the labour of their hands; who cause the earth to bring forth its fruits to feed the hungry; who produce the material to clothe the naked; who fashion the ships to transport the products of one country to another, and who, in fine, produce all that which is employed in ministering to the physical comforts, the convenience, and the luxuries of the human race. Upon this last class depend not only the greatness and wealth of empires, but the very existence of all the other classes which go to make up the aggregate of a nation. Production is necessary to the wealth of a nation. Wealth is an essential element of power, and power is indispensable to the protection of independence and liberty from external violence. Every dollar of value added to the productive industry of the State, adds to the wealth and security of its citizens. The cotton bales produced upon the Southern plantations by slave labour, as well as the barrels of flour which repay the toil of the free labourers of the West, alike contribute to the wealth of New England. They are soldiers, fully armed for the defence of the Republic, but powerless for harm to its citizens.

That Government is therefore best, without reference to its form or name, which confers the greatest amount of happiness upon all its citizens, and which at the same time encourages and induces the greatest amount of production. The history of the world has exhibited that the benefits conferred by governments

H

upon

mankind are not always indicated by the name or the political form by which they have been known or designated.

The free republics of Southern America, regarded as a whole, have proven to be unworthy and incapable of fulfilling the legitimate ends of government. Anarchy, imbecility, and at times the most odious tyranny, have marked their downward progress from the date of their independent existence even up to the present moment of time, when some of them have almost ceased to be regarded as among the family of nations.

The labouring classes of France, under some of her most despotic rulers, have been left in the enjoyment of the greatest amount of real liberty and prosperity; while perhaps the most cruel despotism under which that beautiful country has ever groaned, was during the brief period of the first republic, when the very name of liberty was made odious by its excesses— when the blood and tears of millions of her citizens deluged the land; and when the civilised world stood aghast and horror-stricken at the contemplation of scenes enacted in the name of freedom, as fiercely cruel and despotic as had ever in times past distinguished an epoch in the career of any other civilised

nation.

In the United States of America, upon the other hand, there exists a confederated republic where,

according to theory and practice, up to the present period in its history, human liberty is happily blended with human progress, and where the two have marched hand in hand together. In all its acquisitions it has conferred upon the conquered the boon of its own political institutions, and has made them equal participants in the benefits thereof, and in the advantages of its growing power.

How can the anti-slavery American who contemplates the achievements of the infancy of the republic, attempt to destroy one of the chief elements of its greatness, for the doubtful prospect of accomplishing even all the good they hope for? Alas! that the thirst for present gain, or the madness of sectional hatred, should close the eyes of so many worthy and patriotic citizens, to the danger of taking even one more step in the direction which their avarice or their passions not their reason are leading them.

The brief reference made to well-known facts of history illustrates simply that neither the name nor the form of a government indicates, with positive distinctness, the degree of real liberty or prosperity enjoyed by its subjects. A despot even might confer upon his subjects all the liberty they desire, while the citizens of a republic, by a perversion of the principles of such a government, or an unwarrantable exercise of power on the part of a majority, or by the still more available despotism of a dominant

section, may be made to endure the most odious tyranny.

While this is true in affairs of State, it is equally so in many of the affairs of life. Theorists are too apt to draw conclusions from the names of things, rather than from the things themselves—from the shadow rather than the substance. Even moralists are but too prone to direct their anathemas against theoretical, rather than real vices; against the garments which might seem to indicate the presence of vice, rather than against vice, which may clothe itself in the habiliments of virtue.

He who seeks to find truth, who aspires to arrive at just conclusions, without giving undue influence to his own mere prejudices or those of others, should remember that the names of things are not always even shadows of the objects they profess to describe; that the mere characters which designate a particular object, have nothing to do in making up the qualities of the object itself; and that theories, beautiful in themselves, and seemingly susceptible of the clearest demonstration, are often wofully at fault when applied to the practical affairs of life.

LETTER VI.

Different Systems of Labour considered-Free Labour more or less dependent upon Capital - Southey on English Labour System - Products of Slave and Free Labour compared.

SINCE on the productions of labour rest the foundations of the wealth and power of nations, it is a question of controlling interest for governments to decide how, and under what form, the greatest amount of production can be obtained, consistently with the well-being and happiness of those who labour, and the general prosperity of all. Although each nation has a more direct interest in its own productions than in those of others, there is a community of reciprocal interests as well as obligations among the family of nations, which make the proceeds of the labour of each important to the others. A State therefore should encourage and foster any particular branch of production in which it possesses natural advantages, not only for its own sake, but also for the promotion of the interests of mankind.

In general terms there may be said to be two classes or systems of labour, namely: that which is more or less voluntary, according to circumstances, and which is denominated 'free labour,' and