The national Republican., 1861-06-08
MR.. SEWARD'S DISPATCH TO MR..
DAYTON.
From tho London Daily News.

MR.. SEWARD'S DISPATCH TO Mr..
DAYTON.
From tho London Daily News.
"The United States have accepted this civil
war as an inevitable necessity" Such is the
declaration Of Mr.. Seward in his dispatch to the
American Minister at Paris. The Secretary of
the United States Government must have pom.
dered well those words before he consigned
them in document to be laid before the first
Power of Continental Europe. But they ex-
press fact, one which has not received sufi.
cient attention in England. 1t is often lightly
asked here why the two sections Of the Ameri.
can Union cannot separate, and live pesceably
side by side. Those who thus speak have be-
slowed but a slight and superficial attention
upon the nature Of the causes of disagreement.
The question may be met by an other-if moth.
ing hinders them living peacefully side by
side, why should they separate and sacrifice the
Union, which is their common strength and glo
ryf The statesmen of the North know full well
that, however quietly they might acquiesce in
the separation of the South, there could be no
peace between Governments founded Oh princi.
pies SO radically antagonistic as those embod.
led in the respective Constitutions Of the Con.
federacy and of the United States. The prom.
ise, if seriously given, would not and could not
be kept.
We have heard good deal Of the Monroe
doctrine, and the determination Of the citizens
Of the United States never to allow any Euro.
pean Government to transfer its institutions to
a fresh portion of the American continent; but
the United States Government might, with much
less danger to it's tranquility, allow this, than
permit the formation OF great slave Power,
stretching from the Ohio to the Gulf There
is nothing in the. forms Of European Govern.
ments more inimical to the peace and freedom
of the non-slaveholding States, than the politi.
cal doctrines openly proclaimed by the seces.
sion leaders. If the Confederacy could estab
lsh itself, it would manifest itself to the world
on the very morrow, as a propagandist, aggres.
sive, freebooting State, perpetualy menacing its
neighbors, and embroiling them in hostilities
Its large idle population Of poor and turbulent
whites form the appropriate material Of filibus.
tering forces, and would be ever nexing some.
body. The extension of the area of slavery it
should be remembered, was the very question
on which the present rupture has taken place.
Severed from the Union, the South would serd
out its bands in all directions and carry slavery
far and wide. The acquisition of Mexico is one
of the commonest of the promises made to their
adherents by the secession leaders.
Is the first nation of the American continent
!
therefore, better to meet the mischief in its
early stage, The only object the South have
in separating Is, that slavery, hitherto limited
by counteracting principles, may henoeforth
become sovereign, expanding ITSELF and per.
vading and moulding every institution Of Gov.
.ernment. And experience proves that the
growth of negro slavery is the Measure of the
decrease Of the white mans freedom. Where
the black man ia held in bondage, the white
man is deprived of the commonest liberties,
and must neither speak his mind nor exercise
his industry.
II President Lincoln prevents the execution
OF the Southern programme, preserving the
abundant constitutional rights Of the Southern
States as members OF the Union, we shall say
that he has defended the cause of liberty, aud
not whit less because the dominant party in
the South has its own projects for rearing an
empire OF tyranny and oppression. If It be.
comes necessary Tor that purpose to draw the
sword, we shall say, that until the mliennial day
comes, when the sword shall be beaten into
the ploughshare and the spear into the pruning.
hook, war can be waged for no higher object
than to maintain the Constitution of the United
States over the length and breadth of the Union
From the first, Mr.. Lincoln has uniformly de.
clared that he will do this.
lrated his consistency and steadfastness. 1t
seems to be maintained in some quarters, that
because the Government Of the United States
is 80 free, its head ought not to defend it, We
do not see why good Government should have
denied to it rights of selfdetence which are
conceded as matter of course to q bad one
The general common Government of the United
States was created for this purpose-to main
tain and defend the Union. The notion that a
minority of nation is to be allowed to secede
when it cannot have its own way, although its
rights have been respected, is destructive of
every principle of government and has never
been recognised by any statesman. The States
that now pretend right to 20 out of the Union
have severally relinquished their claim to indie
pendent existence, in order to share the soy.
ereignty of thsr own territories and those of the
Union with the other States compacted in one
collective body under the General Government
They cannot resume their full sovereignty as of
right. If any Of them could do it, it would be
not States which, like Louisiana, Arkansas, and
Missouri, occupy territory acquired by the diplo.
macy of the Union, without reference to the
wishes of its inhabitants, but States like Vir.
ginia, for instance, who helped to form the
Union.
Yet Virginia, in the articles by which she
ratified the Union, used language which i'm.
pictly discaimed the right OF secession Her
words are, that " the powers granted under the
Constitution are derived from the people of the
United States 1t is this sovereign body-the
people OF the United States and not the Gov.
ernors or Legislatures Of the separate States
who have to decide on the question of Union or
disunion. And with them also rests the cues.
tlon OF peace or war. If the vast maiority of
! the people decide that the Union and ts fnll