, 1861-01-25
WASHINGTON CRY, !
Dec. II, 1860.

Since my last, another week has beer
developing the tendency of events, and ha
brought the thoughts of men throughou
the country to clearer appreciation o
the character Of the revolution now il
progress It. indeed q revolution, and {
revolution North as well as South. The
indications too, of a peaceable solution o.
existing troubles, are much more clear anG
explicit than they were week ago With
the week remarkable events have gone into
history, and entered into the past, upon
which our countrymen will pass judgment.
In the House, the select committee Of
80 have had four meetings, and will prob.
ably report this week. You will observe
in the resolution Of Mr.. Rust of Arkan.
sas, announcing the existence of crisis,
and the duty Of Congress to devise some
measures to reconcile the sections, the Re-
publicans were divided. Only those from
New England, New York and Wisconsin
voted in the negative. The remaining Re-
publcans voted with the Breckenridge,
Douglass aud Bell men. 1t is true, most
Of the members Of Congress from the cot
Ton States published on Friday, (Dec. l4)
a notice to their constituents to the effect
that it was hopeless to expect from the
Republicans such concessions as the South
could accept, and that the only alternative
Of the South was secession and the forma-
ton Of a separate coniederacy. This, too,
Is the judgment Of the Hon. Howell Cobb,
who argues the question at length in his
address to the. people Of Georgin, in re-
signing his position as Secretary of the
Treasury. This address, beg you to con-
slider well. 1t is written with great per-
spicnity and force, and in much of it |
concur. His presentation Of the doctrines
and designs of the Republican party and
of the results which would flow from their
continued ascendency, is logical, and in
deed, is unanswerable. He has brought
that party to the august tribunal of his
countrymen, and in q manner that will
cause their verdict to be pronounced against
it The Republican party is indeed dis
union party, warning upon, and defying the
constitution of our fathers, and houting at
the counsel of these fathers. But Mr.. Cobb
has failed to prove that oil those who voted
for Lincoln were Republicans. His state
ment that, differing in oil things else, they
agreed on the slavery question; that ha-
tired Of slavery and determination to war
upon the South, was the firm bond of un-
ion Of men, in other things having diamet-
rically opposite opinions, is contrary to the
fact. The bond Of union was opposition
10, and hatred Of the Administration and
the Democratic party. 1t brought togeth-
er, as l observed in my last, Abolitionists,
Republicans of the various grades, from
fanatics to conservatives, high tariff men,
old line Wings and Bell men. In the north
ern States Bell men voted for Lincoln, as
voting for Bell would be throwing away
their votes, and, to use their own words,
they preferred the conservative old line
Whig, Lincoln, to any Democrat, whether
Breckinridge or Douglass" A prominent
Republican of the House told me the first
day Of the session, that, in his opinion,
from four to FIVE hundred thousand votes
wero thrown upon Lincoln, by men who
were not Republcans-that is, about one
quarter Of Lincoln's entire vote was not O
Republican vote. The question is not what
will the Republican party, but what will
the Northern people do2 Mr. Cobb, in his
letter, and the cotton members in their no.
tice, misapprehend the question, and are
brought to wrong conclusions. For Mr..
Cobb have infinite respect. A frank,
genial, high-toned man, Of the greatest d.
rectness and integrity of character, and oI
talents admirably fitted for the hustings
and for popular assemblies, he has shown
in his past career aIcourage to breast pop
ular clamor and to contend for the preser-
vation of the Union, which, has endeared
bis name to the people throughout the
land. In the present crisis, l ferVidly hope
that he will vindicate his old reputation,
and will show himself the cool observer
the acute and discriminating actor which
the times demand. Reason and cool judg
ment will, hope, soon return to him. He
then can be leader He then can wisely
direct the councils Of the people Of his State
Mr.. Toombs is changing his extreme
ground, and now entertains the proposition
chow shall the constitutional rights Of the
DOubu DC UlhluLulu6u Nltulu bhO ShiOh.
So the telegraph informs US to-day. Viii
not Mr.. Cobb soon ask himself the same
question: Will he not bear in mind thai
the people of the North are not the Re
publican party, but the descendants Of the
men who fought the battles Of the ReVolu
tion all the way from Maine to Georgia
and, who, misled as they have been at times
by hereses dangerous to our peace ant
tranquility, have shown themselves in th'
main, through their entire history, a peac,
loving and patriotic people.
The conservative speeches of Dixon ant
other Republicans in the Senate, have re
ceived many cncomiums from men who vo
ted for Lincoln, and especially in the Stat
of Connecticut. At the present time it i
hardly safe for anti-slavery agitators to ad
dress assemblies in our large cities. Tn
change in Syracuse is remarkable. This i
the great centre Of New York fanaticism
Here the anti-slavery party have its an
nual conventions. Syracuse was the seem
of the Jerry rescue.7 Yet prominen