gland. She must have our cotton, and we
in return will take her manufactures."

"That would be all very well at present, and so long as you should keep
on good terms with her; but suppose, some fine morning, Exeter Hall got
control of the English Government, and hinted to you, in John Bull
fashion, that cotton produced by free labor would be more acceptable,
what could three, or even eight millions, cut off from the sympathy and
support of the North, do in opposition to the power of the British
empire?"

"Nothing, perhaps, if we _were_ three or even eight millions, but we
shall be neither one nor the other. Mexico and Cuba are ready, now, to
fall into our hands, and before two years have passed, with or without
the Border States, we shall count twenty millions. Long before England
is abolitionized, our population will outnumber hers, and our territory
extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and as far south as the
Isthmus. We are founding, sir, an empire that will be able to defy all
Europe--one grander than the world has seen since the age of Pericles!"

"You say, with or without the Border States," remarked our host. "I
thought you counted on their support."

"We do if the North makes war upon us, but if allowed to go in peace, we
can do better without them. They will be a wall between us and the
abolitionized North."

"You mistake," I said, "in thinking the North is abolitionized. The
Abolitionists are but a handful there. The great mass of our people are
willing the South should have undisturbed control of its domestic
concerns."

"Why, then, do you send such men as Seward, Sumner, Wilson, and Grow to
Congress? Why have you elected a President who approves of
nigger-stealing? and why do you tolerate such incendiaries as Greeley,
Garrison, and Phillips?"

"Seward, and the others you name," I replied, "are not Abolitionists;
neither does Lincoln approve of nigger-stealing. He is an honest man,
and I doubt not, when inaugurated, will do exact justice by the South.
As to incendiaries, you find them in both sections. Phillips and
Garrison are only the opposite poles of Yancey and Wise."

"Not so, sir; they are more. Phillips, Greeley, and Garrison create and
control your public opinion. They are mighty powers, while Yancey and
Wise have no influence whatever. Yancey is a mere bag-pipe; we play upon
him, and like the music, but smile when he attempts to lead us. Wise is
a harlequin; we let him dance because he