New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-03-07
WHERE THE REsPONsJBHLETE
BELONGS.

BELONGS.
One of the sayings which have given Solomon
bis acknowledged title to be called the Wise
Man asserts that from the fool, though he be
brayed in a mortar, HE folly Will mover depart.
The proTerb receives each day new yerification,
but none moro striking than is furnished by tho
oft-rcpeatcd, eyerabsurd charge that the policy
of the new Administration as TO the public prop
crty in the Southern States is war policy, aud
that upon this Administration viii rest the re-
sponsibility of plupging the country into civil
strife. A man finds a burglar making of with
his plate; he expresses his intention OF recover
Jog his property; the thief threatens to set The
house ON fire if the attempt il made, aud then
soy, 70 the proprietor: If you touch your
goods, you will commit arson" II "a not prob
able that the Householder, be he Southerner or
Northerrcr, would regard this as a sound Pc
sition. or hesitate 10 rcpossess himself of bis
plate. Yet such is precisely the nature OF the
threat uttered by the rebels Of The present day,
and such Is the bgc which would Tie the hands
and break the purpose of the Fedora! Govern
mcnt.
these outcres do rot come Eom The South. The
secessiousts are not fools, in one sense, al ieasli
they 40 not impose on themselves by their clamor
about coercion and civil war; but they know
they have 4 doce chorus nj the North, who VIII
repeat with full voice the song OF the Dlsun!oa-
is,, aad therefore they Get on foot the ling re-
frain, III the while laughing in thor slee7cs q.
tho corGd.1co with which the Doughfaces take
the pitch, and at The zeal with which they fol-
low tie lead Of the conductor. Every Northern
uaa who has recently Travelled NJ The South,
knoys p,L lhe Secessonists derde with loud
ioerinr, what they consider the supineness oi the
NORTH, unjus;lY laying upon the people The alAs
Of tho dead Administration Every man who has
travelled o. tho South, knows that similar su-
piress would never, under any circumstances, be
shown b. the Southern traitors; that they de-
ppise thc North for tie acts Of tie craTcn few,
and That the cry against what they coll
coercion arises from . desire not 70 avoid
civil war, but 10 gain time to prepare
themselves for the very strife they profess to
deprecate, the strife upon which they are ALSO
lutely determined the strife which viii be inau-
curatel b. them, If they shall he allowed to re-
strain tho strong arm Of the Government III
they are ready TO strike the blow.
With tho cIcarpess which msris every sentence
Inaugural, Mr. Lincoln defines tie funGamen-
70, uop,t.ch Or the Administration, BY denying the
rigs Of ssc,::..on arrogaIed BY the South This
nosil;on "a stnbbor,,,,,v assaed, but is imPregna-
bio. According to it every ono may tVe' over!
ore muh see, that pcacoabld di.i'-''a' as GIG
thing, and that Independent and arbitrary sec,.'-
sion ia quite another; that whatever all the
States raight agree upon 10 a.nge State, nor any
number Of States less tban tho whole, can, at
their own will, free themselves from the obliga-
ton undertaken when they joined themselves To-
ge.bcr under the Union. Taking this position Rs
q basic, tho Administration while explicitly de-
olaring that, in accordance with tho doctrine laid
down, tho Union must Do regarded % ssll exist.
ing intact, proposes 70 exercise torbearance
which should forever silence tho clamor Of ia
assaiants and not 10 make use Of the powers which
unlcnisbly belong to it, and which would author.
ize il 20 enforce tho exercise Of all the federal
Offices, but to do only what ia iuperatvoly de-
manded Of il BY that justice which should preside
over all.
What, then, is me proposed policy Of the
Government which calls forth the stupid cry
about plungins the country into civil war; Sim
ply this: Tho South have deliberately With force
ard arms, seized tho property OF tie nation,
robbed the Treasury, aud armed Themselves with
stolen weapons against Government which had
not moved an inch toward an offensive, or even
defensive, attitude Leaving out Of the quss-
ton the pretext that States have right on their
own motion to aeccde, it is matter OF history
that in some cases these robberies were COM
mtted while, by their own admission, tue rebels
wore subjects Of the country they plundered.
Undor such circumstances, what can tho Gov
crnment dol Clearly but ono thing. 1t must
deal justly with the North as ven "a tie South;
must recover the property which belongs to both
in tho Union, 10 neither without itI and must
assert it, own authority. or be forever subject
for derison TO tho civilized world. It is believed
that no one is so foolish US to deny that tho
Government would have been justified in holding
MouItrss, Pulaski, and the Nayv.Yard "f Pensacola