The Northern Democracy

As mu oh surpriso has beon espressed jy many sonthern journals at tho zoal ffith whioh tliü northern domocnicy aro sustaiiiing tho present administraron in ts.military mensures lor the "support of the government," we cite the folfowing remarka, made at the " great Union meeting" in New York by the Hon. John A. Dix, late Secretary of tho Treasury, who, it vvill be seon, distinotly states that the administration of JMr. Bucbanan, if placed in similar circumstances with that of Mr. Lincoln, would have aoted as thn hitter has dune. Mr. Dis spoke as kfollovs : " Follo'.v-citizcns, it is important that we should clearly understand the position of tho late aelmiüistration on this qiiostion. It is due to tbia administration, as well as the last, that we should all understand it. I shall bo very brief, but I rnust ask your close aíLeatioa íor the moments that wiil be needed. " ün the 3d oi December laat, 10 bis annual mcss:ige to Congress, the late President made a strong and unnnsworable argument against the rightof sece3sion. Ho alrio indicated his purpose to collect thv rovenue and deiend thu fortfi in South Carolina. In a special message to Congress on the 8th oJanuary he declarad 1 imo the lan guage oí the message), 'The right and tho duty to use military force defonsiyely against those who resist tho Fedefal officera in the e.xecution of their legal fuactiona and against thoso who assail the property of .the Federal gnvernmcnt is clear and undcniahlo.' The authoritios of South Carolina were repeatedly warned, that if they aseailed Fort S'umpter it wou ld be the commoncoment oí a civil war, and they would be responsible for the consoqoènces. The last and most emphatic of Uiese vvarnings is contained in the admirable answer of Mr. Holt, Secretary of War, to Mr. Hnyne, the Commisaioner f rom South Carolina, on the 6th of February. It is in these vvords: ' If, with all the iriultiplied proofs which esists of the Presideot's uixiety for peace and of tho e.irnestness with whioh he has pursued it, the authoritles of thnt State shal lassault Fort Sumpter and peril the lives of the hanJful of bravo n-ir! lny.M] nin shut lip wilhin itö walls, and thus plungt our country inlo tkc horrors of civil war, thcn upon thcm and tkosé thry represent must rest the responúbility? And ihis brings me to the point I wish to make. I viólate no confldenoo in making it. It is thh : If South Carolina had tendered was to the lato administración as ,she has to this - I mean by a hostile and deadly assault - t vvould havo beon unnnimously acceptcd. I repoat, then, that ;hia administraron has dono no more than her duty. Nay, I beliere that selí-preservafion ronclerod necesaary vvhat it has dono. I have no doubt that the Confedérate leadors at Montgomery have entertained and will en;ertain tho de:-iga ot' marohing upon Washingtion to ovorthrow the governmcnt, taking its place and presenting itoll to the nations of the vvorld as the ;ru3 representativo of the poople of the United States. Against jthie usurparon and frautí,if it shall be atteraptod, [ trust we ñhall eontend with all the strength God has given us. I ara for supporting the government. I do not isk who adraimsters it. It is the goverr.rnent of my country, and as such I shall give it in thi.s extremily all the support in my power. I regard the lending contest with tho secessionists is a dcath-struggle for constitutirnal berty and l:nv - a contcst which, il' succossful on iheir part, could only end n tho establishment of a det-potic government, and b!ot out, wherever ihey wero in tho ascendunt, every vcstige ol national freedora. You know, fellowcitizens, that I have alwnys been n favor oí acfjuétibg controvertios betvveon the States by conoiliation, by compromjsO, by mutual concossion ; in a word, in the spirit iu which the constilution was formeel. Whehevtf the times shall be própitious ior culm consuUation thoy will find mo so still ; Int, ualil then, let us remeniber that nothrng could bo ro di.sr.strous, so liumiüating, and so disreputable to us al! as to see the com: mon government óvertlirown or its legitímate authority sticcessfully re.sisted." wow