The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-04-22
Consolidation Of Power Mt Washington.

-OE, Wy VIC lettuefS Vi TIC ANiteAiCttl peti ~
is beginning to be recognized and dc
by others than members Of the
Democratic party. Warupon the States,
and the reserved rights Of the people,
has become open, bold and undcniable,
and must yet be the recognized creed Of
the bad men who are shaping the
course of President Grant and scheming
to destroy the political power of the
seeded States. Happily, to destroy
these States, the rights Of the Northern
States must be destroyed also, which
gives to the conflict a moro comprchen
sive scope than that Of mere sectional
rivalry and relieves it of the potent in
gredient of a struggle against srcbcls.'
1t is well for the South that the issue is
thus made, and We hope to see it fought
out it 1872. Let the Republicans adj
here to their programme of State de-
struction, and let the Democrats meet
them with the antidotc, the Constitu-
ton and the rights of the States there
under, and we shall not fear the result.
Touching the purposes of the Repub-
lican leaders and the merits of Il CEN
| tralized government, we quote as fol-
lows from n recent letter to the Cincin-
natl Commercial, written by that shrewd
observer Of men and things, Colonel
Dom Piatt:
"The tendency TO q Capitalization of
power here in the Republican party is
not pleasant. Through the long years
passed from the first laying of the foun-
| datiOns of our Government up to the
present day, no attempt has been made
upon the part Of the General Govern
ment to intrude its legal restriction up
| on the States. No Federal Court was
ever organized to try Il man charged
with murder or any other offense done
by the individual against the State un-
til now. The fathers of the Govern
ment and their successors, through the
experience they had in illustrating the
relations between the General Govern
ment and the States for so many years,
| would have been startled at such pro-
position that is now debated day after
| day, as if were q matter of course, in
Congress. The little criminal law that
we have pertaining to the General
Government relates to the District of
Columbia and the high seas, and seems
to have been framed with careful refer
ence to the jurisdiction acknowledged
| in the States. The fourth section of
Shellabarger's bill wipes out all this
State lines are not only destroyed, but
a power put in the hands of the Presi-
dent to make war at home that he can
not exercise legally in our foreign rela-
| tons.
awe fortunately have men among
,%>1l Lea
and are guided by their oaths. They
see that our prosperity heretofore has
been owing, in great measure, to the
general diffusion of power throughout
| the country. The people seem to retain
! their honest impulses and care for their
Government, when its administration
| comes Immediately under their eyes,
Take the State of Ohio for example
| Out of a taxation of twenty millions,
two millions only go to the support Of
the State Government. Eighteen mil
lions are paid out again in the counties
| and townships were they are collected.
Now, observe the fact that while it is
| the rarest thing (nnd I believe never
| known) for township treasurer to be a
defaulter, it is less rare for a county
| treasurer to prove Enthusiastically, and
common for the State Treasurer to mis-
| use the public funds. But when you
leave thcStatc and come to the National
Capital, stealing is the rule instead of
the exception. If the General Govern
mcnt is to ulsurp all the powers dclegat-
| ed to the States, and we are to have one
grand powerful Government in WASH
| ingtOn for all, we may as well bid fare
well not only to our liberties, but to the
unity which make us Il nation. Through
the wise provisions of the fathers, the
vast diversity of interests were provided
] for in the local governments, and VIC
became harmonious. In the oldcn time
we sought to harmOnize only upon the
| few provisions that effected us in gene
raj. To break this up and centralizc all
powers at the National Capital is to de-
strOy those wise, constitutional rcgula-
tons, and send up the Representatives
from the several parts of the country to
fight like pirates upon the deck of a
captured vessel, rs we have witnessed
for the last six or seven years.
"I know that this will be stigmatizcd
as Democratic talk. l know that it is
intensely unpopular to advocate State
rights, and yet there are some things
here that ought to lift us above partisan
influences and make us pause before
giving our consent to these radical
changes. When the powers of the Gen
eral Government had ceased almost to
be recognized, Gas a man better entitled
to be heard than am, once said, as q
reason for changing from q Republican
back to the Democratic partly and the
States were not only usurping the Gov
NOT 1csiuncI fp,. tbpfr1 hr1t