The Secretary of War, in his report for 1842, remarked, "The works intended for the more remote Southern portion of our territory, particularly require attention. Indications are already made of designs of the worst character against that region, in the event of hostilities from a _certain quarter_, to which we cannot be insensible." The Secretary's fears had been evidently excited by the organization of _black_ regiments in the British West Indies, and the threats of certain English writers, that a war between the two countries would result in the liberation of the slaves. The report from the Quarter-Master, General Jessup, a Southern man, betrays the same anxiety, and in less ambiguous terms: "In the event of a war," says he, "with either of the great European powers possessing colonies in the West Indies, there will be danger of the peninsula of Florida being occupied by BLACKS from the Islands. A proper regard for the security of our _Southern States_ requires, that prompt and efficient measures be adopted to prevent such a state of things." The Secretary of the Navy, a slaveholder, _hints_ his fears in cautious circumlocution. Speaking of the event of a war with any considerable maritime power, he says, "It would be a war of incursions aimed at _revolution_. The first blow would be struck at us through our _institutions_;" he means, of course, "the peculiar institution." He then proceeds to show that the enemy would seek success "in arraying, what are supposed to be, the hostile elements of our _social system_ against each other;" and he admits, that "even in the best event, war on our own soil would be the more expensive, the more embarrassing, and the more HORRIBLE in its effects, by compelling us at the same time to oppose an enemy in the field, and _to guard_ against all attempts to _subvert our social system_." In plain language, an invading enemy would strike the first blow at the slave system, and thus aim at revolution,--a revolution that would give liberty to two and a half millions of human beings; and that such a war would be very embarrassing to the slaveholders, and the more horrible, because, as formerly in South Carolina, a large share of their military force would necessarily be employed, not in fighting the enemy, but in guarding the SOCIAL, that is, the "patriarchal system." No persons are more sensible of their hazardous situation than the slaveholders themselves, and hence, as is common with people who are secretly conscious of their own weakness, they attempt to supply the want of strength by a bullying insolence, hoping to effect by intimidation what they well know can be effected in no other way. This game has long been played, and with great success, in Congress. It has been attempted in our negotiations with Great Britain, and has signally failed.