The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1864-01-21

The line Of demarkation between lavalty
and trcasan, is p'ainl! defined and ex.
ceediusly narrow
| Obvious as these considerations are to
all discerning minds, it is painful re,
Election that there exists a faction in the
ENorthern States which has persistently
Eopposed the action of our Government
in its efforts to subdue the rebellion, and
clamored for peace upon any terms. -
While protesting to be loyal, the mem,
bers of this faction have given strength
and courage to traitors, aud by their con
! duct proved themselves the most insid.
uous and dangerous foes to the Union.
Recent events, however, have dcmonstra.
ted the continued attachment of the
patriotic masses of all parties to the per
petuity of our free institutions and
show that they cannot be deceived by
mere pr.tcnces of loyalty, Or msed
by the cry of peace. WI en- there is no
honorable or permanent peace short Of
vigorous and successful war
Systematically opposing every meas
use yet devised for successful prosecu
ton of the war, and having no mode of
their own for an honorable solution of
existing troubles, these indictments seek
to justify their course by creating a dis.
tinction between the Government and
its Administration confronting US with
the novel doctrine that tho Government
is the Constitution and the institutions
founded thereon, while the Administra
tion is merely the agents chosen by the
people and responsible to then. Assum
ing to act upon this theory, they claim
the right to oppose the latter, while pre-,
tending to support and maintain the
former.
This dangerous paradox is fit COM
panion of the doctrine of estate Rights"
which held the American Union to be
only a league between sovereign States,
dissolvable at their will; and that the
citizen owed a paramount allegiance to
his State, and only subordinate one to
the Federal Government A doctrine
which, although denounced by the stern
old leaders Of Democracy as destructive
of the Union, yet succeeded in dit1usiug
its subtle poison through the Southern
mind, and, finally, culminatad in the
crime Of treason.
1t needs but word Of refutation.
do but adopt the idea of great writer
when | say that our free, written Consti-
tuition is not government, but the war
rant and representative of Government.
1t is not power. but the symbol of power.
and will, in any emergency, prove alto
gethcr useless, unless the power for which
it stands be forthcoming. Where does
this power reside? Not in the Consti-
tuition, nor 10 any of the co ordinate de-
par.mcn's created by it; nor in the
people, sut in all combined. These con-
s,ituent elements compose the Govern
meut, the powers of which are exercised
through its constitution tnally appointed
agents, the legislative, executive and
judicial departments. Without these
he powers defined in the Constitution
could not be appropriately exercised and
without them, 1t is obvious, we should
have no Government Therefore, to
strike out any Of these is to lure the
Government itself to the full extent Of
the blow.
The President of the United States,
for the time being, is the Supreme Tx.
ecutive of the Nation, the chosen agent
of the people, the pilot who guides the
ship of State. The liberty of speech
and of the press, guartecd by the Consti
tuition, is formidable only to the enemies
of liberty in its broader and more OK
tended sense. The right to freely dis
Gus the affairs of Government aud criti.
else the acts of its agents, is Fundamental
to liberty, and cannot safely bc denied.
To al this [ fully subscribe. But the
right claimed by some, to oppose the ex.
ccut'on of the laws, and, by factious op-
position, to thwart the President in the
discharge of his high duties at so impor-
tant juncture, is subversivc of all liber-
t!y, and right which belongs to treason
only.
Again, the war policy Of the Govern
mcnt has been continuously denounced
as subversive of the ri ghts Of the
South, and in violation ef the Federal
Constitution. 1t is reasonable to pre-.
sumo that these men have either forgot
ten, or never known, that Abraham Lin
coin is not only President of the United
States, charged with the execution of
c'r'lpower, but also Commander Chief
of the Army and Navy of the Union, aud
thereby clothed with the acar power of
the Government. Ia the exercise of his
civil functions, he is guided by the plain
language of the Constitution, which de-
fines the limits Of his power, and beyond
this he cannot 60; but in the discharge
of his duties as Commander in Chief, in
time of war, he is governed only by the
laws of war, as recognized among civil.
lied nations, and such other restrictions
as Congress and the people may impose.
Deriving his authority by appointment
of the Constitution, he is thereby vested
with all the power which rightfully be-
longs - the Communicating Chief Of any