The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1874-08-05
WHERE DO WE STAND /?

with extreme anxiety, or that we
sometimes crave from the oracles to
whom may be intrusted our destiny
some word OF revelation Of the how
and when of its escape. But 1.-THE
oracles are dumb We conclude it.
therefore, to he the part Of wisdom
to endeavor to understand the pro
cess by which these perils were
brought upon us and to fix the re-
sponsibility fer their existence. The
poet Cowper says in his address to
Yardley Oak:
90, could'st thou speak
As in nodona once thy kindred trees
Oracular, Iw0uld not curiots ask
The future, best unknown, but 1T thy
mouth
Inqusitive, the less ambiguous pas"
And so questioning the unambigu-
Gus past, the answer that comes to
us, clearer and sharper in it's ring
than any that was ever breathed in
Dodonian or Pythian responses, is
that the danger to our republican in
situations is caused by the violation
of republican principles. Our poiit
! ical institutions were based on the
principles that there is & fundamen-
tai law, fixed and iniexibte, capable
of change or variation only by a pro
cess prescribed by itself. This is
American republicanism; and this
fundamental law, written and not tra-
dictionary, is what we call constitu-
ton. By it republican liberty lives;
without it or outside Of it republican
liberty dies. Such is our destiny, as
irreyersible as the DEGREES of fate.
Now there came to pass, in the
ninth decade Of our national exist
ence, state Of things which required
the utmost fidelity to the principles
of constitutional government. This
was nothing less than a civil war for
the preservation of the Constitution
itself. Our government is necessari-
ly administered by parties; and when
the crisis of lS6l-G2 came, it was
administered by a sectional party
whose political success in obtaining
possession 81 power had produced
i such fear in the slaveholdine
States for their local institutions that
they sought for safety in the despe
: rate remedy Of secession and d!su
Mon. The issue that WAS thus made
between the section adhering to thu
Union and the section renouncing the
Union legitimately involved nothing
but the right of State secession. BE
ing war, therefore, on the part o
the Federal Government in defence o
the Constitution, it especially be
hooved the Federal power to do moth
inc that the Constitution did no
warrant, either in the progress OF tn
war or at its termination. Neverthe
less such was the incapacity an
want Of true craftsmanship on tn
l. part of the Federal Government tina
besides an almost countless numbe
of minor errors two grand error
we're committed, from the cons(
, uuences of which the country ha
y not vet extricated itself, and frol
which it cannot be extricated by tn
party that is responsible for then
" One of these enormous plumbers Wa
made at the outset of the war, til
r other at it's close.
T. The first blunder consisted in ca
- rving on the war by means Of pape
st. money, which, being made compu
:; sorry legal tender in payment of pr
Sc vate debts, broke down the constit1
er tional stan lard of value, enormous
increased the cost Of the war, al
rk entailed upon the country on the r
turn of peace currency which WI
only palliated and apologized for /
the alleged necessities Of war. II
y paper-money scheme was palpab
ho breach of the Constitution, whit
never meant that the occasion for Il
c. use of money should be measure
the Governments power over the re
IN resentative of value. That represe
les tative was affixed thing. intended
is be the same at all times and und
all circumstances. But even up
the doctrine of war necessities as
er. measure of constitutional power a
- as making a discrimination betWe
!, what is constitutional in time of "
and what is Unconstitutional in til
Ms of peace-a most dangerous as VI
as untenable distinction-t he /
publican party, although eight ye'
E MS of peace have elapsed, during viii
IAN. it has had the entire control of leg
and lation. has been utterly incapable