The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1867-05-08
NEW SERIES-VOLUME 2, NO. 40

perors-strong as France was under th'
Reign Of Terror and the 0uillotine-bu
weak as they were weak when tie Goth
and Vandals avenged on the seven hilleC
city the wrongs OF Germans, or when IN,
blood Of the murdered Danton choked the
despsiring Robespierre.
No Government can be really strong
which does not appeal both to the Interests
and affections Of the people, which docs uoi
attach by the benefcence Of its acts as vel
ss by It's dependence on their will.
The equality Of the States was the basis
of the Farmer Republic. Is it maintained
The answer comes to US from the Recon.
struction bill, which puts ten states under
martial law. and subjects them to the will oi
a military officer
The strict confinement Of tfe Federal
Government to international and inter
State affairs was IN element Of the Farmer
Republic. Is it enforced?
This answer comes to rs from the Civil
Rights bill, which intrudes Federal author
ity upon the States and utterly oyerrides
the most sacred Constitutional guarantees.
The maintenance of the coordinate
branches Of the Government, the distribu.
ton of power, the separation of constittien-
cies from which it flows, WIRE indispensable
features to the Farmer Republic. :,
Their doom was written in the Teaure of
Office bill, which derrives the President Of
the power Of removing even members Of
bis Cabinet, and thus subjects the. Execu-
tive to the control Of the Legislature. --
Their doom was W itten in the attack on
the Supreme Court, because Of it's decision
in relation Ito military commissions. All
power now centcrs in single hand, and 10
conferred by a consolidated majority.
Reverence for the Constitution marked
the era Of the Farmer Republic, and warm
ed the hearts Of all itR children.
Now. who so poor as to entertain this
sentiment It was rolled up and packed
away by Mr.. Lincoln; and kept thus dis.
honored, 1t has fallen into contempt, and
to urge its authority serves only to provoke
a speer, or to call out joke. Il forms no
barrier to the projects OF party rage or .par-
ty desire. Its provisions are entirely disre-
galded or Immediately altered to justify
the enactment proposed, OF to command
the sttainment Of the end. The highest
respect shown to his remains is the propo.
sition to amend them. The strife of par.
ties, which was once under the Constitution,
is now over and above it.
Powers granted to the Federal Govern
ment! Is it not true that every power
which is desired to be exercised Is found &c
be granted, and that more would be fount
il NJ o.'ssary.
Once we believed fundamental law
guiding legislation and containing the muni
ments Of personal liberty--so sacred that
under no circumstances could it be irfring.
ed, or even amended, except in the method
prescribcd-to be essential 70 free Govern
ment. Now We have willingly dispensed
with it, and committed unlimited power to
n Temporary. majority, and this we call flip
PANTY. the Will of the Nation.
Tell me-, does one single feature of the
Farmer Republic remain?
We had plaih and simple and economi.
cal Government. We have magnificent
obtrusive, extravagant Govern.
ment. We had an army of $1,000 men;
we have an army cf 100000. We had lieh,
taxes; we havs enormous burdens. We had
gold and silver as legal tender; we have a
deprecated Government paper currency
We had trial by jury and personal liberty;
we have military commissions made valid
by law, and arbitrary arrests justified.
We had asGovernment whose exactions
Of money or duty we're so light that we
scarcely felt its existancc. We have Gov
ernment whose strength glitters in the light
Of the burnishad bayonet. and is reflected
in the resplepdent lustre Of the sword.
We bad harmony and fraternal concord,
md due respect for States and people and
opinions and labits. We have bitter sec
.ional strife, subjugated people, overthrown
States, and an animosity of Iarty warfare
never before known.
We had freedom Of thought. We have
IN intolerance which strikes dcwn indepen.
dence of opinion and proscribes political
d differences as crime, and establishes
scrutiny into the hearts and con
sciences of the community.
We heard in our bitterest struggles the
voice Of reason, now that voice is drowned
in the clapgor of the trumpet which mar
shals prejudice, and rage and hate to inten-
sity the party strife.
We had peaceful confederation. Now,
while national unity is inculcated as the
highest duty, the perpstuation of geographi.
cal divisions and nat e1al hatred is reward
ed with the highest praise.
Congress, which was the theater Of intel
lectual debate is now the registry OF the
DEGREES of u party caucus. and hesitation to
record them is treason to the relgning pow
er, and involves loss Of personal prefer'nent
evcu of political life.
We have broken down the barriers which
hcmmed in that vast array Of powers
closely akin to mere brute torcc-which we
believed the Government, and even society,
could not, in any event, justly exercise, and
sl,,v, tha v,la,-t hsnr Of
passion. We had republic; we have an
empire.
1t is said that learned naturalists have
pushed their researches 40 far that from
The inspectson Of a single bone they can de-
ternline the species Of the animal, and re-
produce his from even though it be that OF
The giant mastodon. No philosopher ex-
aminipg the United States Of 1867 could
possibly reproduce without the aid of his
iory, the Farmer Republic of 1860. The
change has been Of the most radical charac-
ter. 1t is the change which converted the
Rome of Cato into the Rome Of Caesar;
and no less than that is it change wrought
by the power Of the sword.
Nor do / wonder mt it. In the first Con.
gress Of the war MIR. Lincoln justified his
sr suspension of the hdbeds corpus, on the
ground that he had the right TO infract one
provision of the Constitution in order that
he might he able to compel Others to obey
the residue. He ridiculed his constitution
al power to issue his proclamation OF eman-
yet in weeks time he issued 1t.
He asserted, in his letter to MIR. Greeley,
that he had done and would continue to do
so much and no more than no deemed nee
essary to preserve the Union: This was
the true revolutionary spirit. 1t took pos
session Of the party in control Of the Gov
ernment. They became revo utionists. =
They wrought these changes ! have de-
scribed. They are working out still greater
changes. They seized with ayidity the
sword. The cessation Of war will not give
them rest. They will go on from one point
to another-,rem the reconstruction Of 1865,
which met the approval of Congress and
the Pre- sident, to the Constitutional amend
meut--hom the constitutional amendment
to the reconStruction Of lS67--ffom that to
The confseation of Thaddeus Htevens-from