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New Orleans, in January 1815, they derived no aid from the slaves of those states.

When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, with the most powerful army ever marshaled under the canopy of heaven, there were in the dominions of the Czar about twenty-five millions of serfs-but those serfs were as loyal to the government, and as much afraid of the French troops as their masters were, and they rendered Napoleon no aid. If there is any instance on record of serfs or slaves joining a foreign invading army against their masters and their country, in any considerable numbers, it has escaped my notice or recollection.

Such being the facts of history, what reason is there to believe that many of the slaves will rise against their masters and join an invading army, in case of civil war between the free and slave states; and what christian or christian moralist could wish them to rise in rebellion, and butcher the whites indiscriminately, young and old, male and female-and burn and destroy property, and devastate the country, as the blacks did in St. Domingo? That some would do so, there is much reason to expect; but that any great numbers of them would do so, is contrary to the history of slavery during the last three thousand years.

So far from slaves being an element of weakness to a state in a hot climate, we believe they are an element of strength to a warlike people; and that the four millions of slaves at the south, by reason of their peaceful labor for their masters, and the cheapness of their support, add to the military strength of those states as much as three millions of free persons would in the same climate, without any slaves.

Population and Military Power.

The relative population of the free and slave states may be stated in round numbers as follows:

White population of free states and territories, about 18,600,000 Free colored persons,

225,000

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The white population of the slave states is now nearly four times as large as that of the same class in the whole United States in 1776, and the slaves are nearly eight times as uumerous.

The

slave states have about two millions of men capable of bearing arms, a large portion of them animated by a fierce spirit of war, independence of the present federal government, and the formation of a southern confederacy. They have been supplied through the late secretary of war, under Buchanan, with several hundred thousand stand of arms; and the agricultural labor of the slaves will enable them to support large military forces constantly in the field within their own limits, and the railroads will furnish great facilities for moving their troops, munitions of war and provisions, from one point to another, to concentrate them at points of attack. The population of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1776, was about thirteen millions; with her East and West Indian, Canadian, and other provinces, her vast fleets, manufacturing industry, and large commerce, she was perhaps as powerful to wage a foreign war as the free states alone are at the present time. The thirteen American colonies were then poor, weak, almost destitute of manufacturing and mining industry, and destitute of arms, munitions of war, and of military science. The slave states are now well supplied with arms, have a great number of scientific military officers, perhaps five or ten times as much mining and manufacturing industry as the whole thirteen colonies had in 1776; their agricultural products are worth in the markets of the world more than five times as much; their population is nearly five times as great; and with their railroad facilities, they have more than five times the power of self-defence that the whole thirteen colonies had in 1776.

With the exception of their efforts to take the United States forts, arsenals, and public property within their limits, the slave states will act on the defensive; and our readers should bear in mind, that the cost of carrying on a defensive war is small compared with a foreign and distant one-that men will fight desperately to defend their own homes and state; and it is impossible for a nation or people to conquer a people animated by a warlike spirit and a determination to maintain their independence, unless the former is two or three times as powerful as the latter.

If we are correct in these conclusions, it will require something more than a few skirmishes before breakfast, to reduce even the cotton states alone to subjection to the laws and government of the United States; and it can not be advantageous for the federal government to attempt to do much more than to man the forts and navy yards remaining in the possession of the United States, blockade the ports and harbors of the seceeding states, cut off their commerce by sea, and thereby strike a blow at their industry and their busiuess, weaken them as much as possible, and let them suffer until they come to their senses.

The rebels have already inaugurated a reign of terror in Charleston, New Orleans, and many other cities of the gulf states; business is generally paralized in those states, and their industry de

ranged; the expenses of their military movements are large and must necessarily increase as long as they continue their treasonable course; money has become scarce, credit gone, and taxation will soon grind hard. The principal ground now remaining for hope, that permanent disunion and a bloody civil war can be avoided, rests in the possibility, and perhaps I may say the probability, that the rebels may quarrel among themselves, and thus save the country.

It may not be profitable, however, for us at the north to magnify our own power and importance, and to look upon the power of the slave states with contempt, and regard them as poor, weak, and totally unable to defend themselves. It is not best for our people to deceive themselves with such delusive phantoms. On the contrary, we may better inquire into and understand the true condition of things, look the difficulties fully in the face, and try to provide for them wisely and manfully, as far as circumstances will permit.

SEC. 21.

DANGERS OF THE COUNTRY, AND THE REMEDIES PROPOSED.

Six states have passed ordinances declaring their separation from the Union. They have adopted treasonable measures to overthrow the constitution and the laws of the United States within their respictive limits, to prepare for war, set the national government at defiance, and form a southern confederacy. The dates of their several ordinances of secession are as follows: By South Carolina, December 20th, 1860.

By Mississippi, January 9th, 1861.
By Florida, January 11th, 1861.
By Alabama, January 11th, 1861.
By Georgia, January 18th, 1861.
By Louisiana, January 26th, 1861.

The states of Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia, are all moving in the same direction. The governor of Virginia at first declared a sort of armed neutrality of that state; but the indications now are, that the secessionists are getting the advantage of the Union men in Virginia, and that they will plunge that state also into the vortex of treason and rebellion; and there is much reason to fear that her influence may draw Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas with her. The only grounds for hope are: 1st. The speedy exhaustion of the gulf states, and dissension among themselves; and secondly, the adoption of such measures of conciliation as may satisfy a large majority of the people of the northern slave states: to satisfy the cotton or gulf states is impracticable.

Of all the propositions for the adjustment of the difficulties, the preamble and resolutions of Mr. Crittenden, introduced into the senate of the United States, on the 18th of December last, have

attracted the most general attention, and seem the most likely to become the basis of an arrangement. They are as follows:

"Whereas, Alarming dissensions have arisen between the northern and southern states as to the rights of the common territories of the United States, it is eminently desirous and proper that such dissensions should be settled by the constitutional provisions which give equal justice to all sections, whereby to restore peace: Therefore

Resolved, By the senate and house of representatives, that the following article be proposed and submitted as an amendment to the constitution, which shall be valid as a part of the constitution, when ratified by conventions of three-fourths of the people of the states.

First. In all the territories of the United States, now held or hereafter to be acquired, situated north of latitude thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under territorial government. In all the territory south of said line of latitude, slavery of the Afriean race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by congress; but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the territorial government during its continuance; and when any territory north or south of such line, within such boundaries as congress may prescribe, shall contain the population necessary for a member of congress, according to the then federal ratio of representation of the people of the United States, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, with or without slavery, as the constitution of such new state may provide.

Second. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in places under its jurisdiction, in States permitting slavery.

Third. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, while it exists in Virginia or Maryland. Congress shall never, at any time, prohibit the officers of the government, or members of congress, whose duties require them to live in the District of Columbia, from bringing slaves, and holding them as such.

Fourth. Congress shall have no power to hinder the transportation of slaves from one state to another, whether by land, navigable rivers, or sea. Fifth. Congress shall have power by law to pay the owner who shall apply, the full value of the fugitive slave, in all cases when the marshall is prevented from discharging his duty, by force or rescue, made after the arrest. In all such cases the United States shall have power to sue the county in which such violence or rescue is made, and the county shall have the right to sue the individuals who committed the wrong, in the same manner as the owner could sue.

Sixth. No future amendments shall affect the preceding articles, and congress shall never have power to interfere with slavery in the states where it is now permitted.

Seventh. That the fugitive slave law should be amended, to prevent kidnapping, and faithfully executed, and all personal liberty bills conflicting with it so far amended as to prevent such conflict.

The last resolution declares that the southern states have the right to the faithful execution of the law for the recovery of slaves, and such laws ought not to be repealed or modified so as to impair their efficiency. All laws conflicting with the fugitive slave laws will be void, yet congress will not deem it improper to earnestly ask the repeal of such laws. The fugitive slave law ought to be so altered as to make the commissioner's fee equal, whether decided for or against the claimant, and the clause authorizing the person holding the warrant to summon a posse comitatus to be modified, so as to restrict It to cases where violence or rescue is attempted. The laws for the suppression of the African slave trade ought to be effectually executed."

As to the first amendment proposed by Mr. Crittenden, we will remark, that the repeal of the Missouri compromise having alarmed the people of the north, caused great excitement, and been the principal cause of the formation and final success of the republican party, we think, in the present exigences and condition of the country, that a large majority of the party will be satisfied with its restoration, and the admission of Kansas as a free state. But we do not think it expedient or proper for this generation to pledge itself and the national government, to allow and guarantee slavery in all the territories and country the government may hereafter acquire, south of its present boundaries; and to admit each territory as a state as soon as it may have a sufficient number of inhabitants to be entitled to one member of congress. Such a pledge would be a direct encouragement to a system of fillibustering to obtain the whole, or large portions of Mexico, Central America, and perhaps portions of South America, as well as Cuba and other West India Islands, to be eventually brought into the Union as slave States-to give the slave States the permanent preponderance in the United States Senate, and the absolute control of the national government.

As slavery has been established in New Mexico and now exists by virtue of laws passed by the territorial legislature; and in as much as the soil and climate of the country is such that slave labor can never be made profitable, we do not see that the cause of freedom will loose anything by letting it remain as it is now, and giving a guarantee to that effect; if such a guarantee can contribute to the peace and harmony of the country.

The republican party is pledged to oppose the extension of slavery to countries and territories now free, but it is not pledged to abolish or attempt to abolish slavery where it now exists by the local law. It is no more pledged to abolish slavery in New Mexico, where African slavery has been established by the laws of the territory, and where peon slavery has existed for centuries, than it is to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the United States forts and navy yards situated in the slave states. It does not seem worth while to plunge the nation into civil war, to assert an abstract principle; nor does it seem best to attempt to abolish slavery, by an act of congress either in New Mexico or the city of Washing on; which would alarm all the northern slave states for their future peace and safety, array them against the free states, unite them with the gulf states in the formation of a southern confederacy, and thereby produce an immediate and permanent dissolution of the Union, and bring upon us civil war, with all its sacrifices, evils, and horros. We have gained a noble republican victory; let us secure its fruits by a wise and conservative policy. By a course of radicalism, all may be lost.

Whenever there are wide differences of opinion among the people of a nation, it is impossible to make laws of a local bearing in

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