THE SOUTHERN ARGUMENT FOR SECESSION.

" DIMON} the war waved against Great Britain by her colonies:on this continent, a common danger impelled them to a close alliance, and to the fonnation of a Confederation by the terms of which the colonies, styling themselves States

entered severally into a firm league of friendship with each other for their con. mon defence, the security of their liberties, sad their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.' ' In order to guard against any misconstruction of their compact, the several States made explicit declaration, in a distinct article, that *each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled.' " Under this contract of alliance the war of the Revolution was successfully waged, and resulted in the treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783, by the terms of which the several States were, each by name, recognised to be inde- pendent.

" The Articles of Confederation contained a clause whereby all alterations were prohibited, unless confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, after being agreed to by the Congress; and, in obedience to this provision, under the resolu- tion of Congress of the 21st of February, 1787, the several States appointed delegates, who attended a Convention for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several Legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution ade- quate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union.'

" It was by the delegates chosen by the several States, under the resolution just quoted, that the Constitution of the United Stated was framed in 1787,.and submitted to the several States for ratification, as shown by time sevenths article, which is in these words:

" The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same.'

" The Constitution of 1787 having, however, omitted the clause already recited from the Articles of Confederation which provided in explicit ter.ne : hat such State retained its sovereignty and independence, some alarm was felt in time States when invited to ratify the Constitution, lest this omission should be construed into an abaudomnent of their cherished principle, and they refused. to be satisfied until amendments were added to the Constitution, placing beyond any pretence of doubt the reservation by the States of all their sovereign rights and powers, not expressly delegated to the United, States by the Constitution. "I have italicized certain wordy in the quotations just made, for the pan. pose of attracting attention to the singular and marked caution with which the

This is the lamentable and fundamental error on which rests the policy that has " In the exercise of a right so ancient, so well established, and so necessary for culminated in his declaration of war against these Confederate States. self-preservation, the people of the Confederate States in their Conventions

"In addition to the long:continued and deep-seated resentment felt by the determined that the wrongs which they had suffered and the evils with which Southern States at the persistent abuse of the powers they had delegated to the they were menaced required that they should revoke the delegation of powers Congress for the purpose of enriching the manufacturing and shipping classes of to the Federal Government which they had ratified in their several Conventions. the North at the expense of the South, there has existed for nearly half a cen- They consequently passed ordinances resuming all their rights as sovereign and tory another subject of discord, involving interests of such transcendent magni- independent States, and dissolved their connexion with the other States of the tude as at all times to create the apprehension in the minds of many devoted Union.

lovers of the Union that its performance was impossible. " Having done this, they proceeded to form a new compact among themselves,

" When the several States delegated certain powers to the United States by new articles of confederation, which have been also ratified by the Conventions Congress a large portion of the labouring population consisted of African slaves of the several States, with an approach to unanimity far exceeding that of the imported into colonies by the mother country. In twelve out of the thirteen States Convention which adopted the Constitution of 1787. They have organized their negro slavery existed, and the right of property in slaves was protected by law. new Government in all its departments ; the functions of the executive, legislative, This property was recognized in the Constitution, and provision was made against and judicial magistrates are performed in accordance with the will of the people, its loss by the escape of the slave. The increase in the number of slaves by fur- as displayed not merely in cheerful acquiescence, but in the enthusiastic support ther importation from Africa was also secured by a clause forbidding Congress to of the Government thus established by themselves; and but for the interference prohibit the slave trade anterior to a certain date; and in no clause can there be of the Government of the United States in this legitimate exercise of the right of found any delegation of power to the Congress authorizing it in any manner to a people to self-government, peace, happiness, and prosperity would now smile on legislate to the prejudice, detriment., or discouragement of the owners of that our land."

species of property, or excluding it from the protection of the Government. "The climate and soil of the Northern States soon proved unpropitious to the

continuance of slave labour, while the converse was the case at the South. Under 3iiisallaufintu. the unrestricted free intercourse between the two sections, the Northern States M. DE MONTALEMBERT has addressed the following letter to the And consulted their own interest by selling their slaves to the South, and prohibiting slavery within their limits. The South were willing purchasers of a property de la Religion:--

suitable to their wants, and paid the price of the acquisition without harbouring

A suspicion that their quiet possession was to be disturbed by those who were in-

hibited, not only by want of constitutional authority, but by good faith as which referred to a speech of his on the 4th of August, 1849, in which he was vendors, from disquieting a title emanating from themselves. " As soon, however, as the Northern States, that prohibited African slavery to Pope Pius X.

within their limits, had reached a number sufficient to give their representation a

controlling voice in the Congress, a persistent and organized system of hostile

measures ag and gradualainst the rigly extended. A continuous series of measures were hts of the owners of slaves in the Southern States was quotation is not quite correct. The word ' sanguinary' never passed his lips, and inaugurated

devised and prosecuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the tenure of pro- party in slaves, fanatical organizations supplied with money by voluntary sob respect, both on account of his personal qualities and as the head of a great body scnptions were assiduously engaged in exciting among the slaves a spirit of dis- content and revolt, means were furnished for their escape from their owners, and agents secretly employed to entice them to abscond; the constitutional provision the members of the Roman Church.

for their relation to their owners was first evaded, then openly announced as a me, iu the words which revoked me. I again find him, with satisfaction, in the conscientious violation of obligation and religious duty; men were taught that it

was a merit to elude, disobey, and violently oppose the execution of the laws honourable susceptibility which characterizes his remonstrances.

enacted to secure the performance of the promise in the constitutional compact;

owners of slaves were mobbed and even murdered in open day, solely for applying to a magistrate for the arrest of a fugitive slave; the dogmas of these voluntary copied by the provincial journats, and the foreign ones which inserted the extract.

organizations soon obtained control of the Legislatures ot many of the Northern " CH Ds MONTALEMBEBT.

States, and laws were passed providing for the punishment by ruinous fines and " Paris, May 15." long-continued imprisonment in gaols and penitentiaries of citizens of the Southern

States who should dare to ask aid of the officers of the law for the recovery of The Victoria and Albert, having on board the Empress of Austria, on her cosy States

property. Emboldened by success, the theatre of agitation and aggression

home from Madeira to Trieste, touched at Malta on the 13th. Her Majesty was against the clearly expressed constitutional rights of the Southern States was visited by Governor Le Merchant, and the Archbishop of Malta. She did not transferred to the Congress; senators and representatives were sent to the lane, but she paid a visit to Admiral Martin on board the Liffey. She left common councils of the nation whose chief title to this distinction consisted in the Malta on the 14th, and on the 18th landed at Trieste.

display of a spirit of ultra fanaticism, and whose business was not 'to promote Lord Clyde is now in Italy, and his presence recently at Milan was celebrated the general welfare or ensure domestic tranquillity,' but to awaken the bitterest by La Marmora and Cialdini with a review of three regiments of the line, two of hatred against the citizens of sister States by violent denunciations of their cavalry, numerous artillery and bersaglieri, at seven o'clock last Wednesday institutions; the transaction of public affairs was impeded by repeated efforts morning. The gallant veteran was La Marmora's comrade in arms in the to usurp powers not delegated by the Constitution, for the purpose of impaling Crimea, and Cialdini is a soldier not unworthy of Colin Campbell's right hand.

the security of property in slaves, and reducing those States which held slaves to Sir John Hearses-, a veteran Indian officer, has retired from service; and Sir a condition of infenority. Finally, a great party was organized for the purpose Hugh Rose has thought that the Major-General's long and brilliant services, of obtaining the administration of the Government with the avowed object of extending over more than half a century, " justify the Commander-in-Chief in using its power for the total exclusion of the Slave States from all participation making an exception on the occasion of his departure for England, by according in the benefits of the public domain, acquired by all the States in common, to him the distinction of a special mention in a general order." whether by conquest or purchase; of surrounding. them entirely by Slates in Lady St. Leonards, died at Boyle Farm, Thames Dittos, the seat of her hits- which slavery should be prohibited; of thus rendering the property. in slaves so band, on Sunday last. She was only child of Mr. John Knapp, and married, insecure as to be comparatively worthless, and thereby anunillating in effect December, 1808, Mr. Edward Burtenshaw Sugden, who, in 1852, became Lord property worth thousands of millions of dollars. This party, thus organized, Chancellor of Great Britain, and Baron St. Leonards.

succeeded in the month of November last in the election of its candidate for the The Indipendance Beige says:—" News reached Beyront on the 14th that Presidency of the United States. Said-Bey Djemblad, the celebrated Druse chief, whose trial and condemnation

" In the mean time, under the mild and genial climate of the Southern have been an much animadverted upon, died in prison. Convicted of participation States, and the increasing care and attention for the well-being and comfort of in the massacre of the Christians, his execution was demanded by France, but the labouring class, dictated alike by interest and humanity, the African slaves was suspended at the instigation of England. The Porte, in order to get out of had augmented in number from about 600,000, at the date of the adoption of the the difficulty of deciding in favour of one of the two Western powers, is accused Constitutional compact, to upwards of 4,000,000. In moral and social condition of having put the prisoner to death in the old Ottoman fashion. But., as acts of they had been elevated from brutal savages into docile intelligent, and civilized this kind have passed away even in Turkey, it seems more fair to suppose that agricultural labourers, and supplied not only.with bodily comforts, but with

careful religious instruction. Under the supervision of a superior race their labour

had been as directed as not only to allow a gradual and marked amelioration of The one hundred and seventh anniversary dinner of the Society of Arts will their own condition, but to convert hundreds ot thousands of square miles of the take place at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, on Wednesday, the 19th of. june- wilderness into cultivated lands, covered with a prosperous people; towns and The Right Hon. the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, K.T., G.C.B., will preside.

States endeavoured, in every possible form, to exclude the idea that the separate cities had sprung into existence, and had rapidly increased in wealth and independent sovereignty of each State was merged into one common Govern- and population under the social system of the South ; the white population of meat and nation, and the earnest desire they evinced to impress on the Con- the Southern slaveholdiug States had augmented from about 1,250,000 at the stitation its true character—that of a compact between independent States. date of the adoption of the Constitution, to more than 8,500,000 in 1860, and

" Strange indeed must it appear to the impartial observer, but it is none the the productions of the South in cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco, for the full de_ leastrue, that all these carefully-worded clauses proved unavailing tc prevent velopment and continuance of which the labour of African slaves was and is in.. the rise and growth in the Northern States of a political school which has dispensable, had swollen to an amount which formed nearly three-fourths of the persistently claimed that the Government thus formed was not a compact be- exports of the whole United States, and become absolutely necessary to the wants tween States, bat was, in effect, a national Government, set up above and over of civilized man. the States. An organization, created by the States to secure the blessings of " With interests of such overwhelming magnitude imperiled, the people of the liberty and independence against foreign aggression, has been gradually perverted Southern States were driven by the conduct of the North to the adoption of some into a machine for their control in their domestic affairs; the creature had been course of action to avert the danger with which they were openly menaced. With exalted above its creators; the principals have been made subordinate to the this view the Legislature of the several States invited the people to select

agent appointed by themselves. delegates to Conventions to be held for the purpose of determining fur themselves The people of the Southern States, whose almost exclusive occupation was what measures were best adapted to meet so alarming a crisis in their history.

agriculture, early perceived a tendency in the Northern States to render the corn- " Here it may be proper to observe that from a period as early as 1798 there mon Government subservient to their own purposes by imposing burdens on had existed in all of the States of the Union a party almost uninterruptedly in commerce as a protection to their manufacturing and shipping interests. Long the majority, based upon the creed that each State was, in the last resort, the sole and angry controversy grew out of these attempts, often successful, to benefit judge as well of its wrongs as of the mode and measure of redress. Indeed, it is one section of the count7 at the expense of the other. And the danger of obvious that under the law of nations this principle is an axiom as applied to the disruption arising from this cause was enhanced by the fact that the Northern relations of independent sovereign States such as those which had united them- population was increasing by immigration and other causes in a greater ratio selves under the constitutional compact. The Democratic party of the United than the population of the South. By degrees. as the Northern States gained States repeated in its successful canvass in 1856 the declaration made in preponderance in the National Congress, welt-interest taught their people to yield numerous previous political contests, that it would' faithfully abide by and ready assent to any plausible advocacy of their right as a majority to govern the uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, minority without control; they learned to listen with impatience to the auggm. and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature in 1799 ; and that Lion of any constitutional impediment to the exercise of their will; and so it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its utierly have the principles of the Constitution been corrupted in the Northern political creed.' mind, that in the inaugural address delivered by President Lincoln in March last, "The principles thus emphatically announced embrace that to which I have he asserts as an axiom which he plainly deems to be undeniable, that the theory already adverted, the right of each State to judge of and redress the wrongs of of the Constitution requires that in all cases the majority shall govern; and in which it complains. The principles were maintained by overwhelming ma- another memorable instance the same chief magistrate did not hesitate to liken jorities of the people of all the States of the Union at different elections, espe- the relations between a State and the United States to those which exist between chilly in the election of Mr. Jefferson in 1805, Mr. Madison in 1809, and Mu a country and the State in which it is situated and by which it was created. Pierce in 1852.

This is the lamentable and fundamental error on which rests the policy that has " In the exercise of a right so ancient, so well established, and so necessary for culminated in his declaration of war against these Confederate States. self-preservation, the people of the Confederate States in their Conventions

"In addition to the long:continued and deep-seated resentment felt by the determined that the wrongs which they had suffered and the evils with which Southern States at the persistent abuse of the powers they had delegated to the they were menaced required that they should revoke the delegation of powers Congress for the purpose of enriching the manufacturing and shipping classes of to the Federal Government which they had ratified in their several Conventions. the North at the expense of the South, there has existed for nearly half a cen- They consequently passed ordinances resuming all their rights as sovereign and tory another subject of discord, involving interests of such transcendent magni- independent States, and dissolved their connexion with the other States of the tude as at all times to create the apprehension in the minds of many devoted Union.

lovers of the Union that its performance was impossible. " Having done this, they proceeded to form a new compact among themselves,