The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-01-21
5GlasIrillR aniun.
WIN. CAMERON d co.. Publishers.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 81, 1866.

WM. CAMERON 4 co., Publishers.
SUNDAY, JANUARY p, 1866.
Federal and Local.
The greater part of the trouble il
Congress over the true status of tn
States recently in rebellion, is apps
rently, owing to the lack of clear con
ception of the complex character o
our system Of government and of |
proper apprehension of the boundarie
by which the Jurisdiction of each par
Is limited. In the course of Mr. Bing
hams harangue following the effective
speech Of Mr. Voorhees,, this fact re
ceiVed a striking illustration. II wa
the chief desire of Mr.. Bingham Il
make it appear, if he could, Ito himself
no less than the House,-that the
Presidents restoration policy was in
perfect accord with the sense and pur
pose Of Congress, mangre the stubborn
fact that there is no hindTance at
present to the successful working oi
that policy save that alone which Con-
gress puts IN its way. "Does the Presi-
dent say'-triumphantly inquiries Mr..
Bingham-"that a State cannot sundeF
its relations to the Union2 SO do we.
We-the Radicals-hold that, for all
federal purposes, State never can cease
TO exist, until the Union itself shall
have been destroyed. But for rninicipal
that is, local-purposes, the work Of
destruction may sssuredly be effected.
And thus the rebellious States, though
unable to burst the federal bonds, did
succeed in destroying themselves mu-
nicipally.
This is arrant pettifogging, at best
1t does not rise 10 that plane Of thought
from which alone true comprehen-
sion of the Federal system is to be got
We apprehend, in spite of Mr.. Bings
hams dialectic miracles, that State
in order to sustain Federal relations at
ell, must first be in the possession of a
local, or municipal existence. 1t still
occurs to 8 good many persons, possi~
bly, as intelligent as Mr. Bingham him
self, that State would, by the very act
of municipal suicide, destroy itself As
well for federal as for local purposes
It does not happen to be given 70 all
men to understand, as Mr.. Bingham
does, how, if State be dead at the
heart, and centre, it has any life left TO
reach out TO its neighbors in the per-
torrance of continued cooperative
services This inconsistency, a mere
speck in the powerful logical lens Of
Radical intellect appears to give Mr.. |
Bingham not the least trouble. he |
can make way out, if he is not lucky |
enough to find one. For party reasons |
it IS very convenient for him to hold |
that a State cannot sever its Federal |
relations; since that is, SO far as it goes,
an ostensible advertisement that he |
and his friends think just IS the Presi- |
dent does. But for practical purposes,
his theory, that State may locally an~ |
initiate itself, cancels the whole value |
of his previous admissions, and really |
makes Federal relations for such State
a simple impossibility.
How can it in plain reason be other
wiser And therefore we think Mr..
Bingham has touched the marrow of /
the whole subject in a way that he
might perhaps have preferred to avoid.
The object of the war, even Mr.. Bing |
ham vail have to admit was to prevent /
the threatened rupture of those FEEDER
al relations which the rebellious people
desired; that object was steadily pur-
sued by the people, and in the end tri-
secured. Beyond that there
was no general disposition, as there /
was no sort of authority, to 90. We
did not go out against South Carolina,
and Georgia, and the other Southern
States on account of any distasteful |
practices of theirs over which /
they admittedly had supreme control, |
but to compel.th continued .recogni-
ton of the Federal Union to which
they were equal parties with ourselves,
and their obedience to its supreme au-
thority. Ii was solely on the ground of
their perpetual Federal relations that
it was believed throughout the loyal
States that compulsory measures could
be taken against them, upon
rising in rebellion. Had they at the
or at any time during the
bloody interval, succeeded in destroy
ing themselves municipality, they would
thereby have destroyed their Federal
also and of course removed
both the cause of complaint against
and our right to proceed /
further against them with arms. If
this shall be set down as a rather re
fined style of reasoning, let it likewise
be kept in mind that it is honestly in
tended to oppose new Government /
theory which itself has not a solid fact
to stand upon.
whichever way the radicals turn
over President Johnsons sound end |
wise policy Of restoration, they can
make it read nothing which sounds
like their Yearisonae shibboleth. They |
begin their speeches in Congress with
most emphatic assertions of the perfect
accord between their views and his
and straightwsy fall TO attacking his
policy with vigor. They keep declar-
ing that there is no variance between
him and them-and keep hammering |
at the foundation on which his entire /
policy is built If fthere is no difference |
between them, why does not Congress
admit those representatives whose GER
of election are in due form of |
laW, especially if the States sending |
them have neger yet destroyed them |
selves for Federal purposes 2 It's Of |
no essential consequence to the poun- |
try, politically speskiug, what the |
States may or may not have done 70 |
themselves municipality, if their Fede-
raj relations are kept alive and uuob.
struoted. The rest will adjust them !
selves, Is they always have done, obe-
diently TO those local constitutions |
which are the sole and conclusive evi- |
dence Of their statehood. This is the |
Presidents view, so far as his resolution |
not to impose Federal authority upon
local rights is concerned. he docs net |
hold that the rebellious States could |
put an end TO their existence, whether |
for Federal or local purposes; for TO
hold the latter would be to hold the !
former along with It, and on the other |
hand, the opinion that State is in ex- !
istence for Federal purposes" of ne
cessity includes the postulate that it |
enjoys en- existence for purely local and !
individual purposes also We think
Mr.. Bingham has made his concession
at the wrong end of his argument and
therefore that it is a fatal one To his
purpose Boston Post
THE CHIoA8o LAEE TUSyu.-The Chicago
Times says
When the plan of building a crib wssfrst
Il.