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 THE SLAVE POWER. 
 
THE SLAVE POWER : 
 
 CHAEACTEE, CAEEEE, & PEOBABLE DESIGNS 
 
 AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE REAL ISSUES INVOLVED 
 IN THE AMERICAN CONTEST. 
 
 J. E. CAIRNES, M. A. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN QUEEN's COLLEGE, 
 GALWAY ; AND LATE WHATELY PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 
 IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PARKER, SON, AND BOURN, WEST STRAND. 
 
 1862. 
 
 2'/te right of traus/dUun is reserved. 
 

 " I could easily prove that almost all the diffurenccs, which may be remarked 
 b*twe*n the charact^re of the Americans in the Southern and Xorthem States, 
 have originated in Slavery." — Dt Tocqwvillt. 
 
 » b. WHIII 1M> »t», rillXTIJlH, KI-MIIM. 
 
TO JOHN STUART MILL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I have great satisfaction in prefixing 
 
 your name to the present work. Its appearance 
 on my page wiU show that I have not engaged in 
 speculation on an important subject without some 
 qualification for the task. The sanction it gives to 
 the views which I advocate will furnish an apology 
 for the confidence with which they are urged-a 
 confidence which, divided as ophiion is on the sub- 
 ject of Avhich I treat, might otherwise appear unbe- 
 coming. Lastly, the opportunity of connecting my 
 name in public with that of one from whose works 
 I have profited more largely than from those of any 
 living ^mter, was one which I could not easily 
 
 forego. 
 
 Believe me, dear Sir, 
 
 AVith sincere respect. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 J. E. Cairnes. 
 
 1st May, 1862. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is proper that I should state the circumstances 
 under which the present volume is offered to the 
 public. The substance of it formed the matter of 
 a course of lectures delivered about a year since 
 in the University of Dublin. In selecting the sub- 
 ject of North American slavery I was influenced 
 in the first instance by considerations of a purely 
 speculative kind — my object being to show that 
 the course of history is largely determined by the 
 action of economic causes. To causes of this de- 
 scription, it seemed to me, the fortunes of slavery in 
 North America — its establishment in one half of 
 the Union and its disappearance from the other — 
 were directly to be ascribed ; while to that insti- 
 tution, in turn, the leading differences in the cha- 
 racter of the Northern and Southern people, as 
 well as that antagonism of interests between the 
 two sections which has issued in a series of political 
 conflicts extending over half a century, were no less 
 
Mil I'UEFACE. 
 
 di>tiiKily tnic-cablc Tlic ^.•<)U^^c ul" events, however, 
 ftinoe I first took up the suhjcet, has given to it an 
 intert'st fur other than speculative, and lias rendered 
 conclusions, of \vhi<h the value (it" they possessed 
 any) was little more tiian seientiiie, directly appli- 
 cable to problems of imme(liate and momentous 
 interest. Under these eircumstanees I have been 
 induced to extend consideralilv the original ])lan 
 ofmv investigations, and to give the whole sidjject 
 a popular and practical treatment, in the ho[)e of 
 contributing something to the elucidation of a ques- 
 tion of \ ast imjtortince, not only to America, but 
 to the whole civilized world. 
 
 The rapid movement <tf events, aceompanied by 
 no less raj»id fluctuations in public opinion, during 
 the progress of the W(trk, will exi)lain, and, it is 
 hoped, will procure indulgence for, some obvious 
 imperfections. Some topics, it is prol)able, will be 
 found to be treati'd with greater fulness, and some 
 arguments to be urired with greater vehemence, than 
 the present position of affairs or the pi-esent state 
 of public feeling niMV aj>pear fn re(piire. For 
 example, 1 have been at some pains to show that 
 the (question at issue between Xortii and South is 
 not one of tariffs — a thesis presciibe<l to me bv the 
 
PREFACE. ijjj 
 
 State of the discussion six months ago, when the 
 affirmative of this view was pertinaciously put for- 
 ward by writers in the interest of the South, but 
 which, at the present time, when this explanation 
 of the war appears to have been tacitly abandoned^ 
 cannot but appear a rather gratuitous task. 
 
 In a certain degree, indeed, the same remark 
 applies to the main argument of the work ; for, 
 in spite of elaborate attempts at mystification, the 
 real cause of the war and the real issue at stake 
 are every day forcing themselves into prominence 
 with a distinctness which cannot be much longei| 
 evaded. Whatever we may think of the tendencies 
 of democratic institutions, oi- of the influence oj 
 territorial magnitude on the American character^ 
 no theory framed upon these or upon any otheS 
 incidents of the contending parties, however inge^ 
 niously constructed, will suffice to conceal the fact, 
 that it is slavery which is at the bottom of this 
 quarrel, and that on its determination it depends; 
 whether the Power which derives its strenf^th from 
 slavery shall be set up with enlarged resources and 
 increased prestige, or be now once for all efi'ectually 
 broken. This is the one view of the case which 
 every fresh occurrence in the progress of events 
 
X I'HEFACE. 
 
 teniU to strengthen ; and it i> tlii:- which it is tlie 
 ohject of the present work to enforce. 
 
 r.ut, ahhou^'li tlie development of the movement 
 n»uv have dcjirived the followino: speculations of 
 Rome of that novelty wlii-li thcv ini;:ht liave pos- 
 sessed when they were first (hlivered, still it is h(>]»ed 
 that they will not he without their use — that, while 
 thev will assist honest iiKpiinrs to form a sound 
 judjrment upon a (piestion which is still the suhject 
 of much designed and much unconscious misrepre- 
 sentation, thev may possess a more permanent inte- 
 rest, as illustrating hy a striking example the value 
 of a fruitful hut litth- understood instrument of his- 
 torical incjuiry — that which investigates the influ- 
 ence of material interests on the destinies of man- 
 kind. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY— THE CASE STATED. 
 
 Causes of the War - . ^^^'^ 
 
 - - - 2 
 
 The popular view - . . _ _ 
 
 Its superficiality 
 
 Slavery the central problem of American history - 
 
 The commercial theory - . . . . 
 
 The claim of independence : how to be estimated - - 15 
 
 Eeal cause of secession - . . . . ,/'j 
 
 Tjue origin of the war obscured by its proximate occasion - jg 
 
 "War the only arbitrament - - . . . 
 Views of the Xorth : 
 
 The Unionist sentiment - - - . . 
 
 The Anti-Slavery sentiment - - .. . 
 
 Eapid growth of the Anti-Slavery sentiment - . 28 
 
 Present aspect of the question - - . - 30 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE ECGXGMIC BASIS OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Different fortunes of slavery in the K'orth and South 
 Various explanations of the phenomenon : 
 
 Theory of diversity of character in the original founders 3 5 
 
 Theory of climate and race - - . - 3O 
 
 The explanation of climate inadequate - . 3 - 
 
 Alleged indolence of the negro groundless - - 40 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 2: 
 
V I'HKKACE. 
 
 tends to strciijrtlicn ; aiul it i> tlii^ Avliirh it is tlie 
 obji'ct of the present uork to enforce. 
 
 lUit, althou«rli the developnient of the movement 
 may liave deprived the following speculations of 
 Bome of that novelty which they mijrht have pos- 
 sessed wlien they were lirst delivered, still it is hoi)ed 
 that tliey will not he without their use — that, while 
 they will assist honest iufpiirers to form u sound 
 iud«rment upon a (piestion which is still the suhject 
 of much designed and much unconscious misrepre- 
 sentation, tluy may possess a more permanent inte- 
 rest, as illustratiuLT hy Ji striking example the value 
 of a fruitful hut little understood instrument of his- 
 torical incpiirv — that which investigates the influ- 
 eni-e of nuiterial interests on the destinies of nian- 
 kintl. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY — THE CASE STATED, 
 
 Causes of the AVar -...._ ^^§'^ 
 The popular view - . . _ 
 
 Its superficiality 
 
 Slavery the central problem of American history - . (% 
 
 The commercial theory - . . _ 
 
 The claim of independence : how to be estimated - - 15 
 
 Eeal cause of secession .... Y7'; 
 
 Tjue origin of the war obscured by its proximate occasion - jg 
 War the only arbitrament - - . . 
 
 Views of the Xorth : 
 
 The Unionist sentiment - - . . 
 
 The Anti-Slavery sentiment 
 
 Eapid growth of the Anti-Slavery sentiment - . 28 
 
 Present aspect of the question - . . - 30 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE ECONOMIC BASIS OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Different fortunes of slavery in the Xorth and South - fQ 
 
 Various explanations of the phenomenon : 
 
 Theory of diversity of character in the original founders 35 
 
 Theory of climate and race - - . -36 
 
 The explanation of climate inadequate 
 
 Alleged indolence of the negro groundless - 
 
 24 
 
 2: 
 
 ■■>/ 
 40 
 
li CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 ue solution of the proMem — Etouomio - - - ^42) 
 
 Merits ami ilefects of f*lav»' labour - - - - 44 
 
 Merita und ilffi-cts of frt-e labour - 47 
 
 Comimrotivo efficiency of slave unci fi-ec labour 48 
 
 A','riiultun»l capabilities of North and South - - 5° 
 
 Slave ami five products - - - - ' \^ 
 
 Further conditions essential to the success of slave labour - S3 
 
 Fertility of tho soil - - - 54 
 
 Extent of territory - - - - 55 
 
 llxlmusting effects of slave culture - - - - 5^ 
 
 General conclusion - - - - 5° 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INTERNAL OnOANIZATIOX OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 F.conomic success of slavery, in what sense conceded - ^6o 
 -tructure of a slave society moulded by its economic condi- 
 tions - - - - 
 
 Agricultui-e — tho sole career for slavery - - -66 
 
 Exigencies of slave agriculture - - - - ;jf7 
 Uesult^ : 
 
 Magnitude of plantations - - - - 68 
 
 Indebtedness of planters - - - 69 
 
 Unequal distribution of wealth - - - - 7° 
 
 "Waste lands in slave countries - - - 7' 
 
 Social consetpiences ... - - Qyif 
 
 'Hie * mean whit4'3' - - - ■ " 75 
 
 industrial development of Slave Stiites i.reiiiatunly arrcsteil 77 
 
 Net results of slave industry - . . ^.^Sp 
 
 Constitution of slave societies eRseiilially oligarchical - 85 
 
 liantful inlluence of the slave oligarchy falsely charged on 
 
 democracy - - - 88 
 
 I jich principle to Ik) Usled by its prop* r fruits - 90 
 Character of the Slave Tower ... \^ 
 
 64 
 
CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 TENDENCIES OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 Page 
 
 In what direction are slave societies moving 1 - - 94 
 
 Importance of the question - - - "95 
 
 Presumption in favour of modern slavery derived from the 
 
 experience of ancient - - - - 96 
 
 Three circumstances connected with modern slavery destroy 
 the force of the analogy : 
 
 I. Difference of race and colour - - - 99 
 
 Its effects - - - - - - 100 
 
 II. Growth of modern commerce - - - i o i 
 Its effects : 
 
 In enhancing the value of crude labour, and thus 
 
 augmentmg the resources of slavery - -103 
 
 In superseding the necessity of education, and thus 
 
 perpetuating servitude - - - - 105 
 
 Modern slavery extends its despotism to the mind - 106 
 
 III. The slave trade : 
 
 Its twofold functions in the modern system : 
 
 In relation to the consuming countries - - no 
 
 In relation to the breeding countries - - 112 
 
 Division of labour between the old and new states - 114 
 
 The slave trade securely founded in the principles of 
 
 population - - - - - -116 
 
 The analogy of cattle breeding - - - 11 8 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 Outline of the economy of slave societies - - - /^"^ 
 
 They include no element of progress - - . - 122 
 
 The mean whites - - - - - - 123 
 
 Gro'VA'th of regular industry among them a moral impossi- 
 bility ------- 124 
 
 Consequences of the absence of regular industry - ^126 
 Extreme sparseness of population - - -127 
 
 Incompatibility of this witli civilized progress - - 129 
 
\JV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 The slave* ami their masU-rs - '3' 
 I'rD8{>oct« of eiuuiiciputiuli in the natural cuurse of iiittni;il 
 
 deVflopmeut - - - ^3 2 
 
 I nheifnt dilfuulty of the problem - '32 
 
 Modern precedents inapplicahle - - - - ^33 
 
 Kcononiic causfs not to Ix* rt'lied on - - - ^34 
 I'olitieal iui<l social motives the real stivn;,4h of American 
 
 sluviTy - - - - - 13S 
 FurtluT «upix)rt to slavery in th<^ ethics ami theology of 
 
 the 8<»uth - - - ... - 140 
 
 (JroMrth of the pro-slavery sentiment - 142 
 
 Its al)sorl)ing stren^'th ... - - 14J 
 
 It.s universality ..---- 14^ 
 
 Hopelessness of the slave's position - - - 146 
 
 Social cost of the system - - - - - 147 
 
 'rcrntri.sm - - - - - - - 148 
 
 ClIAPTEP. VI. 
 
 EXTEHNAL roljry OK M.AVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 Its ag«,'essivc character - - - - 151 
 
 Twofold source of the aggressive spirit : 
 
 Tlje industrial - - - - - - 152 
 
 The moral - - - - - ■ '55 
 
 'i'endency of slave society to foster amhition - - 156 
 
 Narrow scope for its indulgence - - - - ^57 
 
 The extension of slavery — its sole resource - - - 158 
 
 < 'oncentration of aim promoted 1))' antagonism - - ijjp 
 
 Position of the South in the Union, naturally inferior to 
 
 that of the North - - - - i^i 
 
 < ompen.'yiting forces : 
 
 The three liftlis voto - - - 164 
 
 Superior capacity in the South for combined action - 166 
 
 I >cmocratic alliance : its basis . . . . j^p 
 
 I'crniH of the Ijargain - - - - - j 70 
 
 Twofold motive of southern aggression - - - i;i 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Page 
 
 The political motive 111 aiiily operative - - - 172 
 
 True source of this motive - - - - ^73 
 Relation of the political motive to the federal position of 
 
 the South ------ 175 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CAREER OF THE SLAVE POWER. 
 
 Position of slavery at the Revolution - - - A77] 
 
 Rise of the cotton trade - - - - - Vj %B 
 
 Early progress of the planters - - - ■ ^79 
 
 Acquisition of the Louisiana Territory - - -180 
 
 Missouri claimed as a slave state - - - -181 
 
 Motives to territorial aggrandisement - - - 182 
 
 Importance of ^Missouri - - - - - 1 83 
 
 Opposition of the ^North - - - - - 1 84 
 
 The Missouri Compromise - - - - - 185 
 
 The Seminole War - - - - - 1 86 
 
 Designs upon Texas - - - - - 187 
 
 The tactics of aggression - - - - - 188 
 
 Views of the annexationists - - - - 1 89 
 
 Texas annexed - - - - - - 190 
 
 Mexican war — division of the spoil - - -191 
 
 State of parties in 1850 - - - - - 192 
 
 Designs upon Kansas - - - - - '93 
 
 Obstacle presented by the Missouri Compromise - - 193 
 
 The Kansas and Nebraska Bill — squatter sovereignty - 195 
 
 Kansas thrown open for settlement - - - 196 
 
 Preparations of the Slave Power - - - - 197 
 
 Invasion of the territory - - - - - 198 
 
 The Leavenworth Constitution - - - - 199 
 
 Atrocities of the Border Ruffians - - - - 200 
 
 Reaction — defeat of the Slave Power - - - 201 
 
 Alarm in the North . . . - - 202 
 
 Formation of the Republican party - - - 203 
 
 First trial of strength of the new party - - - 204 
 
\V1 CONTENTS. 
 
 Paprt 
 
 Hopeful prospects ... 20;^ 
 
 ^"•uthcrn jKjlicy of "Tlinruugh " . . - . \^2flfr' 
 
 I. Kt'vival of the African slave trade - 107 
 Agitation for reopening tho African slave trade 208 
 Importation of slaves actually commenced - - 210 
 
 II. Perversion of tho Constitution - - - 212 
 Claim of protection to slave property throughout the 
 
 Union - - - - - - 213 
 
 A judicial decision necessary - - - - 214 
 
 la-construction of the iSupi-eme Court - - - 21.5 
 l)n*d Scott case - - - -'216 
 
 EllVct of the decision - - - - - 2 1 7 
 
 Furtlit'r n*<juireni<'iit — a reliahle government - 218 
 
 Breach with tho Democratic party — Secession - - 220 
 
 Apology fur Southern aggression - - - - 221 
 
 Aggression of the Slave Power, in what sense defensive - 222 
 
 The apology admits the chai-ge - - - - 224 
 
 Attempt of John Brown ----- 225 
 
 Its jilacc in current history ----- 226 
 
 CHAPTEK VITT. 
 
 THE DESIGNS OF TOE SLAVE POWER. 
 
 Essentitd character of Slave society unchanged by indepen- 
 
 denie - - - - - - - 228 
 
 Inherent vices of the Slave Power intensilitd by its new 
 
 position ------- 230 
 
 Possible conditions of independence - - - 232 
 
 L Limitation of slavery to its present area - - 233 
 
 Ijcsults of this plan - - - - - " 234 
 
 II. Teiritories opened alike to free and slave colonization 235 
 Probable effects - - - 236 
 
 III. ICqual jiartition of tlic Territorieri - - 238 
 Argument by which this scheme is defended 239 
 Paradox involved in this view - - 239 
 Geographical conditions ignored 240 
 
CONTENTS. XVll 
 
 Page 
 
 Northern jealousy not a sufficient safeguard - - 242 
 
 European intervention still less to be relied on - 244 
 
 Modification of slavery involved in the success of the __ 
 
 South - - - - - - - 1 24j5 
 
 Probability of a revival of the African Slave Trade - - ^47 
 
 Irresistible inducements ....-- 249 
 
 The only countcrmotive - - - - - 250 
 
 Presumption from the past - - - - - 251 
 
 Public spirit among the Southern party - - - 25 1 
 
 Sacrifice of particular to general interests - - - 252 
 Sectional resistance poAverless before the exigencies of public 
 
 policy ...---- 254 
 
 Eesults ..-..-. 256 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSIOMS. 
 
 Duty of Europe — neutrality - - - - 258 
 
 Impolicy of intervention - - - - - 260 
 
 Obligation to render moral support - - - 261 
 
 Two modes of settlement equally to be deprecated - - 262 
 
 Practical issues at the present time - - - 264 
 
 I. Eeconstruction of the Union : 
 
 Subjugation of the South, how far justifiable - - 266 
 Subjugation of the South, how far practicable - - 271 
 Eeconstruction of the Union, how far expedient - 277 
 Necessity of a recourse to despotic expedients - - 279 
 Plan for dispensuig with despotism by reforming South- 
 ern society - - - - - - 280 
 
 The condition of time ignored - - - - 282 
 
 Disturbing effects of immigration - - - 283 
 
 II. Secession under conditions : 
 
 Two cardinal ends to be kept in view - - - 285 
 
 Peculiar position of the Border States - - - 287 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's proposal : its opportuneness - - 288 
 
 Free cultivators in the Border States - - - 289 
 
sWll CONTEXTS. 
 
 I'lige 
 
 Facilities for incorjxjratiou ... - 290 
 
 ITie line of the MissLssippi - - - - 291 
 
 Iho negro (juestion — three conditions to be satisfied - 292 
 
 I . Immediate and wholesale emancipation : 
 
 Main dilliculty of the problem - - - 295 
 
 The West Indian experiment ; its lesson - - 297 
 
 NatunU dilliculties enlianced ill tlie South - - 299 
 
 Imix)ssibility of j)rotecting the negro - - - 300 
 
 The ' mean whites' ; their coiTupting iiilluence - 301 
 
 II. Progressive emancipation : 
 
 Advantage of dealing witli the evil in detail - - 302 
 
 Facilities offered by society in the Border States - 303 
 
 Operation of natui'al causes in the more southern states 303 
 
 Prospects of the ultimate extinction of slavery - 304 
 
THE SLAVE POWER, 
 
 ITS 
 
 CHARACTER, CAREER, AND DESIGNS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 THE CASE STATED. 
 
 Those who have followed the discussions in this 
 country on the American contest are aware that the 
 view taken of that event by the most influential 
 organs of the English press has, during the period 
 which has elapsed since its commencement, under- 
 gone considerable modification. The first announce- 
 ment by South Carolina of its intention to secede 
 from the Union was received in this country with 
 simple incredulity. There were no reasons, it was 
 said, for secession. AYhat the constitution and laws 
 of the United States had been on the eve of Mr. 
 Lincoln's election, that they were on its morrow. 
 It was absurd to suppose that one half of a nation 
 should separate from the other because a first magis- 
 trate had been elected in the ordinary constitutional 
 course. The agitation for secession was therefore 
 
Z CAUSES (»F THi: WAK. 
 
 prniKtuiifcd to lie ;i |M)litic:il Ifiiit iiitciidc'd to cover 
 ■A roiil movc'iiKiit in some other direction. But 
 ■wluMi tlie contest liad passed beyond its lirst sta*res, 
 wlitn the examj)le set by South Carolina was fol- 
 h)wt'd ])v the principal States of the extreme South 
 with :i iMitidifv and dcii.-ion shewing evident con- 
 .( rt, wlicn till- treacherous seizure of Fort Moultrie 
 in Charleston harbour gave further significance to 
 the votes of the conventions, when lastly the attack 
 on Fort Sumj)ter awoke the North, as one man, to 
 arms, belief in the reality of the movement could no 
 K>nger be withheld, and speculation was directed to 
 the causes of the catastrophe. Tlie theory at first 
 l)ropounded was nearly to this efi'ectj Commercial 
 and fiscal difierences were said to Ix' at the bottom 
 of the movement. Tlie North fancied she had an 
 inti-rtst in protection; the South liad an obvious 
 interest in free ti'ade. (.)n this and other questions 
 of less moment North and South came into collision, 
 and the antagonism thus engendered had been 
 strengthened and exacerbated by a selfish struggle 
 for jdace and power — a struggle which the constitu- 
 tion and political usages of the Americans rendered 
 more rancorous and \iol(Mit than elscAvlu-re. l'>ut in 
 the interests of tlic two sections, considered calmly 
 and apart from seliisji ends, there was nothing, it 
 was said, which did not admit of easy adjustment, 
 nothing which negotiation was not far more eompc- 
 
THE POrULAR VIEW. 3 
 
 tent to deal with than the sword. As for slavery, it 
 was little more than a pretext on both sides, em- 
 ployed by the leaders of the South to arouse the 
 fears and hopes of the slaveholders, and by the 
 North in the hope of attracting the sympathies of 
 Europe and hallowing a cause which was essentially 
 destitute of noble aims. The civil war was thus 
 described as having sprung from narrow and selfish 
 views of sectional interests (in which, however, the 
 claims of the South were coincident with justice and 
 sound policy), and sustained by passions which it- 
 self had kindled ; and the combatants were advised 
 to compose their differences, and either return to 
 their political partnership, or agree to separate and 
 learn to live in harmony as independent allies. 
 
 With the progress of events these views have 
 undergone some change, principally in excluding 
 more completely than at first from the suj)posed 
 causes of the naovement the question of slavery, and 
 in bringing more prominently into view the right 
 of nations to decide on their own form of political 
 existence as identified Avith the cause of the South. 
 "The watchAvord of the South," said the Times ^^ 
 " is Independence, of the North Union, and in these 
 two war-cries the real issue is contained." 
 
 That there is much plausibility in this view of the 
 American crisis for those who have no more know- 
 
 * September 19, 1861. 
 
4 THE POPULAR VIEW. 
 
 It t lire of AiiuTifMii liistoi'v tliaii is possessed by the 
 bulk ot" eilucated men in this eountry needs not be 
 (hiiiid. Superficial appearances, perhaps we should 
 say the farts most immediately prominent, give it 
 some support. The occasion on \\ hit h secession was 
 proclaimed was the election of a Kc publican Presi- 
 (hiit, who, fai" from bcin;^ the un(,'om2)r()mising 
 cham})ion of abolition, had declared himself ready 
 to maintain the existing 7'('</inie of slavery with the 
 whole power of the Federal government. (.)n the 
 retirement of the Southern representatives and sena- 
 tors from Congress, the Republican party became 
 supreme in the legislature ; and in what way did 
 they employ this suddenly acquired power ? In 
 passing a hnv for the abolition of slavery in the 
 Union ? or even in repealing the odious Fugitive 
 Slave Law ? Nothing of the kind ; but in passing 
 the Morrill Tariff — in enacting a measure by which 
 they designed to aggrandize the commercial popula- 
 tion of the North at the expense of the South. 
 
 Since the breaking out of hostilities, again, some of 
 the most .salient acts of the drama have only tended 
 to confirm the view which these occurrences would 
 suggest. A\'hen slaves have escaped to the Federal 
 army, instead of being received by the general with 
 open arms as brothers for whose freedom he is 
 lighting, they have been placed upon tlie footing of 
 property, and declared to be contraband ol' war. 
 
ITS SUrERFICIALITY. 5 
 
 When a Federalist general, transcending his legiti- 
 mate powers, issues a proclamation declaring that 
 slaves shall be free, it is not a proclamation of free- 
 dom to slaves as such, but only to the slaves of 
 " rebels," while no sooner is this half-hearted act of 
 manumission known at head-quarters than it is dis- 
 avowed and over-ruled. 
 
 All this, and more to the same purpose, may be 
 urged, as it has been urged, in favour of the view of 
 the American crisis taken by some leading organs of 
 the English press ; yet I venture to say that never 
 was an historical theory raised on a more fragile 
 foundation ; never was an explanation of a political 
 catastrophe propounded in more daring defiance of 
 all the great and cardinal realities of the case with 
 which it professed to deal. 
 
 One is tempted to ask, whether those who thus 
 exjDound American politics suppose the present cri- 
 sis to be an isolated phenomenon in American his- 
 tory, disconnected from all the past ; or, to look at 
 the question from another point of view, whether 
 they imagine that the coincidence of the political 
 division of parties with the geographical division of 
 slave and free States is an accident — that, to borrow 
 the expression of Jefferson, " a geographical line 
 coinciding with a marked principle " has no signifi- 
 cance. It seems almost trifling with the reader to 
 remind him that the present outbreak is but the 
 
6 M.AVKKV Tin: CKNTKAL I'KuHLKM 
 
 cruwniii;; result, the iiK'vital)lL- diiiiax of the Avholc 
 past history ol" Anu'rican politics — the catastrophe 
 foreseen \vith more or less distinctness by all the 
 leading statesmen of America i'rom Washington to 
 \\'el)ster and ('la\-. ^vhi(•h \vas tiie constant theme 
 of their ibrebodings, and to escape or defer -svhich 
 was the great problem of their political lives. And 
 equally superfluous does it seem to mention what 
 was the grand central question in that history — the 
 t|Uestion to which all others were subordinate, and 
 around which all political divisions ranged them- 
 selves.* 
 
 Never surely "was the unity of a national drama 
 better preserved. {From the year 1819 down to the 
 
 * In oi»itOjjitiou to the views propoundeil Ijy the modt influential 
 organs in England, and in support of what I may venture to call 
 the obvious (though httle recognized) account of the war, I am 
 glad to be able to quote the high authority of two leading French 
 Reviews, the Revue des Deux Mo)i<Jes, and the Jievue Nationuh : — 
 
 '* II fnut aimer a discuter conti-c I'evidence pour se persuader que 
 la question de I'esclavage n'est point la cause principale de la crise 
 actuelle. Dans ce conllit (jui depuis ti^'ntc ans va toujours en 
 s'aggravant et qui vient enlin d'aboutir a la guerre civile, (pielle 
 question va toujours i-n grandissiuit et finit par dominer tout le 
 reste, sinou cette redoubtable question de Tesclavage ? lis u'ont 
 jiaH lu lea discours de Calhoun, de Webster, de Seward, de Dougla.s, 
 de Clay, de Sumner, ceux (pii croiont (pie la (piestion de I'esclavage 
 n'a dans la politique anioricaine qu'une importance secondaiit;. lis 
 oublicnt ([ue toutc la Virginie s'est icvdc en armes contre John 
 Brown et scs vingt-cinq compngnons. Voici un fait d'ailleurs : 
 quels Hont bellig^rans? D'un cot<5 les (5tats sans csdavcs, de I'autre 
 
OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 7 
 
 present time the history of the United States has 
 been one record of aggressions by the Slave Power, 
 feebly, and almost always unsuccessfully, resisted by 
 the Northern States, and culminating in the present 
 war. At the time of the revolution, as is well known, 
 slavery was regarded by all the great founders of 
 the Republic, whether Northern or Southern men, 
 as essentially an immoral system : it was, indeed, 
 recognized by the Constitution, but only as an ex- 
 ceptional practice, a local and temporary fact. In 
 the unsettled territory then belonging to the Union 
 it was by a special ordinance prohibited. Even 
 in 1 8 19, although in the interval the Slave Power 
 had pushed its dominion and pretensions far beyond 
 
 les etats a esclaves, et Ton pretendrait que la question de Fesclavage 
 est ^trang^re a la guerre ! Eutre les (3tats du nord et ceux du sud 
 il y a des etats frontieres, les border states, qui, sans etre des etats 
 libres, contiennent moins d' esclaves que les ^tats cotonniers. Chose 
 etrange ! la fidelity de ces dtats a 1' Union est prdcis^ment en raison 
 inverse du nombre de possesseurs d' esclaves; la Virginie, qui a des 
 esclaves se rallie au mouvement s^cessioniste ; la partie occidentale 
 de cet etat, oasis sans esclaves, s^paree du reste par une chaine des 
 Alleghanys, reste fiddle a 1' Union et lui donne des soldats. Le 
 nord du Delaware, qui n'a plus d' esclaves, renferme a peine un 
 secessioniste ; le sud, qui en a un grand nombre, contient beaucoup 
 d'adversaires de I'Union. Le sud et Test du Maryland sont rempHs 
 d'esclaves, et en consequence de secessionistes ; I'ouest du Mary- 
 land, oil Ton voit tres pen de noirs non aflfranchis, est presque 
 unanime pour I'Union. Les six mille esclaves de Baltimore appar- 
 tiennent a I'aristocratie de cette \alle, et Ton salt que cetto aris- 
 tocratic n'est retenue dans I'obdissance que par des measures de 
 
SLAVKKV IHK CENTRAL I'HUULEM 
 
 tliL-ir nriLriiial limits, the claim was scarcely advanced 
 l«»r slawry tn vnnk as an equal with IVt'c institutions 
 in any district where it was nut alivady definitively 
 established, and certainly no such claim was acknow- 
 led^^ed. Of this the Missouri Compromise affords 
 the clearest proof, since, regarded as a triumph 
 hy the slaveowners, it only secured the admission 
 of slavery tu Missouri on the express condition 
 tliat it should be confined fur the future to the 
 territory south of a certain parallel of latitude. But 
 what has been the career of the Slave Power since 
 that time ? It is to be traced through every ques- 
 tionable transaction in foreign and domestic politics 
 in which the United ^States has since taken part 
 
 nguour. Le Tennessee occidental, abandonnd au tvavail semle, est 
 un centre de rdbellion; le Tennessee oriental, oO le travail liLre 
 I'emporte de beaucoup, est sympatliique a I'Union. Le Kentucky 
 ne fait pas excei.tion a cet regie : dans les comtes du nord et de 
 lest, ou U y a peu d'esclaves, il y a peu de sdcessionistes ; dans les 
 autres, oO ils sont nombreux, on se prononce i)our la ' neutrality,' 
 ce qui n'est (pi'une forme de la tndiison. Dans le Missouri, la ligno 
 de ddniarcation est nettement dtablie entre le travaU libre et le 
 travail servile. Les Allcmaiuls detcstent I'esclavjige, et forment le 
 noyau le j-lus fiddle de I'dtat ; les uniouistes nnglo-saxons sont 
 plutAt en favour do la neutrality, tandis que les niaiti-es d'esclaves 
 Bont en armcs contro I'Union. II y a quelqucs sympathies pour 
 rUnion jusque dans le Texas occident^d, parco qu'on y voit peu 
 .I'esclavos et beaucoup d'Alleumnds. Quel e«t V6Uxi sdcessioniste 
 I.ar excvllrnce? C'est la Caroline du sud, qui contient i>elativement 
 plus d'esclaves quo tons les autres dtata. Dira-t-on encore que le 
 ddfcnso de resclavoge n'eat pas la cause dos sdcossiouistes ? S'il 
 
OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 9 
 
 through the Seminole war, through the annexation 
 of Texas, through the Mexican war, through filibus- 
 tering expeditions under Walker, through attempts 
 upon Cuba, through the Fugitive Slave LaAv of 1850 
 tlirough Mr. Clay's compromises, through the repu- 
 diation of the Missouri Com2:)romise so soon as the 
 full results of that bargain had been reaped, through 
 the passing of the Nebraska Bill and the legislative 
 establishment of the principle of " Squatter Sove- 
 reignty," through the invasion of Kansas, through 
 the repudiation of " Squatter Sovereignty " when 
 that principle had been found unequal to its pur- 
 poses, and lastly, through the Dred-Scott decision 
 and the demand for protection of slavery in the Ter- 
 ritories — pretensions which, if admitted, would have 
 
 resta des doutes dans qiielques esprits, qu'on ^coiite done le propre 
 temoignage des gens du sud." — Revue des Deux Mondes, ire Nov. 
 1861. 
 
 In an article by M. Pressense, iu tlie Revue Nationale, the point 
 is put with equal perspicuity and force : — " Je sais qu'on s'eflforce 
 d'en dissimuler la gravite, et que d'un certain cote on essaye de 
 la r^duire a un simple conflit constitutionnel, a una question de 
 droit politique, a I'tnterpretation du contrat qui lie entre eux les 
 divers Etats de la confederation puissante dont les gigantesques 
 progr^s etonnaient nagu^re le nionde. Mais cette explication 
 mesquine de la crise actuelle do TAm^rique du Nord n'est qu'un 
 sophisme destind a excuser une lachet^. On essaye de donner ainsi 
 le change a la conscience publique, qui ne comprendrait pas et ne 
 permettrait pas que Ton hesitat en Europe entre le I^ord et le 
 Sud, une fois que la question de I'esclavage serait nettetnent posde 
 entre eux. Ceux qui trouvent leur interet a incliner vers le Sud se 
 
lO TlIK COMMERCIAL TIIKOHV. 
 
 coiivri'tcd till' wlmli- I iiioii, tlic Free States no less 
 tluiii llif rcrritiirio/mtt) one ^reat dtmiain tor sla\ery, 
 Tliis has liccii tlir jtoiiit at wliicli the Slave Power, 
 alter a series of successful aggressions, carried on 
 during forty years, has at length arrived. It was on 
 tliis last demand that the Democrats of the North 
 hroke off from their Southern allies — a defection 
 whieli gave tlieir victory to the Republicans, and 
 directly produced the civil war. And now we are 
 asked to believe that slavery has no vital connexion 
 witli tliis (piarrel, but that the catastrophe is due to 
 quite other causes — to incompatibility of commer- 
 cial interests, to uncongeniality of social tastes, to 
 a desire for independence, to anything but slavery. 
 
 But we are told that in this Ion"; career of at^- 
 gression tlie extension of slavery has oidy been 
 employed l)y tlie Soutli as a means to an end, and 
 that it is in tliis end we are to look for the key to 
 the })resent movement. " Slavery," it seems, "is but 
 a surface question in American politics."* Tlie seem- 
 ing aggressions were in reality defensive movements 
 
 plai.sont a rabaisser le conllit timdricain a ck-s proportions misd- 
 rablfs (jui iiulk-iit la conscience hoi's ile cause ; mais cela est 
 nioins facile que cela nc semble commode, ct ils out beau faire, la 
 vraie situation se dessine toujour inieux." 
 
 The same view is sustained liy 1^- Comto Agdiior Dc Gasi)ariii 
 with remarkable elocpH'iu-t' in lii.s work, ' /'/; Crand I'lUfile qui sv 
 /•' /f'jy. ' 
 
 • Saturday liniew, Nov. 9, i8l"i. 
 
THE COMMERCIAL TIIEOKY. I i 
 
 forced upon the South by the growing preponder- 
 ance of the Free States ; and its real object, as well 
 in its former career of annexation and conquest, as 
 in its present efforts to achieve independence, has 
 been constantly the same — to avoid being made the 
 victim of Yankee rapacity, to secure for itself the 
 development of its own resources unhindered by 
 protective laws.* 
 
 Let us briefly examine this theory of the se- 
 cession movement. And, first, if free trade be the 
 object of the South, why, we may ask, has it not 
 employed its power to accomplish this object dur- 
 ing its long period of predominance in the Union ? 
 It has been powerful enough to pass and repeal 
 the Missouri Compromise, to annex Texas, to 
 spend 40,000,000 dollars of Federal money in a 
 Avar for the recapture of slaves, to pass the Fu- 
 gitive Slave Law, to obtain the Dred Scott deci- 
 sion : if it has been able to accomplish these results, 
 to lead the North into foreign complications in 
 which it had no interest, and to force upon it mea- 
 sures to which it was strongly averse, is it to be 
 supposed that it could not, had it so desired it, have 
 carried a free trade tariff? Yet not only has the 
 South not attempted this during its long reign, it 
 has even co-operated effectively in the passing of 
 protective measures — nay, these enthusiastic free 
 
 * Mr. Yancey's letter to the Daily Neivs, January 25, 1862. 
 
I J TIIK ("OMMEKCIAL THEORY. 
 
 inuU-n* Imvi- not hi-sitateil, when the oi>p(»rtiiiiit\ 
 offiTvHl, to jirofit hy j»r(»ttttivc ineasures. ^\ itli tin- 
 fxcfption of tlu' Morrill tariff, ('oiijircss never 
 {lUjiSiil a more hi;:lily jiroteetive law than the tariff 
 of 1S42 ; luul ihih tariff was supported hy a large 
 niiiiiher of Southern statesnuii ; and, not oidy so, 
 but pkw effective protection to Southern })roducts 
 — to the supir «»f L)ui.siana, the lump «>f Kentucky, 
 and tlie lead of -Missouri, as well as to tlie manu- 
 factures of New Kn;:land. 
 
 A^raiii, if fret' trade he the n;il »il»joct of tlic 
 Siuth, how iUtvs U hapj)en that, lia\ing submitted 
 to the tariffs of 1832,* 1842, an<l 1846, it should 
 have resorted to the extreme measure of secession 
 while untler flic tai-ill' of iS^j — a eonij>arativelv 
 free-trade law? From 1842 down to i860 the ten- 
 dency of Federal legi>lation was distinctly in tlie 
 direction of free trade. The most liberal tariff' the 
 I'nion ever enjoyed since 18 16 was the tariff of 
 1857, and it was while this tariff was in force that 
 the plot of .sece.s>i..n was hatched, matured, and 
 curried into operation. I'.nt there are some who 
 
 • I Kiy, •• having Huljjnillu«l to tliu tjirillof 1832," because, althougli 
 it u truo tliut S**ulh Caroljiitt tlm'at^-iit'd to rise in rebellion ugain.st 
 Ihw niriwuns nhv Hloml alone in lier jirojected revolt. Fiir from 
 noivinK oiiy Ki-iiorul nyniimthy in the South, it wa.s through the 
 iiwtruinentality of a S<.ulh.Tn State (Virginia), enipl..yea by a 
 S.uth.-n» l*nMiiI..nl (Jackm.n). that tin- threattue.! movement was 
 
 »U|>|)niMM*4l. 
 
THE COMMERCIAL THEORY. 1 3 
 
 would have us bc4ieve that it was the Morrill Tariff 
 which produced the revolt ; and this is the most 
 incomjDrehensil^le portion of the whole case ; since 
 there is nothing more certain than that secession 
 had been resolved upon, and the plot for its accom- 
 plishment traitorously prepared, before the Morrill 
 tariff was brought forward, and even before the 
 bargain with Pennsylvania was struck, in fulfil- 
 ment of which it was introduced. It is indeed well 
 known that it was the absence from Congress of 
 the Southern senators Avhile carrying out the pro- 
 gramme of secession, which alone rendered possible 
 the passing of this measure. If free trade were the 
 grand object of the South, why did its senators with- 
 draw from their posts precisely at the time when their 
 presence was most required to secure their cherished 
 principle ? Nay, if tliis was their game, why did they 
 not apply to Mr. Buchanan to veto the Bill — Mr. 
 Buchanan, the creature and humble tool of the Slave 
 Party ? AYe are asked by this theory to believe that 
 the South has had recourse to civil war, has incurred 
 the risk of political annihilation, to accomplish an 
 object for the effectual attainment of which its 
 ordinary constitutional opportunities afforded ample 
 means.* 
 
 * The writer in the Rev^ie des Deux Monchs from whom I have al- 
 ready quoted suggests (pp. 156-157) that the conduct of the South- 
 ern senators in permitting the passing of the Morrill tariff was 
 
14 SOUTIIKKX CLAIM OF INDEPENDENCE: 
 
 I'lit rhe (lilliculties oftliis theory do not end here. 
 If rlir secession movement be a revolt against pro- 
 tective tariffs, ^yhy is it confined to the Southern 
 States ? Tlie interest of the Cotton States in free 
 exchano-e witli forei-n countries is not more obvious 
 than tliat of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. 
 No class in these States has anything to gain by 
 protective measures : nothing is produced in them 
 Avhi.l, is endangere.l l.y tlie freest competition with 
 the rest of tlie worhl : an artificial enhancement of 
 European manufactures is to them as pure an injury 
 as it is to South Carolina or Alabama : yet all these 
 States are ranged on the side of the Xorth in this 
 contest, and resolute for the suppression of the 
 revolt. 
 
 It is, however, by the watch word of ' indepen- 
 dence,' still more than by that of free trade, that 
 the partisans of the South in this country have 
 sought to enlist our sympathies in favour of that 
 cause. AVe are told of the naturalness, the univer- 
 sahty, the strength of the desire for self-government. 
 
 cMibcrately contrived vith a view to make political capital out of 
 the M.ntn.u.„t,s winch they calculated on its exciting in England- 
 an explanat.c.n which is countenanced by the fact that Mr. Toombs 
 representative of Georrria. wlm imw l.^i i . ■ ' 
 
 ^f T <r T. . «''^ ^^^'^ "0^^ holds a command m the army 
 
 of Jefferson DavKs, was in the Senate when the Morrill tariff was 
 Bubmutc-d to that a.ssembly. and voted f.r the now law. If tlis 
 
 rc.tf!d '"'' """ "" ^''' ""■•^ ^'^^'""^ ^-^"-^^ -"-- 
 
HOW TO BE ESTIMATED. 
 
 15 
 
 We are reminded of the peculiar power of this 
 passion among the Anglo-Saxon race. The act of 
 the original thirteen States in severing their con- 
 nexion with the mother country is dwelt upon ; and 
 we are asked why the South should not also be 
 permitted to determine for itself the mode of its 
 political existence ? " It threatens none, demands 
 nothing, attacks no one, but Avishes to rule itself, 
 and desires to be ' let alone :' " why should this 
 favour be denied it ? Now let it at once be con- 
 ceded that the right to an independent political 
 existence is the most sacred right of nations : still 
 even this right must justify itself by reference to 
 the ends for which it is employed. The demand 
 of a robber or murderer for " independence " is 
 not a claim which we are accustomed to respect ; 
 and it does not appear how our obligations are 
 altered if the demand proceed from a robber 
 or murderer nation — if national independence be 
 sought solely and exclusively as a means of carry- 
 ing out designs which are nothing less than robbery 
 and murder on a gigantic scale. I am assuming 
 that these crimes are involved in the extension 
 of slavery, and that the extension of slavery is 
 the end for which the Southern Confederacy has 
 engaged in the present war. These assumptions 
 I hope to make good hereafter ; but meanwhile, 
 it may be asked, if the extension of the domain 
 
1 6 KF.AL CAISK OF SKCESSION. 
 
 dt" slavt'iy l>e not tlic object lor whifli the Soutli 
 seeks independence, \vli:it is that ol)ject ? Let those 
 wlio have nndertaken the defence of tliat body 
 exphiiii to us in wliat way tlie legitimate develop- 
 niciit (.f the Soutliern States, within tlieir proper 
 limits, was liindered l)y Federal restraints? If they 
 had <jrrievances to complain of why did they not let 
 the world know them ? AVIiy did they resist all the 
 efforts of the Northern States to extract from them a 
 categorical statement of what they sought? "That," 
 sa3's an al»le wi-itei", " was precisely what it was im- 
 l»ossible to obtain from the representatives and sena- 
 tors of the extreme South. They steadily refused to 
 make known, even under the form of an ultimatum, 
 the conditions on which they would consent to 
 remain in the Union. Their invariable response 
 was ' it was too late; their constituents would acqui- 
 esce ill no arrangement."'* Before then we allow 
 ourselves to ])e can-ied away l)y the cry of the South 
 for independence, it is material to ascertain the pur- 
 pose for which independence is desired. It is im- 
 portant to distinguish between (to quote the words 
 of the eminent man whose name has been prefixed 
 to this volume) " the right to rebel in defence of the 
 jxnver to tyrannize," and " the right to resist by 
 anus a tyranny practised over ourselves." 
 
 The causes and chai-acter of the American contest 
 
 *A7inuaire d^s Deux Momks (i860), p. 618. 
 
REAL CAUSE OF SECESSION. 
 
 17 
 
 are not for Englishmen questions of merely specula- 
 tive interest. On the view which we take of this 
 great political crisis will depend, not alone our pre- 
 sent attitude towards the contending parties, but in 
 no small degree our future relations with a people of 
 our o^vn race, religion and tongue, to whom has been 
 committed the task, under whatever permanent form 
 -of polity, to carry forward in the other hemisphere 
 the torch of knowledge and of civilization. We may, 
 according as we act from sound knowledge of the real 
 issues Avhich are at stake or in ignorance of them, do 
 much to promote or to defeat important human in- 
 terests bound up with the present contest, and to in- 
 crease or to diminish the future influence for good 
 of this country. It would indeed be a grievous mis- 
 fortune if, in one of the great turning points of hu- 
 man history. Great Britain were found to act a part 
 unworthy of the position which she occupies and of 
 the glorious traditions which she inherits. 
 
 The present essay is intended as a contribution 
 towards the diffusion of sound ideas upon this sub- 
 ject. The real and sufficient cause of the present 
 position of affairs in North America appears to the 
 writer to lie in the character of the Slave Power — 
 that system of interests, industrial social and political, 
 which has for the greater part of half a century 
 directed the career of the American Union, and 
 which now, embodied in the Southern Confederation, 
 
1 8 TRIE ORIGIN OF THE WAH 
 
 seeks tul mission a.s an equal nuniher into the commu- 
 nity of civilized nations. In the inllowing pages an 
 attempt will he made to resolve this system into its 
 component elenunts, to trace the connexion of the 
 several parts with each other, and of the whole with 
 the foundation on which it rests, and to estimate 
 p-nerallv the prospects which it holds out to the 
 j)eople who compost- it, as well as tiie influence it is 
 likelv to exercise on tlie interests of other nations ; 
 and, if 1 d«» not greatly mistake the purport of the 
 considerations whidi shall he adduced, their effect 
 will he to show that this Slave Power constitutes 
 the most formidahle antagonist to civilized progress 
 which has appeared for many centuries, representing 
 a svstem of society at once retro^^rade and afrcressive, 
 a system which, containing within it no germs from 
 which improvement can spring, gravitates inevitably 
 towards barbarism, while it is impelled by exigencies, 
 inherent in its position and circumstances, to a con- 
 stant extension of its territorial domain. The vast- 
 ness of the interests at stake in the American contest, 
 regarded under this aspect, appears to me to be very 
 inadecpiattly conceived in this country ; and the pur- 
 pose of the present work is to bring forward this 
 view ot the case more prominently than has yet been 
 
 done. 
 
 I '.lit it is necessary liei'e to guard against a misap- 
 prehension. Tlie view that the true cause of the 
 
OBSCURED BY ITS PROXIMATE OCCASION. 
 
 19 
 
 American contest is to be found in the character and 
 nims of the Slave Power, though it connects the 
 war ultimately with slavery as its radical cause, 
 by no means involves the supiDosition that the mo- 
 tive of the North in taking up arms has been the 
 abolition of slavery. Such certainly has not been 
 its motive, and, if we keep in view its position as 
 identified with legal government and constitutional 
 rights in the United States, we shall see that this 
 motive, even had it existed, could scarcely, at least 
 in the outset, have been allowed to operate. Let 
 us recall for a moment the mode in which the 
 crisis developed itself. It must be remembered — 
 what seems now almost to be foro-otten — that the 
 war was commenced by the South — commenced for 
 no other reason, on no other pretext, than because a 
 republican president was elected in the ordinary con- 
 stitutional course. If we ask why this was made 
 the ground for revolt, I believe the true answer, as I 
 have just intimated, is to be found in the aims of the 
 Slave Power, — aims which were inconsistent mth its 
 remaining in the Union while the Government v/as 
 carried on upon the principle of restricting the 
 extension of its domain. So long as it was itself 
 the dominant party, so long as it could employ 
 the powers of the Government in propagating its 
 peculiar institution and consolidating its strength, 
 so long it was content to remain in the Union ; 
 
20 TRl'E OlIIGIN OF THE WAR 
 
 liut tV<»iii the moment when, l»y tlic constitutional 
 triunipli of til. • Kii)iiMicans, the government passed 
 into the hands of a party whose distinctive prin- 
 ciple was to im})Ose m limit on the further exten- 
 sion of shivery, from th;it moment its continuance 
 in tlie I'nion was iiicoiiipatilde with its essential 
 objects, and from tliat moment tlie Slave Power 
 resolved to hin-ak h)ose iVoiii Inderal ties. The 
 war had tlius its ori;j:iii in shiver}' : nevertheless 
 the jiroxiiiiate issue with wliieli tlie North had to 
 (leal was not slavery, but the ri<^ht of secession. 
 For tlie constitution having recognised slavery with- 
 in the particular states, so long as the South con- 
 fined its proceedings within its own limits, the 
 Government which represented the constitution 
 could take no cognizance of its acts. The first 
 (Icpaiture from constitutional usage by the South 
 was the act of secession,* and it w^as on the ques- 
 
 * I am aware tliat tliis h;is been denied hy some English advo- 
 rales of the Soutli, in tlicir zeal for the cause more Southern tlvan 
 the Southerners ; no less an authority than Mr. Buchanan — though 
 not a Soiitherner, the elect of the South — having declared that 
 Recc&sion was unconstitutional. It would be foreign to my purpose 
 hero to enter into an argument on the constitutional question. I 
 will therefore only say that after having carefully studied, so far 
 as I know, all that hits been A\Titten on both sides by competent 
 jK-rsons, I have been (^uite unalilo to discover juiy other ground on 
 which the claim of secession can be j.laced than that ultimate one 
 — the right which in the last resort appertains to all people to 
 •li'tennine for themselves their own form of government. How 
 far the c.is*' of the South will stand the test when tried l>y Ibis 
 jiriiifiplc. I li.ivc intiniat^'d my opiiiion in the text. 
 
OBSCURED BY ITS PROXIMATE OCCASION. 21 
 
 tion, therefore, of the right to adopt this course 
 that the North was compelled to join issue. 
 
 The contest thus springing from slavery, and 
 involving, as will be shewn, consequences of the 
 most momentous kind in connexion with the 
 future well-being of the human race in North 
 America, wore the apj)earance, to persons regard- 
 ing it from the outside, of a struggle upon a point 
 of technical construction — a question of law which 
 it was sought to decide by an appeal to arms. 
 It was not unnatural, then, that the people of this 
 country, who had but slight acquaintance with the 
 antecedents of the contest or with the facts of the 
 case, should wholly misconceive the true nature of 
 the issues at stake, and, disconnected as the quarrel 
 seemed to have become from the question of slavery, 
 should allow their sympathies, Avhich had originally 
 gone with the North, to be carried, under the skilful 
 management of Southern agency acting through the 
 Press of this country,* round to the Southern side. 
 
 * See a very remarkable communication extracted from the Rich- 
 mond Inquirer of December 20th, 1861, and publisbed in the Daily 
 News of the 17th February, 1862, in which the writer, who had just 
 returned to the South from a mission to London, in which he was 
 associated with Messrs. Yancey and Mann, describes the state in 
 wliich he found EngHsh opinion on American subjects on his arrival 
 here in Jvily, 1861, and the influences brought to bear by himself 
 and his associates upon the members of the London Press, with a 
 view to advancing the Southern cause with the English public. 
 The document affords such an insight into tlie causes which have 
 
22 WAR llli: UM.V ARBITRAMENT. 
 
 Ni'ViTtliclcss, had tlic i-ase of tlic Xortli, regui'ded 
 iVfii tVoiii tliis point of view, been fairly put before 
 till- l',iiLili>li pe(»[)K', it is diilieult to believe that it 
 
 Ix'i'ii acting uiuni i>uV)li«- opinion in England during tlio last year, 
 tljat it may bu Wfli to tjuotc a few extracts. After stating the 
 general expectation whirh jnvvailed in the .South when he left it 
 in June hust, " that the manufacturing necessities of England and 
 France would force tlicm to a speedy recognition and interference 
 with the Federal blockade;" and " the equally confident impression 
 that the commercial enterprise of England would spring at once to 
 the enjoyment of the high prices the blockade established, by send- 
 ing forward cargoes of arms, ammunition, medicines, and other 
 stores most needed in the Confederacy ;" and after describing the 
 causes in the public opinion of England which prevented these 
 hopes being realized, the writer proceeds as follows : — " I have thus 
 endeavoured, in this most hurried and imperfect manner, to sketch 
 some of the dilhculties Avliich met our commissioners on the very 
 threshold of their mission. That they have addressed themselves 
 to these difficulties with zeal and efficiency will not be doubted by 
 the millions in the South to whom their abilities and character are 
 o-s familiar as household words. During my stay in London I was 
 I'lx'quently at the rooms of Colonel M — , and can thus bear personal 
 testimony to his zeal and efficiency. He seemed to appreciate the 
 necessity of educatuig the English mind to the proper view of the 
 various difficulties in the way of his progress; and, Avith but limited 
 means of eflV-cting his objects, he worked with untiring industry for 
 their accomplislmient ; and, as I have also ^\Titten, a distinguished 
 member of Congi-css is, I bcUeve, doing all that talent, energy, and 
 a i)eculiar fitness for his position can accomplish. Without any 
 other ai«l than his intimate knowledge of English character, and 
 that careful style of procedui-e which his thorough training as a 
 diplomatist has given him, he has managed to make the acquaint- 
 iuice of most of the distinguished representatives of the London 
 i'resh, who.se powerful batteries thus influenced are brought to bear 
 
WAR THE ONLY ARBITRAMENT. 23 
 
 would not have been recognized as founded, at 
 least in its first phase, in reason and justice. 
 When the South forced on a contest by attacking 
 
 upon tlie American question. This of course involves an immense 
 labour, whicli he stands up to unflincliingly. So much for his zeal. 
 His efaciency, with that of his colleague, is manifested in the recog- 
 nition of our rights as a belligerent, and in the wonderful revolution 
 in the tone of the EngUsh Press. . . . The influence of this 
 lever upon pubHc opinion was manifest during my stay in Paris. 
 When I first went there, there was not a single paper to speak out 
 in our behalf. In a few days, however, three brochures were issued 
 which seemed to take the Parisian Press by storm. One of them 
 was the able and important letter of the Hon. T. Butler King to 
 the I^Iinister; another, 'The American Kevolution Unveiled,' by 
 Judge Pequet, formerly of New Orleans— whose charming and ac- 
 compUshed lady, by the way, is a native of Eichmond ; and a third, 
 ' The American Question,' by Ernest Bellot des Miniferes, the agent 
 of the French purchasers of the Virginia canals. These works each 
 in turn created a great deal of attention, and their united effect 
 upon the French mind shows the effective character of this appli- 
 ance. Messrs. Bellot and Pequet deserve well of the Confederacy 
 for their powerful and voluntary advocacy. I can, and with great 
 pleasure do, bear testimony to the valuable and persevering efforts 
 of Mr. King both in Paris and London. Among the first acquaint- 
 ances I had the pleasure of making wliile in London was ^Ir. 
 Gregory, M. P., to whom I carried letters of introduction from a 
 Vir-inia gentleman long resident in Paris, who very kindly either 
 inti'oduced or pointed out to me the distinguished members of 
 parliament. He had been, I found, a traveller in Virginia, and 
 inquired after several persons, among whom was Mr. John B. 
 Eutherford, of Goochland. During an hour's walk upon the pro- 
 menade between the new parliament houses and the Thames, he 
 plied me with questions as to the 'situation' in the Confederacy, 
 and seemed greatly encouraged by my replies ; more so, he said, 
 than at any tiuip since the revolution commenced." 
 
-4 VI i:\vs (IF Tin-: Noirni 
 
 the l-'cdiTal torts, wliat was Mr. LiiR-oln to do? 
 I'>i.turc aequiescin<j: in its demand for separation, 
 was Ik- nut at least hnnnd to aseertain that that 
 demand represented the real ^vish of the Southern 
 I'cople? luit, after war had been proclaimed, or 
 rather commenced, by the South, how was this to 
 !>(• done otherwise than by accepting the challenoe ? 
 Was the Government at once to lower the standard 
 of law before that of revolution, without even 
 mquirin<r l)y whom the revolution was supported ? 
 Init in tiuth the President's case was much stronger 
 than tliis. The Government was in possession of 
 evidence which at least rendered it very probable 
 tliat at this time the separatists were in a minority 
 ni tlie South, even in those places where they 
 were believed to be strongest. At the presidential 
 elertiun which had just been held, the votes for 
 the unionist candidates in the states of the extreme 
 south exceeded those for the candidate wdio repre- 
 sented the secession ; in the intermediate states, 
 the niiionist votes formed two-thirds of the consti- 
 tiKiicy ; in Missouri, three-fourths.* Will it be 
 
 * See Annuaire des Deux Afondes, i860, p. 608 ; also the extract 
 from the Commonm<il(h of Frankfort (Kentucky), p. 606, and that 
 from the Cliarlestown Mtrcury, p. 609, from whidi it appears that 
 on tlie eve of the presidential election, some of the leading journals 
 of the Soutli regarded the secession movement as the work of a 
 l>o.ly (,f noisy demagogues, whose views found no response among 
 the majority of the people. 
 
THE UNIONIST SENTIMENT. 25 
 
 said that, with such facts before him, which 
 were surely a safer criterion of Southern feel- 
 ing than the votes of conventions obtained 
 under mob-terrorism, Mr. Lincoln should at once 
 have acquiesced in the demand for secession, and 
 quietly permitted the consummation of a con- 
 spiracy, which for deliberate treachery, betrayal 
 of sacred trusts, and shameless and gigantic fraud, 
 has seldom been matched? To have done so, 
 would have been to have written himself down 
 before the world as incompetent— nay, as a traitor 
 to the cause which he had just sworn to defend. 
 
 The right of secession became thus by force of 
 circumstances the ostensible ground of the war ; and 
 with the bulk of the Northern people it must be 
 admitted it was not only the ostensible but the real 
 ground; for it is idle to claim for the North a 
 hio-her or more generous principle of conduct than 
 that which itself put forward. The one prevailing 
 and overpowering sentiment in the North, so soon 
 as the designs of the South were definitively dis- 
 closed, was undoubtedly the determination to 
 uphold the Union, and to crush the traitors who 
 had conspired to dissolve it. In this country we 
 had looked for something higher ; we had ex- 
 pected, whether reasonably or not, an anti-slavery 
 crusade. AYe were disappointed ; and the result 
 was, as has been stated, a re-action of sentiment 
 
26 VIKWS l)K THK NORTH : 
 
 whicli has provcntcMl us Iroin doing justice to that 
 wliicli was ivalh- woi-tliy of achniration in tlie* 
 NtU'therii cause. I sav ^\•(H•tll^■ ol" athairation ; tor 
 (he spectacle which the North presented at tlie 
 opciiiiiL'' <)t thf war was sucli as I tliiiik iiiiglit well 
 iiave called fortli this feeling. It was the spectacle 
 nf a peoph', >vl»ich, having long bent its neck before a 
 band of selfish politicians, and been dragged by them 
 throu<rh the mire of shameless transactions, had 
 suddenly recoveretl the consciousness of its power 
 ami responsibilities, and, shaking itself fi'ee from 
 tiu'ir spell, stood erect before the men who had 
 enthralled its conscience and its will. A com- 
 nnmity, the most eager in the world in the chase 
 after gain, forgot its absorbing pursuit; parties, 
 a moment before arrayed against each other in a 
 great political contest, laid aside their party ditt'er- 
 ences ; a whole nation, merging all private aims in 
 the single passion of patriotism, rose to arms as a 
 single man : and tJiis foi- no selfish object, but to 
 maintain ihf integi'ity of their common country and 
 to chastise a band of consi)irators, who, in the wan- 
 tonness of their audacity, had dared to attack it. 
 I he Northern people, conscious that it had risen 
 above the level of ordinary motives, h)oked abroad 
 for sympathy, and es])ecially looked to England. It 
 was answci'ed with coM ••ritici'^ni and dri'ision. The 
 I'esponse was ]tcrhap> natui'al un<Kr the circum- 
 
THE ANTI- SLAVERY SENTIMENT. 27 
 
 stances, but undoubtedly not more so than the bitter 
 mortification and resentment which that response 
 evoked. 
 
 The prevailing idea that inspired the Northern 
 rising was, I have said, the determination to uphold 
 the Union. Still it would be a great mistake to 
 suppose that this idea represented the whole signifi- 
 cance of the movement, even so far as this Avas to 
 be gathered from the views of the North. While 
 loyalty to the Union pervaded and held together all 
 classes, another sentiment — the sentiment of hostility 
 to slavery — though less widely diffused, was strongly 
 entertained by a considerable party, and came more 
 directly into collision than the unionist feeling 
 Avith the real aims of the seceders. " The abolition- 
 ists," conventionally so known, formed indeed a 
 small band. They had hitherto advocated separa- 
 tion as a means of escape from connexion with 
 slavery, but they now threw themselves w^ith ardour 
 into the war ; not that they swerved from their 
 original aim, but that they believed they saw in the 
 war the most effectual means of advancing that aim 
 by breaking with slavery for ever ; because with 
 true instinct they felt that, secession having been 
 undertaken for the purpose of extending slavery, 
 the most effectual means to defeat that purpose was 
 to defeat secession. The anti-slavery feeling, how- 
 ever, prevails far beyond the bounds of the party 
 
28 
 
 KAl'll) fii;()\VTII OF THE 
 
 kiK.wii :is •* alxditionists." Outside tliis sect are a 
 Iiiri:(' numlur nt' abk- imii, iiicludiiig such iiuines as 
 Horace Orccly, Suiuner, Giddiiigs, Hale, Olmsted, 
 \\cst.)ii, Lono;fello^\•, Bryant, Fremont, men who, 
 while relusiiii: to |)ronounce the shibboleth of the • 
 aljuhtionists, share in a large degree their views. 
 I lie effect of the war has been, as might have been 
 supposed, to bring this class of politicians into closer 
 union than before with the extreme sect. The two 
 have now begun to act habitually together, and 
 for i)i-aetieal purposes may be regarded as constitut- 
 ing a single party. Now it is these men, and not the 
 mere unionists, whose opinions form the natural 
 antithesis to the aims of the seceders. Between 
 these and the South there can be no compromise ; 
 and, conformably to the laAv which invariably 
 governs revolutions, they are the party who are 
 rai>idly becoming predominant in the Xorth. The 
 aiiti-sla\er)- feeling is already rapidly gaining on 
 the mere unionist feeling, and bids fair ulti- 
 mately to supersede it. In the anti-slavery ranks 
 are now to be found men who but a year a^-o 
 Nvere staunch supporters of slavery. Anti-slavery 
 orators are now cheered to the echo by multi- 
 tudes who but a year ago hooted and pelted them : 
 they liave forced their way into the stronghold 
 «»f tlieir enemies, and William IJoyd Garrison 
 Icctiin^ ill \,.w York itsell' with enthusiastic ap. 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT, 
 
 29 
 
 plause. The anti-slavery principle thus tends con- 
 stantly, under the influences which are in operation, 
 to become more powerful in the Xorth ;* and it is 
 this fact which justifies the view of those who have 
 predicted that it is only necessary the war should 
 continue long enough in order that it be converted 
 into a purely abolition struggle. 
 
 These considerations will enable the reader to 
 perceive how, while the North has arisen to up- 
 hold the Union in its integrity, slavery is yet the 
 true cause of the war, and that the real significance 
 of the war is its relation to slavery. I think, too, 
 they must be held to afford a complete justifica- 
 tion of the North in its original determination to 
 maintain the Union ; but this is scarcely now the 
 practical question. There was, at the first, reason to 
 believe that a very considerable element of popula- 
 tion favourable to the Union existed in the South. 
 While this was the case, it was no less than the duty 
 of the Federal government to rescue these citizens 
 from the tyranny of a rebel oligarchy. But do 
 
 * While these sheets are passing through the press, the intelli- 
 gence has arrived of Mr. Lincoln's proposal for an accommodation 
 with the Secessionists on the terms of co-operating A\'ith any state, 
 disposed to adopt a policy of gradual emancipation by means of 
 pecimiary assistance to be provided from the Federal revenues. 
 The writer could scarcely have anticipated so early and so remark- 
 able a confirmation of the views expressed in the text. 
 
3© I'HESKXT ASPECT OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 ^q'oiinds lor tlwit supposition >till exist? Before the 
 WAV broke our, it is \\v\\ known that something like 
 ii reiirn of terror prevaiKd in tlie South lor all who 
 lell .•short of the most extrenu' standard of })ro- 
 shiNcrv opinion. The rigour of that reign "will 
 hardl\- have l»een relaxed since the war commenced, 
 and niu>t no douht have produced a very consider- 
 able emigration ol" lo\al citizens. The infectious 
 enthusiasm of the war will pi-ohahK' ha^•e operated 
 to make man\' converts ; and, iiiidci- the influences 
 of hoth these causes, the South, or at least that por- 
 tion ol" the South which has led the Avay in this 
 movement, has probably by this time been brought 
 to a substantial unanimity of opinion, a conclusion 
 which is strongly conlirmed by the absence of any 
 siirn of disaffection to the Confederation among; its 
 population.* Under these circumstances what is the 
 policy to wliirli l".uro])c, in the interests ofci\iliza- 
 tion, shouhl give its moral support ? This country 
 has long made u\) its mind as to the impossibility 
 of forcildy reconstructing the Union ; perhaps it 
 has also satisfied itself of the undesirableness of 
 this residt. Of neither of these opinions is the 
 writer prej)ared to contest the soundness. But this 
 
 • Sinco the above passaj^c wiis ■written some unionist ilonionstra- 
 tions in the iJorder states lulldwing on the success of the Korthern 
 armies, Imve shewn that the unanimity is not as complete as the 
 writer imagined : still he does not conceivo that what lias occuiTcd 
 i« at all .mI.iiI it'll to afl'ect the general scope of his ix'asoning. 
 
PRESENT ASPECT OF THE QUESTION. 31 
 
 l)emg conceded, an all-important question remains 
 for decision. On what conditions is the independ- 
 ence of the South to be established ? For the 
 solution of this question in the interests of civil- 
 ization, a knowledge of the character and designs 
 of the power which represents the South is re- 
 quisite, and it is this which it is the aim of the pre- 
 sent work to furnish. IMeanwhile, however, it may 
 be said that the definitive severance of the Union is 
 perfectly compatible with either the accomplishment 
 of the original design of the seceders — the exten- 
 sion of slavery, or the utter defeat of that design, 
 according to the terms on which the separation 
 takes place ; and that therefore the severance of the 
 Union by no means implies the defeat of the North 
 or the triumph of the South. The Southern leaders 
 may be assumed to know their own objects, and to 
 be the best judges of the means which are neces- 
 sary to their accomplishment; and Ave may be cer- 
 tain that no arrangement which involves the frus- 
 tration of these objects will be acquiesced in until 
 after a complete prostration of their strength. If 
 this be so, it is important to ascertain what the ob- 
 jects of the South are. For if these objects be in- 
 consistent Avith the interests of civilization and the 
 happiness of the human race (and I shall endeavour 
 to show that this is the case), then no settlement of 
 the American dispute which is not preceded by a 
 
32 TRESEXT ASPECT OF THK QUESTION. 
 
 tl»oroii<j:li ImmMiii;,' <»f tin- >liiv(' pai-ty sliould he 
 satist'ac*tt)r\' to tliosc who \i-A\v Imiiiaii iutorcsts at 
 liciirt. Tliis is the cardinal ]»oiiit ol'the wliok' ques- 
 fit»ii. riic (k'si^nis of the secedcrs arc cithir legiti- 
 mate and consistent with human interests, or the 
 contrary. If tliey are legitimate, let this be shown, 
 and h't us in this ca.se wi.sli tliem (iod speed: if tliey 
 are not, and if the Southern leaders may l)e taken 
 to know what is essential to their own ends, then we 
 may he sure that nothing short of the effectual 
 delrat of the Soutli in the present war will secure 
 a settlement which >hall he consistent with what 
 the hest interests of mankind require. 
 
33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ECONOMIC BASIS OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Before proceeding to an examination of the social 
 and political system which has been reared upon the 
 basis of slavery in North America, it will be desira- 
 ble to devote some consideration to the institution 
 itself in its industrial aspects. The political tenden- 
 cies of the Slave Powder, as will hereafter be seen, 
 are determined in a principal degree by the econo- 
 mic necessities under which it is placed by its fun- 
 damental institution ; and in order, therefore, to 
 appreciate the nature of those tendencies, a determi- 
 nation of the conditions requisite for the success of 
 slavery, as an industrial system, becomes indispen- 
 sable. 
 
 The form in which it will be most convenient to 
 discuss this question will be in connexion with the 
 actual position of slavery in the American continent. 
 As is well known, the system formed originally a 
 common feature in all the Anglo-Saxon settlements 
 in that part of the world, existing in the northern 
 no less than the southern colonies, in New England 
 no less than in Virginia. But before much time 
 had elapsed from their original foundation, it be- 
 
 3 
 
34 DIFFERENT FORTUNES OF SLAVERY 
 
 came evuK'Ut that it was (kstiiicd to occupy very 
 diffiTcnt positions amoiijr these ri>iM^- coiiiiiuinities. 
 In tlu' cuhmies imrtli of hrlawari- ^»a^■ shiver\' rapid- 
 1\" irll iiit<t a Milioi-tliiiatc plate, and ;:ra(liiall\' died 
 out; wliilc ill those soutli <>t that inlt-t its |)hu'e in 
 tl»e industrial system became constantly more pro- 
 minent, until ultimately it has risen to a ])osition 
 of j)aram()unt im[)()rtance in that rerri'^'U. ovcr|)o\ver- 
 ing every rival influence, and UKiuldin^jf all the phe- 
 nomena ol" till' social state into conformity with its 
 refpureinent<. The j)rohlrni, then, which I i)r()pose 
 to considi-r is the cause of thi> difference in the 
 fortunes of slavery in these diltcrent portions of 
 American soil. 
 
 Several theories have been advanced in explana- 
 tion of the phenomenon. ( )ne of these attributes it 
 to diversity of character in the original founders of 
 the communities in question ;* for, tliouirh j)roceed- 
 ini: from the same country and belon<:;ing to the 
 same race, the Ann:lo-Saxon eini<rrations to North 
 America, accordin^^ as they were directed to the 
 north or south of that continent, wci-c in the main 
 drawn from ditlerent classes of the mother nation. 
 Ma«achusetts and the other New l^nuland States 
 
 • Seo Stirling's Ixttfrit from (he Slm>« S(aU.«, \\ 64, whoro 
 prontcT inip<)rtuiu-o i.^ attri}>utc«l to this circunistaiico tlian it appoars 
 to m<' to flosorvft ; and conipnri* ( )lmstvii'8 Sfa Boanl S(<it,.<!^ pp. 
 181-18^, 220, 221. 
 
IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 35 
 
 were colonized principally from the elite of the mid- 
 dle and lower classes — by people who, being accus- 
 tomed to labour with their own hands, would feel 
 less the need of slaves ; and who, moreover, owing 
 to their political views, having little to hope for in 
 the way of assistance from the country they had 
 quitted, would have little choice but to trust to their 
 personal exertions. On the other hand, the early 
 emigration to Virginia, j\Iaryland, and the Carolina^ 
 was for the most part composed of the sons of the 
 gentry, whose ideas and habits but ill fitted them 
 for a struggle wdth nature in the wilderness. Such 
 emigrants had little disposition to engage personally 
 in the work of clearance and production : nor were 
 they under the same necessity for this as their 
 brethren in the North ; for, being composed in great 
 part of cavaliers . and loyalists, they were, for many 
 years after the first establishment of the settlements, 
 sustained and petted by the home government ; being 
 furnished not merely with capital in the shape of 
 constant supplies of provisions and clothing, but 
 with labourers in the shape of convicts, indented 
 servants, and slaves. In this way the colonists of 
 the Virginian group w^ere relieved from the necessity 
 of personal toil, and in this way, it is said, slavery, 
 which found little footing in the North, and never 
 took firm root there, became established in the 
 Southern States. 
 
36 THEORY OF DIVERSE ORIGIN OF THE FOUNDERS. 
 
 Tliis exi)lanation, however, carries us but a short 
 w:iv towards tlie point we have in view. It cxpkiiiis 
 the more rapid extension of shivery in eai'ly times 
 in tlif eoh)nies whicli were in tlieir origin most pa- 
 tronized hy the home government, l)ut it does not 
 explain whv shiverv. wliieli had, tliough not exten- 
 sivi-ly, heen introdueetl into tlie Northern colonies, 
 should not have sub.setpuiitK- increased; much less 
 does it allni-tl an\- explanation of its idtiniate ex- 
 tinction in the Xni-th. It is certain the New Kng- 
 landers were not withheld iVom employing slaves hy 
 moral scruples, and, if the system had been found 
 suitable to the ivquiremeuts of the country, it is to 
 be presumed that they -would have gradually ex- 
 tended its basis, and that, like their neighbours, 
 especially since the treaty of L'trecht had secured 
 for llnglish enterprise the African slave-trade, they 
 would havi' availed themselves of this means of re- 
 cruiting tlieir laboiu' market. 
 
 Another and more geuerallv accepted solution 
 refers the phenomenon in (piestion to the influence 
 of climate jind tlie character of the negro raie. The 
 European constitution, we are told, cannot endure a 
 climate in which the negro can toil, thrive, and mul- 
 tijily, and the indolence of the negro is such that he 
 will only work under compulsion. If it were not, 
 therefore, for negro sl:i\»i-\-, the world mn>t have 
 gone witliout those cojnniodities which :ire the ]»ecu- 
 
THEORY OF CLIMATE AND KACE. 37 
 
 liar product of tropical climes. Mankind, in effect, 
 says this theory, has had to choose between main- 
 taining slavery and abandoning the use of cotton, 
 tobacco, and sugar, and the instincts of humanity 
 have succiunbed before the more powerful induce- 
 ments of suljstantial gain. 
 
 It would, perhaps, be too much to say that this 
 view of the causes which have maintained slavery in 
 the Southern districts of North America is absolutely 
 destitute of foundation, but there can be no hesita- 
 tion in saying that, as a theory, it utterly fails to 
 account for the facts which it is sought to explain. 
 The climate of the oldest of the Slave States — Virgi- 
 nia, Maryland, Delaware, North and South Carolina 
 — is remarkably genial and perfectly suited to the 
 industry of Europeans ;* and, though the same is 
 not true in the same degree of the Gulf States, yet 
 it is a fact that these regions also afford examples of 
 free European communities increasing in numbers 
 under a semi-tropical climate, and rising to opu- 
 lence through the labour of their own hands. In 
 Texas a flourishing colony of free Germans, among 
 whom no slave is to be found, engage in all the oc- 
 cupations of tlie country, and are only prevented 
 Dy their distance from the great navigable rivers, 
 and the want of other means of communication, 
 
 * Olmsted's Slave States, pp. 1,31, 462-3. 
 
38 THEUHY OF CLIMATE AND RACE. 
 
 troiii ii|»itlvin;r tlifinsLlvcs extensively to that very 
 cultivation — the j^rowinir of cotton — Nvhich the com. 
 plaeent rcasoners whose theory Ave are considering 
 hoose to reiraril as tlie ordained I'unetion of the 
 lU'LTo race.* 
 
 " If we look." sa\s Mi-. AVeston, "to the origin of 
 the Eur()[)can races which inhabit this country, 
 Cieorgia and Alabama and Tennessee are more like 
 their mother countries than New England is. The 
 Irisinnan and Knglishman and Cierman find in Mis- 
 souri and Texas a climate less dissimilar to that at 
 home, than they do in Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
 The heats of summer are longer and steadier at the 
 South, but not more excessive tlian at the North. 
 r.abi»ur in the fields is performed b\- whites, and 
 without any ill consequences in the extreme South. 
 Nearly all the heavy out-door work in the city of 
 
 • " The Southern parts of the Union," says De Tocqueville, " are 
 not liottcr than the suuth of Italy and of Spain ; auel it may be 
 asked why tlie Eurt>pcan cannot work as well tliere as in the two 
 latter countriea If slaver}' has been abolished in Italy and in 
 S|»ain without causing the destruction of the masters, why should 
 not the same thing take \)\acv in the Union? I cannot believe 
 tliat Nature has prohibit«d the Europeans in Georgia and the 
 Floritlas, under jiain of death, from raising the means of subsistence 
 from the soil ; but their labour would unquestionably be more irk- 
 •me and less productive to them than that of tlie iidiabitants of 
 New England. As the free workman thus loses a portion of his 
 MUjK'rinrity over the slave in the Southern States, there are fewer 
 inducements tn abolish slaverv." 
 
ITS INADEQUACY. 39 
 
 New Orleans is performed by whites. . . . The 
 pructical experience of mankind is a sufficient answer 
 to fanciful rules, which, applied on the other side of 
 the Atlantic, would surrender to the African, Spain, 
 France, and Itah', and drive back their present in- 
 liabitants to the shores of the Baltic. The three 
 thousand years of recorded civilization in the regions 
 Avliich environ the Mediterranean on all its sides, 
 prove that no part of the continental borders of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and none of the islands which sepa- 
 rate it from the ocean, need be abandoned to the 
 barbarism of negro slavery. The European stock is 
 found everywhere, from Texas to Patagonia, and in 
 every part of that whole extent is more vigorous 
 and prolific than any other race, indigenous or im- 
 ported. Isothermal lines are not uniform with 
 parallels of latitude ; vertical suns are qualified by 
 ocean breezes and mountain heights ; and America, 
 even at the equator, ofi*ers to man salubrious 
 
 abodes."* 
 
 But still more fatally does the theory halt upon 
 the other limb of the argument— the incorrigible 
 indolence of the negro. AYhatever plausibility there 
 may have been in this oft repeated assertion in times 
 when the negro was only known as a slave or as a 
 pariah in a land where his existence was scarcely 
 tolerated, it is perfectly futile to advance such state- 
 
 * Pror/ress of Slavery, \^\\ 1*^0, 161. 
 
40 ALl.LGKD INDOLENCE OF THE NEGRO. 
 
 iiK'iits now in the face of the facts which recent 
 oliscrvations liave revealed to us. " We. in the 
 l'nit««l States," says Mr. Sewell, " luive lieard of 
 al)aiKlone(l properties in the West Indies, and, Avith- 
 out niiuh investigation, liave listened to the planters' 
 excusr — thi- indolence of the negro, who refuses to 
 work except under compulsion. But I shall be able 
 to show that, in those colonies wliere estates have 
 been abandoned, the labouring classes, instead of 
 passing from servitude to indolence and idleness, 
 h:i\(' >rt Up for themselves, and tliat small proprie- 
 tors since emancipation have increased a liundred 
 f<dd." . . . . " It is a fiict which speaks volumes 
 that, within the last fifteen years, in spite of the 
 extraordinary price of land and the low rate of 
 wages, the small proprietors of Barbadoes holding 
 less than five acres have increased from uoo to 
 y:>?>l- '^ iF^(^^ majority of these proprietors were 
 forrnerhj slares, subsequently free labourers, and 
 finalhj landholders. Tliis is certainly an evidence of 
 industrious habits, and a remarkable contradiction 
 to the prevailing idea that the negro Avill work only 
 under compulsion. That idea was formed and fos- 
 tered from the liabits of the n(>gro as a slave • his 
 habits as a iVeeman, (kvel()i)e(l under a wliolesome 
 stimulus ami settled l)y time, ai-e in strikint*- contrast 
 to his h:ibits as a slave. I am simplv stating a truth 
 in regard to ilie liarl.adian creole. wliieh liere, at 
 
GROUNDLESSNESS OE THE CHARGE. 4I 
 
 least, will not be denied. I have conversed on the 
 subject with all classes and conditions of people, and 
 none are more ready to admit than the planters 
 themselves, that the free labourer in Barbadoes is a 
 better, more cheerful, and more industrious w^ork- 
 man than the slave ever was under a system of com- 
 pulsion." And, again, of an island very differently 
 circumstanced from Barbadoes the same author 
 writes : — " I have taken some pains to trace the 
 Creole labourers of Trinidad from the time of eman- 
 cipation, after they left the estates and dispersed, 
 to the present day ; and the great majority of them 
 can, I think, be followed, step by step, not down- 
 ward in the path of idleness and poverty, but up- 
 ward in the scale of civilization to positions of 
 greater independence."* This testimony of a per- 
 fectly unimpassioned witness, coming after ten years' 
 further experience in corroboration of the evi- 
 dence given by Mr. Bigelow in 1850, ought to set 
 this question at rest. There is not a tittle of 
 evidence to show that the aversion of the negro 
 to labour is naturally stronger than that of any 
 other branch of the human family. So long as he 
 is compelled to work for the exclusive benefit of a 
 master, he will be inclined to evade his task by 
 
 * Sewell's Ordeal of Free Labour in the West Indies, pp. 34-35, 
 39-40. And for evidence to tlie same etfect respecting the Jamai- 
 can negroes, see post, pp. 198, 202, &c. 
 
41 TRIE SOLUTION UF THE TUOBLEM ECONOMIC. 
 
 fVtTV iiU'Miis ill liis j)()\V(.'r, a.-^ the -wliitc iiiaii Avoiild 
 do iiii«K'r similar circimistanccs ; but cinaiicipate 
 liiiii. and subject liiiii to tlit- same motives Avhieli 
 aet llpoli the iVee white hdxtUl'el". and tlierc is lio 
 reason to hi-licve he Asill not he led to exert himself 
 with equal eiier;j:\'.* 
 
 A eireiimstance more inllueiitial in determining 
 the history of slave i-y in America than either origin 
 or climate is pointed at hy He ToC(|Ucville in his 
 remark, that the soil of New Kngland '' was entirely 
 ol)}tosed to a teri'ifurial aristoeraey." '* To bring 
 that refractory land into cultivation, the constant 
 and interested exertions of the owner himself Avere 
 necessary; and, when the ground was prepared, its 
 ]>roducc was found to be insufficient to enrich a 
 
 * " Consiik'rons," says M. Dc Gaspariii, " ces jolies cliaumieres, 
 CCS mobiliers proprcs et presque elegants, ces jardins, cet air gene- 
 ral de Lien-6tre et de civilisation; interrogeons ces noifs dont I'as- 
 pect physique s'est dejii niodilici sous I'influence de la libertt^, ces 
 noirs dont le nonibre decroissait rapidement a r^pocjue de lescla- 
 vage et commence au contraire a s'accroitre depuis I'alfranchisse- 
 ment ; ils nous parleront de leur bonhour. Les uns sont devenus 
 prupriet^iircs et travaillent pour leur propro compte (ce n'est pas uu 
 crinie, jimagine), les autres s'associent pour affcrmer de grandes 
 plantations ou portent i>ent-etre aux usines d(>s rithe.s planteurs les 
 Cannes recoltdes chez eux ; cpux-ci sont marcliands, beaucoup louent 
 Icurs bras commo cultivateurs. Quels que soient les torts dun 
 certain ni'iiibrc d'iiidividus, rcnsciuble des n^gres libres a mdritd ce 
 ti.'ni(»igiiage rendu en 1S57 ]'ar Ic gouvcrnour de Tabago : ' Je nie 
 «jue nos noirs de la canipagne aient des habitudes dc paresse. 11 
 n'existe jias dans le monde une classe aussi industrieuse.' '" — I'n 
 (hiinil J''iip/r, p. 312. 
 
TRUE SOLUTION OF THE TROBLEM — ECONOMIC. 43 
 
 master and a fanner at the same time. The land 
 was then naturally broken up into small portions 
 which the proprietor cultivated for himself." Such a 
 country, for reasons which will presently be more 
 fully indicated, was entirely unsuitcd to cultivation 
 by slave labour ; but what I Avish here to remark is, 
 that this fact, important as it is with reference to 
 our subject, is yet insufficient in itself to afford the 
 solution wliich we seek ; for, though it would ac- 
 count for the disappearance of slavery from the New 
 England States, it fails entirely when applied to the 
 country west and south of the Hudson, which is 
 for the most part exceedingly fertile, but in which, 
 nevertheless, slavery, though extensively introduced, 
 has not been able to maintain itself. To understand, 
 therefore, the conditions on wdiich the success of a 
 slave regime depends, we must advert to other con- 
 siderations than any which have yet been adduced. 
 
 The true causes of the phenomenon will appear if 
 we reflect on the characteristic advanta^-es and dis- 
 advantages which attach respectively to slavery and 
 free labour, as productive instruments, in connex- 
 ion Avith the external conditions under wdiich these 
 forms of industry came into competition in North 
 America. 
 
 The economic advantages of slavery are easily 
 stated : they are all comprised in the fact that the 
 employer of slaves has absolute power over his 
 
44 MERITS AND DEFECTS UF SLAVE LABOUR. 
 
 workim-n, and enjoys the disposal of the whole fruit 
 of their lahours. Slave labour, therefore, admits of 
 the most eomplcte organization, that is to say, it 
 may he eomhim-d on an extensive scale, and directed 
 by a controlling mind to a single end, and its c(^st 
 can never rise above that which is necessary to 
 maintain the slave in health and strength. 
 
 < Ml the other hand, the economical defects of slave 
 labour are very serious. They may be summed up 
 under the three following heads: — it is given reluc- 
 tantly; it is unskilful ; it is wanting in versatility. 
 
 It is given reluctantly, and consequently the 
 industry of the slave can only be depended on so 
 long as he is watched. The moment the master's 
 eye is withdrawn, the slave relaxes his efforts. The 
 cost of slave labour will therefore, in great measure 
 depend on the degree in which the work to be 
 perlornied admits of the workmen being employed 
 in (lose ))i-o\iiniry to each other. If the work be 
 such that a large gang can be employed Mith 
 efliciency within a small space, and be thus brouo-ht 
 under the eye of a single overseer, the expense of 
 superintendence will be slight ; if, on the other 
 hand, the nature of the work recpiires that the 
 workmen should be dispersed t)ver an extended 
 ai-ea, tiie number of overseers, and therefore, the 
 cost of the labour wliieli i-erjuires this supervision 
 "'" '"' |'i-<»i»ortionately increased. The cost of 
 
MERITS AND DEFECTS OF SLAVE LABOUR. 45 
 
 slave-labour thus varies directly with the degree in 
 which the work to ])e done requires dispersion of 
 the labourers, and inversely as it admits of their con- 
 centration. Further, the Avork being performed 
 reluctantly, fear is substituted for hope, as the 
 stimulus to exertion. But fear is ill calculated to 
 draw from a labourer all the industry of which 
 he is capable. " Fear," says Bentham, " leads the 
 labourer to hide his powers, rather than to show 
 them ; to remain below, rather than to surpass him- 
 self." " By displaying superior capacity, the 
 
 slave would only raise the measure of his ordinary 
 duties ; by a work of supererogation he W'Ould only 
 prepare punishment for himself." He therefore 
 seeks, by concealing his powers, to reduce to the 
 lowest the standard of requisition. " His ambition 
 is the reverse of that of the freeman ; he seeks to de- 
 scend in the scale of industry, rather than to ascend." 
 "^ 'Secondly, slave labour is unskilful, and this, not 
 only because the slave, having no interest in his 
 work, has no inducement to exert his higher 
 faculties, but because, from the ignorance to wdiich 
 he is of necessity condemned, he is incapable of 
 doing so. In the Slave States of North America, 
 the education of slaves, even in the most rudimen- 
 tary form, isproscribed by law, and consequently 
 their intelligence is kept uniformly and constantly 
 at the very lowest point. " You can make a nigger 
 
46 MKUITS AND DEFFXTS OF FRFE LABOUR. 
 
 work," said an interlocutor in one (.tf ^fr. Olmsted's 
 dialojTiies, " l)ut veil cannot make him think." He 
 is thiTC'foro nn>nitcd loc all hj-ancln-s oi" industry 
 Avhich i\(iuiiT the sli<rhest care, lorethouglit, or 
 (le\tti-ir\ . He cannot he made to co-operate with 
 maciniiei-v ; he can onl\' l)e trusted with the 
 coarsest inijdenu'iits ; he is incapahle of all l)ut the 
 rudest forms of lahour.* 
 ^ l>ut further, slave lahour is eminently defective 
 in }»oint of versatility. The dilticulty of teaching 
 tlie slave aii\ ihiuLf is S(j urcat, that the only chance 
 of turninLi" his lalionr to profit is, -when he has once 
 learned a lesson, to keep him to that lesson for life. 
 A^'here slaves, therefore, are employed there can be 
 no varietv of production. Tf tobacco be cultivated, 
 
 * " Tho ro.'ison •\v;is, that the iipgro couhl never he trained 
 to cxerei.se judgment ; lie cannot be made to u.se lii.s mind ; he 
 always deiKUuls on maehinery doing its own work, and cannot 
 he maile to watch it. Ih- neglects it until something is hroken or 
 there i.s great wa.ste. A\'e have tried rewards and puni.shments, hut 
 it makes no ditrerence. It's his nature, and you cannot change it. 
 All men are indolent and have a disinclination to labour, but this 
 is a great deal .stronger in the Africim race than in any other. In - 
 working niggers, we must always calculate that they will not labour 
 at all exrt'jit to avoid j)unishment, and they will mvir do more 
 than just enough to save themselve.s from being punished, and no 
 amount of punishment will prevent their working carelessly and 
 indiliirently. It always seems on tho jtlantation as if they took 
 j)uin8 to break all the tools and spoil nil llic cat tie that they 
 pjHsibly can, even when they know they'll be piinished for it." — 
 (J\m»ieil' A Sfahoanl Slavf Stdtff, Y\\ 104, lo";. 
 
MERITS AND DEFECTS OF FREE LABOUR. 47 
 
 tobacco becomes the sole staple, and tobacco is 
 produced whatever be the state of the market, and 
 whatever be the condition of the soil.* This pecu- 
 liarity of slave-labour, as we shall see, involves some 
 very important consequences. 
 
 ■ Such being the character of slave-labour, as an 
 industrial instrument, let us now consider the 
 qualities of the agency with which, in the coloniza- 
 tion of North America, it was brought into compet- 
 ition. This was the labour of peasant proprietors, 
 a productive instrument, in its merits and defects, 
 the exact reverse of that with which it was called 
 upon to compete. Thus, the great and almost the 
 sole excellence of slave-labour is, as we have seen, 
 its capacity for organization ; and this is precisely 
 the circumstance with respect to which the labour 
 of peasant proprietors is especially defective. In 
 a community of peasant proprietors, each workman 
 labours on his own account, without much reference 
 to what his fellow-workmen are doing. There is 
 no commanding mind to whose guidance the whole 
 labour force will yield obedience, and under whose 
 control it may be directed by skilful combinations to 
 the result Avhich is desired. Nor does this system 
 afford room for classification and economical dis- 
 tribution of a labour force in the same degree 
 as the system of slavery. Under the latter, for 
 
 * Olmsted's Seaboard Slave States, pp. 337 to 339. 
 
48 COMI*AUATl\i; 1:F1 IC1KN( Y uv 
 
 I xample, occupation may l)e found for a wliole 
 familv of slaves, aec()rtlin<i to the capacity of each 
 nienilKT, in ])crfonnin;: tlic ditfcrent operations 
 connected witli i-ertain Itraiiclu's of industry — say, 
 the culture of tobacco, in wliich the women and 
 chiUlreii nia\' he eniplo\cd in piekiiii:: the Mornis off 
 the plants, or gathering tlie haves as they become 
 ripe, while tlie nieu are engaged in the more la- 
 borious tasks ; but a small proprietor, whose chil- 
 dren are at school, and whose wife finds enousfh 
 to occu})y lier in her domestic duties, can com- 
 mand for all operations, however important or 
 however insignificant, no other labour than his 
 own, or that of his grown-up sons — labour which 
 would l)e greatly misa])plied in performing such 
 manual oj)ei-ations as I liaxc described. His team 
 of liorses might be standing idle in the stable, 
 while he was gathering tobacco leaves or picking 
 worms, an arrangement which would render his 
 work exceedingly costly. The system of peasant 
 pi-oprietorship, therefore, does not admit of combina- 
 tion and classification of labnur in the same degree as 
 tiiat of slavery. Ihit ii" in this n-sjx'ct it lies under 
 a disad\antage as compared with its rival, in every 
 otiier respect it enjoys an immense superiority. 
 The peasant |iroprietor, a|ipropriating the whole 
 produce of his toil, needs no other stimulus t(j 
 exertion. Superintendence is here completely dis- 
 
SLAVE AND FREE LABOUR. 49 
 
 pensed witli. The labourer is under the strongest 
 conceivable inducement to put forth, in the further- 
 ance of his task, the full powers of his mind and 
 body ; and his mind, instead of being purposely 
 stinted and stupiiied, is enlightened by education, 
 and aroused by the prospect of reward.* 
 
 Such are the two productive agencies which came 
 into competition on the soil of North America. If 
 we now turn to the external conditions under which 
 the competition took place, we shall, I think, have 
 no difficulty in understanding the success of each 
 respectively in that portion of the Continent in 
 which it did in fact succeed. 
 
 The line dividing the Slave from the Free States 
 marks also an important division in the agricultural 
 capabilities of North America. North of this line, 
 the products for which the soil and climate are best 
 adapted are cereal crops, while south of it the pre- 
 vailing crops are tobacco, rice, cotton, and sugar ; 
 and these two classes of crops are broadly distin- 
 guished in the methods of culture suitable to each. 
 The cultivation of the one class, of which cotton 
 may be taken as the type, requires for its efficient 
 conduct that labour should be combined and organ- 
 ized on an extensive scale, f On the other hand, for 
 
 * See North Amelia, its Agriculture and Climate, by Eobert 
 Enssell, chapter viii. 
 t Tliiil, p. 14 r. 
 
 4 
 
50 AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES OF 
 
 the raising of cereal crops this condition is not so 
 essential. Even where labour is abundant and that 
 labour free, the large capitalist does not in this 
 UK^de of farming appear on the Avhole to have any 
 preponderating advantage over the small proprietor, 
 who, with his family, cultivates his own farm, as the 
 exam])lc of the best cultivated states in Europe 
 proves. Whatever superiority he may have in the 
 power of combining and directing labour seems to 
 be compensated by the greater energy and spirit 
 wliich tlie sense of property gives to the exertions of 
 tlie small proprietor. But there is another essential 
 circumstance in Mhicli these two classes of crops 
 differ. A single labourer, Mr. Russell tells us,* can 
 cultivate twenty acres of wheat or Indian corn, 
 wliile he cannot manage more than two of tobacco, 
 or three of cotton. It appears from this that to- 
 bacco and cotton fulfil that condition which we 
 saw was essential to the economical emploj^ment 
 of slaves — the possibility of working large numbers 
 witliin a limited space; wliile wheat and Indian corn, 
 in tlic cultivation of wliich the labourers are dis- 
 persed over a wide surface, fail in this respect. AVe 
 thus find that cotton, and the class of crops of which 
 cotton may be taken as the type, favour the employ- 
 ment of slaves in the competition with peasant pro- 
 prietors in two leading ways : first, they need ex- 
 
 • Russell's lYorth America, pp. 14 J, 164. 
 
NORTH ASLB SOUTH. 5 I 
 
 tensive combination and organization of labour — 
 requirements which slavery is eminently calculated 
 to supply, but in respect to which the labour of 
 peasant proprietors is defective ; and secondly, they 
 allow of labour being concentrated, and thus mini- 
 mize the cardinal evil of slave-labour — the reluct- 
 ance with which it is yielded. On the other hand, 
 the cultivation of cereal crops, in which extensive 
 combination of labour is not important, and in 
 which the operations of industry are widely diffused, 
 offers none of these advantages for the employ- 
 ment of slaves,* while it is remarkably fitted to 
 bring out in the highest degree the especial excel- 
 lencies of the industry of free proprietors. Owing to 
 
 * The same observation had been made by De Tocqueville, who 
 in the following passage has suggested a further reason for the 
 unsuitableness of slave-labour for raising cereal crops : — " It has 
 been observed that slave-labour is a very expensive method of 
 cultivating corn. The farmer of cornland in a country where 
 slavery is unknown, habitually retains a small number of labourers 
 in his service, and at seed-time and harvest he hires several addi- 
 tional hands, who only live at his cost for a short period. But the 
 agriculturist in a slave state is obliged to keep a large number of 
 slaves the whole year round, in order to sow liis fields and to gather 
 in his crops, although their services are only required for a few 
 weeks ; but slaves are unable to wait till they are hired, and to 
 subsist by their own labour in the mean time like free labourers : 
 in order to have their services, they must be bought. Slavery, 
 independently of its general disadvantages, is therefore still more 
 inapplicable to countries in which corn is cultivated than to those 
 which produce crops of a different kind." — Democracy in Aiiierica, 
 vol. ii. p. 233, 
 
 4* 
 
:;> SLAVE AND FREE PRODUCTS. 
 
 these causes it has happened that shivery has been 
 maintained in tlie Southern States, wliieh favour the 
 •rrowth of tobaeco, cotton, and analogous products, 
 wliiK', in the Northern States, of which cereal crops 
 art' the great staple, it from an early period declined 
 and has ultimately died out. And in confirmation 
 of tliis virw it u\n\ be added that wherever in the 
 .*^outliern States tlie external conditions are espe- 
 cially favoural)le to cereal crops, as in parts of Vir- 
 ginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, and along the slopes 
 of the Alleghanies, there slavery has always failed 
 to maintain itself It is owing to this cause that 
 there now exists in some parts of the South a con- 
 siderable element of free labouring population. 
 
 These considerations appear to explain the perma- 
 nence of slavery in one division of North America, 
 and its disappearance from the other ; l)ut there are 
 other conditions essential to the economic success of 
 the institution besides those which have been 
 brought into view in the above comparison, to 
 wliieh it is necessar}' to advert in order to a right 
 imderstanding of its true basis. These are hiirh 
 r»,Ttilify in the soil, mid a [)i-:ietically unlimited 
 extent of it. 
 
 'I'he necessit}- of these eonditioiis to slavery will 
 be a])pareiit by reflecting on the unskilfulness 
 and want ot versatilit}- in slave labour to wliieh 
 w.' Ii!i\c .dreadv referred. 
 
OTHER CONDITIONS DEMANDED BY SLAVE LABOUR. ^^ 
 
 When the soils are not of good quality cultivation 
 needs to be elaborate ; a larger caj^ital is expended ; 
 and with the increase of capital the processes be- 
 come more varied, and the agricultural implements 
 of a liner and more delicate construction. With 
 such implements slaves cannot be trusted, and for 
 such processes they are unfit.* It is only, there- 
 
 * " I am here shewn tools," says Mr. Olmsted, " that no man in 
 his senses, with us, would allow a labourer, to whom he was paying 
 wages, to be encumbered with ; and the excessive weight and clum- 
 siness of which, I would judge, would make Avork at least ten per 
 cent, greater than with those ordinarily used with us. And I am 
 assured that, in the careless and clumsy way they must be used by 
 the slaves, anytliing lighter or less rude could not be furnished 
 them with good economy, and that such tools as we constantly give 
 our labourers, and find our profit in giving them, would not last out 
 a day in a Virginia cornfield — much lighter and more free from 
 stones though it be than ours. 
 
 " So, too, when I ask why mules are so universally substituted 
 or horses on the farm, the first reason given, and confessedly the 
 most conclusive one, is that horses cannot bear the treatment that 
 they ahvays must get from negroes ; horses are always soon foun- 
 dered or crip^iled by them, wliile mules will bear cudgelling, and 
 lose a meal or two now and then, and not be materially inji;red, and 
 they do not take cold or get sick, if neglected or overworked. But 
 I do not need to go further than to the window of the room in 
 wliich I am writing, to see at almost any time, treatment of cattle 
 that would insure the immediate discharge of the driver by almost 
 any farmer owning them in the North." In another State, a South- 
 ern farmer describes to him " as a novelty, a plough ' with a sort of 
 wing, lilce,' on one side, that pushed off and turned over a sHce of 
 the ground ; from which it appeared that he had, until recently, 
 never seen a mould-board ; the common ploughs of this country 
 being constructed on the same principle as those of the Chinese, 
 
i;4 FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 
 
 fore, where the natural fertility of the soil is so 
 great as to compensate for the inferiority of the 
 cultivation,* where nature does so much as to leave 
 little for art, and to supersede the necessity of the 
 more (litlicult contrivances of industry, that slave 
 labour can be turned to profitable account. f 
 
 Further, slavery, as a ])ermanent system, has need 
 not merely of a fertile soil, but of a practically un- 
 limited extent of it. This arises from the defect of 
 elavc labour in j)oint of versatility. As has been 
 already remarked, the dilHculty of teaching the 
 slave anything is so great — the result of the com- 
 pulsory ignorance in ■which he is kept, combined 
 with -want of intelligent interest in his work — that 
 the only chance of rendering his labour profitable 
 
 and only rooting the ground like a hog or a mole — not cleaving and 
 turning." — Seaboard Slaxv States, pp. 46, 47, 402. 
 
 • Mr. Kussell (pp. 164, 165) states that the soil on which the 
 sea-island cotton is raised is " poor, consisting for the most part of 
 light sand ; " hut this is scarcely an exception to the statement in 
 the text. The jioouliar qualities of the soil in qiiestion, and the 
 high price which its products are consequently enahled to com- 
 mand, render it, in an economic sense, " a fertile soil," however it 
 may he designated hy an agriculturist as " poor." 
 
 t In a dehate in the House of Lords last session on the annex- 
 ation of St. Domingo hy Spain, it was stated by the Duke of Kew- 
 castle, that, in reply to the remonstrances of the British govern- 
 ment relative to the apprehended introduction of slavery into that 
 island, the Spanish government had referred to the great fertility of 
 the Boil of St. IDomingo, which renders slairri/ unnecessary ; in which 
 rt'uaoning his grace, as well as Ijord Brougham, ajipeared to aquiesce. 
 
EXTENT OF TERRITORY. 
 
 55 
 
 is, when he has once learned a lesson, to keep him 
 to that lesson for life. Accordingly where agricul- 
 tural operations are carried on by slaves the busi- 
 ness of each gang is always restricted to the raising 
 of a single product.* AThatever crop be best suited 
 to the character of the soil and the nature of slave 
 industr}^, whether cotton, tobacco, sugar, or rice, 
 that crop is cultivated, and that crop only. Ro- 
 tation of crops is thus precluded by the conditions 
 of the case. The soil is tasked again and again 
 to yield the same product, and the inevitable re- 
 
 * " The culture [of tobacco] being once establislied [in Virginia] 
 there were many reasons," says Mv. Olmsted, " growing out of the 
 social structure of the colony, Avhich for more than a century kept 
 the industry of the Virginians confined to this one staple. These 
 reasons were chiefly the difficulty of breaking the slaves, or training 
 the bond-servants to new methods of labour ; the want of enterprise 
 or ingenuity in the proprietors to contrive other profitable occupa- 
 tions for them ; and the difficulty or expense of distributing the 
 guard or oversight, without which it was impossible to get any 
 M^ork done at all, if the labourers were separated, or worked in any 
 other way than side by side, in gangs, as in the tobacco fields. 
 Owing to these causes, the planters kept on raising tobacco with 
 hardly sufficient intermission to provide themselves with the gross- 
 est animal sustenance, though often by reason of the excessive 
 quantity raised, scarcely anything could be got for it." . . " Tobacco 
 is not now considered peculiarly and excessively exhaustive : in a 
 judicious rotation, especially as a preparation for wheat, it is an ad- 
 mirable fallow-crop, and under a scientific system of agriculture, it 
 is grown with no continued detriment to the soil. But in Virginia 
 it was grown without interruption or alteration, and the fields ra- 
 yndly deteriorated in fertility." — Scaboanl Slave States, pp. 237, 238. 
 
56 EXH.vrSTIKG EFFECTS OF 
 
 Milt follows. Alter a sliurt scries of years its fer- 
 tility is tuini)letely exhausted, the }>laiiter abandons 
 tlie irrouiid whieh he has rendered worthless, and 
 passes on to seek in new soils lor that fertility 
 uiidrr Avhich alone the agencies at his disposal can 
 l»e profitably eniphned. The practical results of 
 the system are thus described by a native of the 
 South : — " I can show you with sorrow, in the 
 older portions of Alabama, and in my native county 
 of Madison, the sad memorials of the artless and 
 exhausting culture of cotton. Our small planters, 
 niter taking the cream off their lands, unable to 
 restore them by rest, manures, or otherwise, are 
 going further west and south in search of other 
 \irgin lands, which they may and will despoil and 
 impuverish in like manner. Our wealthier planters, 
 with greater means and no more skill, are buying 
 out their poorer neighbours, extending their plan- 
 tations, and adding to their slave force. The 
 Wealth}- few, who are able to live on smaller pro- 
 fits, and to give their blasted fields some rest, are 
 thus pushing off the many, who are merely inde- 
 pendent. . . In traversing that county one will dis- 
 cover numer(»iis farm-houses, once the abode of in- 
 dustrious and intelligent freemen, now occupied by 
 slaves, or teiiantless, deserted, and dilapidated ; he 
 will observe fields, once fertile, now unfent-ed, aban- 
 
 doln-d, ;iIm1 coxcrfcl with those r\\\ li;ill)inL:el'S — fox- 
 
SLAVE CULTURE. 
 
 SI 
 
 tail and broom-sedge ; he will see the moss growing 
 on the mouldering walls of once thrifty villages ; 
 and will find ' one only master grasps the whole 
 domain' that once furnished happy homes for a 
 dozen families. Indeed, a country in its infancy, 
 where, fifty years ago, scarce a forest tree had 
 been felled by the axe of the pioneer, is already 
 exhibiting the painful signs of senility and decay 
 apparent in Virginia and the Carolinas ; the fresh- 
 ness of its agricultural glory is gone, the vigour of 
 its youth is extinct, and the spirit of desolation 
 seems brooding over it."* Even in Texas, before it 
 had yet been ten years under the dominion of this 
 devastating system, Mr. Olmsted tells us that the 
 spectacle so familiar and so melancholy in all the 
 older Slave States Avas already not unfrequently 
 seen by the traveller — " an abandoned plantation 
 of ' worn-oat' fields with its little village of dwell- 
 ings, now a home only for wolves and vultures." 
 
 Slave cultivation, therefore, precluding the con- 
 ditions of rotation of crops or skilful management, 
 tends inevitably to exhaust the land of a country, 
 and consequently requires for its permanent success 
 not merely a fertile soil but a practically unlimited 
 extent of it. f 
 
 * Address of the Hon. C. C. Clay, jun., a slaveholder and advo- 
 cate of slavery, reported by the author in De Bow's Review, and 
 quoted by Olmsted, Seahoard Slave States, p. ^'j6. 
 
 t Olmsted's Texas, p. xiv. If there be any fact upon which all 
 
5 8 GENEHAL CONCLUSION. 
 
 To sum up, tlitii, the eouclusions at which we 
 have* arriwd, tlic successful niaintL-nauce of slavery, 
 ns a system of industry, requires the following con- 
 ditions : — ist. Al»uii(hiiice ot" lertilo soil ; and, 2nd. 
 a erop tlie cultivatiuu of which demands combina- 
 tion and organization of labour on an extensive 
 scale, and admits of its concentration. It is owing 
 to the j)resence of these conditions that slavery has 
 niaiutained itself in the Southern States of North 
 America, and to their absence that it has disap- 
 pearetl from the Northern States. 
 
 competent witnesses to the condition of the Slave States are agreed 
 it is the rapid deterioration of the soil under slave cultivation. On 
 this point Engli.sh, French, and Aniericn writers, the opponents 
 and advocates of slavery, are at one. Yet a writer in the Saturday 
 Ji'(vieio (Sow 2, 1 861) does not hesitate, on his own unsupported 
 autliority, to characterize tliis belief as " a jiopular fallacy." If it 
 be a fiUlacy, it is certainly not only a i)opular but a plausible one, 
 since it has succeeded iu deceiving Miss !Martineau, Olmsted, 
 KusscU, Stirling, and every writer of the least pretension to au- 
 thority on the subject, no matter what his leaumgs. It is for the 
 reader to make liis choice between their united testimony and the 
 closet experience of a Saturday Reviewer. 
 
59 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INTEKNAL OKGANIZATION OF SLAVE COMMUNITIES. 
 
 The explanation offered in the last chapter of the 
 success and failure of slavery in different portions of 
 North America resolved itself into the proposition, 
 that in certain cases the institution was found to 
 be economically profitable while it proved unprofi- 
 table in others. From this position — the profitable- 
 ness of slavery under given external conditions — 
 the inference is generally made by those who advo- 
 cate or look with indulgence on the system, that 
 slavery must be regarded as conducive to at least 
 the material well-being of countries in which these 
 conditions exist ; and these conditions being admit- 
 tedly present in the Slave States of North America, 
 it is concluded that the abolition of slavery in those 
 states would necessarily be attended with a dimi- 
 nution of their wealth, and by consequence, owing 
 to the mode in which the interests of all nations 
 are identified through commerce, with a corre- 
 sponding injury to the material • interests of the 
 rest of the world. In this manner it is attempted 
 to enlist the selfish feelings of mankind in favour of 
 the institution ; and it is not impossible that many 
 persons, who would be disposed to condemn it ujdou 
 
6o ECC»N()MIC SUCCESS OF SLAVERY : 
 
 moral ^^roiimls, an- tliiis Kd to coiiiiive at its exist- 
 eiR'o. It will therutort' be desirable, before pro- 
 coediii«r further with the investigation of our sul)ject, 
 to uncertain precisely the extent of tlie admission in 
 favour of the system whicli is involved in the fore- 
 going explanation of its success. 
 
 An<l, in the lirst plaei', it must be remarked 
 that the profitableness which has been attributed to 
 slavery is prolitableness estimated exclusively from 
 the point of view of the jiroprietor of slaves. Pro- 
 fitableness in this sense is all that is necessary to ac- 
 count i'nv the inti'oductioii and maintenance of the 
 svstem (which was the problem witli which alone we 
 were concerned), since it was with tlie proprietors 
 that the decision rested. But those who are ac- 
 (piainted with the elementary principles which 
 g(»verii tiie distribution of wealth, know that the 
 l»rofits of ca])italists may be increased by the same 
 l»rocess by which the gross revenue of a country is 
 diminished, and that tlierefore the community as a 
 whole may be impoverished through the very same 
 means by whiih a |)ortinn of its iniml)er is enriched. 
 The economic success of slavery, therefore, is per- 
 I'tH-tly consistent with the supposition that it is pre- 
 judicial to the material well-being of the country 
 where it is established. The argument, in short, 
 ■lues to thi> : the interests of slave-masters — or 
 rafhiT that which slave-masters believe to be their 
 
IN WHAT SENSE CONCEDED. 6 1 
 
 interests — are no more identical with the interests 
 of the general population in slave countries in the 
 matter of wealth, than in that of morals or politics. 
 That which benefits, or seems to benefit, the one in 
 any of these departments, may injure the other. It 
 follows, therefore, that the economic advantages 
 possessed by slavery, which were the inducement 
 to its original establishment and which cause it 
 still to be upheld, are perfectly compatible with its 
 being an obstacle to the industrial development of 
 the country, and at variance with the best interests, 
 material as well as moral, of its inhabitants. 
 
 Further, the profitableness which has been at- 
 tributed to slavery does not even imply that the 
 system is conducive to the interests (except in the 
 narrowest sense of the word) of the class for whose 
 especial behoof it exists. Individuals and classes 
 may always be assumed to follow their o^\ti interests 
 according to their lights and tastes ; but that which 
 their lights and tastes point out as their interest 
 will vary with the degree of their intelligence and 
 the character of their civilization. AYhen the in- 
 telligence of a class is limited and its civilization 
 low, the view it will take of its interests will be 
 correspondingly narrow and sordid. Extravagant 
 and undue importance will be attached to the mere 
 animal pleasures. A small gain obtained by coarse 
 and obvious methods will be preferred to a great 
 
62 EC-GNOMIC SUCCESS OF SLAVKRY : 
 
 one wliifh roqiiiros ii recourse to more refined ex- 
 pedients ; and tlie future well-being of tlie race 
 will he re'-'nrded as of less importance than the 
 a"fn*andisement of the existing generation. 
 
 r.iit (.iir admissions in favour of slavery require 
 still furtlur (jualilication. Tlie establishment of 
 slavery in the Southern States was accounted for by 
 its superiorit\- in an economic point of view over 
 free la))(>ur, in the form in wliieh free labour ex- 
 isted in America at the time wlien that continent 
 was settled. Now, the sujx-riority of slaver}'- over 
 free labour to wliieli its establishment was originally 
 owin<x, is bv no means to be assumed as still exist- 
 ing in virtue of the fact that slavery is still main- 
 tained. Of two S3'stems one may at a given period 
 be more ])rofitable than the other, and may on this 
 account be established, but may afterwards cease to 
 Imj so, and yet may nevertheless continue to be 
 upli( Id, either from habit, or from unwillingness 
 to adopt new methods, or from cono-enialitv with 
 tasti'S which liave l)een formed under its influence. 
 It is a dillicult and >h>\v process under all i-ireum- 
 stunces to alter the iiidu>ti-ial s\stem of a country ; 
 l)Ut the difhculty of exchanging one form of free 
 industry for another is a])solutely inappreciable 
 w lien compared with that which we encounter when 
 we attempt to sul)stitute free for servile institutions, 
 it is thcreibre quite possible — how far the case is 
 
IN WHAT SENSE CONCEDED. 6;^ 
 
 actually so I shall afterwards examine — that the 
 persistent maintenance of the system at the present 
 day may be due less to its economical advantages 
 than to the habits and tastes it may have engen- 
 dered, and to the enormous difficulty of getting rid 
 of it. Since the settlement of the Southern States 
 a vast change has taken place in the American 
 continent. Free labour, which was then scarce and 
 costly, has now in many of the large towns become 
 superabundant ; and it is quite possible that, even 
 with external conditions so favourable to slavery 
 as the southern half of North America undoubtedly 
 presents, free labour would now, on a fair trial, 
 be found more than a match for its antagonist. 
 Such a trial, however, is not possible under the 
 present regime of the South. Slavery is in posses- 
 sion of the field, and enjoys all the advantages 
 which possession in such a contest confers. 
 
 The concession then in favour of slavery, involved 
 in the explanation given of its definitive establish- 
 ment in certain portions of North America, amounts 
 to this, that under certain conditions of soil and 
 climate^ cultivation by slaves may for a time yield a 
 larger net revenue than cultivation by certain forms of 
 free labour. This is all that needs to be assumed to 
 account for the original establishment of slavery. 
 But the maintenance of the institution at the present 
 day does not imply even this quantum of advantage 
 
64 STRlTTrRE OF A SLAVE SOCIETY 
 
 ill its favour ; since, owing to the immense difficulty 
 <»f jxettin"! rid «>f it wlun once established on an ex- 
 tensive sealr, the reasons i<>r its continuance (re- 
 garding tin- (jui'stiou i'vnin tlic jxjint of view of the 
 slavelioldcrs) may, where it has once obtained a 
 firm footing, prcN'ail (n-er tlios^e for its abolition, 
 even tliough it be far infei'ior as a productive in- 
 strument to free-labour. The most, therefore, that 
 can be interred from the existence of the system at 
 the present d:t\- i> that it is self-supporting. 
 
 Having now cleared the ground from the several 
 false inferences with Avliieh tlie economic success of 
 slaver}^ such as it is, is apt to l)e surrounded, I 
 proceed to trace the consequences, economic social 
 and political, which flow from the institution. 
 
 The comparative anatomist, by reasoning on those 
 fixed relations between the difl*erent parts of the 
 aiiiiiKil i'nime which his science reveals to him, is 
 able from a fragment of a tooth or bone to de- 
 termine the I'onii, dimensions, and habits of the 
 creature to which it belonged ; and with no less 
 accuracy, it seems to me, may a political economist, 
 l)y reasoning on the economic character of slavery 
 and its peculiar connexion with the soil, deduce its 
 leading social and political attributes, and almost 
 construct, by way of a priori argument, the entire 
 system of the socict}' of wliirli it forms the founda- 
 tion. A l)rief (•oiisi(l<r:itioii ol" the economic priii- 
 
MOULDED BY ITS ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. 6^ 
 
 ciples on which, as we have seen in a former chapter, 
 slavery supports itself, will enable us to illustrate 
 this remark. 
 
 It was then seen that slave labour is, from the 
 nature of the case, unskilled labour ; and it is evi- 
 dent that this circumstance at once excludes it from 
 the field of manufacturing and mechanical industry. 
 Where a workman is kept in compulsory ignorance, 
 and is, at the same time, without motive for exerting 
 his mental faculties, it is quite impossible that he 
 should take part with efiiciency in the difiicult and 
 delicate operations which most manufacturing and 
 mechanical processes involve. The care and dex- 
 terity which the management of machinery requires 
 is not to be obtained from him, and he Avould often 
 do more damage in an hour than the produce of his 
 labour for a year would cover. Slavery, therefore, 
 at least in its modern form, has never been, and can 
 never be, employed with success in manufacturing- 
 industry. And no less plain is it that it is unsuited 
 to the functions of commerce ; for the soul of com- 
 merce is the spirit of enterprise, and this is ever 
 found wanting in communities where slavery exists : 
 their prevailing characteristics are subjection to 
 routine and contempt for money-making pursuits. 
 Moreover, the occupations of commerce are abso- 
 lutely prohibitive of the employment of servile la- 
 bour. A mercantile marine composed of slaves is 
 
 5 
 
66 AGRlCrLTlH!:— THE SOLE CAREER FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 a Inrin «>f iiuliistry wliicli thr woi-Ul has not yet 
 siM-ii. .Miitiiiics ill uiid-dccaii and (k'SCTtioiis the 
 111. .Hunt the vessel touched at l(.rei<ni ports would 
 (|Mii kl\ reduce the force to a cipher. 
 
 Slavery, therefore, excluded by these causes from 
 tlie field of manufactures and commerce, finds its 
 natural career in afrriculture ; and, from what has 
 l.cen already established respecting the peculiar 
 (pialities of slave hd)()ur, we may easily divine tlie 
 form Mhieh aLii-icnltnral industr)' will assume under 
 a servile regime. The single merit of slave labour 
 as an industrial instrument consists, as we have seen, 
 in its capacity for organization — its susceptibility, 
 that is to say, of being adjusted with precision to 
 the kind of work to be done, and of being directed 
 on a comprehensive plan towards some distinctly 
 conceived end. Now to give scope to this quality, 
 the scale on which industry is carried on must be 
 extensive, and, to carry on industry on an extensive 
 scale, large capitals are recpiired. Large capitalists 
 will therefore have, in slave communities, a special 
 and j>eculiar advantage over small capitalists beyond 
 that which thoy enjoy in countries where labour is 
 free. Uut there is another circumstance which ren- 
 ders a considerable cipital still more an indispen- 
 sable condition to tlie successful conduct of in- 
 dustrial operations in slave countries. A capitalist 
 who cnij.loys free labour needs for the support of 
 
EXIGENCIES OF SLAVE AGRICULTURE. 67 
 
 his labour force a sum sufficient to cover the amount 
 of their wages during the interval which elapses 
 from the commencement of their operations until 
 the sale of the produce which results from them. 
 But the capitalist employing slave labour requires 
 not merely this sum — represented in his case by the 
 food, clothing, and shelter provided for his slaves 
 during the corresponding period — but, in addition 
 to this, a sum sufficient to purchase the fee-simple 
 of his entire slave force. For the conduct of a 
 given business, therefore, it is obvious that the em- 
 ployer of slave labour will require a much larger 
 capital than the employer of free labour. The ca- 
 pital of the one will represent merely the current 
 outlay ; wdiile the capital of the other will repre- 
 sent, in addition to this, the future capabilities of 
 the productive instrument. The one will represent 
 the interest, the other the principal and interest, 
 of the labour employed.* Owing to these causes 
 
 * The operation of the economic principle which I have endea- 
 voured to explain is well illustrated in the following case put by Mr. 
 Olmsted : — 
 
 " Let us suppose two recent immigrants, one in Texas, the other 
 in the young free State of Iowa, to have hoth, at the same time, a 
 considerable sum of money — say five thousand dollars — at disposal. 
 Land has been previously purchased, a hasty dwelluig of logs con- 
 structed, and ample crops for sustenance harvested. Each has found 
 communication with his market interrupted during a portion of the 
 year by floods ; each needs an ampler and better house ; each de- 
 sires to engage a larger part of his land in profitable production ; 
 
68 KKSILTS : MAGNITUDE OF TLANTATIONS. 
 
 liir«^e cMiiitals :irr, rdat'iN t-ly to siiimII, more pro- 
 litaliK', Jiiid arc. at the saiiR- tinic, alj.sohitol}' more 
 iH-cjuircd ill ectuiitrirs ni" slave, than in couiitrios of 
 iVtf, lalMnir. It liappens, however, tliat capital is in 
 slave countries a partii'ularly scarce commodity, 
 owing partly to the exclusion from such countries 
 of many modes of creating it — manufactures and 
 
 each noeils some agricultural machinery or implements ; in the 
 neighbourhood of uacli, a church, a school, a grist-mill, and a branch 
 r.iilruad are projiosed. E;ich may be supposed to have previously 
 obtained the necessary materials for his desired constructions ; and 
 to net'd immediately tho services of a carpenter. The Texan, un- 
 al)Ie to hire (tne in the neighbourhood, orders his agent in Houston 
 or New Orleans to buy him one : when he arrives, he has cost not 
 less than two of the live thousand dollars. The lowan, in the same 
 predicament, writes to a friend in the East or advertises in the news- 
 papers, tliat he is ready to pay better wages than carpenters can get 
 in the older settlements ; and a young man, whose only capital is in 
 his hantls and his wits, glad to come where there is a glut of food 
 and a dearth of labour, soon presents himself. To construct a cause- 
 way and a bridge, and to clear, fence, and break up the land he de- 
 sires to bring into cultivation, the Texan will need three more slaves 
 — and he gets them as before, thereby investing "ull his money. 
 Tlie lowan has only to let his demand be known, or, at most, to ad- 
 vance a small sum to the public conveyances, and all the labourers 
 he retpiires — independent small capitidists of labour — gladly bring 
 tlirir only commodity to him and ofler it as a loan, on his promise 
 to jtay a better interest, or wages, for it than Eastern capitalists are 
 willing to do. The lowan next sends for the implements mul ma- 
 < hinory which will enable him to make the best use of the labour he 
 li.Ls engaged. The Texan tries to get on another year without them, 
 or employs such rude substilutos as his stupid, uninstructed, and 
 uninteresU'd slavoa can readily make in lib ill-furnished plantation 
 
INDEBTEDNESS OF PLANTERS. 69 
 
 commerce for example — which are open to free 
 communities, and partly to what is also a conse- 
 quence of the institution — the unthrifty habits of 
 the upper classes. We arrive therefore at this sin- 
 gular conclusion, that, while large capitals in coun- 
 tries of slave labour enjoy peculiar advantages, and 
 while the aggregate capital needed in them for the 
 
 work-shop. The lowan is able to contribute liberally to aid in the 
 construction of the church, the school-house, the mill, and the rail- 
 road. His labourers, appreciating the value of the reputation they 
 may acquire for honesty, good judgment, skill, and industry, do not 
 need constant superintendence, and he is able to call on his neigh- 
 bours and advise, encourage, and stimulate them. Thus the church, 
 the school, and the railroad are soon in operation, and with them is 
 brought rapidly into play other social machinery, which makes much 
 luxury common and cheap to all. The Texan, if solicited to assist 
 in similar enterprises, answers truly, that cotton is yet too low to 
 permit him to invest money where it does not promise to be imme- 
 diately and directly productive. The lowan may still have one or 
 two thousand dollars, to be lent to merchants, mechanics, or manu- 
 facturers, who are disposed to establish themselves near him. With 
 the aid of this capital, not only various minor conveniences are 
 brought into the neighbourhood, but useful information, scientific, 
 agricultural, and political ; and commodities, the use of which is 
 educative of taste and the finer capacities of our nature, are attrac- 
 tively presented to the people. The Texan mainly does without 
 these things. He confines the imports of liis plantation almost en- 
 tirely to slaves, corn, bacon, salt, sugar, molasses, tobacco, clotliing, 
 medicine, hoes, and plough-iron. Even if he had the same capital to 
 spare, he would live in far less comfort than the lowan, because of 
 the want of local shops and efficient systems of public conveyance 
 Avhich cheapen the essentials of comfort for the latter." — Texas, 
 pp. viii.-x. 
 
■JO UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. 
 
 I'oiiduct of M ^^ivL-n amount of industry is greater 
 than ill cuiintrifs wlu-rr lahour is free, capital never- 
 theless in Mich countries is exceptionally scarce. 
 jr.. Ill tliis state of tliiiiffs result two phenomena 
 wliich niav be regarded as typical of industry carried 
 on by slaves — the magnitude of the ])hintations and 
 the indebtedness of tlie planters. \\'herever negro 
 slavery has ]>ri'vailed in modern times, these two 
 ])henomena will be found to exist. They form the 
 burthen of most of what has been written on our 
 W i-t Indian I>laiids while under the regime of 
 slavery ; and they are not less prominently the cha- 
 racteristic features of the industrial system of the 
 Southern States. " Our wealthier planters," says Mr. 
 Clay, " are buying out their poorer neighbours, ex- 
 tending their plantations, and adding to their slave 
 force. The "wealthy few, who are able to live on 
 smaller [irofits, and to give their blasted fields some 
 lest, are thus pushing off the many who are merely 
 independent." At the same time these wealthier 
 jtlanters are, it is ^\cll known, very generally in 
 debt, the forthcoming crops being fur the most part 
 mortgaged to Northern capitalists, who make the 
 needful advances, and Avho thus become the instru- 
 ments by which a coiisidei'able proportion of the 
 slave laboui" of tlie South is maintained. The ten- 
 <lcncy of things, thercfoi-e, in >la\c countries is to a 
 Mi-y uncfjual di>tribulioii of weahli. The Jai'o'C 
 
WASTE LANDS IN SLAVE COUNTRIES. 7 I 
 
 capitalists, having a steady advantage over their 
 smaller competitors, engross, with the progress of 
 time, a larger and larger proportion of the aggre- 
 gate wealth of the country, and gradually acquire 
 the control of its collective industry. Meantime, 
 amongst the ascendant class a condition of general 
 indebtedness prevails. 
 
 But we may carry our deductions from the 
 economic character of slavery somewhat further. 
 It has been seen that slave cultivation can only 
 maintain itself where the soil is rich, while it pro- 
 duces a steady deterioration of the soils on which it 
 is employed. This being so, it is evident that in 
 countries of average fertility but a small portion 
 of the whole area will be available for this mode of 
 cultivation, and that this portion is ever becoming 
 smaller, since, as the process of deterioration pro- 
 ceeds, more soils are constantly reaching that con- 
 dition in Avhich servile labour ceases to be profit- 
 able. AVhat, then, is to become of the remainder — 
 that large portion of the country which is either na- 
 turally too poor for cultivation by slaves, or which 
 has been made so by its continued employment ? 
 It will be thought, perhaps, that this may be worked 
 by free labour, and that by a judicious combination 
 of both forms of industry the whole surface of the 
 country may be brought to the highest point of 
 productiveness. But this is a moral impossibility : 
 
•Jl WASTE LANDS IN SLAVE COUNTRIES. 
 
 it i> prccliKk'tl li\ what, we shall liiid, is a car- 
 dinal tt-atmv in thu structure of slave societies — 
 their exclusiveiiess. In tree countries industry is 
 the path to indejiendence, to wealth, to social dis- 
 tinction, and is tlierefore held in honour ; in slave 
 countries it is the Nocation of the slave, and becomes 
 therefore a badge of degradation. The free labourer, 
 consequently, who respects his calling and desires to 
 be respected, instinctively shuns a country where 
 industry is discredited, where he cannot engage in 
 th»»sr i»ursuits by which wealth and independence 
 are to be gained without placing himself on a level 
 with the lowest of mankind. Free and slave labour 
 are, therefore, incapable of being blended together 
 in the same system. AVhere slavery exists it ex- 
 cludes all other forms of industrial life. " The tra- 
 veller," says De Tocqueville, " who floats down the 
 current of the Ohio, may be said to sail between 
 liberty and servitude. Upon the left bank of the 
 stream the population is sparse ; from time to time 
 one descries a troop of slaves loitering in the half. 
 desert fields ; the primaeval forest recurs at every 
 turn ; society seems to be asleep, man to be idle, 
 and nature alone offers a scene of activity and of 
 life. From the riLdit bank, on the contrary, a con- 
 In-td huin is jieard which proclaims the presence of 
 industry ; the fields are co\ ei'ed with abundant 
 iiarvests ; the elegance of the dwellings announces 
 
WASTE LANDS IN SLAVE COUNTRIES. 73 
 
 the taste and activity of tlie labourer ; and man ap- 
 pears to be in the enjoyment of that wealth and 
 contentment which is the reward of labour. Upon 
 the left bank of the Ohio labour is confounded with 
 the idea of slavery, upon the right bank it is identi- 
 fied with that of prosperity and improvement ; on 
 the one side it is degraded, on the other it is 
 honoured ; on the former territory no white labour- 
 ers can be found, for they would be afraid of assimi- 
 lating themselves to the negroes ; on the latter no 
 one is idle, for the white population extends its 
 activity and its intelligence to every kind of employ- 
 ment. Thus the men whose task it is to cultivate 
 the rich soil of Kentucky are ignorant and luke- 
 ^varm ; whilst those who are enlightened either do 
 nothing, or pass over into the State of Ohio, where 
 they may work without dishonour."* 
 
 * Demotracy in America, vol. ii. pp. 222, 223. "The negroes," 
 says IVIr. Olmsted, '• are a degraded people — degraded not merely 
 by position, but actually immoral, low-lived ; without healthy am- 
 bition ; but little influenced by high moral considerations ; and, in 
 regard to labour, not at all affected by regard for duty. This is 
 universally recognized, and debasing fear, not cheering hope, is in 
 general allowed to be their only stimulant to exertion. . . IsTow, 
 let the white labourer come here from the North or from Europe — 
 his nature demands a social life — shall he associate with the poor, 
 slavish, degraded, low-lived, despised, unambitious negi-o, vnih. 
 whom labour and punishment are almost synonymous 1 or shall he 
 be the friend and companion of the white man, in whose mind 
 labour is habitually associated with no ideas of duty, responsibility, 
 
74 SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 Ai:ri(iiltiiiT, tluTeloiv, when curried on l)y slaves, 
 ]h-i]\'j: 1»v a snre law restricted to the most fertile 
 jtortioiis of tlie land, and no other Ibrni of sys- 
 tematic indnstry beinir possible where slavery is 
 estal»li>lied, it happens that there are in all slave 
 countries vast districts, becoming, under the deterio- 
 rating effects of slave industry, constantly larger, 
 which are wholly surrendered to nature, and re- 
 main for ever as wilderness. This is a charac- 
 teristic feature in the political economy of the 
 Slave States of the South, and is attended with 
 
 comfort, luxury, cultivation, or elevation and expansion either of 
 miud or estate, as it is where the ordinary labourer is a free man 
 — free to use his labour as a means of obtaining all these and all 
 else that is to be respected, honoured, or envied in the world ? As- 
 sociating with either or both, is it not inevitable that he will be 
 rapidly demoralized — that he Avill soon learn to hate labour, give as 
 little of it for his liire as he can, become base, cowardly, faithless — 
 ' worse than a nigger' 1 . . . When we reflect how little the 
 great body of our working men are consciously much affected by 
 moral considerations in their movements, one is tempted to suspect 
 that the Almighty hius endowed the great transatlantic migration 
 with a new instinct, by which it is unconsciously repelled from the 
 demoralizing and debilitating influence of slavery, as migi-ating birds 
 have sometimes been thought to be from pestilential regions. I 
 know not else how to account for the remarkable indisposition to be 
 sent to Virginia which I have seen manifested by poor Irishmen 
 and Germans, who could have known, 1 think, no luore of the evils 
 of slavery to the wliites in the Slave States, than the slaves them- 
 selves know of tlio eflect of conscription in France, and who cer- 
 tainly could have been governed by no considerations of self- 
 respect." 
 
THE ' MEAN WHITES.' 75 
 
 social consequences of the most important kind. 
 For the tracts thus left, or made, desolate become in 
 time the resort of a numerous horde of people, who, 
 too poor to keep slaves and too proud to work, pre- 
 fer a vagrant and precarious life spent in the desert 
 to engaging in occupations which would associate 
 them with the slaves whom they despise. In the 
 Southern States no less than five millions of human 
 beings are now said to exist in this manner in a con- 
 dition little removed from savage life, eking out a 
 wretched subsistence by hunting, by fishing, by 
 hiring themselves out for occasional jobs, by plun- 
 der. Combining the restlessness and contempt for 
 regular industry peculiar to the savage with the 
 vices of the proletaire of civilized communities, these 
 people make up a class at once degraded and danger- 
 ous, and, constantly reinforced as they are by all that 
 is idle, worthless, and lawless among the population 
 of the neighbouring states, form an inexhaustible pre- 
 serve of ruffianism, ready at hand for all the worst 
 purposes of Southern ambition. The planters com- 
 plain of these people for their idleness, for corrupting 
 their slaves, for their thievish propensities ; but they 
 cannot dispense with them ; for, in truth, they per- 
 form an indispensable function in the economy of 
 slave societies, of which they are at once the victims 
 and the principal supports. It is from their ranks 
 that those filibustering expeditions are recruited 
 
-6 Till-: ' mi: AX whites. 
 
 wliicli \\-d\v \k'vi\ tnimd su L'flV'ctivc nu iiistruiiuiit in 
 extemliii^^ tliL' domain ot"tlK' Slave Power ; they liir- 
 iiish the Border KufHaiis wlio in the eolonization strug- 
 gle with the Northern States contend witli Freesoilers 
 on tile Territories; and it is to their antipathy to the 
 negroes that the i)lanters seeiirely trust for repres- 
 sing every attempt at servile insurrection. Such are 
 the " mean whites" or " white trash" of the Southern 
 States. They comprise several local subdivisions, 
 the " crackers," the " sandhillers," the " clay-eaters," 
 and man\- more. The class is ncjt peculiar to any 
 one localitv, but is tlie invariable outgi'owth of negro 
 slavery wherever it has raised its head in modern 
 times. It may Ik- seen in the new state of Texas* 
 as well as in the old settled districts of Virginia, the 
 Carolinas, and Georgia; in the AVest India Islandsf 
 nu less than on the Continent. In the states of the 
 Confederacy it comprises, as I have said, five millions 
 of human beings — about seven-tenths of the whole 
 wliite i)Opulation. 
 
 Tlie industry of the Slave States, we have seen, is 
 exclusively a^irieultural ; and the mode of airricul- 
 ture i)ursued in them has been represented as partial, 
 I'ci'functory, and exhaustive. It must, howevi-r, be 
 admittrd that, to a certain extent, this tlescriptiun is 
 ap|>lieable U) the industrial condition of all new 
 
 * ( )liii.stctrs Tixns, ]>. xvii. ; iinto. 
 
 i Mi'iival».''8 Colonization and tlu Colonim, p. 83 ; lu't^', new cd. 
 
FREE INDUSTRY IN NEW COUNTRIES. 77 
 
 countries, and will find illustrations in the western 
 regions of the Free States ; and it may therefore 
 occur to the reader that the economical condi- 
 tions which I have described are rather the conse- 
 quence of the recent settlement of the societies 
 where they prevail than specihc results of the 
 system of slavery. But it is easy to show that 
 this view of the case is fallacious, and proceeds 
 from confounding what is essential in slave-industry 
 with an accidental and temporary feature in the 
 industrial career of free communities. The settlers 
 in new countries, whether they be slave-holders or 
 free peasants, naturally fix in the first instance on 
 the richest and most conveniently situated soils, 
 and find it more profitable to cultivate these lightly, 
 availing themselves to the utmost of the resources 
 which nature offers, than to force cultivation on 
 inferior soils after the manner of high farming in 
 old countries. So far the cases are similar. But 
 here lies the difference. The labour of free peasants, 
 though of course more productive on rich than on 
 inferior soils, is not necessarily confined to the 
 former ; whereas this is the case with the labour 
 of slaves. According, therefore, as free peasants 
 multiply, after the best soils have been appropri- 
 ated, the second best are taken into cultivation ; 
 and as they multiply still more, cultivation becomes 
 still more general, until ultimately all the cultivable 
 
78 FREE INDUSTRY IN NKW COUNTRIES. 
 
 portiniis of the country arc brouglit within the 
 domain oi' industi-w IWit as slaves multiply, their 
 uiastors cannot have recourse to inlerior soils : tlicy 
 must lind for them new soils : the mass of the coun- 
 tr\-, tliereibre, remains uncultivated, aud the popu- 
 lation increases only by dispci-sion. A<rain, al- 
 thou^rh the mode of cultivation pursued l)y free 
 peasants in new lands is generally far from what 
 would be approved of by the scientific farmers of 
 ohl countries, still it does not exhaust the soil in the 
 same manner as eultivation carried on by slaves. 
 "I hold myself justified," says Mr. Olmsted, " in as- 
 serting that the natural elements of wealth in the 
 soil of Texas will have been more exhausted in ten 
 years, and with them the rewards offered by Provi- 
 dence to labour will have been more lessened, than 
 witliout slavery would have been the case in two 
 liundred." . . . "After two hundred years' occupa- 
 tion of similar soils by a free-labouring community, 
 I luive seen no such evidences of wtaste as in Texas I 
 liave after ten years of slavery.''* ..." Waste of soil 
 and injudicious application of labour are common 
 in the agriculture of the North ; . . . but nowhere 
 is tlic land with what is attached to it now less pro- 
 mising and suitable for the residence of a refined 
 and civilized ])eople than it was before the opera- 
 tiwii>, which have been attended with the alleged 
 
 • Olinfttcd's Texas, p. xiv. 
 
COMPARED WITH SLAA'^E INDUSTRY. 79 
 
 waste, were commenced." The same is not true of 
 Virginia or the Carolinas, or of any other district 
 where slavery has predominated for an historic pe- 
 riod. " The land in these cases is positively less capa- 
 ble of sustaining a dense civilized community than 
 if no labour at all had been expended upon it."* 
 The superficial and careless mode of agriculture pur- 
 sued by free peasants in new countries is, in short, 
 accidental and temporary, the result of the excep- 
 tional circumstances in which they are placed, and 
 gives place to a better system as population increases 
 and inferior soils are brought under the plough ; but 
 the superficiality and exhaustiveness of agriculture 
 carried on by slaves are essential and unalterable 
 qualities, rendering all cultivation impossible but 
 that which is carried on upon the richest soils, and 
 irremovable by the growth of population, since 
 they are an effectual bar to this. 
 
 My position is, that in slave communities agricul- 
 ture is substantiallyf the sole occupation, while 
 this single pursuit is prematurely arrested in its 
 development, never reaching those soils of secondary 
 
 * Olmsted's Texas, p. xviii. ; note. 
 
 t I do not mean to assert tliat there is no mechanical or manu- 
 facturing industry carried on in the Slave States, In some of the 
 principal towns, no doubt, there is, though to a limited extent, 
 and here it is chiefly the result of JN'orthern enterprise. What 
 I intend to say is, that the amount of industry of tliis kind is 
 so small, that in speaking of the resources of national wealth, it 
 need not be taken account of. 
 
8o FUEE INDUSTRY IN NEW COUNTRIES 
 
 • juality wliich, under a system of free industry, 
 wi.uld, with the fn'OANth of soeiety, be brought under 
 cultivation ; and of tliis statement the industrial 
 history of tlu- Vwi- and Slave States forms one 
 continued illustration. The state of Virginia, for 
 example, is the longest settled state in the Union, 
 and for general productive purposes, one of the 
 most richly endowed. It possesses a fertile soil, a 
 genial climate ; it is rich in mineral productions, 
 in iron, in copper, in coal — the coal fields of 
 \ irginia being amongst the most extensive in 
 the world, and the coal of superior quality ; it 
 is approached by one of the noblest bays ; it is 
 watered b}- numerous rivers, some of them na- 
 vigable for considerable distances, and most of 
 them capable of affording abundance of water 
 power for manufacturing purposes.* With such 
 advantages, Virginia, a region as large as England, 
 could not fail, in a career of two hundred and fifty 
 years, under a system of free industry, to become a 
 state of great wealth, population, and power. Iler 
 mineral and manufacturing, as well as her agricul- 
 tural, resources would be brought into requisition ; 
 her population would increase with rapidity, and 
 become concentrated in large towns ; her agricul- 
 ture would be extended over the whole surface 
 of the countiy. IWit what is the result of the 
 
 • Olinsted's Seaboard Slave States, pp. 165, 166. 
 
COMrARED WITH SLAVE INDUSTRY. 8 1 
 
 experiment under a slave regime ? After a na- 
 tional life of two hundred and fifty years the 
 Avhole free population is still under one million 
 souls.* Eight-tenths of her industry are devoted 
 to agriculture ; and the progress which has been 
 made in this, the principal pursuit, may be esti- 
 mated by the significant fact, that the average price 
 per acre of cultivated land in Virginia is no more 
 than eight dollars. Contrast this with the progress 
 made in fifty years by the free state of Ohio — a 
 state smaller in area than Virginia, and inferior in 
 variety of resources. Ohio was admitted as a state 
 into the Union in 1802, and in 1850 its population 
 numbered nearly two millions, f Like Virginia it 
 is chiefly agricultural, though not from the same 
 causes, Ohio being from its resources and internal 
 position adapted in a peculiar manner to agricul- 
 ture, while the resources of Virginia would fit it 
 equally for manufactures or commerce ; but, while 
 the average price of cultivated land per acre in 
 Virginia, after an agricultural career of two hun- 
 dred and fifty years, is eight dollars, the average 
 price in Ohio, after a career of fifty years, is 
 
 * The actual numbers were in 1850 : — 
 
 Whites ... ... 894,800 
 
 Free coloured ... 54,333 
 
 Total free ... 949,133 
 t The actual numbers were, 1,980,329. 
 
82 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SLAVE STATES 
 
 twenty dollars. The eontrnst will of course only 
 It.ct.mc more striki^L^ il", instead of a free state 
 of fift\' years' nrpowth, we take one more nearly 
 on a i>:ir in the duration of its career with the 
 slave state with wliich it is compared. New 
 dersey, for example, was founded about the same 
 time as Virginia. Its climate, Mr. Olmsted tells us, 
 dilfirs imperceptibly from that of Virginia, owing 
 to its vicinity to the ocean, while its soil is decidedly 
 less fertile ; but such progress has been made in 
 bringing that soil under cultivation that, against 
 eight dollars per acre — the average price of land in 
 N'irginia — there is to be set in Xew Jersey an average 
 of fort3'-four dollars.* Let us take another example. 
 New York and Massachusetts are also, in relation 
 
 * Olmsted's Seaboard Slave States, p. 171. In connexion witli 
 this (.[uostion 'Mr. "Weston {Progress of Slavery) gives the following 
 striking statistics, p. 17 : — " The following were the prices per acre 
 in the states and counties named, and the per centage of slaves in 
 Kentucky and the counties named : — 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Indiana ... 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 Ohio counties adjoining Kentucky 
 
 Kentucky counties adjoining Ohio 
 
 Indiana counties adjoining Kentucky ... 
 
 Kentucky counties adjoining Indiana ... 
 
 Illinois counties adjacent to Kentucky ... 
 
 Kentucky counties iidjacent to Illinois... 
 
 Value 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 per acre. 
 
 o/slav<.t. 
 
 $19-99 
 
 
 \o'66 
 
 
 7-99 
 
 
 9-03 
 
 22 
 
 32-34 
 
 
 18-27 
 
 10 
 
 ii'34 
 
 
 1044 
 
 21 
 
 4-65 
 
 
 4'54 
 
 18" 
 
TREMATURELY ARRESTED. 83 
 
 to Virginia, contemporary states. In agricultin-al 
 resources they are greatly its inferiors, the soil of 
 Massachusetts in particular being sterile and its 
 climate harsh. What then has been the relative 
 progress made by these three states in bringing 
 their respective soils under cultivation ? In Vir- 
 ginia, 265 per cent, of her whole area had, in 1852, 
 been brought under tillage ; in New York, 41 per 
 cent. ; and in Massachusetts, 42 J per cent. But 
 these facts do not convey their full lesson till we 
 add that, in bringing 26^ per cent, of her soil 
 under cultivation, Virginia employed eight-tenths 
 of her industrial population, while New York and 
 Massachusetts, in bringing under cultivation much 
 larger proportions of their areas, employed but six 
 and four-tenths of their respective populations.* It 
 thus appears that Virginia, with great agricultural 
 resources and a population almost wholly devoted 
 to agriculture, has been far outstripped in her own 
 peculiar branch of industry by states of inferior 
 resources, and whose industry has been largely or 
 principally devoted to other pursuits. The same 
 
 * These facts are given in an '* Address to the Farmers of Vir- 
 ginia," by the Virginia /State Agncultural Society, which, after 
 having been twice read, approved, and adopted, was finally rejected 
 on the ground that " there were admissions in it which would feed 
 the fanaticism of the abolitionists;" but "no one argued against it on 
 the ground of the falsity or inaccuracy of its returns." It is quoted 
 at length by Olmsted, Seaboard Slave States, pp., 167-170. 
 
84 NET RESULTS OF SLAVE INDUSTRY. 
 
 c.mparison mi^^ht be continued throughout the 
 otluT Free and Shive states witli anah)o:ous results. 
 The c^fncral truth is, that in tlie Free States, 
 wliere external eirciinistanees are favourable, in- 
 (histrv is distril»uted over many occupations — manu- 
 lactuns, mining, commerce, agriculture ; while in 
 the Slave States, however various be the resources 
 of tlie countrv. it is substantially confined to one — 
 a"-ricuUure, and in this one is prematurely arrested, 
 never reaching that stage of development which in 
 countries where labour is free is early attained. 
 
 The reader is now in a position to understand 
 the kind of economic success wliieh slavery has 
 achieved. It consists in the rapid extraction from 
 tho soil of a country of the most easily obtained 
 portion of its wealth by a process which exhausts the 
 soil, and consigns to waste all the other resources of 
 tlie country where it is practised. To state the case 
 with more particularity — by proscribing manufac- 
 tures and commerce, and confining agi'iculture within 
 narrow bounds, ])y rendering inipossil)le the rise of 
 a fvvQ peasantry, by checking the growth of popu- 
 Ijition — in a word, by blasting every germ from 
 which national well-being and general civilization 
 may spring — at this cost, with the further condi- 
 tion of encroaching, thi'ough a reckless system of 
 culture, on the stores designed by Providence for 
 future generations, sla\ ery may undoubtedly for a 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SLAVE SOCIETY. 85 
 
 time be made conducive to the pecuniary gain of 
 the class who keep slaves. Such is the net result 
 of advantage which .slavery, as an economic system, 
 is capable of yielding. To the full credit of all 
 that is involved in this admission the institution is 
 fairly entitled. 
 
 The constitution of a slave society, it has been 
 seen, is sufficiently simple : it resolves itself into three 
 classes, broadly distinguished from each other, and 
 connected by no common interest — the slaves on 
 whom devolves all the regular industry, the slave- 
 holders who reap all its fruits, and an idle and 
 lawless rabble who live disjDersed over vast plains 
 in a condition little removed from absolute barbar- 
 ism. These form the constituent elements of the 
 society of which the Slave Power is the political 
 representative. What the nature of that power is, 
 now that we have ascertained the elements out of 
 which it springs, we can have little difficulty in 
 determining. When the whole wealth of a country 
 is monopolized by a thirtieth part of its population, 
 while the remainder are by physical or moral causes 
 consigned to compulsory poverty and ignorance ; 
 when the persons composing the privileged thirtieth 
 part are all engaged in pursuits of the same kind, 
 subject to the influence of the same moral ideas, 
 and identified with the maintenance of the same 
 species of property — in a society so constituted, 
 
86 CONSTlTlTloN OF SLAVE SOCIETY 
 
 |M.litical pnwiT will ul" iR-ccssity reside M'itli those 
 ill whom tciitre the elements of such power— wealth, 
 knowledge, and intelligence — the small minority for 
 whose exclusive benefit the system exists. The 
 politv of such a soeiety must thus, in essence, be 
 an oligarchy, whatever be the particular mould in 
 which it is cast. Nor is this all. A society so 
 organized tends to develop with a peculiar intensity 
 the distinctive vices of an oligarchy. In a country 
 of free labour, whatever be the form of government 
 to which it is subject, the pursuits of industry are 
 various. Various interests, therefore, take root, and 
 parties grow up which, regarding national questions 
 from various points of view, become centres of oppo- 
 sition, whether against the undue pretensions of any 
 one of their number, or against those of a single 
 ruler. It is not so in the Slave States. That variety 
 of interests which springs from the individual im- 
 pulses of a free population does not here exist. The 
 elements ol" a political opposition are wanting. 
 There i> but <»nc pai-ty,* but one set of men who are 
 
 * There is one exception to this statement. Between the breed- 
 in;,' ami working states a dillerence of interest has been developed 
 which ha-s rosultod in the formation of two jjarties within the Slave 
 suites. But (iis will horcal'tt-r he sliown) this dillVrence of interest 
 hivs never been sufficient to produce any serious discordance among 
 tint politicians of the South. The sympathies which bind the 
 breeding and working states together are f;ir stronger than any 
 interosts which separate them ; and in tho main they have alwaj's 
 
 ted as a single party. 
 
ESSENTIALLY OLIGARCHICAL. 87 
 
 capable of acting together in political concert. The 
 rest is an undisciplined rabble. From this state of 
 things the only possible result is that which we 
 find — a despotism, in the last degree unscrupulous 
 and impatient of control, wielded by the wealthy 
 few. Now it is this power which for half a century 
 has exercised paramount sway in the councils of the 
 Union. It is the men educated in the ideas of this 
 system who have filled the highest offices of State, 
 who have been the representatives of their country 
 to European Powers, and who, by their position and 
 the influence they have commanded, have given the 
 tone to the public morality of the nation. The de- 
 terioration of the institutions and of the character 
 of the people of the United States is now very com- 
 monly taken for granted in this country. The fact 
 may be so ; so far as the South is concerned I be- 
 lieve, and shall endeavour to prove, that it unques- 
 tionably is so. But it is very important that we 
 should understand to what cause this deterioration 
 is due. There are writers who would have us be- 
 lieve that it is but the natural result of democratic 
 institutions working through the Federal system ; 
 and for this view a plausible case may be easily 
 made out. Democratic institutions have admittedly 
 exercised a powerful influence in forming the Ame- 
 rican character and in determining the present condi- 
 tion of the United States. It is only necessary, 
 
88 nAXKllL INTLUENXE OF SLAVE OLIGARCHY 
 
 thiTrtni'c, to Itriii;: Tlii> point strongly into view in 
 tlosf connexion with ;ill that is most objectionable 
 in tin- i»ul»li«- morals, and all that is most (liscredi- 
 taldc in the wwux history, of the Union, keeping 
 ciirulully out of sight the existence in the political 
 system of institutions tlii' reverse of democratic, and 
 avoiding all reference to the cardinal fact, that it is 
 these and not the democratic institutions of the 
 North wliich, almost since its establishment, have 
 been the paramount pcnver in the Union, — to leave 
 tile impression that everything that has been made 
 matter of reproach in transatlantic politics has 
 been due to democracy and to democracy alone, -f 
 According to this method of theorising, the abstrac- 
 tion of Florida, the annexation of Texas, the filibus- 
 tering expeditions of Lopez and AValker, the attempts 
 noon Cuba, have no connexion with the a2:":ressive 
 ambition of the Slave Power : they are onl}' proofs 
 of the rapacious spirit of democracy armed with the 
 strength of a powerful federation. It is, indeed, 
 quite astounding to observe the boldness with which 
 this argument is s(mietimes handled. One would 
 have thought that an advocate of the Southern 
 cause would at least have shown some hesitancy in 
 albnling to an attack made b\- a Southern bully, on 
 the ilo(tr of the Senate lioiise. Upon one oi" tile most 
 ace(»inpli>he<l >l;ite>nieii nf the North. Iliat attack 
 \\as in ;dl ciremiistances plaiiih- hrandcfl uitli the 
 
FALSELY CHARGED ON DEMOCRACY. 89 
 
 marks of its origin. It was committed by a slave- 
 holder, acting as the champion of slaveholders, in 
 revenge for an anti-slavery speech ; it was charac- 
 terized by that mingled treachery, cowardice, and 
 brutality which are only to be found in societies 
 reared in the presence of slavery ; it was adopted 
 and applauded by the whole people of the South, 
 recognized by testimonials, and rewarded by gifts: 
 yet this act is deliberately put forward as an exam- 
 ple of the " irreverence for justice " which is pro- 
 duced by democratic institutions, and is employed 
 to prepossess our minds in favour of the Southern 
 cause I* The present writer is far from being an 
 
 * Spence's American Union, pp. 6^-6, 74-5. Mr. Spence states 
 the act, omitting to mention the occasion, or whether the actors were 
 Northern or Southern men ; but in the same paragraph, having al- 
 luded to the case of Mr. Sickles, he adds that the man " who com- 
 mitted a deliberate and relentless murder in open day .... 
 is now a Brigadier- General in the Northern army." Is the mention 
 of the criminal's origin in one case, and its suppression in the other, 
 an accident 1 
 
 In a later portion of the vokime a still more striking instance 
 occurs of Mr. Spence's candour. "A French writer, Raymond, 
 comments upon the singular fact that whilst between England and 
 France but one serious quarrel has occurred siuce 1815, there have 
 arisen during the same period twelve or thirteen most serious diffi- 
 culties between the United States and ourselves. . . . We 
 have had minor wars with China, conducted on the principle of 
 throwing open to the world every advantage obtained by ourselves. 
 On one occasion we invited the co-operation of the American Go- 
 vernment, but in vain, and every opportunity was seized to thwart 
 
90 EACH lM{IN(irLK TO BE TESTED 
 
 atliiiiivr ut' dciiiucracy :is it exists in the Xortlicrii 
 States; but, wliatcvcr hv xhv iiRrits or dL'im.'i'its of 
 that torin of ;j:oVL'riiiiuiit, it is desirable tliat it 
 
 i»ur policy. Even tl»e Chinese know llu-y may expect to see the 
 flag of aiiy other power in union with our own, but never that of 
 America. Thei-e wii.'*, indeed, a moment when our men were falling 
 under a nuudi-ruus lire, that for once an American was heard to de- 
 clare that * blood wiu-^ thicker than wuttr.' It would ill become us 
 to forget the noble conduct of Commodore Tatiudl on that occasion. 
 He was a Soutlierner,and Is now a 'traitor and a rcbel'" (pix 294-296). 
 Let the reader note the art with which the facts are here manipulated. 
 AVe are asked to ivfu.se our .symjcitliics to the North, liccause, .since 
 1S15 we have had frecpu-nt ditlicultics with the Ignited States 
 (which the North now represents) — the circumstance that durmg al- 
 most the whole of this jjcriod the Government of the United States 
 was in the luuids of Southern statesmen being suppressed as of no 
 importance in the case. On the other hand, a single instance in 
 which a Southerner has performed an act of a friendly nature towards 
 Great Britiiin is brought prominently forward as a gi-ound for giving 
 our sympathies to the South. It is evident that the contrast thus 
 instituted between the friendly conduct of Commodore Tatnall— a 
 Southerner — and the hostile spirit which had just been commented 
 on a-s manift'stcd by the Government of the Union, can, taken in 
 connexion with the general tenor of the argument, have no other 
 effect than to leave readers unaiipiainted with the facts (a rather 
 numerous tla.ss unfortunately in this country) under the impression 
 that, OS the friendly demonstration was the act of a Southerner, so 
 the liostile manifestations proceedcid from the North. The sjurit 
 e\inced in tins pa.ssage, which is merely a specimen of the main ar- 
 gument of the work IVom which it is taken, is nil the more romark- 
 ablo in a writer who in his preface bespeaks the confidence of his 
 n;uders on the ground that " pei-sonal con.siderations and valued 
 frii-ndships incline him withojit exception to the Northern side," 
 which lie has been comi»elled relucUnitly to abandon by "convic- 
 tions forced upon the mind )>\ faits Jiiiii reasonings." 
 
BY ITS ruorEK riiuiTs. 91 
 
 should be judged by its own fruits, and not by the 
 fruits of a system which is its oj^posite — a system 
 which, in phice of conferring political power on the 
 majority of tlie people, gives it, free from all con- 
 trol, to a small minority Avhose interests are not 
 only not identical with those of their fellow-citizens, 
 but are directly opposed to theirs. Democracy, 
 beyond all doubt, has been a powerful influence in 
 moulding the character of the Americans in the 
 Northern States ; it would be absurd to deny this ; 
 but it would be no less absurd, and would be still 
 more flagrantly in defiance of the most conspicuous 
 facts of the case, to deny that that character has 
 also been profoundly modified by the influence of 
 Southern institutions, acting through the Federal 
 government, in the persons of Southern men — insti- 
 tutions which I repeat are the reverse of democratic. 
 It is the Slave Power, and not the democracy of the 
 North, which for half a century has been dominant 
 in the Union. It is this Power which has directed 
 its public policy ; which has guided its intercourse 
 Avith foreign nations, conducted its diplomacy, regu- 
 lated its internal legislation, and which, by working 
 on its hopes and fears through the unscrupulous 
 use of an enormous patronage, has exercised an un- 
 bounded sway over the minds of the whole people. 
 Whatever other agencies may have contributed to 
 shape the course of American politics, this at least 
 
92 CllAHAlTKK OF TIIK SLAVE rOWEK. 
 
 Ikis bcL-ii a loading' oiio; and wliatevcr 1)l' the politi- 
 < al tliaractrr ul" tliu citizens, inr that tliaractcr tliis 
 system must he lichl in a )»rinrij)al degree respon- 
 
 Sihh'. 
 
 lo sum uj) in a few words the general results of 
 tlie fore'^oiu'X discussion: — the Slave Power — that 
 ]»t»wer which has long held the helm of government 
 in tlie Union — is, under the forms of a democracy, 
 an uncontrolled despotism, wielded by a compact 
 oligarcli}'. Supported by the labour of foui" niil- 
 li(»ns dt" shives, it rules a population of five millions 
 «it whites — a population ignorant, averse to syste- 
 matic industry, and prone to irregular adventure. 
 A system of society more formidable f(jr e\ il, more 
 menacing to the best interests of the liuman race, it 
 is difficult to conceive. 
 
93 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TENDENCIES OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 In what direction is slave society, as presented in the 
 States of the Confederation, moving ? Towards a 
 higher civilization, or towards barbarism ? On 
 the answer to this question, I apprehend, will prin- 
 cipally depend the degree of indulgence which we 
 may be disposed to extend to modern slavery. If 
 the form of society springing from the institution 
 be found to be but an incident of a certain stao-e of 
 human progress, a shell of barbarism from which 
 nations gradually work themselves free with the 
 development of their moral and material life, an evil 
 which will disappear by a spontaneous process — we 
 shall probably be disposed to regard the institution 
 with considerable leniency, to deprecate schemes 
 for its overthrow, and, perhaps, in certain cases, 
 even to look with favour on j)lans for its extension. 
 If, on the other hand, it appear that the system 
 is essentially retrograde in its character, contrived 
 so as to arrest and throw back the development, 
 moral and material, of the peo2:)le on wdiom it is 
 imposed, and to hold them in a condition of per- 
 manent barbarism, the sentiments with which we 
 
94 IN WHAT DIRECTION MOVING? 
 
 sliall rr^Mi'd it, :i>^ wtU :i^ "ur policy towards tl»o 
 (•(.miitrii'S whirli upluikl it, will lu- of a very diftV-rriit 
 kind. 
 
 riius, to '/\\v the |»oiiiT a jtractical illustration, the 
 mod.' of draliiiLr with ^rcxico is at present a most 
 perplexint; question i'or European statesmen. Tn 
 tlie present condition (»f that conntry — the prey of 
 contending factions, whose alternate excesses pre- 
 vent tlie growtli ofsteadv industry, deter European 
 settlement, and dtprixc the woi'ld of the heuelit 
 which its <:reat natural resources are ealeulati'd to 
 confer — almost anv chancre' would he a cliange for 
 the better. The establishment of an effective go- 
 vernment of some kind, of a power capable of pre- 
 serving the lives and properties of the inhabitants, 
 is a matter of prime necessity, without wliieli tlie 
 lirst foundations of improvement cannot be laiil. 
 Now the most obvious method of effecting this pur- 
 pose woidd be to hautl the country over to the 
 Southern ronfederation ;* and this arrangement 
 would eiitirclv fall in with the views of the leaders 
 of that bodv. r»ut Mexico, whatever be the vices 
 of its political system, is a state in which labour 
 is free ; whcrcas, if annexed to the dominions of 
 the Southern Confederation, it would at once be- 
 
 • Tliifl is not a mere fanciful liypotbcsis. The plan has been 
 8Uggf'stc<l in tcmw sulliciently unaiiil)ignous hy the Thms. Spc a 
 K-adiug article of the Times, 3i8t July, iS(^)i. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION. 95 
 
 come the abode of slaver^'. Nevertheless it can 
 scarcelv be doubted that this annexation would, in 
 the first instance, be attended with some advantages. 
 For the chieftains whose combined weakness and 
 ^-iolence now keep the country in constant affitation 
 there would be substituted a strong government — a 
 government incompatible, indeed, with freedom of 
 speech or writing, or with security of life or pro- 
 perty for such as ventured to dissent from its prin- 
 ciples, but still able to preserve order after a certain 
 fashion — able to protect slaveholders in the enjoy- 
 ment of their property, and to prevent revolutions. 
 Cnder such a government productive industry might 
 be expected to start forward with vigour ; those 
 products which are capable of being raised with 
 profit by slave labour, and amongst these cotton, 
 would be multiplied and cheapened in the markets 
 of the world ; the position of Mexican bondholders 
 would be improved. Such would probably be the 
 immediate effect of the annexation. But what 
 would be its permanent consequences ? To answer 
 this question we must resolve the problem with 
 which we started. We mast determine the direc- 
 tion in which society in the Southern States is 
 moving. If the " peculiar institution " be essenti- 
 ally temporary and provisional in its character, 
 if it be not incompatible with the ultimate eman- 
 cipation of those on whom it Is imposed, as well 
 
q6 PRESl'MPTinx IN FAVOUR OF :siODFI{N' SLAVFKY 
 
 as with tlit^ Continued j)r<>;_'Tcss of the people among 
 ulioni it is estaWislicMl, then tin' permanent as well 
 as immediate, eonsequences of the extension of 
 Southern rule over Mexico, notwithstanding that it 
 would be attended with the introduction of slavery 
 into a country where labour at present is free, 
 might perhaps be thought to be, on the whole, 
 advantageous. liuT, if the institution of the South 
 be a pt-rnianent tiiraldom, and if the form of society 
 to whirh it gives birth l)e of a kind effectually to 
 arrest the growth of the whole people among whom 
 it is planted — under these circumstances, to hand 
 over Mexico to the Southern Confederacy would l)e 
 nothing less than, for the sake of certain material 
 advantages to be reaped by the present generation, 
 to seal the doom of a noble country — a country 
 whicli, under better auspices, might become a }>er- 
 ennial source of benefits for all future time, and a 
 new centre of American civilization. 
 
 It is therefore of extreme importance to ascer- 
 tain the tendencies of these slave societies, and what 
 j)rospects they hold out of future advancement to 
 tl»e people who compose them. And, in approach- 
 ing this question, it at once occurs that slavery is 
 not a new fact in the woi'ld. It prevailed, as we 
 kiii»u', among all the nations of antiquity, of whom, 
 nevertheless, some displayed great aptitude for intrl- 
 l«,'Ctual cultivation, and attained a liigli degree of 
 
DERIVED FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF ANCIENT. 97 
 
 general civilization. It formed, at one time, an in- 
 gredient in the social S3^stem of all modern states, 
 which, however, did not find it incompatible with a 
 progressive career, and the last traces of slavery, in 
 the mitigated form of serfdom, are but now disap- 
 pearing from Europe. If slavery was not inconsist- 
 ent with progressive civilization among the ancient 
 Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews — if mediaeval Europe 
 contrived to work itself free from this vicious ele- 
 ment of its social constitution, it will perhaps be 
 asked why need we despair of progress for the 
 vStates of the Confederation. Why are we to suppose 
 that they, under the influence of the same causes 
 which operated in ancient and mediaeval society, 
 should not, in the same gradual fashion, emancipate 
 their slaves, and ultimately reach the same level of 
 general cultivation which those societies attained ? 
 Nay, it is possible there may be those who, while 
 holding slavery to be, as a permanent status^ nox- 
 ious, may nevertheless regard it as not incapable of 
 performing a useful function towards people in a 
 certain stage of their development, as a kind of 
 probationary discipline suitable to their preparation 
 for a higher form of civilized existence, and may 
 consider its maintenance in the Southern States at 
 present as defensible upon this ground. Some such 
 notion, it seems to me, is at the bottom of much of 
 the indulgence, and even favour, with whicli the 
 
yS THK ANALOGY FAILS IN TUKT.r. I'OINTS. 
 
 cause* nt" tIh' Soiitli has coiik- to be regartkHl in this 
 couiitrv ;* and it is. tluTcfore, worth wliile to coii- 
 biiKt h<»\v far tliis vii-w <>1' iiKxhrn sla\rry is wcll- 
 
 fniiinhd. 
 
 And here it may be advaiitajreous to bear in mind 
 the caiitioM of l>e TocqiU'villc. " When I compare 
 tlic (Irt'ck aiul Koman repul>lics with these American 
 States ; when 1 rcmemljcr all the attempts which are 
 made to judL^r tin- modern republics by the assist, 
 anec of those of antiquity, and to infer Aviiat will 
 JKipjieii in (jur time tVom wliiit took place two 
 thousand years a<,^o, I am tem[)ted to burn my 
 l)Ooks, in order to apply none but novel ideas to so 
 novel a condition of society." The truth is, be- 
 twcen slavery, as it existed in classical and media'val 
 times and the system which now erects itself defi- 
 anth in North America, there exist the most deep 
 reachinir di>tinctions. 1 will mention three, which, 
 as it seems to me, ai-e in themselves sufficient to 
 
 " " .Slavery," says a writer iii the Sa(U7dai/ Jieviexv, " appears to 
 lie away, or at least its most horrible mcideuts disappear in pro- 
 portion as the community in which it exists becomes older, more 
 wealthy, and theri'fore more dense. . . . The best chance for 
 the alleviation of the slave's contlition lies in the increased wealtli 
 ind prosperity of the Soutli. In other words, its freedom to deve- 
 lop its own resources, without foreign intervention, is the slave's 
 best hope. And it is agreed on all hands that a modified and alle- 
 viateil slavery is a transitional sUtto in which it is very difficult for 
 the slaveowners to halt long." — ^Vor. 2ud, j86i. 
 
DIFFERENCE OF RACE AND COLOUR. 99 
 
 take the case of inodern slavery entirely out ol the 
 scope of the analogies furnished by the former expe- 
 rience of mankind. 
 
 In the first place, there is the vital fact — the differ- 
 ence in race and colour between modern slaves and 
 their masters — a difference which had nothing cor- 
 responding to it in the slavery of former times. The 
 consequences flowing from this fact cannot be better 
 stated than in the language of De Tocqueville. "The 
 slave, amongst the ancients, belonged to the same 
 race as his master, and he was often the superior of 
 the two in education and instruction. Freedom 
 was the only distinction between them ; and when 
 freedom was conferred, they were easily confounded 
 
 together." " The greatest difficulty of 
 
 antiquity [in the way of abolition] was that of alter- 
 ing the law ; amongst the moderns it is that of alter- 
 ing the manners ; and, as far as we are concerned, 
 the real obstacles begin where those of the ancients 
 left off. This arises from the circumstance that, 
 amongst the moderns, the abstract and transient 
 fact of slavery is fatally united to the physical and 
 permanent fact of colour. The tradition of slavery 
 dishonours the race, and the peculiarity of the race 
 perpetuates the tradition of slavery. No African 
 has ever voluntarily emigrated to the shores of the 
 New World ; whence it must be inferred, that all 
 the blacks who are now to be found in that hemi- 
 
lOO ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 >l»lifiT art- citlicr slavt-s ni- iVccdiiuii. 'I'lius tlie 
 lu'LTo traiisinits tlie external mark n\' his i«iii<)ininy 
 to all his tlescendaiits. 'i'lit- law may t-aiirrl scrvi- 
 tiulf, <i()(l alone can ohlitcrate its hraiid. 
 
 " 'i"hf modern slave diU'crs from his master not 
 t)nly in his condition, hut in his ori^'-in. You may 
 set the ne^rro free, but you cannot make him otliei-- 
 \\i>e than an alien to the European. Nor is this all: 
 we searceK" aekimwledi^e the common features of 
 maid<ind in this child of dehasenieiit whom slavery 
 has hrouuht amongst us. J I is physio^jnomy is to 
 our eyes hideous, his understandin<!; weak, his tastes 
 low ; and we are almost inclined to look upon him 
 as a bein'j; intermediate between man and the brutes. 
 The moderns, then, after they have abolished slavery, 
 have three prejudices to contend against, which are 
 less easy to attack, and far less easy to conquer, than 
 the mere fact of servitude : the prejudice of the mas- 
 ter, the j»rejudice of race, and tin- j)rejudice of 
 colour."* 
 
 l>ut, secondly, the immense development of inter- 
 national (M^mmeree in modern times furnishes an- 
 other distinction between ancient and modern sla- 
 very, whi<h very intimately affects the question we 
 are discussing. 
 
 So long as each nation was in the main de])endt'nt 
 on the industry oi' its own members for the supply 
 
 • Deniocracy in AiTierica, vol. ii. pp. 213-217. 
 
GROWTH OF MODERN COMMERCE. lOI 
 
 of its wants, it is obvious that a strong motive 
 would be present for the cultivation of the intelli- 
 gence, and the improvement of the condition, of the 
 industrial classes. The commodities which minister 
 to comfort and luxury cannot be produced without 
 skilled labour, and skilled labour implies a certain 
 degree of mental cultivation, and a certain progress 
 in social respect. To attain success in the more 
 difficult industrial arts, the workman must respect 
 liis vocation, must take an interest in his task ; 
 habits of care, deliberation, forethought must be 
 acquired ; in short, there must be such a general 
 awakening of the faculties, intellectual and moral, 
 as, by leading men to a knowledge of their rights 
 and of the means of enforcing them, inevitaljly 
 disqualifies them for the servile condition. Now, 
 this was the position in which the slave master 
 found himself in the ancient world. He was, in the 
 main, dependent on the skill of his slaves for ob- 
 taining v/hatever he required. He was, therefore, 
 naturally led to cultivate the faculties of his slaves, 
 and by consequence to promote generally the im- 
 provement of their condition. His progress in the 
 enjoyment of the material advantages of civilization 
 depended directly upon their progress in knowledge 
 and social consideration. Accordingly the education 
 of slaves was never prohibited in the ancient Roman 
 world, and, in point of fact, no small number of 
 
I02 ITS KFFECTS 
 
 lliciii tnjoxud tlic athaiitage ol' a lii^^li miltivatioii. 
 *• Till' yoiitlis (jf promising genius," says Gibbon, 
 '• \vt'!V instructed in the arts and sciences, and 
 almost everv jH'olessinn. librral and nieclianical, 
 ini;jlit lu' loiiiid in the Imuxliold of an opulent sena- 
 tor." Tile industrial necessities ot" li(Unan society 
 (and the same was true of society in the middle 
 ages) in this wav ])rovided for the education of at 
 least a large i»roj)ortion of the slave population ; 
 and education, acc(jm})anied as it was by a general 
 elevation nl' their condition, led, by a natural and 
 almost incN itablc tendency, to emancipation.* 
 
 r»ut in the [»osition of slavery in North America 
 tlure is nothing which corresponds to this. ()wing 
 to the vast d('velo[)m('nt in modern times , of interna- 
 
 • " Tlie only lair unalogy," says Mr. Congi-eve, " to the slavery 
 i»f (.Ireeco aiul Ivoiue is to be found in that \vhich is still prevalent 
 in Asiii, wht-n- the evils of West Indian or American slavery are 
 wholly unknown, and th«> relation of master and slave is accepted 
 Ity lx)th, as being, in Aristotle's words, at once light and for the 
 fommon interest." On the other hand, " if we seek for an analogy 
 in ancient times to njodcrn slavery," we may find one in " the 
 latifundia of the Roman nobles, or what may be termed the corn 
 plantations of Sicily. The population there wa-s slave, and there 
 %vaa no check to the misuse of their power by the agents or mastei's 
 who superintended them. And there was no intercourse, no sense 
 of connexion to softt;n the iidieivnt hardships of their condition. 
 They rev<dt»Ml once and again, and there was danger lest their 
 revolt sh(nd<l spread, lest thmughout the Roman world the slave 
 ]>opulatii)n should feel that it ha<l ii <(>mmi>n cause." — ( "ciugreve's 
 I'fi/idi's of Arittotlr, p. 496. 
 
IN AUGMENTING THE RESOURCES OF SLAVERY. 1 03 
 
 tional trade, modern slaveholders are rendered inde- 
 pendent of the skill, and therefore of the intelligence 
 and social improvement, of their slave population. 
 They have only need to find a commodity which is 
 capable of being produced by crude labour, and at 
 the same time in large demand in the markets of the 
 world ; and by applying their slaves to the produc- 
 tion of this, they may, through an exchange with 
 other countries, make it the means of procuring for 
 themselves whatever they require. Cotton and sugar, 
 for example, are commodities which fulfil these condi- 
 tions : they may be raised by crude labour, and they 
 are in lar^e demand throus^hout the world. Accord- 
 ingly Alabama and Louisiana have only to employ 
 their slaves in raising these products, and they are 
 enabled through their means to command the in- 
 dustrial resources of all commercial nations. AVith- 
 out cultivatinof one of the arts or refinements of 
 civilization, they can possess themselves of all its 
 material comforts. AYithout employing an artizan, 
 a manufacturer, a skilled labourer of any sort, they 
 can secure the products of the highest manufac- 
 turing and mechanical skill. " In one way or 
 other," says Mr. Helper,* putting the point strik- 
 ingly, though from the protectionist point of view, 
 "we are more or less subservient to the North 
 every day of our lives. In infancy we are swad- 
 
 * Impending Crisis, p. 27. 
 
I04 KNIIANCED VALUE OF CRUDE LABOUR 
 
 (lk»l in Xorthern iiiusliii : in oliiklliood we are 
 liuiuoured with Nnrtlurii gew-gaws ; in youth we 
 are instriietcd out (d" Xorthern books ; at the age 
 of inatiirit\- we sow oiir ' wikl oats' on Northern 
 soil ; ... in the decline of life we remedy 
 our eye-sight with Xorthern spectacles, and support 
 <»iir intinnitics with Xorthern canes ; in old age we 
 are drugged with Xorthern physic ; and, finally, 
 when we die, our inanimate bodies, shrouded in 
 Northern cambric, are stretched upon the bier, borne 
 to the irrave in a Xorthern carriajre, entombed witli 
 a Xorthern spade, and memorized with a Xorthern 
 slab !" Vet all these products of manufacturing 
 and mechanical skill, the States which consume 
 tliem are able to command through the medium 
 of a conmiodity which is raised by the crudest ser- 
 vile labour. The resources of slavery have in this 
 way btrn indefinitely increased in modern times. 
 Its eapabilities have been multiplied, and, without 
 submitting to the slightest alleviation of its harsh- 
 est features, it can adaj)t itself to all tlie varying 
 wants of human society. 
 
 But the consequences of the increased capabilities 
 of slavery do not end in merely negative results. 
 ^\ hatever inducements may exist for cultivating 
 tlif intelligence of slaves, there are alwavs verv 
 weighty ivasoiis ftijahi.st i-onhrring tiiis boon. 
 Arconlinglv, the forni«r not coming into jtlav in 
 
TENDS TO PERPETUATE SERVITUDE. I05 
 
 modern times, the latter have operated with unre- 
 stricted force. The merest rudiments of learning 
 are now rigorously proscribed for the negroes in 
 the Slave States of North America ; and the 
 prohibition is enforced, both in the persons of the 
 teachers and the taught, with penalties of extraordi- 
 nary severity.* " The only means by whicli the 
 
 * Tlie followmg are some extracts from the laws of some of the 
 Southern States upon this subject. In South Carolina an act was 
 passed in 1834, which pro\'ides as follows : — "If any person shall 
 hereafter teach any slave to read or write, or shall aid in assisting 
 any slave to read or write, or cause or procure any slave to be 
 taught to read or write, such person, if a free white person, upon 
 conviction thereof, shall for every such offence against this act be 
 fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, and imprisoned not more 
 than six months ; or if a free person of colour, shall be wliipped 
 not exceeding fifty lashes, and fined not exceeding fifty dollars ; 
 and if a slave, shall be whipped, not exceeding fifty lashes ; and 
 if any free person of colour or a slave shall keep any such school 
 or other place of instruction for teaching any slave or free person of 
 colour to read or write, such person shall be liable to the same fine, 
 imprisonment and corporal punishment as are by this act imposed 
 and inflicted on free persons of colour and slaves for teaching slaves 
 to read or write." In Virginia, according to the code of 1849, 
 " every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of instruction in read- 
 ing or writing shall be an unlawful assembly. Any justice may 
 issue his warrant to any ofi&cer or other person, requiring him to 
 enter any place where such assemblage may be, and seize any negro 
 therein ; and he or any other justice may order such negro to be 
 punished with stripes." " K a white person assemble with negroes 
 for the purpose of instructing them to read or write, he shall be 
 confined to jail not exceeding six months, and fined not exceeding 
 one hundred dollars." In Georgia in 1829 it was enacted: — "If 
 any slave, negro, or free person of colour, or any white person, shall 
 
Io6 MODEUN SLAVi:i{V 
 
 aiific-nt^ liiaiiitaiiK'J :5lavc'ry were letters and death ; 
 tlie Americans of the South of the Union have dis- 
 (•overed more intelKetinil securities for tlie duration 
 of their power. Tlie}' liave em})h)yed thcii- despot- 
 ism and their violence ajx^inst tlie hiiiiiau mind. In 
 aiitiiiuitw precautions were taken to prevent the 
 shive from breaking his chains ; at the present day 
 measures are a(h)pted to deprive liim even of the 
 <lesire of freechmi. ihe ancients kept the bodies of 
 their slaves in bondarre, but they placed no restraint 
 ujton the mind and no check u})ou education : and 
 they acted consistenth' with their established prin- 
 eiple, since a natui"al ti rminatiitii of slavery tlieii 
 existed, and one <hiy or other the slave might be set 
 fn-e, and Ijecome the equal of his master. I'ut tlie 
 .\mericans of the South, who do not admit that the 
 negroes can ever be commingled with themselves, 
 
 tvach any otiior slave, negro, or free person of colour to road or 
 write either written or printed characters, the said free person of 
 colour or slave shall In- jtiinished hy fine and whipping, or fine or 
 whip]»ing, at tlie discretion of the court ; and if a white person so 
 olTending, he, she, or they shall be punished with fine not exceeding 
 five hundred dollars, and imprisonment in the common jail, at the 
 discretion of the court." By the act of Assembly of Louisiana, 
 jiassed in Mari-h, 18.50, " all persons who shall teach or cause to be 
 taught any slave in this state to read or write shall, on conviction 
 thereof, &c., be iniprL«ioned not less than one or more than twelve 
 months." And in Alabamii, " any person who shall attempt to 
 l«'nch any free person of colour or slave to spell, read or write, shall 
 nprdi conviction, (fee, l»c limd in a sum ni-l less than 250 dollars 
 nor more limn ijoo dollars."' 
 
EXTENDS ITS DESPOTISM TO THE MIND. lo; 
 
 have forbidden them to be taught to read and write 
 under severe penalties ; and as they Avill not raise 
 them to their own level, they sink them as nearly as 
 possible to that of the brutes."* The education of 
 slaves amongst the ancients prepared the way for 
 emancipation. The prohibition of the education of 
 slaves amongst the moderns has naturally suggested 
 the policy of holding them in perpetual bondage ; 
 and laws and manners have conspired to interpose 
 obstacles all but insuperable in the Avay of manu- 
 mission. Thus the modern slave is cut off from 
 the one great alleviation of his lot — the hope of 
 freedom, f 
 
 But there is yet another distinction between the 
 slavery of modern times and slavery as it was known 
 among the progressive communities of former ages, 
 which deserves to be noticed — I mean the place 
 which the slave trade fills in the organization of 
 
 * Democracy in America, vol. ii. p. 246, 247. 
 
 t " In Aristotle himself we find snggested one of the greatest 
 alleviations of which slavery is susceptible. There ought to be 
 held out to the slave, he says, the hope of Hberty as the reward of 
 liis service. Thus, by a gradual infiltration, the slave population 
 might pass into the free. It did so at Rome through the interme- 
 diate stage of freedom ; and the position of freed men at Eome in 
 the later republic, and even more under the empire, was sxich that 
 the prospect of reaching it must have been a great inducement to 
 the slaves to acquiesce in their present lot ; and it would be an 
 inducement which would have most weight with the highest class 
 of slaves." — Congreve's Politics of Aristotle, p. 497. 
 
lo8 THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 iii'mIi Til >l;i\rr\-. TradiiiL; in ^laws was tloiihtless 
 pi'actisecl 1»\ tin- aiicie'iits, and with suliicicnt bar- 
 l>arit\. I'»nt \\r look in \ain in the records of 
 anti(jnit\ lor a traliir which in extent, in systematic 
 cliaracter. and. ahove all, in tin- iiinction discliarged 
 1)\ it as the cttuinion snj)j»ort oi' countries breeding 
 and consumin*:: human hibour, which can wdth jus- 
 tice be repirded as the analogue of the modern 
 slave trade — ol" that organized system wdiieh has 
 been carried on l)etween Guinea and the coast of 
 America, oi- ot" that between \ irginia, the (Guinea 
 of the New W'oi-ld, and the slave-consunung States 
 of the South and West.* This peculiar outgr(Jwth 
 of the institution ibrnis a cliaracteristic feature in 
 modern slavery, and its consequences, in connexion 
 with the (juestion which we are considering, are of a 
 vei'N' important kind. 
 
 'i1ie cll'ects of the sla\e-trade in aggravating . a 
 hundredinld all the t'\ils of Servitude liave often 
 been described. African shivediunts, the horrors 
 1)1" the middle j)assage, the miser\' of unhaj>j)y bar- 
 liarians, aecustonu-d to the A\ild IVei'dom ol their 
 native land, caught up and hurried awav to a remote 
 continent, and compelled to toil for the rest t)f their 
 
 * M. Durcau de la Malle, iu a critical fxamiuatioii of tlie loose 
 .iinl rhetorical stat^monts of ancifiit authoi-s ami their nuHlern 
 • ritirs, ha.s (lispellfil umch iniscoiu'cjition rosjM'ctiiig the o.vlenl df 
 till' aiuiriit coimiMicc in slaves. Sec his Economit J'oli'itjiif (l<s 
 JixiiKiins, toiii. i., jip. 246-2^)9. 
 
ITS TWOFOLD FUNCTION IN THE MODERN SYSTEM. 109 
 
 days under the whip of an alien taskmaster, have 
 often been dwelt upon. So, also, the story of human 
 beings, reared amid the softening influences of civil- 
 ization, who, so soon as they arrive at the maturity 
 of their physical power, are, like so many cattle, 
 shipped off to a distant region of tropieal heat there 
 to be worked to death — of husbands separated from 
 their wives, children from their parents, brothers 
 and sisters from each other — of exposure on the 
 auction-block and transfer to new masters and 
 strange climates — all this happening not to heathen 
 savages, but to men and women capable of affection 
 and friendship, and sensible to moral suffering, — 
 this story, I say, is familiar to us all ; but my object 
 at present is to direct attention, not so much to 
 the barbarous inhumanity of the slave-trade, whe- 
 ther foreign or domestic, as to what has not been 
 so often noticed — the mode in which it operates in 
 giving increased coherence and stability to the sys- 
 tem of which it is a part. Now, it does this in two 
 ways, by bringing the resources of salubrious coun- 
 tries to supplement the waste of human life in 
 torrid regions ; and, secondly, by providing a new 
 source of profit for slaveholders, which enables 
 them to keep up the institution when, in the ab- 
 sence of this resource, it would become unprofitable 
 and disappear. 
 
 While countries depended for the supply of ser- 
 
I lO rilK SLAVE TKAI^E. 
 
 \iU' lali<iui- iipnii tlir iiatiii'al iiuTcase <»t" their own 
 sla\e |Mi])iilatinii, tlicre existi-d an ul»\ious limit to 
 (he raiiL^' of till" system and to tlir hartlsliips it "was 
 caj)al>lt' (>r intlic'tinpf. A\'liirt' tlu- cliaracteT of" tlie 
 climate, f»r the nature <•! the work to l)e done, was 
 such as to A*e seriously prejudicial to human life, 
 slavery, it' recruited froui within, could onlv exist 
 tlirou;j:h ^a'l-at attention ^dven to the [)hy.sical re- 
 <juirements of the slaves. AVitliout this, it must 
 liave beeomc extinct hy the destruction of its victims. 
 I hit, a commerce in slaves once established, these 
 natural restraints upon the fullest development of 
 slaver}' are effeetiuilly removed. The rice-grounds 
 of Georgia or the swamps of the Mississippi may be 
 fatally injurious to the human constitution ; but the 
 waste of human life, which the cultivation of these 
 districts necessitates, is not so great that it cannot be 
 repaired from the teeming preserves of A'irginia and 
 Kentucky. Considerations of economy, moreover, 
 whi<h. under a natural system, afford some security 
 for humane treatment hv identifying the master's in- 
 terest ^^ith the slave's preservation, when once trading 
 in slaves is practiced, ])ecome reasons for racking to 
 the uttermost the toil of the slave ; for, when his place 
 can at once be supplied from foreign i)reserves, the 
 duration of his life becomes a matter of less moment 
 than its producti\"eness wliiK' it lasts. It is accord- 
 ingly a maxim of slave management, in slave-imporf- 
 
IN RELATION TO THE CONSUMING COUNTRIES. I I I 
 
 ing countries, tliat the most effective economy is that 
 which takes out of the human chattel in the shortest 
 space of time the utmost amount of exertion it is ca- 
 pable of putting forth. " It is in tropical culture, 
 where annual profits often equal the whole capital of 
 plantations, that negro life is most recklessly sacri- 
 ficed. It is the agriculture of the West Indies, which 
 has been for centuries prolific of fabulous wealth, 
 which has engulfed millions of the African race. It 
 is in Cuba, at this day, whose revenues are reckoned 
 by millions, and whose planters are princes, that we 
 see, in the servile class, the coarsest fare, the most ex- 
 hausting and unremitting toil, and even the absolute 
 destruction of a portion of its numbers every year, 
 by the slow torture of overwork and insufiicient sleep 
 and rest. In our own country, is it in Maryland and 
 Virginia that slaves fare the worst, or is it in the 
 sugar regions of Louisiana and Texas, where the 
 scale of profits suggests the calculation of using 
 them up in a given number of years as a matter of 
 economy ? Is it not notorious, that the States upon 
 the Gulf of Mexico, in Avhich forced labour is most 
 productive to those who own it, are made use of by 
 the northern slave States, not merely as markets in 
 which to dispose of slaves as a matter of profit, but 
 as a Botany Bay, furnished to their hands, to which 
 their slaves are sent by way of punishment ?"* The 
 
 * Progress of Slavery, pp. 132, i^^. 
 
I I 2 THE SLAVF TRADE. 
 
 sl:iv«'-tr;ul(' tlms affords tin- nu-ans of extendiiifr tlio 
 iiistifiititiii ill its liarshcst tnnii to countries in wliidi, 
 without this su])j)()rt, it tiilitr couhl not liave been 
 pcrniancntlx- niaiiitaiiicd at all, or only in a very 
 initi<rated form, sustaininji the waste of human life 
 in tro])iral rep:ions from the liardier or liealthier 
 jtopulations of ])arl)arous countries and of temperate 
 <'limcs.* 
 
 P>ut the benefits of commerce are reciprocal, and if 
 slavery receives a new impulse from the slave-trade 
 in till' warm regions of the South, it acquires in- 
 creased stability in more temperate countries tlirough 
 the same cause. We have already seen the tendency 
 of slave-labour to exhaust the soil, and the rapidity 
 with which this process proceeds, reducing to the 
 condition of wilderness districts which fifty years 
 before were yet untouched by the hand of cultiva- 
 tion. XoAv, this would seem to promise that the 
 reign of slavery, if ruinous, should at least be bi-ief, 
 and we might expect that, when the soil had been 
 robbed of its fertility, the destroyer would retire 
 iVoin the region which he had rendered desolate. 
 
 • In tliis adaptation the slaveholders trace the finger of God. 
 The Profi'SKor of Agricultural Chemistry in the University of 
 Georgia remarks on the •* providential " proportion between the 
 uiitille<l lands of the South, and llu- " unemployed power of luunan 
 nmsi.h'S in Africa," — " I trace," he exclaims, " the growing demand 
 for negro muscles, bones, and brains to the good providence of 
 God." 
 
IN RELATION TO THE BREEDING COUNTRIES. I I 3 
 
 And such would be the fate of slaver}", were it 
 depending exclusively on the soil for its support ; 
 but, when trading in human beings is once intro- 
 duced, a new source of profit is developed for the 
 system, which renders it in a great degree independ- 
 ent of the resources of the soil. It is this, the 
 profit developed by trading in slaves, and this alone, 
 which has enabled slavery in the older Slave States 
 of North America to survive the consequences of its 
 own ravages. In Maryland and Virginia, perhaps 
 also in the Carolinas and Georgia, free institutions 
 would long since have taken the place of slavery, 
 were it not that just as the crisis of the system had 
 arrived, the domestic slave-trade opened a door of 
 escape from a position which had become untenable. 
 The conjuncture was peculiar, and would doubtless 
 by Southern theologians be called pro\'idential. The 
 progress of devastation had reached the point at 
 which slave cultivation could no longer sustain 
 itself A considerable emigration of planters had 
 actually taken place, and the deserted fields were 
 already receiving a new race of settlers from the 
 regions of freedom.* The long night of slavery 
 
 * The progress of this movement is thus described by the SouiJieni 
 Planter : — " Every farm was greatly impoverished — ahnost every 
 estate was seriously impaired — and some were involved in debt to 
 nearly their value. Most of the proprietors had died, leaving families 
 in reduced circumstances, and in some cases in great straits. No farm 
 whether of a rich or a poor proprietor had escaped great exhaustion, 
 
I I 4 DIVISION OF LABOUR 
 
 siH'HU'd to he passing" away, and tlie dawn of a 
 l)i-iL:litrr day to have arrived, when suddenly the 
 an>j»i( ions nuivenicnt was arrested. A vast exten- 
 
 iinJ no projierty great dilapidation, unless because the proprietor had 
 at fii-st boon too poor to join in the former expensive habits of liis 
 wealthier neighbours. There was nothing left to waste, but tinie 
 :md labour ; and these continued to be wasted in the now fruitless 
 efforts to cultivate to profit, or tt^ replace the fertility of soil which 
 liad Ikh-u destroyed. Luxury and expense had been greatly lessened. 
 Hut on that account the universal ]>rostration was even the more 
 apparent. Many mansions were falling into decay. Few received 
 any but triviid and indispensable repairs. No new mansion was 
 erected, and rarely any other farm-building of value. There was 
 still generally prevailing idleness among proprietors ; and also an 
 abandonment of hope, which made every one desirous to soil his 
 land and move to the fertile and fai- West, and a general emigration 
 and (.lispei-sion was only prevented by the impossibility of finding 
 purchasers for the lands, even at half the then low estimate of 
 market prices." The consequences are further described by. Mr. 
 Olmsted : — "Notwithstanding a constant emigration of the decayed 
 families, and of the more enterprising of the poor, the population 
 steadily augmented. ... If the apparent wealth of the country was 
 not incre;asing, the foundation of a gi-eater material prosperity was 
 beiii-,' laid in the inci-cixse of the number of small Init intelligent 
 proprietoi-s, and in the constantly gro«-ing necessity to abandon 
 tobacco, and substitute grains, or varied crops, as the staple produc- 
 tions of the coimtry. The very circumstance that reduced the old 
 pseudo-wealthy proprietors was favourable to tliis change, and to 
 the application f»f intelligence to a more profitable disposal of the 
 remaining elements of wealth in the land. Wliile midtitudes 
 abandoned their ancestral acres in despair, or were driven from 
 them by the recoil of their fathers' inconsiderate expenditures, 
 they were taken |)08se8sion of by 'new men,' endowed with more 
 hopefulness and energy if not moi-e intelligence than the old." — 
 HeabiMird .b'/«jv Statf/>, ])p. 2 "4-2 76. 
 
BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW STATES. I I 5 
 
 sion of the territory of the United States, opening 
 new soils to Southern enterprise, exactly coincided 
 ^v4th the prohibition of the external slave trade, and 
 both fell in with the crisis in the older states. The 
 result was a sudden and remarkable rise in the price 
 of slaves. The problem of the planters' position was 
 at once solved, and the domestic slave-trade com- 
 menced. Slavery had robbed Virginia of the best 
 riches of her soil, but she still had a noble climate — 
 a climate which would fit her admirably for being 
 the breeding place of the South. A division of la- 
 bour between the old and the new states took place. 
 In the former the soil was extensively exhausted, but 
 the climate was salubrious ; in the latter the climate 
 was unfavourable to human life spent in severe toil, 
 but the soil was teeming with riches. The old states, 
 therefore, undertook the part of breeding and rear- 
 ing slaves till they attained to physical vigour, and 
 the new that of using up in the development of their 
 virgin resources the physical vigour which had been 
 thus obtained.* 
 
 * " The citizens of Virginia indignantly deny that they breed and 
 rear slaves for the purpose of selling them. 'Not only do those who 
 interpose this denial do so, in the vast majority of cases, with a 
 consciousness of truth; but, perhaps, in no single instance can it be 
 truly afi&rmed, that any individual slave is raised for the purpose of 
 being sold. The determination to rear slaves is formed and executed 
 this year, while the act of selling may not take place until twenty 
 years hence. The two things are probably never resolved and 
 consummated as parts of one plan. The fallacy of the denial 
 
1 I 6 THE SLAVE TRADE SECURELY FOUNDED 
 
 It has ]k'ci\ toMtriuU'il tluit tlu' constant drain of 
 slaves must have its cft'ect in diminishing, and nlti- 
 matt'ly exhausting, the sLive popuhition in the states 
 lVt»m wliirli it proceeds ; and «»n this ground the 
 domestic shive trade has I'ound advocates amongst 
 persons who })rot"ess tliemselves opposed to slavery 
 in geufral, as tending to effect its extinction in the 
 ohler states. lUit sucli a view, if sincerely enter- 
 tained, can oidv find credit witli tliose who are 
 unacquainted with tlie laws of population, and it 
 has lieen amply refuted l>y the experience of half 
 a century^ Far from conducing in the slightest 
 detrree to the decline of slaverv in the ()lder states, 
 the inter-state traffic has tended directly to estab- 
 lish it, and the slave population of those states has 
 steadily increased nnder the drain. The single ex- 
 
 intorposed by the people of Virginia consists in this, that, although 
 no one slave may be raised wnth a special view to his sale, yet the 
 entire business of raising slaves is carried on \nih reference to the 
 price of slaves, and solely in consequence of the price of slaves ; 
 and this price depends, as they well know, solely upon the domestic 
 slave trade. Of the men who deny for themselves individually the 
 fact of raising slaves for the purpose of selling them, too many make 
 no scniplo in insisting upon markets to keep up the price of slaves. 
 The well-known lamentation of a successful candidate for the gov- 
 ernorship of Virginiii, uttt^red ^^'ithout rebuke before a Virginia 
 audience, that the closing of the mines of California to slave labour, 
 hail prevented the j)rice of an able-botlied negro man from rising to 
 five thousand dollars, is only a single example of the freedom and 
 publicity with which the domestic slave trade is advocated in that 
 state." — /'nHprss nf Slaitri/, pji. 147-148, 
 
IN THE PRINCIPLES OF POPULATION. I 1 7 
 
 ception to this statement is the State of Delaware, 
 and Delaware is the only one of those states in which 
 the sale or removal of slaves is prohibited by law. 
 The real character of tlni influence exercised by the 
 internal trade on the breeding states was strikingly 
 sho^\'n on the annexation of Texas. That event oc- 
 curred in 1 844. It was followed by a great increase 
 in the demand for slaves for the South, and with 
 what effect on the states which supplied them ? — 
 with the effect of a positive increase in their slave 
 population. The slave population of the principal 
 slave-breeding state, Virginia, had declined in the 
 decade previous to the annexation, but at the end of 
 the following decade it was found to have increased. 
 The explanation of this is, of course, perfectly simple. 
 Slaves in the older states being of little value for 
 agricultural purposes, there is no inducement to 
 encourao-e their increase so lonf^ as afn'iculture is 
 the sole purpose to which they can be turned ; but 
 Avith the increase of the slave trade, their value in- 
 creases, and they are, therefore, raised in greater 
 numbers. The phenomenon need surprise no one 
 w^ho has attended to the ordinary facts of emigrating 
 countries. The United Kingdom is of all European 
 countries that from which emigration is greatest, 
 and it is also that in which population increases 
 most rapidly. Emigration from Germany is greater 
 than from France, and population in Germany ad- 
 
I I 8 THE ANALOGY OF CATTLE BREEDING. 
 
 vances more rapidly than in France. Spain and 
 Portugal were once colonizing nations, and since 
 they liave ceased to colonize, the rate at which their 
 population increases has declined. A more apposite 
 illustration is that of cattle breeding. It has never 
 been found that the ojiening of new markets for 
 cattle has any tendency to exhaust the breed in the 
 countries which raise them ; and, so long as human 
 beings are subjected to precisely the same influences 
 as cattle, it is idle to expect a different result. In 
 each case the power of multiplication is the same, 
 and where the same inducement is offered, a cor- 
 responding result may be expected to follow. 
 
119 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 It may be well here to trace briefly the salient 
 features of the system Avhich in the previous chap- 
 ters it has been attempted to describe. A race supe- 
 rior to another in power and civilization holds that 
 other in bondage, compelling it to work for its 
 profit. The enslaved race, separated broadly from 
 the dominant one in its leading physical and moral 
 attributes, is further distinguished from it by the 
 indelible mark of colour, which prevents the growth 
 of mutual sympathy and transmits to posterity the 
 brand of its disgrace. Kept in compulsory ignorance 
 and deprived of all motive for intelligent exertion, 
 this people can only furnish its possessors with the 
 crudest form of manual labour. It is thus rendered 
 unfit for every branch of industry Avhich requires, 
 in any but the lowest forms, the exercise of care, in- 
 teUio-ence, or skill, and is virtually restricted to the 
 pursuit of agriculture. In agriculture it can only 
 be turned to profitable account under certain special 
 conditions— in raising crops of a peculiar kind and 
 upon soils of more than average fertility ; while 
 these by its thriftless methods it tends constantly 
 
I 20 OUTLINE OF THE ECONOMY 
 
 to exhaust. TIu- lahuiir ui' tlie enslaved race is thus 
 ill practiee routined to the production of a few lead- 
 ing staples ; but, thi*ou<ih the medium of foreign 
 trade, these lew commodities heeome tlie means of 
 lurnishing its masters with all the conveniences and 
 comforts of life — the product of intelligence and 
 skill in countries where labour is free. Further, 
 it was seen that the defects of serA'ile labour are best 
 neutralized, ami sucli advantages as it possesses 
 best turned to account, where the scale of the oper- 
 ations is large, — a circumstance, which, Ijy placing a 
 premium on the emplo^nienr of large capitals, has 
 gradually led to the accumulation of the whole 
 wealth of the country in the hands of a small num- 
 ber of persons. Four million slaves have thus come 
 into the possession of masters less than one-tenth of 
 their number, by whom they are held as chattel 
 pro})erty ; while the rest of the dominant race, more 
 numerous than slaveholders and their slaves together, 
 squat over the vast area which slave labour is too 
 unskilful to cultivate, where by hunting and fishing, 
 by plunder or by lawless adventure, they eke out a 
 precarious livelihood. Three leading elements are 
 thus presented by the economy of slave states — a 
 few planters cultivating the richest soils, a multitude 
 of slaves toiling for tlieir ])rofit, the bulk of the 
 white poj)ulatiou dispersed in a semi-savage condi- 
 tion n\{-v a vast tcrritoi'x. Iu course of time the 
 
OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 121 
 
 system begins to bear its fruit. Tlie more fertile 
 soils of the country, tasked again and again to ren- 
 der the same products, at length become exhausted, 
 and refuse any longer to yield up their riches to 
 servile hands ; but there are new soils within reach 
 which the plough has not yet touched, regions of 
 high fertility, pre-eminently fitted for the cultiva- 
 tion of slave products, bordering however on the 
 tropics, and unfavourable to human life when en- 
 gaged in severe toil. At this point a new phase of 
 the system discloses itself. A division of labour 
 takes place. A portion of the slaveholders with 
 their slave bands move forward to occupy the new 
 territory, while the remainder, holding to their old 
 seats, become the breeders of slaves for those who 
 have left them, and take, as their part, the repairing 
 from their more healthy populations the waste of 
 slave life produced by tropical toil. Thus, as the do- 
 main of slavery is extended, its organization becomes 
 more complete, and the fate of the slave population 
 more harsh and hopeless. Slavery in its simple and 
 primitive form is developed into slavery supported 
 by a slave trade — into slavery expansive, aggressive, 
 destructive of human life, regardless of human ties, 
 — into slavery in its most dangerous and most atro- 
 cious form ; and for the system thus matured a 
 secure basis is afforded by the principles of popula- 
 tion. Such is an outline of the economy of society 
 
122 THEY IXCLLDE NO ELEMENT OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ill tlic Slave States oi' Nrntli America, as 1 liave ven- 
 tured tu ileseril)c it ; and the eoiiditioii of facts which 
 it discloses goes far, as it sceiiis tu me, to establish 
 the conclusion tliat it is a structure essentially differ- 
 ent from an\- Inrm ol" s«»cial life Avhich has hitherto 
 been known among progressive communities, and 
 one which, if allowed to proceed in its normal de- 
 velopment undisturbed by intervention from without, 
 can only conduct to one issue — an organized bar- 
 barism of the most relentless and formidable kind. 
 
 r»ut it may be well to pursue tliis inquiry some- 
 wliat further. If the germs of a future civilization 
 are contained in the social system which has been 
 described, in what department of it are they to be 
 found ? Amono- the mean whites ? Amon"; the 
 slaves ? Among the slave masters ? 
 
 The mean whites, as has been shown, are the 
 natural growth of the slave system ; their existence 
 and character flowing necessarily from two facts — 
 the slaves, which render the capitalists independent 
 of their services,* and tlie wilderness, the constant 
 feature of slave countries, whicli enables them to 
 exist without engaging in regular woi-k. There 
 is no capital to support them as hired labour- 
 ers,, and they have the means of subsisting, in a 
 semi-savage condition, without it. Under these cir- 
 
 • " The rich," said Oeiicral Marion, and in these few words he 
 sketched the whole working of slavery, " liave no need of the poor, 
 because they have their own slaves to do tlu-ir wcrk.' 
 
THE MEAN WHITES. 
 
 123 
 
 cumstances ,by what steps are they to advance to an 
 improvement of their condition ? 
 
 It will perhaps be thought that with a vast unap- 
 propriated territory around them the mean whites 
 may be expected in time to become peasant proprie- 
 tors, and to cultivate the districts which they now 
 merely occupy. This is undoubtedly what would 
 happen with an influx of Northern settlers. But the 
 mean whites lack for such a lot two indispensable 
 requisites, capital and industry. Had they the lat- 
 ter, they might perhaps in time acquire the former ; 
 but regular industry is only known to them as the 
 vocation of slaves, and it is the one fate which above 
 all others they desire to avoid. They will for a time, 
 indeed, when pressed for food, their ordinary re- 
 sources of hunting or plunder failing them, hire 
 themselves out for occasional services ; but, so soon 
 as • they have satisfied the immediate need, they 
 hasten to escape from the degradation of industry, 
 and are as eager as Indians to return to their wilds. 
 
 Another means of redemption is sometimes ima- 
 gined for the mean whites. It is thought that, with 
 the progress of population in the Slave States, they 
 will ultimately be forced into competition with the 
 slaves, and that, this competition once effectually 
 commenced, the whites once engaged in regular 
 industry, the superiority of free to servile labour 
 will become manifest, and will gradually lead to the 
 
124 GHtJWTH i)F KEGT'I.AR INDUSTRY 
 
 (lisplacc'iiK'Ut of tlic latter. In this wav. it is 
 aiitii'ipatetl, the ]ir()l)U'Hi ut" ahnli^hiiiti shivery, and 
 that iA' elevatiiiL"" tlie wliite jjopulatioii, iiia\' in tlie 
 natural course of events be effectually solved by the 
 same process. Unfortunately this cheering view is 
 entirely unsustained by any foundation of fact. 
 Population in slave communities follows laws of 
 <rrowtli of its own. It increases, it is true, but by 
 dispersion, not by concentration, and consequently 
 the pressure upon the poor white, which it is 
 assumed will force him into competition with the 
 slave, is never likely to l)e ;ireater than at the pre- 
 sent moment. In fact it has now in many districts 
 reached the starvation |)oint, but without producing 
 any of the effects which are anticipated from it. 
 I>ut, again, the free labour of the South possesses 
 none of that superiority to slave labour, which is 
 characteristic of free labour when reared in free com- 
 munities. This is a distinction wliich in economic 
 reasonings on slavery is frequently overlooked,* 
 
 • Thus ix writer in the Saturday Revieiv (Xov. 2, 1861), in 
 noticing a work of Mr. Olmsted's, reasons as follows : — " It 
 would 1)0 hasty to infer, as a gre^it many philanthropists have done, 
 that free labour would answer better than sla^■e labour in the 
 SoutL The Southern phmtoi-s are keen enough specvdators to 
 have discovered the fact if it were true. In reality the experiment 
 has been tried and i-esulted in favour of shti-e labour." The experi- 
 ment no doubt hiUi been tried, and with the result alle^'ed; but how 
 far the experiment, as it has been eonducted, i.s eonelusive, the 
 reader wUI be eiiableil to judge when he reads the following pa.ssivge 
 
A MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY. 1 25 
 
 but which it is all-important to bear in mind. The 
 free labourer reared in free communities, energetic, 
 intelligent, animated by the impulse of acquiring 
 property, and trained to habits of thrift, is the best 
 productive agent in the world, and, when brought 
 into competition with the slave, will, except under 
 v-ery exceptional circumstances (such as existed when 
 the continent was first settled), prove more than a 
 match for him. But the free labourer of the South, 
 
 from ]\Ir. Olmsted, in a review of one of whose works the above 
 argument occurred : — " The labourer, who in New York gave a 
 certain amount of labour for his wages in a day, soon finds in 
 Virginia that the ordinary measure of labour is smaller than in New 
 York : a ' day's work' or a month's does not mean the same that it 
 did in New York. He naturally adapts his wares to the market. 
 . . . The labourer, finding that the capitalists of Virginia are accus- 
 tomed to pay for a poor article at a high price, prefers to furnish 
 them the poor article at their usual price, rather than a better 
 article, unless at a more than correspondingly better price. . . . 
 Now let the white labourer come here from the North or from 
 Europe — his nature demands a social life — shall he associate with 
 the poor, slavish, degraded negro, with whom labour and punishment 
 are almost synonymous 1 or shall he be the friend and companion of 
 the white man] . . . Associating with either or both, is it not 
 inevitable that he will be rapidly demoralized — that he will soon 
 learn to hate labour, give as little of it for his hu-e as he can, 
 become base, cowardly, faithless, — 'worse than a nigger"?" The 
 case is simple. The moral atmosphere generated by slavery in the 
 South corrupts the free labourer, whether native or imported : thus 
 corrupted, he fails in competition with the slave ; but does it foUow 
 from tliis that, if slavery no longer existed, free labour would be 
 less efficient in the South than slave labour is at present? For 
 that is the point. 
 
1 l6 ABSENCE OF REGULAR INDUSTRY : 
 
 l)li<ThtL'cl physically and" morally by the preseiioc of 
 slavery, ami trained in hal>its more suited to savagre 
 than to industrial lite, easily succumbs in the compe- 
 tition. Ill taet the experiment is being constantly 
 tried in the Southern States, and always ^v^th the 
 same result. On the relative merits of slave and 
 free labour — such free labour as the Slave States 
 can produce — there is but one opinion among the 
 planters. It is universally agreed that the labour of 
 the mean whites* is more inefficient, more unreli- 
 al)lc, more unmanageable than even the crude efforts 
 of the slaves. If slavery in the South is to be dis- 
 placed by free industry, it can never be through the 
 competition of such free industry as this. 
 
 It does not appear, therefore, in what manner 
 habits of regular industry can ever be acquired by 
 the mass of the population of the Southern States 
 while under a slave regime. The demoralization 
 produced by the presence of a degi'aded class ren- 
 ders the white man at once an unwillino^ and an 
 inefficient labourer ; and the external incidents of 
 slavery afford him the means of existing without 
 engaging in regular toil. The question has, in truth, 
 [)assed beyond the region of speculation. For two 
 liundred years it has been submitted to the proof ; 
 [ind the mean whites are as far now from havinfr 
 
 • And it may be added, of such free lal)ourcrs as will consent to 
 ^he degradation of living in a slave community. 
 
ITS CONSEQUENCES. I 27 
 
 made any progress in habits of regular industry as 
 they were at the commencement of the period. 
 
 The result, then, at which we arrive is, that re- 
 gular industry is not to be expected from the mass 
 of the free people of the Southern States while sla- 
 very continues. Let us for a moment reflect upon 
 some of the consequences involved in this single 
 fact. 
 
 And, first, it is evident that under these condi- 
 tions population in the Slave States must ever re- 
 main sparse ; for density of population is the result 
 of concentrated wealth, and concentrated wealth 
 flows from the steady pursuit of systematic industry. 
 What are the facts ? Over the whole area of the 
 Slave States the average density of population does 
 not exceed 11.29 persons to the square mile. It is 
 true a large portion of the region included in this 
 average has but recently been acquired, and cannot 
 be considered as having yet received its full comple- 
 ment of inhabitants. Let us, then, confine our ob- 
 servations to the older states. If population be 
 capable of becoming dense under slave institutions, 
 it should have realized this condition in Virginia. 
 This state has been for two hundred and fifty years 
 the seat of the Anglo-Saxon race, and the chosen 
 field of its industry : it abounds in natural advan- 
 tages ; its climate is remarkably salubrious. What, 
 then, is the result of the experiment in Virginia ? 
 
128 EXTREME SPARSENESS OF POPULATION. 
 
 It appears iVoin tin- I'ciisus of 1850, that, attor an 
 industrial career of two hundred and fifty years, 
 this eountrv contained an avcra;;e of 23 persons to 
 the square mile I This, however, does not ade- 
 (piatcly rr}»rcsfnt the case ; for of these 23 persons 
 one-third un an average were slaves. Deducting 
 these, the density of population in Virginia — of 
 population among whom knowledge is not consi- 
 dered contraband, of population who are capable of 
 mixing together as fellow-citizens (which is the point 
 essential to our argument) — the density of this popu- 
 hition is represented by tlie proportion of 15 per- 
 sons to the square mile ! Compare this with tlie 
 progress of population in aiv area of the Free States 
 naturally less favourable to the multiplication of 
 people and not so long settled, — with the area com- 
 prised by Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania — and 
 what do we find ? Population has here, in a shorter 
 time, and under external conditions less favourable, 
 reached an averagi," density of 82 persons to the 
 square mile. For etpial areas in the Free and Slave 
 States there are thus considerably more than five 
 persons capable of taking part in the business of civi- 
 lized life in the former for one in the latter. Popu- 
 hition under slave institutions, in fact, onl}- increases 
 by dispersion. Fifteen persons to the square mile 
 represent the maximum density which population 
 
INCOMPATIBLE WITH CIVILIZED PEOGRESS. I 29 
 
 under the most favourable circumstances is, Avith 
 slavery, capable of attaining.* Now, this state of 
 things is incompatible with civilized progress. Under 
 such conditions social intercourse cannot exist; po- 
 pular education becomes impracticable ; roads, ca- 
 nals, railways, must be losing speculations ; in short, 
 all the civilizing agencies of highest value are, by the 
 very nature of the case, excluded. Among a people 
 so dispersed, for example, how is popular education 
 to be carried on ? Not to dwell upon the obstacles 
 presented to the diffusion of knowledge by the men- 
 tal habits of a people accustomed to the life of the 
 mean whites — a life alternating between listless va- 
 grancy and the excitement of marauding expeditions 
 — the mere physical difficulties of the problem — the 
 task of bringing together from a population so dis- 
 persed the materials of a school — would be such as 
 might well discourage the most determined zeal. In 
 point of fact, all attempts at conveying education to 
 the bulk of the people in the Southern States have 
 proved costly failures. Experiments have been made 
 in some of the states, and always with the same re- 
 
 * The density of population in Delaware, Maryland, and Ken- 
 tucky is no doubt greater than tliis ; but it is because these States 
 are occupied, over considerable districts, with a free labouring pea- 
 santry, because in fact in these districts slavery has been abolished. 
 This is the case with Western Virginia also to a considerable extent, 
 and doubtless raises the average of the whole country above what a 
 purely servile regime would produce. 
 
130 EXTREME Sl'ARSENESS OF POrULATION 
 
 suit.* Till' inoi'al ami }»li\>ical diHiciilt'uss of the 
 ItroMcin lia\c pmNcd insujirrahh' ; and the mass of 
 the jtcdplc rt'inains. aii<l under tin- present soeial 
 system i-vt'i* must remain, ciitircU- uninstructed. 
 
 Nor is thi^^ the (>nl\- way in which sparseness of 
 population oi>erates unfavourably on the intellectual 
 progress of a jx'oph'. Scarcely less im])ortant than 
 xhool teaching, as instruments of popular education, 
 are the societies established for the mutual improve- 
 UKiit of those avIkj take part in them, such as me- 
 chanics' institutes, an<l liti-raiy and scientific asso- 
 I'iatious. of whicli such extensive use is inade in tliis 
 country and in the Northern States. But from this 
 efficacious mode of awakening intelligence, a people, 
 ■whose social institutions prevent it from attaining 
 greater concentration than is reached l)y the people 
 of the South, is entirely excluded. f 
 
 Lastly, how are the means of communication to 
 
 * See Olmsted's Seaboard Slaiv States, pp. 291, 292, ^66, 367, 503. 
 
 t Some statistics bearing upon this aspect of the question have 
 been given by Mr. Helper, which are sufficiently striking. It 
 appears that the number of public libraries throughout the ■whole 
 of the Slave States are only 695 against 14,911 in the Free States; 
 or about i public library in the South for 21 in the North. Again, 
 the number of volumes in pul)lic libraries in the Slave States is 
 (^•49,5 77; whil(! the num])er in public libraries in the Free States is 
 3,888,284 ; that is to say, in the jiroportion of al>out i to 6. — 
 ( Helper's ImjyeviUng Crisis, ji. 337.) Probably, were the (juality of 
 tbc literature as well a.s the quantity given, tlie result wouhl be 
 still more significant. 
 
INCOMPATIBLE WITH CIVILIZED PROGRESS. I3I 
 
 be developed under such conditions ? How are rail- 
 ways to be made profitable in a population of fifteen 
 persons to the square mile ? Railways, no doubt, 
 have been made in the South, but with more advan- 
 tage to the travellers than to the shareholders. In 
 South Carolina a train has been known to travel a 
 hundred miles with a single passenger.* 
 
 The mean whites seem thus, under an inexorable 
 law, to be bound to their present fate by the same 
 chain which holds the slave to his. Slavery pro- 
 duces distaste for industry. Distaste for industry, 
 coexisting with a wilderness which is also the fruit 
 of slavery, disperses population over vast areas as 
 the one condition of its increase. Among such a 
 people the requisites of progress do not exist ; the 
 very elements of civilization are wanting. 
 
 If, then, society is to advance in the South, 
 we must look somewhere else than among the mass 
 of the white population for the motive principle 
 which is to propel it. And Avhere are we to look? 
 Southern society furnishes but two other elements — 
 the slaves and their masters. What germ of hope 
 does either of these present ? If civilization is to 
 spring up among the negro race, it will scarcely be 
 contended that this will happen while they are still 
 slaves ; and if the present ruling class are ever to 
 rise above the existing type, it must be in some 
 
 * See Stirling's Letters from tlie Slave States, p, 265. 
 
 9* 
 
1^1 PROSPECT OF SPONTANEOUS EMANCIPATION. 
 
 Other capacity than as shivchuhlors. The whole 
 question therefore turns ultimately on the chances 
 of slave emancipation. Slave emancipation may, of 
 course, be forced upon tlic Soutli l>y pressure from 
 without ; l»ut tlie point which we have now to con- 
 sider is the prospect of this result being attained in 
 the natural course of its internal development. 
 
 And first let us observe the inherent difficulty of 
 tlie prol)lem. It was shown in a former chapter 
 that in the system of North American slavery, ob- 
 stacles exist to the emancipation of the slave which 
 had no place among the ancients. It may now be 
 added that the difficulties of slave emancipation in 
 the present Slave States are far greater than those 
 wliicli were successfully encountered in the North- 
 ern. ( )\ving to causes already explained, slavery 
 liad never taken very firm root in the North : 
 it was becoming, with the growth of society, con- 
 stantly less profitable : the total number of slaves 
 formed Init a small fraction of the whole popula- 
 tion : above all, the Northern States had in the 
 markets of the South a ready means of ridding 
 themselves, at trifling loss, of a class which had be- 
 come an incumbrance. For, to borrow the words 
 of De Tocqueville, the overthrow^ of slavery in the 
 Northern States was eftecteil " by abolishing the 
 ]irinciple of slavery, not by setting the slaves free." 
 riie Northern people did not emancipate negroes who 
 
MODERN PRECEDENTS INAPPLICABLE. 
 
 ^33 
 
 ■were enslaved, but they provided for tlie future ex- 
 tinction of slavery by legislating for the freedom of 
 their offspring. The operation of this plan may 
 be readily supposed. The future offspring of the 
 slave having by the law of a particular state 
 been declared free, the slave himself lost a portion 
 of his value in that state. But in the South 
 these laws had no force, and consequently in the 
 South the value of the slave was unaltered by the 
 change. The effect, therefore, of the Northern mea- 
 sures of abolition was, for the most part, simply to 
 transfer Northern slaves to Southern markets. In 
 this way, by an easy process, Avithout incurring any 
 social danger, and at slight pecuniary loss, the 
 Northern States got rid of slavery. The problem 
 of enfranchisement in the South is of a very dif- 
 ferent character. Slavery, instead of being, as it 
 always was in the North, but one, and an unim- 
 portant one, among many modes of industry, is 
 there virtually the sole industrial instrument : in- 
 stead of comprising an insignificant fraction of the 
 whole population, it comprises throughout the whole 
 South one-third, and in some States one-half: it 
 numbers altogether four millions of people : lastly, 
 the South is wholly without that easy means of 
 shuffling off slavery which its o^v^l markets pro- 
 vided for the North. The two cases are thus 
 wholly unlike, and the spontaneous disappearance 
 
134 ECONOMIC CAUSES 
 
 • )t' slavery iVma the XortliciMi section of tlu^ riiioii 
 Liivi-s little »j.touikI to hope lor a siiiiihir result in 
 tlio [H'csent Slave States, 
 
 And still less warranted ai*e we in expectinir a 
 |>.ili.\- of emancipation iVnin the South 1)\' the his- 
 t"»rv 1)1" Pn'itish eni;Mi(ij)ati()ii in the West Indies ; 
 for that ev<'nt was not hrouiiht ahout in the natural 
 course of sui-ial iniprovenient in tliose islands, hut 
 was forced upon them by the mother nation, in the 
 face of the ])rotests and remonstrances of their ruliiiii- 
 classes. Instead of being the natural result of prin- 
 eijik's called int(j action under slave institutions, it 
 was only accomplished with difficulty throu<:h tlie 
 direct and forcible interposition of an external au- 
 thority. 
 
 So far as to ancient and modern precedents : they 
 are palpably inapplicable to the present case. But 
 tlicre are those who anticipate the growth of a liber- 
 al policy in the South from the gradual operation 
 of economic causes in ultimately identifying the in- 
 terests of jdanters with those of the general commu- 
 nity.* It will be worth Avhile briefly to examine 
 
 •Mr. Stirling relics upon the iollnwing consiik-mtions tia coutiiiii- 
 iiig the solution of the problem. "Within the last ten or fifteen 
 years thi- value of slaves has risen fifty per cent, at least During 
 the Kjuno time the price of hacon has risen joo to 200 percent. 
 Ix't this process only be continued for ten years longer, and where 
 will be the profits of the cotton-plaiit4«r ? And hero we may per- 
 l,;.i.~ liiNl t)i,. l..np-lnokM for solution of tjio nigger <|uestion. When 
 
NOT TO BE RELIED ON. 
 
 ^35 
 
 the argument which is founded upon this view of 
 the case. It is said that free kibour (regarded from 
 a purely economic point of view — moral considera- 
 tions apart) being superior to slave labour, and this 
 principle being exemplified by the whole industrial 
 history of the Xorthern and Southern States — the 
 former, though naturally less fertile, having far out- 
 stripped the latter in the race of material prosperity 
 — the truth must ultimately be recognised by the 
 slaveholders themselves, and that, so soon as this 
 happens, they will be led by self interest to adopt 
 a policy of emancipation. The case may indeed be 
 put more strongly than this ; for slavery has not 
 merely thwarted the general prosperity of the South, 
 
 slave-labour becomes unprofitable, the slave will be emancipated. 
 South Carolina herself will turn abolitionist when slavery ceases to 
 pay. When she finds that a brutalized race cannot and will not 
 give as much efficient labour for the money as a hired class of supe- 
 rior workers, it is possible that she may lay aside the cowhide, and 
 oifer wages to her niggers." — Letters from Slave States, pp. 182, 183. 
 The argument is palpably fallacious. It is the same as if one were 
 to argue that the high rent of land must ultimately destroy agricul- 
 ture. In each case the high price of the natural agent — land or 
 slaves — results from the comparative profitableness of capital in- 
 vested in the employment of one or the other. When the high price 
 of land leads landlords to throw up their estates, an analogous course 
 of conduct may be expected from slaveholders from an analogous 
 inducement. The high price of the slave's food is scarcely to the 
 point, since this must tell also against the free labourer : at all 
 events, so long as the slave fetches any price, it is a proof that he 
 is considered to be worth at least more than his keep. 
 
136 ECONOMIC CAUSES 
 
 it iiKiv c'VLMi be fehuwii to IjiiVL* opLTtitcd to the spe- 
 cial cletriineiit of the particuhir class for whose 
 exclusive behoof it is iiiaintaiiietl. F(jr the slave- 
 holders of the South are also its lauded proprietors, 
 and the uniform effect of shivery (as has been shown 
 in a tornn r part of this essay) has been, by confin- 
 ing cultivation to tlie rich soils, to j)revent the 
 growth of rent. So j)oNVrrfnll\', indeed, has tlus 
 cause operated, that it has been calculated, appa- 
 rently ui)on good grounds,* that the mere difference 
 in rent between the returns from lands of equal 
 (juality in the Free and Slave States would be more 
 than sutiicient to buy up the whole slave pro- 
 }»erty of the South, By the abolition of slavery in 
 that country, therefore, not merely would the gene- 
 ral prosperity of the inhabitants be promoted, but, 
 by the rise of rent which would be the consequence 
 of this measure, there would result to slaveholders 
 a special gain — a gain which, it may reasonably be 
 tliouglit, would form a liberal compensation for 
 any temporary inconvenience they might suffer 
 from the change. Considerations so obvious, it 
 is argued, must in tlie end have their effect on 
 the minds of the ruling class in tlie South, and must 
 lead them l)efore long to abolish a system which is 
 iVaught with such baleful effects to the country and 
 
 t<i tlleliiselves. 
 
 * Src Olin.sl^^d's Seaboard Slaiy <S(a((S, pp. 170, iy\. 
 
NOT TO BE RELIED ON. 
 
 137 
 
 To the soundness of this reasoning, so far as it 
 proves the benefieial results which would follow from 
 the abolition of slavery, I do not think tliat any 
 valid objection can be offered. It aj^pears to me as 
 demonstrable as any proposition in Euclid, that, 
 extending our view over some generations, slavery 
 has acted injuriously on every class and every inter- 
 est in the South, and that its continued maintenance 
 is absolutely incompatible with the full development 
 of the resources of the country. Nevertheless it 
 would, I conceive, be infinitely precarious from 
 this position to infer that slaveholders will ever be 
 induced voluntarily to abolish slavery. The slave- 
 holders of the South are perfectly aware of the supe- 
 rior prosperity of the Free States : it is with them a 
 subject of bitter mortification and envy ; but, with 
 the most conclusive evidence before their eyes, they 
 persist in attributing this to every cause but the 
 right one. Supposing, however, that they are in 
 the end convinced, by such arguments as I have 
 referred to, of the injurious effects of their system, 
 and that they are satisfied that the immediate loss 
 from the abolition of slavery would be more than 
 made good to their descendants in the future in- 
 crease in the value of their land, still I apprehend 
 that they would be as far as ever from being 
 won over to a policy of abolition. For, what- 
 ever be the future advantages which may be ex- 
 
I }0 I'DLITICAL AND SOCIAL MOTIVES 
 
 l>e*ctcd from the cliaiigo, it is vain to deny that the 
 transition from shivery to freedom couhl not he 
 (.•H'erti'd without great inoonvenienee, loss, and, 
 douhth'ss, in many cases, ruin, to the present race 
 of shi\tliohh'rs, Tlie accumuhited results of two 
 IiuiKh-rd vears ol" t\raiiii\', cruelty, and disregard 
 of tlic iirst ol' liunian rights are not thus easily 
 c\a<l('(l. A sacrifice there would need to be.* 
 And it is vain to expect that slaveholders, of 
 wliose system selfishness is the fundamental prin- 
 ii])le, and whose profits are purchased, not merely 
 at the cost of misery to a Avhole race of livinjr men, 
 hut at the cost of tlie future prosperity of their own 
 decendants, whose interests in the soil their spend- 
 thrift system anticipates — it is vain to expect that 
 they of all men should voluntarily devote themselves 
 for the good of their country. So long, therefore, . 
 as slaveholders have at their disposal an unlimited 
 extent of fei'tile soil suited to slave products, it is, 
 1 think, vain to hope that the question of slavery will 
 ever find its solution in economic motives. But, in 
 trutli, it is idle to argue this (juestioii on j)ureh- 
 econoiuie grounds. It is not sini]>l\- as a j)roduc- 
 tive instrument that slavery is vahud hv its suj)- 
 
 * Tin- ^V(•.st liulian experiment, I conceive, proves this as cou- 
 • liisivcly a.s it proves that the ultimate and in'riuancnt results ol' 
 ('niau(;ii)ation are beneficial tu the whole rouiitry in tlic highest 
 <l.•^:n•(•. 
 
THE REAL STRENGTH OF AMERICAN SLAVERY. 139 
 
 porters. It is far rather for its social and political 
 results — as the means of upholding a form of society 
 in which slaveholders are the sole depositaries of 
 social prestige and political power, as the " corner 
 stone" of an edifice of which they are the masters — 
 that the system is prized. Abolish slavery, and you 
 introduce a new order of things, in which the ascen- 
 dancy of the men who now rule in the South would 
 be at an end. An innnigration of new men would 
 set in rapidly from various quarters. The planters 
 and their adherents Avould soon be placed in a hope- 
 less minority in their old dominions. New inter- 
 ests would take root and grow ; new social ideas 
 would germinate ; new political combinations would 
 be formed ; and the power and hopes of the party 
 Avhich has long swayed the politics of the Union, and 
 which now seeks to break loose from that Union in 
 order to secure a free career for the accomplishment 
 of bolder designs, would be gone for ever. It is 
 this which constitutes the real strength of slavery in 
 the Southern States, and which precludes even the 
 momentary admission by the dominant party there 
 of any proposition which has abolition for its object. 
 And in view of this aspect of North American 
 slavery, Ave may see how perfectly futile, hoAv abso- 
 lutely childish, is the suggestion, that the Slave 
 party should be bought over by the Federal govern- 
 ment through the offer of a liberal compensation, 
 
I^O FURTHER SUPPORT TO SLAVERY 
 
 atUT tlie precedent of Great Britain dealing with her 
 \\ t>t Indian possessions. Putting aside the magni- 
 tude til' the sum, wliich, at the price of shives Avhieli 
 riTL-ntly prevaih'(l, wouM certainly not be less than 
 £300,000,000 sterling, and the impossibility of rais- 
 ing it in tile j)resent state of Anu-rican credit, who 
 that knows anything of the aims of the Southern 
 party can suppose that the proposah il" made, Avonld 
 not be rejected with scorn ?* Tlie suggestion sup- 
 |>nses that men who have long held paramount in- 
 lluence over the North American continent, and 
 who are })robably now meditating plans of annexa- 
 tion and conquest, would at once abandon their posi- 
 tion as the chiefs of an independent confederacy, 
 and forego their ambitious schemes, for what ? — for 
 a sum of money wdiich, if well invested, nnght per- 
 haps enable them and their desc-ciidants to vegetate 
 ill ])eaceful ol)SCuritv I 
 
 Init there is yet another influence to be taken 
 
 • I mil spt-jiking, of course, of tlu' ivci'ption whicli tlie jn-oposition 
 V uulil iiic'ft witli while the Slave party were yet triumphant. What 
 it might be induced to accept if tlioroughly beaten by the North, is 
 luiotlier question which it is not necessary here to discuss. 
 
 Since these observations were written the news, of Mr. Lincoln's 
 project of emancipation has arrived. It wUl be seen that the con- 
 dition stated in the last sentence— the subjugation of the South — 
 is jtrecisely the circumsUmcc wliich gives to that scheme the least 
 chance of success. Mr. Lincoln knew too well the men with whom 
 be had to deal t<j think of making such an nllcr till he wa.s, or 
 tlii'Uglil liiiiistlr. in a pnsiti<in to enforce it. 
 
IN THE ETHICS AND THEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH. 141 
 
 account of in arguing this question. Slavery has not 
 merely determined the general form and character 
 of the social and political economy of the Southern 
 States, it has entered into the soul of the people, and 
 has generated a code of ethics and a type of Christi- 
 anity adapted to its peculiar requirements. 
 
 At the epoch of the revolution, as has been 
 already intimated, slavery was regarded by all the 
 eminent men who took part in that movement as 
 essentially an evil — an evil which might indeed 
 be palliated as having come down to that genera- 
 tion from an earlier and less enlightened age, and 
 which, having intwined itself with the institutions 
 of the country, required to be delicately dealt 
 with — but still an e\Til, indefensible on moral and 
 religious grounds, and which ought not to be perma- 
 nently endured. The Convention of 1774 unani- 
 mously condemned the practice of holding slaves. % 
 The Convention of 1787, Avhile legislating for the 
 continuance of slavery, resolved to exclude from the 
 constitution the word " slave," lest it should be 
 thought that the American nation gave any sanc- 
 tion to "the idea that there could be property in 
 men." Washington, a native of the South and a 
 slaveholder, declared it to be among his first wishes 
 to see slavery abolished by law, and in his will 
 provided for the emancipation of his slaves. Jeffer- 
 son, also a native of the South and a slaveholder, 
 
 \jh- 
 
 icu 
 
14^ (iuowrii (IF Tin: rno-sLAVKUY skntimkxt. 
 
 trained a plan of abolitii^n, and declared that in the 
 pi'i'SLiife of slavery *' he trembled for his conntry 
 when he reflected that God was just ;" tliat in the 
 event of a rising'' of slaves, " the Alnii;ihty ha<l no 
 attriliuti' wliiili could take side ■\vitli sia\e()wners 
 in sucli a contest." The other leading statesmen of 
 that time, Franklin, ^ladison, Hamilton, Patritk 
 llinr\-, the Kaiidnlphs. Munroe, ^vhet]ler fn^m the 
 North or from the South, whether a;^n'eeing or not 
 ill their views on the practical mode of dealing with 
 tlie institution, alike concurred in reprobating at 
 least the principle of slavery. 
 
 I)Ut it seems impossible that a whole people should 
 live permanently in contemplation of a system wliieh 
 does violence to its moral instincts. One of two 
 results will happen. Either its moral instincts will 
 lead it to reform the institution which offends them, 
 or those instincts will be perverted, and become 
 authorities for what in their unsophisticated contli- 
 tion they condemned. The latter alternative is that 
 which has happened in the Southern States. Slavery 
 is no lon^^er rcfjarded there as a barbarous institu- 
 tion, to l)e palliated with whispering humbleness as 
 an iiiliti-itance from a ruder age ; but rather as a 
 system admirable for its intrinsic excellence, worthy 
 to be upheld and ])ropagated, the last and completest 
 residt of time.* The right of the white man to 
 
 • It is instructive In oltsorv*' the giadatiun I'V wlii' li this advaii- 
 
ITS ABSORBING STRENGTH. 143 
 
 hold the negro in permanent thraldom, to compel 
 him to work for his profit, to keep him in enforced 
 ignorance, to sell him, to flog him, and, if need 
 be, to kill him, to separate him at pleasure from his 
 wife and children, to transport him for no crime to 
 a remote region where he is in a few years worked 
 to death — this is now propounded as a grand dis- 
 covery in ethical and political science, made for the 
 first time by the enlightened leaders of the Southern 
 Confederation, and recommended by that philan- 
 thropic body to all civilized nations for their adop- 
 tion. This Confederation, which is the opprobrium 
 of the age, puts itself forward as a model for its imita- 
 tion, and calmly awaits the tardy applause of man- 
 kind. " The ideas entertained at the time of the 
 formation of the old Constitution," says the Vice- 
 president of the Southern Confederacy, " were that 
 the enslavement of the African race was in violation 
 of the laws of nature ; that it was ^vrong in principle, 
 socially, morally, and politically. Our new govern- 
 ment is founded on exactly opposite ideas; its founda- 
 tions are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great 
 truth that the negro is not equal to the white man ; 
 that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is 
 
 ced point has been reached. Thirty years ago it was contended 
 " that there was not the slightest moral turpitude in holding slaves 
 under existing circarastances in the South." — Quarterly Revieiv, Sept. 
 and Dec, 1832. 
 
14-^ ITS ABSORBING STRENGTH. 
 
 liis natural uiul moral cuinlitioii. This our Govern- 
 ment is the fir.st in the history of the world based upon 
 this (jreat phj/sira!, jihilosophical, and moral truth. Tt 
 is upon this inir social tahi-ic is firmly i)lante(l, ami I 
 caiiiiot ])ti"mit mysolf to doiiht the ultimate success 
 of tin- full rL'Co<rnition of this principle throughout 
 the (■i\ili/c(l and enlightened woi-ld. . . . This stone 
 which was rejected by the first builders ' is become 
 the c-hicf stone of the corner' in our new edifice."* 
 (,)pinion in the Soutli has long passed beyontl the 
 stage at which slavery needs to be defended by 
 argument. The subject is now^ never touched but 
 in a strain such as the freedom conquered at Mara- 
 thon and Plata?a inspired in the orators of Athens. 
 It is " the beneficent source and wholesome founda- 
 tion of our civilization ;" an institution, " moral and 
 civilizing, useful at once to blacks and wdiites." " To 
 suppress slavery would be to throw back civilization 
 two hundred years." " It is not a moral evil. It 
 is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes. 
 It is by divine appointment." 
 But slavery in the South is something more than 
 a moi'al and political principle : it has become a 
 fashionable taste, a social passion. The possession 
 of a slave in the South carries witli it the same sort 
 of prestige as the possession of land in this country, 
 
 * Speech of Mr. A. II. Stpi)heiis, Vice-president of the Southern 
 Confeileriicy, delivered March, i8^)i. 
 
ITS UNIVERSALITY. 1 45 
 
 as the possession of a horse among the Arabs : it 
 brings the owner into connexion with the privileged 
 class ; it forms a presumption that he has attained 
 a certain social position. Slaves have thus in the 
 South acquired a factitious value, and are coveted 
 with an eagerness far l^eyond what the intrinsic 
 utility of their services would explain. A Chancel- 
 lor of South Carolina describes slavery as in accord- 
 ance with " the proudest and most deeply cher- 
 ished feelings " of his countrymen — " feelings, which 
 others, if they will, may call prejudices." A gover- 
 nor of Kansas declares that he " loves" the insti- 
 tution, and that he votes for it because he "loves" 
 it. Nor are these sentiments confined to the slave- 
 holding minority. The all-important circumstance 
 is that they are shared equally by the whole white 
 population. Far from reprobating a system which 
 has deprived them of the natural means of rising in 
 the scale of humanity, they fall in with the prevail- 
 ing modes of thought, and are warm admirers, and, 
 when need arises, effective defenders, of an institu- 
 tion which has been their curse. To be the owner 
 of a slave is the chief object of the poor white's am- 
 bition ; " quot servos pascit .^" the one criterion by 
 which he weighs the worth of his envied superiors 
 in the social scale. 
 
 Such has been the course of opinion on the sub- 
 ject of slavery in the Southern States. The progress 
 
146 HOPELESSNESS OF THE SLAVE'S POSITION. 
 
 of cvctits, i'ar from conducing to the «iraduiil mitifja- 
 tiun and ultimate extinction of the system, lias 
 tended distinctly in the opposite direction — to the 
 aLTLiravation of its worst evils and the consolida- 
 tion of its Strength. The extension of the area 
 subject to the Slave Power and the increase in the 
 slave population have augmented at once the 
 inducements for retaining the institution and the 
 dilliculty of getting rid of it ; while the ideas of 
 successive generations, bred up in its presence and 
 under the influence of the interests to which it has 
 given birth, have provided for it in the minds of the 
 peopli' a uKjral support. The result is, that the posi- 
 tion of the slave in the Southern States at the pre- 
 sent time, so far as it depends upon the will and 
 power of his masters, is in all respects more hopeless 
 than it has ever been in any former age, or in any 
 other quarter of the world. A Fugitive Slave law, 
 which throws into shade the former atrocities of 
 slavery, has been enacted, and until the recent dis- 
 turbances was strictly enforced. The education 
 of the negro is more than ever rigorously pro- 
 scribed. Emancipation finds in the growth of fana- 
 tical pro-slavery opinions obstacles more formi- 
 dable even than in the laws. IVopositions have 
 been entertained by the legislatures in some states 
 for reducing all free coloured persons to slavery by 
 one wholesale enactment ; in others these people 
 
SOCIAL COST OF THE SYSTEM. 1 47 
 
 have been banished from the state under pain of 
 this fate. Everything in the laws, in the customs, 
 in the education of the people, has been contrived 
 with the single view of degrading the negro to the 
 level of the brute, and blotting out from his mind 
 the hope and even the idea of freedom. 
 
 The thoroughness — the absolute disregard of all 
 consequences with which this purpose has been pur- 
 sued, is but little understood in this country. His- 
 tory can supply no instance of a despotism more 
 complete and searching than that which for some 
 years past has prevailed in the Southern States. 
 Since the attempt of John Bro^vn at Harper's Ferry, 
 its oppression has reached a height which can onl}^ 
 be adequately described as a reign of terror. It is 
 long since freedom of discussion on any question 
 connected with slavery would have been tolerated. 
 But it is not merely freedom of discussion which is 
 now prohibited. The design seems to have been 
 formed of putting down freedom of thought, and of 
 banishing from the South every trace of dissentient 
 opinion. A system of espionage has been organized. 
 The mail bags have in many states been freely 
 opened, and the postmasters of petty villages have 
 exercised a free discretion -in giving or withholding 
 the documents entrusted to their care. In the 
 more southern states vigilance committees have 
 been established en permanence. Before these self- 
 
148 TERRORISM. 
 
 constituted tribunals persons of unblemished reputa- 
 tion and inotlensive manners have been summoned, 
 and, on a lew days' notice, lor no other offence than 
 that of being known to entertain sentiments un- 
 lavouiable to slavery, have been banished from the 
 state where they resided ; and this in direct viola- 
 tion of a specific provision of the Constitution of 
 tile United States.* Clerg}^men, wlio have broken 
 no law, for merely discharging their duties accord- 
 ing to their consciences, have been arrested, thro^\Ti 
 into prison, and visited Avith ignominious punish- 
 ment. Travellers, who have incautiously, in ignor- 
 ance of the intensity of the popular feeling, ven- 
 tured to give temperate expression to anti-slavery 
 opinions, have been seized by the mob, tarred and 
 feathered, ducked, flogged, and in some instances 
 hanged. Nay, so sensitively jealous has the feel- 
 ing of the South become, that the slightest link of 
 connexion with a suspected locality — to have re- 
 sided in the North, to have sent one's children to a 
 Northern school — is sufficient to secure expulsion 
 from a slave state. An abolitionist in the ethics of 
 the South is the vilest of all human beings, and 
 every one is an abolitionist wlio does not reside in 
 a slave state and share to the full tlie prevailing 
 
 • " Tlie citiz«3ns of each state shall be entitled to all the privi- 
 leges and immunitios of citizens in the several states." 
 
TERRORISM. 1 49 
 
 pro-slavery sentiment.* Such is the point which 
 civilization has reached under slave institutions. 
 At this cost the system is maintained, f 
 
 * It may readily be conceived that Southern intolerance did not 
 relax as the great social schism approached its crisis. M. Cucheval- 
 Clarigny gives the following vivid sketch of the measures by which 
 unionist sentiment was overborne in the South: — " Chaque jour on 
 voyait arriver, dans les etats du centre ou de Touest, des gens 
 qui avaient 6t6 dunonces comme mal pensans, et qui avaient re9U, 
 par lettro anonyme, I'iavitation d'emigrer dans les vingt-quatre 
 heures, sous peine de voir leur maison incendiee et de recevoir un 
 coup de couteau. Les joumaux de la Nouvelle-Orleans, qui com- 
 battaient la separation, furent contraints Tun apr^s 1' autre de cesser 
 leur publication ou de changer completement de langage. Dans les 
 villes un peu importantes du sud, des bandes armees parcouraient les 
 rues, pr^c^dees d'un drapeau avec le palmier, et des menaces de mort 
 ^taient profi^rees devant les maisons des gens suspects d'attachement 
 k r Union. Quand une legislature paraissait h^siter devant un vote 
 beUiqueux, on tenait des reunions publiques pour goiu-mander sa len- 
 teur, et on lui adressait des objurgations. On ne parlait de rien moins 
 en effet dans certains ^tats que de faire voter des mesures d'excep- 
 tion, I'emprisonnement ou I'exile des suspects, et la confiscation de 
 leurs biens." — Annuaire des Deux Moiides, i860, p. 617, 
 
 t Tlie Reign of Terror in the South, &c. passim ; also Reports of 
 the American Anti-Slavery Society, for the years 1857-60. 
 
150 
 
 CilAPTKU VI. 
 
 EXTERNAL POLICY OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 Ix the foregoing chapters an attempt has been made 
 to analyze the system of society presented in the 
 Slave States, and to ascertain the direction in which, 
 uiiikr ordinary circumstances, and in the absence of 
 intervention from without, the develof)ment of such 
 a system proceeds ; and the result of an examina- 
 tion, as well of the several elements of which the 
 whole society is composed as of their joint action, 
 has been to show that it is essentially retrograde in 
 its character, containing within it no germs from 
 wliicli improvement can grow, and no forces compe- 
 tent to counteract those which press it downwards. 
 In the remaining portion of this essay 1 shall endea- 
 vour to exhibit the working of this system in the 
 politics of the Union ; and as, in relation to the 
 people who compose it, the social system of the Slave' 
 States has Ijcen seen to be retrograde, so, in relation 
 to other societies with which it may come into 
 contact, it will be found to be aggressive — to be 
 constantly urged by exigencies, which it cannot 
 control, to extend its territoiy, and by an ambition 
 ii«»t less inevitable to augment its power. 
 
ITS AGGRESSIVE CHARACTER. 151 
 
 The aggressive character of a social system deriv- 
 ing its strength from slavery — that is to say of a 
 Slave Power — proceeds primarily from the well- 
 known economic fact, already more than once ad- 
 verted to — the necessary limitation of slave-culture 
 to soils of more than average richness, combined 
 with its tendency to exhaust them. It results from 
 this that societies based upon slavery cannot, like 
 those founded upon free industrial institutions, take 
 root, grow, and flourish upon a limited area. To 
 secure their vigour, their roots must be always 
 spreading. A constant supply of fresh soils of high 
 fertility becomes, therefore, an indispensable requi- 
 site for the permanent industrial success of such 
 societies. This is a fundamental principle in their 
 political economy, and one which, we shall find, 
 exercises a powerful influence on the course of their 
 general history. As the principle will hereafter be 
 frequently referred to, it is important to observe 
 that it is one about which no controversy can be 
 said to exist, being as fully recognized by the up- 
 holders as by the opponents of slavery. " There is 
 not a slaveholder," says Judge Warner of Georgia, 
 " in this house or out of it, but who knows perfectly 
 well that, whenever slavery is confined within cer- 
 tain specified limits, its future existence is doomed ; 
 it is only a question of time as to its final destruc- 
 tion. You may take any single slaveholding county 
 
Ijl EXrANSION A NECESSITY OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 
 
 in the Southern States, in whicli the great staples of 
 cotton and sugar are cultivated to any extent, and 
 contine tlie present slave population within the 
 limits of that county. Such is the rapid natural 
 increase of tile slaves, and the rapid exhaustion of 
 the soil in tlu- cultivation ot" those crops (which add 
 so much to the commercial wealth of the country), 
 that in a few years it would be impossible to sup- 
 })ort them within the limits of such county. Both 
 master and slave would be starved out ; and what 
 would be the practical effect in any one county, the 
 same result would happen to all the slaveholding 
 States. Slavery cannot be confined within certain 
 specified limits without producing the destruction of 
 l)oth master and slave ; it requires fresh lands, 
 plenty of wood and water, not only for the comfort 
 and happiness of the slave, but for the benefit of the 
 owner."* 
 
 It is further important to observe that the intern- 
 al organization of slave societies adapts them in a 
 peculiar manner for a career of constant expansion. 
 " In free communities ])roperty becomes fixed in 
 edifices, in machinery, and in improvements of the 
 soil. In slave communities there is scarcely any 
 ])roperty except slaves, and they are easily movable. 
 The freeman embellishes liis home ; the slaveholder 
 linds nothinir to bind him to soils which he has 
 
 • J'foi/rtss of tSUittry, l>. 227. 
 
THEIR EXCLUSIVENESS. I 53 
 
 exhausted. Freedom Ls enterprismg, but not mi- 
 gratory as slavery is. It is not in the nature of 
 slaver}^ to become attached to place. It is nomadic. 
 The slaveholder leaves his impoverished fields with 
 as little reluctance as the ancient Scythian aband- 
 oned cropped pastures for fresh ones, and slaves 
 are moved as readily as flocks and herds."* 
 
 Slavery thus requires for its success a constantly 
 expanding field. It is also to be noted that within 
 this field it is exclusive of all other industrial sys- 
 tems. It is true, indeed, that there exists in certain 
 districts through the Slave States a considerable 
 free population engaged in regular industry ; but 
 this forms no real exception to the essential exclu- 
 siveness of slave societies. These settlements of free 
 farmers occur only where, from some cause, slavery 
 has disappeared from tracts of countrj^ large enough 
 to form the abode of distinct societies ; as in West- 
 em Virginia, where the exhaustion of the soU, under 
 a long continued cultivation by slaves, compelled at 
 one time an extensive emigration of planters ; or 
 along the slopes of the Alleghanies, where the land 
 is better suited to cereal crops than to cotton or 
 tobacco ; or, again, in Texas, where the available 
 slave force has not been sufficient to enable planters 
 to appropriate the vast regions suddenly placed at 
 their disposal. In these cases, no doubt, colonies of 
 
 * Progress of .'<lavery, p. 8. 
 
154 THE RACE OF COLONIZATION. 
 
 free peasants are to be found in the midst of the 
 Slave States ; but there is here no real intermixture 
 of the two forms of society. The free settlements 
 ninain in the Slave States as distinct communi- 
 ties* — oases of freedom in tlie vast desert of sla- 
 very — w ithout bond of interest or sympathy to con- 
 nect them -with the surrounding population. Slave 
 society is thus essentially exclusive of all other 
 forms of social life.f Now this characteristic of it 
 is as well understood by the free population of the 
 Northern States, as is the necessity to their system 
 of a constantly expanding area by the planters of 
 tlie South ; and hence it has happened that, when- 
 ever free and slave societies have come into contact 
 on the same field, a mutual antagonism has sprung 
 up between them. Each lias endeavoured to out- 
 strip the other in the career of colonization, and, by 
 first occupying the ground, to keep the field open 
 for its future expansion against the encroachments 
 of its rival. " It has thus," says Mr. Weston, " be- 
 
 • 8('C ( )luistud's account of tlie German settlement in Texiis. — 
 A Journey through Texas, pp. 143-146, 176-178, 
 
 t Tliis is not only instinctively felt by the Southerns, but main- 
 tain(>(l in theory. The following passage from the Richraond 
 /m/uirer is sulliciently cxjilicit : " Two opposite and conflicting 
 furiiis of society cannot, among civilized men, co-exist and endui'o. 
 The one must give way and coaso to exist ; tho other become uni- 
 versal. If free society bo unnatural, immoral, unchristian, it must 
 fall, and give way to slave society, a social system old as the world, 
 universal as man. " 
 
MORAL TRAINING OF SLAVE SOCIETIES. 1 55 
 
 come a race whether the negro from Texas and 
 Arkansas, or the white labourer from Kansas and 
 the free West, shall first reach New Mexico and the 
 Gulf of California." 
 
 But it is less in the economic, than in the moral 
 and social, attributes of slave societies that we must 
 look for the motive principle of their aggressive 
 ambition. That which the necessity for fresh soils 
 is to the political economy of such communities a 
 lust of power is to their morality. The slaveholder 
 lives from infancy in an atmosphere of despotism. 
 He sees around him none but abject creatures, who, 
 under fearful penalties to be inflicted by himself, 
 are bound to do his slightest, his most unreasonable, 
 bidding. " The commerce between master and slave," 
 says a slaveowner, "is a perpetual exercise of the 
 most boisterous passions — the most unremitting des- 
 potism on the one hand, and degrading submission 
 on the other. Our children see this, and learn to 
 imitate it. . . . The parent storms, the child looks 
 on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the 
 same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose 
 to the worst passions, and thus nursed, educated, and 
 daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped 
 with its odious peculiarities."* "The first notion," 
 says De Tocqueville, " which the citizen of the 
 Southern States acquires in life, is that he is born 
 
 * Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, p. 39. 
 
15^ TENDENCY TO FOSTER AMBITION. 
 
 to eoiiiiiiaiKl, and the tirst habit which he contracts 
 is that of being obeyed without resistance." The 
 despot mood is thus early impressed on the heart 
 of the slaveholder ; and it bears fruit in his manners 
 and life. " The existence of a dominant class neces- 
 sarily leads to violence. Trained up from youth to 
 tlie unrestrained exercise of will, the superior race 
 or class naturally becomes despotic, overbearing, and 
 impatient. In their intercourse with their inferiors 
 this leads to unresisted oi)pression ; but with their 
 equals, armed with similar power and fired by the 
 same passions, it breaks out into fierce strife. . . . 
 In this country the relation of master and slave 
 j)roduces the same effect on the character of the 
 dominant class as was formerly produced in Europe 
 by that of lord and serf. There is the same imperi- 
 ous will, the same impatience of restraint, the same 
 proneness to anger and ferocious strife. The passions 
 which are developed in the intercourse with inferiors 
 show themselves, thougli in a diff'erent form, in the 
 intercourse with equals. Thus, by an inevitable 
 retribution, wrong is made self-chastising, and the 
 hand of the violent man is turned against himself. 
 
 " Duelling is not the only form of this national 
 ])roneness to acts of violence ; rather, it is the modified 
 form wliich it assumes among fair and lionourable 
 men, who, even in their anger, disdain to take advan- 
 tage of an adversary, and wh<» liave at least sufticient 
 
NARROW SCOPE FOR ITS INDULGENCE. 157 
 
 self-command to give a semblance of reason to their 
 passion. There are others, whose hasty impulses 
 disdain even this slight self-restraint, who carry with 
 them habitually the means of deadly injury, and use 
 them on the slightest provocation." ..." The custom 
 of carrying arms is at once a proof of proneness to 
 violence, and a provocation to it. This habit, I am 
 informed, prevails very extensively in the South. 
 
 When coming down the Mississippi, a Colonel B , 
 
 to whom I had been introduced, pointing to a crowd 
 of men of all ranks clustered round the cabin stove, 
 said : ' Now, there is probably not a man in all that 
 crowd who is not armed ; I myself have a pistol in 
 my state-room.' "* 
 
 Such are the private influences by which the 
 slaveholder is moulded to an intense craving for 
 power. And what scope do the institutions of the 
 South provide for the satisfaction, on a large theatre, 
 of the passion which they generate ? In free societies 
 the paths to eminence are various. Successful trade, 
 the professions, science and literature, social reform, 
 philanthropy, furnish employment for the redundant 
 activity of the people, and open so many avenues to 
 distinction. But for slaveholders these means of 
 advancement do not exist. Commerce and manufac- 
 tures are excluded by the necessities of the case. 
 The professions, which are the result of much sub- 
 
 * Stirling's Letters from the Slave States, pp. 270, 272. 
 
138 SLAVERY ITS SOLE RESOURCE. 
 
 division of cinployiiR'nt wliere population is rich 
 and dense, can have no pLice in a poor and thinly 
 peopled country. Science and literature are left 
 ^^itll<mt tlic ptiiicipal inducements for their cultiva- 
 tion, Avliere thtTe is no field for their most important 
 practiral ajjplications. Social reform and pliilan- 
 thropy would be out of place in a country where 
 Iniman chattels are the principal property. Practi- 
 cally, but one career lies open to the Southerner 
 desirous of advancement — agriculture carried on by 
 slaves. To this, therefore, he turns. In the manage- 
 nunt ui" his jjlantation, in the breeding, buying, and 
 selling of slaves, his life is passed. Amid the moral 
 atmosphere which this mode of life engenders his 
 ideas and tastes are formed. He has no notion of 
 ease, independence, happiness, w^here slavery is not 
 found. Is it strange, then, that his ambition should 
 connect itself with the institution around which are 
 entwined his domestic associations, which is identified 
 with all his plans in life, and which offers him the 
 sole chance of emerging from obscurity ? 
 
 But the aspirations of the slaveholder are not con- 
 fined witliin the limits of his own community, lie 
 is also a citizen of the United States. In the former 
 he naturally and easily takes the leading place ; but, 
 as a member of the larger society in which he is 
 called upon to act in combination with men who 
 liave been brought up under free institutions, the 
 
CONCENTRATION OF AIM. 1 59 
 
 position which he is destined to fill is not so clearly 
 indicated. It is plain, however, that he cannot 
 become blended in the general mass of the popula- 
 tion of the Union. His character, habits, and aims 
 are not those of the Northern people, nor are theirs 
 his. The Northerner is a merchant, a manufacturer, 
 a lawyer, a literary man, an artisan, a shopkeeper, a 
 schoolmaster, a peasant farmer ; he is engaged in 
 commercial speculation, or in promoting social or 
 political reform ; perhaps he is a philanthropist, and 
 includes slavery-abolition in his programme. Be- 
 tween such men and the slaveholder of the South 
 there is no common basis for political action. There 
 are no objects in promoting which he can combine 
 Avith them in good faith and upon public grounds. 
 There lies before him, therefore, but one alternative : 
 he must stand by his fellows, and become powerful 
 as the assertor and propagandist of slavery ; or fail- 
 ing this, he must submit to be of no account in the 
 politics of the Union. Here then again the slave- 
 holder is thrown back upon his peculiar system as the 
 sole means of satisfying the master passion of his life. 
 In the society of the Union, no less than in that of 
 the State, he finds that his single path to power lies 
 through the maintenance and extension of this in- 
 stitution. Accordingly, to uphold it, to strengthen 
 it, to provide for its future growth and indefinite 
 expansion, becomes the dream of his life — the one 
 
1^)0 PROMOTED BY ANTAGONISM. 
 
 <:reat object of his existence, liiii this is not all : 
 this same institution, which is the beginning and 
 end of the slaveholder's being, places between hiiu 
 and the citizens of free societies a broad and impass- 
 able gulf. The system which is the foundation of 
 his present existence and future hopes is by them 
 denounced as sinful and inhuman ; and he is himself 
 held up to the reprobation of mankind. The tongues 
 and hands of all freemen are instinctively raised 
 against him. A consciousness is thus awakened in 
 the minds of the community of slaveholders that 
 they are a proscribed class, that their position is one 
 of antagonism to the Avholc civilized world ; and 
 fhe feelin"; binds them together in the fastest con- 
 cord. Their pride is aroused ; and all the energy 
 of their nature is exerted to make good their posi- 
 tion against those who would assail it. In this 
 manner the instinct of self defence and the sentiment 
 of pride come to aid the passion of ambition, and all 
 tend to fix in the minds of slaveholders the resolu- 
 tion to maintain at all hazards the keystone of their 
 social order. To establish their scheme of society 
 on such broad and firm foundations that they may 
 set at defiance the public opinion of free nations, 
 and, in the last resort, resist the combined efforts of 
 tiieir physical power, becomes at length the settled 
 purpose and clearly conceived design of the whole 
 body. To this they devote themselves with the zeal 
 
POSITION OF THE SOUTH IN THE UNIOX. l6l 
 
 of fanatics, with the persistency and secrecy of con- 
 spirators. * 
 
 The position of slaveholders thus naturally fosters 
 the passion of ambition, and that passion inevitably 
 connects itself with the maintenance and extension 
 of slavery. Whether this ambition would find 
 means to assert itself in the politics of the United 
 States might at one time have seemed more than 
 doubtful. From the very origin of the Republic 
 there were causes in operation which threatened, if 
 not vigorously encountered, to exclude the South 
 from that influence which it aspired to attain. The 
 institutions of the Union are based, in a large degree, 
 on the principle of representation in proportion to 
 numbers. But, as we saw on a former occasion, the 
 social system of the Southern States is ill calculated 
 to encourage the growth of population, while the 
 institutions of the North peculiarly favour it. On 
 the formation of the Federal Union the North and 
 the South started in this respect upon nearly equal 
 terms ;* and for a while — so long as slave trading 
 with Africa was permitted — this equality was ap- 
 t 
 
 * In I 790 the numbers were respectively as follows : — 
 
 Free States. Slave States. 
 
 Whites ... 1,900,976 Whites ... 1,271,488 
 
 Free Blacks ... 27,102 Free Blacks ... 3^,354 
 
 Slaves ... 40,364 Slaves ... 657,533 
 
 Total ... 1,968,452 Total ... 1,961,375 
 
1 62 POSITION OF THE SOUTH IN THE UNION 
 
 proximately inaiiitaiiii'tl. IWit in iSoS tlie African 
 slave trade ^fas abolished ; and the principal ex- 
 ternal source <>n Avhieh the South relied for recruit- 
 in«j: its j)nj)ulaTion was thus cut ofV. On tlic other 
 liand, free eniip'ation from Europe continued to 
 ]M)Ui- into the XorthciMi States in a constantly 
 increasing: stream ; while at the same time the 
 natural increase of the Northern people, under the 
 stimulus friven to early marria*2;es by the great 
 indu>trial j»rosperity of the country, was rapid l)e- 
 yond precedent. Froni tlic influence of these causes, 
 the original ecjuality in numbers between North and 
 South was soon converted into a decided preponder- 
 ance of the North ; and the natural course of events 
 tended constantly to increase the disproportion. 
 
 This state of things, it was obvious, threatened 
 ultimately the political extinction of the South, 
 incapable as it was of taking part in politics except 
 as a distinct interest. At first view, indeed, it might 
 seem as if this consummation was not merely 
 ultimately inevitable, but imminent. In point of 
 fact, however, the South, far from being reduced to 
 political insignificance has, throughout the whole 
 period tliat has elapsed since the foundation of the 
 government, maintained paramount sway in the 
 councils of the Union. 
 
 This result, so contraiy to what one might at first 
 sight have antici])ated, it is the fashion to attril)nte 
 
NATURALLY INFERIOR TO THAT OF THE NORTH. 1 63 
 
 to superior capacity for politics among the Southern 
 people ; and the theory certainly receives some 
 countenance from the fact, that of the illustrious 
 men who founded the republic some of the most 
 eminent were furnished by the South. It is, however, 
 quite unnecessary to resort to so improbable an hypo- 
 thesis, as that political capacity is best nourished by 
 institutions which tend to barbarize the whole life, 
 in order to understand the part taken by the South 
 in the politics of the Union. The sufficient explana- 
 tion is to be found in two circumstances — in the 
 nature of the Federal Constitution, regarded in con- 
 nexion with the singleness of aim and steadiness of 
 jDurpose, which naturally characterize men whose 
 interests and ideas are confined within the narrow 
 range permitted by slave institutions. 
 / The Federal Constitution, as is well kno^vn, was a 
 compromise between two principles — the democratic 
 principle of representation in proportion to numbers, 
 and the federal principle of representation according 
 to states. In the Lower House of Congress — the 
 House of Representatives — the former principle pre- 
 vailed ; the several states of the Union sending 
 members to this assembly in proportion to the rela- 
 tive numbers of their population. In the Senate — 
 the Upper House, — on the other hand, representation 
 took place according to states — each state, without 
 regard to extent or population, being there repre- 
 
I 64 COMPENSATING FORCES : 
 
 sentcd liv tin- saine minihrr of seiuitors. In the 
 election of tIk' I'lvsuU-nt tliese two i)rinciples were 
 (•(HiiliiniMl, and the vorin^ power of the several states 
 was detenniiujd 1)\- adding to tlie nnnd)c'r of tlieir 
 representatives in tlic Lower Ilonse the nnmber of 
 their representatives in the Senate — that is to say, 
 by the j)rop()rti()n of members which each state 
 respectively sent to both Houses. Such was the 
 general character of the scheme.* 
 
 In tlie arrangement, as tlius stated, tliere would 
 seem to be nothing w hich was not calenhited to give 
 to numbers, wealth, and intelligence, tlieir due sliare 
 in the government of the country. But in applying 
 to the South the principles just described, a provision 
 was introduced which had the effect of very materi- 
 ally altering, as regards that portion of the Union, 
 the popular character of the Constitution. This was 
 the clause enacting what is known as the three- 
 
 * The means by which it has been sought to preserve the balance 
 between these two principles of the Constitution are thus briefly 
 and comprehensively stated in the Federalist: — "The Constitution 
 is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal Constitution, but a 
 composition of both. In its foundation it is federal, not national ; 
 in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the government 
 are drawn, it is partly federal and partly national ; in the operation 
 of these jiowers it is national, not federal ; in the extent of them 
 again it is federal, not national; and, finally, in the authoritative 
 mode of introducing amendments, it is neither wholly federal nor 
 wholly national." — .Story <m tJi/- Comtitution of the United States, 
 vol. i., p. i(^(j. 
 
THE THREE-FIFTHS VOTE. 165 
 
 fifths vote. The House of Representatives professed 
 to be based on the principle of representation in 
 proportion to popuhition ; but, by virtue of this 
 clause, in reckoning population slaves were allowed 
 to count in the proportion of five slaves to three 
 free persons. Now, when we remember that the 
 slaves of the South number four millions in a popu- 
 lation of which the total is under ten millions, it 
 is not difficult to perceive what must be the effect 
 of such an arrangement upon the balance of forces 
 under the Constitution. In the Presidential election 
 of 1856, the slave representation was nearly equal 
 to one-third of the Avliole Southern representation ; 
 from Avhich it appears that the influence of the 
 South in the general representation of the Union 
 was, in virtue of the three-fifths vote, nearly one-half 
 greater than it would have been had the popular prin^ 
 ciple of the Constitution been fairly carried out. But 
 the influence of the South, as we formerly saw, 
 merely moans the influence of a few hundred thou- 
 sand slaveholders ; the whole political power of the 
 Slave States being in practice monopolized by this 
 body. The case, therefore, stands thus : under the 
 local institutions of the Slave States, the slaveholding 
 interest — a mere fraction in the whole population — 
 predominates in the South ; while, under this provi- 
 sion of the Federal Constitution, the South acquires 
 an influence in the Union by one-half greater than 
 
l66 SLTEUIUU CAI'ACITV FUU COMBINED ACTION. 
 
 Uiritiniiitily belongs to it. It is true this would not 
 enable tlie Southern States, while their aggregate 
 population was inferior to that of the Northern, to 
 eoniiiiaiul a niajoritv in the Lower House by means 
 ot" thtir own members, Uut we must remember 
 that the South is a homogeneous body, having but 
 one interest to piomote and one })oliey to pursue ; 
 while the interests and aims of the North are vari- 
 ous, and its eouncils consequently divided. " The 
 seltisli, single-purposed party," says Mr. Senior,* " to 
 which general politics are indifferent, which is ready 
 to ally itself to Free-traders or to Protectionists, to 
 Reformers or to Anti-reformers, to Puseyites or to 
 Dissenters, becomes powerful l)y becoming unscru- 
 pulous. If Ireland had been an independent coun-| 
 try, separated from England, the Ultra-Catholic 
 [lartv, whose only object is the domination of the' 
 ( l(i'g\- and of the Pope, would have ruled her^ 
 This is the source of the influence of a similar party 
 in France. The Clerical, or Jesuit, or Popish, or 
 ritramontane faction — whatever name we give to 
 it — lias almost always obtained its selfish objects, 
 because those objects are all tliat it cares for. It 
 supported the Restoration, its priests blessed the 
 insurgents of February, 1848, and it now worships 
 Louis Napoleon. The onlv condition whicli it 
 make-, is ecclesiastical and Popish supremacy, and 
 
 • Slavery »'» tff United States, pp. 16, 17. 
 
EQUALITY CONVERTED INTO ASCENDANCY. 1 67 
 
 that condition the governor for the time being of 
 France usually accepts. 
 
 " Such a party is the Southern party in the United 
 States." Its single aim has been the consolidation , 
 and extension of slavery ; and to the accomplisli- 
 ment of this end it has always been ready to sacri- 
 fice all other interests in the country, and, if neces- 
 sary, the integrity of the Union itself. We may see, 
 then, in what consists the vaunted aptitude for poli- 
 tics exhibited by Southern men : it lies simply in 
 the intense selfishness and utter absence of scruple 
 with which they have persistently pushed their 
 object. They have acted steadily together — a course 
 for which no political virtue was necessary where 
 there was but a single interest to promote, and that 
 interest their own. They have contrived, by an un- 
 scrupulous use of an immense patronage, to detach 
 from the array of their opponents a section suffi- 
 ciently large to turn the scale of divisions in their 
 favour : — in other words, they have been successful 
 practitioners in the art of political jobbery. Lastly, 
 they have worked on the apprehensions and the 
 patriotism of the country at large by the constantly 
 repeated threat which they have now proved them- 
 selves capable of putting in force — of dissolving the 
 Union.* 
 
 * " Figurez-vous sur un vaisseau uu houime debout pivs de la 
 saiute-barbe, avcc un meche allumee ; il est scul, inais ou lui (jbcit, 
 
l68 DEMOCKA IK' ALLIANCE: 
 
 The actual iiit'criority in population ot" the South- 
 ern to the Northern States, even under the peculiar 
 advantage conferred by the tliree-iiitlis clause, ren- 
 dered it necessary that tiic slaveholders should pro- 
 cure an allv among the Northern people ; and this 
 imlispensahle ally they i'onnd in the Democratic 
 party. It has been I'requently remarked upon with 
 surprise that, in seeking a political connexion, the 
 South — whose social and political system is intense- 
 ly aristocratic — should have attached itself to that 
 j)artv in tiie Union in which the democratic prin- 
 ciple has been carried to the greatest extreme. But 
 the explanation is to be found in the circumstances 
 of the case. The peculiarity of the industrial and 
 social economy of the Southern States led them 
 from the first to lean to the doctrine of state rights, 
 as opposed to the pretensions of the central govern- 
 ment ; and the doctrine of state rights is a demo- 
 
 car, a la premierc ddsobc^'issance, il se fera sautcr avec tout Toqui- 
 page. Vuila prccisemeiit ce qui se passait en Auidrique depuis 
 qu'elle allait a la derive. La manoeuvre dtait commandde par 
 rhomme qui tenait la mdclie. ' A la premiere ddsobeissance, nous 
 nous quittons.' Tel a dte do tout temps le langage dcs Etats du 
 Sud. On les savait capables de tenir parole : aussi n'y avait-il plus 
 qu'un argument en Amerique, la scission. ' Eevoquez le compro- 
 mis, sinon la scission ; modificz la h^gislation dcs Etats librcs, sinon 
 la scissicm ; courez avec nous \vs aventurcs, et entreprcncz des cou- 
 (lut'tcs i)our resclavagc, sinon la scission ; enfin, ot par dessus tout, 
 lie vous iKTmettez jamais d'clire un pn'sidcnt <pii ne soit pjis nutro 
 candiflat, sinoii la nrissiuii,' " — I'li (r'raiul Pniplr i/iii at- nliiv, p. 3/. 
 
ITS BASIS. 169 
 
 cratic doctrine. On this fundamental point, there- 
 fore, the principles of the Southern oligarchy and 
 those of the Northern democracy were the same. 
 But the alliance was not destitute of the cement of 
 interest and feeling. The Democratic party had its 
 principal seats in the great towns along the North- 
 ern seaboard ; and between the capitalists of these 
 to^vns and the planters of the South the commercial 
 connexion had always been close. Capital is much \ C 
 needed under a slave system, and is at the same 
 time scarce. In the Northern cities it was abund- 1 
 
 ant. To the capitalists of the Northern cities, ^ )| 1 
 therefore, the planters in need of funds for carrying 
 on their industry had recourse ; and a large amount 
 of democratic capital came thus to be invested on 
 the security of slave property. A community of 
 interest was in this way established. But there was 
 also a community of sentiment ; for the Northern 
 cities had formerly been the great emporia of the 
 African slave trade, and had never wholly aban- 
 doned the nefarious traffic ; and the tone of mind 
 engendered by constant familiarity with slavery in 
 its worst form naturally predisposed them to an 
 alliance with slaveholders. Widely sundered, there- 
 fore, as were the Southern oligarchy and the Demo- 
 cratic party of tlie North in general political 
 principle, there was enough in common between 
 them to form the basis of a selfish bargain. A bar- 
 
I 70 TERMS OF THE BARGAIN. 
 
 piiii, accnrdiiigly, was struck, of whuh tlic consider- 
 ation on tlie one side was the command of the 
 Federal government for the extension of slavery, 
 and. on tlic <)ther, a slniri' in tlie patronage of the 
 riiiun. (.)n these terms a coaliti(jn hctween tliese 
 two parties, so opposed in tlicir general tendencies, 
 lias, almost iVom the i'ouiidation of the republic, 
 been steadily maintained ; and in this way the 
 South — vastly inferior thou;ih it has been to its 
 competitor in wealth, })opulation, and intelligence — 
 in all the conditions to which political power at- 
 taclies in well-ordered states — has, nevertheless, con- 
 trived to exercise a leading influence upon the policy 
 of the Union. 
 
 These considerations will suffice to explain how 
 tlie South has been enabled, even when in a minoi-- 
 ity, to engage with success the representatives of 
 the North. In the Lower House of Congress it 
 has been always of necessity in this position ; repre- 
 sentation being here in proportion to population, in 
 which, even including slaves, the South is inferior 
 to its rival. Ihit in the Upper House — the House 
 whirh under tlic Constitution enjoys the most ini- 
 l)()i-taiir prerogatives and the highest influence — the 
 South has found itself at less disadvantage. Tii the 
 Scnati', as has been already stated, re])resentation 
 takes place according to states ; each state returning 
 two members without regard either to tiie niind)er 
 
TWOFOLD MOTIVE OF SOUTHERN AGGRESSION. I 7 I 
 
 of its inhabitants or to the extent of its territory. 
 To maintain itself, therefore, on an equal footing 
 Avith the Js^orth in this assembly, the South had only 
 need to keep the number of slave states on an 
 equality with that of the free ; and this did not 
 seem to be beyond its power. For, the tendency of 
 slavery being to disperse population, a given num- 
 ber of people under a slave regime would naturally 
 cover a larger space of country, and consequently 
 would afford the materials for the creation of a 
 greater number of states, than the same number 
 under a regime of freedom. What, therefore, the 
 South required to secure its predominance in the 
 Senate, was a territory large enough for the creation 
 of new slave states as fast as the exigencies of its 
 politics might demand them. To keep open the 
 territory of the Union for this purpose has, in con- 
 sequence, always been a capital object in the politics 
 of the South ; and in this way a political has been 
 added to the economic motive for extended territory. 
 Two forces have thus been constantly urging on the 
 Slave PoAver to territorial aggrandisement — the need 
 for fresh soils, and the need for slave states. Of 
 these the former — that which proceeds from its 
 industrial requirements — is at once the most fun- 
 damental and the most imperative ; but it has not 
 been that which, in the actual history of the United 
 States, has been most frequently called into play. 
 
I 7^ THE ruIJTKAL MOTIVE MAINLY OPERATIVE. 
 
 Ill point ot" iai-t, tlic political inotivL- lias in a great 
 iiuasurc supersfded the (.eonoinic. The desire to 
 ohtaiii tVcsh territory for the creation of slave 
 states, ^vitll a \ ie\v to iiiiliieiice in the Senate, has 
 carried the South in its career of aggression far 
 bevond the range Avhieli its mere industrial necessi- 
 ties would lia\ e presc rilxMl. Accordingly, for nearly 
 (juarter of a century — ever since the annexation of 
 Texas — the territory at the disposal of the South 
 has been very much greater than its available slave 
 force has been able to cultivate ; and its most urgent 
 need has now become, not more virgin soils on 
 wliieh to employ its slaves, but more slaves for the 
 cultivation of its virgin soils. The important bear- 
 ing of this change on the views of the Slave Power 
 w ill hereafter be pointed out : for the present, it is 
 sufficient to call attention to the fact. 
 
 A principle of aggressive activity, in addition to 
 that which is involved in the industrial necessities of 
 slavery, has thus been called into operation by the 
 conditi(jns under w liieh the Slave Power is placed in 
 the Senate. Ihit we should here be careful not to 
 o\errate the iiifliU'iice exercised on that Power by 
 its position in the Federal Union. It would, 1 eon- 
 ceive, be an entire mistake to suppose that this 
 •lesire for extended territory, which, under actual 
 (ircumstances, has shown itself in the creation of 
 slave states with a view to influence in the Senate, 
 
TRUE SOURCE OF THIS MOTIVE. I 73 
 
 is in any such sense the fruit of the position of the 
 South in the Federal Union as that we should be 
 justified in concluding that, in the event of the 
 severance of the Union, the South would cease to 
 desire an extension of its territory on political 
 grounds. Such a view would, in my opinion, imply 
 an entire misconception of the real nature of the 
 forces which have been at work. The lust of 
 dominion, which is the ruling passion of the Slave 
 Power, is not accidental but inherent — has its source, 
 not in the constitution of the Senate, but in the 
 fundamental institution of the Slave States ; and the i 
 lust of dominion, existing in an embodied form in a 
 new continent, cannot but find its issue in territorial 
 aggrandisement. This by no means depends upon 
 speculative inference. It admits of proof, as a mat- 
 ter of fact, that the projects of the South for extend- 
 ing its domain have never been more daring, and 
 have never been pushed with greater energy, than 
 during the last five years* — the very period in which 
 the Southern leaders have been maturing their plans 
 for seceding from the Union. The Federal con- 
 nexion may have facilitated the ambitious aims of 
 the South while the Federal government was in its 
 hands, but, far from being the source of its ambition, 
 it is because it offers, under the changed conditions. 
 
 See Reports of the American Anti-slavery Society for the years 
 1859 and i86o. 
 
I 74 RELATION OF THE POLITICAL MOTIVE 
 
 iiiipi'diments to the cxpaiulinp; views of the more 
 MsitiriiiL'" miiuls of the South, that tlie attempt is now 
 iiunle to break h)o.se from Federal ties. Extended 
 (K)minion is in truth the very purpose for which the 
 South li:is c'li^aLicd in tlir jjresent struggle ; and the 
 tlioULilit which HOW sustains it through its fiery 
 ordtal is (to ])orrow tlie words of the ablest 
 advocate of the Soutliei-n cause) tlie prospect of 
 " an empire in the future . . . extending from the 
 home of Washington to the ancient palaces of 
 Montezuma — uniting the proud old colonies of 
 l.ngland with Spain's richest and most romantic 
 dominions — combining the productions of the great 
 valley of the Mississippi with the mineral riches, the 
 nuigical beauty, the volcanic grandeur of Mexico."* 
 In j)lain terms, the stake for which the South now 
 |)lays is Mexico and the intervening Territories. 
 
 * Spence's Aynerican Union, p. 286. Here for a moment the 
 genius of the South is revealed in naked majesty. It is hut for a 
 moment. A few pages further on (p. 291) the scene changes, and 
 the South is restored to its proper role. AVe have presented to us 
 the aspect of a people spuming the idea of conquest, bounding its 
 aspirations to tlie lowest recjuirement of free men — the demand for 
 autonomy : — " Be our ignorance of the merits of this question ever 
 so great, we behold a country of vast extent and large numbers 
 earnestly desiring self-government. It thivatens none, demands 
 nothing, attacks no one, but wishes to rule itself, and desires to bo 
 • let alono.' " 
 
 " Ampliora cccpit 
 Institui ; currcnt^^ mta cur urcpus exit ]" 
 
TO THE FEDERAL POSITION OF THE SOUTH. I 75 
 
 The position of the Slave Power in the Union has 
 thus determined the mode, not supplied the principle, 
 of its aggressive action. It has brought out into 
 more distinct consciousness, and presented in a more 
 definite shape, the connexion between the ruling 
 passion of the Slave Power and the natural means 
 for its*gratification. But the passion and the means 
 for its gratification were there independently of the 
 political system of the United States ; and the Slave 
 Power, with a vast unoccupied or half-peopled terri- 
 tory around it, could not have failed under any 
 circumstances, in the Union or out of it, to find 
 in the appropriation of that territory its natural 
 career. 
 
176 
 
 ('HAITKi: VII. 
 
 THE CAREER OF THE SLAVE TOWER. 
 
 The ao-<n*cs.'^iv(' ainliiti<»ii of tliu Southern States has 
 hecn traced in tlie last chapter to two principles — 
 the economic neces.sities forced upon them by the 
 ( haracter of their industrial system, and the growth 
 of passions and habits, generated by the presence of 
 slavery, wITkIi n-cpiire for their satisfaction political 
 predominance. In tlie present chapter I propose to 
 show how these two principles have operated in the 
 actual history of the United States. 
 
 At the time of the establishment of the Federal 
 I'nion the position of slavery in North America 
 was that of an exceptional and declining institution. 
 Many circumstances conspired to produce this re- 
 sult. Tlie war of independence had kindled among 
 the peoi)le a spirit of liberty which was strongly 
 antagonistic to compulsory bondage. In the leaders 
 of the revolt this spirit burned with peculiar inten- 
 sity ; and though many of them were natives of the 
 South and slaveholders, they were almost to a man 
 ojtjtosed to the system, and anxious for its abolition. 
 From the Northern States, where slavery had origi- 
 nally been planted, it was rapidly disappearing. 
 
POSITION OF SLAVERY AT THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 // 
 
 the unsettled territory then at the disposal of the 
 central government — notwithstanding that this terri- 
 tory had been ceded to it by a slave state — the 
 institution was by an ordinance of the central 
 government proscribed. Economic causes were also 
 tending to its overthrow. The crops which are 
 adapted to slave-cultivation are, as we have seen, 
 few in number. Those which at this time formed 
 the principal staples of the slave states of the Union 
 were rice, indigo, and tobacco. The last was al- 
 ready produced in quantities more than sufficient 
 for the market ; and in the two former India was 
 rapidly supplanting the United States. Sugar was 
 not yet grown in the Union. Cotton was still an 
 unimportant crop. But it happened that about this 
 time several causes came into operation, which in 
 their effect completely reversed the direction of 
 events, drove back the tide of freedom, and gave to 
 slavery a new vitality and an enlarged career. It 
 was now that the steam engine, having undergone the 
 improvements of AYatt, was first applied on a large 
 scale to manufacturing industry. Contemporane- 
 ously the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and 
 Crompton in cotton spinning had been made. But 
 these inventions, momentous as they w^ere, would 
 have failed in great part of their effect, had they not 
 been supplemented .by another — the invention of the 
 ■*7-gin by Whitney. Previousl^^ to this invention 
 
178 RISE OF THK COTTON THADK. 
 
 the only cotton j^rown in America, wliicli was avail. 
 al»li' for the freiicral purj)0.ses of commerce, -was that 
 Avhich was known as tlie Si'a Ishind kind, Tliis 
 was h)nir-fil)rc(l mid oidv jrrew in a frw favoured 
 localities. I he luilk of tlie cotton cro]) consisted of 
 thr >hortdil)rc'd Aarieties, l)iit the dilliculty oi sepa- 
 ratliiLi" tlie seed from the wool in tliis species of the 
 plant 1)\ the mctliods then in use, was so great as to 
 render it for the ordinary ])urposes of cotton manu- 
 facture of little value. It was to overcome this 
 dillieult}- tliat Whitney addressed himself; and the 
 success of his invention was so complete, that the 
 whole American crop came at onee into general 
 demand. At the same time, while these causes 
 were conducing to a great increase in the general 
 consumption of cotton, a vast territory, eminently 
 adajDted for the cultivation as well of this as of 
 most other slave products, came into the possession 
 of the United States. The combined effect of all 
 these occurrences was to give an extraordinary im- 
 pulse to the cultivation of cotton, and cotton being 
 pre-eiiiiiicntly a slave product, and moreover only 
 suited to those districts of the United States where 
 slavery was already established, this was followed 
 by a corresjionding extension of slavery. In a few 
 years after AVhitney's invention, tlie exports of cot- 
 ton fi-om the United States were decupled ; by the 
 yi-:ir 18 10, the}- had l)een multiplied nior(^ than a 
 
EARLY PROGRESS OF THE PLANTERS. I 79 
 
 hundredfold, and, from being a product of small 
 account, cotton rapidly rose to be the principal 
 staple of the Southern States. 
 
 The early progress of the Southern planters, under 
 the stimulus thus given to their enterprise, attracted 
 little observation. To the west of the original slave 
 states — Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia — lay 
 extensive districts still unsettled, well suited for 
 cultivation by slave labour, and too far removed 
 from the Free States to be sought as a field for 
 free colonization. Over these regions the planters 
 rapidly spread themselves. But in 1804 an im- 
 mense range of country was gained to the United 
 States by purchase from France, which, including 
 some of the richest portions of the valley of the 
 Mississipi^i, from its junction with the Missouri to 
 its mouth, offered equal attractions to settlers from 
 both divisions of the Union. This was the Territory 
 of Louisiana, out of which the States of Louisiana, 
 Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas have since been 
 formed ; and it was here that the rival pretensions 
 of the two systems of freedom and slavery first came 
 into collision. 
 
 The Territory thus acquired stood, in its relations 
 to the Federal government, on precisely the same 
 footinsr with a large district known as the North- 
 Western Territory, whicli had at an earlier period, 
 by cession from Virginia, come into possession of 
 
8o ACQUISITION OF TlIK LOUISIANA TERRITORY. 
 
 lu' I'nited St;it(s. The frovornnieiit of tliis Terri- 
 ()r\ had been pruvidcil lur by u celebrated instru- 
 iient — tlie ordinance of 1787 — enacted by Congress 
 \\\\U' Net constituted unch'T the Artieh's of Confed- 
 ration, and bv this instrument involuntary servi- 
 ude, except in ])uni>iiinent of crime, was prohibited 
 sitliin the Territory. It has been questioned 
 whether, in issuing this ordinance while still under 
 he Articles of Confederation^ Congress did not 
 xceed its proper powers.* The question is, how- 
 iver, curious rather than important; for in framing 
 he Constitution of the United States an article was 
 ntroduced to provide for this very case. By this 
 irticle it was enacted that " Congress should have 
 )ower to dispose of, and make all needful rules and 
 egulations respecting, the Territory or other pro- 
 )erty belonging to the United States." There could, 
 herefore, be no doubt as to the competency of Con- 
 gress, under the Constitution^ to legislate for the 
 Perritories; and there was, consequently, no legal 
 )arrier to applying to the new acquisition obtained 
 rom France the same rule which had liy the ordi- 
 lance of 1787 lieen a})plied to the North-AVestern 
 ferritory. There were, however, practical diffi- 
 :ulties in the way. Slave institutions were already 
 ixisting in some ])ortions of the Teri'itory of Louis- 
 
 * Tlie Federalist, No. 38. See Story on Tlit Constitution of the 
 United States, vol. i. p. 184. 
 
MISSOURI CLAIMED AS A SLAVE STATE. I 8 I 
 
 iaiia ; and when the occasion arose for providing 
 for the government of the remainder, it happened 
 that the attention of the North was fully occupied 
 with its foreign relations ; for this was the time 
 when those negotiations with England were in pro- 
 gress which resulted in the w^ar of 1812. These cir- 
 cumstances were favourable to the advances of the 
 Slave Power. From the basis of operations supplied 
 by the French slave colony at the mouth of the 
 Mississippi the planters rapidly carried their insti- 
 tution along the western bank of that river. By 
 degrees they reached the district which now forms 
 the State of Missouri, and by the year 18 18 had 
 acquired there so firm a footing as to be enabled 
 to claim for it admission into the Union as a slave 
 state. 
 
 The admission of Missouri to the Union forms for 
 many reasons an epoch in the grand struggle be- 
 tween free and slave labour in North America. It 
 was on this occasion that both parties appear first to 
 have become sensible of the inherent antagonism of 
 their respective positions, and to have put forth 
 their whole strength in mutual opposition. The 
 contest was carried on with extraordinary violence, 
 and was terminated by a compromise, which was 
 long considered in the light of a national compact 
 irrevocably binding on the combatants on both 
 sides. The occasion being of this importance, it is 
 
82 MOTIVES TO tp:kritorial aggrandisement. 
 
 [fsiniblc that wc should appi'cciati- with as much 
 •recisiou as possible the stake uliich was at issue, 
 lul the motives ^vhich animated the contending 
 >arties. 
 
 And liere, thoiiLih at t\[v risk of wearying the 
 eader, it mav V)e well once more to repeat that the 
 lirirrcssivc character of the Slave Power has been 
 raced to two principles — the one economic, proceed- 
 ng from the necessity to slavery of a constant sup- 
 )ly of fresh soils ; the other political, having its 
 oots in that passion for power which the position 
 )1' slaveholders — as a dominant race, isolated from 
 heir equals, and shut out from the pursuits which 
 listribute the energies of free communities into va- 
 ious channels — inevitably engenders. Again, it 
 las been seen that this latter principle, under the 
 Constitution of the United States, exerts itself 
 hieilv in tlie effort to increase Southern repre- 
 entati(Mi in the Senate through the creation of 
 lew slave states. Lastly, it has appeared that the 
 vstem of society which slavery produces is in its 
 lature an exclusive system — its presence acting as 
 I cause of rei)nlsion towards free societies — and 
 hat, consecpiently, when thes^' two forms of society 
 ome into contact on the same territory, an ine- 
 itable antag(mism springs up between them, an 
 mtagonism which displays itseli in the efforts which 
 hey make to outstrip each other in a race of coloni- 
 
IMPORTANCE OF MISSOUKI. 183 
 
 zation, each side encleavourmg by prior occupation 
 of the soil to exclude its rival and keep open for 
 itself a Held for future growth. 
 
 These beino- the principles which governed the 
 conflicting interests, we shall find that the stake 
 which was at issue in the ^Missouri controversy 
 was well calculated to call them actively into 
 
 play. 
 
 The position of Missouri is one of the most com- 
 manding in the central portion of North America. 
 Possessing great agricultural and mineral resources, 
 it is watered by two of the noblest rivers in the con- 
 tinent the Mississippi and the ^lissouri. It is in 
 
 the direct line of movement westward from the Free 
 States. If established as a free state, it would be- 
 come a centre of colonization for the North, from 
 Avhich free labour would pour along the valleys of 
 the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Arkansas, and 
 thence to Northern Texas. On the other hand, if 
 occupied by slave institutions, it would cut off the 
 natural expansion of the Free States, and turn the 
 stream of free emigration in the direction of the 
 north-west— to less fertile and less genial regions. 
 But the political consequences dependhig upon the 
 settlement of this question were not less momentous 
 than the industrial and social. When the proposal 
 for the admission of Missouri was first brought be- 
 fore Congress, the Free and the Slave States were 
 
1S4 OPPOSITION OF rni; nokih. 
 
 cxiK-tly cijual in iiiuubcr. llic a(.lniis.->iuii of Mis- 
 souri as a slave .state would just turn the scale in 
 favour of the South, ami, l>y consecjucnce, <:ive it 
 a superiority in tlie Senate — a sujieriority, which, 
 in conjunction with the advantafres it possessed in 
 the Lo^^('r House in \ irtur of its e:ipaeit\' lor eoni- 
 i lined aeti<»n, could scarcely i'ail to render it the 
 paramount p(jwer in the Union. The success of 
 the South, moreover, in this instance, owin;^ to 
 the commanding geographical j)osition of Missouri, 
 would o])en lor it the path to future conquests ; 
 for, hy diverting the stream of Northern emigi-a- 
 tion to the north-west, it woidd secure for the future 
 use of the Slave Power the vast reach of fertile 
 territory lying between that state and Texas — an 
 area Avhich comprised some of the richest and 
 best watered lands within the domain of the Re- 
 ])ublic. The terms, therefore, on which Missouri 
 should be admitted to the Union became a question 
 of prime iuijiortance, in connexion with the pre- 
 sent ami liitui-e interests of slave and free institu- 
 tions on the continent of North America. 
 
 Accordingly, no sooner was the })i-oposition raised 
 for the admission of Missouri to the {'111011 than the 
 North rose energetically against the demand, and a 
 violent political contest ensuecl. It lasted for nearly 
 three years, and was terminated in' the celebrated 
 (onqji-omise wiiicli has become a landmark in Ame- 
 
THE MISSOURI C()MPR(JMISE. 1 85 
 
 rican history. Under tliis settlement Missouri was 
 received into the Union as a slave state, on the con- 
 dition that in future slavery should not be carried 
 north of tlie parallel 36° 30' of north latitude. In 
 all essential respects this was a victory for the slave- 
 holders. They obtained all that they then desired > 
 — the most commanding position in central Ame-\ 
 rica, a path to future conquests, a recognised footing l 
 in the Territory of the Union ; and in return for this / 
 they gave but a naked promise, to be fulfilled at a' 
 future time, and which covdd be revoked as easily as 
 it was given. Their triumph was slightly qualihed 
 by the admission about the same time of Maine as a 
 free state, but it was sufficiently complete, and it 
 entailed all the consequences which might have 
 been, and which were, foreseen to be involved in it. 
 From the passing of the Missouri Compromise do^vn 
 to the Presidential election of i860 the predomi- 
 nance of the Slave Power in the politics of the 
 Union has suffered no effectual check. 
 
 The episode of the Seminole war — the next pro- 
 minent scene in which the Slave Power figured — 
 though sufficiently costly and humiliating to the 
 United States, need not detain us here at any length. 
 It was little more than a protracted slave-hunt, car- 
 ried on Avith circumstances of more than usual 
 cruelty, by means of the forces of the Union, against 
 the Indians of Florida to whom a multitude of 
 
1 86 TIIK SKMINOLi: WAi:. 
 
 slaves had escaped. In this war Oceuhi, tlie cele- 
 hrnted Indian cWu-W was treaeheroiislv captured hv 
 two Annricaii !jtiiL'rals, wliile " lioKling a talk" witli 
 tluiii. In this war also the soldiers of the Union 
 allowed tlu-nischi's to he disi:i';iccd 1)\- co-operatin<^" 
 \\'\\\i Idoodliouiids, inipiiiTiMl inr tin.' pnrp(_)sc' IVoin 
 ruha. in liuntinL:" tl<)\\n tln' Indians, The general 
 who conmiandcd the I iiion iorccs in this i^"nol)le 
 service, and who is said to have lent his sanction to 
 these atrocities, was Genei-al Zachary Taylor, after- 
 wards rewarded for his zeal in the cause of the Slave 
 Power by elevation to the Presidency. The war 
 lasted seven years, cost the country, it is estimated, 
 40.000,000 dollars, and resulted in the capture of 
 a few hundred slaves. 
 
 It' the Seminole war k-d to no important ronlts, 
 it was far otherwise A\ith the annexation of Texas. 
 This transaction has long passed into a hyewoi-d for 
 unprovoked and unscrui)idous plunder of a weak by 
 a strong power. The designs of its authors have 
 always ))een notoriinis. Still, as affording a ty})ical 
 example of a mode of aggression which has since 
 been iVecjuentU' eniplo\i'(l and is probably not \et 
 obsolete, it ma\- be well to i-eeall some of its leadiuLr 
 incidents at the ]»i'e>ent time. 
 
 Texas, as all the ^\(l^ld knows, was before its 
 annexation to the I'nion a pi-o\inei- of .Mexico — 
 a counli'N at peace with the I nion. and anxious 
 
DESIGNS UPON TEXAS. 1 87 
 
 to cultivate with it friendly relations. Mexico, 
 however, was a Aveak state, still fresh from the 
 throes of revolution. The district in question was 
 one of great fertility, possessing in this respect, 
 as well as in its climate and river communications, 
 remarkable advantages for slave settlement : it was, 
 moreover, but very thinly peopled, and was separated 
 by an immense distance from the seat of govern- 
 ment. So early as 1821, while Spanish authority 
 was still maintained in Mexico, three hundred fami- 
 lies from Louisiana were permitted to settle in this 
 tempting region, under the express condition that 
 they should submit to the laws of the country. By 
 this means a footing was obtained in the district. 
 The original immigrants were in time followed by 
 others, Avho like their predecessors undertook to 
 conform to the laws of Mexico ; and for some years 
 the proceedings of the new settlers were conducted 
 with proper respect for the authority of the state in 
 which they had taken up their abode. But this 
 aspect of affairs did not long continue. As the 
 colony increased in numbers and wealth, it became 
 evident to the slaveowners of the neighbouring 
 states that they had a "natural right" to the 
 territory. It offered an admirable field for slave 
 cultivation ; it was in their immediate proximity ; 
 of all claimants they were the strongest and " smart- 
 est : " in short, they wanted the country, and felt 
 
l88 MKIIIUU of I'KOCEEDIXG. 
 
 tht-'inselves able to take it ; and they resolved it 
 should ])e theirs. "MaiiitL'st destiny" beekoued them 
 forward, and tliuy prepared, with reverent siilj- 
 mission to the deerees ol" rro\idenee, to I'ullil their 
 fate. 
 
 The ao^enev b\- wliidi the annexationists proceeded 
 to give effect to their natural riLdit was land specu- 
 lation. Grants of extensive districts were corruptly 
 obtained from local bodies which had no competency 
 to make them ; these were made the l)asis for a 
 creation of scrip, which was thrown in lar^e quanti- 
 ties upon the markets of the United States. To give 
 an idea of the scale on which these transactions were 
 carried on, one grant, obtained from tlie legislature 
 of Coahuila, conveyed in ])erpetuity to American 
 citizens, in direct violation of tlie laws of Mexico, 
 no less than fnir hundred square leagues of the 
 public land — an area as large as Lancashire — for a 
 consideration of 20,000 dollars ! In addition to 
 transactions of this kind, a manufacture of titles 
 purely fictitious was freely carried on. By this 
 means great numbers of the people in tlie United 
 States became tlie possessors of nominal titles to 
 land in Texas — titles, wliicli. being of eourse uiire- 
 cosrnized 1>\' the central auiIioi-it\- in .Mexico, could 
 only be substantiated by setting aside that authority. 
 " Texan independence could ahuie legalize the 
 might}- frauds of the land s[)eculators, Texas must 
 
VIEWS OF THE ANNEXATIONISTS. 189 
 
 be wrested from the country to which she owed 
 allegiance, that her soil might pass into the hands 
 of cheating and cheated foreigners." 
 
 But the motive of rapacity was reinforced by a 
 stronger one. Mexico from the moment of her 
 independence had shewn a creditable determination 
 to uphold the most essential of human rights. By a 
 law, passed shortly after her severance from Spain, 
 slavery was abolished in her dominions, and pro- 
 hibited for all future time. Such a law was far 
 from being in keeping with the views of the new 
 settlers. Accordingly, they proceeded to evade it by 
 various artifices. The most usual expedient was 
 that of introducing slaves into the country under 
 the guise of apprentices, the term of whose service 
 commonly extended to ninety-nine years. On the 
 point, however, of maintaining freedom of labour in 
 their dominions, the Mexican authorities were in 
 earnest, and the move of the settlers was met by 
 a decree of the legislatures of Coahuila and Texas, 
 annulling all indentures of labour for a longer 
 period than ten years, and providing for the freedom 
 of children born during apprenticeship. But slave- 
 holders were not to be so baffled. " The settled 
 invincible purpose of Mexico to exclude slavery 
 from her limits created as strong a purjDose to 
 annihilate her authority. The project of dismem- 
 bering a neighbouring republic that slaveholders 
 
190 TEXAS AXNEXKl). 
 
 and slaves iniglit overspread a region whieli had 
 been conseerated to a free population, was discussed 
 in the newspa])ers as coolly as il" it were a matter of 
 o1)\i()Us right and uiKjUeStioned iiuiiiaiiity."* The 
 plot lia\Iug been ( ari'icd to this point, the e()nsuni- 
 niation of the pliimli'i" was easy. A conspiracy was 
 hatched ; a ri-hcHinii organi/cd ; filibusters were 
 introduced iVoin the borih'T states; and a popula- 
 tion, which at the eoniniencement of the outbreak 
 did not number twenty thousand ])ersons, asserted 
 its independence, was recognized by the Federal 
 Government, and with little delay annexed to the 
 Union. 
 
 The annexation of Texas was too successful a 
 stroke oi polic\- not to l)e regarded as a precedent. 
 It was accordingly fdlowed by the Mexican war 
 of 1846, which resulted in an easy victory over 
 an unequal antagonist. By the treaty concluded 
 between the United States and ^lexico in 1848, the 
 immense range of country, extending from Texas 
 to the Pacific in one direction, and from the present 
 frontier of Mexico to the Territory of Oregon in the 
 other, and iinduding the magnificent prize of Cali- 
 fornia, was added to the domain of the r?ei)ublic. 
 'i'he dis])osal of this ojiulent sj)oil became at once a 
 subject of overwhelnung interest, and lor two years 
 the Union was shaken by the contests ^\lli(•]l it i)i-o- 
 
 * Cliaiiuing's Wmks, LUIt on I't.riis. 
 
MEXICAN WAR DIVISION OF THE SPOIL. 191 
 
 duced. The point on which tlie immediate interest 
 centred was California. AYas it to be a free or a 
 slave state ? The Southern ^^arty which had forced 
 on the "war had no other intention than to appro- 
 priate this, its richest fruit ; but the discovery of 
 gold in the alluvial sands of the Sacramento, just 
 at the time when the annexation was accomplished, 
 had attracted thither from the North a large pre- 
 ponderance of free settlers, and these pronounced 
 loudly for free institutions. The question was 
 settled, as so many similar questions had been 
 settled, by a compromise. The Slave party con- 
 sented to waive its claim, l)ut not without stipu- 
 lating for a concession in return. The admission of 
 California as a free state was purchased by the 
 Fugitive Slave Law.* The price was a shameful 
 one ; yet it seems certain that this transaction forms 
 an exception to the ordinary course of dealing be- 
 tween the Slave Power and its opponents, and that 
 in the event the balance of advantage lay largely 
 with the Free States. The Fugitive Slave Law 
 has been for the Slave Power a questionable gain. 
 Amongst its first fruits was Uncle Tom's Cabin. On 
 the other hand, the acquisition of California has 
 been- a solid advantage for the free party. A free 
 
 * To "wliicli the opponents of slavery contrived to add a bill for 
 tlie exclusion of the slave market from the District of Columbia. 
 The same series of measures also included bills for the settlement 
 of the Territories of Utah and New Mexico. 
 
H.J1 STATK OF I'AIMIKS IN 1850. 
 
 State has tliiis been establislied in the rear of tlio 
 Slave Power, a centre liencet'orward for free immi- 
 gi'ation, an<l probably destined at no distant time 
 to phiy an unportant part in the stru^^gle Ijetween 
 the rival j)rineiples. 'J'luis, by the accident of a gold 
 discovery, tiie well laid jdans of the Slave party 
 Were frustrated, and a war wliicli was undei'takcn 
 by slaveholders in the interest of slavery has 
 eventuated in a serious blow to their power. 
 
 The difterences arisiiiLi" out of the conquests made 
 in the Mexican war having been adjusted by the 
 compromises of 1850, the Slave Power was again 
 at liberty to look around it and to meditate 
 new acquisitions. The Territor}^ which had fallen 
 to slavery under the ^lissouri Compromise had 
 now bt'cn aj)})ropriated ; Florida had also been 
 acquired ; Texas had been annexed ; New Mexico 
 lay open, but for the present it was too distant for 
 settlement, and the numerous tribes of Indians 
 which inhabited it made it an undesirable abode for 
 slaveholders, whose experience in Florida naturally 
 rendered them averse to such neighbours. ]jut the 
 territory of Kansas and Nebraska was comparatively 
 close at'hand, and was inviting from its fertility and 
 salubrity. On politiral grounds, moreover, there 
 was need that the Sla\e Powht sliould Ix^tir itself. 
 The occasion was not uidike tliat which hatl ])re- 
 Cedcd the admission of .Mi>soui'i to tlif I'nion. l-'rom 
 
DESIGNS UPON KANSAS. 1 93 
 
 the passing of the Missouri Compromise down to the 
 year 1850 the balance between the Free and Slave 
 States had been fairly preserved. The North had 
 during that time acquired Michigan, Iowa, and 
 Wisconsin ; the South, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas ; 
 the natural expansion of the one section had been 
 steadily counterpoised by the factitious annexations 
 effected by the other. But the admission of Cali- 
 fornia as a free state had disturbed this equili- 
 brium. To restore it there was need of a new 
 slave state ; and where could this be more con- 
 veniently placed than in the rich contiguous Ter- 
 ritory of Kansas ? 
 
 But to the realization of this scheme there was an 
 obstacle in the way. The Territory of Kansas was 
 part of the great tract obtained by purchase from 
 France in 1804, and being north of the line traced by 
 the Missouri Compromise, was therefore by the terms 
 of that measure withdrawn from the field of slave set- 
 tlement. Now, the Missouri Compromise was some- 
 thing more than an ordinary legislative act. It was 
 a compact between two great opposing interests, in 
 virtue of which one of those interests obtained at the 
 time valuable consideration on the condition of ab- 
 staining from certain pretensions in the future. It 
 was, moreover, eminently a slaveholders' measure. 
 " It was first brought forward by a slaveholder — vin- 
 
194 OBSTRUCTEn HY TlIK MISSOIHI COMPROMISE. 
 
 dicatcd liy slaveholders in debate — tintdly sanctioned 
 by slaveholdinf]^ votes — also upheld at the time by 
 the essential a))i)r()l)ati<)n of a slaveholding Presi- 
 (k-nt, James Munroe, and his cabinet, of Avhom a 
 majority were slaveholders, including Mr. ("alhoun 
 himself."* The measure was thus binding on the 
 Slave Party by every consideration of honour and 
 good faitli. lint lioiioui* and good faith have always 
 proved frail bonds in restraining the ambition of the 
 Slave Power. The ^lissouri Compromise had served 
 its end. Under it the most commanding central 
 position in the continent had been secured. Under 
 it Arkansas had been added to the slave domain. 
 There was nothing more to be gained by maintain- 
 inf> it. The plea of unconstitutionality, therefore, — 
 " like the plea of usury after the borrowed money 
 has been enjoyed" — was set up. In passing the 
 Missouri Compromise Congress was said to have ex- 
 ceeded its competence. It was not for it to " legis- 
 late " freedom or slavery into the Territories. This 
 was a question to be determined by the inhabitants 
 of those Territories, whose right it was to "regulate 
 their domestic institutions in their own way." Ac- 
 cordingly, in 1854, a bill known as tlie Kansas and 
 Nebraska P)ill was iiitrothiccd by .Mr. Douglas, a 
 Northern deiiiocnir and ;iii :ispir;mt to the Presi- 
 dency. By this l)ill the .Missoiii-i (-ompromise was 
 
 • Sumner's Speech. 
 
THE KANSAS AND NEBRASKA BILL. I 95 
 
 abrogated, and in its place a principle was estab- 
 lished, popularly kno^vn as that of "squatter sove- 
 reignty," by which it was resolved that the future 
 settlement of the Territories should be determined. 
 The principle is thus described in the words of the 
 act : — " It being the true intent and meaning of this 
 act not to legislate slavery into any state or territory, 
 nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
 thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their 
 domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 
 to the Constitution of the United States." By this 
 plausible measure — plausible because it appeared to 
 extend to the settlement of the question of slavery 
 the democratic principle which was acknowledged 
 as the basis of the general government — the incon- 
 venient restraints of the Missouri Compromise were 
 got rid of, and the ground was cleared for the opera- 
 tions of the Slave Power. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, the North, aroused by the 
 discussions which had taken place to a sense of the 
 importance of the crisis, was preparing to try issues 
 with its opponent on the ground which it had chosen. 
 On the 30th of May, 1854, the territory of Kansas 
 was by Act of Congress thro^vn open to settlers ; 
 and at once from all quarters of the Free States 
 crowds of emigrants flocked to the debatable land. 
 The, work of settlement was pushed with character- 
 istic ardour. The land was rapidly cleared ; culti- 
 
 13* 
 
196 KANSAS THl{i»NVN OPKN FOli SETTLEMKNT, 
 
 vation was coinmenced ; tlic foundations of towns 
 were marked out: tlu- wliole country glowed with 
 the bustle of colonizing activit}-. In a few months 
 the free settlers had acquired a decided preponder- 
 ance over their rivals in the new territory ; and all 
 things seemed to promise — the will of the inhabi- 
 tants being tlie arbiter of the question — that Kansas 
 would ere long be peaceably enrolled in the Union 
 as a Free State. P>ut tlie Slave Power had other 
 resources in store. It could not, and [jrcjbabl}^ did 
 not, hope to triumph on a fair held in a coloniza- 
 tion struggle with the North. In all the quali- 
 fications requisite for such a struggle the North was 
 immeasurably its superior. It had at its disposal 
 a vastly larger population, and this population, 
 energetic, intelligent, and enterprising, was in all 
 essential respects far better adapted to the work in 
 hand than any which the South could bring against 
 it. But it was not by fair means that the South 
 hoped to attain its ol>ject. Kansas adjoined ]\Iis- 
 souri. In Missouri, as in all the Slave States, there 
 was a mean wdiite population — a population utterly 
 unlit for the work of colonization, but well (iualified 
 and well disposed to take part in any expedition 
 which promised rapine and blood. It was on the 
 services of this people that the Slave Power relird 
 for tlie success of its scheme. It could not out- 
 colonize tlie freesoilers iVom the North, but it 
 
PREPARATIONS OF THE SLAVE POWER. 1 97 
 
 could, it was hoped, make the territory too hot to 
 hold them, and ultimately, being left master of the 
 field, it might occupy it at leisure. This, however, 
 was not its only resource. In the government at 
 Washington it had a sure ally, which, though af- 
 fecting to disapprove, could be depended upon to 
 connive at, and when necessary to sustain, its law- 
 less proceedings. Resting upon these supports, the 
 Slave Power took its measures. It was necessary, 
 in the first place, that a staff of functionaries should 
 be appointed for the Kansas territory. Of these the 
 nomination lay with the President, and needed to 
 be confirmed by the Senate. But the President was 
 the nominee of the South, and in the Senate the 
 South was all-powerful. There was, therefore, no 
 difficulty in securing officials on whom the South 
 could thoroughly rely. Meantime preparations were 
 made for active operations. Bands of border ruf- 
 fians were mustered on the Missouri frontier, and 
 held in leash to be let slip at the decisive moment. 
 That moment at length arrived. On the 29th of 
 November, 1854, the infant Territory was to elect a 
 delegate to appear and speak in its behalf in the 
 National Congress. On that day the myrmidons of 
 slavery, led by experienced filibusters from the 
 South, rushed upon the scene, seized by force upon 
 the ballot-boxes, and crushed all free action among 
 the inhabitants. On the 30th of j\Iarch following 
 
198 INVASIUN UF THE TEUKITOKY. 
 
 tlic Territorial K-L^islature was to be chosen. The 
 invasion -was repeated on a lar^aT scale and with a 
 more (•oni])lete ori:aniz;ition. Armed viok'iicr was 
 innv rcdiu-ed to system. A'lain and a^ain were 
 these raids renewed with circumstances of ever-in- 
 creasing atrocity, turninir the Constitution into a 
 mockery — a pliant instrument in the iiajids of a 
 reckless faction, liidei- these auspices the elections 
 were held. The result was the return, by a popula- 
 tion of whom the [ireat majority were freesoilers, 
 of a pro-slavery delegate, the erection of a pro- 
 slavery legislature, and the promulgation of a pro- 
 slavery constitution. 
 
 Some of the provisions of this strange instrument 
 deserve to be recorded. Taking the law^s of their 
 own state as their model, the invaders, in the first 
 place, re-enacted in the gross the code of Missouri. 
 i*>iit more stringent measures than the Missourian 
 code contained were required to meet the present 
 emergency. Accordingly, all persons holding anti- 
 slavery opinions were by a single stroke disfran- 
 chised, < )n the other hand — the object being to 
 rule the territory through the armed rabble of 
 Missouri — it was enacted that every one might vote, 
 whether resident or not, wlio, holding oj)iiiions 
 favoui'alile to slavery, slioiiM ]ia\' one dollar on tiie 
 day of election, and swear to iiphohl the lugitivo 
 Sh'i\e I,;i\v and the Xfbraska IVill. The ideas wITk li 
 
THE LEAVENWORTH CONSTITUTION. 1 99 
 
 the Slave Power entertained on the subject of free- 
 dom of the press may be gathered from one enact- 
 ment, which provided that the advocacy of anti- 
 slavery opinions should be treated as felony, and 
 punished with imprisonment and hard labour ; while 
 its notions of lenity are illustrated by its mode of 
 dealing with the offence of facilitating the escape of 
 slaves. Against this — of all crimes in the ethics 
 of the Slave Power the most heinous — and against 
 other modes of attacking slave property, the penalty 
 of death was denounced no less than forty-eight 
 different times. 
 
 Such was the mild and liberal spirit of the Leaven- 
 worth Constitution. Once promulgated, it became 
 necessary to carry it into effect ; and the means 
 adopted for this purpose were in keeping with all 
 which had gone before. Tlie country was given 
 over to be dealt with by the invaders at their 
 pleasure.* Gangs of these armed ruffians, making 
 no pretence of being settlers, having no other 
 means of support than pillage, patrolled the coun- 
 try, " preserving," so it was phrased in Congress, 
 " law and order." The Federal functionaries, mean- 
 while, looked on in silence, contenting themselves 
 with ratifying the Constitution Avhich had been 
 passed ; while the Federal troo})S, by abstaining 
 from all interference with the apostles of " order," 
 
 * General statements fail to convey any idea of tlie atrocities 
 
200 ATUUCITIKS OF Tilt: BUKDEH RUFFIANS. 
 
 and, when necessary, l)y overawing the disaffected, 
 proved useful allies of the movement. 
 
 J^V such means the Slave Power succeeded in 
 establishiuii: itself in ]\ansas; but its rei^rn was brief. 
 The atrocities it had (omniitted roused a spirit for 
 
 whioli were comniittod. The following anecdote is told by Mr. 
 Tliomii.s K. Glailstoue — au Englisliuuiu who visited Kansas dur- 
 ing the time of the disturbances — in his work entitled Karisas ; or 
 Squattt^' Life and Border ]Varfare in tlie Far West : — 
 
 " Individual instances of barbarity continued to occur almost 
 daily. In one instiince, a man, belonging to General Atchiuson's 
 camj), made a but of six dollars against a pair of boots that he would 
 go and return with an Abolitionist's scalp within two hours, lie 
 went forth on horseback. Before ho had gone two miles from 
 Leavenworth on the road to La\vTence, he met a IMr. Hops, driving 
 a buggy. Mr. Hops was a gentleman of high respectabUity, who 
 had come home with his ■wife, a few days p^e^^ously, to join her 
 brother, the Rev. Mr. Nute of Boston, who had for some time been 
 labouring as a minister in Lawrence. The ruffian asked ^Ir. Hops 
 where he came from. He readied he was last from Lawrence. 
 Enough ! The ruffian drew his revolver, and shot him through the 
 head. As tlie body fell from the chaise, he dismounted, took his 
 knife, scalped his victim, autl then returned to Leavenworth, where, 
 having won lii-s boots, he i)ar;nkHl the streets with the bleeding 
 scidp of the murdered man stuck upon a pole. This was on the 
 J 9th of August. Eight days later, when the widow, who had been 
 left at Lawrence sick, was brought down by the Rev. !Mr. Nute, in 
 the hope of recovering the body of her murdered husband, the whole 
 party, consisting of about twenty persons in five waggons, was 
 seized, robbed of all they hail, and placed in confinement. One was 
 shot the next day for attempting to escape. The widow and one or 
 two others were allowed to depart by steamer, but penniless, A 
 German incautiously condemning the outrage was shot ; and an- 
 other saved his life only by precipitate flight' 
 
REACTION DEFEAT OF THE SLAVE POWER. 20 I 
 
 which the South was not prepared. Tlie settlers, 
 finding themselves betrayed by the government 
 Avhich should have protected them, rose in arms. 
 The injuries to which they had been exposed only 
 fixed them in the resolution to defend the country 
 which was rightly theirs ; and the story of their 
 wrongs, being carried to the North, excited there a 
 feeling which brought flocking to their assistance 
 crowds of freemen. The efforts of the Slave party, 
 though violent, were fitful ; those of the Free settlers 
 were resolute and sustained. After a desultory 
 civil war, the former was utterly defeated, the 
 pro-slavery constitution was overthrown, and a free 
 legislature and free institutions were established. 
 
 Such was the result of the experiment of" squat- 
 ter sovereignty" in the Territories. After a long 
 career of success, the South had at length been 
 forced to give way, and to abandon a design which 
 it had deliberately formed. But the defeat in 
 Kansas Avas not an ordinary reverse. It could be 
 attributed neither to remissness nor to fortune. 
 The South had brought into action all its available 
 strength, and the contest had been fought under 
 conditions which it had itself prescribed. It had 
 selected its own ground ; it had taken its opponents 
 by surprise ; it had not hesitated to employ every 
 means, legal and illegal, in the prosecution of its 
 end ; in all its measures it had been powerfully sus- 
 
202 A LAIC M IN THE NORTH. 
 
 taiiietl by tlie (•( iitr:il jrovernment ; aiul yet, with 
 all these atlvaiitages, it had been utterly defeated. 
 The exiierimciit was a1)Solutelv deeisive ; and it Avas 
 lieneetbrth eertain that, with the resourees at jtre- 
 sent at the disposal of the two parties, slaveholders 
 were no match in the work of colonization for the 
 freemen of the North. 
 
 'J'his was a serious result for a community for 
 which territorial expansion was a necessity of pros- 
 pci-ous existence. Ihit the crisis assumed a still 
 graver aspect from the movements of ]>olitieal par- 
 ties to which the events in Kansas led. These 
 events brought home to the Northern people with 
 irresistible force the real aims and character of the 
 powci' to wliosc domination it had submitted. It 
 was not sinii)ly that the South in Kansas sought to 
 extend the area of slavery — this was a familiar fact ; 
 it was tliat in })rosccuting this object it had shown 
 itself prepared to perpetrate any atrocity, any i)er- 
 tidy ; it was that, in promoting its ambitious 
 schemes, it had turned with utter unscrupulousness 
 those powers of government, with whicli it had 
 been entrusted for the general good, to the pur- 
 pose of crushing tlie liberties and taking away the 
 lives of those who dared to thwai-t it. A feeling of 
 profound indignation, mingled with alarm, pervaded 
 the })eople of the I'ree States. It was felt that the 
 time had come \\lieii all who were- not content to 
 
FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 203 
 
 yield themselves up to the tender mercies of this 
 unscrupulous and wicked Power should take mea- 
 sures for their safety. A strong reaction set in, and 
 the earliest fruit of the reaction was the formation 
 of the Republican party. 
 
 The policy of this party was first given to the 
 ■world by a manifesto issued in the summer of 1856. 
 The Republican party, it was declared, had no pur- 
 pose to interfere with slavery in the states where it 
 w^as already established. Within those limits it had 
 been recognized by the Constitution, and to trans- 
 cend constitutional bounds was no part of the Re- 
 publican programme. But it Avas denied that the 
 authority of Congress, or of any other power in the 
 Union, so long as the present Constitution was 
 maintained, could give legal existence to slavery in 
 any Territory of the United States. The fundamen- 
 tal principle of the party Avas thus the non-extension 
 of slavery. Taking its stand on this ground, it 
 invited the co-operation of all who were opposed to 
 the dominion of the Slave Power, asking them to 
 lay aside past political differences and divisions, and 
 by one grand effort to rescue the country from the 
 rule of the common foe.* 
 
 This Avas in the summer of 1856. In the autumn 
 of the same year the Presidential election gave occa- 
 
 * See the Republican platform adopted at Philadelphia, June 1 8, 
 1856. 
 
204 I-'IRST TKIAL OF STRENGTH OF THE NEW I'AUTY. 
 
 sioii tor tliL' first trial of stivnn^tli between the new 
 party and its opponents. The contest occurred 
 wifliin a few months fi'oni the time when the first 
 idea of a partv on the basis indicated had been 
 formed, and before its leaders had had time to 
 complete its organization. As might have been 
 expected, it was defeated, but under circumstances 
 "which insj)ired the strongest hope of ultimate vic- 
 tory. '' Tlu' ncpiiblicans," said the central associ- 
 ation at Washington, addrcNsing the country after 
 the event of the election, '' wherever able to present 
 clearly to the public the real issues of the canvass — 
 slavery restriction, or slavery extension — have car- 
 ried the people with them by unprecedented majori- 
 ties, almost breaking up in some States the organ- 
 ization of their adversaries," . . . . " Under 
 circumstances so adverse, they have triumphed in 
 eleven, if not twelve of the Free States, i)re-eminent 
 for enterprise and general intelligence, and contain, 
 ing one half of the whole population of the coun- 
 try." ,...'' ^^'e know," continued this body, 
 " the ambition, the necessities, the schemes of the 
 Slave Power. The policy of extension, aggrandise- 
 ment, and universal empire is the law of its being, 
 not an accident — is settled, not fluctuating. Covert 
 or open, moderate or exti'eme, according to circum- 
 stances, it never changes in s])iiir oi- aim." . 
 " The true course of tin- IJcpulilicaii pai-t\' is to 
 
HOPEFUL PROSPECTS. 205 
 
 organize promptly, boldly, and honestly upon their 
 OAvn principles, and, avoiding coalitions with other 
 parties, appeal directly to the masses of all parties 
 to ignore all organizations and issues which would 
 divert the public mind from the one danger that 
 now threatens the honour and interests of the 
 country, and the stability of the Union." 
 
 The long ascendancy of the Slave Power in the 
 Union was thus at length seriously threatened, and 
 on its ascendancy depended its existence as a Power. 
 The leaders of the South were not slow to appreci- 
 ate the critical nature of their position. With a 
 boldness and practical sense characteristic of men 
 long and successfully conversant with the affairs of 
 government, they looked the danger in the face, 
 and, perceiving that the emergency w^as one in 
 which ordinary expedients would be unavailing, 
 they resolved upon a policy of " Thorough ;" and, 
 without hesitation or compunction, advanced straight 
 to their object. 
 
 The real cause of the defeat of the South in the 
 Kansas struggle it was not difficult to discover. It 
 lay in the want of a population adapted to the pur- 
 pose in hand — slavery colonization. The South had 
 conquered the ground, but, owing to the insuffi- 
 ciency of its slave force, it had been unable to hold 
 it, and the result was its defeat. The remedy, 
 therefore, was plain. It would be necessary to 
 
2o6 SOUTHERN POLICY OF " THOROUGH." 
 
 increase the slave force of tlic South in such a man- 
 ner as to ]>ut it on a par in point of disposable 
 population witli its Xortlicrn rival, and, meantime, 
 pcndin;:; thi' accomplislinunt of this result, to lind 
 means to maintain a footin<!; in the Territories in 
 spite of the legislation of tlie freesoilers. Such was 
 the j)rohlem proposed to tlie South. Nothing short 
 of tliis would enable the Slave Power to keep open 
 the Territories for its future expansion, and to 
 retain its hold on tlie Federal Government. No- 
 thing short of this would give it predominance in 
 the Union. There was need, therefore, of " Tho- 
 rough." It resolved to give effect to this policy in 
 in all its fulness, or, failing this, to dissolve the 
 Union. 
 
 With a view to the first point — the augmentation 
 of the supply of slave labour — the obvious, and the 
 only adequate, expedient was the reopening of the 
 African Slave Trade. That ti'ade had been prohi- 
 bited by an act of Congress in 1808, and the prohi- 
 bitioti had, up to the present time, been acquiesced 
 in by all parties. But, like every other enactment 
 which stood in the way of the freest development of 
 slavery, this prohibition was now discovered to be 
 ' unconstitutional.' Congress had, it seemed, ex- 
 ceeded its proper ])owers in passing the act. It was, 
 accordingly, determined that an agitation should 
 forthwith be set on foot for its re[)eal. 
 
REVIVAL OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE 207 
 
 The first blast of the trumpet announcing the new 
 policy was sounded by Governor Adams of South 
 Carolina in his address to the legislature of that 
 state in 1857, The obnoxious prohibition was de- 
 nounced in vehement terms. It was a violation of 
 the Constitution, and it interfered with the essential 
 interests of the South. By the closing of the 
 African slave trade the equilibrium between North 
 and South had been destroyed, and this equilibrium 
 could only be restored in one way — by the re- 
 opening of that trade. Let this once be accom- 
 plished — let the South have free access to the only 
 labour market which is suited to her wants — and she 
 has no rival whom she need fear. 
 
 The key-note having been struck, the burden of 
 the strain was taken up by other speakers, and the 
 usual machinery of agitation was put in motion 
 through the South. The Southern press freely dis- 
 cussed the scheme.* It was brought before the 
 
 * The Charleston Standard, complaining that the position of the 
 Sonth had hitherto been too much one of defence and apology, adds, 
 " To the end of changing our attitude in the contest, and of plant- 
 ing our standard right in the very faces of our adversaries, we 
 propose, as a leading principle of Southern poKcy, to reopen and 
 legitimate the slave trade." And it then proceeds, in a series of 
 articles, to argue at length the rightfulness and expediency of this 
 measure, expanding and elaborately enforcing the following pro- 
 positions, viz. : — " That equality of states is necessary to equality of 
 power in the Senate of the Union ; that equality of population is 
 necessary to equality of power in the House of Eepresentatives ; 
 
2o8 AGITATION FOR KKOPENING 
 
 atmiKil coDvciitioiis (or tlu* considi-raticm of South- 
 ern allairs, and received the energetic support of the 
 K-adc-rs of the extreme Soutliern j)arty.* At one of 
 
 that we cannot expand our labour into the Tonitories without de- 
 creasing it in the Stiites, and wliat is gained upon the frontier is lost 
 at the centres of the institution ; that pauper white labour will not 
 come into competition with our slaves, and, if it did, that it would 
 not increase the integrity and strength of slavery, and that, there- 
 fore, to the equaUty of influence in the Federal legislature there is 
 a necessity for the slave trade." 
 
 * Mr. Yancey has denied this in a letter to the Daily News, and 
 declared that ho " does not know two pulilic men in the South, of 
 any note, who ever" advocated the restoration of the trade, and that 
 " the people there are and have been almost unanimously opposed 
 to it." It is unnecessary to reopen a question which has been dis- 
 posed of, and I therefore refer the reader, who wishes to ascertain 
 the authenticity of Mr. Yancey's statement, to the Daily Nervs of 
 the 27th and 28th January, 1862. One or two specimens, how- 
 ever, may be given of the views of Southern politicians upon this 
 subject. The Hon. L. W. Spratt of Georgia, in a speech at Savan- 
 nah in favour of the African slave trade, thus expressed liimseK : — 
 " The iirst reason for its revival is, it wiD give political power to 
 the Soutli. Imported slaves will increase our representation in the 
 national legislature. More slaves will give us more states ; and 
 it is, therefore, within the power of the rude untutored savages we 
 bring from Africa to restore to the South the influence she has lost 
 by the sujipression of the trade. \Ye want only that kind of popu- 
 lation which will extend and secure our peculiar institutions, and 
 there is no other source but Africa." 
 
 Mr. A. II. Stephens, the pn'.sent Vice-]iresident of the Southern 
 Confederation, has thus pointedly put the argument for the opening 
 of the trade : — " \Vo can divide Texas into five slave states, and get 
 Chihuahua, Sonora, &c. if wo have the slave population, and it is 
 plain tliat xnilcss the nunifxr of African stock be inci-eased, we have 
 not the population, and might as well abandon the race with our 
 
THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 209 
 
 these conventions held at Yieksburgh, Mississippi 
 in May, 1859, ^ ^"ota in favour of the reopening of 
 the trade was passed by a large majority ; and this 
 was followed up by the formation of an " African 
 Labour Supply Association," of which Mr. De Bow, 
 the editor of the leading Southern review, was the 
 president. In Alabama, a " League of L^nited South- 
 erners " issued a manifesto in which the Federal 
 prohibition of the foreign slave trade is denounced 
 as an unworthy concession to the demands of North- 
 ern fanaticism, and which insists on " the necessity 
 of sustaining slavery, not only where its existence is 
 put directly in issue, but where it is remotely con- 
 cerned." Li Arkansas and Louisiana the subject 
 
 brethren of the Xorth in the colonization of the Territories . . . 
 slave states cannot be made withont Africans. I am not telling 
 you to do it, but it is a serious question concerning our political and 
 domestic policy ; and it is useless to wage war about abstract rights, 
 or to quarrel and accuse each other of imsoundness, unless we get 
 
 more Africans Negro slavery is but in its infancy." 
 
 And Mr. Jefferson Davis, while declaring his disapprobation of 
 opening the trade in Mississippi, earnestly disclaimed " any coinci- 
 dence of opinion with those who prate of the inhumanity and sin- 
 fulness of the trade. The interest of Mississippi, not of the African" 
 he said, " dictates my conclusion. Her arm is, no doubt, strength- 
 ened by the presence of a due proportion of the servile caste, but it 
 might be paralyzed by such an influx as would probably follow if 
 the gates of the African slave-market were thrown open." . . . 
 " This conclusion, in relation to Mississippi, is based upon my view 
 of her pjirsent condition, not upon any genercd theory. It is not 
 supposed to be applicable to Texas, to Neiv Mexico, or to any fxdnre 
 acquisitions to be made south of the Rio Grande." 
 
2 10 IMrOUTATlUN OF yLAVKS 
 
 was broiiglit before the state legislatures. A mo- 
 tion brought forward in the Senate of the former 
 state, eondeiunatory of the agitation for the revival 
 of the African slave trade, was defeated by a 
 majority of twenty-two. In the latter a bill em- 
 bodying the views of the advocates of the trade 
 wa>^ passed suceessfully through the Lower House, 
 and only l>y a narrow majority lost in the Senate. 
 In Georgia the executive committee of an agricul- 
 tural society offered " a premium of twenty-five dol- 
 lars for the best specimen of a live African imported 
 within the last twelve months, to be exhibited at the 
 next meeting of the society." Xor was the principle 
 of competition confined to the show yard. Southern 
 notions would have been shocked if so solemn a 
 work had missed the benediction of tlie church. 
 Accordingly, it was proposed in the T'rue Southern, 
 a Mississippi paper, to stimulate the zeal of the 
 pulpit by founding a prize for the best sermon in 
 favour of free trade in human flesh. 
 
 Meanwhile those who were immediately interested 
 ill tlie question liad taken the law into their own 
 hands, and the trade in slaves with Africa was 
 actually commenced on a large scale. Throughout 
 the years 1859 ^"^^ ^^^o fleets of slavers arrived at 
 Southern ports, and, with little interference from 
 the Federal riovcrnmont,* succeeded in landing 
 
 • Not, liowpvfT, it would soeni, without Lnterruption from tlie 
 
ACTUALLY COMMENCED. 2 I I 
 
 their cargoes. The traJfftc was carried on with 
 scarcely an attempt at concealment. Announce- 
 ments of the arrival of cargoes of Africans, and 
 advertisements of their sale, appeared openly in the 
 Southern papers ; and depots of newly imported 
 " savages " were established in the principal toAvns 
 of the South. " I have had ample evidences of the 
 fact," said Mr. Underwood, a gentleman of known 
 respectability, in a letter to the New York Tribune., 
 " that the reopening of the African slave trade is 
 already a thing commenced, and the traffic is brisk 
 and rapidly increasing. In fact., the most vital 
 question of the day is not the opening of the trade., 
 but its suppression. The arrival of cargoes of 
 negroes, fresh from Africa, in our Southern ports 
 is an event of frequent occurrence."* 
 
 One-half of the policy of "Thorough" was thus 
 fairly inaugurated. But the process of augmenting 
 a population is slow ; and, even on the supposition 
 that the Federal prohibition of the external slave 
 trade were removed, some years would elapse before 
 the South could hope to renew, with any prospect of 
 
 English cruisers. A correspondent of tlie Xew York Journal of 
 Cominerce, writing from the coast of Africa, mentions the cajiture of 
 no less than twenty-two vessels as having been effected by English 
 cruisers in the summer and autumn of 1857. "All but one were 
 American, and the larger number belonged to New York." 
 
 * Annual Eeports of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1857-8, 
 1S58-9, 1859-60. 
 
2 I 1 TERVEKSION OF 1 HE CONSTITrTION. 
 
 success, the colonization strug^de -with tlu- freesoilers. 
 During the interval the movements ol" the North 
 must hv some means l)e liekl in cheek ; the Territories 
 must ))e ki'})t open. It Avas necessary, tlierefore, to 
 devise a [>rin(ii)le of policy on which the party could 
 act together with a view to tliis end : and lor this 
 purpose the South, according to its custom in similar 
 emerjrencies, hatl recourse to tlie Constitution of the 
 United States. True, tlie whole tenour of the Con- 
 stitution ran in an opposite direction. But the lead- 
 ers of the ])nrty did not despair. Though they 
 might nut lind tlieir favourite principle, totidem 
 verbis, in the Constitution, nor yet, perhaps, toti- 
 dem syllahis, " they dared engage," like the book- 
 learned brother in a like ditficulty, " they should 
 make it out tevt'io modo, or totideni Uteris.''* 
 
 It was beyond question that the Constitution had 
 recognized the right of property in human beings. 
 This could not be denied, and this was a sufficient 
 basis for the policy of the South. The recognition. 
 it is true, was partial and local, so admittedly so, 
 that, even under the rule of the Slave party, the 
 whole course of law and government had proceeded 
 upon this assmnptioii. Tlie latest enactment, for 
 example, bearing upon the (juestion Avas the Kansas 
 and Nebraska bill. This measure had been brought 
 forward l»v a 1 )einocratic member actin;jf in concert 
 
 • TaU of a Tub. 
 
EQUAL RECOGNITION OF SLAVERY CLAIMED. 213 
 
 with the whole South, and had been carried against 
 a vehement Northern opposition. Yet even this 
 measure did not assume an equality between slavery 
 and freedom under the Constitution ; for, while it 
 left it open to the inhabitants of a Territory to pro- 
 hibit slave labour therein, it permitted no corre- 
 sponding prohibition to be directed against free 
 labour ; while it refused to recognize property in 
 slaves under certain circumstances, and left such 
 property unprotected by law, it contemplated no 
 occasion on which other kinds of property should 
 not receive recognition and protection. The very 
 expression, " peculiar institution," showed the light 
 in which slavery was popularly regarded. But the 
 Slave party had now resolved neither to see nor to 
 admit any of these qualifying considerations. It 
 took its stand on the principle that the Constitution 
 recognized the right of property in man ; and, 
 refusing to acknowledge anything which did not 
 harmonize with this, it reasoned with ruthless con- 
 sistency to the conclusion that Congress, which was 
 the organ of the Constitution, was bound to protect 
 this property in whatever part of the Union it might 
 be found. The doctrine of " squatter sovereignty," 
 which left it open to the inhabitants of a district 
 to decide for or against slavery — albeit a doctrine 
 fabricated to order, with a view to meet the special 
 exigencies of the Slave Power — was therefore de- 
 
2 14 I'UEUEyUISITES Ul' THE NEW DuCTRINE. 
 
 nounoed as no less unconstitutional than the Missouri 
 Compromise, as no less dangerous than the AVilmot 
 Proviso. It was not tor the people of a territory to 
 sa\' what propert}- was to lie protected, and what to 
 be left witliout protection ; but it was for Congress, 
 to whi( h it belonged to give eftect to the Constitu- 
 tion over the whole I'liion, to protect all property 
 without distinction, whatever might be its nature, 
 niid in whatever part of the Union it might be 
 placed — wliether consisting of human or of other 
 chattels, whether existing in the States or in the 
 Territories, in the Slave States or in the Free. 
 
 Such was the daring doctrine advanced by the 
 leaders of the South in the critical position of their 
 affairs at which they had now arrived. To make 
 good their ground, they had need of two things; 
 first, a judicial decision by the highest Federal au- 
 thority in their favour ; and secondly, a government 
 at Washington prepared to supply the necessary ad- 
 ministrative machinery for giving full effect to this 
 decision. The Supreme Court of the United States 
 is the tribunal of ultimate a})peal in constitutional 
 questions. This court had for a long series of years 
 been composed of the most eminent lawyers of the 
 Republic, and had maintained a high character for 
 learning and wisdom, as well as for the spirit of 
 enlightened impartiality with Avhich it discharged 
 \t^ ]\\\sh functions. I'ut this court \\;is n<»\v destined 
 
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SUPREME COURT. 21$ 
 
 to suffer from the same causes which had affected 
 injuriously so many other institutions of the Union. 
 The judges of the Federal courts were appointed by 
 the President and approved by the Senate. In the 
 Senate the Slave party was predominant, and it had 
 hitherto been able to nominate the President. It 
 had, therefore, the appointments to the national 
 judicatory in its own hands ; and for some years 
 —foreseeing that in the controversies which were 
 pending it would be of importance to have the 
 judicial bench on its side— it had been silently shap- 
 ing to its purposes this great organ of the nation's 
 power. With such success had the process been 
 carried on, that in 1855, although the North had 
 always furnished by far the greatest share of legal 
 talent and learning to the bar of the Union, out 
 of the nine judges who constituted the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, five were Southern men 
 and slaveholders, and the rest, though not natives of 
 the South, were known to be in their sympathies 
 strongly Southern. The tribunal of ultimate appeal 
 in the Union was thus brought to a condition which 
 commended it to the confidence of the "thorough" 
 poUticians,* and before the court so constituted a 
 
 * The foUowing, which occurs in the judgment of Chief Justice 
 Taney in the Drecl Scott case, will give the reader an idea of the 
 .invit witli which the court was animated. The question before 
 the court was whether coloured persons are legally citizens of tlie 
 
2l6 
 
 DKLl) bCOTT CASE. 
 
 case was subinittcd fur judgment, involving the prin- 
 ciple which it was desired to establish. This was 
 the celebrated Dred Scott case. Tlie facts of it are 
 sufficiently simple. A slave of the name of Dred 
 Scott liad been carried by liis nuister from Missouri, 
 his native state, Hrst to Illinois, a free state, and 
 subsequently to the I'liited States territory north of 
 Missouri, which, under the ^lis.-^ouri Compromise, 
 was free territory. On bcinir br.moht back to Mis- 
 souri, the slave ehunied Jiis freedom on the ground 
 that his removal by his master to a free state and 
 territory had emancipated him ; and that, once free, 
 he could not be enslaved by being brought again 
 into a slave state. Tliis demand was strictly in 
 accordance with the i)revailing course of decisions 
 over the whole South up to that time ; and was 
 
 United States. ChanceUor Kent had laid it down in liis Comnion- 
 taries, that " it is certain that the Constitution and statute law of 
 New York speak of men of colour as being citizens ;" and that " if 
 a slave be born in the United States, and lawfully discharged from 
 bondage, or if a black man be born free in the United States, he 
 becomes thenceforth a citizen." But Chief Justice Taney contended 
 that coloured persons were incapable of enjoying this privih-ge. 
 " Such persons," he said, " had been regarded as unfit to associrte 
 with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far 
 inferior that they had no rights whi,h the white man was bound 
 to respect, and that the negro might jmtly and ImiituUi/ be reduced to 
 tlavtvi/for hU ben./if ; (hat this opinion was, at that time, fjc^d ami 
 mw^'Tsal in the civili:,d portion of th,' white race, and was regarded 
 as an axiom in morals as well as politics, which no one thought of 
 disputing, or supposed to be ojnn to dispute." 
 
EFFECT OF THE DECISION. 21 7 
 
 thus, in conformity with precedent, conceded by the 
 state court of Missouri, before which it was in the 
 first instance brought. But the defendant appealed 
 against this decision, and the case came on under a 
 wi'it of error first before the Supreme Court of the 
 State, and ultimately, having in the interval passed 
 through one of the circuit Federal courts, before 
 the Supreme Court of the Union. The result was 
 the reversal by a majority of the Supreme Court of 
 the judgment of the court below. In announcing 
 the decision. Chief Justice Taney, who delivered 
 judgment, laid down two principles which went the 
 full length of the views of the Slave party. He 
 declared, first, that in contemplation of law there 
 was no difference between a slave and any other kind 
 of property ; and secondly, that all American citizens 
 might settle with their property in any part of tlie 
 Union in which they pleased. 
 
 Such was the momentous decision in the Dred 
 Scott case. Its effect was to reverse the fundamen- 
 tal assumption upon wdiich up to that time society 
 in the Union had been based ; and, whereas for- 
 merly freedom liad been regarded as the rule and 
 slavery the exception, to make slavery in future the 
 rule of the Constitution. According to the law, as 
 expounded by the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court, it w^as now competent to a slaveholder to 
 carry his slaves not merely into any portion of the 
 
2l8 SECOND KEgUlUEMENT OF THE SLAVE POWER 
 
 Tt'iTiturics, but, it" it jilcascci him, into any of the 
 Free States, to establish himself with his slave reti- 
 nue in ( )hiu or -Massachusetts, in IVnnsylvania or 
 New York, and to hold his slaves in bondage there, 
 the regulations of Congress or the laws of the parti- 
 eular state to the contrary notwithstanding. The 
 L nion, if this doctrine were to be accepted, was 
 henceforth a single slaveholding domain, in every 
 part of which property in human beings was equally 
 sacred. So sweeping were the consequences in- 
 volved in the Drcd Scott decision. Reading that 
 decision in the light of subsequent events, we can- 
 not but admire the sagacious foresight of De Tocque- 
 ville : — '' The President who exercises a limited 
 power may err without causing great mischief in 
 the state. Congress may decide amiss without de- 
 stroying the Union, because the electoral body in 
 which Congress originates may cause it to retract 
 its decision by changing its members. But if the 
 Supreme Court is ever composed of imprudent men 
 or bad citizens, the Union may be plunged into 
 anarch)* or ci\il war." 
 
 The Slave Power had thus accomplished its first 
 object. The Constitution had been turned against 
 itself, and, by an ingenious ai)plication of the " toti- 
 dein Uteris " principle of interpretation, the right to 
 extend slavery over the whole area of the Union 
 was declared by the highest tribunal in the republic 
 
A RELIABLE GOVERNMENT. 219 
 
 to be good in constitutional law. But it was fur- 
 ther necessary to give practical eitect to this deci- 
 sion ; and tliis could only be accomplished through 
 a government at Washington favourable to the 
 principle it embodied. It was therefore resolved 
 that, in the approaching Presidential election, the 
 party of the South should be reconstructed on the 
 basis of this principle in its application to the Terri- 
 tories ; (for it was thought prudent for the present 
 to abstain from extending the new doctrine to tlie 
 Free States). This policy was, however, in the last 
 degree hazardous. The South had hitherto carried 
 its measures through an alliance Avith the Demo- 
 cratic party of the North ; but this party was now 
 led by Mr. Douglas, and Mr. Douglas was the author 
 of the Kansas and Nebraska bill, the repeal of which 
 was for the moment the main object of the South. 
 Mr. Douglas was, therefore, plainly told that he 
 must recant his former principles — principles which, 
 at the cost of much loss of credit among his North- 
 ern friends, he had devised expressly for the benefit 
 of the Slave Power — and that he must make up his 
 mind to uphold slavery in the Territories in spite of 
 anti-slavery decisions by the squatter sovereignty, 
 or forfeit the support of the South. Now this was 
 a length to wdiich ^Ir. Douglas and the section 
 Avhich he led — highly as they prized the Southern 
 alliance, and indulgently and perhaps approvingly 
 
no BKicArii wnii iiii-; demucuats — secession. 
 
 as they rc'«^arclL'd tin- institution ul" slavery — were 
 not prepared to ;Li<).* Mr. Dou^rlas was, therefore, 
 cast aside. 'I'lic eonihined phahmx whieli liad so 
 long ruled the I'nion was broken in two, and the 
 Slave Power stood alone. This position of affairs 
 could ()id\- Icatl to one result — that which actually 
 occurred — the triumph by a large majority of the 
 Republican party. The South having thus failed to 
 make good the one alternative of its ' thorough ' 
 policy, at once accepted the other ; and the dissolu- 
 tion of the I'nion was ])i'oclaimed. 
 
 * Yet every point was strained to meet the views of the South. 
 The distinction between the programmes of the two sections as they 
 were ultimately amended, is so fine that it may easily escape the 
 inattentive reader. The essence of the demand of the extreme 
 (Breckenridge) section was contained in the second of the amend- 
 ments made in the Cincinnati platform ; which was to tlie efi'ect 
 " That it is the duty of the Federal govornment, in all its depart- 
 ments, to protect when necessary the riglit of persons and property 
 in the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority ex- 
 tends" ; while the Douglas party embodied in its amendments the 
 prmciple of the I)red Scott decision. Theoretically, the positions 
 were identical, but practically they involved an important difference. 
 The Douglas programme, although acknowledging the right of slave 
 property to protection in the Territories, gave to the slaveholders 
 no other guarantee than a resort to the ordinary tribunixls ; where- 
 as the assertion in the Breckenridge pnjgramme of the duty of the 
 Federal government, "in all its dejiartments, to protect" slavery, 
 was understood to imply the necessity of drawing up a black code 
 for use in the Territories. " There must," says the liichmond En- 
 quirer, " bo positive legislation. A civil and criminal code for the 
 protection of slave property in the Territories ought to be provided." 
 
APOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AGGRESSION. 22 1 
 
 Such has been the career of aggression pursued 
 l)y the Slave Power in North America for the last 
 fifty years. It forms, as it seems to me, one of the 
 most striking and alarming episodes in modern his- 
 tory, and furnishes a remarkable example of what a 
 small body of men may effect against the most vital 
 interests of human society, when, thoroughly under- 
 standing their position and its requirements, they 
 devote themselves deliberately, resolutely, and un- 
 scrupulously to the accomplishment of their ends. 
 It has indeed been contended that "the action of 
 the South on this subject [the extension of slavery], 
 though in appearance aggressive, has in reality been 
 in self-defence, as a means of maintaining its politi- 
 cal status against the growth of the North."* And 
 in one sense this is true, though by no means in the 
 sense in which the author of this argument would 
 have us believe it. What is suggested is, that the 
 political ascendancy of the South has been necessary 
 to prevent its being sacrificed to the selfish ends 
 of the Northern majority ; and that it has been with 
 a view to this object — security against Northern 
 rapacity — and not at all on its own account, that 
 the extension of slavery has been sought. The 
 policy of slavery extension by the South is thus 
 represented as but a means to an end — that end 
 being the legitimate development of its own resour- 
 
 * Spence's Anierican Union, p. 107. 
 
2 22 AGGRESSION OF THE SLAVE POWEU 
 
 res. Such is the theory. Uiie more strikingl}' at 
 variance with the most conspicuous facts of the case it 
 wouhl perhaps be diliicult to imagine. Tlie extension 
 of shivery souglit as a means to an end ! and tliat end 
 free trade, fiscal equality, and the internal develop- 
 ment of the Southern States ! AVhy, if these were 
 the real objects of the South, where was the need, 
 and what was the meaning, of secession ? They 
 were all secured to it by the Cincinnati platform ; 
 they had all been advocated by Mr. Douglas. Why 
 then reject the Democratic manifesto and the Demo- 
 cratic candidate, and l)reak with the Democratic 
 part\- — if this Avas all that was sought ? AVere 
 state rights threatened by the C^ncuimitl^ platform 
 Was Mr. Douglas a protectionist ? Yet if the South 
 had not broken w4th this party — a party whose 
 motto was state rights and free trade, a party which 
 regarded slavery with something more than indul- 
 gence — the Democratic organization might never 
 have been shaken, and the South might still have 
 been in possession of the Federal Government. 
 " But why discuss on probable evidence notorious 
 facts ? The Avorld knows what the question between 
 the North and South has been for many years, and 
 still is. Slavery alone was thought of, alone talked 
 of Slavery was battled for and against, on the 
 floor of Congress and in the plains of Kansas ; on 
 the slavery question exclusively was the party con- 
 
m WHAT SENSE DEFENSIVE. 223 
 
 stituted which now rules tlie United States ; on 
 slavery Fremont was rejected, on slavery Lincoln 
 w^as elected ; the South separated on slavery, and 
 proclaimed slavery as the one cause of separation."* 
 But, though not true in the sense suggested by 
 the English champions of the Southern cause, there 
 is a sense in which it is strictly true that the aggres- 
 sions of the Slave Power have been defensive move- 
 ments. This is indeed the essence of the case which 
 I have endeavoured to establish. For I have en- 
 deavoured to show that, while the economic necessi- 
 ties of the South require a constant extension of the 
 area of its dominion, and while its moral necessities 
 require no less urgently a field for its political 
 ambition, it is yet, from the peculiarity of its social 
 structure, incapable of amalgamating with societies 
 of a different type, and has no objects which it can 
 pursue with them in common ; and that, conse- 
 quently, it can only attain its ends at their expense. 
 It must advance ; it cannot mix with free societies ; 
 and, wdiere these meet it in the same field, it must 
 push them from its path. In this sense it must be 
 allowed that the aggressive movements of the South 
 have been but efforts prompted by the instincts of 
 self-defence ; but whether the fact, when thus under- 
 stood, is likely to help the argument of those w^ho 
 employ it, it is for them to consider. It is sug- 
 
 * Mr. Mill in Frasers Magazine for February, 1862. 
 
22.^ THE APOLOGY ADMITS THE CHARGE. 
 
 gested, indeed, that this necessity of a<rgTcssion 
 arises from tlie re lative inferiority of tlie South in 
 wealtli and nuiiihfis — tliat its encroachments are but 
 "means of maintaining!: its political status against 
 the growth of the North." 15ut In all political 
 confederacies particular members or groups of 
 members must be inferior to other members or 
 groui)S, or to the rest combined, and if this were 
 a reason for ])olitical separation, there could be 
 no such thing as political union. The Southern 
 States are not more inferior in wealth and numbers 
 to the Northern than is Ireland to Great Britain, 
 or Scotland to England and Ireland ; yet neither 
 Ireland nor Scotland is compelled in self-defence 
 to pursue towards the more powerful confederation 
 of which they severally form a part a policy of 
 aggression. AVhy should it be different with the 
 Southern States of the Union ? Let the champions 
 of the South address themselves to this prol)lem, 
 and if they can solve it without bein<T broujrht at 
 last to slavery as the ultimate cause of all other dis. 
 sensions — the one incompatibility in the case— they 
 will show more ingenuity than they have even yet 
 displayed. I venture to suggest that solution 
 which has been foreshadowed by De Tocqueville, 
 and which is at once the most obvious and the most 
 profound. The South has been compelled to pursue 
 a policy of aggression towards the North, not be- 
 
ATTEMPT OF JOHN BROWX. 225 
 
 cause it is less rich or less populous, but l)ec;nise it 
 is different, and ull the differences whicli divide 
 North and South have originated in slavery — in an 
 institution which prevents the growth of interests, 
 ideas, and aims in Avhich free societies can share, 
 and which can prosper only by perpetually en- 
 croaching on their sphere.* 
 
 * Some exjilanation, perhaps, is needed why in the foregoing 
 sketch no nieution has been made of one of the most signal and 
 devoted acts of heroism in modern times — the attempt of John 
 Brown to open a gnerilla warfare against slavery in Virginia. The 
 omission has been made designedly. The enter])rise, however 
 worthy of being recorded, ha\dng yet originated exclnsively in the 
 noble heart of the man who conducted it, and having been carried 
 into operation "wdthout the connivance of any considerable party in 
 the United States, could not properly be inchided in a sketch of 
 wliich the object was to trace the working of those parties. The 
 effort stood apart from the combination of agencies Avhich were 
 working towards the same end ; yet it would not be correct to 
 say that it was without mfluence on the cause which it was 
 designed to serve. Its connexion with the history of the moA^ement 
 appears to have been tliis. The alarm wliich the attempt created 
 in the South had the eifect of strengthening the influence of the 
 extreme party there, and of transferring the conduct of affairs in 
 the Slave States from such men as Hammond and Hunter, Wise 
 and Clingham, to such men as Jefferson Davis, Stephens, and Yan- 
 cey — from the representatives of the Border to those of the Cotton 
 States. (See Amiuaire des Deux Mondes, i860, pp. SS^-S^S-) ^* 
 can scarcely be doubted that this hastened the split in the Demo- 
 cratic party, and thereby the triumph of the Republicans. In this 
 manner the enterprise of John Brown conduced directly to the 
 present crisis, and, through this, we may now with some confidence 
 assert, to the downfall of the great crime against whicli he had 
 
2 26 ITS PLACE IN CURRENT HISTORY. 
 
 sworn undyinpf enmity. Tlie reflection will be welcome to those 
 who wouKl ilt'ploi-e that an act of such serene self-devotion should 
 be performed iu vain. 
 
 " Actions of the juBt 
 Smell sweet in death, and hlussum in the du8t." 
 
 The reader who desires to see a faithful and spirited sketch of this 
 worthy representative of the sturdy virtue of the Pilgrim Fathers 
 is referred to the Life and Letters of Captain John Broivn, edited 
 by Riihard D. Webb. London : Smith, Elder and Co. 1861. 
 
22' 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DESIGNS OF THE SLAVE POWER. 
 
 "We have traced in the foregoing chapter the career 
 of the Slave Power. In the present it is proposed to 
 consider its probable designs. This, indeed, might 
 well seem to be a superfluous inquiry ; since, if we 
 have correctly appreciated the past history of that 
 Power, and the motives which have carried it to its 
 present perilous attempt, we shall not easily err as to 
 the objects which it would pursue in the event 
 of that attempt being successful. Combinations of 
 men do not in a moment change their character and 
 aims ; of all combinations aristocracies are the most 
 persistent in their plans ; and of all aristocracies 
 an aristocracy of slaveholders is that the range 
 of whose ideas is most limited, and whose career, 
 therefore, is least susceptible of sudden deviation 
 from the path which it has long followed. 
 
 Nevertheless, it will not be expedient to take for 
 granted what would seem to be in such little need 
 of proof ; for there are those who tell us that this 
 party, whose whole history has been a record of 
 successful aggression and of pretensions rising vnth 
 each success, has engaged in this last grand effort 
 
228 ESSENllAl. (UAH AT TEH OF SLAVE SOCIETY 
 
 iVoia iiiotivt'S tlio reverse of tliose -wliicli Imvr hither- 
 to notoriously inspired it ; and who wouhl liave us 
 hi'licvc tliat tlu- Slave Power, which in tlie space of 
 halt" a eciitury lias pusju'd its houiidai'\- iVoni the 
 foot of the Alle^jhauies to the hoi'do-s of \cw 
 Mexico, and which. IVinii the position of an ex- 
 ceptional principle clainiinu' a local toleration, has 
 reached the audacity of aspiring to embrace the 
 whole coninionwealth in its domain — that this 
 Power has suddenly ehan<,a.'d its uature, and, in 
 now seeking to secede from the Union, aims at 
 nothing more than sim})le independence — the privi- 
 lege of being allowed to work out its own destiny 
 in its own way. 
 
 This assumption, indeed, however paradoxical to 
 tliose who are familiar with the exploits of the 
 Southern party, underlies most of the speculation 
 which has been current in this country upon the 
 probable consequences of a severance of the Union, 
 and is that which has procured for the cause of 
 secession the degi-ee of countenance which it has 
 enjoyed. It will therefore be desirable to consider 
 how far the basis of the assumption is warranted — 
 how far the altered position of the South — suppos- 
 ing it to make its ground good in the present 
 struggle— is calculated to aifect the character which 
 it has hitherto sustained, and to convert an un- 
 
UNCHANGED BY INDErENDENCE. 229 
 
 scrupulous and ambitious faction into the moderate 
 rulers of an inoffensive state. 
 
 And here we must advert to principles already 
 established. A\'e have seen the causes which luue 
 made the Slave Power what it is : — in its new posi- 
 tion which of these causes will cease to operate ? 
 Slavery is to remain the " corner stone " of the re- 
 public more firmly set than ever. The economic 
 and moral attributes of the South will therefore 
 continue to be such as slavery must make them. 
 Cultivation will be carried on according to the old 
 methods : the old process of exhaustion must, there- 
 fore, go on ; and thus the necessity for fresh soils Avill 
 be not less urgent under the new regime than under 
 the old. The stigma which slavery casts on indus- 
 try will still remain : there Avill, therefore, still be an 
 idle and vagabond class of mean whites ; and, since 
 cultivation must still be contracted to the narrow 
 area which is rich enough to support slave labour, 
 there will, as now, be the wilderness to shelter them. 
 There they must continue to drag out existence, 
 lawless, restless, incapable of improvement, eager as 
 ever for filibustering raids on peaceful neighbours. 
 Lastly, the moral incidents of slavery must remain 
 such as we have traced them. The lust of power 
 will still be generated by the associations and habits 
 of domestic tyranny, and the ambition of slave- 
 
230 INHERENT VICES UF THE SLAVE POWER 
 
 holders will still connect itself with that Avhicli is 
 the foundation of their social life, and otters to them 
 tlieir only means of emerging from obscurity. In a 
 word, all those luiidamental influences springing 
 from the deepest roots of slave society, which have 
 concurred to mould the eharactei- and determine 
 the career of the Slave Power while in connexion 
 with the Union, will, after that connexion has been 
 dissolved, continue to operate with unabated energy. 
 Nor does this adequately represent the case. While 
 the same motives to ambition will remain, the ap- 
 petite for power will be still further stimulated by 
 the exigencies of its new position. Connected with 
 the North, the Slave Tower was sustained by tlie 
 prestige of a great confederation. Through the 
 medium of its government it was l)rought into 
 harmonious relations wuth free countries ; under the 
 aegis of its protection it enjoyed almost complete 
 immunity from foreign criticism. It so happened, 
 too, that, during the chief period of its connexion 
 with the Union, the South contrived to hold the 
 reins of government in its own liands, and was thus 
 enabled in the i)rosecution of its designs to wield a 
 power far gi-eater than its own, and to compass 
 ends which, in the absence of such support, could 
 not have failed to call up in other countries 
 pffootual opjyosition. Rut, .^cjKirntcd from the North, 
 it will n.'ithcv coimnand the same resources nor 
 
INTENSIFIED BY ITS NEW POSITION. 23 I 
 
 enjoy among foreign powers tlie same consideration. 
 Its position will be one of absolute isolation from 
 the whole civilized world : it will be compelled to 
 encounter without mitigation the concentrated re- 
 probation of all free society. Such a position will 
 only be permanently tenable on one condition — 
 that of vastly augmenting its power. The South 
 will not be slow to discover this ; and thus, by more 
 powerful inducements than it has yet experienced, 
 the Slave Power will be precipitated upon a new 
 career of aggression. 
 
 These considerations apply to every conceivable 
 hypothesis as to the terms on which the independ- 
 ence of the Southern Confederacy may be accom- 
 plished. But, in order to bring out more distinctly 
 the views which are likely to govern this body as an 
 independent power, it will be convenient to consider 
 the case on three distinct suppositions. 
 
 AVe may suppose, first, that the independence 
 of the Slave Republic is recognized on the terms of 
 permanently limiting its area to those portions of 
 the South which are already definitely settled under 
 
 slavery. 
 
 Or, secondly, we may suppose its independence to 
 be recognized on the condition of its being restricted 
 for the present to the above limits, but with liberty 
 of colonizing, and, after colonization, of annexing 
 the unsettled districts on equal terms with the North 
 
 L^ 
 
^3^ i'nSSlliij: CONDJliuXs OF IXDEPENDtNCE. 
 
 -the- (juestion of free or slave institution, beinu left 
 to l.e .l.tcrniined 1,3- .onie principle analogous to 
 squatter suvcivifjiity. 
 
 ■I'l'iiaiy, wu may suppose an e.|ual .li,isi„„ of d.e 
 '.M,et(le.l portions of the p„Mi,- donmi,, between ti.e 
 cotitendtng parties, the .Soutl, taking that portion 
 "•hK-h lies westward of its ovn. boundary, ineludin.^ 
 tlie Inchan Territory and Xew Jlexieo. 
 
 Takin- the first of these Suppositions-tlie reco-. 
 '""on of ,l,e independence of the South on the tenrs 
 ot bemg pen„anen,Iy eonlined wiihin the limits of 
 country aK-ady settled under sh.very-this would 
 invohe a considerable curtailment of the present 
 area of the Slave States. Extensive districts included 
 ■"this area ea.n.ot in any correct sense be said to be 
 fettled at all ; and others are settled under freedon, 
 1 l.e latter observation applies to large portions of 
 
 I'^'^T' "'"'"''^"' """ •'"^^«""' "'"^1' would 
 therefore, on the hypothesis we are at present eo.,.' 
 sHlenng, pass to the .ide of the Xorth ; the fortner 
 api-ltes to Texas, and, in a considerable degree, to Ar- 
 kansas. Thus, Texas, comprising an area of .74 „6 
 «,uare .niles_a„ area greatly larger than that of 
 "•""c-e-eontained in .850 but 58,,6, slaves ; and 
 ''~' ^^*«Hling over 5.,,98 scpu.re miles_an 
 a.-ca larger than that of Kngland-eontaine.l b,„ 
 47..00 slaves. I 'istrics in which the slaves arc n,„ 
 """■>• '""-■ous than this-.lbei, thcv n,av have 
 
LIMITATION OF SLAVERY TO ITS PRESENT AREA. 233 
 
 been enrolled as slave states to meet the politieal 
 exio-encies of the Slave Power — cannot be said to 
 
 a 
 
 have been yet appropriated to slavery. The task of 
 their colonization is yet to be performed ; and on the 
 supposition, therefore, that the Slave Power were re- 
 stricted within the country which it has really set- 
 tled, these districts with the others would pass from 
 its grasp. Now, what future would lie before the 
 Slave Power in the event of its being shut up within 
 these limits ? It seems to me w^e can have little 
 difficulty in forecasting its destiny. If there be any 
 truth in the best established conclusions, independ- 
 ence upon such terms could only be the prelude to 
 an early overthrow of the present social and political 
 fabric of the South. Once confine the operations of 
 slavery to the tracts which it already occupies, and 
 the ultimate extinction of the system becomes as cer- 
 tain as the ultimate surrender of the garrison of a 
 beleaguered town which is absolutely cut oif from 
 relief. Emancipation w^ould be gradually but surely 
 forced upon slaveholders by irresistible causes ; and 
 scope w^ould at length be given for the resuscitation 
 of society upon wholesome principles. Each year 
 would bring, on the one hand, an increase of the 
 slave population, and on the other — as the soil de- 
 teriorated under the thriftless methods of slave 
 culture — a diminished area of land suitable for its 
 employment ; and the process would continue till, 
 
^34 KESULTS (JF THIS PLAN. 
 
 ill tlic words of J ud Lie Warner, ''both master and 
 slave would be starved out." The prueess of decay 
 would eouiniencc in the older states. There Avould 
 be a la 11 in the price of slaves : breeding would no 
 longer be prohtable ; and thus the single prop which 
 has for fifty years su])ported sla\er}- in tjiose states 
 would be at once withdrawn. Tor a time the work- 
 ing states might not be losers, and might even be 
 gainers by the change. The price of labour might 
 fall more rapidly than their lands would deteriorate. 
 But it would be for a time only. The decreasing pro- 
 ductiveness of the slave's exertions would at leno-th 
 reach the point at which the returns from them 
 would not equal the cost of his support, and then 
 the progress towards the catastrophe would be rapid. 
 The fate of the older states would overtake every 
 portion of the slave domain ; and tlie whole bodv of 
 slaveholders would be compelled to face the fearful 
 problem of doing justice to four million victims of 
 their own and their ancestors' wrong. It is not to 
 l)e supposed, however, that the solution Avould be 
 postponed to the last moment. So soon as the end 
 came distinctly into view, i)rovision would doubtless 
 be made to meet the inevitable change ; and the 
 gradualness of tlic pi'oeess would allow time ior the 
 action of palliative influences. Such, it seems to 
 me, woiiM be the result of indepemK;nce on the terms 
 involved in ihe first liyj)otliesis. In such tei-ms, 
 
SECOND CONDITION OF INDEPENDENCE. 235 
 
 however, Ave may be well assured, the Southern 
 leaders, fully understanding as they do their own 
 case, would only acquiesce after complete subju- 
 gation. 
 
 But, secondly, we may assume, as the condition of 
 Southern independence, that the unsettled portions 
 of the public domain (including under this expres- 
 sion, besides the Territories technically so called, 
 the greater part of Arkansas and nearly the whole 
 of Texas) should be open for slave colonization, 
 while a like liberty should be accorded for free 
 settlement ; and we have now to consider what 
 would be the effect of its position, as thus determined, 
 on the fortunes of the Slave Power. Now I think it 
 is plain that, in view of the competition which such 
 a determination of the question would inevitably 
 engender, the necessity would at once be forced 
 upon the South of maintaining a footing in the 
 unsettled districts at whatever cost. The attractions 
 offered by the fertile soils and fine river systems of 
 Texas and Arkansas could not fail to draw from the 
 North, on the one hand, and from California, on the 
 other, crowds of free settlers, who would quickly 
 establish themselves upon the most eligible sites. If 
 the South did not proceed with equal energy, it 
 would find itself forestalled at every point. A cor- 
 don of free states would in no long time be drawn 
 around its border, barring its advance towards the 
 
-3^ ti:ki:iturii:s urKxi.D aliki: to 
 
 rich laiuls (. I" Mexico, and throwing it back upon its 
 cxliaiistcd iichls. Is it likely that the Slave Power 
 would quietl}' contemplate this consummation,— 
 that it would look forward to wdiat .Air. Spence aptly 
 calls " the painful process of strannrulation," without 
 making an eftbrt to break the bauds which were 
 graduidly but surely closing around it ? The suj.- 
 position is incredible. Freedom and slavery would 
 therefore once more renew their race in the colo- 
 nization of the Territories. And on what grounds 
 could the South hope for success in such a contest ? 
 'J'he mortifying lesson taught in Kansas has not 
 been forgotten. The South knoM-s well that a re- 
 newal of the contest luider conditions which then 
 brought signal defeat must iiu\itablv lead to a 
 like result. But the- conditions of the new trial of 
 strength would, in one respect at least, be far less 
 favourable for the Soutliern cause than those which 
 proved disastrous in K'ansas. The Slave Power 
 would no longer hnd an accomplice enthroned at 
 Washington. What happened in Kansas, therefore, 
 would of necessity be repeated in Texas and New 
 Mexico; the South would ])e out-colonized by its 
 rival, and the goal would appear in no distant view. 
 'Ihcre would Ix- j,ut one escape fi-om this fate— such 
 a rai)id increase of its disposable slave population as 
 would supply the drk'n fn.ni whirl, it suffered in its 
 former atf. nil. f> : and rj.i. i,,,.,va.sc could oidv be 
 
FKEE AND SLAVE COLONIZATION. — RESULTS. 237 
 
 accomplislicd in one way — a revival of tlie African 
 slave trade. The revival of this trade would, ac- 
 cordingly, in the event we are considering, become a 
 vital question for the South. AVhether the measure 
 would really prove effectual for the purpose designed 
 is a question Avhich I do not think we have sufficient 
 data to resolve ; but that such would be the case is 
 undoubtedly the opinion of the Southern leaders. 
 " We can divide Texas into five slave states," says the 
 Vice-president of the Southern Confederation, " and 
 get Chihuahua and Sonora, if we have the slave popu- 
 lation ; but unless the number of the African stock 
 be increased we have not the population, and might 
 as w^ell abandon the race with our brethren of the 
 North in the colonization of the Territories. Slave 
 states cannot be made without Africans." " Take 
 off," says Mr. Gaulden of Georgia, " the ruthless re- 
 strictions wdiich cut off the supply of slaves from 
 foreign lands . . . take off the restrictions against the 
 African slave trade, and we should then want no 
 protection, and I would be willing to let you have 
 as much squatter sovereignty as you wish. Give us 
 an equal chance, and I tell you the institution of 
 slavery will take care of itself." From all this it 
 seems to follow — assuming a separation on the terms 
 of an open field for free and slave colonization over 
 the still unsettled districts— that the only chance of 
 permanently establishing the Southern Republic on 
 
238 THIRD CONDITION OF IXDEPENDENCE. 
 
 that '' corner stone" wliich its builders have chosen, 
 woiikl lie ill reopeniii*: the AlVicaii slave trade, and 
 rapidly iiKreasin«r the supply of slaves ; and that 
 the Southern leaders would in the contingency sup- 
 posed, at oii((> adopt this expedient I cannot for a 
 moment douht. As wc have seen in a iornier chap- 
 ter, the trade had actually been connnenced on an 
 extensive scale before the breaking: out of the civil 
 war ; and, with vastly more urgent reasons for re- 
 viving it, while there would be entire freedom from 
 the restraints of Federal legislation, it is difficult to 
 believe that there would be any hesitation about re- 
 curring to the same course. 
 
 But there is yet another condition under which 
 the independence of the South may be regarded. 
 We may suppose that the Union is dissolved on the 
 terms of an equal division of the unsettled districts 
 between the contending parties. This arrangement 
 would probably satisfy the utmost aspirations of the 
 Southern party. It would probably also — so far as 
 
 any distinct ideas on the sidiject exist fall in with 
 
 the conception of an independent South which for 
 the most part rises before those who in this country 
 take the Southern side, including, it mav be ob- 
 served, some whose sincerity in disclaimino- all 
 sympathy with slavery it is impossible to doubt. It 
 becomes, therefore, of importance that the conse- 
 
EQUAL PARTITION OF THE TERRITORY. 
 
 ■^39 
 
 quences involved in this mode of establishing South- 
 ern independence be carefully examined. 
 
 The argument by which the support of the South- 
 ern cause, understood as I have just stated it, is 
 reconciled with the avowal of anti-slavery opinions, 
 is one with the basis of which the reader is now fami- 
 liar. It is this, that under the proposed arrange- 
 ment the limits of slavery Avould be fixed ; and that, 
 this point being attained, the downfall of the system 
 would in due time follow. " The Southern Con- 
 federacy, hemmed in between two free and jealous 
 neighbours [the Northern States and Mexico] will 
 henceforth see its boundaries, and comprehend and 
 accommodate itself to its future conditions of na- 
 tional existence. The moment slavery is confined 
 definitively with its present limits, according to the 
 best opinions, its character becomes modified and its 
 doom is sealed, though the execution of the sentence 
 may seem to be relegated to a very distant day."* 
 
 This theory, it will be remarked, involves a sus- 
 picious paradox. It supposes that the most com- 
 plete success which the South can hope for in the 
 present war would eflxictually defeat the precise 
 object for which the South has engaged in war. It 
 supposes that Englishmen know more of the real 
 necessities of slavery than the men whose lives have 
 
 * North British Rem^w for February, 1862, p. 269. 
 
240 DEFENCE OF THIS SCHEME. 
 
 been spent in working the system, and wlio Imve 
 now staked tlit-ni on an attempt to establisli it upon 
 lirni foundations. Ik'forc accepting so improbable a 
 doctrine, it will be worth considering whether there 
 may not l)e more to Ix- said ibr the wisdom of Mr. 
 Jefferson Davis and his friends, than those would have 
 us think wlio in this (■ounti-\- faNoui- tlicir cause. 
 
 It seems diiHeult U) belie\e tliat tliose who specu- 
 late on the prospects of slavery in tlie manner of 
 the writer from whom T have quoted, have attended 
 to the geographical conditions under which, in the 
 case supposed, the institution would Ije i)laced. The 
 South is described as " hemmed in " betw^een ^lexico 
 and the X(jrth. The expression implies ideas of 
 magnitude trul}' American ; for the Power thus 
 " hemmed in " would be master of a space as large 
 as all Europe west of the Vistula, and would have at 
 its disposal a region, still unsettled and available for 
 slave colonization, little less extensive than the 
 whole area of the present Slave States.* Under an 
 arrangement which professes to provide- for the ex- 
 tinction of slavery a new field would be thus secured 
 for its extension, equal to that which now employs 
 4,000,000 slaves. 
 
 * That is to say, the whole of tliosc of tliPin wliieli are actually 
 settled under slavery — a description which would exclude nearly the 
 whole of Texas, Florida, and Arkan;>as, of which three states the 
 aggregate slavo population is less than 150,000. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS IGNORED. 24 T 
 
 But it will perhaps be said that, whatever might 
 be the immediate effects of Southern independence 
 established upon these terms, still, the bounds of 
 slavery being absolutely fixed, jDrovision would be 
 made for its ultimate extinction. Those opponents 
 of slavery who find comfort in this view of the case 
 must possess more far-reaching sympathies than I 
 can pretend to. It may be worth their Avhile, how- 
 ever, to consider whether even their longanimity 
 may not in the end be balked of its reward. For, 
 ere the time w^ould arrive when the Slave Power, 
 having occupied the vast regions thus secured for it, 
 would begin to feel the restraints of its spacious 
 prison, at least a quarter of a century would have 
 elapsed, and at least two million slaves Avould be 
 added to the present number. With this increase 
 in the area of its dominion and in the number of 
 its slave population, and with the time thus allowed 
 it for consolidating its strength and maturing its 
 plans, it cannot be doubted that the power of the 
 South would have become indefinitely more formi- 
 dable than it has ever yet sho^vn itself And as 
 little, I think, can it be doubted that its audacity 
 would have grown with its strength ; for it w^ould 
 now, by actual trial, have proved its prowess against 
 the only antagonist whom it has really to dread, 
 and it would enter on its career of independence 
 amid all the ^clat of victory. In the mood of 
 
24- NORTIIEKN JEALOl'SV 
 
 mind produced by tlie contemplation of its achieve- 
 ments and the sense of its supremacy, is it likely that 
 the South would be content to bridle its ambition, — 
 much less to accept a lot, acquiescence in which 
 would be taiitaniount to siiiiiing its own doom ? 
 
 It will be said that the Slave Power, severed from 
 the Union, would iiiid itself on all sides sui'i'mnided 
 by watclii"id and jtalous neighbours, whose office it 
 would be to counteract its intrigues and to hold its 
 ninbition in check ; and that, in discharging this 
 office, the free communities of America would be 
 sustained by the moral, and, if need were, by the 
 physical, support of the Great Powers of Europe. It 
 cannot ])e denied that there is much weight in this 
 consideration ; yet its importance may easily be 
 over-rated. The Xorthern States, once shut out 
 from Mexico and Central America by the vast range 
 of territory which, under this determination of the 
 cpiarrid, would be alienated from their confederacy, 
 would have little object in staying the progress of 
 the South in that direction. It is, moreover, im- 
 portant to observe that one of the most popular 
 projects among all sections of the Northern people, 
 for some years past, has been the providing of rail- 
 way communication between the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific States*— a project which, so soon as the re- 
 
 On this point at least tho Republican ami Democratic parties 
 are at one. Sec their respective platforms. 
 
NOT A SUFFICIENT SAFEGUARD. 243 
 
 establishment of pence shall allow time for the pro- 
 secution of industrial schemes, will doubtless be 
 resumed. Now, this idea once carried into effect, 
 the chief reason with the Northern people for 
 desiring influence in the Gulf of Mexico would be 
 removed. Again, it is not impossible that, before 
 the time should arrive when intervention might 
 be required, the position of affairs among the North- 
 ern States might be considerably altered. Although 
 I am quite unable to see the ground for tlie appre- 
 hension now so prevalent, and apparently so influ- 
 ential, in the North, that, a severance of the Union 
 once effected, the process of disintegration would go 
 forward till society should be reduced to its primary 
 elements ; still I think it cannot be doubted that 
 the example would be contagious ; and thus it is 
 no violent supposition, that, as in course of time a 
 difference of external conditions among several 
 groups of the Northern States resulted in the growth 
 of different interests and different modes of regard- 
 ing political c^uestions, the present would be fol- 
 lowed by future secessions, until, in the end, several 
 communities should take the place of the existing 
 Confederation. Now it is obvious to reflect that, 
 were such an order of political relations once 
 established, the Northern States would find, in the 
 clashing interests and mutual jealousies developed 
 among themselves, more tempting- matter for diplo- 
 
 i6* 
 
-44 EUROrEAN INTERVENTION 
 
 matic activity than in counteractino: the desio-ns of 
 Southern ambition in a ])art of the worhl from 
 whicli tlieir ronneximi, alike commercial and poli- 
 tical, had hccn ahiio.st wliolly cut ofl". 
 
 And still less is luii-oiM-aii intervention to be 
 relied upon. The I'owers of Europe have doubtless 
 strong reasons that Central America sIk.uM be held 
 by hands which they can trust ; and they would na- 
 turally be disposed to offer obstacles to the progress 
 of a Slave Power. But Europe is far removed from 
 the scene of Mexican intrigue ; and a European 
 war, or even a serious complication in European 
 politics, might easily relax their vigilance. Taking 
 into consideration all the circumstances of the case 
 —the period wliich would elapse before the new 
 lands could be occupied, a period during which the 
 Slave Power would have time to organize its forces 
 and to study the weakness of its opponents— the 
 chances that in the interval disunion in the North, 
 or complications of policy in Europe, would produce 
 contingencies favourable to its designs— the persist- 
 enc}' of aristocracies in pushing schemes on which 
 they have once entered— the eminent examples of 
 this qualit}' which the South has already furnished— 
 the passion, amounting to fanaticism, with which it 
 has long cherished this particular scheme— above all, 
 the absolute necessity under which it would in the 
 end find itsellOf extending its domain— who, I say, 
 
STILL LESS TO BE RELIED ON. 24.5 
 
 with all these circumstances in view, can feel assured 
 that, once established on the broad basis of an em- 
 pire reaching from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, 
 the Slave Power would not hold out a serious 
 menace of realizing the vast projects of its ambition ; 
 and that the world might not one day be appalled 
 by the spectacle of a great slaveholdiiig confederacy 
 erecting itself in Central America, encircling the 
 Gulf of Mexico, absorbing the West Indies, and 
 finally including under its sway the whole tropical 
 region of the New World ?* 
 
 * "Vers le milieu de rannee 1859, il se forma dans les etats qui 
 cultivent le coton, et spccialement dans la Louirfiane et le Mississipi, 
 una association myst6rieuse, dont les statuts etaient convert d'un 
 secret inviolable, et dont les membres s'intitulaient les chevaliers du 
 cercle d'or. Ces chevaliers appartenaient exclusivement aux classes 
 aisles ; ils avaient une organisation toute militaire et devaient etre 
 pourvus d'armes. Les progres rapides de cette association atti- 
 r^rent quelque attention ; mais comme Walker parcourait a ce mo- 
 ment le sud et commen9ait les preparatifs de I'exp^dition dans 
 laquelle il devait perdre la vie, on crut qu'il se niMitait un nouveau 
 coup de main contre le Nicaragua ou contre quelqu'une des provinces 
 du Mexique, que I'objet de I'association etait de recueillir de I'argent 
 et de recruter des Ixommes pour le compte du celebre flibustier, 
 D'autres penserent que le succes qui avait couronn*^ les tentatives 
 faites pour introduire des negres d'Afrique par les bouclies du 
 Mississipi avait donn6 naissance a de vastes operations de traite. 
 Comme il s'agissait, dans les deux cas, de violer les lois et de 
 dejouer la surveillance des autorites fcdi^i'ales, le mystcre dont 
 s'eutourait Tassociation s'expliquait tout naturellement. Les pro- 
 jets des chevaliers etaient beaucoup plus ambitieux cependant : ils 
 tendaient a detacher de la confederation les etats qui cultivent lo 
 
^4^^ MODIFICATION OF SLAV^KV 
 
 Iftlicre be any force in these speculations, it will 
 be seen that Mr. Jettersoii Davis and his associates 
 were not so widely mistaken in the selection of their 
 means as has been commonly supposed, and tliat 
 they may contemplate Avith considerable compla- 
 cency the "euthanasia" wliich lias l)een predicted 
 for their favourite institution.* That tlic establish- 
 ment of Southern independence upon equal terms 
 will "modify the character" of slavery, 1 am far 
 from denyino-. But it is important to determine in 
 what direction the modification will take place, and, 
 in connexion with this subject, I shall revert to a 
 topic to which I have already more than once re- 
 ferred, l)ut the importance of whieli deserves a some- 
 what fuller consideration than has yet been given to 
 
 coton pour en former une ropublique nouvelle, dont I'esclavago 
 eerait I'institution fondamentale, et qui puiserait dans le r^tabli&se- 
 ment de la traite les Siemens d'une rapide pix)spt'rite. Dbs que sa 
 force d'expansiou ne serait j.lus arrOtee par la clierte de la maiu- 
 d'oeuvre, la nouvelle ropublique ne pouvait manquer d'absorber en 
 quelquos annoes le ^lexique, le Nicaragua et la Eolivie ; elle ac- 
 querrait de gi-e ou de force toutes les Antilles, et fonderait an centre 
 du continent amdricain I'dtat le plus riche et le plus puissant du 
 monde. Le cercle d'or, cY'taient done les pays et les lies qui forment 
 autour du golfe du Mexique une ceinture d'une incomparable fecon- 
 <lit^-" — Annuaire des deux Mondes, 1860, p. 602. 
 
 * "This euthanasia of slavery [the consummation of Southern 
 indepeiidencc, a.s (w^nceived by the writer] we admit to be slow and 
 distant; but we solemnly believe it to be both safe an.l certain. 
 And, at least, itwa euthanasia— a natural and not a violent death." 
 --Noyfh Brit i fit Iferinr {nv F.-bniary. iS^'iz, p. 2-2. 
 
INVOLVED IN THE SUCCESS OF THE SOUTH. 247 
 
 it I mean the possibility of a revival of the African 
 
 slave trade. 
 
 The audacity of this conception and its incon- 
 gruity with the prevailing modes of thought in 
 Europe, and especially in England, have on this side 
 of the Atlantic caused general incredulity as to the 
 fact that such a project has been really entertained. 
 It seems almost too monstrous that a party, claiming 
 admission as an equal member into the community 
 of Christian nations, should deliberately conceive 
 the plan of reviving in the full light of modern 
 civilization a scandal which has long lain under its 
 ban. It is not then strange that the disclaimers by 
 Southern agents of any intention on the part of the 
 South to revive the trade have, for the most part, ob- 
 tained an easy acceptance in Europe. But those 
 Avho are thus easily satisfied can scarcely have at- 
 tended to the prevailing tendencies of Southern poll- 
 tics, or be aware of the steps which, previous to the 
 outbreak of the civil war, had been actually taken m 
 this direction by the party now dominant in the 
 South. Of the strong interest of the Slave Power m 
 the revival of the trade, in the event of its independ- 
 ence being established on any terms which give it a 
 chance of maintaining itself in the Territories, there 
 cannot I think be a doubt. It has been already 
 shown that, on one supposition, the question would 
 become al)solutely vital. It would l)e only a choice 
 
2-4^ Ki:\ IVAL UF THE AFKICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 between the reopoiiin*r of the trade and acquiescence 
 in a condition of thin;j:s whidi \\(.iild be tantamount 
 to early extinction. On the hypothesis last consi- 
 dered, there Mould not, indeed, be the same vital 
 necessity f.»r the measure ; nevertheless, the temp, 
 tation to it w..uld be strong. The labour force 
 of the South lias long been unecpial to the re- 
 quirements of the i)lantcrs. Of this the steady 
 rise in the price of slaves during half a century is 
 a sufficient proof. But, with the whole Southern 
 Territory secured for exclusive slave settlement, the 
 insufficiency of the home supply to meet the neces- 
 sities of the case would be more manifest than ever. 
 With the advance in j.rice breeding would no doubt 
 be stimulated in the older states; but tlie process of 
 augmentation by natural increase would be slow, 
 while, on the other hand, the high price of labour 
 would greatly curtail the profits of cultivation. 
 Under these circumstances, it is difficult to believe 
 that the planters of the South would long tolerate 
 an impediment which stood between them and the 
 realization of vast schemes of aggrandizement, more 
 especially when the maintenance of the obstacle 
 could only be justified on grounds of morality 
 which the whole South wnuld reject with disdain. 
 The continued prohibition of the trade Nvonld he 
 denounced as an unworthy subserviency to the 
 fanaticism of foreign goveriinients-as (to .piote Ian- 
 
IRRESISTIBLE INDUCEMENTS. 249 
 
 guage which has ah'eady been employed m this 
 cause) " branding every slaveholder in the land 
 with the mark of guilt and dishonour."* Slavehold- 
 ers Avould be called upon as before, but in tones 
 rendered more authoritative by the increased pre- 
 stige which the cause of slavery would have acquired, 
 to remove " the degrading stigma" from " their most . 
 essential political institution," and, as the means at 
 once of filling their pockets and clearing their fame, 
 to repeal a law jarring alike with their moral and 
 material susceptibilities. As opposed to these con- 
 siderations, the only counter-emotive of the slightest 
 weightf which can come into play, is the interest 
 
 * Mr. John Forsytli, late miuister to Mexico, in the Mobile 
 Register. 
 
 f For I do not thuik that the provision in the Montgomery Con- 
 stitution prohibiting the African slave trade will, by any one ac- 
 quainted with the history of the party who framed it, or with the 
 circumstances of the particular case, be so considered. The motives 
 which dictated the provision are very clearly set forth by Mr. 
 Everett in the following passage of a speech delivered some months 
 ago : — " Now, to meet this state of thmgs and this interest, sup- 
 posed to be vital in Virginia, the skilful men that were employed 
 in drawing up a new constitution for the Confederate States South 
 introduced in the first place a clause prohibiting the African slave 
 trade. This was intended to have the further effect of conciliating 
 foreign influence ; but then the next clause was that it should 
 always be competent for a Southern Congress to prohibit the domestic 
 slave trade, and in the debates at Montgomery on this clause no 
 secret was made of the intention of these provisions. It Avas openly 
 said that they meant to say to Virginia : ' The other border states 
 
-30 ONLY CULNTEK-MuTni:. 
 
 of tlio lnvt'tling states in miiintaining tlu'ii' iiioiio- 
 I>(.ly. Tli:it tliev Would liavc this iiiti-rcst in a 
 
 join iho LViiifnleiiiev, and we allow the domestic slave trade to go 
 on. Stand aloof fivni us, and we will amend that feature in the con- 
 stitution which prohibits the African slave trade ; we will supply 
 ourselves from that quarter.' Thus you see there was at once in 
 the same breath a bribe and a njenace to Vir'Miiia, but for the time 
 and as far as we can judge, not with much effect. The ' Ancient 
 Dominion' had a character in the woild. Slie w;i.s not willing at 
 home or aljixmd to assume the jiusition of an ancient powerful state 
 standing alot)f from such a movement as this on the causes for which 
 it.s authors inaugurated it, and then, montlis after, joining it that 
 she might secuiv to hei-self the melancholy privilege of continuing 
 to stock the pluntations of Alabama, Mississipi)i, and Luuisana." 
 
 'Ihe party which enacted this prohibition is the party Avhidi 
 l)assed and repealed the Missouri Compromise ; which accepted and 
 repudiated the principle of the Nebraska Bill. In the former case 
 the bargain was adhered to till the Southern party had ajipropriated 
 its share of it ; in the latter till it was proved unequal to what was 
 required of it. In both cases solemn engagements were set aside the 
 moment they became inconvenient. Considering the circumstances 
 under which the prohibition of the Afiican slave trade has been 
 l)assed, is it likely that it Avill be regarded as more sacred than 
 the Missouri Ci>mi)romise, or than the Nebraska Bill? The fol- 
 lowing passage from a Floiida paper, the Soulhern CoH/ederact/, 
 will show that the validity of the enactment has been already 
 called in question, and on jiivcisely the same grounds as those on 
 wliich the former engagements were challenged. " For God's sake, 
 ami the sakt; of consistency, do not let us form a Union for the express 
 purpose of maintaining and propagating African slavery ; and then, 
 as the Southern Congress has done, confess our error by enacting a 
 constitutional provision abolishing the African slave trade. Thf open- 
 tjiff of tfte (rude is a vwtv (/iicition of expcdiincy, to he determined l>y 
 I'-'jiiladve enactment hereo/ter, but not by a cnnstitntioucd pnnH^ion,'' 
 
 \ 
 
PRESUMI'TION FKOM THE PAST. 25 I 
 
 pecuiiiiiry sense is, indeed, aljundantly evident. But 
 Avould this circumstanee be allowed permanently 
 to prevail against not merely the equal pecuniary 
 interests of other states in the opposite policy, but 
 against the requirements, in the largest sense, of 
 the whole Slave Republic ? A consideration of the 
 course pursued under analogous circumstances on 
 former occasions will show the extreme improba- 
 bility of such a supposition. 
 
 There is perhaps nothing more remarkable in the 
 past career of the Slave Power than the unanimity 
 with which the whole body of slaveholders have 
 concurred in supporting a given policy, so soon as it 
 was clearly understood that the public interests of 
 slavery prescribed its adoption ; yet with the line of 
 policy which, in view of this necessity, has been 
 actually followed, the interests of the Slave States 
 have been far from being equally identified. The 
 slave-breeding states of A'irginia and Kentucky had 
 a very distinct and palpable advantage in opening 
 new o-round for slave cultivation across the Missis- 
 sippi. They thereby created a new market for their 
 shives, and directly enhanced the value of their 
 principal property. But the slave-working States of 
 Alabama and Mississippi, which were buyers, not 
 sellers, of slaves, which were producers, not con- 
 sumers, of cotton, had a precisely opposite interest as 
 reoards this enterprise. The effect of the policy of 
 
-3- SACUlI-lCi: UF I'AKTICULAU 
 
 territorial extension in relation to them, was to raise 
 the price of slaves— the produetive instrument which 
 they em])]()yed ; and, on the other hand, to reduce 
 the price of cotton— the euniniodity in whi( h thev 
 dealt. It at once increased their outlay and dimin^ 
 i.shed their returns. Yet this did not prevent the 
 Avhole body of Slave States irom workinn; steadily 
 together in promoting that policy which the main- 
 tenance of the Slave Power, as a political system, 
 dennmded. A still more striking instance of the 
 readiness to sacrifice particular interests to the poli, 
 tical ascendancy of the body is furnished by the 
 conduct of the South in its dealings with Cuba. 
 The annexation of this island has long been, as all 
 the woi-ld knows, a darling project of Southern 
 ambition. The bearing of the acquisition on the 
 general interests of the South is very obvious. It 
 would add to its domain a district of incomparable 
 fertility. It would give it a commanding position in 
 the Gulf of Mexico. It would increase its political 
 weight in the I'niou. Hut there is one state in the 
 South whi.-li could not fail to be injured in a 
 pecuniary sense by the acquisition. The i)iincipal 
 industry of the State of Louisiana is the same as 
 that of Cuba — the cultivation of sugar. liut the 
 soils of Louisiana are i"ar inferior to those of Cuba- 
 se much so that the planters of that State are only 
 able to hold their ground against the competitiol. 
 
TO GENERAL INTERESTS. 253 
 
 of their Cuban rivals by the assistance of a high 
 protective duty. Now the immediate consequence 
 of the annexation of Cuba to the South would be 
 the abolition of the protection which the planters of 
 Louisiana now enjoy — an event which could not fail 
 to be followed by the disappearance, in great part, 
 of the artificial production which it sustains. Never- 
 theless, Louisiana has formed no exception to the 
 general eagerness of the South to appropriate Cuba : 
 so far from this, it has ciu'iously enough happened 
 that the man who has been most prominent among 
 the piratical party who have advocated this step is 
 Mr. Slidell,* the senator in Congress for the State of 
 Louisiana. The sympathies which bind slaveholders 
 together have thus always proved more poAverful 
 than the particular interests which would sunder 
 them ; and whatever course the necessities of slavery, 
 as a system, have prescribed, that the whole array 
 of slaveholders, with a disregard for private ends, 
 which, in a good cause, would be the highest virtue, 
 has never hesitated to pursue. 
 
 The precedents, therefore, afforded by the past 
 history of the South would lead us to expect that, 
 so soon as the expediency of the African slave trade, 
 in promoting the political interests of the Slave 
 Power, became clear, the private advantage of par- 
 
 * Tliis was the gentleman selected by Southern tact to recom- 
 mend the cause of tlie South to Europe. 
 
254 SECTIONAL RESISTANCE POWERLESS 
 
 ticuhir states would ]k- waived in deference to 
 the requirements of the whole Confederacy. But, 
 thnuo], this shouhl not be so— though the border 
 states, wlien the trial came, should prove deficient 
 in tliat public spirit which the working states in 
 similar circumstances have never failed to exhibit- 
 it is still quite inconceivable that what the public 
 interests required should be permanently postponed 
 to an opposition resting on such a basis. The men 
 who now guide the councils of the Confederacy, 
 from the moment of their accession to power to 
 the present time, have never shrunk from any act 
 essential to their ends : such men, having trium- 
 phantly carried their party through a bloody civil 
 war, would hardly allow themselves to be baffled 
 by the sellish obstinacy of a few of their number. 
 Indeed already the particular expedient to which, 
 in the event of protracted obstinacy, recourse might 
 be had, has been hinted at in no obscure terms. 
 Mr. l)e Bow has advocated the reopening of the 
 African slave trade upon the distinct ground that it 
 is necessary to extend the basis of slavery by bring- 
 ing slaves within the reach of a larger number 
 than, at their present price, are able to purchase 
 them. By this means, he argues, increased stability 
 would be given to the institution in proportion as 
 the numbers interested in maintaining it should be 
 increased. Of the soundness of this p„lie^• from the 
 
BEFORE THE EXIGENCIES OF PUBLIC POLICY. 255 
 
 stand-point of the Slave Power there can, I think, 
 be no question ; and for the means of carrying it 
 out in tlie last resort the extreme party could l^e 
 at no loss. Let the reader observe the purpose to 
 which this argument might be turned in the event 
 of a schism between the breeding and the working 
 states on the point in question. It is well known 
 that the possession of a slave is the great object of 
 the poor white's ambition, and the most effectual 
 means of gratifying this ambition would be to make 
 slaves cheap. To rally, then, to the cause of free 
 trade in slaves this numerous class would be, in- 
 deed, an easy task. Nothing more would be needed 
 than to appeal to their most obvious interest, to 
 give play to their most cherished passion. Every- 
 where — in Virginia and Kentucky no less than in 
 the states of the extreme South — the opening of the 
 African slave trade would be hailed with enthusiasm 
 by the great bulk of the people ; and thus, whenever 
 convenience demanded it, the resistance of an inter- 
 ested section might be overborne by the almost uni- 
 versal voice of the rest of the community. 
 
 To sum up the results of this part of the discus- 
 sion : — on every hypothesis of Southern independ- 
 ence, save that which would be equivalent to the 
 early extinction of the Slave Power, the reopening 
 of the African slave trade w^ould be recommended 
 to the South by almost irresistible inducements — 
 
256 RESULTS. 
 
 in one contingency by considerations wliich appccal 
 to interests tliat are vital. Tlie only source of op- 
 position would be the })rivate interests of the breed- 
 ing states ; but i)ri\ate interests in the history of 
 the South have always yielded to the demands of 
 public i)()licy, and would probably do so in this case. 
 In the event, however, of the breeding states proving 
 refractory, the leaders of the extreme party would 
 have the remedy in their own hands. The protest of 
 a narrow^ minority would be wholly powerless to 
 stem the tide of popular feeling which they have it 
 in their power at any moment to evoke. 
 
^ol 
 
 CHAPTER L\. 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 AYhat is the duty of European nations towards 
 North America in the present crisis of its history ? 
 I answer — to observe a strict neutrality between the 
 contending parties, giving their moral support to 
 tliat settlement of the question which is most in 
 accordance with the general interest of the world. 
 What ground is there for European interference in 
 the quarrel ? In the present aspect of affairs abso- 
 lutely none — none, that is to say, "which would not 
 equally justify interference in every war which ever 
 occurred. I say, in the present aspect of affairs, for 
 in a different aspect of affairs I can well imagine 
 that a different course would be justifiable, and 
 might even become a duty. Supposing free society 
 in North America in danger of being overborne by 
 the Slave Power, would not the threatened predomi- 
 nance in the new w^orld of a confederacy resting on 
 slavery as its corner stone, and proclaiming the 
 propagandism of slavery as its mission, be an occa- 
 sion for the interference of civilized nations ? If 
 there be reason that civilized nations should com- 
 bine to resist the aggressions of Russia — a country 
 
25 S DUTY OF EUROPE — 
 
 contnininrr the frorms of a vigorous and progressive 
 civilization — would tlirre be none for opposing the 
 estaldishnicnt of *' a barbarous and barbarizing 
 Power " — a Power of whose existence shivery is the 
 filial cause ? Hut that contingency is liapi)ily not 
 now probable ; and in the present position of the 
 American contest there is not even a plausible pre- 
 text for intervention. It is unhappily true that our 
 trade is suffering, that much distress prevails in our 
 manufacturing districts, and that "we are threatened 
 with even more serious consequences than have yet 
 been felt. But is this a plausible pretext for inter- 
 fering in a foreign Avar ? How can a great war be 
 carried on without disturbing the commerce of the 
 ■world ? For what purpose are blockades instituted 
 and permitted ? To say that, because we are injuri- 
 ously affected by a blockade we will not recognize it, 
 is simply to say that we do not choose to be bound 
 by laws longer than it suits our convenience — is to 
 throw away even the pretence of justice. But inter- 
 ference in th(! present case would be not merely 
 immoral. It would be futile — nay, if the relief of 
 distress be really the object of those who urge it, it 
 would, we can scarce doubt, aggravate a hundred- 
 fold the evils it was intended to cure. For, suj)- 
 posiiig the blockade of the Southern ports to be 
 raised, to Avhat purpose would ])e this result if the 
 war c(>ntiiiued ? It wouM, doubtless, carry comfort 
 
NEUTRALITY. 259 
 
 to the Slave Confederac^y ; it might possibly bring a 
 few hundred thousand bales of cotton to Europe ; 
 but, in the present condition of the South, witli 
 Northern armies encamped on its soil, it would not 
 cause cotton to be grown, and still less would it 
 open Northern markets to our manufactures. A 
 fleet may raise a blockade, but it cannot compel a 
 people to buy goods who do not want them. Inter- 
 vention in America would, therefore, fail to restore 
 trade to its normal channels ; and it is admittedly 
 to a disturbance in the normal channels of trade far 
 more than to scarcity of any single commodity — to 
 a cessation of Northern demand fiir more than to 
 an interruption of Southern supply — that the dis- 
 tress now experienced in England is due.* Now 
 the cessation of Northern demand will continue as 
 long as the war continues ; so that the effect of 
 intervention on manufacturing distress would de- 
 pend on its effect on the duration of the war. And 
 what would be this effect ? On such a subject it 
 would be absurd to speak with confidence ; but 
 there is one historical parallel which comes so close 
 to the present case that we should do well to ponder 
 it. In 1792 an armed intervention of European 
 Powers took place in France. The allied sovereigns 
 were not less confident of their ability to impose 
 conditions on the French people, than are those who 
 
 * See the Economist, 26th April, 1862. 
 
26o IMTOLICY OF IXTEKVENTION. 
 
 now iirirc intervention in America of tlie ability of 
 Fniiu-e :uul Kngland to .settle the aifairs of that 
 continent. Hut we know how tlie intervention of 
 1792 ended. Tlie s])irit ui' chniocracy, allying itself 
 with the spirit of patriotism, kindled in the people 
 of France an cner<ry which not merely drove back 
 tl»e invaders from tlieir soil, but which carried the 
 invaded people as conquerors over the length and 
 breadth of continental Europe. Such was the eftect 
 of a policy of intervention in the affairs of a great 
 European nation. AVhat reason have we to expect 
 a difterent result from a similar policy pursued in 
 America ? Has democracy in America shown k-ss 
 energy than in Europe ? Is its organization less 
 effective ? Is tlie spirit of its patriotism less power- 
 ful ? Arc the resources which it commands for war 
 less extensive ? Or will the adversaries of demo- 
 cracy fight it with greater advantage across the 
 reach of the Atlantic ? I am assuming that an 
 intervention, if attempted, would be resolutely car- 
 ried out : that a mere interference by our navies 
 would only exacerbate and prolong the quarrel is 
 so obvious as to disentitle such a proposition to a 
 moment's serious regard. The duty of neutrality is, 
 therefore, in the present case as plainly marked out 
 b}' the dictates of selfish policy as by the maxims of 
 morality and law. \Miile intervention would fail 
 to alleviate the evils under which we suffer, it would 
 
OBLIGATION TO RENDEK MORAL SUPPORT. 26 I 
 
 almost certainly add to tliose evils the calamity of 
 a great war — a war which would bequeath to the 
 posterity of the combatants a legacy of mutual 
 hatred, destined to embitter their relations for cen- 
 turies to come. 
 
 But the duty of neutrality is not incompatible 
 with the rendering of moral support. AVe may be 
 required to abstain from giving effect to our convic- 
 tions by force, but we can never be justly required 
 to abstain from advancing them by moral means. 
 Nay, so long as the conflict between good and evil 
 lasts, the obligation to sustain the right cause by 
 sympathy and counsel is one from which we cannot 
 relieve ourselves. It becomes, therefore, of extreme 
 importance to consider what is that settlement of 
 the American contest which deserves the moral 
 support of Europe, 
 
 There are two modes of terminating the present 
 war, either of which must, it seems to me, be almost 
 equally deprecated by every friend of freedom and 
 of the American people : — such a triumph of the 
 Southern party as would give to it the command of 
 the unsettled districts to the south and west ; and 
 such a reconstruction of the Union as would restore 
 slavery to its former footing in the Republic. It is, 
 I think, difficult to say which of these results Avould 
 be the more extensively disastrous. The one would 
 establish, amid all the eclat of victory, a slave em- 
 
^ 
 
 262 INVO MODES OF SETTLEMENT 
 
 pirc, cuiiiiuanding tlic resources) of lialf a continent, 
 fired >vitli an ardent ambition, and cherishing vast 
 designs of aggression and contpiest. The other 
 woukl once more commit a moral and freedom, 
 loving people — the main h()[)e of civilization in the 
 New AVorhl — U) complicity with the damning guilt 
 of slavery. The Union, restored on the principle of 
 restricting slavery, would not indeed be the same 
 Union as that in which the Slave Power was pre- 
 dominant. But fortune is capricious in politics as 
 in war. A few years might bring a change in the 
 position of parties ; and a revolution of the wheel 
 might once again commit the central government 
 to the propagandists of slavery. Even should this 
 worst result not happen, the corrupting influence 
 of the alliance would remain ; the continued con- 
 nivance at the perpetration of a great wrong would 
 again force the Republic into degrading compliances, 
 and the progress of political degeneracy, arrested for 
 a moment by the shock of a violent reaction, would 
 proceed as before. Between the evils of such a 
 termination of the contest and the absolute triumph 
 of the Slave Power, it would, perhaps, not be easy 
 to decide. 
 
 A year ago either of these results, almost equally 
 to be deplored, seemed almost equally probable. 
 The Northern people, taken by surprise, its leaders 
 unaccustomed to power, its arsenals in the liands of 
 
EQUALLY TO BE DEPRECATED. 263 
 
 its enemies, with traitors in its public offices, divided 
 into parties holding discordant views and reconi- 
 mending different courses, unanimous only in one 
 strong wish — a desire at all events to uphold the 
 Union — seemed for a thne prepared to make almost 
 any concession which promised to secure this end. 
 On the other hand, no vacillation marked the South. 
 With the directness of men who, fixed in their ends, 
 have little scruple in their choice of means, its 
 leaders were urgent to precipitate the catastrophe. 
 Their skilfully contrived treason had secured for 
 them the principal forts and almost the whole mili- 
 tary stores of the Republic. The most experienced 
 officers in the United States army were their trusted 
 agents, and were rapidly passing over to their side. 
 Elated by success and confident in their resources, 
 it seemed, at the outset of the contest, that they had 
 all but accomplished their daring scheme— that little 
 remained for them but to seize upon Washington, 
 and dictate from the capitol the terms of separation. 
 Such Avas the position of affairs when the contest 
 opened. A year has passed, and contingencies 
 which then appeared imminent seem no longer 
 within the range of possible events. In presence 
 of the searching test which real danger applies to 
 political theories, and amid the enthusiasm kindled 
 by war, the political education of the North has 
 made rapid progress. The true source of disaffec 
 
264 rHAC'llLAL ISSUES AT TllL PUESENT TIME. 
 
 tiuH t.. thr L'lii,,,,, su lull- cuiicfalcd by the arts of 
 temporizing politicians, has been laid bare, and is no 
 longer doubted. The impossibility of bringing free 
 an.l slave societies into hanncnious co-operation 
 under the same political system begins to be under- 
 stood. The absolute necessity of, at all liazards, 
 breaking the strength of the Slave Power, as thj 
 first step towards re-establishing political society in 
 North America, is rapidly becoming the accepted 
 creed. Meanwhile, the advance of the Northern 
 armies in the field has kept pace with that of 
 opinion in the public assemblies, and, by an almost 
 unbroken series of fruitful ^•ictories, the military 
 superiority of the North seems now to be definitively 
 established. In this aspect of afiairs-with anti-sla- 
 very opinions making rapid way in the North, and 
 Northern armies steadily advancing on the Souihern 
 States-the reconstruction of the Union, with slavery 
 retamed on its former footing, and still more the 
 complete triun.ph of the Slave Power, may, it seems 
 to me be fairly discharged from our consideration. 
 ^ay, I think, the actual state of facts, taken in con- 
 nexion with the resources of the contending parties 
 warrants us in going a step further, and holdincr 
 that, in the absence of foreign intervention, the 
 South must in the end succumb to its opponent. If 
 this be so, what remains to be decided is this • on 
 what terms sIk.II rh. .submission of the South be 
 
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION, 265 
 
 made ? — shall it return to tlie Union t«^ be ruled by 
 the North, or secede under conditions to be pre- 
 scribed by its conqueror ? Assuming these to be the 
 practical issues involved in the struggle at the stage 
 to which it has now attained, I shall proceed to con- 
 sider to what determination of it the moral support 
 of Europe should be given. 
 
 It seems impossible to doubt that, at the present 
 time, the prevailing purpose of the Northern people 
 aims at no less than a complete reconstruction of 
 the Union in its original proportions. The project 
 admits of being regarded under several aspects : — 
 how far is it justifiable ? — how far is it practicable ? 
 
 how far is it expedient ? On each of these points 
 
 some remarks suggest themselves. 
 
 The forcible imposition on some millions of human 
 beino-s of a form of government at variance with 
 their wishes, is an act which undoubtedly demands 
 special grounds for its justification. AVhether the 
 South be regarded as a portion of the same nation 
 with the North, or as a distinct people, it seems, on 
 either view of the case, impossible that an attempt 
 to subjugate, for the purpose of ruling, it, can be 
 reconciled with the maxims of political morality 
 which we regard in this country as applicable to the 
 ordinary practice of civilized nations. If, then, 
 these maxims admit of no exception, this branch of 
 the argument is resolved, and the justification of the 
 
266 SUBJUGATION OF THE SOITII : 
 
 present vicw> ol' the North mu.st be given up. But, 
 wi-iting in a nation wliieh holds in subjection under 
 despotic rule two liiin<hi'(l millions of another race 
 it i^ scarcely necessary to say that maxims which 
 condemn, M'ithout regard to circumstances, the im- 
 position on a people of a foreign and despotic yoke 
 nre no portion of the moral code of this country. 
 The people of India may or may not desire to be 
 governed by Great Britain ; but assuredly the AWshes 
 of the people of India are not the grounds on which 
 an English statesman would justify Great Britain in 
 holding that country in subjection. It follows, then, 
 that it js consistent Avith political morality, as con- 
 ceived in this country, that in certain cases the 
 principles of constitutional government and those of 
 non-intervention should be set aside, and that a 
 government should compel a portion of its subjects, 
 or a people should intervene to compel another 
 people, to accept a form of government at variance 
 with the wishes of those on whom it is imposed.* 
 
 * " There arc few questions wliich more require to bo taken in 
 liand by ethical and political philosophers, with a view to establish 
 some rule or criterion whereby the justifiableness of intervening in 
 the affairs of other countries, and (what is sometimes fully as ques- 
 tionable) the justifiableness of refraining from intervention, may bo 
 brought to a definite and rational test. Whoever attempts this 
 will bo led to recognize more than one fundamental distinction, not 
 yet by any means familiar to tlio public mind, and in general quite 
 lottt sight of by those who write in strains of indignant morality on 
 tlif subj.M't. lli.'iv is a great difl't-renco (for example) between the 
 
now FAR JUSTIFIABLE. 267 
 
 Now, if it be admitted that circumstances can in any 
 case create an exception to the ordinary rules of 
 political and international practice regarded as bind- 
 ing upon civilized nations, we need have little hesi- 
 
 case in which the nations concerned are of the same, or something 
 like the same, degree of civilization, and that in which one of the 
 parties to the situation is of a high, and the other of a very low, 
 grade of social improvement. To suppose that the same interna- 
 tional customs, and the same rules of international morality, can ob- 
 tain between one civilized nation and another, and between civilized 
 nations and barbarians, is a grave error, and one which no statesman 
 can ftdl into, however it may be with those who, from a safe and 
 unresponsible position, criticize statesmen. Among many reasons 
 why the same rules cannot be applicable to situations so ilifferent, 
 the two folloAving are among the most important. In the first place, 
 the rules of ordinary international morality imply reciprocity. But 
 barbarians will not reciprocate. They cannot be depended on for 
 observing any rules. Their minds are not capable of so gTeat an 
 effort, nor their Avill sufficiently under the influence of distant 
 motives. In the next place, nations which are still barbarous 
 have not got beyond the period during which it is likely to be 
 for their benefit that they should be conquered and held in sub- 
 jection by foreigners. Independence and nationality, so essential 
 to the due growth and development of a peoi:)le further advanced 
 in improvement, are generally impediments to theirs. The sacred 
 duties wliich civilized nations owe to the independence and na- 
 tionality of each other, are not binding towards those to whom 
 nationality and independence are either a certain evil, or at best a 
 questionable good. The Romans were not the most clean-handed 
 of conquerors, yet would it have been better for Gaul and Spain, 
 Numidia and Dacia, never to have formed part of the Eoman Em- 
 pire 1 To characterize any conduct whatever towards a barbarous 
 people as a violation of the law of nations, only shows that he who 
 eo speaks has never considered the subject. A violation of great 
 principles of morality it may easily be : but barbarians have no 
 
-68 SUBJUGATION OF THE SOUTH : 
 
 tatiou ill asserting that the present case is excep- 
 tional. 
 
 What is the fact with which we have to deal? A 
 few hundred thousand slaveholders break loose from 
 the political system with whicli they were connected, 
 and erect a confederacy on the avowed basis of sla- 
 very. From the past history of these men, and from 
 the condition of society presented in the country 
 wdiich they govern, Ave have the clearest proofs as to 
 what this scheme involves. AYe know that it in- 
 volves tlie maintenance of a social system at once 
 retrograde and aggressive— retrogi-ade towards those 
 on whom it is imposed, and aggressive towards the 
 communities with wdiich it comes into contact. AVe 
 know that it involves the design of extending the 
 power of this confederation, and, with its power, the 
 worst form of human servitude which mankind has 
 ever seen, over the fairest portions of the New 
 World. We know that in all probability— with a 
 probability approaching to certainty— it involves an 
 attempt to vqx'ivg a great scandal, the African slave 
 trade— a scandal wliicli all Christian nations have 
 agreed to stigmatize, and which Great Britain in 
 
 rights as a na/ion except a right to such treatment as may, at tlie 
 earnest possible period, fit them for becoming one. The oiUy moral 
 laws for the relation between a ciWlizo.l and a barbarous govern- 
 ment, are the universal rules of morality between man and m'an."— 
 A Fexo Words on Non-Int^rwntion, by J. S. ]\IiU. Frasers Magazine, 
 l)ecember, 1859. 
 
HOW FAR JUSTIFIABLE. 269 
 
 particular has for half a century devoted her best 
 influence, and a vast outlay of treasure, to suppress. 
 We know that this body aims at political independ- 
 ence, not for that lawful purpose Avhich makes 
 political independence the first of national rights— 
 the purpose of working out a people's proper destiny 
 —but for a purpose which makes it the greatest of 
 national crimes— the purpose of riveting dependence 
 upon another race— the purpose of extending and 
 consolidating a barbarous tjTanny. Now, these 
 being the ends for which the Southern Confederacy 
 seek^ to establish itself, is its subjugation by the 
 North justifiable ? I hold that the right is as clear 
 as the right to put doTN^i murder or piracy. As a.' 
 nation, we, in common with civilized Europe, have 
 proscribed as piracy the African slave trade. In the 
 opinion of competent judges the inter-state slave 
 trade in the South involves enormities as great as 
 any that have been enacted on the coast of Guinea 
 or in the middle passage;* and it is certain that the 
 
 * " I affirm that there exists in the United States a slave trade, 
 not less odious or demoralizing, nay, I do in my conscience believe, 
 anore odious and more demoralizing than that which is cai-ned on 
 between Africa and Brazil. North Carolina and Virguua are to 
 Louisiana and Alabama what Congo is to Eio Janeiro. . . Cxod 
 forbid that I should extenuate the horrors of the slave ti.de in any 
 form ' But I do thmk this its worst form. Bad enough it is tha 
 civilized men should sail to an uncivihzed quarter of the world 
 where slavery exists, should there buy ^vretched barbarians, and 
 should carry them away to labour in a distant land : bad enough . 
 
270 SUBJUGATION OF THE SOUTH : 
 
 purpose for which the Coiiiederacy is established — 
 the appropriation of the Territories for slave culti- 
 vation — cannot be carried into effect without ffivin"; 
 a powerful impulse certainly to one, and probably 
 to both, of those crimes. Unless, therefore, we are 
 prepared to retreat from the position which, as a 
 nation, wc liave deliberately taken u\) and consis- 
 tentl}' held for half a century, we cannot deny that 
 the overtlirow of the Southern Confederacy would 
 be a public benefit ; and, even though we should 
 question the perfect purity of the motives of those 
 who undertake it, the act itself must be acknow- 
 ledged as a service to the civilized world. 
 
 That the overthrow of the Southern Confederacy 
 is justifiable — so far as the duties of the North to 
 
 But that a civilized man, a l)aptized man, a man proud of being a 
 citizen of a free state, a man frequenting a Christian church, should 
 breed slaves for exportation, and, if the whole horrible truth must 
 be told, should even beget slaves for exportation, should see chil- 
 dren, sometimes his own children, gambolling around him from 
 infancy, should watch their growth, should become familiar with 
 their faces, and should then sell them for four or five hundred 
 dollars a head, and send tliem to lead in a remote country a life 
 which is a lingering death, a life about which the best thing that 
 can be said is that it is sure to be short ; this does, I own, excitu 
 a horror exceeding even the horror excited by that slave trade 
 which is the curse of the African coast. And mark : I am not 
 speaking of any rare case, of any instance of eccentric depravity. 1 
 am speaking of a trade as regular as the trade in pigs between 
 Dublin and Liverpool, or as the trade in coals between the Tyno 
 and tin' l-hames." — Lord Marnulay's Speech on the Sugar Diitien. 
 
HOW FAR PRACTICABLE. 2,71 
 
 that community are concerned— appears to me, 
 therefore, as clear as any doctrine in the code of 
 political ethics. But, being justifiable, is it prac- 
 ticable ? Into the general merits of this branch of 
 the argument it would not become me to enter ; 
 but, without pretending to pronounce an opinion on 
 the' ability of the North to subdue the revolted 
 states, it may be permitted me to advert to some 
 considerations bearing upon this part of the case 
 which do not appear to have received from those 
 who have undertaken to discuss it that degree of 
 attention to which their importance would seem to 
 
 entitle them. 
 
 The argument of those who deny the abdity ol 
 the North to eifect its purpose of reconstructmg 
 the Union rests, for the most part, on historical ana- 
 loc^ies, and, more particularly, on the successful resist- 
 ance made by the ancestors of the present belliger- 
 ents to the authority of Great Britain. Now a brief 
 consideration will show that the present case differs 
 from all previous examples of successful revolt m 
 some important respects, and we shaU find that, m 
 every instance in which the analog>^ fails, the dif- 
 ference points in the same direction-it indicates 
 neater facility of conquest in the present struggle. 
 In the parallel furnished by the revolutionary war 
 of the last century it is an obvious point of difference 
 that Great Britain, in that case, carried on the con- 
 
272 SrBJUGATIoX OF THE SOUTH : 
 
 test uiulor tIk^ fnorinoiis disadvantage of beino- separ- 
 ated from litT enemy by an intervening ocean— a 
 disadvantage of such magnitude as, in the opinion 
 of Do Tocqueville, to detract indefinitely from the 
 prowess of the vietors—whcn-as now the North 
 stands close t(j its foe. Such u difference is almost 
 enougli t.. deprive of all force arguments drawn 
 from the analogy of the two cases; yet the circum- 
 stance has been scarcely adverted to by those who 
 have most strenuously pressed the analogv. But 
 passing by a point which is peculiar to the compari- 
 son with the war of independence, there are others 
 in whicli the present is distinguished from all pre- 
 vious examples of insurrectionary success. 
 
 And, first, while the South is in the present war 
 liable to an absolute interruption of its external 
 trade, it is of all countries which ever existed the 
 least capable of encountering such a crisis. I say, 
 the South is liable to an absolute interruption of its 
 external trade, for, notwithstanding the exploits of 
 the Merrimac, it is quite inconceivable— having re- 
 gard t(^ the mercantile marine and tlie mechanical 
 resources of the contending parties— that the North 
 should not l)e able in the long run to maintain a 
 permanent superiority at sea. It may, therefore, be 
 assumed that the new Confederacy will be absolutely 
 cut off iVom commci'cial intercourse with foreign 
 nations ; and, this being so, it is obvious further to 
 
HOW FAU PRACTTCABLE. 273 
 
 remark that of all communities in the world it is 
 the one least prepared to meet such an emergency— 
 the least capable of supplying its own wants. To 
 feel convinced of this we have but to recall its 
 industrial system— a system composed of slaves 
 brutalized by ignorance and tyranny, accustomed 
 to perform a few routine operations, and utterly 
 inefficient if taken from their ordinary tasks. It is 
 true, indeed, the crisis has compelled a certain devi- 
 ation from the old routine ; the cultivation of corn 
 lias already in some places been substituted for that 
 of cotton. But it cannot be doubted that the change 
 has been effected at a great loss of industrial power, 
 and, however slaves may be turned from one kind 
 of agricultural pursuit to another, beyond the range 
 of agriculture they must be absolutely useless. The 
 plantation slave of the South can never be converted 
 into a skilled artisan : consequently all those com- 
 modities for the supply of which the South has been 
 accustomed to rely on the industrial skill of foreign 
 countries it must now be content to dispense with 
 altogether. Now amongst such commodities are 
 many which are absolutely essential for the conduct 
 of war. The consideration, therefore, is one which 
 touches a vital point in the ability of the South to 
 maintain a prolonged resistance. Hitherto, by its 
 plunder of the military stores of the United States 
 while its leaders were in possession of the govei-n- 
 
IJ^ SUBJUGATION OF THE SOUTH : 
 
 ment, and by the fruits of its early victories, it has 
 been enabled to maintain itself ; but, as its present 
 supplies become exhausted and cease to be replen- 
 ished by successes in the field, it is not easy to see 
 liow this necessity can be met. 
 
 Another circumstance which has been almost 
 ■wholly overlooked in this argument, is the change 
 which railways may effect in the facilities for aggres- 
 sive warfare. In none of those cases in which a war 
 of independence has been maintained with success 
 against the superior forces of an invader has this 
 resource been available. This consideration applies 
 directly to a point on which great stress has been 
 laid by the partisans of the South — the difficulties 
 ofi"ered to conquest by mere vastness of extent. 
 There can, I suppose, be no doubt that this circum- 
 stance gives a great advantage to the party whicli 
 is on the defensive , but a country traversed by 
 railways is, for practical purposes, reduced to a 
 tenth of its real size. That the novel conditions 
 thus imported into military tactics have not been 
 overlooked l)y tlie commanders on either side is 
 fully proved by the nature of their plans, which 
 have been conceived chiefly ■svith a view to utilizing 
 this new arm of warfare. Thus the expeditions to 
 Ihitfci'.is, to Roanoke Island, and to Port Royal, 
 appear now to have been dictated by a consideration 
 of the (•oiiiiiiiiiid coiifciTcd by these positions over 
 
HOW FAli PRACTICABLE. 275 
 
 the railways which connect the Carolinas with Vir- 
 ginia on the one hand, and with Georgia on the 
 other. Again, the importance of Nashville, as a 
 strategical point, consists in its being the central 
 terminus of three grand lines, proceeding respec- 
 tively from Washington, from Richmond, and from 
 Charleston to the West; and the possession of 
 Corinth was rendered important by an analogous 
 reason. Railways have thus introduced a new 
 element into warfare of sufficient importance to 
 modify the whole plan of a campaign ; and railways 
 apply directly to overcoming the impediment of 
 distance-the circumstance which has been urged 
 as the most insuperable obstacle to the conquest of 
 the South.* 
 
 * "This is the first great war, if we except the Italian campaign, 
 in which railways, on any large scale, have figured in warhke ope- 
 Lns. How greatly they may modify the ordn^ary canons of 
 strategy it is vet impossible to tell. Already many movements have 
 talen place, \and positions heen occupied and abandoned whxch, 
 except npo^ the supposition of the new element mtroduced by 
 
 aUways, would have been utterly irreconcilable w.t^r the old pruv 
 ^.ks of securin. the base and protecting the flanks of an amy 
 ;^ etherHs a^railway, troops may be moved thr-ough a hunch^ 
 IL in the time reqvured to march over twenty. And .c. .ersd 
 Tw nty n^des to be marched over xnay chance to neutrah.e the benefi s 
 
 7aLdred miles of rail. But not only is ^.^^^^^ 
 
 element introduced into the calculations of mditary distances bj 
 
 e unequal means of locomotion available at different ponits, bu 
 
 nAmeL the vastness itself of the ditferent lines of radway give 
 
 iTa distinct and special class of problems. It is easy to destroy 
 
276 RKCONSTRUCTION OF Till- UNION: 
 
 Again, in no war of independence wliicli has 
 been successfully waged has the invaded nation in- 
 cluded among its inhabitants a multitude, one-third 
 of its wliole number, who were either positively 
 hostile, or at least absolutely indifferent to the 
 cause. Sucli a multitude exists in tlie midst of the 
 Southern p()i)ulation ; and by this hostile or indif- 
 ferent multitude the whole productive industry of 
 the country is carried on. Now, as the Federal 
 armies advance into the Southern States, what Avill 
 be the behaviour of the negro population ? They 
 will probably do as they have done hitherto : they 
 will fly to the Federal lines ; and though they 
 should not rise in insurrection, they will at least 
 cease to work. Xow when the negroes cease to 
 work, how is the South to maintain an army ? The 
 "white trash" may be made to fight, but they will 
 scarcely be made to work — at all events they will be 
 unable to do both. It would seem, therefore, that, 
 so soon as the South is once thoroughly penetrated 
 
 twenty miles of railway, and even a hundred. A Inindred miles 
 were lately destroyed by the Confederates. But it would be very 
 didicult to destroy several thousand. Moreover, the extent of the 
 country must always make it doubtful at what point it becomes 
 expedient to destroy so useful an auxiliary until it is found too late 
 to do so. It follows, we think, pretty conclusively, the cardinal 
 maxim in any American war involving large tracts of cotintry must 
 be to take possession of th(^ railroads."— A^a^tona^ Ii'^i-itu; April. 
 1862, p. 496. 
 
HOW FAR EXPEDIENT. 277 
 
 by the Northern armies, a collapse of its productive 
 system is inevitable. 
 
 These are some of the circumstances in which the 
 present contest in America differs from those suc- 
 cessful wars of defence with which it is usual to 
 compare it. I am ftir from intending to say that 
 the considerations which have been adduced prove 
 the possibility of accomplishing the object which the 
 North has now in view ; but they seem to me to 
 show that the facilities for that purpose are greater 
 than is commonly supposed, and they at least sug- 
 o-est caution against building hasty conclusions upon 
 inapplicable precedents. 
 
 But, thirdly, assuming the reconstruction of the 
 Union to be practicable, is it expedient ? And here 
 we are met at once by the consideration— how is the 
 conquered South to be governed*? I can see but 
 one way in which this can be effected— by the over- 
 throw of representative institutions in the Southern 
 States, and the substitution of a centralized despot- 
 ism wielded by the Federal government. I cannot 
 imagine that there could be any escape from this 
 course ; for, granting that in certain districts of the 
 South there might be a considerable element of 
 population favourable to the Union, it is impossible 
 to doubt that in the main the people would be 
 thoroughly disaffected ; and how are popular insti- 
 tutions°to^3e worked through the agency of a disaf- 
 
278 NECESSITY OF A KECOUESE TO 
 
 tfftL'd people ? A recourse to despotic expedients 
 would, therefore, so far as we can judge, be forced 
 ui)on the North. Now, it is evident that such a 
 step involves considerations of the greatest gravity 
 — considerations before wliich the citizens of the 
 Union may well pause and ponder. If, indeed, the 
 consequences of this policy could be certainly con- 
 fined within the designed limits, there would, per- 
 haps, be little need for hesitation. At the worst, it 
 would be no more than the substitution of one form 
 of arbitrary power for another— of a civilized for a 
 barbarous despotism — and if the new o-overnment 
 were only equal to its task of reconstructing South- 
 ern society, its advent would be wholly a blessing. 
 But despotic principles once introduced into the 
 system of the Federal government, is it conceivable 
 that their influente would end in the attainment of 
 the object for the accomplishment of which they 
 were at the first invoked? Is it likely that the same 
 men, who should be exercising arbitrary authority 
 over the whole of the Southern States, would be 
 content, in governing the Northern, to confine them- 
 selves M^ithin constitutional bounds ? Would there 
 not be the danger that habits acquired in ruling one 
 division of the republic would afil'ct modes of action 
 in the other, and that, so soon as popular institu- 
 tions became troublesome in tlie working, they 
 would be superseded in favour of the more direct 
 
DESrOTlC EXPEDIENTS. ^79 
 
 and obvioLis expedients of despotism ? Besides it 
 must be remembered that something more would be 
 required to govern a disaffected South than a staff 
 of officials. The bureaucracy would need to be sup- 
 ported by an army, and the army would of necessity 
 be at the disposal of the central government. It 
 would be easy, of course, to prescribe constitutional 
 rules, to define with precision the limits of adminis- 
 trative authority; but when the temper of arbitrary 
 sway had been formed, when the example of an 
 arbitrary system was constantly present to the eye 
 and familiar to the thoughts, when the means of 
 giving effect to arbitrary tastes were at hand, it is 
 difficult to believe that the barrier of forms and 
 definitions would be long respected, and that sooner 
 or later the attempt would not be made to give to 
 the principles of arbitrary government a more ex- 
 tended application. The task of holding the South 
 in subjection would thus, as it seems to me, inevita- 
 bly imperil the cause of popular institutions m 
 North America. Now, the loss of popular govern- 
 ment would be a heavy price to pay for the subju- 
 gation of the South, even though that subjugation 
 involved the overthrow of the Slave Power. 
 
 It is satisfactory to find that there are politicians 
 in America who are alive to the momentous interests 
 which this aspect of the question involves. In a 
 remarkable speech lately delivered in New \ork, 
 
a8o I'l.AN luK DISPENSING WITH DKbi'OTiSM 
 
 tin- (iMH.uvr tc. nhieli 1 have adverted was very fairly 
 ^nid with nmcli courage exposed. The speaker, 
 however, c.nt.n.hd that, by boldly following out 
 a policy of eiuaiMipation-by striking at the root of 
 disaffection through its cans,— the danger in ques- 
 tion might be evaded. The views expressed are so 
 important, and, looking at the recent course of 
 events, give so much promise of becoming fruitful, 
 that I think it right to state tli<-m in the eloquent 
 words of their author. 
 
 " Is this government, in struggling against rebel- 
 lion, in re-establishing its authoritj^, reduced to a 
 policy which would nearly obliterate the line separ- 
 ating democracy from absolutism ? h it reallv 
 unable to stand this test of its character ? For tlifs 
 is the true test of the experiment. If our demo- 
 cratic institutions pass this crisis unimpaired, they 
 will be stronger than ever ; if not, the decline will 
 be rapid and irremediable. But can thev pass it 
 unimpaired ? Yes. This republic has he'r destiny 
 in her hands. She may transform her greatest 
 danger and distress into the greatest triumph of her 
 principles. Tliere would have been no rebellion 
 had there not been a despotic interest incompatible' 
 with the spirit of her democratic institutions ; and 
 she has the glorious and inestimal)le juuvilege of 
 suppressing this rebellion, by enlarging Iil).rty in- 
 stead of restraining it, l,y granting rights instead ..1- 
 
BY REFORMING SOUTHERN SOCIETY 28 1 
 
 violating them. . . . How can you rely upon the 
 Southern people unless they are sincerely loyal, 
 and how can they be sincerely loyal as long as their 
 circumstances are such as to make disloyalty the 
 natural condition of their desires and aspirations ? 
 They cannot be faithful unless their desires and 
 aspirations change. And how can you change 
 them? By opening before them new prospects 
 and a new future. Look at the other side of the 
 picture. Imagine slavery were destroyed in con- 
 sequence of this rebellion. Slavery, once destroyed, 
 can never be restored. . . . Southern society being, 
 with all its habits and interests, no longer identified 
 with slavery, that element of the population will rise 
 to prominent influence which most easily identifies 
 itself with free labour— I mean the non-slaveholding 
 people of the South. They have been held in a sort 
 of moral subjection by the great slave-lords. Xot 
 for themselves but for them they were disloyal. 
 The destruction of slavery will wipe out the prestige 
 of their former rulers ; it will lift the yoke from 
 their necks ; they will soon think for themselves, 
 and thinking freely they will not fail to understand 
 their true interests. They will find in free labour 
 society their natural element ; and free labour 
 society is naturally loyal to the Union. Let the 
 old political leaders fret as they please, it is the 
 free labour majority that will give to societv its 
 
282 THK CUXDITIUN uF TIMK IGNORED. 
 
 <-liaractL'r and tone. This is what I nuan by so 
 reforming Southern society as iu make loyalty to 
 the Union its natural temper and disposition. This 
 clone, the necessity of a military occupatiun, the rule 
 of force, M-ill cease; cur political life will soon re- 
 turn to the beaten track of self-government, and the 
 restored Union may safely trust itself to the good 
 faitli of a reformed people. The antagonistic ele- 
 nieiit which continually struggled against the vital 
 pruiciples of our system of government once removed, 
 we shall be a truly united people, with common 
 principles, common interests, common hopes, and a 
 common future."* 
 
 Such is the spirit in which the question of recon- 
 structing the Ujiion is now approached by some of 
 the leading minds of the North, and such are the 
 views which are noAV rapidly gaining ground through 
 the country. AMiile, however, readily acknowledging 
 the proof which these speculations afford at once of 
 a full appreciation of the real difficulties to be en- 
 countered and of philosophic boldness in meeting 
 them, I am unable to see that the remedy suggested 
 would obviate the danger which, it is admitted, 
 would exist. Ill the reasoning which I have cpioted 
 no account appears to be taken of the element of 
 time, so all important to a realization of the results 
 
 • Specih of tho II,.n. Carl S.-hurz, ,hMsovoi\ in thr Cnoi.rr 
 Iiihtitutc, New York, 6tli Mmvli. jH^j. 
 
DISTURBING EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION. 283 
 
 anticipated. The abolition of slavery, it is truly 
 said, would strike directly at the authority of the 
 slave-lords. The stigma at present affixed to in- 
 dustry being removed, the industrial classes would 
 quickly rise in social importance, and a free labour- 
 ing population would doubtless in the end predomi- 
 nate in the South. But these results could not 
 be accomplished in a moment. A disloyal people 
 would not be rendered loyal by a single stroke of 
 the manumitter's wand — 
 
 reruni iiiipcriis hominumque 
 Tot tantisque minor, quern ter viiidicta quaterque 
 Imposita hand unquaiii misera formidino privet. 
 
 The habits of obedience are not easily broken 
 tht^ough, traditional feelings are powerful, and the 
 influence of the slave-lords would probably long 
 outlive the institution from which it derives its 
 strength. A considerable period would, therefore, 
 of necessity, elapse before that pervading sentiment 
 of loyalty could be established, under the guidance 
 of which alone, as all admit, the rule of the Union 
 could be safely entrusted to popular institutions. 
 
 But there is another result which might follow 
 from the conquest of the South and the overthrow of 
 slavery, the probable effects of which on the settle- 
 ment of Southern society it may be worth while for 
 a moment to consider. Is it not probable that, in 
 the case we now contemplate, there would be an 
 
284 DISTIKBING EFFtCTb; OF IMMIGIIATION. 
 
 extensive iinnii^rratioii into the Southern States of 
 free settlers fr.,111 tlu- Xortli ? And wliat wouhl be 
 the effect of tliis m-\v iii^edient on tlie society of 
 the Soutli ? I inin^niie it woukl in the main be a 
 wholesome one. The new settlers woukl cany with 
 them the ideas, the enterprise, the progressive spirit 
 of free society, and would act as a leaven of loyalty 
 on the disaffection of the South ; but I think it is 
 equally j.laiii they would introduce into Southern 
 society, at all events for some time, a new element 
 of disturbance. They would appear there as intru- 
 ders, as the missionaries of a new social and political 
 faith— a faith hateful to the old dominion, as living 
 monuments of the humiliation of the Southern peo°. 
 pie. Is it not inevitable that 1)etween them and the 
 old aristocracy a bitter feud would spring up— a 
 iViid which would soon be exasperated by mutual 
 injuries, and might not impossibly be transmitted, 
 as a heritage of hatred, to future generations ? Xow 
 such a conditi(.n of society would l,e little favourable 
 to the sudden conversion of the South to sentiments 
 of loyalty ; and, pending this happy consummation, 
 how is the South to be governed? AVe are thus 
 forced back upon our original difhculty— the diffi. 
 culty of governing a disaffected South, from which 
 ir seems to me the path of despotism offers the only 
 escape. 
 
 For tliesr rcaMms, 1 .-aiinor rl,i„k :l,at the X(,rth is 
 
TRITE rOLICY FOR THE NORTH. 285 
 
 well advised in its attempt to reconstruct the Union 
 in its original proportions. At the same time I am 
 far from°thinldng that the time for peace has yet 
 arrived. What, it seems to me, the occasion de- 
 mands, and what, I think, the moral feeling of 
 Europe should support the North in striving for, is 
 a degree of success which shall compel the South to 
 accept terms of separation, such as the progress of / 
 civilization in America and the advancement of , 
 human interests throughout the world imperatively 
 require. To determine the exact amount of conces- 
 sion on the part of the South which would satisfy 
 these conditions is no part of my purpose. The 
 attempt would be futile. It will suffice that I 
 indicate as distinctly as I can that settlement of 
 the controversy which would, in my judgment, 
 adequately secure the ends proposed, and which on 
 the whole is most to be desired. 
 
 Any scheme for the readjustment of political 
 society in North America ought, it seems to me, 
 to embrace two leading ol>iects :-ist, the greatest 
 practical curtailment of the domain of the Slave 
 Power ; and 2nd, the reabsorption into the sphere 
 of free society of as much of the present population 
 of the Slave States as can be reabsorbed without 
 detriment to the interests of freedom. On the 
 assumption which I have made of the ability of the 
 Northern people to subdue the South, these t.o 
 
-l86 PKtLLIAU POSITION OF 
 
 conditions resolve themselves into one. The only 
 obstacle to a complete reconstruction of the Union 
 lies, on this assumption, in the difficulty of com- 
 bining in the same political system forms of society 
 so different as those presented by the Northern and 
 Southern States. AVe may then, for the purpose of 
 our discussion, confine our attention to the latter of 
 the two conditions which have been laid down. 
 
 It will be remembered that, in considering, in a 
 former chapter, the consequences of confining the 
 Southern Confederacy within the area already settled 
 under slavery, it was pointed out that slavery, thus 
 restricted, would l)c at once arrested in its develop- 
 ment, and that tlic clieck given to tlie system 
 would be first felt in the older or breeding states. 
 In these states the profits from slavery being derived 
 chiefly from the sale, not from the employment, of 
 slaves, so soon as the creation of new markets for 
 the human stock was precluded, the reasons for 
 maintaining the institution Avould cease. The slave- 
 holders, obliged henceforward to look to the soil as 
 the sole source of their profits, would be forced upon 
 improved methods of cultivation ; and bcfdre tlie 
 necessity for improved methods slavery would per- 
 force disapi)ear. Now, this being tlic ])()siti()n oi' 
 slavery in the breeding states, it is evident that, so 
 soon as tlie progress of the Northern armies shall 
 liave made it clear that the Slave Power must fail in 
 
THE BORDER STATES. 287 
 
 its orio-inal design — still more when the South is 
 menaced with positive curtailment of its dominions 
 —the slaveholders of these states will understand 
 that, so far as their interests are concerned, the 
 institution is doomed. But this conviction will 
 be brought home to them by still more cogent 
 reasons than those which reflection on their eco- 
 nomic condition would furnish. The breeding states 
 are also the border states, and they are therefore the 
 states on which the evils of invasion must in the 
 first instance fall. Already nearly the Avhole of 
 Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, is in 
 possession of the Northern armies. Observe, then, 
 the light in Avhich, in the present aspect of affairs, the 
 question of secession must present itself to a border 
 slaveholder. He sees that for him the extinction of 
 slavery is rendered certain in an early future. His 
 slaves are flying to the Federal armies. His country 
 is suffering all the evils of invasion. The tie which 
 bound him to the Slave Power is hopelessly severed. 
 In this position of affairs is it not probable that, 
 were the opportunity of re-establishing social order 
 upon a new basis presented to him, he would seize 
 it, and, the old system of society having irrevocably 
 pLsed'away, that he would in good faith cast in his 
 lot with a new order of things ? 
 
 Such an opportunity has been created for the 
 border states by the adoption by Congress of Mr. 
 
288 Mil. LI N'COLN S proposal: its OPPOKTrXKNESS. 
 
 Lincoln's recent message, reoomniending a co-opera- 
 tion on the part of the Federal Government witli 
 such states as are willing to accept a policy of 
 emaniipation. Tlie scheme, indeed, has been pro- 
 nounced in this country to be chimerical — framed 
 less Avith a view to the actual exigencies of the case 
 than to catch the applause of Europe. I venture to 
 say that never was criticism *less appropriate, or 
 censure more unjust. Practicality and unaffected 
 earnestness of purpose are written in every line of 
 the message. In the full knowledge evinced of the 
 actual circumstances of the border states, combined 
 Avith the adroitness with whicli advantage is taken 
 of their peculiar position as affected by passino- 
 events, there is displayed a rare political sagacity, 
 which is not more creditable to its author than is the 
 genuine sincerity which shines through his simple 
 and weighty words. Had the scheme indeed been 
 propounded at the outset of the contest (as so many 
 well-meaning empirics among us were forward to 
 advise) — while the Slave Power was yet unbroken, 
 and the j)r()spects of a future more prosperous than 
 it had } et known seemed to be opening before it, 
 there would have been some point in the strictures 
 which have been indulged in, some ground for invi- 
 dious comment ; but, proposed at the present time, 
 it is, as I venture to think, a suggestion than wliidi 
 
FREE CULTIVATORS IN THE BORDER STATES. 289 
 
 few more wise or more important have ever been 
 submitted to a legislative body. 
 
 Returning to our argument, it has been seen that, 
 in the event of the tide of war being decisively 
 turned against the South, the position, alike indus- 
 trial and geographical, of the border states would 
 greatly favour a reconstruction of society in them 
 upon principles of freedom. Now, this result would 
 be powerfully helped forward by another circum- 
 stance in respect to which they differ from the 
 more southern states of the Confederacy — the pre- 
 sence in their population of a large element of free 
 cultivators. This interest, already in some of the 
 border states* almost balancing that of slavery, 
 would, it is evident, in the altered condition of af- 
 fairs, rise rapidly into importance. Occupying that 
 place in the social arrangements towards which the 
 
 * For example in Missouri. The position of slavery in that 
 state in 1856 is thus described by Mr. Weston :— " In large por- 
 tions of INIissouri slavery has never existed to any important 
 extent. The counties adjoining Iowa, ten in number, contained in 
 185657,235 whites and only 871 slaves. Of the one hundred 
 and seven counties ninety-five, occupying four-fifths of the area of 
 the state, contained in 1856 669,921 whites, and only 57,47 ^ 
 slaves, or nearly twelve to one. In twenty-five of these counties 
 there was an absolute decrease of the number of slaves from 1850 to 
 1856. In the whole ninety-five counties the mcrease of slaves in 
 that period was only 2,264. Slavery is not strong, and has never 
 been so, except m twelve counties in the centre of the state, 
 embracing about one-fifth of its area, and lying principally upon 
 the Missouri river."— Progress of Slavery, p. 14- 
 
 »9 
 
290 
 
 FACILITIES FOR INCORPORATION. 
 
 whole connn unity was obviously tending, constantly 
 increasing in numbers as the progress of emanci- 
 pation brought new recruits to its ranks — u nucleus 
 of loyalty around which all the l)est elements of 
 society might gather — this section of the population 
 would easily take tlie lead in the politics of their 
 several states, would give tone to the whole com- 
 munitv, and determine its march. 
 
 It would thus seem that, the might of the Slave 
 Power once eftectually broken, the incorporation 
 of the border states into a social system based on 
 industrial freedom would not present any insuper- 
 able difficulties. It would be only necessary to give 
 support to tendencies which the actual state of 
 things would call at once into operation. Now, 
 what might be done in the border states, where a 
 slave society actually exists, might, it is evident, be 
 accomj^lished with much greater facility in those 
 districts of the South which, though enrolled as 
 slave states, have in reality yet to be colonized — 
 for example, in Texas and Arkansas. In Texas 
 population is represented by considerabl}^ less than 
 one person to the square mile ; in Arkansas, by 
 four ; and of this sprinkling of people three-fourths 
 in both states are composed of free persons. To the 
 recovery of these states to the dominion of freedom 
 there would at least be no social or political obsta- 
 cles wliich might not be easily overcome. Arkansas 
 
THE LINE OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 29 I 
 
 and Texas recovered, Louisiana alone of the states 
 on the west of the Mississippi would remain to the 
 Slave Power ; and is it not possible that Louisiana 
 also might be recovered to freedom ? Doubtless its 
 pro-slavery tendencies are intensely strong ; its slave 
 population almost equals the free ; but the state is 
 a small one, and the prize would be worth an ex- 
 traordinary effort. Louisiana conquered, Arkansas 
 and Texas recovered to freedom, the whole course 
 of the Mississippi would be opened to the Western 
 States ; and the Slave Power— shut up within its 
 narrowed domain, bounded on one side by the Gulf 
 of Mexico and the ocean, on the other by the line 
 of the Alleghanies and the Mississippi,— might with 
 some confidence be left to that process of natural 
 decay which slave institutions, arrested in their 
 expansion, inevitably entail. 
 
 I have hitherto discussed this question with refer- 
 ence to the interests of the Northern people on the 
 one hand, and to those of civilization, as identified 
 with the overthrow of the Slave Power, on the other. 
 But there is another interest involved in the settle- 
 ment of the American quarrel which may not seem 
 at once to be identical with either of these— the 
 interest of the present race of negro slaves. The 
 mode of terminating the struggle which I have 
 indicated as that which seems to me on the whole 
 
 iq* 
 
292 THE NEGRO QUESTION. 
 
 most desirable, though, if realized, it would probably 
 bring freedom to a million of slaves, would yet, it is 
 not to be denied, leave some three millions still in 
 bondage ; and there are those who will probably 
 think that this after all would be but a sorry result 
 fi'om the great opportunities of the present con- 
 juncture, and from the great sacrifices which it has 
 already cost. Far wiser, it will be said, as well as 
 more generous would it be, now that the hand 
 has been put to the plough, not to look back till the 
 work has been effectually accomplished, and the 
 great wrong once for all rased out. AVitli the 
 aspirations of those who hold this language I trust 
 I can sympathize ; but it seems to me that they fail 
 to appreciate the magnitude of -the problem which 
 the policy they recommend involves. No solution of 
 that problem would be complete, or would be worthy 
 of the enlightened views of the present time, which 
 did not include, besides the mere manumission of the 
 negi'o population, their protection against the efforts 
 of their former masters to recover their lost power, 
 and, no less, the provision for them of a career in the 
 future. Now, let us suppose the first of these ends 
 
 to ])e accomplished — emancipation to be decreed 
 
 and overlooking the objection to what would be the 
 necessary condition of an attempt to give effect to 
 the second — the establishment in the South of a des- 
 potic rule wielded ])y the central government how. 
 
THREE CONDITIONS TO BE SATISFIED. 293 
 
 let US ask, is it proposed to provide a career for four 
 millions of emancipated slaves ? It will be said, the 
 land still remains to be cultivated ; and the labour 
 of the negroes will be as necessary for its cultivation 
 after they have been emancipated as before. The 
 career for the emancipated negro would, therefore, 
 be plain : he would, as a free labourer, hire his 
 services to those who now take them by force. In a 
 \vord, a population of four million slaves might be 
 converted into a population of four million free 
 labourers. This is, in truth, the only mode of 
 solving the question that deserves serious atten- 
 tion ; for I do not think that the plans, of which 
 we have lately heard something, of a wholesale re- 
 moval of negroes from the American continent- 
 even where they are not advanced for the purpose 
 simply of discrediting the cause of emancipation- 
 can be so regarded. But, taking the policy of imme- 
 diate and wholesale emancipation in its best form, 
 and judging it in a spirit of candour, is it a 
 reasonable expectation that, looking at all the 
 conditions of the case, the result which is contem- 
 plated would be realized,-that the negro, on the 
 one hand, and the planter, on the other, would 
 lend themselves to the scheme ? 1 am certainly not 
 going to oppose to the proposal the exploded 
 calumny of the incorrigible indolence of the negro. 
 I am quite ready to admit, what nothing but the per- 
 
2 94 WHOLESALE EMANCIPATION. 
 
 iiicious influence of slavery on flie negro would ever 
 have given a pretext for denying, and what our 
 AVest Indian experiment has now conclusively estab- 
 lished,* that the negro in freedom is amenable to 
 the same influences as the white man— that he can 
 
 * A very important contribution to our knowledge on the work- 
 ing of emancipation in the West Indies has just appeared from tho 
 pen of Mr. Edward Bean UnderliiU, from whose work, ''The West 
 Indies, tluir Social and Rdigious Condition:' I extract the foUowing 
 testimony of Captain Darling, the present governor of Jamaica to 
 the capacity of the negi-o for freedom .—"The proportion of thoso 
 who are settling themselves industriously on their holdincrs and 
 rapuUy rising in the social scale, while commanding the re.^ect of 
 all classes of the community, and some of whom are, to a limited 
 extent, themselves the employers of hired labour, paid for either 
 in money or in kind, is, 1 am happy to think, not only steadily 
 increasing, but at the present moment is far more extensive than 
 was anticipated by those who are cognizant of all that took place 
 m this colony in the earlier days of negro freedom. There can be 
 no doubt, in fact, that an independent, respectable, and, I beheve 
 trustworthy middle class is rapidly forming. If the real object 
 of emancipation was to place the freed man in such a position that 
 he might work out his o^^'n advancement in the social scale, and 
 prove his capacity for the full and rational enjoyment of personal 
 independence secured by constitutional liberty, Jamaica will afford 
 more instances, even in proportion to its large population, of such 
 gratifying results, than any other land in which African slavery 
 once existed. Jamaica at this moment presents, as I believe at' 
 once tho strongest proof of the complete success of the great mea 
 sure of emancipation as relates to the capacity of the emancipated 
 race for freedom, and tho most unfortunate instance of a descent in 
 the scale of agricultural and conimerrial importance as a colonid 
 rommunity.'_r/. 11 W. /„,//., n.ir SocinI and Reli^ous Condition, 
 IT- 4.58, 4.^9- 
 
MAIN DIFFICULTY OF THE PllUBLKM. 295 
 
 /appreciate as keenly independence, comfort, and 
 
 \ affluence, and that, like liim, lie Avill work and save 
 
 and speculate to obtain these blessings : neverthe- 
 
 less, while conceding all this, I confess I am unable 
 
 to see my way to the result that is here expected. 
 
 The grand difficulty to be encountered in any 
 scheme of emancipation which proposes to convert 
 suddenly a regime of forced into one of hired labour, 
 is the state of feeling which slavery leaves behind it 
 in the minds of those who have taken part in its 
 working. With the master there is a feeling of ex- 
 asperation which leads him to thwart the operation 
 of a system which has been forced upon him and 
 which is odious to him, combined with a desire to 
 re-establish under some new form his old tyranny ; 
 while the emancipated bondman naturally desires to 
 break for ever with a mode of life which is associated 
 with his degradation. These principles of disturb- 
 ance were brought fully into play in the West 
 Indian experiment ;* but they were in that case 
 
 * « The House of Assembly at tlie time of emancipation possessed 
 the fullest powers to remedy any defect in that great measure. But 
 it abused its powers. Instead of enacting laws calculated to elevate 
 and benefit the people, it pursued the contrary course. By an 
 Ejectment Act it gave to the planters the right to turn out the en- 
 franchised peasantry, without regard to sex or age, at a week s 
 notice, from the homes in which they had been born and bred ; to 
 root up their provision grounds, and to cut down t- ^rmt trees 
 which gave them both shelter and food; in order hat, through 
 f,.^A,c.jl +I1P Tipwroes mi^ht be driven to 
 dread of the consequences of refusal, tlie negioes mi^ 
 
-9(' Till; HICST IMMA.V 1- XPERIMIi NT. 
 
 l..rgoly co„trolIe,l l„- the cuiulition of things in the 
 " est Indian ishuuls. The strong ann of the British 
 Government ,,„t an efteetnal restraint on the tyran- 
 nical temper of the masters ;• while in some of the 
 islands the preoeeupation of the land dosed against 
 tlio slave the one refuge from a hated lot. This fo- 
 e.xa,nple, was the ease in Barbadoes, and in thi. 
 island, aecordingly, a s.ystcm of hired industry was 
 
 work on the plnnlcrs' oira terms. . Driven f,.,„. i ■ ,■ 
 
 the e>it-,te I.,, fl 1 , »■ . . . JJri\en from his cabin ou 
 
 the estate bj he harsh or unj„.,t treatment of his former master the 
 floe labourer had to hniU a coltage for hi„,«.|f. ImmeJiateW I 
 cstoms on shingles for the roof to shelter his family fm 
 eason, were more than doubled ; while the duty on the stave" ll 
 hopsfor sugar hogsheads, the planter^- property, was grel^Te 
 
 to ead to the abandonment of their dwellings for shanties of mud 
 and bough.s."-r/,. Weu Indie,, fe., pp. a.S-.rS 
 
 me'nt' " to w"' °' ^T""'' '■" '"' "*■ ''°'"^y •■" "" '" "^ '-«'- 
 
 ,!elentd fh? ; 1™ r"'™ °' "'" "■'"'" =-"">"-' ••- 
 
 serf by the seUlsh partisan legislation of the Jamaiea planter. 
 
 ■ ■ ■ As slaves the people were never instnieted in husbandrv' 
 
 r in n,,. general cultivation of the soil; as free men, the 1 '",,« 
 
 h. utterly neglected ,hon,, and they have had t^ learnt I: 
 
 """ ";" '" ■™-' P™— "f agrivultu,^. No attempt Z 
 
 teen nrade ,„ prov.de a filing education for theiu, for Z'J^, 
 
ITS LESSON. 297 
 
 easily introduced. But the case of Barbadoes was 
 exceptional, and, in the main, emancipation in the 
 West Indies has issued, not in the conversion of a 
 population of slaves into a population of labourers 
 working for hire, but in the creation of a numerous 
 class of small negro proprietors, each cultivating in 
 independence his own patch of ground. This result, 
 however, is not that which is contemplated by those 
 who desire wholesale emancipation in the Southern 
 States, and indeed— owing to influences which had 
 little existence in the West Indies, but which would 
 be brought to bear upon the American negro — is not 
 to be expected. But, passing by this, the thing at 
 present to be attended to is that, wherever the waste 
 land was abundant, the experiment, so far as the 
 point at present under consideration is concerned, 
 broke down. The plantations were extensively 
 deserted, and the negroes, instead of becoming hired 
 labourers, became peasant farmers on the vacant 
 
 grant of some £2,500 a year cannot in any sense be said to be a 
 provision for tlieir instruction. . . . Speaking of this feature 
 of Jamaica legislation, Earl Grey, writing in 1853, says :— 'The 
 Statute Book of the island for the last six years presents nearly a 
 blank, as regards laws calculated to improve the concUtion of the 
 population, and to raise them in the scale of civilization.' . . . . 
 Happily the present governor, following m the steps of many of his 
 predecessors, deals impartiaUy with every class, strives to prevent 
 as far as possible the mischievous effects of the selfish policy that 
 has been pursued, and exerts himself to rescue the government from 
 the grasp of personal interest and ambition.'— /6i J. pp. 222, 223. 
 
298 NATURAL DIFFICULTIES OF EMANXIPATION. 
 
 hind. Such has been the result of emaneij^ation in 
 tlie West Indies. Those principles of disturbance 
 which slavery leaves after it, though largely con- 
 trolled, have yet been sufficiently powerful to pre- 
 vent the general establishment of a system of hired 
 labour.* 
 
 Now wliat would be the chance of replacing 
 negro slavery with hired labour in the Southern 
 States ? If we look to the condition of society 
 there, we find that the usual disturbing causes 
 exist in exaggerated force, while there is little to 
 counteract them in the other conditions of the case. 
 Nowhere else has pro-slavery fanaticism been so 
 strong ; the belief in the moral soundness of the 
 institution has been nowhere so implicit ; nowhere, 
 therefore, would tlie introduction of a system of 
 
 * The following is ^Mr. Underhill's conclusion as to the general 
 results of the experiment in Jamaica : — " Emancipation did not, 
 indeed, bring wealth to the planter ; it did not restore fortunes 
 already trembhng in the grasp of mortgagees and usurers ; it did 
 nut bring back the i)almy days of foreign commerce to Kingston, 
 nor assist in the maintenance of protective privileges in the mar- 
 kets of Great Britain ; it did not give wisdom to planters, nor 
 skill to agriculturists and manufacturers ; but it has broiiglit an 
 amount of happiness, of improvement, of material wealth and pro- 
 spective elevation to the enfranchised slave in which every lover of 
 man must rejoice. Social order everywhere prevails. Iheaches of 
 tlie peace are rare. Crimes, especially in their darker and moi-o 
 sanguinary forms, are few. Persons and i>roperty are perfectly 
 safe. The planter sleeps in security, dreads no insurrection, fears 
 not the tonh uf llio iiiccndiarv, travels dav or iii-dit in the loneliest 
 
EXAGGERATED IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 299 
 
 free industry have to encounter on the part of the 
 masters such violent prejudices. Again, the desire 
 of the emancipated negro to break with his former 
 mode of life could scarce fail to be here extremely 
 strong ; for, although the treatment of the slaves was 
 perhaps harsher in the West Indies than it has for 
 the most part been in the Confederate States, the 
 degradation of the race had neither there nor else- 
 where reached so low a point ; and, as a principle of 
 repulsion, the feeling of shame would probably be 
 not less powerful than that of hatred. On the other 
 hand, who can suppose, — bearing in mind the un- 
 worthy antipathy to the negro which still animates 
 the great majority of the American people, and which 
 
 solitudes without anxiety or care. The people are not drunkards, 
 even if they he impure ; and this sad feature in the moral life of 
 the people is meeting its check in the growing respect for the mar- 
 riage tie, and the improved Ufe of the white community in their 
 midst. . . . The general prospects of the island are improving. 
 Estates are now but rarely abandoned, while in many places portions 
 of old estates are being brought again under cultivation. It is 
 admitted by all parties that sugar cultivation is profitable. At the 
 same time, it is very doubtful whether any large proportion of the 
 emancipated population will ever be induced to return to the estates, 
 or, at least, in sufficient numbers to secure the enlargement of the 
 area of cultivation to the extent of former days. Higher wages will 
 do somewhat to obtain labourers, and they can be afforded, and the 
 return of confidence will bring capital ; but the taste and habit of 
 independence will contmue to operate, and induce the agi-icultural 
 classes to cling to the Uttle holdings whirh they so industriously 
 occupy."— ^/^-^ Tffs? Indws, pp. 455. 457- 
 
300 IMPOSSIBILITY OF PROTECTINU THE NEGKO. 
 
 jK.Tliaj)S emancipation would do little to remove ; 
 bearing in mind the elFects of a long complicity with 
 shu'ery on the traditions of the Federal government 
 — wh(j, I say, impressed with these facts, can suppose 
 that tile negro of the Southern States would in that 
 pe()])le and government find efficient protectors ? 
 ^^^)ulll there be no fear that the protector might 
 have less sympjithy with the victim than even the 
 tyrant against whom protection was claimed ? But 
 even on the assumption that the spirit of the Fede- 
 ral government and of the Xorthern people was 
 excellent, would the task of protecting the negro be 
 feasible in the South ? Throughout the whole slave 
 domain, but especially in the more southern of the 
 Slave States, there are, as we know, vast regions of 
 wilderness. Over these wanders a miserable white 
 population, idle, lawless, and cherishing for the 
 negro a contempt, which, on his being raised to their 
 level by emancipation, would be quickly converted 
 into hatred. .Now, remembering what has happened 
 in those West Indian islands which offer the nearest 
 analogy to the present case — remembering what has 
 occurred, for e\ani[)le, in Trinidad* — is it not almots 
 
 * "Three years after einancii)ation, in 1841, tlio coiulitioii of the 
 island [Trinidad] was most deplorable : the labourei-s had for the most 
 part a}>an(loned the estates, and taken possession of plots of vacant 
 land, especially in the viiinity of the towns, without purchase or 
 lawful right. Vagrancy had become an alarming habit of great 
 numbers ; every attemjit to take a census of the pojiulation was 
 
CORRUPTING INFLUENCE OF THE MEAN WHITES. 3OI 
 
 certain that, so soon as emancipation was decreed, 
 the negroes would betake themselves to these wilds ? 
 and, dispersed over this vast region, what would be 
 their fate ? How could they be protected ? How 
 could they be trained to a higher mode of life ? 
 They would there encounter the white man in a 
 condition as wretched as their own. His- example 
 could not fail to influence them. They would ac- 
 quire his vagabond tastes, and emulate his idleness. 
 They would be wholly at his mercy. Eflicient pro- 
 tection would be impossible over so vast a region. 
 The growth of regular industry would be hopeless ; 
 and the too probable result would be that the whole 
 South would be abandoned to the dominion of na- 
 ture, and jiegro and Avhite man go to ruin together. 
 On the other hand, looking at the problem of 
 
 baffled by the frequent migrations wliicli took place. Criminals 
 easily evaded justice by absconding to places where they were un- 
 known, or by hiding themselves in the dense forests which in all 
 parts edged so closely on the cleared lands. Drunkenness increased 
 to an enormous degree, assisted by planters who freely su])plied 
 rum to the labourers to induce them to remain as cidtivators on 
 their estates. High wages were obtained only to be squandered in 
 amusement, revelry and dissipation ; at the same time, these high 
 wages induced a diminished cultivation of food, and a corresponding 
 increase in price and in the hnportation of provisions from the 
 neighbouring islands and continent. The labourers steadily refused 
 to enter into any contracts ishich would oblige them to rcmam in 
 the service of a master : this would too much have resembled the 
 state of slavery from which they had but just emerged."— TA^ 
 West Indies, &c., p. 68-69. 
 
302 PROGKESSIVE EMANCIPATION 
 
 emancipation, as it would present itself under that 
 settlement of the American question which 1 have 
 ventured to indicate as desira])le, I am unable to see 
 tliat it would involve any difficulty which a govern- 
 ment, really bent on accomplishing its object, might 
 not be fairly expected to overcome. In the first 
 place, it would, as thus presented, at once assume 
 more manageable porportions. The evil might be 
 dealt with in detail, and the experience acquired in 
 the earlier efforts might be made available at the 
 further stages of the process. The attack would in 
 the first instance be directed against the weakest 
 parts of the system — the institution in the border 
 states. In those states, not only is slavery less 
 strongly established than in the states further south, 
 it is also milder in its character. The relation sub- 
 sisting between master and slave being less embitter- 
 ed, the obstacles to a re-establishment of their con- 
 nexion upon a new footing would be less formidable. 
 The wilderness, indeed — the greatest difficulty of the 
 case — would not be wholly absent even in the border 
 states ; but its dimensions would here be less vast, 
 and these, as the abolition of slavery drew a fresh 
 immigration from the adjoining states of the North, 
 would in all probability be rapidly reduced. Even 
 should tlie negroes repair to the wilds in consider- 
 able numl)ers, the case would not be so hopeless. 
 They would meet here in many districts, not the 
 
MORE HOPEFUL. 3°3 
 
 " mean whites," but a population of free cultivators, 
 whose example, it is not to be doubted, would exer- 
 cise on their character and pursuits an influence as 
 wholesome as that of the others would be baneful. 
 In these peasant cultivators the free negro would 
 behold industry in its most respectable and most 
 prosperous form ; and, with their example before 
 him, he would probably settle down into the same 
 condition of life with them. 
 
 But while in the reannexed states a career would 
 be provided for the emancipated negro, his brother, 
 stiU left in bondage in the South, would ere long 
 find that for him also a new era was opening. Cut 
 off from the rich virgin soils of the south-west, the 
 older states of the Confederacy would quickly reach 
 the condition of Virginia and Maryland. The me- 
 vitable goal would soon come in sight, and the 
 foreseen necessity of a change would gradually 
 reconcile the minds of the planters to a pohcy of 
 emancipation. The spirit in which the task would 
 be undertaken, when prescribed to them as it were 
 by Nature herself, would, it may be fairly expected, 
 be far different from that with which it would be 
 encountered, if enforced at the bayonet's pomt by 
 hostile and hated Northerners. Self-interest, no 
 longer overborne by passion or pride, would teach 
 the necessity of calmly considering a position of 
 which the urgency could no longer be concealed 
 
304 ULTIMATE EXTINCTION OF SLAVKKV. 
 
 <^r evaded ; and tlie full knowledge and large expe- 
 rience of the planters might be expected to^condiict 
 tlum to that solution which would be most in accord- 
 ance with the welfare of the negro and their own. 
 Meanwhile, the policy of emancipation once com- 
 menced, its effects would not be confined to the states 
 which adopted it. Tlie working states, deprived of 
 their supply of labour from the North, would be 
 compelled to adopt new maxims of management.' 
 The life of the slave would become for his master an 
 object of increased consideration ; his comfort would 
 be more attended to, and his condition would rapidly 
 improve. AVith the progress of time the destiny of 
 the older States would overtake these also, and 
 thus, by a gradual but sure process, the greatest blot 
 on modern civilization would be expunged from 
 American soil. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 U. D. WEBB ^O son r.llNTKUS, I77. OULAT Bill NSW KK-Sri,KtT, |.( DL1> 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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