The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-10-15
THE UNIoN-THE BETTER WAY.

We all recolect with what GOODNESS the polt-
ical leaders of the slave States calculated the
value of the Union during the Presidential can
vass. They informed the country that the only
way to save it was, to elect Mr.. Buchanan
that the election Of Mr.. Fremont would be the
signal of dissolution-the secession of the South
in that case would be inevitable and iustifable.
The election of Buchanan satisfied the maj or
ity of them, bat from time to time, in their pc.
litical discourses, they are at pains to remind
us, that only by that event was disunion pre-
vented, and that in 1860, should the National
Democracy be overthrown, the Union must 60
down with it. This seems to be foregone
conclusion with them-and they evidently in-
tend that the South shall be committed to it,
ShS than 6 %qfh HbanS 9 e sR Fl he
South, gees still further 1t assumes that the
perpetuation Of the Union is an impossibility-
that the election of Mr.. Buchanan has only
postponed the crisis of disunion, which must
come, soon or late, and the sooner the better.
The Republicans attached little Importance
TO the threatening declarations of Southern pol
iticians, and had they even believed, would
have disregarded, them. Devoted as they are
to the Union, they are not to be indimidated
from the exercise of rights, guaranteed by the
Constitution of the Union.
But, there is at the North, also, class Of
Disunionists, which of late seems To have
been stimulated into unwonted activity. A
call hos haap ;soral s;,na1 b. . L.. -.
Der of persons, for Convention TO be held
shortly at Cleveland, Ohio, to devise the best
measures for bringing about dissolution Of
the Union. The Southern politician will rail
at them as traitors, but we advise him to take
first the beam ont of his own eye he is the
last man to charge upon others disloyalty to
the Union, as a crime. Nor let the Buchanan
Democracy of the North expend upon its disaf-
fected neighbors the whole of its patriotic in
dgnstion. Has II forgotten the Disunion
movements of It's Southern allies last fall ? Has
1t forgotten the Convention of Southern Gov
errors, summoned last fall to meet at Raleigh.
10 concert the necessary measures of dissolu-
ton, should Fremont be elected-sunmoned
under the auspices Of Henry A. Wise, who is
already named as a suitable National Demo.
cratic candidate for the Presidency in 1860 ?
Cleanse your own household, clear your own
skirts of completely with Treason, before you
grow Indignant at Garrison's want of patriot.
ism.
We must confess our regret at seeing. upon
the call referred to, some names hitherto asso-
ciated with wise and practical movements. We
do not idolize the Union, nor would We descend
TO the low trickery of clarifying it, for the
sake of propitiating popular favor. The dema.
gogue talks of the Union as if it were the great.
est gift of God-representirg it as an end, not
q means, and denying that any circumstances
may transpire which shall render its continu.
ance undesirable. There is no sense in this
We are attached to the Union, for reasons
regarding it as the means to certain great ends ::
and so long as on the whole it SHALL more than
any other means, subserve these ends. we must
stand among Its stesdfast supporters. If its
terms necessarily imposed duties inconsist.
ent with moral obligation, there could be no
doubt as to the proper course of conduct: A
positive obligation would arise, to seek to
amend its character and condition, so as to re-
heve it from Its obnoxious features, and, failing
in that, to labor for its dissolution. But such
Is not our belief.
What are the great ends of the Union?
l. Security against foreign aggression and
OF foreign intrigue. Were this
country divided into petty municipalities, or
several larger republics, their jeslousies and
rivalries would open a new field for European
intrigue, impair their independence, and render
them constantly liable to the impairment and
interference of the great Powers of
The Old World. We see this attempted in the
South American States and that it is not car
ned on, on q larger scale, is owing chiefly to
he commanding position taken by the United
States.
2. Three other great ends of the Union were,
he restoration of credit, the discharge of
heavy national debt, and the establishment of
they have been accomplished
3. Another end was, the development and
of the Democratic principle-the
hight Of the People TO govern themselves.