The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-11-18
From the New York Tribune
SEWARDIsM.

he happy surprise 10 the nation
From the New York Tribune.
sgWARDIsM.
. Whoever shall write the history Of the late
political contest, will have to record the disaS-
trous failure of an attempt 10 enforce upon the
Wing party an outward uniformity of opinion
and action with regard 10 human slavery. For
this uniformity there il no foundation either
in fact or tradition. Our Northern and South
ern people have always regarded slavery with
very different eyes; and, so long as it shall ex-
list among us probably always will In no
National Convention, in no Congressional eau
Gus in no sssemblage claiming to speak in be-
half of the Wings Of the whole Union, was
there ever an assumption of power to create
or declare uniformity on this subject prior to
this present 1852 Messrs Toombs and Ste
phens did indeed attempt to force such dec
| laratlon IN the Congressional caucus of Deem
Der, 1919; but their repulse was signal and
conclusive, leaving them only the old resort Of
defeating the party they could not control
The second attempt of the kind was made by
the opponents of General SCOTS nomination
in the last Baltimore Convention-with what
success has been told in the succeeding canvass
and ts result.
Another extraordinary feature of the late
canvass was the virtual combination of the
magnates and usual managers of both the
great parties, powerfully aided, though not with
such evident malice prepense, by those of the
third party to hunt down and crush single
individual, and he no candidate for Office, and
nowise connected with the dispensation of
| spoils Governor Seward not only holds no
Of, "a, L. Al
| Administration, but he stood expressly pledged
| to refuse any under the next, had General Scott
been chosen. No matter what might have
been the result Of the recent contest he would
have remained what he now is, and for three
| years must continue to be-a Senator from the
State of New York And yet against him have
the batteries of the now victorious host been
pointed throughout the canyass-the fire OF the
traitors in the Wing camp has all been aimed
| at his devoted head. Members of Congress
| electors of President and various orders of ex-
notables have renounced the Wing party, bv
which they have hitherto been honored and
| cherished, with no other avowed reason than
this-that General Scott was the Seward
candidate and therefore must be crushed
Seward! !" Seward ~ Seward" has been
the burden of our adversaries; song from the
outset-the theme on which the Satanic press
has expended half its venom, and on which
the journals subsisting on advertisements of
women and children for sale, have expatiated
with unequalled persistence and fervor The
Wing potentates who have given their means
and their names toward the promotion and
support of Webster Union tickets have done
40 to feed tat their grudge, not against Scott but
against Seward. To that end have mercantile
Wings by thousands either refused to vote for
President at all, or voted plump for Pierce and
kin.-ready not merely to defeat but to ami
hilate the Wing party, if they might thereby
demolish Seward. To this end, too, have extra
exertions been put forth by the Barnburners.
who feel that their recreancy and shame can
never be eiiaced from the public recollection, so
long as Governor Seward remains in the Sem
ate, faithful to the principles and convictions
which have rendered his name detested by
every traiicker in human sinews-by every
perpetrator OF legalized vllanies throughout the
civilized world
Well, the conspiracy of arist0crat with iaco-
bin. save-trader with agrarian Pearl street
with the Five Points, has been crowned with
unmeasured success General Scott is over
whelmngly defeated and the Wing party not
merely discounted, but annihiated We have
no prophetic KEN and make no pretensions to
reading the future butwe do not see how the
Wing party, rs such can ever be rallied again
Defeat is but an accident to which any party
may he subjected but defeat based on COM
prehenslye, systematic treachery like that lust
experienced can hardly be other than conclu-
sve.
For it must be considered that even those
cotton journals and politicians which finally
yielded reluctant support to General Scott,
had taken such course preparatory to the
wing National Convention rs to neutralize and
paralyze their subsequent acquiescence. They
sat out with the assumption that General Scott
must not he nominated, since his nomination
would be q Seward triumph" which all the
South and Conservatives everywhere, must re-
pudate. When, therefore, they came round,
and undertook to commend the nomination
which they had 80 unsparingly denounced in
advance, their adversaries had only to quote
against them their own datrbes hardly vet
cold, to prove that, on their own showing
General Scott should be opposed and defeated
because of Sewardism.' Thus they had taken
the precaution to render their support of Gen
eral Scott n nullity before they could be re-
quircd to prefer it, The result, it is now OBJ
vious could hardly have been other than it is
" But says one show does all this prove
the Wing party annihated? Why may It not
|
avoiding Scwardism 2"
We answer--If you mean simply that the
Wing party can rally and regain its former
power by merely purging itself of all that is
stigmatzed as Sewardisn, we entreat you to
go ahead with the experiment There is moth
ing more TO risk or lose now, and there can be
no harm in trying this on md trying it out
We whom you call Sewardites" are tired,
and will gladly rest awhile, and let you 60
ahead as you see fit. Whether your anti-pro-
gressiye, pro-slavery Wing party would be
stronger than that which has just been routed,
or would resemble on trial "the tragedy Of
Hamlet, with tho part of Hamlet omitted, can
better be determined after than before trial.
There can be no reasonable objection to that.
But if you mean that those to spite and
destroy whom you have just broken down
tho party will follow and sustain you in ro-
storing and re.estabshing IT. with the under
standing that they are to be aliens and serv-
tors therein until they consent to suppress their
own convictions and profess your views we
would advise you not to invest either efforts or
hopes in 80 wild a speculation. They are in
no hurry TO move at all when they do take
part with you in another canvass, il will be as
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