The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-01-11
THE TRIUMPH OF PRINCIPLE.


THE TRIUMPH OF PRINCIPLE.
Our government was designed, by its
founders, to be one of constitutional
law. The several States, by their rep
resentatives in Convention assembled,
formed the organic law of the Repub-
lie. This organic law, the Constitution
of the United States, gave being to the
Federal Government, and without it
that Government could not have had
existence. These are automatic prop
oSitionS, but there are those who affect
to think that the doctrines of the polit-
cal party which happens to be in pow
er, and not the principles Of the Con-
stitution, ought to govern the people
of the United States. On all constitu-
tional questions upon which parties diff
fer, they tell us the construction of the
party in power, is the law Of the land.
On all points in which the Constitution
is clearly against them, their legisla-
ton and executive administration eth
er override the provisions of that in
strument, or seek to change it to suit
their purposes. They are party of
expediency, looking only to partizan
advantages to be derived from the pub
lie measures which they inaugurate or
oppose. One day, in order to sustain
themselves, they use powers not war
ranted in the Constitution; the next
they are compelled to attack the Con-
stitution itself so that they may screen
themselves from the penalty due to
their usurpation. Can such a party en-
dure? Can men driven about on
the sea of politics, by every wind offor-
tune, now drawn into the whirlpool of
their own agitation, now tossed upon
the breakers of popular indignation
lashed into fury by their tyranny, now
dashed against the rock of the Consti-
tuition itself, can such men cling togeth-
er long enough to reach a safe and quiet
harbor? 1t cannot be. They lack the
great chart of the Constitution by
which alone the stormy political ocean
can be safely navigated. Their COM
pass wants the magnetic needle that
points to the polar star of civil liberty.
Their pilots disagree among themselves
and their ship founders between the
scylla of Central Despotism and the
Charybdis of French Red Republican
ism. Not so with those who make it
principle to be governed in all their po-
litical actions by the letter of the Con-
stitution. They are always steering in
the right direction, and though adverse
winds may blow, though treacherous
rocks may lie in their way, though
yawning maelstroms may threaten to
engulf them, they move onward stead
lily and surely, and sooner or later their
gallant ship reaches in triumph the
long desired haven. For instance, con-
template the bufetings of the constitu-
tional party during the last six years
Behold its leaders kidnapped, impris-
oned and sent into exile; its printing
Offices mobbed and their type thrown
into the street; its representatives in
Congress driven from their seats and
its voters overcome at the polls by
fraud and force; yet to-day that party
is virtually in possession of two of the
three branches of the Government.
The President and the Supreme Court
both carry out the great doctrines of
the Democratic constitutional party.
Such is the triumph of principle. Only
be true to the organic law, and if the
government lasts, your political prin-
ciples cannot cease to endure.
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