Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-01-15
a row Thonehta PertInnnt 70 the TImes.

ule buOut ConCesStOh' anu COuOAh"esVNf N~'AN
compromise, and additional Northern guar
antics had come TO an end. If the people Of
the North have any manhood, it is time to
show ito look it, and to talk it, and upon
suitable occasions to act it. The question is
becoming pertinent whether we, the
people of the Northern half of what was the
United States, have any moral courage, any
Just notions of our own dignity, any dis
tinctive qualities such as are necessary to
constitute us legitimate social elements; or
whether we are only an accidental combina-
ton of the materialfor concessions and COM
promises. This is point which, before the
country can arrive at q state of permanent
tranquility, it will be necessary, practically,
to settle; and the sooner it shall be done, the
better it will be for all parties.
The strength of the South is in the weak
ness Of the North. Southern agitators know,
and knew from the beginning, that in re-
spect to all the material elements of power,
we are vastly their superiorsi but thtey
counted with confidence upon our want of
courage and sagacity to use these advantages;
and thus far, it would seem, they counted
correctly. Whatever the real sentiments of
the real people may be, the sentiment spoken
in their name by politicians and popular
bodies, can, with a very few exceptions, be
described by but one word: coVardly. Even
neutrality-suspicious. charged with Abo-
litionism, with enmity to the South as their
sole principle and rule of action-seem to
recognize the extent of Southern demands
as the measure of Northern concessions.
The question virtually is; Gentlemen of the
South, what will you have? What will you
take TO be pacified, and to unfre the South
ern heart? The beacon Republican of Ohio,
the mighty Tom Corwin, points the way,
and exhausts the resources of his magni6-
cent genius IN seeking for places to concede
something. Congress, flooded with petitions
to save the Union at any price, seems most
solicitous to learn what there is in its power
to give; and the great statesman Of the En-
pire State-the Premier-apparent of the COM
ing nistration--generalizes and shrouds
his opinions in sentences that are almost
oracularly obscure.
There are complaints of the poverty of
spirit--the treachery of Mr.. Buchanan, in
leaving the fortresses unguarded and the ma
tional property exposed but in what respect
is the conduct of Mr.. Buchanan more than a
practical exemplifcation of the sentiments
expressed and the spirit manifested by great
bodies Of wealthy and respectable merchants
Of Nayr Vo,ly o1d pb;Ioda1nb;a If tbasa
merchants were ready to go down in the dirt
before the majesty Of the South, why should
he not also show proper respect to its de-
mands2 Ifthey thought it no wrong to COM
promise away the principles of the Constitu-
tion and their own rights as citizens of the
United States, why should he trouble him
self about few items of national property ?
If the merchants of New York and Phila-
delphia were right, Mr.. Buchanan was right !;
if all had been given which they were mani
festly willing to surrender, the rest is hardly
worth the trouble of looking after.
Historians agree that the capital error of
Louis XVI, OF France-the result of which
was the loss of his head, and the overthrow
of his government-was in yielding to the
demands of a populace in a state of insurrec-
ton. The wisdom of all ages has taught
that before the time to talk of concession or
conciliation can arrive arms must be laid
down, and hostile demonstrations suspended.
That our statesmen-if such thing exists
in America-have not learned this first les
son of statesmanship, argues nothing for
their sagacity. We may easily inaugurate
the doctrine that eternal compromise is the
price of the Union but when it is done,
what will the Union be worth, standing as it
will on an inclined plane, with perpetual
tendency to slide? One compromise is the
parent of another; and when compromise
becomes the standing specific for Southern
inflammation, Secession panics, like theagues
of the Southern swamps, will enjoy period
ical recurrence.
We have tried compromise once. The de-
mon of Secession was thought to be finally
laid by the sagacity of the "Great Compro-
mise Of Kentucky, in 1888. We now see
that he was only drugged into temporary
slumber, to break loose again with increased
rampancy, at the first favorable opportunity.
We are simply realizing the Legitimate effect
of the compromising proclivities of leading
anti. Secession politicians of the notification
| period. The weakness then, is the measure
of the spirit of encroaehment now. Had
that controversy been settled upon sound
principles, this one would not have arisen
The personal effect of the compromise ofls33
was to bar the way against its author to thai
lofty seat toward which, his eyes, for q
whole life long, had been directed. He
gained a sounding but inconsistent title-toI
no Compromise" is "Great"-and lost hi:
moral ascendancy. With the masses-whose
| instinctsare truer than those ofthep politicians
his name ceased to be talisman and he
fell, when he thought he had within bis
grasp the object of his highest ambition
Yet the scene of 1888 was dignifed by the
talents and sincerity Of the able, though
mistaken men by whom it was enacted. Il
was the original drama with the origina
cast; andsas much superior in its aspect tC
the present repetition, as the real Don Gay
feros and Mesalinda were to the puppet
show in which their persoSs and adventures
were poorly initiated.
1t is rule of right all over the world
that they who seek justice should do just
ice-the doing being necessary condition
to the title to recover. The South demand
of the North the reDeal of unfriendlY legis