Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-07
WIN, There e TO be Done.

The danger to the Union is in the observ-
ance of the Constitution and the enforcement
Of its laws: the only hope of safety is in dis
regarding the one, and permitting breaches
of the other. This is the doctrine of the or
gaDs Of the outgoing Administration to be
found daily in the columns of the Cincinnati
Enquirer. MT. Lincoln has taken, in his In
augural, the position that the laws must be
enforced; therefore, Mr.. Lincoln has put the
Union in jeopardy, and adopted a course that
will inevitably lead to civil war" But if
Mr.. Lincoln shall happen to be overruled by
his Cabinet, and fail to compel observance of
the laws and Constitution, the Union will be
saved, and war ayerted.
Constitutions and laws, to which observ-
ance, at all times and under all circumstan-
ces, can not be compelled, are as if they did
not exist. The mere fact that they stand
upon the statute-book is no proof of their
existence, unless accompanied by the fact
that they constitute practical rules of action
for those who live within their jurisdiction.
Now it may be that this country would be
better without its national institutions. 1t
may be that a total repeal of the general
policy would prove advantageous to the
people as a whole; and we are more than
half inclined to think that such is the case.
But this is evidently not the idea of our
c~otemporaIies of the opposition. They want
the Constitution to continue, with the privi-
lege Of disregsrdiug it at will; the laws To
30 unrepesled, but to be no longer rules of
action the material of government to re-
remain, but only to be condemned for its
weakness and despised for its unfaithfulness.
There is one fact in this connection which,
In every estimate of the merits of the contro-
VeTsy, should be taken into the account I:
There has not been, from the beginning to
the end, a single charge made against the
Z Constitution or laws, or of their administra.
ton. Not one man has professed himself
aggrieVed by any provision Of organic, or
section Of statutory law. Against that Con-
stitntiOD, which has been overthrow n, those
lave which have been trampled upon and
violated, and that Administration which has
been dehed and insulted, not one single
charge Of injury, or danger of injury, has
been uttered by section or individual. The
war, the resistance, the defiance, the insult
has thus far been carried on against a party
which stands, not only u~ncOnvicted, but I'M
impeAched.
fef what Zen have Democrats been de-
handing, and Native Americans and weak
kneed Republicans been oontriying, amend
ments to the Constitution? For what are all
these Congressional and Bo~rder-State delio-
~eratiOns, and projects for COMPROMISED No
sspsihle man, ii seems TO US, with ordinary
poNsn q Starvation, could nave failed to
- sh1. tnOae laeOrious performances must
o. NECESSITY come 70 nothing. There was nc
place Tor deleeFSAOp, nothing 70 deliberat,
uPon-no su~hiectmAtsss TO consider. n,
proposition upon which 70 resolve. Revo
buttons are based upon charges against II
government-either against the principles.
the polly, or the acts of the Admihiztsatio
They are appeals 70 the higher law Of Sc