Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1863-10-20

of the celebrated resolutions adopted oy that BODY
in 1882 which finally led to the calling OF the Fed.
sral Convention of 1871. Before his term OF SER
vice expired in that body, be was elected oy.it
member of the Congress of the Confederation, and
at once arose to the highest erninence among Amer
lean statesmen He became a member OF the Con-
vention of 1881 and.was the advocate OF q strong
national government but the State governments
were to form an essential part OF bis plan. ne was
a member of the Convention Of the State OF New
York, 10 deliberate upon the new Constitution, and
it was manly owing to his great exertieas IN that
body, that New York finally ratified it. After its,
adoption he was for six years the rst Secretary OF
the Treasury Of the United States, and as such es
tablished complete financial system and raised the
dropping credit of the United States to as high
point that OF any OF the nations OF the earth
And though he is now universally acknowledged to,
have been as pure, as true and as upright patriot
as ever lived vet during his whole life ne was
charged with design to subvert the government,
first by extinguishing the State governments, and
then, by establishing monarchy upon their ruins.
These charges rung by the leaders OF the nltra
States rights party in thousand publications which
were spread broad cast over the land He was pur-
sued by the leaders of that party who dreaded his
influence or enyied his intellectual superiority,
with ell the ferocity Of fend and all the m2gni-
ty of devil nil ie fAsi;' mt mis- death at the
hands of the traitor, Aaron Burr; and now the
leaders of this same party attempt to hold him up
as an authority tor their 0OCtFlne OI SUCCESSFUL! "
shame, where is thy blush? -...
In the quotation made by President Davis Gov.
Ellis and Marion, Gen. Hamilton is made to say
that to coerce the States is one of the maddest
projects ever devised" admit that Gen. Hamilton
did say that and in the sense and in the connection
in which he said it it is Of the very wisest OF all
the sayings of that wsest and greatest of American
statesmen. In the celebrated speech from which
this quotation is made; Hamilton was discussing the
merits of the national and federal systems There
was in the State Of New York great and powerful
party headed by Geo. Clinton, Gen. James Clinton,
Yates, Lansing, Smith and others opposed to a ma
tional government in any form. They wished to
retain the old plan with very little alteration, but
as the 81 bjects of the old were not citizens but
States the laws rather the acquisitions OF Con-
greSs were almost wholly disregarded. There was
no express power in the articles Of Confederation
authorizing Congress to use force in their execu-
ton, though as | showed in my first communities
ton on this subject many Of the ablest statesmen
of that age believed that they did possess such q
power conStructiveiy. Among the amendments to
the confederation proposed by the opponents Of the
new plan was to vest Congress with the right Of
military cOeci0H to compel the States to comply with
the acquisitions Of Congress This principle per-
vaded the Constitutions Of all the Confederaces OF
both ancient and modern times with the single ex
cepton of Holland which did not indeed admit Of
1t on paper but there it had been several times
from which the foregoing quotation was made show
ed all this 10 be SO, and showed the result of the
workings OF such system that the States compos-
Ing those ConfedcracieS were almost always at war
With their federal head exhibiting the deplorable
spectacle Of q nation at war with itself He went
mach into the details Of their history and showed
u that weakness in the head produced resistance in
The members that this had been the immediate
parent OF civil war; that auxiliary force had been
invited in and that foreign power had annihilated
heir liberties and name. Thus Phillip of Macedon
'abverted the AmPhictyonic and Rome the Achaian
-epublic"
1t was the workings of this vicious system, as
exhibited in the history all the preceding Confed-
,racieS, which in that same speech he traced some
What minutely-that caused Mr. Hamilton to ex-
;sim, " to coerce the States would be one of the
naddeSt projects ever devised" But what did he
propose; did he propose to dispense with the pow.
II? Not at all He simply proposed to abandon
he rciors system ITSELF merge it into the nation
i system IN which the laws of Congress would
operate not upon the States, but upon the citizens
# the United States. lie wished TO retain or rath
to Introduce the coercve power in full vigor for
he enforcement OF the laws of the United States,
lot against the States themselves, but against the
itissa. In q speech made in the Federal Conven-
ion on the 18th OF June, 1887, he said thai good
government ought to contain among other principles
nat of force" and added, by force [ mean the
oereioH Of law and the coercion OF arms ;" and in
he 2Sth number Of that immortal work the FEEDER
list he says: THAT there may happen cases, in
which the national government may be under the
necessity of resortIng to force, cannot be denied
)ur own experience has corroborated the lessons
aught by other nations that emergencies Of this
ort will sometimes exist IN all societies, however
constituted that seditions and instructions un-
apply maadies as nseparable from the body poll
ic as tumors and eruptions are from the natural |
,ody that the idea Of governing at all times by the
My admissible principle ofrepublican government) |
las no place but in the reyerie of those political |
ctors whose sagacity disclaimS the admonitlons of
experimental instruction"
SHOULD such emergencies at any time happen un-
Ter the national government, there could be no
emedy but force. The means to be employed must
70 proportional to the extent Of the mischief fit
hould be a slight commOtion in a small part of
tate the militia Of the residue would be adequate
o its suppression and the natural presumption is,
hat they would be ready to do their duty. An in
direction, whatever may be its immediate cause
Ventually endangcrs all government. Regard to
he public peace, if not the rights Of the Union,
Tould engage the citizens, to whom the contagion
lad not communicated ITSELF to oppose the insur-
,ents; and if the general government should be
ound in practice conducive to the prosperity and
elicity of the people, it were irrational to be-
eVe that they would be disincned to its support
If on the contrary, the SnSurrectiOn should per-
ade tohoIs State or principle part of it, the en-
loymen. of a different kind Of force might become
And in treating of the same subject in number
G of the same work, he says: And as to those
norta feuds, which, in certain conjunctures spread
cOnaagration through whole natiop, or through
very large proportion of it proceeding from
Veighty causes of discomfort given by the govern
nent, from the contagion of some popular parox-
sm they do not fall within the ordinary rules of
alculation. When they happen they commonly
mount to rsDOLutiO'rs aud acknowledgements of en-
'ireH Will any candid and impartial man after
eading this contend that Alexander Hamilton ever
eld any principles consistent with the doctrine of
ecessionS Nay, should rather say that he was
arther from it than any statesman Of his time. Did
PRESIDENT Davis, Gov. Ellis and Marion, never read
he ohoLs of that remarkable speech of Gen. Hamil-
on's, from which they quote, or did they suppose
LII. Ia -