The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-09-05
THE BALANCE OF POWER.

States, which we propose to examine. 1t Is no
can be and ought to be preserved between the tw
sections, though they have not very clearly ex
planned how the thing is to be done. We are no
'-r-,~--1 - 5 :. 20 - :. - :,
cut up into smaller ones, or the Northern to b
amalgamated into larger. We are only told tina
the Constitution is to be changed, in order to con
summate the desired object, without being fur
nished with the particulars Of the plan proposed
10 may be that they may demand not only a
equality in the Senate, but also in the House @
Representatives, and, consequently, in the electo
raj colleges. To effect any of these changes, VII
require the assent of majority, in some cases @
three-fourths Of the States and unless the sup
pleness of General Cass were more predominant
quality in YsnkeedOm than we have reason b
think it is We are not likely to witness such
settlement Of the balance of power. The absurd
ity of the proposition is too great to entitle
to moments consideration; and the mind which
gave birth to it must have been in very un
healthy condition, or it must have been unduly
excited by contemplating the effects which the
gssconade and buster Of the chivalry was likely
TO produce upon the pblegmatic people Of the
North.
Considering il, therefore, as out of the ques
ton to preserve the balance of power by reor-
ganizltion of the Federal Government, we will
proceed TO consider the effect which the progress
Of population is likely to have upon the relative
strength Of the North and South In the year
1890 the population Of the slave States was nearly
equal to that Of the free, there being only 1883
persons more in the latter division than in the
former according to Jesse Chickering, of Boston,
a gentleman distinguished for his accurate &C.
quaintance with statistics. This triling differ
ence, amounting to less than the population of
small county, has gradually risen to between three
and half to four millions and the recent great
acceleration which has been given to foreign emf
grafton will in twenty years cause the North to
number twice as many inhabitants as the South
Another circumstance tending in the same direc-
ton is the gradual Liberation of the more North
ern slave States from slavery by the sole or re-
moVal Of the slaves further South. In this way
Delaware, without a formal act of emancipation.
has become to all practical intents, free; and her
Senators and Representative have frequently
shown more devotion to the cause of freedom by
their votes than those from some Of the free
States Maryland likewise is in state of tran.
stion from slavery to freedom and in view of all
the moral social and political engines at work for
the overthrow Of slavery, it may safely be predi
Gated that the institution cannot last ten years in
that State. The situation Of Missouri and Ken
lucky is similar to that Of Maryland and at a
day not much more distant, they will be ranked
among the free States. As an engine of sectional
combination, the institution of slavery has already
ceased to exercise that omnipotent control which
il exerts further South. The affinites of the
People are more and more becoming Northern,
by the increase of the white population, and the
relative or actual diminution of the number OF
slaves The growth of the commercial and manu-
featuring interests in these States is the great
secret Of the decline of the Slave-Power; and
even the agriculture which those interests encour-
age is of nature not suited 10 slavery.
From these various causes, the South is likely
to be greatly weakened, and the North strength
ened, by the gradual transformation of the border
States The weak will become weaker, and the
strong stronger, while the tide of European emf
grafton is all the while weling the North, North
western and Pacific States The South is there.
fore doomed to decline far more rapidly than ever
in political consequence, until its interests and
institutions cease to be distinct from those of the
Northern portion of the Union. So rapid is this
tendency of things, that we might almost venture
to predict that in twenty or twenty-five years,
there will be less of sectional difference and Sec
tional prejudice between Massachusetts and South
Carolina than will by that time have arisen be-
tween the States east and west of the Mississippi
We however anticipate no strong or rooted preju-
dices between the different quarters of the Union
after the extinction of slavery. There will doubt
less be continuation of the Tariff squabble, and
a sectional strife about the public lands, and the
improvement of rivers and harbors, and the con-
struction of railroads, by the Federal Govern
ment but these different interests can never give
rise to the furious passions which the slavery
propagandsts have displayed
The greater increase of the Northern popula-
ton than that Of the Southern will affect the po-
litical power Of the two sections in the House of
Representatives and in the electoral colleges
The preponderance of the North in the Senate
will depend upon the erection of new States The
most superficial glance at the present condition Of
things must convince every one that two or three
free States must, in the nature of things, come
into the Union before another slave State is nd.
mitted. There is at present no slave territory
belonging to the Union. Every foot of the public
domain has been declared free by Congress, or by
the People inhabitng ii and we see little proba-
bility that the law Of freedom can be superseded
by that of slavery west Of the Rio Grande or east
of IT, within the proper limits Of New Mexico. II,
therefore. any more new slave States are created
they must be manufactured out of Texas, with
the consent of Congress and IL is we'll known,
that so sparse and inconsiderable is the popula-
ton Of that State, that not more than one new
State can be made out of it's immense territory,
containing the requisite number Of inhabitants,
for several years to come.
With the Northern territory the case is quite
different Already we have California and New
Mexico knocking at the doors of Congress for ad-
mission into the Union; and in three or four
years, Minnesota and Oregon will have the re-
auisits population to form State Governments
Indeed, Oregon, from the recent discoveries of
gold in great abundance, may be expected to de-
mand a State Government in twelve or eighteen
months from to-day The whole tide of western
emigration, which crosses the frontiers of the
Western States, now finds a home on free soil !;
and il Is not to be forgotten that the slave States
themselves now pour out their myriads, only to
Deopls tAe future free States Of the Union.
Southern men may therefore as well abandon