germ lies in the original compromises for convenience' sake, we have already seen in full operation at the seat of the Central Government. With the State Governments the practice of Repudiation is another development of it. Unquestionably, in each of the States that has repudiated there was a large majority of men thoroughly honourable in their private affairs; but, the moment the question became a public one, they passed from under the private law of honesty to obey the political law of convenience. There is nothing to prevent a State compounding with its creditors, in a candid manner, on sufficient grounds; but repudiation has not been the course of those who could not, but of those who, having the means, would not pay. This has occurred in all parts of the Union, the number of States so distinguished being equal in the two sections, and the population of repudiators by far the larger in the North. And although Mississippi offers the most bold and outrageous case, there is none meaner than that of the great State of Pennsylvania.

Filibusterism is another branch of the same tree. Indeed, when a people hold themselves at liberty to break their own laws, why should they respect those of other countries? The conduct of Lopez, and Walker, was indeed that of individuals, but all know what was the public sentiment and the action of the Government. Indeed, we find it difficult to see in what respect the manoeuvres of

Walker in Nicaragua differed from those which obtained Texas,-except in success. The abstraction of Florida from Spain, and of Texas from the sister republic, Mexico, when examined in detail, afford ample proof that this law of convenience has guided the action of the Federal Government. Texas was encouraged when it shared in the revolt from Spain; it was fostered when it revolted again from Mexico; it now secedes from the Union. As the Federal Government assisted in, or countenanced, the two first, it should not be surprised at the third,-a natural result of such an education. If rebellion against England was heroic, and revolt from Spain praiseworthy, or separation from Mexico commendable, it seems strange that it should be so heinous a crime to secede from the Union. Are right and wrong dependent on geography? It seems very clear that the only test of them here is convenience.

We read in an American publication: "We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that corruption of the most alarming character and extent has for many years past disgraced the legislation of the country, and the administration of our State and national Governments. This evil has increased with a rapidity that was frightful, and not a few of our most thoughtful republicans have been learning to dread lest public virtue should, in a few years, be so thoroughly overthrown, that the continuance of the Government in form and vigour would be impossible. The fear was, not that it would be

The

overthrown, but that it would rot down." first impression on reading such terms is that they must be a gross exaggeration, and yet on inquiry we soon come upon facts that justify their extent. For instance, when the State of Wisconsin lately granted a charter to a railway company, with the usual cession of public lands, the whole legislature was bribed. The Governor, his secretary, the controller, thirteen senators, sixty members of the House of Representatives, the clerks of the House, nay, even the lobbyers, at a respectful distance were admitted to a share of the spoil. There is no reason to suppose that these parties were less honest than their neighbours. The fact simply illustrates the prevailing tone of political morals.

Reflecting on these facts, we shall be the less surprised at the description given of the social state of the Union by Mr. Cassius M. Clay, in his address to the people of Kentucky, part of which runs thus: "A general demoralization has corrupted the first minds of the nation; its hot contagion has spread among the whole people. Licentiousness, crime, and bitter hate infest us at home; repudiation, and the forcible propagandism of slavery, are arraying against us a world in arms. I appeal to history, to reason, to nature, and to conscience, which neither time, nor space, nor fear, nor hate, nor hope of reward, nor crime, nor pride, nor selfishness, can utterly silence-Are not these things true?"

We believe that, in the main, they are true,— we cannot doubt the earnestness of the appeal. But when the same Mr. Cassius M. Clay calls upon us to give our moral support to the Union, we think there must be, somewhere, a strange delusion. We should say :-Invite us to support a government under which you show us the growth of purity and justice—but do not ask us to support a system whose fruits are such as you describe. We should say that secession, or disruption, might either of them be welcomed, if they afford an escape from evils such as these. It seems, indeed, time to arrest this degeneracy of a race, "nobly born, and purely bred." Can this be done by restoring the Union? Slavery will not be extinguished by nestling it again under the wing of the American Eagle. Strength will not be imparted to the Government by restoring the conflicting elements that made it weak. The vicious effects of wide dispersion will not be effaced by reinstating the magnitude of the country. Nor is it likely that the "bitter hate " of which we read will be smoothed into affection by the edge of the sword.

If we also should appeal to "history, to reason, and to conscience," they would declare it to be essential to the true welfare of the American people, both of the North and South, to escape from this unsound condition,—to abandon this principle of compromise, to end this system of aggregation,to form separate communities, each able to frame

laws adapted to its position, and permitting selfrespect,-to seize this opportunity to cure the evils which unchequered prosperity and stimulated growth have engendered,—and at length to realize and manifest that there are other, and perhaps nobler objects of ambition, than enormous growth of cotton, or the possession of illimitable provinces.

The following passage occurs in Justice Story's admirable Commentaries: "The fate of other republics-their rise, their progress, their decline, and their fall-are written but too legibly on the pages of history, if, indeed, they were not continually before us in the startling fragments of their ruins. They have perished, and perished by their own hands. Prosperity has enervated them, corruption has debased them, and a venal populace has consummated their destruction. They have listened to the fawning sycophant, and the base calumniator of the wise and the good. They have reverenced power more in its high abuses, and summary movements, than in its calm and constitutional energy, when it dispensed blessings with an unseen and liberal hand. Patronage and party, the triumph of a leader, and the discontents of a day, have outweighed all solid principles of government. Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people in order to betray them."