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(No Title)
(page 4, column 2)

GOV. SEWARD'S Speech at Detroit yesterday is given verbatim in our column this morning. In calmness and terseness of statement, in breadth of view and suavity of temper, it contrasts very strongly with the ordinary electioneering efforts. GOV. S. steps square up to the line of the "irrepressible conflict," but serenely, gently, and with the confidence of one who knows well the ground he stands on, and feels sure of it. Compare this speech with the daily fulmications of Douglas, Hunt, Brooks, &c., and judge which is the profound and philosophic statesman, which the shallow and tricky demagogue! The contrast is most instructive, and we trust the largest possible number will be persuaded to read this speech for themselves, and judge it by their own intuition, not by the noisy swash of hostile clamor and misrepresentation. Let GOV. S. speak for himself, and the judgment as between him and his daily defamers cannot be doubtful.

Where are the Barnburners?
(page 6, column 3)

Dear Sir:

I never understood the founders of the Government as regarding Slavery otherwise than as a temporary and local circumstance, and never a national institution. Down to the end of Gen. Jackson's Administration, such was the prevailing and universal judgment, except with the Nullifiers ... [T]o fail the Nullifiers in a single of their demands, is to forfeit their friendship and support forever.

Henry Clay, himself a Southern slaveholder, because he saw and said that the laws of population would exclude slavery from the Territories, was deserted, if not repudiated. Daniel Webster, for thinking and uttering the thought that the laws of God would keep Slavery out of New Mexico, lost what little favor he had gained at the South. Daniel S. Dickinson, with all his subserviency of profession and conduct, was never forgiven, and never will be, for once declaring that "he would vote for the Wilmot Proviso, instructed or uninstructed." And finally, Judge Douglas, after "laying a ruthless hand" on the Missouri Compromise, under the lead of a Southern Senator, and through Southern instigation, simply because the effect expected was not produced by that action, is doomed to political destruction.

Although Judge Douglas, to propitiate the South, has declared that "under this doctrine (of Squatter Sovereignty) they have converted a tract of free territory into slave territory five times as large as the State of New York," I do not believe the South are to gain nor the North lose anything by the repeal of the Missouri restriction. It is very doubtful to my mind whether any Territorial act of New Mexico, or even law of Congress, can establish Slavery in that Territory, any more (as has been aptly said) than it can created a slave or make a king. The Supreme Court may declare to the contrary, but, when its dicta are absurd, they will be treated, as they have been before, as the sheerest nullities. Yet, I have no doubt that, notwithstanding the indignation felt at the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, had Mr. Pierce's promise to make the Territorial Governments fair and impartial been kept, while the result would not have been different, the country would have acquiesced in the act. This also goes to show that the popular sovereignty system is unreliable and unsafe. Pierce made promise after promise, yet broke one after the other. It was not until the whole North was impelled to set at defiance the Federal Government, and protect their fellow-citizens in Kansas, that the peaceable inhabitants of the Territory had security for their lives, liberty, or property. Even in Nebraska, at a more recent day, a federal Governor has nullified the action of the people in prohibiting Slavery in that Territory. Are not these illustrations against any reliance on the Douglas theory, either as a guaranty of self-government to the Territorial populations, or the settlement of a vexed question, or of assuring peace to the country?

Thomas B. Carroll.

Note: This is an excerpt from a longer letter.

Campaign Documents
(page 2, column 2)

We invite the attention of the friends of the Republican cause to the following list of documents:

THE POLITICAL TEXTBOOK FOR 1860. 1 vol., cloth, Price $1

Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, By D. W. Bartlett. Bound in cloth, with Steel Portrait.

SLAVERY IN HISTORY--By Count Gruowski. The work treats of Slavery as a distinctive social disease, in all times and nations; beginning with Slavery among the ancient Egyptians down to the Russians.

LINCOLN'S AND DOUGLAS'S SPEECHES in the great Illinois Campaign of 1858.

THE LEMMON SLAVE CASE--Full history of the Case, with opinions of the Judges and arguments of Counsel.

THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT

THE TRIBUNE ALMANAC for 1860 contains Popular Vote for President by the States; Return of Elections.

HELPER'S IMPENDING CRISIS OF THE SOUTH (Compendium)

CONNECTICUT WIDE-AWAKE SONGSTER, with the Republican platform.

REPUBLICAN SONGSTER

THE WIDE AWAKE VOCALIST

SHEET MUSIC--"Freedoms's Battle Cry," "Douglas and his Dinah," Locke's "Ship of State," and Locke's "Stephen in Search of his Mother."

REPUBLICAN POCKET PISTOL

Will not our Republican friends aid us to "circulate the documents?" Now is the time when thousands of minds can be reached and influenced. Address THE TRIBUNE, Tribune Buildings, New York.

The Judges on Slavery in the Territories
(page 5, column 3)

To the Editor of the N.Y. Tribune:

SIR: I should like to have explained:

In the event of Mr. Lincoln's election, of which no one can seriously entertain a doubt, suppose the Governor, or Judges of his choice should interfere to prevent the spread or introduction of Slavery in the Territory over which they preside, and the slaveholder should contest the question of his right to hold slaves in said Territory, and the question comes before the Supreme Court, will not its decision be in favor of the slaveholder? And will not this establish the right of slaveholders to hold slaves in the Territories? In short, can the people of a Territory, the Governor, Judges, Legislature, or even Congress, prohibit Slavery in the Territories when the Supreme Court decides such interference to be unconstitutional?

Yours truly, for Lincoln and Hamlin, C. E. Shattuck, Oswasso, Mich.

Answer.--It is the Federal Government, through the action of its Democratic agents and contractors, that is constantly pushing Slavery into the Territories. Put the Government into Republican hands, and let it exert an influence on the side of Slavery Restriction like that it now exerts on the side of Slavery Extension, and Slavery will gain no more ground, but begin to lose that it already has. It will lose New Mexico under Lincoln as it (practically) lost California under Gen. Taylor. Planters are rarely pioneers in Slavery Extension. Army officers, Army contractors, Mail contractors, Indian Agents, Land Officers, and other Federal functionaries have already planted Slavery in Utah and New Mexico, and will diffuse and fortify it in all Territories if the Government shall remain in Democratic hands. But give us a Republican Administration, and there will soon be no Slavery. And we hope to have all the present Territories admitted as Free States before the close of Mr. Lincoln's term.

We cannot foresee the questions that may be brought before the Supreme Court respecting Slavery in the Territories, and of course cannot predict the decision; yet it is pretty safe to assume that they will be as favorable to Slavery as possible. And yet we believe it practicable to frame an act of Congress declaratory of the Rights of Man in all Federal Territories, that would in effect abolish Slavery, yet which the Supreme Court could not nullify. Ed.

Negro Voting
(page 4, column 2)

The allied anti-Republicans of our State are hot on the scent of party capital to be made (as they think) out of the question of Negro Suffrage. Of course, if they make a party issue of it, while the Republicans do not, but vote as they severally see fit, they can beat the proposition now before our People. But let a few undeniable facts be set forth:

I. It is a fact that this State has never withheld the Right of Suffrage from Negroes. They have always been entitled to vote, and have voted. Our original State Constitution, formed in 1777, by the Whigs of the Revolutionary struggle, allowed Blacks to vote on precisely the same terms as Whites. The State then was and long remained slaveholding, and of course slaves did not vote--not because they were black, but because they had no property.

II. In 1821, the Constitution was revised, and the Suffrage qualification for Whites lowered, while that for Blacks was raised. Any white citizen who had resided a year in the State, and had paid a tax here, was henceforth a voter; a black must own $250 worth of real estate to do so. In 1826, the Tax qualification for Whites was abolished; the Property Qualification for Blacks was retained, and still is; for no material change was made by the Convention of 1846.

--Understand that the question of allowing or forbidding Negroes to vote in our State is not before the People. Let the result in this Fall be as it may, Negroes will continue to be voters in our State. The simple question to be decided by the People is--Shall a very inconsiderable fraction of our People continue to be deprived of the Right of Suffrage for want of $250 worth of dirt? If so, on what principle? Their black skins do not in any event disenfranchise them: Shall their poverty do so? Poor men! Consider!

III. The Colored Population of our State consists of some fifty thousand persons--at most, a sixtieth part of our population. They are a less considerable fraction of the aggregate than they were fifty years ago. If the Property qualification is swept away, they may possibly give one vote out of sixty polled at any Election, but probably not one in a hundred. Is it wise, for the sake of this infinitesimal fraction, to cherish a glaring anomaly in our political system--one that bases political rights on Property rather than Manhood?

All the mere slang about "Amalgamation," "Nigger Equality," &c., is answered by the single fact that Negroes are voters here now, and always have been. Two strongly Democratic Conventions have revised our State Constitution within the last forty years, without seeing fit to disenfranchise them, as either might have done. All the danger of "Negro Governors," "Negro Juries," &c., that can be conjured up, has always existed. Negroes not only always could vote in our State but always did; and we never heard of any bad result therefrom, unless it was when their votes made Washington Hunt Governor. That was a single occurrence, standing out by itself; and the best may blunder once. We did then, so did many others.

We shall vote to abolish the Property qualification, and base Suffrage strictly on Manhood; others will do so as they think best. All we ask is that ballots For and Against the proposed Amendment be fairly distributed by all parties, and let each man vote as to him shall seem best.

Note: This is an excerpt from a longer article.

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Henry Clay Dean is making Douglas speeches in Iowa. Dean was once chaplain of the Senate. On a recent occasion he was repelling the charge that the Democratic party had ever misappropriated the public money. "Tell me," said he, "who can, where the Democratic party had ever misapplied a dollar." "I can tell!" said a piping voice at the rear of the hall. "Stand up, then," cried Dean, "and let us hear your answer." Up popped the owner of the voice. "Now, Sir, tell me if you can, where a dollar has been wasted?" "When the Democratic Senate paid Henry Clay Dean for his prayers!" was the reply that brought down the house.

UNION COMMITTEE ROOMS, No. 49 Merchants' Exchange: TO THE FRIENDS OF THE UNION!
(page 1, column 2)

It is now fully demonstrated, that to this State, at the approaching election, are committed the destinies of our common country. Emphatically, as the State of New York shall go, so will go the Union.

Governor Morgan of this State has declared that Lincoln "is already elected," and that what remains to be done, in the deliberate voting of the people of this State, is but a formal act, to execute an irrevocable Republican decree.

We find the people of the Southern States of the Confederacy already in a condition of alarm and intense excitement--the business relations between the two sections of the Union at once almost entirely arrested, and a condition of feeling produced among our brethren of the South calculated to excite the gravest apprehensions as to the consequences, in the minds of all reflecting citizens who treasure the welfare of their country.

If the Republicans conquer in this contest, the South will be wholly without representation in the executive branch of the General Government. We shall not stop to enter into any argument to show to what logical consequences the doctrine of the "irrepressible conflict" leads, nor to dwell upon the Republican principle of "all slave or all free"--they are as palpable as the maxims of the "higher law," and have been too often expounded by their authors to require elaboration or comment. They are principles which point with destroying hand, in but one direction.

This great commercial city, true to the interest and duty which it owes to the union of the States, which is the foundation of its growth, its power, and its prosperity, will give an overwhelming vote against Lincoln and Republicanism. This State has ever been conservative and loyal to the Union. New York has never yet given a majority on the whole vote in favor of Republicanism, and we firmly believe she never will.

Note: This is an excerpt from a longer article.

WIDE-AWAKE!--WORKING MEN, ATTENTION!
(page 4, column 3)

German fellow-citizens, be on your guard. Stand firm for Lincoln and Liberty. Be not frightened into voting the Fusion ticket by the parasites of Slavery. They will tell you that the present scarcity of work for Southern clothing houses is owing to the anticipated election of Mr. Lincoln. This is false. Some of our manufacturers are getting up small stocks, not expecting a heavy trade with the South next Spring in consequence of the scarcity of money and shortness of crops; others, we are led to believe, are holding off to starve you into submission to their wishes. They want you to vote for the Fusion ticket and they will give you no work till after election, thus trying to make you believe there will be no work if Mr. Lincoln is elected. Bosh! Money will be used between now and election to induce you to vote for Fusion. Stand firm, and let these creatures find that you are men and not tools for base asses like themselves.

How the Disunion Dodge Works
(page 4, column 4)

To the Editor of the N. Y. Tribune

A few days since I met on the Fulton Ferry a gentleman whom I have known as a prominent member of the American party. In a conversation on the prominent topic, he said: "I shall vote for Lincoln; Messrs. Brooks & Co. may make as many bargains as they will; I refuse to be delivered." This day on the boat I met a friend whom I have known as a persistent Democrat. He volunteered the following: "My partner and myself are and have always been Democrats. This time we both intend to vote for Lincoln, and we do so because we are sick and tired of this cry of disunion. If that is to come, let it come now." Today a gentleman who has for years been a violent Native, said in my presence: "The American party is a dead cock in the pit. I shall work and vote for Lincoln."

One word more. Are we of the North electors, or are we not? If yes, shall we vote in accordance with our honest convictions, or shall we be frightened by the unmeaning threats of a handful of Dry-Goods Jobbers, Stock Brokers and Federal office-holders?

Byron says, "It is a base abandonment of reason, to resign our right of thought."

Let every man conscientiously perform his duty in this matter and abide the result.

A UNION-LOVING REPUBLICAN

THE LATEST NEWS received by MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH, From Washington, Special Dispatch to the N.Y. Tribune
(page 5, column 1)

Notwithstanding the repeated denials of some Washington correspondents that the President favors Disunionism, everybody in this city is fully convinced that Mr. Buchanan, if not openly, is secretly with the seceders. If he were opposed to them, he would, in view of their openly expressed hostility to the Union, long ago have issued a Proclamation. Aaron Burr's projects were the same as those of the seceders; both aim at the establishment of an independent Government within the boundaries of the United States, and that is high treason.

The seceders now say that the rebellion will not occur before the next 4th of March. They are afraid that, if they should commence immediately after the election, they will not have States enough; the more so as it is beyond doubt that the border States will go against them. From that time till the inauguration they hope to stir up Southern prejudices against Lincoln to such a pitch as to induce even those States who have voted for Bell to side with them. Mr. Buchanan, who wishes to be Provisional President, will assist them.

VIVE LA REPUBLIQUE
(page 8, column 2 )

Fling out the broad banner! make ready each hand,
For the cry of Disunion is heard in the land;
Each day may behold the fierce warfare begun,
And hard may the fight be, ere victory be won.
Then loud let the challenge ring out to the South!
"Republicans have but one heart and one mouth
For the freedom we love--for the land we adore!
For the Union and Abraham Lincoln--hurra!"

What! brothers and countrymen! then will you part?
With a curse on each lip and revenge in each heart?
What! fly as our English invaders have fled,
From the land where our forefathers conquered and bled?
No! loud let the shout ring from North and from South,
"We have but one country, one heart and one mouth,
For the freedom we love--for the land we adore!
For the Union and Abraham Lincoln--hurra!"

Let enemies thicken, we'll never despair;
Where our candidate is, behold Victory there!
Disunite, in the ruins of Freedom you lie!
In the Union, you conquer--without it, you die!
It shall come from the North, it shall come from the South,
"We have but one country, one heart and one mouth,
For the freedom we love--for the land we adore!
For the Union and Abraham Lincoln--hurra!"

Sentiment at the South
(page 8, column 2)

We find in The New Haven Register the following letter from a gentleman in Alabama to a family friend in New Haven. Its author is a Union-loving, conservative man, though not a member of the Democratic party. Thousands of communications of the same purport are written by people at the South to their friends in the North. We reproduce this Alabama letter, because it is temperately written, and obviously states the facts:

"A---, Ala., Oct. 24, 1860.

"Ten days from this, the people of this country will be called on to decide whether the Government is a failure or not! I now fear, should Lincoln be elected, there will be dissolution of the Government! My mind has undergone a great change since I was in New Haven. South Carolina will secede as certain as Lincoln is elected; and all the cotton States will follow.

"Let there be one drop of Southern blood spilt, and every Southern State will be ready to avenge it. Some months since, I thought there would be no withdrawing of any State until after some overt act of Lincoln and his Administration--but Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Florida, will all withdraw. Our State has passed a resolution, that in the event of a Black Republican being elected, the Governor shall convene the Legislature; and our Governor, and a large number of our representatives elect, are in favor of resistance! Most of the Governors in the cotton States are of the same mind. Now there are many conservative men here, but when the South becomes involved in a difficulty with the General Government, they will not only sympathize but take an active part. Not one in a hundred will take sides with the General Government. I write this as my own opinion, and you can take it for what it is worth. South Carolina is making preparations, by reorganizing her militia, and many have put the "cockade" upon their hats ready to march directly out of the Union. Some at the North may laugh at the idea, but the passions of the people are aroused.

"Why, who compose the Black Republican party, or a large majority? Those who are willing to indorse John Brown as a martyr, and are now taking up subscriptions to build a monument to his fame! Look at the Beechers and Cheevers; look at the higher-law men, and those that curse Washington, Madison, and Jefferson as thieves and robbers, because they were slaveholders. All this inflames the public mind. Then the manufacturing of Brown's pikes, the distributing arsenic in large quantities to the negroes, telling them to poison their masters and take their mistresses for wives--telling them that all this is warranted by the laws of God and the Bible--saying that when the Black Republicans are elected, the negroes are to be freed. The negroes think Lincoln and Hamlin are both negroes! Do you see the drift of all this? Now, how do you expect to keep a people conservative, when all these things are brought to bear upon them? All here know full well that as soon as a dissolution takes place, all kinds of property will decline; but they think that after that is over, it will rally again. For my part, I do not want to see these States separated, but the North is to blame for it all. Had she let the South alone, we would now have been as a band of brothers. I fear the die is cast--take warning!"

The Republican Triumph and Its Causes
(page 7, column 1)

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Democratic) Nov. 7

All good citizens should bow to the majestic decision of the people, rendered in accordance with the forms of the Constitution. That decision places the Republican party in possession of the National Government and the State Governments of all the Free States. This power is committed to them temporarily as a trust, for whose faithful administration they will be held to a rigid account. Their rule will endure just so long as the people feel satisfied with it, and no longer. The course of Mr. Lincoln's administration will be a difficult and delicate one, and if he can succeed in so conducting it as not to give just cause of offense to the South, and at the same time fail to alienate the large portion of his present supporters, who are imbued with strong anti-Slavery sentiments, he will accomplish a task more difficult than fell to the lot of any of his predecessors. Then, another source of trouble will be the disposition of the patronage at his command. For every office there will be one hundred "Wide Awake" candidates and ninety-nine of them will be his sworn enemies, once their delectable expectations have been dashed by inevitable disappointment. His every act will be subjected to the keen scrutiny and criticism which never fail to be directed to the party in power. To the exigencies of the future, the opponents of his election now commit him and his administration, and while partisans may desire his discomfiture, the great body of the people will prefer that he should steer clear of fatal mistakes, rather than commit errors which, while they might insure the overthrow of his party, must, at the same time entail disastrous consequences on the country.

The causes of the great popular revolution which has swept the Democracy out to sea, probably never to touch dry land, are clear as noonday. Long possession of power had corrupted the Democracy and caused its machinery to fall into the hands of a class of public stipendiaries who came at last to regard the spoils of Government as their hereditary possession. Fortified with this idea, they considered any outside interference as an impertinence, and instead of demeaning themselves as public servants, amenable to their employers, lorded it after the manner of the inheritors of the sacred prerogative of divine right. Corruption had crept into several branches of the public service, and although the effort made to fasten the responsibility on the President and his Cabinet was an unfair electioneering device, still the existence of wrongs and impurities in public affairs was made patent to all. Then when the party came to arrange its case for presentation to the jury of the country, instead of presenting an aspect of dignity which would commend respect and promise a decent government, they exhibited the wretched spectacle of squabbles for superiority, of section against section, and of a band of men bound to the personal fortunes of an individual in the hope of retrieving their bankrupt fortunes by free access to the public purse. The party was foredoomed. Only one consideration gave it the shadow of a chance, or sufficient prospect of success to inspire those who clung to it to labor for its success, and that was the apprehension of the evil consequences which it was feared would follow the success of the Republicans.

An Outside View/From the Hamilton (Canada) Spectator
(page 7, column 4)

What may be the effect of Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency remains to be seen. We do not anticipate anything disastrous to the Union, yet we look for a grand revolution in the internal management of affairs. Mr. Lincoln is a man of mind, worth, and honor; and we mistake his character greatly if he does not inaugurate a new and improved system in the administration of the country. It is plain enough to be seen that the Buchanan Administration has done more harm than any that preceded it. The Pierce dynasty was bad enough in all conscience, but not to be compared with its successor for corrupt misdeeds. We think it may be relied on that Mr. Lincoln will leave the White House with as much popularity as he will enter it in March next. But there is another view to take of this great triumph of right over wrong, and that is with regard to the course the South will pursue, now that a Republican President is elected.

For months past, all sorts of threats have been hurled from the fire-eaters, and nothing less than a complete break-up of the American Confederation would satisfy them if Lincoln were successful. The result is against them, and we presume they will succumb when they see there is nothing else for it. Why they should be embittered against Mr. Lincoln, we cannot understand, for he is certainly the most moderate of men; there is nothing of the fiery zealot about him; nor is he the man to endanger; the stability of the Union by making organic changes such as would unsettle the existing state of things. He has a higher mission than his opponents appear to assign him; and it is quite likely that they will discover their mistake ere long. Mr. Lincoln is President, and we venture to say there will be no dissolution of the American Union.

Union Sentiment in Virginia
(page 7, column 2 )

Judge Richard H. Field of Culpeper, Va., is the eldest Superior Judge in the State, having been appointed to his present place under the old system, more than 33 years ago, and he has held the office from that to the present time. At the first election of Judges by the people, in 1852, he was elected without opposition. In May last, at the second Judicial election, he was continued without opposition for another term of eight years. A few days since the Judge felt called upon to rebuke, through the medium of The Culpeper Observer, the current threats of secession in the event of Lincoln's success, for which he was of course duly assailed by The Richmond Enquirer. In response, we find the following card in The Richmond Dispatch. Whether this filial, dignified, and patriotic protest shall excite the fighting propensities of O. Jennings W. & Co. time will determine:

A CARD.--The readers of The Richmond Enquirer probably observed, in its issue of Thursday last, an article headed "Judge R. H. Field of Culpeper." While the character of my father is too well established among those who know him to be affected by such an article, respect for public sentiment requires it to be noticed. Having read in The Enquirer an editorial advocating resistance and disunion upon the premature and injudicious, Judge Field wished to counteract, as far as in his power, the influence of opinions leading to this result, and was thus induced to write his letter to The Observer. The letter sustained the policy of abiding the election of Mr. Lincoln only "so long as he supports the Constitution of the United States and executes in good faith the laws of the Union." Whatever may have been the form and tone of the letter, the purpose was an honest one, and one which better men than the pensioned editor of The Richmond Enquirer will approve and indorse. It is by no means a contemptible party who are in favor of secession only when our rights have in reality been assailed, and who are opposed to permitting the too hasty action of heated partisans and the hellish plottings of unprincipled men to precipitate the Southern States into Disunion, with its attendant destruction of life and property--with every horror of servile and civil war. The charge that, in writing his letter, Judge Field was actuated by desire of more elevated position under the Lincoln Administration is a falsehood as slanderous as untrue. Were Judge Field a young man, just entering with the ambition and energy of early manhood the theater of public life, the charge might be plausible; against a man who has almost reached the allotted age of three score years and ten, it is more absurd than unjust. W.G. FIELD. Culpeper C. H., Nov. 3, 1860

Bullying the Free States
(page 4, column 2)

Abraham Lincoln has been designated for next President of this Republic by the popular vote of nearly every Free State, and the ruling politicians of the Slave States are not pleased with the selection. We can fancy their feelings, as we felt much the same when they put a most undesired President upon us four years ago. Moreover, we can and do in good faith advise them to do as we did--Bear it with fortitude, and hope to do better next time. There are other courses that may seem more inviting at first, but this will prove altogether safest and wisest in the end.

But Southern politicians are not so used to adversity as we have been, and they do not at first take it kindly. Everybody among them is expected to tear and rave over this Free Soil triumph, under the suspicion of being marked and denounced as an Abolitionist. Of course, the howl throughout the Cotton States is very general--partly in earnest, and partly not. And the lifelong Disunionists of South Carolina, and two or three sympathizing sister States, seize upon the excitement as a godsend, by whose aid they hope forthwith to achieve their darling end.

Now we believe and maintain that the Union is to be preserved only so long as it is beneficial to all parties concerned. We fully comprehend that Secession is an extreme, an ultimate resort--not a Constitutional but a Revolutionary remedy; but we insist that this Union shall not be held together by force whenever it shall have ceased to cohere by the mutual attraction of its parts; and whenever the Slave States, or the Cotton States only, shall unitedly, coolly say to the rest, "We want to get out of the Union," we shall urge that their request be acceded to.

But one thing we must firmly and always insist on--that there shall be no bribing, no coaxing, no wheedling those to stay in the Union who want to get out. Every step in this direction tends to confirm the Slave States in their mistaken notion that the Union is more advantageous to us than to them--that it is a contrivance to pamper and enrich the North at the cost of the South. And this is today the chief source of National peril. It is because the Southern people have been persistently ruined by disunion--that our people live by their sufferance and thrive on their bounty--that we are eternally threatened with Secession. Let it be fully and fairly understood that the benefits of the Union are mutual--that we don't want the South to remain in the Union out of charity to us--and this eternal menace of Nullification and Secession will be hushed forever.

Note: This is an excerpt from a longer article.

Union Men! Be On Your Guard/ From Brownlow's Knoxville Whig
(page 6, column 4)

UNION MEN, BE ON YOUR GUARD!--There are those all over the country who talk long and loud about the horrors of Lincoln's election, and taking advantage of the events which themselves and associates; have hastened, call upon us all to unite--to let "bygones be bygones"-- and all act together as a united South. The object of these men is to get as many Union men to commit themselves to the cause of Secession as they can. Let them know, wherever they meet you, that, as law-abiding citizens, loyal to our blood-bought government, you will never consent to see our soil ravaged by the terrible strife which would result from Secession, and on the very threshold proclaim your determination to oppose all the mad schemes of Disunion and to stand by this Union of States! Tell these secret emissaries and street talkers that you admit the value of cotton as an article of commerce, but remind them in the next breath that Kentucky and Missouri hemp, as a necklace for traitors, is an article of still greater value for home consumption.

The Secessionist Movement / Opinions of the Southern Press / From The Vicksburgh (Miss.) Whig
(page 6, column 4)

To prevent anybody abroad from being deceived, we will state what everybody hereabouts already knows, that there is little or no excitement in this section of the State, growing out of the result of the recent election. It is true that there are several worthy citizens in favor of immediate resistance, but they are in a woeful minority--there is not enough of them for seed. The "Minute Men's" organization was a fizzle--the sympathy of the few respected citizens to whom we have referred only saving it from utter insignificance. Its numbers are barely the minimum of an ordinary volunteer company.

It may be safely set down that Louisiana will not secede, even if any foolish attempt is made to test the question. The Douglas and Bell vote united beats Breckinridge out of sight, and a large number of those who supported Major Breckinridge are as strong Union men now as they were during the canvass, when they all professed to be Union men. No matter what other States may do, the Mississippi Valley will stand by the Union as our fathers gave it to us. Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana will not secede! Mark that.

The Secessionist Movement / Opinions of the Southern Press / From the Washington Star
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From the turn matters are now taking in various Southern States, it is evident to our mind that South Carolina is to find no effective support outside of her own limits, for her scheme of preventing a general consultation of all the Slaveholding States upon their duty to themselves under the General Government in the hands of the Republican party. Thus, it grows more questionable hourly, whether Georgia and Alabama will act with her without calling for an entire Southern States' Convention. Virginia is already demanding such a Convention, as well as North Carolina and Maryland; and Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi seem to evince no disposition to act in the emergency in concert with South Carolina alone; urging, as they do, a compliance with the wishes of the States of the Northern slaveholding tier, which, as all comprehend, are far more immediately and vitally interested in whatever may be the result of the present state of things.

"Devotion to the Union is Treason to the South."--From the Oxford (Miss.) Mercury
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We have at last reached that point in our history when it is necessary for the South to withdraw from the Union. This has not been of our seeking. Fanaticism has driven us to this point, and we are bound to accept it for self-preservation. The blood of this deed mush rest upon other shoulders. We have always contended for a Union upon the principles of the Constitution. Constitutions are formed for the protection of minorities; the right to revolutionize--the right of self-defense--is derived from heaven, and is above constitutional principles. She never asked other than a full benefit of those guarantees; nor does she now.

But while this is true, a powerful sectional majority are now about to seize upon the Government with the avowed object of so administering it as to destroy the institution of Slavery existing in fifteen of the States. We cannot stand still and quietly see the Government pass into the hands of such an infamous crew.

South Carolina has already unfurled her flag of defiance, and the flashes of the glittering sword of the Palmetto State have already sent an electric thrill through the veins of all her Southern brethren. Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, will soon be united as brothers to defend each other from the inroads of the fanatics of the North.

So soon as this Confederacy is formed, we will throw open our ports to the ships and commerce of the world, cut loose from Yankee manufactories, erect factories of our own, and develop the rich resources now slumbering dormant in our states.

Note: This is an excerpt from a longer article.

Views of a Businessman

SIR: Will you permit me to state three reasons which convince me that it is the duty of every businessman, interested in the peace and prosperity of the North, to stand firm in this political juncture:

I. Because, if we yield to the threats of the Slave Power today, we shall be driven into a long series of such concessions as the only condition upon which the South will remain in the Union. The Slave Power, having once frightened us into compliance, will hold the threat of disunion as an ever-ready whip for Northern shoulders, to compel us into submission. The result will be ever-recurring conflict, panics, contentions. Congress will continue to be the scene of sectional struggle. The evils of our present panic will become chronic. In the end, we shall be driven into revolution, or become the subservient subjects of a slave-driving oligarchy.

II. Because the scene of intestine struggle will thus be transferred from the South to the North. The South demands more stringent laws for the taking and rendition of fugitive slaves. But Congress may pass law after law, yet the men of the North cannot be made slave-catchers, and no legislation can eradicate the innate love of freedom and fair play bred into the Northern bone. To attempt, therefore, to execute more stringent Fugitive Slave laws will necessarily result in riot and commotion. Are we ready to entail this constant danger of intestine struggle upon our children?

III. Because any compromise now made will be made only to be broken. I need only refer to the breach of the Missouri Compromise, as a historic proof of the proposition. And that the South will, in case of a compromise, soon get the power to break it, is but too evident. For the retreat of our leaders as a single inch breaks up the Republican party. Let it not be forgotten that a large proportion of our Republicans have been educated by the Kansas tyrannies and the whole course of recent events up to a conscientious conviction that to aid or abet the extension of Slavery is wrong. These men mean to stand firmly by this principle, cutting loose from any party that deserts it. Thus the path of the South to her former domination over the ruins of a demoralized and shattered Republican party will be made smooth and easy. We shall then find too late, how little binding are such compromises upon a rampant and tyrannical Slave Power.

CITIZEN

The Right Of Secession

SIR: 1. Do you or do you not hold to the theory that peaceable secession of one or more of the States is utterly beyond the power of our Government to admit?

2. If such power does not exist with the General Government, does it exist with the People?

3. If with the People, how, practically, can they so decree?

J.M.

Answer.--Secession from the Union is by no means provided for or contemplated in the Constitution, and yet that instrument opens a door by which States may legally, and in an orderly manner, withdraw from the Confederacy. That door is opened in the provision for the amendment of the Constitution; and, until that means of redress has been tried, and has failed, no State, whatever its grievances, can be justified in the eyes of humanity or of history in resorting to the violent, anarchical, and dangerous remedy of revolution.

But whenever it becomes indispensable, revolution is indisputably the right of all men. This cannot be better expressed than in the language of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, where "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights..."

That may be very old-fashioned doctrine, but we actually believe in it. And we cannot help seeing that, if it justified the Colonies in revolting from Great Britain, it equally justifies a fourth of the Union in cutting loose from the rest, for reasons which to them shall seem sufficient.

So much for the abstract right to secede. The right is plainly a fundamental and extra-constitutional one, and the manner of its exercise is to be governed by circumstances. But should seven or eight States leave the Union, it would be very hard for the Federal Government not to perceive the fact and to act upon it.

We have thus answered our correspondent's queries all together. Admit a right to exist, and you cannot well deny that there must be a proper time for and manner of exercising it.

Ed.

Beware!
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We warn the people of the Free States, that a cockatrice's egg is being hatched at Washington, in the form of a proposition to amend the Constitution by tracing the line of 36-30 across the continent, and dooming to eternal Slavery all the territory we now possess or may hereafter acquire south of that parallel. We are aware that this "measure of peace," which, during the fifteen months that would expire ere it could be acted upon by the State Legislatures, would fill every corner of the land with unprecedented agitation, can never be incorporated into the Constitution. We know that, excepting in and immediately around the great commercial centers, every member of Congress from the North who, by giving his vote for such a measure in this crisis, betrays the cause of Free Labor and Free Government, will be buried under an avalanche of popular reprobation, and will know no resurrection. Therefore we have no fears of the ultimate fate of this proposed recreancy to Truth, Justice, and the permanent peace of the country. But, we appeal to the Republicans in Congress, and ask, "Why encourage treason in the South and cowardice in the North by inspiring hopes which you know can never be realized?" If they are deaf to reason, then we turn to those great constituencies which have just deposited in the ballot boxes nearly two millions of Republican votes, and ask them if they are willing to allow their representatives to even seem to throw away of their dearly won victory; to break down the Administration of Lincoln ere he attains power; to prove themselves to have been hypocrites while out of place, and cravens, who are ready to surrender their principles the moment they are able to abandon them to their enemies? Or, if we are too confident of the final result, and there really be danger of such an amendment being incorporated into the Constitution, if presented to Congress, then we ask Republicans if there is any exertion which they will not put forth to prevent the initial step in this downward road--any effort they will not put forth to hold our country back from entering upon piratical and buccaneering schemes for reopening the slave trade and extending Slavery over the Southern half of the Continent, precipitating us into wars with foreign nations, and provoking the indignation of Christendom?

We warn our readers that this so called "Compromise" may be sprung upon Congress immediately after the holidays, if not previously broken up by the outspoken condemnation of the people. Let Republican constituencies take prompt measures, through the mails, the public press, and personal appeals, to bring proper influences to bear upon their Senators and Representatives at Washington, ere it be too late. Let them crush this offspring of Southern treason and Northern doughfaceism in its incipiency. There is not a moment to be lost!

The Southern Peril
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A lady writes from Beaufort, S.C., as follows:

I shall just mention one little discomfort which has commenced under the prospect of Lincoln's Administration. Northern emissaries tell our negroes that they now have their friend at the head of the Government, and whatever they choose to do, whether to kill their owner and fire his dwelling, provision, and cotton houses, to do it and run away, and the President will uphold them in it, and send troops to their assistance should they be overtaken!! Now, we know that the President would not and could not do this; but they do not know it. They turn from their tempters now, and tell their owners these things. Some of these white men have been caught, confessed, and instead of being hung, punished and sent home. But how long will they resist the temptation of getting away from work, of being taken care of, and have their darling and besetting propensity offered them, of plenty to eat and nothing to do! You know how they would realize this!"

--This lady is quite right as to the peril she depicts, but wrong as to its source. "Northern emissaries" have not--why should they--braved torture and death to tell the Southern slaves what they cannot have failed to learn far more generally and reliably from their masters. There is scarcely a master's table in all the South where the election of Lincoln has not been canvassed for months as an apprehended triumph of Abolition--something that slaveholders cannot afford to submit to. Black waiters are standing about, with close mouths but open ears, drinking in all this, to be retailed, with improvements, in the kitchen and negro quarters. At length, Lincoln is elected--every negro is aware of the fact--and has heard what Massa says are the grounds of his election. At once, the masters and overseers propose to rebel against and fight the Federal Government because (they say) it is hostile to Slavery and intent on its Abolition. Four millions of slaves--ignorant, brutal, and averse to labor--are talking this over every night in their cabins. Is this a good time for a revolt of the masters against the Union? Should they not think of St. Domingo?

Southern Sentiment as Gathered From Private Sources
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The following letter is from Charleston, from one brother to another in Northboro, and we publish the whole as an indication of the feeling toward the North, as well as the deplorable state of affairs in that city. The letter is dated Dec. 17 and is taken from The Boston Journal:

I never thought I should witness such times. We are in the midst of a revolution. Every man is enrolled--all kinds of business at a stand--no shipping in port--all Northern communication cut off--Custom House officers resigned their office--no cotton coming in. I have ten hands walking about, doing nothing--I have them to feed. There are twelve hundred drays in the city--not ten of a day get one load. All the banks stopped--our State notes out of the State not worth one cent. We are in a state of starvation--no meat to eat, even at twenty-five cents a pound.

I am in hopes the Abolitionists of the North will be paid in their own coin. There will be no compromise--it is out the question. The Lincoln party will commence as soon as he takes his chair, and we are all prepared for him. It is impossible for him to put us down--ten years' war can't do it. But if I had thought such times as these were coming last April, I could have sold my negroes for $30,000 cash, but now not worth $500. I am tired of writing; I am so much excited at present I cannot picture our situation. I have 35 negroes to find--drawing nothing. All the Boston steamers have stopped--the New York steamers all stopped.

From a Student of the Scripture

The Question
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The fact that daily grows plainer and plainer is that the Slave States are going rapidly to ruin as they progress in their secession movement. They must inevitably back down, unless the Federal Government and the Free States shall save them that trouble by backing down themselves. This outrageous and causeless rebellion having gone thus far, it would seem to be a pity now that it should be deprived of the poor privilege of exhausting itself. It is really of the greatest and most enduring consequence to know whether the nation called the United States of America is a sham, a humbug, a myth, or not. It has always been supposed to be a power of stability and consequence. It is fashionable now to deride it as a fabric without strength or cohesiveness, that a few unscrupulous politicians can pull down and trample under foot with impunity, and that absolutely holds its existence on the sufferance of a handful of traitors.

Dr. Raphael's Bible View of Slavery
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The room of the Historical Society was about two-thirds filled last evening with an audience curious to hear a Pro-Slavery Jewish Rabbi expound to them the principles of Christianity, and attempt to prove from the Sacred Word that the Savior sanctioned Slavery. He summed up the difference between Bible and Southern Slavery, by saying that in one case the slave was a man, and in the other he was reduced to be a thing. He said he wished to declare emphatically that he did not believe that Slavery, as existing in the South, was contrary to the law of God. In the course of his remarks he said that, in all fairness, the President elect was entitled to a trial. [Cheers] The loss of a Presidential election was a poor apology for a revolution.

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It is said that Virginia is about to declare herself out of the Union, and to adopt formally and solemnly the great principle of South Carolina, viz: that the majority shall not govern. There is something curious, not to say comical, in seeing the Virginia of George Mason and Thomas Jefferson assume such an attitude. But we may be sure that she will never do it unanimously, and that there are thousands of noble spirits within her borders who will never bow the knee to this modern Baal.

The Pro-Slavery Rebellion: A Southern Despotism

The cry is sharp from the seceding States to save their loyal citizens from a military despotism. It is the programme of the revolutionists to crush out all opposition to their movements within the seceding States by whatever harsh and despotic measures are necessary to accomplish this object. Already in some of them laws have been passed to prevent seditious speech, and break up all efforts to resist rebellion. We may thus look to find the prisons of the seceding States, like the prisons of Italy under King Bomba, crammed with victims whose only crime is to desire to preserve the free government and free institutions under which they have so long and happily lived. This rebellion of the slaveholders is no revolution in behalf of popular rights; it is a revolution to crush those rights, and to establish a government based on military principles. It thus may very soon become a serious question whether the Free States are not likely to be involved in a war to preserve the cause of constitutional freedom on this continent, and within the limits of our own national jurisdiction. For whether the people of the North may or may not be willing to permit the establishment of a slaveholding Confederacy in the South, if it could be done in a proper way and under proper guards and limitations, it is too much to suppose they will prove so deaf to every dictate of patriotism, of justice, and of liberty, as to allow of the establishment of a military despotism in the South based on African Slavery, to grind the masses of the white people into the earth, while they yet claim the protection of a common Union and a common Government.

What Secession Actually Has Done
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In conversation with an honest farmer, of Republican politics, he seemed not at all shocked by the secession of the Cotton States. In fact, he was not alarmed by the crisis. Why, said we, don't you think the country is going to pieces? "Oh no," said he, "not a bit of it. I am now getting old, and I have seen these Southern Hotspurs do a great many things of this sort, without harming the country." Yes, we replied, but this is much worse, they actually have seceded. "So has Nantucket seceded from the main land, but I never heard it seceded from codfish and mackerel. These seceders have gone out on paper, but do you think they want to abolish Slavery? Without the Constitution and defense of the Union, Slavery is gone, Sir!? But, we replied, they are going to collect the revenue on their own account. "Let them try it, Sir. I have seen a good many people in my time try to get round Uncle Sam, but never saw one succeed. I am not thinking of that, Sir. This nation is safe enough. But I am really thankful to these Secessionists for the good they have done." Good! Why, Sir, what possible good have they done? "In my opinion a great deal." They have done exactly what their own wise and prudent men said would be done in such an event. They have put the Republican party in power, when it could not have been done otherwise, and Lincoln will now have a fair chance to administer the Government on sound and righteous principles.

But these Secessionists have done more to be thankful for. They have united good and true men. They have given strength to the true lovers of the Union in the South; and, though they have been long dormant and trodden under foot by a disloyal faction, they will now come into power, and drive these traitors to their infamous doom. Lastly, Sir, these Secessionists have shown us the weak places in our Government, and we shall strengthen them. Not only will the traitors be driven out of power in their own States,, and the Union be made sound, but the Government and nation will be made permanently stronger. I believe Providence conducts all things for good, and this fiery ordeal is not for destruction, but for healing. It is a revolution; but a revolution which must have come, and which is essentially necessary to the prosperity and grandeur of this mighty nation. Negroes, Sir, are a small element in our progress, and, if there are those who hold them think otherwise, let them try the experiment. Time will correct the errors of a day, and misfortune cool the fervor of passion."

Such was the philosophy of our rural friend, and substantially we agree with him. Secession cannot be made permanent without destruction to the States which secede.

From Virginia: Effect of the Inaugural
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The inaugural of Mr. Lincoln is received here with much disfavor. When the first few telegraphic installments of it appeared on the bulletin boards and shortly after upon narrow slips of paper, headed "Extra," the most intense curiosity was manifested by all classes to learn what had fallen from the lips of the man who was about to assume the Presidential chair--to read and know the authoritative announcement of the policy of the incoming Administration, so obnoxious to the South. I have heard but one construction of Mr. Lincoln's declaration of his intention to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duty and imposts." It is regarded, if not as a declaration of war, as at least the expression of a determination to coerce the seceding States into compliance with the demands of the Federal Government. There is no wisdom in attempting to disguise the fact that any effort to carry out this policy will meet with the stern and unyielding resistance of Virginia. This is what the State has unceasingly remonstrated and counseled against, and what her Union-loving men have fondly hoped would not be attempted. The Secessionists now point the finger and tauntingly say to them, "We told you so." They hail the outspeaking of Mr. Lincoln not only as the fulfillment of their predictions, but as the sure precursor of speedy steps on the part of the authorities at Washington which will make Virginia a unit and precipitate her out of the Union, and along with her all the Southern Border States. The Union men are ominously silent. That they are deeply disappointed in the avowal of the President, and that even they now regard the hour for some decisive step on the part of Virginia as near at hand, is no longer denied. There is but little doubt now that henceforth the Secessionists, who a few short days ago were but a small minority, will have things pretty much their own way. The friends of the Union who have hitherto been hopeful of good results can no longer say, "Wait until the Ides of March." The day is past, and though the sun of nature never shone brighter, yet in the political sky a dark cloud gathered over Virginia. The position of the Border States is now regarded as a most embarrassing one. Unlike the Cotton States, they stand face to face with the dangers that threaten them, and men who are not for blindly fleeing from the ills of the present to those which they know not of, are almost at a dead loss for a suggestion as to what course should be pursued for their future welfare and for the warding off the calamities which now seem to be almost inevitable.

Whether Virginia will go with the North or the South, in the event of a final and irreparable dissolution, has never been a serious question with any man or party of men, though she has patiently and dispassionately looked on the progress of events and shown but little sympathy for one section, and little hostility toward the other. But the question is seriously asked: Will Virginia join the Southern Confederacy, or will she call a Convention of Border Southern States, and unite with them in the formation of a Central Government?

From Tennessee: Feeling in Border States
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Throughout Kentucky and Tennessee, the Union feeling is very strong. The predominant expression is, "No doubt the South has been imposed upon; but we, and not the Gulf States, are the chief sufferers. Where Mississippi and Alabama lose one slave, we lose a hundred. But we don't believe in secession as a remedy; it is jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. We have too much at stake to be precipitated into any such movement, except as a last resort." One of the strongest Union papers in the State remarks that Slavery, like female virtue, is not a matter to be discussed. Whoever raises a question about it is its enemy, and takes a course which will weaken it, and tend to its ultimate destruction. Hence, it argues, the Secessionists are the worst adversaries of our institution, because they are provoking discussions in regard to it.

The people realize that the only safety for Slavery is in the Union--that the moment it becomes isolated from the Free States, it must stand alone, against the public opinion of the whole world. And, beyond these considerations of interest, the Kentuckians and Tennesseeans are a patriotic people, justly proud of their great dead, whose lives were devoted to the service of their whole country. Old men ask anxiously if there is no hope of adjustment, and allude, with broken voices, to the possibility of a permanent dissolution.

Still, there is a good deal of disunion feeling, particularly in Western Tennessee. It costs something, here, to be a Union man; and too much honor cannot be awarded to the brave men who are breasting the storm. They are combating strong popular prejudices. They are denounced as submissionists and cowards; and no people in the country are so sensitive as those of the South to the charge of cowardice. They are engaged in a bitter struggle; and whatever can be done with honor by the party now coming into power to hold up their hands, should certainly be done.

The Future
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What spectacle is this country to present within the next year? Where shall we be politically in the year 1862? These questions are of the gravest import, not to be passed over simply because they are disagreeable. Serious troubles threaten us, and it is cowardly to look away from them and take no thought whither they are likely to lead us.

Before last November threats of disunion were common enough, but no one supposed they were anything more than electioneering tricks. Indeed, so frequently had these threats been made before, that no one had any reason to regard them as of any practical importance. They were accordingly received either with indifference, or with mirthful remarks; and the general opinion seemed to be that the South could not be forced out of the Union. It was argued by those who cared to argue at all about it, that the very existence of Slavery depended upon the Union, that no Slave State would dare to have Canada carried down to its borders; that slave insurrections would occur as soon as the heavy hand of the Federal Government was withdrawn from the institution; and that the dread of John Brown raids would alone prove sufficient to keep the Slave States in the Union. It would seem now that great ignorance prevailed at the North as to the real situation of the Slave States. At all events, we reckoned too rapidly and accepted possible ultimate results as immediate effects. The Slave States which lie most remote from the Free, have earnestly, boldly, successfully seceded, and established a Confederacy founded upon Slavery. They have framed a Constitution, established a de facto government, assumed an attitude of armed hostility toward the United States, and are at this moment making demands more befitting conquerors than rebels. Two tiers of Slave States lie between them and the Free States, and those intermediate States are disaffected towards the Union and act as allies to the seceded States. The actual condition of things is pretty much as if one of three partners should be robbing the firm of its property, while a second should hold the largest proprietor and threaten him with death in case he resisted. The Slave States which still remain in the Union, with two or three exceptions, will be ready to leave it as soon as their end of shielding the seceders shall be accomplished, unless they can compel the people of the Free States to adopt such degrading and revolting amendments to the Constitution as shall be acceptable to all the Slave States. It is true that the Union party, so called, is uppermost in the Slave States which have not seceded; but it is about the same sort of a Union party as that lately existing in Georgia. If, say these Union States, you coerce the seceded States we will take up arms against you, and quit the Union. If you do not adopt amendments to the Constitution, we will consent to let you number us still as States of the Union. But if you venture to assert any right, even to your own money, in the new Confederacy, or if you plead that you settled your views on Slavery last November, and can take no steps to make the Constitution abhorrent to your consciences and destructive to your interests, we shall instantly leave your Union, and, if need be, meet you in the field of battle.

Such is the tone of the Union Slave States, or rather of the Union party in those States; and the day is not distant when they will meet in Convention and dictate terms to the people and the Government of the United States which must either be accepted or rejected. The time is fast approaching when even Gov. Seward must declare how far he is willing to go for the Union; and he must respond not in empty declaration, but in plain, practical language--not in the abstract, but in the concrete.

We hope the position assumed will be a proud and manly one; we cannot believe it will be a tame submission. But to refuse to submit to degrading terms will not be a mere matter of form. It may either involve us in a war, or compel us to treat with the Slave States as a sovereign nation. The way, and we fear the only way, of preventing a war, as the alternative of submission, or a treaty, is to be fully prepared for it. Unless we desire to see Mr. Lincoln a fugitive from Washington, with Gov. Seward at his heels, we must be prepared either to yield up everything in the way of political principle, or to acknowledge the Southern Confederacy, or to protect the seat of Government against all comers. Assuming that we shall neither acknowledge the Black Republic, nor submit to the demands of its allies, we cannot too urgently appeal to the Administration to prepare to meet force with force, and maintain the honor and independence of the United States at all hazards. It is foolish to attempt now to shape public policy to suit the Border Slave States. If free goods are to be allowed to enter the Slave States, why is it not better to give up the contest, divide the Territories, the Army and Navy, and make the best terms we can with Jeff. Davis?

But the future is, under God, in our own keeping. It is our duty to prepare for it; and if our means are insufficient to meet its demands, it is the duty of the President to call an extra session of Congress and ask for all the means required. There are too many elements of discord in our political system to render it safe to doubt that war can be avoided by any other means than being prepared for it. The price we are now required to pay to keep the Border Slave States is sufficiently monstrous to make us expect yet greater exactions. If we show a disposition to pay that price, viz: no coercion, no collecting the revenue, no holding of our fortifications, and all kinds of concessions on the Slavery question, it will not be long before we are warned by Virginia not to enlist another man, not to put in commission another ship, not to concentrate another regiment, under the penalty of another stampede of the Slave Border States. If, then, we have, or expect to have, anything that can be called a Government, now is the time for decided, energetic, effective action. But if we intend a deplorable series of back-outs and crawfishing, the sooner we acknowledge the Southern Confederacy, and try to make terms with it, the better for all concerned.

Reaction in Florida
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"Secession, so rampant when we arrived here in December, is clearly in its descending mode. The custom-house has begun to collect duties for the State of Florida, otherwise there appears on the surface no evidence of State Government. The President's Inaugural made a little excitement, but even that seems to have died away. Union men are as thick as hops here in Jacksonville, though this is the hot-bed of secession in East Florida. One of the principal men in the place told me to-day that if an election were held in the State, two thirds of the votes would be found on the Union side. However this may be, I am satisfied by my own observation that the fever is dying out very rapidly, and unless some speedy stimulant be applied, there is great danger of resulting syncope. The Union men here scout the idea of any danger to the Union feeling resulting from the reenforcement of the forts. The lines are fast being definitely drawn, and most men are for the one government or the other, squarely and implicitly. The Union men publicly avow their sentiments, and I think a little time only is wanted enable them to carry all before them in this State."

From Florida: The Feeling On Board the Brooklyn

How much longer are we Americans to submit to the arrogant demands of a few hot- headed rebels? Has not the Government the power, the law, and the right on its side? Then why should that Government's property be given up to conciliate the ambitious views of a few advocates of disunion? Is the North to make all the concessions and the South none? Is the Union of so much more benefit to the North than to the South as to force these concessions? No; let us retain what we have, and if the South is not content with the Government as it now exists, why, force the South to obey those laws to which their wiser and nobler ancestors agreed.

Where have we a precedent for such a course as that which has been pursued by the American Government? Our property taken from us under our very eyes, and no attempt made for its defense or reprisal. Our people are maltreated and abused; our laws disregarded, and our very flag, of which we have no long been justly proud, cast under foot and trod upon. What would have been the result had such insults been offered to us by a foreign foe? Have any of the rulers of England or any other country given over their power because a few unruly subjects demanded it? Why should the lawfully elected ruler of these United States allow that any malcontents (no matter how many or how few they may be) should refuse to recognize him?

At one time my predilections leaned toward the South, and I still believe "Slavery to be a necessary evil," nevertheless I feel that is to compel them to deliver up their ill gotten spoils and to obey the law; to do this I am now, and ever will be, ready to sacrifice my all.

Note: This is an excerpt from a longer article.

From North Carolina: The People for the Union
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Stanley County, N.C., March 20, 1861

I occasionally meet with The Tribune, and am proud that the friends of universal freedom have in it so able a champion. You have long since noticed the result of the election in this State. The majority of Union men sent to the Convention is about two to one over the Secessionists, but the Convention itself was also defeated.

The vote for a Convention in this State cannot be regarded as a test of the strength of the Secessionists--for I know hundreds of good Union men who blindly voted for a Convention, thinking that such a body would have the effect of strengthening the Union. The truth is, you Northern people over-estimate the strength of the Secessionists in this State. You have more friends here than you are aware of. The Tribune is called incendiary, yet everybody knows that as a newspaper it has no equal in America. I am glad to see that it is not what I used to suppose it was. I always heard, before seeing it, that it aimed to subvert the Constitution, and was anxious to see the Union dissolved; but those who read it and know how devotedly it is attached not only to the Union but to the Constitution.

The vote in this county was 800 against a Convention to about 87 for it. So you see how we stand. The truth is, our people generally like the Northern States, with their peculiar political sentiments, better than they do the States south of us. We don't want to go with the Cotton States. We think we should then become hewers of wood and drawers of water for them. The truth is, these Cotton States don't want any of the Border States to join them, except to acquire a respectable military force, to preserve them from danger. We have to find a market for our flour and corn in South Carolina, and if the General Government should recognize the independence of that sham and feeble concern, I don't know what we should do.

If the Tribune was allowed to be freely taken in this State, I know of hundreds who would subscribe for it. There are many such in this county, but in Randolph and Guilford Counties it would exceed in circulation all others.

I hope that the new Administration will act up to the Inaugural. If so, all will be well. North Carolina is true to the Union as our fathers made it, and has no idea of abandoning it to join a Government which will be wholly shaped toward perpetuating Slavery.

Wilberforce

FROM CHAMBERSBURG. A Skirmish--Negro Excitement.

Chambersburg, Pa., Saturday, June 1, 1861.

A slight skirmish occurred to-day at Williamsport between Capt. Kennedy's company of Home Guards and some Virginians. Three of the Virginians were wounded. Nobody was hurt on our side.

A terrible fracas occurred in the negro quarter of the town this evening. Frank Jones, the negro-proprietor of a barber-shop, shot and wounded two soldiers. Jones then fled, but was pursued by the companions of the soldiers and instantly killed. The two soldiers are seriously if not fatally wounded.

The 6th, 21st, and 23rd Regiments have encamped at Camp McClure, adjoining the town.

The 2d, 3d, and 24th Regiments, and the Scott Legion are at Camp Miles, four miles south of here.

Three hundred and fifty Regular Dragoons, under Col. Thomas, and the Philadelphia City troop, ninety horses, are encamped in the woods adjoining Camp McClure.

The regulars of Col. Thomas are considered the crack regiment in the service.

A large number of army wagons and horses reached here last night. Gen. Patterson and Staff are expected to-morrow.

Several additional regiments are also expected by Monday.

Gen. Paterson's Column.

From Our Special Correspondent.

Chambersburg, Pa., June 10, 1861.

Troops are daily arriving. On Saturday the 16th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Liegle, came from York; also Company K, U.S. Infantry, from Minnesota, and five more companies of veteran regulars and three companies of Flying Artillery are expected immediately. A very large siege train, with heavy cannon and columbiads, is also on its way, and will go through by railroad by Hagerstown, there to meet the two companies of artillery under command of Capt. Doubleday, the gallant defender of Fort Sumter.

With the heavy ordnance planted on the hights opposite Harper's Ferry the rebels there will soon be routed, if they stand fire at all, which is now considered very doubtful; and that our batteries will be planted on the Maryland Heights, if necessary, is certain. The Chivalry now in possession of them will hardly resist the impetuous charge of McMullin's Rangers and the Scott Legion, who have been designated as the storming party. The Rangers and the Billy Wilson Zouaves are of the same stripe.

The movement of the army Southward has fairly begun, and it will progress regularly to the encampment at Hagerstown, the point at which active demonstrations on the enemy will be directed. But, unless something not foreseen occurs to precipitate action, no really belligerent move will be made on Harper's Ferry before Gen. Patterson's corps d'army, or grand detachment now in the field against the rebels, shall be all concentrated and perfectly prepared to render them irresistible. On this the public may rely, and must not be impatient for the fray and the annihilation of the traitors. The force under Gen. Patterson will probably number 20,000 men, and as yet there are only rising 13,000 here. The volunteer infantry and riflemen will be entirely Pennsylvania troops, supported and steadied by regulars of all arms.

The advance of the column which moved on Friday last to Greencastle, where they are now encamped, to go forward to Hagerstown to-day, consisted of four companies of regulars, splendidly mounted, and the First city Troop of Horse of Philadelphia; two companies of artillery, acting as infantry, and two companies of regular infantry, the four last under command of Capt. Doubleday; the Sixth Regiment, Col. Nagle; the Twenty-first Regiment, Col. Dare, and Capt. McMullin's Philadelphia Independent Rangers; the whole forming the First Brigade, commanded by Col. Thomas of the regular army.

On Saturday the Third Brigade followed to the same point, under command of Brigadier-General E.C. Williams, consisting of the 7th Regiment, Col. Irwin; the 8th Regiment, Col. Emley; the 10th Regiment, Col. Meredith; the 20th Regiment (Scott Legion,) Col. Gray.

Preparations are making to send forward another brigade to-day.

Yesterday, Sunday, the town was almost as quiet as a New-England village, and there was but little to indicate the encampment of an army in its vicinity; at least there was nothing disorderly. The general conduct of the volunteers is most commendable, but there is a marked difference in sobriety in favor of the country over the city regiments. The men are not unruly or riotous at any time, but the intemperate habits of the soldiers of some regiments are the subject of general remark, as reflecting discredit on the officers, and greatly to be regretted, on account of the injurious effect upon the health of the army. Certainly more stringent regulations should enforce greater sobriety among the troops, who are now marching South, to be exposed to unusual hardship and privation, under a scorching and debilitating sun. This danger, with intemperate habits, is certainly more to be feared than conflict with rebels.

During the day I visited the camps of seven or eight regiments, lying about four miles from town, within a short distance of each other. Some regiments were drilling by companies, and two--the 9th and 16th--were turned out for regimental parade and inspection. The 2d and 3d Regiments, at Camp Chambers, were at their ease, and almost everything was going on in a quiet way, except preaching and praying, which didn't seem to be popular, though it was said there would be service in the afternoon. I should think, however, from a remark I heard while passing the negro servants' quarters, that piety was not just now at a premium in camp. This subject was probably under discussion, for the darkey very oracularly said to several other colored gentlemen lounging about the tent--"I tell you Sunday aint nothin now--I don't want to hear no more preaching till the war is done over; dis chile goes in for nothin but fightin."

The humors of camp life are particularly exhibited by pictorial sketches and inscriptions, rudely drawn on the various tents. The 2d Regiment appeared to be the most distinguished for artistical and literary genius in this way, which were so numerous and diversified, illustrating almost every sentiment and impulse of the heart, that I copied the following: "Hotel de Shanghai- -Sweeney, proprietor--prescriptions carefully compounded." "War Dogs--down the Rebels and sour bread?" "Black Ducks--semper paratus; nune tempus est bibendo." "Ellsworth Avengers--we want blood." The savage sentiment rather predominated, and may expressions of it, were calculated to alarm Jeff. Davis and his fellow-traitors, but not quoting these pleasant mottoes, indicating the temper of the occupants of the tents, we cite a few of the names designating them: "Wild Cats' Nest;" "Lions' Den;" "Band of Brothers;" "Temperance House;" "Whisky Saloon;" "Calamity Hall;" "Opera House;" "The Fighting Mess;" "Jay Birds;" "Bed Bugs;" "Garroters;" "Pretty Boys;" "Ladies' Pets;" "The Gallinippers;" "The Dearest Spot on Earth."

The health of the encampment is excellent, and I am glad to say that Capt. A.R. Eddy, who has been ill, is recovering.

From Gen. Patterson's Column. From Our Special Correspondent.

Chambersburg, Pa., June 13, 1861.

The news of the disaster at Great Bethel reached us only in the afternoon of yesterday, by the New York papers, although we afterward learned that it was known to the military authorities the evening before. Yet not a word transpired for the benefit of the poor civilians, who are carefully excluded from all information from that source, however interesting or important, whether affecting past, present, or future events. The effect of the news was distressing, while it was mitigated by the benefit conferred as a lesson, and the conviction of all minds and hearts that the campaign against the Rebels must be made overwhelming by an irresistible force being poured in upon them from the indignant North. Last night, too, all hearts were revived and rejoiced by the report, which I suppose accidentally did reach us in advance of printed publications, hundreds of miles away from us and the scene of conflict, filling our breasts with pride at the prompt action of our troops, which has retrieved their assailed honor and established the prestige of invincible bravery.

Nothing of moment occurred here yesterday. The guard was busy all day picking up straggling soldiers and returning them to camp. The soldiers who were so unruly the day before are likely to suffer severely for their escapade, as they are all under arrest, to be court-martialed, when the notorious outlaws and leaders will probably be drummed out of their regiments.

The Wisconsin Regiment presents an appearance highly creditable to that young and patriotic State, both in the muscle and discipline of the men, and their comparatively perfect equipment. The superiority of their dress and equipment to that of the poor, defrauded Pennsylvania volunteers may be gathered from a little colloquy I overheard between the soldiers yesterday. One of them says, "I say, Gus, did you see them Wisconsin fellows this morning down at the depot?" "Yes, I did; ain't they fixed up well though, and got good clothes on." "That's a fact; they are not like the old things our fellows have to wear, that ain't fit for no decent man." "There's Tom Brown, now, round the corner, drunk as blazes; and I don't wonder at it. He was a respectable man that wore good clothes at home as anybody, but seein' how he's treated, he don't care a d--n for himself; he's only a common soldier anyhow, and he takes what fun he can get."

Yes gentlemen in authority, that's the way it works; degrade a man among his fellows and to himself, and you demoralize him.

The Wisconsin boys are armed with the Minie rifle, and they are sharp-shooters who know how to use that effective weapon.

It is said there are five lawyers, three doctors, and two preachers in the ranks. The clarion voice of their martial-looking colonel, Starkweather, will ring the knell of the traitors who get within rifle distance. The complete discipline of the regiment is evinced by the fact that, though the camp is in the suburbs of the town, not one soldier has been seen out of it, and all communication outside is strictly prohibited.

At 2 o'clock this morning another brigade, composed of the 9th, 13th, and 16th Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and a battalion of regulars, Brevet Brig.-Gen. Miles commanding, struck their tents and took up the line of march to Greencastle. Fortunately the roads are in good condition, and the oppressive heat of the last few days has abated.

This morning the third company raised in this little town, numbering nearly 100 men, Capt. Wilson Riley, a leading lawyer here, goes to Harrisburg to muster into the service for the war. This speaks well for its patriotism; but I am told there are a few Secessionists left who discreetly keep very shady just now, and that Bedford county is infested with some blatant specimens.

Last night there was quite a large accession of troops. Another company of U.S. infantry from Fort Ripley arrived. The 11th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Jarett, direct from Havre de Grace, where it has been on duty several weeks, reached in good order. They are the best dressed Pennsylvania men I have seen though their very heavy woolens are too warm for the season and the tough work on the road before them.

I was delighted too this morning to meet a party of live Yankees strolling through the town, seeking breakfast and admiring the beautiful yards here filled with a variety of flowers and shrubbery, especially roses in great profusion. They were of the 4th Connecticut Regiment, Col. Woodhouse, direct from home, and Jersey City, via Philadelphia. They had the misfortune to lose one of their men at Columbia. George Barrett, private in company H, was run over by the cars and instantly killed.

Gen. Patterson's command already numbers over 20,000 men and has a good look for 30,000. The regiments have been re-brigaded, and account of which I hope to furnish to-morrow. We can learn nothing official, and have to use our wits as well as our eyes to get reliable information, but without official aid I venture a guess, as there are Yankees about, that we shall move our headquarters from here by Sunday.