The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1903-01-11
THE CIVIL WAR
CALM AND HRIPFUL ExPLANA.
TON OF GREAT CoNFLTCT.
Charles Francis Adams Says Both
Sides We're Right, and Fate, "the
Unseen Hand in the Came"
Decided the Contest.


Society, Of Charleston. by Charles
Francis Adams.
For more than q century lawyers, 1u-
fists and publicists. Journalists, poltu-
clans and statesmen lave been arguing
over the Federal Constitution. Sover-
els ty carries with 1t allegiance. Where
II rested sovevreignty7 Was 1t in the
state or in the nation? Was the United
states a unit-'an indiseoluble union OF
tmpertshable States'-or was 1t q mere
confederacy of nations, held together
solely by a compact Upon possible In
fringements. of which each one, 80 far
as It was concerned, was a Anal judge?
Each postulate has been maintained from
the beginning; for that matter. is main
tained still. So far as l can ascertain,
every State of the Federation became o
member Of the Union with mental reser-
vations. often unexpressed, growing out
of local traditions and interests, In the
full and correct understanding OF which
the action of each must be studied. Dis
satisfied with the past and doubtful of the
future, jealous of liberties, to the last de-
gree provincial and suspicious of all ex-
ternal rule, intensely common sensed, but
Illogical and alive with local prejudice,
the one thing our ancestry united in most
apprehending was centralized govern
ment.
What did the trainers Of the Constitu-
ton propose? Taking refuge in meta
physics, they proposed a contradiction In
terms-a divided sovereignty. Sovereign
~. 1t was argued, was In the people.
the United States, 1t was replied, are the
aggregate of those inhabitirg the partic-
ular States. Then they began to appor-
ton sovereignty, oblivious OF the fact that
sovereignty des. not admit of apportion-
ment Pursuing some vague analogy of
the solar system, and conceiVings or
States as planets in their orbits, the peo-
pie of the particular States assigned to
the nation modIcum OF sovereignty, con-
ferred another modicum on the State
governments, and reserved whatever re-
manned to themselves. Now, 1t is writ
ten, mo man can serve two masters; for
either he will hate the one and love the
other, or else he will hold to the one and
cespise the other" The everlasting truth
of this precept in the fullness of time
held good in our case From the moment
the fathers sought to divide the indivisi-
bic, the result was written on the wall.
1t was mere question OF years and OF
might.
Thus, Intentionally by some of the most
far-seelng, unlntentlonally by others anx-
tous to efrect only more perfect union.
a piouS fraud was in l7SS perpetrated
on the average American. and his feet
were directed into path which inevitably
led him 20 the goal ne least designed
for his journeys end.
When the Federal Constitution was
framed and adoPted-''an indestructible
Union of iInperishable States what was
the law of ueason-to what or to whom
in case of final issue, did the average
citizen owe allegiance? Was 1t to the
Union, or to his State3 As a, practical
question, seeing things as they then were
sweeping aside ali mcontrovertibie ie-
gal arguments and metaphysical disquis-
iuonS-I do not think the answer admits
of doubt If put in 1883, or, indeed, at any
time anterior to 1925. the immediate reply
OF nine men out of ten In the Northern
States, and of ninety-nine out of a hum
dred in the Southern States, would have
been that. as between the Union and the
State, ultimate allegiance was due to the
State. In studying the history of that Pc
riod, we are confronted by a condition,
and not theory: but as read the record
and understand the real facts of that now
forgotten social and political existence,
in case of direct and insoluble issue be-
tween sovereign State and sovereign ma
ton between 178S and 1861, every man
was not only free to decide, but had. to
decide for himself, and, whichever way
he decided, he was right.
How the Sides Changed.
But see now the sides change-how rap
Idly "humors turn with cltmes;" while,
as to the principles involved, the muta-
ton Is only less complete than sincere.
Nationality, as we see It today, and its
birth in Virginia, and the sovereignty of
the Union assumed shape through the
agency Of Washington and was slowly
perfected by Marshall, both more or less
consciously responding to a national
movement, and working In harmony with
1t. Next Virginia and her offspring Ken
lucky, are passing the resolutions of
1898, and arraying themselves under the
standard of Decentralization. The Gov
eminent then passes into the hands of the
Protestants; and, almost at once, again
in response to an underlying, unseen in
fiuence too strong to resist, the process
of a more complete capitalization enters
on new phase, and as 1t does so Catholic
suddenly becomes q Protestant, and while
Federalist New England formally pro-
nounces the Union at an end Jeffersonian
Virginia supplies fresh ailment to ma
tiOnality.
Meanwhile, the unseen hand is again
at work, and the puppets duly respond.
They thought, and we once thought, they
were free agents. Not at an In the
light of development 1t Is clear to us
now that they merely went through their
motions in obedience to influences of the
mere existence of. which they were at
was drawing insensibly to crisis; the
forces were arraying themselves in OPP
posing ranks on the lines forecast by
Madison in 17SS. With much confidence
assert in Its fundamentals there was
no right or wrong about It: II was an
inevitable, irrepressible conflict-the ques-
ton of sovereignty was to be decided, ana
either side could offer good ground, his
torical and legal. for any attitude taken
in regard to it. That shield did actually
have g. silver as well as a golden side.
Historically speaking. from the close
of our second war of dependence-com
monty known as that Of 1S12-the ebb
and flow of the great currents of infiu-
ence had set in new and definite chan
nels. Gradually they assumed irresisti-
BILE force therein. Side by side two civ
ilizauons-a Chang and Eng-were de-
veloping. North of the Potomac and the
Ohio community was taking shape the
whole tendency of which was national.
So much for Chang, north Of the Potomac
and the Ohio; but with Eng, south of
those streams, 1t was altogether other
wise. Under the influence of climate, soil
and a system of forced African labor, the
Southern States irresistibly reverted to
the patriarchal conditions becoming more
and more agricultural races and patri-
archal communities, they chung ever more
closely to their traditions and local in
stitutions Then 1t was that Calhoun, the
most rigid of lCgtcians, In obedience to
an Irresistible influence Of the presence
of power of which ne was unconscious
Calhoun, the unionist of the war of 1872,
and protectionist of 1876, turned to the
he began that more dill
gent and careful scrutiny into its pro-
visions in order to ascertain fully the
nature and character Of our political sys-
tenn" Needless to say, he there found
what he was in search of. But a similar
scrutiny was at the same time going on
in New England, Chang and Eng both
changed sides. Before. Changes side Of
the shield was gold, while that Of Eng
was silver; now. Chang saw quite clearly
that il was silver. after all, while Eng
recognized 1t as FURNISHED gold of the
purest stamp. Both were honest. and
both fully convinced. Both also were
ght, the simple truth being that no
ran can serve two masters, and two
masters the fundamental law prescribed.
The Inevitable ensued.
The Tnauita lnla Enllnuad