The southern press., 1851-07-01
From The Washington Republic.
,un~ax lack son on ihe Right 0f A,

Hipni DC iost.
From The Washington Republic.
General Jackson on the Right Of Secession.
Most of those who were but a short time ago
openly and boldly advocating disunon and the
formation of Southern confederacy, except in
South Carolina, have now fallen back upon the
issue of the righi--keeping out of view their
ultimate intent to go for the policy Of SECESSION
This is an abstraction which they claim as one
of the articles Of faith OF the Democratic party
of '9S, and as laid down in the celebrated reso-
lutions of '98 Those who have thus made re-
trograde movement from immediate separation
and a Southern confederacy," TO the position Of
the right of separate State secession, are saga
cous enough to see that no considerable portion
of the people anywhere, except in South Caro-
lima, are prepared to justify acquiesce in any
movements having disunon for their object, and
they have prefesseily given up that purpose and
taken possession of ground which to many
seems to be perfectly harmless, but which, if
sustained, they will find gives the secessionists
in the end all they desire, and all they have been
aiming at.
If lhe friends of the UNION ara ever induced
to concede the right Of any Sta'e to Withdraw
itself from the United States, the only question
then left to be decided is one to be determined
by each State for ITSELF namely, aohen it will ex-
ercise that right and set up for itself, or form a
partnership with other seeding States. Itwould
then be no longer question OF right, but simply
one of time 1t would be for New York, for
| instance, to say when she would withdraw from
the UNION, attach herself to Canada, and make
her port British port, and her State British
State. 1t wonld rest with New England to say
,ohen she would join New Brunswick, Nova SEQ
tia, and Canada, and--but no ; we will not do
either ter or New York the gross injustice even
| to make hypothetical case of such base
character, in which they must play part.
| AS to the doctrine of secession, which is now
put forth with 80 much earnestness and appar-
ent sincerity, we shall not now argue it, because
we have before us an argument which once car
ried conviction and won acquiescence wherever
it reached the human mind, always excepting
the few deluded madmen of South Carolina
who then took the name of Nuifiers. The ar
guments we allude to is to be found in General
Jackson's celebrated proclamation.
General Jackson is now quoted as Democratic
authority not inferior to Jefferson HIMSELF and
we trust therefore, that his own deliberate opin-
ions, put forth in the most authoritative form
and in the most solemn manner, at crisis which
called for the exercise of ALL of even his indom-
table energy, will now be listened to and needed
as voice coming from the tomb.
An extract from General Jackson's proclama-
ton, containing his opinion upon the right of Sc
cession, will be found below.
EXTRACT FROM GEN. JAcKsoN's PRocLAMA-
TIoN.--On such expositons and reasonings the
ordinance grounds not only an assertion of the
right to annul the laws of which it complains,
but to enforce it by threat of seeding from
the Union if any attempt is made to execute
them.
This right to secede is deduced from the ma
ture of the Constitution, which, they say, is
compact between SOVEREIGN States, who have
preserved their whole sovereignty, and therefore
are subject to no superior; that because they
made the compact they can break it, when, in
their opinion, it has been departed from by the
other States Faacious as this course of rea-
soning is, it enlists Stfte pride, and finds advo-
Gates in the honest prejudices of those who have
not studied the nature of our government suffi
ciently TO see the radical error on which IL rests
The people of the United States formed the
Constitution, acting through the State legisa-
lures in making the compact, to meet and dis
cuss It's provisions, and acting in separate con-
ventions when they ratified those provisions /;
but the terms used in its construction shows it
! to be n government in which the people of all
the States collectively are represented. We are
one people in the choice of the President and
Vice President. Here the States have no other
agency than to direct the mode in which the
votes shall be given The candidates having
the majority of all the votes are chosen, The
electors of a majority Of the States may have
given their votes for one candidate, and yet an
other may be chosen. The people, then, and
not the States, are represented in the executive
branch.
In the House of Representatives there is this
difference, that the people Of one State do not
as in the case of President and Vice President all
vote for the same officers. The people of all
he States do not vote for all the members, each
State electing only its own representatives.. But
this creates no material distinction When
chosen, they are all representatives of the United
States not representatives of the particular State
from which they come. They are paid by the
United States not by the State, nor are they nc
countable TO It for any act done in the perform
ance Of their Legislative funetions and however
they may in practice, as il is their duty to do,
consult and prefer the interests of their partcu-
lar constituents when they come in conflict with
any other partial or local interest, yet it is their
FIRST and highest duty, as representatives of the
United States, TO promote the general good
The Constitution Of the United States then
forms government not a league aud whether
il be formed by compact between the States or
in any other manner its character is the same.
1t is government in which all the people are re.
presented, which operates directly on the people
individually, not upon the States--they retained
all the power they did not grant. But each
State having expressly parted with so many
powers ne to constitute jointly with the other
States a single nation, cannot from that period
possess any right 10 secede, because such seces-
sion does not break league, but destroys the
unity Of nation; and any injury to that
unity is not only breach which would result
from the contravention of a compact, but It is
an offence against the whole Union To say
that any State may at pleasure secede from the
Uuion is to say that the United States are not'a
nation, because it would be a solecsm to contend
that any part of a nation might dissolve its con-
nexion with the other parts, to their injury or
ruin, without committing any offence. Seces-
sion, like any other revolutionary act, may be
morally justified by the extremity of oppression;
but to call It contitutiona right is confounding
the meaning of terms, and can only be done
| A. Il