The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1863-03-27

men who saw no better prospcctat home than
the desperate and melancholy lot Of mean
whites. These are the men who have cxclu-
ded the negro from the prairies, and who'
when negroes come across the river too fast
to DO excluded, get up fires against them,
pay the fines, and keep the poor fusitivcs in
virtual slavery to work out the debt. Many
moro ore immigrants from Europe, as We
shall SEQ presently. Tho moro enlightened
native population are well aware thatnothing
can SO promote their interests, and save them
from an inundation Of negroes whom they do
not want, as the success Of the North In the
present conflict, with its immediate conse-
quenco Of an organization Of free labor in the
Southern States which would carry all no
groes to that copgenial climate, and to occu
pations which are familiar to them. The
extension of Confederate rule to the Western
States would be the most fatal blow to West
ern interests which could be imagined.
To this convictionis to be ascribed the won-
derful conversion Of Missouri to free labor
principles, since the war broke out. Yankee
abolitionists themselves could not be more
eager for emancipation than the shareholders
of Missouri have shown themselves in the re-
cent elections, in which some Of the largest
owners Of negro property have united to car
ry emancipation candidates by large maj9i.
ties. If there was any real danger Of Con-
fcderate supremacy, and Of New England
being excluded from the Union, these Yves.
tern citizens would exert all their forces to
secure the completion of that free labor sys
tenn in their region of the country which
they have so well begun. No opening Of
waterways and railways to tho East will make
the Western people indifferent to their con-
trolls of the Mississippi; but tho permanent
closing Of the Mississippi to any Of the States
which lie on its banks is no moro possible
than to stop the Niagara by weir; and
there is no other Western interest which
would not suffer by the extension Of the slave
power, in proportion as It prospen now
under free.labor system. The intelligent
Northern settlers known this the immigrant
Southern settlers feel 1t to tho core OF their
hearts. There remains the foreign element.
The foreign element in the whole nation is
about IL per cent; and as the bulk OF the
immigration settles in the FREQ States, u i
important to observe how its desires tend In
tho questions before us. i.t,nf
OF this body Of foreigners the Irish nrc the
most numerous, being no less than 43 per
cent The lettcr from John Mitchell which
has appeared in recent newspapers throws
some light on thoqucstion. That lettcr OK.
presses surprise at the zeal with which Irish.
men are fighting on both sides in tho civil
war. We all know that the great body OF
Irish in America are not tho most enlighten.
ed of their nation; and most Of them take
no pains to conceal that jealousy of negro 10
borers is the handspring Of their action in
the North, however it may bc on tho Confrd-
crate side. Among the least rational this
passion leads to tho rowdyism Of the Oemo-
cratic party, and to insulting Abolitioni'ts
as tho supposed champions of tho negro
ThoSecessionist hands which, in New York.
defled in the dark hours the front OF the
houses of citizens who illuminated on New
Years night, are believed to have been in
part Irish. But those Of the Irish who are
intelligent enough to study affairs for them.
selves must SEQ that tho way to clear the
North of negro competitors is for the South
to bo opened to them as free laborers; and
that tho spread of Confederate rule to the
North would sink Irish laborers to the mis-
crablo condition in which they are now seen
in the Slave States. . m.t
The Germans come next. and they are %
per cent. of tho immigrants. Their interest
Is substantially the same as that OF tho Irish
bu, the moro evident, rs they are tho more
devoted to the tlllage Of tho soil. It is i'm
possible to say much for the intelligence OF
the lower order of Germans but they do not
show themselves the aspirants after plnnta
tions "stocked with fat negroes" that the
Irish too often are and they must bc capa-
bic of understanding that the more negroes
engaged on good terms in Sos.hcrn tillage
the lcss competition there must then bc In
tho North labor market. We know what
tho German settlers in Texas and in other cot.
ton regions arc like. how thoroughgoing Is
their antagonism to slavery. Tho Germans
who worthily represented their fathcrland arc
natural allies of New England, in the North
and in the South. The British interest
comes next, being about % per cent. Of the
immigration and We trust We need not stop
to show that that interest Is not likely To
offer itself to the slave power. All tho
rest Of the world contributes little moro th"n
7 per cent. to the immigration ana We
need not analyze SO small proportion
On the whole. Il scoms abundantly clear
,ba. mind and matter favor tho progressive.
NO, ,hs r,,rogrc~ivo cause. Under the lrri
,a,ion Of executive mistakes and the 'uiier.
inc, Of an ill.conductcd war, multitude OF
citizens may utter discomfort and menace
and DO inclined to some pcrveneness ofnood
but this is q widely different thing from sue
combinc to the domination which has cor