2

The Political Revolution.

The secession movement has now attained the dimensions of a great revolution, says the Philadelphia Press, and as such must be treated. The argument against the legal right to break up the Union, and to resist the authority of the general government, is unanswerable. But, six states have now assumed an attitude of hostility to it, and others are preparing to follow their example. It may be easily shown that they have no constitutional authority for this action, but they have, nevertheless, resorted to it. From present indications, this revolution will inevitably widen in extent until all the slave states, with perhaps two or three exceptions, become connected with it, if some peaceable plan of adjustment is not devised. It is not probable that any concessions will be acceptable to the ultra Gulf states — but the border states may be prevented from joining them in their desperate movement, by judicious action.

No proposition has yet been brought forward which is perfectly acceptable to all parties and all sections, nor is it likely that any such measure can be devised in the existing state of public sentiment and the conflict of opinion which prevails. It is an easy thing to assail, and to point out objections which by many will be deemed insuperable, against any plan of compromise that has yet been or will hereafter be, brought forward. If the Union is to be preserved, or if a line which will divide the slaveholding from the non-slaveholding states is not to be drawn, every man who is attached to it should be prepared to offer up some sacrifice of prejudice of opinion upon the altar of his country. Disunion and civil war stare the nation full in the face, and the time has come when we must rather choose between evils than expect to have the government administered in a manner which is exactly and entirely in accordance with our individual judgment. It is to be hoped, therefore, that instead of criticising too severely and sharply the different peace propositions which have been brought forward by Northern and Southern men, the necessity of prompt action of some kind will be distinctly recognized; and that attention will be directed rather towards promoting an agreement and common understanding among that large class who still believe our Union to be worth preserving, than towards weakening the effort made to maintain it.