was a dead weight on the wheels of progress, it would have been much better for them to have separated in peace, and each to have formed themselves into a new confederacy. "But how was this to be accomplished," exclaims an advocate of the Federals? Was not the preservation of the Union to the North an imperial, imperious, and overmastering necessity to which every thing else must bow? if the North could not conquer the South, must not the South conquer the North? It was quite necessary for the North to subdue the South to carry out her protectionist theories and policy, as between the low tariffs of Canada and the free trade policy which would have been adopted in the South, the high tariffs of the North would have been "crumpled up," which it dreaded, although such a result would ultimately have conferred immense advantages on themselves and on the whole world. On the other hand the slaveholding interest which has been fostered by both sections of the country would have received its death-blow. Instead of being able to extend the nefarious system to new territories, it would have been crippled in the old States where it had so long taken root, exerted its baleful influence, and destroyed the interests of men for both worlds. From the period separation took place, a process would have commenced which would have inevitably changed slave into free labour. The frontier line between the two is so long that it would have been impossible for the Southern States

or government to have found men or means to have prevented slaves escaping into the North; and whilst the Northerns would no longer have pursued their vocation as man-hunters for the Southerns, every slave escaping would have helped to create a demand for labour in the South, so that as the slaves came out, free labourers would have gone in, and this process would have brought with it the destruction of slavery without bloodshed. Much has been said about geographical boundary lines, a line of custom houses, and military out-posts. The writer attaches far more importance to lines of political affinity than those which are geographical or natural; it will give him joy when all customhouses are swept away as a world nuisance, if he should ever live to see such an eventful day, and military outpost systems and standing armies are fast giving place to the volunteer system which forms the basis for the most efficient means of de

fence any country can possess. Canada is a source of anxiety and trouble to the British government at the present time in these respects, but we have reason to believe that this would not be the case if volunteer bands were organized and as thoroughly drilled and exercised in Canada and the British colonies as they are in England and the States. such a case the old flag would continue to be a terror to the evil doers amongst the nations, as well as the praise of them that do well, with the right men to steer the national ship; and the right principles and policy to control them.

In

RIGHTS OF SELF GOVERNMENT.

These are founded on the sovereignty of each State, and the declaration of Independence.

State sovereignty is a doctrine or principle in America which the people have been taught to admire and respect both by education and tradition. It is upon this basis that the foundation of the Government and the liberties of the people rest as their chief corner stone. "Destroy it," said Governor Brown of Georgia, and the whole fabric falls to the ground; and centralised despotic power takes the place of constitutional liberty."

Some avow that as the preamble of the Constitution commences, "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union," &c., the local individual sovereignties were merged into one united national sovereignty; or it would have been made to read "We, the several States;" or the "people of the respective States," &c. The great centralised power of a national sovereignty exercising supreme power, and wielding unlimited sway over all the States is entirely subverted in the tenth article of the amendment to the Constitution, which says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Believing in this doctrine, South Carolina threatened to use her pre

rogative in her war with the "Black Tariff" socalled. Influenced by the same belief, Massachusetts discovered an evident intention to do the same thing. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, who is now denouncing the doctrine of State sovereignty as a heresy, in a sermon preached October 30, 1859, proclaimed, as with the voice of a trumpet, "That these sovereign States are not united by any federal ligament, but by vital interests; by a common national life;" that "a people had a right to change their rulers, their government, their whole political condition ;" and that "it belonged to all men on the face of the globe without regard to complexion." On January 31, 1861, in Association Hall, Albany, New York, at the Annual Anti-slavery Convention, the following resolution was adopted :—

6. Resolved, therefore, That it is the solemn and imperative duty of the Senators and Representatives of the non-slaveholding States and Territories to return at once to their respective constituencies and take immediate measures for the formation of a new Northern Confederacy-that shall be indeed free! the asylum of the oppressed of all nations ; uncursed by the presence of slaveholders, unstained by blood of slaves.

Surely abolitionists or emancipationists cannot complain when others claim the same rights and privileges as themselves.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

THIS forms another basis of self-government in America; as it embodies the "rights of 1776, when both North and South threw off their allegiance to England, and proclaimed as sacred and supreme the sovereignty of the people, created by the following self-evident truths, viz., "that all men are created free and equal; are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter, or abolish, and institute a new government laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." In honour of these truths every fourth of July is ushered in, and celebrated by a magnificent display of bunting, peals of merry bells, arches of evergreens and flowers, processions, orations, the firing of cannon, bonfires, illuminations, fireworks, the blowing of trumpets, and the shoutings of the "free."

On the above basis the Southern States claimed an equal right with any of the Northern States to secede from the Union; and exercising it, passed the following ordinances of secession.