The New York Herald Newspaper, January 22, 1861, Page 4

y EEE EEE EE 4 NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 186L af NEW YORK HERALD. ee JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. ~~ OFFICE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. eee cash in actoance. Money sent by mail sil? be ot the Fee ded" None but Bank bills current in New York risk of the se take. fb DAILY HERALD, two conte 87 perannwn. Fie WHERLY HERALD, “scory kaheraep, atl ota conte per gr 0 38 per mum; the urea ation oer Watney, De cap, Baper amuuin loany part of Gr “ wes sung yar’ of the Gmtinent, bath to include ; 1 ilition-om the Lot, Mth and Bat of BH per dane. p ERALD, on Wednesday, at four cents per m. CORRESPONDENCE, containing important ‘any quarter of the world; if wed, will be gar Ove Foumian ComuksronDENts Rx WSTED TO SKAL ALL Letrers ann Pack. ‘each month, al sia vem s renewed every day; adverticements in- Haman, Famiw Hewatp, and inthe pean Fiditiona. execuled with neatness, cheapness and dew Voteime MXVE.... cece cece cree eeeeeeeees No. 21 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. NISLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Ros Rov. NTER GARDEN, Broadway, opposite Bond street.— te Honxcussce—let on Pain Frangats. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Tirroo Sar, oR THE SroRMixG OF SERINGAPATAM. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway,—Tax Lapr or Sr. Tuoees, LAURA KEENE'S THEATRE, No, 64 Broadway. Savas SuTERs, NEW BOWERY THEATRE, Bewery.—Linoa—Macic ‘Taurst—Sraik SKORETS. KATRE FRANCAIR, 585 Broadway.—J.e Guxpre dz Mr Ponee—Oe Lait D’Annsse. . BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway —Day and a” josera aNpD His Bastunun—Laving Cuniosi- rims, &0. BRYANTS' MINSTRE! way.—BuRLssquas, Songs, Mechanics’ Hall, 472 Broad- ances, &0.—Soinee D'Eruiorx, HOOLEY & CAMPBELL’S MINSTRELS, Niblo's Saloon, Broadway.—Kruiortan Songs, Dances, BuRLEsaues, &v.— Prevousan ano His Monkey. CANTERBURY MUSIC HALL, 663 Broadway.~—Soncs, Darows, BURLESQUES, 40. ODD FELLOW’S HALL, Hoboken.—Buoworrn & Camr- BELL'S MaisTEELS—BuRLEsque On Raney. New York, Tacsday, January 2%, 1861, MAILS FOR EUROPE, Whe New York Herald— Edition for Europe. ‘Tho Cunard mail steamship America, Capt. MCavfay, will leave Boston on Wednesday for Liverpool. The mails for Europe will close in this city this afternoon, at a quarter past one and at half-past five o'clock, to go by railroad. ‘Tux Evrorsan Eprrion or THe Heratp will be published at eleven o'clock in the morning. Single copies, in wrap- pers, six cents. ‘The contents of the Evroraay Epon or mer Herara will combine the news received by mail and telegraph at the office during the previous week, aad up to the bour of publication. The News. The excitement occasioned by the anticipated attack of the Florida troops upon Fort Pickens, at Pensacola, has subsided. It is now stated that Major Chase, the commander of the State forces, has telegraphed to Southern members of Congress that he will not attack the fort, or obstruct the passage of vessels going in and out of the port, unless the fort opens fire upon him. All that the secessionists desire now is that the s/atus quo shall be observed strictly during the brief inter- yal that the present administration remains in Office. Last evening, in consequenee of information re- ceived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard of the intention of a mob frem New York to make an attack on the North Carolina and the yard, one hundred marines were placed under arms to give them a Warm reception should they make the attack. The police force was augmented, and posted where they could act in case of emergency, and “the Fifth brigade of militia, under the command of Brigadier General Crooker, assembled at the Henry street armory and the arsenal to support the marincs, if necessary. No attack was made, however. The proceedings of Congress yesterday were highly important. At the opening of the session of the Senate Mr. Hunter, who has been Chairman of the Committee of Finagce for fifteen years, re- ported the Indian Appropriation bill, and said that as it was evident the party in the Senate would soon be changed, he desired to be excused from further service on said committee. The request waa grented. Mr. Slidell offered resolutions censuring the President for appointing Mr. Holt Secretary of War ad interim. The subject wes laid over. Messrs. Yulee and Mallory, of Plorida, then announced their withdrawal from the Senate, their State having se- ceded from the Union. They were followed by Measrs. Clay and Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, and Mr. Davis, of Mississippi. The valedictories of these gentlemen were very pathetic, and drew tears from Senators and spectators. When the seceding Sentors had withdrawn from the Chamber, the House bill admitting Kansas was taken up, amended and passed by a vote of thirty-six to sixteen. There are doubts about the House con- curring in the amendment. At any rate, it is not likely that the bill will be reached in the House for a couple of weeks. The Crittenden adjust- ment was then taken up, and in the course of the discussion upon it, Mr. Cameron stated his wil- lingness to vote for Mr. Bigler’s plan of settle- ment. Ta the House the reports of the Committee of Thirty-three were taken up, and the chairman of the committee, Mr. Corwin, and Mr. Millson, of Virginia, made speeches on the distracted condi- tion of the country. The remarks of both gentle- men were of a pacificatory character. ‘The Post Office at Pensacola was abolished yes- terday, the mail service discontinued, and the post- masters throughout the country directed by the Post Office Department to send all letters ad- dressed to Pensacola to the Dead Letter Office. This course is a consequence of the interception of the mails by the Florida authorities. Mr. Douglas has prepared amendments to the constitution, which he will propose as soon as op- portunity offers. They may be found among our telegraphic despatches from Washington. The proceedings of the Albany Legislature yes. terday were not of special interest. In the House the report of the Committee on Federal Rela- tions was made the special order for to day. The Military Committee reported to the House the bill for the immediate enrolment of the militia of the State. The report of the Central Park Investigating Committee will ‘be made to the Senate to-day. Their report wll e@xculpate the Commissioners of all the charges wz ond sustain their course generally. They les report in favor of ch the number Sion ews ee ‘when a resolution was adupr met last evening Inspector to send to the Board a lisu ive the City residences and positions of all the employes inv department; the amount of salary paid each: the names of the persons on whose recommendation each was appointed, and whether any of the om. ployes hold positions under the municipal, Scare or federal governments; and also what sinoenro places there are in his department that can b pensed with; also requesting the Comptr state what action he has taken in reference to the rettioment of the West Washington market pro perty. Mr. Stevenson offered a series of resolu tions ¢by reason ofa current report that a number of meu hold office under the city government and receive salaries for doing nothing), in which the head of cach dopartmoat ts instracted to send to the Common Council the name and residence of each employe, by whom appointed, aod the nature of hia duties. They were adopted. The President (Morgan Jones, Esq) submitted a series of resolutions based apon a communication in the Tribune, signed by Thomas Picton, charging ex- Alderman Peck, and a Councilman of 1860, with malfeasance in office, and alao affirming that mem- bers of the city government violate the charter in being interested in supplies. A committee of three (provided the Aldermen concur) was ap- Pointed to inquire and report if any person connected with the city government is interested in the sale of any article to be paid for out of the city treasury. The committee were empowered to send for persons and papers. The President announced some special committees on resolutions adopted at the last meeting of the Board, after which they adjourned till Thursday. The Board of Aldermen met yesterday after- noon, but had to adjourn, there not being a quorum present. They will meet again on Thursday. The Board of Police Commissioners held quite a lengthy meeting yesterday, and appointed about forty men. Sergeant Alters was transferred from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth precinct, Sergeant Carney from the Twentieth to the Fifteenth, and Sergeaut Mathews from the Third to the Four- teenth. James Kelsey was appointed patrolman, and detailed as clerk at the Central office. The following men, appointed on Friday last were sworn in:—Jeremiah Petty, Captain; William W. Boulds, Ed. Brewster, Ed. Burke, John McCol- lough, Peter Rice and Joseph Hodson, patrolmen. The Rey. Peter Cartwright, seventy-five years old, of direct Revolutionary deacent, and one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of the Far West, delivered an interesting lecture last evening at Clinton Hall. He was most enthusiastically re- ceived. The reverend gentleman declared himself to be body and soul for the Union. We give a sketch of his remarks in another column. The court martial of Colonel Corcoran was con- tinued last evening, at the Division Armory, in the presence of a large number of spectators, Captain Van Buren and Major Taylor were placed upon the witness stand, but their testimony elicit- ed nothing new. General Hall was examined, and his evidence went to show the custom of military parades on occasions of public interest. In reply to a question from the accused, whether he (the witness) had promulgated the orders for the parade of his brigade on the 11th of October last, he declined to answer, on the ground that he might possibly criminate himself. The defence objected, as previously, to the introduction of any testimony in regard to custom, but the objec- tion was overruled. Major General Kiersted was also examined, but his testimony was mainly cor- roborative of that of General Hall. The court martial adjourned until to-morrow (Wednesday) at five P. M. The excitement at the Central Park skating pond was up to a high point both yesterday and last night. A very large crowd of really respecta- ble persons were present on both occasions, The ice was lit up by calcium lights, &c. A good pros- pect for to-day appeared last night, What would New York do without the Central Park and the ice? According to the City Inspector's report, there were 414 deaths in this city during the past week, a decrease of 11 a4 compared with the mortality of the week previous, and 102 less than oceurred during the corresponding week last year. The re- capitulation table gives 1 death of disease of the bones, joints, &c.; 87 of the brain and nerves, 11 of the heart and blood vessels, 151 of the lungs, throat, &c.; 6 of old age, 45 of dis- eases of the skin and eruptive fevers, 7 pre- mature births, 59 of diseases of the stomach, bowels and other digestive organs; 43 of general fevers, and 4 of diseases of the urinary or- gans—of which 14 were from violent causes. The nativity table gives 286 natives of the United States, 76 of Ireland, 5 of England, 30 of Ger- many, 3 of Scotland, and the balance of various foreign countries. ‘The sales of cotton yesterday embraced about ™ bales, closing without change of moment in prices. We quote middling uplands at about 12\(c.a12)c. Flour was less buoyant and closed heavy, with the tura of the market in favor of parchasers. Wheat was dull. The Ormness in freights tended to check sales, which wore moderate. Corn was easier, with fair sales at 70c. for ‘Western mixed, in store and delivered. Pork was in good demand and firmer, with sales of new mess at $17 75 4 $18, and new prime at $13 75. Sugars were steady, with sales of about 600 a 700 bhds. Cuba muscovado, at rates given im another place. Coffee was in steady demand, witb sales of 1,700 bags Rio, 150 do. St. Domingo, and 250 mate Java, at rates given in another column. Freights were firmer for English ports, with more offering. Corn and wheat were engaged for Liverpool at 103d. a 11d. in bulk, and 11 34d. in ship’s bags. The Revolution in the South—Its Progress and Prospects. The secession from the Senate of the United States yesterday of the members of that body from the three seceded States of Florida, Ala. bama and Mississippi, viz:—Messrs. Mallory, Yulee, Fitzpatrick, Clay, Davis and Brown—was @ strange, remarkable and startling incidentin all its details. To render the melancholy specta- cle still gloomier, there was the intimation that the Senators from the seceded State of Georgia were only awaiting the formality of a call to return bome; and there, too, was the general impression that before the end of this Congress the members from Louisiana and Texas, and perhaps several other States, will be withdrawn from its deliberations. Since the famous South Carolina ordinance of independence of the 20thof December last, this work of secession in “the cotton States,” like a resistless tide, bas carried and is carry- ing everything before it. Within less than a month State Conventions have been elected, and bave met, and have acted, in behalf of Flo- rida, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and each of those States to-day, in the estimation of its people, stands, like South Carolina, in the attitude of an independent republic, absolved from all farther allegiance to the general gov- | ernment of the United States. By the 4th of | March it is expected Louisiana, Texas and | Arkansas will be added to this list of indepen- dent nationalities, and there are some Southern | enthusiasts who believe in, and aspire to ac- | complish, the secession of all the Southern States from the Union in advance of, or very | soon after, the day which will place the repub- lican party in power at Washington. Meantime the local authorities of the five seceded cotton States are making arrange- ments for a general Convention at Atlanta, Georgia, or Montgomery, Alabama, or some other convenient place, in order to initiate the general, government of a Southern confede- racy. At the same time the border slave States, spa also North Carolina, Tennessee and Ar- somewhi’, the second tier, are proceeding some delaying aly, im this disunion business, | others providing sufficient Sndzhatsoever, and | ‘o enable them to go either to the ryalances | or the left, either with the Northern States'th th the Unt » according to the pressure of forth- events ot Washington. But whea we come to consider the fact that there are two Southern parties involved in these secession movements — the party of positive, final and ab- solute separation from the North, aad the party comin n or with theSouthern States out of whoee policy is the reorganization of tbe fede- ral government upoo new constitutional guacan- tees of protection to slavery—it is probable that all the border,slave States, and those ad- joining them, may decide upon going out of the Union and into the councils of a Southern confederacy, in order to guide its policy and proceedings in favor of a reconstruction of the Union. In other words, if the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Teonessce and Arkansas secede and join in a Southern confederacy, it will be, we understand, for the double object of exacting satisfactory terms of a reunion with the North, on the one hand, and of Leading back the cotton States into the Union, should satisfactory con- Cessions to the peculiar institution of the South be obtained fram the anti-slavery North. We be- lieve that the Southern party of uncompromis- ing and final separation from the North would, upon 4 fair test, be found representing a de- cided minority of the popular vote in every Southern State excepting South Carolina. We believe, too, that a submission to the people of the North of the Crittenden compromise, a3 a measure for Union and peace, would result in the approval of said compromise by every Northern State, excepting, perhaps, Massachu- setts. Within the brief limits of a single day the whole of this sectional revolutionary im- broglio could and would be settled peaceably and for the Union by the American people, if only some euch adjustment as that of Mr. Crit- tenden were submitted to the popular judgmeat of every State. But while the great body of the people, North and South, are sound and patriotic, devoted to the Union, and proud of its strength, glory and prosperity, our reckless sectional politicians, who have brought all these revolutionary trou- bles upon us, are still resolved to push forward their schemes, even, if it must be 80, to the ex- tremity of civil war. Thus the Southern seces- sion radicals of the school of Rhett, Yancey and Senators Iverson and Wigfall tell us that the day of compromises is past, that the South has cut the bonds of this Union forever, and that ‘a Southern independent and homogeneous confederacy will soon arise “which will be the most suc- cessful government on earth.” On the other side, such republican radicals as Senators Hale, Wade and Trumbull tell us they have no com- promises to make, while our republican news- paper organs almost unanimously declare that the slavery question has been settled in the late Presidential election, and that the first du- ty of the party and of Mr. Lincoln’s administra- tion will be the maintenance of the Union through the enforcement of the constitutional powers and rights of the federal government, utterly regardless of all Southern ordinances and other acts of State sovereignty and inde- pendence. 3 It{ is as clear as the noonday sun that, in de- fault of any conciliatory measures on the part of Congress, the duty of President Lincoln will be limited to the exeontion of the federal laws as they now stand, embracing the collection of the federal revenues and the recovery of the federal property, such as forts, arsenals, &c., seized by the local authorities of several South- ern States. Exercising the sagacious and gene- rous forbearance of Mr. Buchanan, war may still be avoided by Mr. Lincoln; but we have only one voice from the republican oracies at Spring field and at Washington on this subject, which 8 that at all hazards the laws will be enforced It is possible, therefore, unless some entering wedge of a compromise shall be secured during the brief remnant of vitality remaining to this Congress, that its last day, and the last day of the outgoing administration, will be the last day of all our hopes of a restoration of the Union, and the first day of a calamitous civil war. What,then? Two confederacies? Gene- ral Scott says four, with his methodical mili- tary view of the subject; but why not ten or twenty, each with its petty military despot elected annually by the bayonet? ‘The power and the responsibility belong to the republican party. They can make peace. They can restore the Union. Both houses of Congress are practically now under®heir con- trol. They have only to abandon a paltry party abstraction or two, and the good work is done. The Crittenden compromise will open the way to peace and reunion, if submitted at once to the people. In default of some such measure of encouragement to Southern Union men, they will be borne down by the disunion pressure, which is upon them even in the bor- der slave States, and the only choice to the in- coming administration may thus be a disastrous civil war to all concerned, or an extra session of Congress to provide for the recognition of an independent Southern confederacy, Exrraorpinary Commerctat Evrxcts or THE Revo.vtion vrox New Yors.—The political revolution now going forward at the South is resulting in a commercial revolution different in its effects from any that has ever preceded it. By the action of the secession States the usual channels of trade have been choked up in the Southern seaboard, and the result is that the commerce is diverted to the city of New York fxom the interior by the railroads, which are now doing a thriving business. The harvest never was so abundant, and the prosperity of the country never rose to so high a pitch, as during the last year. The demand for its breadstuffs in Europe is unusually great. Money is pouring into New York from abroad. Ten millions of dollars have arrived within a very short time, and capi- tal is daily accumulating here in an unprecedented manner. It cannot long re- main inactive when there are products in the interior for sale. Those who want to sell will find purchasers in New York, and trade will become unusually brisk. Thus, though there may be very little per- sonal communication between the citizens of the seceding States and the North, there will be a flourishing commercial intercourse, and its gréat centre will be the city of New York. The revolutionary condition of the South is driving the trade to this market, while it is im- poverishing the Southern ports in the same proportion. From this cause, and from the ex- traordinary abundance of the crops in the West, and the extraordinary demand for them in England, a great commercial revival is taking place here, and an amount of business hy nm be done which will astonish those boon Tie “4 that, by their insane proceedings, ey e pa. Brand senting a deadly blow upon the Or NeW =~, which will evor be the free city of America—., * ly in a political, but ina comment, cdi pe. trepot of the trade of the Old World tur the New Thurtow Weed's Disavownl of Helper’s Book. Under the date December 7, 1859, it appears tbat the sagacious editor of the Albany Evening Journal addressed a letter “ to a distinguished gentleman in Washington,” in which he couples the acknowledgment of having subscribed one hundred dollars “ to aid in publishing a large edition of Mr. Helper’s Compend,” in order “to assist in forming public sentiment upon the relative value and effect of free and slave labor,” with a very humble peccavi, palliated by an “if” painfully characteristic of the school to which he belongs. “ Had I known,” he says, “ that this compend would counsel a severance of the business, social and religious relations existing between slaveholding and non-slaveholding citizens, or that the book it- self invites or countenances servile ingurrec- tion, I certainly should have withheld both my approval and my money, for my opposition to slavery rejects all such teachings.” After a lapse of thirteen months the objections of Mr. Weed to the publication of his letter have dis- appeared, and it is laid before the public. Meaawhile the Presidential campaign has been carried on, and, thanks to this very work of Mr. Helper, and kindred speeches and docu- ments, Mr. Abraham Lincoln has heen elected to the chief magistracy of the country. What a pity that this disavowal of the most incen- diary doctrines that ever were promulgated in America was not permitted to have its full effect six months ago! We have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the many republicans who, now that fanaticism has triumphed and a widespread revolt in the Southern States threatens to dissolve the Union and engulf our national prosperity, shrink from the consequences of the means they have employed to bring about so deplorable a re- sult. But how huge, colossal and infernal in dimensions must have been the hypocrisy of the Sewards, Weeds and others,,who silently permitted the very vilals of the country to be corroded by a poison, the fatal tendency of which they understood, and were prepared, at a convenient season, to repudiate. For two whole years previous to the 5th of Novembe last the cities, towns, villages and hamlets of every Northern State were infested by republi- can speakers, of whom nineteen-twentieths promulgated the rankest and most ultra aboli- tion incendiarism. Slavery was described as the sum of villanies, the worst of crimes, the unpardonable sin of the nation, crying per- petually to Heaven for vengeance, and sure to bring down temporal disaster and eternal wrath upon all who tolerated it. The Canaan- ites were not depicted in blacker colors by Moses than owners of human beings were by the wide-mouthed blatants who, from Maine to California and from Pennsylvania to Oregon, roamed restlessly through the land, honey- combing every square mile of it with treason. Mr. Weed tells his “distinguished friend in Washington” that he “never cherished a feeling or uttered a sentiment intended to affect inju- riously the propgty, the rights or the safety of the citizens of the slaveholding States.” “Northern men,” he continues, “who invade a Southern State, either to run off slaves or excite insurrection, deserve the punishment they re- ceive.” Yet, upon the receipt of the news of the John Brown invasion, two months prior to the composition of his letter, the Albany Zven- ing Journal declared that “such outbreaks were inevitable,” adding, “if a man builds his house over a volcano, it is not those who warn him of his danger that are to blame for its erup- tions.” Political partisanship was all tinged with crimson foreshadowings at that period. “The slave system,” said Mr. Seward, at Ro- chester, “is intolerant, unjust and inhuman to- wards the laborer, whom it loads down with chains and converts into merchandise. It is a system of constant danger, distrust, suspicion and watchfulness. It debases the owner to the lowest degree of which human nature is capa- ble to guard against mutiny and insurrection. The two systems of slave and free labor are in- congruous; they are more than incongraous— they are incompatible. So incompatible are they that every new State makes its first politi- cal act the choice of the one and the exclusion of the other, even at the cost of civil war if ne- cessary. They are continually coming into closer contact, and collision results. Shall I tell you what this collision means? It is an irrepressible conflict between op- posing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become entirely a slaveholding nation or entirely a free labor nation.” Carefully examine the signification of those portentous sentences. The Helper book is but their paraphrase. The principles they enunciate are the same, and if the lan- guage is different the sense is identical. It was the key note of republican electioneering from the beginning of 1955 until the end of 1860. A portion of the republican press have falsely attributed the notoriety which was ob- tained by Helper’s book to the notice which was taken of it by the conservative journals of the North. No charge could he more ugtrue or unfounded. If the grave and serious warn- ings which were uttered by the Henrap and other papers to the fanatics who distributed it from their depots in Wall and Nassau streets had been properly heeded, the dark clouds, pregnant with tempest which darken the hori zon, would never have obscured our political horizon. Week after week, and month after month, express loads of the vile production were forwarded into every nook and locality of the Unién, disseminating views which soon became deeply rooted in the rural districts, and against which the anti-constitutional news- papers did not pretend to utter a protest. The belligerent, Fourierite non-resistants of the Tribune, while affecting to deprecate “ insur- rection, civil war and bloodshed,” and de- claring that such means of “ universal emanci- pation” were “fatally wrong,” could, neverthe- less, say with regard to the criminals who were executed at Harper's Ferry: “We will not by one reproachful word disturb the bloody shrouds wherein John Brown and his compa- triots are sléeping. They dared and died for what they felt to be right. Let their epitaphs remain unwritten until the not distant day when no slave shall clank his chains in the shades of Monticello or by the graves of Mount Vernon.” This was the staple of treason in the mass of republican utterance and writing preparatory to the late clection for President. Those who would have prevented it performed a duty which the North is beginning too late to appreciate. What 2 Beelzebab grimace there is in the ehiveriogs of those who now begin to duck and cringe before (be first blasts of the storm whieh they themselves have conjured into fury. Io sevea weeks an administration raised to power by the auspices they condema will hold ia its hands the responsibility of the future. As yet it has given no sign, save in the ambiguities of Mr. Seward’s late speech, what line of policy it will adopt. It has exhibited no unmistakeable symptoms, excepting those of fear. It has not risen to the dignity of statesmanahip, nor shown any sincere desire for a settlement, upon a broad, constitational basis, of the difficulties by which the nation is convulsed. Its whole aspect is pitiable. Nevertheless, it will soon hold weal and woe, good and evil, the perpetua- tion of the integrity of the confederation or its dismemberment, in its own hands. The happiness of thirty-one millions of people will hang upon the decisions it may adopt. Under such circumstances the slightest admissions are to be hailed as omens of good, and small instalments of greater concessions, and we must content ourselves with the vague promise held out to the country that, “whatever sacrifice, private or public, shall be needful for the preservation of the Union, sball be made.” It will be mournful indeed if those who have contributed eo largely towards the ruin of the republic shall perpetu- ate, in their ascendancy, their efforts for its de- struction. South Carolina has ceased to be solitary in its inaurrectionary position, The United States Senate is no longer a Senate of the whole of the States. The seats once occu- pied by the representatives from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida are vacant. [n the House of Representatives numbers are growing daily lesa, and the gravity of the crisis cannot be exaggerated. A republican government has now to decide whether the brightest politi- cal monument which has ever been erected by freemen shall perish forever, and its light be extinguished in darkness, or whether, by a timely display of magnanimity, the Union shall be restored to its wouted grandeur and prosperity. The Position of Virginia in the Crisis. The course of the powerful State of Virginia whose action has always exerted so great an influence upon the confederacy at critical periods in its history, is now watched by the whole country with more than ordinary in- terest. It is evident she will not secede, but that, under the lead of her conservative Gover- nor, Mr. Letcher, she is rising above the wild vagaries of her philosophers and fire-eaters— the Wises, the Pryors, the Hunters, the Masons, et hoc genus omne—whose pilotage would soon dash her upon the rocks. Five States have already seceded; three more will soon follow; and by the 4th of March there will be probably ten States out of the Union. Even Georgia is tied to the tail of the South Carolina kite; the Senators from Alaba- ma, Mississippi and Florida withdrew formally yesterday from the United States Senate, taking their final adieu amidst tears and the most affecting scene. But while the cotton States are going out, ether States are comingin. Kansas is to be imme- diately admitted, Mr. Green, of Missouri, hav- ing stated in his place that there is no use in re- sisting her admission any longer. The Senate is abandoned to the republicans, and our na- tional affairs are coming rapidly to a crisis. Butsdn the midst of present disaster and gloomy apprehensions of the future the Old Dominion lifts her head above the storm. She appeard in the scene as a mediator, and her action will arrest the progress of secession and cause her Southern sisters of the border to pause before they follow the cotton States into revolution. The effect of the example of Virginia upon Kentucky, Missouri, and perhaps’ Tennessee, will be decisive, and there is no other State in the Union has the same .influence for good, or as much right to be heard in this controveray. In the Revolution she was the leading State— her citizens drew up the Declaration of Indepen- dence, led the army of independence, and con- structed the constitution. When Massachusetts and other Northern States threatened to revolt, Virginia ceded her rich and vast domain as a sacrifice to the Union, and the ingrate States of the Northwest carved out of this Ter- ritory now deny the sacred rights of the mother State. In the nullification contro- versy in 1832, when South Carolina was as revolutionary and rebellious as the Southern States to-day, Virginia healed the breach. Her statesmen restored the equilibrium of the Union in 1820, and in the crisisggf 1850 it was Virginia who so strongly aided in saving the confederacy. Still conservative, it is her noble part in this, the greatest danger the country has yet seen, to prevent a bloody col- lision, to meet the other States in Convention at Washington on the 4th of February, in order that there and then they may calmly de. liberate upon such proposed amendments to the constitution as may restore peace and har- mony once more. There will thus be time given for deliberation before the irrevocable step of separation is taken by the border slave States, and time for the North to come forward with measures of conciliation and justice, if it ever means to do so. The representatives of the Southern States having agrved upon the basis of reconciliation proposed by Virginia as their ultimatum, if the North will not accept it, then there is an end of the controversy, and Virginia and all the border slave States will unite with the cot- ton States in a Southern confederacy far too strong to be brought back by force of arms. But it is to be hoped that her wise counsels will prevail, as in days of yore, and that she will at least meet with co-operation on the part of the border free States—TIllinois, In- diana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York—which would practically setile the ques- tion. If these States give their adhesion to the terms offered by Virginia on the part of the Sonth, it is of little conseqnence what New England and the extreme Northwest may do in the premises. We trust, therefore, that the olive branch held out to the Nerth by the Old Dominion will be received ia a generous, fraternal spirit by the border free States, and that they will send commissioners to Washington to meet those of Virginia and of the other slave States on the 4th of next month. Thus some satisfactory settlement may be adopted, either for the re- coustruction of the Union on a firm foundation, or for the peaceable separation of the slave- holding from the Northern States, instead of precipitating the whole country into civil war, outstripping all that ever preceded it in atroci- ty. Virginia has a grand role to play in the revolutionary drama, whose denouement in- volves the fate of this continent, and will influ ence the destiny of generations of Europeaas yet unborn ~ _—_—— Tm Arrrosomna Srare Evecrions ov New Exouam >—Tuer Iarorrance a5 4 Tear ov rat Fas or ."Low oF Revouerioy.—The comiag State electia’o3 in the North will, in effect, de- cide the fate of the country for wealor woe. | Congress has faltered and failed i its duty, , and the question will have to go to the peopte in some shape or other. The firgt elections held may therefore be re,yarded as highly im- portaat, as they willset an ximple aad give a tone to the other States in tie North. As the Srst State elections a.’e to be held ia New Hampshire on the 12th of March, in Con- necticut on the Ist of April, aad in Rhode Island April 3, those events will become crite- tions by which we may anticipute the judgment to be passed by all the New Engtand States and the people of the Nori, They will be tests of the ebb or continued flow of the tide of revolution, and after the results are determined in these States we shall thea know where we stand. If the people in those three States reject the absurdities of the Chicago platform, and decide in favor of the constitution and the legitimate rights of the South other States will follow theic example; aad the Union maz be resoued from destructionia the very moment of its apparent dissolution; or, even after the secession ef all the slave States, the returning sober second thought of the North may accomplish a reunion upoa a broader and seourer basis thea even the preseat constitu- tion. But if these three New England States should not rise above the level of party to the height of the great argument presented by the facts of the crisis, but sustain the Chicago plat- form, they will oaly fusnish a new ilustration of the political maxim that “party is the madness of many for the gain of afew," aod + the final dissolution of the confederacy, affd, perhaps, civil war of the most ruinous and disastrous kind, may be anticipated us the ia- evitable consequenees. It behooves the friends o/ the Union, thece- fore, in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island to exert themselves with their utmost energies between the present time and the elections, and to leave no stone unturned to secure a favorable result. The friends of the Union in other Northern States ought to assist either by their influence and personal efforts in the campaign or by sending contributions of money as the sinews of a political contest which may decide the destiny of the country. For let all rest assured that, unless there is a speedy retrograde revolution at the polls in the Northern States, the revolution at the South will go forward to its consummation, and instead of one mighty confederacy we shall have two or three, or it may be four, petty governments, with divided, if not clashing in- terests, and in eternal danger of border wars and mutual extermination, in which they will be aided most effectually by the intervention of the great Powers of Europe. Tue Sovrnern Foris anv Ansevats—Durr or Tux Executive.—It was certainly a very great error on the part of the President to per- mit the seizure of the fortifications and arsenals in the Southern cities. There was, however, some excuse for this course to be found ia the fact that several members of the Cabinet sym- pathized with the secessionists, and gave them information as to the probable movements of » the President, and, without doubt, influenced him as to the course whieh the government should pursue. The eutside pressure upon Mr. Buchanan has been very great, and therefore his vacillation may be rendily accounted for- But now there is no excuse for any hesitation in maintaining the power of the govern- ment, and in vindicating the supremacy of the laws. The Cabinet has been recon- structed, and the members thereof are united. The withdrawal of the Senators from Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia removes the last obstacle in the path of the Presideat and his constitutional advisers. In a very short time the Senators from Georgia will retire, and Kansas will be admitted. Then there will be a clear majority in the Senate in favor of sup- porting the President in any measures which may be agreed upon for the support of the dignity of the republic. As a matter of course, there is a wide difference of opinion upon the question as to the policy of the federal govern- ment with regard to the seceding States; but there can be no doubt about the matter of the public property. The seceding States have no right to hold the forts and arsenals, which are the property of the United States, and the Pre- sident should demand their immediate restora- tion. We presume that it is very clearly set- tled that no steps will be taken to place war garrisons in these forts; but in any case they should be given up to their rightful custo- dians, the officers of the United States army Itis Mr. Buchanan’s bounden duty to hand over the federal property, intact, to his suc- cessor, and he should use every effort to do so. If the difficulty between the North and the South is to be amicably settled, as we hope and trust it may be, the rendition of the forts would in no way embarrass conciliatory negotiations. On the contrary, it would materaily facilitate their progress. In any event, the Executive should use all prudent and proper means to re- claim the federal property, which has been seized without any color of right or legal au- thority whatsoever. WenveLt. Par..irs on Secessios—THe Raot- CAL ABOLITIONISTS AND THR SkoKsstonts1s Jom- 1n@ Hanps.—We have very frequently pointed out to the people of the South the very strik- ing similarity between the results aimed at by the followers of Garrison and Rhett. Wendell Phillips, in an address delivered at Boston oa Sunday last, gives us another proof that our ar- gument was a sound one. Mr. Phillips is de- lighted at the prospect of disunion, believing hat the Southern States, when left to them- selves, will be powerless to resist Joha Brown vaide, that servile inaurrections will break out all over the slave States, and that the aegroes will free themselves by killing their masters. He is opposed to the idea of making any sactifices for the Union. Quite the coatrary. Hy» ia ia avor of paying the Gulf States to go out, aad finally he hails diswnion as the great paaacea for the chief evil of our body politic -—the insti- tution of slavery. Mr. Phillips and his followers will undonbied. ly be highly gratified to find that the Swnatows from Alabama, Mississippi and Plorifa have left their seats in the Senate Chamber; that Georgia is yirtuully out of the Union, and Uiat several Squthora States will follow, while poor half-starved Kansas comes shivering ia, and the fire-eabors in Sonth Carolina will be ns j bilant as te fanatica of New Engliot, The rabid ae Ce sionists believe that Wry caa keep the slaves by going out, av l they favor the ee ‘ i