Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-28
The UuIted States Gsvsrnment-Ts It .
Rof1ure

4 VI y twill hAhlllE VI OhIdl NnhltlCu hNhINNl
the Fact-Government the Delusion," TO
which perhaps we owe a few words by way
Of reply. The issue between the Gazefie and
ourselves MY be stated in short as follows:
We held that the Government Of the Union
Is impotent through its own inherent defects;
our neighbor insists that the state of weak
ness into which it has fallen is due solely to
the treachery Of Mr.. Buchanan and his asso-
ciates.
We win not dispute with the Gazette in
respect 70 the character and merits of Mr..
Buchanan and his advisers. Not many, in
time to come. win step forward to defend
their conduct; and whoever may ~voluntee-
to do so, it is not likely that we shall be
found among the number.
We will not deny that in all probability,
had there been honesty and courage instead
of treason and cowsrdice at the head of the
Government, the supremacy of the laws
would have been maintained; Secession
prevented or suppressed, and the United
States at this moment presented the aspect
of a respectable n prosperous nation.
But we can not avoid the conviction that
the misconduct of the late Administration
has served to develop weaknesses in our form
of government, lying deeper than the sphere
Of the Executive, and which, sooner or later,
would have made their appearance. We
have always suspected that a popular form of
government, which requires for its existence
either extraordinary talents or
honesty in its administration, or whose
existence is jeopsrdized even by weakness
and dishonesty in an executive officer, is an
impracticable one. Its constitution will be
found too delicate for endurance, and its
strength will too often prove inadequate to
the service that governments are called upon
to perform.
But it is patent now that the Government
of the United States, with an Executive who
is willing to do his constitutional duties,
wants yet power adequate to the exigency.
As it is, he can do nothing. He must, before
hecan do that which plainly ought to be done,
await the action Of a coordinate branch of
the Government, and that branch a delibera-
/ tive body. Now-although to do so would
be unprecedented in our history-Congress
may, when called together, fully second the
views and promptly comply with the re-
quirements of the President yet it is easy
to imagine circumstances under which it
could not be relied upon to do so. The last
Congress, with all the facts before it, did
nothing. The next one, had the Senators
and Representatives from the seeding States
retained their places-as easily they might
have done-would have been equally in
efficient and we have, as it is, no sure guar
anty that the President is to be sustained by
any Congress that shall meet during his Adj
ministration. az
The ability of the President to act, there
fore, depends upon a contingency--the har-
mony ofthe National Legislature aud IS no
peril to which our country has yet been ex-
posed has, in the slightest degree, extin-
guished party spirit in that body, the power
of the Executive depends upon the manner
in which the party forces are distributed in
another branch of the Government. Where,
in any Constitution can be found a more
serioug-a more dangerous defect2
The want of cohesive power in the nation
has always been felt but not always acknowl-
edged. The nightmare of all our statesmen
and the sensational topic Of politicians and
journalists has been the dissolution of the
Union. Fears of dissolution began with thu
organization of the Government. Eigh
o years afterward, the first President delivere,
: his farewell address to the people of tn
L United States--a sermon against dissolution
Ever since that time, our patriots and sage
have been devOting themselves to the savin
of the Union. Daily and yearly it has bee
. pronounced in extreme, in deadly peri
Sometimes, but for individual exertions an
sacrifices, it would inevitably have split t
fragments. This eminent gentleman ha
saved the Union once, that one twice an,
one, we believe, claims to have lone it a
many as fourteen several times,
These are testimonials of the existence q
an universal consciousness of the weakness
of the national tenure. That consciousness
we have, for more than seventy years, bee
trying to escape, but without effect. W
have been, like boys in g~raveyards, whist
ing in support of our courage. We hav
bepraised the Union, glorifed it, sworn tina
it was eternal and indivisible, sung it anC
gone into ecstacies over its symbols AM
anniversaries. We nave had it all our ow
way, and borne testimony most abundantly
while there has been none offered upon tn
other side. = Yet we have felt all the Will
that the case was suspicious from the supe
fluffy of the evidence; and we were in th
right.
We have not, in this article, attempted
: show, in detail, the weak points of our Coz
> stitution. They will constitute the subje
of other articles.