The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1847-11-29

ienso and must say that our establishment has been
the more excited al its singulartes. We will bestow
lew remarks upon some of them In order to illustrate
the evils OF conquest Mr. Clay quotes Alexander Cesar
and Napoleonthe evils of their courses, the sad ter
mnaon OF their lives and the dread Of standing armies
These references were points OF comparison with
government and leaders Now fearlessly appeal to
facts the facts of recorded history prove the gross alb
surdy OF these comparisons How are these great mill
tay leaders, the civil and military chiefs of despotc gov
ernmenis, having power within themselves Certainly
the two nsp to control the moral, fiscal, and physical
energies and resources OF their peoperasng what ar
mics they pleased, ordering them what quarters they
pleased snbsistng them they pleased paying them
they pleasefAdependng entirely upon the chief for any
comfort any honor any COMMISSIONING no law but the
will OF the chief, subject 10 law but his pleasure; how
these to be assmaed TO the system which governs u.s.
In word II rs well known from history, that both Mace
don and Rome were pure military despotsms-the people
having no share these but servants of
the military power and no arms if there the will,
to resist any outrage which the government might nflct
upon them. Liberty understand il, was unknown
to any OF those nations and revolutions with them were
for men, not for prlncplesto put down one leader,
and raise another in his place arbitrary power
on side, greater submission the other, not
TO be found in history. Grecan liberty but Grecian
despollsm Security to life, liberty and property, equal
legal rights to all classes unknown, except as the
generosity policy OF leader induced him to respect
them. And what was Roman liberty Truly, the man
must be unmndful of the truths of history who
Roman history any other rights than those OF command
on one side, and OF obedience the other. The power
OF Rome was military power; her sway military sway
her organization purely military; her polar star, Roman
every directions and her great policy by which she pre-
served her empire so long, and over such varieties OF
people, was, that she incorporated them IN her own
body polite and left them, all local matters to their
own laws and usages-whenever it was not the
pleasure or interest of Roman governor to make in
novaton
Power was in the hands of one person, and in his
hands for life If exercised to be offensive to
some other leader the remedy only In the dagger
and the dagger had therefore, to be used With Mace
don-n fact, with all Greece, and with Romethere were
but two castles OF society," and these decided castles
the governors and the governed The first was the gov
ernmen the second merely serfs the first were armed
officials, the second unarmed menals The romance OF
Grecian and Roman history apt to blind the mind OF
reader to ITS moral and too many of its stories OF de-
voted beroism struggles for power devotons
TO power. Liberty, understand it, unknown
to these peoplethe liberty which secures life and prop
protecting agls all alike, the rich and the poor, the
powerful and the weak. The liberty which makes the
citizen the MASTER and the official the servant is looked
for In Grecian and Roman history in vain
And as to the more modern period of Napoleon it was
also period of military desposm. The great captain
was also the great civil magistrate uniting in his person
all civil and military power AT the head OF great army
he controlled the destinies of millions of unarned
population. Had that population been armed is there
any who can believe that even Napoleon would not
have been controlled his course more moderate, his life
longer, and his end more honorable But with him, as
well as with the other names quoted by Mr.. Clay, and
the governments which they welded the great
stone Of human liberty was unknown--that the people
masters governing officials only their agents. But
this principle be found where the citizen is
hority against any refractory servant When that mas
ter is the citizen numbers are adequate Let those
citizens be armed and the power OF the master is also
adequate. Now, all the references which Mr. Clay
has made, the citizen was an unarmed and submissive
votary
We admit that in governments so organized, standing
army may become dangerous power. Such govern
ments TO be overthrown only by violence France
had not the power to overthrow that by which she was
governed, because her people without arms; nor,
Tor the same reason could France resist its overthrow
by the invasion of foreigners The small armed force OF
Napoleon, IN comparison with the population OF France,
kept that population in subjugaton But if that popua
ton had been armed, does any doubt that the army
could have been kept in subsection With arbitrary
governments. the people cannot be ntused with arms.
because such governments fear the peoples but with free
governments the is otherwise. In these last, the
government is the peoples they the power which
protects the government and they must have the means
of making that protection effectual
In arbitrary governments therefore, and in all govern
ments in which the governing class distinct in inter-
est from the people, the army, depending upon the gov
and may therefore be feared by the people Is ours
arbitrary governments Has the governing class, with
interests separate independent from those of the peo
plei Is the army with dependent upon the governing
officials for anyhingts support, its honors, or its num-
bers' Are not citizens fully and extensively armed
1t seems to us that answers TO these questions should
have driven the nursery bugbear of standing army
from Mr.. Clays mind Them of whom is our army com
posed OF our own and brothers-o the sons and
brothers of the people, not of distinct caste Of
children nurtued in our political principles, born upon
our SOIL connected by ties of blood and marriage with
cXenS, Win interest separate from He CuZcn,
and depending upon the yearly vote of those legislators
whom citizens shall elect for their numbers and sub
sistencedevoted their country and freely shedding
their blood in its defence; and yet Mr.. Clay would
cast brand upon this class OF our citizens, and bid
the people to fear it, Hear it we fathers whose
have died in the tented field ye mothers, whose child
rem have fallen in distant land, in obedience to
their counry's laws! We wives whose mourning dress
and weeping little tell of protector lost, hear it =!
great Henry Clay fears that the devoted class OF ct
zens which your mourned relatives belonged, will be-
traitors TO their country will turn their arms against
their domestic hearths and wade in parrcda blood
The horror OF the accusationfor II is an accusation
is exceeded only by its monstrous absurdy The organ
izaton of government different, from those to
which Mr. Clay has referred that find difficulty
in credtng the seriousness of his apprehensons. With
is only Congress that can create an army The con-
sttuton prohibits military supplies for than two
years. the has been to grant them only for
year There is Congress every two years new
election OF President every four The whole country
undergo the quiet revolution OF the baOt-bOx IN two
years and army TO show symptoms OF disloyal
long before they could come to any head its existence
could be made to And moreover what could even
an army of 100 ,000-the number which Mr. Clay states,
but which apprehends will be authorzed-do
against an armed population of twenty millions, which
could furnish moderate calculation four millions OF
fighting men land of such men, too, as have shown
themselves in the imboded volunteers OF Mexico.
Yet the fear OF our little standing army is among the
reasons why Mr. Clay would abandon all our Mexican
conquests!
But he fears also, conaety oil customs and contrarey
of religion Look around US, and what different
toms and religions prevail, and work most harmonlousy
together in different States 1t only when church
and state connected that evils from religious differ
ences are produced. Does he not well know that this
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