The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-25


the trpnsactions made at full prices. Pork was
more active with sales Of mes u SO 80 and Of prime a
sls 20 sl2 Is. Sugars were fair demand, with sales
Of $50 hhds Porto Rico and Cuba and $50 DO Porto Roo
ct auction = fair prices In Coffee SHE'S Of bags BIO
made at auction II 10. sl3xc-averags 1870;
also 100 RIO to the sds, atIsxc. Freshs were with
out change, and engagements quite limited.
The YmbeoaIs Policy or MIR. Lfncoln's ADJ
!. ministratien-It POrtends Permanent
Disuni0n.
1t Is becoming comparatively easy task, to
fsthom the immediate tendencies Of the Wash
iDgton administration. The timorous, uuofa-
cial, doubfe-tongued dicta, with which repub-
lican journals are instructed to sound public
opinion, respecting what 1t Is contemplated to
do, or to leave undone, have stereotyped thsm-
selves, already, as prelude to every govern
ment programme. They are the fog-bslls with
which, for want Of chart, pilot, or compass, the
blind and bewildered officers Of the ship of
State, seek to avoid collision with some South
ern breaker, or Northern iceberg, strong
enough to dash them to pieces. A critical COM
parison Of the words, with the acts that have
falsiied them, Of Mr.. Lincoln and his advisers,
within the last few weeks, proves that the most
shortsighted, misdirected instinct OF self-pre-
servation, is their highest standard of states
manship and patriotism. The last planks that
hold the nation together, are being rent asun-
der; material interests are becoming every
hour more imperilled; political differences next
to impossible of settlement; yet the administra-
ton fails to take one manly step, or to make q
single explicit, authoritative declaration, calcu-
lated to relieve the pressure of anxiety, that
weighs upon the minds Of good citizens. From
lack Of honesty, manlinees, and courage, it con-
tinues to grope in pitiable darkness, while the
last hopes of reconstruction of the Union, are
passing away. Such blow is descending upon
the commercial, manufacturing, and agricultu-
raj prosperity of the Central and Eastern
States, as they never have received before. 1t
threatens to prove fatal to the interests, not
only Of New York, but also of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and New England; but government
practically reechoes the hope, expressed by
Wendell Phillips, that "four out of every five
men engaged in Southern trade, might end In
bankruptcy" Would that the evil might end
even there!
The latest shuttlecock, tossed backwards and
forwards, by republican organs, for the purpose
of preparing popular sentiment, Is the expedi-
ency Of converting an extra session of Con-
gress. The administration deplores the neces-
sity of such q measure, equally with the ext
gency that compelled the withdrawal of troops
from Fort Sumter. 1t paves the way for it,
with just such cowardly, bypocritical excuses,
as were used, before the latter step was deter
mined on. Its shall /? or shall not? are the
weak, querulous preliminaries of the inevita-
ble-I must. The President would gladly have
avoided an expedient, which will transfer power
from himself, to legislative body he will be
unable to control. He would have preferred
either drifting where tide and current might
carry him, or else carrying into execution, with
the twenty-five millions of dollars which the
last Congress authorized him to borrow, the
abolitionist principles that elevated him to Of.
fee. The rapid progress of events, however,
preclude the possibility of inaction, and the
financial calculations Of his republican friends,
have embarrassed government, instead of
emancipating 1t from immediate responsibility
and supervision. The Morrill, tariff has out of
the prospect of revenue, and there is no proba-
bility that the loans authorized, will be taken.
And, even If the seventeen millions, yet to be
issued, were in the treasury, not one Of the in
famous, coercive schemes that have been 80
fondly cherished, can be carried out, without
such legislation, by Congress, as has no paral-
lei in the history of the United States. At any
rate, bon gre, NAL gre, there must be an extra
session. and, as the constitution directs that the
which compels their being convened, it will
require an unusual amount of shutting and
tergiversation to avoid an issue of some kind,
at last
There are three reasons, out Of which the ad-
ministraion will be compelled to choose, in
assembling Congress, at the present time.
These are, that 1t may provide means to collect
the revenue; grant power to .coerce the seced
Ing States; or consider amendments to the con
stitution that may heal up our national difficult
ties. Neither Mr.. Lincoln, nor the majority OF
bis Cabinet, will choose the last. 1t is true that
Q new-fangled organ of the government has,
recently, declared that the Crittenden or Bigler
amendments, would, now, be accepted by repub-
licans, in the national Legislature; but this is a
lure, held out to deceive and mislead. There
is no disposition, on the part of those holding
power, to be pacific They desire war, although
they have been compelled to pursue peace.
They would gladly have reinforced Fort Sum-
ter, and having been constrained to relinquish
the attempt, announce that "it would be sheer
cowardice not to send troops to Fort Pickens."
With every disposition to be venomous and
vicious, they have been physically unable to
display their bloody propensities. They yearn
to fight with the cotton States; but shrink with
terror from the prospect of being bounded out
of the District of Columbia, by the militia of