The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-01-16


al which practical compromise to tho South
ern States may be offered with every prospect
of success. We would accordingly invite the
attention of Mr.. Seward from ese Southern
"eccentric secession and disunlon movements"
TO the manifestations we have indicated Of q
large and powerful and not altogether dormant
Union party in the South, which only awaits
come liberal, practical offers of peace in behalf
of Mr.. Lincoln's administration, in order to
show TO him that the'south may still be reached
by reason and Cancellation.
On tue other hand, we cannot appreciate the
wisdom of Mr.. Stewards policy Of mastery in
activity" in the matter Of compromise when
nothing but a compromise can arrest these
Southern secession movements from the deci-
sive resort 70 Southern confederacy Nor can
we comprehend the advantages supposed to lie
in that other policy suggested by that terrible
man Of war, Horace Greeley, and other military
Of first recovering by force of arms, the federal
forts, arsenas,. &C., seized by the State authori-
les in South and North Carolina, Georgia, Flo
rida, Alabama and Louisiana, before entering
upon any negotiations of peace with them.
Where would now be the revolutionary fac
tionists Of Kansas, of lS54-55-56-57, had they
been strictly dealt with according to their de-
sertsY But has not general amnesty made
better peace among them than could have
been made by the federal bayonet and the
hsngman?
We have endeavored to show in this article
hat tie policy of Cancellation and compromise
would not now be lost upon the South, and we
conclude in urging upon Mr.. Seward, as the
conservative Union representative of the Presi-
dent elect, a step or two farther IN this d.
rection Delays in affairs Of peace are danger
Gus, when the events OF each succeeding day
are widening the field of revolution.
The Telegraph systcm-Its Value In
Revolutionary Times.
Since the secession movement has gained
head the telegraph has been charged with
giving it impetus by the circulation of false
and exciting rumors. Those who make
such accusations neither take the trouble
Of weighing the facts nor of contrasting the ad
vantagcs of the present rapid mode OF transmit
ting intelligence with that OF the old mail sys-
TEN In the first place the telegraph, as an in
strument Of communication, is no more respon-
sible for the character OF the news flashed over
the contents of the letters forwarded through
it, It has not and never Can exercise any
power of censorship, for the simple reason that
il would lose the confidence of the public the
moment that it attempted to do so and would
forfeit its character US a purely commercial en-
terprise.
BUTT remains to be proved that the telegraph
is not in every way as reliable in its confden-
tal aspects as it is in point of rapidity, We
contend that il is There are infinitely less in
ducements to fabricate news by Its instrumental
ty than under the old mail system, because its
contradiction by the same means can be so i'm
medately arrived at. No stock exchange ope-
ration can be successfully carried out by its
aid, because people are always on their guard
against surprise, and lose no time in verify
ing the information sent.
As regards the unreliability Of the political
reports and rumors transmitted by telegraph
in connection with the South, there Is no real
ground Of complaint. Very little news of this
kind has been forwarded or received which
public mind in such state of feverish anxiety,
and such Iapid instrument OF communication
at their command, it Is not of course to be ex-
pccted that newspaper correspondents will al
ways wait for the full development Of events.
1t generally happens, however, that when the
intelligence they send is contradcted by in
Ierested parties, It is borne out by later news.
The telegraph correspondents employed by
newspapers are not infallible; but it Is due to
hem to say that, generally speaking, they are
correctly informed.
The way false rumors get circulation is
ess by their fundamentally than by that Of
outsiders. Parties in Washington and other
centres of intelligence pick up rumors in bar
rooms and other public places, which
without troubling themselves to investigate,
they telegraph forthwith to their friends in the
different cities. These rumors occasionally find
heir way into the newspapers, though journals
having reliable correspondents Of their own
are rarely taken of their guard by them.
We're there no telegraph in existence the par
ties sending them, having the mail to wait for
would probably have time to verify their ac-
curacy before forwarding them. Having the
telegraph at their command, they despatch them
in the heat and excitement Of the moment,
without rejecting on the possibility OF their be-
ing erroneous. 1t is in this way that most OF
The acts Of Mr.. Buchanan in connection with
| tie revolutionary movements in the South have