pernicious influence; spreading crime, and misery, and degradation in every land. Slave labour offers, in lieu of this hellish draught, that mild, and soothing, and healthy beverage, which is alike the solace of the palace and the cottage.

Far be it from me even to desire to depreciate the magnificent results of free labour, both in England and America. In the developement and expansion of the mechanic arts, and in their application to the wants of man; in the vast improvements which have been introduced into almost every employment of civilised nations, both are in advance of any other and of every age, of which history affords us a knowledge. As an American and an Anglo-Saxon, I am proud of these great achievements; but as a Southerner, born in a land to which slavery has been transmitted as an inheritance, for good or for evil, I am prouder still that the products of this slave labour have supplied raiment, and food, and other comforts for the rich and the poor of every land; while no single commodity which has been sent forth to the world has contributed, in the smallest degree, to increase the vices or miseries of mankind.

We have been taught in the holy Book to judge of the tree by its fruits-of men by their acts-and may we not be allowed to judge of systems by their results? Shall mankind be for ever fettered in its judgement by a reverence for mere names, or by

respect for mere theories? Shall we reserve all our anathemas against vice for the garments in which our fancy may clothe it? Or shall the wolf in sheep's clothing be suffered to enter among the flocks and herds, because we do not choose to look beneath the garb of innocence which guilt assumes to hide its criminal intent?

LETTER VII.

Unfavourable results of Emancipation by England - Beneficial results of Slave Labour in the United States - Comparison of the condition of the Slave and Free States of the American Continent - Great importance attached by England to tropical productions - The interests of England and the Planting States identical.

I HAVE assumed as facts that slave labour has supplied for the use of mankind the necessary articles of cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice and coffee that free labour never has succeeded in producing them—and I have inferred that if slave labour should be abolished, the great mass of those for whom the consumption thereof has become almost a necessity, would be obliged to abandon their use altogether.

If any practical proofs are desired to establish the want of adaptation of the European races, or of free labour, to the purposes of production in the tropics, it has been amply demonstrated by the results which have followed the abolition of slavery in the Colonies of England and France, and in the present condition of the Governments of the New World.

In all South America, the only Government which has attained to any great political importance is Brazil.

It is the only nation which has kept pace in its improvements with the advancement of the world, and it is the only independent Government on the American Continent, except that of the United States, where slavery has not been abolished.

The institution of domestic slavery has existed in the United States of America from a period long anterior to its independent existence as a nation, up to the present moment of time. Never in recorded history is there evidence that any other country or any other people have made such rapid advances to greatness, wealth, and power. While it is not contended that this result has been wholly achieved through the instrumentality of the institution of slavery, none will deny that the productions of slave labour have contributed powerfully and materially to its accomplishment.

This fact is fully established by the exports of domestic produce to foreign countries. Although the population of the free States is as about two to one over that of the slave States, yet the exports from the slave States during the last year (1859) amounted in value to nearly two hundred millions of dollars, while the entire exports of the free States fell short of eighty millions. The value of the cotton alone exceeded one hundred and sixty millions. Although these aggregate amounts will be doubtless increased in the present year (1860), yet these exhibit the

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relative exports of the two sections. This immense sum goes to the enrichment of the entire nation, and, in some shape or other, finds its way into almost every county in every State in the Confederacy. Politicians may talk flippantly of sacrificing this great interest upon the altar of freedom,' and fanatics and vain theorists may be really ready for the sacrifice; but unless common sense be entirely banished from the land, or lost in the mad passions excited by sectional hatred, it is still to be hoped that enough of true Americanism is left to prevent even one more serious movement in that direction.

These productions of the Southern States have not only entered largely into the consumption of the inhabitants of the earth, but they have given employment to millions of labourers, whose daily bread is dependent upon the supply of cotton. These products of slave labour are necessary to the happiness, the prosperity, almost the very existence of society itself, as at present organised throughout the civilised world.

On the other hand, look at the picture of desolation, anarchy, and thriftless imbecility which have marked the history of the Governments of Mexico and Central America. A fairer or a more productive clime is scarcely to be found upon the earth. There, Nature has lavished her choicest, richest bounties.