Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-12-12
NUMBER 8.

II
breach of the organic law, persisted IN tor
considerable time, cannot but create tears OF
the stability OF our institutions. Habtuai Vi
ola ion of prescribed rules, which we bind our
selves to observe must demorailze the people.
Our only tandard of civil duty being set at
naugit. the sheet anchor of our political NOR
alny is lost, the public conscience swing. from
its mourings, and yields to every Impulse OF
passion and interest. If We. repudiate ithe
| Constitution, We will not be expected 10 care
much for pecuniary obligations The violation
OF such ii pledge as we nlade on the ia oay
| of July, 1861, will assuredly diminish the mar
ket value Of our other promises Besides II
we now acknowledge that the national deot
WAS Great ed not to hold the States in h. Union,
as the tax PAYERS were led to suppose, but TO
expel them from it, and hand them over to be
governed by negroes, the moral duty TO pay IL
| III ~ seem much less .lear. say II may seem
so for do not admit that this or any other
argument in favor Of Reputation can be en-
tertaiued as sound; Tut its influence ON some
classes of MINDS may be we'll unprecedented -
The financial honor OF great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with arepuOilcan
TO IN of Cover nnent. administered by agents
OF tie popular choice. is thing Of such deli
Gaze texture and tie destruction OF 1t would
be followed by such unspeakabe calamity
| that every true PARROT must desire TO AVOID
Nh tiever M ght expose it TO the slightest dan
ger.
The great interests Of the country require
immediate relief from these enaciments--
Business in the South is paray zed by sense
OF general insecurity, by the terror OF conhsca-
ton, and The dread of negro supremacy. Inc
South IN trade, from which the North would
have derived so grea profit under a govern
ment of law, still languishes, and can never be
revived until it ceases to be fettered ny the
arbitrary power which makes all its operations
unsafe. Tat rich country-the richest III
natural resources the world ever saws worse
than lost if it be not soon placed under the
protection Of free Constitution. Instead OF
being, as it ough to be, source of wealth
and power, it will become an intolerable bur-
den upon the rest of the nation.
I Ano,h r reason for retracing our steps Will
doubtless be seen by Congress in the late ma
nifestations of public opinion upon tbs subject.
We live in a country where the popular Will
always enforces obedience to itself, sooner or
later l, is vain to think Of opposing it with
anything h,rt of legal authority, lacked by
overwhelming force. 1t cannot have escaped
your attention that from the day on which
Congl ess fairly and formally presented the
proposition to govern the Southern States by
military force with view to the ultimate es-
sion Of the general sentiment has been more or
less adverse to it.. Thu affections of this gene
ration canuot be detached from the institutions
Of their ancestors. Their determination TO
reserve III Inheritance of free government in
their own hands, and transmit it TN lividel
and uninpaired TO their own posterlty, IS. too
strong to be successfully opposed Every
weaker passion will disappear before that love
of liberty and law for VIII CHI the American
people are distinguished above all others in
the world.
How far the duty Of tn President ''to pre-
serve, protect, and defend the Constitution,
requires him to go in opposing an unconstitu
tional act Of Congress, is very serious and
important question, on which have delilera-
ell much, and felt extre aely anxious to reach
proper conclusion. Where an act has been
passed according to the forms of the Constitu-
ton by The supreme Legislative authority, and
| is regularly enrolled among the public statutes
Of the cunnry, Executive resistance to it,
pecally IN times of high party excitement,
| xo, Id be likely to produce violent collision
between the respective adherents of the
two branches Of the Federal Government
This would be simply civil war; and civil war
must be resorted to only as the last remedy for
the worst of evils. Whatever might tend to
provoke i, should be most carefully avoided.
A faithful and conscientious Magistrate will
concede very much to honest error, and some
thing even TO pcrverSe malice, before he Will
en1anger the public peace; and he will not
| ad0pj forcible measures. or such as might lead
to force, as long as those which are peaceable
remain o, to him or toh his constituents. Ii is
true that cases may occur in which tue Exec
utive would be compelled to stand on it's
rights. and maintain them. regard !ess of all
consequences II Congress should pass an act
which is not only IN palpable conflict with the
CONSTITUTIONS but will rtalnly, II carried out,
produce Immediate and irreparable INJURY to
the organic structure of the Government, and
if there be neither judicial remedy for the
wrongs it Dnicts nor power IN he people to
protect themselves W, thout ihs official aid of
| b cir elected defender If. for instance, the
legislative department should pass an act,
| even through all the forms of law, to abolish 4
coordinate department of the Government-in
such a case h, President must take the high
| RESPONSIBILITIES of his office. and save the life
Of the nation at all hazardsr. The so CO led
reconstruction acts though as plainly uncon-
sti,utionl as any that can be imagined, were
no. believed to he within the class last men
toned The people were not wholly disarmed
of the power Of self defence. In all the Nor-
thern States they still held in their hands the
sacrt d right Of the ballet and 1t was safe to
believe that in due time they would come 10
the rescue of their own institutions. 1t gives
me pleasure to add that the appeal to our com
mon constituents not taken IN vain, anu
tha, NV confidence in their wis 'om and virtue
Sc ms not o have been mispa ed.
1t is well anu publicly know, tnit enormous
frauds have been perpetrated on the treasury,
and that colossal fortunes have been made at
the public expense. This species of corruption
has increased, is increasing, and if moi dimin-
ished will soon bring us into total ruin and
disgrace. The public creditors and the tax
payers are alike interested in an honest ADM
nlstration of the finances. and neither class
will long endure the large handed ,obberiss of
the recent past. For this discrditable state of
things there are Sc seral causes. Some Of the
taxes are SO laid as to present an Irresistible
temptation to evade payment. The grsas sums
which officers may win by connivsnce at fraud
create pressure which is more than the virtue
of many can whstand and there can be no
doubt hat the open disregard of constitutional
obligations avowed BY some Of the highest aud
more influential men in the country has
greatly weakened the moral sense of those WHO
serve III subordinate places. The expenses Of
the United States, including interest on the
public debt, are more than six times as much
as they were seven years ago. To collect and
dishursa this vast amount rpouiros caraful en-