The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-04-16

black republicans in this matter. Kansas and
the Kansas agitation ere Their political stock in
trade. Settle this agitation, and they are all at
sea- Keep it open, and they have something
left upon which to live little longer. We are
aware, too, that Mr.. Douglas and his sworn
Northwestern democratic followers are all in
the same boat, and that the rump of the South
ern Know Nothing faction are intent only upon
good position in the general alliance against
the administration; but the vote of Horace F.
Clark and John b Haskin against this Commit
tee Of Conference we cannot understand upon
any theory Of consistency or common sense.
Nothing Of principle or consistency would
have been risked by them in q vote for this
conference. Mr.. English, of Indiana, who pro-
posed it, had veted aid the way through in favor
of She House bill He had sense enough to
know that If the report of the commit
tee should not come up to his ideas Of
popular sovereignty" he would still retain
the right to vote against its adoption. Desiring,
however, settlement of this question, he
properly appreciated the folly of refusing this
unobjectionable alternative of Conference
Committee. 1t was not party question; it
was not dictatorial edict from the President;
IT was simply proceeding Of expedicncy, sus-
tanned by every patriotic consideration affecting
the exigencies Of the case. The members voting
for the conference, therefore, will stand ap-
proved; while those, particularly of the demo-
cratic school, who voted against it, have placed
themselves in very odious light before the
country.
In this connection, of all men Horace F.
Clark and John B. Hsskin occupy the most in
defensible position. They represent constitu-
ency peculiarly conservative upon all great
national issues; and the reasons for this con,
servatism are very obvious. The vast COM
mercial, manufacturing and business interests
of all kinds Of this metropolis are bound up in
the Union, and are seriously affected by any
thing which threatens the peace or disturbs
the political harmony of the Union. This
Kansas agitation, therefore, has all along
| been regarded as nuisance by the
bulk Of this business community; and our
| people here have been DESTROYS above all things
| to have this nuisance abated. Hence the sue
cessful public meetings in this city in behalf OF
| tuS iiAhOuio'o obu uuSVuuutIOuuA uUIuiSoIOu VI
Kansas under the Lecompton constitution; and
hence the repeated failures at public demon
stration Of our anti-Lecompton bleeding Kan
| SOS" agitators.
Our hopes concerning this Conference Com
mittee are not very sanguine. A bill acceptable
to Mr.. English and his associates voting for the
committee may be repulsive to the Southern
fre-eaters and rice rersa. But, in any event. the
catalogue of members voting against the expe-
riment of conference gives us q list of disor-
eanizing factionists openly voting for renewed
agitation Of this Kansas nuisance for party de-
moralization, sectional discord, political revo-
luton, financial confusion and universal mob
law, in preference to the smallest concession in
this matter Of the admission of Kansas.
The men who have thus shamelessly commit
ted themselves to the base purposes of sectional
and factious Generalization of Congress will
be remembered, and we especially admonish
| Messrs Clark and Haskin to prepare for the
consequences The conference may fall but it
may succeed. Even in the event of failure to
reconcile the two houses upon common ground
| Of agreement, ii will still accomplish something
in defining more distinctly the bars and shoals
| which obstruct the entrance Of the "long low,
black schooner" Kansas and her rufianly crew
| nto the broad harbor of the Union.