New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-12-28

La the Vtes~nt temper ~ the Ccnmrfee
A, thi, is the pivotal point Of the whole con
frcversy. do net ses that this Committee is
likely 10 do anything toward settlement
Az have before said, the seceders are MOI
playing to SAGE the Union, bat to break it up.
They think this result viii secure them in the
end all they have ever demanded The fact that
Douglas has utterly gwen way, surrendered his
Popular Sovereignty principle, and given notice
Of bis Willingness to accept auy terms offered by
the revohtionists emboldeus them in their
North win come to terms finally, and yield to
their dictstion on every point. The speech Of
Senator Nicholson OF Tennessee, made yesterday,
plainly bears this Interpretation. They all pro
pose TO 20 ort, and, having got out 10 turn round
and see what sort Of bargain those whom they
have left behind are willing to give 70 get them
back again.
The game il, Of course, bold and desperate
one, full of difficulties snd dangers. There are
g thousand contingencies which may arise TO ar
rest its harmonious working at every step OF It's
development. And the mutations OF rapidly
forming public opinion, incident to al revolunon-
sry erss, may battle the wisest calculations
The thing most certainly TO be counted on ia
embarrassment and disaster to the experimenting
States. Beyond this, everything ie utterly vague
and uncertain.
il NAV, for example turn out that the Free
States may be willing to let the fllibusters try
nominal separation for while, and even be
willing to make it sctusl for q season. And
having depe so, the conviction may spread that
future peace and prosperity may, after al, be
more certainly secure, by making separation
from the revolutionists perpetual. The conclusion
may be reached that they are the only danger
0us and dissolying element Of our national ex.
stence, and that it is best it should not be 81
lowed foothold where il can again spread its
insidiOus posoDs through the great arteries of
our national life. And thus the fllibusters may
get more than they are bargaining for, and dis-
cover in the end that their Only road to safety
is in accepting terms and conditions far less
favorable thar they Dow enjoy in the existing
Union.
These and similar reflections must be allowed
to work their own way among the now excited
ceys and Rhetts, and their followers, constrained
and uneonstrsiDed, to the point of precpitating
the Slave States into revolution. They will do
it, and from the experience Of these people them.
selves must come their own salvation, aud not
from concessions, or compromises Of principle on
he part of the North. If there is virtue and
steadiuess enough in the Free States 20 stand the
~ %rao oh nf tha
great emergency with moderation, and yet with
frmness, then will our political society take broad
stride onward toward more perfect condition.
If there is not such virtue, and such conditions
Of the public mind as the times demand then
will the great emergency eel US back and not
forward.
Ii does not seem to me that our Compromise
Committees Of either branch Of Congress are
going to have any particular hand or influence in
shaping the events now in progress or in Affect
ing the results of the next few months, either for
good or i'll. The contest in progress ia really
one for euPrcmac. between two great forces al
ways subsisting in this Government They hsye
been in union but in conflict always.
Their sntagonisms have been partially recon-
ciled hitherto by repeated efforts 81 other CON-
promise agencies, but these sntagonisms have
grown greater with the lapse Of years, until they
at last seem to have acquired magnitude that
successfully resists further attempts at accOmlno-
daton. 1t seems to be battle at last, not TO
compose sntagonisms, but one in which the ono
| OF the other must give way, or where they must
defnitivey separate. The Slave Power, having
ruled for sixty years and more, Is now called
upon 10 surrender its scepter fairly Won in Con-
| stitutiOnsl conflict.
| Ii refuses, and boldly hoists the Gag Of resist
| auee and revolution. This is the whole story