th-eastern continuation of
this remarkable region. Can anything that passes under the name
of statesmanship be more preposterous than the notion of
permanent peace on this continent, founded on the abnegation of
a common and paramount government, and the idea of the
supercilious domination of the cotton interest and the
slave-trade over such a mountain empire, so located and so
peopled?

As a further proof of the utter impossibility of peace except
under a common government, and at once an illustration of the
import of what has just been stated, and the suggestion of a new
and insuperable difficulty, let it be remembered that this great
mountain region, throughout its general course, is more loyal to
the Union than any other portion of the slave States. It is the
mountain counties of Maryland that have held treason in check in
that State; it is forty mountain counties in Western Virginia
that have laid the foundation of a new and loyal commonwealth;
it is the mountain counties of Kentucky that first and most
eagerly took up arms for the Union; it is the mountain region of
Tennessee that alone, in that dishonored State, furnished
martyrs to the sacred cause of freedom; it is the mountain
people of Alabama that boldly stood out against the Confederate
government till their own leaders deserted and betrayed them.

It is not a strong point, but it is worth noting, that even in South
Carolina there is an Alleghanian area of 4,074 square miles, equal to
the State of Connecticut, in which the diminished proportion of slaves,
with other local causes, are sufficient to indicate the Union feeling
which indeed struggles there in secret. These counties are:--

FREE. SLAVE.
Spartanburgh, 18,311 8,039
Greenville, 13,370 6,691
Anderson, 13,867 7,514
Pickens, 13,105 3,679

Slavery is here large, as compared to the other counties of
'Alleghania,' but the great proportion of free inhabitants, as
contrasted with the districts near the Atlantic, makes it worth citing.
In accordance with a request, I give from Jas. W. Taylor's collection,
illustrating this subject, the table of population in East Tennessee:--

The following table, from the census of 1850, presents the slave
and cotton statistics of this district, in their relation to the
free populati