The Country in 1950, or The Conservatism of Slavery [pp. 426-439]

LJUNE
TIHE COUNTRY IN 1950, OR THE CONSERVATISM OF SLAVERY.
what, in the earlier days of the Republic,
was br a nded as a her e sy to be crushed at
its inception in the mind, has become an
ordinary subject of public discussion and
private reflection.
Our present purpose, however, does not
include a conside ra ti on of the exciting
t opics, that now dis tu rb the harmony
of the sections. We will regard these
wounds as healed, and suppose that the
sway of common sense and vital interest
will cause the men of the North to cease
their frantic clamor, ere they drive
from their embrace the noblest product ive region on the face of the globe, whose
articles of necessity and luxury not only
supply their own demands, but furnish
them with the material for a commerce
that bids fair to distance all rivalship, and in whose prodigal lap they find a free
and profitable receptacle for all their in dustrial products. We will also suppose
that the South, still cherishing the memo ry of a heroic struggle in a common cause,
and clinging to the fond hopes of the
early fathers of the republic, for a glorious
and united future, —influenced too by that
vis inertice and natural dread of revolu tions that especially affect an agricultural
people,-will continue to approach her
difficulties in a spirit of forbearance, that
may calm the troubled waters. But,
granting all this, we believe that separate
destinies ultimately await the North and
the South as a logical consequence of the
opposite tendencies of the social and political influences that affect them. The
North, we conceive, must gradually
wander from the path of true republicanism, while the South mainly in consequence of the institution of slavery, will
continue to adhere to the principles of
liberty ina the administration of government. 5Ve do not pretend positively to
assert that the year 1950 will find this result accomplished, but we are confident,
that at that era, there will no longer be
room to doubt concerning its ultimate necessity. It is true, that the actual events
of history do not always follow with logical precision general causers, which are
The London Times, in some strictures
upon the last annual message of the Pre sident, who, in that document, considered
the subject of slavery in a practical way,
proposes the following as a question,
suitable for the consideration of states men in this country,-'what will be the
condition of the slavery question in the
year 1950?' In any speculations upon the
future of slavery, are necessarily involved
inquries into the future fate of all the in stitutions, which now quicken this coun try with a life distinct from that of other
nations. In this essay we shall not at tempt to find an answer to the question,
which shall cover the ground in all its
parts, but present some considerations to
show that the institution of African
slavery, so far from being fatal to the de velopment of the fundamental ideas of this
republic, is highly favorable to those con ditions in which they are most apt to
flourish.
In a political survey of our country at
this day, the most careless and superficial
observer must be at once struck with the
sectional antagonism, which the agitation
of questions involving slavery, in some
shape or other, has introduced. Each
succeeding year appears but to widen the
breach between the North and the South.
The old political parties, at one time apparently so full of vitality, have even
been compelled to succumb to the all ab sorbing issue, whose ultimate result no
one may predict.
The confident hope entertained by
many, that the agencies of steam
and the railway would so knit together
the Union in commercial interest, as to
render all chance of separation an impossibility, appears to be doomed to disappointment, if we are to judge from actual experience. Indeed the railway, and
its winged sister, the telegraph, politically considered, seem to have been instrumental only in bringing the opposing
views of the sections into more concentrated action, and in spreading more widely
than ever the subjects and methods of
of agitation. Thus has it happened, that
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