able. But I submit that we can predicate nothing, good or bad, more or less, of that which is absolutely incogitable and inconceivable, since such a predication must of necessity be based not upon knowledge, but upon ignorance. Logically, therefore, Hamilton should either have abandoned his assumed limits of thought, or with M. Comte he should have exscinded all theology and metaphysics as incogitable and irrational.

These considerations finally suggest another nearly allied thought, namely, that our author has perhaps unintentionally shifted the controversy from the question of the possibility of a cognition of the unconditioned as a fact or real existence, to the entirely different ground of the possibility or impossibility of conceiving how it can so exist, problems which we need scarcely say are totally distinct, not only in themselves but in their relations. We know not now, and perhaps may never know, how the grass grows, how the sun shines, or how the foetus is formed in the womb of the parent animal; but we have no sort of difficulty in cognizing the reality of the facts themselves, nor in determining many of their essential relations. Again, to take a higher illustration, we cannot imagine or conceive how mind, an immaterial substance, can be united to, or act upon matter; or, to assume for the moment no higher ground than that of the materialist, we cannot conceive how thought, feeling, and volition can be accidents of matter. These problems are, to us, no less inscrutable than the inquiry how God can be self-existent and infinite. Shall we, therefore, declare the facts themselves to be unthinkable? Yet this we must do by parity of reasoning, if on the principles of the philosophy of the conditioned we set aside the unconditioned as unthinkable. We find no more difficulty in comprehending the fact that time, space, and God do exist, and that they are severally infinite, than we do in comprehending the dual nature of man. Can the conclusion, therefore, be avoided, that if the one is unthinkable so also is the other? and that any system which exscinds the one must set aside the other? On the other hand, let that be conceded as a principle which as a fact cannot be denied, that we do cognize much which we are nevertheless unable to conceive, and the major part of these difficulties vanish. The absolute and infinite not now as contradictory abstractions, but as harmonious, co-ordinate, and insepar

able attributes of the self-existing Jehovah, are firmly grasped by the mind as realities; and faith, based upon the clearest intuitions of the reason, reposes in the bosom of Him who dwelleth in immensity, and whose goings forth are from everlasting. It is doubtless true, as reason and revelation alike tell us, "that we cannot know the Almighty to perfection," that we cannot solve all the mysteries that pertain to his ineffable nature; but it is no less true, that the purest and the highest reason unites with the most exalted faith in the declaration of the old Patriarch: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Hence, Hamilton truly, but inconsistently, says: "The Divinity, in a certain sense, is revealed; in a certain sense is concealed. He is at once known and unknown." Science and philosophy are alike the handmaidens of religion, and each, in her own sphere, points to the Great First Cause of all things, in whose bosom alone the restless mind of man can find repose.

ART. VII. THE FUTURE OF A COTTON STATE CONFEDERACY.

THE disintegration of this nation is by no means a settled fact; nor is it certain that it will become so, notwithstanding many of the States have "resumed their original sovereignty,' on paper, and proclaimed their independence to the world. Patriotism is too prominent a trait in the American character to be smothered out entirely in any section of the Union, although it may, for a time, lie dormant; and there is yet sufficient latent reason among a portion of the people of all of the seceding states to undo the follies of ambitious politicians, who seek their own elevation at the expense of their country.

But our object is not to discuss this question, but to consider the future of a cotton state confederacy in its relations to the rest of the world in peace and war, should its independence be recognized, not only by the North, but by other nations; and in order to do this, it will be conceded that the South will be able successfully to secede; that it will take its place among nations, and be entitled to all the rights and liable to all the responsibilities of a sovereign community, without any opposition from the free states. We will go

further. We will admit the importance of the great Southern staple-cotton, and that for the present this new confederacy must be relied upon for by far the larger portion of the supply. But, notwithstanding all this, we shall demonstrate that there is not, in the cotton states, any of the elements of a permanent national prosperity; that in them stability and order cannot be maintained; that bankruptcy would soon prostrate both the government and the people; that there are within them that which must speedily secure their destruction; and that Africanization will be the final result.

The influence of slavery upon society is always accompanied by one distinctly marked peculiarity: it renders labor disgraceful, and is thereby productive of a variety of consequences upon industry, the distribution of wealth, etc., entirely unknown in free communities, but which are of the greatest importance, and which are now operating on a scale of such magnitude in the cotton states that they must be taken into consideration before any just estimate can be formed of the strength and stability of the proposed Southern cotton state confederacy.

Wealth can be acquired in two ways: by inheritance, or by labor, mental or physical, or by a combination of both. Exclusive mental labor being required in but few branches of business, it can with propriety be altogether omitted in the present discussion, so that our attention will be confined entirely to those occupations in which physical energy is, in a greater or less degree, requisite, as agriculture, the mechanic arts, commerce, etc. The wealthy in the slave states, as elsewhere, seldom engage in these pursuits personally, and depend altogether upon the labor of others, believing that if they direct it they are entitled to all its benefits; and as men are seldom capable of directing in any occupation unless they have first acted as subordinates, skill would be impossible. The poor man, conscious of his own inferior position, is much more punctilious than his wealthy neighbor. The money of the latter might possibly procure him respect, even though he should engage in manual labor; but the former has no such support, and he repels with indignation any offer of employment. There is here and there a man who has the moral courage to bear the scorn of even the slaves by applying himself to some calling; but such cases are so very exceptional that they do not affect

the general rule. Necessarily, then, those who are once poor always remain so; and as a far greater number of those who inherit estates waste their patrimony than there are of the poor who acquire wealth, property is constantly concentrating into the hands of a few; the rich are growing more exclusive, and the poor becoming more numerous and wretched. It is altogether unnecessary to cite, from undeniable authority, evidence of this fact. Notwithstanding the efforts of the advocates of slavery to conceal it, it is too evident to admit of a denial. Those who are curious in the matter can consult numerous articles in De Bow's Review on manufactures, as also many other documents emanating from the Southern press.

It necessarily follows, then, that all the labor of the South must be performed by slaves, directed by unskilled white men, and as a consequence none but the simplest branches of industry receive any attention, and even these are in a comparatively crude, not to say declining state. The slave, with no incentive, studies only to consume time, and is altogether careless whether his labor is productive or non-productive; this is the effect of slavery upon any race. The mechanic arts, in which great skill is requisite, are either neglected, or prosecuted by a few imported artisans who, allured by the enormous remuneration their labor will command, emigrate from the free states. But these are not numerous, and are generally without capital, and chiefly employ their time in producing such articles as it is inconvenient to import; and for all the rest the slave states are absolutely dependent upon foreign supplies.

There is, likewise, in the South no such thing as scientific agriculture, by which, through skillful management, the soil is made to grow more productive each returning year; but the lands are constantly exhausted without any well-directed effort at recuperation. No crop is planted save such as is cultivated by the plow and the hoe, and the result is that after a few seasons the cotton and tobacco fields are worn out and left to broom-sedge and sassafras, which take undisputed possession.

All wealth is comprised in the raw material or the manufactured article; the former is exhaustive, the latter inexhaustive. Were it possible for a nation to produce exactly the amount of every species of raw material it requires and then possess the requisite skill to manufacture it, that nation FOURTH SERIES, Vol. XIII.-30

would be, indeed, independent. But these advantages are found in no single country, and commerce necessarily follows. A people who produce only the raw material must, sooner or later, according to their natural resources, become impoverished, as they exchange the soil for the product of skill, while wealth always accumulates in the hands of a manufacturing people. A single pound of steel converted into watchsprings will sell for thousands of dollars, and purchase the cotton or tobacco that has exhausted, perhaps, acres of ground.

Slaveholding communities retain nothing; all that they produce is in a crude state, and must be made ready for use by free labor. Free states introduce science into their agriculture, and raise a variety of crops, such as will supply nearly every necessity, and there is always a sufficient amount of home skill to make it available; hence they produce whatever they consume, and all that they send away is surplus, while slave states sell their entire crop. Hence the cotton states export more than the free states; but they likewise import more. The difference consists in the fact that free states dispose of their profits only, and the slave states of all their products. The wealth of the two sections must be judged by what they possess, not by what they buy and sell.

The commerce of the cotton states is carried on almost exclusively by foreign vessels, manned by foreign seamen; the number of home vessels and native sailors being too small to be taken seriously into consideration; and the influences already mentioned as crushing industry on land will prevent their increase. Politicians often triumphantly point to the fact that each annual report on commerce and navigation shows an almost fabulous excess of southern exports over their imports, and a great excess of northern imports over its exports; but such men presume too much upon the intelligence of the people, if they expect them to believe this to be a correct exhibit of the industry of the two sections. Were it so, the one must in an incredibly short period (aside from the exhaustion of the soil) become immensely rich, while the other would grow proportionally impoverished and helpless; but statistics abundantly prove the case exactly the reverse, and show conclusively that the North is outstepping, in an accelerating ratio, its cotemporary. The reason of this is obvious. Nearly all the vessels belonging to