for the continuance of animal life without the aid of oxygen. III. Mental activity-force-enterprise-are requisite to the creation of literature. Slavery tends to sluggishness-imbecility-inertia. Where free thought is treason, the masses will not long take the trouble of thinking at all. Desuetude begets incompetence-the dare-not soon becomes the cannot. The mind thus enslaved, necessarily loses its interest in the processes of other minds; and its tendency is to sink down into absolute stolidity or sottishness. Our remarks find melancholy confirmation in the abject servilism in which multitudes of the non-slaveholding whites of the South are involved. In them, ambition, pride, self-respect, hope, seem alike extinct. Their slaveholding fellows are, in some respects, in a still more unhappy condition-helpless, nerveless, ignorant, selfish; yet vain-glorious, self-sufficient and brutal. Are these the chosen architects who are expected to build up "a purely Southern literature ?" The truth is, slavery destroys, or vitiates, or pollutes, whatever it touches. No interest of society escapes the influence of its clinging curse. It makes Southern religion. a stench in the nostrils of Christendom-it makes Southern politics a libel upon all the principles of Republicanismit makes Southern literature a travesty upon the honorable profession of letters. Than the better class of Southern authors themselves, none will feel more keenly the truth of our remarks. They write books, but can find for them neither publishers nor remunerative sales at the South. The executors of Calhoun seek, for his works, a Northern publisher. Benton writes history and prepares voluminous compilations, which are given to the world through a Northern publisher. Simms writes novels and poems, and they are scattered abroad from the presses of a Northern publisher. Eighty per cent. of all the copies sold are probably bought by Northern readers. When will Southern authors understand their own interests? When will the South, as a whole, abandoning its present suicidal policy, enter upon that career of prosperity, greatness, and true renown, to which God by his word and his providences, is calling it? "If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in." Our limits, not our materials, are exhausted. We would gladly say more, but can only, in conclusion, add as the result of our investigations in this department of our subject, that Literature and Liberty are inseparable; the one can never have a vigorous existence without being wedded to the other. Our work is done. It is the voice of the non-slaveholding whites of the South, through one identified with them by interest, by feeling, by position. That voice, by whomsoever spoken, must yet be heard and heeded. The time hastens the doom of slavery is written the redemption of the South draws nigh. In taking leave of our readers, we know not how we can give more forcible expression to our thoughts and intentions than by saying that, in concert with the intelligent free voters of the North, we, the non-slaveholding whites of the South, expect to elevate JOHN C. FREMONT, CASSIUS M. CLAY, JAMES G. BIRNEY, or some other Southern nonslaveholder, to the Presidency in 1860; and that the patriot thus elevated to that dignified station will, through our cordial co-operation, be succeeded by WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES SUMNER, JOHN MCLEAN, or some other nonslaveholder of the North;-and furthermore, that if, in these or in any other similar cases, the oligarchs do not quietly submit to the will of a constitutional majority of the people, as expressed at the ballot-box, the first battle. between freedom and slavery will be fought at home-and may God defend the right! THE END. NOTICE TO THE READER.-The few typographical errors which occur in this, the first edition of the work in hand, shall be found corrected in the second and subsequent editions. We will here call attention to only three of the most palpable of those errors. They are as follows:--The word "only" in the 17th line of the 151st page, should be duty. of the 158th page, should be difficult. the 191st page, should be none. The word "different" in the 10th line GENERAL INDEX. Abstract of the Author's Plan for the Abolition of Slavery, 155. Adams, John Quincy, 239. Agriculture and other out-door pursuits, number of free white male Agricultural Products.-See Corn, Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Hay, Animals Slaughtered, Value of, 71. Anti-slavery Letters from native Southrons, 374. Aristotle, 256. Attorneys-General, 312. Baltimore, Letter from the Mayor of, 337. Baltimore, Past, Present, and Future, 352. Baltimore, Why this Work was not published there, 360. Bancroft, George, 384. Bank Capital of the several States, 286. Banks, James, 384. Baptist Testimony, 263. Barley, 36. Barnes, Rev. Albert, 259. Beans and Peas, 37. Beattie, James, 251. Beeswax and Honey, 64. Benton, Thomas H., 19, 105, 167, 207. Bible Testimony, 275-Bible Cause Contributions, 295. Birney, James G., 214, 413. Blackstone, Sir William, 248. Blair, Francis P., 105, 167, 213. Bolling, Philip A., 211. Book Making in America, 392. Booth, Abraham, 268. Boston, Letter from the Mayor of, 338. Botts, John M., 167. Brisbane, Rev. Mr., 263. Brissot, 253. Brooklyn, Letter from the Mayor of, 339. Brougham, Lord, 250. Browne, R. K., 322. Buchanan, James, 170. Buckwheat, 37. Buffalo, Letter from the Mayor of, 344. Buffon, 253. Burke, Edmund, 250. Butler, Bishop, 261. |