erritory in view of the naturally conflicting interests of
slave labor and free, but rather a vindictive determination to hem in
the slave-holder, to force the scorpion into fires where he shall die of
his own sting, or,--to borrow the metaphor, with the language, of a
present Senator from Massachusetts,--where the 'poisoned rat shall die
in his own hole.'

"Two confederacies or one, our prospect is fearful if we continue to
feel and act toward each other after this temper, and to cherish our
respective grievances."

"There is another side to all this," said Mr. North. "I ascribe the
excitement at the South to the loss on their part of political power, or
to a grasping spirit which breaks compromises, and which requires that
the national legislation be always shaped in its favor."

"But," said I, "if we can trust the convictions of just men, in private
life, at the South,--men removed from all suspicion as to the purity of
their motives,--it is certain that our Northern feelings toward
slave-holders, and the expressions of those feelings in ways which have
been applauded among us for many years, are the real causes of the
irritation and exasperation which have brought us to the present brink.

"Now, as these two sections must continue to exist, side by side, they
will go on to repel each other until either slavery ceases, or a change
of feeling takes place in the non-slaveholding section. Secession and
permanent division will not cure the trouble, but will increase it.
Moreover, the contrariety of feeling between people in the
non-slaveholding States, made intense by the departure of the Southern
section, may inaugurate hostilities among ourselves more fearful than
those which drive away the Southern people.

"Perhaps we are to be two nations. I cannot but regard this as the
greatest calamity which will have happened to the cause of human
improvement. Nor do I see how it will help Northern philanthropy, nor
the negro; but it may be greatly for his injury. The truth is, we must
live together for self-defence against each other, if from no other
consideration. Israel began its downfall in secession, which was
compelled by Rehoboam.

"But," said I, "let us contemplate a different issue. Let us think what
a result it will be if such a government as ours, whose speedy ruin has
been so often predicted and is still confidently looked for, shall pass
through these trials and dangers without bloodshed, and we become again