Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-01-19
Arc We q Nationl

manship OF twenty-five out Of thirty-three
working committees TO the late slave or
Southern States, Mr. Mortons resolutions
upon nationality will be very timely for
the purpose OF defining the views of hon.
orable gentlemen as to the nature of the
Government under which we live. A few
years ago many Of the members Of the
present Congress were actively engaged
in the effort to destroy that Government.
They denied that they were rebels upon
the ground that the Union was not nation
al but simple partnership of sovereign
States, any one of which could withdraw
when and now it pleased and appropriate
all the partnership property that it could
lay hands on. The war having decided
against them, and many of them having
now appeared as members of the Govern.
meut, it is well to know what kind of a
Government they think it to be and
whether they have renounced the theory
upon which they took up arms. Prac-
tically and for the present the question
has been settled. So was the Preienders
claim in Great Britain settled in 1115, but
Prince Charles Edward renewed it in
1745.
The question of the nature of the Union
is very practical 1t is simply whether
VIZ AHltcQ suites Eic iu cilcCt d UatlOu or
not. That there are distinct States, with
distinct local governments, with admitted
rights, and that this system, by difIusinp
political interests and activities, is cxpe.
dent and admirable, is indisputable. II
is not denied or contested But the other
question remains: Do the people of the
United States who maintain for the com
mon welfare the distinct local govern
ments compose, for all the purposes for
which nations exist, nation, or is the
citizen of the United States who lives in
New \ DIRK or Georgia without nation.
Is the Government of the United States to-
day national authority, or is it the agent
Tor certain purposes Of certain independ-
ent and sovereign communities This is
plainly question OF fact, and in the light
OF the war there is but one answer Yet
the introduction of Mr.. Mortons resolu-
tons has led to the presentation OF
counter series 10y his colleague, Senator
Mcdonald, of Indiana, the key Of which
is that the people of the United States
are nation only in the manner and to
the extent prescribed by the Constitution.
This proposition has the old evasion and
obsculty of the Virginia and kentucky
resolutions Of '9S. MIR. Mcdonald con
cedes that the right of secession was not
reserved to the States. But if they are IT.
revocably bound in Union through
which alone they can deal with other
Governments, which makes peace and
war, coins money and regulates com
merce, the conclusion is irresistible that
the citizens of the United States either
have no nationality, belong to no nation
whatever, or that the United States is the
nation to which they belong. Moreover,
Is If n no Strtatt,y ~, Z
that the people Of this country are ma
ton only in the manner provided by the
Constitution: Do facts count for moth
ing? Is the sentiment of nationality,
which has grown with the growth and
strengthened with the strength of the
Union, not to be considered? Are the
history and event of the war without
significance? Nationality, like beliger-
ence, Is fact, not theory. Around the
Constitution and within the century there
has grown up national feeling of which
the trainers OF the Constitution had no ex-
perience, and of which they could have no
foresight, This feeling does not change
the letter of the instrument nor magnify
the powers which ii confcrs, but ii makes
actually and substantially nation Of the
people of the United States.
What is to be gained by DENYING this
fact? II does not diminish the rights of
the States nor the perception of the wis
dom OF the local political system. Mr..
Mcdonald and the doctrinaires Of his
school should remember that the changes
of 100 years, the marvelously increased
facilities of communication OF every kind,
have very sensiby modified the force of
State feeling. The Colonies were sepa-
rate communities, in which the inhabitants
were native and stationary. That condi-
ton fingered in the Southern States until
the war, and explained much OF their
provincial pride and local jealousy. 1t
was iuolcrous 10 an intelligent American
twenty years ago to see that q traveller was
prouder of entering his name in a foreign
register as from South Carolina rather
than from the United States. MIR. MELON
aid takes no account either OF immigra-
ton or OF the new States. His resolutions
assert that the States al the formation of
the Constitution were each sovereign. free
and independent. How many of them
were there There were then thirteen.
There are now tnirty-seven Have twenty.
four OF them in fact and in theory, ever
been sovereign, free and independent?
The party sklrmishing by Congressional
resolution is not conclusive, but it has a
certain significance, and We wait with
some interest to see whether the Demo
cratic majority of the House, of which
the larger part were arrayed against the
Government, propose to declare that the
people OF the United States are not eff
tectively . nation.-Ha,Vey's Weekly.