We should like to remain with the North."
He spoke without a particle of expressed passion or ardor, though by
no means incapable, when aroused, as those who have seen his plethoric
countenance and figure can testify, of both.
"We are mutually helpful to each other. _We want to use your navy and
your factories. You want our cotton. The North to manufacture, and the
South to produce, would make the strongest nation_. But, if we separate,
we shall try to do more in Virginia than we do now. We shall make mills
on our streams."
His language was chiefly Saxon monosyllables.
"The climate is not as severe, the nights are not as long with us as
with you. I think we can do well at manufacturing in Virginia. The
Chesapeake Bay and our rivers should aid commerce. As for the slaves,
I think there is little danger of any trouble. There may be some," he
said, with a frankness that surprised us slightly, but in the same
moderate, honest way, his hands clasped upon his breast, and the
extended feet rubbing together slowly, "in the Cotton States, where they
are very thick together; but I think that there is very little danger in
Virginia.
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