January 15, 1861, The New York Herald
Dark and discouraging as is the present revolutionary condition of the country, there is yet room for the belief that, though we are threatened with civil war, we may escape it, and that the Union, though broken, be restored, sound and enduring, from the crucible of a Southern confederacy.
The friends of peace, of Union, of law and order, derive great encouragement from the purification of Mr. Buchanan cabinet, and its reconstruction upon conservative Union basis. Purged of such disunion chiefs and instruments as Cobb, Floyd, Thompson and Thomas, the cabinet, as it now stands, is a unit upon the constitutional and conservative views of Mr. Buchanan. The President now, in calling his ministry together for a consultation, and with that illustrious old soldier and patriot, General Scott, at his elbow, is morally sure of a cheerful agreement and prompt action. The conservatives of the whole country are thus assured that, while a warlike collision with the Southern revolutionists will be avoided to the last extremity of forbearance, there will be no more and comfort given to the enemy from the high places of the federal administration.
With this advantage gained to the cause of the general government in the South, we can regard as comparatively trifling matters the bankrupt condition in which Secretary Cobb left the Treasury; the enormous lobby jobs and speculations charged to the account of the late Secretary Floyd; the untold embezzlements occuring in the Department of the Interior under its late Secretary Thompson, and the alleged affiliations of the late head of the Treasury, Thomas, with the disunion conspirators of Maryland; for all these things are mere trifles compared with the presence of these disunionists in the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan touching the execution of the laws of the United States. We have heretofore intimated that with the cleansing of his Cabinet, Mr. Buchanan, notwithstanding the manifold treacheries, trials, and embarrassments he has had to encounter, would go out of office with credit; but his can be no longer doubted when we now see many of his hitherto most inveterate enemies coming up to his vindication and assistance.
Thus fortified in his position as President of the United States, it is evident that h is gaining strength in, and receiving strength from the two houses of Congress, without reference to the political party divisions of the day. From the indications already before us, we should not be surprised if within a few short days the Union policy of Mr. Buchanan, under the auspices of his new Cabinet, were to command from conservative republican, democrats and Americans a decided majority, not only of the House of Representatives, but of the Senate.
Meantime, while the popular demonstrations in the cities, towns and villages of the North, from Massachusetts to Minnesota, complimentary to Major Anderson, express the universal Northern sentiment in favor of Union, the constitution and the enforcement of the laws, it must not be inferred from these manifestations that the North is thus overwhelmingly in favor of the coercion of the South into submission. The universal sentiment of the North is in favor of the maintenance of the flag and the constitutional rights and authority of the United States, at home as well as abroad; but the people of the North, if their representatives at Washington will only open the door, are ready for all the concessions necessary to restore the South, including even South Carolina, to the Union.
Very true, there have been but few manifestations of a very satisfactory character from Northern republican party meetings, or Governors, or Legislatures, or journals, in support of a new compromise with the South. But Rome was not built in day. The republican party in the very hour of victory find it hard to come to a capitulation, as if under a crushing defeat. Thus, considering the pride and weakness of human nature, it is not very remarkable that on Saturday last, in the Pennsylvania legislature, ‘Senator Welsh’s resolutions proposing to repeal the obnoxious Personal Liberty Provisions of the Act of 1847, and the penal code, were voted down, all the republicans voting against them.Greeley admonishes the party that they are under compulsion, and are not to yield an inch; and Greeley is fortified in this position by Sir John Falstaff, who refused, point blank, to give even the true Prince an opinion upon compulsion.
We must, then, make up our minds to let these Southern revolutionary movements of secession run their course, trusting meantime to the administration to avoid a war while executing the federal laws, and trusting that the inconveniences of a Southern confederacy on the one hand, and the necessities of concessions to restore the Union on the other, will yet bring the South and the North within hailing distance of each other.