The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-01-06


rying water on both shoulders He provides,
therefore, in his bill both for the adoption and
the rejection of the Lec0mpton constitution.
But we can tell Mr.. Pugh. and all other
Northern members of Congress. that they must
either support or oppose the Lecompton con-
stitution. If they prefer the chances of re-
election to the peace Of the Union, 80 be it !;
but if they are ready, like Curtius, to leap into
the gulf for the safety of Rome, let them come
forward Every great cause, every great
movement, every great principle, every great
revolution, in behalf Of kings nations and peo-
pie, has had, and must have, its list of martyrs,
voluntary and involuntary. Thus, without
going further back, a host of martyrs we're re-
quired to make good the Missouri compromise
of 1920. A respectable catalogue suffered in
behalf Of the great adjustment of 1850 And
who can tell the number-great and small
that persisted in behalf of the Kansas Nebraska
bill! Nor should we complain of this for is
not the crown of martyrdom preferable to the
robes of Office? Henry Clay said, ~ would
sooner be right than be President; :" and he
had his wish. The election. therefore, with our
Northern members of Congress is between the
crown of martyrdom and the hope of glory on
the one side, and the paltry alternative of a
possible reelection to Congress. Can they
hesitate which to choose, when the destinies of
this great country, and the hopes Of its millions
of people, may be depending in the balances!
We hope not.
If the South recede from this Lecompton con-
stitution, they will be entitled to no further
pity from the anti-savery fanatcism of the
North, and they know it, They cannot recede;
they must now maintain their ground, or be
forever hereafter humiliated and disgraced.' In
the pointed and decisive shape which this
Kansas question has assumed there is no alter
native but yea or nay. 1t is noW a question
which rises above all administrations, all party
considerations or party estimates for the Presi-
dency 1t is an issue between the North and
the South, and the simple question involved is,
whether slsvery shall be any further extended,
or shall be permanently restricted within its
present limits. Let the North enforce the adj
mission of Kansas as free State, in addition to
the tive other new free States of Minnesota and
Oregon, and there will be a Northern balance
of power secured in Congress sufficient to pre-
vent the admission of any new State as slave
State, come from what quarter she may.
We have passed through many commissions
and revulsions, political and financial during
the last half century; but the sharp and salient
point to which this Kansas squabble has been
reduced threatens the most perilous of all
our sectional agitations The only ground
Of comprehensive treaty of peace is
the admission of Kansas as a slave State as
a concession to the South, in view of
the two new free States of Minnesota and Ore
gon. From the peculiar circumstances of the
case ii will be difficult to bring the North to the
mark; but from the momentous consequences to
the South, which are dependent upon this set
Element, the men of the South must stand their
ground. The Independent and conservative
press of the country has pointed out the way to
a satisfactory compromise, and we hope that
among the wise men of the present Congress
the hints thus thrown out will be turned to some
practical account. True, we have as yet dis
covered no symptoms of practical statesman
ship in this Congress; but we still have hope
that here and there, in the nick of time man
will be found equal to the demands of the
crisis.