New-York daily tribune., 1858-11-30

down 70 the sppersedure Of that body by the
Federal Constitution, it was composed Of two Sec
,;ons-tbe New -Epgand or Northero, and the Nir.
ginian or Southern section-between which, as TO
almost all the great points both of domestic and Of
foreign policy there existed great dIvergency of
opinion, radical In many points, and leading in
mary cases TO very acrimonious disputes. We
have not space to 90 into details, but any careful
student of the history of the Union, SO long IS the
Continental Congress pre.ided over its destinies,
will find this to have been the fact TO a very re-
markable degree. From the circumstance that tho
Continental Congress sat with closed doors, that
very few members took any notes of the debates,
and that of these notes only some small fragments
have been preserved or at least printed the parla-
mer tary history Of the Continental Congress is in
yoyed in a good deal of obscurity. Nevertheless,
it has fully come to light that, from the opening to
the close Of that body, Northern and a Southern
party existed in it, as marked and distinct 81 the
corresponding parties in the Congress Of to-day.
The Northern members of tie Continental Con-
gress very early adopted the expedient of giving
up the apparent leadership to the South, for the
sake Of carryiog out their own views. 1t was in
conformity to this policy that while the New-En-
gland members persuaded the Congress to adopt
as Continental the New England army collected
before Boston, they took the lead in giving the
command of that army to Washington. BY asimi-
lar piece of policy, Virginia aid her INT mbers were
put forward to take the lead in the Declaration of
Independence, which had been from the beginning
- and fha
beginning 80 was the progress and the end.
careful study Of our Revolutionary history will
show that, from IVA to 1889, the of policy
actually adopted WAS, in nine cases out OF ten the
New England policy, often violently opposed by
the South, and that, as between the Northern and
the Southern States, the merit of having carried
the Revolution to q successful issue belongs
mainly TO the North, however it might have been
found expedient to surrender large share Of the
glory of it to the South.
The next great point in the history of the Union
was the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
Though Madison aud Randolph and other South.
erners were artfalIy pat forward in the Federal
Convention TO take a leading part in the construc-
ton of that nstrument-on the very same princi-
ple on which the command of the Continental
Army lad been given to Washington-the Federal
Constitution was nevertheless framed in conformi-
~ to Northern ideas; and of the same character
was the Interpretation put upon it, in the first
twelve years of its existence, during which the
practice under it was substantially fixed, almost
every disputed question having been decided in
conformity TO Northern views and against the
strenuous resistance of the South.
Such vas the history of the first twenty-five
years of the Federal Union, period often referred
to, by glorifcation speakers and writers, as the
heroic age of the United States-an age, no doubt,
of great men and great achievements; but, per-
haps not so vastly superior to the present in pat
riOtism or disinterestedness as many suppose. In
dependence achieved, the Federal Constitution
framed, and the Federal Government in full opera
ton. the control of our national affairs, after hav
ing been for twenty-five years mainly directed
BY the North passed for the first time into South
ern hands. This transfer of power did not how
ever operate in the slightest degree to diminish,
onibe other hand it decidedly aggravated that Sec
tiona division of parties, opinions and policy which
had existed from the first day the Continental Con-
gress met. The South did not reciprocate the
complasance of the North in giving TO the North
the gliding while they enjoyed the substance Of
power. Jefferson, indeed, who, notwithstanding
the political bitterness which he felt and expressed,
was still at heart an smable man, was extremely
desirous that his accession to Office should be sig
ualized as an era of good feeling, and should
Ia t..ln
between the North and the South. The
comparative political calm of his first term Of
Office. and the great unanimty with which he was
reelected, hattered his hopes of such consumma-
tion But the differences Of opinions aud sympa-
thies, and the conflicting views taken in the
two sections, as to matters both Of public
and private interest, were so great, that
any such result was q political impossbility.
Before long, on the question of how the
rights of the nation on the high seas should be
protected, the division of opinion between the
North and the South became more bitter than
ever. and so continued down to the termination of
the second war with Great Britain, and the cleo
ton of Monroe to the Presidency. Another short
lul followed, when the question Of the admission
of Missouri, and Of the allowance prohibition of
Slavery in the vast territories west OF the Missis
sippi placed in new and strong Light the radical
disagreement between the North and the South
not limited now to mere temporary questions Of
e1pediency or even to the political machinery for
carr, ing on the Government-but embracing the
very fundamental basis of modern civilization and
popular rights-to Wit, the respectsbility OF labor
For time by the efforts Of politicians and of
those who regarded internal improvements, banks,