The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1889-05-02


apostle never believed great people
could grant and still retain. could give
and at will reclaim, could delegate and
vet firmly hold the authority whic b
ultimately created the power of their
republic and enlarged the scope of their
own liberty.
Where this master mind halted, all
stood still, The necessity for perma-
nent union was apparent, but each
state must have hold upon the bow
string which encircled its throat. 1t
was admitted that union gave the ma
chinery required to successfully fight
the common enemy, but yet there was
fear that it might become Franken-
stein and destroy its creators.
Thus patriotism and fear, diff
culties of communication between
distant communities, and the
intense growth of provincial
pride and interests, led this congress
to frame the articles of confederation
happily termed the League of Friend
ship. The result was not govern
ment, but ghost. By this scheme the
American people were ignored and the
Declaration of Independence reversed.
The states, by their legislatures cleo
ted delegates to congress. and the dele
gate represented the sovereignty of his
commonwealth. All the states had an
equal voice without regard to their
size or population. 1t required the
vote of nine states to pass any bill,
and five could block the wheels of gov
eminent. Congress had none of the
powers essential to sovereignty. 1t
could neither levy taxes nor impose
duties nor collect excise. For the sup
port of the army and navy, for the
purposes of war, for the preservation
of its own functions, it could only call
- =
power to enforce its demands. 1t had
no president or executive auth GRITTY, no
supreme court with general jurisdic-
ton, and no national powers. Each
Of the thirteen states had seaports and
levied discriminating duties against
the others, and could also tax and thus
prohibit interstate commerce across its
territory. Had the confederation been
union instead of a league, it could
have raised and equipped three times
the number of men contributed by re-
luctant states, and conquered indie
pendence without foreign assistance.
This paralyZed government, without
strength, because it could not enforce
it's degrees; without credit, because it
could pledge nothing for payment of its
| debts; without respect, because with
out inherent authority; would, by its
feeble life and early death, have add
ed another to the historic tragedies
| which have in many lan0s marked the
suppression of freedom. had it not
| been saved by the intelligent, inherited
and invincible understanding of liberty
by the people, and the genius and pa
triotism of their leaders.
But, while the perils of war had Civ
en- temporary strength TO the cOnfeder-
alton, peace developed its fatal weak
ness. 1t derived no authority from the
| ond aOnld NOT annHal RI than
| Anarchy threatened its representatives
abroad. "Can you fulfill or enforce
the obligations of the treaty on your
part if we sign one with your" was the
sneer of the courts of the old world to
| our ambassadors. Some states gave a
half-hearted support to its demands;
others defied them. The loss of public
| al bankruptcy. The widest phan-
tastes assumed the force OF serious
measure for the relief of the general
distress. States passed exclusive and
hostile laws against each other, and
riot and disorder threatened the disin-
| tegration of society. tOur stock is
| stolen. our houses are plundered, our
farms are raided,' cried delegate in
the Massachusetts convention; "deS-
potism is better than anarchy!n To
raise four millions of dollars year
was beyond the resources of the gov
| eminent. and three hundred Thousand
was the limit of the loan it could secure
from the money-lenderS of Europe.
Even Washington exclaimed in des-
pair: II see one head gradually chang
ing into thirteen; see one army grad
ually branching into thirteen; which,
instead OF looking up to congress as
the supreme controlling power, and
considering themselves as depending
on their respective states" And later
when independence had been won, the
impotency of the government wrung
from him the exclamation. After glo-
riously and successfully contendine
against the usurpation ofSGreat Brit
ian, we may fall a prey to our own toll
" and disputes"
But even through this CimmeriaI
darkness shot a flame which illumineC
the coming century, and kept bright
the beacon fires of liberty. The archI
tects of constitutional freedom forme-
their institutions with wisdom which
forcasted the future. They may moi
have understood at first the whole
truth, but. for that which they knew
they had the martyrs spirit
and the crusaders enthusiasm
Though the confederation was Il gov
eminent of checks without balances
and of purpose without power, thu
, statesmen who guided it demonstrated
often the resistless force of great soul:
animated by the purest patriotism, ant
, united in judgment and effort to pro
; mote the common good, by lofty ap
! peals and high reasoning, to elevate
the masses above local greed and ap
! parent self-interest to their own broat
! plane.
The most significant triumph o
, these moral and intellectual forces wa
! that which secured the assent of tn
states to the Limitation of their bOun
|, diaries. to the grant of the wilderness
beyond them to the general govern
ment, and to the insertion in the Ordi
nance erecting the Northwest Terri
tories of the immortal prCviso prohit
| iting slavery or involuntary servi
! | tude" within all that broad domain
The states carved out of this splendid
: concession were not soyereigntie
: which had successfully rebelled, bu
i they were the children of the union
born of the covenant and thrilled wit
its life and liberty. They became tn
!, bulwarkS of nationality and the but
tresses of freedom. Their prepondeI
: ating strength first checked and the
5 atty halted and held at bay the spiri
L of state rights and secession for ger
}, erationS; and when the crisis came,
I was with their overwhelming assist
g ance that the nation killed and burie
q its enemy. The cornerstone of tn
edifice whose centenary we are celE
. brating was the ordinance of 1857. ]
l. was constructed by the feeblest of COZ
crosses. but few enactments of ancien
E or modern times have had a more faI
reaching and beneficent influence.
J; is one of the sublimest paradoxes {
C history, that this weak confederate
z of states should have welded the chat
e against which, after seventy-four veal
of fretful efforts for release, its ow
# spirit frantically dashed and died.
p The government of the republic b
II a congress of states diplomatic col
j. vention of ambassadors of petty con
Is monwealths, after seven years. tria
ee was falling asunder. Threatene
he with civil war among its members, il
n surrectiOn and lawlessness rife with
10 the states, foreign commerce RUNE
" and internal trade paralvZed, its Gu