Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-05-14
A Chenp Constitution Constitutional Il

which can be bought at such very moderate
prices"
The more a man thinks upon the subject,
the less respect he will be likely to have for
deliberative wisdom, in whatever form it
appears; whether of Constitutional codes or
statutory regulations. The best of il only
establishes as rules that which the people
have adopted as customs; and if il would
confne itself to this, it would do little in
jury, if it did little good. The wrong arises
when, under the mistaken idea that it thus
contributes to popular progress and eleva'
ton, it enacts-ssi it is always trying to do
standards of moral or political conduct
higher than, or different from, those natural
ones which spring from the genius of the
people for whom it legislates in which case
its efforts are invariably mischevious, and its
rules have either to be over.riden by pro-
cesses more or less revolutionary, or re-
pealed.
The States Of this Union were in existence
before the Nation was constructed and this
fact seemed to render indispensable a written
instrument to enumerate and define the
powers with which the National Govern
ment should be endowed. Such was the
Jealousy of the people, fostered and kept in
activity by the ambition of local politicians,
in respect to State sovereignty, that all at
tempts to consolidate by the absorption of
the local politics would have met with a
most decided defeat. Our general Govern
ment is, in fact, a compromise between the
Confederate and the strictly National;
neither exactly one nor the other; and is,
perhaps, in its outlines, and in respect
to the distribution of power, the best
that the circumstances of the case
would permit. The need of a National
Government to provide for the common
defense was universally admitted; but
fears of irresponsible power which had grown
out of the Revolution were still strong upon
the people, and probably the Constitution of
the United States is as accurate a reflection
Of the popular will as could have been de-
vised-the difficulty being that the popular
will was, at that time, unfavorably affected
by certain temporary preiudices and causes
of excitement.
All nations but ours have had their periods
of infancy. Even those institutions now es-
teemed organic are the product of slow
growth from almost imperceptible begin
niDgs. Ours was formed in the course of a
few months, out of States which called them
selves sovereign and independent, and had
been used for a considerable period to exer-
else the prerogatives that belong to an indie
pendent condition. To institute over these
a paramount government, which should be
sufficient for purposes purely national, and
powerless for any other, was a task such as
has Talent to the lot offew founders Of States;
and if 1t was not done perfectly, they upon
whom the labor devolved have the right to
| plead the difficulties inherent in the case, as
an excuse for whatever is faulty in the per-
Torrance.
The main defect in a Constitution like
ours is the want of capacity to adapt itself
to exigencies not contemplated by its found-
ers or at the time of its creation but this,
perhaps, time will show, in the case of the
Constitution of the United States, may be
overcome. New interpretations of elder
records have always been resorted to. when
the old have been found inadequate to meet
the necessities of the times; and in the United
States there have been, from an early day,
two schools of Observation-Disclosures literal
and the liberal-each of whose interpreta-
tons have gone to the spirit and intent OF
of the entire instrument. Both of these,
however, have concurred upon one point
that the National Government is a para
mount power, and the Nation an unity, in
destructible by any act of its component
parts while there is a third school of more
recent origin which holds that the Nation is
simply a Copfederacy, which may be broken
up at any time at the will of the States of
which it is formed. Upon this doctrine is
based the idea of the right of Secession which
the States of the South are now, professedly,
e~ndeayOring to practice.
New constructions arise in periods of dis
turbance when there is a call to meet new
| conditions. Our Constitution is undergoing
changes of which we shall scarcely be aware
until we find them accomplished. The
South, although it calls the State it has es
tablished a Confederacy, and virtually ad-
mits the right of Secession, has, in fact,
created a Government as strong as ours,
which is already travelling beyond the limits
its Constitution prescribes. In the North
the same process is going on, by virtue Of
two sgencies-necessity and conviction.
The popular mind moves with the march Of
events the old jealousy of power is, for
the time being, at rest, and the general voice
demands a government potent enough to
meet fully all exigencies as they arise.
A few days before the late President went
out of Office, he informed q friend, in a letter
intended for publication, that there was ne
power in the Government to employ thu
means necessary to enforce the laws, anC
quell the disturbance of the times; and tina
the only resources of the people was in praye
for supernaturala aid TO heal the breaches Of tn
State, and bring its unruly citizens to a sens
Of their political obligations. Following on
this idea, he caused to be observed a day {
general AstiDg and prayer after which h
waited, doubtless with piOus confidence, tbs
result SO ardentiy desired, and ferventl
sought would be realized. The event, how
ever, did not justify the hope that had BET
reposed in the means; and we have occasiC
; now to know, that had bis views Of Il
Constitutional power Of the GOvernme
been concurred in by his successor, the rev
9 luton then in progress would, by this tim
have been completed, and the list Of Pre-
dents of the United States closed, perha
forever.
The present Executive head of the natl
begins by assuming thst-Whether express
donated in the Constitution or mott
Government has, from the necessity of {