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TO THE

YOUNG MEN OF THE SLAVE-HOLDING SECTION.

I presume to address this publication to you, though it is not without trepidation that I appeal to so intelligent a tribunal. It broaches a new theory of the Constitution. If it shall be considered well founded, upon your courage and intelligence must the Southern people rely for its vindication; but if it shall be deemed fanciful and pleasing from its novelty, rather than valuable for its truth, my apology is a conviction of its importance to the South, and that here in Virginia, we all have a proclivity towards politics, and, in the words of Sir Francis Bacon, where "every one plays the philosopher out of the small treasury of his own fancy."

But let it be remembered that youth is not always determined by the period of life. There are old young men, whilst there are those who like Hecla wear crowns of snow, and yet like Hecla have souls of flame.

Respectfully,

BARBAROSSA.

PREFACE.

Soon after its establishment, by Mr. Pryor, in Richmond city, I communicated to The South newspaper the theory of an equilibrium in the Federal Constitution, which is the principal subject of this volume. As far as I am informed, the intention on the part of its framers to introduce that principle, had not been suggested by any one since the government went into operation. Subsequent examination confirmed me in the belief of the sectional nature of the compact, and the intention of the Federal Convention to balance power between the North and the South. The means by which that end was to be achieved, together with the means adopted by Congress to prevent it, I thought worthy of a more extended investigation, and therefore have written this book. In the chapter which relates to the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia, several threads of history have been woven in, together with an enquiry into the cause of the decline of that Commonwealth; and in this connection I beg leave to acknowledge the advantage that I have derived from consulting the pages of Mr. Grigsby-I mean with reference to the source from which the bulk of the population of Virginia was derived.

The different parts have been written at different times, as inclination might prompt or business allow, and are now hastily thrown together because of a supposed application of this subject to the present state of public affairs.

I will not apologize for my subject, as though by any comparison it were unimportant; but I will confess a diffidence of the value added by my own handling. In the remarks on our own history, the order of time is neither strictly observed, nor greatly neglected.

"Yet it is designed, slight and imperfect as it is, for the service of Truth, by one who would be glad to attend and grace her triumphs; as her soldier, if he has had the honor to serve successfully under her banner; or as a captive tied to her chariot wheels, if he has, though undesignedly, committed any offence against her."

FEBRUARY 25, 1860.

THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM.

PART I.

How it was Created.

CHAPTER I.

When a broad table is to be made and the edges of the planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both and makes a good joint. In like manner, here, both sides must part with some of their demands.-Dr. FRANKLIN.

In the Constitutional Convention of 1829, WATKINS LEIGH said: "The Federal Convention of 1787 had, for the first time, to arrange a representation of the people in Congress. What was the origin of the Federal number I do not certainly know. I have had recourse, in vain, to every source of information accessible to ascertain how that precise proportion of slaves—THREE-FIFTHS--came to be adopted, what mode or principle of estimate led to it. Some reason there must have been."

It is my purpose, in the following pages, to solve this question of constitutional history-to ascertain the reason that operated on the Convention which constructed the government under which we live, to adopt in the popular basis the fractional representation which was awarded to the servile. population of the South. The Report of "The Debates of the Convention of 1787," by Mr. Madison, enables me to do this. It is the only source from which that information can be derived, for the fragment of those proceedings preserved by Judge Yates, affords no clue whatever to the solution of this

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