Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-01-07

THR HITcH.-Yes terday developed the fact most
unmistakably, that the danger that the border
slaveholding States, as represented here, may not
be able to prevent the secession Of fifteen States
lits In the determination Of large body of the
Republicans Of Congress to continue to treat the
present trouble az a mere party issue. That is to
say, as one in the consideration Of which they
may safely and adyantageously continue to treat
IL, with a view to their assumed party interests at
home. That such policy on their part is emf
nently short-sighted and fraught with certain de-
sHuction to their party ascendancY everywhere,
strikes US most forcibly. By the fourth of March,
ifthey continue to tender the sword only as the
instrument Of settlement at least eig ut States will
have declared themselves out of the Union; while
the seven other States by that time will have all
Of them, virtually notified the North that any at
tempt at coercion inevitably forces them to make
common cause with the seeding States And
further. that being (by thu secession of the Gulf
states) almost In the position in which the non
slaveholding States may at any moment lawfully
abolish slavery everywhere in the Union by the
exercise Of right the Constitution plainly gives
them, they cannot risk their hundreds of mil
lions Of slave property for month longer In the
Union, without much stronger and more ample
guarantees incorporated in the Constitution than
they now ask.
He who fails to realize these truths is either
blind or foolish. They are selfevident and
forciele beyond expression. Their importance
will at once carry the whole question before the
people Of the several States Of the North acting in
tneir sovereignty, upon any plan of settlement
which the border slaveholding States NAV sup-
gest.
The question to be decided by the Northern
States will then be one Of three only.
First VIII they consent to peaceful dissolu-
ton Of the Union-nfteen States leaving it,
Second. Win they adopt the plan whatever
that may bel offered by the border slayeboldIng
States, and try to reconstruct the whole Union
upon 1t!
Third VIII they, rejecting both these alterna.
hves, try that Of coercion' Or, in other word,
will sixteen States make war upon the other hf
teen States, and attempt to hold them forever in
subsection a. conquer provinces!
Our Life on it, the second Of these three altern,.
hVes VIII be adopted by every Northern State, by
vote Of Ave to one
In that contest, Of course, comes up the cues
ton how far the Republican partyi In CONGRESS are
really responsible for the state Of things thus ex
listing Having refused to refer the matter to the
decision Of the people, when, as at this time, by
30 doing they could have enabled the friends Of
the Union at the South to throttle disunion. they
VIII De held TO fearful responsib ility indeed
Every man who has lost dollar by the general
bankruptcy that will then exist, will charge them
with being as much the workers Of the mischief
as the southern disunionis:s per Sc, and will
hound them, as a party, as fercely as will every
present member Of their party who may be dIsap-
pointed In the distribution of the patronage OF
President Lincoln's Administration.
Gentlemen Of the Republican party In Congress,
do you not realize that in this state Of things Won
VIII be swept, politically, of the face of the
earth In six months nom this time, Asa marty
your only safety lies in referring the question to
the people a. soon as possible; thus enabling YOU
TO claim, with truth, that you have not sought a.
the dlsunion leaders Of the South are now geek.
Ing, TO prevent the people from having a say in
Its disposition.
IL the administration Of your chief be wise,
temperate - conservatiye-you may as having
done your share In the happy settlement OF the
existing trouble, continue in power at the North;
as you cannotconiinue, otherwise, for any length
Of time, with all those who ere soon 70 be your
disappointed ofnce-seekers bounding Won down
as the same class On the other side bounded down
as you well know, the administrations of Pierce
and Buchanan.