New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-16
ABAgGAIN ALL ON ONE ssDE.

other name the proposition may be called, for
they are all essentially the same, by which it is
proposed to settle our present national difficulties
ought, By this time to be pretty thoroughly un-
derstoOd BY the country. Certainly no great de-
gree of intelligence is necessary to comprehend
that the thing which three months ago two mil
lions of people voted, as they believed in God
and hoped for man, should never be done, they
are now called upon to do with certain aggra-
vntions of humiliation, with certain degradations
of concession, with certain confessions Of defeat,
and certain consequences of disaster such as
never could have happened to them could they
only have had the good fortune to lose that election,
and had the misfortune of victory befallen their
enemies. II is not the intellectual intelligence
that is wanted TO perceive this, but the moral
perception to f0rcsee the consequences and COM
prchend the final result. To those lacking this
quality, conviction only will come when they
learn that with the sacrifice Of principle they
have shipwreched the Republic also; that the
old story has always one ending, that he who
deals with the devil not oDly loses the small
matter of soul which he expected to part with,
but the gold and the jewels, the palaces and
the power for which he had bartered it, have
passed away like dream from his longing
eyes aud eager clutches. There are two, and,
we believe, two only, of the Republican journals
of any consequence which favor Compromise
one in Albany and one in New-YOrk. Az they
are both looking to be, in some sort, organs OF
an Administration, and, at least, cOunselors in
the distribution of power, we commend to
their especial consideration the moral Of the old
fable of dealings with the evil one. The argU-
ment is not above their comprehension.
For whence did this Crittenden, or Guthrie, or
Border-State, or Chamber of Commerce, or Rev
erdy- johnson Compromise emnnate From the
Republicans or from the friends of Republicans
Not bit of it. 1t comes from their enemies.
1t comes from men who are either shareholders,
or who would have no objection to being SO, and
who are incapable from the force of habit or
the misfortune Of education, of dealing with the
question Of Slavery as great moral, civil, and
political fact extending with its results either Tor
good or evil, into the far future, and not
merely personal relation or temporary measure
to be treated as if it began but yesterday, and
WAS Ia fade away tomorrow. They comprehend
neither the magnitude, the Importance nor the
dignity of the question, and are ready, there
fore, to make of it mere political dice
box with which to cheat or be cheated.
And if anybody is to be cheated in this game it
is the Republicans if they consent TO play it.
We have shown, over and over again how oil
of the Compromises yet offered are based upon
the absolute abandonment of the principle which
brought the Republicans into existence, and Sc
cured their success. The compromising faction
among the Republicans, if they are capable Of
comprehending that there has ever been any
principle at stake at all, cannot fail to see,
and if they are honest, acknowledge, as Mr..
Seward has virtually done, that they do abandon
il uuhesitatiDgy, but only for the sake Of the
Union But do they get Union by the sacrifice!
The sacrifice certainly is great one, and the
gain should be equally great. If Union IS worth
it. let us then, at least, be sure that We gain
the Union. Are We On the contrary it is no.
even mentioned in this 'prepOsterOus truck and
barter as to the future of this great empire
In ordinary bargains there is something ~ be
given for the price offered " II is naught, it is
nausht, saith the buyer; but when he is gone
" his way then he bOasteth." But in this case
there il nothing offered. The buyer may well
boast, for all lie asks for he gets for nothing.
And where is the return which the South offers
for these immense concessions which are demand
ed from the North and which it is attempting To
wiring from the Republican party Nothing;
aud pnaitiv.lv untbingi The lInIUD
We know the seeding States scout at the word
on any terms which anybody has yet ventured 10
proposc To them. II the Union is worth pre-
serving at all, il must be preserved as whole,
and il must be accepted as the recognized policy
of the Government, to be established at all haz-
ards, that every State must return TO IFS allegi-
ance that Secession cannot, for moment, be
tolerated, and that the unity Of the States, intact,
unbroken, il to be the return for the enor-
nous price of compromise which we arc
called upon TO pay. DO even the Bor-
der Slave States propose 10 make us this
return Not one Of them. They propose
nothing but that we should pay up in full, and
get thereafter according to our luck. More than
this, the Governors Of some. OF these States have
iaess0ged, and their Legislatures have resolved
that they shall go with their sister Slave
States the moment there is any resort 10 coer-
cion. They have yet to make the first offer,
either to maintain the Union in their own
ease, or to aid us in maintaining it in the
case Of the more Southern States, while
they are camorous that we shall yield all
which is, or ought 10 be, as much more
precious to US as Liberty is better than bondage
Are We so weak as to be cheated by such false
Il, =. tl,n ...nn