The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-04-02
The Connecticut nl.et,,. r.-a.v,

| engagements, chiefly 10 English porta
The Connecticut Election To-day.
This election comes off to day, and by intel
hgence from all parts of Connecticut we learn
that the greatest excitement prevails, and that
never was State election so contested before
The canvass has been conducted with all the
zeal and energy of Presidential election.
Stump orators from other States, torchlight
professions, bands of music, illuminations aud
bonfres, the roar of cannon and the various
appliances which are put in requisition when
the great political organizations Of the day are
contending for the control of the Federal 90
vernment, its spoils and honogs together with
the victory on some exciting party question
which divides the country-in fact, from the
absence Of any local issue, from the near ap-
preach of the Presidential election, from the
preparations which are being made for it in
every State, from the recent agitation of the
great issue which it is to decide, above all from
the influence which the Connecticut election is
likely to produce in favor of or against repub-
licanism in the Northern States, and its conse-
| quent effect upon the Presidential eleotion-it
partakes of the nature of that struggle, and may
be regarded as part of 1.-THE first battle in the
campaign of 1860. This accounts for the ex-
element of the people, and the deep interest
which they take in the contest-an interest
which is largely shared by the State and the
city of New York; for Connecticut is our
nearest neighbor to the North, and such is its
intimate intercourse with us that both States
may be regarded almost as one people.
The interest of New York city, moreover,
would be affected in a peculiar degree by
whatever would affect the interests of Connec-
ticut; for it is the commercial entrepot be-
tween that State and the South New York,
indeed, has more to lose or gain by the solution
of the question which now agitates the public
mind than any city IN the Union; but it is
bound up in special manner with Connect
cut. Those who 80 wantonly risk the perpetuity
of our federal republic by an insane crusade
against the South have little appreciation of
what they would lose by the change which they
are doing their utmost to precipitate. But |
should that calamity befall the country they |
would soon find out their error-find it out |
when it would be too late for repentance |
Leaving out Of the question the horrors of |
civil war, and all the disastrous consequences
which must follow in its train, Connecticut
would suffer severely, in common with every
State, by dissolution of the Union; but she
would suffer more than others in consequence
of her peculiar connection with the South,
through the city of New York. In her manu-
featuring interests, cotton and woollen, her
tanneries and iron works, her carriages and
clocks, and other "notions," she would re-
ceive heavy blow, from whose stunning ef-
fects she would reel like a drunken man, and
perhaps never recover her prosperity again.
1t may be said that Connecticut would still
manufacture and prosper, even if the Union
were dissolved. But the dissolution of the
Union would set the South to manufacturing
for itself, and deprive Connecticut of the best
market for her goods. The tariffs and custom
houses, and Instructions to commerce between
the States, would cramp every energy, as the
system does now in the petty States Of Italy,
and as it did in Germany until the Customs
Union partially removed the evil. And what
would Connecticut be if severed from the
Union? A little petty State like the duchy of
Parma or Modena, liable to be swallowed up
by any of her larger neighbors, or by any
foreign Power. Her population in 1850 was
370,792, and ought to be now about 100000
less than half million. The area of the State
is 1850 square miles-the smallest in the Union
next to Rhode Island and Delaware.
But, in virtue of the Constitution and
the Union, she is part and parcel of mighty
federal republic, with thirty-three millions of
population and an area of 100000 square
miles. Her strength is thus rendered equal to
that of the largest State in the Union, or to
| any State on this continent or in Europe. She
| is protected from domestic treason and exter-
nal violence, and without expense is secure
| against the world in arms. But loose the last
| ligament which holds the United States toge-
ther, and what security has Connecticut against
deadly intestine feuds which would consume
her vitals, or against the aggressions of
stronger States, to which she must at once sue
comb and be their slave, or waste her blood
and treasure in perhaps truitless and unavail-
ing war! If history is philosophy teaching
by example, Connecticut ought to profit by its
lessons.
All classes of her citizens are interested, be-
cause all have share in the glory, protection
and mutual advantages of the Union, which is
now endangered by fanaticism, and because all
classes in Connecticut are affected by the pros
perity or adversely of her manufactures. They
will do well, therefore, to pause before they
disturb the existing order of things for any
visionary Utopian ideas about blacks in the
Southern States, for whose political or social
status they are no more responsible, either
morally, religiously or politically, than they
are for the condition of the inhabitants