ed eyes so obstinately closed to the light.

People have taken in earnest the plans of the Southern Confederacy.
Nothing could be more imposing, in fact, if they had the least chance of
success. The fifteen Southern States, already immense, joined to Mexico,
Cuba, and Central America--what a power this would be! And, doubtless,
this power would not stop at the Isthmus of Panama: it would be no more
difficult to reestablish slavery in Bolivia, on the Equator, and in
Peru, than in Mexico. Thus the "patriarchal institution" would advance
to rejoin Brazil, and the dismayed eye would not find a single free spot
upon which to rest between Delaware Bay and the banks of the Uruguay.
Furthermore, this colossal negro jail would be stocked by a no less
colossal slave trade: barracoons would be refilled in Africa, slave
expeditions would be organized on a scale hitherto unknown, and whole
squadrons of slave ships (those "floating hells") would transport their
cargoes under the Southern colors, proudly unfurled; patriotic
indignation would be aroused at the mere name of the right of search,
and the whole world would be challenged to defend the liberty of the
seas.

Such is the project in its majestic unity. Such is the glorious ideal
which the extreme South hoped to attain by its union with the North, and
which it now seeks to attain by its separation. The hearts of men beat
high at the thought, and many are ready to give their lives heroically
in order to secure its realization. Alas! we are thus made; passion
excuses every thing, transfigures every thing.

Each one feels instinctively, moreover, that no part of the plan can be
separated from the whole; that it must be great to be respected; that to
people this vast extent with slaves, the African slave trade is
indispensable; of course, they took care not to avow all this at the
first moment; it was necessary, in the beginning, to delude others, and
perhaps themselves; it was necessary to obtain recognition. On this
account, the prudent politicians who have just drawn up the programme of
the South, have been careful to record in it the prohibition of the
African slave trade, and the disavowal of plans of conquest. But this
does not prevent the necessities of the position from becoming known by
and by. True programmes, adapted to the position of affairs, are not
changed from day to day. I defy the slave States, provided their
Confederation succeeds in existing, to do otherwise th