The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-09-07
The Truth suceinstIy Expressed.

It will be remembered that the
watchword that carried the North
through the late civil war, and pro-
PEELED its millions of volunteers to
the Southern plains, was that ''the
Government must be preserved. -
How the Government ever was inn
perillcd by eleven States withdrawing
from il, and forming a new govern
ment, was never very clear to our
comprehension. 1t seemed TO be a
war rather for the preservation Of ter
ritory than any form of government.
But it was not SO regarded, as We have
said, by the mass of our people. They
went TO war, spent $4,000, 100000 or
S., 900, 900, 900, and 100000 lives ''to
preserve the Government" They
were successful in the military strug-
gle, and overwhelmed the enemy, af-
ter this enormous cost and sacrifice
Now, of course we should have the
Government preserved" in all its in
ltegrity. Such was the promise. How
has il been fulfilled ? Listen, and
hear one of the greatest champions OF
the war. Mr.. Raymond, of the New
York Times, in n late number of that
journal tells MS:
''It is quite useless TO ignore the
plain and palpable fact that the rebel
lion and the war have revolutionized
our government. We are not living
under the Constitution of 1886, but
under an unwritten Constitution,
which represents the national will as
embodied in the action of Congress.
The limitations of the old Constitu-
tion have ceased TO have binding force.
= The President is
powerless, because two-thirds of Con
gress are against him. The Supreme
Court is powerless, because the case
cannot come up for its action, or the
Court has no means of enforcing its
DEGREES. The people are without rem.
edy, because ten States are not allow
cd any voice, and the remainder sus-
tain the usurped authority, We are
living under a de facto government
government resting on force and the
will of the people who sustain it.
y ~ The war wrought
revolution in public sentiment, which
in its turn wrought a revolution IN
practical administration of the gov.
ernment. Congress represents that
revolution and acts under its inspira.
ton, England has just such consti-
tuition as that. The option of Parlia
ment and the will of the people is the
unwritten Constitution by which Eng
land is governed. This is the actual
state of our affairs. 1t is, perhaps
wiser to adjust our public action to il
than to waste strength and time In
contending against il"
/ These are weighty words, full o.
sorrowful but condensed truth, that
no intelligent man will dispute. They
will bear reading over several times
and they ought to elicit much reflec
ton. This, then, has been the result
of the war-not to save, but to. de
stroy the government, for which mil
I lions laid down their lives, in the de
'Ilusive hope and expectation that they
were making our institutions perma
lnent. A finer acknowledgment thar
the above to the wisdom of those wht
opposed the war and disputed thu
! whole philosophy upon which it wa
based, we have never seen, and, com
ling as it does, from an original advo
cate and supporter of the war, it pos
/ sesses tenfold force Cincinnati En-
Qesirer.
j RAILERY is the lightning Of cal