Year: 1863




it Prom the Sew York Word.


Conspiracy Against STATE flights.


The Republican plot 70 extinguish the State
sOvcreIghfies aad consolidate all the political aud
military power of tie country IN the FeGeral Gov
ernment, Is the mos, truly alarming oi tie many
omnous signs of the times This blot. We have
reason TO believe. did not take definite shape un-
I'll after the meeting of Congress last winter al
though IL was dimlv fureshadowed bv va cue oat-
eivings in the Republican journals from the
time the October Stale elections went against the
Administration. The Times newspaper, which
seems TO have been well posted in the counsels Of
the inner circle of Republican magnates wss az
that early stage ndiscreet enough 20 suggest that
ii the opposition Governors should prove uncom-
plying nr refractory they should be taken care of
by the Provost Marshas Similar intimations,
more or less vague. or more or less explicit, were
thrown oui by various other Administration Jour
nails: bet while the anuus they disclosed could
not be mistaken, what has since transpired proves
that the method of subveriing state sovereignty
had not then been determined on The Admin
istraiIon and its party had been taken too much
bv surprise in their defeat in all the most mpOr-
tant States to hit at once upon an Efficient
method for Beatraiizing the effect of the unex-
pected blow Had the State governments re-
mained in the hands itheir friends, party discip-
line would have sufficed TO make them subser-
Went TO the central power. The Republicans
were unprepared for a contingency which disap-
pointed their calculations: and il was not until
after the assembling of Congress that the Repub-
lican leaders had sufficiently consulted with each
other to determine upon the plan which vas
finally adopted.


Their leading measure for the annihilation of
State sovereignty was at last selected with singu-
lar perspicacity. When the notorious Ben. Butler
laid an attachment on the water wheel of fac
tory he did not exhibit more dextrous stroke of
cunning The plan was to leeislste the State
militia out OF existence, by Federal conscript
act which should dispense with the agency of the
State Governments in raising troops, and so pre-
pare the way for stripping the States of their re
served rights by depriying them of all effective
means of resistance. The conscription act, in
its present FORM not miiitary. but political
measure. Ii would never haze been adopted If
the Republicans had carried the State elections
last fall. It was rot passed as means fpntting
down the rebellion. but n means Of extnguish-
ing State rights. The method of raising troops
through the agency of the State Governments
had proved efficient and adequate. in the great
and sudden strain that had been put upon il both
at the beginning of the war and after the disas-
tiers last year in Virginia. when, in brief space OF
time, it gave the Government six hundred thou
sand men. The War Department had IN public
documents, repeatedly boasted of the efficiency Of
the former method, and challenged the public
admiration for the creditable results Besides. 8
draft by State authority, il volunteering should
prove insufficient. would divide the odinra With
the State Governments, and in great measure
divert it from the Federal Administration. But
the tried merits and manifest advantages Of the
former system availed nothing against the deter
mination of the Republicans 20 blot ont the Gov
ereignsy of the States. ami the conscription law
was concocted and passed.


In pursuance of the plot 20 extinguIsh State
rights. the Tribune has. ever since the passage
Of the conscription act, sought every occasion to
denounce ana argue against State sovereignty. as
the Pandora's box of American politics. Other
Republican Journals have chanted in the same
strain. But of late they are troubled with appre-
tensions lest the main feature of the plot should
miscsrry. The invasion of Pennsylvania. and
the riots in some of our large cities. have created
a demand for 4 refrigeration of the State mill
tia, which threatens 20 upset the whole consplra-
cy. The Tribune. few days ago, protested
against the military power of the Stale being per-
mitted ''to lapse into the hands the Governor"
But in what other hands than his can il be
lodged without subverting the State Constitu-
ton, which makes the Governor Commander in
Chief of the militia? The Tribune divulges
still more clearly this conspiracy to destroy
the sovereignty Of the States. After finging
out wild charges to the right and left against

most remarkable conclusion: Now when
we consider these facts. and draw from them the
only deductions that they possibly admit OF. an
assertion that it Is the intention o the State Gov
eminent to get into its own hands the military
power of the State is one which cannot be pru-
IDENTIFY disregarded." Thus is the idea held out
that it would be something very alarming. If the
military power of the Site should remain where
the Constitution places il. and where the Federal
Constitution recognizes it rightfuly belonging.
The federal constitution expects the States 20
preserve internal order by their own militia. aud
does not allow the interference of the general
Government TO aid in putting down disturbances
except on the application Of the State Legislature
or Governor. II even authorizes the State to
keep, in time of war. regular troops and ships of
war in ddtion TO their militia. II must be evi
dent to the dnIlest apprehension that there is
deliberate rlot on foot TO destroy the control Of
the States over their militia. the great prelimi
nary step toward the utter extinction of State
sovereignty. and of the State rights reserved by
the Constitution.