The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-01-08

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will reject the other.
May "a Wood Upon the Grisis--A sensation
Message.
Tie Common Council of New York, a body
which il destined, without doubt, to achieve q
place in history glorious rs those OF it's Illus
trious predecessors, was organized yesterday,
and, according TO custom, the prodigal fathers
received message from the Mayor. This do
cument, which we print elsewhere, is one OF
The most remarkable that has emanated from
Mayor Wood, who has Napolconc love Of
sensations.
This time he haa quite outdone all of
his former efforts. Ills message VIII make a
profound sensation, and the world, the flesh
and The devil (the World, the Tribune and the
JF,nes) will be down upon the Mayor with all
their available force. He begins by assuming
that we live in terrible times, and that If we
escape the penalties invoked upon our heads
by the sins of other people, we shall
owe our safety to the direct interposition
of Divine Providence in our favor. In the
very next paragraph, however, he arrives at
the conclusion that we are to be left to go to
perdition in our own way, that piety will not
save u.s. and that the dissolution Of the federal
government is inevitable. Having summarily
settled this rather important point, the Mayor
goes on to declare that the city should take
measures, in its corporate capacity, to provide
Tor the new condition Of things, to arrive at
some indefinite period. Mayor Woods plan
has already been preached unoficially. 1t
amounts to this simple proposition: AS the
Southern States will secede, and will break up
the government, then everybody ought to Sc
cede from everybody else--the city from the
State, the islands in the rivers and the bay
from the city-and we should return to an
entirely normal condition of society, where, as
the Mayor says, cit behooves every distinct
community as well as every individual to take
care of themselves"
The Mayor goes on to cite long list Of
grievances which the city, in its corporate.
capacity, has suffered at the hands of the cen
trail power at Albany, and sees in the appoint
ment of the Commissioners of Charities and
Correction, of the Central Park, of Records, Of
sons for separation. He does not counsel vio-
lent secession, nor does he indicate in what
manner the city is to separate from the State,
provided it became apparent that majority of
the jewellers in the metropolis favored such
movement. The message is devoted entirely
to an elaborate attack upon the powers at
Albany, and its theory is that, as the federal
Union is about to be broken into pieces like so
much fragile crockery, it is well to be on hand
to pick up the pieces; that the city Of New
York is rather valuable fragment, and that
we should look out and keep it for ourselves,
even if we have to break the State government
into bits.
Now, the question is not what we would do
with anarchy, civil war and no federal govern
ment in existence. Just now there Is federal
government; just now there is great Power
known among the nations as the United States
of America; just now the flag of this Union
floats in every known port, and is respected as
the insignia of nation which is strong
enough to protect its people wheresoever they
may go; just now disunion is not inevitable;
on the contrary, quite the reverse. We are in
great crisis, to be sure; but all is not lost be-
compromise, and the power of the government
has not yet been tested. South Carolina has
Ordained" that the Union is dissolved, but
not blow has been struck nor gun fired.
For all practical purposes the government Of
this nation is as strong to-day as it ever has
,,.c r;<,I Of Nc, 40 -
believe that the people Of this republic, the
greatest except old Rome, that the world
has ever seen, intend to abandon the ark OF
its safety, the Union Of the Estates, after
the comparatively brief experience of eighty
years. We were not made so great to be de-
stroyed so soon. The system of consolidation
VIC receive from the Roman republic, the falla-
cy of disintegration from the Greeks. And now
the system of civilization, the common law, the
practical principles Of government which OBJ
tain in the Christian world, aud which under
lie the foundations Of this government, are
revived from the old Romans. The sculptor the
painter or the orator is indebted for his ideas
and models to the Greeks; but the jurist, the
statesman and the executive officer drink in
wisdom from Theirs yellow food. And now
these United States, with their hardy, selfreli-
ant, self-respecting people, are more like the
Romans in the palmy days OF the republic than
any other people One does not say ~ am a New
Yorker" but 81 am citizen Of the United
States" and The title IS Us proud and
honorable designation as that Of
"Romen citizen" two thousand years ago.
Rome was not without its trials and troubles.
The plcbcians seeded not once only, but seve-
raj times, and the details Of the government
were altered to suit particular cases and emer-
geucics; but the foundations remained the same.
That will be the case with this people, and the
secession movement, so far, resembles the at
tempts of the Roman plcbs So. on This point,
wa take open issue with the Mayor.
With regard to the "aggressions" Of the Lee
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