The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-02-15
~. prssiden, Elect ON the Crisis-N~


Abraham Lincoln, a. President elect Of The
United States, is in fAir way to lose that high
reputation which he gained a. public speak
or in his Illinois stumping campaign of 1853
with Judge Douglas, as candidate for M INA
sssd States Sepats. SINCE bis departure fro.
| o--i--r -
op.ngfeld, en- route for the White House. "
has made several little speeches.; but in none
! OF them has he manifested the disposition or
h 70 capacity to grapple manfully with the dam
gen OF this crisis in reference to the restora-
ton OF the Union or the maintenance of tha
peace Of the country.
At diaA'apolis, adopting the Yankee trick
of asking questions, he satisfies us that Horace
Greeley is the true exponent of his administra-
tive policy, and thai he intends to enforce the
| authority of the government at Washington
| over the seeded States before STOPPING to
compromise with the States on the verge Of
secession. He will reclaim, by force Of arms,
| all that have been lost before resorting to
Cancellation to secure the States in danger.
Thus, in the very outset of his official journey to
| our federal capital, the President elect pro-
claims line of policy adverse to union and
to peace, and eminently adapted, not only to
enlarge, strengthen and consolidate the new
Southern republic, but to destroy the hopea
and law and order of the North in q wasting
civil war.
But if in his speech at Indianapolis Mr.. Lin
coin has exhibited the obstinacy of an intractar
BILE partisan, he betrays at Columbus most
lamentable degree Of ignorance touching the
o1ufio vii ~ tha dav TJo al o.
he has not so long remained silent "from any
want of real anxiety" but he says that cit Is
good thing that there is no more than anxiety,
for there is nothing going wrong" and that ''it
is a consoling circumstance that when we look
out there is nothing that hurts anybody" To
be sure, he continues, 1--WE entertain different
views upon political questions, but nobody is
suffering anything" and "all we want is time,
patience and a reliance on that God who has
never forsaken this people,"
Now, the most charitable Interpretation we
can give to these "consoling" assurances is
that Mr.. Lincoln, under some embarrassment
spoke them at random, did not know what ha
was saying, or failed to catch the ideas fitting
through his mind In palmer terms, in finding
himself the lion of the day, with all eyes and
all hopes turned upon him, he is bothered and
makes mess of it. Nothing going wrong! :"
Why, sir, we may more truly say there is no
thing going right. Nothing going wrongw
If this is true then there is nothing wrong
in all these Southern revolutionary move.
ments; nothing wrong in the causes which
have drawn little army together for the pro-
lection Of our federal capital against suspect
ed conspiracy for a revolutionary coup d'etat;
nothing wrong in bankrupt federal treasury.
| reduced to the most desperate extremities to
keep the government alive from day to day,
"Nothing that hurts anybody" "Nobody suf-
fering anything" Can Mr.. Lincoln really en-
terrain this deluson when all the industrial,
| financial and commercial interests of the whole
country are in a state Of stagnation, prostra-
| ton and confusion never known before when
| factories are stopping and merchants are break
| ing every day; when thousands Of our working
classes are thrown out Of employment, and
when numerous entire families, in consequence,
are literally starving?
Let US admonish you, Mr.. Lincoln, that
many things are going wrong; that you are 60
ing wrong, that your party in Congress is going
wrong, and that the sooner you all turn to the
| right about face the better it will be for the
| incoming administration, the Union and the
peace of the country. But perhaps when the
President elect assures us that " nothing Is go
| ing wrong" "nothing that hurts anybody"
and that "nobody is suffering anything" he
means something more or something less than
these simple expressions imply. If So let us
hope that by the time he reaches Albany he
will be prepared to vouchsafe an explanation
| of what he would have said with little more
reflection at Columbus. We suspect, however,
that his Cabinet troubles and the Office seekers
| of his party have given him, and will give
him, no time for reflection, until the interval of
| grace allowed for repairing the wrongs In the
| government and the sufferings of the country
shall have passed away. Finally, if Mr.. Lin
ooln has nothing better to offer upon this fear
| full crisis than the foolish consultations of his
| speech at Columbus, let him say nothing at all.
The WANTS OF TuB TREAsgRY-MR SHEER
MANS REMEDY.-The Secretary of the Trea-
sury, Mr.. Dix, calls piteously upon Congress
| for relief. He wants eight millions wherewiu
| to pay his way till the 4th of March. Every
| thing has been and is going wrong in the mat
| ter of the public finances, and yet Honest Abe
Lincoln tells US nothing is going wrong" A
loan is wanted; but our banks and financiers, a.
things appear to be going have had enough Of
these government loans. Mr.. Sherman how
ever, Chairman on Ways and Means, has hit
upon the way and the means Of relief. He
proposes the issue Of coupon bonds, Of a demo-
mination not exceeding fifty dollars, bearing
six per cent interest, and running twenty years.
This is Napolconic idea. 1t is the adoption
Of Louis Napoleons experiment of loan
during his late war against Austria. In his
case the French people instantly came up to