The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-02-08

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Of Mason and Dixous line. twill be o p-heayy,
end must fall over, on ORC side or the other.
No wing national convention will, we dare say,
be attempted, We shall probably have a North
ern cosiitisE anti.slayery ticket; a Northern
d.mdcrstic conserv alive ticket, as far as co.,
~venient; a Southern democratic ticket; a South.
ern opposition ticket, and Independent electoral
Knew Nothing tickets in all the States. leaving
be issue of their candidate for President, as Ca
Sc 94ey are concerned, North and Soath, to be
determined In a national council. Among these
conflicting sectional parties and factions, the
election CT the next President will probably be
thrown upon the House of Representatives; and
there the constitution has provided o rescus.
The constitution ordains that, in the event Of
the failure to elect . President by the people,
the three highest candi iates shall 20 up to the
House of Representatives, and that one Of them
shall there be chosen. Bat in the mode Of this
election lies the self protecting reservation to
the South. Each State shall only cast one vote;
and thus Florida, with her one representative in
the House, will be equal to New York with her
thirty-three. There are now thirty-ene States
sixteen free States, and fifteen slave States,
including Delaware. The North have o ma
jority Of one vote; but in the conflict between
rival Northern candidates, the vote of Califor-
MIA will be sufficient to turn the scale in favor
Of any conservative candidate upon whom the
! South may be united.
From the present complexion of things, then,
it will be the policy Of the South, in the next
Presidential canvass, to secure one Of the three
highest candidates from the people, as a candi-
date before the House. Otherwise they may
have to choose between three men, each man
of them more or less pledged against the ex-
tension Of slavery, in any shape or form.
The anti-slavery sentiment, as illustrated in
the election Of Wilson, and the return of Sc
ward to the Senate, with the support of the
Know Nothings, is paramount and predominant
in the North, and cannot be resisted. 1t will
give a sectional character to the Presidential
campaign, while the diversion of the Know
Nethings, and the Independent fragments of the
old political parties, will reduce the contest to
a scrub race of the highest excitement and i'm
p~ortance, not upmixed with the elements Of Sc
cession and disunion.
In this view, we repeat, it is the policy Of the
South to abandon all Baltimore Conventions,
and make sure Of their candidate for the House
OF Representatives. There the Know Nothings
may come to the rescue. Who knows? Who can
tell now whether this mysterious but powerful
party will exist intact SO longf It may in the
interval be broken up and dispersed. There are
rome symptoms of this in this State and in Mas
sachusetts. Their oaths of submission are too
rigid, their discipline too despotic, long to hold
independent free born men together. They
must reform this feature of their sacred mys-
teries. Where a pledge Of honor cannot be re-
lied upon in politics, vain are the restraints
Of inquisitorial espionage, spells and t~ortures.
These things will not 8 The rebel
lion at Albany proves it. Let the Know
Nothings act accordingly, or abandon at once
all their stimates of the Presidency.
In any event, North and South, let all par
ties prepare for the most exciting and momen-
tous sectional scrub race for the succession.
Let all the outstanding candidates pat in
can't have too many. But let the South make
sure of one for the House. 1t is the last chance
against Seward and his Northern coalition.