or simulacrum, which is administered in place of the real constitution, and serves alike to mask usurpation and tyranny, and conceal from the people the lifeless remains of Freedom,

"For, vampire-like, fair freedom's foes, Have, in her slumber, sucked her life away,

And left her throbless corse to carrion birds a prey!"

Such teachings legitimately produced the traitorous claim by the general government to the "allegiance" of, and "the absolute supremacy over, "the united states," though the said government is a creation of the said states, and is personally composed of their citizens and subjects. And this theory was put in practice in the recent war, for the government subjugated the states, with the very existence, powers, and war-means it held from them, as a sacred trust, and which it was bound by solemn oath to use only for their "defence" and "welfare." In this we have, par excellence, the crimen læsæ majestatis.

Usurped Control of Suffrage.- Votes are franchises, given, of original right, by the people of a state, as a body-politic, to themselves as individuals, or such of themselves as they think fit. Such votes are franchises, created by original inherent power, and are instruments for, and the only means of, expressing the people's will. By and through them, the people give existence to the constitutions and so-called governments, these being personally composed of the citizens and subjects of the states. Hence a governmental right to control suffrage is absurd. As Montesquieu says: "The laws establishing the right of suffrage" are "fundamental" to the republic; and, consistently, we find all voting rights fixed originally, absolutely, and without appeal, in the organic laws of the states, by the sovereign people thereof.

But the federal agency now makes revolutionary claim to the "absolute supremacy" of the country, and to the "allegiance of the states." Its dogma is that of Lincoln, namely, that the former sovereigns of the country have no status or rights except those reserved in the national constitution. Of course the insignificant monads called votes are deep down in the all-swallowing maw. The people may still imagine their voting power to be above the government; but they will soon realize that they are merely to elect the directory of a corporate monarchy, and that they have about the same amount of self-government the English voters enjoy in electing their members of parliament, and barely more than the mockery which until recently amused, if it did not content, the suffragists of France. It is only a mockery of self-government, where any other authority than the people themselves can appoint or control the voters. Despotism can always

find tools enough to play the republic before the people, while imperial polity is being insidiously fastened upon them. The retention by the people themselves of this control is, ipso facto, the absolute autonomy of the original sovereigns of the country, under which the federal and state governments are alike agents.

The American "Divine Right."— In addition to the misteaching of the people above mentioned, the same pious fraud has deluded them that ever was used in the Old World to reconcile the people to the rule of kings. It is taught that our constitution, instead of being merely an earthly instrument, involving the political and business relations of states, is heaven-inspired, perfect, and to last forever. Buchanan and others asserted its divine origin, and its "essential attribute of perpetuity." It reasonably follows from such premises that "the government," as such divine institution ought to, -possesses "absolute supremacy;" that "the states are bound in allegiance" to the government; and that "state sovereignty is effectually controlled," the "states having no status or rights" but such as the nation, in its "supreme law," gives them. No stronger terms than these of Lincoln, Webster, and the Philadelphia Convention could possibly be used to express the sovereignty of the British, French, or Prussian governments over their provinces and people; and they are utterly baseless, and absurdly inconsistent with republican ideas.

The Imported Theory of the Social Compact. The perverters try to delude the people into ignoring the real social compact which constitutes an American state, and unwittingly adopting the exploded European theory of the social compact, wherein the people are said to agree to pay taxes and supply "the government," or monarch, with purple, fine linen, and sumptuous fare, while it or he is to govern and protect the people. And we have militarily educated and trained our Grants, McClellans, Shermans, Hancocks, Schofields, Blairs, and Sheridans, so as to have them ready to maintain by force this social compact, and show that "the army is the safety of the republic" thus formed. And these pseudo-republicans all contend that "the alle

1 These perverters say that Hume and others exploded this theory, and that, therefore, the idea of a social compact in America must be discarded, except as regards the compact, by which, they say, a nation was formed. They ignore the fact that society was already formed and complete (as, indeed, it had been for generations), when the federal system was adopted, and the so-called nation made; and that societies, each acting for itself, with its own mind and will, made that system, and endowed it with its only existence and force. Nay, more, they conceal the fact that Hume did not discuss the idea of the republican social compact, but expressly said, writing before the independence of our states: "My intention here is not to exclude the consent of the people from being one just foundation of government, where it has place. It is surely the best and most sacred of any. I only pretend that it has very seldom had place in any degree, and that, therefore, some other foundation of government must also be admitted." [Hume's Essays, No. xii.]

giance," both of citizens and states, is due to "the government," which hires and uniforms them, and is to be enforced by arms, if not voluntarily yielded. And "conservative" Liebers, Curtises, Johnsons, Jamesons, "Intelligencers," "Worlds," and such like, all over the country, stand ready to justify by argument these outrageous perversions of constitutional republicanism. Starting with the postulate of a social compact forming a nation, the argument of the perverters is easy, compendious, and practical. The "national constitution" is "the supreme law of the land." This gives "the government" "absolute supremacy." The duty to protect, which devolves on the government, is coupled with the right of control, and this extends to the effectual control of state sovereignty, as well as of all the civil and political rights of the people. And, though there are limits to the authority of the government, which are admitted, it is claimed that these are to be determined by itself. Said Daniel Webster: "It rightfully belongs to congress, and the courts of the united states, to settle the construction of this supreme law in doubtful cases;" that is to say, the government is (as Jefferson phrased the claim) "the exclusive and final judge as to the extent of the powers delegated to itself." And finally, "the government" has the inherent right to preserve its existence and its powers.

Here is exhibited the precise change Burke refers to, as the one whereby "all the popular magistracies in the world have been perverted from their purposes," namely, "the change from an immediate state of procuration and delegation, to a course of acting as from original power." We have, as had the Romans in the time of Augustus and his successors, imperialism "disguised by the forms of a commonwealth." A Roman Chapter of American History. A few extracts from the third chapter of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" are apposite, instructive, and warning: "The tender respect of Augustus for a free constitution which he had destroyed, can only be explained by an attentive consideration of the character of that subtle tyrant. A cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly disposition prompted him, at the age of nineteen, to assume the mask of hypocrisy, which he never afterwards laid aside."

"When he framed the artful system of imperial authority, his moderation was inspired by his fears. He wished to deceive the people by an image of civil liberty, and the armies by an image of civil government." "The names and forms of the ancient administration were preserved by him with anxious care. The usual number of consuls, prætors, and tribunes were annually invested with their respective signs of office, and continued to discharge some of their least important functions." "Cæsar," continues Gibbon, "had provoked his fate by

ostentatiously taking the title of king, while he might have reigned as such under the title of consul or tribune. Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided that they were respectfully assured that they enjoyed their ancient freedom." "To explain in a few words, the system of the imperial government, as it was instituted by Augustus, and maintained by those princes who understood their own interest and that of the people, it may be defined as an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth. The masters of the Roman world environed their throne with darkness, and humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed. The face of the court corresponded with the forms of the administration. The emperors, if we except those tyrants whose capricious folly violated every law of nature and decency, disdained that pomp and ceremony which might offend their countrymen, but could add nothing to their real power. A feeble senate and enervated people cheerfully acquiesced in the pleasing illusion, as long as it was supported by the virtue, or even by the prudence, of the successors of Augustus. It was a motive of self-preservation, not a principle of liberty, that animated the conspirators against Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. They attacked the person of the tyrant, without aiming their blows at the authority of the emperor."

In the reign succeeding that of Augustus, "the assemblies of the people were forever abolished, and the emperors were delivered from a dangerous multitude, who, without restoring liberty, might have disturbed and perhaps endangered the established government." And some of the successors of Augustus, "scrupulously observed his coustitutional fictions." As late as the age of the Antonines the Greek historians say, that "although the sovereign of Rome, in compliance with an obsolete prejudice, abstained from the name of king, he possessed the full measure of regal power." As imperialism became more fully established, the forms and shams were dispensed with. "The fine theory of a republic," says Gibbon, "insensibly vanished." History has repeated itself; republicanism has perished in America, as it did in Rome. The form is left, but the soul is wanting. “Absolute supremacy" in "the government" and republican freedom cannot co-exist, for the reason that the latter is the absolute right of the people to govern themselves, and to make and unmake all governments at will. If the people would enjoy freedom again, they must retake sovereignty-"peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must."

"Who would be free

Themselves must strike the blow."

Philosophy teaches us specially, by the examples of Roman history. We find there the same perversions and usurpations, and the same destruction of liberty, in the name of liberty, that we have experienced. "Marius and Cæsar," says Gibbon, "subverted the constitution of their country, by declaring themselves the protectors of the people ;" and Augustus pretended to be a servant of the people, while destroying their liberty, and making himself a dictator. He established " an absolute monarchy, disguised by the forms of a commonwealth." "His successors for a while observed his constitutional fictions," but the "republic insensibly vanished." Like ours, the representatives of the Roman people ignored their delegative capacity and acted "as from original power." Those perverters and usurpers, like ours, pleaded necessity; the welfare of the people; the public safety; the life of the nation, and the inherent right to preserve their own existence. With them, too, "the army was the safety of the republic" ! This institution, composed of hirelings, as time advanced, became more and more recruited from foreign sources, and more and more depraved in materials. It acted long as an efficient instrument of tyranny, and finally set up the business for itself, and sold the empire at auction!