It may be asked what I have done for the defence of the South, by establishing the fact that other nations of the world perpetrate wrongs of a like character against their fellow-men? I answer, much, very much. When I establish that the world has been unable, after the most strenuous efforts, to stimulate any system of productive labour in the tropics which is not more objectionable to the eye of real philanthropy than the slavery system of America, there exists only one question which the friend of mankind is called upon to decide. Namely, -would it not be Namely,—would better in the interest of the human race that the slavelabour system of America should be left to work out its own destiny and its own remedy, rather than by its violent overthrow to deprive mankind of the fruits of its labour? Nay, more than this. If we have indeed sinned in the sight of heaven, which we do not believe, we may, in mitigation of the judgement against us before that high tribunal, point to the evil example of those who are our accusers; we might ask with confidence for a suspension of the execution until England shall have surrendered India, until France shall have withdrawn from Algeria, until Russia shall have abandoned Circassia, and until the Sultan shall have restored to the Greek his long-lost inheritance; for they are, at least, much older sinners than we.

LETTER X.

Summary of the relative advantages of different systems of Labour— Results of the comparison-Characteristics of Great Britain—An AntiSlavery Poem-Does not fairly illustrate John Bull-Reflections of a Philanthropist upon subjects suggested by the Poem - Europe has only recently abandoned the African Slave-trade- The Southern States have always opposed it-The institution of Slavery more Humane now than formerly.

I HAVE briefly glanced at some of the various systems of labour which have been proposed as substitutes for the institution of African slavery in America. Each in its turn has resulted in failure; or those which have been attended with a partial success, have been pronounced by the judgement of the most enlightened philanthropists to be, in every respect, more objectionable than the worst form of now-existing slavery. So far as practical results are concerned, we stand now precisely where we did when Wilberforce and his followers preached their first crusade against the slave-trade. The confident predictions of that day, that free African labour and the cultivation of the rich soil of India, by the subjugated natives, would entirely supersede and render valueless the institution of slavery in America, have been proved to be idle dreams. American slavery has gone on increasing in value and importance until the present moment of

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time, when, if we could imagine such a calamity, its sudden suppression would produce disaster and misery throughout the civilised world. England, which is the great purchaser of cotton, admits that no other system can successfully compete in its production with slave labour. But many of her leading statesmen, as before said, also insist that if the institution of slavery should disappear, the free labour of India, and of other tropical countries, would promptly engage in the cultivation of those articles which are now obtained almost exclusively from slave labour. They believe that the large number of labourers who would under such circumstances be added to the productive force, would be able to approximate to nearly the same results as are now achieved under the slavery system.

I can discover no reason for believing that these hopes would be realised. Still less can I see any interest which mankind has in making the experiment, even with a probable prospect of success. But above all, I can discover no advantages in the proposed change which ought to induce America to strike so fatal a blow at her own power and influence; and unless our own folly or madness drives us to this act of self-immolation, no earthly power, having the will, possesses the ability to deprive us of our control over that monarch of commerce which to-day exercises its peaceful dominion over the kingdoms of the earth.

In considering this subject, I have instituted a fair comparison in regard to the morality and productiveness of slave and free labour' in what are denominated tropical products-and, as my brief references have shown, to the advantage of the former; while upon the question of humanity, we have tested American slavery by a comparison with those systems which have been employed to supersede it. I am well aware that the vast majority of those whose minds have been warped by long-cultivated prejudices, will not see the advantages which have resulted to mankind through the instrumentality of the institution of slavery, nor the enormities of any other system which holds out the hope of gratifying their feelings of animosity. They will continue to shut their eyes to evils upon the one hand, and benefits upon the other, if these conflict with their theories; but the prejudices, the passions, the injustice of mankind, cannot make truth fiction, nor change right into wrong. Laudations of the system of free labour, as illustrated by its practical workings, throughout the greater part of the world, cannot put bread into the mouth of the starving, nor of itself bestow a real independence upon those who labour for their daily sustenance. On the other hand, the most moving picture of the horrors of slavery cannot destroy the existing fact, that no other labourers in the same field have as many of the comforts of life,

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with as few of its troubles and trials, as have the slaves of the Southern States of the American Union. Neither can any amount of calumny which ignorance, or malevolence, or both combined, may heap upon the slaveholder of the Southern States, deprive him of that inward consciousness that he has worthily employed the power which the Almighty has placed in his hands-that he has been instrumental in diffusing amongst the mass of mankind comforts and necessaries which have contributed in an eminent degree to their happiness, and that he has sent forth nothing which has ever added to the unhappiness, or increased the vices of his fellow-men! With all this, he feels that in diffusing these blessings, and in adding to the wealth, influence, and importance of his native land, he has gone on improving the condition of those who have been his instruments for accomplishing so much good, until he can safely challenge a comparison in this respect with that of any similar number of labourers in the world!

In my comments upon the policy of the anti-slavery party of England, I have done nothing more than to test it by the rules which it has laid down as binding upon America. If these laws have condemned them, it is not my fault. There may be much that may be said in extenuation of England's faults, if it be admitted or claimed that the exigencies of a nation do not at all times permit it to follow that straight line