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the agitation beyond their limits, from affording any time and attention to the amelioration of the laws which regulate the relations between the master and slave. Hardly any inquiries have been directed into the state of the slave population, and no discussions have been heard upon the policy to be observed in regard to them. The consequence of this agitation has been disastrous to the prosperity of those States. It has diminished their importance, impaired their confidence in their resources, multiplied doubts upon the permanence of their frame of society and government, and introduced feelings of intense exasperation and bitterness among the representatives of the Northern and Southern States in Congress. No man can observe the condition of the Southern States now, and compare it with their state fifteen years ago, without being impressed at the silent and steady revolution which the character of the States, as communities, have undergone. The source of every revolution in the character of a people, is found in their sense of insecurity. Every community requires, as the first condition. for its advancement, fixed and determinate ends and means on which it may confidently rely for the development of its character and its resources. Confidence in the future, is at the bottom of every undertaking in which a providence for the future is involved. Is it not true, that the incessant agitation at home and a road on this subject of slavery, has operated like a chill damp upon the hopes and expectations of the intelligent, thoughtful and wise of the Southern States. The rapid increase of this population, the peculiar frame of society it has originated,-the waste of intellect it occasions, the want of pliancy and adaptation of its members to the demands of a complicated political and social organization, the necessity for modifications in the relations in which they stand, so as to meet the opinions of mankind and the convictions of the slave-holder himself,-none of these considerations have extracted from any of the statesmen of the Southern States any opinions upon the institution. The efforts of self-defence and self-preservation against the steady attacks from abroad, have been few and disconnected; and we know of no work on this vast and complicated subject, that has met the wants of the popular mind, (we mean a rational popular mind,) North or South. The occasional allusions of Mr. Calhoun to the institution, in his speeches, shows that he has applied his far-reaching and

comprehensive intellect to this, as well as to every other subject in which the honor or interests of the Southern people are involved. Still, we find only occasional and accidental references to it in his speeches in the Senate. The closing paragraph in his letter to Mr. Packenham, we think worthy of consideration, and although familiar to the public, we think it cannot be too often pressed upon every considerate mind. He says:

"On the other hand, the census and other authentic sources of information establish the fact, that the condition of the African race throughout all the States, where the ancient relation between the two has been retained, enjoys a degree of health and comfort which may well compare with that of the laboring population of any country in Christendom; and it may be added, that in no other condition, or in any other age or country, has the negro race ever attained so high an elevation in morals, intelligence, or civilization.

"If such be the wretched condition of the race in their changed relation, where their number is comparatively few, and where so much interest is manifested for their improvement, what would it be in those States where the two races are nearly equal in numbers, and where, in consequence, would necessarily spring up mutual fear, jealousy, and hatred, between them? It may, in truth, be assumed as a maxim, that two races differing so greatly, and in so many respects, cannot possibly exist together in the same country, where their numbers are nearly equal, without the one being subjected to the other. Experience has proved that the existing relation, in which the one is subjected to the other in the slave-holding States, is consistent with the peace and safety of both; with great improvement to the inferior; while the same experience proves that the relation which it is the desire and object of Great Britain to substitute in its stead, in this and all other countries, under the plausible name of the abolition of slavery, would (if it did not destroy the inferior by conflicts, to which it would lead) reduce it to the extremes of vice and wretchedness. In this view of the subject, it may be asserted, that what is called slavery, is in reality a political institution, essential to the peace, safety, and prosperity of those States of the Union in which it exists. Without, then, controverting the wisdom and humanity of the policy of Great Britain, so far as her own possessions are concerned, it may be safely affirmed, without reference to the means by which it would be effected, that, could she succeed in accomplishing, in the United States, what she avows it to be her desire and the object of her constant exertions to effect throughout the world, so far from being wise or humane, she would involve in the greatest calamity the whole country, and especially the race which it is the avowed object of her exertions to benefit."

The facts and arguments of this paragraph in Mr. Calhoun's letter, have a substantial foundation, and we question if the largest proportion of the people in this country do not sanc

tion thein. We do not understand him to assert, that the institution is essential to the existence or perfectability of a nation, but that the existing relation between the European and African races, as they are found in the Southern States, is the best relation that can, under present circumstances, be created. The inferior race has improved more rapidly there, than in any other condition. This is the decisive test, and this test is favorable to his conclusion. Mr. Calhoun asserts, that the institution of slavery creates a political relation between the master and slave, from which correlative rights and duties arise. We infer from his statement, that out of this relation progress and improvement must arise; for the end of every institution is to secure these to all the members of the community. We do not believe, for a moment, that Mr. Calhoun, or any other enlightened statesman of the South, would vindicate the institution of slavery, unless it appeared to them the best condition which the existing circumstances of the society permitted. The law of amelioration-the great law of every human society, however degraded-has been steadily preserved in the minds of our people in regard to this, as to all other institutions; although specific measures for carrying that law into effect, have been stifled by the baleful and unceasing interference of shortsighted, malignant fanatics, every where the worst enemies of human progress. The disposition to regard slaves as chattels for any object, had been very much overcome throughout the South, and precautions were taken to secure in many cases to them the essential rights of social beings. The separation of husband and wife, and father and child, by a tacit law of society, had been very much discountenanced; and, we believe, that every Southern community would regard with approbation laws restraining, in some measure, the power over these domestic relations,-restraining any public officer, on any legal process, from selling them apart, and, eventually, that the abolition of the right to sell slaves for the debts of the master, would have been called for. Indeed, we have no doubt, (we speak for ourselves only,) that such a regulation, if applied to future creditors, could be adopted at this time without injury. The slave would be improved by fortifying the relation between him and the family of his master. The class of family slaves would be enlarged, and their character improved. The

same remarks, we think, applicable to matrimonial relations, to which slaves are parties.

All of us in the Southern States know, that planters prefer and encourage these legitimate connections, and yield consideration to the ties that they impose. We know the fact, that many, deeply interested in the stability of the institution of slavery, have earnestly considered the means by which these relations should have a permanent basis, and draw legal consequences after them. They have felt, with much concern, the want of laws on this subject.

How far, and in what manner, instruction should be communicated, and to what extent voluntary emancipation should be authorized, have employed quite as much conscientious thought in the Southern States as at the North. Yet there are, as all must admit, substantial difficulties in the way of an adjustment of details in any measure of the kind we have mentioned; and so long as the abolition agitation continues, no attempts will be made to measure these difficulties. The reason is plain and obvious: the native instincts of the Southern people teach them, that while the pressure from without continues, they must oppose a corresponding resistance from within. They cannot engage in any discussion likely to promote discord or disaffection among themselves; they cannot afford to be divided. Look at the present posture of affairs, as an illustration of the justice of these remarks. In what circumstances are we placed? The minister of the most powerful nation of the earth accosts our chief magistrate, and informs him, and begs the slave-holding States to be assured, that the institution of slavery is not at all to his taste, and that the government of Great Britain will not desist from its virtuous exertions to effect its overthrow. We know there is a more courteous language employed, but this expresses the meaning to our minds. Let us reverse the position of the parties. If an American minister, hearing complaints in Great Britain of the repeal agitation in this country, had declared to Lord Aberdeen, that the institutions of the aristocracy, the church, or that the Irish government of Great Britain, were obnoxious to us, repugnant to our sense of morals and our republican notions of human rights, and we wished to see such institutions abolished, and should use "constant exertions" for that purpose throughout the world,-what would have been the conduct and reply of the British government? What would have been the

sentiments of the British people at such a proceeding? We are compelled to say, that the American Senate was wanting not only in a proper American spirit, but in a proper sense of what was due to the dignity of the nation, in the reception it gave to the dispatch of Lord Aberdeen. We are compelled to reprobate, in the strongest terms, the antiAmerican apologists of that power on the floor of the Senate; while we approve cordially, and without reserve, the American tone and spirit that dictated the reply of Mr. Calhoun, and trust that the discouragement he experienced from the legislature, will be more than compensated by the cheering voices of the people, as we know it will be by the judgment of an impartial posterity.

Here, then, is our position. Our enemy confronts us with the acknowledgment of eternal hostility to this institution. At home, so far from finding strength or support, our endeavors are contradicted and controlled by our own people, whose sympathies are with the purposes of our foes. It cannot be disguised, that there is a large party in our land who would prefer to see Texas a British province, than to see it a portion of this Federal Union. All the settled maxims, the declared and apparently rooted convictions that have prevailed in the regulation of our foreign politics, are insufficient to oppose the deep and pervading hostility that has been fostered against the Southern States, and this, its distinguishing institution. They are simply tolerated as members of the Union by the great body of the party who oppose the annexation of Texas, in order that they may constitute victims of unconstitutional taxation and objects for contumely and outrage. In this condition of their af fairs, the Southern States are divided,-divided upon the paltry concern of a presidential election,-and tossing away their principles in their eagerness to serve men;-—our politicians (we cannot call them statesmen)-our political chiefs-displaying melancholy evidences of weakness and incompetency, exhibiting the most glaring examples of tergiversation, abandoning without reserve, and apparently without consideration, those sure and stable foundationsthe principles of Jefferson and Macon, of Taylor of Caroline, and Troup,-those great republican principles on which our government alone can rest with safety,-as if they were empty and unmeaning things; thus destroying, at one moment, the character of the South as the consistent and steady

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