Gazette and sentinel., 1860-12-29
|, >gTTTn c SENTINEL.
A Possible Future.
From the Bee.

CINCINNATI Enquirer, Ill a late letter,
touches slightly a point which has re-
ccived considerable attention at the
South. The writer says:
Private letters received in this city from
distinguished Southern politicians bold out
one hope for the reunitng OF the Union after
secession has taken place, and making It stron-
Ger and fI mer than ever; that Is, the recon.
srru,uon Of tue Government upon such prin-
c;nles "a vii make all the States CO equal, at
the bottom Of which lies the right Oi the
master to his property, "here,er he may
take it. aud an equality in the tariff laws, OF
more plainly speaking, free trade.
The idea is by 10 means un~plausible.
II is absolutely certain that i'll less than
ninety days nearly all, if not all, the
cotton States will have withdrawn
from the Onion. Whether their policy
will be regarded rs wise and iudiciouS
or as hasty and rcprchcnsible, is not
rrgnanc 10 the question. We are al
ludirr to a state of fact which, as far
as human foresight a discern, will
poSitivelv exist within a few weeks.
Moreover, although we cannot predict
with 50 much Of an apparent certainty
that the frontier slave States, such as
MARYLAND, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri
and Tennessee, will unite with the
South in the secession movement, the
daily development of public opinion in
those commonwcalths juStifcs the be-
lief that they will ultimately initiate
the conduct and share the fortunes of
the cotton growing States. The result
will be eventually tina. probably in six
months every slavcholding State, with
the possible exception OF Missouri, will
combine under a single government,
Republican in form. and with a ConSti-
tuition a.similating in all its best feat
urcs the instrument which has hitherto
united the several States Of the Confed-
eracy. lie must lie but a superficial oh
server of human motives and actions
who can take any other view of the iu-
turc than this. South Carolina has sue
ceded, and her single example will
prove more irresistihiy contagious than
ten thousand appeals from the public
men Of the South. Already has the in
telijgencc thrilled To the heart of the
community, and stirred the secession
fever t1 a fierc,r paroXysm than ever.
When once the South shall have dis
PLAYED lis independence, and the de-
terluined assertion of its rights. we
hazard little in saying that the effect
upon the North will lie tremendous.
That section thus far has been rendered
JUS! sufficiently uneasy to indnlSe in
weariSono piatitudcs about the Union,
and to address warm appeals 70 the
S,nth t. pause and await the future.
When, however, the act which the North
hardly seems Vet IT, anticipate shall
have been cDusummatcd VIXEN the
South shall be completely Il of from
the North; when New England, the
Middle States AMI the Northwest are
left 10 mourn a Union discovered by
their folly and wickedness, and are
compelled TO confront the frightful com
mcrcial calainitips which must ensue,
and the progressive decadence to which
they Will be exposed, we may feel well
assured thlt the insane fanaticism
which has proved the prolific fountain
Of the evils present and prospective az
der which the country labOrs, will be
utterly discarded This will be no temp
crary and transient victory of sound
principles over the reckless and de-
structive. tCnets of abolition, but it will
be a crushing, overwhelming and endur-
ing triumph. The South now rejects
all proiicrs of compromise because she
knows they are the mere offspring Of
alarm aud financial distress, and be-
cause she has abundant cause to fear
that her consent would be construed
into timidity and a base surrender of
right, and that Black Republicanism
would sOon revive from its seeming
humiliation. But when experience will
have demonstrated the manifest depend
ence of Northern industry upon South
ern agriculture labor, and the impossi-
bIhty OF high Northern prosperity with
out Southern Cooperation, we may not
unreasonably expect such proposition
Tor a new compact %emanating from the
North as the South may regard with
dchberation, and may possibly accept.
1t Is to our knowledge that a large
proportion Of the citizens of New Or.
leans, who, though heretofore proud of
their nationality, are now ardent advo,
catUs oil secession, are greatly infu'
enccd in the decision they have reached
by this very idea OF forming at some
future period another and a better Tn.
Ion, upon a basis of complete equality,
and with inviolable constitutional guar,
antees. The reconstruction of the Gov,
ernmeut hereafter is by no means a
chImerical notion-cspecially if the Fed
eral powers throw no insuperable OBJ
stacle in the way, by an insane effort
at Coercion If the Southern States aro