The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-04-13

longer term than two years.
The thirteenth;
tTo provide and maintain a navy"
The fourteenth
'To make rules for the government and
regulation of the land and naval forces"
/ Fifteenth =.
s'To provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the Union, suppress insur-
.rections, and repel invasons."
Sixteenth
"To provide for organizing, arming, md
discipiiuing the militia, aHd-for governing
such part of them as may be rployed in the
service of the United States, reserving to the
States respectively the appointment of the off
GERS, and the authority of training the militia
according to the discipline prescribed by Con-
gress."
In the foregoing clauses of the Constitution
is contained the war power, and the only war
power there is in this nation. It is vested in
Congress and not in the President. In war he
does not rightfully become dictator for the
seventh clause of section one of the second ar
ticle provides in reference to the President as
follows:
"Before he enters on the the execution of
his cfice, he shall take the following oath of
affirmation ST do solemnly swear Cor afirm)
that 1 will faithfully execute the office Of
President of the United States, and will to the
best of my ability preserve, protect, and de.
fend the Constitution of the United States"
So the Constitution, and not its sworn vas
sal and supporter, is the dictator. Immedi-
ately following the form and requisition of the
oath In the first clause of section of the last
named article, the military power. of the sworn
President is thus defined
@The President shall be COMMANDMENTS
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States and the militia of the several States
when called into the actual service of the Uni
ted States" W
The obligation of the oath extends to all
the official action of the President, either as
military commander or an executive off Ger of
the general laws.4 No man IN the Govern
ment is boun'! by stronger obligations than he
to act In .spbservishcy to the law. So much
for the painted bubble and dishonest pretense
of a war power which makes a sworn subordi-
nate superior 10 the Constitution. Sir, if the
framers of that wise instrument were still in
life can you not imagine with what deep dis
gust they would hear such heresies proclaimed
by degenerate posterity upon the floor of the
Congress which they established lfsa
A special pretense is assumed by the par
ty in power as sufficient justification for the
unconstitutional acts Of the Administration in
managing the pubic policy. It is the pre-
tense that slavery in the States was and is
the culpable cause of the war, and that sla-
very, therefore, must be abolished at all haz-
ards as a condition of peace. 1t is conve-
nient apology for revolutionists. 1t is incul-
Gated by the press, in their sermons, and
speeches; it is heard in this body and in the
Senate But the falsehood of the assertion
is apparent to any man who is willing to think
rightly upon the snbject. It might as reason
ably be said that money is the cause of rob-
berry, larceny, and many ohter crimes: that hu-
man existence is the cause of murders. The
right of the people of certain States in slave
labor was recognized and guaranteed by the
Constitution, and is SO to day if the Govern
ment of the United States has an existence
Whcn this fact was regarded we had no civil
war or;tendency to war. The free States grew
and prospered, and the slave States kept pace
with them in the onward march of prosperity,
dignity ,and empire. The unprecedented de-
velopment, expansion, and prosperity of the
country under the Government of 1857 proves
that there was no element in its Constitution
hostile to lis dignity, or progress or perpetu-
ity. Before it was shattered by Northern fa-
natical sectonalism it had accomplished more
for the benefit of mankind than all other exis-
ting Governments in the world. 1t needed
only the fealty of its subjects to be immor-
tal
Sir, have witnessed the progress of aboli-
tionism from the very commencement of its
career in this country. Long before tie num-
Der of its devotees had become sufficient to in
vest it with political influences, those devo-
tees seemed to exclude from their thoughts
every political consideration except the ABB
stractidea that slavery in the States must be
abolished. That one absorbing thought gov
erncd all their political action. They waited,
but not inaetively or vainly, for the time to
come when they should be strong enough to
induce some party to secure their additional
strength by helping them to accomplish their
object. Meetings of semi-religious charac-
ter, consisting of great numbers, were at
length held In which expert lectures appealed
to the sympathies of the people, giving the
most exaggerated and false accounts of slave
holders, assailing the Constitution and Union
as works of the devil, vilifying Washington
and other patriots of his time as man stealers
singing disunion songs, into which they had
degraded the sacred hymns by parody, and
finally closing theexciting entertainment with
prayer to God to aid them In destroying the
wicked Union, and hurrying on, ike an or
ganized Land of showmen, to meet some 9TH
er congregation ready to be fanaticised 1 saw
the process and, 1 think the motive of the ab-
sorbtion of this element of dissention and
treason by great and powerful party, which
had discovered the efficient use to which it
could be put, and then L saw great portion
of the preachers of the gospel and the congre-
cations over which they had Influence fall
down before the beast and worship it. saw
it grow strong enough to grasp the reins of
government in nearly all the non slave hold
ing States in direct and Intentional derogaton
- e Al,
pie of the slave States. Judges in my own
State made decisions against the plain letter
of the Constitution of the United States and
the acts of Congress, when the rights of
Southern people were in question. 1 will
specify one case only, although 1 might 9TH
ers. In the county of Lorain, an abolition
judge, simply suppose, to show his fealty
to abolition at the expense of violation of
his official oath, charged grand jury to pay
mo- of n at afC for