Council Bluffs bugle. [volume] (Council Bluffs, Iowa) 1860-1868, 1861-06-05
HAVE WE A Contribution.

The question, have we . Government
has been often asked without quali6ea-
ton as to the kind Of Government TO which
the enquiry was directed. There is no
doubt now il should be presumed that We
have q Government, but there is some
doubt about its character, whether it ID
constitutional Government, or q strasog-
arehy, or 4 eaHnonooraey. AS it appears
to Us, both the Federal and State Gov
eruments have become Stratocraeies, or
Military Governments, and their Admin
| istrators have become stratogarchs. The
change from constitutional Government
to this stats of things has been almost
impereeptible and people generally do
not seem to realise that the change or rev
olution has taken place, their minds be-
| ing SO absorbed with the condition of the
country and their feelings being so much
ia accordance with the course Of the
stratOgarehs who are administering the
| Government.
Such precisely was the condition of the
French people under the Presidency, Lou
is Napoleon. They had Constitutional
Cor arnment, in accordance with the pro-
visions of which Louis Napoleon was
elected President of the French Republic.
The President saw or pretended to see
that the safety Of the State required that
the Constitution be set aside and that a
stratocratic form of government be sub
stituted in bis stead. He accordingly
performed his celebrated coup d'stas Of
the Sd Of December, By which the Con-
stitutiou of France was annulled and the
will of Louis Napoleon as Stratogareh
substituted in its stead. Bat be had 8
snikcient regard for appearances and for
popular opinion TO submit TO a vote of
the French people the change he under
took to make in the system and form Of
their government. They apparently ap-
proved of and ratified Louis eSApoEeon's
course, bat what said fReelaen of the
Democratic, Republican and Constitu-
tional standard throughout the world.
They grHsgad al tbs bldw given by the
coup Psadt Of Napoleon TO constitutional
Government, and they uttered maledie-
! sions loud and dHcp upon The French PEG.
pie for submitting basely TO be stripped
/ OF their Constitutional liberty aud their
] inherent rights of freemen.
II Let not American freemen be indiffer'
ens to the suggestive facts Of French his'
= tory, and indeed Of the history of all 9th
4 err free people who lose their liberties BY
E SEQ uiescing in uaurpations OF the ruling
: power. Not that we have any dread thai
I Mr.. Lincoln will attempt 10 perpetuatt
bis Presidency Of the United States be
! youd its constitutional termination; mo-
J that there need be any apprehension o.
his attempting TO change the Conatitu
Itional name Of bis ONCE, bat far mos
!, important aad rAore to be apprenendet
and dreaded is the disregard Of Constitu
tional inhibitions and restraints which il
perceptihEa eYerywhere, not only In shos'
who have the Administration of the Fed
eraI and State Governments IN thei
hands, but In the people at large whl
. readily aequiesce in, approve OF, and Il
= many instances demand violation o
Il Constitutions when their inhibitions an
Ia restraints are obstacles in the way Of th
Re assumption Of ARBITRARY power.
70 Con SAVE THE CoaaoEwEALTH not onl
- from the Stratogarchs who have swor
- before Con TO Administer its affairs &C
. coraing to The Constitution, but also froE
. the people who 20 far ahead OF their ri
D lers in substituting stratocratic form c
ss Government for that which was institr
s. ted by their Revolutionary Ancestors
=. We'll may the question be asked Therefore
. weald 70 God that every citizen Of %
'. United Stasss 10 put ths question % hin
:. self, HAVE WE A CONSTITUTION
- --DubuqAs Hafald.