Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker volume 6.djvu/199

186 war of elder sons" which now goes on for the dismemberment of Turkey, it is not so clear that England will be so deeply engaged that she cannot attend to her domestic affairs, or the interest of her West Indies. I think these Sowers are going to divide Turkey between them, but I not believe they are going to do much fighting there. If we are bent on seizing Cuba, a long and ruinous fight is a thing that ought to enter into men's calculations. Now, let such a naval warfare take place, and how will your insurance stock look in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston? How will your merchants look when reports come one after another that your ships are carried in as prizes by Spaia, or sunk on the ocean after they have been plundered? I speak in the great commercial metropolis of America. I wish these things to be seriously considered by Northern men. Though I would not fear a naval war, let the Northern men look out for their own ships. But here is a matter which the South might think of. In case of foreign war, the North will not be the battle-field. An invading army would attack the South. Who would defend it—the local militia, the "chivalry" of South Carolina, the "gentlemen" of Virginia, who are to slaughter 100,000 Abolitionists in a day? Let an army set foot on Southern soil, with a few black regiments; let the commander offer freedom to all the slaves and put arms in their hands; let him ask them to burn houses and butcher men; and there would be a state of things not quite so pleasant for gentlemen of the South to look at. "They that laughed at the grovelling worm and trod on him may cry and howl when they see the stoop of the flying and fiery-mouthed dragon!" Now, there is only one opinion about the valour of President Pierce. Like the sword of Hudibras, it cut into itself,

But would he like to stand with such a fire in his rear? Set a house on fire by hot shot, and you don't know how much of it will burn down.

IV. "Well, if Nebraska is made a slave territory, as I suppose it will be, the next thing is the possession of Cuba. Then the war against Spain will come, as I think,