The causes of the American civil war.: A letter to the London Times./ By John Lothrop Motley.

THlE CAUSES OF TiHE
the merits of these questions must be considered as settled by sound thinkers in all civilized lands, must, nevertheless, remain in some countries the subjects of honest
argument and legitimate controversy. When all parts
of a country are represented-and especially in the case
of the United States, where the southern portion has
three-fifths of a certain kind of "property" represented,
while the North has no property represented-reason
should contend with error for victory, trusting to its innate strength. And until after the secession of the Gulf
states the moderate tariff of 1S57 was in operation, with
no probability of its repeal. Moreover, the advocates of
the enlightened system of free trade should reflect that
should the fourteen slave states become permanently
united in a separate confederacy, the state of their internal affairs will soon show a remarkable revolution.
The absence of the lgqitive law will necessarily drive
all the slaves from what are called the border states8; and
he must be a shallow politician who dreams here in
England that free trade with all the world, and direct
taxation for revenue, will be the policy of the new and
expensive military empire which will arise. Manufactures of cotton and woollen will spring Up on every river
and mountain stream in the northern sl8ave states, the
vast mineral wealth of their territories will require development, and the cry for protection to native industry
in one quarter will be as surely heeded as will be that
other cry from the Gulf of Mexico, now partially suppressed for obvious reasons, for the African slave trade.
To establish a great Gulf emnpire, including Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and other islands, with unlimited
cotton fields and unlimited negroes, this is the golden
....
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