The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-07-01

that we are q ft0ft0H, Out tfTtOb sVft VI q
nation we are! 1t is most clearly de-
monstrated in that argument that we are
not a nation Of iIadigiduaLs, blended IN
common mass, with consolidated SOW
ereigntv over the whole; but it is shown
with equal clearness that we are ma
ton, the constituent elements or members
of which are separate and distinct PolItl-
cal organizations, States, or sovereIgntles:
1t is shown that ours Is conventional
nation-One created by compact. All
federal republics, and all considerations
between separate and distinct sovereign
powers, are conventional nations We
were a nation under the first Article OF
Confederation, and we are just such a
nation noy-nnt a nation of one people
or one political organization, but ma
ton of several distinct political organi-
cations. We are ''confederated ma
ton" as Washington properly styled the
present Union. SThat is, nation OF
States, or, what is the same thing, ma
ton OF nations. Hence the appropriate
ness of the motto adopted by the fathers
to express the idea of their wOrk-"E
P,Y'ibus Unum."
In this sense we are not only nation,
but a nation of the highest and grandest
type that the world ever saw. 1t rises
above the simple to the complex form.
1t is, indeed, in many respects, Pecu-
liar nation, even in lis complex form,
differing from all other nations of It's own
type in many Of its most striking charac-
teristics. These peculiar features OF its
structure place it far in advance OF all
other Confederate Republics in its wise
provisions for the preservation of free in
situations, If it be but rightly admins
tered. The most important of these fea-
lures is the new principle which it intro
duced in the plan of Federal unions, of
permitting the common government, the
conventional power or nation, to execute
its delegated powers, within their limited
sphere, directly upon the citizens of the
several States, or smaller natlonalities
composing it.
This new idea of so constituting feder
al republic as to make Of its separate
members Zone nation as to all foreign
concerns, and to keep them distinct as to
domestic ones" with a division of the
powers delegated into Legislative, exec
utive and judicial departments, with a
perfect machinery of government to OPP
crate within prescribed limits in the exc
cution of the delegated powers, consti-
tutes the most striking difference between
our present Federal Union and all former
republics of its class. 1t marks the great
est stride of progress in free institutions
ever before made. 1t is this which has
so impressed the minds and excited the
admiration of intelligent foreigners III
contemplating the wonderful workings OF
the American system. This Is the fea-
ture to which the learned and philosophic
De Tocqueville refers when, speaking of
our Constitution, he says:
This Constitution, which may at first
be COMPOUNDED with the Federal Constitu-
tions which have preceded it, rests, in
truth, upon a wholly novel theory, which
may he considered as a great discovery
i'm modern science. X x x And
this difference produced the most mOmeR-
tous consequences.
OF the same feature Lord Brougham
has recorded his opinion in the following
words of high import:
1T is not at all refinement that a
Federal Union should be formed; this is
inc 1ldluls al IGSl1L VI lllCl1 lOlnl OItId-
tons in a very rude state of society. But
the regulation Of such union upon pre-
established principles; the formation of a
system of government and legislation in
which the different subjects shall not be
individuals, but States, the application
of legislative principles to such body of
States, and the devising means for keep
ING its integrity as IA federacy, while the
rights and powers of the individual
States are maintained entire, is the very
greatest refinement in social policy to
which any state of circumstance has ever
given rise, or to which any age has ever
given birth. y Brougham's Political
Philosophy, vol. 3, page 1856.
This grand conception of So forming,
modelling, and constituting our Union of
States, which so impressed De Tocque-
vile, and which Lord Brougham cOnsid-
cred 1.-THE very greatest refinement in
social policy to which any age has ever
given birth originated with Mr.. Jefer-
son. 1t came from the same master-mind
whose master-hand drew the Declaration
of Independence in 1916, and in 1898 set
forth with so much clearness ana power
the true, if not at present orthodox, prin-
ciples of the whole structure of our Fed
eral organization in the entire series of
Kentucky's famous resolutions, before re-
ferred to, and which were so thoroughly
Endorsed and established by the country
in 1901. To the administration of the
Government in conformity with these
principles, or with but slight departures
from them ''the momentous consequent
ces" spoken OF by De Tocquevilie, dis
tinguishing our unparalleled career, for
sixty years, in growth, prosperity. hap
piness and real greatness IS mainly at
tributable.
And now, Messrs Editors, do YOU ask,
Cai bono2 Why so much written upon
the dead issues of the past, when cues
tions Of SO much magnitude of practi-
cal character press upon the public mind?
If 50, the reply Is two-fold. First, TO vim
dictate the truth of history, which is itself
high duty ON the part of any one who
has it in his power to do it; and, in the
second place, TO show the people of these
States, in this vindication, not only the
true cause, the real 'cdRsa cdusdus" of
the late war, but the real cause of their
present troubles. The Federal machinery
for the last ten years has been abnormal
III its action 1t must be brought back
to the Jeffersonian doctrines, and made
to conform in its workings with the or
ganic principles of its structure, before
there can possibly be return of the DAYS
of peace, harmony, prosperity and hap
pinesS, which formerly marked our course
There is no other hope for constitutional
liberty on this continent. Judge Nicho-
las may dream dreams about another
constitutional amendment providing a
new mode of electing the President, but
the remedy lies in no such device as that.
1t lies simply in bringing back the Gov
eminent in its administration to original