necessarily antagonistic in all their tendencies, and the progress, strength, and extension of the former necessarily involve the downfall and destruction of the latter. And, as it is the South—the “slaveholders,” the States, and the people whose social life rests upon natural distinctions that have always struck the deadliest blows at the British system, and, as declared by the old tory, Dr. Johnson, eighty years ago, have been the warmest supporters of liberty, British statesmen, in their turn, desired to break down a condition thus dangerous and thus in conflict with their own. Indeed, they can not avoid making war upon the social order of the South. It is a necessity that exists in the nature of things, and springs spontaneously from the circumstances that constitute the opposing conditions, and therefore, from 1776 to 1860 this warfare, openly or secretly, on the battle-field, or the still more dangerous arena of public opinion, has been uninterrupted. Their system is based on artificial distinctions—on things of human invention; ours on natural distinctions—those fixed forever by the hand of the Almighty; and so long as England is an American power her policy must be in conflict with our own. If it could ever be successful—if the twelve millions of negroes on this continent could ever be forced from their normal condition of subordination into a legal equality with the whites—then it is obvious democratic institutions would be rendered impracticable. A simple statement of the facts involved would seem to be sufficient to convince every American mind not corrupted by British opinions, that the British “anti-slavery” policy is part and parcel of the British system, and therefore must go on as it has gone on until it either overthrows our republican institutions, or England, and indeed all other European governments and European influences are driven from the New World. The _causes_ of West Indian “emancipation,” therefore, lie deeper and are far wider in their scope, and immeasurably more deadly in their consequences than any temporary schemes of commercial rivalry, as suggested by Mr. Calhoun, to monopolize tropical products. They strike at the national life—at the heart of republicanism, at the fundamental principle that underlies our system, at the everlasting truth that all who belong to the race are created free and equal; and should it ever be successful, should our people ever become so corrupted in opinion, and so debauched in their instincts as to assent to the British “anti-slavery” policy and “abolish slavery”—distort and transform themselves into equality with negroes, then it could not be long before the forms as well as the spirit of republicanism would disappear from the New World, and whatever might happen in the course of centuries, all that Washington and Jefferson and the glorious spirits of 1776 labored for would be lost to mankind.