Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1865-12-15
The Presidents Message.

We lay this document before our readers to-day,
and wish we could say to them that Il is oil we ex-
lected to end it and had right to expect it would
he Il is written with most studied care, and,
whilst we do not hntead to analyze it. as a whole,
yet we can sss disguise from ourself the fact tina,
il contains doctrines which would, before the war
have been eonsidessd hs~todox, We shall remark
upon one instance only, and that merely as a spec
ulaton for it Is rev too late to avert the evil
sequences Of bad theory and worse practice.
In the very outset the President found himself
face to faso with difficulty which he could not
surmouAt By any means furnished by our well es-
,ablished system of Government, and his only hope
Of success, was by flank movement. Either the
Southern States were 10 be made to bear the entire
blame of the war, or the responsibility and wrong
must rest upon the United States Government
President Johnson was determined to clear the
skirts of the latter, but, unfortunately, the only
way TO do this was to deny the old fashioned doc
Srine Of States Rights, and contend raanfully, for
consolidation. This he has done with some iuge-
nuity and much show of earnestness, but we ear
not believe that his Judgment and bis heart were in
his effort to attain q given point he overlooked
vital principles involved in the same issue. Could
he not have justified the course Of the general gov
eminent without claiming for it a consolidated
power7 Certainly netl And why7 Because
such gds the character Of the Union-such tn,
principles upon which it pas based, Il at there wa.
constitutional authority for prohibiting the PEG
nio NJ tbn Co.Ah a
SOr themselves whenever the old one became op
Pressive or inefficient. Secession Is dead now; bu
Il was once living principle-permeating every
pore Of our political system, founded upon tn,
broad brasis Of human liberty and bearing tn,
sanction of the founders of the government 81
intimately, indeed, was it interviewer in our entir
political fabric that it could not be separated there
from without destroying the texture Of the who'll
piece States Rights, as they were established ant
90 long recognized, carried this element with them
and the ablest politicians could destroy it only b,
claiming, for the government at Washington, i'm
perisl power, and by stripping the States Of thei
most valuable reserved rights. This, the Presiden
has been almost forced to do because 1t afforded
the only justification for the war upon the South
and the fact that he has done it, can not be dis
guised by the faint admission that the Southern
States are not totally bereft of rights and that hi
viii be pleased to see them enjoying the few tina
remain, within the Union.
We have been tempted TO recur, for q moment
10 first principles not with the hope of effectinl
any good, except by showing how easy it is fo
governments to deps, from the '1ine Of safe pre-
ceden,s," and to bolster up one wrong by the per
ps,ration of another-how readily people, mad
densd by fanatcism, or envy, hate, will sacsi6c
their dearest rights il, BY so doing, they car
srample apoa the rights of another.