Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-22
frcm tn. Montreal Gazette

One Of the 6trangsst Of the many strange
features Of avery deelamatory but very peace
able rebellion going on among our neigh
bors. is that the South are ever crying out
tiNo coercionl The Federal Government
must not seek to force sovereign States to re-
main In the Union BY the use Of armed
force" and all The Northern doughfaCes say,
Amen. and President Buchanan says like
wise and executes their will accordingly.-
But the peculiarly funny feature Of this poll
cy is thai while the Federal Government is
bid to do nothing, not on any account 70 use
coercion, the Southern States do not hesitate
to use It on their side. hey raise troops,
ana seize federal forts and aTsenals, compel
ing IN some cases, by the exhibition Of an
overwhelming superior force, the oapitulation
OF garrisons. They Ere upon transports in
the service ol the Government and take for
chile possession Of the revenue cutters be-
longing to the United States and vessels em-
ployed IN the coast survey. They seize upon
and plunder federal mints and rob sub-treas-
uries They employ all the force necessary
to compel the federal authorities 70 submit to
this spoliation, yet cry out all the time to the
Government "No coercion Really, people
who are mere lookers-on must soon come 70
one Of three conclusions; that the Govern
ment and the Northern men are great cow
ards great simpletOns, or are desirOus that
the Union should be broken up. How else
account TOR such abjeet submission to such a
long continued series Of insults and acts
Of open hostility 20 the Federal Govern
ernmsnt7 II there be Federal Government
possessed Of any functions and any powers
over the people Of the United States, sure
lv il ought TO have said long ago, pass
your acts Of secession, if you choose, hoist
your palmetto OF any other dag you choose,
but any act of hostility against federal forts,
arsenals or vessels, will be punished with the
whole power at the disposal Of the Govern
meat That is the only language and the
only conduct consistent with the government
which either resoeets itself or deserves the
respect of the people But the fact is, the
General Government has been too long in
the hands Of the States rights party, whose
policy has ever been to reduce its power to
the minimum, who regard the Union formed
now under the new Constitution as nothing
more than the Consideration which existed
under the old. Hamilton, Madison and the
true statesmen Of the period when the pres
ent Constitution was framed, saw all the evils
which loosely bonnd Oonfederacy must suf
fer-indeed, fOresaw just such 'tate of chaos
as now exists, unless the basis of the new
Consultation was 50 laid that the Federal
Government should derive its chief or whole
authority, not from the several States, but
directly from the whole people. Only by
that means, they felt could the Federal Gov
ernment be made strong enough in popularly
derived power to keep all paris of the coun-
Try in the subsection necessary for q mainten-
ance Of national unity and national action.
Calhoun and his followers have set M a rival
/ dag Of strict construction against Federal
authority andin favor of separate State right,
and their doctrines have leavcned the whole
lump Of the Democratic party. The action
| Of the several States upon this crisis has
been prompt, vigorous and manly, both in
/ the North and South. That Of the Federal
Government has been faint-hearted, vacilat-
| ing, undigni6ed, Intellectual. Calhounism
seems to have impregnated the minds Of the
party still in Office but whose domination
has become luckily efete)i the manliness Of
Jacksonisn seems 70 have died out Of it
Firmness like that Of General Jackson,
shown by President Buchanan would have
crushed secession in the bud in South Caro-
lima. It would never have spread in other
| States