Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-02-07

Mr.. Lincoln advocates boldly and clearly
a WAR OF SECTIONS, q WAR of the North
|anainst the. South, OF the. free States against
the slave States--a WAR OF DIFFERENTIATION
TO be continued relentlessly until one or
the other shall be snbdued, and all the States
shall either become free or become slave.
This is the language of prophecy. 1t
needs no comment. 1t describes more ac-
curately and forcibly than any words we
could employ, the present position Of Mr..
LINCOLN and his party in their. war Of Sec
|tions-of the North againt the South-of
the free States against the slave States--a
war of determination. But Senator DOUG
LAS in that same speech took issue with MIR.
|L1NcoLN, and asserted thatit was .neither
desirable nor possible that there should be
uniformity in the local institutions and do
nestle regulations of the different States OF
this Union. The form of our Government" "
he said, "never contemplated uniformity In
Its internal concerns" Fsia,
He asserted that 'the great fundamental
principle which underlies our complex sys-
TEN or State and Federal Governments,
contemplated diversity and dissimilarity in
the local institutions and domestic affairs Of
each and every State then in the Union, or
thereafter to be admitted into the Con-
federacy. Mr.. LINcoLN,p he averred,
"had totally Inexperienced the great
principles upon which our Government
rests" We give one more quotation
from this speech of Senator DOUGLAS,
and ask the reader, as an American
citizen and patriot, to ponder well these
startling words in view of the present
movements Of Mr.. LINCOLN and his Admin
istration toward producing uniformity Of
local institutions in the different States, alb
rogating State Constitutions and laws
and establishing central and consolidated
despotism. Hear the words of DOUGLAS ut
tered nearly three years before LINCOLN was
inaugurated President.
Uniformity is the parent of despotism the
world over, not only in politics, but In re-
|ligion. Whereverthe doctrine of uniformi
ty Is proclaimed, that all the States must bt
free or all slave, that all labor must ewhitt
OF DltCk, bldb III bhC CibiLCho VI bbC uiiNi-
ent States must have the same privileges OF
be governed by the same regulations, you
have destroyed the greatest safeguard which
our institutions have thrown around tht
rights of the citizen. 1ag (
How could this uniformity be accom-
plished, if it was desirable and possible!
There is but one mode in which it could be
obtained, and that must be by ABoLIsHING
the State Legislatures, BLoTTING OUT State
sovereignty, merging the rights and SOW
ereignty of the States in ONE CONSOLIDATED
EMPIRE, and vesting Congress with the
plenary power to make all the police regu-
iations, domestic and local laws, uniform
throughout the limits Of the Republic.
When you shall have, done this, you will
have uniformity. Then the States will all
be slave or all be free; then negroes will
vote everywhere or nowhere; then you will
have Maine liquor law in every State or
none; then you will have uniformity in all
things, local and domestic, by the authority
of the Federal Government.
But when you attain that uniformity, you
will have converted these thirty-two SOW
EREIGN, INDEPENDENT STATES INTO ONE.
CONSOLIDATED EMPIRE, WITH THE UNI
EORMITY OF DEsPoTIsM REIGNING THROUGH
OUT THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF THE
LANDi s1Il G. e71dif OR vlgr