The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-02-20
Mr.. Lincoln an the Mctropolis-His Duty
to the Country,


to the Country.
The President elect arrived here Yesterday.
and received formal reception at the hands
Of the city government and thirteen hundred
republican policemen. The masses of the
people did not turn out on this occasion
There was a faint cheer as Mr.. Lincoln entered
bis carriage at the railway station but none of
those spontaneous outbursts of enthusiasm for
which our people are noted, and the assem-
blage in Broadway was not much greater than
upon ordinary occasions In aud around the
Park and the Astor House, however, the
crowd was very large. 1t was quite eyi
dent that the people of the metropolis, viewing
the election of Mr.. Lincoln in the light of
great national calamity, one which bears more
especially upon their material interests and
heretofore kindly relations with the South, had
resolved to give expression to their feelings by
denying themselves the satisfaction of their
natural curiosity. SO the new President was
received with less enthusiasm than usual on
such occasions-a fact which is eminently sug-
gestive Of the opinion of the Empire City.
If during Mr.. Lincoln's brief stay in this
city he escapes from being tom in pieces by
the politicians he will be fortunate man, and
he only means by which he can avoid being
deyoured by these jackals, who have dissolved
he Union and now seek to fatten themselves
upon its body, is to exclude them altogether
from his counsels until the pending questions
before the country are settled. Party debts
must stand over till another day. Mr.. Lin
coins first duty is to the nation. No spoils till
that duty is performed, should be his motto.
We claim he'right to speak to Mr.. Lincoln on
behalf Of the people of this great metropolis,
the heart of the nation. The people have no
representative except the independent press,
which builds up and pulls down parties, makes
and destroys leaders, as the exigency Of the
times demands.
To begin ut the root Of the difficulty, we
must request of Mr. Lincoln that he will go
back thirty years-long before he had become
in any way tainted with abolition heresy-and
when he was taking his first political lessons
from that accomplished teacher, Mr.. Clay. In
1872 the great conspiracy to break up the
Union of these States was commenced by the
old abolition party, Garrison's cardinal prin-
ciple being mo union with Shareholders"
Previous to that time there had been
some tea party philanthropic abolition So
cieties; but it was not until Garrison,
aided by British funds, established his Libera-
Tor, and drew around him such men as
Lewis Tappan, Wendell Phillips and others,
that the political feature Of the movement
was made apparent We must do the radical
abolitionist leaders the justice to say that
they have been more logical and consistent
than the other parties which have risen ana
fallen in their day. In the first place, they de-
nounced the constitution a. pro slavery docu-
ment, which 1t undoubtedly is, and then refused
to vote, or to hold office, or TO do any act which
would be equivalent to an acknowledgment of
allegiance. And SO they began the great con-
spiracy, openly and before the eyes of all the
world. When the annexation Of Texas was
mooted the sboliionists seized upon the discus
sion that ensued as O means whereby their
numbers might be increased, and In 1923
formed the liberty party, with the Garrisonan
doctrines slightly modified, but not materially
changed. This party was subsequently lin
lo4c) merged into the tree soil organization,
which was the direct progenitor Of the republi-
can party Of to-day. After the defeat of the
last named organization, in 1856, overtures
were made to the radical abolitionists, who had
objected to Fremont on the ground that &c had
been democrat and was born in the South
Aiding the conspirators, the republicans took a
step forward. Mr.. Seward promulgated his "a
nous theory that between the North and the South
there existed an irrepressible conflict which must
result finally in the extinction of slavery, and
Mr.. Sumner took still broader abolition ground.
The Helper book, adopted as the republican
gospel, advocates the building up Of an aboli
uon party In the slave States, and proposes tho
ostracism OF slaveowners. The radical aboli
uonists, bong thus met more thaa half way,
joined the republican leaders; the Chicago