cannot work together. They have no thought of abandoning their slaves that they may get white labor; and they want slaves, therefore, and they will have them—from the Seaboard States, if the slave trade be not opened, and they cannot heartily embrace a policy which, while it will tend to degrade the Seaboard States to the condition of a democracy, will compel them to pay double and treble prices for their la bor. It may be said in this connection that, though the Cotton States might tolerate the slave trade, it would overstock the country and induce a kind of social suffocation. It is one of the most grievous evils of the time that men have persisted in legislating on domestic slavery with what would seem to be an industrious misapprehension of its requisites. It is assumed that it is ready to explode while it is in an ordinary state of martial law, as perfect as that which, in times of popular outbreak, is the last and surest provision for security and order. It is assumed that the negro is unfit for mechanical employments, when he exhibits an imitative power of manipulation unsurpassed by any other creature in the world; and when, as a matter of fact, we see him daily in the successful prosecution of the trades, and are forced to know that he is not more generally employed for reason of the higher prices offered for him by our fields of cotton. It is assumed that he cannot endure the cold of Northern States, when he dies not more readily in Canada than Domingo, and when the finest specimens of negro character and negro form to be met with in the world are on the northern borders of Maryland and Missouri. It is assumed that whenever he comes in contact with free society he must quail before it, when it is evident that the question which shall prevail is dependent on the question which can work the cheapest; and when it is evident that with slaves at starvation prices-slaves at prices to which they will be reduced by the question whether we shall give them up or feed them-at prices to which they will be reduced when the question comes whether they shall starve the hireling or the hireling the slave, the system of domestic slavery, guided always by its best intelligence, directed always by the strictest economy, with few invalids and few inefficients, can underwork the world. And it is assumed that, hemmed in as we will be, but a slight addition to our slaves will induce disastrous consequences. But it is demonstrable that negroes are more easily held to slavery than white men; and that more in proportion, therefore, can be held in subjection by the same masters; and yet in the Republic of Athens of white slaves there were four to one; and in portions of the Roman Empire the proportion was greater still; and upon this ratio the slaves might be increased to forty millions, without a corresponding increase among the whites, and yet occur no disaster; but on our rice lands, isolated to a great extent, where negroes are employed in thousands, there is often not one white man to one hundred slaves. Nor is there greater danger of an over-crowded population. Slaves may be held to greater density than freemen; order will be greater, and the economy of resources will be greater. Athens had seven hundred to the square mile, while Belgium, the most densely populated State of modern Europe, has but about three hundred and eightyeight to the square mile; and with a population only as dense as Belgium, South Carolina could hold the population of the Southern States, and Texas three times the present population of the Union. Is it that foreign nations will require it? As a matter of taste they might perhaps. There is a mode upon the subject of human rights at present, and England, France, and other States that are leaders of the mode, might be pleased to see the South comply with the standard of requirement, and, provided only no serious inconvenience or injury resulted, would be pleased see the South suppress not only the slave trade, but slavery itself. But will our failure to do so make any greater difference in our relations with those States? Men may assume it if they will, but it argues a pitiable want of intelligence and independence, an abject want of political spirit, to suppose it. France and England trade in coolies, and neither will have the hardihood to affirm that between that and the slave trade there is an essential difference, and practising the one they cannot war with us for practising the other. Nor, in fact, do they wago war upon the slave trade. Spain prevents the trade in Cuba, though she acknowledges the mode by professing to prohibit it. _Portugal and Turkey do not even so much. Even England lends her ships to keep the slave trade open in the Black Sea; and almost every slave bought in Africa is paid for in English fabrics, to the profit of the English merchant, and with the knowledge of the British Government. In view of these facts, it were simple to suppose that European States will practise sentiment at the expense of interest. And have they interest in the suppression of the slave trade? Three years ago, in my report to the Commercial Convention at Montgomery, I said that European States are hostile to the Union. Perhaps "they see in it a threatening rival in every branch of art, and they see that rival armed with one of the most potent productive institutions the world has ever seen; they would crush India and Algeria to make an equal supply of cotton with the North; and, failing in this, they would crush slavery to bring the North to a footing with them, but to slavery without the North they have no repugnance; on the contrary, if it were to stand out for itself, free from the control of any other Power, and were to offer to European States, upon fair terms, a full supply of its commodities, it would not only not be warred upon, but the South would be singularly favored-crowns would bend before her; kingdoms and empires would 66 break a lance to win the smile of her approval; | fact, and it were vain to sustain the institution and, quitting her free estate, it would be in her option to become the bride of the world, rather than, as now, the miserable mistress of the North." in the face of such admissions to its prejudice. This opinion seemed then almost absurd, but recent indications have rendered it the common opinion of the country; and as, therefore, they have no repugnance to slavery in accordance with their interests, so also can they have none to the extension of it. They will submit to any terms of intercourse with the Slave Republic in consideration of its markets and its products. An increase of slaves will increase the market and supply. They will pocket their philanthropy and the profits together. And so solicitude as to the feeling of foreign States upon this subject is gratuitous; and so it is that our suppression of the slave trade is warranted by no necessity to respect the sentiment of foreign States. We may abnegate ourselves if we will, defer to others if we will, but every such act is a confession of a weakness, the less excus-republic must forego its nature and its destiny, able that it does not exist, and we but industriously provoke the contempt of States we are desirous to propitiate. Is it that we debase our great movement by letting it down to the end of getting slaves? We do not propose to reopen the slave trade; we merely propose to take no action on the subject. I truly think we want more slaves. We want them to the proper cultivation of our soil, to the just development of our resources, and to the proper constitution of society. Even in this State I think we want them; of 18,000,000 acres of land, less than 4,000,000 are in cultivation. We have no seamen for our commerce, if we had it, and no operatives for the arts; but it is not for that I now oppose restrictions on the slave trade. I oppose them from the wish to emancipate our institution. I regard the slave trade as the test of its integrity. If that be right, then slavery is right, but not without; and I have been too clear in my perceptions of the claims of that great institution too assured of the failure of antagonist democracy, too convinced the one presents the conditions of social order, too convinced the other does not, and too convinced, therefore, that the one must stand while the other falls, to abate my efforts or pretermit the means by which it may be brought to recognition and establishment. or it must meet the issue, and our assertion of ourselves will not be easier for admissions made against us. And is it not in fact from a sense of weakness that there is such admission? Is there a man who votes for this measure but from misgivings as to slavery, and as to the propriety of its extension? Therefore is there not the feeling that the finger of scorn will be pointed at him without; and is he who doubts the institution, or he who has no higher standard of the right than what the world may say about it, the proper man to build the structure of a slave Republic? The members of that Convention are elected to important posts in the grand drama of human history. Such opportunity but seldom comes of moulding the destiny of men and nations. If they shall rise to the occasion, they shall realize their work and do it, they will leave a record that will never be effaced; but if they shall not-if they shall shrink from truth, for reason that it is unhonored; if they shall cling to error, for reason that it is approved, and so let down their character, and act some other part than that before them, they will leave a record which their successors will be anxious to efface-names which posterity will be delighted to honor. Opinions, when merely true, move slowly; but when approved, acquire proclivity. Those Believing, then, that this is a test of slavery, as to the right of slavery have been true, merely and that the institution cannot be right if the so far, but they came rapidly to culmination. trade be not, I regard the constitutional pro-I was the single advocate of the slave trade in hibition as a great calamity. If the trade be only wrong in policy, it would be enough to leave its exclusion to the several States that would feel the evils of that policy; but it is only upon the supposition that it is wrong in principle, wrong radically, and therefore never to be rendered proper by any change of circumstances which may make it to our interest, that it is becoming in the General Government to take organic action to arrest. The action of the Confederacy is, then, a declaration of that 1853; it is now the question of the time. Many of us remember when we heard slavery first declared to be of the normal constitution of society; few now will dare to disaffirm it. Those opinions now roll on; they are now not only true but are coming to be trusted; they have moved the structure of the State, and men who will not take the impulse and advance, must perish in the track of their advancement. The members of your Convention may misdirect the movement-they may impede the move ment-they may so divert it that another revo- | lution may be necessary; but if necessarily that other revolution comes, slavery will stand serene, erect, aloft, unquestioned as to its rights or its integrity at some points within the present limits of the Southern States, and it is only for present actors to determine whether they will contribute or be crushed to that result. the grounds on which the secession movement has been based by its advoccates. If any "Union man" at the South may have been tempted to doubt the propriety of giving so much space as we have awarded to such exciting developments of public disaffection, at a time when the air seemed full of political infection, we have only to say that the chronicle belonged to the current history of the times, and was demanded of us as impartial public journalists. If, on the other hand, any of our subscribers, in their zeal for a cause assuming to represent "Southern rights," may have disposing, as we have felt it our duty to do, the whole theory and policy of secession, as now urged upon the acceptance of the Southern people, they will at least do us the justice to admit that if that cause has not been sufficientit must be because its peculiar champions have been unable to substantiate its high pretensions, with all the advantages given them in the prominence assigned to discussions and proceedings which were suited to attract by their novelty, to allure by their boldness, and to captivate by the sectional sensibilities upon which they sought to play. I hope you will pardon this communication; it is too long, but I have not had time to make it shorter. I hope also you will find it consistent with your views to urge the policy I have endeavored to advance. If the clause be carried into the permanent Government, our whole move-sented from the course we have pursued in opment is defeated. It will abolitionize the Border Slave States-it will brand our institution. Slavery cannot share a government with democracy it cannot bear a brand upon it; thence another revolution. It may be painful, but we must make it. The Constitution cannot be changed with-ly vindicated in other than our editorial columns, out. The Border States discharged of slavery, will oppose it. They are to be included by the concession; they will be sufficient to defeat it. It is doubtful if another movement will be so peaceful; but no matter, no power but the Convention can avert the necessity. The clause need not necessarily be carried into the permanent Government, but I fear it will be. The belief that it is agreeable to popular feeling will continue. The popular mind cannot now be worked up to the task of dispelling the belief; the same men who have prepared the provisional will prepare the permanent constitution; the same influences will affect them. It will be difficult to reverse their judgment in the Conventions of the several States. The effort will at least distract us, and so it is to be feared this fatal action may be consummated; but that it may not, is the most earnest wish I now can entertain. Respectfully, your obedient servant, This letter was published in the Charleston Mercury on the 13th of February, and copied into the National Intelligencer on the 19th, with the following remarks: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SECESSION.-We surrender a considerable portion of our paper to the reproduction of a letter addressed by the Hon. L. W. Spratt, of South Carolina, to the Hon. Mr. Perkins, of Louisiana, in criticism on the Provisional Constitution recently adopted by the "Southern Congress" at Montgomery, Alabama. In giving to-day the elaborate paper of Mr. Spratt, we need not say that we entirely dissent from the political philosophy which he inculcates in the name and on behalf of the secession movement. Yet the prominent part he has taken in the steps by which that movement was initiated, the confidence bestowed upon him by the people of Charleston in electing him, with such unanimity, to a seat in the South Carolina Convention, and the marked honor conferred upon him by that Convention in deputing him as one of the commissioners appointed to interpret the action of the Palmetto State before the Convention of Florida, (the first which met after that of South Carolina,) are all so many titles by which he may assume to speak with authority in expounding the purport and bearing of the civil revolution to which he has so largely contributed. It will be seen that Mr. Spratt distinctly and unequivocally heralds a new crusade for the "emancipation of the South," if the features engrafted on the Provisional Constitution framed at Montgomery should be so far incorporated in the permanent organic law of the new Confederation as to fix a "stigma" on slavery by prohibiting the foreign slave trade. Writing to his correspondent, (who, we may add, is a In giving so large a space to such a docu- leading member of the Southern Congress from ment we are governed by the same considera- the State of Louisiana,) he proclaims that it tions which have hitherto induced us to pub- was the great object of the movement which lish so largely the proceedings of the Conven- has resulted in the disruption of the Union in tions held in South Carolina and elsewhere-a the Gulf States, to protect the system of sladesire to place conspicuously before our readers very in those States, as well in its internal as in the South (from whom the Intelligencer re-external relations, from the antagonism of free ceives much the larger portion of that generous patronage with which it has so long been honored) a clear and comprehensive statement of society; and to this end the revival of the foreign slave trade is seen to be necessary. He contends that in order to realize the normal eracy have in reserve for their people another revolution in which the combatants on both sides shall be of their own household. And the man who prefigures this conflict is one whose warning should not pass unheeded, because he is one who knows how revolutions are made, because knowing from what source the pending revolution has derived its motive power, and the attainment of what ends it has sought under the conduct of its originators. These, if balked of their purpose for the pres ent, will, he assures us, only have to begin at once a new agitation, destined to endure until at last slavery shall "stand serene, erect, aloft, unquestioned as to its rights or its integrity, at state of "slave society" the number of the slaves should at least be equal to the number of the freemen; for where the latter are in excess, he holds that the conditions of an "irrepressible conflict" and of the consequent subordination of slavery are inevitable. It being indispensable, according to Mr. Spratt, that every form of handicraft labor in the true Slave States should be performed by slaves, he deprecates the introduction of white mechanics into Charleston as a calamity threatening the peace of the city. At present he thinks that South Carolina more nearly than any other State-much more so than Virginia-is in a condition to illustrate the conservative tendency of slavery, as to-day there is in South Carolina no “ap-some point within the present limits of the peal to the mass, because there is no mass to appeal to; there are no demagogues, because there is no populace to breed them." But this happy state of things may be broken up if slavery be not promptly strengthened by the reopening of the slave trade, as it is foreseen that white laborers will come in to fill up the gap left by a paucity of slaves; and such white laborers, adds Mr. Spratt, "will question the right of masters to employ their slaves in any work that they may wish for; they will use the elective franchise to that end; they may acquire the power to determine our municipal elections, and they will inexorably use it; and thus this town of Charleston, at the very heart of slavery, may become the fortress of democratic power against it." With such theories lying at the basis of the agitation which has culminated in a dissolution of the Union, it was but natural that its originators should exclaim, in the presence of the temporary prohibitions laid on the foreign slave trade by the Congress at Montgomery, that if this interdict "be carried into the permanent Government our whole movement is defeated. It will abolitionize the Border States-it will peace Southern States." "And such being the case," adds Mr. Spratt, "it is only for the present actors to determine whether they will contribute or be crushed to that result." Who can wonder that the people of the Border Slaveholding States, with their wellknown repugnance to the revival of the slave trade, should look with other than feelings of distrust and misgiving on a movement which, in its rudiments, was known to have been so largely controlled by men of like ideas with Mr. Spratt, and whose ultimate, inevitable tendencies are now only the more clearly expressed because of a temporary check which it is feared that movement has received within its own circle of revolution? -National Intelligencer, February 19. Doo. 111. BATTLE OF BULL RUN, VA. SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT OF GENERAL TYLER.' HEAD QUARTERS, 1ST DIVISION, WASHINGTON, July 27th, 1861. brand our institution. Slavery cannot share a at Bull Run at the time we left for Centreville; GENERAL: I closed my report as to the fight Government with democracy; it cannot bear a and it is due to me and my division that our brand upon it; thence another revolution. It subsequent movements be noted to the time may be painful, but we must make it. The Constitution cannot be changed without it. It the different brigades reached a stopping place. is doubtful if another movement will be so On reaching Centreville, I found Richardson's ful; but no matter; no power but the Con- brigade in line, ready to support us, or cover vention can avert the necessity." To similar the retreat. The brigade retired in good order purport Mr. Spratt proclaims in another part order was given to retreat, and each brigade on Arlington, covering the retreat. After the of his letter, "that slavery, as sent forth by the Southern Congress, like the Thracian horse was ordered "to proceed to the position from returning from the field of victory, still bears a advanced," I communicated the order to the which it started, and by the route by which it master on his back, and, having achieved one commanders of each brigade, and with Keyes' revolution to escape democracy at the North, it must still achieve another to escape it at the brigade proceeded at once to Falls Church, deSouth." And it will be seen that more than termined to save the camp equipage of the four once he very significantly intimates a doubt regiments left standing there, which I knew, whether this latter victory, if a contest is made if we fell back on the fortifications in front of necessary by a prohibition laid on the slave Washington, the enemy would at once seize. trade, will be as peaceful as that which has Col. Keyes, with the three Connecticut regibeen only partially won over the remoter en-ments, arrived at Falls Church about 5 o'clock emy at the North. In a word, if the revival A. M. of the 22d inst., and proceeded at once of the slave trade be not now peacefully conto strike their tents, and those of the Maine ceded, the members of the Southern Confed- I * See page 7 Documents, ante. regiment and send them to Fort Corcoran. | afterward, by directions of Col. Miles, I proThis work, without rations, was continued ceeded to the extreme left of our division, and the entire day, and during a severe rain supported Maj. Hunt's battery. Having thrown storm, and by night the entire camp equipage was saved by removal. Col. Keyes then fell back to the camp of Schenck's brigade, which had been entirely deserted; and after using their tents for the night, struck them the next morning, and sent the other Government property to Fort Corcoran and Alexandria; and at 7 o'clock Tuesday morning I saw the three Connecticut regiments, with two thousand (2,000) bayonets, march under the guns of Fort Corcoran in good order after having saved us not only a large amount of public property, but the mortification of having our standing camps fall into the hands of the enemy. I hope, General, that you will appreciate this service on the part of a portion of my division, and give credit to whom credit is due. All the brigades, except Schenck's, obeyed the order to return to their original positions. By some misunderstanding, which is not satisfactorily explained, this brigade proceeded direct to Washington, one regiment, as understood, passing directly through the camp they left on the 16th inst. With great respect, your obedient servant, To Brig.-Gen. I. MODOWELL, OFFICIAL REPORT OF COLONEL PRATT. HEAD-QUARTERS THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT N. Y. V., ( CAMP NEAR ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 22, 1861. SIR: In accordance with paragraph 723 of General Regulations for the United States Army, I have the honor to report the operations of my regiment during the engagement of yesterday. In obedience to your order, the regiment was ready to march from camp, near Centreville, at 2.30 A. M. While proceeding to the field, I was detached from my regiment and ordered to take command of the Sixteenth and Thirtysecond regiments New York Volunteers, to support Lieut. Pratt's battery. I turned over the command of the Thirty-first regiment to Lieut.-Col. Wm. H. Browne, and took command as directed, made a reconnoissance in company with Col. Mathewson of the Thirtysecond, Lieut.-Col. Marsh of the Sixteenth, and Lieut. Pratt of the artillery, and placed said regiments in proper positions. I afterwards threw out as skirmishers of the Thirty-second a company under Captain Chalmers and a platoon under Lieut. of the Sixteenth, and sent them about a mile to the front and left of our position, to guard a road leading from the enemy's right to our left and rear. In about an hour I was ordered by Col. Dixon S. Miles, the division commander, to proceed with the two regiments and the battery to the front, where I was relieved from command of them, and resumed charge of my own regiment. Soon out Capt. Heiss, with his company, as skirmishers in the defiles, about a quarter of a mile on our left, I rested the remainder of my regiment on the skirt of a wood, in rear of the artillery. Perceiving that the enemy was wary and shy, I sent Lieut.-Col. Browne, with two companies detailed by him, to reconnoitre a ravine and wood where it was suspected the enemy was concealed. After deploying and penetrating the ravine to a considerable distance, all at once a smart fire of rifles was opened upon him from a force concealed in the thick timber. He returned the fire, and continued skirmishing, assisted by a detachment of Massachusetts Volunteers, until his men were safely covered. The desired effect of compelling our adversaries to discover themselves having thus been attained, Richardson's battery opened upon them a destructive fire of case shot and shell. The skirmishers were recalled, and Lieut.-Col. Browne reported having discovered a masked battery and a force of about a thousand men. Soon afterwards it was discovered that a force of infantry and cavalry, variously estimated at from 2,500 to 4,000 men, were marching on our left through the woods and defile to turn our flank. Pursuant to your order, the line of battle was changed to our left flank, and four companies were detailed from my regiment and thrown into the left and rear as skirmishers, under command of Frank Jones, ActingMajor, who held the enemy in check. We received a fire of 5 volleys of rifles, and retired from the woods, but they did not succeed in drawing our fire, which was reserved for the advance to take our batteries. At 63 o'clock P. M. the order was received to retire upon Centreville. My regiment remained to allow the battery to precede us, being the last, except the Sixteenth, to quit the field that had successfully been held against such tremendous odds. I deem it my duty to give the names of the officers of my regiment who were engaged in the battle, and to whose coolness and judgment I am indebted for the success that attended my regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel, William H. Browne; Acting-Major, Frank Jones; Volunteer Aids, A. L. Washburn, and Frank Hamilton, jr.; Acting-Adjutant, Edward Frossards; Major, Frank H. Hamilton, M. D., Surgeon; Lucier Damamville, M. D., Assistant-Surgeon; George Hanni, M. D., Acting Assistant-Surgeon; Edward A. Brown, M. D., Acting Assistant-Surgeon. Co. A-Captain, J. J. S. Hassler; First Lieutenant, Robert R. Daniels; Acting Second Lieutenant, Wm. Smith. Co. B-Captain, L. C. Newman; First Lieutenant, D. E. Smith; Second Lieutenant, Eugene Frossard. Co. CCapt., Alexander Raszevski; First Lieutenant, Louis Domanski. Co. D-Captain, M. O. McGarry; First Lieutenant, J. H. Bradley; Sec |