Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1861-07-12

either discarded or retained the right Q
T secession as they insist it exists in ours
II they have discarded it they thereby ad
NIT that on principle it ought not to exis
in ours. If they have retained it by then
construction of ours it shows that to be
consistent they must secede from one an
other when they shall fad it the easiest
way Of settling their debts or effecfing all
other selfish or unjust object.
The principle itself is one of disintrega-
ton and on which no Government can en-
dure If all the States save one should
effect the power to drive that one out Of
the Union, it is presumed the whole class
of the seeded politicians would at once
deny the power and denOunce the act as
the greatest outrage upon State rights.
But suppose that precisely the same act,
instead of being called driving one out,
should be called the e seeding y of the
others from the one, it would be exactly
what the 8eoeders claim to do, unless. in
deed, they make the point that the one,
because it is minority, may rightfully dc
that which the others, because they are
the majority, may not rightfully do.
These politicians are profound III the
rights of minorities. They are not partial
to that power which made the Constitu-
tion and speaks from the preamble calling
itself we the people" 1t may well be
questioned whether there is to day ma
jority Of the legally qualified voters Of any
State, except, perhaps, South Carolina, in
f,,-,r e lI-,,,,;1,, TsE,o-, - ,vr,ob rao-a,,
to believe that the Union men are in a
majority in many if not in all of the seeded
States. The contrary has not been dem
onstrated in any one of them. It is ven
tured to affirm even those of Virginia and
Tennessee-for the result of elections held
in military camps, where the bayonets
were all on one side Of the question voted
upon-can scarcely be considered as dem
onstrating the popular sentiment at such
an election. All that large class who are
at once for the Uuion and against coercion
would be cOcrced to vote against the Union,
It even may be affirmed without extrava-
gance that the free institutions which we
enjoy have developed the powers and i'm
proved the condition Of cur people beyond
any example in the world. Of this We now
have a striking and impressive illustration.
So large an army as the Government has
now on foot was never before known with
out soldier in it who has not taken his
place there Of his own free choice. But
more than this, there are many single reg
iments whose members, one and another,
possess full practical knowledge Of the arts
and sciences and professions, and whatever
else, whether useful or elegant, is known
to the whole world and there is scarcely
one from which there could not be selected
a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, and
perhaps a Court abundantly competent to
administer the Government. Nor do l say
this Is not true of our late friends-now
enemies in the contest but it IS so much
the better reason why the Government
which has conferred such benefits on both
them and on Us should not be broken up
Whoever in any section proposes to aban-
don such a Government would do well to
consider in Difference TO what principle it
is that he does it whether the substitute
viii give or be intended to give so much
good to the people, There is some fore
on this subject. Our adversa-
ries have adopted some declarations Of in
dependence, in which, unlike the good cid
one penned by Jefferson, they omit the
words g are created equal"
Why They have adopted a temporary na-
tional constitution, in the preamble Of
which, unlike our old one signed by Wash
ington, they omit, ''We the people" and
substitute, We, the deputies Of the Sovs-
reign and Independent States Why this de-
iberate pressing out of view the rights of
men and the authority Of the people This
is essentially a peoples contest on the side
of the Union. It is struggle for main
tanning in the world that form and sub
stance Of Government, whose leading OBJ
iect is to elevate the condition of men, to
lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to
clear the paths Of laudable pursuits, and
to afford all an unfettered start and fair
chance in the race Of life. yielding to par
tial and temporary departures from necessi-
ty. This is the leading object of that form
Of government fer which We contend. l
am NEST happy to believe that the plain
people understand and appreciate this, It
is worthy Of note that while IN this the
Governments hour Of trial, large numbers
of those in the army and navy who have
been favored with the Offices have resign
ed and proved false to the hand that pam
pered them, not one common soldier or
common sailor is known to have deserted
his hac. Great honor is due to those eff
GERS who remained true despite the exam
pie of their treacherous associates. But
the greatest honor and most emphatic fact
Of all is the unanimous frmness OF the
common soldiers and common sailors. To
the last man, so far as known, they sue
cessfulIy resisted the traItorous efforts OF
those whose comm and within an hour be-
fore they obeyed as absolute law. This Is
a patriotic instinct of plain men. They
understand without an argument that the
DESTROYING Of the Government which was
made by Washington means no good for
them. Our popular Government has often
been called an experiment. Two points
in it, however, our people have settled,
viz: The successful establishing and the
successful admin staring of it. One still
remains Its successful maintenance against
the formidable internal attempt to ever
throw it. It is now for them to demon
strste to the world that those whe can fair
" carry al election can also suppress re-
bellion that ballots are the rightful and
peaceful successors Of bullets. and that
when ballots are fairly and constitutionally
decided there can be no successful appea
except back to ballots themselves at sue
Ii. i .o4;nn Snnh will ha rraa1