The New York herald., 1864-10-30

failure attend che calculation che resulta o
thoir courss will provo equally short sighted
and suicidal. By giving aid and countensncs
TO tho South In war unparalleled for ID
causclessness and wickedness they have added
tremendous force to the principle recognized
! by France in our first revolution. II IL sston-
ishlng that the experienced minds Of European
dipiomatists should have failed to appreciate
this fact. In their calculation OF present
advantages they would seem 10 have Lost sight
OF or become utterly reckless Of future conss-
quencss. And yet these, weighed in the Same
scale with the benefits which they hope to gain
from the dismemberment Of the Unisa, fearfully
ddtbalanoe them. Subversive as were the
effects produced upon European in ssitutions
BY our FIRST revolution, they will bear NO com
parison with those that will result from the one
through which we are now passing. Since its
outbreak all the ingenuity and eioquence Of
European statesmen and journalists havs been
strained to establish the same right on the
part of tho South. The arguments they have
employed have not fallen unpro6tably
upon the ears to which they have been ad-
dressed. From that we'll furnished moral
arsenal will be dragged many an effective
weapon for future use. II the lessons that have
been so industriously instiiied into the masses
of Europe do not bear terrible fruit there is no
truth ia the analogies Of history. The right of
revolution generally recognised as principle,
there is no safety for monarchical institutions.
The North needs no other avenger for Its In
jures. In trying to destroy US the oligarchs
and despo&s Of Europe have destroyed them-
selves
Ignoraace OF Modern American Psliei.
clans.
We have frequently remarked upon the igno-
rance OF the politicians of our day. The light
Of knowledge upon those grave questions
which they assume to discuss and settle seems
to be shut out from them. and they more often
blunder in darkness than illuminate tho world
or add any thing to history which is moderately
respectable.
The laws which govern nations and races,
the notifications to which these laws arc sub
jected by circumstances they do not seem to
comprehend. They can conduct local cleo
ton. manipulate the machinery Of caucus;
they can enact laws OF Congress. the aim Of
which, in some shape or other. tends to the
benefit Of their party; but when they como to
grapple with those vital issues which the real
statesman handles even as plaything, our
modern politicians are iamestably befogged.
We have showa up. on previous occasions,
the ignorance of some OF the democratic
leading politicians We have now to deal with
one Of the acknowledged shining lights OF the
republican party, in Congress and out Of it
Thaodeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania. He has
bcen making a speech lately. He has been
endeayoring either to illustrate the great laws
which, rule nations In their domestic relations
aud ia heir international compacts, or he has
been endeavoring to show how little he knows
about the subject II bis intention was to &C.
comp!;sh the irst he has failed miscrably. II
admirably. He has evidently no idea Of tho
distinction between the great organic law
which makes and preserves the life OF nation,
and the mere international laws or treaties 8
which are made as an accommodation, or .
necessity Of the passing hour, in order that
peace and harmony and commercial equality
shall, to y certain extent exist between differ
ent countries The life Of nation cannot be
suspended by the voluntary action Of any por-
ton Of its citizens; neither can the laws which
support ;ts structure be abrogated by the same
means. They are positive and immutabo
while the nation maintains tbe independence
OF other powers Mr.. Stevens says:-
There are those Of tender consc.ences who think we
restrained by tnS constitution permitting the
agreement ratified by majority Of the States Every
part OF II, whether liked CT dsliked was binding upon
oil " individuals OF States Violated IT, such iatractons
amounted TO crime but when whole States rose In rebel
hon. and dearly bali these quasi sovcreRns threw OF
their aee TO the constitution they have been ac
knowiedged as oei'igerente by all the laws cf war
BY the we'll known Of nations, war abrogates all
coppacs And such compacts are never to be revived
as they wore We now governed by the laws o war
and the laws OF nations alone.
Does Mr.. Stevens mean to say that the laws
Of war govern the whole country the loyal
States as we'll as those in rebellion, or that the
compact represented by the constitution is
| abrogated by what he calls "the well known
law Of nations," Is reconstruction impossibles
| Can the compact honestly and intelligently en-
tered into never be revived because We are
governed by the laws Of war" and portion
! OF the country is in rebellion against the gov
ernmenf When Individuals violate the law
they are amenable therefor, may suffer punish
ment and be restored to society; but when
whole communities do SO they are to be cut of,
according to the theory Of Mr. Stevens, from
future recognition by "the laws Of war and tho
laws of nations" Who will contend that the
children Of those rebels new in arms against
the government cannot be restored to their
property when the war is over. We know NO
law Of attainder. The constitution explicitly
provides against It sequestration Of estates
as penalty for political offences 10 nowhere
sanctioned under our laws, but Is emphatcaliy y
discouraged. The punishment Of the innocent