Louisville Daily Courier, February 23, 1861

The Black Republican party and their allies in the South—the Right and Left wings of the great Liberal party—have secured one important point—they have prevented the Border Slave States from taking any decisive action for the protection of their rights and the maintenance of their sovereign equality and independence, until it is too late to do anything before Mr. LINCOLN and his friends will have obtained possession of the Government.

This was one object they hoped to accomplish by the policy of "delay" proclaimed by SEWARD and echoed by Southern partisans.

The Border States, deceived by fair speeches and flattering but meaningless promises, have hoped for an honorable adjustment, for some satisfactory recognition of their rights, for a full acknowledgment of their equality; but these hopes are soon to pass away forever.

Congress has done nothing; Northern Legislatures have done nothing; Northern Governors have not even recommended anything; the Northern people have applauded and indorsed the "no compromise" course of their Representatives; and the Peace Conference, assembled expressly to save the Union, has done nothing and will do nothing; none of these have done anything to restore the Union; but much has been done by the Governors of Free States, by the Legislatures of Free States, and by Congress to prevent an adjustment, and, God help us! to make war almost inevitable.

Firm action on the part of the Border States taken sixty days ago might have saved the Union or restored it, and would have certainly prevented bloodshed.

The decided action of the Cotton States convinced the North that they were in earnest, while the discontent manifest in some of the Border Slave States indicated to the alarmed men of the Free States the probability of a total and irreparable separation of all the Slave States, and the formation of a Southern Republic. Panic stricken at the idea of losing their best customers and the most liberal contributors to their own wealth and prosperity, the North began to think of concessions, and to exhibit a disposition to do justice to the weaker, aggrieved, and threatened section. Had the Border States then taken a firm and defiant stand, demanding their rights in the Union or their independence out of it, the North would have receded from their position, and the Constitution, at least for a time, would have been restored to its place in the temple and respected as the supreme law of the land.

But the genius of SEWARD, to which the Black Republican party is indebted for its organized existence, was brought to the rescue, and his carefully weighed words, of apparent conciliation, but real menace, seduced the Border States into the policy conceived in his brain to divide the South—the policy of delay.

It was successful; the golden opportunity was lost; the Northern people were made to believe that the Border Slave States were for the Union right or wrong, now and forever, while the people of those States were lured by deceptive appeals and insidious promises into action that encouraged this fatally erroneous belief; and now the end draweth nigh.

When it became apparent that Congress, nor the Free State Legislatures, nor any other authority known to the laws, would do anything to save or restore the Union, a conference of peace and Union men was convened at Washington, and the people have been consoled for the ill success of other attempts at pacification by the belief that the "Peace Conference" would do something to restore the good feeling, mutual confidence, love and respect that of old made our people one people.

That Conference has now nearly closed its third week, without the adoption of anything good or bad, weak or strong. The announcement may go out with this article that it has failed to do anything. Or if any stinted compromise should per possibility be put forth, it will be of such a nature and done in such a way as neither to secure the consent of the North nor to satisfy the South.

What the nature of the debates in that Conference have been, we have no accurate means of knowing. If they could be divulged to the country they would probably fill all candid men with disgust, and excite in the South intense indignation. We know enough to satisfy us on that point.

We know the nature of the Compromise urged by the Border States; that it is the least that could possibly be asked, virtually surrendering many rights, and in fact equality, to get a partial acknowledgment of our rights. We know also that most of the delegates from the Slave States are strong Union men, and that some of them may justly be termed submissionists, and that no effort has been wanting on the part of such to procure an agreement.

No agreement has been reached; nothing has been done to restore the Union; the Conference is a failure; but delay has been secured by the North, while the Border slave States are now, within a few days of the inauguration of Mr. LINCOLN, without a single Constitutional guarantee that the Free State majority will respect, or the hope of getting one such.

And yet with these results staring them in the face, a restoration of the Union made impossible, and war rendered almost certain, there are some fast friends of the Free State cause in the South to preach delay, further delay, delay until the dominant section is ready to bind us if we will peaceably submit to wear the badge of degradation, or to attempt to subjugate us if we resist!