The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1862-05-21
The Constitution Suspended--Mr.
Wade's Speech.

Cldreu III HIS pidce III TIC Oehaee Vi tne
United States, on April Is, that the
Constitution was suspended. The dec
laration is startling one; not because
the Hon. B. F. Wade is either a very
great, very good, very wise, or a
very learned man, but because his Off
cial and his party positions are such
as to give an Importance to his views
which otherwise they would not pos
sess. Mr.. Wade is one of the leaders
of the party in power--a man consult
ed in all the movements of the Gov
ernment, and in daily intercourse with
the President. He may have had a
full intellectual comprehension of all
the logical consequences that attach to
a suspension of that instrument which
constitutes the national bond of Union
and the organic law of the land, and
he may not. 1t is not unfair to pre-
sumo that he had such comprehension
that the remark was made advisedly,
and with reference to public measures
to be predicated upon the new. state of
things instituted by the suspension.
Whether the Constitution is actually
suspended or not, we neither affirm
nor deny. That it has been violated,
both in letter and spirit, often enough,
is true; but the breach of law neither
argues it's repeal nor the suspension,
temporary or final, of its binding eff
feet. The only way that we know of
by which institutions may be legitimate
ly divested of their force is by reversal
ofthe processby which they were Gre
ated; and if the Constitution of the
United States has been suspended in
this manner, the fact, amid the multi
plicity of startling events, has escaped
our observation.
Assuming the Constitution to be sus-
pended, the first reflection, in consid-
ering the subject, is that the suspension
is not the work of the South. The
South seeded, but left the Constitu-
ton where it was-holding the same
relation to the communities which re-
mained loyal to it, that it holden for
two-thirds of a century. The North,
therefore, has suspended the Constitu-
tion, and as the declaration Of Mr..
Wade is recent one, it is to be pre-
sumed that it is not long since the sus-
pension was effected.
Wherein the suspension of the Con-
stitution differs from its annihilation,
we have not been advised. Legisla-
tive bodies sometimes suspend the OPP
erations of laws for time certain, but
the suspension of law for an indefi-
mite period is equivalent to its repeal.
1t cannot come again into force without
q re-enactment. 1t is safe to con lecture
that if the Constitution is suspended, it
is suspended indefinitely; and that Mr..
Wade, when he used the word suspen-
sion, simply selected it as a softer
phrase to convey the idea that the Con-
stitution has come to an ends anni>
hilat ed. When the party making such
a declaration has the power to give to
its words the practical force which they
would bear if they were true, they are
to be SO accepted, and we are obliged
TO oconclude that in the eye of Mr.. Wade
and his party, the Constitution of the
United States, and the acts of Con-
gress made in pursuance thereof are
no longer the par amount law of the
land.
The first effect Of a suspension OIL
the Constitution is to bastardize the
The President and Con-
gress are no longer President and Con-
gress DE JURE. Their sole title to their
places consists in the fact that they
are in them. They have the same
right to continue in Office twenty or
forty years that they have to continue
! week or a day-the right of the
strongest. The revolution - which
some have apprehended-by which
,nr Government was to be changed
from a Government of opinion to a
Government of force--has, upon the
admission of one Of it's members, taken
place, and neither Mr.. Lincoln nor
Mr.. Wade may yield his seat to his
successor until such time as it shall be
entirely convenient. That is what Mr..
Wade means by the suspension Of the
Constitution, or he means nothing
His remark was merely idle wind, or it !
was notice to the world that the rev.
olution by which the republican prin-
ciple was to be eliminated from our
political system is accomplished.
The next effect Of a suspension Of
the Constitution is the canceling of the
legal bond Of unity between the States.
The IJnion eyists hecause IL has not