The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-04-18
"a yvars-rhs Seeded and the Bor-
SlSy alevs SsAsss... !. !

r I'll "a !. - = -
are arrayed In the attitude OF war against the
seven seeded cotton States of the South, with
an aggregate population of less than five mil
lions, with an army wholly improvised for the
occasion, and without even the nucleus Of q
navy or the shipyards necessary for the crea-
ton of one. If Napoleon was right in his de-
claration that Providence is always on the side
of the heaviest artillery, the fearful odds thus
combined against the seeded States would
seem to leave them no possible chance of es-
cape from submission, subjugation or destruc-
ton.
But there are the border or intermediate
slave States, with their additional Southern
population of some eight millions. Upon them
the seeded States have confidently relied as
confederates, and still count upon their adhe-
sion as in the common cause of the South.
These intermediate States, however, have thus
far resisted all efforts to precipitate them into
this Southern revolution. Virginia especially,
me head and front of the border State column,
has been subjected to most trying and menac-
ing secession pressure fer many weeks. But
her State Convention, largely composed Of her
most substantial, rejecting and responsible
men, has thus far resisted all the efforts Of the
revoludonists to drag her from her mornings;
! and, according to our latest advices, that Con.
vention will weather the appalling secession
excitement which, in the streets of Richmond,
| since the affair of Fort Sumter, seems to have
silenced all opposing voices.
The Convention still adheres to the United
Int ho Iovuv hvrf ho
outside pressure upon it, to the people of the
State is still reserved the final issue of secession
or The Union. That they are strongly attached
| to the Union who can doubt? Known as the
"Mother of States and of Statesmen" the Old
Dominion may not unfairly be called the found
er of the Union. 1t was her Jefferson who
framed our Declaration of Independence; it
was her Washington who achieved our iber-
ties; it was her Madison who was the principal
architect of our federal constitution, and 1t was
her Marshall who was our first great authorize.
tive expounder thereof Thus gloriously identi
| fed with the liberation, organization and full
establishment of the United States, it is impos-
| sible that Virginia can lightly abandon the
! work of her own hands and the glory of her
loyal and conservative to the Union; but dur
ing the last generation or two Of small, in
triguing, selfish, reckless and disorganiziug po-
liticians, North and South, Virginia-in such
men as Gov. Wise and Senator Mason and
Pryor-has been used for the purposes of dis
union revolution and Southern independence.
Thus such Southern leaders as Jefferson Da-
Wis, Rhett, Yancey, the Browns, and the Spratts
and the Memmingers of this desperate
scheme of o Southern confederacy, have
been taught that in precipitating the cotton
States into revolution Virginia would soon
bring over the border slave States to the
rescue. This project of disunion, we have
reason to believe, contributed South its full
share to the repeal of the Missouri Compro-
mise, while our foolish and spoils and power
seeking Northern democracy accepted it as
bribe for the Presidency. Sinking all these
things in the great cause of the Union, the
| policy of this journal has been to save the
| Union, to avoid war and to restore harmony
through sectional concessions and compro-
| mises. To this end we have indicated the
| constitutional rights and the cause Of the South
to the very last day of peace. We had hoped
that, in avoiding war, the seeded States might
still be reclaimed, although in the act of seces-
sion those States destroyed that conservative
majority which they had in both houses of the
last Congress, and which they would have had
in both houses of this approaching Congress.
The Inauguration Of war has cut short the
argument. We must meet this new condition
Of things as II stands before u.s. Our allegiance
and our duty are attached to the flag of the
United States, its cause and its authorities. So
it is, too, with that great conservative body Of
our Northern people who, to the last day of
peace, were prepared to win back The seeded
States by liberal concessions for their security
and prosperity in the Union. That book is
closed. We are suddenly involved in war,
and all parties In the North are now
merged under the flag opposed to that Of
the revolted States. The bombardment
OF Fort Sumter, which was doubtless resolved
upon to unite the South, has united the North
result consistent and inevitable from state
OF war.
The intractable Hospurs Of the South may
be disappointed at this startling fact; but to
Virginia and the other border slave States il
presents considerations Of vital Importance.
They must see now that their safety lies only
In the Union. In joining the Montgomery 60
vernment they must bring upon themselves the
whole weight Of this dreadful war and It's de-
structive consequences Standing In the posi-
ton of mediators, they may, in this coming
Congress, exert powerful influence for peace.
BY the Fourth Of July we may have two hundred
and fifty thousand resolute Northern men In
arms, and q home squadron along the Southern
Atlantic and Gulf coast of several hundred
ships and transports Of war. The seeded
States may present, By that day, hostile land