perty, which constitute a part of that instrument. They may not only allege the evil tendency of entertaining discussions and receiving petitions on this subject, but they may take higher grounds, and say, that should Congress, through a misguided majority, acting under fanatical impulses, make any declaration affecting the rights of slave-owners in the District of Columbia, either now or prospectively, it would be, in effect, a sentence of confiscation, bounded, it is true, as to place, but co-extensive with the limits of the Union.'

It cannot be denied, and need not be concealed, that the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia by Congress, would be the signal for an immediate dissolution of the Union. The South does not shrink from an avowal of her determination on this point. Her course will be adopted, not from resentment or rage, but from a calm and stern conviction of necessity. On a separation of the Union, the District of Columbia would probably revert to its original States; and the very act of abolition would be thus abrogated. Thus the fanatics urge a measure, which, though it may dissolve the Union, cannot free a single slave.

CHAPTER XIX.

Impossibility of effecting abolition, even under the sanction of the slave-holders, without collision and war between the whites and blacks -Amalgamation.

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We are willing, for the sake of investigating the practicability of abolition, to suppose impossibilities —to imagine that the Southern states are willing to witness, with apathy and indifference, the most sacred provisions of the Constitution violated, and their domestic institutions and domestic rights trampled, by their brethren, in the dust. We are willing to suppose, that they will voluntarily surrender their chartered rights, quietly beggar themselves and their children, and tamely give themselves up to the management of the Northern fanatics: in short that the slave-holders will themselves become abolitionists. Still it would be impossible to effect abolition, without commotion and bloodshed, without the desolation of the entire South, and the extermination of one or the other of the races which inhabit it.

Were the slaves emancipated they would claim political and social equality. This is already claimed by the abolitionists; and it is not to be supposed that a mass of ignorant freed men, drunken with the excitement of unwonted exemption from restraint, would be more moderate in their views or

desires, than their pious and temperate advocates in the North. They would claim political and social equality. Would it be denied? If so, they - would, in the exultation and boastfulness of newly acquired importance, demand it. Pleased with a pretext for collision, they would at once fall upon the whites, and wrest, or attempt to wrest, the political power of the Southern states from their hands, at the point of the sword. Whatever might be the final result-the immediate consequences would be a war of extermination.

But let us suppose that these rights were conceded, and that the slave was at once elevated to all the privileges and powers of complete citizenship—the right. to vote, to hold office, to make laws, organize armies, &c. &c. Can any man, in the maturity of reason, uninfluenced by fanaticism, and disposed to look dispassionately at facts, suppose that the two races could exist together, in tranquillity under such circumstances? Can it be conceived that social amalgamation will, or can, take place? The reader has no doubt noted with apprehension and regret the proscriptive and bitter prejudices of parties as they now exist in this country. A population, united by every national tie, identical in language, character, interests and feelings, and knit together by all the bonds of kindred-are still so divided by the spirit of faction, that the tranquillity and even the existence of the Union have been at times endangered. If such excitements distract our present population, what must be expected when the South is possessed by two races, differing in colour, character and interests? What power will overthrow the barrier which indissolubly divides them? What magic will remove the distinction which makes social amalgamation impossible? Without kindred connections, without social or sexual intercourse,

with every thing that can separate and embitter the races-it is impossible that they could move in the same sphere. It is impossible that they could sit in the same legislative hall, stand in the same military ranks, occupy the same civil posts, or mingle in the same political meetings. So long as intermarriage is out of the question, so long must these prejudices-the necessary result of social separation -prevail. On one side will be the whites, on the other the blacks; on one side the intelligence and refinement of the country, on the other the ignorance and barbarity; on one side the wealth, on the other the poverty; on one side contempt and the feeling produced by former power, on the other dark brooding feelings of malice and revenge. The blacks, too, would be unwilling to work, and when pressed by want-would wrench the means of existence from the white man, and in case of resistance, resort to the torch and the knife. The lands would remain in the possession of the whites, and being the only source of wealth, the impoverished negroes would insist on their division. A thousand

subjects of contention would arise; and when the parties are indissolubly divided, separated by the hand of Nature, marked, on the front, as foes, and embittered by every feeling of hostility which can enter into human quarrels-the arbitrament must eventually be by the sword.*

*The following extract from De Lamartine, contains impressive and pregnant truths, which should not be overlooked by the political philosopher.

"The more I have travelled, the more I am convinced that races of men form the great secret of history and manners. Man is not so capable of education as philosophers imagine. The influence of governments and laws has less power, radically, than is supposed, over the manners and instincts of any people, while the primitive constitution and the blood of the race have always their influence, and manifest them

The abolitionist will, perhaps, point to the Northern states, as furnishing a proof of the safety of abolition. It is true, that the slaves have been emancipated in the North-it is also true that they have not destroyed the lives of our citizens. But the facts prove nothing for the abolitionists. Notwithstanding the paucity of the numbers of the blacks, they have given the greatest trouble to the authorities of the Northern cities. Insignificant in power and resources, they are still insolent and arrogant to a degree which renders them dangerous to the community. The officers of justice scarce venture to arrest them; and it is a task of great and mortal peril to take a fugitive slave, or a fugitive from justice, from among them. It is unnecessary to refer the reader to the columns of our newspapers, which give, almost weekly, accounts of rescues by the blacks. The very hall of the Court House in Philadelphia, was made the scene of a rescue but a short time since; and the Judge himself saw, through the window, the officers of the court assailed and the prisoner seized by a negro mob.

While referring to the free negroes of the North, it may be well to inquire whether the social and

selves, thousands of years afterwards, in the physical formations and moral habits of a particular family or tribe. Human nature flows in rivers and streams into the vast ocean of humanity; but its waters mingle but slowly, sometimes never; and it emerges again, like the Rhone from the Lake of Geneva, with its own taste and colour. Here is indeed an abyss of thought and meditation, and at the same time a grand secret for legislators. As long as they keep the spirit of the race in view they succeed; but they fail when they strive against this natural predisposition: nature is stronger than they are. This sentiment is not that of the philosophers of the present time, but it is evident to the traveller; and there is more philosophy to be found in a caravan journey of a hundred leagues, than in ten years reading and meditation."