The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-04-17

doctrine which I for one distinctly re.
pudiate. That doctrins'is, in substance,
that all questioning of the Administers
tion should be postponed while we are
In civil war; that there should should be
but one party; aud that all should rally
in an unconditional support Of the con-
stituted authorities" This dogma needs
examination, II by an unconditional
support Of the constituted authorities it
is intended to claim that we must all
recognize the fact that we are engaged
in civil war, and that we must conduct
it, while it lasts, through these authori-
ties, and must hold no irregular inter.
course with the public enemy, We readi.
ly accede to the proposition. But if it
is meant that we are not to question the
methods which the Administration pur-
sue in the prosecution Of the war; that
we have no rightful control over their
measures; or that we are to refrain from
demanding change OF ther policy--I
reject the doctrine without the slightest
hesitation. The very issue which you
make with the Administration Of itself
refutes that doctrine. That issue is,
that their course Of action subverts the
Constitution; makes the war an attack
npon the social system Of the South,
and renders It impossible to succeed iu-
that war, without destroying, for the
South and for the North, tho whole
principle Of State sovereignty, on which
the Union was necessarily founded as
one ofitS cornOrstones. 1t is vain to
say that the acts Of the Administration
of which you complain, are military
measures. In every civil war there are
political considerations which must qnal-
ify the military action, or that action
can result Only in disaster A Govern
ment that undertakes to suppress great
revolt of powerful and organized com.
munities, at the same time furnishing the
strongest of moral motives for resistance,
is in the same situation as he who fights
his enemy with ono hand and supplies
him through the other with the NUM-
tions of war. In the present case we
have made the conquest one of infinite
didiculty,by first declaring that we wsged
the war solely for the supremacy of the
Constitution, and then turning reuud
and making the overthrow Of the Con.
stitution a too probable result Of our
success. ["That's So" Applause.
The result will not be confined to the
condition Of the revolted States, If the
war continues to be prosecuted as it has
been for the last six months. You can
not acquiesce in the measures of the Ad.
miuistration, involving, US they do, the
exercise Of many powers that lie wholly
outside Of the Constitution, without
leaving this country hereafter to be
ruled by powers that will rest upon moth
ing but what the judgment of a party,
or faction, or clique, shall deem to
be public necessities. In this aspect of
our affairs I cannot avoid word of ear
nest appeal to all rejecting men, to con.
slider what fate must attend the securi.
ties of property, as we'll as the rights of
persons, if we permit the Constitution to
be lost.
SECURITIES OF PROPERTY AND OF PERSON
CANNOT BE THRILLED WITH.
There are FIVE great securities of prop.
erty, the continuance of which in this
country is dependent on the preserva-
tion Of the Constitution of the United
States. Let me enumerate them. They
are:
First. A uniform metallic currency,
as the basis and standard of all values.
Second. The power to establish uni
form system of bankruptcies, whenever
the interests of commerce require it.
Third. This inviolability of contracts
by State Legislatures.
Fourth. The provision which places
property under the protection of the
Constitution against Federal power, SO
that no man can be deprived of it
without legal process.
Fifth. The prohibition which restraints
the Federal power of eminent domain,
to that private property can not be ia.
ken for public use without just compen-
sation.
Now, no rational being can suppose
that these guarantees can be extorted
anew from that centralized despotism
which is bat too likely to be the only
successor that the Constitution of the
United States can ever have. l care
not what ideas men may form Of that
stronger government" which some al
low themselves to wish for id the place
of our present system. My reason and
my instincts both teach me that that
government will be an unchecked and
uncontrolled despotism; and we neednot
look far for the signs Of its APPROACH
EApplanse. Consciously or uncon-
'sciously, there are many agencies at
work to promote its advent; one of the
most potent ofthem is the false doctrine
of "loyalty," against which l contend !;
and another is the pernicious idea that
you can safely triae with fixed Oonsti.
tuition. We have made such vast strides
toward system entirely unknown to
the Federal Constitution, that we can
now, see the nature of the only power
that WI replace it. When that
power has fully come, the present secu-
rites Of property will have been swept
away with the securities Of person =
Both will disappear with the Federal
Constitution and we shall never ex.
tort them as concessions from the new
mower. or place them beyond reach n wa