Fillmore party transferred to Fremont every one of their 82,229 votes. Nor is the existence of a powerful Southern party in the free States less distinctly marked by the Congressional elections. The free States, we have said, send to the House of Representatives 144 members: the slave States only 90. Yet even during the accumulated insults recently heaped upon the North, and under favour of Mr. Pierce's declining popularity, the opposition could barely keep the balance of party even, and register an occasional majority of two or three. And on appeal to the country, a large working majority for the Southern schemes was immediately obtained, and the Lower House put in harmony with the Upper.

These phenomena are far too vast, and are presented on an occasion far too simple and critical, to be resolved into mere accidents of party engineering. With grief we come to the conclusion, that during the present century American Slavery has gained not simply area, and numbers, and economical interests, but a more terrible support ;-the dominant sentiment of the nation. Under the conditions of that expanding society, straggling into the wilderness behind and inundated by a flood of miscellaneous emigration in front, Southern recklessness appeals to universal suffrage with more success than Northern thoughtfulness and reverence for law. Would that we could discover evidence, that the political difficulties of such a country had been lessened by the moral clearness and faithfulness of its natural teachers, the clergy of its several communions. Seventy years ago, politicians and men of the world, like Jefferson and Madison, were ashamed of slavery, spoke of it under their breath, and wanted to keep every trace of it off the face of their constitution, and out of sight of history. At present, professed ministers of Christ unblushingly defend it, blandly anoint it with the oil of a spurious sanctity, and bless its black banner going forth to new conquests. We must confirm this statement by one example; and, that it may not be a morceau of private eccentricity, but as public and official as possible, we will take it from the ministrations of a United-States Chaplain, on duty in Kansas, during the spring of 1855. We quote from the narrative of a most reliable eye and ear witness, Rev. Frederick Starr, a Presbyterian Clergyman, himself so "moderate" as to have been unanimously acquitted of "Abolitionism" by a Lynchcourt of "Border-ruffians." The scene is laid in Missouri, on the eve of the invasion to storm and stuff the ballot-boxes:

"The two parties brought out the candidates, and Missouri was not idle. At Platte city, the county-seat of Platte county, Atchison's home, on the 5th day of March 1855, a Pro-slavery mass-meeting was held. Several speakers addressed it, among them General Atchison, and the Rev. Leander Kerr, United-States Chaplain to the army at Fort Leaven

worth. Atchison declared, 'WE MUST and we WILL make Kansas a Slave-State, PEACEABLY if we can, forcibly and at the point of the BAYONET if we MUST.' I was informed that Atchison was very drunk when he was speaking. The Rev. Leander Kerr made an address, and read a doggerel poem on Abolitionists; these he published the next week by request. Mr. Kerr was a United-States officer, salaried from the United-States treasury, paid with money three-fourths of which comes from the North. This man, previous to an election in Kansas passes from Kansas over into Missouri to stimulate a Missouri mob to come into Kansas and violate the rights of American citizens, and to slaughter innocent persons, against whom by his libels and falsehoods he has stirred up the vengeance and brutality of ignorant and ferocious Southerners. But listen while he talks for himself:

And now to ascertain your position, and what are your duties in the contest before you; let us ascertain the cause for which you are contending. What is that cause? It is the most just, righteous and holy, in which men were ever ENGAGED! And who are your enemies? They are the most unscrupulous of men; STEEPED from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet in the BLACKEST INFAMY OF PERDITION, they are of their Father the DEVIL, and the works of their father they are doing and will do IF LET ALONE.

Go, then [to Kansas], as men, as patriots, as Christians, and do your duty to yourselves, your country and your GOD. Do gentlemen talk of honourable and lawful means to PREVENT all this mass of Eastern abomination, moral, social, and infidel, from ENTERING among you? If a midnight robber were to attempt to break into my quarters, I would avail myself of the most efficient means at my command to expel him. I would not sit down to ponder upon honourable and lawful means; the only law I would recognise in the case would be the law of self-preservation. Talk not of honourable and lawful means, save the law of selfpreservation against men who trample alike the laws of heaven and your country under their feet; men who know as LITTLE of HONOUR in their souls as a monkey knows of the complicated mechanism of a steamengine. Away with such paltry sentimentalism! It is as much out of place as lullaby songs and nursery tales are out of place in the heat of battle or in the midst of storm and shipwreck. HONOURABLE warfare is for HONOURABLE HEROES, not for ROBBERS AND BANDITTI; AND SUCH THESE ABOLITIONISTS ARE !'"*

Moral degradation and profaneness like this can find, it would seem, a Society to accept them as representative of the religion of Christ! It is not the only instance of clerical corruption cited by Mr. Starr: and it is evident that there is in his opinion a class of preachers of this type. However small it may be, it shows the tendency of Slave-championship in its last resort. But far short of this, the presence of the curse upon the Southern land appears to have cowed and sophisticated the whole spirit of the churches. It would be too much to expect that

* See Mr. Starr's Report of the outrages in Kansas, in the New York Weekly Tribune, Saturday, Nov. 8, 1856;-the most complete narrative we have seen, from a witness resident more than five years on the spot.

the tone of religious teaching should remain altogether unaffected by the social atmosphere around. But it is a humiliating spectacle when the collective Christianity of a country surrenders the lead of moral reforms, and follows with poor inertia the infatuated vigour of selfishness, or the conservative creeping of atheistic distrust. We fear it is too true that the slave has in other ages owed to Catholic Christianity mitigations and deliverance, which the Protestantism of the new world is little likely to achieve for him again. We do not forget the noble exceptions: but in the main we recognise in Mrs. Stowe's satire on the clergy a picture as faithful as it is sad.

When, therefore, we hear the generous prophecy that American slavery is on the eve of dying out, and test it by the several indications of historical tendency, we find little ground for early hope, and have to fall back on that faith in ultimate good which survives all temporary disappointment. Steadily, yet rapidly, the Southern oligarchy, with increasing support from the free-soil democracy, had advanced its designs at length completely unveiled; and now holds with firm grasp the entire machinery of government. What resources are there for turning back the tide? Can we depend for the future on greater union in the North? May we put down its whole probable increase of wealth and numbers to the account of free-soil gain? If so, the issue is neither doubtful nor distant, and will contradict our fears; for the growth of all the social elements of power perpetually increases the relative weight of the North. But hitherto the rapid development of the free States has proved an advantage to the Southern politics. The old New-England type of sentiment and patriotism has been constantly dwindling into smaller relative dimensions. The mercantile element, always of quietest passions but also of faintest conscience, has assumed huge dimensions. And the plebeian population of the large towns,-at once self-willed and flexible, with the pride of citizenship and the antipathies of race,-constitutes a formidable rather than a hopeful political instrument. At the recent election five of the free States supported the Southern policy: and Iowa is the only one, out of New England and not in contact with British land or waters, that cast a Northern vote. Certain it is that every ten years' census thus far has swelled the democratic list far more than its rival. It is impossible, with due regard to the lessons of the past, to regard Northern development as synonymous with Slave-power limitation.

If, indeed, we already saw an end to the land-claims of the planters' party, if they had reached any impassable limit,—the prospect would be brighter. The area awaiting settlement by freemen, and unlikely to have any worse fate, is still immense.

If we give Kansas and Mr. Buchanan the benefit of a favourable hope, and reckon it in with Nebraska, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington, as free soil, there remain no fewer than 1,148,727 square miles, to be covered by industry and institutions akin to those of Massachusetts and Ohio: and if, meanwhile, every other barrier stood fast, the preponderance of the better social element would be decisive. But nowhere, unhappily, are the landmarks more shifting than in the South, or the gains from their retreat more gigantic. Mexico, already so heavily mulcted, seems at this very hour to be lapsing into final disorganisation; and how soon its affairs may be administered from Washington Mr. Buchanan perhaps might be able to tell. Central America, first traversed by Californian commerce, next invaded by Walker's filibusters, then cleared of British claims, begins to guess its political destiny, and to reveal its capabilities to the keen eye of the hungry Republic. These continental regions alone, with Utah, New Mexico, and the Indian grounds, open to the Southern interest an area of 1,828,253 square miles. The whole vitality of slavery depends on perpetual spread and advance: and we as much doubt its decline while it can push into new fields as we believe in its death when its path is stopped. The successful politicians of the South are fully alive to the inherent necessity of self-extension belonging to their "peculiar institution." They have it evidently in contemplation to form a vast Slave-Empire, with its base on the capital and population of the North, its outposts on the isthmus, and its sweep over the Caribbean sea. Wild as the project seems, it is not without its favouring conditions. It speaks invitingly to that passion for empire and belief in his country's "destiny" into which the modern American's patriotism appears to have resolved itself: and which makes even the New Englander love the rights of freedom much, continued union more, and sway over the world's destinies most of all. It is rendered tempting by the facility of its first steps,-nay, the difficulty of avoiding them: for, with Texas already in the Republic, how could the fragments of a disintegrated Mexico remain out? and with an indefinite supply of Walkers easy to adopt but impossible to control, what can be done but accept the freebooters' spoil, and reengrave the maps?-and with Cuba in the hands of a weak and needy government, and St. Domingo a paradise in anarchy, little more than connivance is needed to get them invaded and surmounted by the stars and stripes. And then Jamaica must surely follow? In that case, yes: only, as Jamaica is not to follow, neither must Cuba and Hayti precede: and we see in a moment how the plan, once in full sail, is sure to strike upon a reef, and incur unknown disasters. In truth, while it staves

off the problem of the moment it is surrounded by frightful risks. Were it in human nature to work out schemes that dizzy the imagination and make the passions drunk, without a slip of prudence or a word of wantonness and pride, we can just conceive the secrecy of Talleyrand and the daring of Napoleon combined to be capable of realising the dream in the course of two generations. But Providence never permits the Spirit of Evil to wield for any length of time both the intellect and the will of vast multitudes of men: and the one is sure to betray the other. Already, the Southern trumpet has been blown too loud: and we should not be surprised if Mr. Buchanan should begin by softening its tone and allaying the temper which from New England has made stern reply. The Northern resources are essential to the Southern schemes: and no strain must be put upon the Union greater than even Boston conservatism can bear. It is a delicate question, how far the ruling oligarchy can carry the subservient free States;-how long they will continue to furnish pliant politicians, and safe preachers, and the needful material of army, navy and finance. How many fugitive-slave cases will it take to sicken them of the connection ?-how many contused Senators? how many lynched and tortured missionaries ?-how many deceived and murdered immigrants? Perhaps with sufficient faculty of silence, and a Russian habit of stealth, the leaders might without challenge push their "institution" in any direction and to any extent, short of the North itself. But the Southern temper is impetuous and arrogant, and can neither observe a reticence nor respect a limit. Two years ago, the boast escaped from Senator Toombs (of Georgia) that "soon the master with his slaves will sit down at the foot of Bunker Hill Monument. The Governor of South Carolina propounds, in his recent official message, the doctrine that all labour must again return into the hands of slaves. The abettors of the Kansas iniquity make no secret of their resolve,-now that the spell of the Missouri line is broken,-of overrunning the whole North with slaves and turning the federated continent into a vast house of bondage. There is a Nemesis for all this insolence: and if it be infatuated enough to believe its own predictions, and attempt their realisation, the free States will be driven to separate, and the splendid visions of the rest will vanish in the double retribution of civil and of servile war. Should Mr. Buchanan's prudence avail to curb and divert the aggressive spirit, to charm it away from its ill-chosen field in Kansas, and turn it loose on tropical latitudes, it is probable that this check from domestic disunion might be indefinitely delayed.

But while one question is closed, another is opened. You refrain from collision with confederates in the North, only to