Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1867-12-06


With our debt, and the vast private inter-
ests which are complicated with it, we can
not be too cautious Of aspolicy which might,
by possibility, impair the confidence of the
world in our Government That confidence
can only be retained BY carefully intoxicating
the principles Of justice and honor on the
popular mind, and BY the most scrupulous
fidelity To all our engagements Of every sort.
Any serious breach Of the organic law, per-
sisted in for considerable time, cannot hut
create fears for the stability of our institu-
tons. ,Hahitual violation of prescribed rules,
which we bind ourselves to observe, must
domoralize the peoples Our only standard of
civil duty being set at naught, the sheet-an-
Choir four political morality is lost, the
public conscience swings from its mornings,
and yields to every impulse Of passion and
interest. If we repudiate the Constitution,
we will not be expected to care much for
mere pecuniary obligations. The violation
of such pledge as we made on the 22d day
Of July, 1861, will assurcdly diminish the
market value of our other promises. Be-
sides, if we now acknowledge that the ma
tional debt was created, not to hold the
States in the Union, as the taxpayers were
led to suppose, but to expel them from it
and hand them over to be governed by me-
grocs, the moral duty to pay it may seem
much less clear. I say it may seem so !; for
do not admit that this or any other argu-
ment in favor of reputation can be enter
tanned as sound but its influence on some
classes Of minds may well be apprehended.
The financial honor Of a great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with a re-
publican form Of government administered
by agents Of the popular choice, is a thing
Of such delicate texture, and the destruction
of it would be followed by such unspeakable
calamity, that every true patriot must desire
to avoid whatever might expose it to the
slightest danger. M
The great interests Of the country re-
quire immediate relief from these enactments.
Business in the South is paralyzed by a
sense of general insecurity, by the terror of
con6scation, and the dread of negro suprem-
acy. The Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived so great profit
under government of law, still languishes,
and can never be revived until it ceases to
be fettered by the arbitrary power which
makes all its operations unsafe. That rich
country-the richest in natural resources
the world ever saws worse than lost if it
be not soon placed under the protection Of
a free Constitution. Instead of being, as it
ought to be, source Of wealth and power,
! it will become AN intolerable burden upon
the rest of the nation. S. -
4 Another reason for retracing our steps
will doubtless be seen by Congress in the
late manifestations Of public opinion upon
this subject. We live in a country where
the popular will always enforces obedience
to itself. sooner Or later. 1t is vain to think
Of opposing it with anything short Of legal
authority, backed by overwhelming force
1t cannot have escaped your attention that
FROM the day on which Congress fairly and
formally presented the proposition to govern
the Southern States by military force, with
a view to the Ultimate establishment Of ne
gro supremacy, every expression Of the gen
to it. The affections Of this generation can
not be detached from the institutions of their
ancestors. Their determination to preserve
the Inheritance of free government in their
own hands, and transmit it undivided and
uninipaired to their own posterity, is too
strong to be successfully opposed Every
weaker passion will disappear before that
love Of liberty and law for which the Amer
lean People are distinguished above all
others in the world. sos n,
How far the duty Of the President, ."to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitu-
ton" requires him to go in opposing an un
constitutional act of Congress, is very
serious and important question, on which |
have deliberated much, and felt extremely
anxious to reach proper conclusion =
Where an act has been passed according to
the forms of the Constitution by the SUI
prcme Legislative authority, and is regularly
enrolled among the public statutes of the
country, Executive resistance to it, espe-
cially in times of high party excitement,
would be likely to produce violent collision
between the respective adherents of the two
branches of the Government. This would
be simply civil war; and civil war must be
lCoVI tSu W OHiy az VIC idot IclHcuy IuI tue
worst Of evils. Whatever might tend to
provoke it should be most carefully avoided
A faithful and conscientious Magistrate will
concede very much to honest error, aud
something even to perverse malice, before he
will endanger the public peace; and he will
not adopt forcible measures, Or such as
might lead to force. as long as those which
arc peaceable remain open to him or to his
constituents 1t is true that cases may oc-
cur in which the Executive would be
compelled to stand on its rights, and
maintain them, regardless Of all con-
sequences. If Congress should pass an
act which is not only in palpable conflict
with the Constitution, but will certainly, if
carried out, produce immediate andirrepara-
bic injury to the organic structure of the
Government, and if there be neither judicial
remedy for the wrongs it inficts, nor power
in the people to protect themselves without
the official aid Of their elected defender; if,
for instance, the Legislative Department
should pass an act even through all the forms
of law to abolish coordinate department of
the Government--in such case the Presi-
dent must take the high responsibilities Of
his Office, and save the life of the nation at