ngs, and must inevitably be developed at some
time or other, as proved by all history, as well as by any rational
analysis of human character and intellect. But, only one half the
argument has been employed to bring the mind to this irresistible
conclusion. We have omitted all examination of the subject in that other
aspect which has reference to industrial, economical, and moral
considerations affecting the vital interests of the superior race. We
need not say how much the discussion of these would serve to strengthen
the argument and confirm the conclusion already stated.

Now, it is apparent, this reasoning being admitted, that the attempt to
perpetuate slavery, which in its nature is temporary and transitional,
is contrary to the palpable laws of social existence and progress, and,
if persisted in beyond a certain point, must inevitably lead to violence
and disorder. Nature, the supreme authority, by her unalterable laws,
wills and decrees one thing; man, in his ignorance and audacity,
attempts the opposite. Conflict must necessarily follow; but the decrees
of the higher power will be inexorably enforced; they will sweep away
every structure, great or small, which man, in all the pride of his puny
strength and glimmering wisdom, may vainly seek to place as an
obstruction in their path. But, when the Southern people adopted this
false idea, that slavery could be perpetuated and made the foundation of
stable institutions, they not only placed themselves in conflict with
the decrees of natural law, which was the most important and fatal
error, but they also indicated hostility to those vital provisions of
the Constitution to which reference has already been made. No thoughtful
observer of events in this country will require evidence to sustain this
assertion. The constant evasion of the law prohibiting the slave trade,
and the impunity with which it was frequently and sometimes openly
violated, as well as the known public opinion throughout the South on
this subject and on that of European immigration, are quite sufficient
to establish it. The violent resistance, by fraud and even bloodshed, to
the settlement of the Territories by free white men, and the determined
effort to establish the law of slavery in every region, against even the
vote of the majority, and without any actual interest or necessity for
so doing, evince too plainly that the Southern people were not prepared
to accept the results of the proper working