New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-01-26
FIRE AND FUEL.

| tricity of opinion has certain value; anu We
therefore hereby repromulge remark made by
Mr.. Harding of Kentucky, in the House OF Keep
resentatiyes, on the Presidents Proclamation.
Here is the Harding theory: "The Secession
lists furnished the fire and the AbOlitionists the
fuel TO kndle the conilagratiOn now sweeping
through the land" Verify, this is but an ILL
starred metaphor. Every man who owns
house may in the same sense be said to fur
nish fuel which is exceedingly tempting to the
man of friction matches and felony: but we
have never heard this offered to provo invest
ments in houses to be criminal. Every man
with pOcket-boOk leads light fingers into
temptation; but this supplies no argument
against carrying q convenient amount Of cash
upon the person for lawful occasions. Tho
chances for wrong.doing are afforded by the
very virtues of society. Those gentlemen who
either honestly or with sinister purpose are
continually reminding us of the dire injury to
which the STAKEHOLDER has been subjected-an
injury, it is limited, too great for human nature
to bear with equanimity-do not seem to CON-
prehend the wide difference between on act
and an opinion. There has been unquestiOna-
bly, great hatred Of Human Slavery in the
Northern States; but this has been partly an
inevitable result of the advancing spirit OF the
age, aud is quite as active in Russia, in Italy,
and in Germany, as in New-England. Ii has
its origin in the patent and practical iallacies
of slayeholding, not less than in the dubious
nature of its theory. 1t was by the necessity
of the case, at first, confined to men OF specu-
lation, who did not pretend to seek for it, ex-
preston in legislative acts, until the Man
Owners themselves aimed nj concrete power,
/ by passing or seeking to pass well-dehned
boundary lines which, in the policy Of tho Ds-
ton, had for years been recognized. II tho
Stakeholder had only been contented with fancy
ing himself 10 be ike the old Jewish patriarcbi.
with quoting hackneyed bits Of Scripture, with
begetting bastards for the South Western mar
ket, with training his bloOdhounds and keeping
his rife bright, with the splendid squalor and
coarse plenty Of his plantation, with logging his
blacks and shooting his neghbors, with the oc-
casional recreation Of hanging some perpatetic
AbOlitonist, with finding Ii his crops q con.
ISOLATION for the sneers or the sarcasms OF the
world--f, in short he could have kept that
equsnimity which always comes with con-
sciousness Of rectitude-he never would have
fired this Northern fuel, nor would there have
been half so much fuel to fire. We should
like TO know if the Stakeholder is not to be
called in the least to account for that immense
l .f fatt emil ated m bp
Kansas bill. Certainly, before the introduction
OF that most miscellaneous measure, the North,
i! in spite Of scattered, not 10 say shattered
nti.Slayery opinion, was In disgraceiully
amiabe mood, and apparently ready for any
cnormity of concession. The Northern pulpit,
tho Northern Courts of Justice, our Col
leges, our Divinity Schools, our Law
yers, our Merchants, our leading Poiit-
clans Of the Wing and Democratic
parties. were all on the side Of tho Slave
holder. There was no fuel for him to fire
! then; but as he did not desire peace, and,
even while we were so deyotedly soothing bis
wrath, was bent upon the mad mischief which
he has since accomplished, his chief business
for tho last few years has been to force the
Free States into an anthgOnistlc position
sufficiently marked to afford him an apology
for applying the torch of treason to the fabric
of our Government. The Rebel leaders, who
make such indignant proclamation of their
wrongs, have unqUestionably marked with
delight the advance Of Asti.Slavery opinion in
the Northern States. Their policy Inns been
to intensity and not to diminish its violence
They have played the game of provocatiOn
because, until they could fairly initiate us into
something like a hostile position, until they
could compel us TO seek redress Of grievances
at the ballot-box, they we're without the
poorest excuse for political operations. They
invited hostility. by their intrigues in the
| Democratic Convention, they cast of their
numerous and powerful Northern allies They
Mauger the distinctions OF the gentleman from
Kentucky, we assert that Rebels, in this guilty
confagration, have furnished fire and fuel both.
We are not certain that it argues any great
economy, either Of thought or timo, thus to
trace the origin Of our troubles 1t happens
that past transactions, whatever may have been
their character, are of very little value except
to those superfne Union characters who nre so
anxious to make out a case against the Union
cause Seymour, Wood, Brooks, Yallandig-
ham and other gentry Of like Speech take it
for granted that We can have no peace without
full admission that we have been altogether
in the wrong. The whole gist and pith Of their
Asysugues is, that we have committed crime