The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-02-19

iuCo snese SWiui mugs were nI6t enOuteQ
n our ears During the whole of thi. time,
he Nebraska bill has been fairly and squarely
before the country. Northern men and South
ern men, Western men, and men from the East
have read, studied, AVID discussed it. Editors
have Published it, end canvassed it in every
sense; hundreds Of thousands Of articles have
on its lerits. Where is the excite
ment! Where AZ e the signs of the thunder
storm that was to burst on us Where are
the levies for the war that it was to pro-
woke? Alas, " seems it was but q mountain
in labor after all, and the meeting of last even
ing was ore Sf the smallest Of the litter of mice.
Look where you will, and who are. the men
whose voices are raised against the termination
Of the slavery controversy by the formal and
definite establishment of the non-ihtervention
policy Do we find among them old conserve
tives Of either party? Can they count in their
ranks any of the men to whom the country
looked for patriotism and public virtue in case
Of danger to the Union? Is the mercantile
community represented in their host? Have
they any thing more than faint sprinkling OF
wealth and station on their side? Can the
boldest falsifer Of the band claim as theirs any
substantial portion of the thew and sinew of the
land, the workmen, mechanics operatives, and
sons of toll A thousand voices from every
city, every country village, every hill and
plain Indignantly answer No!
From Chicago to Boston, the only indivi-
duals who have openly taken the field in
any numbers against Mr. Douglass bill have
been the abolitionists and the free sellers
parties whose opposition was SO essential
to the success of the measure, that had it
been wanting, every one would have sus-
pected Mr.. Douglass sincerity. We shall not
do the glorious old city of Boston the injustice
to suppose that the speakers who occupied the
time of the meeting those on Thursday can be
regarded as representing either the respectable
lity the wealth or the intellect Of the capital Of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,. The Rev.
Amos Tuck, and the Rev, Theodore Parker are
no doubt very worthy members of society ;
but till Choate, Winthrop, Bigelow, Hildreth,
and others whose names will at once suggest
think we may safely say that the Bay State has
uttered no word. Her fame stands too high to
allow us to suppose that on this momentous oc-
casion she has chosen the Reverends Tuck
and Parker to be her organs What is true
of Massachusetts, is still truer of New York
None of us would ever think of contesting the
high social standing and individual worth of
either our Irish friend Judge Emmett or the in
defatigable Mr.. Girard; but really they cannot
be supposed by any one on this side the ALE
ghanies to be empowered to deliver the senti-
ments ofNew York on great political ques-
ton. Much less can the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher or the brothers Blunt aspire to that
honor. The former is VIGOROUSLY identified
with the most ultra section of the abolitionists
the latter have had the misfortune to play
subordinate parts in political party strife for
many years, and are very unlikely men to be
entrusted with the delivery of the sentiments
Of any public community.
Who, then, are the opponents Of the measure
Neither New York. nor Boston has registered
its dissent the country is silent: east and
west look on with Indifference; who are the
real enemies Of Mr.. Douglass measured
Some of their names we have already men
toned. Their allies, like them belong to two
classes they are either free sellers abolitionsts
or broken down politicians who are ready to es-
pouse any side in the hope of regaining their Pa
radise lost What need we say Of such men as
Henry Ward Beecher, John P. Hale, John Jay,
John G. Palfrey and their coadjutors in the Sc
nate-Seward, Chase, Sumner and Wade? Why,
their names have been household words in the
newspapers for ages. We knew half a dozen
years ago, that they had sworn to uproot
slavery, and would try it on each and every
opportunity. Can we wonder that they avail
themselves Of the Nebraska pretext? And
when we find that they stand alone at the head
of far smaller party than they. led in 1s4s,
when we see that conservative men on both
sides shrink from contact with them, and keep
themselves carefully aloof from their move
ments, can there be doubt of the failure of the
plot to overthrow Douglass measure Shall we
not pronounce the threats Of the antislavery
men mere idle bombast, and laugh at the grim
faces with which they buckle on their armor for
the imaginary fight?
The Awful Condition Of the streets or New
York.
As our late respected Street Inspector has
disappeared in the mud, and no better chance
exists for his successor, we have at last conclu-
ded to make report upon the state Of the streets
and the general physical condition Of the city,
for the information Of the new reform Common
Council, who seem to have no time to attend to
any thing but their own affairs, such as eating,
drinking talking, and the spoils.
Let us begin, then, down by the Battery, 60
ing along Battery place and taking look up
Greenwich, Washington, and West streets, As
they have existed during the past week, and as
they will again appear on the next "soft, day
Battery place is one Of the most used thorough
fares in the city for drays and all kinds Of
heavy cartage-as it is almost the only practi-
cable channel Of communication between the
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