Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-05-06
THE EVIL AND THE REMEDY.

Massachusetts, for permitting the execution
Of one GREEN, convicted Of murder. The
official act excepted TO may Or may not be
justifable; but one sentence in this Philippe
Is Of deeper significance than the mere
question of the life Of any one individual
in the country, whether high or humble, for
10 it, in great part, may be traced the death
Of unnumbered thousands Of the best and
bravest-young and old, innocent and guilty
alike; and not only this direful result, but
the rending Of nation in twain. Says Mr..
PHILLIPS
/ cannot bat remember that the party with |
which have the honor 10 be associated, has with |
IN twenty years, presumed 10 doubt more than a |
dozen opinions OF our bench and that of the Union;
aud Ia all those these courts would now be |
glad Of an opportunity to reverse their decisions
and erase the sad blots from the record.
Not only did the party" referred to,
doubt" the wisdom and legality Of the
decisions made by the appointed ministers
Of the law, but they systematically sought
to overthrow them by modes clearly unwar
ranted, and steadily inculcatcd disrespect
for the Judiciary Of the land, and indeed all
else just and sacred in the eyes of the law
abiding people, that proved an obstacle to
the realization Of their fantastic theories.
For longerperiod than the twenty years"
named, they labored in this mischievous
work, and did not stay their hands
until success crowned their efforts.
The history Of the past five years, writ
ten as it is in blood, recites the
consequences, and the present condition of
affairs affords a fearful commentary on the
ruin they have wrought. This organized
opposition TO the operations of the law as
propounded by the Judicial functionaries of
the State, witnessed, time and again, in the
notification Of the fugitive slave act-the
education Of the public sentiment Of a sec
ton to regard the resistance to proceedings
legally ordered under the sanctions of au-
thority as righteous and proper-the oblo-
guy sought to be cast upon the first judicial
magistrate Of the nation for the opinion
given upon a subject brought beforethe great
tribunal over which he presided-the persis-
tentattemptt to disparage not only the courts,
but every feature and function of the Gov
eminent, and even the Constitution itself,
when it crossed the orbit of the prevailing
fanaticism, has produced decentralization,
the effects of which will be felt for years to
come, nay, it is doubtful if they are ever
wholly efaced, or cease to leave their i'm
press upon the character Of the people, and
or the Government itself
This party" claiming to be founded ON
great moral ideas" had its nucleus in New
England, with here and there an adherent
| throughout the North even at the
commencement Of our career as a federative
| Union of States. 1t was small in numbers,
but composed of closet-thinkers-men
whose tastes and pursuits led them away
from contact and sympathy with the
great mass Of the people They had
in their minds an ultima thule of perfec-
| tibility, and held themselves as missionaries
TO propagate it, and convert the Govern
ment into a great machine for making ex
| periments in social progress For many
years the leaven left by the fathers pre-
vented this fanatical coterie from obtaining
political significance; but at length they
succeeded in forming a combination with a
class Of aspiring men in that section, and
from that time they have been the bane and
curse of the country. The triumph in the
| Presidential election of 1860 Of this &C
/ cursed coalition of politicians and fanatics,
caused the civil war; its course, but more
| especially its result, increased their power
and their propensity for mischief; and the
miserable condition of the country to-day
exempiiics the teachings of PHILLIPS and
! his coadiutors reduced to practice-a Gov
! eminent overwhelmed with debt accrued
! from an intestine war-the tax-gatherer,
merciless and inevitable rs death, standing
| at every mans door-nearly one-half of the
nation without voice in the framing of
the laws under which they live-the labor
! system Of one of the great agricultural re-
gions destroyed and the soil yielding only
a moicty of It's productive freed popula-
ton made an additional burden on the ma
! tional treasury, and its condition an un-
ending source Of disquietude to the Govern
mcnt and to the people with whom its lot is
cast-distrust and the dread Of further trou-
bic felt hy every rejecting mind-the sat
urnalia of peculators and the consequent
corruption Of public morals-the response
bic offices Of the land occupied mainly by
! inferior men-from one end Of the nation
to the other scarcely "a house in which there
was not one dead'-and twelve or thirteen
States Unlocked with the graves of the slain.
| These are the lamentable fruits of organ
izing political parties on fana,ical corner
stones, and passing the Government under
the sway Of men who make the iniunctions
Of the law Of less regard than their own pc
culiar views Of what the law should be-
The cloud mo bigger than mans hand, -
which Mn. PHILLIPS describes as appearing
above the horizon twenty years ago, has
ovcrspread the whole armament 1t is
within the observation of every rejecting
man that the great evil Of the times is a gen
eral disrespect for the law, and an equally
! general distrust OF its ministers The mis-
chief Of the first wrong step led inevitably
to this. The originators and the subsequent
selfish participators were warned, but they
would not heed. The contempt for the
! Constitution and the laws which it directed
and sanctioned, displayed by bad men, has
necessarily forced the good, and wise, and
Just "S" of the country 10 look with little
favor ON the legislative anactments of men
who have risen to power in this disturbed
state of things and TO hold their authority
in lighter esteem than the interests Of socie-
~ require \ Government founded on the
consent of the governed, has been converted
into one founded on force. There is virtual
despotism TO prevent anarchy. There would
be anarchy North and South if there was
not this exhibition of power View it as
we will, this is the dreadful fact
There is but one mode of escape from
this imminently perilous state. Let the