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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! 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 ‘construction,’ said: ‘When you are done fighting, you must meet and settle the question you fight about.’

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