The Republican journal., 1876-03-23
An Episode to Remember.
From the Boston Daily Post.

From the Boston Daily Post.
Resolved. hat the people of the United States
constitute nation in the sense, to the extent and
prrpose defined in the Federal Constitution.
! Resolved, That the Government of the United
States il Fedora! Union and was formed by the
people of the several States in their sovereign capac
ity that the rights and powers of the United States
| Government are defined and limited by the Federal
Convention, and these rights and powers cannot be
enlarged or diminished except By All amendment to
the Constitution.
Resolved, That the rights of States have the same
sanction of security in the Constitution the rights
and powers Of the Federal Government and that
local domestic government by the several States,
within the limits of the Constitution is absolutely
necessary for the of the liberties of the
citizen and the continuance of republican system
of Government.
| Resolved, That the doctrine that any State has
the right TO secede from the Union Is in conflict
with the idea OF perpetual L Mon, as contemplated
by the Constitution and should be regarded as be
ing forever eNtingushed by the result Of the recent
conflict.
The above resolutions form compend
Of our republican system They were in
PRODUCED into the National House of Rep
resentatives by Mr. Cox. of New York, for
the simple purpose OF smothering the in
cipient ambition of Mr. Baker, of India
ma. who was eager to start a debate on State
Rights in order to call off the attention
of the Democratic ma jority from post-trad-
ers Belknap and poker-teaching Schenck.
Baker undertook to get into the oven of
debate a lot OF theoretc dough about a
variety of topics that are generally regard
ed as settled, in other words, used up. He
wanted to lay down fresh Interpretation
Of the Constitution, to define all over
again the character of the Government,
and TO drive down some stakes of his own
ragged sharpening about the dismenber-
ment of the Union and the causelessness
OF the late war 1t was all of it as peril
nent to the time and to the temper Of the
House as it would have been to propose,
as a relief from Belknap, discussion of
| the old Alien and Sedition laws, or the
right and wrong Of Shay's Rebellion.
| There was but one way to deal with such
trash, and happily the man was at hand
who possessed 10Th the readiness and the
ability 10 10 it most ettectually. Mr.. Cox
of New i ork, after the Baker resolution
! had been torn in two and thrown on the
floor, proposed. as the elementary points
of our common political faith the summary
contained in the four brief resolutions
above, upon which the yeas and nays
were judciously ordered and in spite of
| Mr.. Blaine's clustering call on AL Union
men in the House" to vote against them,
they were adopted by the convincing vote
of 100 to AZ. So that Blaine went to pot
on this subject along with Baker He had
SO soon forgotten the lesson administered
| to him in all the gentleness of an assured
superiority by Mr.. Lamar, of Mississippi
| Now see what it was that Mr. Blaine
himself voted for. and appealed vanly to
| his entire party to vote for: that the Unit
ed States are not a nation according to
the definition of the Constitution that
| the Government is not a Federal Union,
| formed by the people of the several States
| in their sovereign capacity; that the rights
and powers of this Government are not
! defined and limited by the Constitution,
and that they can be enlarged or diminish
| ed without amending the Constitution
that the rights of the States have not the
! same security under the Constitution as
| the rights and powers of the Federal Gov
eminent have; that local domestic gov
eminent by the States, within the limits
OF the Constitution. is not absolutely nee
essaly tor preserving the liberties of the
citizen and the continuance of republican
c as he was by his blind partisan passion,
that he did not believe the right of seces-
sion to be in conflict with the idea ola
| perpetual Union, and that he did not re-
gard the right OF secession ''iorever extin-
guished by the result of the recent civil
conflict ~ Such is Blaine-a man who
openly aspires to the Presidency and
vaunts his capacity for craftsmanship as
his chief recommendation Let us look
closer and at but a single point in these
| admirable resolutions, which contain the
ontline of our entire political system. In
voting against them, Mr. Blaine repudia-
ted the doctrine that local domestic GOV
| eminent by the States, within the limits
OF the constitution, is not absolutely nee
essary to preserve individual freedom and
perpetuate republican government. Then
he would of course have the Federal Gov
eminent step into our local courts and try
all cases Of murder, larceny, and other
offences against local law These are in
no sense whatever otfenses against the
United States; yet if they are to be pun
ished at all, Mr. Blaine would have the
United States punish them. So, too in
relation to Probate Courts, he would have
the United States come in-Illinois and
Maine, for instance, come into Massachu-
setts-and appreciate wills, appoint adj
mnistrators, and otherwise dispose of the
property of individuals! Yet the United
States have neither statutes nor courts
that take cognizance of these matters re-
lating to the individual, and obviously
enough can have none Mr. Blaine, how
ever, as a Centennial candidate for the
Presidency, announces that it makes no
difference, and calls on his party follow
ers to vote as he does on the question.
We cannot but suspect that Mr. Lamar re-
grets having SO thoroughly castigated
public man who needed the horn book so
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