New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-11-18


| had been done from which the country would not
| he able to recover for long time, if ever; and
added, it has dropped curtain between the present
! and the future, which to me is impenetrable and
for the first time since have been in public life,
am unable to see the future. also added that ii
had closed the first volume of our political history
| under the Constitution and opened the second, and
that no mortal could tell what would be written IN
| it,
The concluding chapters of Professor Won Hosts
present volume give q vivid picture of the struggle
! in Congress which ended in the adoption of the
! Compromise of 1850 and vigorous analysis of the
| faults of that measure and their effect in hasten
| ing the inevitable conflict between the forces OF
| freedom and slavery. OF the Fugitive Slave Law,
which was the central feature of the Compromise,
| tho author says: The law so hideouS that II
called forth from the friends of freedom cry OF In
| dignaton and rage that sounded rs shrlll to the
Northern conscience us the first battle-cTy of tie
! abolltonists. The conservatives and the pohtI-
clans might cling never so desperately to the sheet
! anchor of the Compromise of 1880, every attempt
to execute the Fugitive Slave Law increased the
| number of it opponents, and the more regardless
of consequences the attempts were, the more efec-
tive propaganda they proved for those who cursed
! them from the bottom of their hearts. No other
single measure did so much to convince the North OF
the necessity of breaking the power of the slave
OcraCy-so much to steel the nerves and hearts OF
the people for the final struggle. ASsuredly they
who opposed the execution of the Fugitive Slave
Laws were law-breakeTs, but when the legislators
venture to force upon a great high minded, ana
deeply religious people Il law that tramPlcs in the
dust its hottest feelings and convictions the people
will always in the end march on with crushing
tread over law and law-giyers.'
All parties acted uDOn false assumptions in the
Compromise legislation save the handful Of aholi-
tonl>ts who from the height of their absolute prn-
cipe looked out over and beyond the tumuIt of po-
liical strife Others did not that from the ma
ture of the case compromise with slavery was
concession and that concession would only lead to
new demands. They failed TO comprehend that the
Shlrpest spur which urged the slayeocracy on was
its own weakness weakness becoming more clar-
iHgly evident and Increasing every day. This fact,
says Won Hoist, was in too high degree the deter
mining element in the contest and it had TOO great
weight as an argument for fair play, for the south
to be able to avoid making constant reference 10 il.
Yet at the same time for reasons which can readily
he understood the South was also ever anNiouslY
striving to conceal the fact. In the same breath II
employed the fact 40 argument and denied IL
cmphalcally. and, nevertheless, was acting t0'a
tide; pride and the instinct of scit-prcseryation
would not allow the SldNtoCFdtN 10 dNpN ~ it'''4
directly and without reservation fact which,
nevertheless was and had 10 be. the basis OF It's
entire policy In all honesty of conviction they
continually tried to show the North that IL had by
far the most to lose in disruption of the Union,
and that 1t owed ITS wealth mainly, II not indeed
exclusively, to the advantages which legtImatcly
and illcgitmatcly it drew from the South. They
alervard showed by their conduct how firmly they
believed in the truth of their assertion that the en-
tire civilized world was in the power of the cotton
planter. This view had sufficient basis in facts to
be shared 10y many rejecting men on both sides OF
the ocean TO whom slavery was an abomiuation. 1t
wOud, Therefore, have been only a matter Of sur
PRISE if it had not assumed the form Of an acknow
lodged fact, might almost say an automatic
truth, in the eyes of the slave barons, in whom
arlstocratic prejudice ana arislocraic Selfconi
dence had SO impaired the faculty of judgment and
the capacity for sclf-knowcdgc, that, with their
own compromising ayOwals their lips, they |
could proclaim with solemn JUNCTION, that the South
stood at the head Of the civilized peoples Of all times
and all zones. The moment was most unfortunately |
chosen for such challenging assertions In this year
the seventh census of the United States was taken
and insufficient aud in part even unreliable as were
its figures they contained nevertheless an annh |
lating Judgment on the peculiar institution"
How great this weakness was the author shows !
by figures from the exhibiting the dcplorable
condition Of Southern commerce, manufactures !
agriculture, education. transportation, etc. in |
$50 COMPARED with the North The comparisons |
lie makes were first made in that much dreaded and
hated book, Helpers Impending Crisis whose
cold logic of arithmetic the South denounced as
" inccndiary." The South says our author in hi, |
concluding chapter, felt the necessity of keeping
pace with the progress of the worlds civilization
but the leajen weight of slavery held her under
a ban. she clung convulsivcy 10 the wheel Of
time as it swept more swiftly on with resstlcss |
revolution, and nattercd herself with the pleasing
dream that she was soon to pass the North and all
other civilized nations yet at the same time she
resisted progress with all her power, because every
movement passed on over slavery with crushing
weight She had been Obliged 10 strain every nerve
to win once more from the North doubtful polit- |
cal victory, victory which had not strengthened
the saYeocracy but had only thrown obstacles in
the way of the progress Of freedom. She saw the
North like the giant !n The fable, filled with fresh
strength at every contact with the earth while her
own flesh shrIvelled on her bones and her sincws
relaxed Yet this aristocracy, so arrogant in its
upper classes. bruazcd III its lowest. was no in |
tellectually and morally exhausted race. The
blood shot warm and in strong pulsations through |
its veins. Its last struggle against destiny might !
and would necessarily, reveal fearful energy but
its cure and regeneration were simply impossible |
for the cure could not be begun till IL had ceased to
be what it was The arteries had TO he cut that |
the stream of life blood might wash away the poi
son. Till then every manifestation of its vitality
served only to intensity the venom and let it eat |
deeper into the entire structure, because through |
all classes of the population and through all the |
relations of life at the South conflict ragged which