January 21, 1861, The New York Herald
According to our Washington advices, the war party in the South will not proceed further in their operations until the expiration of Mr. Buchanan’s term of office. This is a sign that the more sensible of the secessionists are getting the upper hand, and that the ardor of the mob is beginning to cool. For the next thirty days, then, we have an armistice and guaranty that the federal property will not be molested. Notwithstanding this action on the part of the authorities of South Carolina, it is still evident that we are on the verge of civil war, the most fearful calamity that can befall a nation. The south is already in arms. In the North Governors of States and militia generals are tendering the services of large bodies of troops for any emergency; the Legislature of this State is asked for an appropriation of half a million dollars, to be expended in munitions of war, and the new Governor of Massachusetts has ordered the militia to be put upon a war footing. People seem to have made up their minds that a collision is inevitable, and the country is rushing into deadly peril without stopping to count the cost. All this is done through the recklessness and stupidity of the politicians. We are, altogether, thirty four millions of people, and we desire, more than anything else, to live together in peace and unity, if the latter is possible, but in peace at all events. There are a few thousands of crazy people in the North and the South who are seeking to pull down the government with the hope that they may profit by the ruin of theirs. But if, at the bidding of this handful of maniacs, the several sections of the country are to take up arms against each other, no one can tell where the thing will stop. Feuds will be engendered and they will rankle in the breasts of our children’s children long after the present generation shall have passed away. We have no right to entail such a heritage upon posterity, nor should we, as sensible men, permit the arbitrament of the sword to be brought into this quarrel. Whatever the final result may be, neither party will gain anything, and the distress, suffering an poverty which intestine war will create in the meantime should not be risked if they can possibly be avoided. Business men, merchants, master mechanics and others should unite in an appeal to the President elect and his Premier, Mr. Seward, and induce them if possible to counteract the effect of the military spirit which has been displayed both in the North and the south, by the publication of a pacific programme. We do not believe that Abraham Lincoln is anxious to open his administration with a civil war on his hands, and certainly Mr. Seward’s late speech was a pacific one. Let them, then, restrain they over zealous partisans at the North, and all may yet be well.