ts thirty millions of slaves. To deny the
lawfulness of despotism, and yet hold intercourse with such governments,
is as inconsistent as to hold the _per se_ doctrine, in regard to
slavery, and still continue to use its products.

How far masters in general escape the commission of sin, in the
treatment of their slaves, or whether any are free from guilt, is not
the point at issue, in this view of slavery. The mere possession of
power over the slave, under the sanction of law, is held not to be
sinful; but, like despotism, may be used for the good of the governed.
That Southern masters are laboring for the good of the slave, to an
encouraging extent, is apparent from the missionary efforts they are
sustaining among the slave population. And when it is considered that
the African race, under American slavery, have made much greater
progress than they have ever done in any other part of the world; and
that the elevating influences are now greatly increased among them; it
is to be expected that dispassionate men will be disposed to leave the
present condition of things undisturbed, rather than to rush madly into
the adoption of measures that may prove fatal to the existence of the
Union.

FOOTNOTES:

[96] See Table XII, in Appendix.

[97] See Speech of Edmund Burke, in Appendix.

[98] See Table VIII, in Appendix.

[99] It has been denied that "Cotton is King," and claimed that Hay is
entitled to that royal appellation; because its estimated value exceeds
that of Cotton. The imperial character of Cotton rests upon the fact,
that it enters so largely into the manufactures, trade, and commerce of
the world, while hay is only in demand at home.

[100] See Table XII, in Appendix, for the statistics on this subject.

[101] See Table VIII, in Appendix.

[102] See Table XII.

[103] This paper is published at Kingston, Jamaica, and in confirmation
of the views of the _London Economist_, quoted in the body of the work,
the following extract is copied from its columns:

"Barbadoes, we all know, is prosperous because she possesses a native
population almost as dense as that of China, with a very limited extent
of superficial soil. In Barbadoes, therefore, population presses on the
means of subsistence, in the same way, if not to the same extent, as in
England, and the people are industrious from necessity. Trinidad and
British Guiana, on the other hand, have taken steps to produce this
pressure artificially, by large imp