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Show 512 Appendix,. applied to for n loan would sec that the whole tendency of Southern pro. j ects wns towards increasing the competition for the sa le of Southrrn prod. ucts, the only ones 1l'llose prices are even now falling, notwithstall(l/ng the increased production of gold, and that every step in that direction must increase the dependenc~ of their producers. The South could ther<'forc effect no loans, and were it to attempt to raise hy taxation the mrnns required for carrying out its schemes, it would dri,·c its population back to the North as the only means of escape from the opprcs~;;ions of the Slave republic. Such a Union would be utterly powerless, and we may, therefore, rest secure that it will never be formed. The North h:ls thus far carried the South on its shoultlcrs, and so it is bound to do in :-~ll time to come. It has purchased its lands, maintained the fleets and arn1ie:s required for its purposes, and stood between it and the public opinion of the world while maintaining the value of its commodities and g iving value to its labor nnd land. During the whole of this period it has borne unmeasured insolence, and has, for the sake of peace, permitted its whole policy to be gov· erned by a body of Slaveholders amounting to but little more than a quarter of a million in number. It has made one compromise after anot her, until at length the day of compromise has past, and has given place to the day on which the South and the North -the advocates of Slave labor on the one side and of Free labor on the other- arc now to measure strength, and we trust it will be measured. Falstaff was strong in words, but ·weak in action. So it is with the South, whose every movement betokens conscious wealmes~. l"or a quarter of a century past she has been holding conventions, at which it has been resolved that Norfoll<, Charleston, and S;n·annah sllould become gr<'at commercial cities, which obstinately they refuse to be. She has rC'solvcd upon all kinds of expedients for raising the price of cotton, which yet is lower by one third than it was twenty years since. She has resolved to suppress the discussiou of Slavery, and the discussion is !lOw more rife than ever before. She has resolved upon becoming strong nud inclcpC'nd· ent, but is now more dependent on the forbearance of the world than in any time past. Under such circumstances, th<'re need be small fear of her secession from that North, which has so long stood bNween her and ruin. The irritability of our Southern fri <'nds is evidence of conscious weakness, and while that irritability shall continue, the danger of dissolution will continue to he far distant. The Union must be continued until at least the South shall have had the opportunity for taxing the North for the accomplishment of its projects. Until tl1en, tltc Union canuot be dissolved. Such being the case, the rl'al friend of the Union is he who opposes the annexation of Cuba and Hayti, and the extension of Slavery; and the real disunionist is he who advocates compliance with Southern demands. Thus far, all the measures adopted for the promotion of Southern objects have been followed by increased abuse and in creased threats of separation, and such will certainly be the case with all such future ones. To preserve the Union, it is re- Appendix. quired that the North should insist on its rights, and drterminc to refuse the admission of nny more such States as Florida and Arkansas as offsets against such as Illinois and 1\Iichigan. To preserve the Union, it is rrquired that eighteen millions of Northern men should refuse to be ridden over rough-shod by two millions of Southern men voting for tl1cmsctvcs and tlteir Jn·oparty. 'fo preserve the Union, it is required that we go back to that fundamental principle of our system which says that the majority, and n ot the minority, shall rule. To preserve the Union, it is requirod that the freemen of the North should insist on having the government administered in the interests of freedom, as counscll<'d by 'Vashin~ton, Jefferson, and Madison, refusing any longer to permit it to be administered in the interests of the Calhouns, the Dutlcrs, and the Toombses, who would perpetuate the system under which men, their wives, and their children are hunted by bloodhounds and sold like cattle in the market. The more fixed and united the Northern people show themselves to be- the more strenuously they resist the addition of any more lave territory or the admission of any new Slave States- the longer and the more CC'rtain will be the endurance of the Union. The only real disunionists of the country, north of Mason and Dixon's line, arc the political doughfaces, like Pierce, Douglas, and Richardson, and the commercial doughfaces, like many we could name, who sell themselves to the South for the promotion of those objects on which Southern madmen now arc bent. |