The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-07-07

tionai decorum, tnd the trammels Of proprietary
1t is not, therefore, to be wondered at that the
conservative statesmen of the republic regard, at
this moment, with intense anxiety and alarm, the
anti slavery agitation At present in progress
that the stability Of the Union is seriously endan
gered by and there be little doubt that th,
disruption of the Union would not only lower the
cal power, but would in all probability retard the
development of the national resources and diminish
the security of life and property:
This sufficiently accounts for the vehemence with
Of itinerant apostle of union in the State of New
York. Prevented by the illness of his son from
taking part in the presidential demonstration at the
opening of the Erie Railroad, AMI the progress to
and from that soemnity, Mr.. Webster has EN-.
braced the first moment Of his sons convalescenoe
commence supplementary progress on his own &C
count. The burden of his song at every place
where he has addressed the assembled citizens, has
been the duty of loyalty to the constitution and the
folly and criminalty of the incorporating anti
slavery agitators who are pering the existence of
the Union. So well has he played his part that the
glores Of the presidential Office have paled before
the glowing oratory of the Secretary OF State aud,
In so far as the wings of New York concerned,
MIR. Webster apears to have a better chance of
being the party candidate for the presidency at the
next election, than Mr.. Fillmore.
Upon us who read Mr.. Webster's orations in
stead Of listening to them, and who moreover, read
them some weeks after their delivery, and with
great Tracts OF sea GnO lana Intervening tney nave
not produced quite overwhelming an efec.
they appear to have done upon his Immediate au-
di0rs. There is too much of special pie aiding, and
too much of exaggerated emphasis about them, to
be entirely satisfactory. Mr.. Webster's arguments
are not of nature to be perfectly convincing to q
mind so acute as his, and his violent and frequent
appeals to the Supreme Being as witness Of his
sincerity and good faith, weaken rather than
strengthen our confidence in both.
MIR. Webster takes up his stand upon the Fugi-
tive Slave bill as the only means of preventing a
breach between the slave and the free States He
seeks to palliate that measure by alleging that its
provisions are less stringent than those OF the law
passed for the same purpose under the auspices OF
Washington. In reasoning thus, Mr.. Webster for
gets that the hostility against slavery, both the
part of slaves and impartial freemen, has become
much more inveterate and uncompromising since
Washington's time. The conservatives of the new
world, if Mr.. Webster is TO be taken as a fair
specimen Of them, are commit ting the same error
as the conservatives Of the old; they look only to
the letter Of the old law compared with that of
the new, and leave out of account the altered feel
iDgs and convictions of the generation for whom
the new law is framed There is danger, doubtless,
for the United states in attempting to abolish
slavery, but there is infinitely greater danger in
shrinking fro N the enterprise.