New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-21
THE PRS-SLAvERY REBELLION.
FROM WASHINGTON.
THE COMPROMISES PLAN.
rySCoLE's POLICY UNDETERMINED-TliE iAi''i
WAR PROSPECTS.

IT, :, saca 70 assume that the feace CohNen-
FIN, have after prolonged aad laoorious and ex-
,;t,no sessions, fDally come to the original Crit
terden p,opositiOn in regard to the partition OF
Ne Territories. In word, they have arrived
n, a long and circultous journey to the point at
vSeh Mr.. Thurlow Weed started.
It surely required no ghost to foretell that if
sry Surrender of the Republican position that
Slavery ought to be excluded from the Terrific
yies wac 10 be made, It could only be in one
brm and that is by permitting Slavery TO e1'
teud into taem. The Shareholders have, ever
sinee 1854, claimed the right to cnrry their
slaves into all the Territories and into oil Tie
States al we'll But the claim was mere noml-
sal one az respects the more Northern TerrSO-
ries. IN these they did not expect to establish
Slavery.
That nominal claim they professed Themselves
willing to surrender, at the opening OF this SEES
sion, il they could have the Territory south of
the line Of So 80 guaranteed to them. And
the whole controversy since has turned upon
the question of whether they should have 1t.
Every thing that failed to meet this point, really
fell short of meeting the question IN Its only
practical aspect. Clear-sighted men have seen
this, and see il s''Il.
If there Is to ~ any concession which amounts
10 auy thing, it lis ttas The GuCState men III
sisted as sine qua Of their remaining IN the
Uuion, that the Slave States should not enly
have all the Territory South of $50 50 which
we now bold, but oil that we shall hereafter ac-
cure. This was 10 put their claim in the most
radical form, and Of course when these Border
State Commissioners came together TO find sOme
middle ground, they had to lop oil SO much OF
the claim as referred to future acquisitions.
Aud this is the way they have reached their
present position. Which result l say, Is pre-
eisely that which every practical mind said at
the start was the only one embodyiDg any con
ssssi"n worthy of the name.
Everybody who has talked Compromise, has beat
about and about thi. Cape of the subject SAILING up
toward it, aud then sailing back again, some 60
inc little bearer than others, and some giving
IL WIDE berth and leaving it uncertain whether
G! not they would not by long stretch finally
Silke away and double it from the furtbeStpoiot
of their recession from it. For so do ships IN
doubling the Horn sail far away az they approach
ia latitude, and taking broad sweep around the
storms that beset its base, at last make bnal
tack, and in distant waters, catching favorable
breeze double on their course, and breasting the
urgent seas, plough boldly around the obStruc-
tion that they avoided, only that they might
more surely compass it.
Some of our Republican statesmen are on tins
voyage Of observation aud experiment now, and
aothiDg seems to me clean than that they
are bouud round the Cape. In word, to drop
the figure, many who have treated and stlh treat
fhe question Of whether or no We ought lot and
must not adjust existing difficulties by compre-
mise are simply waiting, hesitating and cOnsid-
airing 10 see whether they will not make the con-
eesson of permitting Slavery to extend into the
Territory south OF go 80, and take steps to
secure il there.
Mr.. Weed, who represents this distinct idea
among the Republicans, did not hesitate to advO-
cate it at the opening of Congress To be sure,
il was backing down from the Republican posi-
ton; but this is neither here nor there He
was evidently acting on the belief that the party
was bound TO go into a minority any way ON the
question, and that it was not a matter of cOnse-
suence which outweighed national considerations,
whether it did it by adhering to its principles or
BY abandoning them.
In Mr.. Lncon's absence from the center Of
political thoughts, aud away from that theater Of
action which compels man, about to seize the
reiDs Of power, to dispel all mists and all en-
chantrneuts With which distance envelopes all
things, be has not come down to even O serious
contemplation Of what be will do, and must
do, when no enters the chariot Of State
Hence / have said already, in previous letter,
that the policy of the new Administration on
this very point Of cOnsentiDg to the extension of
Slavery, is still an open question. II is not de-
ycided whether or no the Administration Of Mr..
Lincoln will not give way on this very point Of
Slavery Extension.
Please TO observe the arguments that are used
10 show why he should. 1t is said it was
clearly set forth, in Mr.. Stewards speech, that
Slavery had not, and it was fair to assume never
would have, any solid foothOld in any of our
present Territories. Fourteen years effort under
Slavery Administration and q Slave Code had
only put fourteen slaves into Territory fourteen
times the size Of New-YOrk. Would any given
consent that Slavery should go into region like
that be anything but q nominal consent to the
extension of Slavery Such is the argument 80
far as it relates to this vital point.
But now new phase Of the case is developed.
The Confederate States, six in number, have de
clared themselves permanent organization and
proclaimed their purpose to oppose "reconstruc-