Parkhurst Prison were to get possession of the Isle of Wight, occupy
its military positions, enlist one part of its inhabitants in their
own ranks, set the remainder of them to work in chain gangs, and
declare themselves independent, ought their recognition by the British
Government to be an immediate consequence? Before admitting the
authority of any persons, as organs of the will of the people, to
dispose of the whole political existence of a country, I ask to see
whether their credentials are from the whole, or only from a part. And
first, it is necessary to ask, Have the slaves been consulted? Has
their will been counted as any part in the estimate of collective
volition? They are a part of the population. However natural in the
country itself, it is rather cool in English writers who talk so
glibly of the ten millions (I believe there are only eight), to pass
over the very existence of four millions who must abhor the idea of
separation. Remember, _we_ consider them to be human beings, entitled
to human rights. Nor can it be doubted that the mere fact of belonging
to a Union in some parts of which slavery is reprobated, is some
alleviation of their condition, if only as regards future
probabilities. But even of the white population, it is questionable if
there was in the beginning a majority for secession anywhere but in
South Carolina. Though the thing was pre-determined, and most of the
States committed by their public authorities before the people were
called on to vote; though in taking the votes terrorism in many places
reigned triumphant; yet even so, in several of the States, secession
was carried only by narrow majorities. In some the authorities have
not dared to publish the numbers; in some it is asserted that no vote
has ever been taken. Further (as was pointed out in an admirable
letter by Mr. Carey), the Slave States are intersected in the middle,
from their northern frontier almost to the Gulf of Mexico, by a
country of free labor--the mountain region of the Alleghanies and