The national Republican., 1861-02-20
ANOTHER UNION vICToRY-MIs.
SnITpI

In St. Louis, the unconditional Union ticket
was carried by majority Of FIVE thousand. The
reports are that, in the State it is doubtful if a
single avowed secessionist has been elected to
the Convention.
The question of holding any Convention at
all was not left to the people, as it was in Ten.
nessee. If it had been, they would doubtless
have voted down Convention, almost en- masss.
This secession of ls6O-'6l has not, and never
has had, any strength among the people. 1t is
the work Of demagogues, whose numbers have
been enormously supposed to bear some pro.
portion to the noise they make. The ballot.
box is fast dspelling that delusion.
The notification Of 1882 was far more formi.
dable than the current movement. South Car
olina had more sympathizers then than now,
and had some ground to stand upon, instead Of
having none, as at present. There are views
of political economy which, whether right or
wrong, have never failed to command advocates
among the most intelligent men, upon which
the South was paying heavy tribute to the
North through the tariff then existing. There
can be no question that the grievances com.
planned of were sincerely believed to be griev-
ances by those who complained. General
jackson, who put down the nullifers of that
day, himself maintained that their grievances
were real. But, in the present case, there is
not single well.informed man, from Canada to
the Gulf Of Mexico who believes that the com.
plants in respect to slavery are anything more
than pretexts.
The clamor made about Territories, into which
slavery can never enter, is sham, known to be
SO, both by those who make it and by those to
whom it is addressed. And as to fugitive slaves,
even the seeding States admit that they never
suffered anything in that respect.
The only thing which has made this present
movement at all formidable, has been the coun.
tensnce given to it by the Administration, trait
orously by members of the Cabinet, and weakly
and blindly by the President.
| But with all this countenance, it is waning
and sinking. 1t has no foothold north Of the
cotton line. The people in all the border States
are immovably against it. The statement that
Virginia will 60 out if this or that thing is not
done about Territories, in respect to which they
have no cause to be otherwise than profoundly
Indifferent is the talk of politicians, who have
an object to accomplish. 1t is known to be
false by everybody who has opportunities of in.
tercourse with the people of Virginia. They
are for the Union, just as it is, and those among
them who threaten disunion absolutely, or con-
tingently, only dig their own political graves.
What remains to be done, is to take such
measures as will cripple the power Of the
revolutionists, who have trampled upon the
rights Of the people in the six seeded
States, and the old harmony will be restored,
Nothing has happened on the Gulf, except an
insurrection of q violent minority, who will be
put down by their own neighbors, in q short
time. The insurrection having been long
planned and organized, the minority were able,
| by concert and tactics, to temporarily overpower
the loyal and peaceable majority. That is the
explanation of oil that has happened.
COLLECTING REvENUE.-The customs rev.
enue at New York is, in good times, q million
Of dollars per week, and is even now six hun.
dred thousand dollars. Not farthing Of it is
paid from either complaisance or patriotism,
but simply because those who pay can't help
themselves. The language Of the collector is,
"pay, or hare your merchandise seized" and
he always has force within reach, to make
his words good. If he is not resisted, it is be.
cause resistance is known to be useless, and
there has been no President, from Washington
down, except possibly Mr.. Buchanan, who
would not have ordered men .of:war into New
York harbor upon the instant that resistance
was exhibited.
The same system Of coercion prevails on
our whole coast, from Passamaquoddy to Will.
mington, and no State, and no man, complains
of it, or feels hunilated by it, or proposes to
destroy the Union on account Of it.
Now, this coercion, SO entirely free from OBJ
lection north Of Wilmington, cannot be a very
monstrous thing south of it, where it is only
proposed to apply the same rate and rule of
collecting imports. So far as State pride goes,
Florida may very well submit to what New
York does not resist, and, while cheerfully ad.
mitting that the people in the Gulf region are
our equals, it is no presumption to deny that
they are our superiors.
A VERY Cool AMERIcAN-A Frenchman
| Appropriates His VIE, and He the French.
mans Estate.-A Frenchman recently eloped
from Paris with the pretty wife of an American,
and as soon as the latter learned what had
! taken place, he installed himself In the chateau
| of his rival, and wrote to the latter missive,
as follows:
".You have appropriated my wife, and have
taken possession of your estate. BY the time
your love is squandered, I will try to have
spent your fortune. hope you will have an
agreeable time in Switzerland though Decem.