The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-05

aboli'io Dist friends q query respecting free
negroes which is completely out OF place.
might II not be we'll" be asks, Ia their behalf,
Ito provide by Law for the ensorcemea, Of that
clarre in the constitution. which guarantees
thai the citizens Of each State. shall b. entitled
TO all the privileges and immunities Of citizens
in the several S'atesrp This Il = covert ding.
of course, at South Carolina, whose recen,
legislation on the subject Of free negroes, l.
thus held up for reprobatlon.
The Union, Mr.. Lincoln reminds us. has not
provided. in the national consultation. for IT,
own destruction but, sin contemplation OF
universal law" il must be perpetual =
indeed. and this should greatly console the
Bourbons and the Rsjah Of Scinde, perpetuity
is the fundamental law Of ell national govern
ments." Therefore, al shall take care" he
continues, " that the laws Of the Union be faith
fully executed In all Of the States" Later
however, he pays tribute TO the Fright Of
revolution" with which his FIRST declarations
are scarcely consistent He Says" This coun-
try, with Its institutions, belongs TO the people
who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow
weary Of the existing government they can ex-
ercise their constitutional right Of amending,
or their revolutionary right to dismember or
overthrow It." But he passes ON to declare the
purposes Of his administration, in relation
to the States that have seceded-s fact
he abstains from directly referring to
in manner 90 murkily abstruse, and inten-
tionally contradictory, that, at first sight he
appears nearly, if not quite, inoomprehensible
He tells US that, "in enforcing the laws, there
need be no bloodshed or violence, and there
ehall be none, unless it Is forced upon the ns
tional authority. The po,oer contfded 10 me ,ciA
be used to hold, occupy and possess the property
and places belonging TO the government, and col
lect the duties and imspostS, but beyond what
may be necessary for these objects there will
be no invasion-no using of force against or
amongst the people anywhere" 1t Is impOssi-
BILE to interpret these sentences otherwise than
as pledge to the coercionists that Forts Sum-
laski, Moultrie and the defences of the Belize
rctskcn; and that Southern cities shall be
blOckadcd, and the revenue collected, outside Of
such ports of entry as Mobile, Charleston, New
Orleans and Savannah. If such words mean
anything, 1T is war, and the beginning of such
in any age. No honeyed phraseology, or sub
sequent recantation, can entirely extract the
venom they contain.
Yet an explanation follows, which is de-
signed to cover up, as far as possible, the ter
rible, suicidal threat that precedes it. The
President goes on:-"Where hostility to the
United States shall be so great and so universal
as 10 prevent competent resident citizens from
holding the federal Offices, there will be no at
tempt SO force obnoxious strangers among the
people that object. While the strict legal right
may exist Of the government TO enforce the
exercise Of these offices, the attempt to do 80
would be so irritating and so nearly imprac-
ticable withal that / deem 1t better to forego for
the time the uses Of such Offices" And again
The government, my dissatisfied fellow
countymen, will not assail you. We are not
enemies, but friends. We must not be enc
mics" Suppose you go to war, you cannot
fight always, and when, after much loss on both
sides, and no gain on either, you cease fight
ing, the identical questions, as to terms of in
tercoursc are again before you" These dis
chalmers of hostile intent would be hailed with
rejoicing If they could be deemed sincere.
They seem, indeed, to contradict the previous
terrible menace; but we fear they mean no
more than that IL the Southern States make no
resistance, when the administration shall be
ready TO attack them, there shall be peace; the
cndeavor to repulse the federal government
will, however, be regarded by the latter as a
beginning OF hostilities. We shall soon see.
1t may possibly be that coercion and concilis-
ton have been melted out, In two phrases, to
satisfy, equally, the moderates and radicals Of
the republican party, and that the government
is still undecided, with regard to the practical
policy II will adhere to.
The President PHILOSOPHERS about the rights
Of majorities and minoritics in . common place
manner, predatory to an endeavor to weaken
the authority Of the Supreme Court and espe-
cially Of its Dred Scott decision, by asserting
that but q temporary weight attaches thereto,
"as each particular case decided by the Su.
prcme Court, may be afterwards overruled in
some other case" This attack on the highcs,
tribunal in the land, possesses significance, as
1t IL quasi-endorsemen Of one of the pet plans
Of Mr.. Seward, one of whose strongest motives
for desiring national convention, is TO effec,
a reconstruction of the federal judiciary, in
such manner as shall deprive 1t OF much oil
the power and dignity IL now possesses.
Not single pledge or proposition, with re-
gard to the future, is contained in the Inaugu-
raj Message, from beginning to end. Mr.. Cor
wins amendment to the constitution il referred
to by Mr.. Lincoln, as though he had not read
IL; and, at tho time he spoke, he was unaware
Il bad passed the Senate. lie holds ats pro.
vision 10 be already implied in constitutional
law; !" although he has emo objection TO its
being made express and irrevocablc.r lie was
unconscious that he had himself quoted the
substance OF the amendment of Mr.. Corwin. as