The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1868-04-30
lIPE Oh DEATH OF TIE AMERICAN REPUBLlC
ut SPEECH OF
JERE. WILLIAMS
TO THE
PendletOn Club of WOOdsfleld, D.
hiO, March 20, 1868.

hio, March 20, 1868.
Mn. PRESIDENT: I do not propos
this evening to enter into a general dis
cussion OF the issues involved in tn,
present political contest, but will con
fine my remarks to single proposi
ton; one which we must all more thor
ouglAy comprehend, and more fully re
alize before we are prepared to cnte,
upon the canvass, much less upon tht
election. That proposition is this:
II the Radicals succeed at the Fal
elections without any material loss O
their strength, it matters little who shal
succeed after that time. A system o
government will, in tlat event, be fas.
tened upon US, under which elections
will have little influence.
The issue which underlies all Other
issues OF this campaign, is a contest be.
tween two widely different and antago-
nistic systems Of government. One OF
these systems, supported by the Con,
servatives, is that founded by Jefferson
upon the principle that all power is
originally inherent in the people-that
our government, State and National,
possesses no Legitimate powers but such
as have been specifically granted to
them, by the people, in written consti.
tutions. 1t may, therefore, properly
be called the constitutional system.--
The central idea of this system is, that
the General Government should at.
tempt nothing which the States can do
as well, or better; States should at
tempt nothing which counties can do
as we'll, or better; counties should at.
tempt nothing which townships can do
as we'll, or better, and townships should
attempt nothing which society, or in
dividuals, can do as well, or better
1t recognizes the greatest possible in
dividual liberty ofthe citizen. 1t is the
system which prevailed in this country
from the adoption of the Constitution
to the Inauguration Of President Lin
coin, and under which few feeble,
scattered colonies became, in three
quarters ofa century, the mightest MI,
ton on earth.
The other system, introduced and
supported by the Radicals, is precisely
the converse of this. Itrecognizes the
head of the government as the source
ofall political power II is based up
on the theory that the States and the
people have no rights but such as the
government has loaned to them, and
which the government may at any time
reclaim. Such parts of this system as
arc not literally copied from the mon
arches of Europe, are the mere exper-
iments of visionaries.
The present political campaign is u
death struggle between these two sys-
tens, and must result in the overthrow
of one and the permanent establish
ment Of the other. By comparing the
present condition Of the government
and the people with their condition a
few years ago, we may see what pro-
gress has been made in breaking down
the constitutional system, and how lit.
tie now remains to be done to place the
Radical system above the influence of
the ballot-box.
A few years ago, within the memory
of the youngest voter present, political
parties differed upon questions of poll
cy. They sometimes even went so far
rs to differ in regard to the construc
ton of certain clauses OF the Constitu.
ton. But no man then was bold
enough, or vile enough, to propose Il
violation of that instrument. If the
most popular man in our country had
announced his hostility to the Consti.
tuition he could not have been elected
trustee Of any township in Ohio. All
our people and all our parties We'd with
each other in conforming to its teach
ings. All our orators emulated each
other in magnifying its virtues, and the
wisdom of its founders. All our states
men from Washington 10 Douglas left
it to us as a guide and a warning, n
thousand times repeated, that SO long
as we preserved the constitution in its
purity we should be the most prosper
Gus people on earth; that as soon as
we should suffer it to he disregarded
we would open the floodgates Of ruin.
Statesmen taught to the people, and
the people taught to their children, that
the Constitution was to be revcred sec.
ond only to the Holy Scriptures, and
if the Constitution was our political
Bible, the co ordinate branches, the
Legislative, executive and judicial, were
the Holy Trinity of our government.
They are like the wheels ofa machine !;
80 long as each revolves in its own
sphere everythings works harmonious
ly; but whenever one encr0,.ches upon
the domain of another the whole sys.
TEN becomes deranged.
Under this system faithfully carried
out, our Government was the wonder
and envy of the civilized world. Eu.
ropean nations were prudently with.
drawing from all interference with po-
litical affairs on this continent, believ-
ing il to be the mantle st destiny of the
United States 20 control the whole
Western hemisphere.
The prosperity of our people kept