New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-20

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the enactment Of the necessary laws.
TIE late triumph in South Carolina OF Senator
Hammond. in securing for himself colleague in
the United States Senate Of his own way OF think-
ipg. i. striking instance OF the working of that
conservative element in the institutions OF South
Carolina of which Mr. Calhoun, toward the close
If hi, life. was so much inclined - baass. The
right of suffrage and Of representation SO dstrio-
nted under the Constitution of South Carolina that
the political power in that State is not vested IN
numbers, but in property. The large slaveho!dins
districts in the eastern part Of the State containing
ten slaves or thereabouts to one freeusu, have
the power to elect majority in both branches OF
the Legislature. 1t quite certain that the great
slsveholders of South Carolns never will Iun that
risk Of having their slave property slip through
their fnoers. which iIsurrecton, civil war ana an
attempt TO dissolve the Union would brlDs with H.
and Il ia therefore very certain that, should bona
81, sttempt of the sort ever be made, South Caro-
lima. At all events will not he the State to lead OH
in i. So long as the North showed signs OF beng
frightened BIZ Southern buster and threats oil di'so
luton the conservative property holders oi oou'n
Carolina were quite Wiling to allow the fire-eaters
of their State 10 20 on belchng forth hre and
smoke, ike Apolyon IN Bunyan's Pilgrim sProsress.
But, the moment the North begins to muster cour-
age and to exhibit q disposition to go ior-
ward in ts proper course, in spite OF every attempt
TO block the way, the conservative gentlemen, few
in pumbcr but ample in purse and rich in slaves
Ike Mr.. Hammond and Mr.. Chesnut ia whom the
Constitution of South Carolina vests the political
powex of the State, deem it necessary for their
own interest and comfort to prevent the threat
ened collision, aud to stay the hands and shut up
the mouths of those who are disposed to provoke it,
There is undoubtedly in all the Slave States q
strong conservative element OF the same Sort
though not armed with the same constitutional and
political power which that element possesses IN
South Carolina. The project Of the revival OF the
African slave trade, and the favor with which it
has been received and the sgrarian and leyeling
doctrines preached by John Mitchell AID his fel-
low laborers have not a little alarmed these
wealthy conservative shareholders Hitherto they
have dreaded nobody 60 much as the ultra AbOll-
tonists who call upon them TO give up their slaves,
at the same time refusing to listen to any project Of
compensation. Now they find themselves between
two fires The revival of the African slave trade BY
its depreciatbg effect upon the value of the slaves
already in the country might work confscation
of property hardly less sweeping in its effect than
the total abolition of slavery. In proportion as the
new leaders of Southern opinion insist upon the
natural inferior;ty of the negroes, and their fitness
therefore, to be made slaves of, they find them
selves obliged, in order te prevent the ssma Ssn-
tenco Of rrI,Itude from extending to large psrt
of the white population, to maintain the natural
equality of the whites, and to declaim against the
artificial barriers aud mopopolies by which that
equality is at present prevented from making q
practical exhibition Of itself in the social life of the
South. That artful play upon the prejudices and
envy of the less intelligent and less thriving part of
the community, which has enabled the. slavehoding
interest to maintsin its political ascendency for
half a century past is now turned against them
selves a new school of Southern politicians
threatens to undermine them at home by the same
agency which they have 80 successfully employed
or their own benefit.
ard energetic spirits TO whom the existing state of
things there offers opening TO wealth or distinc
ton, aud who are ready to engage in any en-
terprise, however desperate, under the idea
that while they may perhaps gain something
by it, at all events, not having anything to lose,
they cannot lose anything. This class has of late
years been put conspicuously forward for the pup
pose of frightening the North by threats and bra
vadoes, the cooking Of pistols and the brandishing
of bowie.knyes, till at length the conservative
property .bolders Of the South are beginning to
fear that these allies whom they have called to
their aid may serve them as the SaxOns served the
unfortunate Britons, and, instead of repuLing the
pluUderers from the North, may tske TO pundering
themselves. The South, which has boasted -
much Of its union, especially on the question of
Slavery, is on the point of splitting into two par
ties, and upon that very question; nor hare the
present shareholders any chance d preserving even
for limited period, the monopoly of slave prop
esty which they now possess, and upon which the
value Of that property mainly depends except by
invoking the hid of the North and the power Of
the Federal Government to protect them against a
ruinous influx Of African negroes.
According to the common law, the "mahce