The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-15

Will soon give place to a more rational and
manly resolution-to just appreciation of our
resources, and determination to maintain
our equality of power at any and every hazard
| The basis of our power and prosperity is IN
comparably more stable than that of the North
Commerce and manufactures constitute the
wealth OF the North; but commerce and man
ufactures are things of mans creation, and
| like all the other works of human continuance,
are of brief and uncertain duration. There is
not more striking lesson in history than that
which attests the instability of the Fictitious
prosperity of empires built upon basis of HUI
| man enterprise and ingenuity They rest upon
| an accidental combination Of circumstances,
| and are peculiarly exposed to the vicissitudes
| of fortune. Any deterioration in the character
| of the people, any change i'll the commercial or
political relations Of the world, brings their I'M
substantial power tc the earth. From Tyre in
the age of Solomon, down to the Holland of our
! own times, history recounts innumerable in
stances of their fleeing grandeur. Like the
century plant, they burst suddenly into bloom,
for moment enchant the world with their
| beauty, and then vanish among the things of a
by-gone age.
| Very different is the fate of nations who build
upon the impregnable basis of agricultural
I prosperity. They draw support from the mex
| political system and the supremacy of their
power be not exempt from the vicissitrdes of
human affairs, yet they never suffer those sudden
and total ecGpses which eXtinguish the glory
| Of commercial empires.
| The Anti Slavery States of this Confederacy
| 1--WE mean to exclude the conservative commu-
mites of the Northwest are pre.eminently skilful
in the mechanical arts, and incomparably sue
cessful in commercial enterprise, but their power
| is Fictitious, and must perish with the circum-
stances which create it. The accidents Of
| peace and war, of rivalry, of an unprOpitious
| Government policy, of the corruption and de-
| cay which bloated wealth always endgenders in
community, may at any moment dethrOne
| them from their supremacy, and reduce them
| to destitute dependencies. AS they have no
monopoly Of the natural capabilities and the
human faculties essential TO success in manu-
factures, so they equally liable to be cut off
| from this special source Of their wealth. Their
prosperity and their power rest upon an unsta-
! Die basis. The South IS emphatically, if not
/ exclusively, an agricultural country, and its
people exhibit tie sterling virtues Of their
characteristic pursuit. While they till the soil,
! the eifeminate refnements Of q corrupt civiliza-
ton will never expose them to the chance of
| subiugation. Neither will their wealth take
wings and lily away. TIE Wingess Victory -
of the ancient Greek sculpture is an apt sym.
Dol of the stability Of their power.
! So far from being exposed to a ruinous rival
~ in the supply OF cotton, the danger is that
their utmost capabilities Of production will not
! be equal to the growing demand. Besides,
| the South produces tobacco and other tropical
articles in sufficient measure to make the com
/ merce of the world dependent upon its supply.
/ 1t Possesses an abundant territory. It's re-
/ ( IL. !
are susceptible of infinite development It's
energies are now directed with unexampled
earnestncss Of purpose to It's wonderful manu-
featuring facilities and its peculiar advantages
for the establishment of an immense CONNER
cial interest Within its own grasp, the South
holds all the elements If a solid and perma.
nent prosperity. Nothing is wanting to the
com pleteness Of its demonstrating to its
perfect independence.
The only danger which the South has reason
to apprehend, Ia that in consequence of an ac-
cidentat combination of circumstances, it may
lose its equality of political power in the Con
federacy, be reduced to a sort of dependence
upon the North, and, by an Ubiquitous policy
Of legislation, be despoiled of its advantages
and restricted in it's Development. 1t is, then,
of the last consequence to the welfare OF the
South, that it maintain its equality Of power in
/
prevent any unjust discrimination against its
interests ia the action Of the Federal Govern
ment. But this result can be accomplished in
only one way and that is By insisting on the
legitimate expansion Of the institutions Of the
| South. We must keep a selfprotecting power
in our own hands, aud to that end must demand
equality Of representation in the Senate. Let
the people of the South, as the last expedient
Tor the preservation OF the Union, rally upon
the principle Of an extension Of the Pro-Slavcry
power, parj pqsSu with the Acknowledgement OF
the power Of the Anti Slavery States. Il. :; our
right under the Constitution, Dad our rlght out
side of the Constitution, in virtue OF the neces-
sites of selfprotection. Liberated from the
illegal restrictions and unjust operation of the
| Federal Government, and left free in the de-
velopInent of It's splendid resources and the ex-
pansion of its vigorous institutions, the South
would march forward in the career of glory
with frmer and faster step than was ever
witnessed among nations. Oppressed by the
burdens of unequal taxation, discouraged IN
! the cultivation OF its commercial and manufac-
turing interests, and dwarfed in its territorial
| expansion, the South will soon become the
helpless dependency of the Anti. Slavery power.
| This is the alternative before us-a grandeur
without parallel in history, or an ignominy
which one shudders to contemplate in the bare
conception. VIII the South choose the career
to which interest, honor, and every manly mo-
| tive, beckona it, or be content with the lot of
the craven and the slave? The timid fool may
whisper that the expansion of our institutions
IS an imprecticabe achievement; but nothing
IS impossible with the people of The South. II
| the North resists, upon what stronger ground
could we stand than upon this issue Of the ex-
tension or restriction Of Slavery? If the strug-
gle Is to come, let it come now, while yet we
have the spirit and the power to defend our
rights. If we are to fight, let us fight for a
principle which is essential to orr equality in
the Union, or our independence out of the
| Union. Henceforth let the free expansion OF
its institutions be the ultimatum of the South.