Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-20

IN violent diarrhea? And why should a
man in a violent diarrhea be taken for man
mortally wounded.
LATER No news from General Price.
What Changes In Ours is
Demanded.
The object Of government is to protect the
person and property Of the subject. That is
a good government which comes up to the
ideas of the people, in respect to the measure
the protection it affords. Government does
i not assume to change the relations which
different classes or orders of the people bear
to each other. 1t leaves these as it finds
them; and performs its duty when it adapts
itself to them, and to the changes which So
ciety, by the silent interaction fits elements,
undergoes. 1t does not take upon itself to
fix or enforce any other standard of right
than that which is accepted among the peo.
pie; and is, therefore, no more wise, just, or
viItuous than they are. A good govern
nent is simply, the reflection, in the form of
institutions, of the mind, conditions and re-
lations of the people over whom it is estab-
lished.
Every people, if left free from coercion
forces from without, will have their civil
character reflected in their institutions. This
is as true in respect to one form of Govern.
ment as 10 another. Despotisms exist by
the same rule as republics-because they are
demanded. The difference in the form is
simply the product of the difference in the
circumstances. The question is not whether
the Government is, in the abstract good or
bad-because there is no recognized standard
of right to which it may be brought for
trial; but simply whether it fits.
Governments that are natural, that is to
say, which have grown regularly and spon-
taneously out of the character and conditions
of the people, always fit; and we have no
right 10 assume, because in form, they do
not correspond with our notions of right,
that they are, therefore, defective or unjust.
Governments that are artificial, that is TO
say, which are the product of some precon-
ceived theories of general justice, seldom or
never fit; and however beautiful in theory,
operate badly in practice.
The Constitution of Great Britain is not
the work of deliberative wisdom, but of
thousand years of accretion and adaptation.
1t fits, ss the skin fits the body, and imper-
Ceptibly changes to suit itself to the changes
that the body polite is undergoing. 1t began
with the quickening of the embryo nation,
and has expanded and extended with its
growth and progress; and without, at any
fina nudaVnoinoy xyiolanf oil Io1l A.,
the same relation to the people now that it
did in the days of Edward the Confessor.
The Government of the United States is
the product of deliberative wisdom, at
tempting to apply preconceived ideas to the
formation of national polity, in the face of
opposing circumstances, which it was una.
bic to control. The Confederated Republic
was not matter of choice, but matter of
necessity-not of a popular, but of political
kind. In order TO construct a nation
out of sovereign States, there was neither
time nor room for gradual development, and
written constitution, in6exible in its pro-
visions, and nominally perpetual, was ap-
parently the only device by which the work
could be accomplished. For the sake of N
artificial unity, that hexibility and capacity
Of selfadaptation which constitutions should
possess was sacrificed; and the result has
been constant tendency to national disin-
tegration.
In one sense our National Government has
been good. In its internal administration
and police, it has not been oppressive. Per.
son and property have been, generally,
though not uniformly, safe under its protec-
ton. 1t has been better known for inertia
than for activity, and has been praiseworthy,
not 30 much for what it has done, as for what
it has refrained from doing. Its main defect
is its want of ability to protect and preserve
itself and this grows out of the fact that, in
its construction, more regard was had to its
constituent States than to its constituent
people.
Being second to the State Governments in
respect TO time, it could not consistently
with their continuance and sovereignty, 60
back and base itself upon the original source
of all sovereignty, the people in their pri-
mary capacity. The natural order of things
is reversed, and the limitations are upon
National, when they should have been upon
State, authority.
The National Government, while It de.
rives its authority directly from the people,
should be the fountain and source from
which the local Governments derive their
authority. 1t would then be in the proper
sense paramount; and no question of the
right of Secession could arise. The State
Governments would hold the same relation
to the National that county and city Gov
erDments do to that Of the State; and this is
the complexion to which our country must
come before we attain to that which truly
deserves the name Of nationality.
Whatever may be the result Of the present
dinieulties, such revolution in our form Of
government as shall subordinate the State
to the national polity, will be imperatively
demanded. Our Government in respect to
the distribution of political power is a fail
ure. In its present condition, II can never
escape the danger of Secession conspiracies,
which, in fact, It invites BY the imperfeetion
Of the unity which it establishes.
10 this respect Il is not true reflection Of
The character Of the people-at least Of the
people sf the North. The Anglo Saxon
race In Its normal condition is the most ra-
tiOnal, In the strict sense of the term, in the
world. EnterprisiDg and given, above all