What a position!  Under the Constitution voted scarcely a month ago, we already hear the deep rumbling of the quarrels of classes, of the planters and the poor whites, of the aristocracy and the numerical majority, of the prudent adversaries of the slave trade and its headstrong partisans, of the statesmen who are tolerated for appearances and those who count on replacing them, of the present and the future.

People will some day see clearly, even in Charleston.  The separation which was to establish the prosperity of the South by permitting it at last to live to its liking, to obey its genius, and to serve its interests, has hitherto resulted in little, save the singing of the Marseillaise, (the Marseillaise of Slavery!) and the striking down of the Federal colors before the flag of the pelican and the rattlesnake.  A great many blue ribbons and Colt’s revolvers are sold; and busts of Calhoun, the first theorist of secession, axe carried about ostentatiously.  Next, to present a good mien to the eyes of Europe, a Constitution is voted in haste, a government is formed, an army is decreed; but the revolutionary basis is remaining, and we perceive but too quickly how great disorder prevails in minds and things.

At the present hour, the democracy of the South is about to degenerate into demagogism and dictatorship.  But the North presents quite a different spectacle.  Mark what is passing there; pierce beneath appearances, beneath inevitable mistakes, beneath the no less inevitable wavering of a debut so well prepared for by the preceding Administration, and you will find the firm resolution of a people uprising.  Who speaks of the end of the United States?  This end seemed approaching but lately, in the hour of prosperity; then, honor was compromised, esteem for the country was lowered, institutions were becoming corrupted apace; the moment seemed approaching when the Confederation, tainted by slavery, could not but perish with it.  Now, every thing has changed aspect; the friends of America should take confidence, for its greatness is inseparable, thank God! from the cause of justice.

Justice cannot do wrong; I like to recall this maxim when I consider the present state of America.  In escaping a sudden and shameful death, it will not, assuredly, escape struggles and difficulties; in returning to life, it will encounter battle and danger longer than it imagines; life is composed of this.  To live is a laborious vocation, and nations who wish to keep their place here below, who wish to act and not to sleep, must know that they will have their share of suffering.  Perhaps it enters into the plans of God that the United States should endure for a time some diminution of their greatness; let them be sure, notwithstanding, that their flag will be neither less respected nor less glorious, if it shall thus lose a few of its stars.  Those which it loses will reappear on it some day, and how many others, meanwhile, will come to increase the Federal Constellation!  With what acclamations will Europe salute the future progress of the United States, as soon as their progress shall have ceased to be that of slavery!