CHAPTER VII.

GROUNDS OF ANTAGONISM.

European Misconception-A Wolf in Sheep's ClothingThe Force of "King Numbers"-Conflicting Interests "The Letter" and "the Spirit "_"The Holy Text of Pike and Gun "—" Beggar my Neighbour"-The “American System "—A War of Tariffs-Territorial Aggression-Domestic Aggression-Infractions of the Constitution-Effects of the War on Northern Commerce-Northern Hallucination.

I FOUND that the prevailing idea throughout the Confederate States was "to whip the Yankees ;" and certainly, if confidence, enthusiasm, and selfsacrifice can be regarded as omens of success, then, indeed, such a result may be expected. The conflicts that have already taken place between the belligerent armies tell vastly in favour of the "rebels," as they are contemptuously designated by the North; and this success has stimulated the ardour and bravery of the Southern

troops, and aroused the spirit of the people. The feeling on both sides is more than hostile; it amounts to unmitigated, undisguised hatred. The North will show no mercy, and the South will give none. Consequently, the civil war now raging is likely to prove one of the most, if not the most sanguinary on record. The campaign may not be prolonged, nor the general engagements numerous; but, however short the struggle, it will be both desperate and bloody.

Even the Southern women are extensively inoculated with the universal war spirit. If the men endeavour to vie with the heroic Spartans, the women are ambitious of rivalling those of Saragossa. Not only do many of the gentler sex possess revolvers and bowie-knives, but also endeavour to become proficient in the use of them. I believe that, in case Richmond should become invaded, a large number of Amazons would be found ready to defend their principles, their property, and their homes, by sheer force of arms, In this respect they would but exhibit the courage of their ancestors, when wives assisted their liege lords in guarding the sanctity of their hearths against the fierce and savage Indian.

I have heard Southerners frequently complain that the real causes of the disruption of the Union, and the consequent war, were not rightly under

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stood in Europe; that the North, by false assertions, had prejudiced the minds of foreigners against the Confederacy, while endeavouring to enlist sympathy for herself; and they only asked the "attentive hearing" of enlightened European nations, while they exposed their grievances, and explained the circumstances which have brought about the present unhappy condition of affairs. The vexed question of slavery, they averred, had only been put forward in order to withdraw attention from the real causes at issue, knowing from experience how readily such a bait would be seized in England by a certain class of politicians, who are always on the alert for "sensation" topics.

There certainly appears to exist in the minds of European journalists and the public a great deal of misconception with reference to the principles involved in the existing conflict between the American people. The contest between the colonies and the mother country mainly arose out of the claim of the latter to tax the former in all cases whatsoever; while the colonies contended that taxation and representation should go together-in other words, that no free people could or ought to be taxed without their own consent, either expressed or implied. At the time of the Revolution the thirteen colonies were, in a great measure, what might be called "Slave States"

although, in process of time, the Northern people, finding the institution unprofitable, gradually and almost imperceptibly got rid of the burden. The climate, the soil, and the productions of the North were unsuited to slave labour, as the support of the negro bondman during the winter months cost more than the profits derived from his industry in the spring, summer, and autumn. Consequently, these sagacious and sharp-sighted people freed themselves from an incumbrance, and, at the same time, claimed for their conduct all the merit of a self-sacrificing and disinterested philanthropy. In some instances, however, their emancipation laws were prospective, enabling the owners of slave property to dispose of their chattels in the Southern markets, while, apparently, they acted under the dictates of a generous love of human liberty. At all events, the Federal Constitution, adopted in 1787 between the thirteen States, expressly guarantees to the owners of slaves the protection of that, as well as all other species of property.

It is a notorious fact, that the Northerners were at one time the most aggravated slave-dealers. They transported the miserable captives from Africa, sold them at the South, and got amply remunerated for their living merchandize. Even when the emancipation laws forbade the pro

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longation of slavery at the North, crowds of negroes used to be collected along the shores of New England and the Middle States, to be shipped to latitudes where their bondage would be perpetual. Their posterity toil to-day on the Southern plantations. The trade was thus carried on, with all its historic inhumanity, by the sires and grandsires of the very individuals who, for thirty years, have been denouncing slavery as an outrage against Heaven, and slaveholders as the vilest class of tyrants; and the very wealth in which many of these agitators now revel, has descended to them as the fruit of the slave-trade, in which their progenitors grew fat.

During the debate on the Missouri question, a Senator from South Carolina introduced into the Senate a document from the Custom-house of Charleston, containing the names and owners of vessels engaged in the African slave-trade. In reading the document the name of De Wolfe was repeatedly called. De Wolfe, who was the Senator-elect from Rhode Island, was present, but had not been qualified. The Carolina Senator was called to order. "Order! order!" echoed through the Senate-Chamber. "It is contrary to order to call the name of a Senator," said a distinguished gentleman. The Senator contended he was not violating the privilege of the House,