freedom, were not the class of men to look with indulgence upon any form of bondage. It was repugnant to the genius of the race. Moderate men disapproved, zealous men denounced it. Unquestionably the removal of Slavery from the North was, in the main, an economic measure, and would have occurred, apart from all moral considerations. The majority of the slaves were sold to the South, where they were of greater value. But still, at an early period, there were the germs of that Abolitionist movement which has since exercised so powerful an influence on the destinies of the Union, not from the numbers in its ranks, but from their ability, and the passionate intensity of their zeal. And thus, at the same time that the North was moving from its original equality with the South in population, it was diverging still more widely in social views, and thus aggravating the permanent effects of the change.

In many countries a process so slow, and exciting so little notice as the growth of population, might have proceeded for a long period without attracting observation. When observed, it might have been accepted as an inevitable fact, of no political significance. This is impossible under the Constitution and policy of the United States, Increased population converts a territory into a new State, claiming admission; and it must be either a Slave State, or Free. The political effect of emancipation in the Northern States was still greater.

Each State sends to the Senate two

This was at

members, and this change in its condition removed them from the side of the Southern to that of the Northern interest, thus producing the effect of four votes on a division. In so small an assembly this had the utmost political importance. The Southerner saw his power in the Senate rapidly passing away, whilst at the same time the number of his members in the House of Representatives was steadily dwindling, in comparison with that of the North. Nor was this merely comparative; it was also absolute, in consequence of the changes in the ratio, the rapid increase in the number required to return a representative. first 33,000; it is now 127,381. Hence a State, though increasing in population, if it should not advance at this ratio, will appear to fall behind. Originally Virginia returned 10 members, to 6 from New York; the proportions are nowVirginia 11, to New York 30. But this is not all. Virginia had at one time 23 members, now reduced to 11, although her population has increased, slowly indeed, but steadily, during the period. And South Carolina which, in the scheme of the Constitution, stands for 5 in 65, or onethirteenth of the representation, will return, under the last census, 4 out of 233, or one-sixtieth part. Hence that State has now less than a quarter of the representative power it had when the Federal compact was framed-a compact entered into with the expectation of advantage from it.

It must be at all times a source of pain to the

citizens of any State to see its political importance gradually declining. When it results from natural and inevitable causes, it will still be fraught with regret. But when a State is steadily increasing in population, to find that, notwithstanding this, its political power is decaying, both relatively and absolutely,-this cannot fail to stir up some impatience in the spirit of a proud people. There will appear an insidious principle in laws that produce such an effect. No construction of clauses, nor views of general convenience, will alter the unsatisfactory character of the thing itself. It is said that the alteration of the standard was necessary to prevent overcrowding, but the House of Commons has thrice the number of members. It will be said, too, that the rule applies equally to all the States. Theoretically this is true, but not so in practical effect. To reduce 100 to 50 is abstractedly the same as to reduce 2 to 1; but in practice the contest of 50 with 100 is possible, whilst that of 1 with 2 is hopeless. The effect of this practice is strongly adverse to the smaller number, or, in other words, it tends to aggravate the effect of the superior numbers of the North. It will be obvious that it only requires to push the principle to extremes to reduce the representation of a small State to a single member, although that State may have been originally important, and may have increased slowly, yet steadily in population. Theoretical arguments will have but little

effect in averting the discomfort of the losing side.

It is not indeed in human nature to watch such a process without doubting whether laws are really working to equal advantage when their effects are felt to be so unequal. Nor is it in human nature to have once been in possession of power, and permit it to pass into rival hands, without a struggle. And in some of the oldest and most important of the Southern States this spectacle of the decay of political power is rendered far more depressing when a similar decline is apparent in many other directions. Senator Benton, a strong supporter of the Union, after stating the extent to which the Southern import trade had fallen off, continues thus: "This is what the dry and naked figures show. To the memory and imagination it is worse; for it is a tradition of the Colonies that the South had been the seat of wealth and happiness, of power and opulence; that a rich population covered the land, dispensing a baronial hospitality, and diffusing the felicity which themselves enjoyed; that all was life, and joy, and affluence then. And this tradition was not without similitude to the reality, as this writer can testify; for he was old enough to have seen (after the Revolution) the still surviving state of Southern Colonial manners, when no traveller was allowed to go to a tavern, but was handed over from family to family through entire States; when holidays were days of festivity and expectation long prepared for, and

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celebrated by master and slave with music and feasting, and great concourse of friends and relations; when gold was kept in chests, after the downfall of Continental paper, and weighed in scales, and lent to neighbours for short terms without note, interest, witness, or security; and when petty litigation was at so low an ebb that it required a fine of forty pounds of tobacco to make a man serve as constable. The reverse of all this was now seen and felt-not to the whole extent which fancy or policy painted, but to extent enough to constitute a reverse, and to make a contrast, and to excite the regrets which the memory of past joys never fails to awaken."

It is true that this picture will in no degree apply to those of the Southern States which have come into being since the Union. But it applies to a sufficient number to supply the leaders of a movement. Upon the leaders all such movements depend, and their feelings will not be unaffected by such facts as these. It is true that slavery is really the main cause, and the working of the Union a lesser one; but when there are two causes of such facts, of which men will not see or know not how to change the one, they will assuredly desire to try the effect of changing the other. The reasoning may be wrong, but the fact is there, and we cannot but see in it a reasonable ground for doubt on the part of a Virginian whether the Union has, in his own case, promoted that "pursuit of happiness" which, in