THE AMERICAN UNION; Its Effect on National Character and Policy, With An Inquiry Into Secession as a Constitutional Right, and The Causes of the Disruption.
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1862. Fourth and Revised Edition. Octavo, original green cloth patterned in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, pale yellow coated endpapers. [i] - [v], vi-xvi, [1], 2-391, [392: Printer's imprint]; [1 pp ads] [blank]. Binder's ticket 'Bound by Westley's & Co, London" on rear endpaper. Top of title leaf roughly removed, not affecting any text. Corners bruised, light wear to cloth at edges; a very good sound copy. Item #313480
¶ Originally issued in 1861, this Fourth Edition is revised, and bears a new Preface. The Appendixes print in full The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America, and The Constitution of the Southern States. The work is pro-secession of the Confederate states; James Spence was a Liverpool cotton and tin merchant and his business and those of other like-minded businessmen was that the Confederacy supplied cheap cotton for their Industries it should be allowed to survive. The sections on slavery are most telling: "the condition of the slave in the South is not one of suffering and hardship" (p. 124); "The mind of the negro may be improved and instructed, but it cannot be raised to the level of the European... the mind of the negro avoids reflection on the past, abstains from investigating the future; he improves nothing that is old, he invents nothing that is new, he discovers nothing unknown". (pages 125-126). The author goes on in this manner for most of a chapter. That slavery and racism allow white Europeans to profit and that this is a good thing is the revolting premise of a great deal of this work.
Price (CAD): $175.00