spirit,
and, in the present state of public sentiment, against its very letter.
Originally, as is well known, it was not proposed to protect at all,
_under the General Government_, property so monstrous, except as it
became necessary as a compromise, in order to secure a union. But the
provision of the Constitution that the slave-trade should be abolished,
the absolute power given to Congress to make all laws for the
Territories, the spirit of the preamble, the principles of the
Declaration, indeed, the whole history of the origin and adoption of the
fundamental law, prove that its principle and its expectation were, if
not absolutely to place slavery in the States in process of extinction,
at least never to recognize it except indirectly and remotely
under municipal law, not even by admitting the word _slave_ to its
phraseology.

"Even in the Northern States themselves, to say nothing of the
Territories, I am not safe with my property. I can travel through
France or England and be safe; but if I happen to lose my servant up in
_Vairmount_,"--Mr. Toombs pronounced the word with a somewhat marked
accent of derision,--"and undertake to recover him, I get jugged.
Besides, your Northern statesmen are far from being honest. Here is
Billy Seward, for instance,"--with a gesture toward his neighbor's
house,--"who says slavery is contrary to the Higher Law, and that he is
bound as a Christian to obey the Higher Law; but yet he takes an oath to
uphold the Constitution, which protects slavery. This inconsistency runs
through most of the Northern platforms. How can we live with such
men? They will not be true even to a compact which they themselves
acknowledge."

"You would think, then, Wendell Phillips, for instance, more consistent
in his political opinions than Mr. Seward?"

"Certainly. I can understand his position. 'Slavery,' he says, 'is
wrong. The Constitution protects slavery; therefore I will have nothing
to do with the Constitution, and cannot become a citizen.' This is
logical and consistent. I can respect such a position as that."

Here Mr. Toombs--ejecting, as perhaps the writer ought not to relate, a
competent mass of tobacco-saliva into the blazing coal--paused somewhat
reflectively, perhaps unpleasantly revolving certain possible indirect
influences of the position he had characterized.

"Upon which side, Sir, do you think there is usually the most
misunderstanding,--on the part of the North concerning the So