Shall We Have a Navy? Shall We Pursue the Defensive Policy, or Invade the Enemy's Country? [pp. 211-223]

SHALL'E HAVE A NAVY?
and. perhaps, Sp)ain, have reco,gnized us as a 1)eople-from this
they infer the blh,ckade by foreign interposition will be raised,
and. p)robably-, a war between FEnl and and tlhe ITUnited States
will follow, opening, to us the lprospect of an early peace. If
so I shall rejoice. But if our independence be recognized and
the blockade be raised, what will it prove? 1Why, simply that
the North could not do lwhat foreign powers could-control
their own actions, and were governed( bv their own material
interests-not that our staples were all-suflicient for otir safety
and independence. How long it will be tlhat forei,gn powers
can control their actions I cannot say; but if thle causes assigned
y)v -Ir. Calhloun continue to operate, and it vwould seemIii thley
must, lookling to the fiuture as dependent ulpon existing canses,
it cannot be long, in all human probability, unless tlhe rulers of
foreig,n powers can consent, in deference to the inrearc,sing demand(s which,t solund public opinion a,nd an increasilig diffusion
of li,ght and intelligence wvill continue, to make concessions by
which they will be shorn of absolute power. iMIy object and
desire aire that the South should prepare in earnest for a struggle which neither time, nor change, nor chance, can avert. It
is a mistaklen idea-nonsense to believe tlhat the statesmen of
Great Britain were influenced themselves by fianaticism in the
abolition of African slavery in her provinces. It is nonsense
to believe Brougham in earnest wvhen he introduced the sable
doctor to MIr. Dallas, because he thought the blacks and whites
were equals. Every act of his life belies his belief' to that
effect. He is honored by a government he has labored all his
life to sustain, and upholds a government that denoies equality
amnong, its own people. Her people demanded concessions, and,
un(ler the influence of a mistalken zeal, or, if you please, fanaticismi which Wilberforce atighit thiem, this would be a concession to them; and, as this would satisfy the d(lemand, the
concession was made.:Her statesmen saw it would not essentially impair the power of her rulers; and thlou,gh it cost heavily
and added to the public debt, if they did not act wisely they
did well; for they knew instead of weakening the rulers, it only
would add to tlhe burdens of the people who forced the concessions, and who would themselves have it to pay for. I will
not cavil about the meaningr of such words as flnaticism, but
we should endeavor to ascertain the true cause,,nd not pltce
the effect for the cause, nor make the caiuse the effect. And,
looking back uponi the events of that 1)criod, one may reasonably conclude that by such a concession on the part of' the
rulers of France, at the proper moment, in regard( to the slaves
of Sa,n Domingo, the horrors of' that islan(l and of France,
during the rei,gn of terror, might have been averted. Now, the
people of the North-I mea,n their leaders-in tl)eir efforts to
avoid the calamities of' France at the period referred to and
those that threatened England, have sought to control the mis
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