Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-10
The Rlsment on n,sunIen.

il can and its duty is not performed until IL
has secured that end, or exhausted its re-
sources in the attempt.
But it may be asked if the tendency of the
political and social elements of the country
to precipitAte themselves into new forms is
not go strong that-whatever may be the re-
suit of the present movement---sdch preeipi-
tation will eventually take place in other
words, is not the dissolution, or the division
of the Union, after all, question Of timer
Must there not-unless there shall be found
some counteractipg influence of whose exist
ence no evidence has yet been perceived-be
a severance Of the nation into two or more
parts2
We have a very peculiar Government, or
a Government concerning which men pro-
Tossing knowledge of its character entertain
very peculiar opinions. Other Governments
are endowed with-or, at least do not fail to
exercise unquestioned-all the powers that
are necessary for their own preservation;
with ours, it seems to be yet an unsettled
point, whether self preservation is its para
mount law. We virtually discuss whether
or not there may be cases in which it is its
duty to sit supine and be pulled to pieces.
We suspect that this does not grow out of
any defect or ambiguity of the Constitution;
but is rather attributable to an anarchical
element in the people; but whatever may
be its origin, the fact is equally inimical to
the continuance of the national unity. A
Government whose power Of lEdefense un
der any circumstances of time, place or
party is a matter of serious question among
its own subjects, wants the main element of
endurance. Its dissolution is only ques-
ton of time.
The anti-Union sentiment in this country
is ss old as the Constitution. The Union
actual did not suppress it. Fears for the
continuance of the Union, therefore, began
with its history. In other countries, the
revolutionary element seeks the overthrow
of the reigning dynasty: in ours the divi-
sion of the nation ITSELF The Farewell Ad-
dress is a homily against Secession and
this not because with the prophetic eye
of its author disunion was fereseen, but be-
cause it had been observed and experienced
1t was not coming event casting its shad-
ows before, but present fact, seen, felt and
feared.
1t is question upon which it will do no
good to dogmstize, but which presents food
for reflection, whether this antagonism
against the Union, which had its origin CO.
temporaneously with it, will not eventually
prove too potent for any authority under the
Constitution to resist. The fact that it has
not given way under the influence of the
Government but has to all appearance
gathered strength-that from an abstract
sentiment it has become an active princi-
pie, producing revolutionary phenomena, is
sufficient to prove that it is no mere transi-
tory impulse, the offspring of party agita-
tion, but an element in the political condi-
tion Of the country which party agitation,
though it may infame, can not have createl.
The Constitution OF the United States was
framed, as its makers affirm, ''to form amore
perfect Union" That it did form a more
perfect Union than before existed, is unde-
niable: that it formed as perfect an Union
as was consistent with the circumstances
and current opinions of the time, is proba-
BILE; but whether it formed an Union perfect
enough to resist permanently the force of the
antagonistie elements that exist within its
Jurisdiction, is q point upon which there
have been recently some changes of opinion.
M. De Tocqueville, an eminent French
politician, who visited the United States in
1886, and who has written in respect to the
operations and tendencies of our form of
government, more sensibly than any other
foreigner, Iand, perhaps, than any native,
has shown, in his published works, the weak
point in our system with wonderful sagacity,
and has ventured a prediction as to the re-
suit, in case of a certain contingency, which
has now arisen. He finds the weak point of
our system in the antagonism between the
State and the National Governments, and
in the constant tendency of the latter to give
way before the pressure of the former.
'Tf" says he, "the sovereignty of the
Union were to engage in struggle with
that of the States, at the present day, its de-
feat may be confidently predicted; and it is
not probable that such struggle would be
undertaken. As often as q steady
resistance is offered to the Federal Govern
msnt, it will be found to yield. Experience
has shown that whenever State has de-
manded any thing with perseverance and
it has invariably succeeded and
that if separate Government has distinctly
refused to act, it was left to do as il thought
fit"
He lays down with admirable precision
the causes which have determined the rela-
ton which, practically, the National bears
to the State Governments:
"The Union is a vast body, which presents
no definite object to patriotic feeling. The
forms and limits of the State are distinct and
number of objects which are familiar to the
citizens and beloved by all. 1t is identified
with the very soil, with the right of property
and the domestic affections, with the recol-
lections of the past, the labors of the present
and the hopes of the future. Patriotism,
then, which is frequently mere extension
OF individual egotism, is still directed to the
State, and is not excited by the Union. Thus
the tendency of the interests, the habits and
the feelings Of the people, is to center pOlit-
ical activity in the States, in preference to
the Union"
The author presents the different modesin
which the two forms of Government re-
spectiyely fulfill their functions, as a rule by
which to measure their relative forces;
whenever the Government Of State has
occasion to address an individual OF an as
semhly Of individuals, its language is clear
and Imperative; and such is also the tone of
the Federal Government in its intercourse
with individuals; but no sooner has it any
thing to do with State than it begins to
parley, to explain its motives and to Justify
its conduct; to argue, to advise, in short,
any thing but command. If doubts are
raised as to the constitutional powers of
each Government, the Provincial Govern
ment prefers its claim with boldness, and