New-York daily tribune., 1858-04-07

III
with the States, wss not an arrangement oaseo
upon theory; it WA but the mere contlnus''o''
under new forms, Of that same system OF govern
ue1t with which the Inhabitants OF the United
States hsd been familiar from the beginning. The
| General Government represents the power AM
authority exercised or claimed 10 Colonial times %
the mother country, while the State govercment',
with al their nachrery-e1ecutive Legislative sIi
| judicial-are but the mere Continuance OF the pre-
existing colonial gOvernments so much so' ths' lot
| u any years Rhode Island and Connecticut, two OF
the most thoroughly republican States in the non
| went on urder their old colonial charters. The
Me1icans, when. in 1870 or thefeabOuts, they pro-
claimed their independence Of Spain undertook to
erect government after our complicated model;
but they had in fact no mater is out of which to
make it, and no basis Of history and usage upon
which 10 rest it. Those portions Of territory which
attempted TO erect into Ststes were but prov
inces Of the Old viceroyaty which never had ENJOY
ed any political rights, never had been accustomed
to legislatures tOcOrtes or tribunals Of their own,
and were, in fact far their prscticaeIperence
went, no more than counties and hardly much. Ac-
ideas of the Mexicans the central Administration
having its seat in the City of Mexico, had ever
been the single source of all authority. admin
istrstive legislative and judicial aud h)" much
more potent in the government Of q nation these
historical traditions and practical IDEAS are than
aIy mere paper arrar g-ments. the unfortunate
experience Of Mexico has abundan;ly proved. The
Lnon Itself informs US that for the last thirty
years. whenever there has been Government in
Mexico OF any vgor or vitality at all, 1t has
been thoroughly centralized Government. The
attempt with which the MeSicans set out,
and which they have repeatedly made efforts
TO realize, TO superiuduce upon this central Gov
ernment State Governments after our model,
has constantly resulted in civil war Al!
the civil wars of Mexico for the last thirty years
have assumed the form Of contest, and for the
mcst part very unsuccessful one, to introduce osr
Federal system into country which has no ma
t0nsl basis Oh which any such system can rest.
Whatever NAV have been their benefits aud adyan-
tsse- TO US, State Rights tenets have been to Mex
leo only the occasion Of civil war, and OF perpetual
pr0nanctamitntos.
TIE real and fundamental source of the mlsfor-
tunes Of Mexico, as Of every other country are
TO be fourd not in the failure to adopt this or that
particular form of administration, but in the ele-
ments Of the population and the unfortunate const
tuition of the social system. In the United States
the original basis of the social system was Free
Labor, and it is upon this basis Of Free Labor that
our whole democratic system rests. In Mexico
the original basis Of the social system was Slave
Labor; and although the sersitude Of the laborng
class has been abolished in form, under the system
of peonsge the spirit Of it remains, and renders as
yet utterly impossible the establishment Of
democratic government after our system and based
upon our models. Mexico has only few rich
with q multitude of poor, and no middle class.
How, then can it have a democratic government
Among other lessons which The Union proposes
to draw from the unfortunate cordition of our Mex
ican neighbors, would suggest ne very much to
the point, the mpocy of the extension OF the slave
system into territories in which il does not exist;
and not only that, but the policy Of speedily ex-
clu6ing il from States and Territories, like Kansas
and Missouri, for example, into which il ias been
unadyisedy introduced. The tnioa notes the
amalgamatiOn ard consequent decentralization Of
races ds among Tile fruitful SOURCES Vi oecHuo aun
decay in Mexico. This source of decline and decay
is in full operation in all our Slave States in which
the blood of the masters s by process inevitable
in every slayehoding country, being fast transferred
into the veins of the slaves. The In,on speaks, in
deed as if the emancipation of the inferior races OF
Mexico had been the cause of this amalgamaton,
but the fact is that it commenced with the Spanish
conquest, and has been going on ever SINCE just as
a similar process of amalgamation has been going
on in the Slave States ever since the introduction
of negroes. The slave system tends also directly
to that division Of society into small clas, of rich
proprietors ard q great body Of dependent cult
yatols, with no middle class. or very n,consid-
cradle one, which is the characteristic Of MexlcO.
The determined and persistent efforts made Of late
years BY our small body Of shareholders to obtain
the control Of the Federal Government the threats
of disunion and civil war constantly put forth from
the same quarter, and especially the recent at
tempt in Kansas to substitute force and violence for
the balot-b show that We too, not less than the
Mexicans are in some danger of high handed and
absolute autocIacy.
otaI