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THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN PATRIOTS..

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sides, which should have marked the conduct of fellow-citizens, in an enlightened and Christian age, to avert that ter rible impending catastrophe, which, it is not to be supposed, that the great majority, upon either side, could have really desired to bring upon the common country.

CHAPTER XIII.

Want of Fidelity to the Constitution placed the Country in Circumstances tending to Open Rupture." Historicus."-The Necessity of Strict Adherence to Constitutional Provisions in a Republic.-The Danger still before the Country.-The South, in a Constitutional Point of View.-Ex-Governor Andrew before a Committee of the Senate.The "People" did not bring about the War.-The Disunionists, in both Sections, to whom it was owing, few in Number.-Governor Banks willing "to let theUnion slide." -A State Flag.-A Revolutionary Relic.-Mr. Quincy.-Red Republicans.-Mr. John P. Hale's Opinion of the Likelihood of Dissolution if Lincoln should not be elected.

IN the facts, thus imperfectly set forth in these pages, are to be found the positive causes of the war. These worked themselves out to the fatal hour of that decisive breach in the Democratic party, which opened the way to the "dishonest victory" of the Republicans-dishonest, not because the election was not lawful and regular according to the forms of the Constitution; but that, in consequence of its accidental result by the divisions of the majority, it so thoroughly misrepresented the real state of sentiment in the country. In fine, want of fidelity to the Constitution--a long and devious aberration from the simplest fundamental principles of the Union--exhibited in such manifestations as have been described in this recapitulation, led directly to that unhappy state of mind, in both sections, which grew more and more embittered, until finally the die was cast.' Were it not so,

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1 In a recently published letter of the distinguished English writer, known as "Historicus" (October 18th, 1865), appears the following passage, in reference to a judicial opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States:

"These are the words of a judgment (pronounced, be it remembered, by the Northern majority of the Court): This greatest of civil wars was not gradually developed by popular commotion, tumultuous assemblies, or local

THE CONSTITUTION, THE ONLY SAFEGUARD.

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those earnest and solemn remonstrances of Webster (the "Defender of the Constitution"), of Clay, of Crittenden-of hosts of far-seeing and patriotic citizens, dead or yet among the living--remonstrances so long and faithfully sounded in the ears of a too incredulous people-might now seem as idle as the faltering accents of the most visionary alarmists.

But this view of the case is the more important to be taken into the most solicitous consideration, by the people of the United States, because any secure possession of their civil rights is absolutely dependent upon unvarying adhesion to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. For that great instrument, defining and restraining the powers of those persons in the representative, executive, and judicial departments of the Government, to whom the people from time to time commit the administration of the laws, is the sole charter of their political liberties, and their only barrier against

unorganized insurrection. If it had been, it might have been proper to wait and see whether it was about to ripen into war. But in this case, there was neither necessity nor justification for waiting.' For, continues the same judgment, 'however long may have been its previous conception, it nevertheless sprang from the parent brain of Minerva in the full panoply of

war.'"

Saying nothing of this judicial reversal of a classical legend, or of the philosophy which could suppose it possible for a great rebellion to spring up at the stamp of a foot, in a country where a very great many must have been previously consulted on the subject-considering the fierce and protracted struggle of 1850 and its result; the tumults for such a series of years, and the battles, in Kansas; the slave-rescues by the violence of mobs; the assaults upon court-houses, not always without incurring the dreadful guilt of murder; the invasion of Virginia, and its effects upon both sections; the multitudes of excited popular assemblies in city and town; and innumerable other incidents occurring in various parts of the country, for the ten years before the outbreak-showing a decidedly morbid condition of the public mind-it may be respectfully remarked, that the "Northern majority of the Court" cannot have observed the course of events so carefully as they, doubtless, study the points of law submitted to them. The truth is, the country was full of warnings, and everybody expected war, from the signs of the times, but the Republican leaders. They were naturally reluctant to admit that any thing for which they were responsible could be the occasion of unpleasant conse

quences.

usurpation. It is itself the government, of which men, duly chosen for the purpose, are only administrators. If disregarded in any one of its essential provisions-no matter under what plea, or what pretext-though the forms of a republic may for a time, and possibly, from habit or whatever cause, for a considerable time, may remain; yet the life of the republic will have, in fact, departed. The people, consciously or unconsciously, may be attending to their farms and their merchandise; but in all their political relations they will have become subject to the dictation of a master. The President might then be elected, for one term, or for many successive terms, according to his own pleasure. Thus, Augustus Cæsar, and others after him, went through with the formalities and the farce of an election to the consulship, while actually and permanently wielding, under the style and by the authority of emperor,' the fortunes of the Roman world. Hence, things may often be at their worst, when they seem the smoothest; the power of the State may easily and imperceptibly pass from the many to the few, or the one; and popular liberty, so difficult to be won and established, may be lost beyond recovery, in the briefest space of time, before the danger to which it is constantly exposed has been thought at all imminent, at any particular emergency. And, if it should be alleged, that the republic has heretofore survived unconstitutional proceedings of the Executive, or of Congress, without permanent injury to its institutions—it should be observed, that a vital distinction exists between those acts which are merely extra-constitutional; that is, those not especially provided for by the instrument, but which do prejudice to no man's rights; as, for example, in case of acquisition of territory by purchase for the common benefitand acts which are anti-constitutional; that is, which infringe

now say,

1 Simply imperator, commander; the chief officer of an army, as we "General;" but bestowed upon persons clothed with high military authority, as incident to the government of a province, for example. It was retained as the popular title of him who really possessed the supreme command of the armies and the State.

THE CONSTITUTION MUST BE INVIOLATE.

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the express provisions of the instrument, and deprive any number of citizens of that safeguard, which the government, by the charter of its existence, was bound to afford to their property and political privileges. For, whenever the latter class of unconstitutional measures is allowed, or is extenuated by the popular assent, the shield, which was their protection, broken through in a vital part, crumbles into fragments, in the whole. No art or care can then make the well-wrought fabric, so delicate, yet so strong in its entireness, able to resist another blow; and self-government will no longer exist, except in name. Under a hereditary government, a violation of the Constitution is a very different affair. It is a casualty which need leave no permanent ill effects, if the steps are retraced and the remedy applied; and still the government stands secure. But under republican forms, the Constitution is the anchor by which they are held. To violate it, therefore, is to cut the cable and send the ship of state adrift. It is revolution, and the substitution of some other government for the old. The President of the republic will then have become an irresponsible ruler; and if arbitrarily disposed, with the public patronage and the military force at his command, will be sure to find a Congress subservient enough to submit to his decrees.

Here, therefore, was the grand danger-perhaps more apparent to many minds now, than in the progress of events preceding the rebellion-of disregarding the arguments and entreaties of sober statesmen, to observe a sacred respect for the obligations of the Constitution; and of listening to the blandishments of minor demagogues, equally incapable of valuing or of understanding its inestimable virtues; or to ambitious politicians of a higher stamp, recklessly setting before the multitude the elusive and dangerous idea of a fantastic “higher law,”—which could but vary with the fickle lights of their discordant minds-as superior to that beforetime established by wise and Christian men, the fathers of the republic, for the law of the land; or to shallow-brained enthusiasts and impracticable fanatics, who followed out their disorganizing

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