In a letter
to Stephens in reference to one of the Yancey men, Cobb
prophesied: "McDonald will utterly fail to get up a new Southern
Rights party. Burnt children dread the fire, and he cannot get up
as strong an organization as he did in 1850. Still it is
necessary to guard every point, as McDonald is a hard hand to
deal with." For the moment, he foretold events correctly. The
Southern elections of 1857 did not break the hold of the
moderates.
Yancey turned to different machinery, quite as useful for his
purpose. This he found in the Southern commercial conventions,
which were held annually. At this point there arises a vexed
question which has, of late, aroused much discussion. Was there
then what we should call today a slave "interest"? Was organized
capital deliberately exploiting slavery? And did Yancey play
into its hands?* The truth seems to be that, between 1856 and
1860, both the idealist parties, the Republicans and the
Secessionists, made peace with, shall we say, the Mammon of
unrighteousness, or merely organized capital? The one joined
hands with the iron interest of the North; the other, with the
slave interest of the South. The Republicans preached the
domination of the North and a protective tariff; the Yancey men
preached the independence of the South and the reopening of the
slave trade.
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