Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-28

Ter. with Rev. NJ. ID. OonWays olscourse-a
rerivto Sabln Hough's pamphlet-aud the
a%,tIcles, "Bohemianism in the Queen City,"
in full. al
The PISS Is, we think, an excellent pa
uer 10 send abroad, or TO a friend in the
country; and those who wish to remind
their acquaintance of their existence, should
purchase a copy at once.
The south-Its Ret%rSaradatiOn In Govern.
ment- It's Future.
The Cotton States have dissolved their
connection with the Union, and in all prob
ability The Border slave States will follow
their example. The former have constructed
a Government Of their own, to which the
latter will accede, and then the programme
Of Secession will have been executed.
Whether OF not, at some future period,
these communities will see the error of their
wsys, and, like repentant prodigals, return
10 their late allegiance, is a question for
such only as, shutting their eyes to the facts
of the case, refuse to see that the chasm now
established between the two sections will, by
the force of mutual antagonism, be more
likely 10 grow wider than to grow narrower,
in all time to come. At least for the present
we will lay it aside, and, in order that the
NJ III may profit by the errors that the
Ct, as committed, will take a view of
49, sL.-.,4.. # the Government created by
the latter, and of its Sr'OOaOle history when
the principles upon which IL Is Oaseu snali
have had time to produce their naVSra' re-
suits.
In going out of the Union, the South has
taken with it the Constitution of the United
States; but in so doing, it has given to that
20, s~t;iution A construction to which its au-
tbo,s denied it was entitled. Upon the
Ground that it was but a league between in
dsnepdent State sovereignties, defeasible at
the pleasure of any party to its provisions, the
Cotton States claimed the right to secede,
They call their new Government a "Confed-
eracy y and whatever at the North the cur
rent Interpretation upon this point may be,
at the South, the Confederate idea must be
considered a fixed principle of organic law.
The Constitution Of the Southern Confed-
erscy is therefore practically q league be-
tween the States which have accepted it
and in this aspect of the new nationality, we
have the right to look into the past, to the
erd to gain q prognostic of the future.
Upon American soil two experiments of
National Government have been tried both
of which have failed. That the 6rst Con-
federation was a failure is a fact too well
established to need the citation of testimony.
That the late Union was also a failure is a
fact the evidence of which is daily becoming
more and more conclusive.
The Confederation failed because there
was not power in the National to overcome
the enarchical tendencies of StateIpolities.
The inclination to drop to pieces was per-
petual; nor could there be concert of action
where the refusal of one member to con.
form, might defeat any course of policy de-
te1miDed upon, however agreeable to all the
rest. The pressure OF immediate danger
kept it together during the Revolution; but
this removed, it lapsed at once into a stat
Of impotency.
The weakness of the Confederation led {
the proceedings by which the Union was in
s6tuted. The trainers Of the Constitutio
sought to create q national establishment
thst shnuld IL st.@Ea @~e~sL - -es;at IN
disiLtegrstipg influence Of the States. Unabl
to aunihilate the States or to ignore then
they did all that could be done to form
consolidated nation, consistent with thei
existence. They-some of them-would hav
wiped out the States altogether; but to thi
the jealousy of local politicians interpOsed al
insuperable barrier. The result was a com
promise upon indefinite terms, with a wild
space of debatable ground, and a paradoxics
Government, whose claims to nationalit
were made in the face of the fact that it Wa
composed Of distinct sovereignties, each as
sumipg ard exercising the right to deliber
ate ard pronounce in respect to the common
policy and interests.
The Union was more efficient than tn
Conft derstion, because the Constitution i
in its terms a national bond. 1t purports Il
be made by "the people of the United States,
and avoids such phraseology as would in
vite tie construction which Secessionist
have put uISu ~. ~ has dCbCu Us u udJlOut
bond up to a late period; but recent event
have proven that it does not answer the e1
pectations of its founders in capacity to re
sist the action of the local communitiel
Certain States, employing their ordinsr
political machinery for a revolutionary pul
pose, have dissolved their connection wit
the Union, and declared, and to Q
appearance perfected, their Independent
Others will probably do the same; and,
far as can be perceived, any of the renal
ing States-indeed, all of them-may folio
the example. Practically, the national tie
ure is not a tenure fori holds nothing. A
parently, the nation continues through t
inertia of its constituent parts, or drops
member here and there as a local revol
tionary impulse happens to prevail; al
while we contend that upon the principl
ofthe Constitution and by its plain langua
the American Union is a nation one and i
separable, here stand the States of wifi
territorially it is composed, asserting the
individuality, employing toward themselv
the titles of sovereign and independent
and practically negativing that idea of a pr
feet fusion which is the essential element
national unity.
The Confederate idea, with the resuItil
doctrine that the nation has no power to co
strain the return of a seeding member, W
doubtless give character to the Southe
nationality, and a turn to the events of
future. In proportion to the transito
character Ofthe tenure will be the absence
moral power in the Government. 0blig
lions so easily thrown off viii be lightly
gaIded. With jealousy of its own rigl
and interests, each State will hsrbor d
trust of the policy and designs of its ASSOC
ateH; and although the new nation may il