Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1833-05-09
POLITICAL.


| WINCHESTER, (Tenn) Feb. II, 1888.
havf been noticing OF late tho structures on the
subject Al decpes, i,arest TO all Of us The p...,,.
ma'os of the President--and have become sc
surphzed with The conduct Of ,umc Of our ,orme,
'rv'!s, . .s. md relief from my unpleasant sen
a'ions, in dropping you fe. lines Of complaint
Il Boston was tho cradle Of tho revolution, as
| believe II was, II may in truth be said Virginia
was the cradle Of the Constitution ofthc United
| States To her exertions, more than any other
state, is the nation indebted for that instrument.
If she docs now join in the unhaDowcd purpose OF
constituting all its provisions into a mere dead letter
of subycrtng and destroying il, what execrations
will she not receive from the present and all the
| future lovers Of liberty and good order lhaye
been lately noticing some OF the numbers Of " V,r'
ginla' on the Proclamation. His last paper IA.
scrs in substance, that before the Declaration Of
Independence VIC were known as tho United Colo
MICS of America. Don't every line IN tho history
OF thut period, prove this to be true: Without ad-
| vertiug 10 other facts innumerablc, who was II
thnt commissioned George Washington, General
nnd Commander in Chief The UAiked Coi,.
mics. Look at his commission and the wo,ds of 1t.
In all the communications of the same great man,
he speaks Of America us his country, not thirteen
countrIeshc speaks Of the na,io. AS one, not
thirteen nations. The promotions that were made
IN the army, were made according TO seniority
viewing cnch officer az an american officer, Who
were they sworn to be faithful TO ! hnvnt found
the form Of the on,l', but presume 1t was
10 DC faithful TO the United Colonies and after
wards to the United States The obligation con-
seeratcd by this oath presume, was single obi
CATION, not thirteen separate and independent obi
cations. Who was Arnold n traitor tot Was
his treason ono crime or wfs II thirteen crimes
II two independent nations are carrying on war
/ 4 Il
inits trcnson it is against the state Of which he IL
a member. FIAT Waterloo, u Prussun had turned
rerrcant, would il have been an offence against
Euglandl Would an English tribunal have had
the righ, TO try hm1 Don, the whole history Of
our revolution show, that for our common defence
against foreign bggression we were ore people
w AS there any thing IN our Union before the AZ
ticcs Of confederation were ratified, which resent
bled the alliances which take place between indie
pendent nations when Russia, France. &c. nc
tnowlcdged us an independent nation, WIS il tho
United States Of America, that they acknowledged
as nation, or dad they acknowledge tliiitcan ma.
tons To suppose one mistake IN revolutionary
times, il reasonable enough but that q whole Sc
ven years war, went upon one continued set OF
mistakes is an absuldity too gross To be believed
The formation Of society, very often, and IN this
country always, precedcs the formation Of The form
Of government. We are not 10 Took ere Y nj the
Constitution to ascertain the character Of tho peo
pie, whether they are one or many nations we
must look at its origin and its history, Holland
and the seven United Provinces were ono nation,
in the time If the De Wits, although united TO
gcthcr by band feeble as our articles Of confed-
Grafton. so, also, are the Swiss Cantons, We
look 1T the Constitution Of tho United States and
Of the several States to see what powers are yes
ted in one, md whnt in the other, and the powers
OF the respective departments OF each. But az to
our character one people, and one nation, before
the Constitution of the United States was framed,
no person who will read the history Of ,hc U. States
Of America can dodbl--or surely he IS insane,
and-I " i'll not shy what. Virginia says, that
at the commandment, Of tho revolution, we were
| connected by common interest and connmon pc
II, only And what is i, TINT nnlics any as5ocin-
ton of societies together but common interest
and common peril To say that We were not
united ill the bond written our, signed and
sealed woull be saying that no nation on hc face
Of the globe, the United States excepted. ever were
formed into one nation for Of them have any
written Constitution.
"But a state has right pcaenably to seccde
from the Union" Let me say few words as 10
this doctrine Of psaccabte secession. Every Stn,c
of the United States has agreed that the duties arr
| sing from mposts shalt be common fund, for the
| benefit OF all Rocollcc, now the Atlantic States
| have agreed TO this Each sintc on the seaboard
has solennly promised ,his 10 their sister s'n'cs--
| to the inland states rs well as the rest. We don't
vie W this as a gratuty we believe VIC pay our
pro poronablc part of these duties. Now, suppo-
sing one or more states on the scnboad secede, and
claim all the duics-don't they violate their pro-
mise 7 Are they not doing u direct INJURY 10 the
other states | have merely stated this, Tor tie
sake of illustration, as one of the mass Of injuries,
tina, would inevitably result by the exercise Of the
rich, OF secession. Each state has promised, TINT
no law shall be passed impainng the obligation
tina, the government ofev'ry state shall he rcpub
lican in its form, so that the other states sha
never be endangered. by a Philip ruling sta,'
un,,n our borders. Every state has promised tina
the commerce with foreign na,ions shall b.
regulated, to use a modern PHRASE, by the " com
mon AGENT OF all the states, that no export duty
shall be laid that nothing but gold and si've
shall be tender in payment OF debts, thone'
they may be upon contracts with tho cilizcn
Of other states. Now, il state has the rgh
to secede pcaeeabty (rccoect, pcaeesbly - she ha
the right al Jfnnl, to cancel all these obligations
and the other states rave no right to Teqn're com
p,iance Because the right pecteHbiy to secede
certainly implies that If the ether states demand
and force ELECTROMAGNETIC peace is broken, NO
bv the seeding state bu, by the other states Wa
. ever such doctrine heard Of before since the h.'io
of civilization commented All pray for is
tina, Omnipotenee will teach US one thing bef"r
tho G.a, crisis (ifi. ever should comc) arrives
7 ., il BIZ understood beforehand--as it must who
the doy Of trial arrives-that the SLATE 'hal a.
.trupts % seccdc-in other words iocantei th9 OF