The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-04-06
rF We extract the suboned editorial, on a

most important subject, IRON the Columbus
(Ga) Sentinel, most ably conducted paper
CENTRALIzATIoN.-ln the adoption of the
Constitution it was apprehended by the most
liberal friends of republicanism, that the gen.
era government would overshadow, and ult-
mately destroy, the sovereignty of the States
The federal party, on the other hand, captivated
with the idea of great central power, predicted
most danger from what was called the centrifu-
gal force of the confederacy is the ten
dency to ACKNOWLEDGMENT by the encroachment
of State authority. The lapse of half a cen
fury has verified the apprehensions of the Re-
publican or State rights party.
Geologans say that the earth in its creation
was IA fluid body, and that in its revolution
upon its axis there was constant tendency to
an agglomeraton of its PARTICLES about the cen
tire, by means Of which, in process of time, it
was gradually compacted, until it assumed its
present form and tenacity. So in the operation
of our government; when established, there
were fewer cohesive elements in its nature but
by the gradual accumulation of power, it has, in
Il comparatively brief natural existence, become,
in all but its name, centralism instead of a
confederacy The Constitution, which was de-
signed by its trainers as measure of the power
ceded by the States to the general government,
has been converted into mere outline of re-
strictions upon the States themselves. Politi-
clans now consult lis provisions to ascertain,
not what the general government may do, but
what the States may not do. Men gravely
argue that there are no such things az State
rights, because they cannot be found in the
Constitutions and very sagely contend for the
constitutionality of an act of the general govern
ment, because the clause Of the Constitution
denying the authority of Congress in the premi-
SEES cannot be cited. The day was when fed
eralism condescended to attempt to show the
grant of right in that instrument, before it
sought to exercise it now, forsooth, the onus
is shifted, and if asked for its authority to do
certain things, it triumphantly defes opposition
to show wherein the Constitution gainsays the
right
This acquisition of power in the general gov
eminent has been gradual-so gradual, indeed,
as to be almost imperceptible. The exactions
of federalism have been in many instances of
so little practical Importance, that those who
have opposed its movements have been ridiculed
as hair splitters, cavilers, and abstractionists.
By degrees the people have been accustomed to
the exercise of undelegated authority, until they
have ceased to measure the power of Congress
by the great charter of its powers, substituting
it for the uncertain and constantly changing
| in the aggregate constitute oppression. Each
grain of sand of which the islands of the ocean
are made, is by itself trhe and yet these grains
of sand make the island. Congress appropri'
ates few thousand dollars to fit out ship to
send to the frozen regions in search of Sir John
Franklin, and no objection is made In short
time another appropriation is made for sending
after Louis Kossuth, and if opposition is ex-
pressed, humph is the reply; if it was right to
spend money hunting for Sir John, it certainly
is not wrong to send after Governor Louis.
And 80 we go; one transgression of the line OF
right furnishes precedent for another, and these
two for another, until finally, by imperceptibe
degrees, we find that the national Legislature
can furnish precedent for doing a thousand
things not or e of which can be sustained by
| the Constitution
One of the widest progressionists of the day
has actually introduced bill into Congress to
give every man in the Union home another
has proposed to donate the public lands to the
States for the erection of the insane asylums
and still another proposes to establish ma
tional farm and workshop at Washington. The
conscientious representative who has the hon.
esty to oppose these nsidious aggressons, is
ridiculed MS crazy theorist, and jeered with the
taunt of fitting against the windmills. And
| yet, those Things, trluIng th0ugh tney appear
are but different exhibitions of precisely the
same principle which would plumber one-half OF
the country for the emolument of the other, and
bankrupt the treasury with lavish expenditures
for the purpose of internal improvement. They
are all the fruits of federalism (; all indications
| of the Capitalization of the government.
| AT this point, more than from all the seces-
sionists and nuifiers in the country, is republi-
canism in danger. The doctrine of State SOW
ereignty, instead of being an element of dis
union and discord, is the only hope of the
Union upon terms of equality and honor. A
confederacy can only be maintained in its purity
by Jealous watchfulness over the rights of its
members. No individual State, no particular
section, is interested in this doctrine. If each
recognizes and each defends it, tho Constitution
and the Union may-nay, must stand. If it is
discarded, the Union may survive the Constitu.
ton, through few years, but sooner or later il
must share its destruction.
eYy" The Lowell American of Friday last thus
refers to the leading issues in the pending elec.
tons in Connecticut and Rhode Island The