The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-01-08

Ceiueu may uob Ue out vi eeHeon' Auu Nrst,
looking back at the tremendous popularity in
the North Of the Philadelphia republican ticket
of 1856, can it be denied that the assault upon
Sumner swelled the ranks of Fremont with hun
dreds and thousands of recruits from the demo
cratic csmp' We may say, perhaps, that had
Sumner died from his wounds at any time with
in week of the Presidential election, the po-
litical results would have been the defeat Of Mr..
Buchanan, and the absolute humiliation of the
democratic party. But Sumner survived, and
his gradual recovery, together with the care
fully circulated insinuation that he was all the
time playing possum," contributed much to ar
rest the Northern current of public opinion.
We had supposed however, that the ascer
tanned public sentiment upon this case would
prove sufficient warning for many years to
come against sectional resort to brute force
for the offences of Congressional debate. AT
all events, we are entirely satisfied, from the ter
rible public indignation excited by the Sumner
affair that any similar Southern experiment in
reference to Senator Douglas, so far from injur-
ing him or his cause politically, would make
them the rallying cry ofall the North. fSouth-
ern men wish to silence the guns of Mr.. Douglas
they must adhere to the means and the rules of
recognized political warfare. In other words,
if the men of the South would maintain the
constitutional rights of the South, and put down
the anti-slavery heresies and distractions of the
North, they must use the weapons of constitu-
tional argument and all the instrumentalities
of a united and enlightened Southern public
sentiment.
Rufianism will accomplish nothing but mis-
chief to all parties concerned in it. 1t has been
tried on both sides pretty extensively by the
desperadoes and political vagabonds Of Kansas,
and If any good result has been achieved by it
to either party there, we should like to know
what it is 1t was the contagion of this Kansas
border ruffianism Of 1856 which suppressed for
a season that liberal and honest sense Of right
and fair play which we know to be the natural
sentiment of the Southern people. We are
sorry, therefore, to hear of any insinuations
of intended personal violence from South
ern men against Senator Douglas, or
any other Northern Congressman, because even
rumors Of the sort are calculated TO work mis-
chief. North and South. We have had enough
of scenes of personal violence in Congress with
in the last few years to last us for twenty years
to come. The South has certainly had enough
of the services of those Hotspurs whose zeal in
behalf of Southern rights is so apt to overstep
the limits Of sober discretion. What she now
wants at Washington is the skill, the dignity,
constancy and craftsmanship of such men as
Calhoun; for in the contest which is impending
between the South and the North the mere bor-
der rufian will he of no service whatever 10
either side.
A great crisis is at hand. and an issue which
is to determine the position of the South and
the extent of the political ascendency of the
| North in the general government is involved
In this otherwise paltry afiair-thc Kansas Lee
| compton constitution. From the position
| which has been taken by Senator Douglas
and others of the democratic party, the
! South in this matter have but little
| to expect of Northern clemency. On
the other hand, all the walls Of antisiavery
wrath. Of thirty years accumulation. will be
| poured out upon the "slave-power" and the
''slave oligarchy' by Northern demagogues and
| fanatics. But let the statesmen and the politi-
clans Of the South meet the exigency as the oc-
casion demands. Let them rest their cause
upon the time-honorod principle of mutual con-
| cessions to the North and the South. Let them
demand the admission of Kansas with her slave
| State constitution as ouly O reasonable conces-
| sion to the South for the admission of Mime
sofa and Oregon as free States and let them
| unite their forces in the Senate and In the
House to achieve this compromise as the last
foothold Of Southern equality in the Union,
and they may win. But let them adopt the des-
perate policy Of personal violence against their
principal political adversaries, and the cause ol
the South Il forever lost not alone in regard to
Kansas, but in regard to every other cxpedient
for the extension Of Southern institutions.
All the proceedings of The last few days in
Congress may be compared TO the frolics Of a
lot Of idle Central American boys near u little
| grumbling volcano. They are frolicking, but
they are awaiting the signal fer precipitatc
fight, though uncertain, many Of them, in
which direction to run. A few days more and
this Kansas volcano will open it, crater at
Misunderstanding up rocks, ashes, fire and
smoke in boisterous volume. But when the
eruption is at an end, and when the smoke shall
have cleared away, the whole country will
realize either that We have escaped the perils
of dissolution, or that they lie directly before
us. In the meantime, az with the Southern
States, the alternative is between an armisticc
and an absolute capitulation-let her repre-
sentatives be prepared at least For an earnest,
dignifed and united demand for still another
armistice with the North as the only hope OF
ultimate peace.
GOVERNORS MnssAGEs.--It is really not worth
while to devote much time or space to Gov