rights, history a meaning, or the world a government!

It is true, there were a few things against the success of this project. The great river cuts it in twain, and between the river and Panama Napoleon placed his legions, nor could the South have prevailed against them. Yet the Slave empire, were it ever to exist, must begin at the Mississippi; for northwards, Slavery cannot live, and without Slavery, Oligarchy in America cannot continue. Against all the stupendous policy and unique determination of the South, let this be remembered,—that, apart from Slavery and Oligarchy, there existed no basis for a separate Southern nationality,—and that without Slavery, Oligarchy would soon fail in the Gulf States, though a phantom nationality were erected there to-morrow.

This war for Slavery,-that was "to rend God's moral Government from turret to foundation,"has worked out remorselessly for the South the Logic of its suicide. The South turned from no foe. It rejected no weapon. It denied no conclusions. Drunk with blasphemies, it challenged every power, whether of Earth or Heaven, that could contend against it for the right. In its despair, it allied itself with the torch, the bowl, the dagger, and the plague, till gibbets creaked with its reputation, and hemp was heavy with its honour.

Its work has been so thorough,-its lesson so well taught,-its moral so clear, that there will need for all time no further repetition or enforcement.

The mean whites contended that each man might "whop his own nigger." The negro has been drilled and disciplined to beat him! The Slaveholder intrigued for forty years, and has fought for four, to make his title sure to his property, —but alas riches have wings, and the chattel has cut and run! The Slave Barons would establish their "institution,”—and it is proposed to give to the subjects of it, Freedom and their master's Land! The leaders of the rebellion would have fame,—and are damned to it everlastingly.

The South fought against Destiny, Nature, and God. But America is worthy and able to enact the Law. The secret of its power was formulated by Aristotle even before the Christian era :

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If the Popular party exceed more in Quantity, than they are excelled in Quality, Democracy must prevail."

And again in the words of Fichte:

"A regard for their own security compels all Free States to transform all around them into Free States like themselves; and thus for the sake of their own welfare to extend the empire of culture over barbarism, of freedom over slavery."

And HE, who rolls rivers, orders climates, and laid the foundations of the continent, has, as far as we can trace his workings, caused all things, from the foolishness of the Stuarts, to the foolishness of Davis and Lee, to work together for the "Making of the People's Nation."

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER I.

RIGHT OF SECESSION.

CHAPTER II.

RECONSTRUCTION.

"The States have their status in the Union, and they have no other legal status if they break from this. They can only do so against law by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty, by conquest, or purchase. The Union gave each of them whatever independence and liberty it had. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them States. Originally some dependent colonies made the Union, and in turn the Union threw off their old dependence for them, and made them States. Such as they are, not one of them even had a State constitution independent of the Union.” LINCOLN, Message to Congress, July, 1861.

"The proper Federal Union is where two or more States, having their separate Governments for all domestic purposes, are united by a central Government, which regulates their mutual relations as members of a political community, but does not interfere with the functions of the several Governments, and their authority over the individuals which are their subjects, unless in so far as those functions, and that authority may affect the Federal relation, &c. *** There must be certain things laid down, certain rights conferred, certain provisions made, which cannot be altered without universal consent, or a consent so general as to be deemed equivalent for all practical purposes to the consent of the whole."

BROUGHAM, on the United States Government.

“The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments,” &c.—Art. V. United States Constitution.

"Nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States; and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State."-Art. XIII. of CONFEDERATION.

"No convention of the People shall be called, unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of both branches of the whole representation. "No part of this constitution shall be altered, unless a Bill to alter the same shall have been read three times in the House, three in the Senate, and agreed to by two-thirds of both branches ; neither shall any alterations take place until the Bill so agreed to be published three months previous to a new election." &c.- Con~ stitution of SOUTH CAROLINA. See also similar provisoes in Constitutions of Georgia, Louisiana, &c.