Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1864-10-11
The CoercIVe Prih cIple the
Ruin of Republics '7a'

Mr. Seward makes history-history and
fsisehood with the same breath. lie
Gays; g., .5-.s 2 3 II
"IIistory shows that every Republic
which has gone down failed for waDtot
efficient plwer in the government to CO.
| cree into obedience its unwilling MEM
bera." .g
Like most of Mr. Stewards performances,
this sentence is high sounding but sense
less. History elbows the reverse Of what
he states to be true.--It was not the alb.
| seuce o! eoercive power, bur the unlawful
and, despotic exercise Of it. that destroyed
nearly ell the old Republics. Republics
though they were called, they were but
little more than popular despotisme, IN
| which, the several parts were held together
bv eoercive power, instead OF. by Voluntary
principle. Despotism in Republic is the
! most terrible, of all despotism, from the
fact that there. is, almost necessarily con-
| nected with it an Infusion Of anarchy,
which pois9ns every stream1of power that
Flows frem the govern ment. 80 80 pf1
| All the old Republics bad the principle
Of coercion. Before toe time Of Alexander
the Greeisn States formed Confederation,
( and established o general government,
which they called The Amphyctionic Coun-
Gil This had authority over all the States
| Of Greece. 1t consisted OF deputies or rep
resentatives from all the. States, who met
at Delphos TO regulate the affairs of the
! Confederation. This Council enforced lis
decroes by the power Of war. At length
| the Boetisns, one Of the States Of Greece,
refused to obey decree, of the Ampbyc-
| tieniC Council, in consequence Of which q
heavy tax was laid upon. them. They re-
fused to pay it, and then an act was pass
ed cOnfscs,ing their whole territory, The
csnfusiun and anarchy which followed end,
| ed 10 the final destruction Of the .Ampbyc-
I tonic Council itself. r-
After this unhappy experiment of trying
to hold independent States tngethar by the
| force of arms, there were two Republics
! formed oct of The States of Greece, the
| general government Of ono of which was
called the "Achoen League" and of the
other, the Aeolian League" They each
bad the principle Of coercion, and they
wers perpetually at waT, not only against
their own States, but against each etber-
| There was DO peace between them until
they were all finally conquered and re-
! duced to Roman province. They were
| then obliged to sit. down in peace with
each other under the same yoke Of despot-
ISM. By attempting to coerce each other
/ the freedom Of all the States fell toIeth.
| er. Ee..s.
So we see that. Notwithstanding MIR.
| Stewards assertion, there was no want of
the coereiVe idea 10 the old Republics of
! Greece. There was too much coercion. 1t
was by that that they fell, just as We are
falling by it to-day. - - --
l. The same was true of the Germanic Con-
federation. In Germany there were about
three hundred PriuGipalities aud Repub-
! lies. Deputies for each of those met an
rually in the General Diet to regulate the
laws ofthe Empire. But the execution OF
these did not rest upou ;he voluntary prin-
| eple. The Empire was divided into ten
! circles. over each Of which SuperIntend-
ent was appointed, with the rank of Major
General, " hose duty it was to enforce rbe
DEGREES Of the General Diet with q military
power. That federation was simply mil
itary despotisn. in which freedom never
showed its face, notwithstanding Mr.. Sew
ard would have us believe that all its mis-
| cries came from a lack of the coercive
1 prineiRle It's .true thFkthe old Dutch
\ Rspubie did nor, N IT'S Constitution, admit
| of coercion, but nevertheless it was abund-
-antly seen and felt in the administration
necessarily attached to the office Of their
Stakeholder. He appointed the officers Of
the land and naval forces. He presided
not only in the States general. but in the
| States of every province, and was the
Commander in-Cbief both Ct the navy and
army. 81 that the Republic was 3ot much
but military despOlsm
In fact the Swiss Confederation is the
| nnl Of oil - 81
| World which did not contain the coerciye
principle and it is the only ore of them
which has survived is hold up the proud
example Of freedom in the bloated lace
of European despOtism at the present
day.
In the Convention which formed the
Constitution Of the United States, the coer-
Give principle had some advocates, and WIS
warmly debated. Mr. Randolph, of Vir-
GINA, Introduced a resolution to the effect
that an unwilling State should be coeTced
by the army and navy. bu: it was voted
down ty an overwhelming majority. The
same idea was afterwards presented to the
Convention by Mr.. Patterson, of New Jer>
sey, and was again promptly Dega:ived-
1t never came up afterwards, and therefore
our Constitution does not contain the priu :
| ciple. The Constitution is silent on the
subject. except to declare that all powers
not delegated to the United States are re-
served to the United States respective
": 5000" 'E
The system Of General Government es-
tablished by our fathers was based upon
the voluntary principle as opposed to the
coercve. And this principle worked per.
fectly fer half a century. until band of
fanatics succeeded in completely destroy-
| ing the fraternal relations of the States.
The same section which broke up these
fraternal relations is now employing the
bloody force of cOercve despotism to hold
the angry elements in an impossible EN-
brace. The employment Of coercion is it.
self dissoving of the Union. Mr.. Lin
colo's army is a wedge that is driving the
sundered sections apart eternallS. When
the North relinquishes the right of cosr-
cion, the South has declared her readiness
submit all our difficulties toe Convention
OF all the States, as provided for in the
Constitution. 1t never will, and il never
| ought 10 give up before. The safety Of all
the States demands that this matter should
be settled forever, and settled against the
monstrous claims of the Federal Govern
ment. 1t 1t has this right of Slate-eoer
cion, there is no State which may not,
some time. be made to feel its bloody hand.
j.-OLd guard.
A lady friend, few days since engaged
q smart, intelligent-looki0g girl as a DOM
estic.. At dinner time, while the dishes
were heinz re,nnvad tho lido -. anIooiz