They know
they are about equally safe, whichever party rules--that no party wishes
to legislate their rights away. Slave property knows that its being
allowed to exist depends on its having the virtual control of the
government. Its constant presence in politics is dictated, therefore,
by despair, as well as by the wish to secure fresh privileges. Money,
however, is not the only strength of the slave power. That, indeed, were
enough, in an age when capitalists are our feudal barons. But, though
driven entirely from national shelter, the slave-holders would have the
strength of old associations, and of peculiar laws in their own States,
which give those States wholly into their hands. A weaker prestige,
fewer privileges, and less comparative wealth, have enabled the British
aristocracy to rule England for two centuries, though the root of their
strength was cut at Naseby. It takes ages for deeply-rooted institutions
to die; and driving slavery into the States will hardly be our Naseby.
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