Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1854-07-26


can be an sdsQasts substtutss they muss ipevita-
bIY experience The inlrartions and interruptions
which al alliances in ell times have experienced.
Sensible Of this m0mentDus truth, you have i'm
proved upon your frat essay, By the adoption OF
"a Constitutions OF Government better calculated
than your former for an intimate Union, and for
the efieatious management Of your common con-
Germs. This Government the offspring OF our
own choice, uniniueneed and unawed, adopted
upon full investigation and mature deliberston,
completely free in its principles in the distribu-
ton Of its powers, uniting security with energy
and containing within itself a provisions for It's
own amendment, has a just claim to your conf
dence and your support Respect for Us astlOri-
~, compliance 1ih lis taies, acquissceace IN ITS
measures, are duties intolned By de fundamental
snarims Of true Liberty. The basis Of our polit-
icsl systems is the right Of the people to make
and to alter their Constitutions of Government.
But The COnstitRtioR Dhich at any time crisis, tiA
changed by an explicit and authentic Get of the
,rhole people, is sGcrsdly obligatory upon ALL The
very idea Of the power and the right Of tue peo-
pie to establish Government, presuppUses the du-
ty Of every individual to obey the established
Government" .ss7s yi,i,:4 ~ --,..a-s.. -T,.
WASHINGTON seems to have foreseen such an
attempt as was lately made in Boston to obstruct
the laws, and such an exhibition as was recently
seen Of portion Of the clergy endeavoring to
control the deliberations of Congress, when he
uttered what follows: r.t s.s $50
"Aa obstructions to the erecution of the Ld1cs,
all combinations and associations, under sOhdtever
plausible character Oith the real design TO direct,
control connterdct OF aUe the regular deli6erGtion
and action of the constituted authorities are de-
structive Of ats fundamental principle, and of fatal
tendency, They serve to organize faction, to give
it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in
the place Of the delegated will Of the nati'n, the
will of party, often a small but artful and en-
terprising minority Of the community; and, ac-
cordngtu the alternate triumphs OF different par
ties, to make the public administration the mir
ror OF the misconcerteG and incongruous projects
of faction, rather than the organ Of consistent
and wholesome plans dgested by common coun-
sells, and modified by mutual interests. as
"However, combinations or associations Of the
above description may now and then answer pop
uiar ends, they are likely in the course Of time,
and things, to become potent engines, by which
cunning. ambitious, aud unprincipled men will
be enabled to subyert the power Of the people,
and to usurp for themselves the reins Of govern
ment; destroying afterwards the very engines
which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
We close our extracts with the following eve-
ry word of which comes home to the present
time: ''f
Towards the preservation ofyour government,
and the permanency of your present happy state,
it is requisite, not only that you steadily discoun-
tenance irregular oppositiuns TO its atknowledg-
ed authority, but also that you resist with car,
the spirit OF innovation upon its principles, how
ever specious the pretexts. One method of as
saul may te to effect, an the forms Of the Constitu-
tions alterations, 'oh1ch wM impair til; energy
of the system, and thus to undermine What cannot
te directly overthroWn. In all the changes to
which you may be invited, remember that time
and habit are ut least as necessary to tix the true
character OF governments, as OF other human in-
sttutiuns; that experience is the surest standard
by which to test the real tendency OF the exist
ing constitution of country: that facility in chang
es, upon the credit OF mere hypothesis and opin'
ion, exposes to perpetual change, from the end
less variety Of hypothesis and opinion; and re-
member especially, that, for the efficient manage
ment OF your common interests, in country so
extensive as ours, agpvernment OF as much vigor
as is consistent with the perfect security of lib
erty is indispensable. Liberty itself will fud in
such u government, with powers properly distri'
buted and adjusted, its surest guardian. 1t is in
deed, little less than q name, where the govern
nent is too feeble TO Withstand the enterprises
OF faction, to confne each member OF the socie.
ty within the limits prescribed by the laws, anc
to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoy
ments OF the rights Of person and property"
Nearly half a century after WASHINGTON de.
liyered this parting advice. Gen. JACKSON took
leave OF public life. IN doing 50, he, too, embra-
ced the occasion to warn his countrymen agains,
the dangers to be apprehended from geographi
cal divisions and sectional parties. He had real.
lied something Of that of which WASHINGTON
had expressed deep fears, and recurred to it in
words which should be treasured by every Amer.
ican citizen.