The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-10-07

shall speak first of State rights.
The time was when no statesman
dared TO deny that there were cer-
tain important, indispensable rights
which belonged TO the State, and
that if the State were deprived of
them this Government wonld be-
come a despotism--the worst of des-
potisms. But st the breaking out
of the war and afterward, our oppo-
nents took advantage of circumstan-
e to c~entralIze power, lwIsh, be-
fore gong further, TO have 1T dis
tinctly understood that what / shall
speak of will have nothing whatev-
er to do with secession. There Is
no man of candor who will deny
that for the last ten years the ten
dency has been and nov is to con-
solidage, 10 c~entralIze the power IN
the Federal or General Government.
What Is il that made this country
what il was to our fathers, whatit
is to ourselves, aid what we hoped
it would be to our posterIty? IL
was because this was said to be a
free government. Nc: the govern
ment of a monarch, an oIIgaFchy OF
an a~ristocracy but the government
of the people; and a government
cannot be free unless it is of the
people. New England had the hon
or OF setting the brightest example
of Democratic government of any
colony which eve settled In a new
country. 1t was New England
which established the township sys-
TEN. In the township the people
met together and decided questions
concerning them. The lowest po>
Utica! division we have in Ohio is
the school district, and the people
of these districts decide district mat
tiers. Rising from that we come to
townships. thepeople deciding town
ship matters without interference
from other townships. Ascending,
We come to counties, the inhabi-
tants settling county questions a.
mong themselves. Next we come
- the State, aud Il used to be that
the people of the States settled
State matters among themselves
alone. That is the only trde sys-
tenn of free government. But there
are questions which concern more
than one State, and thus the neces-
sity of a federal or general govern
ment, which is to decide questions
affecting all the States and our for
eIgn relations. Hence our forciath-
ers drew up the Federal Constitu-
ton. That happy system of local
self-government and of a general
government at the same time,
though complicated, is perfect and
harmonious, and has been the ajmi-
ration of every political economist
who has ever studied it. But, as
have said, the tendency of the last
ten years has been to take from the
States their dearest and most sa-
cred rights and vest them in the
general government. The time has
now come for the people to say
whether it is for their interest that
this shall go on.
Ny colleague, Mr.. Sherman, in q
recent speech, remarked that the
effect of our late war was to fuse
the country INTO one great cation
Fusel That means melted, doesn't
it? And, as there was nothing else
to melt down, the States must have
been melted, or fused, and the pow
or consolidated IN the government
which wouId leave us what Jackson
pronounced the most descipable o.
despotisms. Again, I-mIght quote
the United States Attorney Gener'
al, who said, in IL recent speech al
Atlanta, that now and henceforth
tbe, State lines might be abolished
Can i be called to account, then
when these prominent men of the
other party speak 50 plainly IF the
tenienty to centralzeipower2
- What gives. the Legislators al
Washington the power To- Iegislate,
70, take money? The United States
Oons,iLuiien,a which provides thai
the Congress shall be chosen from
the States, two Senators from each
State, and sRsprsseh fattYes from