The Arkansas banner., 1843-12-16

covering of the body politic--tho fleshy vcs-
 ture of the spirit within. Through this in-
 deed 1t performs the functions of sovereign
 ty, and, in the exercise of these functions,
 are the evidences of it's living energy. And here, gentlemen, Is the proof of a seli-inherent
 power, original and indesructiblc. Tie
 State has poscer to lay do,sm her life; and
 she hns poeer 10 lake H Rp again Not so
 the Union Let the spirit once depart from
 the government of the United States, and it
 sleeps in eternal death. The master of life tue same power which first created may
 restore it but the act will not be the act of
 the people of the United States, acting by any
 authority III a ajority, or in any other DOT
 ton to bind the rest, but the free and volun.
 tary act o sovereign and independent States
 completely dissociaicd, aud coming together agaln by a new league, in forming which each
 must act for herself alone.
 The occasion does not admit that should
 trace out in detail all the results of this ar
 gument Nor have a right to weary you by conjecturlng the answers and objections [ to it which will doubtless be eagerly urged by those who bow the knee to the Baal of federal supremacy. Such will be shocked and scandalized at being told that their God IS no God. cannot stop to soothe their Of
 tended superstition, but will take leave to
 say what must be the legitimate result of the doctrine Which denies the sovereignty of the 6 States, or ailiuns that of the government or !, people of the United States.
 7 It the gorcrAacm be sovereign, then all our Q ideas ol tlie sovereignty of the people are er- Q roneous. If the government be Sovereign, Q then are magistrates no longer the servants 7 oi the people, but thc;r masters. But, gen. l tlemen, il they are our masters, it must be
 because Virginia has made them so She : once was sovereign, and hers was once tue i. only voice which spoke in tones of authority f to her children. If her sovereignty be iln- paired, it must have been by her own act, l when she commanded her people To render . obedience to the authority of the officers of l the federal government. Had she not done , this, we should have owed them none. But
 she commanded il, and her command was law to us. But what did she command h. T Was il that we should obey them as our n,as- } ter's and her's9 No, gentlemen she com : manded Us to obey them as her Trustees and 9 dgeafs, as the ministers of her will. In the . very act of commanding our obedience she 8 declared them to be so, and as such, as per = sons authorized to speak and act in her be- 9 hall, III their appropriate spheres, she required } Us to submit to her authority represented by ? them. Over LIS, at least, the government of = the United States is not sovereign.
 2 But the people of the United States l. r Gentlemen; will admit, that If there be n - body polite consisting of the whole popula- - ton et the United States, that body polite is }. sovereign, and the sole sovereign over us.-- e And not only is that body polite sovereign = over us, but 1t is sovereign over the govern l. ment of the United States, consisting of it's !. agents and servants, and over the constti- c ton, it's creature. What then becomes of
 the reserved rights of the States Of what l. value to us are all constitutional limitations 1, on the powers of the central government s- j. Why were they imposed Was it not bs . e cause Virginia did not mean to assign to any C authority, acting on behalf of the whole Un- y ion, power to egislate for her people n ati l Mings2 And why not? Was il not because
 il was clearly foreseen that such an au.hori- = ty, having no control but the will of the col- . lectlve majority, must become, in the hands : of that majority, an instrument for the plum }. der and oppression of minorities Has not e the event proved the wisdom of this appre- y hension Are we not sensible, that they y who struggle to free the government of the d United States from the restraints of the con. ,r stitution, do so only that they may give ire, d scope to a system of plunder and oppression 5- of which we are to be the vctims' In this 'e danger we look to the constitution as the It safeguard of our rights. But of what valus + is that safeguard, if, after all, it is but the It creature of that very majority against which e it should protect us Constitutions canno e give lazy to the sovereignty that creates ant e may abolish them. They are but the instrli- Q ments by which the sovereignty makes known t and enforces iS will; instruments that the !, sovereignty may at any moment cast away, c if unsuited to it's purposes
 Il Gentemen-if the ideas have presented Q are not utterly false, they should lead you d to perceive, that they who talk to you of di- Q rded sovereignty, talk of that which is ab- y surd and can have no existence. There can - be bm one Suprems. There is no god bul l. God. The officers of the federal and State = governments, said Mir. Madison, in his expo = sition of the constitution, are alike the agents = of the people of the several States; the one 7 set acting in the name, and for the behoof of one State alone, the other acting for all alike. [ The State acts through both, surrcndcring C nothing of its sovereignty to either, but deL 7 egating all authority to exercise some of the
 functions of sovereignty to one set, some to h, the other.
 I Gentlcmen-n this view of the subject l see nothing but harmony and consistency : and in this view see the only security for e our covenanted rights. The conclusion 10 $ which 1t conducts is rational and safe Ii . shows the sovereignty, which the States once : possessed, and which they never have sur !, rendered in terms, still abiding in them; and !, it establishes you in the comfortable assu- Q rance, that your relation to the federal and { State governments alike is that of a master ] to servants not that of servants to q master !. But may perhaps be asked, why urge, : with so much earnestness, what no one de- q .-.... 1,,,astions the