Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1863-03-12
..Ths southern Monarchy y

This is the phrase with which the Atlanta
Intelligencer heads an editorial article dis.
,ussing the political future Of the Confed-
sracy"
at is by no means uncommon to hear
men say lromarks the Inteligencerl, We'll,
after all, the English Government is the
best Government on earth. Others say,
there il movement on foot to establish,
during this revolution, q Southern Mon
Archy; thar officers in high position are
working to bring about this very end. F."
So far, then, the slave lords have already
got. ut begins to be said, when will it
begin to be done2 Evidently they are try
ing to prepare the public mind in the cotton
States for the establishment of an absolute
or some kind of despotism. Nor
does the proposal fall altogether upon dull
ears, for the Southern journalist. remon-
strates with the adherents of the new faith:
at is really astonishing that any native
American should sigh after the flesh pots
of Egypt'-should prefer monarchy to the
glorious form of government which among
ourselves, as States, We have already estab-
llSuCu. CludHo uuob VI All Vi tulo Cldso vi
men would prefer the English form Of gov
ernment, provided they could be kings or
lords, or wear the badge Of nobility them
selves; but divest them OF all such hope,
and they would still cling to republicanism." "
Apparently he has not been offered pa
tent of nobility under his expectant Majesty
Davis the First; for he complains that af'
fairs are managed in such u way as to lead
to the belief that most of our leading men
have an understanding amongst themselves,
aud that they are maneuvering for des-
potis,n of some sort. :"
1.-THE Exemption law" he adds, (which
provides that if man has twenty slaves he
need not enter the service Of his country,
but stay at home and make more money
than he ever made before, while his poor
neighbor, whose family is dependent upon
his own exertions for their daily bread, must
be forced into service-this, they persist,
points to slaveocracy or aristocracy."
Nor are other reasons lacking for belief
that if the rebel leaders could only destroy
the Union and humble the free States, they
would quickly take measures to establish
such despotsn over the five millions Of
non -slaveholding whites as they now exer'
else over the three and half millions Of
blacks. Already, in those Journals which
are the peculiar organs of the slave lords
De Bow S Review and the Southern Literary
Messenger-articles are printed whose only
purpose is to bridge the way to more and
more stringent and despotic forms Of gov.
eminent. In an article on Law and Lib
erty," printed in De Bow Review for Au
gust of last year, after some of the custom
ray filings at liberty and democracy, the wri
ter remprks that
"Our rulers, State and Confederate, Leg
islative and executive, have OF late shown
themselves admirable pathologists, and see
ing that the nston was sick OF too much
liberty, have dosed it well with law, which
is the negative and corrective Of excess Oi
liberty. .itg a
I'm Richmond, where we reside, the de.
claIation of martial law has banished panic,
reassured the people, aud given a feeling
of safety and security to all our citi5eDs.--
Liberty of speech and liberty Of press arr
sufficiently restricted by a Stringent public
opinion, which no man dares tamper with
Ii they we're not thus restrained, the public
authorities would readily stsp in aud punish
and incarcerate any one who. BY indiscreei
talk and indiscreet writing, jsoparded th'
public safety. You meet at every corne
of the street armed men who preserve order
keep the peace, and turn over to summary
punishment the criminal and disorderly. -
Prices are regulated by law, extortionert
punished, and the making or vending of Ii
quor strictly prohibited:
i"Ths is not liberty, but the reverse Of it
yet none but the corrupt and criminal oh
ject to it. The right to cheat and swindl
your neighbor is suspended for the present
and it may be that hereafter, when peac
il restored, we may discover that this fire.,
trade principle is not indispensable to tn,
well being of society. f" 4. i nsa, .sdl,
He goes on to express his contempt TO
written constitutions as aptiquated an
useless contrivances: tse.t.
"A nation trammelled with written cor
stitution IS like man with his hands man
acled. Its capacity fol action is srampe
and diminished. f H14to u
"TAe Confederate Constitution Is me,
tub thro,en 0uer to the tchale. No intelligen
1 man who voted for il deemed it would b
permanent; but only considered il tempe
rary expedient, a 0iring tody for the Tim
10 popular prSudices, bridge oroassws
between mobocracy and anarchy, an
conservative republicanism. 1-i.9 II
mo people can be well ruled by go'
ernment of limited .powers-by constit'
| fional government ~
!, Tho Richmond Literary Messenger ha
dies the same topic in its January numbe
but more guardedly. We commend the ft
: ! lowing paragraph to the reader. 1t for
shadows certain improvements" upon Il
form Of government constructed by Was
ington, Jefferson and other Virginians:
mo foreigner who comes among us aft
the struggle is over should ever enjoy Il
elective franchise. II we cannot check Il
: spread over our territory Of that spawn !
ign0ranee and crime which flows iri gendle
? issue from the prisons and dens Of CORFU
ton in the marts Of Europe, we can ut lea
shut out its cankering effects from the vita
OF our body polite. I'VE sadly need, too,
: property qualification for native Us well
b foreigner. 1t is hardly necessary to repe
the tritc argument OF the greater interel
edness Of the property holder 10 the 81
"a Ia ~