New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-04-05
WAR At HAND!

United States, and will assault or open fire on
Fort Pckens forthwith Meantime, the limited
daily supply Of fresh provisions hitherto allowed oy
Gov. Pickens TO DO furnished to Fort Sumter
has been stopped, and we may hear at any
moment that this Fort, too, has been carr'ea ny
assault, or is so pressed that it must Speeany
surrender. Within few days at farlhest inc
cannon of the insurgents will be battering DOWN
the delenscs aud slaushteriDs the defenders Oh
the American Union.
Let us pause moment and consider
Slavery makes open war upon that Union
which has to long been its protection ana
security.
For thirty years, the opponents of Slavery
have borne tho mputstiOn-which not one IN
hundred Of Them has deserved-of seeking their
end through the dissolution Of the Union.
In all this time, not squadron has charged
not platoon has fired, on the National nag ana
forces. under the inspiration Of Anh-SaTery
Ia advocates have been beaten at elections
bnpted out of halls which they had hired and
maid for. mobbed and manned in The Slave
States and generally prescribed and stigmatisea
in the Free, without being gooded into HOSTILE
ties. Only in Kansas, when compelled to choose
between resistance and annihilation, have they
been moved 70 repel force by force.
The Slave Power, after enjoying undisturbed
sway for half century, has at length lost an
election. HereupOn, it proceeds to treat that
! election as o farce and nuty, and defy those
whom it invested with authority.
| Il has, whib in power, loudly vnunted It's
G1el;t, and deyotedness to the Federal COnstitu.
ton Losing power, it deliberately repadiates
that charter, aud adopts one radically different
in its stead.
The Union, the Union forever!" has been
the vociferous cry Of its servitors. Having lost
m election, they treat that same Union ns
hated curse, passing ordinances and raising
armies for its overthrow.
LET the laws be enforced !" II was thuu.
| dered whenever the conscenees Of freemen re-
| 7olted at the inhuman atrocities of slave
hunting in Free States. But the moment the
enforcement of the laws has devolTed on Repub-
lcons, Slavery dcuouuces it as i" coercion" aud
insists that it il ipauguratng civil war
And in feet to very many North as well as
soutb Slavery is above the Union, ebogo the
laws above the Constitution. Rebellion, in their
view, 10 opposition TO Slayeryj while love OF
Slavery and love Of the Union are synonymous.
They plead for Peace, meaning that there be
no further resistance to Slavery. National
" Unity" in their vocabulary, means a universal
agreement that Slavery is eminentiy right, and
that it ought to be diffused universally and main.
tanned forever.
And what Is to be the attitude Of the North
ern opponents of the Republican party IL tie
new era now opening before us'
They have professed TO sustain Slavery 80 far
rs the Constitution requi,ed aud no further.
Slavery now repudiates the Constitution, breaks
up the Union, and makes war on the Federal
| Government If Northern Democracy allows II,
synpathies to follow Slavery into treason, how
shall i. conceal, even from itself, the Evidence Of
| its own recreancyf
| There ia not even prstense thBt the Federal
Government has done or refused TO do any.
thing whereby this rebellion is justified. 1t has
been pacific, forbearpg, and most anxious TO
avoid a collision. 1t has allowed its troops to
be disarmed Its arsenals to be robbed, its forts
10 BIO seized, it, money to be stolen, and its
revenues to DO collected end appropriated by Its
open enemies. Through these blgh.habdcd vii.
lainies, whole frontier has been opened to
savage ineursion aud massacre, until even Mex
leo threatens IN invasion. ID has seriously
lost ground with its friends by voinly seeking to
conciliate its implaesble foes. AT length the
great Slayoholdiug Rebellion Is ready TO
unmask it's batteries and open fire On the
most exposed and isolated of tho National
defenses The challenge Of it's opening cannonade
Will coon reverberste over TIE country. The
Union flag on Fort Sumter is to be shot down
by the rebel batteries unless speedily lowered by
the devoted garrison. TIE American Republic