very gay in his manners. When
the minister returned, his people said, somewhat reproachfully, "How
could you provide such a man to preach for us; _you might at least have
left us a hypocrite_."

While all parties agreed to act in opposition to the _principles_ of
justice, they all concurred to pay homage to them by hypocrisy of
_language_! Men are willing to try all means to _appear_ honest, except
the simple experiment of _being_ so. It is true, there were individuals
who distrusted this compromise at the time, if they did not wholly
disapprove of it. It is said that Washington, as he was walking
thoughtfully near the Schuylkill, was met by a member of the Convention,
to whom, in the course of conversation, he acknowledged that he was
meditating whether it would not be better to separate, without proposing
a constitution to the people; for he was in great doubt whether the
frame of government, which was now nearly completed, would be better
for them, than to trust to the course of events, and await future
emergencies.

This anecdote was derived from an authentic source, and I have no doubt
of its truth: neither is there any doubt that Washington had in his mind
this great compromise, the pivot on which the system of government was
to turn.

If avarice was induced to shake hands with injustice, from the
expectation of increased direct taxation upon the South, she gained
little by the bargain. With the exception of two brief periods, during
the French war, and the last war with England, the revenue of the United
States has been raised by _duties on imports_. The heavy debts and
expenditures of the several States, which they had been accustomed to
provide for by direct taxes, and which they probably expected to see
provided for by the same means in time to come, have been all paid by
duties on imports. The greatest proportion of these duties are, of
course, paid by the free States; for here, the poorest laborer daily
consumes several articles of foreign production, of which from
one-eighth to one-half the price is a tax paid to government. The
clothing of the slave population increases the revenue very little,
and their food almost none at all.

Wherever free labor and slave labor exist under the same government,
there must be a perpetual clashing of interests. The legislation
required for one, is, in its spirit and maxims, diametrically opposed
to that required for the other. Hence Mr. Madison predicted, in the
con