in a distant land, and all in the prostituted name of humanity!

6

You delude yourself, my Lord, if you believe that allfriends of America' and of the 'human race' share your sentiments of joy upon the occasion you celebrate. Millions of the real friends of freedom in other climes now mourn over the peril which menaces the overthrow of the great Republic,' without knowing, or caring to comprehend, the domestic questions which have produced the danger. During eighty-five years, it has been a beacon of hope to the weary and heavy-laden, and should its brightness be now quenched by that dark and clouded night, upon whose gloomy and fitful shadows, we may even, at this moment be gazing, believe not, my Lord, that the announcement of the catastrophe will be a message of joy to the hearts of all the friends of the human race!'

I would ask no nobler epitaph upon the tomb of that party, whose defeat your Lordship commemorates as an event which should be hailed with joy by every 'friend of the human race,' than to record, in simple and brief words, this fragment of its history:

'The political organisation which inaugurated the revolt of the Thirteen American Colonies of Great Britain; which conducted the war of the Revolution to a successful close; under whose auspices the Confederation of Free States was established; and which

ruled and guided the destinies of the Republic during the first eighty-five years of its existence, perished in the year of the Christian era one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. Whether its fall was a consequence of its crimes, its virtues, or its misfortunes, let posterity determine.'

It would be profitless for me to indulge at greater length in the reflections to which the two events I have referred to, and your Lordship's connection therewith, have given birth. I am unwilling to offer to you, my Lord, any defence for the local policy of the political party in America to which I belong. Nor, on the other hand, will I make any attack upon that in whose success your Lordship seems to feel so deep an interest, and whose cause you commend with so much zeal. But, my Lord, you have invited a comparison by which I am willing that my country shall be tested. You have, by the energy of your assaults upon the institution of African slavery in America, indirectly challenged an examination into the manner in which subjugated races have been ruled by your own country, and you seem to invite scrutiny into your own connection, as a nation, with the institution of African slavery in the past, as well as in the present era.

I, in turn, challenge an investigation and a comparison, and I am willing to accept all friends of the human race' as our umpires. I am willing that both

shall be tried 'by the laws of God and humanity,' and that the enquiry shall have for its object the determination of the question: Which has so governed as to achieve the greatest good, with the least evil, to those over whom Providence or cupidity have called them, respectively, to bear sway? Every friend of the Southern States of America is willing to stand or fall upon the result of such an investigation and comparison.

I have a high respect, my Lord, for the great nation in which you hold so distinguished a rank. I am satisfied that many, very many, of its noblest citizens of all classes deprecate the officious interference of British politicians in the contests of political parties in America. But my friendly regard for individual citizens of your country does not blind me to the fact that English influence has been a principal element in the sectional troubles which now distract my country.

The persistent misrepresentations against the Southern American States, which have emanated from the British Abolition party, have excited unjust and wholly unfounded prejudices against my countrymen throughout Europe. I cannot hope that in a day, or a year, these prejudices can be removed by any exposure of that narrow and thoroughly selfish policy which, decked in the garb of humanity, has given tone to the sentiments of Europe upon American

affairs. But in the confidence that a returning sense of justice will induce your Lordship to listen to the defence made by one whom you have accused as an enemy to his country and to the human race, I propose, after the lapse of a few weeks, which will be necessarily occupied by other engagements, to do myself the honour of again addressing you.*

I may not hope that the judge who has already pronounced against me, in terms so emphatic, will be induced to reverse his predetermined judgement; but I will not despair of obtaining a reversal of your sentence before a tribunal composed of the 'friends of the human race,' until longer to hope would be fanaticism.

The small grain of mustard seed, which I throw upon the ground, may be choked by the foul weeds amongst which it is cast, and never see the sun; but it may be that from this little seed may grow and 'wax a great tree,' and that beneath its shade, a few, at least, of the noxious plants, from the midst of which it grew, may wither and perish!

I have the honour to be, most respectfully,

Your Lordship's obedient servant.

* The publication of the letters here referred to, is now superseded by those which fill the greater part of this volume. Although they were written antecedently to my announcement to his Lordship, yet, as they cover the points at issue, I submit this volume, with all its admitted imperfections, to the true friends of America,' as well as to 'the friends of the human race,' as a redemption of my pledge.

SURVEY OF THE RESULT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

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The Governments of the North and South contrasted - Presidential Elections analysed Votes for President in 1860- On the Rights of the States to secede from the Union - Ordinances of 1787 and 1790 - Ordinance passed by Congress in 1789 — The United States Government as it is The Separation must be perpetual - Antagonisms between the North and South - The South will be justified before the World The South must be Self-reliant.

AT the time when the series of letters which occupy the larger portion of this volume were written, the South was making its last appeal to the North for justice, and was engaged in its last great struggle at the ballot-box against its unrelenting adversary. When the letter to the distinguished British statesman which succeeds the series referred to was addressed to that gentleman, the result of the election had been already announced, and the States which had composed the Union were trembling in the balance, between the alternatives of a peaceful separation and a war of subjugation against the seceding States. It would seem to be proper, in order to complete the connection between the