Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-16
NUMBER 276.

gin by reaching the character of men, In
fiuencing their literature, their tastes, their
maxims, their laws and institutions their
industries, their wealth and its distribution
and means of attainment, their occupations.
their divisions into classes and all their re-
lations to each other. Whenever you have
harmonized these so as to give confeatueDt,
you may be assured that no military COM
preston or civil oppression can long keep
the individuals interested from a common
consent to the common Government.
Hence, when the philosophic statesman
perceives such civil conyulsion as this
which arrays the sections, offAmerica In
deadly conflict, he must accompany his his
toric researches with the a priort reasons
grounded In human nature. Thus he may
construct his science of social statics and
ascertain the requisites of stable political
union. aa1-- aFs 10 Z ~, --f4sR
One of these requisites is the habitual
discipline and regard for government on
the part of rulers and ruled. Let all per-
sonal impulses and conscientious convic-
tions be subordinated to the supreme con-
troll Of the proper government; resist all
temptation to break through such control;
and you have q tremendous element of pa
triotic unison. Mankind naturally do not
like government. Brave men ARE 10th to
submit to. control. Discipline, aided by re-
ligion and common interest, is the power
which keeps men from becoming anarchical.
Combined with this civil discipline is the
feeling of allegiance. Without this feeling
no'state can be permanent. When the rulers
fail to give that protection which is the con-
sideration and correlative of allegiance. then
allegiance fails, and society declines, des-
potism supervenes, or foreign conquest Is
imposed. Let statesmen remember that
this is the capital defect of our rulers, and
the proXimate cause of our troubles. Thus
L
view to the reinstatement of that protec-
tion to labor, liberty, property and life,
which assures to the state the allegiance of
the people. This feeling is sometimes called
"loyalty." The French philosopher, NJ.
Compte, has thus described it: T
This feeling may vary in its objects and is not con-
hned to any particular form of government: but
whether in democracy or monarchy, its essence is
always the same, viz that there be in the consttu-
ton of the state something which is settled some
something which, by general ag;eement,- has right
to be where it Is, aud to be secure against dis
turbance. whatever else may change.
The SACRED SOMETHING in our political
system is in the written Federal Constitu-
tipn, and the system of State governments.
both having their basis on the sovereign
will of the people of the States. Not less
sacred, because not less above discussion,
are the reserved rights of the Stat 8, and
the still more important reservation of SOW
ereignty in the people. This is the essen
tial permanency of society in the United
States. This was the relation which all
parties, whether at Charleston or Chicago.
agreed should not be disturbed; which the
President declared should not be disturbed
by him, and the fear of whose disturbance
has convulsed a nation of thirty millions
This mystic union of the Federal and State
systems was the sacramental essence, the
divine appointment, above the storms and
nFIl faFf fIS L., IL
hended our ancient liberties and ordinances.
Even the domestic institutions OF the State
were imbued with it. Indeed, it was the
only fundamental law, pervading our socie-
ty as grayitation pervaded the stellar
spaces.
Those, whether North or South, who
failed to keep this essence sacred and sealed,
are responsible for the consequences. Abo-
litionism, which lived by the disturbance of
this system, was like secession, for both
sprung from the same direful agitation and
the same disturbance of the Constitution.