dered the antipathy ineradicable. Heaven itself has marked upon the brow of the African the seal of inferiority; and no laws, however stringent — no physical power, however great, could enforce upon the whites the recognition of such an equality. To believe that they could do so, is first to suppose them already degraded.

None but an enemy to the dominant race, or an impracticable dreamer, could wish to witness such a consummation. The theory of the universal equality of all the races of mankind is most beautiful and attractive to the merely speculative mind; but when it is attempted to enforce it in the practical affairs of life, it is found to be a fallacy and a delusion.

Rejecting then this adjustment as unwise, unnatural, unjust, and, finally, impossible, there remains but one other alternative—and that is, while conferring upon them personal freedom from the restraints of servitude, and of a master legally authorised to control them and give direction to their labour, to withhold from them the political rights accorded to other citizens. We have already considered the manifest inconsistency and danger of recognising two sets of citizens, with unequal privileges, by a government which has for its corner-stone the principle of entire equality for all who have a right to be called citizens.

But would not such an enfranchisement, in its

practical results, prove to be a most cruel kindness? As a slave, he would have at least the protection of one master interested in his welfare; as a freedman, almost beyond the pale of governmental protection, with no one to take care of him, of a despised and inferior race, a stranger in a land of strangers, how miserable would be his fate! Even if every obstacle to the consummation of such a result were removed, philanthropy might well pause before conferring the boon of freedom at such a hazard.

As a slave, he would have but one master, whose duty and whose interest it would be to clothe, to feed, and to protect him in youth and in old age, in sickness, and in health. As a freed African, he would have many masters, but none who would feel any interest in his welfare. He would live miserably from the cradle to the grave, despised of all, and shunned by every one; and it is impossible for the practically benevolent mind to conceive how in any single respect his physical, moral, or social condition would be improved by this nominal change in his relations towards the more powerful race. On the contrary, the practical reasoner cannot resist the conclusion, that in all things his condition would be essentially worse.

It is thus discovered, by an investigation of the subject of slavery in America, and an analysis of its present condition, with a single eye to its abolition, that upon every hand we are met by obstacles beyond

the power of man to obviate; and that no material change can be effected in the present status of the slave, without entailing far more deplorable evils than those which it would be proposed to remedy. Even after we have arrived at the point where all interests would acquiesce in any practicable scheme of emancipation, it is apparent that it would be impossible.

Whether for good or for evil, the institution of slavery exists, and will continue to exist, in some form or another, so long as the European and African races occupy together the same territory, or until some overruling power from without reduces both to a common subjection. Furthermore, whether or not it will be the fate of the white race, whose destiny has been cast with the transplanted Africans, to be held responsible for the existence of slavery, they will at least bear within them the consciousness, that for the offence, if it be one in reality, they are wholly free from a just responsibility.

But if slavery is a thing so detestable, why should not the friends of humanity utter their imprecations against those who entailed it upon mankind, rather than against the present generation of slave-owners, who have been obliged to adapt themselves to an existing reality, and who have only given direction to an institution which they had no agency in creating, and which they had not the power to eradicate? But, above all, how stupendous is the wrong of those who,

E

from motives the most sordid, entailed slavery upon the Southern States of the American Union, now, from motives even less commendable, thrust themselves forward as the great champions of human liberty and universal emancipation!

I have only adopted this train of argument, and have for the moment acquiesced in the extreme views of the Abolitionist, in order that we might, without disagreement, follow out his schemes of emancipation in any direction which his inclination or his judgement might direct; and we have seen that whatever path he follows, he encounters evils of far greater magnitude than those which he seeks to eradicate. But I would be doing injustice to the Southern slave-holder-injustice to the benefits which the system of slave labour, instituted by others against his will, but by him developed to its present form, has conferred upon mankind -injustice to that overruling Providence which ordains all the institutions of man, were I to rest the defence of the Southern States of America upon any other foundation than that of having worthily employed the means which have been placed in their hands for the purpose of promoting the welfare and happiness of mankind.

CLASSIFICATION OF ADVERSARIES OF SLAVERY. 51

LETTER III.

Classification of the Adversaries of Slavery in the Southern States-The London 'Times' on the causes of English Opposition to Slavery-What position would England occupy towards the Belligerents, if the Republican Party should attempt to carry its measures into effectWould the South hesitate about defending herself to the last extremity?

BEFORE instituting an enquiry into the advantages and disadvantages which have resulted to mankind from the judicious employment of slave labour in the Southern States of the American Union, it would be well to classify the different parties or interests which are at the present day banded together in hostile array against the States of the South, and which are now combined in support of the Republican party, each with the hope of accomplishing its own special purpose. To know who are the parties to a controversy often materially assists in directing the mind to correct conclusions in regard to the merits of the controversy itself. If a known adversary or rival urges me to perform an act, which he declares will result in great benefit to me, but which I perceive will be much more likely to yield advantages to him, I may be pardoned for at least postponing any action which would produce such result.