and America Can never in a federal union, for protection against the potent house of Austria; and the Dutch $19. Britain embraced the like union, for protection against the more potent King of Spain. But to be friendly. our colonies will never join in such a union; because they have no potent neighbour, and because they have an aversion to each other: We may pronounce with assurance, have Federal that each colony will choose for itself a republican government. And their present Union. Each Colony constitution prepares them for it: they have a senate; and they have an assembly will be inderepresenting the people. No change will be necessary, but to drop the Governor who pendent. represents the King of Britain. And thus a part of a great State will be converted Small change into many small States. in their Governments. Britain, or Government, should aid us Government. Reunion is neither possible nor desirable. Nor can we have Britain's Reunion with excellent form of Government, unless through anarchy, long despotism, and their form of seas of blood, we should be able to find rest under the conservative influence impossible. of an hereditary Aristocracy like that of hers, the growth of centuries. Our kinsfolk desire for us no such fate, at least till we have tried longer whether Anglo-Saxon stock has not capacity to rule under another form of Government than Monarchy. We believe it will be found capable of Anglo-Saxons doing anything Caucasians have ever done; and our cousins should have to maintain pride in us and earnestly aid our efforts to maintain the GOD-given form instituted in the early stages of our race. These two most Christian Britain and nations, happy and joyous in the benevolent and philanthropic efforts of should be each other's Citizens to improve man's condition wherever found, whether of our race or of those inferior; efficient co-laborers in the harvest of the world, with what strong cords of affection should the hearts of these great and good Peoples be bound together! It will be so, if we can only be brought rightly to understand each other; and present circumstances afford an opportunity that centuries to come may never give. America friends. We are inimibecause her Nobility seek our division. cal to Britain, Any animosity of late years on our part against Britain, has been caused by the belief that her Nobility are inimical to us, and have persistently sought our division. It is not a thing susceptible of positive proof, though we have corroborative evidence, which will be given in the sequel, and which the British have been aware of and could have disproven, had they deemed it best. Without the counter-evidence, we have been more and more strengthened in our convictions of their enmity. If We have given it has existed, we see we have given too much occasion, in the inflam- dislike in our matory teachings, by our stump-orators and ignorant, selfish politicians, of teachings of equality and the right of revolution; and this fault on our part it is hoped We will corwe shall well correct. Doing this frankly and thoroughly, we hope to they will corhave full evidence, either that we have misjudged their Aristocracy, or wrongs. cause for their erroneous equality. rect this, and rect their LORD KAMES, 1 Lord Kames remarks in another place: "The English colonies in North America, though Ib. 33. they retain some affection for their mother-country, have contracted an aversion to each other. Colonies And happy for them is such aversion, if it prevent their uniting in order to acquire independence: averse to each wars without end would be the inevitable consequence, as among small States in close neighbour- other. hood." Further testi This is not the only testimony we shall have as to ancient hostility between these Colonies. mony. Union probably would never have been formed but for the necessities of the war. That Union, Union comimperfect as it was, proved too advantageous to allow of its being given up, and a more perfect one pelled by war was made. Under its beneficent influences and growing intercourse, ancient aversion and hatred had wrought had nearly died out, till within the last thirty years the slavery question arose, and owing to miscon- friendship, till the slavery ceptions of our Federal Union, has engendered more bitter feelings than ever. Only by a return question to true Federalism can we ever again become friends; and an immense Federal Union, seems to brought disbe the truest safeguard against petty jealousy and enmity. seusion. $19. Britain that our wrongs being corrected, they will desist from their purposes of and America to be friendly. weakening us by division. favorable opportunity. fusion as to norance of In Law. Our Sovereignty lost. of its where The present a The present affords a remarkable opportunity to convince us of their sincerity. We are all in confusion as to principles of Government. We are in con- Slavery has been made the ostensible and exciting question, in the discusGovernmental sion of which, Britain seems to have powerfully stimulated our variance principles. and animosity, in order to effect division even with civil war. But Slavery could not have slavery is only an incidental evil at most; and could never have worked brought this war but for ig- great injury, had we properly understood International Law, particularly ternational the rights of Sovereign States united by a Federal League. We have become perplexed and cannot agree as to where our Supreme Power is, which regulates States and their every interest, slavery included. Some of our great statesmen affirm that our Sovereignty is in the United Various ideas States, some in the people of the United States, some in the Government of the United States, some in State Governments, some that it is divided, part to the United States or their Government, and part to the States or their Governments; and here and there a man is found with the strange hallucination, that it is in the People-the People by States. Now we want the aid of Lord Brougham, Lord Russell, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Mill and others, who write as though they understood this question of Govern ment, to aid us in discovering where our Sovereignty-our Right of Command-is located. We do not desire further assistance like that of Mr. Spence, for its tendency is strongly toward disunion; and we believe, if we can only know positively where we have our Supreme Power, LORD BROUG, we can arrange our differences and be saved from disunion. Our English friends themselves do not appear to have well studied into our system, for Lord Brougham in his able work remarks: abouts. Britons will aid to find it. Such aid as Mr. Spence's not wanted. HAM on Su preme Power in America. Political Philosophy, iii. 335. Because the We have now seen that this Constitution professes to lay down certain fundamental laws, which are binding not merely on the subject but upon the Congress itself, and upon all the State Legislatures. Hence arises this anomaly, that the supreme power Legislature is is fettered: there is not, properly speaking, a supreme power; Congress is tied up: that is done by the American Constitution, which in ours is held impossible; the preme Power. hands of the Legislature are bound; a law has been made which is binding on all future Parliaments. bound, we have no Su This an effect State independonce. When we at first contemplate this state of things, it appears to be sufficiently of Federacy. anomalous; and yet a little reflection will show us that it is, at least to a certain extent, the necessary consequence of the Proper or Perfect Federal Union. There is not, as with us, a government only and its subjects to be regarded; but a number of Governments, of States having each a separate and substantive, and even independent existence, (Interpola- originally thirteen, now six and twenty [now thirty-four], and each having a legislature tions to suit of its own, with laws differing from those of the other States. It is plainly impossible existing facts.) The Constitu- to consider the Constitution [now Constitutions] which professes to govern this whole tion a Treaty, Union [profess to govern these whole Unions], this Federacy [these Federacies] of for the benefit of each State, States, as anything other than a Treaty [Treaties], of which the conditions are to be executed for them all [for the States respectively forming each Confederacy]; and -altered only hence there must be certain things laid down, certain rights conferred, certain provisby general ions made, which cannot be altered without universal consent, or a consent so general as to be deemed equivalent for all practical purposes to the consent of the whole. It is not at all a refinement, as we have already remarked, that a Federal Union should be formed; this is the natural result of men's joint operations in a very rude state of consent. Federal Union not a refine ment. and America society. But the regulation of such a Union upon pre-established principles-the § 19. Britain formation of a system of government and legislation in which the different subjects to be friendly. shall be not individuals but States-the application of legislative principles to such a Such a system body of States-and the devising means for keeping its integrity as a Federacy, while as this of ours, the rights and powers of the individual States are maintained entire--is the very greatest the greatest refinement in social policy to which any state of circumstances has ever given rise, or refinement in social policy. to which any age has ever given birth.* acy "the very ment," Anglo-Saxons cousins, be It is believed that this examination, in the sequel, will be found to Our Confederjustify the strong language as to our having made "the very greatest re- greatest refine finement in social policy, to which any state of circumstances has ever given rise, or to which any age has ever given birth." And this "refine. This done by ment" was attained by Anglo-Saxons, in only twelve years from the time we ceased to be Britons. Have our cousins at home any cause to be Let not our ashamed of us, for neglecting and not practising the principles of liberty ashamed of us. and of true Government, established by centuries of English experience? Are we not true coin? bear we not "the stamp" of a long and noble line of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, whose blood has brought this "refinement"? Indeed have Anglo-Saxons in Britain and America abundant occasion for mutual congratulation; for reciprocal respect, esteem, and love. f Yet, while taking proper pride in our achievements, encouraged by We must Lor forget God's our wonderful success to mightier efforts to "work out [our] own salva providence in our affairs, tion" for time as well as for eternity, let not these Christian Peoples, forget the Power that works within us or be unthankful for it, Hardly had the Hebrews of old more occasion to recognize the hand of Providence in their affairs of State, than have Britain and America. Most applicable to us is the message of the angel to the prophet: Man performs This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by Zech. iv, 6-10. power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the LORD what God dicame unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this rects. house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth, And in all our glorying, let us heed the word of God by another GOD. Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the Jen. ix, 28, ma mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. and wisdom tablished our We need to look no farther than this work of Lord Brougham's to Our own migh discover, that it is not by earthly "might" and "wisdom" that the excel- have not eslent institutions of Britain and America have been established and pre- institutions ip served. This Political Philosophy is one of the very best works on America. Government of the past century. Hon. Charles Francis Adams remarks *The power of Congress in America extends not only over the different States, but over the inhabitants of each. Britain or A and America $19. Britain in editing the works of his grandfather; a duty, by the way, admirably to be friendly. discharged, and well deserving the commendation bestowed by Mr. Trescott in his Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams: John Adams' C. F. ADAMS, Whether owing to this cause or not, the fact is certain, that no leading political Works, iv. 277. man, since his [John Adams'] day, has been known to express a serious doubt of the immaculate nature of the government established by the majority. The science has become reduced in America to a eulogy of the Constitution of the United States; and we are compelled to look abroad, to Sismondi, De Tocqueville, Lord Brougham, and other writers, who have studied on a broader scale, for the only philosophical exami nations that are free from a bias seriously affecting their permanent value. Lord Brough am's "philo sophical examination." Lord Brougham will not Government contend that can exist with out Sovereign ty. The philosophic Lord Brougham, good Whig as he is-God bless all such-will never contend that a Government,—the machinery to control a People,-can be rightfully instituted, that does not rest upon Sover eignty, the Right of Command. Without that, the would-be authority is a usurpation, which English Whigs of all men can never tolerate. He rightly judges that the Federal Government cannot be supreme, because ernment is not it is subject to a Constitutional Law; and he knows there is a power supreme- above it to alter that Law. Yet, while recognizing the subjection of this -yet the Con- power, he also discovers a clause in the Constitution declaring itself and He sees the stitution, &c., is "the Supreme Law.” the laws and treaties made under it, "the Supreme Law of the Land," so that all the other Legislatures-those of the States-are subjected to this Federal Authority, which is also itself subject. We have no other LegisHaving no su- lature, and he having clear convictions, according to the Whig school, preme Legislature, he that Sovereignty is in the Legislature if anywhere, and properly understanding that it could not possibly be divided,' so that these various Legislatures could each have a part, he comes to the inevitable conclusion that "there is not, properly speaking, a supreme power." thinks we have no supreme power. We do not be-* lieve our Gov without Sov. Troubled to find it. We have made great blunders in our expositions of Government; ernments are but not a single writer in America has been discovered who thinks ereignty. we have Governments without any Right of Command. All are very sure we have it somewhere, but the trouble is to find it. And we want Lord Brougham and other good friends of the Whig school, not objectWant help. ing either to good Tories, like Mr. Disraeli, to aid us in searching for our runaway Sovereignty. They can find it if they try; and it seems probable that they will not only be rewarded with the hearty thanks rendered English Whigs will be pleased by us their cousins, but the Whigs will be delighted to discover how with the dis- correct was the practice of their old-time partisans, in resisting the Tory 'efforts to tax the Colonies and dismember the British kingdom, though ', '' covery. Addendum, p. 72, on Mr. Freeman's views. He divides 1 In the haste to send the printer the interpolated remarks on Mr. Freeman's views, one of the most important differences between him and the old authorities escaped notice. Will the reader please consider the following an addendum to the first paragraph on p. 72, ending, "and other parts of their bodies politic:" Yet is there not at all "This complete division of sovereignty," which this learned writer says Sovereignty."we may look upon as essential to the absolute perfection of the Federal idea." It is a base imputation on "the Federal idea," that it should be guilty of attempting to destroy the very essence of the Right of Command, its oneness and indivisibility. Mr. Freeman must study more into the "History of Federal Governments." There is no such nonsense as that in them. The truth is, “that ideal is one so very refined and artificial, that it seems not to have been" altogether com prehended by Mr. Freeman. That is not trine. and America a little wrong as to the theory. The Tories, too, will be pleased to find § 19. Britain that their chief wrong has been in deserting Tory principles, and allowing to be friendly. in any degree the supremacy of Parliament. They will be stronger Tories The Tories, than ever. too. Sovereignty is be in the Peo ple of each State. State can drawn, can States with new Confeder We love our Whig friends, and are happy that Lord Russell in par- When our ticular is in power. He will aid his distinguished friend and others, who found, it will may join in the search for our Sovereignty; and when the discovery is made, which is sure as the sun in the heavens, it is believed it will be found thoroughly intrenched in the separate Peoples constituting these several States. As a consequence of its existence there, it will be found that, like Britain herself, or any other free and independent nation, each A Sovereign one of these States had the power to withdraw itself from a compact which withdraw from it deemed injurious, though no doubt good faith required it should first have a compact. fairly employed the means provided in the Compact to protect its rights and interests. But having withdrawn, and no treaty obligations prevent- Having withing, it had the right to make any sort of compact it pleased with other form another. Sovereign States. Some of these States, formerly in our Federal Union, Some of these have withdrawn (without due regard, it is true, to the rights of States drew. with which they had been united, and the settlement of which rights is still in abeyance, yet nevertheless withdrawn), and have formed another Have formed a Union by the name of The Confederate States of America. They improperly and unnecessarily began a war upon us their former Confed- They began erates, soon after forming their Union; but they have conducted their war, but have affairs with remarkable skill, having organized their Confederate Government in the midst of war. We did the same thing before, it is true, when we resisted the Tory wrongs and Whig mistakes that caused our Revolution; but that war was a trifle to this. They have nobly sustained themselves; have far better and more correctly conducted their Government, new as it is, than have the North; are better able to-day to continue the contest than when they began it, we are happy in his Have proven Lordship's assurance that they did begin it—and have themselves Saxons. proven worthy branches of the Anglo-Saxon stock. Should not such a power be should they recognized by sister-nations as having an existence? We have recognized? nized her practically in various ways, notwithstanding our conceited igno- We have done rance of theories; and though a dread of Fort Lafayette would deter the writer from even suggesting, that the British might follow our example ; be - acy. managed skilfully. true Anglo not be recog might think of would be grat yet, if they should themselves think of it, and deem it advisable, it would The British very grateful to that courageous young Republic. Their heart and this. soul is in this struggle for existence, and of all things do they desire to be recognized by sister-Sovereigns as an established power in the earth. Most grateful will it be to them to have the mother-land take the lead in The Sonth Europe, and more than aught else she could do, would it attach to her ifted to have the generous hearts of the South. And thousands of us in the North will nize them. rejoice that Britain so properly maintains the doctrine of State-rights. It must be done before these States can be again united. We glory in the pluck of our Southern friends, alien enemies though they be; and while Britain recog⚫ |