were all positively established without discussion. The principles of representative
government, and the external forms of political liberty, were
more fully acted upon in the North than in the South, but
they existed everywhere."
The same facts are also given by Bancroft:" The settlement of New England was a result of the Reformnstion; not of the contest between the new opinions and the
authority of Rome, but of implacable differences between PProtestant Dissenters and the Established Anglican Church.
"The enfranchisement of the mind from religious despotism
led directly to inquiries into the nature of civil government;
and the doctrines of popular liberty, which sheltered their
in-fancy in the wilderness of the newly discovered continent,
within the short space of two centuries have infused themselves
into the life-blood of every risin# State from LZabrcador to Chili,
establishing outposts at the mouth of the Oregon and in
Liberia, and making a proselyte of enlightened France, have
disturbed all the ancient governments of Europe, and awakened
the public mind to resistless action from the shores of Portugal
to the palaces of the Czars.
" Had New England been colonized immediately on the discovery of the American continent, the old English institutions
would have been planted under the powerful influence of the
Roman Catholic religion; had the settlement been made under




250                  HISTORY.              [Boox III.
Elizabeth, it would have been before activity of mind in religion
had conducted to a corresponding activity of mind in politics.
"Tihe Pilgrims were Englishmen, Protestants, exiles for religion; men disciplined by mnisfortune, cultivated by opportlunities
of extensive observation, equal in rank as in rights, and bound
by no code but that which was imposed by religion, or might
be created by the public will."-Bancroft's United States, p.
286-7, vol. i.
2ndly; The nationality of America has been constituted by the Position (relative and positive),
Peculiarities, Extent, and Resources, of the American
CONTINENT. There was (1.) Distance from England,
rendering oppression (under the existing circumstances) impossible. (2.) Distance between the
Colonists, developing individual self-reliance.  (3.)
Infinite scope for expansion.  (4.) The special and
unique material Unity of the territorial configuration. These influences have already received express notice, or will appear throughout the history.
3rdly; The AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. It was
(1.) good in itself. (2.) It was suited to the People.
(3.) It was suited to the future expansion. (4.) It
was balanced within itself. (5.) It was subject to
amendment.
(1.) The American Constitution was the English,
without the aftergrowths of feudality upon it, and
with a race to work it, free and equal, and unburthened by privileged individuals or corporate
bodies.  In fact the Race, the Position, and the
Constitution worked together for the making of the
nation. The progress of America from Colonies
to Independence meant essentially this: —They appealed in everything, and rested upon the Consti



CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALTY.                251
tution of Great Britain.  That Constitution rested
ultimately,-and save so far as it was but a compromise and evasion of its own essential principles,-upon the fundamental rights and necessities
of human nature.  The circumstances of America
freed the young nation from  the limitations which
restrained the development of those rights in England.  Consequently in appealing to the prnnciples
of the English Constitution, America appealed to
and adopted the practzce of the purest and simplest
theories of the rights of man.
We prefer here to take the account given by
Penn himself of the British Constitution.* It shows
not only what that was, but also what it was understood to be by one of the healthiest minds, and
at a period immediately succeeding our most
stirring and glorious epoch. It shows further,
what it was meant to be in America.
" Englishmen," he said, in a tract published in England, in 1674, " have birth-rights. The first of these consists of an OWNERSHIP and undisturbed  possession,
so that what they have is rightly their own, and nobody else's, and such possession and ownership relates both
to title and security of estate, and liberty of person from the
violence of arbitrary power. This was the situation of our
ancestors in ancient BRITISH times. They who governed
afterwards, the Saxons, made no alteration in this law, but
confirmed it. The NoRMANS, who came next, did the same.
William, at his coronation, made a solemn covenant to maintain
the good, approved, and ancient laws of the kingdom, and to inhibit all spoil and unjust judgment. The same covenant was
adopted by his successors, and confirmed by MAcGNA CHARTA.
* Penn's Works, vol. i. pp. 672-701. London, 1726. The
treatise from which we have abridged this statement evinces
extraordinary research.  It appears almost to exhaust the
authorities on the subject, from Cwsar and Tacitus to Penn's own
time.




252                   HISTORY.                [BooiE III.
" The second birth-right of Englishmen consists in the
VOTING of every law that is made, whereby that ownership
in liberty and property may be maintained."  This also was
the case, as proved by quotations from laws and an appeal to
history, in British, Saxon, and Norman times.
" The third birthright of Englishmen consists in having an
influence upon and a great share in the JUDICATORYpower,
so that they are not to be condemned but by the votes of freemen.  This practice, though not perhaps British, obtained
very early in SAXON times. It was among the laws of ETHELBED
that in every hundred there should be a court, where twelve
ancient freemen, together with the lord of the hundred, should
be sworn that they would not condemn the innocent or acquit
the guilty. The same law continued to be the law of the land
under different kings, till it was violated by John; when
MA GNA CHARTSA restored it. M[agna Charta, however, was not
the nativity, but the restorer of ancient English privileges.
It was no grant of new rights, but only a restoration of the
old.
" RELIGION, under any modification of Church government,
was no part of the old Enzglish constitution. The civil affairs of
all Governments may be peaceably transacted  under the
different Liveries or trims of religion.
" Near three hundred years before Austin set his foot on
English ground, the inhabitants had a free Government. This
came not in with him, neither did it come in with Luther; nor
was it to go out with Calvin."
This Constitution, then, respected  the natural
rights and forces of human nature. It was good
per se.
I"Any Government," said Penn, " is free to the People under
it, whatever be the frame, where the laws rule and the People
are a party to those laws: and more than this is Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Confusion."
(2.) The Constitution was suited to the People, for
it represented their Genius, wants, and necessities.
It was the English Constitution, treated by the




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.       253
Americans according to the principle of " natural
selection."
(3.) It was suited to the actual territorial conditions, admitting of easy expansion.  It was probably the only possible machine for preparing
America for one nation and Government.
(4.) It was before all things a " balanced," a working Constitution. It developed Freedom and Law,
Force and Self-restraint, and checked the one by
the other. It set the Individual and the Government to guard against encroachments of "1 State"
power, and the " State" and the national Government to repress Individual excesses or anarchy.
And it suggested to the  Individual that he
could, on occasion, successfully use the armed and
organised nuclei of the various Sovereign States
to resist oppression.  The peculiar constitutional
Balance between the " secondary Institutions" or
Sovereign States of America, and the nation, was
the necessary result of the Union under the actual
circumstances between the Induependent States.
The progress of that union towards, and to, nationality, was and is the natural and inevitable result
of-the development of the Situation.
Lastly, the American Constitution was armed
with a distinct clause and proviso for amendment.
The effect of this was two-fold. First, it ranged
the forces of Conservatism  and Progress round
some proposed alteration,-not against the collective authority of the nation; and, Secondly, it thus
provided for the natural and expected progress of
the People.




254               HISTORY.            [BooK III.
This history must be viewed as a whole) for it
has character, tendency, and determinate issues.
It is the mightiest Drama the world has seen, and
its moral foreshadows the world's future.  Three
acts are played out; the fourth has well begun;
and the fifth must follow.
The first was the era of national CONSOLIDATION.
The second was the era of COMPROMISE and
decline.
The third was the era of BATTLE against traitors
and slave-drivers. It began in 1832, and is now.
The fourth is the era of SECESSION and also of
VICTORY.
The fifth must be the era of political RECONSTRUCTION. The constitution must be purged of Slavery, the
labour system freed, and the territory completed.
The second, or " compromise" era, from  1777
to 1833, was but a parenthesis in American history. The system  of means that prepared the
present war began distinctly in 1777. The system
of means that prepared the triumph of the party
of freedom  and completed nationality, began in
the dawn of English history itself, and distinctly
amongst American parties in 1832.
During the first era, (of ";national consolidation,") the enemies were from without. Indians,
Dutch, French, English. Nationality conquered
these outward foes, as it always must.  This
period extends from 1641 to 1782.
The next era was that of slave growth and compromise, but America met and withstood her only




CHArP. I.]   UNION AND NATIONALITY.      255
real danger. 1833 found her assured of victory
and nationality, for it found her in essential War
with the internal treachery and weakness of Slavery.
1863 was to inaugurate the completion of that
nationality, for it inaugurated the completion of
the freedom of the individual, and of the destruction of that interest which necessarily combined
certain States against the Union.
Indeed, the whole History shows us seven stages
of a gradual and consistent progress towards the
completion and perfect reconcilement of the three
ideas of Freedom, Equality, and Authority, together with special guarantees in the constitution and
genius of the people, for their lasting union.
For there has been added to the American
nationality, a new and extraordinary feature of
strength, never before realised amongst nations.
1st.- It shows us the will to be free expressed
and sustained by separate appeals, each calm and
temperate, to the British Nation and King,-and
then by war.
2nd.-The Patriotism, Intelligence, and Political Genius, that learnt, from the exhaustions of
war, to draw the Nation nearer together, to take a
calm and comprehensive view of the whole Situation, and to concentrate the administration, and
nationalise the Government by the peaceful revolution of 1787.
3rd.-The determined and ever existing hostility
against the remaining national danger,-Slavery,
which denied Freedom, Authority, and Union, the
three pillars of the Nation. This hostility went
near to destroy Slavery at the outset, and recoiled




256             HISTORY.              [BOOK III.
for a time before the extraordinary expansion of
the Slave interest, only to recommence, in 1832, a
contest of life and death.
4th.-The gradual close of the national opinion
and will, around this social and political treason,
and the deadly grip of the national power upon
the traitors.
5th.-The Loyalty and resolution of the national party, in face of constant defeat in the field,
and against Generals and Statesmen, their former
leaders.
6th.- Submission to that executive Unity, essential in war, in spite of a seditious press, and seditious leaders in their midst, preaching a false
freedom, which would have led straight to irrevocable defeat.
7th.-The approaching reconstruction of the
Union, and final settlement and complete reconciliation of Freedom, Equality, and Authority, by
the emancipation edict, and by revision of the
Constitution giving fresh guarantees to each.
For when the American Nation has conquered
the rebellion, there can be little reason to fear its
competency to bring the words of the constitution
up to a level with the great fact of the age, and
the victorious will of the People.
Thus we see that the American Nation, from
its birth until now, has answered the strain of
every crisis, and arisen more powerful from every
struggle.
When the question was, whether to emigrate or




CIAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.            257
to submit, they emigrated, and from  nearest the
heart of England, was taken the infant Nationality.
When the question was one of self preservation
against Indians or Dutch, the necessary league was
formed, and the enemy quelled.
When the English King would make war on
them,  they appealed  earnestly to the  English
People, and humbly to the King for their English
rights.
When  the " Swiss of the  Commons," — the
Chamberlains, -and  Bishops, - and  Pensioners,
and Hacks of Parliament, had voted down the
splendid efforts of Chathamn and Burke for their
freedom, —this people, governed, according to the
evidence of Dr. Franklin,  " at the expense only
of a little pen, zinl, and laper," and led by a thread,
having, before 1763, a respect and affection for
Great Britain, its laws, customs, manners, and
fashions,-accepted  the  situation,- drewv  closer
their league, and conquered Independence. *
When Peace revived faction, and danger called
for still closer union, they transformed the league
into a Nation.
When Slavery became a power, they fought it
* We cannot resist here introducing the following. Apart
from the personal interest, it shows the sudden growth, and
intensity, and sternness, of the new national feeling.
Mr. Strahan,                     " Philadelphia.
" You are a member of Parliament, and one of that
majority which has doomed qmy country to destruction. You
have begun to burn our towns and murder our} People.
Look upon your hands!-They are stained with the blood of
your relations. You and I were long friends; you are,now
my enemly, and I am yours.-B. Franklin."




258                HISTORY            [Boox III.
successfully at each stage, by the appropriate
weapon.
When the South fought for States, they met it
as well as the constitution would allow.
When it fought for Territory by armed ruffianism, they met it by Squatter Sovereignty, John
Brown, and colonisation.
When the South had lost the majority of States,
and the command of Territory; when it played the
last card but one, and tried to propagate Slavery
by the Unit —by the Individual Slaveholder, according to the decision of Southern Judges in the
Dred Scott case; when it determined that as
States and Territory would not come to Slavery,
it should go to them, —the North answered the
ruse with LINCOLN.
When the South bombarded Sumter, it answered
the salute with war.
After due notice- and warning, that the constitution would be rent by military necessities, Lincoln, who had sworn to the constitution as it was,
accepted the situation, and emancipated the Slaves.
And now America is casting out its sectional
oligarchy, its slave faction, its complicities and
inconsistencies, and standing up before the world,
free of national sin, complete and unimpeachable.
Soon will this cycle of American questions also be
complete. Democracy will have put its last enemy
under its foot, and we shall ask, what fresh experiment there remains to be tried upon this great
people?
And that last enemy is oligarchy. Slavery is
but one of its phases. The revolt affirmed the will




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.               259
of the' few  against that of the many,-affirmed
caste against authority,-affirmed a determination of
the few to inflict a mistake in economics, a crime
in morals, and a disease in Statesmanship, upon a
protesting Nation.
Oligarchy fails, because American Democracy is
too strong and pure for it.  For the same reason,
the  People's Union  will be  restored  and  will
endure.
1864 is the supplement of 1787.  With Slavery
in  the  Constitution,  Destiny  could  offer to the
American  Nation  but one alternative, -RECONSTRUCTION,  or RUIN.
But it was clear how completely the colonists were
masters of the situations' either as against doumestic or foreign tyrants, when they could always say
as Franklin did in 1766;'I will freely spend nineteen shillingsjin the pound to defend
my right of giving or refusing the other shilling; and, after all,
if I cannot defend that right, I can retire cheerfully with my
little family into the bocndless woods of Amnerica, which are sutre
to affordfreedom and subsistence to any szaia who can bait a hook,
or pull a trigger.' " Fike log cabins havinq beez planted, and hopes
of self-government called into existence, it was beyond the
power of the British king to remove the one or the other."*
What indeed, was this but the principle  and
power of Squatter Sovereignty anticipated: a principle, of itself sufficient in a democratic country, to
destroy, in due course, every vestige of oligarchy.
The words of Chatham  (in 1766) contained the
whole rcatoncle of American  freedom, whether' Ba-ncroft's " Revolution," vol. iii. pp. 5, 456., 2




260                    HISTORY.                [Boox III.
against British "prerogative' then, or'Southern
privilege' since.   After declaring, in one of his
stupendous orations on  the  American  question,
that he " rejoiced that the Americans had resisted,'
he proceeded to say, —" I draw my ideas of freedom from
the vital powers of the British Constitution. I can acknowledge
no veneration for any procedure, law, or ordinance that is
repugnant to reason, and the first elements of our Constitution;
and I shall never bend with the pliant suppleness of some who
have cried aloud for freedom, only to have an occasion of renouncing or destroying it."
And John Adams, in  the same year, expressed
the unalterable  fact — " The Patricians may sigh and
groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but
all in vain. The'decree has gone forth and it cannot be recalled,
that a more equtal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of
the earth must be established in America."*  In the same
year, also, Jefferson, using the same expression as Chatham,
" was persuaded that the whole code must be reviewed and
adapted to the republican form of Government with a single eye
to Reason."t  As Bancroft tells us, "the Republic came
ansought, because Society contained the elements of no other
organization;" and it is plainer now than it was in 1763;
that "Society there will be organized again; but not till
after the recognition  of the rights of the Individual;that UNITY will once more be restored, but not through
the canon and feudal law; for the new  Catholic element
was the PEOPLE."$
Indeed, History, Philososphy, and present Facts,
combine to show that nothing but the intense artificial Unity of the Slave interest, could have so
long maintained  the principles of Oligarchy and
* J. Adams' Works, vol. ix. p. 287.
t Jefferson's Works, vol. i. p. 42. Autobiography.
+ Bancroft's " Revolution," vol. ii. p. 4.




CHAP. I.]    UNION'AND NATIONALITY.      261
feudality in America, against the rights of the individual, the national Unity, and the Sovereignty of
the People.
Such are the ideas, principles, and conclusions,
which the outline sketch we now proceed to give,not of the History, but of the "making" of the
American nation) is intended to illustrate.
The various New England Settlements, of the
years 1606-7, and thereafter, and the great events
of 1643, 1754, 1765, 1776-7, 1787, 1833, 1860,
and 1863, are the stages whereby descendants of
fugitives and adventurers from all countries,
settling upon the " edge and outside of the world,"
have become the most impassioned nationality,
the freest Government, the most orderly and powerful community, in the world.
In 1638, nine years only after its patent, the
people of Massachusetts threatened 6"to Confederate themselves under a new Government, which
will be of dangerous example unto other plantations."
In 1641, the spirit of order and freedom dictated the first code of New England. " The body
of Massachusetts liberties," consisted of one hundred
laws. Slaves were to be treated with Christian
usage. Strangers fleeing from tyranny were to be
succoured. There were to be no monopolies. Deeds
of conveyance were to be recorded. Worship was
to be free, and the word of God decisive on defects
in Laws.




262                  HISTORY.             [Boox III.
1643 saw the first advance towards nationality.
A loose alliance, suggested by claims and encroachments of Dutch and Indians, and formed between
Miassachusetts, Connecticut, New  Plymouth,' and
bNew Haven, for mutual defense and the truth and
liberties of the Gospel, was called the " United
Colonies of New England," and lasted about forty
years, till James II. withdrew  their charter.  In
1675 their first army, two thousand strong, was
called out to resist the Indians.  This confederation
provided for the mutual extradition of criminals
and runaway servants.*
In 1701 appeared the first distinct tendency towards Independence, when the New  York Assembly declared taxation without consent in general
assembly, to be a " violation of the People's property."t
In 1753, the French completed their scheme of
uniting their Canadian possessions and the St.
Lawrence4t by a chain of forts along the Ohio and
Mississippi, with their possessions on the mouths of
the latter river. The object was to confine the
English Colonists to the East of the Alleghanies,
for the English grants had many of them  been
from  the Atlantic  sea-board, westward  to the
Pacific! ~
In 1754, the British Government recommended
* See Pitkin's "Political History," vol. i. p. 51.  This
necessary provision was the germ of the Fugitive Slave Law.
t Smith's " New York," p. 116.
+ This appears to be the first effort to realise the territorial
Unity of America.
~ Hinton, vol. i. p. 237.




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.              263
these Colonists to form an Union amongst themselves, and with the Indians, against the French.
Accordingly a Congress of Commissioners met in
that year in Albany, to confer with the Five Nations,
and representing  Tew Hampshire, Massachusetts,
/Rhode Island, Connecticut,  New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. But the scheme of confederation
was dissented from by the Connecticut delegates,
because it gave too much power to the British
Crown, and was rejected by the British, because
it gave too little.  Massachusetts also vehemently
protested ag-ainst I2nperial taxation on any pretext.
The nation was already weaning.
~
But to tile complete and proper understanding
of the future Nation, it is necessary to understand
the particular qualities, progress, and tendencies,
which the separate States were now, at this further
stage, prepared to contribute to the coming Union.
The following is condensed, but almost entirely
in his own words, from Bancroft's account of the
" old thirteen Colonies:" in the year 1754.
"GEORGaIA. Industry was disheartened by the entail of frieeholds, and the prevalence of pestilent vapours during many
months.  The people entrenched itself in the representative
body, and, imitating older colonies, gained vigour in its infancy
to restrain every form of delegated authority.
"SOUTH CAROLINA. Prospered. Slaves were supplied on
credit. Its fiery people had increased their power by every
method of encroachment on the executive, and every claim to
legislative self-direction. They were yeomen, owing the king
small quit-rents which could never be rigorously exacted.
"NORTH CAROLINA. The race was hardy, and rapidly in



264                  HISTORY.                  [BOOK III.
creasing. Their independence was protected by great distances. If the royal Governor insisted on introducing the
King's prerogative, the legislature did not scruple to leave the
whole expense of Government unprovided for. Did he attempt
to establish the Anglican Church, they chose their own pastor.
Did he seek to collect the King's quit-rents, they postponed
indefinitely the adjustment of the rent-roll. In the Carolinas,
and Virginia, and every Royal Government, the freeholders
elected one branch of the Legislature, and the Council formed
the other.
"VIRGINIA. The Governor lived in England, and would
not hazard his sinecure by controversy. The Council therefore,
by the weight of personal character, gained great influence.
The extent of parishes hindered unity of worship, and English
priests were often ill-educated and licentious. The People
were sportsmen and hospitable. The spirit of Individual freedom paralysed royal influence. Industry was the parent of
Republicanism. The horse was their pride, and the race-course
their delight. The English policy promoted the slave trade
with a view rather to weaken any germ of resistance by a
balance of races.
" Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were proprietary.
" The King had no officers, but in Customs and Admiralty
Courts. His name could not set bounds to popular influence.
MARY~LAND. The Assembly scarcely had occasion to impose
taxes, except for the wages of its members. The Act of 1702
established the Anglican Church.'iRufilans, fugitives from
justice, men of intemperance and lust,' nestled themselves in
the parishes, and Baltimore, the lewd landlord, was patron.
The King had no right of revising laws, and the People shared
power through the Assembly.
"cPEaNsYLvaNIA. Thomas and Richard Penn were proprietors.  The People were already (1754) masters.  The
Lieutenant-Governor had a negative on the Legislation, but
depended on the Assembly for annual support. The Council
had a right of revision. The Sheriffs, Coroners, Judges, the
loan office of paper money, were under popular control.
Franklin was the soul of the Legislature. Its able press developed the principles of civil right. It encouraged science,
and possessed a library and academy. There was no established




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.                265
church. There were no oaths or tests, and the Quakers, who
swayed legislation and opinion, were against war, prelacy, and
forms.
"ENEW  JERSEY. Royal. Its Governor' had to please the
King's ministers and a touchy people,' to'luff for one, and
bear away for the other.'
"NEW YORim. Proprietary; settled under patents of land
to Indivicduals; New England, under grants to Towns, which
were its glory and strength. Its position invited it to foster
American union. It had the most convenient harbours in the
Atlantic, and river communication to the interior. It held the
keys of Canada and the Lakes. The Statesmen of New York
clung without wavering to faith in a United American empire.
Nowhere was the collision between Royal Governor and the
Assembly so violent and inveterate. (The former always at a
disadvantage from natural causes.)  Money power gave to
the Legislatur'e considerable Executive authority also.  The
province was chiefly peopled by Calvinists, who united against
the royal authority which favoured the English Church. Half
the population being of foreign ancestry, they resented English
restrictions on trade, and evaded them. The large landholders
were jealous of British authority and impositions, and lawyers
joined with the merchants and proprietors.
" MASSACOHUsETTs.  Divided into little complete integral
Governments, democracies in Church and State, which had
received the unconscious sanction of William III.
"NEW HAMPSHIRE, CONNECTICUTT, RHODE ISLAND, possessed
the same character. All New England was an aggregate of
organised Democracies. But the complete development of the
Institution (Democracy) was to be found in Connecticut, and
the ]lassachusetts Bay. There each township was also substantially a territorial parish; the township was the religious
congregation; the Independent Church was established by law,
and the minister was elected by the People, who made an
annual grant for his support. There, too, the system of free
schools was carried to great perfection.
The general influence of the Teutonic, English,
and Gallic races on the American nation, is thus




266                HIISTOIRY.               [BooK III.
summarised  and  contrasted  by the same writer
(pp. 522-3. v. i. American Revolution).
" In America, the Teutonic race, with its strong tendency to
Individuality and _Freedonm, was become the master, from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Poles, and the _English langyua.qe, which
but a century and a half before, had for its entire world a part
only of two narrow islands on the outer verge of Europe, was
now to spread more widely than any that had ever given
expression to human thought.
" Nothing representing the new  activity of thought in
modern France, went to America. Nothing had leave to go
there but what was old and worn out. The Govermnent
thought only to transmit to its American Empire the exhausted
polity of the Middle Ages; the castes of Feudal Europe, its
monarchy, its hierarchy, its nobility, and dependent peasantry;
while commerce was enfeebled by protection, stifled under the
weight of inconvenient regulations, and fettered by exclusive
grants * * the Enylish emigrants retained what they called
European privileges, but left behind them  in the parent
country, European inequalities, the monarch, and nobility, and
prelacy."
The English had singled out Washington for
distinguished service, and had taught the Americans  organisation  and  discipline, removed  the
French out of their way, and prepared the animus
of  an  alliance  between  America  and  France
against herself.   Arms and the man were thus
prepared, the occasion alone was wanting, and that
the oppression denounced by Chatham and Burke
soon furnished.  Great Britain  thus created for
America all the elements of her Independence.
In 1765, Virginia  began the opposition  that
gave to America a nucleus and a precedent of




CHAP. I.]    U-NION AND NATIONALITY.                267
resistance to the Stamp Act, and ultimately caused
the rebellion and Independence.  Patrick Henry
proposed, and the House of Burgesses passed, five
resolutions,*  of which are the following:Resolved,-" That the first adventurers and settlers of his
Majesty's colony and dominion, brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his Majesty's subjects
since ilzhabitinq, all the privileges, franchises, and immunities,
that have at any time been held by the People of Great
Britain."
Resolved,-" That by two royal charters, granted by King
James I., the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all the
privileges, liberties, and imrmunities, of denizens and naturalborn subjects, to all intents and purposes as if they had been
abiding and born within the realm of England."
In May, 1774, the Virginian Convention recommended a General Congress to support American
rights.  In  Septeimber, 1774, at the Congress at
Philadelphia, at which Georgia alone of the thirteen colonies was unrepresented, Peyton Randolph,
of Virginia, being president, these other resolutions
were passed unanimously: —
"That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North
America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the
English constitution, and the several charters and compacts,
have the following rights:" First, That they are entitled to life, liberty, and property," &c.
"Second, That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, were, at the time of their emigration from the mother
country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities
of free and natural-born subjects within the realm of England."
" Third, That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost, any of those rights, but they were,
* Wirt's Life of Henry.




268                   HISTORY.               [BooKE III.
and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and
enjoyment of all such of them as their local and other circumstances enable them. to exercise and enjoy."
" Fourth, That the foundation of English liberty, and of all
free Governments, is a right in the people to participate in
their legislative council."
Then follows the declaration, that, as they cannot be represented in the British Parliament, they
are entitled to legislate in the provinces, "rin all
~ cases of taxation and internal policy, subject only
G" to the negative of their Sovereign."   And the
further right, by the common law  of England, to
be " tried by their peers of the vicinity,"-to the
benefit of English Statutes that apply, &c.,-and
to the right to assemble and petition.
Article 10, further declares,"It is indispensably necessary to good Government, and
rendered essential by the English Constitution, that the constituent branches of the Legislature be independent of each
other; therefore that the exercise of legislative power, in
several colonies, by a council appointed during pleasure of the
Crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive of the
freedom of American legislature."
Then follow  recitals of acts, " which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America.""
This Congress also repudiated Slavery, and declared as one of its articles of association, that
a they would neither be concerned in it themselves,
" nor hire their vessels nor sell their commodities
or manufactures, to those who were concerned
a in it."
In  1775, the  great Chatham  declared in the
House of Peers respecting America,* Journals of Congress, v. i. pp. 28-30.  Pitkin, v. i.
285-8. Allen, v. i. p. 210.




CEAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.              269
" When her inherent constitutional rights are invaded,those rights which she has an equitable claim to enjoy by the
fcndamnental laws of the English Constitution, and which are
engrafted thereon by the unalterable laws of nature, then I own
myself an American, and feeling myself such, shall, to the
verge of my life, vindicate those rights against all men who
strive to trample upon and oppose them."
In July, 1776, " The Declaration" stated:" We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created free and equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed."
Nevertheless, it imust be stated, that article four
of the Confederation of 1777, " The better to;4 secure intercourse"  provided that, " the fjee in"1 habitants of each State shall be entitled to all
" privileges of free citizens in the several States."
But even South Carolina was not sure enough
of the meaning of this, and in 1778 moved Congress to alter this clause to " free white inhabitants."
With this exception, all so far was right in the
mighty counsels of the young republic, to secure
freedom, to guard against anarchy, or to lay the
eternal foundations of a great People.
The following short questions and answers on
Franklin's examination before the English House
of Commons, February, 1776, show at once the
constitutional rights of Americans; the infringement of them; their just exasperation, their pre



270                  HISTORY.                [BooK III.
vious loyalty; the fatuity of imposing the Stanmp
Act; the immense force of the colonists on their
own ground; and how  natural, necessary, and inevitable, was their Independence.
It was just after this time that Franklin complained of having rendered himself suspected by
Americans and Englishmen for his impartiality
" having been born and bred in one of the countries,
and lived long, and made many agreeable connections of friendship in the other."
" Q. How many white men do you suppose there are in
North America?
A. About three hundred thousand, from sixteen to thirty
years of age.
Q. What was the temper of America towards Great
Britain before the year 1763?
A. The best in the world.  They submitted willingly to the
Government of the Crown, and paid, in their Courts, obedience
to Acts of Parliament. They cost you nothing to keep them
in subjection. They were governed by this country at the
expence only of a little pen, ink, and paper. They were led by
a thread. They considered the Parliament as the great bulwark of their liberties.
Q. In what proportion hath population increased in America?
A. I think the inhabitants of all the provinces together,
taken at a medium, double in 25 years."
Amongst the reasons for alienation he named;"The restraint lately laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and silver into the Colonies was prevented;
the prohibition of mnaking paper money among themselves, and
then demanding a new and heavy tax by stamps, taking away,
at the same time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive and
hear their humble petitions."
In answer to questions about protection afforded
by England:




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.                271
*  "*  Territories in Canada and Nova Scotia, to which the
Crown laid claim. The contest in Ohio began about your right
of trading in the Indian country, a right you had by the Treaty
of Utrecht, which the French infringed. * *  It was not till
after Braddock's defeat that the colonies were attacked."
Further as to rights, and grievances;"The petition of right expressly says, it (taxation) is to be
by common consent in Parliament; and the people of America
have no representatives in Parliament to make a part of that
common consent. * * They understand it thus: they are
entitled to all the privileges and liberties of Englishmen.
"Suppose a military force sent into America, they will find
nobody in arms: what are they to do?  They cannot force a
man to take stamps who chooses to do without them. They
will not find a rebellion: they may indeed make one.
" I believe the number of Americans employed in the wars
was greater than that of the regulars."
And the examination ended thus;"Q. What used to be the pride of the Americans?
A. To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of Great
Britain.
Q. What is now their pride?
A. To wear their old clothes over again till they can make
new ones."
See also Franklin's G" Rules for reducing a great
Empire to a small one," &c., " by a Modern Simpleton."  And " A Prussian Edict assuming Claims
over Britain.-Dantzicce, Sept. 5, 1773."
The  Ideas,  circumstances,  opinions, Genius,
origin, constitution, race, territory, and distance;
the quarrels with French and Indians, and the
drill and organisation against both; the political
science, morality, and character of the Colonists;




272                  HISTORY.               [BooK III.
the mistakes of the English  Government;  the
ignorance of the Colonial ministers at the time, —
one of whom  (the Duke of Newcastle) remained
minister for British America for twenty-four years,
from 1724, and used to'address letters to the Island
of New England, and could not tell but what
Jamaica was in the Mediterranean, -.these, and all
things else, tended to the inevitable issue. Amongst
these causes is very remarkable, the period of confusion which followed the reformation of Church and
State in England, the attainder of Strafford, and the
impeachment of Laud, the great enemy of Massaclhusetts, a year or two  after that State had
threatened Independence, and the twenty years of
contest that followed in  England, which  secured
twenty years of peace and consolidation to New
Enylaind.
The Puritans at home did more than they
meant.   The execution  of the felons Strafford
and Charles,-the first a statesman, the last an
intriguer and a liar, a liar and an intriguer, —were
the great central transactions, as Cromwell was
the great central figure, humanly speaking, in the
fate of the democracies of the two worlds.
"' The American Colonies remember the years. of Cromwell's
power, as the period when British Sovereignty was for them
free from rapacity, intolerance, and oppression. The People of
New England were ever sure that Cromwell would listen to
their requests, and would take an interest in all the little
details of their condition.  He left them Independence; perhaps he gave them advantageous contracts; he favoured their
* Bancroft, quoting J. G. Adams and Walpole, p. 19, vol. i.
American Revolution.




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.            273
trade. He may be called the benefactor of the English in
America."*
The question of taxation and representation was
the vehicle, so to speak, of the quarrel and its
settlement.
"The strength of the people in America consisted in the
exclusive right of the Assemblies to levy and appropriate Colonial Taxes. The Governors were paid by annual grants, and
the amount varied according to merits."t
Taxation  without representation, would  have
been  Despotism.   Taxation  with  representation,
was impossible. The people of England at home
were unrepresented, and a fair system of representation for the Colonists had been a fatal precedent against the oligarchy that ruled England.
Moreover, had a fair system  been established it
would have soon begun to draw the centre of political gravity away from England, and, soon or late,
would have wholly displaced it.
Thus all things fought against the continuance
of English rule on the American Continent, and
necessity and nature worked together at the making
of the new nation.
t~
The English war, or rather the un-English war
of George IIl., found America a confederacy and
left it a nation.  The constitution was the result of
a general conviction that the country must go
backwards to anarchy, or forwards to a more complete and centered government. For want of this,
evil had accumulated upon evil, and the confede* Bancroft, United States, vol. i. p. 483.
t Bancroft's "American Revolution," vol. i. p. 20.
T




274              HIISTORY.          [Boos III.
racy was denounced as incompetent to protect
commerce, revenue, or trades whether at home or
abroad, till at last the general public mind concurred in a change, long desired by Washington,
and other distinguished patriots.
A great deal of acumen has been expended on
the question, whether the ancestors of the American
People intended to constitute a nation, and not
merely a congeries of States. In the presence of
the fact of that nation, and of the arbitrament,
other than that of argument, to which the question
of nationality has been submitted, we mlight leave
this debate to antiquarians, or regard it as an
immaterial issue.
That the intention was to make a nation is
proved by tritings of the representative men of the
age;-by distinct Expressions in the:" resolutions,"
and in the Constitution; —and by the necessary
Effect of that document.
One of the first resolutions was, ti that a national
Government ought to be established," and the word
national occurs twelve times in the subsequent resolutions.
The Declaration opens with a reference to occasions when " it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another."
And under the first head, (opinions of leading
men) we find dated June, 1783, the Address of
Washington to the Governors of States, concluding;-" These are the pillars on which the glorious
" fabric of our independency and national character
"4 must be supported."




CHAP, I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.                275
Also his inaugural Address in the year 1789, in
which he declares that "1 every step by which they
" have advanced to the character of an independent
" nation seems to have been distinguished by some' token of providential agency," and his Farewell
speaks of "1 the name of American, which belongs
to you in your national capacity."
President Adams, in his inaugural in 1797, referred to the result of the revolution in the "1 Establishment of national independence."
In the "proceedings in Congress," 13th Sept.
1788, we find the following:
" Whereas, the Convention assembled in Philadelphia, pursuant to the resolution of Congress, 21st February, 1787, did,
on the 17th September in the same year, report to the United
States in Congress assembled, a Constitution for the People
of the United States, whereupon Congress * * * did resolve
unanimously,' That the said report, with the resolution and
letter accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several
legislatures, in order to be submitted to a Convention of delegates, chosen in each State by the People thereof, in conformity
to the resolves of the Convention made and provided in that
case.' " —— Hickey's Constitution, 190.
In the letter to Congress to accompany the Constitution, and officially signed by Washington, it is
said -
" In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in
view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every
true American; the consolidation of the Union,-in which is
involved our prosperity, felicity, safety; perhaps our national
existence."-Elliott's Debates, 249.
Hamilton also insists that
" State power, as a separate legislative authority, must be
annihilated, otherwise the States will be not only able, but will
T2




276                 IEISTORY.             [BOOx III.
be constantly tempted, to exert their own authority against
the authority of the nation."
Eloquence of United States, 1. 24.
And 1Madison declared that" Should all the States adopt it (the Constitution), it will be
then a Government established by the thirteen States of
America, not through the intervention of the legislatures, but
by the People at large."-Eloquence of United States, 1. 137.
De Tocqueville, at a later period, thus comments on the intentions of the founders:
" I have shown in the proper place that the object of the
Federal Constitution was not to form a league, but to create
a national Government. The Americans of the -United States
form A SOLE AND UNDIVIDED PEOPLE in all the cases which
are specified by that Constitution."
But " nationality" soon gets the better of " exceptions," and a national Government, with supreme,
judicial, legislative, and executive departments, now
took the place of the alliance, or confederation.
The Constitution began " We, the People." The
Confederation was between A" States."
All the ratifications of the Constitution commenced, " We, the delegates of the People," and
end, " in the name of our constituents, the People."
The object was expressed by Washington, as in the
extract on the preceding page.
The delegates from South Carolina and Virginia,
introduced a resolution,-" That we now proceed
to form a national Government."  The New England delegates were then State rights men, and the
South was for a national Government. The former
were voted down, and the subject of a Confederacy
never came up again.




CHAP. I.]     UNION AND NATIONALITY.               277
The first draft of the preamble contained the
words, " We, the people of the United States, for
the purpose of forming a nation."
Amendment 9, of the constitution, proposed in
1789, declared that " the enumeration in the consti"C tution of certain rights, shall not be construed to
" deny or disparage others retained by the People,"
and amendment 10, —" The powers not delegated
" to the United States by the constitution, nor pro-'" hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
" States respectively, or to the People."  Article 2
of the Confederation had retained the same, not to
the People, but " to each State."
The ratification of the articles of Confederation
in 1778, thus provides against unconstitutional
opposition of separate States" And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of
our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determnination of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by the said confederation are submitted to them,
and that the Union shall be perpetual."
Art. VI. of the Constitution declares;"This Constitution, &c., shall be the supreme law of the
land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State legislatures, and all
executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and
of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to
support this Constitution."
But it is useless to quote separate articles to
prove that, although individual and municipal rights
were guarded, the Government was intended to be




278                HISTORY.           [BooK III.
national. The whole constitution expressed this, and
it was the demand and expression of the age and
crisis, which had no other meaning.
~
The formative energy of the Principle of American nationality has encountered no serious check
from without. But the essential contradictions of the
Slave system, radiating from the germ of a false Principle within, have at last worked outwards and out
in Secession, till, in 1862, the inherent antagonism of
Slavery to the Principles of national life was recognised by the resolution of the New York mass
meeting, " that Slavery is treason,-that it or the
"' nation must die, —that the national Government
"must be wrested from the hands of the Slave' Barons, and immediate emancipation be pro" claimed."
Slavery has been the I"fate" of the drama of
American politics and of English capital and
labour. Mechanical inventions armed it with portentous strength. It has dragged the North and
South against their wills to battle; and in England,
its 30 million spindles revolved the fate of 100 millions of capital, and four hundred thousand workmen without work, and ~250,000 weekly wages
lost. It assails the common weal politically, inasmuch as it depresses a nation beneath the status of
citizens, and deprives them  of their full rights,
dignities, or suffrages, and, in return, elevates
190,000 to the position of slave barons, above and
against the law. In economics, the result of sub-'stituting slave for fiee labour is equally obvious.




CHAP. I.]    UNION AND NATIONALITY.       279
Nationality and Slavery thus contend to the
death.  Nationality can only triumph with the
complete elimination of the hostile element.
The history of the making of the American
nation is the history of the development of the
Principle of Union by Democratic and free Institutions, and notably of their prolonged and final
struggle against their last and greatest foe, —of
their faithfulness which has marshalled them to
their inevitable victory, and the wrong that has
led Slavery to its forefixed doom.
Massachusetts had abolished Slavery.  Pennsylvania (1780) adopted a gradual system of emancipation.  Also Connecticut, Rhode Island, and
New Hampshire. In New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, further importation was prohibited. In New York, and Virginia,
gradual Emancipation Bills failed to pass. In Maryland and Virginia all restriction on emancipation
was removed, and many of the most distinguished
citizens were for entire emancipation. Virginia
and Maryland were hostile to slavery, and South
Carolina and Georgia were its advocates.*
In 1774 the first general Congress resolved
against the Slave trade.
In 1785 an Abolition Society was organised at
New York.
Till 1804, even South Carolina passed acts prohibiting the Slave Trade.
In 1784 a majority of six States to three, and
sixteen members to seven, was for abolishing
slavery after 1800 in the whole of the territories.
* Holmes' "Parties and their Principles, p. 33."




280                  HISTORY.              [Book III.
This proposition was "that after the year 1800,
"* there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
" servitude in any of the said States, otherwise
"1 than in punishment of crimes," &c. The majority voting for freedom, in this first great party
struggle, were Foster, Blanchard, Garry, Partridge,
Ellery, Howell, Sherman, Wadsworth, Dewitt,
Paine, Dick, Miffin, Montgomery, Hand, Jefferson,
and Williamson. This majority was not, according
to the rules, sufficient to pass the proposal, which
was, however, adopted by the " ordinance of 1787,"
as to that part of the territory North-west of the
Ohio."
* From this period to the "Dred Scott" case, the facts, relating to Divisions in Congress, &c. are almost entirely on the
authority of Arthur Holmes' Political Manual.




H I ST OR Y.
CHAPTER II.
1777-87 to 1833.
DISUNION, OR DE-NATIONALIZATION.
THE ERA OF COMPROMISE.
"The real question is, —Are our Slaves to be presented with
FREEDOM or with a DAGGER? " —fJefferson, 1820.
"The cunning minister neither sees, nor is concerned to see,
any further than his personal interests and the support of his administration require. If such a man overcomes, triumphs, and is
flattered by his mercenary train, it often amounts to no more than
this, that he got into distress by one series of faults, and out of it
by another. That scheme of the reason of state which lies open
before a wise minister contains all the great principles of Government, and all the great interests of his country: so that as he prepares some events, he prepares against others, whether they be
likely to happen during his administration, or in some future
time." —Bolingbrokle.
" The knave is a fool with a circumbendibus." —Coleridge.
" The general idea of the men of that day, was that somehow or
other, in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away."-Stephens, Confederate Vice-President, 21st
March, 1861.




282                      HISTORY.                  [BooK III.
" The principles of the amendment were agreed on,-that is to
say, the freedom of all born after a certain day, and deportation at
a proper age. But it was found that the public mind would not yet
bear the proposition; nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the
day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will
follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than
that thesepeople are to befree. It is still in our power to direct
the process of emancipation and deportation peaceably. * * * If,
on the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must
shudder at the prospect held up." —Jefferson, 1821. His Works,
v. i. p. 48. Autobiography.
"If something is not done, and soon done, we shall be the
murderers of our own children." -Ibid. 1797.
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."Ibid.
"It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing
every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest,
and ourselves united. Prom the conclusion of this war we shall be
going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every
moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves,
but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of
uniting to effect a due respect for their rights.  The shackles,
therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this
war, will remain on us long, or will be made heavier and heavier till
our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion." —Jefferson's
Works, v. 8. p. 402.
" If the South succeeds in establishing its independence, it will
be nothing more than the same Slave Power, shorn of half its
strength."
"PURITANISM * * born fanaticism  * * this pestilence * * a
merciful Providence surely never designed that its power should
be perpetual in any one country. Eternal punishments are only
inflicted in the eternal world.
"And in this matter let me add that about which I may speak
with the confidence of one who is familiar with the subject by
a lifetime experience and observation. The relations subsisting in
America between the Africans and the inhabitants of EEuropean
blood can never be materially changed by the consent of the latter;
which consent would be essential to a gradual enfranchisement of
the slaves. Slavery, under the circumstances there existing, can
only be eradicated by violence, sudden and overwhelming."-" The,South Findicated," pp. 128, 400, 408-9.




CHAP. II.]     DE-NATIONALIZATION.                283
CONTENTS.
"Free and equal."-" Negroes and other property." —The
great schism in American history.-The Geographical division.-The irrepressible conflict. —Logical development of
national crime. —Wanted, " an incorruptible."-The compromise clauses as to Voting, and Immigration of Slaves, and as to
Fugitive Slaves.-Confusion of terms and meaning.-To anarchy or nationality? - Nationality of Slavery. - Original
Balance of Free and Slave States.-1793.-First fugitive slave
law. - Personal liberty Bills. —1793 to 1806.-Immense impulse to Cotton trade.-1804 to 1086.-Repeated attempts to
admit Slavery to North-west foiled.-1808.-African Slave
Trade  abolished.-1812. -Louisiana admitted.- 1819. —The
South had acquired Unity of action.-The MISSO-uRI "CoMPROMISE" a severe and prolonged conflict.-Double amendments in favour of freedom carried by majorities of representatives, but struck out by Senate.-180 representatives to 50
Senators.-Popular agitation against Slavery.-In next Congress anti-Slavery votes more numerous still.-Senate again
struck out abolition clause.-Senate 54 to 213.-Senate renewed only once in six years, and not increasing with State
population.-1820.-Cabinet unanimous on right to prohibit
Slavery in Territory.-Refusal to admit Missouri, with free
negroes out of Constitution, 146 to 6.-Calhoun's dodge
about Missouri.-Missouri gained by South by false pretences.
-TARIFF not a national form of compromise with Slavery.Indirect taxation would hardly touch the non-consuming
South.-Direct taxation must have been on Slaves. —In 181617 the South supports protection Tariff by its best advocates
and large majorities.-Details of Tariff discussion, and of
change of South. —Southern monopolies more than its entire
tax. —South has taxed the whole world.-Slavery always lives
on somebody else.-1,000,000 a year since 1815 for Slave
Squadron.-10,000,000 a year lately for monopoly price of
cotton.-1827-1832. - Georgian rebellion. —Secession quelled.
— " Enforcement Bill" passed by overwhelming majorities.Henceforth Slavery the leading question.
"1 ALL men free and equal," was the war-cry
that defied the King, upon whose idiot brow had
descended the tremendous inheritance of the Britannic  crown —" except  the  Blacks," was the
continental aside whereby the adhesion of all the
States was ratified, the Yankee " secret article,"




284                 EISTORY.             [BooK III.
which in strict accordance with old world diplomacy and traditions, expressed one of the essential
conditions between the'" high contracting parties."
Georgia and South Carolina were admitted on
their own terms as to Slavery. In 1783 the treaty
of peace with Great Britain stipulated for the
safety of "' negroes and other property" of American
inhabitants.  The necessity of Union superseded
all other questions.*  Slavery was regarded as a
fact, as an element in the body politic, and so in
1787, 51 years before Slavery was abolished in
the British West Indies, it was recognised in the
American Constitution, though not legitimatised,
being considered a matter for municipal regulation.
But for this " damned spot" all had been well.
America appealed to nature, and God, and the
fundamental rights of man, and triumphed, and it
was a triumph not to be repented of by either side.
Up to this time, the two factors of nations, freedom
and centralisation, had both been cared for, but
then came a conflict between, and next a fatal
compromise of those principles on which alone a
Nation can be built up.
Henceforward for 80 years, this great Schism of
Freedom  divides American history in twain.  It
constitutes in fact two histories, —the history of
infinite material prosperity, and of a fatal moral
dereliction. The history of an attempt to get over
a "moral difficulty," and to complete a nation@ We find a striking parallel to this, in the partition of
Poland. "The principal motive was to avoid a general war
that was to explode. Everything well weighed, the partition
was the only way left to avoid nlew toubles, and to make everybody happy." —.r~ederick II. (Elu. posth.




CHAP. II.]    DE-NATIONALIZATION.'285
ality, while denying the principle of Freedom, its
main element.  The history of a mistake in
morals, economics, and statesmanship, substituting
an aristocracy of colour for one of worth, lowering the value of four millions of citizens, degrading the character and manhood of free whites,
dividing the Union by a geographical line North
and South, and binding over the whole slaveholding population and interest, to carry war into the
heart of the Union, or to threaten all its elements
of national life and value with deterioration and
decay.
Inexorable northern will might have found the
way to extirpate the disease in its infancy. Although the inducements to compromise were immense, the protests against Slavery were earnest and
iterated, nor were they only protests.  Nevertlheless the American Nation started with an anomaly
in its life, belying the declaration made in the
agony of deliverance. It ran up the black infernal
flag of human piracy side by side with the standard of human freedom, and so this mighty People
went on its grand and sorrowful and foolish way
towards that Niagara of retribution,-that irrepressible moral conflict, which it could not hope
to escape, unless it could whip,-not only "O Creation,"-but the Creator.
The Lie has rotted in the American soul and
Nation ever since.  The gangrene has spread.
The wedge crashes towards the heart. The national debt of White- to Black has compounded its
interest for eighty years, and it must be paid off.
They feared Division, and their expedients to prevent it have brought it to pass. The question was




286               HISTORY.           [BooK III.
whether this great Lie against rman,-citizen,State,-Nation,-God, should come into the Constitution and Territories. The question is, whether
the Nation shall come avowedly into the Lie, or
pnrge it thoroughly out with fire and blood. None
can doubt that that question is being right well
answered, or that the power and will to answer it
exists with the North.
Instead of a Nation manifestly one and indivisible in its truth and consistency, and probably retaining, or soon reclaiming, those erring
States which were as obnoxious to Great Britain,
and more needing protection and association.
and which indeed without fugitive slave laws,
&c., would long since have become assimilated,instead of this, America has had to consider how
much of the right consists with Union, and to
wait till the Slave power, swollen with compromise and insolence, assailed with slavery the
national integrity, and would have made of the
North itself a Slave.  Those who might have
strangled the infant sin, have nursed it till the
giant wrestles with the Nation  for life, —and
because there was not a Danton to dare, thzere
may yet be wanted an In incorruptible" to exterminate.
The tendency of States to NATIONALITY, and of
the nation to DEMOCRACY, had, with this one exceptional element, steadily increased from the
beginning of American history.  This two-fold
tendency was well represented by Jefferson and
Hamilton. The one sought unity rather by organ



CHAP. II.]    DE-NATIONALIZATION.          287
ization, the other sought strength by individual
development, "trusting the People" for their
future. Jefferson would develop public education,
-he thought those the best taxes which fell chiefly
on the rich, — that the best republic, in which every
citizen has an equal share in the management,those the best governments which the people
reduce to the condition of agents.
American Democracy has  followed generally
the instruction of Jefferson, and the revolt of
American Oligarchy will force the nation to complete the Unity which the conservatism of Hamilton
planned.
The danger which, at that period, threatened the
nation's strength, has to be encountered now from
the South. It was threefold: —t was " the coincidence, said Jefferson, in 1820, of a marked principle,
moral and political, with a geographical line."
1st. A geographical line,-that drawn by the
climate of the South.
2nd. A moral principle,- Slavery.
3rd. A political principle,-Oligarchy.
Earlier, he had indicated the forces which he
then believed, and which we now believe, will
overthrow all enemies of the nation, viz., Republican Principles, the great extent of the territory,
and the principle of State Government. He declared
(1811) that "Lthe Republicans are the nation,"*
and that the Government owed its permanence to
the great extent of the country,:" and the smaller
portion, comparatively, that can ever be convulsed
Jefferson's Works, vol. v. p. 577, 593.




288                HISTORY.            [BooK III.
at one time by local passion."  " But," said he,
" the true barriers of our liberty are State Governments, and the wisest conservative power ever
contrived by man, is that of which our revolution
and present Government (1811) found us possessed."
Nevertheless, the threefold strength of the South
fights now its inevitable fight.  Oligarchy, —(and
Slavery, its extreme outcome) surviving by
Compromise, and also through the failure in the
South of Jefferson's schemes of thorough and universal Edcucation, which is the conservatism of
Democracy,-Oligarchy still wields much of the
force of the Hierarchical principle. In 1774 this
existed there in entails and primogeniture, monopoly
of offices and concentration of wealthl —in fact, in
politics, in society, and in religion.  The war did
not continue long enough then to subdue this Oligarchy to the necessities of national Unity, or to
the principles of Equality so decidedly developed
in the North in 1801 and 1802, when Maryland
introduced universal suffrage, Ohio made judges
removable at fixed periods, and voluntary contributions for religion were adopted inl the South
even earlier than in the North.
But the danger was seen and pointed out. John
Adams, in 1775, declared that " an alteration of the
Soutlzern Constitutions, which must certainly take
place if this war continues, will gradually bring all
the continent nearer and nearer to each other in
all respects." And in 1776, Jefferson considered
four Bills, of which he was the mover and draftsman, as forming a system, by which every fibre would
be eradicated of ancient and future aristocracy, and




CiAP. II.]     DE-NATIONALISATION.          289
a foundation laid for a Government truly republican.
He uttered then a warning and a prophecy, which
we have already quoted, and the fulfilment of which
accounts for the present war.  The nation was left
unmade for fear of a " convulsion.',' It has nowt to
be r-emade by means of it.
The root of the evil was in the principle of
Oligarchy as developed and localised in the interest of Slavtery. This principle expressed itself
in the following items of the Constitution.
Article 1st (Section 2), in apportioning representatives and direct taxation, adds " to the whole
number of free persons, excluding Indians not
taxed, three-fifths of all other persons."
Section 9, "lThe migration, or importation of
such persons (meaning Slaves) as any of the States
now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not
be prohibited by the Congress prior to 1808, but a
tax may be imposed on such importation."
Article 4 (Section 2) provides for the delivering
up of any;" person held to service or labour in one
State, under the laws thereof, escaping into anothellr.
Faithlessness to Principle has confounded the
meaning of words, the truth of things, the balance
of parties, and the statesmanship of the founders of
the Constitution.
A I"free" individual meant a free whzite indin
vidual.  "Slave rights" soon got to mean the
-r




290             IttSTO RY.           [BgooK ItL.,
right of States to hold Slaves at the risk of the
Union; and so for several generations the negro
was lost to the State as a citizen, and his labour has
supported the slaveholder in rebellion.
State rights, and negro wrongs, thus meant the
necessity of combining with all the disaffected
everywhere against the freedom and political value
of the negro, and the supreme authority of the
Union.
The " rights" of man, State, and nation, thus
meant one thing South, and another North, till
this conflict of opinion was found to be, and called
" irrepressible."
Between New York merchants with Southemr
principles, compromise politicians, and " Southern "
Presidents:, on the one side, and Southern slave
barons on the other, (as between Judas and Beelzebub) it would, thirty years ago, have puzzled
even the King of the Belgians to choose.
Freedom and national unity were universally
inculcated. Slavery was left to municipal action,
and expected to die out; but it soon became a
national question, affecting, first, the competence of
the individual State, and then the unity, and power,
and peace of the country.
The States were sovereign in a municipal capacity.
The Union was sovereign in a national capacity.
The question was whether Slavery was a municipal matter, or no,-as though a law of the Infinite
could be municipal only. That question ceased for
ever, save inl the brain of doctrinnaires and fools,




CHAP. II.]    DE-NATIONALISATION.          2'91
when Slavery made war on the nationz, and settled
its nationality so.
~
In 1790, seven States were free, and six slave,
and the Free States contained 1,786,499 souls, and
the Slave States 1,852,506.  But so powerfully
did population gravitate towards freedom, that in
1860 these balanced populations had become, in
Free States, 18,950,759, and in the Slave, 12,433,409.
In 1790, the debates showed the Carolinas and
Georgia to be what is now called " the South,"
and even Virginian and Maryland representatives
seemed hostile to Slavery. Emancipation, though
doubtless difficult then; became more difficult every
year.
In 1791-2, Vermont and Kentucky were admitted, the one slave, the other free,
In 1793, the first fugitive Slave law was enacted.
It was thought quite unimportant, and many free
States passed "personal liberty Bills," which tendered it a dead letter. Thus free municipality
met the doctrine that "' Slavery was a municipal
matter."
In 1793 the Cotton gin invented by a Northerneri
a Massachusetts man, and spinning jennies and
carding machines, about the same time in Eng.
land, gave an immense stimulus to the Cotton
trade. In 1791, the first mill was erected in the
United States; in 1794, the crop was 4,000,000
lbs.; and in 1806, Liverpool received from the
United States 47 per cent. of all imported there,*
-x' British Quarterly, p. 359. 1849.
Ut 2




292               HISTORY.           [BooK III.
From 1804 to 1806, repeated attempts of the
Sections were made in Congress to admit Slavery
into the North-West territory, and they were
defeated.
In the 8th Congress also, that body was invited
to prohibit Slavery in the territory of Louisiana,
and to check African Slavery, but at the intercession of South Carolina the matter was allowed to
rest.
In 1804 was held the first republican caucus.
Jersey became a free State. The seventh and
last freed State of the old Confederacy.
In 1808, the African Slave Trade was abolished.
In 1812, Louisiana was admitted, with Slavery,
which had been legalised there, under both Spanish
and French rule. This was a momentous event.
Also in this year the Declaration of War against
England was voted by 79 members, of whom 62
resided South of the Delaware, and by 19 senators,
of whom 14 resided South.
In 1814, a movement to give to separate States
more fireedom of action and independence, was
made by ilassachusetts, RIhode Island, and Connecticut, and called the Hartford Convention, but
soon fell tlrough.  Slavery appears not to have
been mixed up with this movement, and the event
tends to show that the nation was consolidating
fast, and that no project of disunion could be
urged that was not dictated and maintained by the
industrial and political necessities of the mighty
Slave-holding interest.
In 1817, the Colonisation Society was organised.




CHAP. II.]    DE-NATIONALIZATION.          293
In 1816-17-18, Indiana, Mississippi, and Illinois
were admitted. Two free) to one slave.
In 1819, the Slave Trade was prohibited under
penalty of Death; but the Slave labour system
now gave unity and a fixed aim  to the whole
South, and the battle has raged ever since.
The 11 Missouri Compromise" itself was not a compromise in the sense of a gratuitous abandonment of
principle,-it was the result of a severe and prolonged conflict,-a part of the great battle for
nationality and freedom.
In February, 1819, came on the discussion of what
is called the MISSOURI COMPROMISE. When
the Bill to admit Missouri was submitted, a double
amendment was proposed. lst, to prohibit further introduction of Slavery therein;-2ndly, that
slaves born therein after admission of the State
should be free after 25 years of age. The 1st
clause gained a majority of 87 votes against 76;
the 2nd clause, 82 against 78. The Bill thus
amended passed by 98 to 56; but the Senate struck
it out, [there being, by the 1810 census, 182 representatives to 50 senators.] Upon this discussion
Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Ohio, New
Jersey, and Indiana, agitated, and emphatically
declared against Slavery, both in popular assemblies, and in the State legislatures.
In the next Congress (16th) the Bill with prohibition clause, again passed the House, 91 to 82,
a greater majority than before; but the Senate




2.94              HISTORY.            [Boox III.
tagcdn (now 54, to 213 representatives) struck out
the prohibition clause as to Missouri, and the restriction on Slavery in all other territory North of
36~ 30' was afterwards carried, 134 to 42.
In characterising the American people on this
vote, it must be remembered that the Senate is
renewed every six years, and the representatives
every two years, also that the Senate is a fixed
quantity, two for each State, and does not vary
with population. In reference also to ftuture territorial questions, it must be noted that the whole
Missouri Debate is a proof that no right existed by
the Constitution to introduce Slavery.
In 1820, therefore, when President Monroe submitted to his Cabinet two questions,-the first,
"Has Congress the constitutional power to pros
hibit Slavery in a territory?" the unanimous
answer was;" Yes."
The second related to the Missouri Compromise.
Whether the prohibition of Slavery contained
therein, and using the term 1" for ever," meant forever while such other territory should remain
"territory," or "for ever" in the plain sense of
the word, so as to prohibit Slavery in States
erected thereout?  Adams thought for ever meant
for ever. The others thought it meant a mere territorial for ever. This point was not publicly
rmooted, and  Calhoun  suggested  the dodge of
phrasing the inquiry in general terms, —" Was the
proviso constitutional?" To this all could say ": Yes,"
and in writing, each reserving his own meaning. The
writing was deposited in the archives of the State,
whence they have since disappeared. Thus Monroe




CHAP. II.]   DE-NATIONALIZATION.           295
had signed the Missouri proviso in a different sense
from that of Congress. Therefore the South gained
Missouri by false pretences, and the majority of
representation was against that "Compromise."
In 1826, the "s Panama Mission," for mutual
defence against European aggressions, was supported in the House, after long discussions, 133 to
61.  Delegates from  Columbia, Peru, Central
America, and Mexico, had constituted this Congress.
In 1820, on Missouri presenting her Constitution,
keeping outt free negroes, the North considered the
prohibition clause defiant and insulting, and at
first refused to admit,-even with that clause expunged,-by a division of 146 against 6.
The Tariff was not, except with factions, and
fractions, and "politicians," an item  of " compromise," nor was Free Trade then an axiom in
economics. Taxation must be direct or indirect,
and the South was not likely to vote for direct
taxation of its own chattels, even in the proportion
of three-fifths. Indirect taxation only reaches consumers, and the very servant girls of the North
consume more taxable articles than the whole
naked and barbarous South.
As a writer of that day remarked, "; it was Demo"  cratic in all the South to protect domestic manuL" factures, and force regulations of trade on -the
c people of the East; but now it is democratic
c with many, and not in the South only, to stand
": violently opposed to domestic manufactures,"




296.       HISTORY.            FTBoo: III
Up to 1812 the revenue system had afforded incidental protection to American industry, and in
1816 Clay supported the first protection Tariff
Bill, and was seconded by Calhoun and Lowndes
of South Carolina, on the ground of its advantages
to the Cotton growing interest:, but was opposed
by Webster, and most of the members of the
Eastern States. In 1817 this Tariff was amended,
increasing the duties and adding firesh articles to
the list, and such was the unanimity, that on the
Woollen and Cotton Goods Act, continuing duties
for seven years, there were but three dissenting
voices - in the Senate, and sixteen in the House.
In 1819 there was a general call for relief from
bad state of trade, and a Bill for Protection of
Manufacturers passed the Representatives, 88 to 69,
and was defeated by the Senate, 22 to 21. In 1824
a Bill passed both houses by a slight majority, 107
and 25, against 102 and 22. According to Nile's
Register, the agricultural vote carried this Bill, representing 95 votes from grain-growing States,
against 57 votes from planting States. In 1828, the
Tariff was readjusted, and passed, 109 and 26 to
91 and 21. In 1829-30 a Bill further promoting
Protection of Manufacturers, and of Revenue from
Frauds was passed. In 1831-2 was passed, 132 to 65,
and 32 to 16, a Bill diminishing the rate per cent.
on imports, which it was hoped would propitiate
the South. But for ten years South Carolina had
waged a vindictive war against the Tariff. On the
Bank, Tariff, and Improvements Bills, she had
been (in 1790-1 and 1816) first in advocating the
* H.olmes' "Parties and their Principles," p. 78. t Ibid. p. 82.




CHAP. I.T]    DE-NATIONALIZATION.           297
sovereign power of Congress.  But in 1828, her
representatives had threatened resignation, and
she now became the advocate of State rights.
Since then South Carolinian policy has been to
tax all imports, except such sorts as the North
manufactured, and this from jealousy of free-trade
labour.  Otherwise there has been no sectional advocacy of direct taxation, or chiefly ill the NorthWestern or grain countries, the strongest Union
countries. Louisiana has been more protected than
any other section, by tax on sugar, which is mostly
consumned in the North. The South, in fact, taxed
the Union. It may be said to have paid nothing.
Having monopolised the Government, it has artificially contrived the Tariff to relieve itself, and has
consumled of national funds, in office monopolies,
and expenditure on its own sections, more, according to free populations, than its entire tax.  Carolinian policy has been intensely protective as to
itself and ultra free trade as to the North.
But not only this. The South has taxed the
whole cotton world.  No instance ever existed of a
pure Slave Power that did not live and feed on
others. The West Indies leant on England. The
South, on a complication of monopolies and protections.
"Jove fixed it certain that whatever dav
Makes man a Slave, takes half his worth away."
Millions on millions, for 40 years, has the South
taxed the whole Cotton-buying world, to support
a bad system of culture, and an infamous system
of Government. One million a year, since 1815,




298                 HISTORY.             [BooR III.
for the Slave squadron.  Ten millions a year,
lately, before the war, for monopoly price of
Cotton, and millions every year since 1846. Again,
through buying of the barbarous South, our yearly
imports have exceeded exports thereto by millions,
and thus our transactions have been deranged, our
circulation injured, and our specie withdrawn.
We may add that Mr. Buchanan, inaugurated in
1857, held " property in man, and Tariff duties,
and protection to manufacturers."
In 1827, Georgia had resolved to submit only to
State construction of the Federal compact, and in
November, 1832, the day after the passing of the
Tariff Act, a convention met in South Carolina
and declared void the Tariff Act, void any act of
Congress authorizing force, and void the obligalions of that State to the general Government,
from the date of any such Act. The State Legislature also ordered 10,000 stand of small arms to be
procured, and the requisite military munitions. By
a policy of strength and conciliation this question
was put to rest.
The spectre of secession was quelled for the time
by President Jackson, who was empowered to
coerce Carolina, and the " Enforcement Bill" passed
the Senate, 32 to 1, and the House, 150 to 35.*
Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Delaware,
Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, and
Alabama, and even Georgia, denounced nullifica* Jackson afterwards declared that had Calhoun and his
fellow conspirators persisted, he would have hanged them " as
a terror to traitors to all time, and that posterity would have
declared it the best act of his life."




CHAP. IL.]   DE-NATIONALIZATION.          299
tion. Virginia acted the part of conciliator. Jackson issued his famous constitutional proclamation,
declaring the Constitution and the laws made
under it to be the supreme law of the land, —
State laws or Constitutions, notwithstanding. In
1833, Clay's Compromise Tariff passed.
We have now- the decisive authority of Mr.
Cobden, who travelled in America in 1859, that
" there was then no party formed, no public agita-'" tion, no discussion whatever upon the subject of
free trade and protection." *
Henceforward Slavery absorbed and involved
all other questions, and the battle was desperate.
Cotton monopolies had empowered, and Slavery
had envenomed the South, and free progress and
principle empowered and confirmed the North.
At risk of national freedom and life, by losses
through a barbarous system of cultivation, by the
suppression of the Slaves nationality; at the risk
of starvation and commotions in England, and of
the destruction of the American Union, the South
has been upheld until now. Yet it comnplains of
protection, and its advocates would have the world
believe that the North had compromised its antislavery opinions for the sake of a Tariff!
In fact, in 1861, the South itself adopted a tariff
similar in scale to that of the United States Bill of
1857.
The North did not expunge Slavery from the
Constitution because all parties believed it to be
evanescent. The coming decennial period, ending
1830, proved that human nature was against
* Speech at Rochdale, Nov. 1868.




300               HISTORY.            [BooK II.
Slavery, and inaugurated that final term of struggle,
wherein the South, by unity and desperation, would
fain have retrieved the victory in the battle that
Freedom and the North had set against it.




HISTORY.
CHAPTER III.
1833- 1860.
BATTLE.
DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.
"The immediate peril arises from the fact, that the incessant and
violent agitation of the Slavery Question throughout the North,
for the last quarter of a century, has at length produced its malign
influence on the slaves, and inspired them with vague notions of
freedom."-Buchanan's Message, Dec. 1860.
" We assert that fourteen of the States have deliberately refused
for years past to fulfil their constitutional obligations, and we refer
to their own Statutes ("Personal liberty Bills," rendering in.
operative the Fugitive Slave Law) for the proof."
Declaration of Causes of Secession, South Carolina.
"You may destroy the Oak as effectually by girdling it as by
cutting it down.
" It cannot be doubted that an administration of the Government
based upon this policy (of having for its prime object the repression of Slavery as a permanent administrative policy, with a view
to its ultimate extinction,) could operate far more effectually in
bringing about the extinction of Slavery in the South, through
official influence and patronage, than by any more direct mode of
attack."- The Hon. John Bell, of Tennessee.
" VWe are told by the leading spirits of the South Carolina Convention, that, neither the election of Mr. Lincoln, nor the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, nor both combined, constitute
their grievances. They declare that the real cause of their discontent dates as far back as 1833." —Governor Hicks, to the people of
Maryland.




BATTLE.
"The question meant everywhere,' Is there anything of nobleness
in. you, 0 nation, or is there nothing?' Are there, in this nation,
enough of heroic men to venture forward, and to battle for God's
truth versus the devil's falsehood, at the peril of life and more P
AIen who prefer death, and all else, to living under falsehood,two, once for all, will not live under falsehood; but having drawn
the sword against it (the time being come for that rare and important step), throw away the scabbard, and can say in pious clearness,
with their whole soul:'Come on, then! Life under falsehood is
not good for me; and we will try it out now. Let it be to the
death between us then!' Once risen into this divine whiteheat of
temper, were it only for a season, and not again, the nation is
th.enceforth considerable through all its remainzing history.  What
immensities of dross and crypto-poisonous matter will it not burn
out of itself in that high temperature in the course of a few years!
Witness Cromwell and his Puritans-making England habitable
even under the Charles-Second terms for a couple of centuries more,
Nations are benefited, I believe, for ages, by being thrown once
into divine whiteheat in this manner. And no nation that has not
had such divine paroxysms at any time is apt to come to much."
"He who wants that (Loyalty to the Maker of this universe),
what else has he, or can he have P If you do not, you man or you
nation, love the truth enough, but try to make a chapman bargain
with truth, instead of giving yourself wholly, soul and body, and
life to her, truth will not live with you, truth will depart from you;
and only logic,' wit' (for example, London wit), sophistry, verti,
the Esthetic arts, and perhaps (for a short while) book keeping by
double entry will abide with you. You will follow falsity, and
think it truth, you unfortunate man or nation, You will right
surely, you for one, stumble to the devil; and are every day and
hour, little as you imagine it, making progress thither."
"He that will prefer dilettantism in this world for his outfit,
shall have it; but all the gods will depart from him; and manful
veracity, earnestness of purpose, devout depth of soul, shall no
more be his."
" Nations did not so understand it, but the question of questions
for them, at that time decisive of their historyfor half a thousand
years to come, wuas, TWill you obey the heavenly voice, or will you
not?"- Carlyle.




CzHAP. III.]   DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.               303
CONTENTS.
Power and Population. — Collision guaranteed. —Decennial
redistribution of Representatives.-Gravitation of power to
free States. —Three parties; North, South, and Compromise. —
Squatter Sovereignty for the North.-Future Policy of South.
-Three Points.-Penal laws against Abolition, Slave Trade,
Territorial Slavery, and Secession.-Terrorism, armed Einigration, and the Slave trade, versus Political Economy and Democracy.-A PoIieC or DESPAIR.-Slavery attempts murder, and
commits Suiecide.-The North has rallied victoriously after
every aggression-Anti-Slavery efforts since the beginning of
the Union.-In 1833, Anti-Slavery Society formed and numerous auxiliaries.-Meetings, pamphlets, and agitations.-$50,000
for an abolitionist.-Penal repression demanded.-In 1836,
Anti-Slavery petitions were neither printed nor referred to.In 1836, 27,000 petitions. —Next Session 110,000.-In 1845,
the restriction was removed.-In 1840, ABOLITION CANDIDATB
for President and Vice. —In 18836-7, Texas recognised.-In 1839
Florida war really against fugitive Slaves.-Cost 20 million
dollars. —an Buren defeated by 234 to 60, 18414.-Texan
Compromise in 1848.-New  Mexico and Upper California
annexed.-The war had been a Slaveholders' war, and cost 130
million dollars.-The WIL:MOT PROvISO, prohibiting Slaves in
all Mexican conquests was adhered to by free-soil party,
weakening the Democrats. — 1840 the House passed the
Willot proviso, 110 to 89; but Senate rejected it. —Real
Government had long been by Convention.-In 1840, the
"liberty party" was organised, and its vote less than 7000.In 1844, 60,000. —In 1848, as the "free soil party," it was
290,000.-In 1844, Slavery was prohibited in Oregon, by
amendment of 85 to 56; but failed to pass the Senate. — In
1848, it was prohibited, 129 to 71, and passed Senate after
long struggle.-The Slave party began to deny right of legislation on Slavery in Territories.-1849, Speaker, and Wilmot
proviso, 62 ballots.-CoMrmoMIsEs  or 1850. -Presidential
campaign of 1862.-The Whig platform  accepted the Compromises as "final." —The Democrats resolved that Congress
had no, power over Slavery, and that Abolitionists were




304                   HISTORY.                [BooK III.
dangerous.-The FREE DEMOCRACY PRINCIPLES were Free soil,
Free land, no extension of Slavery, &c. 157,000 votes.-The
compromise Whigs died of Fugitive Slave Law. —The Slave
Democrats triumphed. — 1853, of the Louisiana purchase
Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas were slave, and Iowa and
Minnesota free. —1854, The KANsAs-NEBRASKI Bill repealing
the Missouri Compromise, (prohibiting Slavery elsewhere North
of 36' 30',) now passed.-Mr. Chase's amendments.-1856,
Kansas, free or slave. —Missouri Desperadoes at the poll.Importance of Kansas.-Speeches of Wade and Upham against
Whigs and Compromise.-Kansas Free State Constitution
passed the House and failed in Senate. —Brooke expelled.NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION at Philadelphia. —Union
and Anti-Slavery.-Charged on Pierce the Kansas outrage; and
threatened the guilty.-Democratic platform at Cincinnati.State rights.-Limited federal power.-Fugitive Slave Law and
Squatter sovereignty.-Democrats nominally triumphed, but
Free party had multiplied eight-fold since 1852.-1857, Buchanan sent the Kansas Slave Constitution to  Congress,
though it had been rejected by the majority.-DRED SCOTT
CASE; momentous results.-Free soil party gains strength.South prepares for next election by clearing off all free
negroes.-Resume thus far.
GIVEN, a Constitution recognizing Slavery, and
also re-apportioning representative Power to Population every 10 years,-and political economy and
human nature, which happen to be on the side of
Freedom, will guarantee an early collision between
Slavery and  the Representative power.  Slavery
must be all or nothing, and it cannot be all in a
fi-ee country.
The great facts of the gravitation of population
towards the free States, and of decennial re-distribution of representatives according to population, —
facts above and before almost all others in the
constitution and democratic polity of the United




CxAP. III.]   DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.   305
States, must be deeply pondered by those who
would charge its populations generally with lukewarmness as to freedom, or with a conservatism
that prefered the constitution to justice, for in this
free population-power and right, the doom  of
Slavery was assured, even before its birth.
Population meant power. Power would certainly
enact the interests of Population. Population and
power were gravitating Northwards and Westwards. The interests of North and West were
anti-Slavery.
These facts dictated the political logic of parties,
and mapped out beforehand the inevitable battlefields. The Senate-power, —two votes for each
State, was stationary. The representative-power
was advancing, receding, stationary, or progressive, according to population. The ratio being,
in 1790, one in 33 thousand; in 1830, one in
47,700.  The electoral votes for President and
Vice-President ranged also from 3 to 35 per State,
according to Population. Given, then, this numberpower of the American constitution, and the Slavepower of the South, and from the nature of men
and of things, there must spring three parties, and
policies,-the national or anti-Slavery party, with
its power naturally augmenting-the Southern or
pro-Slavery party, and a third which worshipped
the Union, and thought to save it by compromise.
Up to 1830, Slavery maintained an unequal
fight for States; but the census of that year revealed a fact, which in connection with the law
apportioning representatives to population, bad the
x.




306               HISTORY.           [BooK III.
Slave Power do or die. Henceforward Slavery
absorbed and involved all other questions.
The census of 1830, showed decisively the North
and the North-West increasing, and the South decreasing. In other words, it showed that power
was travelling Northwards and Freedomwards
with the population.
It showed that even should the South succeed in
acquiring nominal "c Slave States," they would
speedily be filled up by a Population that would
send representatives to vote against Slavery. In
fact:" Squatter Sovereignty" was already arrayed
with the North.
~
Henceforward the policy of the South was crystalline, radical, and absolute. Penal laws against
abolitionists.-More Slave States. —Expansion of
Slavery through " Territory."-Re-opening of Slave
trade, to use the political and economic elements of
new States in the struggle that approached. These
failing, there remained Secession. Without these,
soon, and with them, late, the South, sterile, doomed,
beaten, outnumbered, outvoted, would not only be
infamous,-but weak.
Political economy having declared against the
South, — and that mighty democratic-conservative
provision for re-distribution of representatives to
population, having also declared against it,-it remnained to see what fear could do,-whether by
terrorism, insult, conspiracy, and threats of secession, American democracy would compromise its
character and its future, in order to avoid or to




CEiP. III.] DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.      307
postpone a struggle.  Whether America would
become an accomplice in overturning itself by
denying the laws of God and of nature, or whether
there were righteous men enough to save the
nation.
The only question was, whether America would
be kind enough to get up a pose plastique of
suicide, because the South wished for "1company
in hanging."
The Policy of the South was a POLICY oF
DESPAIR, but such as it was, it was as logical as
necessity, and as unavoidable as fate.
1. To league with the party of compromise,
with sectional, corrupt, and anti-national parties,
in the North, with the party of the waverers, the
most numerous in all countries.
2. To occupy by armed emigration and violence,
the new ground of future States,-to introduce
Slavery, and commit them to it by interest, by
menace, or by the force of a fait accompli —gaining
thus the Senatorial vote, the representative power,
and also the electoral power
3. To reintroduce the Slave Trade, in order to
accommodate the mean Whites with i" free trade in
niggers," to cultivate and people the new States, and
utilise them, politically and industrially, for Slavery.
Since 1818, when the Missouri question drew
on, and old party lines became extinct, and the
question of Slavery supreme, the far-reaching statecraft of the South saw its policy, and adhered to it
with subtlety, tenacity and desperation.  It has
fought a losing battle against the progress of
Population, and the interests of free Societies, but
x2




308                HISTORY...          [ Boox III.
it has fought with the discipline, organisation, and
unity, common to all oligarchies.
Thus was fought out,-by the space of 80 years
the great fight between Despotism and Democracy,
-the former boasting the most favourable conditions under which it has ever defied attack or
assaulted its hereditary foe. Despotism has had
three or four millions of Slaves for its industrial
support,-four or five millions of white trash,
degraded, desperate, bound up body and soul with
it, to fight its battles, and it has had statesmen and
generals, and a body corporate of 190,000 slaveholders, to prepare, organise, and arm the mass.
Despotism nevertheless fails.
Democracy has had an unfair field, a disastrous
start, and certainly no favour, and it is winning
because it is a Democracy, because (we are not
using the term according to the slang of the parties) the individual man-power of the nation, has
had room to expand, and scope enough to act.
The world has never seen tried a mightier issue, —
mightier for the future than the past.  The genius
of democracy has at last tried conclusions with its
enemies, and so American democracy, refusing to
perish with Slavery, has become its executioner.
The history of the next 30 years is, in fact, one
word.  Slavery attempts murder and commits
suicide. From the great constitutional repulse in
the attempt at nullification, dates the conspiracy of
the South. From the hour when Slavery attained
a certain growth, it dictated to the Slave States




CH1AP. III.] DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.       309
proper, one solitary and inextricable issue,-Dominate or Die. Destroy the nation or yourselves.
Fight you for " Empire," and force the nation to
fight, not for I" Independence," but for existence.
In this issue the whole Slave South was gradually
enveloped, but the nation was too strong for it.
Nullification failed. The other form of secession was tried, and the history of the attempt
involves three results.
Ist. States at first too bad to abandon Slavery,
and too good to abandon the Union, were, in the
year 1860, by the weakness of a false position,
involved in the crime and the penalties of Secession. They have been used on both sides, and
have been the chief battle-fields.
2nd. In the republic of the People we find this
law. Every political aggression of the South, however apparently successful andfinal,-was followed,
step by step, in the struggle, by a victorious rally
against it.
3rd. The logic of the South "to do or die,"
meeting the logic of the North, and challenging
the omnipotence of the moral force of free institutions based upon the universal People,-fails before
it. The Principles of Aristocracy and Democracy
contend. That is all. And the right, which is
God, succeeds.
The People is too truly the People. The real
Democracy is too pure a Democracy. The universal is the universal. The few, the oligarchy, the
Slaveocracy, is in America not enough entrenched
behind corporate class interests, and high political
and social vantage ground, and so tkere we shall




310               HISTORY.          [BooK III.
find that the final universal issue is also the specific one.
From the origin of the Federal Government,
petitions had been presented against the Slave
Trade and Slavery.
In 1833, the National Anti-Slavery Society was
formed, and numerous auxiliaries. Public meetings in the North denounced Slavery, and Public
meetings in the South denounced abolitionists as
enemies of the Union. Abolition meetings were
broken up, and the speakers mobbed. The Legislature of Georgia offered $5000 for the delivery
there of William Lloyd Garrison, the editor of a
paper started to advocate immediate emancipation.
A war of Anti-Slavery documents began. The
Governor of Alabama, made a requisition upon
the Governor of New York, for the delivery of the
publisher of the New York " Emancipator," and
$50,000 were offered by a vigilance committee in
Louisiana, for the delivery of Arthur Tappan, a
New York abolitionist.
Pro-Slavery meetings were held in the North,
but the " Richmond Whig" declared " all to be
sounding brass and tinkling cymbal," without
penal enactment against abolitionists, who, according to the " Southern Patriot," were " at war with
"4 every moral duty, and suggestion of Humanity."
A meeting in South Carolina resolved for disunion with liberty and property, if the murderous
designs of the abolitionists were not restrained by
penal laws from interfering with tleir slave pojpulation. A resolution soon after passed Congress, 129
to 74, against interference with Slavery in the




CHAP. III.]  DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.      311
district of Columbia. Northern Whigs cast this
vote.
In May, 1836, it was resolved, by large majorities, that Anti-Slavery petitions should be neither
printed nor referred, and that no action be had
thereon.
Mr. Adams refused to vote, and demanded to
enter his protest, and, day by day, amidst a tempest of abuse, persevered in presenting petitions.
In 1836, there were only 37,000 petitions. Next
session there were 110,000. One motion against
petitions was met by 300,000 petitioners, and
Northern legislatures denounced the restriction,
which was not however rescinded till 1845. Five
times,-in 1836, 1837, 1837, 1838, and 1840, resolutions against reception of these petitions were
passed, by majorities declining from 51 and 58, to 6,
till, in 1845, the North triumphed, and they were
admitted.
An attempt to prohibit conveyance of abolitionist
papers by public mails, was also made and failed.
In 1838, the great Abolition Society was formed,
for immediate emancipation.
In 1839, the abolitionist party first started candidates of their own for President, and Vice.
In 1836 Michigan entered free, and in 1836 and
1845, Arkansas and Florida, both slave.
In 1836-7, the independence of Texas was recognised. It had rebelled against Mexico in 1835.
The legislature of that republic had abolished
Slavery in 1824. The South proposed to annex
Texas in order to re-establish it.
In 1837 began the " Patriot War" for a reform
in the Canadian government.




312              IHISTORY.           [Bdx III,.
In 1839, the war with Florida occupied much
attention, requiring large appropriations, and in
1840 it was almost universally denounced. It
cost 20 million dollars, was really aimed at fugitive
slaves, and injured its promoters. Van Buren was
denounced as h"a Northern man with Southern
principles," and his rival elected President by 234
to 60.
In 1841, Harrison's inaugural " depreciated agitation against Slavery, and expressed a devout confidence in the Christian religion."  Also, a petition
for dissolution of the Union was rejected, 106
to 40.
In 1842, the ratio of representatives to population was altered to one in 70,680.
In 1844, the South insisted on the admittance of
TEXAS, and it was accomplished, her independence having been maintained for eight years,
but Slavery was prohibited " in such State or
" States as should be formed out of said territory
" north of the Missouri compromise line."  The
division in the House on third reading was 120
to 98. The Bill, however, was not passed in the
Senate till it had been amended.
The Oregon Bill was now introduced, and an
amendment by Mr. Winthrop, of Massachusetts,
prohibiting Slavery, carried by 85 to 56, but the
bill failed in the Senate. Northern Democrats
would make no issue against Slavery, and joined
the South as to Texas and Oregon. Their candidate pledged himself " The whole of Oregon or
none, with or without, war with England."
In 1845, Polk, the new Slave Democratic President, violated the constitution by ordering troops




CHAP. III.]  DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.     313
into Mexico (Texas), and thus levying war, also
making false and hypocritical charges against
Mexico.
Mr. Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, moved the "o WILMOT PROVISO," prohibiting Slavery from  all
territory that might be acquired from M-fexico. It
was carried, but the House adjourned, and the bill
failed to pass.  In the next session the Wilmot
Proviso passed, 110 to 89, but was rejected in the
Senate, 31 to 21.
In 1846, Iowa was admitted, free. Since then
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas.
In 1848, New Mexico and Upper California
were ceded to the United States, who paid Mexico
15 million dollars. The war cost 130 millions of
dollars, and was a slaveholders' war.
After the treaty, the American Secretary of
State wrote to the American Charge in Mexico,
that the war had been in self-defence against the
abolition policy of Great Britain, so dangerous to
the Slave States and to the Union.
~
The Free-soil party, adhering to the Wilmot Proviso now divided and weakened the democratic
party, and objected to a Slaveholding President.
The real Government had long been by convention, which nominated candidates for Presidents,
and discussed and settled the policy to which he
should be pledged.
In 1840, the " Liberty party" perfected its
organisation, but the vote was less than 7,000. In
1844 it was more than 60,000. In 1848 it was




314               HISTORY.           [BooK III.
organised as the:" Free-soil party," and the vote
was more than 290,000. Its convention at Buffalo
" declared that Congress could not make a slave.
" That Government ought to free itself from
" Slavery, wherever it could constitutionally, and
" that no more Slave States should be admitted."
In 1848, the progress of the Free-soil party was
demonstrated by the fact, that the Slave party, in
discussing a Government for OREGON, did not
agitate for the introduction of Slavery there, but
simply denied the right or power of Congress to
legislate on that interest in the territories. The
Senate pro-Slavery Bill passed, 33 to 22. However) Slavery was prohibited in the Oregon territory, by 129 against 71, and the Bill passed after a
protracted struggle with the Senate.
In 1849, in the election of Speaker, a fight was
made over his acceptance of the Wilmot Proviso,
and 62 ballots were had thereupon without resulting in a choice.
In 1850, California was admitted, and chose free
institutions.
In 1850, on the organisation of the territory acquired of MEXICO, the difficulty was,-Slavery.
The attempt now to exclude the South from
territory acquired from Mexico, was cited by Calhoun as a proof of the danger of the Union, and the
destruction of the equilibrium by Anti-Slavery zeal.
The real issues in the great controversy of the
republic were now apparent, though the leaders
regarded the " Compromises of 1850" as a final
adjustment.  Henceforth Freedom  and  Slavery
contend in their own names, and the experience of




CrAP. III.]  DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.      315
all ages has repeated itself, that institutions tend
to be all slave or all free.'"THE  COMPROMISES OF 1850," were the
final effort of the statecraft of America to
ignore the rights of man, and the laws of human
nature.
The " Omnibus Bill," of 1850, which embodied
these compromises, proposed, amongst other things,
to dispense with the Wilmot proviso, to provide
for the return of fugitive slaves, and to continue
Slavery in the district of Columbia.  Successive
amendments reduced and destroyed all these provisoes. But they were afterwards passed in separate acts.
The Governor of Texas notified Government of
his determination to extend the jurisdiction and
authority of Texas into that part of New Mexico
east of Rio Grande. The Texan Boundary Bill
was passed. Also bills for the organisation of the
territory of New Mexico, &c.
The Soutlh, through Clay, conceded "s SQUATTER
SOVEREIGNTY," in return for a new, stringent, and
traitorous FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL, which passed the
Senate, 27 to 12, —the House, 109 to 75.  Also
the Bill for Abolition of Slave Trade in Columbia,
to which Mr. Seward moved an  amendment,
abolishing Slavery.
Thus far as to the "' Compromises of 1850," and
of the Representatives and the Senate, The People




316              HISTORY.           [BOOK III.:
met their treason with the roar and the bound of a
Lion.
The presidential campaign of 1852 presented
three platforms.
The WHIG PLATFORM accepted the Compromise
Acts of the 31st Congress, "as final in principle
and substance, and deprecated all further agitation," &c.
The DEMOCRATS resolved that Congress had no
power to control domestic institutions. That Abolitionists were dangerous to the happiness of the
People, and the permanence of the Union, &c.
Whigs and Democrats were in fact one. Both
rallied round Slavery and Fugitive Slave Laws, as
the pillars of the constitution.
The FREE DEMOCRACY met in national convention, and nominated their candidates for President and Vice. Their Principles were FREE
SOIL, FREE  LAND, NO EXTENSION  OF
SLAVERY, &c. Their candidate polled 157,000.
The Whig party was defeated. It died of an
attempt to swallow the Fugitive Slave Law, which
a powerful section of Northern Whigs would not
accept, being opposed generally to the extension
of Slavery.
The Slave Democrats triumphed, but the power
of the Free Democrats, and the divided state of
the Whigs, clearly fore-shadowed a re-construction
of parties.
In 1853, the Slave democrat, President Pierce,
declared the rights of the South constitutional, and
hoped that "no sectional, ambitious, or fanatical
excitement might again threaten our institutions."




CHAP. III.]    DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.    317
Further,-notwithstanding the Slave Question, " the
" devotion of distinguished citizens to the Union had
" given renewed vigour, and restored a sense of re" pose and security," &c.
Of the.tier of States facing the Mississippi on
the west, Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas, were
slave; Iowa and Minnesota, free. The Bill for
organising the vast region called Nebraska, was
now brought on. Neither friend nor foe had intimated that the Compromises of 1850 would void
the Missouri line. Nebraska was North of it.
But on the 15th December, 1853, Senator Dodge,
of Iowa, having submitted a Bill for its organisation, it was so amended as to supersede the Miissouri
line, declaring it annulled by the Compromises.
The reason for this was specious.  The " Compromises," included the organisation of territorial
Governments for Utah and New Mexico, formed out
of Mexican territory, but had negatived in relation
to them the Wilmot Anti-Slavery Proviso; and it
was said that as those Compromises, " rested on the
" great principles of self-government, the people
" should be allowed to decide questions of domestic
" Institutions for themselves."
The excitement through the North was intense;
but the amendment was sustained against Mr.
Chase's Motion, by 30 against 13, and afterwards
the following was substituted, 35 to 10:" Which (the Missouri restriction) being incon6 sistent with the principles of non-intervention by
~ Congress with Slavery in the states and territories,
as recognised by the Legislation of 1850, is hereby' declared imperative and void," the intent being




318                HISTORY.               [BooK III.
to leave Slavery to the regulation of the People,
&c.
This was the famous KANSAS-NEBRASKA Bill
of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise.
" KANSAS, free or slave," was the question of
1855-7. The Kansas question was more important
even than the Missouri question of 1819, for it involved it. The South marshalled all its ruffianism
to the conflict, and accordingly we are told* that
5000 Missouri desperadoes invaded Kansas, and
that of 8501 souls and 2905 voters upwards of 6000
polled, of which 4908 were illegal! The result
was what was called the " Bogus Legislature."
It is well known also that neither the Federal
troops, nor Federal President interfered, whilst the
invaders enacted, that any one, resident or not,
might vote, who should on the election day pay
one Dollar, and swear to the Fugitive Slave Law.
The importance of Kansas cannot be overstated.
As a Slave State it would stand out with Slaveholding Missouri, side by side, far into the free
North. As a free State it would, with free Iowa
and  Illinois, almost surround  Missouri.   The
Kansas-Nebraska Bill was the tocsin of the Union
and Anti-Slavery party. Senate Wade, of Ohio,
declared:
"The humiliation of the North is complete and overwhelming. No Southern enemy can wish her deeper degradation. I have all my life belonged to the great National Whig
party, and have never failed to support the regular candidates,
slaveholding or non-slaveholding. The South has made up the
issue,-put the North at defiance, and declared sectional war
* "American Slavery and Colour," W. Chambers, London,
1858.




CHAP. III.]    DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.    319
for the mastery. I accept the issue. Slavery must now become
general, or it must cease to be at all. All further compromises
are at an end."
Also Mr. Upham, of Massachusetts:"Let those engagements (the Missouri Compromise, &c.)
be violated, from that hour the North is an unit, and the race
of dough faces disappears for ever. You have united the Free
States by this untimely, unprovoked, and astounding proposal,
in one unbroken, universal, and uncompromising resistance
of the Slave power everywhere. What has been pledged to
freedom shall be free for ever."
The famous protest of three thousand eight
hundred ministers of religion sent to the National
Legislature against the pro-Slavery measures and
compromises, from 1850 to 1854, now shows the
advent upon the stage of a power which never
appears except ultimately to conquer. It was the
infamous Mason, who, on this occasion, complained
that ministers of the Gospel were, of all others, the
most encroaching, and moved that the Petition be
not received!
In 1856, the Kansas Committee was voted to
investigate frauds and violence in the elections;
101 from  Free States voted for it,7 6 from  Slave
States against. The Committee reported violence
on the Ballot-box, organised invasions of voters
from Missouri; and void elections, &c.
The Kansas Free State Constitution, framed at
Topeka, was reported by them  regular, and the
Bill for admission under it passed the House, 99
to 97, after a close and prolonged battle; but it
failed in the Senate, only 16 Senators would vote
for it.
The excitement was universal and intense.  On




320              HISTORY.            [BooK III.
the 22nd May, 1856, Preston S. Brooks struck
down Mr. Charles Sumner in the Senate, and was
expelled.
~
In 1856, in anticipation of the presidential
campaign, many withheld support from either of
the two great Slave parties, Whigs and Democrats,
in disgust at the excesses of the Slave party.
The Anti-Nebraska, Fusion, or Republican party,
gained strength; and, in 1856, the NATIONAL
REPUBLICAN Convention met at Philadelphia.
Delegates were present from all Free States, and
several Slave.
It declared the primary object of the Government to be to secure " the right to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness." It denied the right of
Congress, of territorial legislature, or of any individual or association, to give existence to Slavery
in any territory. It asserted the right and duty of
Congress to prohibit in the territory " those twin
relics of barbarism-Polygamy and Slavery."  That
the Constitution was ordained to form a more perfect Union. That Kansas should be immediately
admitted with its present free Constitution. It invited men of all parties to concur.
The National Republican platform also distinctly
and categorically charged upon President Pierce,
and his administration, all the Kansas outrages,
murders, robberies, and arsons, —declared them to
have been done with tlheir knowledge, sanction,
and procurement; and for this higli crime against
the Constitution, tle Union, and Humanity, arraigned




CHXP. III.]    DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.    321
that Adminizstration, the President, his advisers,
agents, supporters, apologasts, and accomplices,
either before or after the fact, before the country
and the world, and declared it their fixed purpose
to bring the actual perpetrators to sure and sudden
punishment."
This was one of the most tremendous political
indictments ever framed, and one of the best established.
The DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM at Cincinnati resolved " that the American Democracy placed their
" trust in the intelligence, patriotism, and discrimi" nating (between White and Black?) justice of the; American people. That Federal Government was
" of limited power. That Congress had no power
" over State institutions, that abolitionists were
" dangerous, that Fugitive Slave Law must be
"Lmaintained,  Anti-Slavery agitation put down,
" squatter sovereignty maintained, partisan legis" lation and monopolies discouraged, the Monroe
" doctrine and free trade upheld, and ascendancy
" in the Gulf of Mexico secured," &c.
The Democrats nominally triumphed, gaining
174 electoral votes against 114 to the Republicans; and 1,834,337 of the popular vote against
1,341,812 to the Republicans. The votes were
almost entirely North and South.  The votes of the
Free Soil party had multiplied eight tinmes since 1852.
Pierce had ascended the Presidential Chair with
great popularity, and now his own friends would
not renominate him.
~
In 1857, President Buchanan, the Slave DemoY




322               HISTORY.            [BooK III.
crat, soon showed that he approved not only
4" Squatter," but mob-sovereignty also. The vote
on the fundamental law of Kansas as to Slaveholding was taken unfairly and illegally, and the
free soilers abstained from voting. Slave-holding
had been at first illegally adopted, by 6143 to 569,
and afterwards rejected, by a majority of 10,226.
Nevertheless Buchanan, the:" popular Sovereignty"
slave President, sent this minority Constitution to
Congress, and recommended its passage!!
Buchanan's message declares,-" Everywhere'" throughout the Union they (supporters of the
" Kansas-Nebraska Act) publicly pledged their
" faith and their honour, that they would cheer" fully submit the question of Slavery to the de" cision of the bona fide People of Kansas, without
" any restriction or qualification whatever!"
The Slave Constitution for Kansas passed the
Senate, 33 to 25.  In the House, the Crittenden
Compromise, submitting the Constitution to the
People, passed, 120 to 112, and afterwards the
Senate, agreeing to a similar proposal.
After exciting and stormy debates in both
Houses the Lecompton Slave Constitution was
again, under the name of the English Bill, submitted to the People of Kansas. If they rejected
it, they were to remain excluded until their ratio
of representation should be complete.
They rejected it by a majority of 9513.
The same year the "I DRED  SCOTT" case came
on.    d
* To understand this case, and the " platforms" of the time,




CHAP. III.]   DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.            323
Judge Daniel affirmed, that "' no other Property
is placed by the Constitution upon the samne high
ground" as the property in slaves.  Judge Taney
affirmed, there was "' no distinction between property in a slave and other property."
The case, in fact, involved t/e zwzole principle
and question of Slavery, for if Slavery attached to the
man, and not to the place, then by taking the slave
into free States, free States become slave States,
If, on the other hand, Slavery attaches to  the
place, and the slave cannot re-main such in a free
State, then, without frontiers or complicity), fugitive
Slave laws and slaves would be soon ended.
The Lecompjon C7onstitution, (recommended by
Buchanan), Article 7, Section 1, ordains that "6 the
Gr light of property is before and higher than any; constitutional sanction,  and the  right of the
4" owner of a slave to such slave, and its increase,
4" is the same, and as inviolable, as the right of the
l" owner of any property whatever."
Buchanan's message, December, 1858, affirmed
property in man, and that, whatever is held as
property in any of the States, may be equally so
held in the Territories, was a 6" well-established
position."  It also recommended a protection tariff
for manufacturers.
and Mr. Lincoln's subsequent remarks thereon, it must be
understood that American judges are not bound to follow
" cases" in point, but nmay reverse preceding judgments, if they
consider them " against the Constitution." See also De Tocqueville, p. 141, V. 1:-" Whenever a law, which the judge
"holds to be unconstitutional, is argued in a tribunal of the
"United States, he may refuse to admit it as a rule. This
"p' ower gives rise to immnense political ijluence."
Y 2




324                HIISTORY.            [BooK III.
Strong indications were now  manifest of the
re-opening of the Slave Trade in some of the
Southern States, which the Government lacked
ability or disposition to restrain.
All events, parties, and principles, were gravitating towards a decision for Freedom or Slavery.
The Chief Justice had held, in the Dred Scott
case, that "neither persons imported as slaves,
nor their descendants, whether free or not," were
intended as part of " the People."  " If anything
was settled that was."
In a message to the Senate, with the Kansas
Lecompton (Slave) Constitution, February 1858,
Buchanan declared:-" It has been solemnly ad" judgecd by the  highest Judicial tribunal that
" Slavery exists in Kransas by virtue of the Con6 stitution of the United States.  Kansas is, there" fore, at this oloment as rnuch a Slave State as
" Georgia or South Carolina."
The endeavours of parties to hush up the Slavery
question were frnitless, and the final issue approached.
The Slave Democrats, from  affirming power of
Congress to legislate for Territories, passed to
Squatter sovereignty, and thence to mob sovereignty,
thereby practically affirming the right to establish
Slavery in Territories, against territorial legislation.
Pending the Presidential Election, the South
began to set its Hozuse in order.  They passed laws
expelling all free negroes.  In 1859, the presentment of a South Carolinian grand jnry was, that
free negroes were a nuisance, and it recommended




CHAP. III.]   DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.      325
a law to relieve the community of them. They
were given till January 1860 to leave, and after
that, if found down South, were to be seized, and
hired out, or sold, and half the value paid to the
School Fund!
The up boats on the Mississippi were crowded.
All Whites travelling from the North or Europe
were spied upon. Discussion forbidden. Suspected
abolitionists were set upon by the White trash, and
thrashed, or served with a coat of tar, or worse.
In fact, the reign of terror and of vigilance committees was fairly inaugurated. The Sops of the
South had failed. Tile North could be neither
bribed nor drugged. The ascendancy of the free
soil party, and the population-power and influence
of the free Northl, was palpably increasing, and so,
while it could, the South held its carnival of license,
threats, duels, and violence —North, South, East,
and West.
Upon the whole history of the Slavery question
to this date, we observe1st. That the votes and sentiments of the majority,-of the People, were anti-Slavery.
2nd. That the votes of the Senate were almost
uniformly pro-Slavery.
3rd. That hence, we may infer that in America
the instructed Democracy has some reason to consider itself better instructed on these subjects, than
its betters.
4th. That Virginia, South Carolina, and other
" Slave States," began their career as portions ot




326                HISTORY.            [BooKr III.
the American nation by claiming for all Inlabitants
of the English colonies, according to "'the im"l mutable laws of human nature, and the principles'of the English constitution,-Life, Liberty, and
"Property," &c.
5th. That in claiming for the Slaves a three-fifth
vote, they affirmed their own Hypocrisy in questioning his manhood.
6th. That the early acts of the country affirmed
the right of Congress to abolish Slavery in future
States, see, for instance, the resolution by six States
against three, and sixteen members against seven,
reported to Congress, 19th April, 1784.
7th. That later, the South denied this, and
affirmed the right of Congress to legislate for the
Territories only.
8th. That then they denied this also, and took
their  stand  successively  upon  Popular, and,Squatter," and mob Sovereignty.
9th. That they denied Popular Sovereignty on
the first demand for its application in Kansas, and
this, notwithstanding " they had publicly pledged
their faith and honour to the contrary."
10th. That they affirmed the national indelible
character of Slavery,-that it was part of the Constitution.
1 th. That they further attempted extensively to
fraudulently condemn Free Blacks as Slaves.
12th. That in attempting to make Slavery national, they in fact declared war on its behalf against
the Nation.
13th. That they began by admitting the national
right to abolish slavery in future States. Even the




CHAP. IIIo] DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER.       327
South admitted this. The Select Committee, in
1784, to consider the Government of the whole
Western territories, from 310 north latitude to the
northern boundary of the United States, contemplated the creation of 17 States. This Committee
consisted of Jefferson of Virginia, Chase of Maryland, and Howell of Rhode Island, and recommended that Slavery should cease in said States
after 1800, South Carolina being the only Southern
State that was not divided on that point.
14th. That as the evil effects of Slavery became
greater and wider, the South attempted to lessen
and narrow the remedies; till when those effects
became national, the South asserted that Slavery
was identified with the Nation and the Constitution, and that the Nation had no right to expunge
it from the Constitution.
There remained now but one chance morelfor the
South. To force the Nation to acquire new Territories and States towards the torrid zone. To
prostitute the authority of the Union Southwards to
Slaveholders' uses. Or, failing that, to destroy the
Union, and establish a vast Slave Empire.








HISTORY.
CHAPTERt IV,
1860-.
VICTORY.
OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.
"This thirst for an Afriican Slave trade has been the chief motive
that has influenced the Secessionists, and which has made a comrnpromise almost imrpossible.
"In the Southern States social position almost entirely rests
upon the possession of slaves.
"I Hitherto, the northern States, in conjunction with the breeding
States, have been able to keep in check this longing for an influx of
cheap slaves. T7he Whites have grown restless tunder this yoke, and
now their determination is to open up a trade in slaves with Africa,
and thus reduce the price of negroes."-Saturday Review, March 2,
1861.
" I would rather have the small-pox, yellow fever, and cholera,
all together in my camp than a man without principle. It is a mistake, sir, that our people make, when they think that bullies are the
best fighters, or that they are the fit men to oppose these Southerners.
Give me men of good principles-God-fearing men,-men who
respect themselves, and with a dozen of them I will oppose any
hundred such men as these Buford ruffians."-fJohn Brown, "of'
Kanslas."
"With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, he
felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand, and held his rifle with.
the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, en.
couraging them to be firm, and to sell their lives as dear as they
could."-Henry D. Thoreau, on John Brown.
" Harper's Ferry is the turning point in the Slaves' History."
"This infernal march-this tramp of men, possessed by hin
whose name is legion, over all human and divine law and life, has
suddenly been made to halt."-Gilbert Htaven.
" The South were brave enough, but they saw afar off. They
saw the tremendous power that was entering into that charmed
circle; they knew its inevitable victory."- Wendell Phillips.




330                       HISTORY.                   [BooK III.
" The Vnity of governneznt, which constitutes you one people, is also
now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifee of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at
home, your peace abroad, of your safetry, of your prosperity, of that
very liberty which you so highly prize. It is of i'flnite mnoment that
you should properly estimate the immense value of.yoiur national
union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should
cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it, accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of
your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation
with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even
a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned; and indignantly firowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate
any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred
ties which now link together the various parts.
" The name of American, which belongs to you in your national
capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than
any appellation derived from  local discriminations. With slight
shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits,
and political principles. Every portioni of our country finds the
most comnuanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving
the union of the whole.
"' While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate
and particular interest in union, all the parts combined can not fail
to find, in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength,
greater resources, proportionably greater security from  external
danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations;
and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an
exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which
so frequently afflict neighbouring countries, not tied together by
the same government, which their own rivalships alone would be
sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, like.
wise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military
establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile
to republican liberty; in this sense it is that your union ought to
be considered as the main prop of your liberty.
" Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these
advantages on the Union by which they were procured?
" To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for
the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between
the parts, can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably
experience the in-fractions and interruptions which all alliances, in
all time, have experienced.
" The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to
macke and to alter their constitutions of government; but the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and
authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.
The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish
government, pre.supposes the duty of every individual to obey the established governnment."-From  WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL.




CHAP. IV.]      OLIGARCHY  CAST OUT.                     331
CONTENTS.
The meaning of Lincoln.-Slave Democrat Platfornm.Chicago Republican platform. -Lincoln's Election.-His cancus,
electoral, and popular majorities. - Sotthern, Disunion.-Secession Convention Bill, four days after Lincoln's election. —
Union feeling, South. - Carolinian army nucleus.-Buchanan's
Message, December, 1860. — Second compromise Message.Secesh Congress. — The eleven Secesh States.-SEcESH  ORDIwANCES. CONSTITUTION, March llth.-Special Slave clauses.
-Slavery perpetual and to be protected.-LINCoL.N's MEssAGE,
March 4th.-Steady, conciliatory, inexorable.-The Union perpetual.-Majorities must decide, or there is no Government.
-The South knew Lincoln.-Indictment against the South.Three parties, North, South, and Compromise.-The Southern
"' Terror."-" Nigger on the Brain."-Freedom by the Union.
-The  Union by  Freedom.-The Platform  of 1864.-The
nation versus Oligarchy.
"That the Black Republican party claims to abolish the interState Slave trade.  That it repels all further admission of new
Slave States. It opposes protection to Slaver.y on the ]hig7 seas. It
has nearly abolitionised two of the Border Slave States-Maryland
and Missouri, and is making similar inroads constantly upon Virginia and Kentucky. It has extended fanaticism into our own
Borders."-See Mobile Secession Declaration, Dec. 1860.
" That the Slave trade must be re-opened to prevent the formation
of adangerous class without direct interest in Slavery."-See message
of Governor Adams of Sout]h Carolina two years before Secession.
" That the new dogma, that the Constitution of its own force
carries Slavery in any or all the Territories of the United States, is
a dangerous political heresy," &c.
" That the normal condition of all the Territory of the United
States is that of freedom, &c. and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial Legislature, or of any Individuals, to give legal
existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States."
Frome 7th and 8th clauses of the Lincoln platform, Chicago, 1860.
" Resolved,-That we, Democrats, will sustain the War * * till
Victory shall crown our efforts, and peace, founded upon the Union,
shall be restored. We therefore urge our fellow Democrats to
sustain the Government as it exists, and to support the Candidates
who express these views."- War Democrat Convention, New York,
2Nov. 1, 1864.
"That Slavery must be always and everywhere hostile to the
principle of Republican Government. National safety demands its
utter extirpation." —See Republican platform, 1864.
The LINCOLN  PLATFORM  was the non-extension
of Slavery into the territories; the territories meant



332                 HISTORY. -           [Book III.
the Future of America; the exclusion of Slavery
therefrom, involved the holding of the Union for
Freedom. The alternatives were the destruction of
Slavery in the Union, the use of the Union to
conquer fresh Slave States in the far South, or the
erection out of the Union, from  the Potomac to
Panama, of a vast Slave Empire.
And now comes the beginning of the end.  We
proceed to quote the " platforms" upon which the
two great parties appealed to Americans.  The
Division of the Democratic party into " Slave" and' Squatter" Democrats: was the occasion of the
triumph of Lincoln.  To understand the reason
of his triumph, or the present strength and future
prospects of the Free-soil party, it is necessary to
understand the principles upon which the Democrats split, and also the proportionate strength of
each division.
In April, 1860, the first of TWO DEMOCRtATIC
CONVENTIONS assembled at Charleston,  comprising representatives of all free States, except
California and Oregon.
Sixteen Delegates voted for Squatter Sovereignty,
and 17 for a complete Slave code, to be enforced
by the Federal Government. After debate the
Northern section proposed, as their utmost compromise, the following;" Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic
party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a'territorial
legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress under




CHAP. IVJ]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                 333
the Constitution of the United States over the institution of
Slavery within the territories:
" Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the
decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, on the
questions of constitutional law.
"Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to
afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens,
whether at home or abroad, and whether native or.foreign."
This compromnise did not go far enough for the
South, and was rejected, 17 to 16. They demanded
the " majority platform," which
"Resolved, That the platform  adopted at Cincinnati be
affirmed with the following explanatory resolutions.
" That the Democracy of the United States hold these cardinal principles on the subject of Slavery in the territories:" st. That Congress has no power to abolish Slavery in the
territories.
"2Lnd. That the territorial legislature has no power to
abolish Slavery in AN Y territory, nor to prohibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor any power to exclude Slavery therefrom, nor any power to destroy or impair the right of property
in slaves by any legislation whatever.
" Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government
to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property
on the high seas, in the territories, or wherever else the constitutional authority extends."
This INFERNAL PLATFORM, coercing the
State legislatures, and reversing the old pretences
about State rights, and with the Slave trade and
Federal war against English or other champions of
the G" right of search," pretty distinctly enunciated,
was none too bad,-nay, was logically and strictly
necessary to the maintenance of the Slave power.
Aught less bad had been illogical.  But this was
too bad for the Democratic party to unite upon.




334              HISTORY.            [BooI  II.
In the ballot for President at this Convention,
Douglas, the Squatter (moderate Slave) Democrat,
received 166 votes against 88, not reaching the
necessary two-thirds majority.  The Convention
adjourned to re-assemble on the 18th of June, at
Baltimore, hoping that by that time the party
might be re-united.
But the split remained, through which Lincoln
was to enter into power. As usual before any
great anti-slavery movement, it was solemnly resolved that slavery should be put at rest for ever,
and the national Democratic platform maintaining
the contradiction, that " Federal powers" were to
be strictly construed and restricted as against
slavery, and that " State powers" were almost to
be construed away on behalf of the same interest,
went to the country upon the issue, determined to
" resist all attempts at renewing in Congress or out
of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under
whatever shape or colour."  It maintained also
the compromise measures and the Fugitive Slave
Laws.
Stephen A. Douglas represented the SQUATTER
SOvEREIGNTY Democrats, and John C. Breckenridge represented the DEMOCRATS, who were for the
ultra Slave measures, and for Cuban annexation.
John Bell of Tennessee, was the " Constitutional
UNION" candidate. That party met at Baltimore
in May. It deprecated any discussion of Slavery,
and maintained that Congress had nothing to do
with it!
ABRAHAM LINCOLN was the Republican candidate. That party met at Chicago in May. The




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.               336
REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM  declared adherence
to the principles enunciated in the Declaration and
Constitution: " That all men are created equal,
6" and are endowed by their Creator with certain
" inalienable rights.  That amongst these are life,
" liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."   That
the nation owes its prosperity " to the Union."  It
acknowledged the principle of " State rights."  It
denounced the invasion of Kansas, and the measureless subserviency of the then Democratic administration  to  sectional interests.  It rebuked  the
Government for  corruption, extravagance, and
mal-administration.  It declared the normal condition of the territories to be freedom, and demanded that Kansas be immediately admitted fiee.
Furthermore it branded the recent attempted reopening of the African Slave trade as a crime against
humanity, and a burning shame to the country
and age, and called upon Congress to suppress it.
The text of the clauses referring to Slavery in the
territories is as follows:
7th Clause,-" That the new dogma, that the Constitution of its own force, carries Slavery in any or all of the
territories of the United States is a dangerous political
heresy, at variance with the political provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legis.
lative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency
and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country."
8th. " That the normal condition of all the territory of the
-United States is that of freedom: that as our republican fathers,
when they had abolished Slavery in all our national territory,
ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law, it is our duty, by legislation, when such legislation is necessary, to maintain the provisions of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it:




336                    HISTORY.                    [BooKi III.
and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery
in any territory of the United States."
~
Mr. Lincoln was elected on the 6th of November.
An  analysis  of the  election  returns proves  two
things, —the union  of the North, and the disunion
of the South.  We first give the figures.
On  the Republican BALLOT  for candidates, the
votes had been:-For Lincoln) 354; Seward, 110;
Dayton, 1; M'Clean, L.
On the ELECTION, the statement by the Electoral
College was as follows: —
Brecken-         Douglas.
Total Votes. Lincoln.  ridge.     ell.  Squcatter
Slave    Union. Democrat.
Democrat,
Free States.       183      180          1    -         3
Slave States..      120        _       72      39        9
STRENGTH  OF LINCOLN'S  POSITION.
The POPULAR Vote was:Squatter    Slavo
Repblican.      DSquatte     Democrat. Union. Bell.
Liticoln.   Douglas.  BieckenDouglas..
ridge.
Free States..   1,831,180  1,202,451    277,082    74,658
Slave States..     26,430    163,525    540,871    515,973
1,857,610  1,365,976    817,953    590,631
Touching the union of the North, and the strength
of Lincoln's position, it is thus shown, that the




Caxr. IV.]   OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.         337
North plumped for Lincoln. That his majority in
the preliminary ballot over the next candidate was
more than three to one, That his majority in the
votes of the Electoral College was more than two
and a hdlf to one over the Slave Democrat, the
next candidate. That his majority on the popular
vote over the Slave Democrat was 1,009,657, or
more than tfwo to one.
The disunion and weakness of the South also
appears by the same figures.
The " Slave Denmocrat" only commanded 17
votes against 16 in the Democratic Convention.
He polled only 72 Southern votes against 48 in
the Electoral College.
He polled, on the popular vote, 518,023 less
than the Compromise Slave Democrat candidate.
Against the whole Union vote, North and South,
he polled 817,953, to 3,814,217,-less than onefourth.
Against the Union candidates he polled 817,953
to 1,956, 607-not one half, without reckoning votes
for Lincoln,
And yet this ultra Slave faction, a miznority in a
misnority, passed, in South Carolina, a SECESSION
CONvENTION BILL four clays after the election of
Mr. Lincoln. The Hon. R, B. Rhett then denounced Mr. Lincoln as " a black republican presidlent and a  2ulatto," and declared the North would
soon begin to starve, and would crush the Abolitionist party in the dust. That they would then
make a tremendous effort to reconstruct the Confederacy, anld say, — " There has been a mistake,
z




338              HISTORY.            [iBoo: II.L
make friends, —what do you want?-stick it in the
Constitution."
But in a good portion of the South Western,
and nearly all the frontier Slave States7 the editors
recommended moderation and caution; and public
opinion in the South, after the first surprise, was
decidedly against Disunion. Southern conservatives suggested "' conferences " "statements," "conditions."  South Carolina formed an army nucleus.
Extraordinary conventions were appointed in each
State, to consider and advise in case no compromise should be adopted by Congress before the
4th March.
At this crisis, on the 3rd December, 1860, came
Buchanan's annual message, a complete Slave
manifesto,-cowardly, meaningless, throwing all
blame on the North, recommending it to concede
the Slave Code, — a weak endeavour to serve the
Union at the cost of all that rendered it valuable.
But Buchanan was almost the last of the "; Doughfaces."
The message states, that b"the long continued
"d and intemperate interference of the Northern' people with the question of Slavery in the
"' Southern States has at length produced its natural
" effects. This does not proceed solely from the
"; claim to exclude Slavery from the territories, nor
" from the efforts of different States to defeat the
"C execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. The im"mediate peril arises, not so much from  these
" causes as from the fact, that the incessant and:




o0lA; IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.           339
" violent agitation of the Slavery question throughout
6" the North for the last quarter of a century, has' at length produced its malign influence on the
a slaves, and inspired them  with vague notions of
"'freedom  "    * X apprehensions of servile insurrection * * " homes and firesides habitually  and
" hopelessly insecure.  This agitation has been con" tinued by the public press, by the proceedings of
" State and county conventions, and by abolition
" sermons and lectures.  The time of Congress has'been occupied in violent speeches on this never-' ending subject, and appeals in pamphlets and
"-other forms, endorsed by distinguished names,
"; have been sent forth froom this central point, and' spread broadcast over the Uhion,"
" How easy would it be for the American people
" to settle the Slavery question for ever, and to:' restore peace and harmony to this distracted
country!"
"'All that is necessary, and all for which the
"; Slave States have contended, is to be let alone,
" and permitted to manage their domestic institu" tions in their own way.  For this (Slavery) the
"~people of the North are not more responsible,
" and have no more right to interfere, than with
"{ similar institutions in Russia or Brazil. Congress': * * * I believe never will pass any act to ex": elude Slavery from the territories."
This was in December.  In June, Douglas had
publicly declared, that " those who enlist under
"' the Secession banner now  will be expected to
" take up arms against the constituted authorities
6 in. certain contingencies"   The crisis was u.n



340               HISTORY.           [BooE I1
derstood, and Buchanan took care not to provide
for it.
Then came the CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE proposal,
to carry the Missouri line through to the Pacific,
and which would have gained 900,000 square miles
to the Free States, and 280,000 to the Slave.
On January 30, 1861, Texas was admitted, Free.
Buchanan's second, and extraordinary message,
appeared on the 9th January, 1861, urging to preserve the Union, and suggesting all sorts of compromises. Debates followed, extending even to
the Monday morning of the 4th of March, when
the 36th Congress ended.
This arch-traitor, Buchanan, declared that "'a
"c State has no right to secede, but that the Govern"~ ment has no right to prevent its secession!" His
staff of traitors; the Vice-President, Breckenridge;
the Finance Minister, Cobb; his Secretary of War,
Floyd; and his Secretary of the Interior, Thompson, are since in the rebel army.
~
On the 4th February the convention of seceded
States met at Montgomery, Alabama, and on the
9th the PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION was published.
The preamble speaks only for South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. North Carolina was attempting adjustment
and compromise.
Article 2, which was a blind to the European
world, and a bribe and a threat to the Border
States, revealed what was considered the critical
point of the rebellion, namely, the adhesion of the




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.        311
Border States. It declared that Congress ought
to have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves
from any State not a member of this Confederacy.
It was notorious that the powerful Slave breeding
oligarchy of the Border States found mere arzicultural Slavery unprofitable. South Carolina,
wanting to make Charleston the New York of the
South, and to carry on a " free trade" in negroes,
and especially to become more independent, was
in danger of finding herself surrounded by States
with hostile interests. The leader of Secesh was
soon in danger of becoming its victim.
South Carolina contemptuously refused to attend
the Peace Conference of Virginia, at which twentytwo States were represented, and to which Georgia
was willing to adhere,  This Conference met in
January.
On the 9th February Davis and Stephens were
elected President, and Vice, and by the 12th all
the departments were organised.
From that hour all the choice the South had,
was, in fact, by what death it (that is its Slavery)
should die. The Free Population power was every
year encroaching, out-voting, out-numbering, and
out-fighting it. Since 1790, of twenty-one new
States, twelve were free, and nine slave.
On the other hand, simultaneously with the
election of Lincoln, in addition to the United
Slave votes of the South, New York chose ten,
New Jersey three, and Illinois five, anti-republican
members for the next House, besides seven from
Pennsylvania, seven from Ohio, four from Indiana,
one from Oregon, an all but unanimous pro-Slavery




3142                  HISTORY.           [BooK III.
delegation from  Missouri, and several probably
from Connecticut and California. A neutral, or
pro-Slavery House seemed inevitable, -a conflict
between the North and its representatives seemed
probable, but the South had withdrawn many of
its delegates, and the result was, for the first time,
a clear republican majority in either House, and
that Slavery, and not Freedom, came into collision
with the armedpower of the Government.
It remains now to notice three sets of documents.
THE SECESSION ORDINANCES.
THE SECESSION CONSTITUTION.
LINCOLN'S MESSAGE.
And first, as to the ordinances of Secession.@
Six States, namely, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, first
adopted the new Constitution and chose Jefferson
Davis, President.
Five States, —Virginia, North  Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas, joined afterwards.
The MOBILE Declaration of Causes, made December 15th, 1860, was the earliest, and most re-.
markable of the Secession documents, and the best
witness to the energy and determination and success of the Abolition party.  It declared that;"Anti-slavery fanaticism has lifted to the chief magistracy,
a man pledged to carry on a relentless war of oppression upon
the rights and equality of fifteen States," That the black repub~
* For the facts of this Chapter, we are indebted chiefly to
the works of Putnam and Victor on the Rebellion.




CHaUP. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                 343
lican party claims " to abolish the inter-State slave trade, and thus
cut off the Northern slave States from their profits of production,
and the Southern of their resources of supply of labour." That
"it repels all farther admission of NEW SLAVE STATES.  It
opposes protection to slavery on the high seas. It has * *
nearly abolitionised two of the Border slave States-3-iaryland
and Missouri; and it is making similar inroads constantly
upon Virginia and Kentucky. It has extended fanaticism into
our own borders. It has published its plans for the abolition
of slavery everywhere. *  * *  To rescue slaves, to establish
presses, to use vote and ballot, to detach non-slaveholders
from slaveholders in slave States, to encourage anti slavery
emigrants in the South and West, &c.  It assails us
from  the pulpit, press, and school room.  It divides all
sects and religions, as well as parties.  It has already a
majority of the States under its domination; has infected the
Federal, as well as the State judiciary; will ere long have a
majority of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
United States; will soon have by the new census, a major ity of the
Senate; and before it obtains the Senate, will certainly obtain
the chief executive power of the United States.  It has
announced its purpose of total abolition everywhere."
The Secession Ordinance of SOUTH CAROLINA, passed December 20th, 1860, declared that
the 4th Article of the orginal Constitution (respecting the delivery up of " persons held to service"),
"' was so material to the compact, that without it
": that compact would not have been made. The
" States  of Maine, New  Hampshire, Vermont,
"' Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New
"York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
"Wisconsin, Iowa, have enacted laws (" personal
" liberty Bills") which either nullify the acts of
"' Congress, or render useless any attempts to ex4" ecute them. In many of these States the fugitive'" is discharged from the service of labour claimed,




3 1                HTISTORY.           [BooK II
" and in none of them has the State Government
"complied with the stipulation made in the Con6 stitution."       W ~   " W Ve affirm that these ends, for
" which this Government was instituted, have been' defeated, &c., by thle action of the non-slaveholding
I States." Then follows a denunciation of the twentyfive years' agitation against Slavery, and of President Lincoln, elected, " because he has declared
"that Government cannot endure permanently
"half slave and free, and that the public mind'must rest in the belief, that Slavery is in the
"; course of ultimate extinction."
The FLORLDA Convention, on the 7th January,
declared that l all hope of preserving the Union
i; upon terms consistent with the safety and honour
"; of the slaveholding States has been finally dissi" pated by the recent indications of the strength of
"' the anti-Slavery element," &c,
The ALABAMA ordinance, January I th, began,
- " Whereas the Election of Abraham Lincoln and
" Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and
"Vice-President, by a sectional party,  avowedly
" hostile to the domestic institutions," &e.
The LOUISIANA ordinance, January 26th,
states, —" Whereas it is manifest that Abraham' Lincoln, if inaugurated as President of the United'~ States, will keep the promises he has made to the; Abolitionists of the North; that those promises, if
"kept, will zizevitably lead to the emancipation
" and misfortune of the slaves of the South, tlhei
" equality  with  the szuperior race, and, before' long, to the irreparable ruin of this mighty




CnaP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.          34,5' Republic, the degradation of the American name,' and corruption of the American blood:" &c.
The TEXAS ordinance, February 1st, states, —
"Whereas * * * the power of the Federal Go"'vernment is sought to be made a weapon with
" which to strike down the interests and property
" of the people of Texas, and her sister slavelolding
" States," &c.
The VIRGINIA ordinance, April 17th, recites,
-" The Federal Government having perverted said
"' powers, not only to the injury of the people of
"Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern'slavelolding States," &c.
THE  CONFEDERATE  CONSTITUTION.
This Document, adopted March 11th, 1861, being
founded on the American Constitution, it is only
necessary to notice those clauses which differ from
it on the main point.
Article I., Section 9, Clause 4, declares that " No'"Bill of attainder or ex post facto law, or law
"denying or impairing the right of property in;" Negro Slaves, shall be passed."
Article IV., Section 11, Clause 1, " The citizens
C'of each State shall be entitled to all privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several States,
a and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in
"any State of this Confederacy with their slaves
" and other property, and the right of property in
" such slaves shall not be thereby impaired."
Section 111, Clause 3. "In all such territory
" the institution of Negro Slavery, as it now exists
t in the Confederate States, shall be recognised




3-16                HISTORY.            [BooK III.
"' and protected by Congress, and by the territorial
" Governments, and the inhabitants of the several
" Confederate States and territories, shall have the
"right to take to such territory, any slaves law" fully held by them in any of the States or ter" ritories of the Confederate States."
LINCOLN'S MESSAGE.
In reply to secession, President Lincoln issued
an address, dignified, conciliatory, and inexorable.
It appeared on the 4th March. It stated his intention to collect revenue, and protect the national
property in all the States, not as a menace, but in
order constitutionally to defend the Union.
As to Fugitive Slave laws, he would have all
safeguards of liberty known in civilised jurisprudence, to be introduced, so that a free man may
not in any case be surrendered as a slave. Touching Secession, he asks, " Can aliens make treaties,
easier than friends can make laws?"
In contemplation of universal law, he declared
the union perpetual, and that no State can, of its
own mere motion, get out of the Union. " The: central idea of secession is anarchy."   As to
Slavery in the territories, "Congress decides by
1" the majority, and the minority must abide by the
" result, or else there is no Government."
With regard to another point then profoundly
agitated, namely, the decision involved in the Dred
Scott case,* Mr. Lincoln proceeded temperately to
* It should be repeated here, that according to the American Constitution, " precedents" do not bind future cases, unless
they follow the Constitution.




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.          347
repudiate it as a precedent, and then to solemnly
declare his intention to preserve the Union. "I
" do not forget the position assumed by some that' constitutional questions are to be decided by the
" Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions
" are binding in any case upon the parties to a suit,
as to the object of that suit, while they are also' entitled to very high respect and consideration,
"in all parallel cases, by other departments of the
" Government; and while it is obviously possible
"that such decision be erroneous in any given
case, still the evil effect following it being limited
"to that particular case, with the chance that it
"' may be overruled, and never become a precedent
" for other cases, can better be borne than could'" the evils of a different practice."
L"You have no oath registered in Heaven to
";destroy the Government, while I have the
"solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it.
"C I am loath to choose. We are not enemies but
": friends. We must not be enemies. The mystic
chords of memory stretching from every battle-' field and patriotic grave, to every living heart
"Land hearthstone all over this broad land, will'yet swell the chorus of the Union when again
"touched, as surely they will be, by the better
"' angels of our nature."
~
The last of the Doughfaces was clearly gone.
Here was a ": President," but neither a blusterer, a




348               HISTORY.            [Boo, 1I1.
craven, nor an imbecile.  The Soutlh knIezo Lincoln.
Not an hour too soon had he come to torment
them.  They knew that if force would not serve
their turn, nothing would. The character of Lincoln
entered into the contest, as an element about which
there could be no more doubt than about the rivers
and mountains of America, or the fundamental
Principles of its nationality. Slavery had evoked
PURITANISM, its antagonist, its master, its destroyer.
Lincoln's character was as certain a basis in the
calculation as was the flow of the Mississippi, or
the range of the Alleghanies. The South bade
farewell to hope, —" and with hope, farewell, fear."
"Nigger on the Brain," was, indeed, not one
of Lincoln's ailments. To a moral nature, untarnished as childhood, he has added a practical
ability that has been victorious. The first inspired
confidence, and presented a rallying point. The
last, disciplined and led the force thus aroused.
His anti-Slavery enthusiasm was not impracticable.
He recognised in the Union, the best means for the
destruction of Slavery, but a true conservative,
right well he knew that the Union cannot be preserved if Slavery remain. He saw  that if the
country was to live these two parties must merge
in one great national party. The anti-Slavery party
must effect their objects by means of the Union,
and the Union party must effect theirs by the destruction of Slavery.  Both are for war against
disunion. Both should logically be anti-Slavery,
and both essentially conservative, and essentially
democratic.
According to the allies of Despotism  and class




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.          349
interest in England, who cry out for the war to be
arrested, one might almost wonder whether anybody ought to go to war for anything.  According to the impulses of the other party, it was the
duty of President Lincoln to have at once asserted
emancipation, without studying and preparing the
combinations necessary to assert it successfully.
He will secure the objects advocated by the one,
by means of the policy denounced by the other.
There were then the Slave party, and the Abolition party, and, at the first, a third party,-the
Prudes, the doctrinnaires, the constitutionalists, the
trimmers, the moderates, the formalists, —scribes,
and  Pharisees, hypocrites.  A  party  always
the most numerous at first, and which, after furnishing for a time to both parties, the fools, the
tools, and the victims, always and everywhere
slinks and sinks away before the logic of facts and
the momentum of ideas and opinions, which would
otherwise grind it to powder.
All possible attempts at compromise had been
made by Patriots, Traitors, and Copperheads. But
the only compromise that could give to the South
a future, related to Slavery  in fiture Southzern
territories, and that the North would not grant.
The South knew the issue. They must do or
die, and the inexorable logic of their institution
dictated to them their policy. Terror had long
reigned there. On the authority of Mr. W. H.
Russell, the Timzes correspondent, we know that,
at New Orleans, " ch arges of abolitionismn ap?ear in




1350                HISTORY.             [hooK  IlI
"the reports every morning,  and persons found
" guilty, not of expressing opinions against Slavery,
" but of stating their belief that the Northerners
"will be successful, are sent to prison for six
" months. The moral suasion of the lasso, tarring,
"feathering, head shaving, ducking, and horse"ponds, deportation on rails, and similar ethical
"processes, are in favour.  The North have not
": arrived at such an elevated view of the necessities
": of their position," There were at one time 70
murderers, pirates, burglarers, violators, and thieves,
in a prison at New Orleans, which was said to be a
Hell upon earth, and " Professor'" Mitchell, the
jailor of the workhouse reformatory there, was represented by the papers as having opened " a course
"' of instruction in the humane institutions for abo" lition fanatics."
The South had denied the right of Petition, of
speech, of carriage by mails of anti-Slavery documents. It denied the right of the majority, and of
manhood, and of chastity, and its own deliberate
engagements as to Slave boundaries. It denied
the right of presidential election, and the national
vote.  The South sinned morally, socially, politically; against the Slaves, the mean whites, the
Africans, the commerce and industry of England,
the future of America, and the interests of the
world.  Its weapons were terrorism, dismemberment, conspiracy, and rebellion. It crowned all
with the farce of prizes for prize negroes, and prize
sermons in favour of African slavery.
It added to Avarice, Idleness; to Idleness,Lust;
to Lust, Oppression; to Oppression, Cowardice; to




CrAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.             3 51
Cowardice, Lying; to Lying, Murder; and to Murder, Rebellion. *
There remained nothing but for the South to destroy,
or be destroyed.
~
As one of the essential portions of the History
of this contest of Oligarchy for dominion, we give
a few more illustrations of the force, fraud, and
cruelties, of the South, perpetrated upon Southern
Unionists.  We quote authorities, but, be it marked
well, authorities are not needful. The South develops but the Logic of its Situation. Had it not
done so, it would only have had to die a little
earlier. It prefers dying later. In fact, as is the
way with felons, cannot see the necessity of dying
at all.  And so it tears up its own " State " Constitutions, and maltreats or murders those of its
own citizens and neighbours who would not join
them. The knife-grinder got kicked, because he
could not see his wrongs.  " Union shrieking'
SOUTHERNERS GET SHOT, HUNG, BURNT, AND SCALDED
TO DEATH by the White and " free Democrats" of
the South.  Well they nursed Barbarism for eighty
years, and now it is grown up. They liked it well
enough for the Slave, and Destiny, in a certain stern
wholesale way, always at last, brings home the
argument. The object of all criminals is to argue
with Destiny to a certain point, and then to leave
it. But although the Devil may be defied, he cannot be cheated.
* The animal " courage" that fights for the right to breed
human property, and to sell one's own flesh and blood into,
Slavery, is about the worst species of moral cowardice.




3..52           OLIGARCHY CAST OUTT            [Boo3K ]lI,
We quote from  one whose neutrality might have
pleased any but Slavehlolders.  He says:"I am a pro-Slavet-y man. There is not a single passage
in the New Testament, nor a single act in the records of the
Church during her early history, even for centuries, containing
any direct, professed, or intended censure of slavery."
And first we take his evidence as to the force
and cruelty of Disunionists.
" I have suffered deeply in person and estate, have avoided
no responsibility, have endured evil treatment and imprisonment, and been compelled day by day to contemplate the near
prospect of a brutal death upon the gallows,-all in behalf of
the sacred cause (the Union) I have espoused.
" I was arrested, refused a trial and bail; was thrown into jail,
where I found about one hundred and fifty men, representing
all professions. We had not room for all to lie down at one time.
The prisoners took rest by turns." The rebel soldiers washed
their hands and faces in their drinking water. " Blackguard
songs were sung for our benefit, and we were cursed day and
night. The feeling was as a general thing, that any sort of
treatment and fare was too good for a set of  ---- Union
shriekers and bridge-burners. * *  Colonel Leadbetter, who,
after serving fifteen years in the United States army, has become
the champion of Southern rights," tied the knot for the
hanging of Hensie and Fry. ".ie ordered them to hanzgfour
days and nights, and the trains to pass slowly, so that the passen.qers could see and kick and strike with canes their dead
bodies,-which was actually done.
"One day they came with two carts, and took old Harmon, a
methodist class-leader, and his son. The young man was hung
first, and the father compelled to look on. Then being feeble
and overpowered by his feelings, two of the ruffians took hold
of him, one saying,' Get up there, you old traitor.'"
"Sketches of Secession," pp. 8, 108, 311, by W. BE. Brownlow,
Editor of the Knoxville WVhig, 1862.
On the question of cruelty we will select one
other witness:11r. N —'s sentiments had become known, and refus-ing




CIAP. IV.]       OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                 353
to take the oath, they resolved to put him to death on the
spot. HIe had a large family, who, with his wife, begged that
his life might be spared. Among his foes the only point in
dispute was as to the mode of his death. Some favoured
shooting, some hanging; but the majority were in favour of
scalding him to death.  And there, in the presence of his
weeping and helpless family, these fiends deliberately heated
water, with which they scalded to death their chained and defenceless victim. The corpse was then suspended on a tree,
with a label on the breast stating that whoever cut him down
and buried him, would suffer the same fate."
"All attempts on the part of the slaves to obtain their
liberty are resisted by the slaveholders by the infliction of
appalling and barbarous cruelties. Thirty-two negroes were
executed at Natchez, Missilssippi, recently, because they expressed a determination to go to Lincoln; six were hanged
in Hoxubee county, and one burned in the streets of Macon.
The Southern papers state that the Hon. Mr. Orr of South
Carolina, attempted to drive his slaves into the interior to prevent their escaping to the Yankees, and upon their refusal to
go, he ordered them to be driven at the point of the bayonet
and in the execution of the order, fifty were slain." —" The
Iron Fuarnace," pp. 197, 278, by the Rev. J. H. Aughley, a
refugee from Mississippi.
The CONSPIRACY Of Southern  Leaders against,
as well as with, their own people, and  their utter
disregard of their own State constitutions, completes the evidence of the essential weakness of
their cause, and of the hypocrisy of their claim to
fight for " freedom  and independence."
" As the entire Secession movement has been made -over the
heads of the people * * * it was expected by the Southern
communities that, when the Permanent Constitution was to
be ordained, the people would have a vote. * * * *  In not a
single instance was the Constitution allowed to go before the people for their vote!  * * * * ~  Thus, men chosen merely to
2 A




3354                    HISTORY.                 [BooK 1II.
consider the question of Union or Disunion —or, if the latter
was decided upon, to agree upon an Ordinance of Secession, upon
which the voters alone should be permitted to pass judgmentusurped dictatorial powzers, remained in permanent session, passed
Ordinances of Secession, inaugucyrated a new Government, and,
finally, sealed their revolutionaryproceedings by adopting the new
Constitution-al wit720out once allozwing the popular voice any
expression."- Victor's History of the Rebellion, p. 22, V. 2.*
These assertions are well substantiated. Among'st
other numerous facts, the following scene between
Mr. (Vice-President) Stevens and the war Democrat
Toombs, in the Hall of the House of Representatives of Georgia, Nov. 14th, 1860, is not a little
suggestive: —
" The first question that presents itself is, Shall the people of
the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election
of Mr. Lincoln?  1 tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly,
that I do not think that they ought.
"Let a convention of the people of Georgia be called. Let
the Sovereignty of the People speak. An honourable gentleman
(Mr. T. R. IR. Cobb) advised you to talke this course-n-ot to
wait to hear from the cross-roads and groceries.  You have no
power to act. You must refer this question to the People, and
you must wait to hear from the men at the cross-roads or the
groceries; for the people in this country, whether at the crossroads or the groceries, whether in cottages or palaces are all
equal, and they are the sovereigns in this country.  Sovereignty
is not in the Legislature. We, the People, are the Sovereigns,
You Legislators are but our- servants.
Mr. Toombs (interrupting)-" I am afraid of conventions."
Mr. Stephens-" I am not afraid of any convention legally
chosen by the People."
Mr. Toomobs —" I do not wish the People to be cheated."
Mr. Stephens-" I think the proposition of my honourable
* This work enters into full detail of the facts which de-.
monstrate the above assertions.




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                355
friend had a considerable smack of unfairness, ~zot to say cheat.
He wished to have no convention, but for the Legislature to
submit their vote to the People-' submission to abolition
rule or resistance?'-now who in Georgia would vote sullbmission to abolition rule?"  (Laughter).
Mr. Tombs —" The convention will."
Putnam, pp. 225-6, v. 1.
We add, from  " Putnam's Rebellion Record," 
and from Victor's work, the following evidence of
Southern Force, Fraud, Intimidation, and Cajolery,
used in the matter of Secession in the Border
States, and in those represented at the Montgome-r  y
Congress, collectively, and specifically in the States
of Virginia, Tennessee, KCentucky, Georgia, Loztisianca, Texas, Alabama, &c.  In South Carolina, probably, no force was necessary, only the stupendous
treachery of the L"thief Floyd," and a headlong
rush over its own State Constitution to Rebellion.
The movement was (Putnam, Vol. 1, p. 368) truly
a " conspiracy," to give the minority a command
over the majority.  It avoids reference to  the
popular consent, screens its plans from  public
criticism by secret sessions, and plies the machinery
of passion to rush the people into the abyss of revolution.
The Convention of the BORDER STATES, held in
June, 1861, in its address to the American People,
after considering how  to protect their interest as
slave states in a minority, &c., affords conclusive
* It should here be stated, that this lRebellion Record, conlpiled by Moore, and the similar work by Victor, are collections of Documents published on the instant of the events
to which they relate, and afford therefore a better basis for
history than perhaps has ever been furnished before.
2   2




1356                    HISTORY.               [BOOK IIlt
evidence of two things: First, that thze People of
the Border States were with the North.  Second,
that Southern Leaders attempted, and were expecting
to coerce the Border States.  They declare:"W' e consider that our interests would be irretrievably ruined
by taking part in the conflict on the side where the strongest
sympathies of pur people are, and that our sense of honour and
of duty requires that we should not allow ourselves to be
drawn or driven into a war in which other states, without consulting us, have deliberately chosen to involve themselves." —
P. 352, Vol. 1, Putnan.
On the 21st June, 1861, the EAST TENNESSEE
Union convention adopted a " declaration of grievances," in reference to the violence and fraud of
the Secession agents.  Amongst other grievances
it states as follows:"'That they allowed no discussion, or speeches, or papers;
that they would have no folded tickets; that disunionists had
charge of the Polls; that they proclaimed their determination
to hold the State though in a minority; that there werefalsehoods as to action of Congress, as to battles never fought and
victories never won, as to the purposes of Lincoln," &c., &c.P"utnam, Vol. 2, 156-7-8.
Also Governor Pierpont's message of July to
the Senate and House of VIRGINIA, states that" At the election for members of the convention in February
last, there was a majority of over sixty thousand votes given to
the Union candidates; and the People, by an equal majority,
determined that no act of that Convention should change the
relations of that state to the Federal Government, unless
ratified by the popular vote. Yet the delegates to that Convention passed the ordinance of secession, and attached the
state to the Southern league; and to render the step irretrievable, and to defeat the whole object of requiring a ratification of
the people to render such acts valid, they put them into effect




CAPr. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                357
immediately; and before the vote could be taken on the question of ratification, transferred the whole military force of our
state to the Confederacy, and surrendered to him (Davis) military possession of our territory.'" When the chains had been thus fastened upon us we were
called to vote upon the ordinance of secession," &c. &c. —Vol. 2.
pp. 159-60. Putnain.
The VIRGINIAN  convention  was not called to
dissolve the Union; yet, as soon as the Convention
had secretly acted upon the subject without any
promulgation  of the ordinance, and while the
People were yet ignorant of its existence, the
executive officers of Virginia rushed, incontinently,
into open war against the United States.
The Legislature of TENNESSEE, in secret session,
passed an ordinance of secession.  The Legislature
had, two years before, sworn to the United States
Constitution.  The ordinance contained an arrangement for voting afterwzoards. -— Putnam pp. 305-204,
Vol. 1.
The " Philadelphia Press" of July 18th, 1861,
gives the following statement of a Philadelphian,
who, after various arrests and attempts, had succeeded in leaving Richmond:
"In Alabamna and Georgia many men were forced against
their will to enter the Confederate army —three alternatives
being placed before them-' to enlist, to go to jail, or to be
hung.'" -P. 333, Vol. 2. Putnam.
The following is from an address by John Jay,
on the 4th July, 1861, declaring that the convention of LouISIANA was elected by a minority of the
people, and quoting the " Augusta Chronicle and
Sentinel'"  a leading  paper of GEORGIA, which
openly complained that



358                    HISTORY.                  [Booin III.
"The result has been produced by wh7eedlin/g, coaairqg, and
bullying, and all the arts of cdeception. The whole movement
for Secession, so far at least as Georgia is concerned, was
pushed through under circumstances of great excitemnent and
frenzy by a fictitiozus mncaority."  " The Georgian convention,"
continued that paper, " and the CONFEDERATE (Mlontgnom ery)
CoNG-Russ have gone forward in their work, as none can deny,
without explicit and direct authorityfroom the People.  Sooner
or later the People must be heard."
Mir. Jay then quotes MIr. Rhett-' The secession of South
Carolina is not the event of a day. It has been gathering
head for years.'
" Mr. Parker-' It has been gradually culminating for a long
series of years.'
" Mr. Keitt —' I have been engaged in this movement ever
since I entered political life.'
"' 3Ir. Inglis-' Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty years.'"
" We can now," continues JMr. Jay, " trace step
by step the progress of the conspiracy, and read the
history of the last thirty years without an interpreter.   IVe can undlerstand the motive of tze Terxan
Rebellion,  tze wvar with Jexico,  te peisistent eflorts
to secure  Cuba, the philibustering  expeditions to
central America,7 and the determination to re-open
the Aftrican  Slave  Tracle."-_Putnla     Vol. 1. pp.
378-96.
Senator Douglas' last words for the Union, were
(lst May, 1861), these —
"The Slavery question is a mere excuse. The election of
Lincoln is a mere pretext.  The present secession movevzent is
thle result of an enormous conspiracy formzed wzore tAan a year
since —formed by leaders in the Southern Confederacy.
"If the disunion candidate had carried the united South,




CHAP.!V.]      OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                   3i59
their scheme was, the Northern candidate successful, to seize
the Capitol last spring, and by a united South and divided
North, hold it. VThat scheme was defeated in the defeat of the
dis2union candidate in several of the Southern States. The conspiracy is now known. When the history of the two years
from the Lecompton charter down to the Presidential election
shall be written, it will be shown that the scheme was deliberately made to break off this Union."-P. 299, Ptctnam, v. 1.
Senator Rousseau9 also9 in the Kentucky Senate,
May 21, 1861, confirmed Douglas as to this intentional division of the Democratic party.  Putnam,
v. 1, p. 331.
And Mr. W. H. Russell says:"The more stoutly Demagogy, immigrant preponderance,
and the blasts of universal suffrage, bore down on the South,
the more resolutely she held on her cable.
"The tide of immigration waxed stronger, and by degrees
she saw the districts into which she claimed the right to introduce this capital (slaves) closed against her, and occupied by
free labour.
"I am satisfied that there has been a deep-rooted design
conceived in some mlen's minds thirty years ago, and extended
gradually year after year to others, to breakl away  from the'Union at the very first opportunity.'   *   The clause in
the Constitution of the Confederate States which p)rodNbied
the importation of legroes, was especially  and enerqgetically
resisted by thenm" (the South Carolinian planters).- W  If
Rlussell, London TS imzes, BIay 2Sth, 1801.
Ex-Governor Thomas relates  (Putnam, V. 2.
p. 478,) how, in  February, 1837, he attelnded  a
kiud of secret meeting of sixty or seventy representatives of Slavel-lolding  States, and how  they
discussed the  resolution, b"That tlley  ought nlot
again to take their seats until satisfactory resol
t;ons on Slavery had been adopted."




360                    HISTORY.                  [BooK IlI,
On  the system  adopted for " Engineering" the
rebellion, Brownlow  also quotes the following:
" Jiobile if3/ercurg, April, 1859.
"Conferences have already been held by leading patriotic
gentlemen of this city, of all parties, and the plans of Southern
organization have been set on foot and almost matured, preparatorv to action.
"The country is ripe for the movement, and if judiciously
inaugurated, it will sweep over the land with a force that no
opposition will be able to check."
On the 7th  January, 1861, D. Lo Yulee writes
firom  Washington:
6 On the other side is a copy of resolutions adopted at a
consultation of the Senators from the seceding States, at which
Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and
Florida, were represented. * *'If we left here, force loan and
volunteer bills might be passed, which would put MIr. Lincoln
in immediate condition for hostilities, whilst, by remaining in
our places until the 4tF of March,' ~ we can disable the republicans,' " &c.
" The s-ubstanee of the whole affair is that a knot of senatorial
traitors, fourteen in number, so late as January and February,
1861, sat in their seats, under an oath to support the Constitution, and to act as the confidential advisers of the President,
and yet were plotting the overthrow of the Government.
"The St. Louis Republican asserts, " the rupture at Charleston and Baltimore is seen to have been a preconcerted part of
the Disunion programme, conlcocted inz the secret lodges of the
Disuzion leaclues.  * " That by a division of the Democrats in
the North, and consequent election of Lincoln, the Disunionists
hoped to fire the Southern heart to the work of the overthrowing of the Constitution and the Union." -Brownlow,
pp. 172-5-6.
"Douglas overheard Mason say in the Senate,'No matter
what compromise the North offers, the South must find a way
to defeat it.' In the Senate, had the Southern States remained,
they would have had a majority of six, and in the House, of
thirty-six over the Republican party."-1lbid. p. 277.




CHApi. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                  361
And the following letter is from  W. S. Yancey
to Jas. Slaug'hter, June 15th, 1858:-,"The remedy of the South is in a diligent organization of
her true men for the prompt resistance of her next oppression.
No national party can save us; no sectional party can ever do
it. But if we should do as our fathers did-orycanize committees of safety all over the Cotton States (and it is only in them
that we can hope for an effective movement), we shall fire the
Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind, give courage to
each other, and at the proper moment, by one organized concerted action, WE CAN PRECIPITATE THIE COTTON STATES INTO
A REvOLUTION."N-bid. p. 167.
We do not seek to demonstrate  an actual Unionu
majority in the South, after Secession became a
fact.  But immediately before, at the Presidential
election, the  Southern  Senatorial votes for the
Union and Squatter Democrat candidates, were 39
and 9 against 72 for the Slave Democrat.  Whilst
the Popular vote South was 163,525 and 515,973,
to 540,871 for the Slave Demnocrat,- a considerable
mncjorlty against him.
i The  RiZcmiond  CExamtnier,"  moreover, in an
elaborate eulogy of the thief, Floyd, avows that'" the South/iern Confedcleracy zwouldl not and could not
be in existence at Athis hour buttbor tAe action of tAe
late Secretary of cMVar."  It proceeds: —"The plan invented by General Scott to stop secession was
very able in all its details, and nearly certain of general success.
The Southern States are full of arsenals and forts commanding
their rivers and strategic points. He desired to transfer the
army to these forts as speedily and as quietly as possible. The
Southern States could not cut off communication between the
Government and the fortresses, without a great fleet, which
they cannot build for years, or0 take them by land without an
handred thousand men. Had Scott been able to have got these




362                 HISTORY.             CBooi IlI.
forts into the condition he desired, the Southern Confederacy
would not now exist."-.Putnam, V. 1. pp. 378-96.
It will be observed that the Senate,-the " Conservative" element, was the first to become demoralised, and that, although a considerable majority of the popular vote South was against the Slave
Democrat, yet the logic of the situation-as it always
must in a crisis, rapidly bore the multitude with it.
In such crises those who are C"not against" the
wrong, will always very properly be appropriated
by it.  The time had come when thle South must
be eithler wholly Oligarchic and Slaveholding, or
wholly Republican and free.
The following representative facts, amongst a
multitude of others of a similar character, are
stated and vouched in detail in Orville J. Victor's
" History of the Rebellion."
Virginia may be said to have been annexed to
Secession by the traitorous  Governor, Letcher,
and his co-conspirators.  The votes under conlpulsion, and in secret session of convention, were
60 to 53. The election of delegates to the State
convention had resulted in a large Union majority.  Tennessee was transferred in spite of a
tremendous Union mlajority.
Texas, also, was forcibly transferred.
Kentucky was more than two to one for Union.
In January, 1861, the Legislature refused to call
a convention.
When Missouri was reorganised, the convention
denounced the chief officers of State as conspirators.




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.            363
As far north as near the Iowa line, notices to
leave the State for ever were served upon Union
men in April, 1861.
It was the complaint of the South that Mr.
Lincoln still stood square on the Chicago platform,
and that there was actually not a slavezolder in the
cabinet.   The  South threatened Virginia  with
losing her $400,000,000 worth of negroes, and
with becoming the battle-field and foraging ground
for both parties.  The Union, they said, was dead,
and they might have a Protestant fmneral or an
Irish  wake.  The  army  of Lincoln would be
gatheredl, said the " Raleigh Banner," from  the
sewers of the cities; Old Abe, said the " Richmond
Whig," had  been beastly  drunk for thirty-six
hours; and the " New Orleans Delta " repeated the
lie on the authority of " a gentleman who had been
taken into the presence of the august Baboon."
Vigilance Committees teemed throughout the
South; meetings were suppressed, the White terror
reigned, and in Texas, Georgia, Ala bama, and
Mississippi, a  great many  free debaters were
hanging from the trees.  " Even thought was not
free;" a moderate allowance for Abolitionist remarks was thirty lashes, a coat of tar, and expulsion.
The leaders in this movemnent were the far-seeing
and unscrupulous Southern statesmen.  Many of
their tools were ofthe same class and character as the
Missouri desperadoes, who have been thus described:
"Tall, slim, athletic; yellow complexion, hairy faced, dirty
flannel shirt-red, blue, or green; a leather belt, in which a
dirty handled bowie knife is stuck; eye slightly whiskey red,




364'6RIGHT' OF SECESSION.              [Book 111.
teeth colour of walnut, —such is your border ruffian.  I-is
body might be composed of gutta percha, Johnny cake, and
badly smoked bacon."
Virginia was still in  doubt, but knowing  she
must " go to war with somebody," considered that
the North would be most forbearing.
North  Carolina was, in March, more loyal than
Virginia.  It uwas anywhere at a distance from  the
moral support of the  North, that " debaters" for
freedom   were hung, and  that force  and  fear,
the determination  of the  meanl  Whites to  have
fiuee  trade  in  niggers, and  the  desperation  of
the leaders, succeeded in " runnling the States out."
Not one of the Gulf States  first in  rebellion
submitted  the  ordinances  of Secession to  a fair
vote of the people, and almost the entire proceedings
of the convention were illegal according  to  their
own constitutions.
And Mr. Brownlow  informs us that:-'"When the stormn arose in the South, and the current set in
seemingly in favour of secession, vast numbers rushed into
their ranks, actuated by the worst motives that ever governed
the actionls of as many bad men.  The dlarling, improvident, indolent, thoughtless, banllkrupts;  the thousands indebted to
Northern merchants, debauched members of the  churches,
apostate preachers, and the intemperate, —all the loose elements of society to whom no change could be productive of
inj ulry.
"It was a common thing to hear men of this class swearing
that they intended to have their rights. Ask one of themn what
rights he had lost, and was so vehemently contending for, and
the reply would be the right to carry his negroes into the Territories. At the sanse titme the man never owned a negro in his
ifje, anzd never was related to any one who cid own a neqro;
nay, I have heard captains of rebel compunies bluster in this




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.           36.5
way, w7ho could not get credit in a Secession store for a pair of
shoes or a pound of coffee."
The poor Whites were agitating for cheap
niggers, but would they not also9 bye and bye,
agitate for the preservation of Democratic forms
of Government?  It would not be so bad a stroke
of business to kill two birds with one stone, and
these ideas of a prurient Democracy must be put
down, and, in case of war, these poor Whites would
be used up. Accordingly the conventions appointed
the Congress, and the Congress appointed the executive! Virginia would fain save her four millions
of dollars annually got by breeding slaves.  So
much for the traders. The Slave States would
fain save their slaves, valued from  seven hundred
millions to one thousand millions of dollars.  So
much for the men of wealth.  Thus, the leading
men "4 run the States out." "And why did they not
go out according to form and rule?" Why! Because
then most of them  could not have gone out at all,
and for this further reason,-these Democratic provisions, -this Democracy of the States and of their
constitutions, WAS THE VERY THING THE OLIGARCHY
OF THE SOUTH WANTED TO GET RID OF.
Free press and speech, which were guaranteed
by almost every Southern constitution, would have
neutralised the compromises in the national constitution; but Secession was a revolt against the
rights of labour, and against the rights of man,
and Slavery, however valuable to the South, was
valuable chiefly to the statesmen and leaders: as the
sheet anchor of the olzjarchic power and principle,
as against their own populations.




3(63                   HISTORY.               [BoOK III.
~
The whole programme of the South was thus
categorically explained by the Richmond Examiner, of May 28, 1863.
" The establishment of the Confederacy is a dcistinct reaction,
against the mistaken civilizationz of the caqe. For Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, we have deliberately substituted Slavery,
Subordination, and Government. Reverently we feel that our
Confederacy is a God sent.lissionary to the zacttions with great
truths to preach."
This saume gospel according to Jeff. Davis, has
also been interpreted, perhaps in somewhat too
plain a way, by one of the current Historians of
the Rebellion.
" It was one of the secret purposes of the ruling class Soutlh,
to disfranchise the non-property holders of the Confederacy.
" The conventions acted out the principle of exclusive rule,
by thenmselves appointing minmbers of congress; and congress
acted on its exclusive authority by appointing the Executive
officers of Government."*
Also the famous message of Governor Adams to
the legislature of South Carolina, about two years
before secession, recommended the re-opening of
the slave trade to re-adjust the condition of poor
men South; and to prevent the formation of a dangerous class of men interested  in free labour or
Capital, and without direct interest in Slavery,-to
make, in fact, every White a Shareholder in Slavery,
with dividend  and interest.
The alternative of the acceptance of this SouthY Vietor, vol. ii. p. 520. " Remarks on Report of Virginian
Statle Colnlen-tioln."




CHAP. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                  367
ern mission, was amnlounced beforehand, by the
Richmond Enquirer, of Oct. 16, 1863.
" Once more we say it is all or nothing. This Confederacy, or
the Yankee nation, one or other, goes down, down to perdition.
One or the other must forfeit its national existence, and lie at
the mercy of its mortal enemy.   " They cannot mnake peace
except through their utter exhaustion and absolute inability to
strike another blow.
" We shut them out for ever, *' and without, as St. John
says,' are clogs.' "
The " Unanimity" of the South is illustrated and
accounted for in Putnam's record as follows:
" It is a notable fact, that wherever the mninute men have had
an organziszation, those counties have voted by large majorities
for immediate Secession. Those that they could not control
by persuasion and coaxing, they dragooned and bullied by
threats, jeers, and sneers. By this means thousands of good
citizens were induced to vote the immediate secession Ticket
through timidity. Besides, towns and cities have been flooded
with sensation despatches and inflammatory rumours mannul
factured in Washington city for the especial occasion. To be
canldid, there never has been as muc72 lying and Zullying practised
in the same length of titme since the dest'ruction of Sodom and
Gomrorrak, as has been in the recent state campaign." —ebellion Record, vol. i. p. 12. PutnQam.
Special instances of this system  are  given in
Putman, pp. 247-283, vol. i.  In one of them,
according to a letter from  Major Sprague, of San
Antonio, Texas, April 24, 1861, the news received
there from  lNew  Orleans was, that Lincoln had
fled, Scott resigned, and joined the Confederates,
and  that fifty  thousand  men  from   the  South
surrounded Washington, &c. &c.; and  General
Harney, in his Proclamation, dated May 14, 1861,
complains, that in his absence the General Assembly of Missouri had drawn up a "G Military Bill,"




3G8                    HISTORY.                  [BOOK I11.
-which was in fact an incdirect Secession ordicnance,
i[nortrtg even the forms resorted to by other States.
The result of the Rebellion was foretold by  one
of the chief Rebels, Vice President Stephens, January, 1861, in the Georgian State Convention.
"This step of Secession can never be recovered, and all the
baleful and withering consequences that must follow will rest
on the convention for all colling time. * * Who but he who
shall have given his vote for this unwise and ill-timed measure
shall be held to strict account for this suicidal act by the present generation, and probably cursed by posterity for all comingf
time. "'
The South were dominated by  the  necessities
and the logic of their cause.  They succeeded in
their plot, and their plot will destroy them.   For a
deeper and an universal logic fights for freedom.
The oligarchic character of the revolt is thus
admirably described by a German newspaper: —
" The whole civilised world has an interest in this war. It
is a war which the People of the United States, conservative by
the nature of their industrial and political habits, could not
longer put off; and it is a war which, under perhaps other
names, many a nation of Europe will have to take up in its
turn.  It is with them as with us; the feudalism of the w middle
agqes is arrayed in arms against the CITIZENSHIP of the nineteenth century; an exploded theory of society is lifting up its
head against the triumphs of our thinking, industrial, and progressive century; thepoverty struck Don Quixotes of the Southern
plantations give battle to the roaring windmills and smoking
chimneys of the wealthy 2North. It is the supercilious noble in
arms against the spirit of the century in which the Citizen is
supreme. In such an issue we can wish success only to t he
constitutional Government."- Co0orqne Gazette, May 5, 1861.




CHAP. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                   369
Wendell  Phillips   powerfully put  the  same
thoughts, at New York, in April, 1861: —
"We imagined that the age of bullets was over; that the
age of ideas had come.
" But this nation is made up of different ages,-a mixed
mass of different centuries. The North thinzks,-can appreciate
arguinent, —it is the nineteenth century. The South dreansit is the thirteenth and fourteenth century,-baron and serfnoble and slave. Jack Cade and Wat Tyler loom over the
horizon, and the serf rising, calls for another Thierry to record
his struggle. There the fagot still burns which the Doctors of
the Sorbonne called, ages ago,'the best light to guide the
erring.' * * The cannon shots against Fort Sumlter were the
yell of pirates against the Declaration of Independence."-_Putnam, p.. 130, v. 1.
And as if in  very echo  of his words, L. W.
Spratt, a man of mark, addressed to a Louisiana
delegate to the Southern Congress at Montgomery,
and published in the  " Charleston Mercury," the
13th Feb. 1861, the following " Protest," —a protest of Despair, from  South Carolina:" The real contest is between the two forms of society. If
the foreign Slave Trade had never been suppressed, slave society
must have triumphed.  It extended to the limits of New
England. The large majority of our People are in legitimate
connection  with the institution.  But when (free) labourers
come in greater numbers from  the North, * * this town of
Charleston, at the very heart of slavery, mnay become a fortress
of Democrratic power against it, and here also the contest
for existence may be waged between them  (Democracy and
Slavery).
v" It thus appears that the contest is not ended with a dissolution of the Union. Our Slaves are still drawn off by higher
prices to the West. Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, possibly
Tennessee and North Carolina, may lose their slaves, as New
York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have. Hiaving achieved
B




370                   HISTORY.                 [Boor III.
one Revolution to escape I/Democracy at the North, it must still
achieve another to escape it at the South.
" You are commissioned to erect, not only a Southern, but a
slave Republic. But if you shall not,-if you shall exhibit care
but for a Republic, respect but for a Democracy, you re-inaugurate the blunder of 1789; you will have no tests of faith;
hireling labour will be free; your Confederacy is again divided
into antagonistic Societies; the irrepressible cofjlTict is again
commenced; another revolution comes, but whether in the order
and propriety of this, is gravely to be doubted.
" If the clause (prohibition of external slave trade) be
carried into the permanent Government, our whole movement is
defeated. It will abolitionise the Border States. Slavery cannot share a Government with Democracy. It is to be feared
this fatal action will be consummated."-Pzutnam, pp. 358-65, v. 2.
If the South is to live, tlis would be the logic
of its life. Without contact with free labourers,
says Spratt, " the Slaves migzht be increased toforty
mzillions, without a corresponcding increase amnong
the Whites,  and yet no disaster;  "  England and
France "wo-uld pocket their philanthropy  with
their profit!"  And if England and France should
oppose this?  Why, so much the worse for England and France, or for the South.
Right true is it, that in this contest, not only
the North or the South, but rather the  South or
the Free Labour power and opinion of tlze world,
must go doen, dowz, to perdcltion 
~
The Documents here referred to are full and
accurate.  They relate for the most part to actors
now  living, and to recent, almost present events.
They are vouched by references to time, place, and
authorship.  They could not have been falsified
without exposurc, for they themselves supply the
means of detection.  Put the general tone of the




CHAP. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.'371
South —its rowdyism, violence, and desperation, in
contrast with the waiting, hoping, astonished and
determined aspect of the North, is sufficiently
established, even for the most cautious, by Mr.
Russell's Diary, and amongst others, by the following extracts:" At Goldsborough the enthusiasm of the Citizens not quite
free from a taint of alcohol. A General drunk." —Vol. I. pp.
134-5.
"At Willmington the artist Moses," who accompanied him,
C" was pounced upon by a Vigilance Committee who were drunk,
and who watched the post-office and railway station."-  ol. I.
p. 137.
At Savannah "many would willingly stand aside if they
could, and see the battle. Pressure put upon Irish and Ger-.
mans which they cannot well resist, and the white population
obliged by moral force draughting to go to the war."-P. 229.
" The South," said President Davis to him, " are perhaps the
only people in the world where gentlemen go to a military
academy who do not intend to follow the profession of arms."
— P. 250.
"At Mobile a Vigilance Committee busy deporting abolitionists after certain preliminary processes."-P. 274.
"In New Orleans, as in New York, the opinion of the most
wealthy and intelligent men in the community, so far as I can
judge, regards universal suffrage as organised confiscation,
legalised violence and corruption,- a mortal disease in the
body Politic. The Thugs of N~ew Orleans, a band of nativeborn Americans, at election times wzere wont deliberately to
shoot down Irish and German voters occupying positions as
leaders of their mobs. These Thugs were suppressed by an
armed. Vigilance Committee."-Vol. I. p. 364.
"The tone in which they (any of the real adherents of the
South) alluded to the Northern people, indicated the clear
conviction that trade, commerce, the pursuit of gain, manufacture, and the base mechanical arts, had so degraded the
whole race, they would never attempt to strike a blow in fair
fight for what they prized so highly in theory and in words.
2 B 2




372                    IIISTORY.               {[BooK III.
I am persuaded that these feelings of contempt are extended
to England, one evidence of our canker of peace is our abolition of duelling." —ol. I. p. 93.
" An argument which can scarcely be alluded to, was used
by them (Southern gentlemen) to show that seduction, &c. of
white women in Slave States had not the excuse which might be
adduced elsewhere." —ol. I. p. 94.
Up the Mississippi from New Orleans, "if you are bold
enough to be unconvinced (of justice of Slavery) and to say
so, I advise you not to come within reach of a mass meeting
of our citizens, who may be able to find a rope and a tree in
the neighbourhood." —P. 385.
In Louisiana he asks a lad " whether he can read and write,
and goes to Church, and has heard of our Saviour."  The
master, his host, interposes, and " says it is getting hot, and
complained that such talk disturbed the minds of Slaves, and
led them astray."-Vol. I. p. 197-8.
Near Baton Rouge a man buying chickens of Negroes;
" Lucky he was not caught. If the citizens had been drunk
they'd have hung him on the spot."-P. 418.
"If ever," said a master to slave, "you goes aboard them
steamers to meddle with newspapers, I'm -- but I'll kill
you." —P. 419.
" Cotton at 10 cents a pound gave a nugget in every boll.
Land for a few dollars an acre, negroes cheap, but ruin awaiting them if they did not shut out the sounds and utterances
from the North."-P. 423.
"Authorities confiscate all property of unpatriotic persons,
and mob law sulpplants any remissness."-Vol. I. p. 424.
" Concession of belligerent rights created a thrill of exultation through South.  Considered an admission of independence."-Yol. II. pp. 30-6.
"State rights meant protection to Slavery, extension of
Slave territory, and free trade in Slave produce."
"In state of MViississippi, and other Southern states, law
powerless, and brutal shootings and stabbings."-Vol. II. p. 44.
" One principle of this revolt, hostilityto universal suffrage."
-Vol. II. p. 45,
" Never did a people enter on a war so utterly destitute of
any reason for waging it, or of the means of bringing it to a
succefessful termination  against internal enemies."-P. 57.




CiAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                   373
"The abrupt outburst of the North filling the South with
astonishment and something like fear."-P. 113.
" Butler and Bankls saved Baltimore in spite of Scott, and
when McClellan talked of slaves as property, Butler used them
for State purposes."-Pp. 140-185.
"I am satisfied by an actual inspection of the lists that the
Northerners retain the same preponderance in officers who
have received military education, as they possess in wealth and
other means." —Vol. II. p. 328.
Under date of April 22, 1861, we find decided
testimony of Mr. Russell to Lincoln's policy:" Had the administration been as strong in all respects as
any United States Government ever could, or can hope to be
in reference to such emergencies as the present, it really could
rhave donde little except precipitate a civil war, in which the
Border States would have arranged themselves on the side of
the Cotton States."
Also the:" own" correspondent of the  Times,
under various dates in April and May, 1861, writes
to the same effect, but in rather more outspoken
terms, as follow:" Parties are more divided in Texas than in any other; complete anarchy seems to reign there."-April 10th.
" The general assembly of MIssouRa, 62 to 42, resolved
It is inexpedient to take any steps for a national convention to
propose any amendments to the Constitution as recommended
by the State Convention."-Times, April 15th.
" In the Virginian Convention the sixth resolution expresses
an earnest desire for the re-establisument of the Union."April 20th.
"A military government founded on treachery and conspiracy."
" I could have no doubt (this was written after the magnificent uprising in New York described as though it were the
most earnest, thoughtful, and formidable gathering in all History) that Democrats and Republicans had alike mistaken




374               -   HISTORY.              [BooE III.
that (the national) heart; that the South had indeed been
deceived —lamentably, dreadfully deceived."-May 6th.
" VIRGINIA has seceded, subject to approval by the People
at an election to be held under the gunss of Jeff. Davis' troops."
— 14th May.
Jeff. Davis's message " does not tell the world that the plot
was conceived long before the last election. That every one
of the conspirators have been elevated without a single exception to a place of power, trust, and remuneration in the
(Southern) Government."-8th May.
"The manner in which Virginia has been carried against its
will into the Southern camp is of a piece with every step in
this great conspiracy.  The Governors of  ilissouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee, are each tryizn to force iis
State into the Southern ranlcs."-Ibid.
~
We have thus at length developed the proofs of
Southern " Force, Fraud, and Conspiracy," because
they demonstrate that " Nationality" was only a
pretence, and that the real moving causes were the
spirit of Faction, and the interests of Slaveocracy.
But let us here appreciate more precisely the
Problem  of the Situation-the  North-the South
-Lincoln.
There are three kinds of force; material, mental,
moral.
Wheat was the problem  of successful Secession?
"1 To carry certain States out of the Union," —a
decidedly active operation, it was necessary to have
a preponderance of two out of three of those
forces.  In other words, to have greater material
and organising power; or greater material power,
and power of Principle; or greater organising
power and loftier Principle.
And what was the actual Secession?  It had




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.           375
the material and moral elements against it, whilst
it had no monopoly of talent and organisation.
It was, in numbers, as ten to twenty millions.  It
attempted to seize States well within the temperate
zone, and therefore fully exposed to a free labour
propagandism;  and also obnoxious to the strategic,
commercial, social, and political influence of the
mountain ranges, and of the vast water system of
America.  Moreover, it fought for that which was
not a " Principle." It fought, not for Independence,
pure and simple, but for Independence to maintain Slavery, and the Oligarchic system.
It could not rise to the full inspiration of
"nationality" as a Principle.  It played and intrigued thirty years too long, and went out at last,
not on the principle of nationality, but on the
pretence  of " State rights."  It waited  thirty
years too lotng, while  Free  Labour influences
" demoralised" the Border States, and while, for
the better half of its life, the American nationality,
consolidated, intensified, and grew.
The compromises of the North, criminal as they
were, were " God's trap to catch fools with."'
C(alhount should 7have struck, if he meant anything,
or if there was anything to strike for. As it was,
this predestined failure, " Secession," is led forth
by Davis and Lee,-not so much to Intrigue and
Battle, as to Execution.
Thle South  was too soon or too late. It should
have arisen before the great North-West grew, —
while the Border States yet believed that Robbery
was Property,-as soon as the great Jackson
died, —when the Slave interest was already strong,




376                   HISTORY.                [Boowi III.
and the true nation yet unmade.  If it could not
do this, it should have waited, and used the arms
and resources of the North, to carve out for it in
the real South a future.
And the.North?  Its thirty years of compromise-Presidents, —a  brigade  of  Southern  shoeblacks,-its political figurants, prostituting  their
" Democracy," forsooth, for Southern influence;
its litterateurs,  tilting  with goose-quills against
destiny;-its officials, thinking tlemselves the nation.  And behind them  all, the descendants and
heirs of those " embattled farmers," who"Fired the shot heard round the world."
Is it  not Aristotle  who  tells us of the real
Democracy which farmers are best fitted to make?
It is enough that Americans are one nation, and
that the nation is a Democracy.
" I divide you," said Wendell Phillips, " into four sections.
The first is the ordinary mass, rushing from mere enthusiasm
to battle. Behind that class stands another. whose only idea in
this controversy is Sovereignty and the flag. The seaboard, the
wealth, the just converted hunkerism  of the country, fill that
class. Next to it stands the third element, the People; the
cordwainers of Lynn, the farmers of Worcester, the dwellers of' The Satirist describes the situation well:"Now don't go to say I'm the friend of oppression,
For I ollers hev strove (at least that's my impression)
To make cussed free with the rights of the North,"
Sez John C. Calhoun, sez he:-' Yes," sez Davis o' miss,
"The perfection o' bliss,
Is in skinnin' thet same old coon," sez he.
"At the North we don't make no distinction o' color;
You can all take a lick at our shoes when you please."
Biglot.Papef8s.




CHAP. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.                377
the prairie, Iowa and Wisconsin, Ohio and Maine-the broad
surface of the People who have no leisure for technicalities,
who never studied law, who never had time to read any
further-into the Constitution than the first two lines-' establish
justice and secure liberty.'  They have waited long enough;
they have eaten dirt enough; they have,apologized for bankrupt Statesmen enough; they have quieted their consciences
enough; and now that they have got their hand on the neck
of a rebellious aristocracy, in the name of the People they mean
to strangle it.
That I believe is the body of the People itself. Side br
side with them stands a fourth class-small but active —the
abolitionists, who thank God that he has let them see his salvation before they die."-New York, April, 1861. Putnacm,
p. 130. v. 1.
And Lincol n?  It is the old story of the hour
and the man.  Passion blinding them, the South
asserted the barren right to take Slaves into Free
States, instead of into new territory only.  They
incensed  and  outraged  the  SNorth, when  they
should have tried to use it.
The mistake wvas made.  The South itself took
Slavery from the category of State questions, and
made it a national question, demanding its protection, not only against free citizens, but against
foreign nations on the high seas. Certain Southern leaders even went so far as to boast of planning
the  Breckenridge  party  division,  that Lincoln
might be elected, and Secession follow.' Slavery against the nation."  That was the
challenge-the merit of Lincoln is, that surely, if
slowly,* he answered it with, "1 The nation against
* A great deal has been said about his slowness by gentlemen
who have not compared dates. The uprising of the North and
tihe call for 75,000 men was within three or four days of the
bombardment of Fsport Sumter.




378               HISTORY.            [Book IIo.
Slavery."  That when war gave him, as Commnander-in-chief, the right to use negroes in battle,
he used them on behalf of their own freedom, and
the nation's.  That he has not compromised, but
kept clear the issues. He used opportunities which
others would have abused. His ponwer consisted
in this, that his whole life was consistent with
itself, and that his official acts were not too advanced for the nation, —that is, for success. The
man who could wait till abolition became possible,
aud when possible, could say, " I should deserve
to be damned in time and eternity, if I receded
from this,"'-That is the man for the crisis.
But naturally and necessarily as these things
have seemed to come to pass, there were agencies
more than human in the conflict.
The hostile elements were brought face to face.
The next step must be taken.  The Pause was
natural, for the next step would involve the
destruction of the weaker.
The result now rested neither with North nor
South, save as victim or instrument of the Principles which respectively had created them.
The North was the development and creation of
the Principle of Freedom, resting on its material
basis of Free Labour.
The South was the creature of the principle of
Oligarchy, resting on its material basis of Slavery.
Each was the essential and deadly foe of the
other. Each mutst advance over its rival or perisz.
Slaveocracy must advance into the Territories, or lose the Balance of representative and




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.               379
Senate power, and become (that horror of Mr.
Mill) a minority, with votes that are useless.
Democracy and free labour would naturally and
certainly occupy the Northern and Central States,
and the Mississippi was within the natural Boundary of its empire.
And before all things thzere was thze organic and
indestructible unity of tze American nation.
Two courses were open to the South.  To grasp
at a dominion marked out by nature for free enterprise, or to look to the future development of
Slavery in more Southern and appropriate latitudes.
The first was urged upon it by passion and
jealousy, and Democratic alliances, and by the
ferocious self-assertion and Barbarism, natural to
the *" Institution."
It attempted the Innpossible, and relinquished the
possible.  For had the South really constituted a
separate " nation," the question of Northern vote
power might for the time have been disregarded.
In the real South, where there is plain speech
and no scruples, these things are better understood
or more clearly  expressed.  Governor Call, of
Florida, in a long and able letter dated, Feb. 1861,
after complaining of the determination of the
North to circumscribe Slavery, proceeds to declare
that;"tEven if the whole American Family should not advance,
the Southern division will, with the institution of African
Slavery, advance fromn the banes of the Rio Grande to the Zine
cnder the sun, establishing in their march the waymarks of
progress, the altars of the reformed religion, the temples of a
higher civilisation, a purer liberty, and a better system of
human government!"-Ptbnlan, v. 1. p. 422.




380               HISTORY.           [BooK III.
But the Southern-most territories were not destined for Slaves or Slave barons. For their useful
colonization there wanted two things-the consolidation and purification of American Democracy,
and  the  extermination  or submission of the
Slaveocracy. This contest will accomplish both.
Obviously, —for we venture not on prophecies,
which are impious and vain, -this alternative,
which the maddened South have forced so far on
the country, is, after all, in view of the majestic
proportions of History, and of the true perspective
of events, but a faint convulsions —a short interregnum,-a trifling parenthesis, in that mighty
future which Destiny and God are unrolling for
the Anglo-American nation, and for the free negro;
upon the double continent and home of the People.
For the White American in the North; and for
the free Black American there, or perhaps in the
South, under the Equator, —the empire of the Sun,
and more natural home of the race.
When Secession had become a Fact, the question between North and South changed its character,
and it is important to distinguish.
Prior to Secession, the question was one of Oligarchy versus Democracy.
Now it is one of a pretended Nationality,
against the American Nation.
The question qf ascendency was soon done nwith.
Oligarchy could not live under the American Constitution.  It cannot resist American power.  It
did its possible, aided by the might of the Slave




CHAP. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.         381
interest, and by traitors under every pretence and
of every shade. The result was that step by step,
as the party of Freedom rose in numbers, determination: and power, so, in all save resolve, did the
South decline. That is the most emphatic moral
of eighty years of American History.
Oligarchy is out of the nation, except exactly
that fraction of it implicated in material servile
interests. Those interests become, however, day
by day more circumscribed; and they are but
those of a faction.
The question heenceforuward is one of Nationality,
and we shall show in the chapter headed RECONSTRUCTION, the wisdom, the strength, the conservative and re-creative energies that reside in' a
free Republic; as we have shown in the pamphlet
called " THE FALSE NATION"@ what chance
it had in the home and Continent of the People.
" Re-construction" completes the " Making of
the Nation," and its union, more perfect, and nobly
planned, with Democracy.
"' The False Nation," thus applied to the case of
the South those inexorable laws of political science,
according to which nations do live and die;": If the South stand against the North, it must
stand either as an Oligarcaic nation, or a Republican nation. The former is impossible, and the
latter a contradiction in terms. A Republican
nation it could not become without " casting out its
oligarchy," and coalescing with the American Republic-one and indivisible, and with which
(having then as a nation no single item of difference)
- Stanfordi, August, 1861.




382                 HISTORY.           [BooK III.
it must necessarily assimilate.  The process would
consist in unmaking all the habits, manners, customs, associations, and principles of the ruling
class, in order to get rid of everytling that could
distinguish  the  South  from  the rest of the
American nation.  As an oligarchic nation it cannot
stand against the free North, for the North has
long been, and is, the stronger in every element
of power save that of organisation, and in that it
is now equal."
Tested by Nrumbers, Policy, or Principle, we
get a like result as the essence of the History
we have recounted.
Votes of the Free Soil party, which in 1840 were
7000; were 60,000 in 1844; 290,000 in 1848; in
1852 (the great effort for compromise) 157,000; in
1856, 1,341,812; in 1860, 1,857,610.
The Policy of the South sought the three-fold
power of Senate-vote, Representative-vote, and
Electoral-vote.  It lost them all.
The Princziples of either side are as they were.
But the natural results are working out. In 1833
the legislature of Georgia offered $5000, and the
Governor of Alabama $50,000, for the delivery there
of Abolitionists, and now the NATION IS ABOLITIONIST, and Sherman has delivered eighty thousand
abolitionists into the capital of Georgia.
Soon after war removed Slavery froin the category of a Domestic, State, or municipal affair, and
submitted it to national jurisdiction, the national
power was used against it.
It is simply that the Republican party has 1)ecome the national party.  The platforms of 1856




CHAP. IV.]     OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.               383
and 1860 maintained the principles of Jefferson and
of the revolutionary fathers, and declared the determination to read the Constitution as they read
it. The REPUBLICAN PLATFORM of 1864
declared that Republicanism  and Slavery  cannot
co-exist, and demanded the destruction of the latter.
This platform was accepted by Mr. Lincoln, and its
chief plank is as follows:"Resolved,-That as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this rebellion, and it nmust be always
and everywhere hostile to the principle of Republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the -Republic, and we uphold
and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government in its own defence has aimed a death-blow at this gigantic
evil. We are in favour, furthermore, of such an amendment
to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity
with its provisions, as shall terminate and for ever prohibit the
existence of slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the
United States."
Our plan does not permit us to detail the process
by which the Republic destroys its foe.  We deal
with Causes and Results-with the essential principles, and their ultimate triumph.
The Truth of the North is proved by its essential
Unity, and by the fact that the logical development
of its principles is identical with their triumph.
The falsehood of the South is proved by its pretence to war for "' Independence," whilst retaining
a nation of slaves. It is but proved again, when
it revealed its last meanness in proposing to make
slaves fight for them without giving them their
freedom.




384              HIISTORY.            [BooK III.
The " Times," Nov. 19th, 1864, described a meeting worthy of especial notice, attended by some
of the wealthiest and weightiest men of New
York —men who three years ago were against the
coercion of States, and in favour of the maintenance
of Slavery as it was, but who now profess to be an
embodiment of the true Democracy.
These men, and amongst them conspicuously such
conservatives and aristocrats as Major-General Dix,:emand vmorepopular institutzons still, the direct vote
of the People, and a return to the spirit of 1828-32
when presidents like Jackson were chosen, not for
" availability" or compromise, but for genius and
character.
The re-election of Mr. Lincoln as commander-inchief of the armies and navies of the American
nation, by a zajority nearly half as large as the
whole number of votes polled at the last election
by the Slave Democrat, was the sign and seal of the
united will of the People.
We say then, finally, that the very act of Secession was iz fact the " casting out qf Oligarchy."  It
was directly caused by the declaration of the vast
majority against its purposes and power. Virtually
it was an act of the North,-a sufferance of the
South.
It is the Republic that triumphs, for the Republic
is abolitionist, and the abolitionists are the Republic.
And what of the principle of Oligarchy? It has
been the occasion of a movement that will destroy
slavery, that has made freedom consistent with itself,
and every individual of the Republic politically
free and equal. That creates for the nation a true




CHAP. IV.-]  OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.         385
unity, by making of its men true units. That has
removed for ever that great national danger, a
clashing of State and national Sovereignties. Oligarchy unmade itself, and has been " the making
of the American nation and Democracy."
America is one in History, —one in her graduated self-Government, local and general,-one in
her water and mountain system, —one in Boundary,-one in the two-fold unity of national and
popular Sovereignty, -of Industrial Freedom, and
centralised Government, —one in Religion,-one
in Will, —-one inl her Fusion of races, —one in Ideas,
Interests, and Civilisation.
In that only item in respect of which she was not
one, —this war will have completed her Unity.
Slavery introduced a barbarous code and sys-.tem,-an alien and perverse element. The North
has cast it out, and is closing in healthy granulations round the wound that war has lanced and
opened.
The Union must have been restored,-by war or
by peace.  By war, with or without temporary
Disunion; or by peace, through a Free Labour
Propagandism.
Either way, Secession and Oligarchy go out,
and the nation and Republicanism remain.
It was De Tocqueville's main position that the
tRepublican.form of Government was more deeply
rooted even than the TUnion.  That Republicanism
was the natural state of the Americans, and that
their strongest passion was for equality.
2 c




386                  HISTORY.              [BOOK III,
The game of Slavery being played out, now that
we-are come to the last move, let us review the
seven stages of the contest:
Ist. England encourages the Slave trade in the
Colonies, and the Fathers of the Republic anticipate and provide for the extinction of Slavery, but
recognise it as a fact.@
2nd. England must have cotton. No Anglo-Indian Statesmen exist. The South gets a stupendous
monopoly, slightly tempered, occasionally, by Indian
cotton.  Hence a money power, a policy, and a
sectional Slaveholding interest in the South.
3rd. The South fights for States, and loses.
4th. Losing that, and with it the national executive and administrative power, its next move is
to extend and consolidate sectional power.  It seeks
on the plea of popular sovereignty, to get it enacted that each territory or State may choose or
refuse Slavery for itself, whether North or South
of the compromise line, —it being understood by
Slaveholders, that while a given region remained
territory, the Slaves would be introduced, and
once introduced, no State acts could well be passed
or enforced  to  turn  them  out.  On this issue
John Brown and the fiee emigrants' societies beat
them. The "L Squatter sovereigns" go for freedom.
The South is also beaten in California, and loses
all hold on the Pacific.
* In the words of John Quincy Adams, as chairman of a Comn.
mittee in 1844, in his report to Congress;-" The Declaration of
Independence constituted a sacred pledge in the name of God,
solemnly given by each State, to abolish slavery soon as practicable,
and to substitute freedom in its place."




CHAP. IV.]   OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.             387
5th. The Dred Scott case is to remedy all
failures, by giving masters power to take slaves
anywhere.  The Supreme Court rules, in effect,
that negroes are not men.
6th. It is found that though Slavery be taken, —
forced, into the territories, it does not pay, and will
not live there. The temperate zone, and a propagandism of freedom, fight against it.
7th. The Dred Scott heresy being useless, and
Squatter sovereignty a mockery,-there being yet
territory enough for more than twenty new States,
which would go for freedom, the South now,the set time foretold by Calhoun having fully
come,-with perfect logic, and as much statesmanship as can be used for evil, sets itself to force on the
last alternative.  There would be thirteen millions
of negroes by A.D. 1900. Virginia, with its great
breeding aristocracy, its vast stake in slave property, and its strategic lines of mountain and river
- Virginia would be the outwork.  Mexico would
take the new Slave empire to the Pacific, denied
it by California. Panama would command the
commerce of both oceans, and  might dictate
alliances — and from the Potomac to Panama, the
most " enlightened" and resolute despotism, the
strongest and intensest oligarchy of the world, with
the torrid zone for its helper, and blacks from the
thirteen millions* for its battalions, might try,
for the last time, the question,-whether man has
* As we have seen, p. 370, if contact with free labour could but
be avoided, the Slaves might be increased to forty millions without
danger to the Whites.
2 c2




388               HISTORY.           [Boox III.
rights, history a meaning, or the world a government.!
It is true, there were a few things against the
success of this project. The great river cuts it in
twain, and between the river and Panama Napoleon
placed his legions, nor could the South have prevailed against them. Yet the Slave empire, were it
ever to exist, must begi/n at the Mississippi; for northwards, Slavery cannot live, and without Slavery, Oligarchy in America cannot continue. Against all the
stupendous policy and unique determination of the
South, let this be remembered,-that, apart from
Slavery and Oligarchy, there existed no basis for a
separate Southern nationality,-and that without
Slavery, Oligarchy would soon fail in the Gulf
States, though a phantom nationality were erected
there to-morrow.
This war for Slavery,-that was'" to rend God's
moral Government firom turret to foundation,"has worked out remorselessly for the South the
Logic of its suicide.  The South turned from
no foe.  It rejected no weapon.  It denied no
conclusions.  Drunk with blasphemies, it challenged every power, whether of Earth or Heaven,
that could contend against it for the right. In its
despair, it allied itself with the torch, the bowl, the
dagger, and the plague,  till gibbets creaked
with its reputation, and hemp was heavy with its
honour.
Its work has been so thorough,-its lesson so
well taught,-its moral so clear, that there will
need for all time no further repetition or enforcement.




CHAr. IV.]    OLIGARCHY CAST OUT.          389
The mean whites contended that each man
might ~"whop his own nigger.'"  The negro has
been drilled and disciplined to beat him! The
Slaveholder intrigued for forty years, and has
fought for four, to make his title sure to his property,
-but alas riches have wings, and the chattel has cut
and run! The Slave Barons would establish their
"6 institution," — and it is proposed to give to the subjects of it, Freedom and their master's Land! The
leaders of the rebellion would have fame,-and are
damned to it everlastingly.
The South fought against Destiny, Nature, and
God. But America is worthy and able to enact the
Law. The secret of its power was formulated by
Aristotle even before the Christian era:
" If the Poptlar party exceed more in Qiuantity,
than they are excelled in Quality, Democracy must
prevail."
And again in the words of Fichte:"- A regard for their own security compels all
Free States to transform  all around them  into
Free States like themselves; and thus for-the sake
of their own welfare to extend the empire of culture over barbarism, of freedom over slavery."
And HE, who rolls rivers, orders climates, and
laid the foundations of the continent, has, as far as
we can trace his workings, caused all things, from
the foolishness of the Stuarts, to the foolishness of
Davis and Lee, to work together for the 1" Making
of the People's Nation."








CHAPTER I.
RIGHT OF SECESSION.
CHAPTER II.
RECONSTRUCTIOT-'.




39'2             RIGHT OF SECESSION.               [BooK IV.
"T)he States have their status in the Union, and they have no
other legal status if they break from this. They can only do so
against law by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty, by conquest, or
purchase. The Union gave each of them whatever independence
and liberty it had. The Union is older than any of the States, and,
in fact, it created them States. Originally some dependent colonies
made the Union, and in turn the Union threw off their old dependence for them, and made them States.  Such as they are, not one
of them even had a State constitution independent of the Union."
LINCOLN, Message to Congress, July, 1861.
The proper Federal Union is where two or morb States, having their separate Governments for all domestic purposes, are
united by a central Government, which regulates their mutual relations as members of a political community, but does not interfere
with the functions of the several Governments, and their authority
over the individuals which are their subjects, unless in sofar as
those functions, and that azuthority may affect the Federal relation,
4c. *' *  There must be certain things laid down, certain rights
conferred, certain provisions made, which cannot be altered woithout
universal consent, or a consent so general as to be deemed equivalent
for all practical purposes to the consent of the whole."
BROUGHAM, on the United States Government.
"The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem
it necessary, shall propose awendments to this constitution, or, on
the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several
States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments," &c.-Art.
V. United States Constitution.
"Nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any
of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the
United States; and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of
every State.'"-Art. XIII. of CONFED~ERATION.
" No convention of the People shall be called, unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of both branches of the whole representation.
" No part of this constitution shall be altered, unless a Bill to
alter the same shall have been read three times in the House, three
in the Senate, and agreed to by two-thirds of both branches;
neither shall any alterations take place until the Bill so agreed to
be published three months previous to a new election." &c.- Constitution of SOUTH CAROLINA. See also similar provisoes in
Constitutions of Georgia, Louisiana, &c.




CHrP. I.]       RIGHT OF SECESSION.                  393
CHAPTER I.'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.
CONTENTS.
Right of Revolution or of Andmdment.-Bastard right of
Revolution.-Prima Facie.-New York Reservation, Madison
to Randolph thereon.-The People the Constituents of the
Union.-Right of Amendment not denied. —Fact of Despotism
not proved.-The Four Questions involved in the Claim.-Argument on the State Constitutions, the Ratification, the National
Constitution, the Resolution of Independence, the Declaration,
the British Constitution, and Natural Right.-Extracts from
Twenty-four State Constitutions.- Nineteen Reasons.
"The South cannot submit to a President who is not their devoted servant. Unless every power in the Constitution is to be
strained in order to promote the progress of Slavery, they will not
remain in the Union; they will not wait to see whether they are
injured, but resent the first check to their onward progress as an
intolerable injury. This, then, is the result of the history of Slavery. It began as a tolerated, it has ended as an aggressive institution, and, if it now threatens to dissolve the Union, it is not because
it has ancything to fear for that which it possesses already, but because it has received a check to its hopes of FUTURE ACQUISITION."-Times, Jan. 7, 1861.
" The Monster of State Sovereignty."-Wtashington.
"The establishment of a constituted anarchy."-Hegel.
THE glory of all the American State Constitutions
was, that in constituting and organising the power
that had conquered Freedom, they enunciated the
principles that should perpetuate it amongst their
descendants. The infamy of Secession was, that
while it destroyed order by rebellion, and freedom
by Slavery, it dared also to do this in the sacred
names of Freedom  and Independence.




394'RIGHTT' OF SECESSION.    [BooK IV.
If the Souith was " in its right," the right must
be either that of revolution, or of amendment and
alteration under the Constitution.
The South saw this intuitively, and the broad
basis of logic upon which the great fighting South
went, was, in fact, a kind of bastard'' right of
revolution," professing to rest upon necessity and
nature.-" Negroes are property, we have a right
to protect property, and to extend it." The North 
denied that right.  Hence the war.
There is no flaw in this logic, save in the major
premiss, no fault in the building, but in the foundation. If negroes be chattels, the South is rights
-if not, not.
But there is a third:" basis of right," now discovered. It is not in the Constitution. It is not
in the nature or necessity of things.  It is a right
to secede, supposed to subsist in certain States,
notwithstanding no such right was reserved; notwithstanding the same States entered into a solemn
covenant to " form a nation," the Union of which
was to be'perpetual;" notwithstanding many
clauses and undertakings in the Constitutions of
these States, which are incompatible with Secession,-either the fact of it, or the mode in which
it was attempted.
But we must not anticipate. It will not take
long, even selon les regles, to hunt this vermin to its
hole.  The South stood upon its so-called "rights,"
upon its unity, and upon its force, and proclaimed
before the world the necessary and natural inequality of the negro. As for this doctrine of
Secession, we suppose some people believe in it,
and it requires a short notice.




aJHAP. I.]    REDUCTIO AID ABSURDUM.        39t5
The national Constitution declares that it is constituted by the People the supreme law of the
land;-that the Union is to be perpetual, &c.; and
it provides a mode of amendment.
The State Constitutions attribute to the People
the supreme power; and those of South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Tennessee, and others, contain distinct regulations
as to the mode of alteration of the Governments of
those States.
Prima facie it follows, that neither the National, nor State Constitutions, were intended to
be altered, save by the means and in the modes
provided. It follows, also, that any argument for
a violent or informal abrogation of the first, would
apply with equal force to a violent and informal abrogation of the last. If " the States" can secede from
the Nation, in any other way than by the defined
amendment, then it follows, that the individuals or
the townships which constitute the States, can
also, in their turn, secede from the States. In
other words, that the nation can constitutionally
reconstitute the whole State organisation of the
South.
Moreover, certain of the States' Constitutions
asserted the right of the People to " alter, reform,
or abolish" the form  of Government, in certain
cases stated. This right being asserted in the State
Constitutions, and not asserted in the National Constitution, would so far apply rather against the
former than the latter. But such right is, in fact, one




396'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.-   [BooK IV.:
of the fundamental rights of human nature, and is
simply recognised as such by the form of amendment
provided. And inasmuch as the American Constitution has for its constituents every individual in
the nation, it follows, unless the contrary be distinctly proved, that the right to " alter, reform,
and abolish it" does not belong to the States, but
to the Nation. Nor can it exist at all, until, lst, the
right of amendment hras been denied; and, 2nd, tzhe
fact of despotism  proved.  Then, and-not before,
could the " natural right" of revolution, accrue.
Secession is, in fact, anarchy.  It has been well
said, that if it means anything, it means a deed by
which a State loses all advantages of the Union,
without being released from any of its duties to it.
The State constitutions declared the People the
source of all power, and the People of the United
States had adopted a national Constitution, and'
assumed and declared a national character. The popular Sovereignty is, therefore, thenceforth pledged
to the national Sovereignty and Constitution, which
could not be assailed by the States, or even by the
People, except through the recognised mode of
amendment.
The second of the, articles of confederation of
1778, retained to L each State " its sovereignty, &c.
This was the vital defect. The Convention of
1787 was assembled to cure it. During the debates
Madison said,"Some contend that the States are sovereign, while in fact
they are only political societies. There is a gradation of power
in all societies, from the lowest corporation to the highest
sovereign. The States never possessed the essential rights of




:CiAP. 1.]     THIE FOUR QUESTIONS.               397
Sovereignty. The States at present are only great corporations,
having the power of making by-laws, and these are effectual
only if they are not contradictory to the general confederation."
And Washington, in his letter of the 17th Sept.
1787, declares, —
"It is obviously impracticable, in the Federal Government
of these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty
to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all."
The Statesmen of that age would allow no doubt
or reservation upon that subject, directly or by
inference. New York actually proposed to withdraw within a certain number of years, if the
amendments proposed by the New York Convention  were not adopted.  Hamilton declared the
reservation was inconsistent with the Constitution,
and would not be a ratification.  He wrote to Madison for his opinion.  Madison wrote, that such an
adoption with reservation would not make New
York a member of the Union, and that she could
not be received on that basis.  " The Constitution
requires an adoption in toto and for ever."  " Influence is not Government,"' says Washington; and
Madison, writing  to Randolph  from  New  York,
April 8th, 1787, said" I hold it as a fundamental point, that the individual independence of the States is utterly irreconcileable with the idea of
an cggyregate Sovereizntg...  Let the national Government have a negative in all cases whatsoever on the legislative
acts of the States.      This, I conceive, to be essential,
and the least possible abridgment of the State Sovereignties.
Without such a defensive power, every positive power that can.
be given on paper will be unavailing."
Thus we see that the centralisation realised in
the national Constitution fell far short of that recommended by the Statesmen of the period.




398'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.    [BoojK IV.
The original Seceding States were the seven
Cotton States, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas. Two months
after, Virginia joined. North Carolina, Tennessee,
and Arkansas, were thus dragged in, and aftervrcads, Kentucky and Missouri were impudently
claimed.
" Right" of Secession involves four questions;1st.'Had the seceding States an absolute covenant right to secede, ex mereo motu?
2nd. If they had such right originally, has it
lapsed?
3rd. If their right was not absolute, what were
the conditions of its exercise?
4th. Have they observed them?
The replies to these questions can hardly be
mistaken.
First. The seceding States had never an absolute
right to secede.  Such right was not even claimed
or asserted by the States themselves, in their constitutions, as we shall show presently.
Secondly. If, technically, they had such a right,
do eighty years of change, during which the States
have become consolidated into a nation,-does this
lapse of time, and entire change of circumstance,
make no difference? If six or seven years forclose a debt, shall all that is meant by Unity and
Nationality, throughout three generations, foreclose
nothing?
Third, and Fourth. The conditions of rightful
" abolition, r'eformn  or alteration" (not secession),




CHAP. I.]  CONDITIONS OF "ALTERATION."    399
were six, as follow, and were so stated by the
Constitutions, &c. of the States themselves.
(A.) Certain States did assert for the People, an
absolute right to abolish a positively bad Government, but, with two exceptions, those States were not
the States lately in rebellion.
(B.) Certain States asserted a right to reform, &c.
if the proper objects of Government were not secured
by the Government. Amongst these States are four
of the seceding States. The answer is threefold;
— First, that this right applies as much (or more)
against the Governments of the States, in whose
constitutions it is asserted, as against the national
Government.  Second, that the'"proper objects"
were secured by the North. Third, that the very
secession ordinances, the declared intentions, and
further, the raison d'etre itself of the South, affirm
a principle of Government, not only not " proper,"
but infamous and destructive.
(C.)  A  certain State,-North Carolina, ceded
the territory, which afterwards became the State of
Tennessee, upon an op2enly immoral condition,upon condition of the unconditional perpetuation
of Slavery.  That condition was void ab initio.
(D.)  Certain  States undoubtedly joined  the
Union upon the implied understanding that their
fair rights as Slaveholders should be respected.
But to claim  from a nation: ":rights" that would
destroy that nation is vain and contradictory. The
question, therefore, is,:" has the nation given these
States a fair chance of gradually lessening, and
ultimately extinguishing their interest in Slavery?"
The answer to this and to them is, that their l rights"




400' RIGHT' OF SECESSION.    [BoOK IV.
had not only a fair, but an unfair, chance, —that
Slavery has grown more dangerous, inveterate,
powerful, and desperate, year by year, and that
now the question is —Slavery or the nation?  Obviously, no nation ever would or could contract to
commit suicide.
(E.) These rights were generally asserted on
behalf of " the People," the community, or the
majority, and the majority of the People in the
South pronounced  against Secession.  Of the
Southern votes alone, the Slave Democrat only
polled 25,000 more than the Union candidate,
without reckoning Lincoln's votes, or those of the
squatter Democrat Douglas, the third Southern
candidate.  The actual secession, therefore, not
only defies the national Sovereignty, but tramples
on that very popular Sovereignty so boastfully
relied on to prove this very "right of secession."
(F.) A certain delay of three months, and certain other delays, constitute part of the " State"
regulations for reform or amendment. These were
not complied with.
~
It is, indeed, abmundantly easy to prove that
Southern Secession violates every Law, Right,
Principle, and necessity, upon which communities
are based, or even social existence is possible.
The question is, " Had the South the right to
secede for Slavery, and under the actual circumstances?"
The question of the abstract right of Secession




CHAP. I.]    RIGHT IN "THE PEOPLE."        40 l
under some possible circumstances that have not
existed, is a very nice question for "; vindicators " of
the South, provided they believe that the public
can see no difference between the practical and the
speculative,- between Statesmanship and Hairsplitting.
The most practical of all questions must be
treated in a practical manner. There is a certain
line of argument, not without weight, to show that
the Sovereign States had the right, according to the
original compact, to secede upon due occasion.
But it is maintained that they possessed that
right, upon undue occasion, or without occasion?
and the claimants have appealed to the moral sense
of the world, and the world must judge what is,
and is not, justifying cause and occasion.
It were to amuse or to insult the reader to argue
that any States had the right, from mere whim,
caprice, or phantasy, to dismember a nation, first
solemnly formed, constituted, and compacted with
all the moral and mental forces of the continent.
Besides, of two things, one. The separate constitutions were before or after the national Constitution, and they agree or they disagree with it. If
before and disagreeing, then their ratification voids
the disagreement. If after and disagreeing, then
the national compact, being with the whole, and
for national consideration, voids every subsequent
private compact which any State might choose to
make within itself. T2ze People that made the nation
must be appealed to, before the nation can be unmade.
But the essential and ultimate revolt,-revolt
against God and man alike,-is the revolt against
2D




402'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.    [BooK: IV.
that ever-approaching union of Freedom and Law,
towards which all civilisation and progress tend.
A denial of, and a shrinking from, those political
conclusions, which will now be tried out in America. Wherein all should become self-restrained,
and all politically equal, where Conservatism
should become Democratic, and Democracy Conservative. For the climax of all Histories, constitutions, laws, progresses, — the very meaning,
politically, of God in the Race, is it not the realisation of Truth,-" Truth," so far, "-made flesh," in
the myriad-folded national life?  The truth, —the
political and social truth, not talked about, and
seen from afar, but realised, enacted, and lived.
~
What then were the actual circumstances under
which the right of Secession is maintained?
They were the claim of the South to extend
Slavery into the territories, and by the Dred Scott
law, into every Free State also.
Upon the denial of these'"rights," the South
seceded, and upon these questions the " right" of the
South must stand or fall.
Let us now'see how the text of the Southern
Constitutions justifies the much urged ":right of
Secession."
And here we take all those States created up to
1833.  And referring back to the  preceding
pages, we may say they have been written in vain,
if it be not quite clear that without these claims of
Slavery extension the Slave-South could not continue to exist at all. This is quite sufficient to




CHAP. I.]    SOUTHERN CONSTITUTIONS.                  403
demonstrate  the wrong  of the  South  ab  initio.
-Slavery could not exist except on the life of Freedom.  It therefore made the attempt to appropriate
and sequester the territory, or to destroy the Constitution of the Union.  Failing that it seceded.  So
far from  possessing any right to  attack  thus the
life of the North, it clearly had no right even  to
insist on retaining the cause of national weakness
within its own borders.
MAINE.  1819. "They (the people) have all indefeasible
right to institute Government, or to alter, reform, or totally
change the same, when, their safety and happiness require it."
Art. 1, Sec. 1.
The Governor " * shall be Commander in chief, * * i of the
militia, except when called into the actual service of the United
States."  Art 5, Sec. 7.
MASSACHUSETTS.  1779.              N a " Natural rigqhts, and the
blessings of life, " ~ and whenever these great objects are not
obtained, the People have a right to alter the Government."
Preamble to constitution.
NEW  HAMB[PSHIRE. 1792. "' Government, instituted for
the common benefit, protection, and security of the whole, &c.,
whenever the ends of Government are prevented, or.public
liberty manifestly endanzgered, and all other mneans of redress are
ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the
old, or establish a new Government."  Part. i. art. 10.
VERLVMOONT. 1793.  "That all men are born equally free,
&c., therefore (prohibition of Slavery or Slave Trade) Ch. I.
art. 1. Government for co m mon benefit, &c. The community
hath an indefeasible right to reform or alter Government."
Ch. I. art. 7.
CONNECTICUT.  1818. "The People *' at all times an
indefeasible right to alter their form  of Government in such
manner as they may think expedient."  Art. 1, sec. 2.
PENNSYLVANIA.  1790.  The same as Connecticut.
Art. 9, sec. 2.
NTEW  YOiRK and NEW  JERSEY. No reserved rights.
2 D 2




404              RIGHT' OF SECESSION.            [Boox IV.
DELAWARE.  1831. "And they (the people) may for
this end (happiness) as circumstances require, alter their constitution of Government."  Constitution, first clause.
MARYLAND. 1812. Same as New Hampshire.
VIRGINIA.  1776. " That all men by nature are equally
firee, 4c., and have certain inherent rights of which they cannot
by any compact deprive their posterity. Government instituted
for common benefit, protection, and security of the People, &c.,
and when found inadequate or contrary to these purposes,
a MAJORITY of the community, hath an indefeasible right to
reform, alter, or abolish it, &c." Sec. 1 and 3. Bill of rights.
" That no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate
privileges, &c. That no free Government can be preserved but
by frequent recurrence toffundamental principles."  Sec. 15.
1830. " No person Governor, unless a native citizen of the
United States."  Art. 4, Constitution.
NORTH CAROLINA. 1776. " All political power vested
in and derived from the People only; no exclusive privileges."
Sec. 1-3. NLo right to alter national Government reserved.
SOUTH  CAROLINA.  1798.  "The Governor shall be
commander in chief of the army and navy of this State, and of
the militia except when they shall be called into the actual
service of the United States."  Art. 2, sec. 6.
" All power is originally vested in the People, &c. Trial by
Jury, and liberty of the press, shall be for ever inviolably
preserved." Art. 9, sec. 1 and 6.
xNo right to alter national Government reserved. Also Art. 11
imposes (as do other constitutions), certain forms and delays on
the discussion of any project for altering the constitution,
and declares that such alteration shall not take place until the
Bill so agreed to, be published three months, 4e.
GEORGIA. 1798. " No Governor who shall not have been
a citizen of the United States twelve years. Art. 2, sec. 3. Freedom of press and trial by Jury inviolate. Art. 4, see. 5. No
Slave Trade after 1798. Art. 4, sec. 11.
N1o right to alter national Government reserved.
Same punishment for killing or dismembering slave, as white.
Art. 4, sec. 12.
KENTUCKY. 1799. " The Governor shall be a citizen of the
United States."  Art. 3, sec. 4.




CHAP. I.]      TEXT OF CONSTITUTIONS.                405
He shall be Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, and
of the militia, except when they shall be called into the service
of the United States. Sec. 8.
That all power is inherent in the people: for the advancement of these ends (peace, safety, and happiness), they (the
people) have indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish their
Government, in such manner as they may think proper. Art.
10, sec. 3.
TENNESSEE. 1796. " Governor shall be Commander-inChief of, &c. except when troops shall be called into the service
of the United States."  Art. 2, sec. 5.
Same right as Kentucky to " alter, reform, or abolish the
Government," for the sake of "peace, safety, and happiness.'"
Art. 11, sec. 1.
That no citizen shall be compelled to bear arms provided he
will pay an equivalent. Sec. 28.
OHIO. 1802. "All men equally free. To effect these ends
(liberty and independence), they have complete power to alter,
reform, or abolish Government, whenever they may deem it
necessary."  Art. 8, sec. 1. Slavery prohibited.  Sec. 2.
INDIANA. 1816. Same right to "alter or reform." Art. 1,
sec. 2.
LOUISIANA. 1812. Government formed " to secure rights
of life, liberty, and property." Preamble: " No representative,
unless a free white male citizen of the United States."  Art. 2,
sec. 4.
Every free white male, citizen of the United States, &c. shall
enjoy the rights of an elector.  Governor shall be a citizen of
the United States.  Art. 3, sec. 4.
" For ever disclaiming all right to the waste or unapporpriated lands in territory of New Orleans. The same shall be
and remain at sole disposition of the United States.
MISSISSIPPI. 1817.  Government formed "to secure
rights of life, liberty, and property."  That " general, great,
and essential principles of liberty and free Government" be
established, therefore:
"All political powers inthe people.*** Indefeasible right to
alter or abolish Government in such manner as they may think
expedient." Art. 1, sec. 2. Trial by Jury inviolate. Sec. 28.




406'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.             [BooK IV.
Representative, citizen of United States. Art. 3, sec. 7. Senator, citizen of United States.  Art. 3, sec. 14.
Governor, commander.in-chief, &c. except when troops shall
be called into the service of the United States. Art. 4, sec. 5.
Waste or unappropriated lands in the Statefor ever disclaimed,
and shall be and remain at the sole disposition of the United
States,@*@ and that the river Afississippi, and the navigable rivers
and waters leading into the same, or into the Gulf of Mexico,
shall be common highways, and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of this State, as to other citizens of the United States,
and this ordinance is irrevocable without the consent of the
United States.  Militia to be organised, &c. in manner not
incompatible with constitution and laws of the U3nited States.
ILLINOIS. 1818.  " No slavery to be introduced. Art. 6,
sec. 1.  Government for peace, safety, and happiness of people.
Art. 8, sec. 2.
ALABAMA. 1819. Government formed " to secure rights
of life, liberty, and property." Preamble: "That principles
of liberty and free government be established." —" People indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish government." Art. 1,
see. 2.
No representative, unless citizen of United States. Same as
to electors.  Art. 3, sec. 4 and 5.  Governor, native citizen
United States, and Commander in chief, &c. except when they
shall be called into service of the U. S. Art. 4, see. 4 and 6.
Militia to be organised and disciplined, not incompatibly
with constitution of United States. Art. 4, see. 1.
Waste lands, &c. at disposition of United States; all navig.able waters within this State shallfor ever remainpublic highways, free to the citizens of the United States, and this ordinance irrevocable without consent of United States.
MISSOURI. 1820. Same provisions as to altering Governinent when necessary to safety and happiness; as to electors,
representatives, Governor, Commander-in-Chief; as to freedom
of Mississippi, and navigable rivers leading into it.  State never
to interfere with the primary disposal of the soil of the United
States.  Laws to be passed securing humanity to slaves, and
abstinence from injury to their life or limb.
This  summary  suggests the question, whether




CHAP. I.]    THE ROOT OF "RIGHT."            407
the gentlemen who assert the right of Secession
upon the State constitutions, have ever read them,
and if they have, with what intention they make
such assertions respecting States tzat reserved no
poawer of Secession, or that reserved it only on the
condition of insupportably bad government.
~
And going back from the STATE CONSTITUTIONS,
to the RATIFICATIONS of the National Constitution;
and from them to the NATIONAL CONSTITUTION; and
from that to the RESOLUTIONS of Independence; and
from them to the DECLARATION of Independence;
and firom that to the. BRITISH CONSTITUTION; and
from that to the rights of HUMAN NATURE, upon
which all the philosophy of the Revolution was
avowedly based,-what say all these?  We take
them in their order.
HUMAN NATURE declares, as the British Constitution, the Resolutions, and the Declaration, declare,
that men are equal in their natural rights before
God, and as towards their fellows.
The South herein gave them all the lie, and was
itself essentially a liar from the beginning.
And the BRITISH CONSTITUTION, what says that?
We have already seen what it says, and the customs and rights founded upon it are as Penn expounded them:I"tNo man in England is born Slave to another, neither hath
one right to inherit the sweat of the others brow, or reap the
benefit of his labour but by consent.
"So sacred were the fundamental rights of the People reputted in the days of Henry III., that not to continue and con



408' RIGHT' OF SECESSION.    IBook IV.
firm them, was to affront God, and to damn the souls of the
King's progenitors and successors, and to depress the church
and deprave the realm."
"And twice every year, the Bishops should pronounce the
greater excommunication agaist the infringers of the great
Charter, though it were but in-word or counsel, for so saith
the statute."
The South, that stood, forsooth, on its " rights,"
denied every basis or authority from  which right
can be deduced.
The British Constitution declares that no man in
England shall be enslaved. The South- enslaves a
nation.
British usage declares the sacredness of freedom.
The South sold all free niggers who did not
promptly leave, and hangs " home made Yankees."
British birthrights declare that men shall be
tried by their peers and by a jury. In the case of
Welshmen the jury was of old half composed of
Welshmen.  The South rejects Negro evidence,
and tries Negroes by Slaveholders.
And yet the South first based its existence as
part of the American nation, upon necessity and
nature, upon the " rights of British Colonists and
subjects."
And what say the " RESOLUTIONS OF INDEPENDENCE?
They base their action and their right upon
human nature, and the British Constitution.
They claimed for all " inhabitants." Are negroes
"inhabitants "?  Is their nature "" human"'?
And the " DECITARA.TTON"
It says, " all men are free and equal." If negroes




CHAP. I.]         STOP THIEF!               409
are not "men," then Southerners are beasts, for
their blood is in the veins of a large proportion of
the four millions of Slaves.
And the CONSTITUTION?  It was formed by the
people, for a more perfect Union. And the South
attempted, against the vote of its own majority, to
destroy this Union!
And the RATIFICATIONS Of the Constitution?
We have already seen that the ratification of
New York would have been rejected as no ratification, had it been conditional.
The Constitution of 1787 was the organic and
fundamental law of the Commonrwealth.  It was
not a C" compact," for there were no parties to it.
There was but one party,-the People.
The Constitution was neither drawn up, nor promulgated, nor ratified, nor acceded to by " States"
as such.
The conditions on which the Southern People
ratified may be fairly shewn by quoting Mr. Nichol,
the latest ultra Secesh advocate. He quotes (p. 308,
v. 2.) the declarations of Maine, Michigan, Virginia, and New York for the right of Secession.
Maine and Michigan asserted the right of the people
to alter and abolish their Government " when their
safety and happiness, and the public good required it."
And Virginia and New York, in ratifying, declare
in the first case that the State, in the second that the
People, could resume the powers of government
";whzenever perverted to their ij`ury and oppr ession," or




410'RIGiHT' OF SECESSION.      [BoomI IV.'4 whenever it shall become necessary to their happiness."   And from  these quotations Mr. Nichol
thinks he proves the absolute r/ight to thrust aside
the Constitutional proviso for amendment, and to
secede for the purpose of perpetuating and extending Slavery! He also asks " can inconsistency and
falsehood go further " than for these States to join
in forcing the Northern Government back on their
sister States!!
For the same purpose he also quotes, (p. 311),
the Virginia resolution of 1798, " almost identical"
with the Kentucky resolution of 1797, and which
declared " that in the case of a deliberate, palpable,
and dangerous exercise of powers not granted by
said compact, the States  should "interfere for
arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the authority, rights,
and liberties, appertaining to them."
And so, the right to secure safety, happiness, and
public good; to resist injury and oppression, warrant a war to perpetuate fugitive Slave laws, and
to force Slavery on the territories! To I" arrest the
progress of the evil," is synonymous with extending
Slavery, and to "maintain within their respective
limits, their authority, rights and liberty," means
the same thing!
This is truly the reductio ad absurdum  of State
rights, and of Secesh, and it is, perhaps, as well
that Mr. Nichol has lived forty years to set it forth.
Granting the validity of the'' reservations" and
waving all other objections, they one and all
claimed it upon a contingency that has not arisen.
That contingency was bad Government. The occa



CHAP. I.]'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.        411
sion of Secession was that the principles of Freedom,
or good Government, were about to be completed
and made universal.
The Declaration justified revolt by Despotism,
and the very words in most cases, the exact sense,
in all, of the intense national feeling against the
inveterate tyranny of the English Oligarchy, were
copied into the constitutions or ratifications, to perpetuate the remembrance of the rights of Freedom.
Democracy formulates its protest against oligarchy and prerogative, and, lo! the intensest
Oligarchic despotism in the world, fits and forges
the fornulum into a protest against the completion
of Freedom, and the establishment of Democracy.
Really, the only answer to this should be:
" Stop thief! stop thief! "
All goes to this, ARE NEGROES MEN? In the
only Democracy the world ever saw,-Is a nation
to be denied the primary rights of manhood?
We say then that Secession was not right, but
wrong-because:1st. The terms of ratification'by the Seceding
States do not justify it.
2nd. The circumstances of the case condemn it.
3rd. Instincts of national preservation and life
will prevent it.
4th. The South has had a fair chance of gradually ending Slavery, and has failed.
5th. The right to secede was reserved to the
People, and the majority, and these voted against
Secession.




412'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.        [Boox IV.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and llth.  Human
nature, the British Constitution, the Resolutions,
and the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, and  the  Ratifications, all condemn
Secession for Slavery.
12th. Because national funds had been applied
chiefly in the South.
13th. Because the State Constitutions contain
irrevocable compacts with the United States, as to
"C Lands," A Soil," the Mississippi, &c.
14th. Because they, some of them, contain declarations that Slavery shall never be introduced;
and the Dred Scott case, and the Slavery extension
platforms, and Secession, &c., intend and declare
the contrary.
15th. Because the Constitutions of the chief
Secession States contain, as to alteration of national
Government, no reserved rig7hts wzhatever!
16th. Because the forms of alteration &c., were
not complied with, and the right of amendment
was not demanded.
17th. Because " the People" of 1787, are the
Nation of 1860.
18th. Because many of the rights and privileges
(press, speech, jury, &c.) guaranteed by State
Constitutions to the People, have been negatived,
denied, and reversed, by the necessary action of
Slavery.
19. Because, as we have shown, the same interpretation of Southern Constitutions, that would
justify the States in seceding from  the Union,
would justify the North in reconstituting the whole
State organization of the South.




CHAP. I.]        CHARLESTON  DEAS,                   413
The question of the indebtedness of the South
concerns the question of "right,"  and  requires a
little amplification. Brownlow (p. 234) thus puts
it:"Ought the three rebellious States, Louisiana, Florida, and
Texas, to be tolerated in their schemes of treason after costing
the people of the other States six hundred and eigAteen millions
of dollars? Louisiana, purchased at $15,000,000; interest paid,
$8,385,353. Florida, $5,000,000; interest paid, $1,430,000.
Texas (boundary), $10,000,000; for indemnity, $10,000,000;
for creditors, $7,750,000; Indian expenses, $5,000,000; navy
and troops, $5,000,000; all other expenditures, $3,000,000.
Mexican  war,  $217,175,575;   soldiers'  pensions,  &c.,
$100,000,000.   Florida  war,  $100,000,000;   pensions,
$7,000,000; to remove Indians, $5,000,000.   For New
Mexico, $15,000,000; to extinguish Indian titles, $ 100,000,000.
Georgia, $3,082,000."
And Senator Doolittle, Dec. 1860, spoke to the
same effect, as follows:"'our right of Secession involves the right of expulsion. Let
us see how this doctrine would apply in time of war.  * * x  Any
one of the New England States could have resolved itself out, and
gone over to the enemy, * * and turned our own guns against us.
But again, take it in time of peace. PENNSYLVANIA could cut off
all the mail routes. So too with Illinois, we could not go to New
York, except by leave of Illinois or Kentucky. How is it with
FLORIDA, that has 50,000 whites? We purchased it to get rid of
foreign jurisdiction-also to get possession of the Key and command
the entrance to the Gulf. And now Florida attempts to resolve
herself out, and take all these fortresses, which we have spent
thousands of dollars to make, with all our own guns, and turn them
against us. How is it with LovISIANA? The Government of the
United States upon principles of great national policy, purchased
it from the Emperor of France at an expense of $15,000,000, to
obtain possession of the great valley of the Mississippi, and above
all things to hold the mouth of that river. How has it been with
TEXAs P? The result of her annexation brought the M3exican war,
which cost us 40,000 lives and nearly $100,000,000."




414'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.          [Boox IV.
To this may be added that the Mississippi is the
highway for ten States, and touches on thirteen, —
that the secession of Louisiana cut Texas off from
the Union, and that Louisiana had cost 60 million
francs and many years protection by the sugar duty
of about seven millions of dollars annually: also
the mails in the seven slave States, cost two millions of dollars annually above the receipts.
Mr. Everett also states nearly the same facts.
But he adds that:
"A great part of the military establishment of the United States
has been incurred in defending the SouTr-wEsrTRN FRONTIER.
If to all this expenditure, we add that of the forts, the navy yards,
the court houses, the custom houses, &c. in these regions, five
Aundred millions of dollars of the public funds, of which at least
five-sixths have been levied by indirect taxation from the North
and North-west, have been expended in and for the GULF STATES
in this century."
In England, where the matter is not relegated
to the logic of Bayonets, and where public morality is not violated with impunity, such works as
the British Copperhead press has produced, ought
to forward immensely the cause of the North.
They  evince a profound  political and  social
immorality, resting the logic of Secession, ultimately, on the theorem that right is wrong, and
wrong is right-that black is white, and white
black.  Their right of Secession  rests upon the
right of Slavery; the right of Slavery rests upon
the wrongs of the Slaves.
They say, almost with the clearness and sequence
of a syllogism-"-  We reserved a right of securing




CHAP. I.]    CHARLESTON IDEAS.            4 15
good Government, therefore we have the right to
make a Slaveholder's war tupon the nation."
Mr. Williams, writing  (of course) from  the
meridian of Constantinople (whose  Sultan was
lately praised as moral, because he discharged his
father's old ladies), and adopting his tone to the
congenial meridian of Charleston, likens " Puritanism" to " eternal punishment," calls it a " Pestilence" (p. 409), and unconsciously justifies the
North, by declaring that a gradual setting free of
negroes is impossible, and that slaves must for ever
remain so, unless the South be exterminated. (p. 128.)
The South is now going through a course of
primary instruction as to the meaning of right and
wrong, and as to their consequences. Also of the
meaning of " freedom, safety, and happiness," and
the way to secure these good things.  It has often
wished itself well back, -with its peculiar Institution
as it was, and bitterly rues the day when it appealed
to the " fundamental rights of the people."
It throws a clear light on the real moral and
political situation of the South, to have these
gentlemen, with all the unction  and  odour of
Southern sanctity about them, explaining to Engishimen, how Slavery and Slave necessities, are
identical with "freedom, safety, and happiness;"
and how the great country that has gone nigh unto
wholesale destruction for the sake of peace, and
compromise with Slavery, has at length violated
the rights of the Slaveholders, by staying-almost
"4 on the verge."
Clearly, No conservatism  would  suit these




416'RIGHT' OF SECESSION.          [BooK IV.
Southern devotees, BUT A CONSERVATISM  OF IDESTRUCTION AND DESPAIR.
They would perpetuate in America a " constituted
anarchy" such as Hegel lamented in Germany,
and declared that the world had never seen before.
They assert the position he thus denounces:
"The position that an empire is properly a unity, a totality,
a state, while yet all the relations are determined so exclusively
on the principle of private right, that the privilege of all the
constituent parts of that empire to act for themselves, contrarily to the interest of the whole, is guaranteed by the most
inviolable sanctions."
A  State," says Burke, " ought not to be considered as nothing better than a partnership agreement in a trade of pepper and coffee, calico and
tobacco, or some other such low concern, to be
taken up for a little temporary interest, and to be
dissolved by a fancy of the parties. It is to be looked
upon with other reverence, because it is not a partnership in things subservient only to gross animal
instincts of a temporary and perishing nature.  It
is a partnership i n all science, a partnership in all
art, a partnership in every virtue and in all perfectzon, a partnership not only between those who are
living, but between those who are dead, and those who
are to be born."




417
CHAPTER ILt
RECONSTRUCTION,'"EHROLD THE WORLD PH]ENIX, IN FIRE CONSUMMATION AND
FIRE CREATION; WIDE ARE HER FANNING WINGS; LOUD IS HER
DEATH-MELODY,  OF BATTLE THUNDERS AND FALLING TOWNS; SKYWARD LASHES THE FUNERAL FLAME, ENVELOPING ALL THINGS; IT
IS THE DEATH-BIRTH OF A WORLD."
" This nation under God shall lhave a new birth of Freedom, and
Government of the People by the People and for the People shall
not perish from the earth" —Lincoln.
" To realise these grades of national progress is the boundless
impulse of the world-spirit,-the goal of its irresistible urging."
Hegel.
"They meant to set up a standard maxim of free Society, which
should be familiar to all, and though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreadizng and deepennyg its iTfluenees, and augmenting the happiness and value of life
to all people of evergy colowr, everiywh/ere."-Lincoln.
" The incurable defect of all former Federal Governments is, that
they were Sovereignties over Sovereignties."-( hancellor Kent.
" FREE LABOTTR has, at last, apprehended its rights, its interests,
its powers, its destiny, and is organising itself to assume the Government of the Republic. It will meet you everywhere, in the
Territories and out of them, wherever you may go to extend slavery.
It has driven you back in California and Kansas. It will invade
you soon in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Texas.
It will meet you in Arizona, in Central America, and even in Cuba.
You may, indeed, get a start under or near the Tropics, but it will
be for a short time. Even there, you will found States for free
labour to occupy. * * *' The interests of the white race demand
the ultimate emancipation of all men. The White man needs this
continent to labour on. His head is clear, his arm is strong, and
his necessities are fixed. He must and will have it." —Seward.
" We need no safeguard. Not only the inevitable, but thze best,
power on this side of the ocean, is the unfettered average common
sense of the masses. *  " You may sigh for a strong Government, anchored in the convictions of past centuries, and able to
protect the minority against the majority, able to defy the ignorance,
the mistake, or the passion, as'well as the /high purpose of the present
hour. *  *  The fact remains, that we are launched on the oceatn
of anz unchained democracy, wOith no safety but in t/Le instinctive love
of right in tte popular heart.   * *  Trust thze people witlh the
gireatest questions, and you secure, not perfect, but the best possible
institutions.  Now, my idea of American civilisation is, that it is a
second part, a repetition of that same sublime confidence in the
public conscienee azdcl the public thoeaqht, that made the groundwork of Grecian DImocracy."- Wendell Phillips.
2E




418                RECONSTRUCTION.                 [Boon IV.
"The Home of Freedom disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged
and perpetuated."-Lincoln.
" Behold now this vast City; a City of refuge, the Mansion House
of Liberty, encompassed and surrounded with his protection.
The shop of war hath not there more anvils and hammers making,
to fashion out the plates and instruments of armed justice in defence
of beleaguered truth, than there be pens and heads there, sitting by
their studious lamps, musing, searching, revolving new notions. and
ideas wherewith to present, as with their homage and their fealty,
the approaching reformation. Others as fast reading, trying all
things, assenting to the force of reason and convincement.
-What could a man require more from a nation so pliant and so
prone to seek after knowledgeP  What wants there to such a
towardly and pregnant soil, but wise and faithful labourers, to make
a knowing people, a nation of prophets, of sages, and of worthies?
We reckon more than five months yet to harvest; there need not be
five weeks, had we but eyes to lift up, the fields are white already.
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much
arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is
but knowledge in the making. a  k  i n g
I doubt not, if some great and worthy stranger should come
among us, wise to discern the mould and temper of a people, and
how to govern it, observing the high hopes and aims, the diligent
alacrity of our extended thoughts and reasonings in the pursuance of
Truth and Freedom, but that he would cry out as Pyrrhus did,
admiring the Roman docility and courage, if such were my Epirots,
I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted to
make a church or kingdom happy. Yet these are the men cried out
against for schismatics and sectaries, as if, while the temple of the
Lord was building, some cutting, some squaring the marble, others
hewing the cedars, there should be a sort of irrational men who
could not consider there must be many schisms and many dissections made in the quarry and in the timber, ere the house of God can
be built. And when every stone is laid artfully together, it cannot
be united into a continuity, it can but be contiguous, in this world:
neither can every piece of the building be of one form.
Nay, rather the perfection consists in this, that out of many mzoderate varieties and brotherly dissimilitudes that are not vastly disproportional, arises the goodly and the graceful sym metry that comnmends tle whole pile a-nd structure. No marvel, then, though some
men, and some good men too, perhaps, but young in goodness, as
Joshua then was, envy them. They fret, and out of their own weak.
ness are in agony, lest these divisions and subdivisions will undo ues.
The adversary again applauds, and waits the hour;'When they
have branched themselves out, saith he, small enough into parties
and partitions, then will be our time.' Fool! *he sees not the firm
roots out of which we all grow., though into branches. And that we
* * " shall laugh in the end at those malicious applauders of our
differences, I have these reasons to persuade me." —l1ilton.




CHAP. II.]              CONTENTS.                        419
Three mighty Problems.
Napoleon and the South.-John Brown and the Negro.
The Principles of the South.-Policy of the South.-Its real
scope, and cause of failure.-Fifty Years of conspiracy.
The Policy of Li.ncoln.-Principles of Reconstruction.-National Resources, or materials of Reconstructiol. —Certaiai
Items of Reconstruction. — Certain Probable Results.
" ONE ONLY DESTROYS WHAT ONE REPLACES " —Napoleon I.
" THE NEW CATHOLIC ELEMENT WAS THE PEOPLE."-Bancroft.
" There is in every nation ageneral Spirit upon which power itself
is founded.  When power clashes against this spirit it clashes
against itself, and is necessarily stopped."-'-.l/ontesquieu.
" Every Government is composed of two distinct elements, its
nature (structural identity) and its principles (passions)."-Ibid.
"A  Government can be a strong one onlty in the case where its
principles are in harmon1y with its nature."
i' When in a country so democratised (as was France) the principle
of equality is not generally applied, it manst be introduced into all its
laws before Liberty can be possible."  "' Where Feudality has been
replaced by something else, it has never revived."
" A Government of the present day must base its moral influence
on a Principle, its physical strength on organisation."
"To build on a rock means to establish a Government on Democratic Principles."- Napoleon ItI.
" The grand political problem is to invent the best combination
of the powers of legislation and execution: one power would fix
them to a centre, and another carry them off indefinitely; but the
first and simple principle is EQUALITY AND THE POWER OF THE
WHOLE." —Otis, 1764.
" True Democracy means the elevation of the masses. Labour is
dignity, dignity is manhood, manhood is aristocracy. The time has
come to lay broad and deep the foundations of the new Aristocracy." —JoAnson,, President United States.
"The true barriers of our Liberty are State Governments."
Jeffersoln.
" We can have no permanent peace with the South bwut by Amewicanzisivg it." —X3ort  American Review, 1865.
" It requires a strong hand to destroy the despotisa of Servitude
throtugA the gae)2c~j of the despotism of Liberty, and to save the
country by the same means which otherwise would have subjugated
it.'"-Napoleon II. Vol. I. p. 168, Life and Works.
THE Destiny of Oligarchy in America is determined on.  Let it be accomplished.
Let us try to see now what is plain respecting
that of the American nation,
Thle  Principles that have conquered  must culminate. They are called FEDERAL REPUIB2 E 2




420           RECONSTRUCTION.        [Boo: IV.
LICANISM.  They mean political Equality between Individuals, a proper and orderly Adjustment
of functions between the parts and the whole, and
Freedom as between the Individual and the State.
Development produces association. Developed
associated manhood produces Equality, and is
Republicanism.  Republicanism  must make the
Federation lasting, as Federation has made the
Republic an Empire.
With Reconstruction comes Reconciliation. State
Rights have not to be destroyed, but to be re-adjusted. Federal Republicanism has got to complete
that reconciliation of Democracy with Centralisation, which is the sum of political questions.
Federation, as the binding principle of a vast political framework, will with Freedom and Equality,
secure just relations between Individuals, " State,"'
and nation, and present at once the following problems and consequences.
1st. THE FALL OF OLIGARCHY IN THE WEST, its
completed Destruction by negro suffrage, or by
white immigration Southwards if necessary; and
the influence of American Democracy,-on the
Peoples everywhere.
2nd. THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO' RACE.  It is
an ethnical, a geographical, and a political question.
Politically, negro suffrage will constitute a material
guarantee of Equality, and a crucial test of its
sincere and unqualified adoption, inl the case of
Labor, Poverty, and a Pariah race. Moreover,
Central America, and the region from Panama to
Texas, is now alive with events and movement.
Panama commissions, railways, and schemes; the
commerce of the Antilles; the throne of Mexico,




CHAP. IL]  THREE MIGHTY PROBLEMS.        42 
and the dciminuendo of French occupation; the
}Monroe doctrine, and the advance of the American
frontier;- all these tend to make the future of
these regions a pressing and a " burning" question.
The negroes will be thirteen millions in A.D. 1900,
and now whether the process of fusion of White
and Black races, continues, or not, there is the race,
and the race is free, —to remain, or to find a home
and a country in a warmer zone; for since John
Brown died for them, the banner and the nationality
of America, is that of the negro,-sacred, bought
with blood. The future of America will be his,
and he may be destined to receive in that futures
tenfold for all that he has suffered in the past.
3rd. And is there not another process that will
go on?  What do we behold in America?  ALL
NATIONALITIES FUSED AND FEDERATED. Not as a
dream, but as an accomplished fact. An extension
of the process would bring back to the world the
olden times of one tongue, and one blood?  The
idea was Napoleon's, of an European federation,in 1860, Garibaldi urged it, and we have heard of
the "C Federation of man," and of war-drums dumb
in the future. Here, in America, is the beginning
of it, wrought out, done, concluded. Whether it be
the beginning of the end, let us leave for time to
show. But if there be anything in the aspirations
of all those best qualified to judge,-from  John
Adams to De Tocqueville, and from De Tocqueville
to John Bright,-there will be, certainly, but one
tongue, one People, one mode of Government,from the ice-thrones of the Pole, to the flaming belt
of the Equator.




422           RECONSTRUCTION.         [BooK IV.
~
When the profundity of the Statesmen of the
South shall come at last to be more generally
appreciated, and the veil of policy which obscured
their measures, has been removed by a knowledge
of the facts and essential logic of the situation,then the world will take in at once the majesty of
the Intellects of South Carolina, and their Despair,
-Despair that there is yet ONE above them to
baffle, and, again, to use, the grandest scheme of
evil since the Fall. Then it will be seen that had
that scheme prospered in the Union, the battle for
States might have been revived with no disad-vantage to the South,-that millions upon millions
of "' chattels," would hereafter have teemed upon
its multiplying States,-that in a region past the
Mississippi, and where the temperate zone would
cease to fight against theme,-that there, whether in
the Union, or out of it, by votes, or by arms, Slave
States might neutralise free,-that there, oligarchy
might perpetuate, and more naturally organize an
inferior race, —that there, even from Panama to
the great river, a new world of slaves might
recuperate the exhausted energies of the Gulf
States,-coimmand the chiefest thoroughfare of
the world's commercial future,-menace or possess the great natural outlet of the products of
the free North,-use the resources and products
of the Antilles,-bestride the indispensable route of
England to her children in the seas, and, from the
throne of the Montezumas, seal up the half of the
universe, from the influences of civilisation and
freedom.




CHAP. II.]  NAPOLEON AND THE SOUTH.      423
Then, also, the policy of a Titan elsewhere,
will be comprehended, and the fact that whatever
Napoleon may have meant about the North, —in
occupying Mexico, he pierced the very heart of
Southern Statesmanship, and occupied beforehand,
thzat, without which the South could have neither a
future, a capitol, or even an aim.
We do not imitate those who seek to penetrate
the future. But Napoleon is in Mexico. With the
Union divided, he can remain there, —against the
resources of the Union he cannot. The postulate
of his policy is the disunion of the nation.
It will also become clear, that the fatal weakness of the South was not in their conduct, but in
their fate. The South simply could not win. They
could not wait, for the propagandism of Freedom
was rapidly penetrating them. They could not
advance Southward at once, for the Slaves were
not numerous enough, nor was their own policy
matured; and the Abolitionists of 1833, John
Brown of Kansas, Lincoln of Illinois, and all the
noble army of martyrs since, have precipitated upon
them a policy of territorial freedom.
Nevertheless, three steps, only, were wanted to
this Avernus. The North, the oficial North, took
two of them;- and then the nation stopped!
" AMan is Property. Property ought to be protected in the actual Territories. Property shall be
protected on seas, on land, anywhere, especially in
Territories that may Ierectfter be acquifred."  The
Chief Justice ruled that " man is property,-that
property, of course, should be protected, —that"



424              RECONSTRUCTION.            [BooR IFT,
he would have ruled anything.  But the Republicans got their President. The hour and the Maan
came together.  The South defied the flag.  Nationality and abolitionism  were at last one, but,
maugre both, the nation) which for seventy years
had, in person, or by procuration, done the work of
sin and the Devil, was near also taking the wages,
-Death.
It may be said that the nation was not with compromise. We answer, it was not enough against it.
They passed personal liberty bills, started Societies, &c.; but, nevertheless, Materialism and a mock
Democracy took, till John Brown and Lincoln, joint
possession with  Slavery  and Oligarchy, of the
Government and the representative power.  Disregard of Principle is the master sin of all nations.
Generally, it comes through  mere disregard  or
want of Statesmanship amongst Leaders or People,
and in America, of all nations, that ought not so
to have been.
" But" says Wendell Phillips, "' put one Christian, like John  Brown  of Osawatomie, and he
makes the whole crystallise into right and wrong,
and marshal itself on the one side and the other."
This was the statesmanship and the defence of
John Brown;
" This court acknowledges, too, as I suppose, the validity of
the law of God.  I see a book kissed, which I suppose to be
the Bible, or at least the New Testament, which teaches me
that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me,
I should do even so to them. It teaches me further, to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavour to act up to that instruction.  I say I am yet too young
to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe
that to have interfered as I have done,-as I have always




CHAP. II. JOHN BROWN AND THE NEGRO.         425
freely admitted I have done,-I have done in behalf of His
despised poor, no wrong but right."
And so the creed of John Brown has become the
creed of the nation, and his blood and the abolitionist creed, would seem to have worked together
that stupendous miracle, the RESURRECTION of a
great nation.  They tatugh/t the White man how
and what to destroy. —The Negro, in whom he might
believe.
~
Compared with all previous crises of a similar
nature, the technical work of reconstruction ought
to be clear, as the appointed means are simple.
The past ages and races of the world have simplified the work for the Americans to-day.
The three great political labours of the living
nations of the world were:-lst, to destroy the
idea of the right divine of rulers; 2nd, to establish
agoainst Privilege the right of representation; 3rd,
to establish the Principle of the political comlpetency of the masses.
Of these three, two were accomplished by the
English race and Democracy, before they were
transplanted to America,-there to carry out, at
least a century earlier than had been possible in
England, the third and last great principle.
Further, the American Constitution was a written
one, and organised the national political life upon
an acknowledged basis, many features of which
might have been taken (as far as the circumstances
were parallel) from the English " Declaration of
Rights," incorporated in the instrument by which
the Prince and Princess of Orange were called to
the throne.




426             RECONSTRUCTION.             [BooK IV.
The " Principles of the English Constitution were,
on the other hand" (says Macaulay, pp. 663-4, V. 2),
"not formally and exactly set forth in a single
written  instrument, but they were to be found
scattered over our ancient and noble statutes;" and
stating what they were,* he adds, that although
L"the realm stood in no need of a new constitution," the convention had two great duties to
perform. The first was to clear the fundamental
laws of the realm from ambiguity; the second was
to eradicate the idea of the divine right of prerogative.
INow, compared with this English, the easiest of
all revolutions, what is the task of American politicians?  Simply, "to clear the fundamental lawos
from ambiguity."  This done, and all except detail
is done. As to the constitutionality, as well as to the
momentous results, we may adopt the language of
Macaulay, and apply it to the American crisis:
" The whole English law was' ~ exactly the same
after the revolution as before it. * ~ It finally decided the great question whzether the popular element
should be suffered to develop itself freely and to
become dominant.  The strife between  the two
principles had been long, fierce, and doubtful. It
had lasted through four reigns. It had produced
* " That, without the consent of the representatives of the
nation, no statute could be enacted, no tax imposed, no regular
soldiery kept up; that no man could be imprisoned even for a
day by the arbitrary will of the Sovereign; that no tool of
power could plead the royal command as a justification for
violating any legal right of the humblest subject; were held,
both by Whigs and Tories, to be fundamental laws of the
realm." —M{acaulay's _England, p. 664, v. 2.




CnAP. II.]   DIVISIONS OF SUBJECT.        427
seditions, impeachments, rebellions, battles, sieges,
proscriptions, judicial massacres. Sometimesliberty,
sometimes royalty had seemed on the point of
perishing. During many years one half of the energy
oJ England had been employed in counteracting the
other half:  The executive power and the legislative power had so effectually impeded each other, that
the State had been oJ no account in Europe."
The work of America is more difficult, because
more radical anud rudimentary, than was that of
England. But, in proportion as Oligarchy is more
powerful and desperate than was Royalty, so will
the political, social, and economic results of the
new national unity be more conspicuous.
Granted, the success of the Principle of Democracy, and the question of Reconstruction is an
exceedingly simple and decisive one, for Democracy
supplies the objects, the means, and the form.
The details, however, are, somewhat elaborate.
The whole question consists of six Parts.
The first describes the Principles of the South.
The second, the Policy of Lincoln. The third, the
Principles of Reconstruction. The fourth, the National Resources, or Materials for Reconstruction.
The fifth, certain items of Reconstruction. The
sixth, certain probable Results.
PART I.
THE  POLICY  AND  " PRINCIPLES"
OF THE SOUTH.
The South seceded, because the North commanded a majority in both Houses, and could




428            RECONSTRUCTION.        [Booi IV.
command the national policy. According to the
Census of 1860, the eight North-western Free
States progressed in population in ten years at the
rate of sixty-seven per cent.-the average increase
in the whole country being 35'53 only.  And
Ohio, alone, has more free white population than
the whole six Slave States of South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The South seceded because it became evident that the majority of the North would be
used to defeat the one only means by which the
South could regain its power in the Union,namnely, the creation of new Slave States out of
future territory.
Although Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural declared, that
the people must not "resign their Government into
the hands of the Courts," yet the Supreme Court
had ruled the admission of slavery into every
State.
The real question in fact was, not shall it be
lawful to admit slavery into existing States, but,
is it likely that SUCH States will be admitted into the
Union, as will, from a more congenial population,
climate, and soil, admit of the perpetuation of
Slavery?
As the territories in question were not ripe for
annexation, as the Republican party was growing,
and as Lincoln could neither be bribed nor bullied,
the South seceded.
Let us establish this two-fold position by quotations on both sides.
SLAVERY and the TERRITORIES. The first was
the cause of the strife. Both were to be the prizes




CHaP. II.]   PRINCIPLES OF THE SOUTIH.            429
of victory.  " Slavery" meant, not only the bondage of the Black, but tke eternal subordination of
the masses as. a political principle.  " The Territories" were synonymous with the new-to becomlpleted Slave empire.
That'"territories"  were the main  object of
Secession has been proved by all the recent resolutions, and platforms, and conventions of that party.
But that the veiled object of this policy of " Territories" regarded the immense future, which was
by them to be opened up, has not been shown.
That Slavery, in its generic signification as Oligarchy,-as a political principle, regarding  new
territories as its own  essential material basis,that tizs was the alpha and omega of Southern
policy, we now proceed to show by selections from
every kind of evidence, not already adduced.
Oligarchy, and New  Territories, were, we say,
to constitute with the old Slave States, the POLICY
AND POWER of the South..LABOR-RIGHTS AND MAJORITIES
TO BE RESTRAINED.
"Governments," said one of the most authentic documents
of the South,'; are instituted for the protection of the rights
of persons and property; and any system must be radically
defective which does not give ample security to both. *  *
Capital belongs to the few; labour to the many. *  *  The
political condition of the Northern States presents a striking
illustration of the evils incident to the preponderance of the
element of labour. *  *  This tendency to a conflict between
labour and capital has already manifested itself in many forms,
*  free schools, homestead bills, communism, disregard of religion and of matrimony, and more distinctly, in the form of
abo/it:onisnm.




430               RECONSTRUCTION.                [BooR IV.
" No system of Government can afford security to life, liberty,
andproperty, which rests on the basis of unlimited suffrage,
and the election of officers of every department of the Government by the direct vote of the people. These, however, are the
vital principles of the North, &c.  In the Southern States
more conservative and rational principles still prevail.  This is
due mainly to the institution of slavery.  *~    In the North,
every class and condition are entitled to vote.
"Slavery also constitutes an esfectual barrier against that
tendency to antagonism between labour and capital which exists
in the North.  *  *  Here, capital is the owner of labour, and
naturally seeks to enhance its rewards." —Report of Conmmittee
appointed by VInGINI&NM CONVENTION, to consider amendments
to Virginian Constitution, Richmond, Nov. 19th, 1861.  See
Putnam, also Victor, T. 2, p. 519.
And the chief prophet of the new  dispensation
thus expounded and extolled his Gospel: —
" Whether Jefferson fully understood the great truth upon
which that rock stood and stands may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were,
that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws
of nature: that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and
politically.  This was an error. It was a sandy foundation,
and the idea of a Government built upon it, when the storm
cable, and the wind blew, it fell.
" Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite
principle; * * this great physical and moral truth. I cannot
permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of afull recognition
of the principle throughout the civilised and enlightened world.
For his own purposes the Creator has made one race to differ
from  another, as He has made one star to differfiom, another
star in glory! * * We are now the nucleus of a growing power,
which, if we are true to ourselves, our destiny and high mission,
will become the controlling power on this continent. To what
extent accessions will go on in the process of time, or where it
will end, the future will determine." - VICE PRESIDENT
STEPHENS, ]Z~arch, 1861. Victor, V. 1, p. 3041.
"The cause of all the trouble is the persistent war of the
Abolitionists upon more than two billions of property; a war




CHAP. II.]    PRINCIPLES OF THE SOUTH.             431
waged from pulpits, rostrums, and schools, by press and People."
— Delaware Governor, 1860.
" The one great evil is the overthrow of the Constitution.
The Government is no longer the Government of a confederate
republic, but of a consolidated D)emocracy. It is no longer a
free Government, but a Despotism. Not only their fanaticism,
but their erroneous views of the principles of free Government, render it doubtful whether, separated from the South,
they can maintain a free Government among themselves.
Brute numbers is with them the great element of free Government.  The very object of allfree constitutions in free popular
Governments is TO  RZESI2RAIN  THRE  JIiAJORITE
* * * We prefer, however, our system of industry, by which
labour and capital are identifJed in interest, and capital therefore protects labour, &c.  /We ask you to join us in forming a
corfrdceracy of Slaveholding States."-Address of SOUTH CAROLINA CONVENTION, to People of Slaveholding States, Dec. 24,
1860. Putnam.
NEW SLAVE TERRITORY.
" I am a plain, blunt spoken man," said Wigfall of Texas, in
the Senate, in 1861. "I usually say precisely what I mean, and
I always mean precisely what I say. * * *  We say that man
has a right to property in man. We say that our slaves are
our property. We say that it is the duty of every Government to protect its property everywhere. X* * If you wish to
settle this matter, declare that slaves are property, and like all
other property, en titled to be protected in every quarter of the
globe, on land and on sea.  Say that to us, and then the difficulty is settled."
The  following,  from   Seward,  Douglas, and
Adams, explains why the Oligarchy must seek new
Slave States, SOUTHWARDS, in  a more  congenial region, or rend the Union: —
" What is the extent of the Territories that remain after
the admission of Minnesota, Oregon, and of Kansas?  One
million, sixty-three thousand, five hundred square miles-an
area twenty-four times that of the State of New York, the
largest of the old and fully-developed States. T1wenty-four such




432              RECONSTRUCTION.               [Booic IV.
States as this of New York are yet to be fully organised within
the remaining territories of the United States.  How many
slaves have been broughht into it during these twelve years in
which the Supreme Court, the legislature, and the administration, have maintained, protected, and guaranteed Slavery there?
Twenty-four African slaves!  One slave for everyforty-four
thousand square miles! One slave for every one of the twentyfour States, which, &c., Sir, I confess that I have no fears of
Slavery anywhere." -Seward, in the Senate, Janzuary 31st, 1860.
"Does not this fact prove the utter fallacy of the Governnent attempting to plant Slavery where the climate is adverse,
and the People do not want it, and the utter folly of the other
side bringing this country to the very verge of disunion, in
order to prohibit Slavery where the very power of the Government could not mnake it exist. * *  Do that (declare that
Congress cannot legislate on the subject), and you will have
peace; do that, and the Union will not perish; do that, and
you do not extend Slavery one inch, nor circumscribe it one
inch —you do not emancipate a slave, nor enslave a freeman."
— Do ulas.
Mr. C. F. Adams, one of the foremost statesmen,
son and grandson of Presidents, during his exposition of this subject, in 1861, demanded:
" Who excludes the slaveholders with their slaves?  Have
they not obtained an opinion from the Supreme Court which
will in effect override any and every report of Congress against
them? They can, if they choose, now go wherever they like on
the public domain.  "The law of political economy regulates this
matter much better than any specific statute. It guides this
species of labour to the most suitable place, and that place is
not the Territory of the United States.  New A1exico has now
twenty-two slaves on a surface of over two hundred thousand
square miles, andof tlese onlytwelve are domiciled. New Mexico
shows, then, all that ten years of protection has made her. I
say then, in answer to a demand of a constitutional guarantee
of protection to Slavery in New Mexico, that you are asking
for what in substance you enjoy already, and what is good for
nothing to you if you get it."  * * *  "We are told that the




CEIIP. II.]    POLICY OF THE SOUTH.              433
Union must be dissolved if we refuse to put in the Constitution a pledge that we will protect Slavery in the States of
Sonara, or Coahuila, or Chihuahua, or New Leon,-when we
get thetm! Why, then, is it that harmony is not restored?
You must make the protection and extension of Slavery in the
territories now existing, " and hereafter to be acquired," a cardinal doctrine of our great charter. Are you going to fight
because we cannot agree upon the mode of disposing of our
neighbour's land? * * If the alternative of the salvation of
the Union, be only that the people of the United States shall,
before the Christian nations of the earth, plant in broad letters
upon their Charter of Republican Government the dogma of
Slave propayqandismz, over the remainder of the countries of the
world, I will not consent."
Thus it is clear that the South seceded because
the North commanded the majority, and would
not agree to protect Slavery in future Territories.
The reason is equally clear.  The threefold power
of wealth, numbers, and representation, in  the
Union, was against the South.  Politically, unless
it could look to multiply the Slave States, its rule
in the Union was played out. It was useless to
take Slavery into the northern, or middle States,
for Slavery would not stay there or pay there.
That game also was played out.  But if the faith
of the Union could be pledged to Slavery in future
States " that might be acquired," the South would
then only have to " acquire" them!
That secession was part of a predetermined plan
of the leading spirits of the South, and, since 1812,
kept ready, on any given occasion, to supersede or
supplant the alliance wtith thze so-called Democrats,
Northl is evident from the following:2 F




434               RECONSTRUCTION.               [Boox IV.
" You in the South and South West," said one to Calhoun,
"are decidedly the aristocratic portion of the Union. You are
so in holding persons in perpetuity in slavery; you are so in
every domestic quality; in every habit of your lives; in habits,
customs, intercourse, and manners; you neither work with
your hands, head, nor any machinery, but live and have your
being, not in accordance with the will of your Creator, but by
the sweat of Slavery; and yet you assume all the attributes,
professions,  ald advantages, of Denocracy."
Mr. Calhoun replied, " You lose sight of the politician, and
the sectionalpolicy of the people. I admit your conclusions in
respect of us Southerners,-that we are essentially aristocratic.
I cannot deny but we can and do yield much to Democracy;
this is our sectional policy. We are, from necessity, thrown
upon and solemnly wedded to that party, for the conservatism
of our interests. It is through our affiliation with that party
in the Middle and Western States, we control, under the Constitution, the governing of the United States. But when we
cease thus to control this nation through a disjoined -Democracy,
or any material obstacle in that party, which shall tend to
throw us out of that rule and control, we shall then resort to
the dissolution of the Union. The compromises of the Constitution, under the circumstances, were sufficient for our fathers,
but, under the altered conditions of the country fromri that
period, leave to the South no resource but dissolution;for no
amendments to the Constitution could be reached through a convention of the people, and their three-fourths rule." —John C.
Calhoun, -Dec. 1812.-Putman, Vol. I., pp. 186-7.
(Conversation with Commodore Stewart, communicated by
him, May 4th, 1861, to Mr. Childs of Philadelphia.)
There can be no mistake about Southern States-manship. It was projected by the logical necessities of a false position. It was, as Lincoln charged
it, c to rule or ruin."
Well, whenever the  three-fourths rule of the
People should become too strong for the Oligarchy
of the  South, and  their allies,  the  " disjoined
Northern Democrats,"  the South was prepared to




CHrAP. II.] FIFTY YEARS, OF CONSPIRACY.  435
revolt; and why?  Because, in a separate establishment, Slavery might be preserved as the material,
basis of the labour system, and also as the basis of
the rule of an exclusive class and race,-as the
material basis, and political guarantee of oligarchy,'in territories HEREAFTER TO BE ACQUIRED.
The proof is that, as we have already shown,
the South went against the two opposites of these,
namely, FREEDOM, and the RULE OF THE MAJORITY.
How, and with what Principles, Mr. Lincoln
prepared to meet this two-fold conspiracy against
the rights of labour, and political equality,-how,
on behalf of the future, as well as of the present,
he accepted this contest, we shall show presently.
It is our duty first to trace his policy, —how he
prepared the forces, that should carry out his
principles. How he organised the Victory.
PART II.
POLICY OF LINCOLN.
Lincoln, one of the greatest masters of " how to
do it," knew Principles and facts, and was neither
too much before nor too much after his age.
Lincoln saw and grasped the great problem of
the Battle-stage in this mighty epic,-this completing and reconciling of the Individual Freedom,
and the national Unity.
The necessity of Unity involved what we will
call the three great LABOURS OF LINCOLN. The
Problem which Lincoln proposed to himself was,
": How to commit the nation to an anti-Slavery
"war, which should, by the inexorable logic of
2 F 2




436           fRECONSTRUCTION.         [Boox IV.
" the situation, carry on the moderates, the weak~
"the interested, the abject, and the infamous,
":to the national end,-freedom, and completed
i nationality."  How to purge and wean the Union
from moral complicity with Slavery, and to unite
the Border States and Democrats with' the North.
This problem  has been successfully solved.
The North is an unit. Its administration is organ-vised under trustworthy men. It has destroyed
rebellion in the Field, and prepares to extirpate its
causes from the soil and the constitution.
Lincoln's policy of preparation involved the
achievement of a threefold unity of MORALS, of
PRINCIPLES, and of NUMBERS.
He had to remove and overcome the moral comrn
plicity of the North with Slavery.
He had to gain over the adherents of i" Sovereign
State Rzglzts" and of Property in man, tothe principles
of national Sovereignty, and Individual Freedom.
He had to win over the four millions of slaves,
and to neutralise or to win the three millions
in the Border States to the Union, by a policy
which should conciliate, enfranchise, and use the
Blacks, without encountering the public opinion of the
Whites, their masters. And all this must be done
without violating his oath to the constitution.
It was a situation of extraordinary difficulty,
but Lincoln, by a policy of honesty, in itself one
of the greatest powers of the age, has converted
the difficulty into victory, and the danger into
triumph.
His first and greatest difficulty is clearly seen,
when we remember that, when vibrating on the




CHP. II.]      LINCOLN'S POLICY.          437
edge of the crisis, the Northern States returned
many anti-republican and compromise members,
and that, had the Slave States sent and left their
quotum,n a considerable pro-Slavery majority might
have assembled to uphold Slavery constitutionally,
and to identify abolition with rebellion. Even in
1862, there were, of all parties present, 173 members, and 63 Secesh vacancies.
The question as to NUMBERS, stating the figures
in round numbers, and giving the South every
advantage, stood thus:The Free States population was 18,000,000;
the Slave States, 1.0,000,000; and the Border Slave
States, 370007000. As the Border States ranged
themselves, the North would find itself, either as
21 to 10, or as 18 to 13; the gain or the loss of
the Border States being equal to 6,000,000 on
either side. It was necessary also to reduce the
10,000,000 of the Slave States to 67000,000, and
to add the 4,000,000 slaves to the 21,000,000 of
Border States and North.
Putting the Border States and the Slaves together, with their respective four and three millions,
we get an aggregate of seven millions, which,
leaving one side to join the other, would constitute
a difference amounting to the enormous item  of
fourteen millions, out of the grand total of thirtyone!
The basis of this policy throughout, was the
natural alliance of State and Popular Sovereignty,
or individual interest, with the national Sovereignty, Policy, and Will.
The interests of the Individuals, and of the




438           RECONSTRUCTION.       [Booor IV.
Government were one; the interests of rebellion
opposed, and were opposed by, both.
As much of this policy as was possible, Lincoln
has accomplished. It consisted in rousing the
principle of nationality in advance of that of abolitionism. He induced action which would destroy
property in Slaves, instead of arousing jealousy
for property, which might have overcome the love
of Union,
The actual success of Lincoln is represented in
the following figures:Total white population of Free
States and Territories.    19,117,911
Do.   Loyal Slave States.  2,698,841
21,816,752
Do.   Eleven seceded States   5,581,630
16,235,122
To the nearly 22 millions, add the 4 millions of
slaves as they can be reached, and the odds appear
five to one.
The work of Lincoln the President, differed
materially from that of Lincoln the candidate. As
candidate he had to show what he wanted to do~
As President he had to do it. He had to combine
parties, and to organise victory. It is by no means
clear that he did not go the best way about it.
Nevertheless, thus did the English people argue
about Lincoln:
" A government exists by virtue of the authority
"' of its executive, and is approved of for the sake




CHAP. II.]     LINCOLN'S POLICY.           439
" of the advantages it confers upon mankind. A
" nation that would entitle itself to.the general
" sympathy in a contest for existence, must have
"identified itself therein, with some great and dis" tinct principles; it must, in fact, fulfil the law of
6 its existence, and appeal, as a government, to
- governments on behalf of the principle of autho-' rity, or as a people, to the peoples, as a champion
" Of rqght,-otherwise it will be condemned as use" less by the one, and forsaken as incompetent by
" the other."
The United States unfortunately appeared to
violate both of these considerations. They seemed
to vacillate to the very verge of imbecility, while
rebels organised an opposition, arranged their
diplomacy, bore off their material, and armed their
troops,-and they hesitated fourteen months to
declare that the principle of human freedom was
that for which they contended.
But this was not all. There appeared at the
same time a contradictory, a counterfeit, and a
hypocritical presentment; for they appeared willing to defend the principle of authority by the
sacrifice of freedom, and they have appeared to
call at last upon the principle of freedom, because
without it, the Government was in danger.
These apparent discrepancies, in fact did exist,
to a certain extent. But there also exists in England an appalling ignorance and carelessness as to
the treachery of the South, as to the genius of the
American people and constitution, as to the real
anti-slavery force of really popular institutions, as
to the history and meaning of their party contests,
-and also a lurking disbelief in the human race




440          RECONSTRUCTION.        [BooK IV.
itself, and its capabilities for self-government, and
orderly progress. The old Governments of Europe
neither trust nor believe in the people or God, but
that so large a portion of educated English, —the
same blood, the same tongue, and the same history,
should so generally misappreciate the situation, or
decry' the great experiment of the people," is the
last moral monstrosity and wonder of the world
and of the age.
That which would be impolicy in a despotic
Government, or with an educated people, may
have been the height of political wisdom in
America. Such is the conservatism of a people
universally educated, that it was the one point
at first to put the South completely in the wrong
before the nation, getting it committed, at whatever
cost, to violence and oppression, without provocation and without excuse. No one susceptibility of
freedom would the Government wound, while the
South having wounded all but one,-the ultima ratio
of the executive,-then struck at that. The authority
of the people's government was in no danger, except from being exerted without ample warrant
against the people, and, as the tide lzad turned, and
the millions were going to submit no longer to the
units, there wanted no " policy" but to avoid
extravagances or reactions, and to await from all
the loyal, the:support of freedom, of authority,
and of nationality.
As for danger from  delay, or doubt of ultimate result, the People never doubted; the rebellion
had got a certain head; to subdue it was a " big
job," but it was to be overtaken and destroyed by
the certain, comprehensive, and universal action of




4aHAP. II.]     LINCOLN'S POLICY.         441
a people that understood well the value, the
honesty, the moderation, and also the power of the
Government under which they lived.
That Government moved with the momentum,
and marched to the step of the million, and such a
"million " never before existed, to appreciate the
wisdom of the Government, and to uphold it with
their conservative and self-sacrificing  energies.
Military events have been slow and chequered, as is
the way especially with republics, and nations that
are not always under arms, but the Government
has kept pace with the march of opinion, and has
not so advanced as to have to retire. The momentum of popular ideas, and the logic of the situation)
have now plainly developed themselves, and although so-called Conservatives would still compromise the question of Slavery, they also demanded
that the rebellion be crushed by the physical force
it challenged.  The Democrat or Conservative
is thus not irreconcilable with the Abolitionist.
The Democrat contends for order, the Abolitionist
for freedom, but against the same foe.
We repeat, the great problem for Lincoln was,
"how to free the Slaves without alienating the
neutral and border Slave powers."
We know how far this has been done by Lincoln's actual policy. The contrary might have been
done by any other. The problem was, and is,
h" how to conquer the Slave power withzout lessening
union or anti-slavery zeal,"-to unite the material
forces of the republic, without opposing them to the
principles of morality, which constitute its spiritual
forces,




442         - ECONSTRUCTION.        [Boox- IV.
PART III.
PR1INCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION.
THE MAN.
THE STATE.
THE NATION.
So much for Southern principles and for Lincoin's Policy as to Numbers, the Border States,
and the national Complicity with Slavery.
Reconstruction depends, primarily, upon the
GENIUS OF THE NATION, and in subordination to
that, upon the PRINCIPLES Of the Constitution, THE
NEW SITUATION, and the leading MEN.
The characteristics of the-American Genius and
Nation, have been already enlarged upon in the
chapter so entitled. They are five. The Intensity
of the nationality, and its assimilating power. Its
self-reliance. Its devotion to the principles of
equality of conditions. Its obedience to the law,
and readiness to make necessary changes.  Its
power of association.
The leading characteristics of the American Constitution are also five. Popular, State, and National,
Sovereignty. The three-fourths power of Amendment. The Republican Guarantee.
Except State Sovereignty and the Amendment,
which are matters subject to modification, the
characteristics of the national Genius and Constitution may be summed up in two words,-FEDERAL
REPUBLICANISM.  The component principles are




CUEP. II.]    ITS PRINCIPLES.            443
Equality, State Rights, and Nationality.  They
complement each other, and properly combined,
constitute the perfection of Government.
The Situation is made up of the Resources of
the country, and the character and energies of
those who wield them.  The Resources of the
country consist of its great Men, and of its Races,
1Nlumbers, Territory, Education, Wealth, Armaments, etc.
Individuals: in an actual Democracy, in time of
peace, would not be of paramount importance. But
there is yet latent war in the South, and there are
grave questions in Canada and Mexico.
~
The first of these three Principles which the
Situation calls for, and which, as far as they are
known, the Nation and the Men are ready and
pledged to carry out, is Nationality.
NATIONALITY.
This is the sum of the forces, of the principles,
and of the interests of America.  Equality and
Federation have made the nation, and that is the
living Organism that will protect them. The whole
history of the world pointed by its struggles and
aspirations to the coming of this Federal Republic:
the whole history of America, from the beginnings
of representative freedom in the woods of Germany, the struggles of Puritanism and religious
independence in England, and then in America



444             RECONSTRUCTION.'[BooR IV.
the growth of the Federative Principle, and now,
the completion of Equality-all these have prepared for the great Democratic empire which now
completes its equipment.
The Principles which are the completion of political science, and the nation that is their embodiment
and vindication, have now but to carry out in form
that which has been thought and fought for through
the ages, and so lately crowned with victory.
Nationality is the intensest and most powerful
idea that rules in American hearts.  If it was
doubted in 1860 it is not doubted now.  In all
the quotations, and throughout, on the question
of reconstruction, we must beg the reader to note
especially two things; First, that the national party
are at one with the Genius and Constitution. Second,
That their opponents are opposed to both.
It was well said by Mr. Seward, one of the most
tentative and cautious of Statesmen, by no means
one of the:" old men," and immensely underrated
in England:"I therefore declare my adherence to the Union in its integritf, and with, all its parts, with my friends, with my party,
with my State, with my country, or without either, as they
may determine,-in every event, whether of peace or of war,with every consequence of honour or dishonour, of life or of
death." —Seward, in Senate, Jan. 1860.
This is the almost universal feeling of Americans: we are not going to prove it.  If the result
of the war does not prove it, nothing will.
But this principle of nationality, however intense, was neither consistent with itself, nor with
the true Democratic Principle, and was therefore




CHAP. II.]     ITS PRINCIPLES.;             4.45
incomplete and assailable, as long as it was possible for the national suffrages to be used for the
extension of Slavery into future territories; as
long as four millions of citizens were not regarded
as Americans, or as that distrust of the common
people, which is the sin and the weakness of the
old world, still finds excuse and toleration. Thus
OLIGARCHY is again shown to be the master danger,
and Oligarchy could never have been cast out by a
Democracy that persisted in making Colour and
Poverty an exception, or in conniving at a misapplication of the State Right Principle.
And in this respect, the past of America does
not lead us to fear for her future.
America wars against Oligarchy, because;
1st. It assails its nationality, and as nationality
is the all, the essence, the totality of a nation, that
which assails it, assails that which is best and
divinest in it, as well as its mere autonomy.
2nd. Because, in defending its nationality, it
defends also its Independence.
3rd. Because the present and future internal interests of America are against Oligarchy,-for, if
triumphant in the South, it would infect its territory and all its future. The interests of morality,
of economics, of Democracy, of freedom, and also
of the " States," demand the triumph of the principle of Equality..
4th. Because America is trustee and depositary
before and on behalf of the world, of those great
internal and political interests, which appear likely
soon to change the whole face of the earth.




446             RECONSTRUCTIONT              [BOOK IV.
EQUALITY.
This principle was created by manhood development and association, and these two, having destroyed the opposite principle of Inequality, and
prepared America for Equality, will, by mere force
of self-interest, continue to associate to preserve
the latter.
Inequality caused the War. In the same nation
the two principles could not live. The war became
a contest for Equality even to the extreme case of
the negro. The nation has warred for Equality,
and it won by Equality.  Equality is the ruling
essential power both in the nation and in Society,
and notwithstanding temporary halts or indiscretions, it must work out its problems.
The two crevices in the panoply of American
nationality, mistrust of the common People, and
the outlawry of the Negroes, could not be more
clearly defined than in the sublime language of
the greatest orator America has produced. Wendell Phillips and Abraham  Lincoln thus expound
the principles of Equality.
"The last twenty years have been an insurrection of thought.
We seem to be entering on a new phase of the great American
struggle. It seems to me that we have never accepted, as
Americans, our own civilisation. We have all the timidity of
the old world when we think of the People; we shrink back,
trying to save ourselves from the inevitable might of the thoaghts
of the million. The idea on the other side of the water seems
to be, that man is created to be taken care of by somebody else.
*  * We need no -safeguard. Not only the inevitable, but the




CarP. II.]          ITS PRINCIPLES.                   447
best, power this side of the ocean, is the unfettered average comnmon sense of the masses. With us law is nothing unless close
behind it stands a warm living public opinion. You may frame
them strong as language can make, but once change public
feeling, and through them or over them, rides the real wish of
the People.
"You may sigh for a strong Government, anchored in the
convictions of past centuries, and able to protect the minority
against the majority, able to defy the ignorance, the mistake, or
the passion, as well as the high purpose of the present hour.
You may prefer the unchanging terra firma of Despotism; but
still the fact remains, that we are launched on the ocean of an
unchained democracy, with no safety but in those laws that bind
the ocean in its bed —the instinctive love of right in the popular
heart.' The divine sheet-anchor that the race gravitates towards
right, and that the right is always safe and best. * X Daring
to trust justice, the preliminary consideration is trusting the
people. Trust the people with the gravest questions, and in the
long run you educate the race; while in the process you secure,
not perfect, but the best possible institutions.  Now, my idea of
American civilisation is, that it is a second part, a repetition of
that same sublime confidence in the public conscience and the
public thozught, that made the groundwork of Grecian Democracy."'
" I admit," said Lincoln,-in his campaign against Douglas,
in Illinois, October, 1854, just after the passing of the Nebraska
Bill,-" I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is
competent to govern himself, but I deny his right to govern any
other person WITHOUT that person's consent."
"As I understand the spirit of our institutions," said he, in
May, 1859, c" it is designed to promote the elevation of men. I
am, therefore, hostile to anything that tends to their debasemelnt. * * In respect to a fusion, I am -in favour of it whenever it can be effected on Republican principles, but upon no
other condition. A fusion upon any other platform would be
as insane as unprincipled.  * *  I shall oppose the lowering of
the Republican standard even by a hair's breadth."
" The Principle of self Government, lies at the bottom of all
my ideas of just Government."




448                   RECONSTRUCTION.            [Boo  IV,
And  earlier, on October 15th, 1858, at Alton7
Illinois:
"They (the lEathers) did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality. They
meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it
must follow as fast as circumstances should permit.  They
zeant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should
befccmiliar to all: constantly looked to, constantly laboured for,
and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all
people, of every colour, everywhere. * * *  Irrespective of the
moral aspect * * I am in favour of this (free territory) not
merely for our own people who are born among us, but as an
outlet for free white people everywhere, the world over, in
which Hans, and Baptiste, and Patrick, and all other men, frogm
all parts of the world may find new homes, and better their condition in life."
But Lincoln  could  scarcely  open  his mouthl,
without,  of the abundance of his heart, enlarging
on these three things,-The universal equality of
right,  the universal welcome to men  throughout
the world, the banishing from  America of that one
exception, which was its blot and curse. In his
pitched battle with  Douglas, who pretended that
Slavery should be left alone, he said:"There never was a party in the history of this country, and
there probably never will be, of sufficient strength to disturb
the general peace of the country.  But does not this question
mlake a disturbance outside of political circles? Does it not
enter into the Churches and rend them asunder? * * The
great Methodist Church, *  * every Presbyterian  General
Assembly,.*  * the Unitarian Church, * * the great American
Tract Society. Is it not this same mighty, deep-seated power
* * in politics, in religion, in literature, in morals, in all the
manifold relations of life?  Is that irresistible power, which,
for fifty years, has shaken the Government, and agitated the




CIAP. II.]         ITS PRINCIPLES.                  419
people, to be subdued by pretending that it is an exceedingly
simple thing, and that we ought not to talk about it?  Yet
this is the policy that Douglas is advocating."
[We quote Lincoln's speeches throughout from- Bartlett's
authorised edition.]
And lastly, at Galesburgh, in 1858, he said:"I believe the entire records of the world, from the date of
the Declaration of Independence, up to within three years ago,
may be searched in vain for one single affirmation, from one
single man, that the negro was not included in the Declaration
of Independence."
STATE RIGHT.
This Principle, what it is not, and what it is,
next requires our attention.
And the Fathers of the Constitution, were as
clear as are  the  present rising leaders, on  the
questions between National and State Sovereignty.
Washington's opinions are well known, and have
been quoted.  His farewell was the combined work
of himself and Hamilton, and passed the critical
legal inspection of Judge Jay. We add a few
opinions to those already given: —
" In every free and deliberating Society, there must, from
the nature of man, be opposite parties. * * But if on a temporary superiority of the one party, the other is to resort to a
scission of the Union, no Federal Government can ever exist."
— Thomas JeTffersono
"However gross a heresy it may be to maintain that a party
to a compact has a right to revoke that compact, the doctrine has
had respectable advocates.  The possibility of such a question
shows the necessity of laying the foundation of our national
Government deeper than in the mere sanction of delegated authority. The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid
basis of the consent of the People." - tamnilton, in Federalist.
"Have they said,'we the States?'  Have they made a proposal of compact between States? If they had, this would be
2




4 50             tRECONSTRUCTION.               -[Boor IV.
a confederation; it is otherwise, most clearly, a consolidated
Government."-Patrick Henry, Virginian Convention, 1788.
"The great and fundamental defect of the Confederation of
1781, was, that it carried the decrees of the Federal Council to
the States in their sovereign capacity. The great and incurable
defect of all former Govenrnments, such as the Amphictyonic,
Aclhean, and Lycian Confederacies, and the G0ermanlic, Helvetic,
IIanseatic, and Dutch Republics, is, that they were sovereignties
over sovereignties. The first effort to relieve the people of the
country from the state of degradation and ruin came from Virginia. The General Convention afterwards met at Philadelphia, in May, 1787.  The plan was submitted to a Convention
of delegates, chosen by the people at large in each State for
assent and ratification. Such a measure was laying the foundations of the fabric of our national polity,-where alone they
ought to be laid,-on the broad consent of the People."-Chancellor Kent.  Commentaries, VI. p. 225.
"In the most eLaborate expositions of the Constitution by
its friends, its character as a permanent form of Government,
as a fundamental law, as a supreme rule, which no State was at
liberty to disregard, to suspend, or to annul, was constantly
admitted and insisted upon." —l. Story, 225.  " There was nSo
reservation of any right on the part of any State to dissolve
the connection, or to abrogate its assent, or to szs2end the
opCeration of the Constitution as to itself."-C'hief Justice Story.
In  1830, Maddison, when appealed to by Clay
as the author of the idea of nullification, denied
the truth of any such construction; and  lr. Everett
says:       --
"It was repeatedly  and emphatically declared by Mr.
Maddison, that they (the resolutions of nullification) were
intended to claim, not for an individual State, but for the Unzited
States, the right of remedying its abuses in constitutional
ways," &c.
Mr. PINCKNEY  declared, that " The separate independence and zndvicdmal Sovereiynty of tlze several




CHAP. II.]         ITS PRINCIPLES.                    451
States were never tklouylzt of by  the  enlightened
band  of patriots who framed the Declaration  of
Independence."-Ell'ott's Debates.
"I hear," said WEBSTER (March 7th, 1850), " with distress
and anguish, the word'Secession.'!! And HENRY CLAY, ill
1850, thus referred to Rhett, " If he pronounced a sentiment
attributed to him, raising the standard of disunion and of
resistance to the commlon Government, whatever he has been,
if he follows up that declaration by corresponding overt acts, he
will be a traitor, and I hope he will meet the fate of a traitor.
If Kentucky to-morrow unfurls the banner of resistance znjustly, I never will fight under that banner. I owe a paramnount
allegiance to the whole Union-a subordinate one to my own
State.  * ~  I said that I thought there was no right on the
part of one or more of the States to secede from this Union.
~ *  Sir, we imay search the pages of history, and nzone so
uriouzs, so bloody, so imvplacable, so extermninating * * as will be
that war which shall follow that disastrous event, if that event
ever happens, of dissolution." —Benton's ab. Deb. v, 16, p.
594.
The principles of National and State rights are
not conflicting.  They support one another.  On
this no man hlas spoken more ably or clearly than
Mr. Lincoln.
His inaugural declared that:
" Our States have neither more nor less power than that
reserved to them in the Union by the Constitution,-no one of
them ever having been a State out of the Union.  The original
ones passed into the Union even before they cast off their
British colonial dependence; and the new ones came into the
Union directly from  a condition of dependence, excepting
Texas.
"' Much has been said about the'sovereignty' of the States;
but the word even is not in the National Constitution; nor, as
is believed, in any of the States Constitutions.  What is a
sovereignty?  Would it be far wrong to define it' a political
2




452             RECONSTRUCTION.             [Booe IV,
community without a political superior?' Tested by this,
nzo one of our States, except Texas, ever wuas a sovereignty, and
even Texas gave up the character on coming into the Union.
"This relative matter of Nationalpowuer and State rig7ts is no
other than the principle of GIENERALITY and LocALITY. Whatever concerns the whole should be confided to the whole;
whatever concerns only the State, should be left exclusively to
the State."
FEDERATION.
Thus the American Constitution laid the foundation of a perpetual Federative system for the first
time in the world.  The rebellion, which assails the
rights of Nation, State, and Individual, and outrages the new principle they have set up, has been
crushed by them.  All previous confederacies that
have gone down, have gone down for the want of
the principle introduced into the American system.
It was the especial admiration of De Tocqueville.
It avoided the fatal error of placing a Sovereignty
under a Sovereignty.  It laid  its foundations on
the People.  It denied to States the right of dissolution or secession.  Herein, Kent and Story both
point out what it is, what it ought to be. As to
its sphere, the principle of Locality binds State
action, leaving the principle of Generality to be
vindicated by the People, upon whom the national
Constitution reposes, and who are members alike
of State and Nation.  There wants no reconstruction here, nothing but:" to execute the laws," and
to see that Slavery, the only element that disturbs
National and State relations, is-as the Fathers
supposed it would be-extzzguised.
The true, the special, the noble, and the indis



CItAP. II.]       ITS PRINCIPLES.                453
pensable use of the American State right theory
is this —not to establish an organized anarchy of
impossible conflicting Sovereignties, but to give to
every Incdiviclual iin tze Empire, imnmuztable material
gutarantees of the Soverezgnty of  izs freelom under
the Constitution, as against any possible Despotism.
This war has proved that the Individual will side
with  the  Government against unconstitutional
State Sovereignty.  Human nature itself guarantees an union between the Individual and the State
against any great abuses of centralised power.
As to these true principles of Democracy, the
rights of majorities under the Constitution, loyalty
to that Constitultioni —the spirit and the form of Republican government, the conflicts between Labour
and Capital, and the great principle of Equality,
it is worth while to quote the dicta of Lincoln, the
most representative man of the age-one of the
most conservative also — on the following;EQUALITY.
"What I do say is, that no ~man is good enough to govern
another nman without the other's consent. I say this is the leading
principle of American Republicanism."-Oct. 1854.
"s That central idea in our political system at the beginning
was, and until recently continued to be, the equality of men.
Slavery and oppression must cease, or American liberty must
perish. True Democracy makes no inquiry about the colour of
the skin, &c." —Lincoln, Sept. 1858.




451               RECONSTRUCTION.                 [Boox IV.
LOYALTY.
"There is scarcely one (of our regiments) from which there
could not be selected a President, a Cabinet, a Congress,
abundantly competent to administer the government itself. * *'
This is essentially a people's contest.  On the side of the Union
it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government, whose leading object is to elevate the
condition of men, —to lift artificial weights from all shoulders,to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in the race of
life."
"I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand and appreciate this. * * Not one common soldier or comnmlon sailor is known to have deserted his flag.  To the last
mnan, so far as is known, they have successfully resisted the
traitorous efforts of those whose cominands but an hour before
they obeyed as absolute law."
MAJORITIES.
"If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the
Government must cease.  A  ncajority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always chaznging easily
with deliberate changes of popular opinion and sentiments,
is the only true sovereignty of a free People.  Whoever rejects
it does of necessity fly to anarchy or despotism."-Inauzgural.
" Our popular Government has often been called an experiment.  Two points in it our-people have already settled;-the
successful establishing and the successful administering of it.
One still remains;-its successful maintenance against a formlidable internal attempt to overthrow it.  It is now for them
to demonstrate to the world that * * when ballots have fairly
and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal
back to bullets, * * teaching men that what they cannot take
by an election, neither can they take by a war.
"* * After the rebellion, the Executive will be guided by
the Constitution and the laws."
CAPITAL AND LABOUR.;
" There is one point to which I ask a brief attention. It is




CHAP. II.]         ITS PRINCIPLES.                   45,5
the effort to place CAPITAL on an equal footing with, if not
above LABOUR, in the structure of Government. It is assumed
that nobody labours unless somebody else, owning capital,
somehow, by, the use of it, induce him to labour. Now there
is no such relation between capital and labour as assumed, nor
is there any such thing as a free mnan being fixed for life in the
condition of a hired labourer.  Both these assumptions are
false, and all inferences from them  are groundless. LABOUR
IS PRIOR TO, AND INDEPENDENT OF, CAPITAL. Capital is only
the fruit of labour.  Labour is the superior of capital, and
deserves much the highest consideration. The prudent penniless beginner labours for wages awhile, saves a surplus, then
labours on his own account another while, and at length there
is another new beginner to help hill."-Dec. 3rd, 1861.
REPUBLICAN FORM.
"The Constitution provides, and all the States have accepted
the provision, that' the United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union a Republican form of government.' But if
a State may lawfully go out of the Union, having done so,
it may also discard the Republican form of government; so
that to prevent its going out is an indispensable means to the
end of mnaintaining the guarantee."
C"; *X No popular Government can long survive a marked
precedent, that those who carry an election can only save the
Government from inevitable destruction by giving up the main
point upon which the people gave the election." —July 4th,
1861.
As far as the phase of the contest would then
admcit  all the principles for which the friends of
freedom  contend, and which hlave been  specially
affirme ed by the Republicansl  are specified in the
platforms of 1856 and 1860.




4506          RECONSTRUCTION.          [BooI IV,
Let us note here the culminwating force of the,
Principles of the Party of Reconstruction.
The Platform  adopted at Philadelphia, June
1856, by the NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION,
demanded, as we have seen, the restoration of the
Principles of Washington and Jefferson, of the
D'eclaration, and of the inalienable rights of man.
It also denounced the Ostend manifesto (about
Cuba); demanded the railroad to the Pacific; improvements of rivers and harbours, &c.
The CHICAGO CONVENTION, of May, 1859, throughl
its chairman,  Mr. Wilmot, declared that "'it was
thl1e mission of the Republican party to restore to
the Govern^ment the police qf' the revolutionary
Fathers: to read the Constitution as they read it.
Slavery was sectional-Freedom, national." &c.
This convention also re-affirmled the principles
of the Declaration. Furtler, it demanded a complete Homestead Bill, a fiull welcome to foreigners,
national improvements, and a railway to  the
Pacific.
And even the " War Democrat" convention, of
November, 1864, at New Yorkl, adopted as a funmental condition for regaining the confidence of
the country, the advocacy of the direct vote of
every citizen for President and Vice-President.
REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY.
- And we have seen that the main plank of the
platform  of Mr. Lincoln's second term  election,
was a resolution, that, inasmuch as " qSlavery must




CAPr. II]      ITS MATERIALS.              457
be always and everywhere hostile to the principle
qf lRepublican Government, justice and principJle
rdemand its utter and complete extirp-ationJ fom the
soil of the Republic;" and without Slavery, its
material basis, how can Oligarchy stand against
that which is at once the Ideal, the Law, the Policy,
thke Custom, and the Passion of the Nation.
Having examined the PrincZples of American
Nationality, Democracy, and Federation, as interpreted by the opinions, intentions, and acts of the
leading men and parties, let us see now, firstly,
wzoat is tlhis Nation that has to be reconstructed,that is to say, what are its RESoURcES, intellectual
and material; and secondly, what are the main
ITEMS OF RECONSTRUCTION; and thirdly, what, in
our judgment, will be the most PROBABLE RESULT
of the process?
PART IV.
THE NATIONAL RESOURCES.
MATERIALS OF RECONSTRUCTION.
The resources of the American nation is a subject so vast that the merest outline tries the attention and strains the imagination.
Yet now that those resources have been organised and developed to an extent which fifty years
might not otherwise have equalled,-now that the
great disturbing and retarding influence is being
cast out,-now  that Denmocracy re-commences,




458             RECONSTRUCTION.               [BooK IV.
with fresh advantage, a career, that before had no
parallel, we must at least count the elements of reconstruction, and see whither this royal nation of
the people now doth tend.
The Resources of the American nation consist of
its GREAT MEN, its RACESi its CLIMATE, its NUMBERS,
its TERRITORY, its INDIVIDUAL VALUE, or education,
its WEALTH, its ARMAMENTS, &C.
First (for the great men are already known), its
wealth of bloods.  Its new  national type assimilating all otlhers, and tending to retain the good
and refuse the bad qualities of all the races that
flow into it.
RACES AND CLIMATE.
The greatest gift of God to the world is a new
and noble race, and the American type, now that
it has conquered the cavaliers, and has proved its
breeding, may perhaps be thought worthy of attention. We call that of the reader to the following,
from the Northz Britzsh Review:" Remarkable as are many of the phenomena presented to us
in the New World, the most remarkable, as it seems to us, is
the extraordinary commningling of diverse races. *  ~  From
every country in Europe settlers have reached the American
shore, * * and are shaken together and amalgamated, till the
original distinctions disappear, and a NEW NATIONAL TYPE is
formed.     *. - Within a century we may expect to see   >;
an ethnogrcaphically coamposite, yet socially homogeneous, population, existing all over North America.  The intermingled
white blood of Europe will here and there be tinged with the
native red blood of America. Nor does the strange commixture
of population stop here. Not only Europe and America, but
iAfrica, and, in a lesser degree, Asica, will be represented in the




CHAP II.]          ITS MATERIALS.                   459
new race which is growing up in the New World. The Chinese
settlers in California are the vanguard of a more numerous
emigration, which will, ere long, take place from  the crowded
fields of China to the American shores of the Pacific."
The earth has been so organised as to prescribe
and prophesy the actual order of Human History.
This historic course of empire is westward along
the north temperate zoie.
"The general structure" (says Capt. Hunt, corps of Engineers U.S. army, in " Union Foundations, a fact in Science,"Triibner, 1863) "of the North American continent is strikingly
simple. The Sierra M~adre and Rlocky Mountain system extending 4000 miles north-westerly from the Isthmus to the Arctic
ocean, is the grand axis of upheaval; a vast triangular plain
resting on this great mountain barrier as a base, projects its
vertex outward to the coast of Labrador. This magnificent
continental plain, having an average elevation above the sea of
between 600 and 700 feet, and nowhere in mass exceeding 2500
feet, unlike the vast, bleak, sterile and frozen table lands of Asia,
has every orographical, climatic, and fertile requisite for playing
a master part in the grand drama of human progress. The
table lands of Bavaria and Spain are elevated much above even
the summit lines of this great American expanse. There is a
general ascent Southwards through the West-American valley.
This upward slope tends to counteract the increase of heat,
thus preserving a temperate climate even in Mexico.
" There are tropical races and temperate races, each thriving
only in its own proper climate. The U.S. territory lies wholly
in the north temperate or truly historic zone. North America
directly confronts Europe, and in the grand order of historic
progress belongs to the Caucasian race. The African is of all
men most tropical. Caucasians will soon want all the temperate
land of the Earth.
"We cannot but connect our negro problem with the still
mysterious future of the Amazon valley. The true solution
of the whole negro problem may perhaps be found in a destined
African Em1pire of the Amazon, the Equatorial Empire of the
ffituTre.




460            RECONSTRUCTION.         [BOOK IVT
In view of these vast possibilities of race-adjustment in the future, we must remember that
the plain of the Amazon out-measures one and a
half Mississippi valleys, that its rain-fall exceeds
that of the Gulf States: and that the climate is
greatly  mitigated  by trade winds, whilst the
abounding forests mark the fertile soil. Even the
effete civilisation of China may be destined to be
vitalised here.  In 1848 Brazil contained three
millions of slaves and half a million of free negroes,
out of a population of about five millions and a
half.
Yet while Humboldt's Isothermal lines show the
temperature of New  York to resemble that of
Dublin, Berlin, (south of) and Sebastopol, that of
New Orleans equals Cairo and north of Canton,
and a line drawn between Guatemala and Panama
cuts the north of mlid Africa and Madras, thus
affording ample heat for mixed African races north
of Panama.
In these central American republics, there are
about 100,000 Whites, 800,000 mixed races, 10,000
Blacks, and 1,109,000 Indians. These races range
from 6 individuals to 41 per square mile, and
average, according to Squier's estimate, only 13.
But the. census shows that the mere increase of
Population in the Free States of America, from
1790 to 1860, was nearly 51 per square mile,
whilst the Population of Germany and France, are
about 148 and 176, respectively, to a like area.
With such sparse settlements, such adaptation of
climate, such facilities, inducements, and necessities,
as will be brought to bear upon them,  there is




CHAP. II.]     ITS MATERIALS.              461
much to be said for the ": manifest destiny" of the
" Black Yankees" in Central America.
This question of race-mixture is now  being
tried out. If the African will mix with the White,
the question settles itself thus. It seems probable
that he will. But whether he will or not, the
American History, Genius, Constitution, and Nationality are pledged to his political Equality.
The natural home of the Negro pure is under
the vertical sun; the political tendency is to give
him freedom and equality; that of Slavery has been
to mix the qualities of the races with their bloods,
and to fit the African for the temperate zone.
The physical geography of North America proclaims her Unity organic and indestructible, and
shows that there can be no permanent conflict of
races there. The history of the world would seem
to devote that region to Caucasian immigration,
but the political tendency, no less marked and
clear, is to share political immunities with all other
races the Caucasian can absorb.
The effect of the race-mixture of negroes with
Americans depends absolutely on two things; 1st,
Thle proportions of the one to the other; and, 2nd,
their Localisation: the first again depends upon
the continztance or cessation of izmirnyration, and on
the ratio of natural increase: as to the second, the
negro race may of course be settled as suc]h in
Florida or elsewhere, or allowed to commingle.
In the latter case, the causes that promote homogeneousness, namely, blood admixture, and the
influence of climate, will both have full sway. The
whole thing is no matter of doubt or chance, but




462               RECONSTRUCTION.               [Boon IV.
as Mr. Draper explains, of mathematical demonstration.
" A national type pursues its way physically and intellectually through changes and developments answering to those of
the individual. This orderly process may be disturbed exteriorly by emigration or interiorly.
-  *  *  "Byv interior disturbance, particularly by blood
cadmixture, with more rapidity may a national life be affected,
the result plainly depending on the extent to which admixture
has taken place.  This is a disturbance capable of mzathematical
computation. If the blood admixture is only of limited amount
and transient in its application, its effect will sensibly disappear
in no very great period of time, though never, perhaps, in
absolute reality. This accords with the observation of philosophical historians, who agree in the conclusion that a small
tribe intermingling with a larger one will only disturb it in a
temporary manner, and, after the course of a few years, the
effect will cease to be perceptible. Nevertheless, the influence
must really continue much longer than is outwardly apparent;
and the result is the same as when, in a liquid, a drop of some
other kind is placed, and additional quantities of the first fluid
added. Though it might have been possible at first to detect
the adulteration without trouble, it becomes every moment less
and less possible to do so, and before long it cannot be done
at all. But the drop is as much present at last as it was at
first: it is merely masked; its properties overpowered.
"Considering  in this manner the contamination of a numerous nation, a trifling amount of foreign blood admixture would
appear to be indelible, and the disturbance, at any moment,
capable of computation by the ascertained degree of dilution
that has taken place. But it must not be forgotten that there
is another agency at work, energetically tending to l5ring
about homogeneousness: it is the influence of external physical
conditions. The intrusive adulterating element possesses in
itself no physiological inertia, but as quickly as may be is
brought into correspondence with the new circumstances to
which it is exposed, herein running in the same course as the
element with which it had mingled had itself antecedently gone
over.




CIIAP. II.]         ITS MATERIALS.                    463
" National homogeneousness is thus obviously secured by the
operation of two distinct agencies: the first gradual but inevitable dilution: the second, motion to come into harmony with
the external, natural state.  The two conspire in their effects."
-Pp. 14-15, v. 1. Draper's Intellectual D)evelopment of rEurope.
The  following  extract from   a speech  at the
Cooper Institute, New  York, 1863, well puts the
question, from  the Republican point of view:" God, counselling with himself how to crown this people
the greatest on the earth, said,' Of what fibre shall I make
themn?' and he poured into their veins the Saxon blood, painting their eyes with the sky, and gilding their hair with the
sun. Then he mingled with it the Celtic, quickened with mercury and touched with fire. Then he poured into it the sunny
wines of the South of Europe. Then, after many other gifts,
he added, —last, but not least, —a strange mysterious current
that * * carries the blackness of darkness into  men's
faces," &ec.
"Three stupendous processes of intermlinglinyg are going forward in this country. First, we are absorbing the Irish race.
Second, we are absorbing the German  race. Third, are we
absorbing the Negro race?  *',  The black race in this
country is losing its typical blackness. The race is taking to
itself the blood of the aristocracy of the South. The negro is
filling his veins from two fountains of life. -A hundred years
ago a mulatto was a curiosity: now the mulattoes are half a
million.
" God said, I How shall I prepare a continent to be the home
of such a people?' And he ribbed it through the centre with
mountain chains, that the Swiss and the Swede coming hither
might renew their ancient fellowship with the eternal hills.
He salted it on either side with two great seas, that the maritimepeople of Europe, coming hither, might find still fairer
coasts for their ships. He laid his levelling palm upon it, that
the Iollander, coming hither, might see the Zuyder Zee,
touched by miracle of nature, blooming into an illimitable level
of prairie grass. Last, but not least, he stretched its Southern




464              RECONSTRUCTION.             [Book IV'
slope into the tropical heats, that the negro also might find a
home, where he and the eagle should look together at the sun."
-Theodore Tilton.
With regard to the past mode of this mixing
of the races, we should not be justified in omitting
the following:
" Licentiousness is one of the foul features of slavery everywhere; but it is especially prevalent and indiscriminate where
slave breeding is conducted as a business. It grows directly out
of the system, and is inseparable from it. The pecuniary inducement to general pollution must be very strong, since the
larger the slave increase, the greater the master's gains, and
especially since the mixed bloods command a considerably hiq7zer
price than the pure blacks."-Report of the British and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society.
POPULATION.
Perhaps the best illustration of the extraordinary
increase in POPULATION in America is given by
Lincoln  himself, when  he says -"   There are
already among us those who, if the United States
be preserved, will live to see it contain Tzvo izundred
and fifty millions! The struggle of to-day is for
the vast future also."
And here it must be remembered, that now,
Labour and Capital will work togethzer, in the progress of the nation, and will be aided by the new
homestead law, high wages, extinction of slavery,
increased confidence in national institutions, and
augmented immigration.  Population, if as denlse
as in England, would exceed Twelve H-iundred millions.  If as dense as Massachusetts, it would
nearly reach half that number.
Of resources and capabilities in Territory, Edu



CHAP. II.J      ITS MATERIALS.             465
cation and labour,-the three other material bases
of nationality (and of wealth, their common result),
we here submit an analysis of a census summary,
&c., by the H on. Robert J. Walker, —Ist as to
TERRITORY.
The area of the United States is 3,250,000 square
miles; larger than all Europe, and sixty times as
large as England.
Up to September 1860, 1,055,911,288 acres were
unsold and unappropriated.
The United States territory is all within the
temperate zone.
It fronts two oceans; contains every variety of
product; a greater extent of mines-coal, iron,
gold, silver, and quicksilver, than all Europe;
a vast system of navigable streams, exceeding, in
cheap water communication, all Europe.  The
shore line of its rivers is 122,784 miles, employing
an interior steam  tonnage exceeding the internal
steam tonnage of all the world besides, and the cost
of canals, of equal capacity, would have been more
than ten thousand millions of dollars, and would
have been subject to tolls and lockage.
It has more harbours, accessible at all tides, than
all Europe. Its hydraulic power, timber, and raw
material, exceed those of all Europe.
It has constructed more miles of telegraph and
rails than all the world. It has more lighthouses
than any other country, and no 1ihZt dues.
The tonnage, at its present ratio of progression,
would, in A.D. 1901, exceed that of all the world.
The imperial railway to the Pacific, will flood
2 1




466          RECONSTRUCTION.            [Boox IV.
the mighty districts which it penetrates, with population, labour, capital, and supplies.
It offers every variety (within the temperate
zone) of climate, produce, sto)ck, society; 160 acres
free to every emigrant adult, whose sons, at 21, are
entitled to t7ze same quantity, and whose widow,
children, or heirs, succeed thereto. It offers also
fireedom, compsetence, hzope, sufirage, and free schzools.
LABOUR, EDUCATION, WEALTH.
These three are indissolubly connected. " Labour
is Kiiig."  Slavery curses but a fraction of tlis
vast dominion, and has now been prohibited by an
organic law of the Constitution, probably agreed to
by many more thlan the requisite three-fourths of
the States. The mines alone exceed in value the
public debt.
The average annual value of produce per man,
woman, and child, in Massachusetts, in 1860,
was $300.  The average  annual immigration,
from  December 1850 to  December 1860, was
259,821,-take it at 2460,000, and reckon their
annual labour value at only $100, the immigration labour value of the first year produced
$26,000,000,-the last $260,000,000, and the total,
in ten years, $1,430,000,000  (fourteen hundred
and thirty millions of dollars.)
This allows for no re-investment or increase in
population.
But wealth there increases 126-45 per cent. in
ten years.  Compound this increase from  immigration, the result is over three thousand millions




CLAP,. ILJ']     ITS MATERIALS.             467
of dollars in 1870, and seven thousand millions in
1880, apart frown any inmmgration after 1860.
American resources rest on bases so natural and
indestructible, that no probable events can essentially impair them.
The census (p. 195) shows the total value of real
and personal estate to have been
In 1860...  $16,159,616,068
1, 1850..         7,135,780228
An increase of 126-45 per cent. in the ten years.
The same rate of increase, for the four succeeding
decades, would give, in 1900, $423,330,438,288
(more than four hundred thousand millions.)
Subtract one-fourth,  and the result is that the
whole national and war debt is less than threefourths of one per cent. of the increase of national
ealthz.
Tlhe causes of these stupendous results are
freedom,  education, unlimited land, absence of unnatural restrictions, and a vast immigration.
Four States were added, from 1850 to 1860. Six
more will be added, from 1860 to 1870. Five of
the new territories were not valued at all in 1860,
and nine of the free States and Territories had
grown in value 411 per cent in the decade.
The Intensity and power of a free Labour propagandism, is best shown by consulting that oracle
of Destiny,-the American Census.
~
EDUCATION is nothing less than the propagandism
of free and just ideas.
50,000,000 acres of public land were appro2 H 2




46X3           RECONSTRUCTION.          [BooK IVo
priated for education up to 1860.  During the last
fiscal year 1,160,533 acres were entered under the
Homestead Act.
The census analysis demonstrates that South
Carolina, the apostle of Slavery and head of the
great oligarchic rebellion, is nearer to the lozoest
savage and barbarous condition than she is to the fjee
State of lMassachusetts.
Also that one man's labour in free  Ilassachusetts was worth more than two in Maryland, and
four in Soutlh Carolina.
That the circulation of newspapcgers, &c., in Massachusetts, exceeded, in 1860, that of South Carolina
by ninety-eight millions of copies.  That the
former State had 158,637 more ~pupils at public
schools than the latter.
That, in 1860, Massachusetts had 222 newspapers and periodicals.  Maryland 57, all devoted
to Slavery,-not one to science, religion, or literature.
That in Massachusetts profit on capital was 35
per cent. In Maryland 17.  That in the former
State the annual value of products of labour, commerce, and navigation, per capita, was three times
that in the latter, although the latter is more
favoured by nature.
That the miles of railroads were, in 1860, 1340
in the former State, against 380 in the latter.
That the natural inevitable results of a change
from  Slavery to Freedom would soon add to the
national wealth a sum, in comparison with which
the debt is scarcely a flea-bite.
That the increase of Population is nearly threefold in Free States, as compared with Slave States.




CHAP. II.]         ITS MATERIALS.                   469
That, in comparing these, it must be borne in
mind that in area, Maryland exceeds Massachusetts
43 per cent.  In climate it far exceeds it.  In fertility, in mines of coal and iron, in harbours, and
length of shore line. Also, that, in 1790, the two
States contained about equal population.
But it must be noted  that the great results
achieved in Massachusetts are not those of free
labour alone, but of universal free-schools, press,
speech, and government.
These results, therefore, of their universality of
Freedom and equality, are not alone witnesses for
Freedom  as against Slavery, but for Democracy as
against Oligarchy.
"Including commerce, the valle, per ccpita, of the products
and earnings of Massachusetts exceeds not only those of any
State in the Union, but iln the world."
"It is," says Walker,-after an elaborate analysis of the
census, "a fact, that the Governments of the United States,
State and Federal, since 1790, have appropriatedfor EDUcATION
more mnoney than all the other Governments of the world combined, during the same period. This is a stupendous fact, and
one of the main causes of our wonderful progress and prosperity.
We believe that knowledge is power, and have appropriated
nearly $300,000,000, during the last 74 years, in aid of the
grand experiment.
"Our patent office is a wonderful instance of this principle,
showing on the part of our industrious classes, more valuable
inventions and discoveries, annually, than are produced by the
working men of all the rest of the world."-(P. 12., Letter V.)
In South Carolina more than three-fourths of the
people can neither read nor write.
By census, table 37, the total copies of newspapers and periodicals? circulated in 1860, in the




470             REC'ONSTRUCTION.             [IBoox ItC
United States, were 927,591,584, of which only
167,917,188 were in the Slave States.
* * " It is thus demonstrated by the official statistics of the
census, from 1790 to 1860, that the total annual product of the
Free States, per capita, exceeds that of the Slave States, largely
more than two to one, and, including commerce, very nearly
three to one. As regards educatioa also we see, that the ratio
in favour of the Free States is more than four to one in the
year 1850, and, in the year 1860, more than five to one.
In 1859 agricultural products of the Free States were
$2,527,676,000 per annum, and of the Slave States cnly
$862,234,000.   The value of the lands of the Free States
was $25'19 per acre,-of the Slave States $10'46 per acre.
The product of the improved lands of the Free States was
$28"68 per acre, and of the Slave States $11'55, whilst, per
capita, the result was $131'48 to $70'56."
Thus we prove, not only what the North is, but
what the South might be,-what it will add to the
national value when it is replanted with freemen.
The increase of wealth  is 126'45 per decade.
if the wealth of the country were increased only
one-enztk in the next ten  years, by tke'cracl al
disaippearance of Slavery (far below  the results of
the census), then, the wealth being now  (1860)
$16,159,616,0687  such  one-tenth  additional increase would mnake the wealth in 1870, instead of
$36,593,450,585, more than sixteen hundred millions
greater; and, in 1880, instead of $82,865,868,849,
three thousand six hundred millions more.  The
additional increase being more than the debt.
ARM AMENTS.
The question  of armaments, is a question of




CHAP. II.]      ITS MATERIALS.             47 1
money and of science,-and, ultimately, of nationality. It is one of permanent interest.
The leaders of rebellion have used force, to
make up for every want in every movement, since
Slavery, as an organised interest, has existed.
Their finance was sequestration. The national Government has not used force as a financial element, though in that, as in every other national
struggle, force is a just and necessary instrument
as against those who would profit by the national
agony, but refuse to sustain the national life.
A Government pays, in the first place, in promises and paper. The only suibstance then received,
is coin for interest. Finance, therefore, depends
upon Faith. Faith, pure and simple, where interest
is paid in paper,-or Faith, tempered with cashpaid interest.  Faith in the Mlaterial Resources,
and in the national willingness to pay.  And
the willingness depends, at last, upon the principle of nationality. The average unbelief in the
convertibility of paper money, or the inconvenience
felt in its use, or its redundancy, constitute the depreciation,-any laws about it notwithstanding.
A Government gets the means of buying, in onre
of two ways. By making and circulating paper
money; —by raising loans, bearing interest, payable in coin. Of course, when lenders are obliged
to take interest in paper, or obliged to Fund their
advances, force comes in, and the financier proper
goes out.  Paper depreciates;-Loans command
terms according to the condition of the market for
the time being; Taxes may or may not be submitted to.  iThe ultimate questions then about




472          RECONSTRUCTION.          [Booi IV.
money resources are; First, How  far will the
nation submit to be taxed? and, Second, what
amount of unbelief is felt in the ultimate payment,
— or of inconvenience, in paper payments, or in deferred payments? Therefore, the only limit to the
money power of a nation, is its own ability or
willingness to pay taxes, whether for principal or
interest, —and the faith of the lending world in
the ability or willingness of the Government, and
nation, and the value of the promise to pay.
Finance, therefore, is a question of ability to
pay, and of willingness, — or of force. The logic
of War is force. War always develops its logic,
if the question be only lasting. If the object of
the war be national, the nation that asserts its
unity-its will, over the life, will always assert it
over the pocket. Iron, if there be much of it, will
always get gold, as long as there be any of that.
It is the logic that Solon launched at Croesus, —it
was the laugh of IHannibal, at the merchants
weeping for their money.
There was, however, a considerable delusion in
England, about the effect of the Premnium on gold.
Paper money circulated as before; it was not too
inconvenient, and the People believed in it. It is
only when payments have to be made abroad, that
the gold premium becomes a decisive question.
With regard to willingness, America has been
always inexorably averse to tax-paying in time of
peace, and in time of war, equally ready to pay.
It is the spirit of Franklin, throughout, who was
ready to spend nineteen shillings in the pound to
lefend the right to spend the twentieth shilling as




CI:AP. II.]     ITS MATERIALS.              473
he pleased. lVillingness to pay, is, in fact, a question of tIze slpirit and cl power of nationality. With
regard to the ability to pay, or National Solvency,
the data are in the national wealth. We have just
given them.
It should however be added that what with
agricultural and domestic products consumed by
their producers, mechanical products individually
below  $500 per annum, labour in clearing and
improving lands, building and repairing railways,
canals, houses, manufactories, vessels, &c., none of
which appear in the census, nearly half the annual
yield is omitted therefrom.
Moreover, only about 1-%-634o per cent. of land in
Slave States has hitherto been brought into cultivation.  Their largest production was 5,196,944
bales in 1860. Their capacity was from 50 to
100 million of bales annually. The Slave trade
was, the Cotton trade is, in its infancy.
There are said to be two millions of square miles
where Petroleum will probably be found, and Pennsylvania alone has reached an annual thirty millions
of gallons.
Tests are either relative or absolute.  The absolute tests are the actual capital and resources, and
the proportion they bear to the debt. Relative tests
are to be applied either to the exertion of America
herself, in her past, or to those of other nations in
great crises.
The question at issue, is, will Americans submit
to pay interest on the debt, or to pay it off.
The popular character of the Government is a
mighty element in this question, both as to produc



474           RtECONSTR.UCTION.        [Boo3K IV.
tiveness and as to willingness. For all authorities
agree that for any proper object, willingness to bear
taxation is in exact ratio to the freedom of the people.
THE DEBT.
With regard to the absolute test,-of the aLmouit
of national capital, we desire to add nothing to the
figures already given.
With regard to the relative taxable power of
America, as compared with other nations, we will
first take the amount of taxes borne by England
in various years; premising that the fact that the
annual taxes for the support of the English Government in time of peace, exceed $12 per head,
whilst in America they have averaged less than $2
per head, only strengthens the taxable power of
America in a crisis.
In 1801, they equalled 30 per cent. per head on
incomes; in 1811, 42 per cent.; in 1815, 35 per
cent; enabling it to cope with twice the number of
Frenchmen for twenty-three years. A system of
taxation on the North, one-half as rigid as that
practised against Napoleon, would produce, in
America, a fund equivalent to keeping one million
of men constantly in the field. The cost of the
Crinmean and Italian wars was stated by Mr. Robb,
to be together, to all the parties concerned, about
fifteen hundred millions of dollars, —and this for
wars, to most of the payers, merely of policy and
foreign interest. English stocks, moreover, ordinarily at 90, have before now stood at 65, and
fallen to 53, payable in depreciated Paper.




CHAP. II.]    ITS MATERIALS.              475
Applying the relative test, from the past exertions of America, we find the following facts:The mere education or school tax imposed on
New York City, for the year 1864-1865, was two
millions six hundred thousand dollars.
The report of Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of
War, in 1861, stated that in the war of the Revolution, Massachusetts had supplied troops to the
extent of one in six of the entire population, at
which proportion the loyal States could furnish over
three millions of men.
A debt of $500,000,000 is not one-ffth so large,
in proportion to their means, and not greater in proportion to their population, than their people have
twice contracted and twice paid.*
Upon the adoption of the Constitution, the debt
was $80,000,000; the population, 3,900,000. This
sun exceeded $20 per head per annum.
In 1816, the debt swelled to $127,000,000; the
population was 8,500,000; the rate $15 per head.
The debt was paid in 1825. The application of
steam to locomotion has been ahnlmost wholly created
since then.
The increase of wealth is in three-fold ratio to
that of population. Locomotive engines perform
the labour of 50,000,000 horses. The machinery
brought into use since 1816, is equal to the labour
of 500,000,000 men. The capital of the Union in
1860, was more than sixteen thousand millions.
Upon this sum the income, at 20 per cent., woulld
* This calculation is quoted by Victor from the European
Circular of an eminent New York Commission House,-Sept.
1861.




476           RECONSTRUCTION.        [BooK IV.
be three thousand millions, and 33 per cent. thereon
would nearly reach $5,300,000,000 per annuan.
A rate per head equal to that paid by the people
of New York for municipal and State purposes
would produce $450,000,000, or a rate equal to that
assessed upon the taxable property of the city,
$550 000,000.
It is calculated that 50 million dollars per annum
would pay interest on 500 millions, and create
a sinking fund for its early redemption.  Two
hundred millions of taxes, would do the same for
two thousand millions of debt, and that on a population of only 20 millions, would be only 10 dollars
a head. Thisis halfthe rate paidin 1790. Further,
the mere increase of property by 1870 will be
eight times two thousand millions.
Finally, many now living will see the American
population two hundred and fifty millions. The
year 1890 will find it more than one hundred millions. The year 1900 will find the national wealth,
at a minimum calculation, four hundred thousand
millions of dollars. What sort of a debt must it be
to burthen one hundred millions of souls possessing
four hundred thousand millions of property?
The present debt of England is above eight hundred millions of pounds, or four thousand millions
of dollars to about thirty millions of souls. That
of America is much less to a considerably larger
population.
That of all Europe is, according to Mr. Kolb,.
a German statist, twelve thousand millions of
dollars in 1860. At present England owes per




CHAP. II.]      ITS MATERIALS.             477
head, as compared with America, nearly three to
two.
In the future the American debt can scarcely
fail to bear a ratio of progressive diminution as
regards the wealth, and to the population.
According to all probabilities and calculations,
positive and relative, for America to bankrupt
itself, is simply, not possible.
These guarantees of national solvency, this
ratio of increase in national territory, wealth,
and population, is, in fact, so vast and overwhelming as not only to stand out from  all
shadow  of parallelism, but almost to outrun
imagination.
FINANCE AND NATIONAL UNITY.
The manner in which Mr. Chase first evoked
good from evil, by making financial schemes conduce to national Unity, as well as financial success,
is also an essential part of the reconstruction of
the American nation.
It must here be noted, as due also to the policy
of Lincoln, the genius of Chase, and the fieedom
and loyalty of the people.
The Buchanan administration had increased the
rate of interest on Federal loans from six to nearly
twelve per cent. per annum in a time of profound
peace.
In 1863, the average rate of interest was lowered
to 3.89 per annum. The result was here gained
by a system of which the main features were:1st. A  loan to Government upon its bonds,




478             RECONSTRUCTION.              [Booi IV.
reimbursible in twenty years, or after five, at the
option of the nation; —interest payable in coin.
2nd. The issue of the United States legal tender
notes were fundable in this stock.
3rd. The authorization of certain banks, whose
circulation would be secured by private capital,
and adequate deposits of United States stock with
the Government.
This system  had to contend with the power of
1642 banks, but was carried through by Mr. Chase,
The results immediate and ultimate were:1st. To reduce the rate of interest.
2nd. To reduce the premium on gold, for Federal
currency fundable in this stock, from 73 per cent.
to 27.
3rd. To add to the national Unity, and make
future secession almost impossible, from  the direct
and universal interest in the national solvency of
every banker, of every stockholder, of every trader, of
every holder of universal paper currency.
Mr. Chase's own statement, in a speech delivered
in Ohio, in Oct. 1863 is of permanent interest:"When I began the duties of my office, that great leader,perhaps I should say that great follower of public opinion, the
London Times, said that Mr. Chase would soon be coming over
there to borrow money to carry on this wicked war with, and
that when he came he would not get it. I said in reply that I
wouzld'nt go there to borrow money, but that they should come
here to ask me to take their money of them, and if they waited
till Mr. Chase went there to borrow money they would wait till
their green isle sank in the ocean. I began then to borrow all
the gold I could get in the country. I raised one hundred and
seventy-five millions, and began paying it out, and it was soon
observed that it didn't come back near so fast as it was paid




CiAP. I-.]         ITS MATERIALS.                    479
out. Presently capitalists refused to furnish any more, unless
at extravagant rates, which I would'nt pay. Mfore money must
be raised. -Eastern banks proposed to take the notes of the
Government for the amount we wanted, with six per cent.
interest, and then go to work to manufacture the money to furnish us. So all things would have gone swimmingly for a tinme,
but presently something would have happened. W-hat would
you have had ine do with such a proposition?  Just what I
did, I think. It seemed to me that if I could get the collective
notes of all our citizens they would be just as good as the notes
of every banck. What should I do then but get those notesthe notes of the whole people. What, in short, but make
greenbacks?  At first many thought it a bold and hazardous
experiment. Many bankers predicted its disastrous failure, and
a disposition was manifested to break us down by discrediting
this cuzrrency.  Some refused to take it altogether. What was
there next to do?  What would you have done if you had been
in my place? Precisely what I did. I think you would have
told them, as I did when they refused it, that they would have
to take either that or nothing. In other words, you would have
made your currency a legal tender. That was the next step.
After that we came to an issue of bonds, paying the interest onz
them in gold. We found we could get the gold to do it, and
that we thus had our finances on a basis that entirely satisfied
the public demand for security of investments. Now, what is
there in this system that does not seem precisely what any one
of you would have felt like doing? You have a currency which
supplies all your wants, which is simply the faith and credit of
the whole people put into money. One step more was needed.
It was necessary to have the capital of the country engaged in
this circulation to give it stability and permanence. To secure
this we devised the national banking system.  The whole
financial policy of the administration thus became as plain as
the alphabet. It required simply an honest purpose to know
what was best and right to be done, and, having found this
right, it only remained to ask God for courage to walk in it.
Common sense and courage are the alpha and omega of the
theory and practice of finance thus far."
Whatever has happened to the rate of interest




480          RECONSTRUCTION.          [BooK IV.
and the gold, the effect of the new banking system
on national unity will remain.
The proposal to pay the debt in twenty-five years
is perfectly feasible. Meanwhile their war expenditure only equalled the English Peace expenditure.
For two millions a day, or seven hundred millions
yearly, at two shillings the depreciated dollar, is
~70,000,000.
The Nation, also, in following after principle and
right, has fortified itself in all the elements and
conditions of nationality.
~
THE MONROE DOCTRINE,
CANADA, MEXICO, EFFECT OF PANAMA TRANSIT, &c.
Next to questions of Principle, the question of
the territorial reconstruction (or construction) of
America, is the greatest. It is fivefold;-CANADA;
the TERRITORIES; the GULF STATES; MEXICO; and
PANAMA.  The first, is a question of time only;
the circumstances which will add Canada to the
United States, must, in due course arrive.  The
basis of their union already exists. The second, is
no question, for Slavery would be forbidden in
present Territories by the laws of political economy,
even if man-made law admitted it. As to the Gulf
States, political economy, and the mighty material
influences of the temperate zone, and the strategic
and commercial value of the Mississippi, and the
power of the national idea, guarantee the failure
there of both Slavery and Oligarchy. As to Mexico




CHAP. IH.]      ITS MATERIALS.              481 
(from which, by the bye, more than half of call the
silver in circulation in the world has been produced), and the whole region south-west of the
great river to Panama, it is less suited for white
labour, and was more open to the enterprise of
the Slave Barons.  There was nothing to prevent
its forming with the South one community, had
the South succeeded.  That it will ultimately form
part of the United States, will result from two
causes; first, the Monroe doctrine is a national
idea; and second, from  a commercial point of
view, America must hold it. The project may be
rather hastened, fi-om the fact that Napoleon has
seized the great strategic traditional centre, fiom
which the isthmus and the whole region is to be
commlanded.
Should the general acknowledgmnent oJ the Principle
of Federation, precede the advance of American
nationality, the above results would be modified,
but would not be hostile to American Unity.
Now, the whole region is almost roadless, and
the enormous labour of developing its res6urces, is
a great element in the question, and especially
obstructive to Europeans.
With regard to these last two Divisions of Territory, Mexico and Panama, we propose to adduce
certain facts, the momentous bearing of which is
exceedingly obvious, and yet, generally speaking,
except by Napoleon and the Americans, scarcely
observed at all.  The main facts are as follows':
*C On the whole of the Panama transit questionl, see Co-n.
irander Bedford Pim's " Gate of the Pacific." Reeve and Co.
1863.
2 I




482           RECONSTRIUCTION.       [Boox IV.
The Panama route is now the only transit, and
European commerce tends and will tend more in
that direction, notwithstanding transhipment.
This is expected to give Americans the control of
the whole Pacific commerce (and armaments) —
British Columbia, East Australia, New Zealand,
Japan, etc. We should be at. an immense disadvantage in time of war, and in time of peace,
the two weeks' shorter route, in favour of the
United States, "~ would throw into their warehouses
and shipping, the whole entire commnerce of the Pacific
Ocean." 
We propose to quote, in illustration of these
positions, two authorities. The Emperor of the
French, writing in 1847, and the Official Report to
the American Congress, dated January, 1849, on
Communications between the Atlantic and Pacific.
Of course, it were to the Interest of England, for
all reasons (and, not the least, the revivification of
Jamaica interests, &c.), to join in the ownership
and making of some interoceanic canal, and in the
neutralization of some transit route. This it should
be the policy of America to promote. But whether
done or undone, certain advantages must remain
with the United States.
The Tehuantepec route, now  in Napoleon's
power, was formerly treated for between the Mexican and American Governments. He now proposes
from his action in Mexico, certain advantages,
amongst which are " security to his West- Indian
colonies;" and to prevent the United States from
being " the only dispensers of the products of the
New World."




Cuar. II.]          ITS MATERIALS,.                   483
This, with many other momentous subjects, was,
from the year 1840, deeply pondered by the Emperor:Napoleon, while a prisoner at Ham, and in
the pamphlet written by him, in 1847, he shows
historically, how  certain countries have prosperity
forced upon them  by Nature, provicled they avail
themselves of her assistance.  He then proceeds to
say respecting the third Panama scheme:"There exists in the New  World a State as admirably
situated as Constantinople, and we must say, up to the present
time, as uselessly occupied; we allude to the State of Nicaragua.
As Constantinople is the centre of the ancient World, so is the
town of Leon, or rather Massaya, the centre of the new; and if
the tongue of land which separates its two lakes from the Pacific
Ocean were cut through, she would comqnalzd, by her central
position, the entire coast of North and South America. Like
Constantinople, Massaya, is situated between two extensive
natural harbours, capable of giving shelter to the largest fleets,
safe from attack.
" The State of Nicaragua can become, better than Constantinople, the necessary routefor the great commerce of the world; for
it is for the United States the shortest road to China and the East
Indies, and for England and the rest of Europe, to New Holland, Polynesia, and the whole of the western coast of America.
The State of Nicaragua is then destined to attain to an extraordinary degree of prosperity and grandeur: for that which
renders its political position more advantaleous than that of
Constantinople, is, that the great maritime powers of Europe
would witness with pleasure, and not with jealousy, its attainment of a station no less favourable to its individual interests,
than to the commerce of the world.
" France, England, Holland, Russia, and the United States,
have a great commercial interest in the establishment of a communication between the two oceans; but England has more
thacn the other powers, a political interest in the executio.n of
this project.
"'England will witness with satisfaction the opening of a
2 I2




.484.             RECONSTRUCTION.                [BooK Ifv.
route which will enable her to communicate more speedily with
Oregon, China, and her possessions in New Holland.  She
will find, in a word, that the advancement of Central America
will renovate the declining commerce of Jamaica, and the other
English islands in the Antilles, the progressive decay of which
will be thereby stopped." " * @
"War and commerce have civilized the world. The time
for war is gone by; commerce alone pushes its conquest;s. [Let
us then open to it a new route; let us aproximate the people
of Oceana and Australia to Europe, and let us make them
partakers of the blessings of Christianity and civilization. To
accomplish this great undertaking we make an appeal to all
religious and intelligent men, for this enterprise is worthy of
their zeal and sympathy.  We invoke the assistance of all
Statesmen, because every nation is interested in the establishenent of new and easy communications between the eastern
and western parts of the globe. Finally, we call upon capitalists, because whilst they are promoting a glorious undertaking, they are sure to derive a large profit thereby."
The report to Congress, in Jan. 1849, confirms
and enlarges on the opinions of the Emperor, and
shows the importance'" of placing the future management of the  Panama transit  n tihe kands of
our (their) own citizens."
" Great Britain is principally indebted to her skill in commerce and manufactures for her commercial ascendancy, but
she is also indebted, in no small degree, to her position.  She
not only has the ports of the continent of Europe as her neighbours, but she is fifteen hundred mniles, or two weeks, nearer
than we are. to all other parts of the world, except the Atlantic
ports of the American continent north of the luator and the West
Incdies.  The cause of this is, that all vessels bound from our
ports to places south of the line, or beyond either of the Capes,
cross the Atlantic to the Azores or Western Islands, for the
ppurpose of fnding favourable twinds, while vessels from British
ports run down to the same latitude and longitude without the




CHAP. IL.]            ITS MIATERIALS.                  485
necessity of crossing the ocean to avail themselves of the same
advantages.  This difference in favour of British commerce,
rutnning through our entire existence as a nation, has been a
most serious obstacle for our merchants and navigators to contend with, and has of itself been a vast itemn in favour bf the
pofits on British capital.  Lieutenant M3. F. NMaury, Superintendent of the Observatory,- has within two or three years past
proposed a more direct route for vessels bound from our ports.
to ports on the Atlantic side -of the American continent, south
of the Eqtuator and -beyond Cape Horn, which will save about
one thousand miles of the distance to those places, but all
vessels bound round the Cape of Good Hope will be compelled
to pursue the old rovue.
"1 The constrzuction of tfhe proposed railroad across the Isthmus,
evill not only do away with this advantage over Zus, now possessed
by Ezuropecan commerce and navization, but will btern the tide in
ouZr favour."
"' The average distance from Liverpool, London, and Havre,
to Panama, is 4700 miles; from  New York the distance is
2000 miles; froml Charleston, 1400; from  Savannah, 1300;
from New Orleans and Mobile, 1600-making an average distance from our principal exporting Atlantic and Gulf ports of
about 1600 miles to Panama.  If, therefore, we admit, for the
sake of the argument, that European commerce with the Pacific Ocean, and the East India and China Seas, will take the
new route across the Isthmus, there will be a diference of
3100 miles in our favotur.  Add to this the 1500 miles now
against us, and we find that we shall gain by this channel of
communication, in our relative position to those parts of the
world, a distance of 4600 miles, or of 42 days. In the voya.qe
out and home, we shall have the advantage of our European
competitors of 9200 mziles and 84 days, as compared with the
present route.
"Our ports are on the very wayside from Europe to the
Isthmns of Panama, and our lines of steamers and packet ships
across the Atlantic will come laden with the freights for that
channel of trade.  The commerce, therefore, from Europe to
the East Indies, China, and the west coast of this continent,
will be forced to pursue the old route, orJall into our hands.
" It is thus shown that the new  oulste across the Isthmnus will




486               RECONSTRUCTION.                [BooK IV.
bring us more than an average of 10,000 miles nearer to the
East Indies, China, and the ports of South America on the
Pacific, and will actually, for all the purposes of navigation and
commercial intercourse, bring the ports of the west coast of
lexieco, California, and Oreygon, 14,000 miles nearer to us than
they now are! With steamers on each side of the Isthmus
that will go fifteen miles an hour-a speed ascertained to be
quite practicable,-passengers, the mails, and small packages
of light and valuable goods, may-be conveyed from New York
to San Francisco in fourteen days, and from our southern ports
in less time: thus bringing these remote points, for all practical purposes, nearer than New York and New Orleans were
twenty years ago." 
The report then shows how  European vessels
would, for commercial reasons, sail to, ports and
entre96ts of the United States, and that American
vessels would practically become the carriers thence
of the transit cargoes.  It then proceeds:"Let this railroad be completed, however, and no p19art of the
world will present as great advantages for the siccessful use of
steam in ocean navigation as the Paccfic.  Coal is found on all
its borders, both Americ.an and Asiatic, in the greatest quantity
and perfection. Its quiet waters seem to indicate steam as the
proper agent to be employed in their navigation. The spirit
and genius of the American people, and the extent of our territory on the west side of the continent, proclaims clearly
enough that we are to become the legitimate heirs of a vast
commerce that shall spread fleets of steam-ships over the bosom
of this peaceful ocean.
" Steamers, with a speed of twelve miles an hour, would go
from New York, vice the Isthmus (throwing out the fractions):To Calcutta         a.  in 47 days.
To Canton..      o   36;,
To Shanghae   o   35
To Valparaiso                   17,
To Callao                   o   12
To Guayaquil.                    92 




CrAP. II,]-        ITS MATERIALS.                     487
To Panama...  in 7 days.
To San Bias...   12,,
To MINazatlan.                 14,,
To San Diego..   16,,
To Sana Francisco..   18,,
"This undertaking will place us so far ahead in the race for
commercial supremacy, that they can never overtake us.
- -* "European Governments and capitalists would not fail
to perceive that its completion would transfer the seat of commercial empire to the Western hemisphere."
It will be observed that there  is an  enormous
saving of time for steamers, a still greater saving
for sailing vessels.  This will tend  to  constitute
Amneraicans the factors of the whole of that hemisphere, extreme East as well as West.  And the
Suez route, though  some ten  days shorter from
London to Calcutta, is longer to places six days
east of that, besides being in the hands of France.
~
On the questions of political and  commercial
relationships, no better informed authorities exist
thuan those we have quoted.
The principle of the foreign policy of Jefferson
survives to this hour, though transferred from  New
Orleans to Mexico.
"Prance," said Jefferson, "placinyg herself in that door
assumes to us the attitude of defiance.  The impetuosity of her
temper, the energy and restlessness of her character, placed in
a point of eternal friction with us, &c. The day that France
takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to
restrain her for ever within her low water-mark. It seals the
union of two nations, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean.  From that moment we must marry
ourselves to the Brlitish fleet and nation."'
* Jfcferson's Works, vol. v. p. 432.




488             RECONSTRUCTION.            [BooK IV.
Surely a policy of alliance between England and
all her children would be complete, naturial, and
invincible.
And the advent of the Austrian to Mexico,
renders rather more probable the final annexation
of that territory to the United States. If the
French and the Austrians may interfere, so, before
all, may the Americans. Three thousand miles off,
and with not even "' the German  Fleet," Austria is
in poor case to contest with America.  When the
American nation shall be prepared to occupy these
latitudes, they will have the country,-MexicoMilian, or Napoleon, notwithstanding.  Already
have Americans extensively mixed their blood
with the Black; it would be a contest of races, and
even if the new Austrian Emperor could import
an equal numaber of Austrians, their chances would
be few.  Three-fourths of the slave population of
America are believed to have their masters' blood in
them.  The calculation may be excessive but it
seems to us that they are precisely the race to
spread over and conquer lMexico, and that the
Austrian ideas, race, and archdukes, are of all possible importations, precisely those best calculated
not to hold it against them.
With regard to Canada, the North American
Review, of April, 1865, says;" If we succeed as we mean to succeed in making our institutions conform to our Principles, we shall become attractive.
There will be no need to annex Canada by force. She will
drift towards us by inevitable gravitation, or may be joined
to the United States in a federative league."




CHAP. II.]        CERTAIN ITEMS.                489
PART V.
ITEMS OF RECONSTRUCTION.
FUTURE CAPITOL.
The general principles which decide the position of Capitols, seem  undoubted. They depend
upon considerations of Climate, Safety, ready communication, and centralised position.
These principles have already been recognised
by American Statesmen.  The report of the Secretary at War, Session 1861-2, observes: —
"' The Geographical position of the metropolis, menaced by
the rebels, induces me to suggest a reconstruction of the
boundaries of the States of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
Wisdom and true statesmanship would dictate that the seat
of the national Government, for all time to come, should be
placed beyond reasonable danger of seizure by enemies within,
as well as from capture by foes from without."
In America the natural unity is more striking
than in any other country.
Towards the fork of the [Mississippi is the very
centre, but St. Louis and environs seem at present
to unite the  greatest advantageso  It is at the
junction of the Missouri, and Mississippi, which,
with its tributaries, touches thirteen States.  It
thus commands 46,000 miles of navigable water.
The Illinois river and canal to Lake Michigan,
will complete its communications with the whole
water system  of the Empire.  Also  the  great
Pacific Railway touchles it.  Its Isothermal lines
are between those of St. Paul, which cut near
Dublin and Sebastopol, and those of Washington
and Richmondc  which cut Re me and Eg'ypt.




490             RECONSTRUCTION.                 [lBoo  IV.
There was much truth  in  the  words  of  l/Mre
Sewardcl, when he took the stump  at St. Paul's;
but they seem  to us to apply with more force to
St. Louis  -
"Here is the central place where the agriculture of the
richest region of NYorth America must bear its tribute to the
supplies of the whole world; on the last, all along the shores
of Lake Superior; and on the West, stretching in one broad
plain, in a belt quite across the continent, is a country where
State after State is yet to rise. This is then a commanding
field; but it is as commanding in regard to the destinies of this
continent, as it is in regard to its commercial future, for power
is not to reside permanently on the eastern slope of the
Alleghany mountains, nor in the seaports.  Seaports have
always been overrun and controlled by the people in the
interior.  The power of this Government is not to be established
on the Atlanztic or the Pacifie coast. The power that shall
speak the will of men on this continent is to be located in the
Mississippi valley, at the sources of the Mississippi and the
St. Lawrence." —SzEWARD, at St. Paul, capital of Minnesota,
Sept. 18, 1860,
These  ideas  are familiar to  Americans.  But
note the  startling words of Sherman  to  Grant,
10th March,  1864; [Bowman's " Sherman and his
Campaigns," Richardson, New York.]
" Now as to the future.  Don't stay in Washington.  Come
West; take to yourself the whole Mississippi Valley.  Let us
make it dead sure-and I tell you the Atlantic slopes and the
Pacific shores will follow its destiny, as sure as the limbs of a
tree live or die with the main trunk.  We have done much,
but still much remains. Time and time's influences are with us.
We could almost afford to sit still and let these influences work.
"[Here lies the seat of the coming empire; and from the
West,, when our task is done, we will mnake short work of
Charleston and Richmond, and the impoverished coast of the
Atlantic."




CHaP. Il.]        CERTAIN ITEMS.                 491
THREE-FIFTHS VOTING CLAUSE.
The remaining  " items of reconstructions"  are
the abrogation  of certain  arrangements contrary
to the genius of the nation,* or their alteration by
the natural force of a free Labor propagandism, or
measures of mere detail and convenience.
The most prominent amongst the first, and probcably one of the first items of Reconstruction, is
the clause reckoning five negroes as three men.
It openly defies the Principle of Equality. It gave
a plurality of votes to Slaveholders.  It vitiated
also the Principle of Conservatism. The Constitution of electoral districts by actual votes might
precipitate the reform.
This anomaly will probably be dealt with by
the national Government.  Equality is the national
Life) and must override all traitorous interpretations of " State rights."  And when  Slavery and
inequality  were armed  and  organised  by  the
strongest oligarchy in the world, it could not
exclude free ideas and interests.
This three-fifths clause outraged the rights of
property, if we take that stand. point, no less than
the right of manhood; and of the Free States, as
balanced against the Slave States.
According to the census of 1860, the gain in
* The anomaly of South Carolina for instance, which is the
only State where electors are chosen by the Legislature. It
also requires a considerable property qualification from members of the House of Representatives, one qualification being
five hundred freehold acres and ten negroes; another, ~500,.
free of debt. This conservatism has borne fruit.




492           RECONSTRUCTION.           [Boomi IV.
population of the six New England States, Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, and Connecticnt, in the decade, has been
407,185, or nearly 15 per cert.; while the loss in
number of representatives has been four. In the
middle States, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the gan in population has been 1,566,972,
or 261 per cent.; and the loss in members of Congress has been four.  New York has nearly  oubtle
the firee population of the six original Seceded
States, and yet she has only thirty-one representatives to their twenty-eight. If the Slave States were
apportioned representatives on free white population alone, their representation would decrease
about forty per cent., or taking the property basis,
counting three persons for every five thousand dollars, the representation of the North would be imimeasurably increased. Ohio, gaining about 400,000;
loses three representatives.  She has more fiee
white population tlhan the six States, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and
Louisiana, and yet has but eijlzteen representatives
agai'nst twenty-eight.
Southl Carolina's representation in the Congress,
1860, was four to 398,186 free whites. That of
Connecticut was four to 760,670; whereas the
former was entitled, on the free white population,
to about one-half of the latter.  The seven original
States of the Confederacy, had a white population
of 2,656,481, and thirty-two representatives.  The
six New Eingland States twenty-five to 3,135,301.
A slave representation,  adding to the South fifty
per cent.!




CCHAP. II.]      CERTAIN ITEMS.          493
No Peace is possible in America until EquaClity,
the national ideal and life, is vindicated.  If the
uneducated negro cannot vote, neither can the
South profit by its own wrong. The South must
be held in some sort of subjection or Inequality,
until the negro becomes politically Equal. Till
the law can be brought up to the Principle, it must
be brought down to the facts, and if the negro
cannot vote, Southern  representation  must be
reduced accordingly.
The negro suffrage will, as fast as it can be
given, become an immutable material guarantee
for the Americanising of the South.
THREE-FOURTHS AMENDMENT.
DIRECT VOTING,
AND
JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS.
Complete Popular Sovereignty, and Administrative Unity, are amongst the chief results of this
contest. Popular Sovereignty, also, as claimed by
some, demands an easier mode of amendmentof
the Constitution, and also a direct vote of the
Peop2le for President.
We do not here advance our own opinions, but
simply announce for what they are worth these
demands of certain parties in America.
When the Constitution has been made one with
the national conscience, it is said that it will also
have to be made a more perfect and ready instrument
and expression of the national will, and better ad



494            RECONSTRUCTION.          [Boox IV.
justed to the national Genius.  This will not
be revolutionary, for there the People are, in effect,
the Constitution; their destiny is in their own
hands, and it is impossible to take it out of them.
There: all have a stake in public security, and
know that they could: on occasion, alter the alteration. They have property, knowledge, and power,
and are therefore law-abiding, conservative, constructive, progressive, and content.
In England, the Constitution depends on Acts
of Parliament. To alter it, public opinion has from
question to question to fight against the vis inertia
of wrong, against tradition, and all the associated
force of feudality.
In America, the Constitution is a formal document, with provisions for alteration and amendment to be carried through by a certain majority.
The North founded and settled the Principles of
the Constitution.  The South administered and
moulded for 80 years the Policy of the nation.
The Principles, and the (internal) Policy became
alien and hostile. The war will have once more
reunited them. But now that the nation has reconquered their union, it will before long require
complete guarantees of its continuance.
Those guarantees are two.  The first, the destruction of the slave faction. The second, the
formal and complete expurgation of three-fifths
voting clauses, and all other recognition of Slavery,
from the Constitution.  A third is also debated, the,
substitution of some plan, more facile and practicable, for the present system of altering and
amending the Constitution.




CHAP. II.]        CERTAIN ITEMS.                 495
The first process is going on swimmingly.  The
second, the expurgation, is not doubtful, for words
are apt to follow  things.  The substitute for the
two-third amnendment and three-fourth ratification,
is a matter which has already taxed and occupied
the forethought of American republican politicians.
But whether the precedent of Secession will not
show the advantage of these difficulties in alteration,
and cause more conservative counsels to prevail, is
much to be doubted.
As the Constitution now stands, the difficulty is
first to get an amendment proposed, by two-thirds
of both Houses, or by the Legislatures of twothirds of the States, and then ratified by Legislatuvres or by Conventions in three-fourths of the
States.*
The problem is the old, the eternal.one in politics
— how to combine conservatism with progress, and
how to save popular initiative from becoming revolutionary, or Administrative Unity from becoming the vehicle of Despotism.
How this matter will be settled as to form, we
cannot and need not divine. But this we doubt not,
-that Principles and Policy will again become one,
* The text of the Constitution, on this point, is as follows:
Article V. "The Congress, whenever two.thirds of both Houses
shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds
of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing
amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid as part of
this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of threefourths of the several States, or by Conventions in threefourths thereof, or the one or the other mode of ratification
may be proposed by the Congress."




496           RECONSTRUCTION.         [BooK IV.
that Slavery will be expurgated froni the national
conscience and constitution, and that a free and
living and progressive country cannot and will not
be held back in its career, from adapting to its
growth and expansion, or from altering or rejecting
any form of words or of ceremonies, descended
upon it from the olden (or rather from the younger)
time.
Never and nowhere do forms stand against force,
and in America the force is with the People and
opinion.
Again, tfle Constitutiono) says that the people shall
not DIRECTLY ELECT the President, but that they
shall elect his electors. But tlze People (and it was
no new expedient) said to the electors, "Elect
our man, and we elect you," and in an instant the
trustees become delegates, and the parchment of the
Constitution stretched and tore with the strain.
The People chose to make sure of their man,Lincoln, and soon they showed that power is in
living souls, and not in the cerements of tradition,
or in the pigeon-holed and red-taped past. It is
now proposed to legalise this direct election, and
herein to bring the Constitution and the popular
will into harmony.
Thus it is, and must increasingly be, with all
Democracies that have tasted power.
It will be seen that'the double process which
constitutes American History-the advance to Administrative Unity and to Popular Sovereignty —is
not contradictory nor hostile, but congruous and
harmonious.




CHAP. I.]        CERTAIN ITEMS.            497
There is a fourth step recommended by some
as necessary to the full measure of national administrative unity. At present the national Government cannot attach an individual oi'cial of one of the
States' Governments as such. Article III, which
regulates the Constitutional Judicial power, does
not extend it to such a case.  It is, however,
doubtful whether this extension is compatible with
the maintenance of State Governzents as what
Jefferson called them, —" the true barriers of our
liberty."
The tendency throughout seems to be to sinplify
forms and to give directness and energy to power.
If the People's power remains readily available,
Judicial appointments may safely remain a matter of administration.  General opinion advocates
the appointment of State Judges by the Governors,
to be confirmed by the State Senates, thus assimilating the State to the national usage and abrogating Judicial appointments by universal suffrage,
or for a short term, as by a comparatively recent
innovation, they now are in some few States.
SUNDRIES.
Certain matters of detail, remain.  Prominent
amongst these is Free Trade.  A tariff ad valorem
on imports for revenue will probably be maintained for some time. A discriminating tariff for
protection will probably be abandoned.
Length of President's term, whether four years
2 K




498          IRECONSTRUCTION.         [BooxI IV.
as in the North, or six as in the South, and whether or no the one term principle shall be adhered
to.
Appointments to office during good behaviour,
instead of for President's term.
No removals for political reasons. This is of
quite recent growth. In 1830 it was ascertained,
in consequence of a resolution of Congress, that
the practice of removal from office for political
reasons had  enormously increased.  The total
removals by the first six Presidents had been 74.
For the last year there had been 491 in the office
of postmasters alone.
We may also recall to mind, as the 13th, 14th
and 15th resolutions of the Chicago platform, a
demand for a complete and satisfactory Homestead
measure; a protest against any impairing or
abridging of the rights of citizenship accorded to
immigrants; an approval of rivers and harbours
improvements; and generally for the development
of the national resources, &c.
-~
Amongst the instalments of reconstruction virtually or actually made, are the following:Slavery abolished.
Future territories set apart for freedom.
The republican party demands the absolute
equality of the negro; he must take his proper
position in his triple right as Inheritor, Worker,
and Conqueror.
His mere value as a labourer: was, before the
war, two thousand millions of (dollars. His value




(IlAP. I.]'      CERTAIN ITEMS.            499
as a man to the American nation can never be
estimated. A few thousand families have hitherto
spent the results of his labour.
The South is little used to the excitements and
discussions and dangers of Freedom. It finds free
negroes a nuisance, and capital, not employed in
slave-driving, or slave-breeding, a danger. The
incendiary element of Freedom lay in patches over
the South, and remained harmless, for the trains
could not be laid to connect them. Free negroes
were under surveillance, and amongst the mean
whites there was no element of manufacturing or
commercial capital or skill, to counteract the overpowering influence of the Slaveholding caste.,
Thus no middle class could be found to connect
and to raise by gradations, either the mean white
or the slave, either by the power of ideas or of
money.
Free plantations will reverse all this, and reverse
the results also. There will be a middle class,
and the idea and money power, will be on the
side of freedom.
This is the ransom " King Cotton" will have to
pay to " King Labour," commonly called "L Squatter
Sovereignty."  The South has to get itself reconciled to firee trade in Cotton, and Labour —or to
fbe extirpated and replanted.  Southern ideas of
property and robbery have to be reversed.
The last ": Labour of Lincoln,' so far, was to
fix the fact of abolition.   To talke a parable from
that invention that has almost worked a social
2 K 2




500         RECONSTRUCTION.           [BooK IV.
revolution in America, he locked the stitches of
Reconstruction, as he plied his needle of fate.
Slavery should not survive to create future wars,
if he could help it. Lincoln was Destiny on that,
but left Free Will to Future Congresses on every
thing else.
The Republican principle of Government which
he has maintained by war in the greater part
of the national Territory, his successor or the
nation will uphold in reconstruction, by moral
and constitutional sanctions and material support
wherever there are any to take the Initiative.
Rebellion attacked the People's rights with minorities. Johnson can assail the rebellion by active
minorities, that will represent virtual majorities
everywhere.
Lincoln would not alter the geographies of
States. He could not alter the will of rebel chiefs.
He provided a framework of reconstruction, and
offered to the rank and file of Rebellion, pardon
and freedom, and self-Government.
Thus the slave leaders will have lost for the
South its Slaves, and for the Nation Slavery; and
will have gained for themselves the reputation of
the most conspicuous failure since Lucifer.
Lincoln will have secured for the nation, Freedom, Equality, Republicanism, Union, —in fact,
true Federal Republicanism. For the South, a
freedom of Ideas and Interests, which will create
for it an almost miraculous future, make the debt
a jest, and secure for the common heritage those
splendid political qualities, which have won in the
council and the field, an imperishable name.




CRAP. II.]      ITS WARRANT.                501
Next in importance to Lincoln's policy of Aboli-.
tion and Reconstruction, tie certainty qf clearing the
future course of the nation and of extricating it from
all doubts or half measures as to freedom, or decisions, favouring slavery, made upon the Constitution, is his crowning labour and glory. The declaration was not doubtful, if the constitution was,
and if any part of the latter was rotten, or of
doubtful interpretation, it must be cut out and remodelled upon the Declaration.
If Slavery was to be meddled with, it must se
destroyed. A Kiing, says Landor, should not be
struck but in a fatal part. If Slavery were protected, it would destroy the political, social, and
moral structure of the American nation.
Thus much did Lincoln, the first peasant
emperor, one of the Fathers of nations,-one of
the "; friends of God."
The main value, in the present age, of the DECLARATION of Independence, consists in the fact, that it
was, till 1860, the last great act of the People, and
that it was the PREAMBLE OF THE REVOLUTION.
The statement of Principles and intentions, upon
which was invited and obtained the co-operation
of the American People, and their victory over English thraldom, is the root of the Title of American
nationality. Upon the faith of it they leagued together, and by the terms of it " the lives, and fortunes, and sacred honour," of the subscribers and
their successors, were and are pledged for the in



502           RECONSTRUCTION.         [BooR IVI
depehldence'of the nation, and " Freedom  and
equality in the pursuit of happiness," of the weakest
and the poorest soul, if only it be untainted with
crime, within the limits of the United States.  To
deny this. is to lie in the face of God, in the front
of the world, and in the van of civilization.
And the same idea was of the essence of all the
movements of those days: —
The Virginian resolution of 1765 claimed for
" all his majesty's subjects since inhabitzing, all the
" privileges, franchises, and immunities that have
"at any time been held by the people of Great
i; Britain: as if born within the realm of England."
The Congress of 1774 recommended by the Virginian Convention of the same year, and at which
Georgia alone was  unrepresented, repudiated
slavery, and passed  unaniwnous resolutions respecting the rights of " the inhabitants to life, liberty.
and property," based on the'i fmmutable LAws OF
NATURE, and the principles of the Engilish Constitution."
Whosoever has taken, or would take~ from any
American subject the guarantee of equality written
in the:" Declaration," deserves to have taken from
him all benefits and all sanctions secured by the
revolution.
Whosoever would add to any Southern manstealer powers denied by that declaration, as by
" human rature," the:" British Constitution," and
the " Bible," deserves to have added to him and to
his children the plagues and penalties of tyranny,
treason, disunion, and national impotence, fromi
which the revolution saved America.




CHAP. II.]      ITS WARRANT.               503
The people sent up their delegates to do a certain thing, to adjust terms of national independence,
and of individual equality. The ratifications were'"in the name of the People, their constituents."
If they ratified individual inequality, and class
tyranny, their competency was none, their authority void, the Constitution so far was a juggle,
the delegates from the Slave States were conspirators and the delegates from  the Free States
betrayed the trust held " for their constituents
the People."
And the Declaration itself virtually provided
against any such conspiracy. It declared " ALL
MEN " free and equal. " That their rights were
"' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That
" whenever any form  of Government becomes
"o destructive of these ends, it is the right of the' people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
"G new Government, laying its foundation on such
b principles, and organizing its powers'in such
" form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
6" their safety and happiness."
The men ofthat age were indeed little likely to deal
"' in glittering generalities," or to promulgate as
" theories " truths which they would have to vindicate with their blood.
The original draft of this Declaration pointed at
" Slavery " by name. The Committee of the whole
House on the question of " Independence," appointed a Sub-Committee of Adams and Jefferson
to draw the draft. It was actually prepared by
Jefferson.  This original draft of the Declaration
thus indicts George IlIi and Slavery before the




504             RECONSTRUCTION.             [Boox IV.
world, and clearly shows the popular ideas concerning Slavery.
" le has waged cruel war against hunman nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of
a distant people, captivating and carrying them into slavery in
another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of
infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great
Britain. Determined to keep open market where men should
be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
execrable commerce."
So much for the man, who, as said the great
Fox, being manifestly moved and possessed by the
Devil, made war against two nations and republics,
and drawing this nation after him, did his possible
to prepare all the subsequent misunderstandings,
collisions, and failures of England in both hemispheres.
Thus was the rough draft, by Jefferson, of the
Constitution, * couched in terms of absolute reprobation of Slavery.  But little and interested men,
and abject and timid agencies, struck out his honest
and impetuous denunciations, and forced the great
men of tle occasion to choose between disunion
and compromise.
Nevertheless it was the King and the oligarchy
of England that really forced them to keep Slavery
as a compromise for the sake of Union, and safety
against her attacks, and England, had she retained
their allegiance, would probably have spread the
institution more widely within their borders.
" This Draft is said to be in the American Philosophical
Society, at Philadelphia, framed on both sides, as it was written.




CHAP. II.]       ITS WARRANT.                  505
In 1774 the People of England were thus appealed to against their Sovereign by Congress,
"1 Permit us to be asfree as yourselves, and we shall
": ever esteem an union with you our greatest glory
i; and happiness; we shall consider your enemies'6 our enemies, and your interest as our own. But
" if you are determined that your ministers shall
"L wantonly sport with the rights of mankind, we
": must then tell you, that we will never submit
" to be hewers of wood, or drawers of water, for
" any ministry or nation in the world."
The excuse, and the only excuse, of American
statesmen in retaining slavery, was the determination of the clodhopper maniac who ruled England,
and of the oligarchy that united with him  against
democracy, to destroy the republic. There was no
English nation then, Chatham was not supported,
and the Republic had to fight the King, honestly
if it could-but to fight him. *
And so because England denied freedom  to
America, Almerica denied it to the slave, and the
country must go back 80 years to the abolitionist
Jefferson and begin de novo.
But Democracy is justified of her children.
Results follow causes, and if the youth of the
country be taught, and its manhood taught to as* " The King said to Lord Shelburne,' I will be plain with
you; the point next my heart, and which I am determined
be the consequence what it may, never to relinquish but with
my crown and life, is to prevent a total unequivocal recognition
of the independence of America. Promise to supportme on
this ground, and I will leave you unmolested on every other
ground, with full power as the prime minister of this kingdom.'
The bargain was struck."-Franklin's Works, v. 5, p. 326.




606          RlECONSTRUCTION.        [Boor 1V,
semble ill free Church and Assembly for worship
and discussion, then all the elements of prosperity
are in motion, and prosperity must follow.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS.
And if these powers of the School, Press, Assembly, and Church, have not yet done all their work,
and have not yet quite expelled their opposites, it
is only now a question of a decade or two. The
whole People must rule, for they will be taught.
The South now neither would nor could mop out
the deluge of democratic propagandism, on which
its future depends.  But if it would, manhood
development, association, and equality must run
their career. Labour and capital must penetrate,
where the nation thlat s2pplies them cannzot be bribed,
intimidated, separated, or destroyed.
We have followed the rise of popular power
from the free School, Church, and Assembly, to
the formation of a nation on principles of Equality.
Although till this was accomplished the world
was put back, from epoch to epoch, of adverse
teaching; there was never any doubt of the triumph
of the principles, because God works by law, and
works for progress. If the human soul, intellect, and
body, are to be gradually better trained and more
developed, they must be better and better able to
associate; and if they associate, they must approach
and possess Equality.  Nation will now learn
from nation, as formerly man from man.
Familiar traditions, touching the tendency of all
executives, if strong, to despotism, and if weak to




CHAP. IT.]        RESULTS.                 507
dissolution and destruction, taught- historical students to discuss the alternatives of the blossoming
of the great republic into empire, or of its utter
de-centralisation and disunion,  Recent events
~tempted men to conclude, as partisans of class
Government with triumph, as philosophers with
disgust, or as friends of the people with despair,
that the great problem yet remained unsolved, even
in the latest invention in statesmanship: —The problem how best to make a nation and consolidate
it, how to balance the centrifugal and centripetal
forces of empire,-how best to secure to Governnment, its balance, stability, and power, to the Individual his rights and freedom, and so to Mlanlcind the
conditions and guarantees of a perpetual progress.
But it is the essential fact and speciality of the
American situation and  struggle, that popular
license and executive despotism, save as part of the
Southern cause, were precisely the dangers that
did not threaten.  The Americans are proverbially
a law-abiding nation. The danger that has assailed
the State, began with that which assailed the Individual, the Unit of the State. The principle of
individual freedom, was not made absolute and
universal; and this one condition of national greatness being faulty, the whole glorious fabric. has
been shaken to its foundations.
But mark the giant strides of the North. In
1860, the question was non-extension of Slavery.
In 1862, the question was its extinction; and
already we see the principles of Freedom and
Nationality, returning in triumph over the most
powerful rebellion that wvas ever organized.




508            RECONSTRUCTION.         [Booic IV.
The eighty years' experiment of popular intelligence, freedom, and submission to self-imposed
law, has not failed either in conservatism, individuality, power, or progress. So far from this, after
a forty years' compromise of negro rights, forced on
a strong abolitionist minority, that minority organized itself, and by the material, moral, and political progress of a free people, was enabled to defy
the South in its attempt to make Slavery a national
institution.
It is casting aside and off a ruling oligarchy of
eighty years, maintains the national integrity, reverts to the first principles of the rights of man,
puts the nation at one with principle and natural
right, supplies the missing link between the free
man and the complete nation, and now proceeds
to set free the subject nation, which has grown up
in bondage since the constitution was promulgated.
It is the grandest and most definitive expression
yet, of the conservative, progressive, and recuperative energies of a self-governed people.
The balance of power within the nation, was
assailed, not by the people, nor by the executive,
but by an extraneous slave faction, only too long
borne with. The progress of the nation was arrested,
but by that same felon Oligarchy, conservative only
in wrong, and destructive of all rights, whether of
their slaves, their equals, or their Government.
After the strain of battle, that from  1775 to
1782, had bound the then Thirteen States together
in the work of Independence, was loosed, the
prostration and reactions of peace brought with
it internal questions, of which slavery ultimately




CHAP. II.]          RESULTS.              509
became the greatest, and these again, parties and
factions. The State wanted girders. For unification, the North abandoned the assertion a l'outrance
of her Principles; it was thought best to admit
Georgia and South Carolina on their own terms,
and it is a great fact of historical retribution, that
the Southern faction which demanded Slavery and
compromise, has dared to deny that very Unity
and centralised power for which the North had
yielded them.
The great lesson of the war, and the great
objects of 1787, as demonstrated by general consent to the principle and detail of the alterations,
were two-fold:1st. To centralise and nationalise the Government,
in order that commerce, trade, revenue, and
export and import interests, might be developed
and protected, and a foreign policy in commerce
and war, created, directed, and controlled.
2nd. To "form a more perfect utnion" of " thie
People " of the United States, as contrasted with
the old union of States, and the older one of the
Confederacy.
The 1st would administrate and direct. The
2nd, cement, consolidate, energise, and render
perpetual the union of the people. The practical
effect, politically, was to bring up " the People "
in greater power and prominence, and to diminish
the power of the "1 States."
But the process, crowned by the achievement
and declaration of American independence, did




510          1RECONSTR1UCTION.        [BooK, IV,
not what it appeared to do. The war was. not
long enough for that. It enunciated Principles,
which it did not carry out, and left a riddle in the
constitution respecting rights, which circumstances,
and sectional interests, and the prudery and indecision of the North, have since elevated into
importance. That riddle the North have had to
read by the light of blazing towns.
The right of man to himself was clearly asserted
in words, and plainly denied in practice; for
black labour was too usefuil-the black man too
insignificant.  The subordination of the p1arts to the
whole, was supposed to have been secured; but a
principle remained in the constitution, destined to
jeopardise it, and in the presence of the enemy,
posterity was left to protect itself.  The first
omission raised the question of a slave emnpire, and
of free or negro labour. The second, attacked the
national unity by the assertion of an unbridled
State sovereignty. The individual slave man is
now recognised, and has got to be raised, and
thus also the theory of citizenship perfected. The
sovereignty of individual States must, on points of
universal import, be submitted to the collective
Sovereignty, before the work of " Independence"
can be completed and the nation " made."
At the first Declaration of Independence, the
value and freedom of the human soul rose upon
the world with all the vividness of a new revelation, and has been declared and re-declared by
their public manifestoes, and perhaps never abandoned by the majority; whilst the subordination in
national matters of the "; States" to the republic,




CHAP. II.]          RESULTS.                   11
constantly iterated, was manifestly the supreme
condition of that Unity, without which a nation
can neither feel, think, will, act, or be.
We grant at once, the truism of the sacred right
of insurrection, and that a nation cannot revolt
without oppression; but in this sense; it is the
North that has really revolted, for the South, up
to the recent growth of the Republican party,
always carried on the Government, and directed
the internal and external Policy. It was the
mighty North-west that wrested by its growth the
balance of power from the South, and resolved no
longer to be the tool of her Policy, the accomplice
of her crime, or the victim of the extension of her
barbarous and desolating land system.
The North has now avoided the two equal dangers
of leaving the Constitution, or tolerating Slavery.
The fault of the North was that it did not fight
for empire until its independence was jeopardised.
It neither overstrained its rights, nor interfered
with those of the Sovereign States. It only interfered when its existence was at stake. The South
had no claim here by Northern dereliction. The
North did not put itself in the wrong by the manner of its action. It stood by the Principle of
authority and the Principle of freedom; was the
lNorth wrong then in form or in substance?  Has
it violated the original compact, or natural
right?  If its empire was consistent with these, to
taunt it with seeking to preserve it is the foolishest
deliverance of a mind hide-bound by formulas, and
given over to verbal delusions.




Q12          RECONSTRUCTION.         [BOOK IV.
This battle point, —doubt it never —is the hour of
America's Manhood. Her years of nonage are gone,
and the struggle prepared for and against for
eighty years has come and gone. The great heart
of that great nation never faltered, and this marvellous people achieved the marvellous task (as it
would have been even for a consolidated country)
of conducting a conservative resistance to the progress of a dominant party and policy, which were
in the very nature of things bound beforehand to
progress, expand, or die.
Although the Southern section was so strong as
to succeed for a time even in tampering with
mails, in depriving abolitionists of the righzt of
Petition against slavery, and in gagging the press
and the senators, so determined and true was the
North, that after the ballot had decided once for
all and for ever for freedom, and the South
revolted  against the  decision  themselves had
courted, they waited for the first irrevocable
overt act of treason, and have gone out by the
million to die for the cause and the principles
which with infinite patience they had never once
by violence allowed to be put in the wrong.
Behold here the second and spiritual birth of
the, as yet, completest nation under the sun. The
sword of the spirit of the great American nation
has not been drawn in vain. If such a nation is
to die, History and her conclusions must die with
it. The American nation is made, or we must
unmake our philosophy, reverse our deductions,
and begin the world of thought afresh; for, according to them, neither spiritually, morally nor




CHA. IL.]         RESULTS.                 5 13
materially even, is any other issue possible to" it
than success.
Its race, its strategical, commercial, and geographical unity, its mountain ranges, and river
system, the splendour of its ideal, inflaming the
hearts of the people, its magnificent moral attitude, its sacrifices, armies, and navies, its history,
and its genius, all declare that this people shall
continue to exist, as it was and is, one and indivisible.
For the intellect and just self-interest of the
people appreciate too well to wish to change it
for any of the old outworn condemned systems,
this Government of themselves, which so well
combines Conservatism with Progress.  The existence of a mighty uniform class, with equal intelligence universally diffused, with no corporate
interests springing from  remote antiquity and
ranged against the people, obstructing progress
and aggravating opposition, with a general
competency and stake, created a party too numerous, too intelligent, too independent to be
overweighted by a section, led by the fanatical,
or held back by the retrogressionists. This national party will always outnumber, outweigh,
and overpower all who may attempt to rule for
the few, or to ignore the rights of industry and
intelligence. Let us repeat. Knowoledge, andpower,
and piroperty are with the North, and thzey are always
conservative, constructizve  and progressive.  By the
nature of men and of things, by absorption and
conversion, if by no other or more summary process, the great and free North will destroy the slave
2 L




51-4          RECONSTRUCTION.         [Boox IV.
faction, which bases the rights of the few on the
wrongs of the many.
The destruction of the slave interest, false in
statesmanship as in morality, is the only sacrifice
required. The 190,000 slave-owners, with their
160,000 slave-brokers, their state properties, and
mock presidentstheir felon rights, founded on negro
wrongs, and their dispensation of physical force,
intimidation, treachery, and treason, are of course
to be converted or eliminated in the process.
These are the only men and theirs the only interests, irreconcileable with the supreme result wlhich
this struggle is to accomplish — THE MAKING
OF THE AMERICAN NATION.
A nation, however created, can only be permanently sustained under two conditions. TIe
freedom and energy of the Individual, and the subordination of the Individual, and of each corporate
sub-organization, to the general law. A State that
has not the first, has no strength or progress; a
State without the last, has no conservatism. The
one- predicament tends to dissolution, the other to
despotism. The enemies of the United States have
therefore done wisely in their generation, to
attack both in theory and by arms precisely these
two things. They declared, contrary to all evidence, that America did not mean and shall not
mean the freedom  of the individual negro, and
that the constitution did mean and shall mean
the insubordination of each State to the central
power. Iut the question was, not whether Ame



CRAP. II.]          RESULTS.                515
rica should be two, or three, or four, but whether
it should be one, or one hundred.
The North asserting, and the South denying,
the two conditions of nationality, it could not have
been difficult to perceive which was the true and
which the false nation.
Lies and half truths may make factions, rebellions,
treasons, failures, or empire even, but a " nation"
and "independence," never. A nation cannot be
begotten on a lie, nor held together by partial truths
contradicted in practice.  Still less can the world
mistake the mighty action of an unprecedented
class interest, for the oryanei life and spiritual
movement of a People; or a faction-fight for political supremacy over one nation, and the power
to destroy and degrade another, for the heroism
and self sacrifice of Patriots, seeking, forsooth, i' a
country."
The fieedom  of the individual, the idea for
the assertion of which America was created and
colonised, and for which her independence was
proclaimed, though perfectly conceived, was not
clearly developed. But the hour of its manhood
was surely coming, and it struck when, by the
emancipation edict, the idea of individztal freedomv
wecas asserted fully and absolutely, together zoithi tazat
of nationality.
The terms of contest -were never yet so clear,
logical, and antithetical. The Position is defined
with awful distinctness, national life and individual
freedom, on the one side, and sectional impotence,
with personal slavery, on the other.
A  nation is never born save under the stress,
2L2




.5-1.6         RECONSTRUCTION.          [Boox IV.
and travail, and inspiration of some great idea,the truth, consistency, depth, and universality of
which is the warrant for its creation, and faithfulness to which is the pledge of its immortality.
A bastard nation, without the traditions, or inheritance, or vital energies of a nation, may be
begotten of a sin upon a lie; but the monstrosity
cannot live, the excrescence will be sloughed off,
the morbid action will cease, and the parasitical
life pass away.
If ever the immortality of a nation is wzon, it is
won in *the assero n n of the special truths of its national and individual life, against armed assailants
and infidel questionings, both from within and from
without.
The founders of the Union were at fault, inasmuch as they were only a great deal ahead of the
rest of the world on the Slavery question, and did
not formally and finally prohibit, that which the
rest of the world was profiting by and encouraging.
It was supposed on all sides, that the institution
would be evanescent and die out, as it unquestionably would, but for its partially resting on Northern
connivance, and chiefly on monopolies and artificial
prices.
The vast majority of -the legislature was at one
with the popular ideal and will, and it is at one
with it now.  The people of 1774 —the vast majority of them  meant universal individual freedom  as much, though perhaps not so intelligently, as the people of 1862.-They meant, and
expressed, and proclaimed their meaning,  but




CHAP. II.]         RESULTS.'               517
under the Confederation Bye-Laws, a majority of
six States to three; and of sixteen members to
seven, was not sufficient to carry the proposition
of freedom in the States.
The madness of the South, which has torn the
republic, concluded its inevitable cycle in despair.
Barbarous in culture, infamous in morals, weak in
its staple trade,-depending on protection for commercial, and on oppression for political existence,
-with an organic disease in its " Constitution,"'
and a lie in economics, and a mistake in statesmanship, for its "i corner stone,"-the Slave empire and its composition, had indeed only got to
be " recognised,"' to stand confessed an anomaly
and an anachronism in the present epoch.
But the Union cannot die. It is founded on a rock,
-on Truth, Nature, and the People, on the universal culture of the citizen, and on his freedom, not
only in politics, but in religion also,-consummating
the unity of the State, and the supremacy of the
Law,-combining all the postulates of progress and
of stable Government. It is precisely this struggle
that completes the nation's manhood,-this antagonism  within and without,-this divine white
heat of conflict,- this enthusiasm  of battle, that
welds it into one, and that will make it immortal!
The salt of the earth is the few. The resolute
disinterested good, are the minority in all countries
and causes, and America is no exception. Its
Puritan  salt and  savour saved America, and
made the cause so good and strong, that it was




518          RECONSTRUCTION.        [BooK IV.
impossible to ruin it. In what other age save
Cromwell's, or in what other city in the world,
would regiments march through, chanting godly
battle hymns?-how  often before, have Rulers
said, and meant, intelligently, that "their only
wish was to find and to do the will of God?"
Lincoln will stand grandly in history, though
lately the butt of every charlatan.  He made
no mistake in policy, and it is by policy that the
American battle was won. The old European imposture, that homely common sense- and honesty
cannot govern, has nohow been so well refuted as
by Lincoln's government. But worse was said of
Washington than of Lincoln. A long since extinct
print the: " Aurora," then the; leading Journal,"
declared-" If ever a nation was debauched by a;' man, the American nation has been debauched
"' by Washington. An example to future ages, that
" the mask of patriotism may conceal the foulest
"; designs against the liberties of the people."
Had Lincoln not been, comparatively speaking,
the complete man he was-had he been a mere
enthusiast, his enemies had forgiven him.
It was Lincoln who committed the North against
Slavery. It is Lincoln, working in grand simplicity with the common sense of the people, who has.
swung the nation round the critical point of its
whole history, bringing it from " non-extension"
in 1860, to' abolition " in 1863, and, step by step,
making it safe and sure that the South could not return and bring Slavery with it. It is Lincoln who
kept the Border Slave States for Union, and prepared them and the Union to combine against




CHrP. II.]        RESULTS.               519
Slavery. It is Lincoln who went far enough and
not too far ahead of public sentiment, who educated
the mind of the North to abolition, till the Union
and Freedom were one word.
Nevertheless, with John Brown at Harper's Ferry
was, perhaps, more than with any other man, the
turning point in the New World's history.
A.s to England, the North affirmed, and the
South denied, the two main results of three hundred years of the blood, and sacrifices, and efforts,
of the Anglo-Saxon race,-the principles and practice of freedom and of authority, of national and
individual right, reconciled, and confirmed.
England has got through many struggles, with
varying fortunes, and the mighty momentum of her
Empire in the greatness of its way, has carried her
through all the mistakes of her Statesmen. There
was lately put to her the greatest question ever put
to a country as a test of its use on Earth, or its
value before Heaven. England should thank God
for her democracy, for her oligarchy would fain
have answered this great question the wrong way.
Had she lifted a little finger against all her past,
against her own sons and kindred, against the
genius of authority, freedom, and national integrity
and honour; against the great nation that has
won the most glorious war of any age, that commands the largest territory, the greatest resources,
the freest institutions, the most numerous armies
and fleets, and soon the widest trade, and among
living nations the most numerous population; that




520          RECONSTRUCTION.         [BOOK IV.
has had more military experience than all existing
generals and troops elsewhere put together, that is
three thousand miles from England's base of operations, and at the same time next door to Canada,
and whose institutions are destined to change by
their example the entire aspect of the world-had
England moved against this nation, and aided that
other, to " blow the billowy verge of everlasting
night " across the precincts of civilisation-she had
created the Nemesis which would have dismembered
her empire, clouded all her past glories, and extinguished her future, and which would have so earned
of the age, and of all ages,
" A name which every wind to heaven would bear,
Which men to speak, and angels joy to hear."
But the Democracy of England understood too
well their interests in the great American popular
" experiment," to allow of any further un-English
experimentalising against it.
The solemn hour of America's manhood has struck
and they keep the jubilee well. But had not America
been equal to this work, had she been faithless to
her MIGHTY  UNKNOWN  FUTURE, whose
foundations are deep in democracy, whose heights
are dim in the unfulfilled, whose principles are the
life of nations-had she not been the martyr and
saviour nation she has been, then Humanity must
have turned once more towards the East, Democracy
would have waited eighteen hundred years in vain




CRAP. II.]          RESULTS.               52-1
for.a precedent, and philosophy must have looked to
other continents and to other civilisations.
America is now the grandest combination of
Power, Stability, Unity, Freedom, and Happiness,
the world has seen.
As a Nation it has, complete and sound, its material bases, its individuality) and its organic ftmnctions; and not only this, they are completer and
sounder than has hitherto been thought possible.
And more than that; they are based on principles
which have some sort of finality in politics, for they
reconcile an intense and concentrated executive, a
legislature chosen by the whole national manhood,
a balance of power between the sovereign parts and
the sovereign whole, with Equality the only Freedom
as between Indiwviuals, and the only guarantee of
Freedom as regards' the State.
It has illustrated the great principle that complexity of relationships and inter-action whilst the
result of- Freedom, are not contrary to, but essential
to, a complete national Unity, and that Equality of
Individual right is the only thing that can fulfil the
National Sovereignty and power.
As a Democracy it is based on that threefold
freedom whose foundations can never be shaken,
of School, Church, and Assembly.
As a Federation it has stood-and strengthened
by it —the strongest test yet applied to Federations.
It seems almost as though there must be invented
a new disease in body politics before the life of
the American nation can be successfully assailed.
The last assault delivered against it has ended, or




522            RECONSTRUCTION.        [BoogC IV,
is ending, in a propagandism  of prosperity and
freedom, that can have no limits save in the wants
and emptiness of the nations. And- both sections
of America will have conquered; the North in the
triumph of its principles, the South in appro~
priating their power.
Thus, this nation, made of the principle of Equa.
lity, unmakes for ever the Oligarchy of the West,
and therewith all other oligarchies. Slavery,
oligarchy, and other sectional, anti-national interests will be speedily assimilated or destroyed by
it. Nations everywhere, like this Royal AngloAmerican, will become royal, and manhood shall
join hands around the earth.
From the moment of the victory of that system,
the principle of continued life and ofpdoliticalfinality
went visibly out of all others. The Democracy of
the West has prevailed to open the gates of the
Future for all Peoples.
Before the first nation had been constituted upon
a basis of Equality, the foundations of Society had
not settled, and no superstructure could be safe,the first principles of Association were not comprehended, and no system could endure. Till that
foundation is laid and those principles acknowledged, in at least the political competency of the
majority, Construction and Destruction must succeed each other interminably, and oryanic changes
will shake the fabric of every advancing State:
after that, the only questions will be those of administration, and of foreign policy. The development and organisation of the whole as to qualities,




CHAP. II.]            RESULTS.                   523
and the all as to numbers, is the only finality irpolitics.  All progressive  societies tend to  one
preponderating power, and the final preponderating
universal power can alone be the People.
Now that the American nation is made, Equality
thus closes the ERA OF DESTRUCTION, and it inaugurates the ERA OF CONSTRUCTION, upon a plan final
in principle and universal in application.  The
precedent of the first complete nation gives the
world assurance for all its future.
And the last gate of barbarism, the gate of
" mixed " or monarchical Government, creaks now
on its hinges.  From  the. example of America, a
world of United States may arise to unite universally the blessings of Unity and of Independence.
Thus may she go on to perfect and to combine the
means and the results of Government.  Thus may
the principle of her Unity prevail, and the orbit of
her influence sweep wider and wider through the
nations, showing how  out of free  School, free
Church, and free Assembly,-Men, Institutions,
Nations, Empires, and Federations are rightly made.
"To see, like some vast island from the ocean,
" The altar of the Federation rear
"It's pile i' the midst.-That mighty shape did wear
"The light of genius; its still shadow hid
"Far ships; to know its height the morning mists forbid.
" To hear the restless multitudes for ever
"Around the base of, that great altar flow,
" As on some mountain islet burst and shiver
c "Atlantic waves; and solemnly and slow
"  s the wind bore that tumult to and fro,
"To feel the dream-like music which did swim
" Falling in pauses from that altar dim."