The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-06-05
TUESDAY. JUNE ). 1900.
WHEN DID xEBEcomEA a11oN2

A valued friend takes us to task in
communication published in another
column because We differed with the views
of the Rev Il. NJ. Palmer in his recent
speech in Louisville.
We think the principal difference be-
tween ourselves and our contributor is in
the sense in which we take the word ma
ton. 1t has more than one definition.
nation has been defined 10 be "a people or
gained under one civil government, and
ordinarily dwelling together in "a distinct
territory This is body polite, which
we were IL has also been defined to be
''aa aggregation of people of common
origin, traditions and language This in,
respect to the race character of a people.
1t was in its first sense that we used the
word. and about this we said:
STATES rights. therefore, stand to-day
exactly where they stood wnen our Con-
stitution came from the hands Of George
Washington and James Madison, and as it
was Interpreted during his long career as
Chief Justice by John Marshall. and we
shall never concedc that the rights of the
States under the Constitution have been
altered or modified in the smallest degree
by the war or by anything that has hap
pened since the war. We We're a ration
before the war as 10 all of those matters
that require nationalitg-as completely
nation as any that exists on this earth,
but the States Were as completely sepa-
rate governments, so far as local aftalrs
are concerned, as any. government can be,
and they are just as completely separate
governments, as far as local affairs are
concerned, to-day as they were then
Our friend seems TO be more troubled by
The word nation than by the substance of
the thing. We repeat what we said in
The article commented upon, that ;he Con-
stitution stands to-day just as it. came to
us from the hands OF George Washington
and James Madison, with the exception of
the three amendments added after the war.
and these do not in any way whatever
bear upon tie subject. IN the sense in
which we used the word it is impossible
to say the United States are any more a
nation to-day than they We're in 1861.
They had all the attributes OF a nation in
1861 for certain purposes; they. had none
of the attributes OF a nation FOR other pur-
poses. They Were as completely a nation
are to-day; they were as completely a
nation for coming the money Of this coun-
try and regulating its value in 1851 as they
are to-day; they Were as completely a
nation for making treaties with foreign
governments as they are to-day, and they
were as completely a nation FOR other pur-
poses in 1861 as they Are to-day, and there
is no single instance or particular in which
they are any mere nation to-day than
they We're IN 1861. This Is the fundamental
doctrine announced by the Supreme Court
OF The United States and acted upon by
every other department OF the government,
and il is q doctrine which We insist shall
be maintained and adhered TO by every one
in these United States through all time.
Because there Were men, prior 10 1861. W no
had sentimental objections TO the Ulited
States being called a nation, they We're
not then any less q nation when they came
10 make war with q foreign oower than
they are to-day, and because there are
men who think that the war has changed
.he whole theory of our government ii is
not for enlightened citizens 10 admit that
the central government can step one inch
beyond the boundaries pncscri:ted fo- it in
the Constitutional Convention Of 1851. we
deny that the war changed this, ana With
our last breath We shall be found protest
ing that the Government of the United
States IS exactly the government tkat it
was created by The Constitution. and that
II may not step one hairs breadth into the
domain OF the States any -aore to-day
than ii might have done in 1890
Although we We're a nation in 1851 for
certain purposes. yet each State Had re-
served right 10 seeede from that nation
when sufficient cause arose, but that did
not make the nation less nation until
that act of secession took place. We in
s.st that this IS Democratic doctrine. and
not only Democratic doctrine. bu, the doc
striise which is absolutely necessary for
preserving tie autonomy of the States and
preserving to them that right of control
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