The national Republican., 1861-01-04
THE THIRD HARTFORD CONVENTION.

The second Hartford Convention was holden |
at Nashville in 1850. And notwithstanding
the fate of these two first copclaves, third
one, with the same purposes, is threatened to
be held in Baltimore, in the approaching month
of February, by delegates from the border slave
States.
Mr.. II. W. Davis, in his address, shows that
this attempt at alliance between particular
States, without the assent Of Congress, is ex-
pressly prohibited by the Constitution, and no
body now doubts, that the ultimate purpose Of
the managers, concealed as yet by patriotic
professions which impose upon the unsuspect
ing, is to destroy the Union and overturn the
Government.
On the face of it, . sectional and geographi.
cal consultation, and therefore offensive to all
sentiments of comprehensive nationality, it
must either belittle all the parties to it by the
pomp and circumstance with which it will in.
vest empty and powerless recommendations, or
commit them to dangerous alternatives, If it
undertakes to enforce its recommendations
with practical measures. 1t must prove, in
fine, either farce, or a tragedy and wise
men will avoid, for themselves, a part, of which
the most favorable issue must be, to be laughed
at, and discountenance in others, proceedings
which must compromise either the dignity or
the patriotism Of great States.
1t is undoubtedly in the border slave States,
although the masses of their populations are
we'll affected, that the most dangerous schemes
of treason are being Matched, and upon which
patriotism should keep its most vigilant eye.
The movement in the Gulf States is feeble, to
the degree Of absolute righteousness. 1t is in
the border slave States only, that the strength
of the South lies. 1t is these States only which
can give dignity to the present enterprises
against the Government, or which have the
least power to protect the notification Of the
extreme South. Without the expectation of
support from them against coercion, South
Carolina would never have presumed to defy
the national authority.
In the actual temper Of men, nothing less
can be expected from border slave State
consultation, than q protest against the col.
lection Of the revenue in the seeding States,
and probably an insistance upon division of
the territories by that black line of abomna
tions, the Missouri compromise line, with all
its hateful recollectons of treachery and insult,
and rather than submit to which, the country
would prefer to cede back to Mexico every inch
of territory outside Of the States, acquired by
the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Such are the terms, with an alternative
menace, express or implied, Of disruption Of
the Union, which are anticipated from this
third Hartford Convention, precipitated at a
period of excitement, and rejecting, not the
deliberate judgment Of communities, but the
passions and the personal aspirations of poll
ticians.
Indeed, there is good reason to believe that,
in addition to the men in the border States pre-.
pared to act as the allies and covering parties
of notification on the Gulf, there is another
class of men, embracing not a few, who have
the effrontery to style themselves Union men,
who cherish schemes more dangerous to the
country, because more feasible and more
plausible, than anything threatened from South
Carolina. When William c. Rives, Of Virginia,
came out with his manifesto, in December, pro-
posing an overthrow of the Government, as the
alternative Of the rejection of claim for sla-
very in the Territories impossible to be admit.
ted, aud the formation of a Central Confsd.
eracy, excluding New England and the Gull
States, discerning men did not fail to perceive
that the courage which inspired him, notorious
ly not personal to the man, was drawn from
surrounding public sentiment which needed
watching.
To show the ideas which are floating! lin mem
minds, we cut the following from the Baltimor
Sun:
"The Senators and Representatives from tn
border [slavel States have all, with the excep
ton, it is said, of Senator Pearce, of Maryland
signed call for the Convention to be held a
Baltimore in February. Many think that th
is the initiative step towards the formation of ,
Central Confederacy, as the easiest way for re