The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-07-02

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| The Coming Contest Between Property
| and Individusis-A Rcvisfon OF the
Constitution Needed.
The civil war which lately rent our country
is now happily over, but the days of restored
peace find us far from being In the same posi-
ton which we occupied previous to the strug-
gle. The leaders Of the South. though failing
in the object for which they threw their section
into revolution, have not failed to revolution
ize both the political ideas of our people and
the future destiny Of the States. BY the
courage of our soldiers, the organizing industry
of the War Department and the genius of our
generals In the field, we have brought back
the Union and enthroned it again in paramount
authority; but let none be weak enough to
imagine that our national government of the
present and Of the future either is, or can ever
again be, "the Union as II was" The Union OF
the old constitution lived its day. fulfilled ito
mission, became inadequate to the expand
ing wants Of the country, and is now
no more. It was of admirable model
for that period of our national in
fancy to meet whose needs 1t was created;
but in the eddying whirlwind and earthquake
of the late rebellion its delicate adjustment OF
machinery proved unequal to the strain, and
our rulers were obliged from time to time to
supplement it's failing powers by the arbitrary
enactments of what was called "military ne
cessiy" To save the national life and keep its
current flowing full and free, it became re-
quisite now and then during the deluge Of civil
war to break down some Of the constitutional
limitations which were its old banks or boun-
daries; and the mistake of our Northern copper
heads lay in this, that they mistook the mere
dead and motionless banks on either side for
the living and resisless current, and cried that
our liberties were perishing, when in fact the
rushing volume Of the American or democratic
idea was only spreading over wider extent of
space and channelling out broader, deeper
and less INSTRUCTED course for its future pro-
gress.
While certain technical violations of the old
constitution, however, were thus essential to
the salvation of the country during the past
four years, and were therefore justified, 1t Is
clear that such violations, now that we
are again at peace, should DO brought to
an end as rapidly as possible. The laws, only
Interrupted by force, should be allowed to- re-
sumo their normal sway; and every effort Of
tho national Executive be directed to clearing
away the wreck and restoring the old ship of
State to that goodly and gallant trim in which
she rode whom the tornado of domestic strife
first struck her quivering hull. The jury-masts
81 ,toto In Ix
the spars and rigging proper to the dignity and
essential to the orderly progress of the vessel
in her new career; and, since has been proved
that the old constitution is inadequate to con-
troll or cover the present developments of our
national expansion, no time should be lost in
taking the requisite steps to secure new, i'm
proved and enlarged chart for our future guild
ance. In word-to quit metaphor-the ad-
ministration of President Johnson should take
steps at tho earliest possible moment to So
cure revision of the organic law of the land,
so that hereafter we may not be compelled to
persist in certain technical violations of the ex-
listing constitution, but may be provided with
q now and amended instrument, whose pro-
visions will be adequate to all the emergencies,
and in harmony with the new ideas which the
subsiding deluge Of civil war will be found TO
have deposited over the political surface of the
country.
The objects for which the Southern leaders
plunged into revolution were twofold; the first
being to retain political ascendency for their
section, and the second to enlarge the area Of
slavery, fortfy Its existence and deliver it fer
ever from the dread of the encroaching spirit
which marked the growth Of liberal ideas
throughout the Northern, and more especially
tho New England, States. In those objects they
failed; but the revolution which they set in
motion for their own ends accomplished its
career, though producing results directly tho
opposite Of those which the originators hoped.
Slavery, which the trainers Of our present con-
stitution found existing on this continent Us
an institution of foreign growth, in place Of be-
ing strengthened by tho rebellion is now utterly
extinct; and the extreme theory Of State rights
which the fire-eaters Of the Gulf States invoked
as the palladium or magma chorta Of their trea-
son, now sinks into corner with crippled
wing, and il in such bad rcpute that even its
good qualities are likely to be improperly
overlooked and disregarded in the general
detestation of the errors which II was strained
to cover If only for a final settlement Of the
slavery question, with its incidental oorrelativc
of negro suffrage, a deliberate and authori.
tative utterance Of the American people in the
shape of a new constitution is urgently needed
while for the rc-establishment Of relations be-
tween the revoltcd States and the national gov
ernment and for the exact dcmorcaton Of the
Just limits of State sovereignty in the future,
tho measure we advise becomes paramount
necessity.
There is yet another new issue raised by the
vast debt with which the late war has so heavily
burdeued the future industry Of the country.
II is the establishment of some fixed