New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-12-25

anu CieaiSHtto ns9pc uiu TtpVitr itc'lNu ab sH'
Custom. House In conformity with the laws Of
the United States, through its machinery, ~
though the Convention had never assembled.
Surely secession is a thing come before its
time
Mr.. Collector Colcock is relied On n device
some way to set notification on It's hbgs with
refcrcucy 10 the revenue laws. Tbs cause needs
the services of the man. IL has Nc. got clear
headed, practical statesman capable OF grasping
the question in oil is details. IL tie State could ex-
change some Of her dash and daring for common
fen.e she would be infinitely bette; OFF, indeed, this
ipelo.drama would never haze been placed on The
stage.
Gen. ,Jamisou, DE President of the Convention
in framing the Committees, has so discharged
that duty as TO facilitate precipitation. With an
other presiding officer, there would have been
delay of days--possbly, weeks. That the hope
for deIiberation, which recent events had created
wus not realized, was owing probably as much
70 the choice Of this officer az anything else.
With him Mr. Rbett prevailed, and, az conse-
q,lence, Judge Magrath, the most considerable
| man in the Convention was not placed on the
Committee 10 frame the ordinance.
The act having been done, the consequences
which have been SO fippantly invoked must en-
| sue 1t ID terrible to reflect what they may be.
| This communicative leaders in the revolution
ore 10 more prepared for them than they are to
live without food, and have no more settled ideas
| on the subject than they have Of what is going
| on in the moon. Something like free trade will
be undertaken, resolutey SO far as words can 60,
| but it cannot be successfully. Whoever Is III
| office, the revenue laws must be enforced. II Is
| true that we are warned not TO rely too much
| on Mr. Buchanan's word; yet whatever faithless-
ness and treason be may be guilty OF, it 10 the
subject of siGcerest thankfulncss that the period
| within which he can curse the land Is limited.
| Whatever be does or fails 10 do, after him the
Federal laws viii be executed. Then, If not be-
| fore, revolution viii develop its consequences.
| But there will be consequences and results OF
| a different sort, and perhaps sooner. If South
| Carolina does not prove to be LAUNDERING vol
| cano, sooner or later TO bech forth, l shall be
mistaken. She has a slave population almost
| double that of the whites In the minds OF these
slaves there is m idea. II s, that something has
lately taken place that promises them their free
dom. Precisely what il is they have no distinct
| conception. 1t is there, and no power can get IT
ont The slave cannot express it in words If be
! would. Without knowing it, he reyolVes in his
bepiehted mind, where there is naught beside but
tie ferccness Of will, the sentiment
"Hcreditsry bondsrenl know ye, net,
WHO would be free themselves must strike the blow
Carolinians do not disguise this from them
selves. Some there are, IT il true, with slaves
| all around them, who cultivate the belief that all
is well. They are Che exceptions. The rule Is
I'm increasing apprehension that secession viii
take away the foundations of former security
This ia eyinced a variety Of ways. In this
city the police force has been increased, while
al over the State there is network of Vigi-
lance Committees and Ninute-Men, whose par
ticular duty il in 10 watch for strangers, TO
drive them ont OF the State, or go dispose OF
them % to render that quite unnecet sary and
| impossible. Every person capable OF resistance
| ia armed. Greater precautions are observed on
the plantations where first the storm will break.
Bolts and bars for the security Of the family are
| fitted where they were not known before. There
| il certain nervousness which betrays all.
Careful estimates are made oi the loyalty OF
particular slaves; OF the grounds of faith in ths,
of doubts Ia regard 10 that OBe. II is the sub
ject OF painful conversation in the domestic cir
Gle; Of private conference among neiGhbors;
and in the universal preparation, feeble at beet,
which the eye Of the stranger can detect,
It's influence may be seen on every side. This
| increase Of vigilance only aggravates the evil.
The slave sees it all, and il stimulates hs single
| idea. 1t viii develop itself in action. Precisely
| when, or how, one can tell The slave may
or may not wait I'LL some John Brown places
| a pike in his hands raises the standard Of
| revolt, and leads him TO the WOrh Ii he
does. the circumstances viii bear no resem-
blancc TO those Of the raid at Harpers Ferry.
Cardinals exposed seabOard, extending upward
of two hundred miles, densely populated with
slaves, viii b. open TO predatory incursions.
Can she herself expect TO revolt f1Om the Union
and have the matter end there When she
breaks up The country, who win protect the
fragments And how can she, the chief
cOnspiratOr expect 10 be exempt from
speedy AID certain rctgibuton, wbich her act
VIII be 30 vel calculated 90 provoke It is
this more than any attempt to ccerce her back
into the Union that she has the most reason for
dreading. II is for this that she is trying 10
create navy and bring an army into Tie field
II is not on account OF anything AbohtiOnists
have said or done in Carolina that there ia dan
ger Of instruction or servile war She herself
is responsible. The fear which the Shareholders
protested from Liucoln's election, and the pre-
tense that the State stood in danger Of being