The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-07-06
rhe Fou, IN and the Abolitioni.ts.

shadowing the horizon.
The Fou,th and the AbOiitionists.
The Fourth is past, and the Union is safe.
The noisy people who have been counting their
patriotism in dollars and cents, aud clamoring
about the necessity of immediate dissolution,
were either mute as stones on the Fourth, or
secret sharers in the festivities Of the day. No
where was single protest heard against the
nations re ocings. From Maine to New Or
leans, the memory of our Declaration Of indie
pendence was bonorei. and fresh promises Of
loyalty to the constitution implied. Even in
Rhode Islaad common sense prevailed, and the
glorious anniversary was celebrated in accus-
toned style. Where were tle demagogues who
said that after the Nebraska bill, no northern
man could re dice in the idea of the Unony
Where were those who assured US that the con
stitution was henceforth vain word and that
every thing tending to bring to mind the CON-
pact under which we live would inspire sullen
silence, instead Of shouts Of joy? Where were
the disunionists the fanatics, the Parkers aud
the Greeleys, in whose nostrils the Union has
long stulk, and who are for ever warning us
that it exists only by sufferance, and requires
but single blow to destroy it?
If any of the brood were visible yesterday,
we have not heard of it. If any one whispered
disunion, he whispered it in very quiet way
in a secluded place. where no one could have
heard him had he shouted it at the top
of bis lungs. So far as the public are
aware, the people were to man faithful
to the constitution. The day was perhaps never
celebrated with more enthusiasm and universal
good feeling. Every city and village had its
frewo rks and its grafton. The fashionables, of
course, whose nerves cannot bear the noise Of
crackers, were scattered among the rural re-
treats but the thew and sinew Of the people
were in town, and right heartily did they speak
their mind in action. Rockets, and crackers,
and pistol firing, and parading in the streets
may seem small matters; but small as they are,
they are not habitually practised by the people
on national celebrations when there is any gen.
eral distrust of the government or disafection
to the State. A refusal to take part in these
gaieties is, in fact, the shadow which coming re-
volutions cast before them. Necker saw clearly
that evil was brooding when the Parisians would
60 to no more Jstes and when the populace Of
New York decline to celebrate the Fourth with
fireworks, and noise, and every other demon
stration Of popular glee, then we may look anx-
iously forward to the future. But SO long as
such scenes as those of Tuesday mark the re-
currence Of our National Anniversary, we may
safely leave the State to the guidance of for
tune, and smile at the impotent violence of the
factions.
1t has already become desperate struggle
to keep the anti-Nebraska sentiment alive.
1t required tremendous organization of il
legal violence at Boston to prevent ITS de-
mise some weeks back and more recently, a
senator of the United States has been employed
to galvanize fresh vigor into the moribund, at
the sacrifice of his own character for honor
and truth. But even these desperate remedies
do not seem to be attaining any satisfactory
end Nebraska and its organization are fast
dying out of mems memories. We have too
over bygones. If any thing could have given
semblancc Of vitality to the party led by Mr..
Seward and his organs, it would have been some
demonstration on the 4th. The event we COM
memorate on that day is the root and origin of
the grievances of the abolitionists The sane
members Of that body cannot pretend that their
views are consistent with the constitution; they
must admit-as many of them have done--that
they are radically opposed to that compact it
self, and that their aim in one word is to undo
the work which was begun on the 4th July
l776. For these men, therefore, to join in cele-
brating the anniversary Of that day is the
rankest inconsistency. They should spurn the
thought of such thing. For them, the 4th of
July should be day Of weeping and sorrow.
All the miseries they bewail took their origin in
the concerted action Of the thirteen colonies
and if they seek to achieve anything at all,
they must begin by convincing the public that
the action of those colonies was an error to be
deplored and corrected, not an exploit to be
exalted and magnifed. 1t is impossible for any
conscientious disunionist to awake on the morn
ing of the 4th July without intense feelings of
regret and anger.
How many of the people of the United
States arose on Tuesday last with feelings akin
to regret or anger? How many in those
crowds which even torrid sun could not en-
tirely dissipate looked as though they disliked
the recollections which the day suggested
We say it boldly, there was not man in New
York or in any other large city in the Union
who felt or looked any thing Of the kind. All
was gladncss, rejoicing and thanksgiving for
the blessings the disunionists seek to destroy.
If we were to lay it down as general princ-
pie that consistency and conscientiousness are
necessarily part Of the disunionist creed, we
should obviously infer from the scenes Of Tues
day that the species is extinct among us. The
inference would we fear be unjustidablc.
Neither consistency nor conscientiousness are
lists kept quiet enough on the 4th when the ma
tional spirit was aroused, and any expression of
fhnir Opinionr airhf