Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1861-07-25
A Southerner on the Confederate
Constitution.

s D. c, Humphreys, ESQ.,, of Huntsville
Alabama, has published q pamphlet on the
Confederate Constitution, from which We
take the following extracts. The reaction
has already commenced:
1t is no answer to say that the new Con
stitutions are better in some of their provi
sions than the old. This may be, and III
others worse. The changes have been start
ling. Was the purpose to enlarge the rights
of the StateG They have been curtailed
Was tie object to strengthen and extend
the institution of African slavery? 1t has
been circumscribed, hemmed ina Was the
aim to establish free trade? 1t is less like.
ly to be established under the new than the
old Government. Exclusive free trade ney.
er was, and never can be, and never ought
to be established. Was the object in Set
ting up the new Government to diminish
the expensese They have been increased
Was our object 10 lessen taxation? That
object has failed; for where the expendi.
lures were thousands they are now mil
lions.
Was the object in tearing down the old
Government TO secure the property holder
The new Government has not the strength
to protect that the old one had. Was the
object to enlarge the elective franchise and
expand the rights of the individual men,
bers Of society! The new Federal Govern
ment prescribes qualification for electors
in State, whereas the old Government
left that entirely with the States. Was
the object in demolishing the old and set
ting up the new Government to increas the
culture and growth of cotton. The heavy
expenditures ofth new polity, with the in
crease of taxation consequent thereon, will
diminish the labors, and the production will
fall off!
In the closing paragraph of his appeal,
the writer makes the following reference,
indicative of latent sentiment of devotion
to the national name and flag, to doubt the
existence of which in many a patriotic
breast throughout the seeded State would
be to deny the historic laws of association
smong all men and in all ages. To this
purport Mr.. Humphreys writes as follows:
And I tell my friends that the people
are not satisfied with the distrust that has
been manifested toward them, and the in
decent haste by which power has passed
from their hands, into the hands of those
who were not cnly not chosen by the peo-
pie, but about whose position they were not
even consulted.
It is true we will fight under the flag of
The Confederate States-and we'll fight to
the death, and the thought of defeat viii
never enter our minds, though we may be
extermina.ed-yet we would more cheer
fully fight under that old banner, the mem
ory and recollections of which will not fade
away and die SO long as history is read and
gallant deeds are cherished. Had the peo-
pie of Alabama been consulted at the bal
lot-box, and this had been the only State
to decide upon Secession, they would have
thrown themselves in the breach in defense
of the right of self government. And it
is because they are free, and hate distrust,
tyranny and oppression, whether from con.
stituted authority exercising an unconstit-
utional act, or from self-assumed uneonstit-
utional power, that they do not love the
new order. - -c