istibly to
the conclusion that the government of the United States was insufficient
for the institution of slavery, even though the friends of slavery were
entrusted with the administration. What hope beyond? They dared to
believe that by separation and the establishment of a military
slaveholding oligarchy, to which the public opinion and public policy of
the seceded States now tend, they would be able to guard the institution
against all tumults from within and all attacks from without. If success
were to crown their present undertakings, is it probable that the
government contemplated would be strong enough for the task proposed? If
Russia could not hold her serfs in bondage, can the South set up a
government which can guard, and defend, and secure slavery? Or will a
French or English protectorate render that stable which the government
of the United States was incompetent to uphold? These questions remain,
but the one first suggested is settled:--That the government of the
United States, howsoever and by whomsoever administered,
constitutionally, is inadequate to meet the exigencies of slavery.

Secondly. The leaders of the rebellion foresaw, a long time since, that
slavery had no security that the government would be administered in the
interest of that institution. The admission of California, followed by
the admission of three other free States, forced the slaveholders into a
hopeless minority in the Senate of the United States. The census of 1860
promised to reduce the delegation of the slave States in the House of
Representatives. Previous to 1870 other free States were likely to be
admitted into the Union; and thus by successive and unavoidable events,
the government was sure to pass into the hands of the non-slave States.
It would not be just to the South to omit to say that apprehensions
there existed that the North would disregard the constitution. These
apprehensions were fostered for unholy purposes; and so sealed is the
South to the progress of truth, through the domination of the
slaveholders over the press and public men, and by the consequent
ignorance of the mass of the people, that these misapprehensions have
never been removed in any degree by the declarations of Congress or of
political parties in the North.

The mind of the South was thus brought logically to two conclusions:
First, that the government of the United States was inadequate to meet
the exigencies of slavery, even though it should b