The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1857-01-17
THE EXTENSION OFSLAvERY, THE
POLICY OF THE SOUTH.

The ascendency of the antslavery sentimen,
in the North, and the increasing preponder
ancc Of the iree.soil states in the confedcracy
are circumstances Of very great moment to the
people Of the South. In contemplating oul
absolute inferiority in point Of political power
and especially in anticipating the widening gap
between the two sections, which the more rapid
development Of the North dscIoses to our Wis
ion, it is quite natural that the friend of the
South should ut first incline to a Respondent
view OF the future But this gloomy feeling
will soon give place to a more rational and
manly resolution-to just and appreciation
of our resources, and determination to main.
tain our equality Of power at any and every
hazard
The basis of orr power and prosperity is in
more stable than that of the North
Commerce and manufactures constitute the
wealth of the North; but commerce and man.
ufacturcs are things of mans creation, and,
like all other works of human contrivance, are
of brief and uncertain duration.-Thcrc is not
a more striking lesson in history than that
which attcsts the instability of the Fictitious
of empires built upon basis Of hui
man enterprise and ingenuity. They rest up
on an accidental combination of circumstances,
and arc peculiarly exposed to the vcissitudcs
Of fortune. Any deterioration in the character
OF the people, any change in, the commercial
or political relations of the world, brings their
nnsubstantial power to the earth. From Tyre
in the age of Soloman, down to the Holland
OF our own time, history recounts innumcrable
instances Of their dceting 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
by-gonc age
Very different is the fate of nations who
build upon the imprcgnable basis of agricultur-
al prosperity. They draw support from the
nexhapstible bosom of nature; and though
their political system and the supremacy of
heir power be not exempt from the vcissi-
;udes of human affairs, yet they never suffer
hose sudden and total eclipses which extin-
,uisl, the glory of commercial empires.
The anti slavery States Of this confederacy,
we mean to exclude the conservative commu.
lities Of the Northwest, are pre-eminently
'kilful ID the mechanical arts, and incompara-
ply successful in commercial enterprise but
their power is Fictitious and must perish with
The circumstances which create it. The acct
tents Of peace and war, of rivalry, of an I'M
oropitious government policy, of the corrup-
lion and decay which boated wealth always
in community, may at any mo-
nent dethrown them from their supremacy
and reduce them to destitute dependencies.
AS they have no monopoly of the natural capa-
oiities and the human faculties essential to
success in manufactures, so they are equally
liable tp be cut off from this special source of
heir wealth. Their prosperity and their pow
II rest upon an unstable basis
The South is emphatically, if not exc]u.
lively, an agricultural country, and its
PEOPLE exhibit the sterling virtues of their
characteristic pursuit. While they till the