The South Claims All The Slave States,
And Would Point To Secession In Virginia To Justify Such Claim, And
Would Point Also To Maryland And Baltimore, Declaring That
Secession Would Be As Strong There As At New Orleans, If Secession
Were Practicable.
Maryland and Baltimore lie behind Washington,
and are under the heels of the Northern troops, so that secession
is not practicable; but the South would say that they have seceded
in heart.
In this the South would have some show of reason for its
assertion; but nevertheless I shall best convey a true idea of the
position of these States by classing them as doubtful. When
secession shall have been accomplished - if ever it be accomplished -
it will hardly be possible that they should adhere to the South.
It will be seen by the foregoing tables that the population of the
West is nearly equal to that of the North, and that therefore
Western power is almost as great as Northern. It is almost as
great already, and as population in the West increases faster than
it does in the North, the two will soon be equalized. They are
already sufficiently on a par to enable them to fight on equal
terms, and they will be prepared for fighting - political fighting,
if no other - as soon as they have established their supremacy over
a common enemy.
While I am on the subject of population I should explain - though
the point is not one which concerns the present argument - that the
numbers given, as they regard the South, include both the whites
and the blacks, the free men and the slaves. The political power
of the South is of course in the hands of the white race only, and
the total white population should therefore be taken as the number
indicating the Southern power. The political power of the South,
however, as contrasted with that of the North, has, since the
commencement of the Union, been much increased by the slave
population. The slaves have been taken into account in determining
the number of representatives which should be sent to Congress by
each State. That number depends on the population but it was
decided in 1787 that in counting up the number of representatives
to which each State should be held to be entitled, five slaves
should represent three white men. A Southern population,
therefore, of five thousand free men and five thousand slaves would
claim as many representatives as a Northern population of eight
thousand free men, although the voting would be confined to the
free population. This has ever since been the law of the United
States.
The Western power is nearly equal to that of the North, and this
fact, somewhat exaggerated in terms, is a frequent boast in the
mouths of Western men. "We ran Fremont for President," they say,
"and had it not been for Northern men with Southern principles, we
should have put him in the White House instead of the traitor
Buchanan.
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