The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-11-06
"A Strong Government"


able to do very little harm. The military pow
er Of Russia is in some respects greater than
that of any Government in Europe, and it is
now almost exclusively devoted to the putting
down of insurgents who have no visible head
no regular armies and no territory of their
own. In the city of Warsaw alone there are
now over sixty thousand Russian soldiers: and
| by way OF inspiring the proper terror in the
minds of the inhabitants, the military authori-
ties resort to such expedients as the shooting of
half dozen of the Poles at time, and the
cariing of their dead bodies about the streets.
The property of those suspected is confiscated
without any pretence of legal authority, and
the populations Of whole districts transported
| to the mines of Siberia. The result of such
measures, even if successful, cannot but be
most disastrous to the present Government. 1t
is not merely an expensive business, but 1t lays
waste vast expanse of country, aud deprlves
the State of hundreds of thousands of its sub
jects. More than this, it accomplishes but a
temporary purpose, When a new generation
comes upon the stage, it is to be done over a.
gain. In 1881 the Gar banished forty-fve
thousand families; but their places have been
filled up, and as many more must be gotten rid
of. Nor is it by any means safe mode OF
government. Had the Poles been wise enough
to have risen during the Crimean war, when
Russia was hard pressed by France and Eng
land, their success would not have been doubt
full; and even now they have given foreign pow
ers a chance to interfere, and may, perhaps,
embroil their 'strong" Government in disas-
trous contest. 1t would seem, therefore, that
a strong, centralized Government is not with
out its drawbacks, and that, too, even in a
country whose inhabitants have been trained to
Submission. r
On the other hand, very weak Government
has answered our purpose extremely WE'LL
Nothing can be more delusive than to suppose
that it was any right of coercion that held the
Union together The colonies formed an al
liance OF their own accord, and when they came
to adopt the Constitution, it is we'll known that
while refusing to admit in terms the right Of
secession, they also declined to give the Gener-
al Government an express right of coercion.
Nor will any candid man deny that for years
it was a fair, open question whether any such
right existed. Ii is absurd to scout at consli-
tutional doctrine as without Authority after it
has been deliberately enunciated by such a jur-
ist as William Rawle. 1t was not, therefore,
any fear Of coercion that held the Union togeth-
er; but, on the contrary, if one will recur to
the history Of l860-6l, he will find that the
most effective argument of the seccssionists was
TO taunt the Union men OF the South with
| cowardce, so that, as a matter OF fact, thou
sands weakly voted for dissolution to repcl the
imputation upon their courage, just as thous-
ands voted for Lincoln under the influence of the
Irbaaes telling cry of ''don't be bullied out of
your manhood" But while this will be readi-
ly admitted by every man of any intelligence,
it is astonishing to find how many there are
who believe that it is now become necessary to
oblterate State lines, and to build up a great
national debt, and to centralize power, and SO
construct a strong consolidated Government.
They seem to think that such structure can
sustain itself, crush out opposition and dscon-
tent. They rely, therefore, for our security
hereafter, upon force rather than consent-up-
on the men in Office rather than the people.
How alien this theory is from the old doe
trines of our forefathers we may learn from the
words Of Jackson himself, who, In his farewell
address, thus expressed himself:
"But the Union cannot be preserved and the
! Constitution maintained by the mere cocreive
power coniided in the General Government.
lis foundations must be laid in the affections of
the people, and in the security which it gives
to life, liberty, property and character"
That he then uttered the sentiments Of the
great mass of the people cannot be doubted,
and it will not tend to secure favorable result
to the experiment of to-day that those views
are still cherished by very large proportion of
| the people. 1t is upon men accustomed to lib
erty that this ''strong" Government is to be
fastened and time will show that those who
have been wont to consider themselves citizens
make very poor subjects. To hold the South
as Russia holds Poland will compel the FEEDER
al authorities to put pressure upon the people
of the North which, if experience be of any
value, will ultimately rend the Government a.
sunder, and bring about the very evils which the
men in power are now ignorantly striving to
prevent The warning of Governor Seymour
may be unheeded for the time, but the predic-
tions of Cassandra were true, notwithstanding
the unbelief of those who heard her:
"When they asked me if feared for the
strength of the States on account of The draft,
| told them no, but trembled for the General
Government. | want the Government made
strong Our fathers asserted that if you would
make the Government strong, you must make
it beneficent-you must make the hearts of the
people the foundations upon which it must stand
Therefore, they restrained the Government from
having jurisdiction over subjects in which they
might do wrong or become unpopular. These
restraints are the strength of the Government
If the barrel bursts its hoops ii does not become
hogshead; it becomes mere bundle of sta YES.
This Administration has attempted to break
loose from these restraints and to establish cen
tral power in the General Government. The
draft has been the first great attempt to exerc Sc
this power, and it has miserably failed. Instea
of strengthening the Government i.has immeas
urably weakened it. do not fear for the State
but for the Federal Government. The great
State of New York can maintain her rights
| when the little men who insult her are passed