The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1867-08-15

only to the orders OF this conciava, IN.
ii! new Constitutions, State and FEEDER
al, shall be approved BY them, and in ma
king which all who agree with them
shall be enfrahcliscd, ard all who diff.
fer with them shall be DISTINGUISHED,
must the President be bound to execute
this revolution or quietly look on and
see the Government destroyed? All
these things some ofthis conclave have
declared ought to be done, and have
threatened to do! More than all these
they have done, and are nov actually
doing for ten Of the States. Why may
they not do SO for ally The power is
the same over all that is over one. They
OUGHT to do 50 for all Or none, They
send Il single officer to Virginia, WHO'S
not even q resident of the State, and
claim for him power to repeal the laws
passed in the days Of Washington and
by the votes and approval Of Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe and Marshall and q
similar non resident individual, by his
own irresponsible cdicts, sets aside
whole constitutions and codes in the
States of Macon and Pinckneys, and
proclaims o Ii rs in their stead, in II
manner more summary and arbitrary
than any monarch in Europe dare OK
hibit! All this is admitted to be plainly
grossly unconstitutional, but it must be
done, and the President is bound to see
to it that it is done, because two thirds
Of This conclave says it must be done |!
Thus, not only two thirds Of Con
grcss, but of fragmentary conclavc of
members-who secure that two thirds
by unlawfully excluding from their
seats those members who are not will
ing to commit perjury to destroy the
observation-disclosures not only great
er than the Constitution. not only have
power to destroy the Government, but
car command, order, compel every other
department Of the Government to aid
in the destruction. Was ever conclu.
sion so lame, heresy SO dangerous, or
patriotism SO self -destructive
Henceforth, not the Constitution and
the laws passed in pursuance thereof,
but the will of the two-tlirds of Con
gress, or ofa conclave taking forciblc
possession Of the Capitol. shall be the
supreme law of the land. Would itnot
be well to require us all, from the Pres
idcnt down, to take an oath to support
that will, instead of requiring US to
swear TO support the Constitution, and
then compelling us, by the higher pow
er of this will, to violate our oaths?
No Congress, not even Il legitimate
Congress, by even q unanimous vote,
have power to destroy States, to pass
laws forbidden by the Constitution, nor
to subvert the Government; and when
they undertake it, and i'll the meane5t
and most dangerous Of all ways--un-
der cover Of oa,hs and office it is as
much the duty Of the President to sup
press them as it is his duty to suppress
al insurroclion or invasion. The con
trary doctrine is n proclamation to Rad
icalisn chat it shall be aided in its work
even by the friends Of the Constitution.
1t is q license to propagandism to bring
all Constitutions, Governments and
people into complete subsection to its
will.
Alas! our country sinks for want Of
nerve in its defenders. Truth is weak
only because its disciples will not sup
port as well as assert it. Radicalism is
strong only in its sense of impunity..-
Unlimited, it loses all consciousness of
guilt, and throws away all restraint up
on its will. Assured ofassistance from
its enemies there is no excess at which
it will hesitate. But boldly and fear
lessly opposed, and denounced and
treated rs the most dangerous enemy
ofal government and law, its own con.
science will at once become its t%ierccst
uccuscr; it will grow weak, will tremblc
like the detected thief, and will soon
sink beneath the weight of its W sins,
abandoned by the selfish and despised
by the good, But now, such men as
Stevens and Sumner, seeing how timid
and indifferent and unnervcd the friends
Of the Constitution have become, en-,
courage the hesitating of their party in
the same spirit with the bloody Lady
Macbeth when urging her faltering hus-
band to his crime:
"Whcn in swinish sleep
Their drcnclcd natures lie, as IN a DEAN,
Whan cannot you and | perform upon
The ungdurded Dl n All ?What not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the GuW
OF our great murder?"