A
LETTER
TO
VISCOIUNT PALLi1ERtSTON, K. G.,
PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND,
ON
AMERICAN SLAVERY.
BY
HENRY WIKOFF,
AUTHOR OF "A. VISIT TO HAM," ETC., ETO.
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NEW  YORK:
PUBLISHED BY PROSS & TOUSEY,
121 NASSAU STREET.
1861.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861,
BY ROSS & TOUSEY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
fA
RENNIE, SHEA & LINDSAY,
STEREOTYPERS AND ]LUOTROTYPERS,
81, 83 & 85 CENTRE-STREET,
NNW YORK
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PREFACE.
THIS letter was originally intended for the private
perusal of the Noble Lord to whom it is addressed;
but it was suggested to me that its publication here
might possibly be beneficial. In the hope, then, that
it may be found in some degree interesting, if not
useful, I do not hesitate to give it to the Public.
HENRY WIKOFF.
BREVOORT IHOUsr,
New York, January 28, 1861. 
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"The science of government is merely a science of combinations, of
applications, and of exceptions, according to time, place, and circumstances."-ROUSSEAU.
"The surest way to prevent seditions, if the times do bear it, is to take
away the matter of them; for if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell
whence the spark shall come that shall set it on fire."-LORD BACON.
"Power exercised with violence has seldom been of long duration, but
temper and moderation generally produce permanence in all things."SENECA.
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TO
VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, K. G.,
MY LORD,
Just ten years since, your Lordship was at the head of the
Foreign Office of England. A war of parties then raged in
France which threatened to end in anarchy. The interests of
England, so closely identified with France, required that every
phase of the conflict should be known to your Lordship. I was
at that moment a watchful but dispassionate observer of these
events, and had the honor to furnish your Lordship officially
with such information as my opportunities, somewhat rare,
enabled me to acquire.
At the present hour, your Lordship occupies a still more illustrious post-the Premiership of England. A fierce contest of
sections has broken out in this country, which foreshadows
disruption and ruin. Again, the interests of England, still more
closely interwoven with the United States, demand that every
feature of this internecine strife should be familiar to your Lordship.  A calm, but not unconcerned spectator of the turmoil, I
venture, though no longer a duty, to lay before your Lordship a
simple outline of this portentous crisis. It is all-important that
the government and people of England should understand it, in
order that the action of the one and the sentiments of the other
should be wisely guided and judiciously formed. The task is
onerous, and exacts higher capacity. A native of this country,*
I
* Born in Philadelphia, and a graduate of Yale College.
&c.,
&C.,
&c.
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LETTEr-, TO'1 LOI'D PALMERSTON.
however, and familiar with its history and institutions, I am
not wholly disqualified. My knowledge of England will also
enable me to make intelligible what might otherwise be obscure, if, indeed, aught can elude the practical, searching analysis
common to your Lordship. My respect for the lofty position of
your Lordship, but still more for the intellect and character that
adorn it, will compel me to be scrupulous in my facts and impartial in my statements. With such data your Lordship will
apply the test to my conclusions.
Immersed in the politics of Europe, and for near half a century an occupant of office, your Lordship can only have glanced
at this country, so far removed, when a question of moment
required attention. Allow me, then, to pass in rapid review
its domestic political history, which will tend to elucidate the
present situation.
POLITICAL REVIEW.
The movement that threw off the rule of the mother country,
beg,an in the New England Colonies. These were settled by
those Puritans who effected the Revolution of 1620, and
decapitated Charles I. The Southern Colonies were occupied
by a more loyal class. To the noble family of Baltimore was
granted, by Royal Charter, the province of Maryland. To other
staunch adherents of the crown were accorded grants and
privileges in Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.
With antecedents so opposite, both North and South joined
heartily in the War of Independence, making equal sacrifices
and dividing fairly its triumphs. In 1781, the struggling States
formed a Confederation, and essayed self-government.  The
first experiment failed, when the present Union was established.
The written Charter of 1789 followed the form and usages of
the British Constitution. Supreme power was divided between
the executive and legislative branches; but all were elective.
The executive power was vested in one person for a term of
four years, with special duties assigned. The Legislature was
divided, as in England, into two Houses, with separate prero,g
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTrON.
atives. All power not positively delegated to this Federal
Government was reserved to the States. The problem of
popular government was once more undertaken.
Gen. Washington was the first Federal magistrate, chosen
from a list of twelve candidates.
Up to this period, the politicians of the country had, first,
contended in a body against the supremacy of the mother
country; and, next, had united their energies in the structure
of a Republican Constitution.
During President Washington's term, they divided into two
hostile parties, each striving for office through the profession
of opposite principles. The New England States, led by John
Adams, advocated the power of the Federal Government, even
to straining the Constitution. This was the Federal party.
The Southern States, led by Thomas Jefferson, maintained
State rights against Federal encroachment.   This was the
Democratic party.
In 1797, John Adamns, of Massachusetts, was elected* President of the Confederacy.  During his term, the Alient and Sedition: laws were passed by the Federal Congress. These enactments were opposed by the statesmen of the South, since, in their
opinion, they invested the Executive with powers not conferred
by the Constitution and inimical to popular rights.  The creationI of a National Bank was also a subject of keen controversy.
The public men of the North sustained it with energy, while
those of the South opposed it as unconstitutional and of doubtful expediency.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, was elected President. During this term the New England States displayed a
bitter animosity to the South, which arose, chiefly, from the
South having put a limit to the slave-trade, in which these
* The election for President takes place four months before his inauguration, but
I shall use the words sinonymously.
t By the Alien law, June, 1800, the President might order all such aliens as he
deemed dangerous to quit the country, on pain of three years' imprisonment and civil
disability.
+ By the Sedition law, any person who should libel the President, or either House
of Congress, should be fined $2,000, and be imprisoned for two years.
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LETTER TO LORD PAI,MIERSTON.
States were profitably engaged. When, therefore, President
Jefferson proposed the purchase of Louisiana from France, the
Eastern States violently resisted, because it increased the territory and power of the South. Congress empowered the purchase, April, 1803.
In 1805, Thomas Jefferson was re-elected to the Presidency.
His second term was troubled by the war between England
and France. The Berlin and Milan Decrees of Napoleon, and
the Orders in Council of the British Government, equally
assailed American interests. Our vessels, bound either to
English or French ports, incurred capture and confiscation.
This left but one alternative, either to abandon our trade with
Europe, or go to war to protect it. To escape the latter, President Jefferson recommended an Embargo Act, to put a temporary stop to all our foreign trade. This was vehemently
opposed by the New England States, because their interests,
being chiefly commercial, were seriously damaged.  The Embargo Act was passed by Congress in December, 1807; whereupon the Eastern States threatened to secede from the Union,
and form a Northern Confederacy.
In 1809, James M3adison, of Virginia, was elected President.
Soon after his accession, M/arch, 1809, the Embargo Act was
repealed, to appease the New England States; and a less stringent law, the Non-Intercourse Act, was passed by Congress,
May, 1809, which prohibited trade with England and France.
New England, however, carried on an indirect trade with
Europe, through Canada. In spite of all these precautions by
the Government, our interests and dignity were incessantly
outraged by England. Finally, the indignation of the country
compelled Congress to declare war, May, 1812.
In 1813, James Madison was re-elected President.  During
the war, the Government was supported by direct taxes and
requisitions upon the States; but the New England States refused, for the most part, to contribute.* The war closed, January, 1815. To resuscitate the Federal treasury, a new financial
policy was inaugurated.  A Tariff of high duties was passed by
* Niles' Register.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Congress, April, 1816. New England advocated this law,
because, during the war, she had transferred her capital from
commerce to manufactures, for which she desired protection.
The South was injured by the Tariff, but she supported it from
patriotic motives. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, went
so far as to introduce a nminimum rate for ad valorem  duties,
that is, a rate below which the duties should not fall.* A new
National Bank act was also passed, April, 1816; the old one
having expired in 1811.
In 1817, James Monroe, of Virginia, was elected President.
During this term the interests of the country prospered. No
struggle occurred between the politicians of New England and
the South till 1820, when Missouri applied for admission into
the Union as a Slave State. The Eastern States opposed it
violently, on the ground of extending slavery. The Union was
in danger of dissolution, when, finally, Missouri was admitted
by Congress as a Slave State, on the compromise that tlhereafter
no Slave States should be created north of 36~ 30' parallel of
latitude.
In 1821, James Monroe was re-elected President.  During
this term, a new conflict arose between the politicians of New
England and those of the South, on the subject of the Tariff
policy inaugurated at the peace. New England demanded
more protection for her manufactures. This the South opposed,
on the ground that her manufactures had protection enough,
and next, because an increase of the Tariff was seriously detrimental to the interests of the South.
In 1825, John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, was elected
President.t During this term, a heated contest was carried on
between New England and the South, on the Tariff policy. In
1828, a new act was passed by Congress, which raised the
duties to an almost prohibitory standard. The average was
40 per cent. on imports. The South designated this act as the
Black Tariff."
* At the instance of Mr. Lowell, the father of manufactures in Massachusetts.
t This election was made by the House of Representatives, as provided in the
('onstitntion, in default of an election by the people.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
In 1829, Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, became President.
During this term, the extreme Tariff policy of New England
led to violent remonstrance in South Carolina, whose interests
were seriously injured.  She alleged that a policy to enrich
one section of the country at the expense of another, was unjust
and unconstitutional. She threatened to resist this policy by
force.  A compromise was effected, March, 1833, by which the
obnoxious Tariff was modified by Congress.
In 1833, Andrew Jackson was re-elected President. During
this term, an acrimonious struggle was carried on between the
politicians of the North* and South, on the National Bank created at the peace. The former maintained it was necessary to
their trade and commerce; the latter, while denying its conlstitutionality and expediency, also avowed their fears of its becoming a political machine, that might, in the hands of unscrupulous politicians, do much harm.  The charter was allowed
to expire in 1836.  A policy known under the name of "Internal Improvements," was also discussed in this term. It had
the support of the North, but the South opposed it as favoring
one section at the cost of the others.
In 1837, Martin Van Buren, of New  York, was elected
President. During this term, great financial disorder prevailed
in the country. The Northern politicians proposed, as a panacea, a new National Bank, a higher Tariff, and a Bankrupt Law.
The South opposed them all, as unnecessary and sectional in
their tendency.
In 1811, William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was elected
President. He died soon after his accession to office. The
Presidency was then administered by the Vice-president, Jolin
Tyler, of Virginia, as provided by the Constitution. During
this term, Northern polivcy mostly prevailed. The Tariff was
augmented, September, 1841, and August, 1842.  A Bankrupt
Law was passed, August, 1841.t  A law was carried through
Congress, July, 1841, dividing the public domain among the
* The Northern Politicians dropped the title of " Federalist" in 1824, and assumed
that of' Whig" in 1828.
' By this act, private debts to the amount of 440 millions of dollars (88 millions
s.irliog) were cancelled.
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LE'Ii'ER TO LORD PALMERS'N.
respective States, in proportion to their population. The effect
of this was favorable to the manufacturing States of New England; for, by cutting off from the Federal treasury the receipts
from the public lands, it made a higher Tariff imperative, to
insure a sufficient revenue.  The new bank charter failed.  At
the end of eighteen mnonths, the Bankrupt Act was repealed,
1843. A new Slave State, Texas, was admitted to the Union,
March 3, 1845. The act for dividing the public lands was
repealed, January, 1842, as it was found necessary to retain
them as security for Federal loans.
In 1845, James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was inaugurated
President. During his termn, the Tariff, which was pressing
heavily on the interests of the South, was modified, July, 1846.
The President, in a special message to Congress, May, 1846,
announced that the Government of Mexico had committed an
act of war against the Confederacy. On this occasion, all sections of the country, North and South and West, united in
declaring war against Mexico. The war closed, February, 1848.
The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which followed, ceded California and New Mexico to the United States.
In 1849, Zachary Taylor, of Mississippi, became President.
During this term, the old issues between the politicians of the
North and South were abandoned, to wit: the Tariff policy, a
National Bank, a system of Internal Improvements, a Division
of the Public Lands. The recent acquisitions of territory, however, afforded the public men of both sections a fertile field of
discussion. The North contended against admitting slavery
into the new territory. The South declared that its right to
joint occupation was incontestable, both in law and equity,
and proposed that the compromise of 1820 should be renewed,
by extending the Missouri line of 36~ 30' to the Pacific Ocean.
This the politicians of the NXorth refused. The controversy
became so violent that a separation of the North and South
seemed imminent. A compromise, however, took place in
1850, which stopped the discussion, but did not settle the
main point in dispute, namely, the right of the South to joint
occupation of all new territory.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
In 1853, Franklin Pierce, of New Ilampshire, became Pres ident. During this term, the discussion on slavery was unfor tunately renewed.  A  portion of western  territory, named
Nebraska,* was divided into two territories. One of these
was called Kansas, and the other Nebraska.  The comli)romise
line of 36~ 30' ran to the south of these territories, which would
have given Kansas as well as Nebraska, the largest, to the North.
On the proposition of the senator from Illinois, Stephen A.
Douglas, the compromise line was repealed by Congress. An
effort was subsequently made by the South to occupy Kansas,
in order to make it a Slave State. This the North determined
to resist. Emigrant societies were'established in Massachusetts
and Connecticut, in 1854, to furnish pecuniary aid to settlers in
Kansas. In consequence, a hostile population from North and
South poured into Kansas, whose interests and sentiments were
antagonistic and irreconcilable. Civil dissensions of great bitterness, at length, terminated in conflict. Bands of armed men
from the North and South paraded the territory, and frequently
came in collision, with loss of life. The Federal Government,
whose jurisdiction extended over this distant country, was
finally forced to interfere. The leaders of the anti-slavery
propaganda, having violated the Federal prerogative by passing
a constitutiont and electing a governor, were indicted for
treason, and obliged to take to fiight.:
In 1857, James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, was inaugurated
President. The whole of this term has been disturbed by a
heated contest between the politicians of the North and South,
on the subject of slavery in the territories. The civil troubles
in Kansas were renewed by the leaders of the pro-slavery party
drafting a constitution~ favorable to their views, which Congress refused to ratify. It follows that Kansas, though qualified by population to become a State, still remains a territory,
* 1,800 miles from Washington.
t Called the Topeka Constitution, after the village where the Convention met.
t The Northern Politicians, during this term, dropped the appellation of" Whig,"
and assumed that of " Republican," better known as " Black Republican."
~ Called the Lecompton Constitution, after the place where the Convention
assembled.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
a prey to the sectional animosities that divide her. Towards the
close of this Presidency, the prolonged strife between the politicians of the North and South on the topic of slavery, was taken
up by the people of these respective sections, in an election for a
new president, November, 1860. The Northern States, being in
majority, pronounced in favor of Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois,
the exponent of their sectional views. Under these circumstances, the Southern States threaten to secede from the Union. They
allege that the civil compact they made with the Northern
States in 1789, guaranteeing equal rights to both, and equal
protection to all, has been violated. They further allege that,
being in a minority in the Confederacy, they can oppose no
legal barrier to the anti-slavery sentiments of the North, which,
carried into legislation, will confiscate their property, and even
involve their lives.
R2SUM M.
This closes, my Lord, the brief retrospect of our Federal history. I trust it is lucid, as I believe it to be unbiased. It
thus appears that, from the first Presidency to the last, the
public men of the North and South have differed in their
notions of policy.
It also appears that these differences ran so high in the case
of the Embargo Act, 1807, that the New England States, whose
commercial interests were injured, were on the verge of seceding from the Confederacy.
It likewise appears that the Southern States, to the detriment
of their interests, voted for a Tariff and a Bank, 1816, in order
to resuscitate the Federal Government and conciliate the Eastern States.
It furthermore appears that the Southern States, finding
themselves oppressed by the extreme Tariff policy of the North,
threatened, through South Carolina, 1832, to nullify the Federal
laws.
It finally appears that the various points of national policy
discussed by our public men of the North and South, having
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
been successively disposed of by the popular voice, the politicians of the North, in spite of compromises, thought fit to
reopen the abstract question of slavery, in 1854;.
SLAV-ERY.
I have already said, my Lord, that the interests of England
are so intimately blended with this country as to make our
welfare a matter of the liveliest solicitude to her statesmen
and people. Not only are we by far your best customers, but
we are also the producers of that precious staple, upon whose
steady culture the commercial supremacy of England depends.
I deem it, therefore, of paramount importance that your
Lordship should fully understand the nature and extent of the
agitation now shaking this country to its centre. It will be
impossible to measure it by any thing that has occurred in England within your Lordship's experience. Fortunately f6r her,
African Slavery never became identified with her social and
political existence, as it has with us, and therefore it was an easy
task for her public men to look calmly on the subject, and decide upon its fate by a vote of twenty millions sterling. If it
were with us, my Lord, as it was with you, a simple financial
question, it would be a short solution whether it was worth retaining, or not. But it is far otherwise, as I will undertake to
show. To make the Slave question in the United States, with all
its complications, more properly appreciated by your Lordship,
it will be necessary to go back to its origin, which belongs to our
colonial epoch.  This, however, is so intimately blended with
the history of African Slavery in England, that your Lordship
will suffer me, I trust, to venture on a brief sketch of the rise
and growth of the Guinea trade. From this it will be seen at
a glance, that mere calculations of profit led to the importation
of the African into the American Colonies; and I think it may
be as clearly perceived that self-interest, even more than humanity, had to do with the abandonment of the traffic.
If, then, it can be established, mny Lord, that commercial
motives, much more than a tardy philanthropy, effected a rev
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
olution of opinion in England on African Slavery; then it may
be inferred that the same invincible motives of self-interest will
lead, at an early day, to a decided reaction on this subject.
As a prelude to this history of African Slavery, it may be
interesting to glance, for a moment, at the condition of the
White Slave or Serf, in England, scarcely three centuries since.
WHITE SLAVERY IN ENGLAND.
It may be a trite reflection, my Lord, but not an irrelevant
one at this moment, to remark that the history of mankind is
but a history of slavery, as regards the mass of the people;
and the absolute slavish condition of far the greater portion of
the population of the world at the present day, manifests
clearly enough, if not the tyrannical disposition of man, at
least the striking mental inequality of different races and
classes, which leads to the subjugation of the vast majority to
the superior intelligence of the comparative few. The civilization of Europe, however, has established its supremacy over all
others, by the gradual emancipation of the lower class from
the most degraded slavery to equality before the law.
It is a singular fact, allow me to add, that of all races of
men, the Anglo-Saxon has raised himself from the lowest
depths of servitude to the highest forms of civilization; and
to him belongs the exclusive distinction and vast renown of
being the pioneer of civil liberty. His robust body, industrious character, and vigorous intellect seem to have fitted him
especially for the task of his physical and political redemption;
and these peculiar traits have lost nothing of their original excellence amid the luxuries of the civilization he has mainly created.
The origin of English serfdom may be fairly dated from the
subjugation of ancient Britain by Cesar, just previous to the
Christian era, who found it an easy task, with his well-trained
hosts, to reduce a warlike but savage people to an abject state
of bondage. Nor was the enterprise more difficult for the free
and martial Saxons, just four centuries later, to expel the
remains of Roman power, and establish, on a permanent foun
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LETTER TO LOPD PALMERSTON.
dation, their own rude forms of government. During the whole
period of the Heptarchy, some four centuries more, the de graded inhabitants of Britain remained in the same condition
of unmitigated servitude. The slave or villein born on the
land of the lords, was attached to it and sold with it. These
wore iron collars on their necks, inscribed with the name of
the owner. To this category of rural slaves, must be added
the large numbers enslaved in civil feuds, as well as those sold
by their parents as a means of subsistence.  In the seventh
century, some Northumbrian slaves were sent to Rome for
sale by a speculator, and when exhibited in the slave market,
attracted, by their noble appearance and athletic frames, the
admiration of Pope Gregory, who sent Augustine, with a suite
of missionaries, to convert so striking a people to Christianity.
At the date of the Conquest, 1066, the English Slave Trade
was very general and active. Ireland, at that time, was the
chief market for export, but the various cities of Europe also
kept up a brisk demand.   The Doomsday Book, prepared by
order of the Conqueror, affords abundant indications of the
condition of slavery at this epoch, and of the activity of the
domestic Slave Trade. There was a tax imposed at this period
by all the cities, as a source of revenue, of four pennies on
every slave sold. No female slave was allowed to marry
without the consent of the owner. The child of a female slave
wvas also a slave. A freeman who mniarried a slave, reduced
himself to her condition; and all slaves were sold and treated
like other property. There seems never to have been a law,
my Lord, to authorize the holding of slaves. It appears always
to have been regarded as a natural right. All the laws that
have ever been enacted on the subject, were to emancipate.
In A. D. 1102, the Council of Westminster made laws, or canons, against the export of slaves, but with little effect, since
the Trade still continued active for a century later. The merchants of Bristol, in order to keep up their supplies, were in
the habit of buying children of their parents or of kidnappers.
The first serious check the foreign trade received, was in a
resolution of the Irish, in 1172, to set free their slaves, and to
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LE'TTEtR TO LO'I) PAl,MERSTON.
buy no more at any price. The export of English slaves languished from this period, and finally ceased. The domestic
trade, however, continued active. In 1195, the Archbishop of
Canterbury gave ten slaves to the Prior of Rochester, as part
of the price of the manor of Lambeth, where his Grace's palace
stands at the present day.
The right to buy and sell slaves continned centuries later,
although the trade itself slowly declined. The class of slaves
attached to the soil, called natives, were transferable with it,
but were occasionally emancipated on various conditions,
sometimes as rewards, yet more frequently for sums of money.
In 1338, King Edward sold freedom to many slaves, to raise
money. In 1381, the insurrection of Wat Tyler, momentarily
successful, extorted a charter of freedom from Edward III. for
all slaves; but this was almost immediately revoked, and the
slaves forced to return to their former condition.  The thirst
for emancipation began to increase steadily, and constant sales
of freedom to bondsmen were taking place. The value of
slaves, however, continued high, which is corroborated by an
incident that happened in Kent. A certain Simon Burley
there demanded no less than 300 lbs. of silver as the price of
freedom for one of his slaves. This was thought exorbitant,
and the seizure of the man by his master to remove him to another county, was resisted by the populace, and an insurrection
ensued. Following the tendency of the epoch, emancipations
became more and more frequent. In 1514, Henry VIII., to
supply his exchequer, sold freedom to two of his slaves, viz.:
to Henry Knight, a tailor, and to John Erle, of the county of
Cornwall. This act of manumission begins, "Whereas, originally God created all men free," &c. These are nearly the
words used in our own Declaration of Independence, upwards
of two centuries later. The process of manumission went rapidly on, and when, in 1574, Queen Elizabeth commissioned
Lord Burghley and her Chancellor, Sir Walter Mildmnay, to
compound with the serfs upon her manors for their freedom,
it may be said that the slavery of the lower classes of England
had weli-nigh reached its extinction.  Tlius it imay be see,
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LETTER TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
that the Anglo-Saxon race did not remain, like the African,
for countless ages in a savage state, free, but without progress.
On the contrary, it emerged from the lowest condition of
villeinage, and asserted its intellectual and moral vigor by
breaking through all the heavy trammiels that surrounded it.
Nor did its energies expire with the successful struggle for
emancipation, and relapse, like the African, into barbaric
sloth; but it has gone on, through every phase of development,
till its power and knowledge has encircled the globe. I trust
your Lordship will regard with leniency this sonmewhat stale
reiteration of familiar facts, but I thought their repetition, at
this particular juncture, was appropriate, and would add, by
contrast, not a little interest to the significant history of African
Slavery in England that I now propose very briefly to venture
on.
R g S UT M.
Anciently, all English labor was enslaved.
Emancipation grew as free labor was found more profitable
than slave labor.
The mental energy of the people forced emancipation, and
this in spite of ages of prior servitude.
T'he national productions, capital, and power increased with
the progress of emancipation.
The emancipation was gradual through centuries, causing no
shock to society.
BLACK SLAVERY IN ENGLAND.
Thle last phase of African Slavery in the British Dominions,
must still be familiar to your Lordship; for it was the Cabinet
,of Earl Grey, of which your Lordship was the Foreign Secretary, that brought in the Act of Emancipation in May, 1833.
Its introduction, however, into the British Colonies is so remote,
and the details of its history so seldom recalled, that your
Lordship can hardly be supposed to bear either in recollection,
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LaRTTEn TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
amid the more weighty matters pressing on your attention.  As
it is necessary to my purpose, may I be permitted, in as brief a
digest as possible, to glance over the striking, and, to our present tastes, really shocking incidents connected with the African
Trade?
It is very singular, my Lord, that almost at the same momnent the last traces of serfdom were disappearing from England, the enslavement of another and distant race should spring
up. Such, however, is the fact; for it was in 1561 that Sir
John Hawkins fitted out three small vessels, of from forty to
sixty tons each, with which, laden with English merchandise,
he sailed for the Guinea Coast, where he exchanged his wares
for a cargo of Negroes, that he carried thence to Hispaniola,
and sold them for hides, sugar, and ginger, with which he
returned to England. This was the humble commencement of
the trade in African Blacks that was carried on by England,
with immense profits, for the long period of two hundred and
forty-six years. The success of Hawkins' adventure seems to
have had the same effect on that day, as the gold discoveries
on the present. The Continent of Africa was speedily reported
to be filled with Blacks, to be had for the mere catching; and
that they could be sold at great advantage in the West Indies.
Expeditions were fitted out rapidly one after another, and
British enterprise and capital were soon actively employed in
prosecuting this lucrative traffic. In 1689, the British Government entered into a convention with Spain, by which she
agreed to provide her West India dependencies with African
slaves.  In 1713, the celebrated "South Sea Company," of
London, also undertook, by convention, to supply Spain with
black slaves; and these were regularly furnished, at the rate
of 4,800 per annum, for thirty years.  The trade grew apace,
and finally took such proportions that Gen. O'Hara, Governor
of Senegambia, reported, in 1760, that in the " previous fifty
years, no less than 70,000 Blacks had been deported per annum
from that country alone." This makes an aggregate of
3,500,000, a very startling number, certainly, for that age.
Your Lordship will remember that the British West Indies were
I 
N,
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LETTER TO LORD IFALMIEIfS'TON.
the chief destination of these Blacks, and that Jamnaica con tinned the principal depot during the eighteenth century. In
the gradual development of this vast commerce, there were
three great Interests that especially prospered: First, the Man ufacturers who supplied the goods for the African trade; next,
the Shipping which conducted it; and last, but not least, the
Merchants of London, Bristol, and Liverpool, who carried
it on.
The Planters in the Colonies profited greatly by the supply
of labor, but, at length, they became alarmed at the extraordi nary influx of the Blacks, who began greatly to outnumber the
Whites. The danger that was naturally apprehended from this
source induced the Colonial authorities, finally, to impose suchl
a tax (~10 per head) as they supposed would check the evil.
This immediately drew forth an energetic remonstrance frol
the Manufacturers, Shippers, and Merehants, to the Imperial
Parliament, in 1774, against the duty in question. The Colonial agent in London, however, earnestly represented the necessity of putting some restraint on the trade. The Colony of
Virginia, at the same time, also sent up to Parliament similar
representations as to their case.  The Government, however,
considered it the most profitable policy to favor the interests
of the Slave Merchants and Shippers, and therefore decided
against any interference with them.  The colonial duty of ~10
was abrogated, and the Trade was consequently prosecuted
with renewed vigor.
It was about this period that the political connection between
the mother country and her American colonies was broken ofF,
and one of the first uses made of their new independence by
the Southern States, was the attempt to put a stop to the
African Slave Trade, in order to check the increase of Blacks.
After great effort, the Southern States succeeded in obtaining
the consent of the New England States to give up the slave
traffic in 1808. It was likewise at this period the recently
emancipated people of France declared, in the height of their
revolutionary fervor, that all classes and races of men were
free and equal; and the frightful massacres of St. Domingo
20
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
were the earlvy result of the application of such ideas to the
Blacks.
Your Lordship will please to bear in mind, that while these
events were transpiring in America and France, a new doctrine
of the equality of the Black and White began to be broached
in England. The first apostle of this novel opinion was Mr.
Wilberforce, and in 1788, a year after the United States Constitution had prospectively abolished the Slave Trade, he gave
notice in Parliament that he intended to bring in a Bill relative to the Slave Trade. On this occasion, the leaders on both
sides of the House, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, favored the movement.  In the February following, the Privy Council ordered
a Committee to inquire into the state of the Trade, and a long
and interesting report was made. Among the evidence produced, was a letter to Lord Hawkesbury, from Mr. Gustavus
Vassa, Commissary of the African Settlement, that contained
a declaration which, beyond all doubt, was the germ of that
change of opinion in England against Black Slavery which
soon after set in. He stated that, in his opinion, if the Slave
Trade were abolished, Africa would soon become a market for
British manufactures superior to all Europe. " If the Blacks,"
to use his own language, " are permitted to remain in their own
country, they will double in every fifteen years, and in proportion to such increase will be the demand for British goods."
There was more evidence of the same character, and the new
school of Wilberforce readily laid hold of such arguments to
induce the manufacturers and merchants to give up the Trade.
On the other hand, emphatic evidence was adduced, on high
authority, that went to show the Africans were nothing but
irreclaimable barbarians, incapable of civilization; with no
idea of landed property, and cursed with an incurable indolence. The Government, fearing to disturb an old and profitable commerce, after deliberation, adopted the latter view, and
again encouraged the Trade by new regulations. The law
passed, as your Lordship may recollect, in 1799 (twelve years
after our Constitution had abolished the Trade), was of such a
nature that it might be properly qualified as the "Slave Trade
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Charter," but, in fact, it was entitled an act "To regulate the
carrying of Slaves in British vessels from the west coast of
Africa to the West Indies." Among the regulations of this new
statute, was one, doubtless in the interests of humanity, to the
effect that each slave vessel should have painted conspicuously
on her stern the words, "Allowed to carry Slaves."  But there
was another provision, much more striking, and it ran thus:" No loss by mortality of Slaves, whether natural, or the colnsequence of ill-treatment, or by throwing them overboard, shall
be recoverable by any Policy of Insurance."  The " throwing
overboard," thus gravely recognized as a legal rvitt, had, during a century and a half, been so customary that the Insurance
Companies were heavy losers; and to protect them against
these frauds, the present clause was enacted, which forbid the
owners to recover.
It is scarcely credible that, in your Lordship's lifetime, such
a state of things as this could have existed in any civilized
country, or that such horrible barbarity could have been
regarded by the Government and people of England with utter
indifference. But it was likewise at this period, it must be remoembered, that the death-penalty was so liberally distributed
by the laws of England, that every petty thief was quickly
transported from the prison to Tyburn. This sanguinary spirit
was, doubtless, a relic of those bloody civil wars that had so
often desolated fair England. From these excesses a reaction
was natural; and such extraordinary strides have been made
in the last fifty years towards a higher humanity, that we find
at the present day, in London, a "Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals," and frequent prosecutions are instituted,
in its name, against the ill-treatment of cats and dogs.  Would
that some such institution had existed only fifty years ago,
when its energies might have been humanely directed against
the owners of slaves for "throwing them overboard" at sea;
but they would have intrenched themselves, no doubt, behind
the sanction of Parliament, which only forbid them recovering
any compensation for doing so.  Truly, my Lord, when these
two epochs are contrasted, and both within the same century
2 -9 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
and the same country, the notion is almost forced upon us that
cruelty and humanity, brutality and refinement, are little else
than fashions of the day, which come in and go out pretty
much as interest or fancy may dictate.
This was the condition of the British Slave Trade when this
century opened. But the Planters in the Colonies resolutely
continued their opposition to it; and the Abolitionists, led by
Mr. Wilberforce, were actively representing to the Manlufacturing and Mercantile interests the large market that would
certainly spring up in Africa on the cessation of the Trade,
which the United States and France had already abolished.
The combination of Planters and Abolitionists, reinforced tardily by the Manufacturers, were at length sufficient, with the
example set by other countries, to induce the British Government, not long before your Lordship, if I remember, entered
office, to abolish tlhe Slave Trade in 1807. Thus, after two
hundred and forty-six years of uninterrupted activity, the
Trade was brought to an end.
Wit!' your Lordship's leave, I will copy from Parliamentary
REeports somne brief account of the Trade in its days of prosperity. During the eighteenth century there were imported,
according to official returns, 1,128,400 Blacks into Jamaica;
and at the close of the century there were but 350,000 Blacks
on the Island.  The value put on the Negroes, by the reports,
was ~30, or $150, per head. Under the industry of these
Blacks, the Exports of the Island, towards the close of the
century, amounted to ~5,400,000, or 27 millions of dollars per
annum.  The Island itself was valued at twelve years' purchase, say ~64,800,000.  The working capacity of a Negro
during his service was estimated at 8 times his cost; or, in
other words, the average product of a hand during his life
was ~240, or $1200. The number of Blacks carried to all the
British West Indies, up to the close of the eighteenth century,
was  calculated  at 2,728,400.  The  cost of these,  at the
average, would be ~81,852,000, and their aggregate production
~654,816,000, or $3,274,080,000! Of this vast sumn, little or
nothing remained on the Island where it was produced. The
23
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I
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Blacks, that were obtained on the Coast in exchange for Lan cashire goods, were "worked up.' into sugar, coffee, ruin, &C.,
which were sent to the owners in London and Bristol.
After the Abolition of the Trade, the West India Planters
discovered that to keep up production required a regular
foreigii supply of labor, for the natural increase of the Blacks
did not answer their anticipations. Not long after this, the
followers of AMr. Wilberforce began to agitate a new theory the emancipation of the Blacks in the West Indies. They
endeavored to enlist in their support the Manufacturing and
Shipping interests, by representing, first, that free Blacks
would produce more than Slaves; and next, they would con sume alarger amount of British goods. Such results would,
therefore, give more employment to British vessels, it was
argued, than the Slave Trade had ever done.  In this way the
Wilberforce Party gradually won over to their untried theories
the M-anufacturing and Commercial interests.
They next turned their attention to winning proselytes iii
other classes of the community.  Constant and skilful appeals
were made to the religious and moral sentiments of the English
people, and immense numbers of tracts were circulated. Works
of fiction were frequently composed to inflame the public
mind, and at length the Pulpit took up the theme.  Numerous
Societies were formed to hasten on the Emancipation of the
Blacks in the West Indies; but soon this new-born philanthropy
took a wider field.  Branches of these Societies were established in other countries, more especially in the United States.
The Sunrday-schllools of New England were selected as the first
lever for effecting the Emancipation of the Blacks in the
Southern States. The leading minds of England began seriously to entertain the theory, and I believe your Lordship
and other prominent Statesmen were converts to it, that the
free Black would work as well as the free White, and that
what had been.true of Serf labor in England might be equally
true of Black labor everywhere.  Hence it was inferred that
the West Indies might become a thriving collection of free
Black Colonies, and that the market for British goods (John
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LLETT'ln-'~;    O  LOIl?D  PAIT,3LiiISTOX.
Bull never forgets profit in philanthropy) would soon exceed all
anticipation. It was thought that if the United States could
be brought to entertain the same conviction, our Southern
States would ere long be converted into a great free Black
cotton-growing country, whose alliance with England would
be all the closer from identity of interest and policy. But if
it should turn out otherwise, it was argued by the zealots of
that day, and the Northern States should adopt the new British
view of Emancipation, while the Southern States refused to
try the experiment, why, the worst that could happen would
be the dissolution of the Confederacy, which would relieve
England and Europe from any further dread of the Great
Republic.
Opinions so plausible as these soon took deep root in the
public mind, and the cause of manumission made rapid
strides. On May 15, 1823, Sir Fowel Buxton; the colleague
of Wilberforce, gave notice of a Bill to extinguish Slavery in
the West Indies, and Parliament, at once, decided that measures should be taken to ameliorate the moral condition of the
Blacks, so as to prepare them for freedom.
In a Circular of July 9, 1823, Lord Bathurst communicated
these resolutions of Parliament to the Colonists, and enjoined
them to conform thereto.  The intentions of the Government
filled the Planters with alarm, and awoke the liveliest resistance.  They declared their interests would not only be saerificed, but that the Colonies would be ruined, for they prononunced the theory of free Black labor a miserable delusion.
These remonstrances were unheeded.  As Soon as the Blacks
became aware of the designs of the Government, insurrections
began to break out, and there was danger of the horrors of
St. Domingo being renewed by  a general massacre of the
Whites. The Government, therefore, determined to press on
its scheme of Emancipation.  It began, in 1831, by decreeing
the freedom of the Slaves on all the Crown lands, against the
most energetic opposition of the Planters. Finally, in May,
1833, Lord Stanley brought in the Bill for the abolition of
Slavery. It was adopted by the Commons, June 12, 1833, and
25
I 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
by the Lords on the 25th of the same month, receiving the
sanction of the Crown, August 28, 1833.
The Bill provided, that all slaves six years old at the date
of August 1, 1834, should pass into the condition of Apprentices of three classes: 1st, Rural laborers attached to the soil;
2d, Rural laborers unattached; 3d, Laborers not rural. The
first two classes were to serve as Apprentices for six years, and
the last for four years.
The number of slaves was found to be 780,933, and their
value was taken to be the average of the sales from 1822 to
1830, or ~56 per head.  The average working time of a Black
was estimated at 8 years; and it was calculated, by giving the
Planter 4 and 6 years of his time, the Black paid four-sevenths
of his value in labor. The remaining three-sevenths, or ~25
per head, it was proposed to pay in money, and for this purpose ~20,000,000, or one hundred millions of dollars, was voted
by Parliament.   This well-intended combination, meant to
please everybody, ended by pleasing none.  The Black imurmured, and demanded instant freedom; and his forced; discontented labor was so unprofitable, that the Planters finally abandoned the remainder of the term.
Full soon the great fact became apparent, that the free Black
would not work at all. The boasted theory that flourishing
free Black Colonies would build up a vast market for British
goods was proved every year to be more and more fallacious.
As there was no industry in production, it followed there was
no market for consumption.  The natural, inherent indolence
of the Black could not be overcome for those rewards of industry which stimulate the White, but which experience shows
the Black does not appreciate.  When the demonstration became irresistible that the free Black could not be induced to
work, the British Government had to choose between the utter
ruin of the West India Colonies, or the creation of some new
kind of labor. Hence the origin of the present Coolie Trade.
The solicitations of the Planters became so pressing, that an
Order in Council was issued, Jan. 15, 1842 (only nine years
after Black Emancipation), which allowed the emigration of
26
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
East Indian Coolies (day-laborers), under certain Government
restrictions.  The Chinese Coolie Trade is in the hands of
Ship-owners, who employ Chinese contractors to collect these
miserable creatures, and ship them to Peru and Cuba under
circumstances of great barbarity. English vessels are chiefly
engaged in this traffic, the horrors of which fully equal, if they
do not exceed, those of the former Slave Trade.
I will not weary your Lordship with further details on this
subject. It is plain, however, that the Emancipationists of England have little, unhappily, to congratulate themselves upon in
the way of humanity, by substituting the present Coolie Trade for
the late Black Slave Trade.  One instance of many will suffice.
The British bark Gertrude arrived at HIavana, May 13, 1853.
She had started on her voyage with a cargo of 192 Coolies, and
of these 152 had died during the passage. I do not know if
the Coolies are insured now-a-days as the Blacks used to be,
else this extraordinary mortality might be suspected.  The
survivors, however, were sold for 7 years to the Planters, and
were turned, of course, into the Negro gangs, to be governed
by the same discipline. At the end of the term of 7 years, it
should be added, the Coolie is turned adrift to perish, or, if
still able to work, he is employed, like the Negroes, for a bare
subsistence. The Coolie Trade is not merely a revival of the
old Slave Trade, but something worse. The new treaty with
China makes the Coolie Trade, for the first time, legal.
The facts I have related, my Lord, have carried the conviction home to the minds of the practical men of England, that
free Black labor is a mere illusion!  Consequently, we find
the London Times, and other organs of public opinion, are beginning to admit, unreservedly, that Emancipation in the West
Indies was a failure and a mistake: that humanity has gained
nothing, while all other interests have lost.
The Manufacturers of Lancashire, too, are unable to conceal
their apprehensions at the spread of the exploded English theory
of free Black labor now entertained so generally in our Northern
States.  They feel their dependence increasing, every year on
our cotton crop of the South, and they naturally dread lest the
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LEITTER  TO LORD PALMERSTON.
tampering of the North with Black labor in the South may
lead, sooner or later, to irregular or diminished supplies of this
indispensable element of British Manufactures.
I will now proceed, my Lord, to consider Black Slavery in
the United States.
R  SUM P.
During 246 years, England derived vast commercial profits
from the African Slave Trade.
The Trade directly interested the shipping-merchants of
Liverpool, London,  and Bristol, and the manufacturers of
"coast goods," while the national wealth greatly increased
under the influx of West India productions.
The Trade was stopped only when larger benefits were
expected from free African colonies than from dealing in
Slaves.
Emancipation was, finally, determined on when free Black
colonies were supposed more advantageous than Slave colonies.
The theory of free Black colonies utterly failed, through the
inherent and incurable indolence of the Blacks.
The Abolition of the Slave Trade, and the Emancipation of
the Blacks in the West Indies, may have been inspired by
philanthropy, but the moral question was necessarily subsidiary to calculations of interest.
The failure of West India Emancipation is rapidly effecting
a change of opinion in the leading minds of England as to the
feasibility of free Black labor in the cotton-growing States of
America.
BLACK SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES.
From what I have already stated, it may be seen, nay Lord,
that during the colonial existence of this country, African
Slavery had been introduced and overspread its whole surface.
The Southern Colonies had, from the fertility of the soil and
the value of their productions, become the most profitable mart
28
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
for Black labor, but the influx gradually outstripped their productive powers, and began, as elsewhere, to inspire the leading
men of this section with serious alarm. They devised what
means they could to check it, but commercial rapacity eluded
or overpowered their remonistrances. While the Southern
Colonies were thus suffering, at this early date, both inconvenience and detriment from the Blacks who were forced upon
them, the Northern, or New England Colonies, were driving a
brisk and. profitable business upoii the solitary basis of the
African Slave Trade. The principal occupations of these
Colonies consisted of Commerce and the Fisheries.  The New
England ships made the voyage to England with tobacco, rice,
and other Southern products, and then took in British manufactures for the Gold Coast, which exchanging for Blacks, they
returned with them to the Southern Colonies, sold them, and
reloaded with tobacco, &c., for the North and Europe, as before, thus completing the round voyage. The fisheries employed a considerable number of persons, and the cured fish
found sale chiefly in the Catholic countries of Europe, mostly
in exchange for coin,> which was always in demand for England. Large quantities of these fish were sold in the West
Indies for sugar and molasses. The latter was distilled into
rum, which, in the changing character of the Slave Trade on
the Coast under the British governors, rapidly became a
favorite article of barter for Blacks, greatly to the dissatisfaction of the English manufacturers of coast-goods. Lord Sheffield, in his report to the Parliamentary Committee of 1777,
states, that " out of the Slavers which periodically left Boston,
thirteen of them were loaded with rum only, and that having
exchanged this for 2,888 Negroes with the governors of the
Gold Coast, they carried them thence to the Southern Colonies."
The same report mentions that during the three years ending
with 1770, New England had sent 270,147 gallons of rum to
the Gold Coast. Thus, from what I have stated, the startling
fact will be elicited, my Lord, that the Northern and Southern
* These were almost the only coins that circulated in those Colonies at that time,
and consisted of Joes, nlalf-Joes, Pistoles, &c.
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29
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Colonies, long before the breaking out of the Revolutionary
War, were engaged in a lively controversy on the subject of
slavery; the South resisting the excessive flow of Blacks into
their section, and New England persisting in the importation
for the profits of the trade. The South was anxious to stop
the Slave Trade and manumnit their Blacks, but New Eng land, like the Mother Country, was not disposed to listen to
them, and abandon so lucrative a traffic.
Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia,'seems to have been one of the
most earnest advocates of the Southern sentiment. In 1777, be ing then a member of the Virginia Legislature, hlie brought in
a bill which became a law, "to prevent the importation of
slaves." He also proposed a system of general emancipation,
as a preliminary to which he introduced a bill to authorize
manumission, and this became a Law. In these efforts he had
the support and sympathy of the Slaveholding States who
were overrun with slaves, that returned no adequate remuneration. At this period their numbers reached some 600,000,
a part of whom were employed in raising tobacco and rice.
The majority of them, however, were occupied in domestic
farm-labor, producing no exportable values. Hence there was
no profit in slavery at the South, while at the North it was
even a greater burden.  Massachusetts found it so unproductive that, in 1780, she abolished it in her own borders, but
she did not cease for that reason to force it, by her importations, on the South.
In the Congress of the Confederation, the views of the North
and South on the subject of slavery, founded on interests so
antagonistic, frequently came into collision. It was at this
epoch, too, that Virginia, Georgia, and other Southern States,
ceded to the Federal Government, for the common benefit of
all the States, their immense Western territories.* All the
States were then Slaveholding, and the idea that a man could
not hold his slaves in any part of the territory of the United
States, had never yet been broached. On the contrary, the
right to carry them everywhere was undoubted. The policy of
* The State of Virginia, March, 1784, ceded the territory north of the Ohio, on the
I310 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Virginia, however, was manumnission; and iMr. Jeffeison, in
1784, prepared in the Congress of the Coni'ederatioii  a clause
preventing slaves being carried into the said territories ceded
to the United States, north of the Ohio river. This was a part
of the Southern scheme of manumission, which was meant as
a check to the trading in Negro-slaves, carried on by M\lassachusetts with unabated activity. This clause did not pass at
the time, but, in 1787, it was renewed by Nathan Dane in the
Federal Convention.  The clause enjoinling the restitution of
fugitive slaves was then added, and it passed unanimously.
By an unanimous vote it became a vital part of the Federal
Constitution, and without it this compact could never have gone
into effect. The Slave Trade carried on by the North became,
also, the theme of much sharp discussion in the Convention.
The Northl was not disposed, of course, to give it up, but with
the Sonth it had become an intolerable grievance.  They had
long and earnestly protested against it when carried on by the
Mother Country, but their minds were now made up to break
with the North rather than submit further to this traffic. The
North then demanded compensation for the loss of this very
thriving trade, and the South readily conceded it by granting
them the monopoly of the coasting and carrying trade against
all foreign tonnage. In this way it was settled that the Slave
Trade should be abolished after 1808.* Without this important
condition that it be divided into not more than five, and not less than three States.
Out of this territory was formed     Ohio,       Nov., 1802 
lldiana,   April, 1816
Illinois,    Dec.,  1818    North of the Ohio land ceded by Virginia.
Michigan,  Feb.,  1833                           land ceded by Vrga.
Wisconsin, Jan.,  1838 
Kentucky, June, 1791....South of the Ohio 
The Tennessee land was ceded by N. Carolina.
Mississippi      "        "       S. Carolina.
Alabama          "         "       S. Carolina and Georgia.
* In corroboration of the above, I append the following extract from the sermon
of Rev. Dr. N. Adams, of the Essex-street church, Boston, delivered on Fast Day,
January 4, 1861:
"We at the North are certainly responsible lefore God for the existence of slavery
In our land.  The Committee of the Convention which  framed the Constitution of
the United States consisted of Messrs. Rutledge of South Carolina, Randolph of Vir
I
31
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Ll'ETThEI' TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
clause, the South would never have consented to enter into a
Confederacy with the North.  The Federal Constitution, with
these essential clauses, having passed into operation, it became,
henceforth, a certainty that the Slave Trade would finally ex pire in the United States at the close of 1808. This left it
still a duration of nineteen years, and the North seemed deter ilined to reap the utmost possible advantage from the time
lremaining. The Duke de Rochefoucault-Liancourt, in his work
on the United States, 1795, states, that "Twenty vessels firom
the harbors of the North are engaged in the importation of
slaves into Georgia; they ship one lNegro for every ton burden."  Thus we see, my Lord, that while New England was
vigorously engaged in buying and selling Negro-slaves, Virgillia, on the other hand, was steadfastly pursuing her theory
of manumission.
In 1793, Congress, on the recommendation  of President
Washington, passed an act to put in force the clause of the
Constitution enjoining the restoration of fugitive slaves.  It
seems evident they were regarded by the Constitution in the
light of Property only. It likewise provided for taxing them,
and ordained that three-fifths of their numnber shoulld be a basis
of representation. This was, certainly, the view takenii by the
framers of the Constitution, in their intercourse with foreign
nations.   John Adams,  afterwards  President, and  Doctor
Franklin signed, in 1783, the Treaty of Peace with Great
Britain, which contained provision for payment of "Slaves and
other Property" carried away during the War. These Treaties
were examined and approved by the Government, composed
ginia, and three from Free States, viz., Messrs. Wilson of Pennsylvania, Gorham of
Massachusetts, and Ellsworth of Connecticut. They reported as a section for the
Constitution, that no tax or other duty should he laid on the migration or importation of such persons as the several States shoutld think proper to admit; not that
such migration or importation should be prohibited. This was referred by the Convention to a committee, a majority of whom being from the Slave States, they reported that the Slave Trade be abolished after 1800, and that a tax he levied on
imported slaves.  But in the Convention, the Free States of Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and Connecticut, voted to extend the trade eight years, and it was accor,lingly done; by means of which it is estimated there are now at least three
hundred thousand more slaves in the country than there would otherwise have been."
32
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
also of the very men who had taken the leading part in draft.
ing the Constitution. In the Treaty of Peace at Ghent, in
1815, the same clause recurred, and the British Government
paid a million and a half of dollars for Slaves that had been
carried off by the enemy.  The accounts of Hon. Richard
PRush, when Secretary of the Treasury, contain the various
sums paid by the United States Government to the "Owners
of Slaves and other Property."  Our Government has also
made frequent demands for the payment of Slave-property
since the Peace.  I remember that while I was an  attache to
our Legation in London, some twenty years since, the American M[inister, Mr. Andrew Stevenson, conducted a negotiation
with your Lordship, then Foreign Secretary, for the payment
of sundry slaves that had been cast ashore from wrecked
American vessels, and set free by the Authorities of Bermuda.
The demand was finally acknowledged, and the sum of
~23,500 was paid as an indemnity. In a word, the action of
the Federal Government has been uniform and consistent in
asserting and protecting the rights of our Slave-owners against
all Foreign Powers. The right to this Property has been just
as positively recognized in our domestic relations. In all the
State Conventions held to discuss the Federal Constitution
prior to adopting it, the right of property in slaves was never
contested.  The law at that time for recovering that property,
was of a summary nature. The owner might seize his property
wherever he found it, and on making an affidavit before a
Federal Judge, a warrant was issued for the removal of it.
There was no provision for trial by jury, or for writ of labeas8
Coipus, which would be indispensable if Black Slaves were
considered as Persons.
In 1797, John Adams, who signed the Treaty of Peace, and
was the leader of the New England or Federal Party, succeeded
Washington in the Presidential chair.  At this period, the
Slavery question was frequently agitated by the Democratic
party of the South, with a view to its modification. In 1S800,
Jan. 2, Mr. Waln, of Philadelphia, presented a petition to
Congress, firom the free Blacks of Philadelphia, praying for a
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LETTER TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
revision of the Fugitive Slave Law.  On this occasion, Mr.
Iharrison Gray Otis, a leader of the Federal party, thus expressed himself: "Although he possessed no slaves himself,"
he said, "yet he saw no reason why others might not; and that
their owners, and not Congress, were the fittest persons to regulate that 8s)ecies of property."  Mlr. Brown, of Rhode Island,
on the same occasion, declared "that the petition was not from
Negroes, but was the contrivance of a combination of Jacobins
(meaning the Democratic party), who had troubled Congress
for many years, and he feared would never cease to do so. lHe
therefore moved that the petition be taken away by those who
had brought it there." The motion being supported by Messrs.
Gallatin, Dana, and other Northern members, the petition was
withdrawn.  In this debate, the Northern members who represented the Slave-trading interests, naturally adhered to the
Property in Blacks, although the new doctrine of the British
Abolitionists began to make converts in this country, outside
of the body of Quakers, who had always opposed slavery.
It may be as well to remark here, my Lord, that it does not
appear any laws were ever enacted in Great Britain, authorizing the trading in, or possession of Black Slaves as Property.
Nevertheless, that they were so regarded, is evident fi'om the
opinion of the Eleven Crown Judges, given in pursuance of an
Order in Council, and in consequence of which the Navigation
Act was extended to the Slave Trade, to the exclusion of
Aliens. The laws by which England allowed the holding of
slaves, extended, of course, to the Colonies; and all those of
North America held slaves, without any special enactments for
that purpose. The right was inherent, like that to any property; and when the separation of the Colonies from the Mother
Country took place, that legal right, like the Common Law of
England, survived the Revolution, and remained in force in all
parts of the country. It may seem, to your Lordship, unnecessary to dwell so emphatically on this point; but it is the very
pivot of the dispute now raging in the United States. It is
claimed by the Anti-slavery party that slavery exists by local
law only, and cannot exist out of the State sanctioning it.
34 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Whereas, it is maintained by their opponents that it originally
existed all over the land, whether as Colonies, or States, and
that it required a special law to exclude it. This fact is beyond cavil.*  It should be also recollected that the Spanish
and French Colonies, that afterwards became a part of the
United States, derived the right to hold slaves from the head
of the Church, as well as from the State.
To return to the record of events. During Mr. Jefferson's
first term of office, the State of Virginia proposed to the Federal Government that the proceeds of the public lands that
had been ceded to it should be appropriated to the manumission and removal of slaves, with the sanction of the respective
States. This movement was not successful.
It is necessary to notice two very important events that
occurred during the Administration of Mr. Jefferson, which
wholly changed the destiny of Black Slavery in the United
States. The first was the invention of the Cotton-gin,t which
gave great additional value to this staple, and hence opened a
broader field to the employment of the Blacks. The next was
the purchase of Louisiana, which added new and valuable territory to the South and its special products. These two events
revolutionized completely the value of Slave labor at the
South, and the Blacks, instead of continuing a burden as hitherto, became henceforward a source of profit. It followed, of
course, that the Slaveholders, instead of seeking, as formerly, to
get rid of this kind of property, began to show an anxious
desire for its preservation. On the other hand, the approaching termination of the Slave Trade, which had profitably
employed for so many years the commercial interests of New
England, rendered that section not only indifferent to the
* Among other Authorities on this vexed question of the day, may be cited that
of Chief-justice Parker, of Massachusetts, the leading Abolition State. In 2 Pickering, he says: "We thus, in making the Constitution, entered into an agreement
that slaves should be considered as property," &c., &c., &c.
t This admirable machine for separating the seed from the cotton with extreme
celerity, was the invention of Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts. It is strange that it
was the mechanical genius of a New Englander that alone prevented the abolition of
slavery long since by the South.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
prolongation of slavery, but even, out of chagrin from having
been forced by the opposition of the South to give it up, they
began to nourish a species of spite against it, and which has
since manifested itself with uninterrupted bitterness, till, at
last, it is bringing the Confederacy to the verge of a final dis solution. Thus we see, my Lord, not only a singular and sud den revulsion of opinion on the subject of slavery in the South
and North at the epoch in question, but that in both cases it
was dictated by a vital change in their material interests. It
appears, then, that mere humanity had nothing to do with the
South trying to get rid of slavery, or with the North beginning
to oppose it. They were both governed by the same motive
of self-interest that had for so long a time stimulated England,
first to carry on the Slave Trade, and next to emancipate her
Blacks.
The cotton culture now began to develop its influence on
the Blacks. Instead of complaints of a vast surplus of hands,
there was very soon talk of a scarcity; and year by year the
number of bales of cotton raised per head of the Blacks, has
increased, until the proportion has reached one and a quarter
bales each hand, against one bale for every twenty-four Blacks,
sixty years ago. The price of the Blacks has accordingly risen
from $250 to $1,500 for good field-hands. The increase has
been confined to natural laws since the Abolition of the Trade,
in 1808.
The cessation of the Slave Trade, and the purchase of Louisiana, both of which were so distasteful to the North, were followed, unfortunately, as already stated, by the Embargo Act,
in Mr. Jefferson's Administration; and all this together, gave
nearly a quietus to the commercial interests of New England.
The exasperation which followed these measures, that seemed
to threaten ruin to this section, led shortly to a desire to break
up the Confederacy. InI February, 1809, the Governor-general
of Canada, Craig, deputed his agent, John Henry, to go to Boston and treat with the leading Federalists there; and by the
arrangement then made, Massachusetts was to declare itself
independent, and invite a Congress to erect a separate Gov
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
emrnment. Mr. John Q. Adams, Ex-President, in a letter to
Mr. Otis, 1828, states that the plan had been so far matured,
that proposals had been made to a certain individual to put
himself  at the head  of the military organization.   These
schemes went on until they resulted in the Hartford Convention, S1814, where the subject of a Northern Confederacy, in all
its bearings, underwent discussion.  The sentiment of the
North at that time may be seen in the party cry: "The Potomac for a boundary-The Negro States to themselves." This
was the favorite phrase of the day all over the Eastern States,
and the Secession movement now going on in the South, was
not more popular or more seriously resolved on. The Peace
with Great Britain soon afterwards occurred, and the stimulus
this gave to business of all kinds, together with the conciliatory conduct, as stated, of Mr. Calhoun of South Carolina,
diverted New England from her resolute menace to break up
the TUnTion.
While this irritation was still lingering in the Northern
mind, a bill was introduced into Congress, 1818, to authorize
the people of Missouri to form a Constitution, preparatory
to admission into the Union.   This territory was a portion
of that same Louisiana whose purchase had been so vehemently resisted by New England. During its ownership
by Spain, and afterwards by France, slavery had existed in
the whole of this territory, and it remained undisturbed after
its purchase by the United States; nevertheless its admission
into the Union as a Slave State, was violently opposed by the
Eastern States. An ardent political struggle ensued, that
threatened the safety of the Confederacy, but which was,
finally, allayed by admitting Missouri as a Slave State, but on
the condition that no more Slave States should exist north of
the 36~ 30' parallel of latitude. This is the well-known Missouri Compromise. It was at this time, also, that the Slave
Trade was declared to be Piracy, and punishable with death.
Meanwhile, slavery had become so manifestly unprofitable
at the North, that most of these States abolished it.  New
York did so in 1826, and many other States, even Delaware,
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Maryland, and Virginia, were moving in the same direction.
New Jersey, Ohio, and Delaware passed resolutions desiring
Congress to appropriate the proceeds of the Public Lands to
the manumission of slaves, with the consent of the Slave
States.  In 1825, Rufus King, of New York, made the same
proposition in Congress, where it had been originally introduced
by Virginia. At this period, in the Southern States the utmost
favor was extended to Emancipation. Societies for this pur pose were formed to co-operate with the Colonization Society,
then in full vigor, and whose object was to free Blacks and
transport them to Liberia.  In March, 1825, Virginia passed
an act to furnish the Colonists in Liberia, under the direction
of the "Richmond and Manchester (England) Colonization
Society," with implements of husbandry, clothing, &c. The
emancipation of Blacks to be sent to Liberia, were frequent all
over  the Southern States, and on a liberal scale.  Alabama,
Louisiana, and Missouri passed laws prohibiting slaves to be
brought within their borders for sale, and further enacting that
those brought in by settlers should not be sold under two
years.
The sentiment of Emancipation was making steady progress;
but unfortunately, at the same time, a decided repugnance
to free Blacks began to manifest itself. Ohio, Illinois, and
other Northwestern States forbade by law free Blacks
coming into the State, under any pretence; and a white person who brought one in, was required to give bonds in $500.
They were not regarded as citizens of the United States, and
fromn their idle habits, were considered as a nuisance everywhere. The Southern States also enacted that free Blacks
arriving there as seamen, should be under surveillance while in
port. In consequence of this general antipathy to free Blacks,
and in view of the difficulty of deporting them, Mr. Tucker, of
Virginia, proposed in Congress, 1825, to set off the territory
west of the Rocky Mountains as a Colony for free Blacks.
This judicious effort failed; but all the leading statesmen of
the South, Mr. Mangum, Mr. MecDuffie, &c., urged the adoption of some scheme of emancipation.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Up to this period, the Emancipation and Colonization scheme
had been gradual, progressive, and beneficial. It had been
conducted on wise as well as Christian principles, and certainly
with the best results.  The organ of this practical enterprise
was published at Baltimore, under the title of the " Genius of
Universal Gradual Emancipation."
About this time, unhappily, a new movement was initiated
in New England. The doctrine of Abolition was then at the
zenith of its popularity in England, where it was already proposed to transplant it to our Southern States, which would then
be converted into a great free Black cotton-growinig country.
This utterly impracticable idea was seized upon by various individuals of the New England States, who forthwith began to
sow the seeds of agitation. It is impossible to attribute to them
any very philanthropic motive; for only twenty years had
elapsed since Massachusetts had been forced to give up her
slave-trading, and it is not at all credible that the tastes thus
acquired should, in so short a time, have been supplanted by
so ardent a love for the Negro of the South as to desire his
manumission at the risk of breaking up the Confederacy.  No,
my Lord, it really looks more like the renewed expression of
that old grudge which the Eastern States have for so many
years nourished against the South.
Be that as it may, it was in 1828 that a Mr. Arthur
Tappan  subscribed, with  the aid of  friends  in Boston,
sufficient funds to establish a newspaper in New York, called
the "Journal of Commerce," whose object was to promote
the borrowed English theory of Abolition.* Its Editor was
a certain David IIale, an auctioneer of Boston, and a
teacher in the Presbyterian Sunday-school there.   At the
same juncture, the Baltimore  "Genius  of Emancipation"
fell into the hands of another Abolitionist, named W. Lloyd
Garrison. This individual was the grandson of what was
known as a "Tory" during our RPevolutionary War, and who,
at the Peace, was compelled to fly the country to Nova Scotia,
* This Journal has long since abandoned its original tenets, and is now a conspicuous stickler for the rights of the South.
39 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
whence his widowed daughter and her only son returned, some
years after, to Boston, to seek a livelihood.  The young Garri son readily caught uLp the doctrine of Abolition, as most con genial to his English antecedents and education, and set to
work with baleful energy to urge its propagation, fraught with
so many dangers to the country of his adoption. On assuming
the editorship of the Baltimore paper, lie instantly assailed
both Colonization and Emancipation as only obstructions to
Abolition, and openly avowed that the Union of the States was
equally an obstacle to Abolition. By some it was supposed
that this treasonable denunciation of the Union was out of
deference to the memory of his Tory grandfather, who had
done all he could to prevent it.
It may easily be imagined that the startling proclamation of
such ultra views as these, led rapidly to a complete revolution
of feeling at the South. The excitement against Garrison
spread far and wide.  The Manumission Society of North
Carolina denlanded his imprisonment, and the State of Georgia
set a price upon his head. The emancipation societies at the
South began to suspend their operations and to break up.
The Baltimore journal mentioned, it was necessary to suppress.
The people of the South generally, becoming more and more
alarmed at the aggressive attitude of the Abolitionists, began
to ponder over some means of defence.
In the year 1830, the same Garrison founded a new journal
in Boston, called "The Liberator," whence he propounded his
extreme views in the most extravagant language. In the following year, the " New England Anti-slavery Society" was
formed.  This was followed in due course by the "American
Anti-slavery Society," under the leadership of Messrs. Garrison, Tappan, and Birney. The SunTday-schools of the Eastern
States became active coadjutors in the same cause. These
societies adopted precisely the same tactics as their British
prototypes.  They circulated tracts and books, full of inflammatory appeals.  Highly-colored engravings too, representing
the Black undergoing every kind of torture, were distributed
for those who could not read.  These were meant more espe
40
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
cially to excite the Blacks at the South, and were sent through
the mails. These proceedings were considered, at the time, so
dangerous to the peace of the community and to the integrity
of the Union, that popular indignation frequently broke out
into riot.  In New York, in 1832, the dwelling of Arthur
Tappan and the church of Dr. Cox were both demolished by
a mob. Many influential citizens sanctioned these violent
demonstrations of public feeling, and the well-known Editor
of the "Courier and Enquirer,"  Mr. James Watson Webb,
boasted of his share in this rude vindication of Southern
rights.*
The Abolitionists of Boston, meanwhile, continued their
operations with all the ardor of their puritanical descent.
Garrison was sent to England, to obtain funds, by the Antislavery Societies; and in 1834: he returned home with Mr.
George Thompson, a member of Parliament at that time, and
an Abolition lecturer. This led to so violent an outcry, that
Thompson, alarmed for his safety, went  back to England.
A new mode of excitement was then devised by the Abolitionists, who got up a clamor against South Carolina for detaining
free Blacks who came into her ports. Massachusetts claimed
that free Blacks were her citizens, and that as such they had a
right to go to South Carolina; but as she made no complaint
against Ohio, Illinois, and other States who also excluded free
Blacks, it was evident that she sought a quarrel with South
Carolina, for the very purpose of spreading the Abolition
infection.
A Mr. Hioar was sent by Massachusetts as an agent to
Charleston to make a formal complaint of her alleged grievance, and, as was anticipated, Mr. Hoar was summarily dismissed. Upon this the Abolitionists professed great indignation, and the Legislature was appealed to for a measure of
retaliation, which was soon got up under the title of a
"Personal Liberty Bill," which was designed, under a transparent plea, to obstruct the restoration of fugitive Blacks.
* This gentleman has since changed his ground, and is now a prominent leader of
the Anti-slavery party.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
I should not forget here to remark, my Lord, that up to this
time, Abolition had been discussed merely as a moral question,
but the agitation had gained such strength among its unsuspecting converts, that it was thought high time by its designing leaders to carry it into the political arena, where they anticipated making it a stepping-stone to power and emolument.
It will be seen in the sequel, that these ingenious schemers
were doomed to disappointment, and that the spolict, optima of
the agitation they began, were destined to be gathered by the
hand of the professional politician, leaving but "a barren
sceptre in their gripe."
In 1838, the Abolition party was too weak and too ignorant
of political strategy to dare to take the field in person, therefore, they began coquetting with the prominent politicians of
the day.  lMr. Marcy and Mr. Seward were, at that time, the
candidates of the two rival parties for Governor of the State of
New York, and perhaps the two most influential men of the
North.  The occasion was thoughit opportune by Messrs. Smith
and Jay, the New York sponsors for the untoward bantling of
Abolition, to put these gentlemen to the test. It happened
that there existed a statute in New York, called the "Sojournment Law," which allowed a Slaveholder to bring his Black
servants with him, and remain there nine months, without
prejudice to his rights; for it had been decided in the Federal
Courts that a slave taken voluntarily into a Free State, could
not be recovered. When Mr. Seward was interrogated in
relation to this law, he sustained it as "a becoming act of hospitality to Southern visitors."  Mr.  Marcy made  no reply.
Mr. Seward, however, changed his views afterwards on this
subject, and refused, in 1840, while Governor, to restore a fuigitive slave, on the requisition of Virginia.
The evil results of this sectional issue were foreseen by many
States; and among others Ohio, in 1840, passed resolutions in
her Legislature to the effect that " Slavery was an institution
recognized by the Constitution," and that " the unlawful, unwise,
and unconstitutional interference of the fanatical Abolitionists
of the North with the institutions of the South, were highly
42
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
criminal."  It may be supposed that the violent proceedings
of the Northern Abolitionists did not escape the attention of
the South, where they created not only alarm, but aroused a
deep and natural feeling of indignation. The change of sentimient that had occurred, may be seen in an act of the State of
Alabama, to the effect that " all free Blacks remaining in the
State after August 1, 1840, should be enslaved."
At the very close of 1839, a handful of Abolitionists met in
Warsaw, N. Y., and decided formally to transform their doctrine from a moral into a political question; and they set to
work at once, on a political organization. Determined to
eschew any affiliation with the parties of the day, they selected
one of their own band, Mr. Birney, as a candidate for the
Presidency of the United States. It was now evident to all
dispassionate observers, that the motives of the founders of
Abolition were not so much the emancipation of the Blacks, as
their own elevation to place and power.  It is clear enough the
North regarded them with just suspicion at that day, for in
the Federal election of 1840, Birney received but 7,000 votes.
The agitation of the Slavery question received a new stimulus at this period, from the discussions awakened by the revolt
of Texas. This fine country had once formed part of Louisiana,
but was ceded by France to Spain, and then became a part of
Mexico. In 1836, an insurrection, headed by Americans, broke
out, and was soon followed by the independence of Texas.
Speculations now ran high in the price of her lands, and the
project was broached of reannexing her to the United States.
The celebrated Daniel Webster, among others, favored this
scheme; but he was afterwards induced to change his views
and oppose it. Just as in.the case of Louisiana, in 1805, the
New England States resisted the Annexation of Texas, during
the Presidency of Mr. Tyler, on the same pretext of extending
slavery, but on the real ground of jealousy of the South. The
leading politicians of the day were sorely embarrassed whether
to support Annexation or not; and by opposing it, Mr. Clay
lost his election in 1844, and for the same reason, Mr. Van
Buren failed to obtain his renomination by the I)emocratic
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
party. The difficulty was terminated by the admission of
Texas, March 3, 1845, but on the agreement that four States
should be formed out of the territory, besides the one existing,
and that the States so formed south of the line 36~ 30' should
be admitted with or without Slavery, as their inhabitants
should decide, but that Slavery should not exist north of that
line.
A temporary lull followed; but the Slavery question was
soon again evoked, to gratify a political grudge. The rejection
of Mr. Van Buren as the Democratic candidate in 1844, bv
Southern influence, in consequence of his opposition to Texas,
led him, from motives of irritation, to raise up a new party in
New York, on the cry of "Free Soil, or no more Slave States."
This act was a violation of the agreement made with the South
on the admission of Texas, and was frowned upon by the
Democratic party; but the issue started by Mr. Van Buren
was successful enough to divide the party in the State of New
York, and to give the election to the Northern party. As a
matter of course, this incensed and alarmed the South, who
were, at last, pacified by the Compromise measures of 1850,
which, however, were stoutly opposed by MIr. W. H. Seward,
who had become already the chosen and able representative of
the Anti-slavery sentiments of the North.
I may as well observe here, my Lord, what I have already
stated elsewhere, that the politicians of the North, unfortunately, found themselves in the sad predicament of having
no political principles to advocate. The settlement of the
Tariff question in'46, on the demand of the commercial interests of the North, left them wholly destitute of any policy by
which they might hope to ride into power. Under these circunmstances, it was natural they should follow with a wistful
eye the labors of the Abolitionists, who had certainly succeeded
in working up the feelings of the North to a lively pitch of
excitement on Southern Slavery. They were not, of course,
disposed to borrow the extreme views of these zealots, which
were wholly incompatible with the existence of the Union;
but they thought they might venture to utilize to their advan
44
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LETTIER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
tage the Anti-slavery sentiments that had been so skilfully
aroused. They set about this very adroitly by raising a cry
against extending slave territory, which, it was supposed,
would please the susceptibilities of the North and not too
much exasperate the South. Thus we find that eminent politician, Mr. Seward, already at work in 1850, sowing the seeds
of the new Anti-slavery party of the North, by opposing the
healing policy of Mr. Clay, onil the ground of its fostering slavery and increasing its area.
One of the prominent measures of the Compromise of 1850,
was the new Fugitive Slave Law, which Daniel Webster declared to be far more favorable to the Blacks than that recommended by Washington, in 1787.  Yet it was seized upon by
the cunning of the Anti-slavery politicians to keep up the subsiding agitation, and several of the Legislatures of the Northern States were induced to pass "Personal Liberty Bills," in
imitation of the example set by Massachusetts.
I must not omit to remark that the Abolitionists still kept
on the even tenor of their way, and were as active as ever in
promulgating their impracticable theory by secretly circulating
tracts, books, and pictures, harping on slavery and all its
fancied horrors. They still kept possession of the political
field, and still hoped to make a ladder of their hobby by which
to ascend to power. In 1852, they dropped Mr. Birney, and
selected for their Presidential candidate Mr. Hale, of New
IIampshire. ile received 157,000 votes, against the 7,000
thrown for Birney, in 1840.
Among other ingenious modes of excitement, a discussion
was regularly kept alive at the North as to the citizenship of
free Blacks.  Several States bestowed the suffrage upon them,
as a practical proof of their right to rank as citizens. This
controversy was rather inflamed than otherwise, by a decision
of the Federal Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, 1853,
which settled that no Blacks are citizens of the United States.
In 1854, the Slavery question reappeared in Congress, and the
action of the North and South on this occasion was pregnant
with serious consequences. Two new territories of the West
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LETRTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
were pronounced sufficiently occupied to render legislation
necessary, and a bill to create a territorial government in
Kansas and Nebraska, was reported by Mr. Douglas, of Illinois. His bill contained a clause to repeal the famous Missouri line of 36~ 30', running south of the territories in question. This line was the basis of compromise in 1820, and was
again a means of adjusting the dispute that arose on the admission of Texas, in 1845.  The constitutionality of this line
was, however, more than doubtful, for the reason that Congress
never had any power conferred on it by the Constitution to
legislate on slavery; nor was it at all necessary, since individual States could retain or exclude slavery, according to their
pleasure. Besides, the line in question was really a nullity,
because slavery was so unprofitable to the north of it that it
would never be carried there. It was only to the south of this
line that the cotton culture made slavery a profit and a necessity. iHence the South made no objection to its repeal, in
1854; but it is difficult to perceive what motive Mr. Douglas
could have had in proposing this repeal, unless it was merely
to fan the glowing embers of the Slavery question.
No sooner was this Missouri line revoked, than a prompt
and significant movement was made in the New England
States. Emigrant Aid Societies were formed, as already mentioned; and settlers for Kansas, one of the territories just
organized, were lustily summoned as recruits in the new
crusade against slavery, and funds in the way of bounty were
liberally distributed.  This unusual means to stimulate emigration was designed to secure Kansas as a Free State, by
obtaining a majority for the  Northern people.   Such  an
attempt, made with demonstrations of vehement hostility to
the South, was sure to provoke anger and resistance. This, of
course, was calculated upon by the Anti-slavery propaganda,
and they were not disappointed. The Slave State of Missouri,
directly adjoining Kansas, was not disposed to be forestalled,
and, as it were, forced out of their legal share to territory in
such close proximity; so they did their best to encourage emigration too, but the Slaveholders were naturally chary to carry
46
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
their Blacks with them, as they were sure to be tempted away.
As a matter of course, it was impossible for the people of the
two opposite sections, in their intemperate state of mind, to
live long in peace together. Collisions occurred, and occasional
loss of life ensued.  The Abolitionists were eagerly waiting for
some such news as this, for it was rightly anticipated that a
conflict,. sooner or later, was inevitable.
When the looked-for intelligence at last arrived, a wild and
furious shriek for " bleeding Kansas" vibrated in a thousand
echoes through all the valleys of New England. The organs
of the Abolitionists teemed with the most discordant appeals
to the passions of the people, and nothing but imprecations of
the mnost startling description were launched against the
"Border Ruffians," as the settlers from Missouri were forthwith
chlristened. Public meetings were called in the Eastern States,
and the Pulpit soon became a rostrum for clerical agitators.
Subscriptions were rapidly set on foot to buy arms and ammunition for the sacred defenders of Anti-slavery in Kansas, whose
brows were encircled with the halo of martyrdom.  Speculators
in "Sharpe's rifles" joined in the well-sustained chorus of the
Abolitionists, and a considerable profit was the result.  At a
public meeting in New Haven, a well-known Abolitionist,
Rev. IT. Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn, and brother of the
authoress of" Uncele Tom's Cabin," aided by his presence and
language to swell the clamor fast rising in the North.  He desired his name to be subscribed for "twenty-five Sharpe's
rifles," and announced he would collect the money to pay for
them in his church the following Sabbath, which was done.
Your Lordship may readily infer that such ingenious modes
as these, and so skilfully handled, could not fail to excite the
sympathies and stir the passions of any community.  Ever
since 1828, the Abolition party had been laboriously engaged
in sapping the mind of the North on the subject of Black
Slavery; nor must it be forgotten that they appealed to something more than its philanthropy, when they raised the cry of
"No more Slave Territory," which simply meant that all that
vast extent of country stretching from the Mississippi to the
4 iT
I
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LETTEP, TO LORD PALI{ERSTON.
Rocky Mountains, should be given up to Northern emigration.
It was natural, certainly, that so palatable a doctrine should be
acceptable at the North; but just as natural that it should be
unwelcome at the South, whose equal claims were so unceremoniously ignored.
The harvest so industriously tilled by the Abolitionists, was
now ripe; and the leaders of the old Whlig, or Northern party,
experienced, astute, and with an organization extending over
the entire North, stepped forward, and brushing from their
path the noisy fanatics who had sown the seed, they gathered
for their own garners the luxuriant crop of Anti-slavery sentiment now sprouting all over the North.  They met in convention in Philadelphia, June, 1856, and unfurling the flag of the
" Republican Party," made, for the first time, a sectional issue
the basis of party action.  They selected for their Presidential
candidate Mr. John C. Fremnont, most reputably known in the
country as an officer of the army, but without any political antecedents. It was thought judicious not to nominate a politician
too closely identified with the Anti-slavery movement, lest the
possible consequences might alarm the "sober second thought"
of the North.  Thus accoutred, the Republican party went to
the polls, November, 1856, and brought off a vote of 1,334,553.
They were defeated by the Democratic party, which was now
the only link between North and South; but the PRepublican
leaders felt quite sanguine that, with the tactics their experience would suggest, they would carry off the Presidential prize
in 1860. It was thus that the moral question as to the sin of
slavery, borrowed from England by our Abolitionists, and
kept alive by their address till the North was thoroughly
infected by it, was, at last, converted into a political question
and made a party issue.
It is hardly necessary to hint to a veteran like your Lordshlip, that the Republican politicians had not the remotest idea
of interfering with slavery, if they could help it; but they,
doubtless, felt a dread lest the Northern masses, who had conscientiously imbibed the Anti-slavery poison, might force them
reluctantly to carry their unconstitutional theories into legisla
48
i 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
tion. It is certain they had their misgivings, but there was no
alternative. Without a principle or a measure to brandish
against their political opponents, there was nothing but to
abandon the hope of office, or to do battle with the dangerous
arm they had taken from the hands of the Abolitionists.  Unfortunately, ambition outweighed patriotism; and during the
four years just elapsed, the country has been distracted with
the din of the Anti-slavery propaganda. Orators, writers,
lecturers, and preachers have all joined in the mel,ee, and their
united efforts were directed to the apotheosis of the Negro and
the excommunication of the luckless Slaveholder.   Every
church, public hall, and hustings through the North, has
rung with anathemas against the vilified SoQuth; and it is not
strange, therefore, that people accustomed to this unbroken
strain of vituperation, should begin to believe, at last, that
slavery was quite as hideous as it was painted.
In October, 1859, an event occurred which amazed the whole
country. I allude to the invasion of the State of Virginia by
John Brown and his retinue of a dozen men, which, doubtless,
your Lordship remembers. This man Brown, it appears, had
figured in "bleeding Kansas" as a daring ringleader of the
Anti-slavery bands that had contended for the mastery there.
When these bloody contests subsided, he was reduced to inaction; and he chafed at the loss of the stern excitement congenial to his fierce nature. Whether it was fanaticism, or ambition that inspired him, no one can say; but he conceived the
horrible project of setting on foot a servile insurrection that
would, if successful, have given the whole South up to rapine
and murder. Followed by a handful of desperate men, hlie suddenly entered the State of Virginia, seized the arsenal of the
Federal Government to obtain the arms he needed, and raised
the cry of "Freedom to Slaves." To his astonishment, no doubt,
the affrighlited Blacks ran to their masters for protection, and
some were shot in seeking to escape. This nefarious attempt
was quelled by the arrest of Brown and his confederates, and
their subsequent trial and execution.
One thing was proved by the utter failure of this daring
4
49 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
outrage, for it showed that the Blacks were contented with
their homes, and desired not the emancipation of the sword.
Another thing, if not quite so clear, at least looked ominous.
This madman, Brown, had been known as an efficient instrument in the hands of the Anti-slavery party of New England;
and it was, therefore, a matter of conjecture at the South how
far he was incited to this fearful attempt against their very existence. Ilad they not some reason to think the act met the
approval of the Abolitionists of the North, when 300 bells
tolled for the fate of Brown, and when the organs of the party
honored his memory while affecting to disapprove his conduct?
Your Lordship can readily imagine this event sank deep into
the mind and heart of the Southern States. They were led to
believe, for the first time, that the ultra wing of the Republican
.party contemplated the confiscation of their property and the
destruction of their lives.
While a prey to these sad forebodings, another incident
occurred in the summer of 1860, which deepened their conviction that the Northern States had entered into a dark conspiracy to desolate their land with fire and sword.  It was discovered that a book, called the "Impending Crisis," was being
secretly circulated all over the North as a " campaign document," a name given here to publications used in a Presidential
canvass. The purport of this volume was to show, by assertion,
as well as by figures, that the free labor of the North was
more profitable than the Black labor of the South. This was
a fair topic of discussion, but the tone of the book was violent
in the extreme. I will add a few extracts, which will enable
your Lordship to form a correct opinion of the character and
object of the work:
"Slavery is a great moral, social, civil, and political evil, to be got rid of
at the earliest practical period"-(page 168).
"Three-quarters of a century hence, if the South retains slavery, which
God forbid! she will be to the North what Poland is to Russia, Cuba to
Spain, and Ireland to England"-(p. 163).
"On our banner is inscribed-No Co-operation with Slaveholders in Politics; no Fellowship with them in Religion; no Affiliation with them in
Society.  No Recognition of Pro-slavery men, except as Ruffians, Outlaws,
and Criminals"-(p. 156).
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
"We believe it is, as it ought to be, the desire, the determination, and the
destiny of the Republican party to give the death-blow to slavery"-(p. 234).
"In any event, come what will, transpire what may, the institution of
slavery must be abolished"-(p. 180).
"We are determined to abolish slavery at all hazards-in defiance of all
the opposition, of whatever nature, it is possible for the Slavocrats to bring
against us. Of this they may take due notice, and govern themselves
accordingly"-(p. 149).
"It is our honest conviction that all the Pro-slavery Slaveholders deserve
to be at once reduced to a parallel with the basest criminals that lie fettered
within the cells of our public prisons"-(p. 158).
"Shall we pat the bloodhounds of slavery? shall we fee the curs of slavery? shall we pay the whelps of slavery?  No, never"-(p. 329).
"Our purpose is as firmly fixed as the eternal pillars of heaven; we have
determined to abolish slavery, and so help us God! abolish it we will"-(p.
187).
The volume containing the above quotations, not by any
means the most bitter, was indorsed by 68 members of Congress of the Republican party, whose names were given for
publication.  I think your Lordship will hardly be surprised if
the South, under manifestations like these, exhibited no small
alarm. They felt they had a right to infer that, if a party
making such declarations of hostility were elected to power by
the North, they must either consent to the early abolition of
Black Slavery, or retain it by seceding from the Union.
When the British Government emancipated the Blacks in
her colonies, she acted with the strictest commercial equity;
but the book in question repudiates any compensation to the
"curs and whelps of slavery."  One more extract:
"The black god of slavery which the South has worshipped for 237 years"
-(p. 163).
Now, the writer is ignorant that the South protested for
years, first, against the Mother Country, and, next, against
New England, importing slaves within her borders.  However,
the object of the book was to inflame the mind of the North
against the South, and therefore falsehood was just as good as
truth.
In April, 1860, the delegates of the Democratic party met
in convention at Charleston, South Carolina, to make their
nomination for the Presidency. The Northern wing of the
51
I
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LETTER TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
party proposed Senator Douglas as the most eligible candidate
at the North, from his doctrine of " Popular Sovereignty."*
The Southern wing objected, as they considered said doctrine
only a concession to the Anti-slavery dogma.  Mr. Douglas,
unhappily, did not withdraw his name, and a rupture of the
party ensued.  The Northern delegates nominated Mr. Douglas, in Baltimore, June 18; and on the same occasion the
Southern delegates nominated Vice-President Breckinridge.
This unfortunate schism doubled the chances of the Republican party, which met in convention to select their candidate at
Chicago, Illinois, May, 1860. It was generally supposed that
Mr. W. H. Seward, the acknowledged leader of the Anti-slavery party at the North, an able and accomplished statesman,
would be its chosen champion in the electoral lists about to
open; but, to the surprise of all, an almost unknown politician
of the West, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, was selected as its standardbearer.
It would be no easy matter to explain to your Lordship why
the founder and foremost man of a party ill this country should,
on a supreme occasion like this, be thrown aside and another
exalted over his head, with no apparent claim to so great a
distinction. It seems to have become almost a rule, of late
yea-s, to exclude the leading men of either party from the
candidateship to the Presidency.  This is a strange enigma,
and can lead to no good. Expediency is the pretext. It is
alleged, as one reason, that a prominent man offers too broad a
target to the opposition Press; but the truth probably is, that
the ablest men are likely to be less pliant than obscure politicians, in the hands of those party managers who control nominations in this country, from the President down to a tidewaiter.
On the 6th of November, 1860, the long struggle between
the North and South on the slavery question, that began in
1803, ended with the election to the Presidency of Abraham
* Mr. Douglas proposed giving the people of a Territory the right to retain or exclude slavery, instead of reserving the decision till the Territory was admitted as a
State, the practice hitherto.
52
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Lincoln, the representative of the Republican party, but which
contained within its bowels, like the Trojan horse of old, the
armed men of the Abolition party. Shortly after this event,
Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, declared at a public
meeting, that "the election of Mr. Lincoln was only the first
step towards forcible emancipation."
The advent of the Anti-slavery party to power, filled the
Southern States with dismay. It mattered little to them
whether the Republican party could control the Abolitionists,
or whether the latter could dominate the former. It mattered
little whether the Anti-slavery President was supported or not
by majorities in both Houses of Congress. What they saw,
felt, and comprehended in this election, was the fatal fact that
the:North had pronounced against the institution of Black
Slavery.  Whether it was meant to limit it, or abolish it, they
knew not; but it was clear to them they must prepare for
either, if they remained any longer members of the Confederacy.
Whether this logic is well-founded; whether the South
should have abided more aggression; whether fear has overcome judgment, or whether fury courts open hostility, I know
not; but the South has thrown herself into the arms of Secession with a wild abandon, which shows that passion has seized
on every fibre of her frame.
The country is in the jaws of a fearful crisis. A miracle
alone can save it. It reminds me of the condition of France
in the autumn of 1851. The politicians of the Monarchical
and Republican parties were fiercely struggling against each
other for power, while the country was rapidly drifting towards
anarchy. It was useless to reason with either. The Republicans told you they would obtain power first; and the Monarchists, with a grim smile, asseverated they would obtain it at
last. It was the sublime courage of Louis Napoleon that
saved the State from countless calamities. iHe boldly closed
the doors of the Assembly on the indecent strife of these selfish
brawlers, and appealed to the people of France. Millions of
voices rent the air with applause; millions of votes sanctified
the heroic act.
53
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Our destiny is still a problem, my Lord.   Are we utterly at
the mercy of those politicians who are ready to sacrifice the
national good for their personal interest?-a class of men the
poet has stigmatized
"Flectere si nequeo Superos, Acheronta movebo."
Have we no patriots?  Are the people helpless?  Must we
die on our own swords, amid the derision of Europe?
These are poignant questions, my Lord, and, to our humiliation, no response can be given.
R E SUMP.
The whole territory of the United States was originally
slaveholding-English, Spanish, and French.  Not from  any
local law, but from the laws of the mother country.
Slaves were regarded only as property in all the thirteen
States that formed the Union; since it would have been a
manifest absurdity for the Slaveholders who made the Declaration of Independence, to declare "all men were born firee and
equal," had they not considered their slaves as property.
In forming the Union, the thirteen Slave States conferred
upon the Federal Government the power to tax slave property; to protect it from foreigners, as well on the national territories as at sea, and also from domestic escape; and conferred
no other power, either to prohibit or to extend it.
Opinions on slavery varied with its profits. The South
repelled it when it was not profitable, and adhered to it when
cotton made it so. The North clung to the profits of the Slave
Trade as long as possible, and attacked the slave system when
they were deprived of those profits.
The territory that was once all slave, has become free; -lst,
by the Ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slaves north of the
Ohio; 2d, by eight Northern States abolishing slavery in their
borders; 3d, by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, prohibiting
slaves north of 36~30'; 4th, the act admitting Texas re-enacting that line. Thus the North has driven slaves out of half
54 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
the territories of the United States, showing a constant and
large aggression upon the South.
The duty of the Government is undoubtedly to protect the
property upon the Territories, until people there settled form
their own laws.
The agitation of the Slave question grew originally out of the
chagrin of New England, at being deprived of the Slave Trade
and its profits. It was prolonged by the mutual irritation that
the opposition of Massachusetts to the purchase of Louisiana
occasioned.
Emancipation made steady progress in all the States, until
Abolition forced the Slaveholders upon the defensive.
Abolition made little progress, until unscrupulous partisans
coquetted with it for party issues.
The question of the power of the Government to exclude
slavery from the Territories, has been blended with the moral
question as to the "sin of slavery."
The cry of "Free Soil" was raised in S1848, by Mr. Van
Bu ren, to avenge his non-nomination by the South, at Baltimore.
The comnpromise measures of 1850, were carried by the
influence of Henry Clay.
Violation of these compromises, by the " Personal Liberty
Bills" of the Northern States, soon followed.
Repeal of the "Missouri Compromise," in 1854, with support of the South.
Attempt, by the Abolition party, to make Kansas a Free
State by force, which was resisted by the South.
Rise of Republican party under the lead of Mr. W. H. Seward, and its defeat in 1856.
Violent agitation of the Slavery question at the North, followed by the invasion of Virginia by John Brown, in 1859,
and the secret circulation of the HIelper Book, in 1860.
Excessive alarm and exasperation of the South.
The theory of a "Higher Law" at the North, to justify resistance to the Constitution and laws of Congress, has begotten
the Higher Law of Self-preservation at the South, to justify
55
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
resistance to a domninant party which embraces the "sin of
slavery" among its tenets.
COMIMENTARY.
Before dropping the subject of Slavery in the United States,
it is proper, my Lord, I should make known the sentiments of
the moderate men of this country on the extraordinary fact
that Englanld should have assumed the foremost rank in the
anti-slavery crusade against our Southern States. They recol lect that England introduced slavery into this country.  They
remember she upheld it against the remonstrances of the
Southern Colonies. They know that England only abandoned
it when no longer profitable.  They think it, therefore, unrea sonable that England should turn her back on these glaring
facts; and they feel that in face of them, it is unjust and inde cent for Englishmen to give way to denunciation of slavery
and abuse of Slaveholders.
It is difficult, my Lord, for them to suppress their indignation at the torrents of invective incessantly launched by England against slavery in the United States, when they reflect
that but for the manufacturers of Manchester, African slavery
would long since have died out in this divided land.  It seems
to every honest and practical mind in this country, that upon
this subject, England is guilty of the most transparent hypocrisy. If she conscientiously abhors the institution, why does
she consume its products? If she cannot exist without them,
why then assail the slave-labor that yields them?
It is time, my Lord, and the present crisis proves it, that the
Statesmen and Press of England should pause and reflect solemnly on conduct both inconsistent and puerile. It is a matter that must no longer be left to fanatics, else the consequence
to England will be serious indeed.  It is a topic that must be
calmly argued and practically treated. What, then, will be
the result?  Why, such a revolution of opinion in Eingland as
tlde world has rarely witnessed. When once it becomes known
56
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
there, and full soon it must, that the emancipation of our
Blacks would reduce the cotton crop one-half, and double the
price of the remainder; that, in consequence, the manufactures
of England would lose their ascendency in the markets of the
world, involving the loss of countless millions-whlo can doubt
but that a people so intelligent and practical as the English,
would be terror-struck at facts so formidable and incontestable?
But when it became further known, and investigation will
make it clear, that all the thrilling books and sentimental
stories, that all the eloquent essays and speeches from the pen
of a itacaulay and the lips of a Brougharn, are little else than
extravagant rhapsodies; that the condition of our Blacks has
been misrepresented, their wrongs invented, and their sufferings imagined;-when calumnies and exaggerations like these,
I say, are swept away,-and the event is near at hand,-what,
my Lord, will be the force of the reaction that must inevitably
follow?  For the sake of England, whose interests are in danger; for the sake of this country, whose prosperity is menaced,
I trust that facts and reason will be invoked when African
Slavery in the United States is henceforth discussed, and that
mock appeals to a mistaken humanity will be discarded.
I should weary your Lordship's attention, were I to attempt
to enumerate a tithe of the idle stories that have circulated
in the British Press, disparaging the happy condition of our
Blacks. How many tears have been shed by the credulous;
how many sensitive hearts have throbbed in vain over cruelties
and horrors that never existed!  It is but a short time, for
instance, since the English journals gave wide currency to a
graphic recital of scenes of violence and deeds of barbarity
that almost froze the blood of every reader. Yet it turned out
that this heart-rending tale was a miserable hoax, and that its
credulous author, John Arrowsmith, a cotton-broker of Liverpool, while travelling in our Southern States, had fallen a
victim to the waggish propensities of some of his fellowtravellers, who had discovered his sentimental weakness on the
subject of slavery. To this day, however, no contradiction of
this fiction has ever appeared.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Again, it was but the other day, that the English journals
teemied with the details of a brutal outrage on the Prince of
Wales, in Richmond, the capital of Virginia.  Yet, upon the
high authority of the Duke of Newcastle, nothing of the kind
ever happened, and the story was only an invention of our
Abolition Press to excite the hatred of the loyal English
against our Southern States.
Such are the odious tactics that have been for years employed by the Abolition party in England and the United
States, to sow the seeds of that catastrophe now imnpending in
the disunion of this Confederacy, entailing, perchance, the
downfall of British manufactures.
As one mode of arresting this calamity, let the public men
of England hereafter admit that with the emancipation of our
Blacks, they have nothing whatever to do.  Let them honestly
avow that any aspersion of the domestic institutions of our
Southern States, is an unjust and presumptuous interference
with others' affairs.  The immediate effect of this would be to
check the rant and dampen the ardor of the Abolition party
among us.
You can little imnagine, my Lord, the immense prestige of
the great names of England in this country; nor is it possible
to measure the extent of their influence and the force of their
example. This doctrine of Abolition, which inspires so many
of our politicians, moralists, and preachers, has been transplanted, as I have shown, from England; and its currency here is not
due to its intrinsic merits, but to the high and sounding titles
that have indorsed it.  If this be doubted, let the experiment
be tried.  Let this insane crusade against our Southern States
be frowned upon by Englishmen of rank and sense; let the
Londo, Timies direct its thunderbolts against the pigmy imitators of your noble fanatics; let titled ladies of the "West-End"
no longer lionize the cringing writers and orators of our New
England sehool-the descendants in blood  and doctrine of
those very Puritans who, I repeat, threw England into anarchy, proscribed her nobility, and beheaded her unfortunate
king.  Let this be done, my Lord, and the impracticable Abo
58 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
lition party of this country will soon draw its last breath. Let
this be done, and the South will be conciliated, and the North
will be sobered.  Let this be done, and the Union of these
States may be prolonged, the manufacturing industry of England be preserved, and, above all, the condition of our Southern Blacks be mitigated or improved, if need there be of
either.
I shall forbear, my Lord, from entering into any minute
details on the condition, moral or physical, of our Southern
Blacks; though much, indeed, might be said and proved of
both, that would dispel the ignorance and mitigate the prejudice of the really humane.
If the Times newspaper of London would but send one of
its accomplished and impartial correspondents to report on the
character of Black Slavery in our Southern States, depend
upon it, my Lord, the artillery of Exeter Hall would be forever
silenced. Despairing of such a consummation, I will limit
myself to a brief quotation from the columns of a Northern
journal, which my own observation enables me to assert is
only a fair and truthful portrait of Negro life at the South:
"Compared with European laborers, the Black lives like a
prince. He has his cabin generally neat and clean, and
always weather-proof. lie has likewise his own garden-patch,
over which he is lord paramount.  He is well fed, well lodged,
well clothed, and never overworked.  His holidays are numnerous, and enjoyed with infinite gusto.  Sleek, happy, and contented, the Black lives to a great age. The Slaveholder finds
it to /Ais interest to treat his Negroes liberally, and takes every
means to make them healthy and contented."
In striking confirmation of the above, I extract from the
mortuary records of the last year the following cases of Negro
slaves who lived to over a hundred years:
1860-February 2...... Female slave.... Virginia..... 105
...  15......Milly Lamar....Georgia..... 135
...-March  25......Sam. "..... 140
.... -April   17......Glasgow.......Kentucky.... 112
I submit, my Lord, that such extraordinary instances of Ion
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
gevity are conclusive as to adequate nourishment and moderate
labor.*
In fine, my Lord, I consider it only fair and reasonable for
us Americans, who have been obliged for years to bear inordinate opprobrium at the hands of your canting Abolitionists, to
indulge occasionally in a tu guogue. Some late English journals furnish incidents it is impossible to resist quoting, since
they so forcibly and painfully illustrate the contrast between
slave-life in our country, and peasant-life in your Lordship's.
I make these quotations, not fromnt any vindictive or uncharitable feeling, but in the earnest hope that foreign criticism may
stimulate English people to look at home, and not waste all
their humanity in lamentations over our Blacks, while such
shocking wretchedness haunts the hovels of their own color
and kind.
[From the Liverpool Post, December 11.]
"In the London Times of yesterday, Mr. Henry Tucker, magistrate of the
county of Berks, publishes a document which is quite pitiable enough to fill
the nation with horror and reproach.  The song of the'Happy Homes of
England' can no longer be sung except as a fiction, for the rural districts
afford specimens in abundance of the unhappy homes of England.
"Mr. Tucker employed two competent persons to obtain correct information respecting the condition of the rural cottages, and he laid the result
before the meeting of the Farringdon Agricultural Library on the 22d of
last month. In doing this he expressed his belief that the condition of Farringdon Union is only a sample of the agricultural population of England.
'Indeed,' he says,'I have been assured by farmers that the want of decent
accommodation has for some time past been driving the superior class of
peasantry to emigrate; and that unless some reformation be brought about,
* As a pendant to slave-life painted by novelists, I append an extract from the
Sermon, already noticed, of Rev. Dr. N. Adams, at Boston, on Jan. 4, 1861:
"There are pictures of loving-kindness in the daily history of those masters and
mistresses, the contemplation of which will, by and by, change our tone of feeling
towards them, and make us inquirers and learners, and not dictators on this subject.
To illustrate my remark: A Northern lady in the South called upon a Southern lady,
and found her nursing a black infant. It was the infant of one of her servants. The
child was sick, and it died upon the lap of the mistress; the slave-mother could not
nurse the child; her mistress did it for her. That mistress was the sister of a Vicepresident of the United States.   That is'slavery;' yes, it is as truly'slavery' as
'auction blocks' are slavery. Yes, we may look for the time, not far off, when
Christians at the South will conme to be regarded by our people to be as humane and
benevolent as they."
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
none but the feeble and most ignorant
lodging is not to be procured.'   We
'Digest:'  " WOOLSTONE. —Man and wife, two
grown-up sons, and an illegitimate child
of the daughter, all sleep in one room;       o
man and wife, with a son and two daughters, sleep in one room;  two married
couples and a child sleep in one room;
man and wife, with daughter and two
sons, sleep in one room.
" WATCHFIELD.-A  father and  three
daughters sleep in one room on ground
floor; seven persons, in a two-roomed
cottage, of whom two are lodgers, sleeping in the pantry; a father sleeping with
his daughter, seventeen years of age, and
the wife iii another bed.
"1 LONGCOT.-Man and wife with a child,
one widower and one single woman with
a child, making six persons, sleeping in
one room; two daughters, each with an
illegitimate child; a son, aged twenty, coliabiting with a woman, and four other
persons, making ten in one room, with
two beds.
"FERNHA1.-Eleven persons sleeping
in two bedrooms, both on the ground
floor; seven persons do.; ten persons do.;
son and daughter, over sixteen years of
age, with two other persons, sleeping in
one room; three sons and a daughter, and
two younger children, with father and
mother, sleeping in a room eight by twelve
feet; two single men lodging with a man
and wife, with four children, making eight
persons sleeping in one room; two broth ers and two sisters, above sixteen years of
age, with father, mother, and four chil dren, making ten persons sleeping in one
room.
" FARRINCGDON. —Sixteen cottages in Red
row. This is stated to be the most wretch ed place the reporter ever saw. Nine cot
tages lItely indicted for a nuisance, but
still very bad.  In one cottage  the draein
flows into the sitting-room, and in another the drain at front door is offensive.
Three cottages are badly off for water.
Several cottages in a bad state of drainage.
" LECIHLADE.-A man and wife, with     a
female  lodger  and five children, sleeping
'pell mele' together.
" BUCILAND.-A man and wife, with
two grown-up girls and two other children, all sleeping in one room; a man and
wife, with four children, including a
grown-up girl, all sleep in one room; a
widow, with grown-up son and daughter,
and a lodger, all sleev in one room; a
woman slept for a long time with a son
aged twenty-four.
"I LONGWOnTH.-Most of the cottages in
this village are very old, some of thein
scarcely fit to live in. (Said to be ecclesiastical property.)
" KINGSTON LISLE.-Most of the cottages
have only one small bedroom, yet the
families are large, and the majority take
lodgers. Example-Man and wife, with
five children, and  two  men and three
women lodgers, making twelve persons
sleeping in one room.
" BALKING.-Man and wife, with grownup daughter and son, and four illegitiimiate
children of daughter, all sleep in one small
room.
" STANFORD.-A son over 16 years sleeps
with father and mother.  Four wretched
tenements, with only one sleepinig-room
to each, occupied by large families. Of
another it is said,' a regular sty, not fit
for human  beings to live in,' yet seven
persons live and sleep in the samle room.
"' In addition,' says Mr. Tucker,'to this degraded and degrading state of
the agricultural laborers of England, as regards domestic comfort, many of
the villages are reported as having no school, and hence ignorance and vice
go hand in hand, and no exertion appears to be made to check the demoralization of so large a portion of the community. Surely, sir, the act of
Parliament which authorizes the government to advance money to landed
proprietors for the draining of land, erecting farm-buildings, &c., might extend its provisions to the more important duty of housing the poor, if it were
only with even half the comfort in which we house our cattle and our
horses.'"
I must confess my astonishment, my Lord, that misery and
destitution like this is allowed to exist a single hour in England, which is not only the richest country in the world, but I
believe from long observation to be the most charitable. The
enormous sums annually collected in England  by missionary
61
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
and eleemosynary societies of all kinds, would convert every
English peasant into something like a millionaire. Surely this
is a case, if ever there were one, to apply the familiar saying,
that "charity should begin at home."
Why do not the humanity-mongers of Exeter Hall withdraw
for a while their fascinated gaze from the shining faces of our
merry Blacks, to the contemplation of the hollow cheeks and
emaciated frames of their own fellow-countrymen? Let them
vindicate the fame of England from the foul stigma of such
squalor as this. Or, if nothing but emancipating slaves will
satisfy their rampant ardor; if no home-made poverty, however
terrible, can touch the romantic souls of Abolitionists; if they
have no delight but in bidding the captive look up and bear
himself  proudly
"Ccolumque tueri
Jussus, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus"
why, then, let them turn their eyes eastward, and arrest the
auctioneer's hammer at Constantinople, which consigns to
bondage, not the swarthy, repulsive Negro, but the loveliest
specimens of our own race, the fair Circassian; and to what
bondage, my Lord?-not the wholesome labor of the cottonfield, but the bestial degradation of the Harem.
THE RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH.
It is not likely that your Lordship has ever had occasion to
turn your attention to the natural resources of our Southern
States; but, at the present juncture, such an investigation possesses peculiar interest. I shall not venture beyond the most
general outline, but shall not fail to say enough to show the
immense mutual advantages the two great sections of our
country have derived from their commercial union, which
abstract questions and idle political contests seem destined to
diminish, if not destroy.
The original Colonies of this country were all possessed of
slaves, as already stated; and the industry of both sections was
62
,x
t 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
nearly the same, since the Imperial Government prohibited
manufactures in the Colonies. The North was more commercial; its industry consisted chiefly, as mentioned, in curing and
selling fish, and trading largely in Negroes for Southern consumnption. The valleys of the Mohawk and the Hudson supplied some farm produce for export; and the South raised,
principally, tobacco, indigo, and silk. All these employments
were carried on, North and South, by slaves; but none of them
were very profitable, since they had but a restricted market
for sale, and were obliged to make their purchases of goods
from England.
When the present Union was formed, however, a new state
of things arose. Manufactures were eagerly embarked in at
the North, and the Federal Government adopted such means
as it supposed would encourage themni. The South continued
its usual employments, viz.: the production of raw articles, of
which tobacco was the principal, but which rapidly deteriorated the land.
There were in the Southern States, at this period, 657,047
slaves, and at the North, 39,250.  The number of the slaves
was increasing by importation, while the profits of employing
them were diminishing.  In 1793, however, the invention of
the Cotton-gin, as remarked, changed the face of the future.
Up to that time, it required a hand a day to clean one pound
of cotton from the seed, for market; but the gill enabled one
hand to clean 350 lbs. per day. From that moment the cotton
culture began to attract the attention of planters; and up to
this day, it has not ceased to increase. The product, in 1800,
was 1 bale for 24 slaves, and is now 1- bales for 1 slave. At
the same time, the value of other articles produced at the
South has risen largely.   Naval stores, rice, tobacco, and
sugar have increased as well as cotton. The value of these
five articles produced, in 1800, per head of all the slaves, was
$16 per annum; while in the present year it was $67 per head.
At the samne time, the quantity of food raised on the plantations is also greater.  In later years, large planters  have
raised sufficient nearly to feed their Blacks; while large quan
63
N
)
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
titles of food are now exported Nortih. Virginia and Kentucky
are the largest corn-growing States of the Union.
When the invention of the Cotton-gin made the culture of
that article profitable, it attracted all classes of persons at the
South. Retired merchants, professional men, as well as planters, invested in cotton lands, and put all their available means
into that culture, which thus absorbed capital from all other
pursuits. It followed from this, that the Blacks were concentrated upon the cotton plantations at rising prices, which have
gone up from $250 at the beginning of the century, to 81,500
each good field-hand at the present time.  It also resulted,
from the inordinate pursuit of this single industry, that all
others were checked; and as the South increased in numbers
and wealth from cotton, it became more and more dependent
upon the North for its manufactures and goods. The large
market thus offered to Northern industry, was a more effective
encouragement to its domestic manufactures than any protective measures the Federal Government could adopt.  The
North was not, however, contented with that advantage, but
insisted upon a monopoly of the supply by an alimost prohibitive duty, with a view to exclude English goods.  The average,
that was 72 per cent. in 1800, was raised successively in 1816,
1824, and 18S28, to 40 per cent.  This being found excessive, it
was reduced to 25 per cent., at which it continues. This rate
is charged upon the proceeds of exports sold abroad, and returning into the country. The exports of merchandise from
the United States, in 1859, were as follows:
Merchandise of Southern origin............... $198,389,351
"       Northern  ".................  78,217,202
Total Merchandise exported.................$276,606,553
This large amount, nearly $200,000,000, of Southern produce,
may realize abroad, with freights and profits, some $225,000,000,
for which goods are taken in return; and the duty of 25 per
cent. on these, amounts to $56,000,000, which may be regarded
as a bounty on Northern manufactures as against those of
England, where the Southern products are mostly sold.
6-1 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
That such a system should build up an immense manufacturing interest at the North, was inevitable. The Federal
census of 1850 gave the value of manufactures annually produced, as follows:
CAPITAL IN MANUFACTURES.
North.................$438,249,677
South................. 94,995,674
Total Manufactures....$533,245,351
The North also imports for the South, and the value of the
whole charged to the South is enhanced in the ratio of the
duty, viz., 25 per cent. The North may be said to take all the
Southern products, and pay in goods at 25 per cent. advance
over the English prices.
The influx of emigrants from abroad, with large capital,
aided that development.
The financial operations of the agricultural South, where
$300,000,000 worth of crops are annually moved to miarket,
necessarily centred in New York, where the goods are mostly
imported and Easternl manufactures are distributed.  This fact
will serve to explain the annual migration of Southern merchants to the North to make their purchases; and with them
often come their families, to visit the fashionable vwateringplaces, where also many of the wealthy Southern planters
spend their summers.   New York has also become the chief
point of connection with Europe, and therefore all Southern
travellers come there to embark.  These various causes draw a
large Southern expenditure to the North, which is not in any
way reciprocated.
All the operations of Finance, Banking, Insurance, ]Brokerage, Commissions, Profits on Imports and on Di)omestic M\annfactures, &c., inure to the North, on the basis of the agriculture
of the South. These items have been estimated at an aggregate
of $9231,000,000 per annum, drawn for Northern account from
SouLthern industry.  It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise
that the North has accumulated wealth much faster than the
South.  But it is a matter of surprise that the North, under
5
65
PRODUCTION.
$854,526,679
164,579,937
$1,019,106,616
'k
I
,. 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
these circumstances, should upbraid the South with her comparative poverty.
Tihe Xo)ith thtus rectjs lte whole of the profst, of Sltave labor.
I amn sure it mulst strike your Lordship with amazeinent, that
when  the North, by  its superior activity and  commercial
sagacity, was thus reaping such enormous advantage from the
products of the Slave States of the South, they should allow
themselves to fall a prey to fanatics and excited partisans. An
English statesman, above all others, must be perplexed, and
incredulous of such fuc; for, to the eternal hionor of British
politics, must it be said that the national good is never for an
instant endangered by schemes of personal aggrandizement.
The result of these constant attacks of Northern fanaticism.
have not only irritated the South, but forced them to pay more
attention to their interest than heretofore.  They legin to feel
a desire to keepl at home at least a portion of the capital produced there, and with it employ the poorer white population
of the "1 Border States," where Slave labor is not profitable,
since it is not a cotton region.  They are disposed, of late, to
comrnmen,ee developing those manufactures for which they have
hitherto been dependent on the North.
The North takes of the South 750,000 bales of cotton, worth
$50,000,0()00, per annum; which it works up into cotton goods,
to send back to the South.  That quantity of cotton will make
1,035,000,000 yards of cotton cloth, for which $100,000,000
is charged;  but England will sell the  samne quantity for
$75,000,000, and if the South makes it herself, it minay be done
for $60(),000,000.  Southern economists see that to make this
great saving, nothing else is necessary than to keep at home
the capital now drained off to the North. The Abolitionists of
New ELgl,and have driven the South into these calculations,
and tluts it is her own children conspiring her ruin.
One word more of the self-sustaining resources of the South,
which I extract fromn a Northern journal.  I give it without
comrne it.
"The Southern States, including Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee,
North Carolina, and most of South Carolina, are the finest grain-growing
66
i 
LETTER TO LOR- ) PALMERSTON.
countries in the world; and were not cotton, tobacco, and rice more profitable, those States might export corn, wheat, and other cereals in large quantities. The slopes of the Alleghanies on both sides are as fertile and as well
suited for the production of breadstuffs of all kinds, as any lands in the
country. They are covered with beautiful farms, the soil and the climate
are alike favorable, and it is the height of absurdity to talk of the poverty
of the Southern States.  To some extent at present they cultivate other
crops, which they exchange for food, because they can do so with advantage
to themselves; but throw them on their own resources, and cut them off
from Northern and Western supplies, and they can produce not only enough
for themselves, but compete with the North in exportation, to the serious
damage of its interests.
"In the interior of the Southern States almost every description of food
abounds, and is far cheaper than in the Northern and Eastern States. It is
only a strip of the seaboard that forms the exception to the rule, and there
the production of cotton and rice amply compensates for the deficiency of
the cereals. It is only because the conveyance by sea of food to the Southern ports from the North is cheaper than the carriage by railroad from the
interior of the Southern States, that wheat, corn, and other grain are shipped
to any extent from the North in exchange for cotton, tobacco, and rice. But
if the policy of non-interoourse should prevail, the demand at the Southern
seaboard would soon produce the necessary supply from the interior.  In
the event of secession and separate confederacies, however, the North would
only be too glad to send its surplus food to the seaports of the South for
cash, or for those productions of the South which the North does not yield,
and which are better than gold to the Northern States. To use a homely
proverb, the North will not always cut off its nose to vex its face, as it is
now doing; and the great danger will be, that the South will wholly withdraw its trade and its exchanges from the North, and transfer them to Ergland, France, and other European countries.
"But, after all, it is a very small proportion of the breadstuffs and other
food consumed by the Southern seaboard that comes from the North.  For
instance, Mobile derives its chief supplies from New Orleans-one of the
cheapest markets in the United States. According to the most recent quotations, the prices at New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston, and New York,
compare thus:
New Orleants,    SavainnaA,        Charleston,
Xov. 21.         Nov. 23.         NVov. 23.
Flour.......... $4 50    7 50    600                6 7 50    6 00  750
Wheat......... 1 25 33 1 60              - 
Corn..........   68         72      75 3    85        65  3    85
Potatoes.......1 00 @  1 50    1 50          -      1 50  3  2 00
Bacon.......... 12 3    14          13       -        12+ 1    13
Butter.........   10        15      15  3   28        15  3    28
Cheese......... 9) @    12+          10 3    13        10  3   13
Apples......... 1 00 33 8 00    1 00 @  2 25
"Here, then, it will be seen that the average cost of these essential articles
of food, is less at New Orleans than it is at New York; and from New Orleans, which is supplied by the Mississippi, all parts of the cotton Gulf States
67
p
New York,
.Nov. 28.
4 85 7 25
1 10 C&,1 43
6,5i      681
1 50 2 00
91       10
114 20
10        11
1 37      1 50 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
are accessible either by water or by railroad. The Atlantic Cotton States
are also connected with the interior Southern States, both by water and
railroad communication. At Charleston, it will be observed, corn is nearly
as cheap as at New York; and at Savannah, notwithstanding the short crop,
owing to drought, the price is very little higher than at the great emporium
of the North, where almost daily sales of North Carolina corn and wheat
contribute to keep down the prices. Thus the whole argument founded on
the power of the North to starve the South, vanishes into thin air, and,'like
the baseless fabric of a vision, leaves not a wreck behind.'
"Then, the South produces food of better quality than the North. Southern flour, for instance, commands the highest price in the market of New
York. The average daily sales of Southern flour in this market are from
1,200 to 1,500 barrels; and if we take into account the quantity of flour
and other breadstuffs sent here from Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, and other Slave States, perhaps the balance against
the South on the score of food would be exceedingly small.
"The South, moreover, excels the North in its water-power, and teems
with coal and other minerals. It has cheaper labor and a better climate,
and therefore can successfully compete with the North in manufactures.
Owing to the mildness of the weather in winter, its factories can work all
the year round; and the South requires less clothing and less fuel for its
population (two main items in the expenditure of She Northern mechanic),
and therefore a higher degree Qf comfort can be obtained for the same labor
at the South than at the North."
GENERAL VIEW.
THE NORTHERN STATES.
I should but ill discharge the task I have assumed, my Lord,
if I did not convey in the most candid language the impressions made upon me by passing events.  None but an eyewvitness of the struggle that has so suddenly come upon us can
foirn any adequate notion of its extent or duration. The vital
apprehension that becomes more imminent with every succeedinlg phase of the conflict is, that the Confederacy is in danger.
There is no disguising the fact that this sad contingency stares
us in the face. It may still be averted, and that solemn responsibility rests upon the States of the North.  It is their act
that this phantom of Disunion has been conjured up, and upon
them alone devolves the effort to exorcise it. Do they appreciate the danger?  Alas! I fear not.  Do they value the
6S
t 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
Union?  It is their chief reliance.  Why, then, have they
staked its existence so wantonly? Allow me to save your
Lordship from this prevalent fallacy.  In the late Presidential
election, the Northern States, it is true, threw their electoral
vote for the candidate of the Anti-slavery party, but it turns
out on analysis that far more than one-half of the popular
vote is against him.
It appears that the President elect received but 1,864,000
out of a suffrage of 4,710,548, leaving a balance recorded
against him of 2,846,548. It follows, then, from our defective
political machinery we shall have a President in office who is
the representative of the minority, which is at variance with
the very organic law of our institutions, the law of the majority. This incredible fact must absolve a portion of the people of the Northern States from the parricidal folly of seeking
to pull down the pillars of their political temple. But I am
not the less convinced that the Northern minority who elected
Mr. Lincoln never contemplated for a moment that they were
applying a torch to their own dwellings. Their ruling motive
was, simply, to give a conge to the party in power, who had
held it for eight years, and whose term they proposed to termninate.  They may have had some vague notions on the subject of slavery. They may have desired not to see it extend
into the unsettled Territories, without stopping to reflect what
means, if any, could be employed to prevent it. They never
imagined, for an instant, that in voting for the "Black Republican" candidate, they were signing the death-warrant of the
Confederacy. The proof, my Lord, that I am an honest interpreter of their sentiments will be seen in their future action.
When the startling truth breaks upon them that, unconsciously, they have brought the Confederacy to the very verge
of an abyss, where revolution and anarchy await them, they
will shrink back dumb with amazement and horror. Woe,
then, to the false guides who have brought them to such a
pass.  Upon what data do I found this prediction?  First,
upon the fact that these people of the North are intelligent
and practical; understanding their interests, and cleaving to
69
Iy 
LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
them at all hazards. Next, their views upon the condition of
our Southern Blacks are loose and unsettled. Their feelings
have been played upon, but their convictions have not beenii
reached. They will make no sacrifices, therefore, that, on re flection, achieve no good, and involve enormous loss. Finally,
patriotism is not extinct in the heart of the Northern States.
"It is not dead, but only sleepeth." A love of our nationality,
cemented by the blood of our forefathers, and consecrated by
the dying benediction of Washington-ctlarui et venerabile
nomen-is still latent in their breasts, and when the occasion
comes, will burst forth with electrical effect.  Should it turn
out otherwise, my Lord,-should these people of the North,
reflective, educated, and experienced, wantonly throw into
the seething caldron of Revolution the blessings of eighty
years of unexampled prosperity,-then may the monarchies of
the old world rejoice, for self-government is but a snare and a
delusion.
One word more of the Abolition party of the United States.
They are really insignificant in numbers, and will be swallowed
up in the returning waves of reason. The leaders of this
party, who affect to believe in the social and political equality
of the White and Black races, are made up of that class who
are commonly known as fanatics-a kind of moral lunatics,
who strike at all who dispute their grotesque illusions. These
worshippers of abstract questions, whom Napoleoni stigmatized
as "Ideologues," are foes to the peace and welfare of every
community, and should be jealously watched and rigidly restrained. It is an extraordinary fact, and worthy your Lordship's attention, that the monopoly of these intellectual fungi
is enjoyed by a particular locality in this country, where they
seem indigenous to the soil.  The State of Massachusetts is
not only the head-quarters of Abolition, but it is the hotbed of
every kind of chimera' in religion, politics, and morals.  Can
your Lordship credit the fact that a man assuming the title of
Reverend* should have devoted every Sabbath in the city of
* The late Rev. Theodore Parker.
TO
I 
LETTER TO LORD PALMIERSTON.
Boston to blasphemous attacks on the Christian Religion,
while palpitating crowds of men and women flocked after his
sacrilegious eloquence! Is it not equally incredible that a manl
of education and fortune,* a citizen of Boston, should habitually denounce the Constitution of his country, declaring that
it is "a league with hell, and a covenant with deatll."  Not
less marvellous are the attempts so frequently made in MAassachusetts to organize " Communities of Free Love," where the
promiscuous intercourse of the sexes is the corner-stone of the
social edifice.  If these be the revolting metaphysics of the
Abolitionists of Massachusetts-if this be the religion, the politics, and the morals they would instil into the minds of the
Southern Blacks, far better leave themi in harmless ignorloance.
That Massachusetts is distinguished by its profound skepticism
of all. authority, divine and human, is undeniable, and your
Lordship can hardly imagine the reason assigned for it by tihe
thinking men among them.   They attribute it to EXCESS OF
INTELLECTUAL CULTURE!-which onlly verifies the saying, that
" human knowledge is tie parenit of doubt."  Let the far-famed
"schoolmaster abroad" resolve this startling problem —that
universal  education  in M-assachusetts  has  brought  forthi
Preachers of Infidelity in Religion, Professors of a "tIigher
Law" than the Constitution in Politics, and Practical Exponents of the works of St. Simon and Fourier.t  This mental
licentiousness was characteristic of the worst period of the first
* Wendell Phillips, Esq.
t In corroboration of the above is the following extract from a Northern journal:
The people of Massachusetts were very recently warned by one of her own statesmen and orators that' Yankees are not popular in the Middle any more than in the
Southern States.' He told them that their' disestimation in the Middle States' was
universal, and assured them that there was' a project much thought of, as well in the
other non-slaveholding as in the slavehlolding States, to reconstitute the Union, excluding New England from it.' Union men of New England are beginning bo hold
up this truth to each other, together with a daguerreotype of the provincial meanness, bigotry, self-conceit, love for' ismns,' hypercritical opposition to any thing and
every thing, universal fault-finding, hard-bargaining, and systematic horne lawlessness and nullification, while denouncing, as worthy of hanging, coutnter-nullification
in others, which are covering their section of the country with odium, and creating
the wish elsewhere to relieve the Confederation of the burden by its excision at any
cost."
71
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
French Revolution, and is entirely incompatible with good
order everywhere.
SOUTHERN STATES.
Before this comnmunication reaches your Lordship, many of
our Southern States will have ceased to be members of the
late Confederacy, whose brilliant career has inspired so much
panegyric, and awakened so many hopes.  This solemn event
will startle England, and she will deprecate now what only
forty years ago she would have rejoiced at.  Your Lordship
may think the step premature and uncalled-for, but whenr the
facts I have related are properly weighed, the conclusion
must be different. The Southern States have been foi nearly
sixty years the object of political persecution by the North,
which they have borne with patience and returned with kind]less.*  In 1820 the North entered into a compromise, which
has been broken.  In 1850 they made new agreements, which
have since been violated. In.1860 a legal majority elect (
President on the " Platform" that " Slavery must be restricted
to its present limits." Wounded in their dignity, outraged in
their rights, and threatened in their interests, what course is
left the South?  To fold their arms and await more injury and
endure more obloquy?  Would this check the aggressions of
the North, or only encourage them till both North and South
were swallowed up in the same vortex of ruin.  It is clear, my
Lord, that the South have no alternative. Far better they
should abandon the Confederacy than remain only to engage
in bitter feuds that cormpromise the dignity of the country, and
sow the seeds of undying hatred.
The secession of the united South will calm the passions of
the North and awaken its reason.  PRefleetion will bring repentance, and the South, true to her chivalric nature and gellnerous instincts, will not turn a deaf ear to offers of manly
reparation.  1, for one, do not despair of such a result.
The right of secession it is idle to discuss with the South.
* Witnless Nr. Calhoun's conduct in 1816.
72 
LETTER TO LORD P'ALMERSTON.
In 1789, according to her view, she entered into a civil conipact with the iNorth, on certain conditions and guaranties.
These have been broken, and the South returns, in her opinion,
to her original sovereignty.*: Even were it otherwise,-were it
true that the South owed allegiance to the Federal governnuent,-still, she asserts, our own Declaration of Independence
in 1776, and the present practice of Europe, justify all people
in repudiating a government which assails their rights and sacrifices their best interests.  If the Northern  States do not
acknowledge these truths, exclaims the South, then are they
false to their origin, and seek to substitute for a government
of opinion the tyranny of force. That the South will adhere
to its right of secession at all hazards, and at every sacrifice, is
clear to me, for her interests demand it. That the North will
shrink from an armed attempt to contest it, is equally plain,
for her interests forbid it. To suppose that out of deference
for a mere abstraction-the exclusive right to savage territories-the Northern States will destroy their commerce, ruin
their finances, and desolate their homes, by plunging into the
fiery furnace of a civil war, is beyond all imagination. Should
this event occur,-should force, and not reason, be the bloody
arbitrament in this crisis of our history,-then, I say again, let
Despotism hurl its cap in the air, for self-government is only a
stupendous sham!
* This principle of sovereignty was repeatedly asserted by New England during
the last war, and on January 4, 1815, a report of a committee was made in the Hartford Convention, in favor of immediate secession from the Union, on the plea that
the Constitution had been violated by the Embargo Act, and the ordering of the
militia into the service of the United States.  The report defended the right of secession as follows:
" That Acts of Congress, in violation of the Constitution, are absolutely void, is an
undeniable position.              But in cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable
infractions of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty (f a State and liberties of the
2eople, it is not only the right but the duty of such State to interpose its authority for
their protection, in the manner best calculated to secure that end.  When emergencies
occur which are either beyond the reach of the judicial tribunals, or too pressing to
admit of the delay incident to their forms, States which have no common umpire must
be their own jedges and ex.ecutte their own  decisions.  The States should so use their
power as effectually to protect their own sovereignty and the rights and liberties of
their citizens."
73
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LETTER TO LORD rALMIERSTON.
But should a war ensue between the North and South, I can
foresee no result so certain as the intervention of England, perhaps of France.  To both these nations, and especially to the
first, is the Southern staple of cotton indispensable.   The supply must be steady and full, else the factories of Great Britain
would be paralyzed. To save this trade from the eventualities
of a civil war, England must interfere either as an umpire or
as an ally of the South.  The negrophobia of Britishl fanaticism
or of British philanthropy will vanishl, I venture to predict, before the stern reality of a loss, or even a diminution of the cotton crop.  Should the infatuation of the North drive the European Powers to throw the sword of BrennuLs into the trnembling scale, then a Southern Conifederacy, with "Free Trade"
for its motto, would soon become a fait acconvli, and the factories of New England would serve but as monuments to record her folly and her ruin.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMIENDMIENTS.
If my aspirations are realized, my Lord, and the North
should manifest a disposition to abandon dogmas and yield to
reason, then amendments  to our Constitution must follow.
The histories of England, the oldest constitutional country of
the world, and that of France, furnish ample precedents; but
unfortunately in nearly all these cases the blind bigotry of
party rendered force the medium of reform.
I cannot but believe that the wisdom of our people will
afford a nobler example.  Should the revision of our Constitution ensue, the South will demand a final settlement of the
Negro question. It will be a happy day for the peace of the
country and the condition of the Blacks, when this wearisome
dispute is withdrawn forever from the arena of party politics.
Yet, there will still remain other modifications hardly less
important. When the present Constitution was adopted, the
population of the United States consisted of some four millions,
which was pretty equally divided between North and South.
Natural increase and immigration have swelled the popular
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vote of the North so rapidly, that its permanent preponder ance over the Federal Government is fully established by the
census of 1860. This was never contemplated by the Fathers
of the Republic, else it would have been provided for, since
nothing is more manifest than their desire to effect a perfect
equality of the rights and privileges of all the States. It was
intended by the Constitution that the South should always
have an equal share in the Federal legislation, and that ino
numerical disparity should confer undue advantage on the
North.  The purpose of our political architects to preserve
equality is shown in the organization of the Senate, where the
smallest State of the North wields the same influence with the
most populous State of the South.* In the House of Representatives the same just balance was sought.
If from force of circumstances as well as firom natural causes
the provisions of our early statesmen have failed, and the
North have obtained a physical ascendency over the South, it
follows that this accidental inequality must be rectified. To
desire that the South should deposit forever the Federal government in the hands of the North is unjust.  To expect they
would consent to do it is absurd. To contend the South has
no right to equality in the Federal government is preposterous.
To sustain that view by force is tyranny.  The Constitution
must, then, be modified to suit the new exigencies of our political history, else the South have a double inducement to abandon the Confederacy.
But, should another Constituent Assembly ever meet to readjust our political equilibrium, somewhat disturbed by time
and events, many grave questions may be mooted.  It is clear
that in some essentials our Magna Charta was better adapted
to our early condition, than now.  From a country chiefly
agricultural, we have become almost the first manufacturing
and commercial nation in the world. These vast interests are
the very nerves of every trading community, and are keenly
sensitive, as they are vital. Their vigor and growth depend on
* Each State sends two members to the Senate. Each member of the lower house
represents the same ratio of population.
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the stability of government and the tranquillity of society. It
is notorious that our commercial world is seriously disturbed
by the frequency of our elections-comprising Municipal,
State, and Federal-which involve both disorder and uncertainty. Above all, the Presidential election, coming every
four years, and bringing with it, perhaps, an entire change of
policy, both domestic and foreign, is found to be more and
more detrimental.
From careful observation I should say, my Lord, that if the
people of this country, more especially of the North, were to
give their conscientious opinion as to the incessant exercise of
the elective franchise, they would pronounce it inconvenient
and hurtful.  The proof of this is the small proportion, in most
of our elections, of the vote to the population, which shows
indifference to the franchise. The consequence of this neglect
is, that our public affairs are falling steadily into the hands of
a class of professional politicians, who control the political
machine, and work it naturally more for their own advantage
than that of the community.* It appears to me that Selfgovernment in the United States at this day, where all, from
the lowest to the topmost round, are engaged in lucrative employment, is found to be, in its present form, both troublesome
and costly.
* A singular confirmation of this fact is to be found in the new Constitution of the
State of New York, which dates from 1846.  Among other reforns introduced, was
that of taking from the Governor the appointment of his Executive Council, such as
the Attorney-general, Comptroller of the State, &c., and making these offices elective.  The consequence of these officials being independent of the Governor, is not
only to render him a nullity, but to divide responsibility, always dangerous. Another
result is the probable-election of individuals incapable of discharging their functions
properly, which could not occur if the Governor were responsible. The object of
throwing all these appointments into the hands of the people, however, is achieved;
for the embarrassment of a choice is so great that the political managers control the
nominations, and put their own men in office. The example set by New York has
been imitated, and our new State Constitutions are gradually losing the balance necessary to their preservation. For the first time in history, the statesmen of 1789 succeeded in combining, in wonderful harmony, the three great elements of all perfect
political Constitutions, whose especial virtues are Unity, Conservatism, and Progress.
By increasing the power of the franchise, our modern tinkerers are destroying the
requisite equilibrium, and the consequences must be serious.  It was the new Constitution of New York that made the Judiciary elective, a most dangerous innovation.
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France has her Self-government. The present Empire is
founded on universal suffirage.  Yet, rather than  have the
peace of society compromised by adopting our quadrennial
election, and thus disturbing commercial operations, and endangering the precarious gains of the artisan and the operative,
the middle and laboring classes of France voted by millions,
in 1852, for an Jiereditary Executive, a Senate for life, and a
House of Representatives  (corp)  le7&,isatif) for five years.
Such institutions guarantee stability, which, in a country so
populous as France, is the prime requisite of her active and
industrious population.
England has also her form of Self-government, consisting of
an Hereditary Executive, an Upper House, also hereditary,
and a Lower House for seven years. I consider it no misnomer
to apply the term of Self-governmuent to the British system;
for the House of Commons is elected by the intelligent middle
class-a wise restriction, as we think here-and the Miinistry is
created, or deposed, solely by the vote of that House, without
the co-operation of the co-ordinate branches of the government,
viz., the Executive and Upper House.  This is virtually Selfgovernment.
Either of these systems has an immense practical advantage
over ours, so far as the tranquillity of the communtnity, the security of property, and, above all, the necessities of trade and
commerce depend. Such, indeed, are the losses and derangenient of business, with us the vital cord, attendant more and
more on our Presidential elections, that I do believe, my Lord,
if the people of the United States could find a man on whose
sense and integrity they might rely, they would gladly elect
him for a lengthened period, and rejoice they had escaped the
necessity and the risk of exercising the overrated privilege of
the franclise.  My presumption is, therefore, that in case of a
Convention for the amendment of our Federal Chart, efforts
will be made, first, to render the President ineligible, and next,
to extend his term to eilght or ten years.  An additional neces sity for this is the fact that the Secretaries for the various
departments, who come in with the new  President, have
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hardly time, in four years, to know their business, vastly in creased since 1789; and, consequently, the Government is too
much in the hands of Clerks acquainted with the routine.
This might be amended by creating, as in England, permanent
Assistant-secretaries of State, more capable and more responsible than simple Clerks.
I doubt not the commercial world, from high to low, would
gladly indorse such modifications.  It is fast becoming the
settled conviction of this country, that the franchise has been
forced beyond its true boundary. For instance, an elective
Judiciary in several of our States is ruining the Bench, for the
ablest lawyers will not abandon their practice for the ermine
which may be stripped at any moment from their shoulders.
The people besides, it would seem to me, are weary of the incessant demands of the franchise on their time; for, beyond
question, they neglect it, while all interested in property and
government, as all are in this country, dread its uncertain
action more and more.
In short, my Lord, we have experimented in government
till all classes begin to feel the necessity of retracing our steps,
and of coming back to those limits our sagacious forefathers
assigned to us,
THE AMERICAN PRESS.
I have trespassed at such length on your Lordship's attention, that I will limit my concluding remarks to the narrowest space; but I consider it pertinent to glance for a moment
at the connection between our Press and the present state of
the coultry. It is thought in Europe, from the freedom of our
institutions, that the Press of the United States has an unbounded license and irresistible influence. There is much fallacy in this. Our Press is not under the check of law, as in
France, nor of (onventional usage, as in England, but the restraint of public opinion here is as stringent as either. It is
singular that the character and condition of the Daily Press of
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
the three leading nations of the world should be so unlike.  To
make myself better understood, may I venture to say a word
or two of the French and English Press, however familiar to
your Lordship, in order to make the contrast to our own more
complete.
In France the Press is a political power; in England, a
moral power; in the United States, chiefly, so to speak, a conmmercial power.  In France there are three, if not four, parties
struggling against each other for power-two Monarchical, tlhe
Legitimist and Oileanist; two Democratic, the Republican and
Socialist. The Napoleon Dynasty stands aloof firom these,
and represents the Nation, its sentiments and interests. Each
party has its organs, but the national cause may be said to
have no representation in the Press.  It is natural that when
the prize contended for is the possession of the government,
the journals of France should be animated with a boundless
ardor.  They workl with hearty unanimity against the occupant of power, but each hopes, in the scramble, on his overthrow to secure the vacant post. The Press of France is,
therefore, more revolutionary than partisan.  It was the united
Press which undermined the Legitimist throne of Charles X.
in 1830, and to the disappointment of many of them, it was the
Orleanist branch which carried off the trophy.  Again, it was
the united Press which sapped the Orleanist Monarchy in
184S, and to the surprise of all of them, the Republican Party
sprung into the empty chair.  Once more they combined and
worked for the restoration of monarchy.  It came in 1lS52, but
not the one they had anticipated.  It is manifest, then, that
the tranquillity of society in France is utterly at the mercy of
the Press, whose daily task is to assail the existing Government.  It was an immense benefit, therefore, to the trading
and commercial interests when Napoleon III. put a check on
the excesses of Paris journalism.  A free Press in France simply means the privilege of each party to do its best to effect a
Revolution. Until these parties and their journals disappear,
there is no liope for permanent order. A constitutional government and unrestricted Press, as understood in England and
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this country, is impossible for the present in France. The
government of Napoleon has only maintained itself by pltting
a muzzle on bothl the politicians and the journals. had he
allowed them free scope, he would have been in exile before
this, and France would have lost the vast benefits of his
reign.  It has been much the fashion, my Lord, for the English
Press to mourn over the condition of French journalism, and
abuse Napoleon for trammelling it.  TIhis must be ignorance
of the stern necessity, or a desire to see France a prey to
anarchy. The Emperor has recently modified his system of
restraint. It is a dangerous experirnment, and it will end by attempts against his dynasty, or the cancelling of his concessions.
The greatest French journalist of the day, Emile de Girardin,
once said to me that, "with a single journal, perfectly free, he
could overthrow any government in the world."  The remark
is a striking one, and shows that in our day, my Lord, governinents, and even society itself, has a new and formidable element to deal with.  A mere Party Press like that of Fia-nce is
any thing but an advantage to the country.  It may be regarded, on the other hand, as little less than a nuisance, requiring frequent abatement.
It is no idle compliment to the Press of England to say that
it has raised journalism to the rank it occupies in modern
times.  Its consummnilate ability, its variety of intelligence, and
lofty tone, have together made it not only a lever in politics,
but an arbiter in society.  It has come  to be not inaptly
termed " the fourth estate of the Realm."  It is not so much
in intellect that the English Press surpasses the Frenlh, it
strikes me, my Lord, but more in that moderation of opinion
and sobriety of language which imparts force and dignity to
journals as well as men. This may be attributed in some degree to the absence of those fierce party passions which ebb
and flow in France, and also to the salutary influence of the
Aristocracy on manners, but more than all to the character of
the people themselves, which is not mercurial like the French,
nor impulsive like the American, but subdued and reserved.
It follows, then, that a journal which aspires to influence or
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
profit in England, must be what is there called "respectable;"
that is, scrupulous in its statements and careful in its language.
During nearly the whole of this century the journalism of
England has been of a partisan character, and has been divided in its support of one or the other of the two great parties,
Whig and Tory, into which the Aristocracy was ranged. Thus,
the Tory Press has maintained the prerogatives of government,
while the Whig journals have contended for an increase of
popular liberty. In the course of years it came to pass that
the Tory party, having yielded every thing, disappeared altogether; while the Whig party, having gained every thing,
likewise disappeared. It seems to me, that at the present day
political parties have ceased to exist in England for want of a
pretext. The Aristocracy are ready to concede every rational
demand, while the Middle Class, which regulates the Lower
Class, appears to have nothing to ask. The consequence is,
the Press has been obliged to find other interests to represent,
and it has become ill a great degree a class Press, addressed
to the pursuits and tastes of various classes and callings. The
great champions of Whig and Tory principles have either vanished entirely, or shrunk into small proportions; while the
community is deluged with journals-Literary, Medical, Legal,
Clerical, Artistic, and Scientific, to say nothing of the Illustrated tribe which caters for the sense as well as the mind.
From the decadence of party organs in England has arisen
a new and commanding feature of journalism, the Independent
Press. This modern wonder not only disowns party allegiance,,but repudiates any bias for class interests, aspiring to
the nobler and more difficult mission of defending the good
of all against the encroachments of any. It discusses not only
the interests of classes and individuals with magisterial authority, but it presumes to pronounce on the conduct of governments and even to arbitrate on the conflicting claims of
nations.  Truly, my Lord, this is a phenomenon which cannot
but excite in almost an equal degree curiosity and interest, not
unmingled with apprehension.  This new power stands alone
in Europe.  To England belongs the distinction of its origin.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
In fact, a journal like the London Times would be impossible
anywhere else, for in no country does the public good at this
day take such marked precedence over all other interests. The
Times by a rare felicity has become the acknowledged cham pion of the national cause both at home and abroad, and it
brings to its high task a depth of erudition, a grace and vigor
of style, and, beyond all, a sagacious comprehension of English
interests to be found only in the writings of a Burke, or the
speeches of a Gladstone. It is a proud position for any journal
to occupy, but a responsible one, and the Times gives it due
heed. There are influences in England, dear to the nation,
that watch it jealously. A mistake in judgment, or a partiality for private interests, would be fatal to its ascendency.
Before pronouncing on a great question, domestic or foreign,
the Times weighs anxiously its bearings on the national welfare, and then speaks with boldness and authority. In circulation it is outstripped by many obscure journals, but its moral
power is unquestioned. Nor does it neglect any means of influence, for its information on every subject, from every quarter of the globe, surpasses in accuracy and celerity every other
channel. An organ of opinion like this is a blessing to any
country; for while it checks the aberrations of government, it
removes from its path those cunning obstructions so often devised by the ambition of unprincipled men.
It may appear presumptuous to your Lordship that I should
touch on so familiar a theme as the English Press, but it may
not be without interest to see in what light it is regarded by a
foreigner.
Our Press, as I have said, offers few points of resemblance
to the French or English. A sprightly French writer has described it as not an apostolat so much as a comptoir; as less a
tribune than an afche.  In other words, that its vocation is
not to preach, but to assist trade; that it is not a pedestal for
orators, but a place for advertisements. This is in some measure true. The prime mission of this country is the development of trade and commerce, and the Press derives its chief
support from ministering to this universal thirst for acquisition.
WB   RKE & GARRUTH
Booksellers.
B  STO  o, MASS.
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
The best criterion of the popularity of a journal in this coun try is the number of its advertisements; and to preserve them,
it must regulate its course by the interests of the business com munity. All other considerations are subordinate. For this
reason it may be perceived that our Press is perhaps less inde pendent than that of England or France; for in the former its
revenue is derived chiefly from circulation, the price being
more remunerative than with us, while in the latter country it
is sustained by party or government patronage; and consequently, an English or French journal, apart from the particular interest it advocates, is free and bold in its opinions.
Again: I have no hesitation in saying that our Press has less
influence over the public mind than in England or France;
first, because it is not called upon to defend those conflicting
political principles which grow out of the contention in Europe
between royal prerogative and popular privilege, but chiefly
because all classes with us are generally better instructed, and
certainly more independent in mind and character; consequently our Press rarely seeks to guide, still less to dictate to
public opinion. It is a far easier and safer r6le to follow in
the beaten track of party lines, or to indorse on general subjects the expression of popular opinion.
It is a conclusive proof of the prevalence of Anti-slavery
sentiment at the North at the present time, that the vast majority of the journals of this section are found in the ranks of
the "Republicans."  It may well be doubted if the convictions
of all our public writers coincide with the opinions they deem
it expedient to express, but it is an incontestable sign of the
dominant pressure of the public mind in this country, that
our Northern Press should so universally echo the views most
acceptable in this latitude. There is but one journal at this
ominous crisis that has courageously ventured to speak in the
solemn voice of warning to the North, and to remind it that in
yielding to a sentiment, or in gratifying an ambition, it runs
the fearful risk of sacrificing its most solid interests.  All
honor is due to the New York Herald for its manly, judicious,
and patriotic course. It has rightly understood that its allegi
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LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON.
ance to the great commercial comnmunity it represents, is best
maintained by urging on the North, with incomparable tact and
ability, to obey its judgment, and not abandon itself to impulse,
-to make those just concessions which the occasion as well
as duty demand.  It is a bold and perilous act in a journalist, at
a moment when sectional feeling runs mountain high, to appeal,
even in whispers, to the "still, small voice" of reason; but the
EHerald has not shrunk from its self-imposed task. Before the
election of November, and since, it has not failed for a single
day to beat the alarm-drum, and announce to its multitudinous
readers that the country was in danger. Identified with no
party, shackled by no influence, it has no interest but the
prosperity of our flourishing metropolis, and can have no object but the supreme good of our common country. Can it be
that all its efforts are vain, and that its valiant struggles to
perpetuate the Union of these States cannot retard the decree
which dooms them to dismemberment! How many will deplore this grave calamity!  How many will exclaim hereafter
" This might have been prevented, and made whole
With very easy Arguments of Love!"
But should it be so ordained then there is not a lover of this
country, not a friend of humanity, but will join in the eloquent
and touching invocation your Lordship so recently uttered"Whether that Union is destined to remain unimpaired, or
whether those States are determined to separate into different
communities, our present prayer is that the result may be
brought about by amicable means. Be it for maintaining the
Union, or be it for dissolving the Union, may the world be
spared the afflicting spectacle of a hostile conflict between
brothers and brothers."*
* extract from Lord Palmerston's speech at Southampton, January 8, 1861.
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