Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/500

 490 Southern Historical Society Papers.

ways in the people, and never in the government r And, as no change whatever was provided as to name, geography, people, organism, mode of mental action, or political will, of these societies, we may- consider all assertions of their degradation as falsehoods, and not mistakes of interpretation !

Why did not the great Republican leaders, Chase, Seward, Andrew, Wilson, Stevens, Wade, Trumbull, and others, when the)' shaped the amendments the conquering States dictated, prohibit secession ? Be- cause they knew their sovereigns. New York, Massachusetts, Penn- sylvania, Ohio and Illinois preferred the old union of free societies of people to a nation of counties ; and they could not even have hinted at preventing secession, and thereby chaining States ; and they re- flected that risks and burdens must always go with " the blessings of liberty." Freedom is not freedom if restrained or qualified. We cannot, if we would, get rid of a right essential and vital to a sover- eign mind ; but we can behave ourselves, as Washington besought us to do, and preserve justice, amity and mutual interest, which he said were the original motives and "sacred ties " of union. If these be preserved, as written and consecrated in the solemn preamble, the " domestic tranquillity," founded on content, preserves the intended union. Only tyrants and robbers want tied and helpless victims.

IV. "two constructions of the constitution,"

Is a common phrase, involving error ; " opposite interpretations of a written instrument" — as Judge Fenner euphemistically puts it. Soon after peace, James L. Orr, of South Carolina, hastened to "bridge the bloody chasm " by telling the North we differed with her as to the construction of the Constitution ; and she proved ours false by whipping us. By parity of reasoning, if you whip a man who denies your statement that your horse is sixteen feet high, you produce the monster ; and if you drive a man from his estate, his title is bad and yours good i The truth is, all the fighting or force, since Adam, never produced a truth or changed the character of a lie. And even Mr. Lincoln, although favoring the northern "construc- tion," said : " When you are done fighting, you must meet and settle the question you fight about."

THE contest is BETWEEN TRUTH AND UNTRUTH.

A /r<7/^r statement removes the error and confusion. One party sticks to history, forming his theory oi facts, which cover the ground