The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-26 00:00:00

—and the sympathies which connect a large mass of
he Democratic party with the Southern politicians,
it is not quite beyond the range of possibility
:hat a compromise or truce might arise, in which

:he Republican party would be either defeated

or forced to desperate extremities, and that
eventually a reconfederation might be effected,
the animating principle of which would be

resistance to the enemy. Now, it may be at
once understood that, without any manner of
doubt, the seeds of dissolution are sown and are
rapidly germinating in the Northern States them-
selves. Ido not mean, of course, that the States
are moribund. But the political system is doomed.
In what form the new tree of liberty may grow

none can pretend to predict. Success is as fatal as
defeat. Already, before the Union is safe, the De-
mocrats and Republicans are renewing their old

contentions, and, as was apparent months ago, the
fight between Slavery and Abolition is carried

into the President's Cabinet itself, into the Senate,

into every community except two or three of the
New England States, where Republican principles
have it all their own way. Read the proceedings
in the Senate and the House, and the fact is appa-

rent—the schism is rapidly approaching. Sup-
pose the North, having blockaded, blocked up, or
destroyed every Southern port, should force its way
down the Mississippi, defeat the Confederates at
Columbus and Memphis, take New Orleans, and
sweep the armies of the South from Richmond to
the Sabine, the question which has arisen at the
very first step of its career will accumulate difficul-
ties at every pace, till it comes to the tremendous
problem, " What are we to do with the slaves ?"
That question is asked now, when there are but

a few hundreds. As to the mode and nature of

,he reply, there are fierce dissensions and radios'

differences of opinion. But what will the practica

difficulty and the angry controversy come to when
within the lines of the Federal troops there are
4,000,000 emancipated negroes? For the theory
of the Republicans is that emancipation is the ne-

cessary result of the contact of this sort of Southern
property with the forces of the Southern States,
and they are contending with all their might for
the adoption and assertion of that principle by the
President, and they are doing so with success,
because the course of events favours them. The
Democrats, in their new-born zeal for the so-
vereignty of the Union over State rights, have
persuaded themselves that there are millions of
white men in the South who will join them the
moment it is demonstrated that Mr. Jefferson Davis
and his advisers are beaten. The South is the victim
of a delusion which can only be dissipated by the
success of the North over the Generals and armies
of the Government of Richmond. Then it shall

hear a voice of encouragement and entreaty—" Be
not afraid. We will give you all you ask—every
guarantee the Constitution offers, and anything
more you require ; only acknowledge the Union ;
say that you will live with us in a common coun-
try ; and then you and we will make war on the
common enemy at home as well as abroad." As
the armies advance, however,—at the present rate
the problem is a long way off,—the Federalists
must come in contact with every slave in the South
if their hypothesis of conquest be correct. Is the
North about to become a great slave-owning Power?
If not, what will it do with the slaves ? The De-
mocrats and the vanquished South will have some-
thing to say to the Republicans who insist on eman-
cipation on that point. If the slaves of rebels be
confiscated, and if the mass of the people of the
South prove to be rebels, Congress has already de-
cided a part of the matter. But what does confis-
cation mean ? Are they to sell the slaves ? To
whom, then, and under what conditions ? Property

of any other sort can be confiscated ; the thing can
be sold without shame or discredit, and the pro-

ceeds turned into national capital. But, in accord-
ance with its own principles, the North cannot take
that course in regard to living, human chattels.
Neither can it, even if it had possession, assign the
soil of the South to the slaves, and admit their citi-

zenship, nor can it become the proprietor of a vast
Liberia on its own borders. The thing has been so
fenced round with guarantees and constitutional
rights—the cancer has been so cherished and
nursed as it grew up in the system—that it
threatens to destroy the whole body politic.
" Nec sine te nec cum te possum vivere." Eman-
cipation without provision for future existence
and present wants would be a monstrous cruelty.
The North will have none of the slaves. It is
like a member of the Humane Society who pro-
secutes a costermonger for ill-using a mangy
donkey, but who has no intention of providing the
donkey with quarters for life in his stable. An
emigration scheme which shall remove 4,000,000
human beings from one continent to another
is beyond the means of the United States—it
is too vast for execution, if not for comprehen-
sion, by any Power on the face of the earth.
And now let me say in reference to this matter a
few words which events may prove true more
speedily than I anticipate. It is said that early
next year the bolt which the North is forging will
be ready. But the arm which was to have hurled
it may be paralysed before the first day of the new
year. It is vain to disguise the fact that a most
extraordinary financial crisis is rapidly approach-
ing in this country. Mr. Chase cannot avert it.
Before 1862 opens the Government of the United
States will be driven to the expedient of a national
currency, and the country will be flooded with
Government paper. Then the whole banking sys-
tem of the country must fall with a crash, which
will carry dismay and ruin through the land.
Foreign loans are out of the question. Taxation at
home seems to be considered impossible, unless it
be taken by indirection, which shall fasten the sys-
tem of protection on the vitals of the States. At
the present moment the army is paid in gold or in
notes, which the men remit to their friends at
home, where a considerable proportion of the paper
finds its way into the Treasury, and is changed
there for gold. But the sums which are outstand-
ing as claims against the Government are prodi-
gious beyond belief. If the patriotism of the people
will stand a contribution from their accumulated
capital the war may be sustained a little longer, and
any considerable advantage will encourage the
Unionists to make present sacrifices.
It is doubtful how far these sacrifices would be
made, nor is there any datum agreed upon for
determining the amount of money in the country.
As the export of cereals has now nearly reached
its close for the year, the cereals from the West
' being shut up by winter, and as the North - •

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