Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-06-19


Nationality, and no military organization
except as it may exist under whosoever may
be able to assume the functions and title of a
military Dictator.
Pray, then, what are we fighting for p
" What means this martial array ?" Are we
fighting for constitution and government
which already exist, and to which we owe a
sworn allegiance, or are we people without
government seeking 10 establish one at the
point of the bayonet? Are we fighting to
restore or to create Pray, what mean the
saths OF allegiance which every Officer both !
civil and military, and all our soldiers are
required to take ? Why require of them to
support and defend The constitution of the
United States, if that constitution is broken,
abrogated and gone ? The answer is plain,
No sensible man will talk about the necessity
of re.conStructing the constitution aHd the
U.,cn, in the sense that we now have no
constitution and no Union. We have con-
stitution. 1t is by virtue of its provisions only
that we have a cause of war against the
South. 1he secessionlsts are traitors, only
because the constitution makes them so.-
Abraham Lincoln exercises the functions
of his office, both civil and military only
by virtue OF its provisions. That constitution
is in force, theoretically, legally, IN every
State of the Union, There is not an inch of
territory in this vast country that its broad
mantle does not cover. We are fighting not
for its " reconstruction" nor for its amend
ment." We are fghing rather for its pres
ervation, and for the restoration Of its au-
thority. But it is said the constitution as it
exists does not confer sufficient power to put
down the rebellion. We deny it. The most
ample power is given. The President may
conGscate all property and free all slaves
used in rebellion. Congress has already au-
thorized him so to do. Generals in the field
can levy contributions for the support of the
army,-they can take, remove or destroy
whatever is used by the enemy against them !;
they may burn bridges, houses, and even cit
les in their march we make no doubt they
may set the slaves of rebels free and employ
them upon trenches, or arm them accor-
ding to exigencies and we rejoice that the
Government is shaping its policy to this end.
There is no want of power under the consti-
tuition to secure its own preservation. The
law of selt-preservation which is the first law
the constitution in the grant of the war ma
king power.
We say therefore, that the constitution still
exists. 1t binds in its huge, giant arms, South
Carolina to Vermont-the East with the
West-the North with the South,-all in one
INDIssoLUBLE UNION, as firmly to-day, as
in the first Tour of its adoption We are
fighting for the Union as it was made by our
fathers, and for the constitution as it is. We
scout the pestiferous idea that we must aban-
don the prese mt constitution in order to get
rid Of slavery. Slavery forms no essentla
part of that instrument. The insti ution
might be entirely obliterated from the land
and yet there would not be a single useless
clause in the constitution The word slave
was not allowed to be placed in the constitu
ton, because its trainers were firm in the be
lief that it was temporary evil and would
soon pass away. 1t was left to the control OF
the States, in the expectation that it would
disappear from natural causes, or by the di
rect action of those more Immediately con-
cerned.
When the authority of the General Gov
ernment is restored, slavery will have receiv
ed its death blow. We need not to throw
away " the best government on earth in or
der to extermlnate it. Moreover if we Civ,
up the present Union, how know we tha
another can be formed. We can restore th,
authority of the Government under the pres
ent constitution By force, because the peopl
of all the States owe ii obedience by reason
of having ratified it. But if we are to hav
new constitution, or an " improved +" con
stitution, as asubstitute for the old, how know
we that a single Southern State would ratif
and accept it? Could we force them into
Union under constitution which differs fror
the old, which they never ratified and
which they never swore allegiance ? Shout
we be justified in thus violating the grea
truth enunciated in the Declaration of Inde
pendence, that all powers are derived frol
the consent of the governed?
Verify, "these things are worthy of four por
dering and of our consideration" If any O
| our readprs have ;pnb;had ~v;ld po,;or