The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-02-25
Warietp.
From the Washington Union.l
THE L0NDoNTIMES ON THE PRES.
dents MESSAGE.

aEbicAo rum sn0 AOnuoh tHtSS, uocdust
of the marked change of its tone toward.
our country, and because. of the better
knowledge of u federal system of gov
eminent which it e%yinces. If the expe
rience of nearly four years in our pres
ent position had not made Us fully anG
painfully acquainted with the fact thai
the several States of our confederation
and their respective relations to the
federal government, in connection with
the legislative and executive powers Of
the latter under the Constitution, have
been imperfectly understood by many
in our own country, we should express
surprise at the ignorance exhibited by the
leading British journals on those sub.
jects. It is gratifying, however, to find
that President Pierce has succeeded in
enlightening the editor of the Times.
and in extorting from him an aeknowl-
edgment so much at variance with the ha-
bituel ignorance and Misrepresentation
w~hichflled his columns. Perhaps we
ought not to be astonished that English,
men fail to comprehend the true charac'
te rof our federative system of govern
ment. They are deceived by reasoning
from analogy. They are familiar with the
idea of an omnipotent Parliament, and
are liable to confound the powers of our
Congress with those of their Parliament
They are equally liable to confound the
limited executive power of our Presi-
dent with the actual powers, Of a Brit
ish monarch, or perhaps, more properly
speaking, of a British ministry. But it
is astonishing that similar errors should
prevail in our own country. We might
illustrate this remark by reference to
the doctrine now held by the Republi-
can politicians as to the omnipotent pow
er of Congress over the territories[
It is not pretended that, amongst the
enumerated powers of Congress, there 81
one which recognizes a doctrine even
more outrsgeously despotic than that
asserted by England, over the thir-
teen colonies in the days Of the revolu-
ton. Yet we have statesmen of age and
experience who daily maintainin both
houses of Congress that the jurisdiction of
Congress over our territories is supreme
and unlimited. When errors like this
are in vogue at home, we may well abate
some of our surprise that Englishmen
should not properly comprehend the re-
latiye powers of the federal and State
governments.
The editor of the London Times, how
ever, has learned wisdom from a
perusal of the Presidents message, and
we hope that he may hereafter profit by
it. It has been suggested that the i'm
proved tone in the Times is the result
of a late visit of one of its editors to the
United States. When it was announced
that Mr.. Delano was here for the pur-
pose of witnessing our great Presiden-
tial contest, We expressed the hope that
he would be, taught by the result that
the English journals had been led into
serious errors of fact and opinion By
looking to such papers as the Herald,
Courier and Enquirer, Tribune and
Post, for true views of American policy
and American sentiment We now have
some evidence that our hopes have been
realized, and that hereafter the relations
between the two governments will not
be disturbed by that species of misrep-
resentation and abuse of our country
which has been a constant source of IT.
ritation. We hope further, that the
message of President Pierce will contin-
ne to be regarded in England as the
true exposition of the relative powers of
our State and federal governments, and
of the powers of the Executive.
In this connection, We deem it proper
to remark that we regard the American
people as being at present better inform
ed as to the true nature of our complex
system of government than they have
before been. The questions that have
been discussed for several years past
have fixed the popular mind On the Con-
stitution as the great charter of federal
authority, and impressed it with the
conviction that a strict, scrupulous re-
gard for the rights of the States is e.
ssntial to the harmonious aud successful
working of the system. These are sub
jects on which President Pierce has
dwelt with u~ndisputed elearness, direct.
ness, and power in all his messages; and
when his term of service shall be expir-
ed, the chief glory of his administration
will be that he has illustrated, in prac-
tice as well as by argument, the beauty
and excellence of u federative system
in q manne SO manifest that even Brit
ish Statesmen are enable to comprehend
and appreciate it. Without further
comment, and without referring syen to
portions of the article in the Times
which we might be disposed to criticise
we commend it to the attention of our
readers:
[Fromthe London Times ofthe 17th.l
The LONDON TINES AND THE PREsI-
DENTS MEssAeE.-C Complementary to
the United States. There is one refec-
ton which must have occurred to most
thoughtful Englishmen after toiling