The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-07 00:00:00

STAMPED ....sd.

own election, but the whole "ticket." His speech
at Albany on the 10th instant, when accepting the
nomination, of which only a meagre abstract ap-
peared in the newspapers of the following day, has
just been published in extenso, revised by his own
hand, and is by far the ablest as well as the most
eloquent and fearless exposition of the state of the
country, and the duty of the Conservative party,
that has yet been uttered. Not content with de-
nouncing the whole policy of the Government as
radically wrong, and as equally unconditional in
the treatment of its Northern friends as of its
Southern foes, Mr. Seymour declares the policy of
his party to be to strengthen the State Government
and to weaken the Federal power. He asserts that
no other party and no other system can save the
liberties of the country; and, while he is strongly in
favour of restoring the Union by military force, he
would only restore it by doing justice to the South
and scrupulously refraining from any interference
with the rights of the Southern States to uphold as
long as they please the domestic institution of sla-
very, with which no Northern nor Western State
or combination of States, has the slightest justifica-
tion in meddling, even so much as by a word of ad-
vice or remonstrance. Administering a rebuke to
those Abolitionists, the President among the num-
ber, who, while the South holds that the negro is
fit to liye in America as a slave, deny that he is fit
to live in America at all, he proclaims that the Re-
publican, inclusive of the Abolition party, is unable
to save the country, because through its powerful
press it teaches contempt for the laws and the con-
stitution ; because it is not only destroying the
Union, but is shaking and weakening the whole
structure of State as well as of Federal Government,
by denunciations of every law and of every autho-
rity that stand in the way of its passions and its
purposes. On the great question of taxation, which
nobody in New York, or throughout the North,
appears to regard as of the least consequence, simply
because the tax-gatherer has not yet made a single
demand on the public, and because the national
necessities are supplied by Mr. Chase's illimitable
paper, Mr. Seymour gave utterance to opinions
which ought to startle the North out of its dream
of security, and compel it to look its own position
steadfastly in the face before it incurs another
mountain of debt, and piles a Pelion upon the Ossa
of its liabilities, in paying for the manumission of
millions of negroes, to be reduced to pauperism in
the process, or expatriated against their will by a
new form of slavery such as Mr. Lincoln proposes.
" The weight of annual taxation," said Mr. Sey-
mour, "will severely test the loyalty of the people.
Repudiation of our financial obligations would
cause disorder and endless moral evils. But pecu-
niary rights will never be held more sacred than
personal rights. Repudiation of the Constitution
involves the repudiation of national debts, and of
the guarantees of rights of property, of person, and
of conscience. . . . If we begin a war upon the
compromises of the Constitution we must go through
with it. It contains many restraints upon our na-
tural rights. It may be asked by what right do
the six small New England States, with a popula-
tion less than that of New York, enjoy six times its
power in the Senate, which has become the control-
ling branch of the Government ? By what natural
right do these six States with their small popula-
tion and their limited territories balance the power
of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana,
and Michigan ? The vast debt growing out of this
war will give rise to new and angry discussions.
It will be held almost exclusively in a few Atlantic
States. Look upon the map of the Union and see
how small is the territory in which it will be owned.
We are to be divided into debtor and creditor
States, and the last will have a vast preponderance
of power and strength. Unfortunately there is no
taxation upon this national debt,. and its share is
thrown off upon other property. It is held where
many of the Government contracts have been exe-
cuted, and where in some instances gross
frauds have been practised. It is held largely
where the Constitution gives a disproportionate
share of political power. With all these elements
of discord is it wise to assail Constitutional laws or
bring authority into contempt ?"
Mr. Seymour may well ask these questions.
They involve issues which are likely to shake the
foundations of the American Government and Ame-
rican society long after the war shall have been
brought to a close by the exhaustion of the com-

batants or the intervention of Europe; but nobody
heeds them now. The mind of the country is in
the bloody battle-field. The brain of the nation is
_ _ _

dizzy with the thunder and the smoke of artillery.
Its passions are excited by dreams of conquest. It
is like a spendthrift, casting right and left the gold
which it never earned, in orgies that are disgraceful
and in excesses that are injurious. The item of
money is held to be too vulgar and too unfit for the
consideration of this noble youth, whose solo ambi-
tion is to do grander things than were ever done by
anybody else, to enrol and manipulate larger armies,
to kill and wound more men, and to dwarf all other
wars alike in bitterness, in bloodshed, and in cost.
liness, and all with the aim, end, and object of mak-
ing a greater noise and figure in the world than he
might have made had he been honest, frugal, in-
dustrious, and peaceable like his forefathers. Every
one knows how such a career is certain to end in
private life. The United States (or the remnant of
them) have yet to learn that in national affairs the
result is equally calculable and inevitable.
The ambition of various gentlemen who fill the
Position in other States to which Mr. Seymour
aspires in New York is leading, or has already led,
to some curious results. A convention of Gover-
nors has been summoned at Altoona in Pennsyl-
vania to meet to-day and consult upon the present
condition of affairs, and especially to concert mea-
sures whereby prompt assistance may be rendered
to the Federal Government in ease of any possible
emergency. Half a dozen of these functionaries
are reported to have passed through New York
yesterday on their way to the place of meeting. .16
is not yet known whether their deliberations are to
be public or private. Hitherto many
of these
gentlemen have endeavoured to act like petty
Presidents of independent republics, yielding such
aid and comfort to the Federal Power
as France
might yield to England, to Italy, or to
Spain if any
common purpose were to be pursued among
them.
The question of State rights that lies at the
founda-
tion of the Southern Secession
still survives in the
North. The Governor of Massachusetts arms
negroes, though President Lincoln
denies
the authority
refuses to do so.
The Governor of New Jersey the Habeas
of the Federal Government tosuspend
Corpus Act within his territory,e assumption of force of and publicly pro.
claims that he will resist the
arms if need be.
The Governors ofre
derseveralal Govern. States,
though they obey the call of the '
troops, postpone the
t to suit their own purposes, and
meat for the levy of addi!ional
their chance of re-election by
unpopular draught
imperil
will not
until they are assured of
a conscription
ordering
of office. Neither w'll another term 1 they suffer
in the with, them
the Federal Government to interfere
appointment of officers to the regiments
which they raise, because they claim the patronage
for themselves, and are determined to exercise it for
political and not for military purposes,
imperil the
' even though
by so doing they
safety of armies in the
field, by the employment of ignorant, drunken, or
otherwise unfit persons to command. Although
they raise regitnents, and know the need of the Fe-
deral Government to be so urgent that every thou-
sand men would be a godsend at this day to an im-
perilled nation,
idleness for they retain the levies at home in
purposes of their own, and which they
decline to divulge until after the meeting of +1- -
Bellows, P7os;dent of the
-
convention. The Rev. Dr.weir
Sanitary Commission for P.--
the Army, statP•3 • _,proving the Health of
'a.« - -
~,. to his congregation on Sunday

--, atter his return from Washington on the previ-

ous day, that Gen. M'Clellan was unable to follow
up his advantages at Antietam for want of men;