The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-10-24
,oue,,,ou OF Great Moment.

The first enuuciation Of the Republic
clu platform adopted at Cincinnati al
Srns that "the United States Of Ameri.
cal Nation, not league
To make good the nationality Of this
country against the doctrines Of John G.
Calhoun cost this country half a million
Of lives and three thousand millions Of
debt. Al the end Of the war it was sup
posed that no man who held to the doc.
rines Of Calhoun, viz: that We are not a
nation but a mere league-aud to the
doctrine that there il no power to coerce
seeding Stutc-wOuld ever again
be put in position where he
could imperil the existence OF this
country. We had one such man in
power when great crisis came upon the
country in the person Of flames Buchanan.
No one supposed at the close Of the war
that this country would ever again elect
to the Presidency any man who was taint'
ed with such views. And yet, within
eleven years after the close Of the war,
the same party that elected James Buc'
hlHan to the Presidency has put forward
another man Of precisely the same sort,
and is moving heaven and earth to place
him in the same position. He is
the man who in 1860 appealed to
The Republican party to abandon the
theory Of nationality, and Of governing
tho United States as a nation, and to re.
ttice their steps to the doctrine that the
United States were a mere partnership
Of distinct sovereignties, confederation
OtStAtes, "vesting only the power apper'
!Aiuing TO our foreign relations and tc
certain specified common objects OF q
domestic nature in q Federative Agency"
He argued that the Southern States were
kttnly alive, TO the true principles on
which the Government was founded, and
they would never submit to any other,
Aad Nj. Lincoln, as the Executive head
Of the Federal Government" "would be
IN 'ubstance the Government Of one peo.
psby another people," in fact would be
sOihe Southern SIates "ioreign Govern.
nent.' He thus defined lin his Kent let.
ter)the relative powers Of the States, ig.
nOrlng from beginning to end the exist.
aace Of National Government.
Each section Is organized into States
With complete governments, holding The
pOssr and wisIdiag the srord They are
held together only by cOmpac. Of con.
liberation. : . The single, slender
conventional tie which holda the States
10 confederation has no strength com.
pared with the Compacted intertwininv
S6te' which bind the atoms Of human
society into one formation OF natural
growth. The masters in polit.
lcaI science who constructed our sys,e,n
preserved the State Government as u bull.
Sa'E ot the freedom OF individuals and
localities against oppression from cen.
Haltsd power. They recognized no right
oil Constitutional secession; buI they lefl
f'''Gtion organized rhenewr il should be de,
Ha'Gtd BY The public opinion Of a &ate,-tel
sAA PO'sr 70 mop the tie Of confederation
aaaas'o7 .HigA break treaty, and TO orepe
STts'' as a nation might repel invasion
laey caused US to depend in great meas.
ate upon the public opinion Of the States
union.
Ibis il the precise doctrine OF Calhoun
s'shAuau, JEFF Davis, TOombs, and al
zoe leading Democrats who plunged thil
'9OH'sy into civil war in 1861. And yel
aver tOu' years Of war and all its hor
'''''W ate called to again pass upon The
n'asnsOus question whether this Gov
eminent is a lengue-a nero rape o.
"'d-Ot a Nation.
h'ueTer hear the Raven croak OF IL
'nea and disaster that comes back tc
cut ean as the natural echo Of such Ian.
s''N a. Mr.. Tildcn's abou. this Govern.
neat that We do not recall the solemn
Ia' , lonltOry words we heard Abraham
y L'saIn :: utter at Gettysburg on the l9th
o. November, 1868. After alludiuv tc
.u' brave men who had perished on thai
p"'SAttle'6eld Of the war in defence oi
@s . PetPetuity Of our Government, he
o,,.. y : for us the living, to dedicate
H., tS''.ye' @ to the unfinished work which
~ so Who fought here have thus far so
Nv wv advanced; 10 conSecrate ourselyes
~ ise great task remaining, and to ga,her
is.s.s H. me graves Of these honored dead
Sil,Sd SSi'l (. devotion to that cause ior
STa sT @ey gave their lives.
M aete lot US resolve that thew shall
S,II SIIVe ' died in vain; that this nation
~. under God have new birth n