The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-01-07

The Remedy In the Present Crisis.
when my eyes, exclaimed Daniel Webster,
"shall be turned to behold for the last time,
the sun in heaven, may not see him
shining on the broken and dishonored frag-
ments Of once glorious Union" The sublime,
colossal thought which was oonmingled with
and beautfed every sentiment of the great
"expounder Of the constit ution," was that the
musical cadences which once fell upon the
souls of Americans, rising to heaven in Cassan-
dra-like chant in favor of national unity, in the
farewell address of the Father of his Country,
ought to find their re-echo in every pulsation of
our future history. But a half dozen years
have passed since Mr.. Webster died, and the
flag Of sectional discord, which he lived to soc
unfdrled, has triumphed, and threatens to carry
desolation to every hearthstone in the land. In
place Of indignantly frowning upon the first
dawning Of every attempt to ALLEVIATE any por-
ton of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the scored ties which link together the various
parts;' iastesd, as George Washington counsel
led, Of :sestimating tAe imsnease EaaAs Of our
national Union, watching for its preservation
with jealous anxiety, and discountansncing
whatever could Suggest even . suspicion that
it can be abandoned" - by slow and small de-
grees the people of both North and South
have permitted "the main pillar in the edi6ce
of their independence to be undermined, until
"the result of the common dangers, sufferings
and successes" Of eighty-seven years seems
about to crumble into dust
The cloud that has engendered tempest,
raging more furiousiy every dsy-out OF which
the calamities of civil war, national bankrupt
cy commercial and financial chaos, general
distress, and vague, horrible foreshadowings
only thirty years ago, not larger than mans
hand 1t was almost imperceptible in the
sunrise of our country's prosperity. Nobody
thought about slavery as a public question.
1t was understood that, at the time the consti-
tuition was framed, it had existed throughout
the length and breadth of the land. and was
part of the common law Of the Union. Bonds
men of Massachusetts and New York we're held
by the same tenure that slaves are now owned
in South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Flo
rida and Louisiana No Fugitive Slave law
was needed, because the requirement that
"fugitives from labor" should be delivered up
was equally obeyed by all, and was no more
advantageous to the master in Georgia than to
the possessor of negroes in Pennsylvania and
Connecticut. Slavery was portion of the
basis upon which the constitution rests. Not
until twenty years after its ratification certain
Northern States insinuated the right to exclude
slaves from the common territory. 1t was but
the right was assumed to confscate the pro-
perty of Southern citizens sojourning at or in
transit through the North About the same
time sprang up the Colonization Society and
in year or two its bastard offspring, small
committee, headed by Thompson, Delavan,
Lewis and Arthur Tappan, Garrison, Hale,
Hallock and others, demanding immediate
slavery abolition. They were laughed at as
crazy, but were the legitimate fathers Of the
mischief that has befallen the Union since.
This brought the country up to the period Of
Texan annexation, when a new epoch was
inaugurated.
In l847 an unprecedented agitation upon the
subject Of slavery was excited during the pro-
gross Of the Mexican war. Extreme grounds
began to be taken by North and South with
reference to the States that might, at future
times, be admitted to the Union. Par
ties were split into fragments, and heads
Of cliques began to look out for ele-
ments more vital than the old differences
between whig and locofoco to administer
to their strength. Nearly at the same instant
Southern are-eaters took up Calhounism, and
Northern demagogues anti-slaverN which had
gradually leavened the rural districts of the
non-slaveholding States, and fuel was heaped
upon the fire by Mr.. wilmot, in his famous un-
constitutional amendment to an appropriation
bill, to the effect chat an express and funda-
mental condition to the acquisition of any ter
ritory from the republic Of Mexico by the
United States, neither slavery nor involuntary
scrvitude shall ever exist in any part of said
territory" This was the cloven foot, for the
first time openly, boldly, aggressively dis
played. 1t was the "irrepressible conflict in
limine ready to march over "the rice fields of
South Carolina and the cotton and sugar plan
tations of Louisiana" so soon as il should pos
sess the power. State acts began to be passed
soon after, impeding the right Of reclamation
of fugitives from service, which the constitu-
ton had explicitly guaranteed; next an active
system Of propagandism was inaugurated for
the purpose Of preaching a crusade against the
social institutions Of the Southern States. The
pulpit was desecrated, and the press prosti-
tuted, TO incite to murder, instruction and
rapine Last Of all, with the downfall Of whig-
gerry, under the auspices of Mr.. William H
Seward, and with the expressed object to raise
him TO the Presidency, a sectional party was
created, in order to consummatc the acts Of
aggression which had been carried 40 far.
This party has succeeded in electing Presi-
dent and Vice President Of the United States,
who, although not the New York Senator, APP
yaars fully nrena rod IN ssfnish tho hattie - and