Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-10-26

Is the divine charter of her freedom. If
nothing but a surveyors line separated
England from France, England would be
a military despotism as France is. No
country can be free which has to sleep
with her hand on her sword. ;,
But why resort to general reasoning and
the condition of European nations to prove
what I have asserted, when the proof stares
us in the face in the example Of our own
country. We see it in every sight; we
feel it in every emotion; we hear it in
every sound. When our present govern
ment was established, every thing possible
was done in the interest OF State Rights,
every conceivable guarantee was taken for
individual freedom-as little as possible
was conceded to the Federal government.
The Federal government was "cabbined,
cribbed, confined, hedged in by saucy
doubts and fears" The school of extreme
State Rights were at work framing a Con-
slitution for a federal government, with
the accumulated suspicious of seventy
years. They did their work well. The
prolhlpan to be solved was the framing of
a fedaealBevernment, with the minimum
ofpower TO its functions. l thought at the
time it was useless labor, because con-
ceived, in the humility of my judgment,
that the Constitution of a country was that
which its necessities pointed out, and that
you could not in advance say that would he
the necessities of Confederacy exposed 10
perpetual war with a neighboring power
of superior force. But the trainers of our
Constitution were not deferred by any such
considerations as these from their work.
They established their Confederacy, guard.
ed and limited in the interest of the rights
of the separate States as much as possible.
Well, we hare been at war not quite fonr
years, and what is the result? Is not our
Federal government in the exercise of eve
ry possible power Of national centralized
military despotism? Suppose there were
no States, only provinces, and unlimited
power was conferred upon you and Con-
gress, what greater power would you ex-
ercise than you now do9 Have we not
carried CONSUMPTION to its last l;mitss Is
not every man in the country between II
and 81 subject to military authority q
None are exempt except upon considera-
tons of public interest. Have we not
been compelled to lay direct taxes in the
very teeth of the theory of the Constitu-
tion2 Have we not issued such vast
amounts of paper money as to unsettle all
valuess Have We not compelled the hold
ers of our paper money to fund it: or lose
one-,hird9 Have we not seized al the
!. railroads. Have we not destroyed rail
roads and built others? Have we not is.
tablished an universal system of impress
ment Of property, at our own prices, in
our own money! Have we not establish
ed government, monopoly of the expor-
tation of the great staples Of the country I!
Have we not forbidden the importation OF
Injuries? Have we not compelled those
whom we permit to remain at home, to
execute bonds to furnish their products to
us at our prices? lave we.not suspend
ed the writ Of ha1sas corpus? Have we
not introduced the passport system, which,
we used oahink, belon ged exclusively to
the iron despotisms of'1...epe! In short
has not our Federal government done every
thing that centralized military despotisln
could dol Indeed if you were appointed
Military Dictator, what greater powers
would you exercise than you now do? | al
Jude to these things not to complain ofthem
but to lament them. II you tell ME they
are necessary, reply that is precisely my
argument. My argument assumes and re-
quires that necessity. 1t is plain that oul
government exercises the power of cen
trail despotism. blame no one for it.
am sure those who are at the head Of til.
government would gladly have it other
wise, but necessity compels the course
they have taken. But ! shall be told, per
haps, this necessity is limited to the war
and when peace returns we will go bacI
to our old state of liberty. That depend
upon the kind of peace. A peace withou
reconciliation carries in its bosom the seed
of new wars. This armed peace and it
offspring war would fas'en upon us perlna
nently central military dcspotism. It i
common to hear it said that the Unite
States have gone into despotism. II SC
then it is a very sad truth for lis, for tina
would develop their maximum militar
power, and would, Of course, necessitat
the same thing in the same way on on
part. The truth is, we are vitality interest
ed in the preservation of free institution
in the Northern States, because the peopl
ofthe United States will not only make the
own institutions, but they wiK make our
If they require their maximum militar
strength by going into despotism, we mu:
do the same, just as if they were to orig
nate new and overpoweringly destructiv
modes of warfare, we would have to n
sort to the same or be overwhelmed
Some persons Of intelligence concede tn;
the Northern people have gone into dc
potism, but ridicnle the idea of such c.
lamity Detailing MS. To 81 Oh / would r
ply. we are but human beings, lot God
and we acted upon a necessity as oth'
people. TIE TRUTHS, that the governme1
: at Washington has not dared to exerci
8 power on the grand scale that our COVER