The southern press., 1851-10-11
Letter Of Ex.PresIdent Geo. N. Dallas. ofPa..
TO HON. GUY NJ. BRYAN, OF TEXAS.
ScHooLrY's, BELmor HALL, D
ScHooLEY's MoUsTAIS Spring,

OF nature which Surround me here, the high hills
the pure cool air, the fragrant forests, and the
ripening haryests, to postpone until my return
to arid streets, and studies, the attention to
which your request is entitled. cannot, how
ever, feel at rest while imagining that my silence
may possibly be misnterpreted, and therefore
hasten TO send you the views, which you are kind
enough to wish repeated.
On the topics of your letter, dated the 4th
inst, from Peach Point, Brazoria county, Texas,
| have long entertained definite and decided
opinions. AS they are somewhat different from
any avowed by public men in this quarter. I
should feel different in holding or confessirg
them, were it not that every days progress in
our great federal experiment confirms In mo
their s0undness, indeed their absolute nacass;
ty. ! cannot work out the safety of the IJn;or
in their absence. That Union was designed
and is fitted to be the best and most permanent
security for as much of combined freedom and
happiness as societies are permitted to enioy.
and it has always seemed to me not merely rash
and irrational, but grossly illogical to discaim
or doubt any of its essential springs of vitality
Union, in its political sense, is the opposite Of
constellation The elements necessary to bare
idea OF Union are antagonistic to those Of n
consolidation; and yet cannot help thinking
that nil the mistakes and mischiefs to which We
have been subjected, found an origin in the ha.
btual tendency Of many very able statesmen.
to import from old consolidated empires their
products OF legislation and government, and to
fasten them upon the new American condition
OF mere federal union. How often do we hear
and see the strictly deconstitutionalise d term.
nation, substituted for that Of Union! A sinh.
stitution plausible and innocent in the sphere Of
our foreign relations, but full of insnuatinc and
perncious encroachment wherever the domestic
limits, reservations and guarantees are involved.
IL found no place in the structure framed by the
Of 1887 Were not at this mo-
ment away from home, more in search Of health
than disposed to labor, should be tempted to
note, from congressional and executive records.
some OF the errors apparently run into, both Of
reasoning and of policy, under the seductive in.
huence OF round language. No stronger illus
tration could be given of Mirabeau's assertion
that /" words are things" (aye, and fatally seri.
ous things, tooD than the extent to which. with
such aids, the meaning of our Constitution, If
not the nature of our government, has been AZ.
fected. am not so unjust as to question the
motives OF those who have thus deviated thew
must rather be regarded as nisled by sort Of
ambitious patriotism, so intently aiming TO AUG.
ment the greatness, wealth and power. of their
country, as unguardedly to overlook the peculiar
complications and nice adjustments of its politi.
cal system. f
AS people, we are generally calm and con.
more tamey SO than is con.
genial with the spirit and aniicipations Of the
Constitution. There is one provision of that
which, more strongly than any other.
marks its practi al wisdom, and yet it is curious
to see with what almost supersttious dread we
shrink from bringing it into action refer to
the power and process of endment Our or.
ganic law was put in writing, its delegations and
restrictions OF Jurisdiction were given express
and visible certainty, bat, as all human fabrics
are confessedy imperfect and should ever be
adaptable to the times, the mode of peaceful
change, correction or addition, was prescribed
with equal exactness. Why is it that we endure
years Of dangerous agitation, unsettling our sem
timents as fellow citizens, and winding gradually
up to social CONFUSION, rather than frankly re-
sort to this proffercd expedient? Certainly. the
Constitution cannot be touched with too much
reverence; certainly, what is usually stigmatised
as "tinkering at IL should be resolutely avoided:
but when It is plain that the proper occasion has
arisen, that nothing less solemn can be effica-
cous, and that the very union it creates and con.
serva,es, is at risk, why are we 10 recoi from the
provided sanctuary? Ore of the authorized
forms OF amending is unaccompanied BY hazard
of any kind-that of congressional recommends
ton, to be followed by the approval Of three
fourths Of the local legislatures. Such a pro-
cess seems just now 10 be unpromisinp; but il
may, after candid and dfTuse discu sson, turn out
otherwise. Surely the Union is valued suf.
hcenty 10 rally for its risk and renovation twen-
ty-four OF the thirty-one States: or are we al
ready prepared TO admit that the American peo.
pie have become incapable Of self.governnent
incapable of approaching the true sources Of
their wonderful progress, and incapable of dis.
carding the blind though boisterous guides ready
to lead them, through disunion, into mutual ami
rancorous Jealousies, into dependence on foreign
guardianship, into civil and servile wars. and into
the poor feuds OF village trades and tariffs
think 1t always mistake TO falter in reliance up-
on the shrewd and sober Judgment of the great
body OF our fellow citizens. They were wise
enough to discern the untried excellence of the
they were wise enough 10 amend.
aye, and most admirably, the work "A II came
from the hands Of Washington, Madison. Frank
lin ard Hamilton; are they not wise enough then
to apply single and simple cure for disease
which, after many years Of latent torpor. has
suddenly alarmingly developedl With me there
Is no doubt that IL my couDtrymen be given the
legitimate opportunity, they will expressly and
unqualifiedly prohibit sooner or later what I
have heretofore humbly believed they had by
the strongest implication already prohibited.
They will prohibit from being forced by the
sophistres Of zealots to enact the part of a con-
solldation; they will place the constitutional
canon. too palpably for misconsiruction, against
the self.saughter Of intermeddlinr with institu-
tons and rights exclusively Of State creation.
State responsibility, and State control; they will
render u impossible, by any process short Of
treason or revolution, to convert the confederacy
into the means Of destroying the equality Of its
own members, or TO direct its energies 10 fulfill
the behesis Of some higher lao starting up like
the cyulticr Of the minute from the ever rang.
ing and incalcuable phantasies Of the inner man.
have dispassionately, bat anxiously, watched
the manifest Of political sentiment in the North
and East, since the adjournment Of Congress,
and shall be most happy to find my impression dis
PEELED IN the future. At fret the movements Of
the masses were independent Of leadership, and
gave noble earnestness 10 Indicate their good
faith, and TO maintain the institutions and bar
mony Of the Union; but, and say il with re-
luctance, the horizon was not long permitted to
Lii l..