The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-04-25
The War-Mr. LfncOlM's AdNfnist sattOn-
Its Friends and HIS Policy.


Action, action, action, says Demosthenes,
are the three great rules o. eloquence; and
they are, also, the great rules Of war. But
what are we to say 0. the action Of Mr.. Liza
coins administration in this crisis Accord
ing 70 its leading organs, the administration,
instead Of pursuing q vigorous course Of &C
ticn, has been asleep, incTedulous Of danger,
or TOO much embarrassed with its difficulties to
know what 70 DO and has beea temporizing
with and apologizing TO, coaspirators against
the government, whose imrudence called for a
different course Of treatment
These complaints from some Of the fayorite
organs Of Mr. Lincoln would hardly be made
without some grounds Of justification For in
stance, we might ask, Why were rot the neces-
sary precautions taken in advance to secure
some line Of transit for troops mails and pas
sepgers over Maryland, in anticipation Of these
troubles which have placed our federal capital
in the condition OF city under siege. Why
were not ten thousand men quietly concentra-
ted on the Maryland border, and put through
in body? Why were not several war steam
ers seasonably employed to run constantly up
and down the Potomac to keep it open, by pre-
venting the erection Of hostile batteries on its
banks? Why is it that Mr.. Lincoln and Me-
Seward were SO very amiable in regard to the
Baltimore secessionists, and after their outra-
geous assault upon the Massachusetts, regi-
ment?
Such questions, it is true, may be more
readily asked than answered; bu. they can be
asked with some show Of justice. The simple
truth is, Mr. Lincoln has been fattered with
the idea that this Southern rebellion is loose,
slipshod and reckless conspiracy, without any
fooihold in Maryland, when he Suddenly dis
covers that it is a gigantic rebellion-a
Southern reign of error-carrying everything
before it, even in Maryland. There are ru-
mors, too, that Mr.. Lincoln does not like the
smell of gunpowder; that Mr.. Seward would
rather let the seeded States go than fight
them, and that Mr.. Secretary Chase thinks it
would be The best possible anti slavery policy
to turn them adrift. The Hartford ColiTunl
the leading republican paper of ConnectcuD
strongly urges this policy of a peaceable sepa-
ration, and the New York Tribune, in frequent
editorials, has advocated the same thing.
We have reason to believe, too, that under
all this administrative smoke there is some
fire; that Mr.. Lincoln is contemplating the re-
cognition Of the Confederate States; but Mary
lands unexpected disafection spoils his pro-
gramme. She has been blindly, rashly and ruiz
nously drawn into this secession movement, and
she is beginning already to rue it, She will be
overrun and sonndly chasiised into submission
if she does not save herself by timely repen-
lance. She is making herself the Crimea Of
another Russian war, and like the Crimea she
will be eaten up and laid waste by contending
armies. as sure rs fate, unless she takes the
back track while she may. Meantime, there
are five hundred thousand men and two hun
dred millions Of money in the North ready for
the service Of the government at the tap of
the drum. But these men want an efficient sys-
tenn OF direction at Washington. Are they to
have it, or are we 10 be dragged into the slow
tortures OF long and lingering civil war?
We have the power to make it short, effective
and decisive. Oh, for ten days Of staunch old
Andrew Jackson!