The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-31

as Indian agents to keep the peace, and shield
our wandering countrymen and borderers from
wrong and harm, being empowered to punish
them for doing wrong as well. With Govern
ment fully imbued with the spirit Of peaceful
progress and national growth through internal
development rather than superficial expansion,
we hold that twenty millions per aBnum might
be saved from ourp present aggregate military aud
naval expenditure, and devoted to building the
Pacific railroad, improving our rivers and har-
bors, &C., &C.; and that ten years Of this policy
would raise our country TO a higher position
among the nations than Fifty years Of success
full filibustering could do, even though it were
to give US dominion over the entire continent
and all the West Indies. Such is our concep-
ton of true national policy--a conception
which impels us TO oppose every proposition to
increase the army or navy, TO enlarge the paw
of Congress or of any class of otl;ceholders DC.
&C., not merely as wrong in itself, but as tend
ing to defect the Federal Government further
and further from its true policy-a conception
which, we infer from his votes, is either not
fully shared or not consistently deferred to by
GovernorlSeward
Our own view on this point has been always
frankly set forth and upheld in these columns,
and would be, though Governor 5. were this
day our chosen and nominated candidate for
President We do not require of a candidate
whom we support an entire conformity to our
views and while We are willing to support
even STAKEHOLDER for next President, provided
he be unequivocally right on the Main CUES
tion-a Believer, with Washington, Jefferson,
and Clay, that Slavery is not a good to be diff
fused and perpetuated, but an evil to be borne,
and restricted, and ultimately eradicated-we
are not likely to oppose Governor Seward, be
cause on a single point he is not in advance of
the great majority of our statesmen.
Not on this point but on what other does
he fall behind the foremost? Where is the
other possible candidate for President, whose
public utterances are so replete with wise
Humanity generous Philanthropy, States
manship entitled to the proud designation of
Christian2 Who else among our eminent men
has an ear so open, and heart so responsive
to the appeals of the despised, the outcast, the
downtr0dden Among all our living states
men, whose speeches and writings, taken as q
whole, will so largely reward careful study by
the great body of our youth, as his? Whose
are so well calculated to make the student not
only wiser, but nobler and better? We have
enjoyed a pretty wide acquaintance with emf
nent men, especially those of our own country ;
and we are sure, if the world at this day con
tains six sincere, genuine Democrats = men
willing and anxious that all shall enjoy equal
rights, opportunities, and immunities, with
themselves-one OF these is William H. Sew
ard
And while We differ decidedly from Mr.. s. on
a single but important feature of our National
Policy, we do not know any one else likely to
be a candidate for President with whom we
more fully agree. If the pending question were
one of rewarding with the Presidency the ablest
and most deserving Republican, as SO many
Il. - L.
of selecting that statesman most thoroughly i'm
bued with the Republican idea who can be
chosen in 1860, to that exalted trust, we should
probably deem Governor Chase, next after Gov
ernor Seward, fairly entitled to that proud dis
tinction. And Governor Chases views with re
gard to Public Expenditure, as we CLEAN them
from his speeches and votes, are more nearly
In accord with ours than those of Governor
Seward. But on a subject even graver and
more vital than this-that of the development
and Investigation of our National Industry, as
the natural and necessary antidote to Human
Slayery--'ye have 10 reason 10 believe Govern
or Chases views 50 nearly accordant with our
convictions as are those Of Governor Seward
We know many excellent and determined Re
publicans who 10 not see as we do, and as the
Slavery Propaganda has comprehended for the
last quarter of a century. that the Protective
n
ism-that Slavery will be undermined and over.
thrown in this country, as it was in Europe.
and must ultimately be everywhere, through
that ripening and perfection of National Indus
try which renders the ignorant human machine
minus quantity, not worth the cost of keeping
III condition for service-thus verifying John
Randolph's prediction Of coming time in
which the masters would run away from the
slaves. Were this country to produce its own
Metals, Cloths, and Wares, steadily, for even a
quarter of century, there would be very few
slaves left in it at the close Of that period Sla-
very would thus pass away without cOnvulsion,
without collision, without spoliatiou, by the
simple process of making the land aud the ma
chinery essential to its cultivation worth more
with Free Labor than the land. machinery, and
slaves, together, could be with uninteligent con.
strained labor
The silent operation Of the law here indicated
has rendered Slavery already a manifest i'm
pertlnence and nuisance in Baltimore and ST
Louis, as il soon must be in Louisville, Rich
mond, and even New Orleans. 1t is the quiet.
steady growth of manufacturing or skilled in.
dustry In Russia, that is rendering serfdom a
palpable anachronism and abomination there.
The truths here barely glanced at are better
understood by Gov. Seward, as we gather from
his Speeches than by almost any other Of our
prominent Republicans; and, as PENNSYLVANIA
is clearly destined to be once more the pivot of
a momentous Presidential struggle, they are
not unlikely to render him the most available
candidate for next President But we do not
here assume to pry into the future. Sufficient
unto the day" are its cares and duties When
the time shall have arrived for selecting our
standard-bearer for 1860, We shall make q
choice, and Indicate it. Until then, all reports.
that the Tribune or its editor is doing this or
that to favor one possible Republican norinee
or disparage another, will be mistaken and
groundless.l Our immediate effort will be to
induce such an Understanding and state Of feel
ing among the various camps Of the OPPOSITION
as will render the success Of same candidate
from our side not merely possible, but morally
certain.
rom the Albany Evening J urnal January Is
Sterniy adverse, as we have ever been, to the
premature Resignation of Presidential candi-
dates, there is so much in the views Of the
Tribune that accords with the opinions enter
tanned by ourselves, that we transfer the article
to our columns, adopting its leading idea as an
emphatic expression of our own sentiments.
That idea repudiates the doctrine OF some that
party, like an army, opens a campaign with
its chosen or appointed leader. The Largest
liberty in the designation of Presidential can
didate, should be accorded. The only restric,
ton, in our Judgment, should have reference to
the principles of the nominee. He should be
representative mana man who holds and
upholds the Republican faith. With this quail
i6cation, we would leave all the members of
the party free to act upon their convictions, up
TO the last hour.
1t is scarcely needfhl to say how heartily we
concur in the Tribint's commendation of Gov.
Seward, or how sincerely we shall rejoice to
find him, at the appointed day, uniting the
voices of majority Of our National Conven.