The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-07


No part OF the book before us is better
worth reading than the paragraphs on
pages 396-4O2, in which the ostensible and
the real underlying motives OF the Southern
leaders in the secession movement are
differentiated and considered. what
queries Mr.. Snider, made the most south
erly tier Of slave States. running westward
along the salt water border, follow South
Carolina in such haste, without waiting
for their more northerly sisters in slavery's
domain" They were infatuated with cot
ton and inebriated with the domination
which they supposed it gave them, not
only over the North, but over Europe.
One Of their more temperate Senators
Hammond) said at the time: Il firmly
believe that the slaveho gliding South Is now
the controlling power Of the world; that
no other power will face US In hostilities."
Whence came this terrestrial omnipotence2
Presumably from cotton chiefly. There
is no doubt that q great majority Of the in
habitants Of the Gulf and South Atlantic
States firmly believed that by their @ ontrol
Of the production Of cotton they had COR
nered not merely the North, but the whole
earth. Our author points out that an orator
like Wigfall, who was the especial spokes-
man Of cotton in its native States at the
time, found always a strong response in the
people whom he addressed.
Time has proved, OF course. that there
never was a greater delusion. IL may,
indeed, be doubted whether all the people
Of The Cotton States shared it. II may be
that such men as Alexander II. Stephens and
Gov. Brown Of Georgia did not. But it is
certain that the slave holding oligarchy Of
the Cotton States, viewed as a whole, did
share Il, being the victim Of its ruling pas
sion, the love Of domination. The value
OF the cotton export, SIC 900, 200; tho value
OF all other exports, t0o, OOO, OO0-those were
the figures which set on fire the Southern
Imagination and made he slave holding
oligarchy descry In the future q universal
empire, having already the psychological
aptitude for taking such a view. As a
matter OF fact, no doubt, the South was
dependent on external productions for sup
plying many OF It's mmone wants. 1t
was far less self-sufflcing than the North,
having almost no system Of diversified in
dustry.
The authors comments on certain pro-
visions OF the Constitution Of the Con-
federacy adopted on February 8, 1851, are
marked by unusual i~ncisiveness and sug-
gestiveness. We are reminded that the
Confederate Constitution forbade the slave
trade, which was such an act Of self-denial
on the part Of the Cotton States that the
motive has always boon the subject Of
investigation. IL "a certain that the self
denying ordinance was not passed on 40
count OF moral scruples, nor, In our authors
Judgment, out Of regard for tho opinion Of
civilization. Which had already been defied
by making slavery the corner stone Of the
new organic aw. Mr.. Snider thinks that the
prohibition Of the importation Of slaves from
Africa was meant to bring over the more
Northern Slave States, and particularly
Virginia, which, as slave breeder for Cot
tonia, enjoyed q considerable annual reve-
nue.. That this was the purpose seems
obvious from the exception in the Consti- !
tuition: The importation 81 negroes from |
any foreign country. other than the slave
holding States and Territories Of the United
States, is forbidden" IL was at the same
time intimated that the favor embodied in
the exception might not always cont. ue, |
for the Confederate Constitution went on
to say that Congress shall havs power TO
prohibit the Introduction OF slaves from
any State not a member of this Confed-
This, obviously, was an admoni-