o so without an
express violation of the federal compact. Should all the states in the
Union abolish slavery, with the exception of one, and that one be
Maryland, (the smallest of the whole of the states,) neither the federal
government, or the other states could interfere with her. The federal
compact binds the general government, "first, not to _meddle_ with the
slavery of the states where it exists, and next, to _protect_ it in the
case of runaway slaves, and to _defend_ it in case of _invasion_ or
_domestic violence_ on account of it."

It appears, therefore, that slavery can only be abolished by the slave
state itself in which it exists; and it is not very probable that any
class of people will voluntarily make themselves beggars by surrendering
up their whole property to satisfy the clamour of a party. That this
party is strong, and is daily becoming stronger, is very true: the
stronger it becomes the worse will be the prospects of the United
States. In England the case was very different; the government had a
right to make the sacrifice to public opinion by indemnification to the
slave-holders; but in America the government have not that power; and
the efforts of the abolitionists will only have the effects of plunging
the country into difficulties and disunion. As an American author truly
observes, "The American abolitionists must trample on the constitution,
and wade through the carnage of a civil war, before they can triumph--"

Already the abolition party have done much mischief. The same author
observes, "The South has been compelled, in self-defence, to rivet the
chains of slavery afresh, and to hold on to their political rights with
a stronger hand. The conduct of the abolitionists has arrested the
improvements which were in progress in the slave states for the
amelioration of the condition of the slave; it has broken up the system
of intellectual and moral culture that was extensively in operation for
the slave's benefit, lest the increase of his knowledge should lend him
a dangerous power, in connection with these crusading efforts; it has
rivetted the chains of slavery with a greatly increased power, and
enforced a more rigorous discipline; it has excluded for the time being
the happy moral influence which was previously operating on the South
from the North, and from the rest of the world, by the lights of
comparison, by the interchange of a friendly intercourse, and by a
friendly discussion of