resting upon each citizen not to exercise that power indiscreetly. A man has the power, and he may also have the legal right, to say and to do many things which are very wrong; but if more evil than good results from what he says and does, he has no moral right to do the wrong. There may be a dozen partners in trade, who have engaged each to contribute to the joint stock an equal amount, and to share equally in the profits. Seven of the twelve may assail the private characters of the five, and that of their families. They may insist that, for fear of spreading the infection of their sins by their example, the women and children shall not be permitted to leave their houses. In furtherance of this good work they may go farther, and say that the children of the five shall not be permitted to occupy or enjoy the use of any of the estates or farms which have been purchased out of the joint profits of the partnership. The power to make such a proposition cannot be questioned. The legal right to ask that such a disposition be made, may be also conceded. But would not such a suggestion be equivalent to a demand that the partnership be dissolved? Can it be supposed that the five would consent to continue the 'union' upon such terms, in the face of an agreement that they should be equal partners? Or would a longer continuance of the association be either desirable or proper, after such declarations had been formally

embodied and presented, as the only terms upon which the majority would thereafter consent that the business should be conducted?

Whether the causes which should produce this state of feeling be regarded as real or imaginary, would it not be the duty of the seven, in lieu of demanding a proportion of the common estate for their own use, to which they could not justly lay claim, to say, frankly, 'We do not like you personally; we object to the manner in which you are raising up your families; we are shocked by the conduct of your wives and daughters; therefore we propose that the partnership be dissolved, and the estate be equitably divided, according to the letter and spirit of the terms on which it was created?'

So may it be said to the supporters of the Republican party: Your unfriendly and constant assaults upon the Southern States, their institutions, and their people, are utterly inconsistent with the position you occupy to each other as partners and associates. The language of your ceaseless tirades against slavery and the Slave States are carefully collected by the enemies of the Republic, and disseminated in every land where the English language is read or spoken. These are translated into every tongue, and the world exclaims, What horrible monsters those Republicans must be, when, according to their own statements, they tolerate a political union with the

incarnate fiends who perpetrate such enormities against their fellow-creatures?' If, therefore, nothing can eradicate or soften these feelings, you should act like men who really feel strong moral convictions, and frankly repudiate the political bonds which unite you to so much sin. If you do not urge this as a sequence, how can you expect to secure the respect of mankind by continuing, for mere gain, that confederation which you believe to be a mere covenant with hell'? Let every man, then, bring home to himself the true question. The spirit which animates the Republican party, and the feeling of animosity, which is its prime element of strength, is utterly inconsistent with a desire to maintain the present Confederacy, except from the most sordid considerations. Let this issue be fairly and honestly presented; and why should we doubt that tens of thousands, who have drifted into this great gulf of sectionalism, will once more turn their faces towards the shore, and swell the ranks of that civic army which is now engaged in, perhaps, its last struggle for the Union in its entirety, by the preservation of its integrity. Remember that now is the time for action! This occasion lost, and in all human probability all will be lost! Sectionalism once triumphant, no human power can restrain the onward march of the victors towards that goal to which their hopes have been directed. The war of subjugation against

the South once inaugurated, who can estimate the terrible consequences of the conflagration which will be enkindled? Let those in the North who believe that, from their superior numbers, there would be an easy victory and a prompt surrender, remember that the South will enter upon the struggle with the conviction, that while defeat may be annihilation, submission would be death!

LETTER XVI.

The madness of the hour in Europe the Dissolution of the Union is expected-A few words to Northern Enemies of the South-Conclusion.

AMID the din of arms, and the roar of artillery, and the smoke of battle, and the mad fury of men excited by the contest and eager for blood, there is small hope that the voice of one man calling upon the combatants to lay down their arms, would be either heard or heeded. Neither can I hope that the words of one whose only claim to be heard is, that he is a fellowcountryman, though for a time resident in a distant country, will be listened to by the excited parties to the great, perhaps the final struggle at the ballot-box, for the union, the liberty, and the equality of the States, which now moves the heart of the great Republic! It may be that even before we are called upon again to celebrate the anniversary birthday of the Father of his Country-the immortal first President of the Confederacy-opposing armies of his fellow-countrymen may be struggling in deadly strife upon the soil of that Virginia which gave him birth, within sight of the now quiet capital on the banks of the Potomac which bears his name, and upon the