Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-07-14
From the Baltimore Gazette.

REs- 1t was believed by many of the Demo-
cratic journalists at the North, and, indeed, by
some, also, to the South of us, that. in accept
ing the Editorship of the Atlanta Sun, the
Hon. Alexander II. Stephens wonld embar-
rass the Democratic party. Any fears on that
head are now dispelled. His political views
are clearly and calmly stated, and, in respect
to the issues on which the next Presidential
campaign are to be fought, will be very gen.
orally accepted. He holds that 'the true liv-
ing issue involved in the next contest in this
country"i is we'll condensed in an extract which
he quotes from the ST. Louis Republican.
That sterling Democratic journal says:
''The constitutional question before the peo-
pie then is not whether State has right to
secede, or to nullify any act of Congress. That
was decided, in fact, by the late war; but
whether State has any rights which the Ma
tional Government may not, at its pleasure, set
aside. When a Central Government begins to
appropriate the powers of surrounding States
or provinces. it never, of its own accord, ceases
from the process. It continues the encroach-
ment, if unresisted, until it has become impe-
rialized and the States reduced to outlying de-
Mr.. Stephens has but one objection to the
above. Strike out" he says, the words
National Government" and insert in their
place "Federal Government" and the issue
thus made, covers and includes the vital point
Of difference between the Radicals and their
Democratic Conservative opponents.
The questions relating to the right of seces-
sion and negro slavery, he considers emphati-
cally as among the dead issues, and declares
that in so CHASING them, he does but repeat
the universal sentiment of the Southern States.
The live issues now before u.s. he says, are
s'the usurpations Of the majority faction in
Congress since the close of the war-since the
proclamation of peace, and since the restora-
ton of the Union by the resumption of their
obligations to the Constitution by all the States
which had attempted to withdraw from it.
1t is the abuses of power, as manifested in
these usurpations, for which he would arraign
the dominant faction before the bar of public
reason. These usurpations, he contends, had
their rise in the Reconstruction" policy, So
called, by which at one blow ten States of the
Union were stricken from the. roll of Com
monwealths, put in condition far worse than
that OF provinces, and subjected entirely to
military rule without the recognition of sin
gle right.
The Ku-Klux bill, and the election bill,
both glazing usurpations of authority, were,
in his opinion, only the natural outgrowth Of
the unconstitutional measures by which they
were preceded. So long as any of these usur
pations have the forms of law-as judicially
expounded and enforced by those in authori-
ty-he advises obedience to them but he in
sists that, in denouncing the latter and later
of those usurpations, the voice of the people
that led to them. Still more strongly be in
sists that the people shall not be taught to be-
ieve that any of these usurpations have been
nothing more than acts of settlements or ques-
tons growing out of the war and its results.
''They were measures" be says, Sin no way
connected with the legitimate result of the
war. The Union was finally restored under
the Constitution whe2 they were enacted
ffhey were eenfesse outside of the Consti-
tuition, and, therefore, openly revolutionary in
their character and Objects
In other words, be would have no one step
in the process of the Radical policy of central
ization forgotten; holding it to be- the duty
of the people to bear constantly in mind the
progressive steps by which the reserved rights
Of the States have been usurped, the liberties
of the citizens abridged, and the way laid open
for the adoption of measures even still holder
and more despotic. Mr.. Stephens believes
that the fatal result he so earnestly deprecates
may yet be averted, and that it is "the High
mission of the Democracy to arrest the pro-
gress of usurpation, and to save the country
from so lamentable catastrope."
Governor Hoffman, in his letter to the Tam
many Society, on Tuesday last 18th instant),
writes to the same effect. The language is,
indeed, different, but the purport of it is the
same. The coincidence is SO remarkable that
we quote the paragraph in question, to show
the close agreement between the Northern
Governor and the Southern statesman. Gov
ernor Hoffman says:
"The acceptance or non-acceptance ofcertain
amendments which have recently been made a
part of the Constitution of the United States IS
not a practical question. The civil status Of the
colored man is established, and he is IN actual
possession Of the right Of suffrage. The task be-
fore US is to save the Constitution as whole.
To save it as 1t is requires our best Efforts
The question Of the day is 0hether soe are to tave
under Constitution at aW which shall be con-
strued by an impartial court so as to limit and
restrain, as it was intended to do, legislative
and Executive power alike, or under hoLtoao
form of a Constitution interpreted according to
the e1pediency Of the hour By Congress itself! such
Interpretation being enforced by an unrestrain-
ed Executive. The danger is imminent that
we may lose sight of the principles upon which
this Governments founded, and which consti-
tute its vital force"