8. The proposed theory materially different from that of Hamilton.. 90 9. Difficulty in fixing the proper limitations upon the powers of THE AMERICAN THEORY OF GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER I. VALUE OF THE UNION. "It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness."-WASHINGTON. 1. Devotion to the Union should be based on sound reasoning. THE acute Calhoun, in that memorable speech, (the last one of any importance delivered by him in the Senate,) in speaking of the former union between the parent country and her colonies, very justly said: "Washington was born and grew up to manhood under that union. He acquired his early distinction in its service, and there is every reason to believe that he was devotedly attached to it. But his devotion was a rational one. He was attached to it not as an end, but as a means to an end." It may with equal truth be said, that the devotion of "the illustrious Southerner, whose mortal remains repose on the banks of the Potomac," to the present Union," was a rational "for, unless the Union be intrinsically valuable "as a means to an end," it is unworthy of our love and respect, and should not and cannot be permanently sustained. And Mr. Calhoun was equally right, when he said in the same speech : “It cannot, then, be saved by eulogies on the Union, however splendid and numerous. The cry of Union, Union-the glorious Union!' can no more prevent disunion, than the cry of 'health, health-glorious health!' on the part of the physician, can save a patient lying dangerously ill." The time has been when no estimate of the value of the Union need to have been made. All was then internal peace and fraternal love. But that time has passed away; and we are now in a great crisis-a severe trial-a conclusive test, and must meet it as best we may. If we should prove unequal to the task, and be unable to rise with the mighty occasion, the world will have ample reason to know that we are but a degenerate people, and false claimants of merits not our own. We should, then, under existing circumstances, calmly and justly estimate the true value of the Union, and the ultimate probable effects of a permanent dissolution when accomplished. We shall then be prepared to make the greater efforts to prevent that overwhelming misfortune; for the efforts of a people, like those of an individual, will be in proportion to the estimated magnitude of the end to be attained. § 2. The object of Government, and the right to institute it. It may be proper, in this place, to remark, that the main blessings of government consist not so much in conferring affirmative good, as in preventing intolerable evils. The primary object of government is to protect individuals against each other, and the combined whole against foreign enemies. It is not expected that government should contribute to the support of individuals, but that they should contribute to the support of the government. Men, when they enter into political society, must give up a portion of their individual natural rights, and confer upon their governmental agents the power to afford them efficient individual and national protection in return for the rights thus surrendered, and the powers thus conferred. This protection is the greater good; otherwise government would not exist. It may also be proper to state in this connection, that, as a general rule, each distinct people have the political right to determine from time to time the form and powers of their own government. This right, however, is vested in the combined whole, speaking through the majority as its proper organs, and not in each separate part, acting alone for itself; otherwise a part would be greater than the whole. But what constitutes a distinct people is often a very difficult question, which can only be determined by the circumstances of each particular case. No intelligible general rule can be laid down; because nature herself has not, in most cases, distinctly marked the appropriate boundaries of empires. § 3. The benefits of the Union in the past, a rational basis for estimating its benefits in the future. The benefits derived from the Union in the past have been too palpable to need proof. They are seen everywhere, on land and on sea, at home and abroad. Our progress, in all the elements of material greatness, has been unprecedented. It has surely been sufficiently rapid to satisfy reasonable minds. We know from actual, and not merely speculative proof, what we have already accomplished. Could the same success have been attained without the Union? If not, can we reasonably expect to prosper in the future by dissolution? The proper answer to this question will depend upon a just estimate of the circumstances now existing, and those that will probably arise in the future. As the geographical position, and the natural resources of our country, will be the same in the future as in the past, the argument drawn from this fact to show that we are, in the nature of the case, but one people, will always remain substantially the same. If it be true that our country has been so formed by nature, as to render one government for the whole, the most beneficial for each and every part, then no permanent severance of the Union can be justified by mere temporary causes. Permanent effects should flow from permanent causes. Time will cure temporary evils; and it is wiser to endure them, trusting to the future justice of our country, than to war against the laws of nature. Our separation from Great Britain was justified, not so much by the alleged oppressions of the parent country, as by the fact that we could not be properly governed as one people. Our distance from the seat of government beyond seas, and the extent and varied capacity of our own country to sustain a distinct and powerful nation, were ample and permanent reasons for a permanent separation. § 4. Difficulty of designating the dividing line between the sections. As a dissolution is possible, we will suppose it accomplished for the sake of the argument only; and then estimate, as well as we can, the probable legitimate results that will flow from such a condition. In doing so, we pass over the difficulty of dividing the public property, this being a temporary evil that time could cure. The geographical features of the country are such, that the difficulty of determining the line separating the sections would seem to be insuperable. If we suppose the line so drawn as to separate the free from the slave States, the two divisions would be separated by an arbitrary air line, easily crossed at all points, and run without the least regard to the natural features of the country. It would commence on the Atlantic shore and extend west, passing more than two thousand miles through a country generally fertile, of good surface for settlement, with sufficient timber and water, and capable of sustaining a dense population in immediate proximity to the line on both sides of it; thus dividing our territory into two long narrow strips, lying with their sides to each other. There being between the two sections no impassable mountain ranges, or other serious natural obstructions, the only practicable mode of preventing smuggling would be to have no tariff. To fortify such a line, so as to make invasion difficult, would be impossible. Besides, this arbitrary line severs the great natural arteries of commerce, connecting every part of the rich and extensive valley of the Mississippi with the Gulf of Mexico. The position of this line would be determined, not by the natural features of the country, but upon the basis of a social institution, which, in the natural progress of population, will not probably endure to the end of the present century in of the States where it now exists. many § 5. Frequent wars would be the consequence of permanent dissolution. The people on both sides of this long line of division would be brought face to face; and, as they speak the same language, the excitable masses would understand the insults of each other. |