The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-12-29
The War Com mc nccd-Setzure Of the
Forts, Custom House and Post Once by
the Militia OF Charleston.

The War Commcnced-seizure Of the
Forts, Custom House and Post Once by
the Militia OF Charleston.
South Carolina has taken the first step in q
war which every prudent man stroye to avert,
and which every patriot must regret to see
thus precipitated. The State militia of Charles
ton took possession yesterday Of Fort Moultrie
and Castle Pinckney, the only undefended for
tifications in the harbor, and hoisted the Pal
metto flag upon the Arsenal, the United States
Custom House and Post Office.
Thus South Carolina has placed herself in
open and armed hostility to the government
Of the United States. Assuming the position
OF foreign nation she has brought her troops
face to face with those Of the United States,
seized the property Of the federal government,
which belongs to the whole people Of this
country, and by SO doing has practically as
well as by the ordinance of her Convention
and the proclamation of her Governor, cut her
self off from the States Of the confederacy.
This is war. The ice is broken. Revolution
is no longer threat but a reality, and the
time for action has come.
If we have any government at oil the admin
istration must act now-act promptly and
vigorously. II it does not, then our government
is q sham. Congress, too, must act at once. The
idle dalliance in which the past few weeks of
the session have been fritterei away will serve
no longer The danger which wise counscls
and energetic action might have averted is
come upon US, and nothing but the most dcci-
sive measures will prove potent to stay it. Ii
is not South Carolina merely which Is to be
dealt with. The power at the disposal Of the
general government might alone settle the
question with her. But it is the whole South,
which may follow her example, that has to be
met and treated with. If it were a ques-
ton of mere physical force with the
single State Of South Carolina, the dim
Guilty could be successfully combatted;
but there il grave moral issue involved that
Of slavery-which underlies all this calamity,
and will have to be settled, and public opinion
upon that question-now disturbed and ex-
cited as it is to revolutionary point must be
reduced to equanimity and right understand
ing or nothing can stay the tide Of anarchy
which Is rushing upon us.
This is the work Of Congress, and the North
must lend its aid honestly and vigorously to
the task But above all tho President elect
must speak and act now. He cannot plead in
difference to the events which are transpiring;
even apart from his position as tho constitu-
| tional Chief Magistrate elect-as q citizen AMI
a statesman-he has a deep interest in the
existing condition Of affairs. The country
| is on the verge Of war Whether 1t is to be
civil war-the most unnatural and deplora-
bic that can befall q nation-or q merely
local struggle TO enforce obedience to consti-
tuted authority and preserve the property Of
the government, depends mainly upon Abraham
Lincoln. viii he take the responsibility Of
plunging the country into bloody internecine
strife, or will he, by the enunciation of con-
stitutional and just policy for his administra-
ton, arrest the food OF disafection in those
Southern States not yet involved by the COM
mission Of overt acts, and thus avert the i'm
pending catastrophe
Ii is for him to answer.
The course Of Mr.. Buchanan. we suppose, l.
clear enough, As far as South Carolina Is con-
cerncd.
II the ordinance of secession issued by the
representatives Of the people Of that State be
not deemed Of any force in legally constituting
her an independent State, released from all allie
glance to the federal government, the seizure OF
the forts at Charleston, Of the Custom House
and the Post ONCE, is an act Of instruction. If
| il be so considered, and that South Carolina Is
indeed foreign State, then 1t is an act of war;
! and in either case they should be wrested from
her by the powers Of the federal government
But the root OF the evil lies not In South Caro-
lima; che is but the outer she'll Of the bitter
fruit: the real danger turks In the probable sc-
| ton Of the other Southern States who sympa-
thize with her, and may make common cause
with her II coercion l. adopted. This dagger,
we say can only be warded OF by the speedy
action Of Congress, by the instantaneous inter
vention Of the conservative North, and by the
course Mr.. Lincoln ought to pursue Ia this
eventful crisis And there II not moment to
be lost 1t NAV arise at any time row IA, the
border States OF Maryland and Virginia will
determine to prevent the inauguration Of Lin
+. coin BY force: and If he does rrt = at once.
be r-1y find, when the marguerite d.. arrives.
everything wrapped in coniasion AL anarchy,
and have no country to g. crn.
And now to what cause shall VIC trace the
whole OF this trouble which has bcfalien the
cour ". a. ! which leaves II TO dav on ne verge
Of civil war; To the agitation Of IT, anti
slavery societies; to Wendell Phillip !rrisoa
and those men who have embodied e. f,aati-
cal ideas and distractions In pol;., !, ac.ion;
te the preachers and orators Of the republican
party, like Bcechcr. and Greeley, and the rest %
them. 1t is these men who are responsible tor
the desperate position in which the country is
placed ct the present hour, and the s,ill mo
terrible condition to which Il mey be reduced
in the dark and perilous future
OYrIcE HcxrERs AT SrRNorr sp.-The Mecca