New-York tribune., 1885-10-19

in the population of the free States deeply rooteu
moral reaction and regeneration had SCI ln III .t tH
srec to the slavery question; ana OoheIossi Oohesis uno
members of which, with not too many eACePt'"iiio'
were personally honorable men, had sunk so IL
eXpressi Dly low in respect TO this central pIooe
the lie of the Republic that the most arlahl IoEuo
IA ght have learned skill IN his arts irOln tle Ti. MI
ddcious sl.rewdness with which 1t systclnatCaIJ
mIsed and deceived the people.
That Douglas was personally INSCRIPTIONS to the
very last degree our author has not the slightest
hesitation in affirming, and that was the chieI Ied
son why the South finally refused him inc le"dI"
foI which he had been working Ii dld not lrust
him lie had been a scrvIcedble tool in the Senate,
only because LIE supposed that he was thus proiho'
lag his own interest In the White House re wouId
still have been governed entirely by sef-interest'
aad who could tell whittier solfntcrest might lead
him after he had got his prcel Once convinced
that he could serve himself by turning against Tue
Shareholder he would not have hositated 10 luIh'
and to follow the new course with thc same stormy
energy and inlilerence TO principle which Aad ais
tHgulshel hm before. Tho reader VIII be lhtef-
estel IN comparing this severe Judgment WIN Il
parallel passage in which DIR. Won liolst reviews
Wobstcrs failure to obtain the support oi ue
South in 1852. lie, too was dropped because tA"so
i0r whom 10 had sacrificed so much would not
trust him. bat distrust in this case was inspired 10y
fear that Webster had TOO much honor rather
than too little:
Hnt if he had always allowed his ambition
powerful voice, during the last two years on the
all-controIlmg question, whenever he took counsel
with himself on hlS own resolves was u 10 pe cA-
prctol that he would he found completely reliable,
after lac had reached the goal OF hls amhillon
Could a man of Weister's Importance break
with his, past TO- such an extent that when ,n
tie highest Office of the Republic, with
all its moral responsibility weighed np"h
lis shoulders. he would be an entirely reHahle
linahty man, in the sense of the Shareholders that
is in tine sense of the Georgia platform ana the
Mississippi resolutionsl He had battered part ol
his Lifelong convictions and OF ms pohtlcal con
science Tor the favor of tho South, when The sng-
gcstiOns OF ambition, in conjunction Win wrong
hut honest patriotic considerations, urged nm
thereto; but a Northern man with Souincrl prIhci-
pies. like the m lluTcnS Casses, DlckluS1hS, ana
Douglascs. he could never be. The south had Ger
tainly not to fear treason from hln, but II events
and circumstances over again maze any phase "l
the slavery question tho order of tho day-and that
this, spite OF all fnality drcaratl ms MlEui
happen at any moment, the South was always fully
conscious-hc would not, in all probability nave
looked upon tie bidding of tic slavucracy as law
As before the 7th of March, ne would agln have
found himself Standing nc the iartlnS oi tIlc ways
The 9TH of Marcn, with its consequences, was
guarantee that be would endc1YUr 10 60 JUS
tIce t. the South, in the spnit OF tie com
promise, but then 1t would have arpcaTe
that tie and tho South understood this
spirit in d1crcut WAYS, and who guaranteed that
great past into his old ways Ono stoN ~ that d-
rrction and 1t DEEPEN led, perhaps no longer on hl
but II, on circumstances Low far hc ul z? IN II
would be orced beyond tie pout OF view which he
had taken III tho days OF lis most accl or 81
ton 10 the slaVOcgcy. The moUCit hc calc lh
conflict with TIE south. tie do-ir" Woull rcc's-
slrly be pow ,rfully awakened IN Linn L hailI-
tlto himself in the judgment AMI lcelH% 81 MS
ipllaor and natural associates, and Wlo t"uIu sly
that De would not hr carried away 10y tn h'rN,
ihclusidcrtte zeal moro peculiar 10 TIE Ielalsc
rcIe-a lc than u the renegade hl.ascl
Tie second volume covers moro cScltins event,
than the irst for il embraces tie narrative OF tie
Euow-Nothinc episode, The civil war iu Kansas tie
gradual bat rapid d>iutclration oi tilc Old parties
tie election Of Banks as Speaker Of the House o'
Eeprcscr tativcs, aad tho distinct development o!
revolutionary designs IN tne South, as events
ha,tencd toward the crisis. The main thought OF
this portion Of tie work-t'at every attempt 10
suppress the slavery dispute only made it clearer
that slavery was tie sole ISSUE up which parties
could diyile-is forcjby sustained; AID tie steady
a advance in the p,stioi of both ailos ls well
described. We lay down tie work a. The era Of the
election OF James Buchanan WHOM the savehvld.ng
ulicarchy lad rcaclcl the point Of demanding
ether the rcopcaug Of tie African slave trade or
the dissolution of tie Union an of ruttus forth
these alternatives not with tho least hope or desire
that the slavc-trade should Ice conceded to th..n,
but only as a preparation f,r Tie secession sc"rc.
On the other hand, the Low Republican party
flushed with high purposes and decp moral conyc-
tiors had at last declared that tho tinc for
concession and compromise was past forever The
issue was fairly joined. Tie "Guality" device Lad
led only to this.