The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1903-01-11

ure. But how would 1t have been at any
| given time with combination of States,
acting in sympathy combination Of
proportionately as considerable, when
measured with the whole as was the Con-
federacy of 1861? hold that, here again,
1t was merely a question of time, and
that such withdrawal as then took
place would never have failed Of success
at any anterior period in our national
history. 1t was steam and electricity
which then settled the issue OF sovereign
ty; not argument, not military skill, not
wealth. courage or endurance; not even
men in arms. Before 1861 steam and
electricity, neither on land nor water,
had been rendered so subservient to man
as to make him equal to the prodigous
the unprecedented. task then undertaken
and finally accomplished In that case,
might in the end made right: but the end
was in no degree a foregone conclusion.
A Forecast of What Followed.
In my own family records / find a GU.
rious bit OF contemporary evidence OF this,
and. Of the line of thought and reasoning
then resulting therefrom. Following the
foresight of Madison, ]. Q. Adams. not
ing the set OF the currents In 1890 became
instinctively persuaded that the North
and South would be swept into collision
by the forces of inherent development.
Again and again did he put this belief OF
his on record. Contemplating such an
eventuality, he, In 1889, thus expressed
himself in q public utterance, In words
which nave or late more imam once
seen quoted in support OF the abstract
constitutional right Of secession Speak
ing in New York on what was called the
jubilee OF the Constitution, or the flftleth
anniversary of its adoption, he said:
IF the day should ever come (may
Heaven avert IT'D when the affections OF
the people of these States shall be alien
ated from each other, when the frater-
ence, or collision of interest shall Tester
into hatred. the bands Of political associ-
alton will not long hold together parties
no longer attracted by the magnetism Of
conciliated interests and andy sympa~
thies; and far better will II be for the
people Of the disunited states to part in
friendship from each other than to be held
together by constraint. Then will be the
time for reverting to the precedents which
occurred at the formation and adoption
Of the Constitution, to form again
more perfect union by dissolving that
which could no longer bind, and to leave
the separate parts to be reunited by the
law OF political gravitatlon to the CEN
ter"
In other words, forecasting strife, and
measuring the coercive force available
at a time when steam on land and water
was in its stages OF earlier development.
j. Q. Adams regarded the attempt at an
assertion OF national sovereignty as so
futile that, though he most potently and
powerfully believed in that sovereignty.
he looked upon It's exercise as quixotlc,
and, consequently, not to be justified. A
dissolution of the Union. at least tenn
porarily, he believed to be inevitable. So
far as he could look into the future, Mr..
Adams was right; only-the unexpected
was TO occur! 1t did occur. and it set
tied the question. In 1888 the preponder-
an,e of popular feeling and affection was
wholly in the scale of State sovereignty,
as opposed to nationality; in 1900 the Union
was. in all proba bility. saved by being
taken from the hands of its friends. and.
so to speak. put out to nurse with its
enemies who from that time was con-
verted to unity; in 1915 the final war of
independence gave a great impetus to
nationality, and the scales hung oven;
in 1881 the irrepressible conflict began to
assert itself and now they inclined
slightly but distinctly to nationality, the
Younger OF the two soveretgns asserting
a supremacy: between 1881 and 1851 SCI
ence threw steam and electricity into the
scale. and. in 1865. they made the other
kick the beam. But. when all is said,
merely a fresh Illustration had been fur
nished of the truth of that Scriptural adj
age in regard to a divided service.
Such are the conclusions reached from
a renewed and somewhat careful review
Of record frequently scanned by others.
They found In it the outcome OF great
orations. Iabored arguments and the
reaching of individuals. l can not so see