The North, I Think, Will Ultimately Perceive That It
Will Gain Much By The Secession Of The South; But It Will Be Very
Difficult To Make The West Believe That Secession Will Suit Its
Views.
I will attempt, in a rough way, to divide the States, as they seem
to divide themselves, into these three parties.
As to the majority
of them, there is no difficulty in locating them; but this cannot
be done with absolute certainty as to some few that lie on the
borders.
New England consists of six States, of which all of course belong
to the North. They are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut - the six States which
should be most dear to England, and in which the political success
of the United States as a nation is to my eyes the most apparent.
But even in them there was till quite of late a strong section so
opposed to the Republican party as to give a material aid to the
South. This, I think, was particularly so in New Hampshire, from
whence President Pierce came. He had been one of the Senators from
New Hampshire; and yet to him, as President, is affixed the
disgrace - whether truly affixed or not I do not say - of having
first used his power in secretly organizing those arrangements
which led to secession and assisted at its birth. In Massachusetts
itself, also, there was a strong Democratic party, of which
Massachusetts now seems to be somewhat ashamed. Then, to make up
the North, must be added the two great States of New York and
Pennsylvania and the small State of New Jersey. The West will not
agree even to this absolutely, seeing that they claim all territory
west of the Alleghanies, and that a portion of Pennsylvania and
some part also of New York lie westward of that range; but, in
endeavoring to make these divisions ordinarily intelligible, I may
say that the North consists of the nine States above named. But
the North will also claim Maryland and Delaware, and the eastern
half of Virginia. The North will claim them, though they are
attached to the South by joint participation in the great social
institution of slavery - for Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia are
slave States - and I think that the North will ultimately make good
its claim. Maryland and Delaware lie, as it were, behind the
capital, and Eastern Virginia is close upon the capital. And these
regions are not tropical in their climate or influences. They are
and have been slave States, but will probably rid themselves of
that taint, and become a portion of the free North.
The Southern or slave States, properly so called, are easily
defined. They are Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The
South will also claim Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia,
Delaware, and Maryland, and will endeavor to prove its right to the
claim by the fact of the social institution being the law of the
land in those States. Of Delaware, Maryland, and Eastern Virginia,
I have already spoken. Western Virginia is, I think, so little
tainted with slavery that, as she stands even at present, she
properly belongs to the West. As I now write, the struggle is
going on in Kentucky and Missouri. In Missouri the slave
population is barely more than a tenth of the whole, while in South
Carolina and Mississippi it is more than half. And, therefore, I
venture to count Missouri among the Western States, although
slavery is still the law of the land within its borders. It is
surrounded on three sides by free States of the West, and its soil,
let us hope, must become free. Kentucky I must leave as doubtful,
though I am inclined to believe that slavery will be abolished
there also. Kentucky, at any rate, will never throw in its lot
with the Southern States. As to Tennessee, it seceded heart and
soul, and I fear that it must be accounted as Southern, although
the Northern army has now, in May, 1862, possessed itself of the
greater part of the State.
To the great West remains an enormous territory, of which, however,
the population is as yet but scanty; though perhaps no portion of
the world has increased so fast in population as have these Western
States. The list is as follows: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas to which I would add Missouri,
and probably the Western half of Virginia. We have then to account
for the two already admitted States on the Pacific, California and
Oregon, and also for the unadmitted Territories, Dacotah, Nebraska,
Washington, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. I should be
refining too much for my present very general purpose, if I were to
attempt to marshal these huge but thinly-populated regions in
either rank. Of California and Oregon it may probably be said that
it is their ambition to form themselves into a separate division - a
division which may be called the farther West.
I know that all statistical statements are tedious, and I believe
that but few readers believe them. I will, however, venture to
give the populations of these States in the order I have named
them, seeing that power in America depends almost entirely on
population. The census of 1860 gave the following results: -
In the North:
Maine 619,000
New Hampshire 326,872
Vermont 325,827
Massachusetts 1,231,494
Rhode Island 174,621
Connecticut 460,670
New York 3,851,563
Pennsylvania 2,916,018
New Jersey 676,034
- - - - -
Total 10,582,099
In the South, the population of which must be divided into free and
slave:
