Polynesian., 1862-06-28
The polpnesian.
from Frazer'sMagazine for February, 1862
J. =. Mill ON the Contest in America.

|
true principle, that the South had a night to Sc
parate that their separation ought to have been
consented to, the moment they showed themselves
ready to fight for it; and that the North, in
sistIng it, are committing the same error and
wrong which England committed IN opposing the
original separation of the thirteen colonies. This
is carrying the doctrine of the sacred right OF in
surrrction rather far. 1t is wonderful how easy
and liberal and complying people can be in other
peoples concerns. Because they willing to
surrender their past, and have no objection to
join in reprobaton of their greatgrandIathers, they
/ never put themselves the question what they them
| selves would do in circumstances far less trying,
under far less pressure Of real national calamity.
Would those who profess these ardent revolution
ary principles consent to their being applied to
/ Ireland, or India, or the IOnian islands, How
have they treated those who did attempt 50 to ap-
! ply Them But the case can dispense with any
mere Grgumenturn od hOminem. | am not fright
ened at the word rebellion. do not scrupe to
say that have sympathized more or less ardently
with most of the TebelliOns, successful and unsuc
cessful which have taken place in my time. But
| certainly never conceived that there a suf
fcent title to my sympathy in the mere fact of be-
ing a rebel that the act of taking arms against
! one fell0w-ctizens was so mertOriOus in ITSELF
was completely its own justification, that
question need be asked concerning the motive. 1t
| seems to Inc strange doctrine that the most Sc
rious and responsible of all human acts imposes
obligation those who do it of showing that they
| have real grievance that those who rebel for
the power of expressing others, exercise sacred
| a right as those who do the same thing to resist
oppression practised upon themselves. Neither re-
bellOn, nor any other act which affects the inter-
ests of others. is sufficiently legtimated by the
mere will to do it. Secession may be laudable
and SO may any other kind of insurrection but
| it may also be enormous crime 1t is the
or the other according to the object and the provo
cation. And if there object which, by
! its bare announcement, stamped rebels against a
particular community as enemies of mankind, it is
the one professed by the South. Their right to
separate is the right which Cartouche or Turpn
would have had to secede FROM their respective
countries, because the laws of those countries
would not suffer them to rob and murder on the
| highway. The only real difference is that the
present rebels are more powerful then Cartouche
or Turpin. and may possibly be able to effect their
iniquitons purpose.
SuppOsing, however, for the sake of argument,
that the mere will to separate were in this case or
in any case, sufficient ground for separation
beg to be informed ,ohOSe will The will of any
knot Of men who, by fair means or foul, By usur-
patton. terrorism, fraud, have got the reins of
government into their hands IF the inmates of
Parkhurst Prison to get possession OF the Isle
of Wight, occupy its military positions, enlist
part OF It's inhabitants in their own Ranks, set the
| remainder OF them to work in chain gangs and de-
clare themselves independent, ought their recog-
milton by the British Government to be an imme-
date consequence! Before admitting the authority
OF any persons, organs of the will of the people,
to dispose OF the whole political existence of a
country, ask to see whether their cred ntials
from the whole, or only from part. And first. it
is necessary to ask, Have the slaves been consult
ed Has their will been counted as any part in the
estimate of collective vOlitionl They are a part
OF the population. However natural in the coun-
try itself, 1t is rather cool in English writers who
talk so glibly of the ten millions Q believe there
are only eighty to pass the very existence of
four millions who must abhor the idea of separa-
ton. Remember, zoe consider them to be human
beings, entitled to human rights. Nor can 1t be
doubted that the mere fact of belonging to Il Union
IN some parts of which slavery is reprobAted, is
some alleviatiOn of their condition. If only as re-
CARDS future probabilities. But even of the white
population, 1t is questionable if there in the
beginning majority for secession anywhere but in
South Carolina. Though the thing was pre-deter-
mined, and most of the States committed by their
public authorities before the people called on
to vote though in taking the votes terrorism in
many places reigned triumphant yet even so, in
several OF the States, secession carried only by
narrow majorities. In some the authorities have
not dared to publish the numbers in some it is
asserted that no vote has been taken. Further
(as was pointed out in admirable letter by Mr..
Carey), the Slave States are intersected in the
middle. from their northern frontier almost 70 the
Gulf of Mexico, by a country of free labOr-the
mountain region of the Alleghanies and their de-
tendencies, forming parts of Virginia, North Caro-
lima, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, in which,
from the nature of the climate and of the agricu
tural and mining industry, slavery to any material
extent never did. and never will, exist. This
mountain zone is peOpled by ardent friends of the
Union. Could the Union abandon them, without
even an effort, to be dealt with at the pleasure of
an exasperated slave-ownng oligarchyl Could 1t
abandon the Germans who, in Western Texas, have
made so merltorlOus commencement of growing
cOtton on the borders Of the Mexican Gulf by free
labor Were the right of the slave-owners to Sc
cede ever so clear they have right carry these
with them unless allegiance is a mere question of
local proximity, and my next neighbor, if am
stronger man, can be compelled to follow in
any lawless vagaries | choose to indulge
But (it is said) the North will never succeed in
conquerlng the South and since the separation
must in the end be recognized it is better to do at
first what must be done at last moreover, if it did
conquer them, it could not govern them when con-
quered, consistently with free institutions. With
no one of these propositions can agree
Whether or not the Northern Americans wU
succeed in reeOnquering the South, do not affect
to foresee. That they conquer It, if their pre-
sent determination holds, have never entertained
doubt; for they are twice as numerous, and ten
or twelve times as rich. Not by taking military
possession OF their country, marching an army
through 1t. but by wearing them out, exhausting
their resources, deprivng them of the comforts of
life, encouraging their slaves to desert, and exclud-
ing them from communication with foreign coun-
tries. All this, of course, depends the suppo-
stion that the North does not give in first.
Whether they will persevere to this point.
whether their spirit their patience and the sacri-
fees they are willing to make, will be exhausted
before reaching it, cannot tell. They may, in the
end, be wearied into recognising the separation.
But TO those who say that because this may have
to be done at last. it ought to have been done at
first, put the very serious question-On what
hnrn tbrr Of L.l