The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1861-08-09
EBsTER ON THE CONS TIT UTIoN.

p" EBsTER ON THE CONS TIT UTIoN.
MIR. Webster, in 1888. speaking Of the
Constitution Of the United States says:
1.-The maintenance of tie Constitution
does not depend on the plighted faith Of
the States, as States. to support it; and
this, again, shows that it is not league.
1t relies on individual duty and obliga-
tions.
1.-THE Constitution of the United
States creates direct relations between
this government and individuals. This
government may punish individuals for
treason. and all other crimes in the code,
when committed agaipstthe United States.
1t has power, slso, to tax individuals, in
any mode and to any extent; and it
possesses The further power of demand-
ing from individuals military service
Nothing, certainly, can more clearly
distinguish go .ernment from a confed
Grafton of States than the possession Of
these powers. No closer relations can
exist between Individuals ard any gov
ernment"
And in 1852. among the last words
he spoke in public, he says:-"If clas-
sical histor has been found TO te, is
now, and shall continue to be, the con
comitant Of free institutions, and of pop.
ular eloquence, what field is opening
to us for another Herodotus, and an 9TH
er Thu cydies, (only may his theme not
be Peleponnesian war,) and another
Livy! And, let me say, gentlemen, that
if we, and our posterity. shall be true to
the Christian rcligicn--if we and they
shall live always in tie fear Of God, and
shall respect his commsndments--if we
and they shall maintain just moral sen.
timents, and such conscientious convic-
lions of duty as shall control the heart
and life--we may have the highest
hopes of the fnture fortunes our country
And, if we maintain those institutions Of
government, and that political Union
exceeding all praise as it exceeds all
former examples of political associations
we may be sure OF one thing, that
while our country furnishes material for
thousand masters of the hi.toric art, it
| will afford no topic for Gibbon. 1t
will have no Decline and Fall. 1t will
60 on, prosperiDg and to prosper. But,
if we and our posterity reject religious
instruction and authority, violate the
rules of eternal justice, trife with the in-
juctions of morality, and recklessly des>
stroy the political Constitution which
holds us together, no man can tell how
suddenly catastrophe may overwhelm
US that shall bury all Cur glory in pro
found obscurity. If that catastrophe
shall happen. let it have no history. LIE
the horrible narrative never be write o
let its fate be like the lost books of Livy
which no human eye ever read, or The
missing Pleiad, of which no man can evel
know more than hat it is lost, and los
forever.
"But, gentleman, will not take my
leave of you in q tone of despodency.--
We may trust that Heaven will not for
sake US, SO long as we do not forsakt
ourselves. Are we of this generator
so dereict-have so little of the blood o
our revolutionary fathers courslng thro
our veins-that we cannot preserve wha
our ancestors achieved? The World will
cry SHAME upon US, if we show our
selves unworthy to be the desceuden;,
of those great and illustrious men VIII,
fought for their liberty, and secured it te
their pos'erity by the Constitution.
s'The Constitution has enemies, secret
and prefessed, but they cannot deny tn
fact that it secures US many benefits
These enemies are unlike in character
but they all have some fault to find
Some of them are enthusiasts, hot head
ed, self sufficient, and headstrong. The,
fancy they can mark out for themselve
better path than that laiu down fo
them. Ph@ton, the son Of Apollo, though
he could and better course across th
: heavens for the sun.
"Thus Phaeton once amid the eth eri
plains,
. Leaped on his fathers cat and seized Il
reins,
Far from his course impelled tho mornir
sun,
Till natures laws to wild disorder run"
y "Other enemies there are, more CO
and with more calculation. These ha,
deeper and more traitorous purpos
y They have spoken of forcibe resistan
SIS to the provisions of the Constitutio
:. :; they now speak Of secession! Let n
~ say, gentlemen, secession from us is a
II cession elsewhere. He who renounc
the protection of the stars and strip
H. shelters himself under the shadow of q