THE AMFAUCAN CRISIS.
THE chances of the permanence of the American Union slowly diminish, while such prospects of a compromise which will secure a temporary repose slowly increase. It is not too much to say that the present Congress has shown a conciliatory disposition by adopting resolutions embodying a strong sentiment in favour of
the Union. It is not too much to say that a section of the Repub- lican party itself is inclined to compromise, and to approximate its views to those-of the Southern Unionists. There is, in fact, a middle party who cling to the Union before all things, and who seem determined to make the most strenuous exertions, in order to prevent it from falling to pieces. But the question is, can any temporary peace make the "irre- pressible conflict" between the two great elements in the Ameri- can nation—the Slave and the Free—repressible ? Is it possible to devise a lasting compromise capable of averting the evils with which slavery threatens the whole Union ?
It is undeniable that it is shaken to its centre. By this time, South Carolina may have formally seceded. Mr. Cobb has described Mr. Buchanan as the last President. General Cass has quitted the Cabinet, taking with him his assistant-secretary,
because President Buchanan would not have recourse to coer- cion and reinforce the garrisons of the Charleston forts. "The people," we are told, have taken the main question out of the hands of "the politicians," and have gone far beyond what was originally intended. The President, recommending that the 4th of January should be held as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, draws a terrible picture of the state of the country. "The union of the States," he says, "is at the present moment
"Threatened with alarming and immediate danger—panic and distress of a fearful character prevail throughout the land—our labouring population are without employment, and consequently deprived of the means of earn- ing their bread—jade, d, hope seems to have deserted the minds of men. All classes are in a state of confusion and dismay, and the wisest counsels of our best and purest men are wholly disregarded."
It may be admitted that this description would apply to many
nations which have yet safely passed through the terrible ordeal. It may be admitted, as a general principle, that compromise is always possible among practical men. But let us suppose that compromise were possible ; that the North consented to run the line, 36°30', to the Pacific, surrendering the Southern territory of the Union to slavery, that the Northern States repealed their personal liberty laws' that they recognized the right of property in slaves in the States and in the territories ; that they consented to deprive Congress of the right of abolishing slavery in the dis- trict of Columbia, the area round Washington. Suppose, for peace sake, the North gave up the cardinal principles of the party organization which has triumphed in the election of Mr. Lin- coln. We have said there is something like a leaning to this course, although it is impossible to believe it carried out to the fullest extent. But what if it were? Would not the victory, which in that case the South would have won inflame them to future aggressions, and place them veritably meters of the Republic ? Would it not increase that fierce contempt so many Southerns already feel for the North, and lead them on to further conquests? On the other hand, compromise, which would be defeat, would certainly embitter the feelings of the Northern men. They would feel the chain biting more deeply than it has bitten before ; and in four years the fiery spirit of the North would be roused again. Rightly du the South Carolinians say, that the enemy they fear is "The deep moral sentiment of the North," and that deep moral sentiment, hating slavery, and the political ambition which is wounded by Southern ascendancy, would make the conflict break out afresh, more irrepressible than ever. At present, not slavery, but the limitation of slavery, is in question. The next time, assuming that a compromise is now adopted, who shall say that the question will not be slavery itself? At present, a broad line separates the Republicans from the Abolitionists. From the Abolitionists the Republicans received no support. Over their success there was no Abolitionist song of triumph. But if a com- promise be arrived at, meaning by compromise a concession to the South, a surrender of principles, how long will it require to con- vert the Republican into an Abolitionist party ? Therefore, although there may be eymptoms of compromise, although com- promise and the temporary peace of the Union are possible, it does not follow that such a compromise will in any degree con- tribute to the permanence of the Union ; on the contrary, it is more likely to render the Union liable to a sudden and fiery dis- ruption.
For the compromise tendered by the Unionists would not satisfy the South, even were they to accept it. What the South wants is, power to increase at discretion the supplies of labour afforded by the slave market ; and, as a matter of course, to reopen the Slave- trade. Mr. Olmsted has conclusively shown us that this is the direct tendency of the domestic and economical polity pursued by the slaveoWners. The system of agriculture in the South is to exhaust a virgin and fertile soil, and then to seek "fresh fields and pastures new;" the slave cultivator leaving in his wake a rick of destitute Whites, too proud to work, too poor to buy i
Slaves. The population s nomadic in the Cotton States ; and, except in a few towns, has none of the attributes of settled,• stable, and civilized life. But if Negro " property " were cheap, instead of dear ; if there were practically an unlimited supply ; if "America and Africa," as yyourslaveholder puts it,. could "re- ciprocate procate blessings ;' and if, n addition, the vast territories of the United States were at the mercy of the slave cultivators these latter see that they could afford' to cultivate less recklessly and more systematically, could double their produce, and could, with , the three-fifths vote, enquire a power in the' Minn Plat would make them beyond question the dominant party. Capital would as readily come from the North as it does now ; States would spring up, faster perhaps than in the free latitudes ; and the South would dictate more than ever it has done the policy of the Union: The Southerns, therefore' are fighting, not to he let abne, but for the preiervation and maintenance of the Save System, to which everything must be subordinated. Would the North, if it flinched now, after a constitutional victory, be content to see a force, so adverse to its every institution, grow up and become strong, without attempting resistance and in its turn talking of secession ? It i not possible. If this be a correct view of the situation, it follows that to compromise with the South would be only to store up future trouble, and to sow the seeds of civil war. It is a great and terrible misfortune, the tearing asunder of a nation, wedded to ourselves by the close ties of race, language, and religion. But since the Union includes two principles in full activity, so hostile as Freedom and Slavery in its worst form, can we reasonably look for any other end than that of complete subserviency of the White States to the Black States, the domination of the White over the Black, or complete separation ? Be it remembered. that slavery is no longer regarded as an evil by the South- ems, but but as a "blessing." They cannot, in their present frame of mind, go back to the views entertained of slavery in 1789, and talk of slavery and deal with slavery as a desolating evil. The present generation have grown up in the belief that it is a divine institution," intended for their profit and power. What end of this can there be but one ? "I have been,"- said Mr. Jef- ferson, when the Union was painfully elaborating the Missouri Compromise, "one of the most sanguine in believing that our Union would be of long duration. I now doubt it much, and see the event at no great distance. My only comfort and confidence is, that I shall not live to see this." Forty years have elapsed. The Union has grown in bulk, and population and power. But the cause at work to bring about "the event" ifr. Jefferson fore- saw, has grown also; and unless wise counsels prevail, we may live to see the realization of Mr. Jefferson's sad prediction.
Previous page
