Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-04-05
WILLIAM WRIT on SECESSION.

The following is an extract from letter of WIN.
Writ. for twelve years Attorney General of tEe
United States, and one of the most distinguished
constitutional lawyers of the republic. lie was
Attorney General under Mr.. MANSON throughout
his second term, and throughout the eight years of
Mr.. MoNRoE's administration. IG letter to Judge
CARR, of Virginia, in 1888, during the excitement
Of South Carolina nulliiica6on, he thus speaks of
" secession:
"Asto the right Of State to secede from the Union. do
not recoec have heard made subject Of discus
sion in the high times Of 1898, l799 and sOO and cone
queny heard the denial of the right to secede treated
as high federal doctrine. cannot however, distinguish
5et,yeen the right Of secession and the right of repotion
No one Fedealst Democrat Monachis has ever
denied the right Of revolution, when the social compact is vo
lated to the ntorabA oppression Of part of the country
We, who only became nation by the assertion Of that right
ought be the last to dispute it, All viii agree that there
Of oppression which may be imagined and
in which revolution not only right but duty. But who
shall Judge when such extreme has occunedhe op
pressed the oppressor IF the latter il is easy that
revolution will be pemited for the will
be admitted have occurred If the former the danger
Gas the in South Carolins) that passion will too
often take the place Of reason and the will be connusl
y thought alleged have occurred But In all revolution
the oppressed has necessarily taken upon himself decide
and has brought the struggle The oppressor has
admitted the oppression, let 60 his hold. War has
sued and has been subdued rebellion successful revo
luton, according 10 the event. lido not know that
any satisfactory conclusion to the right Of
secession. We must admit the right in Of ertreme
oppresso When the question is one Of life death, self
defence becomes the first law Of nature and all will recognise
the right Of State, such case herself if she
On the other hand State in the effort to save herself
mil dskr0u f,peaky-fhree others the same L 0f self defence
authorizes the latter to Themselves, they can, by pre-
venting secession. So at last, resolves itself into ques
ton of force and comparative strength, and becomes pbys
cal instead of moral question. - Nevertheless
the abstract right Of secession cannot be denied in theory in
isenee under ertreme oppression But scarcely con-
ceve the that possibly arise practice, under CO.
vernment like ours justify secession It looks
exceedingly like desire to play the smuggler the pirate
for Atlantic State talk Of seeding the grounds taken
by Carolina. far from considering the other States
bound permit the ac secession of Carolina on the ground
taken by her. think with you, that it is question of
ual eristenee to the rest Of the Union While am forced
therefore, admit abstract right secede for sufficient
cause, the theory Of human rights obliged justice
the other States qualify render the theory of
but little practical vaue and indeed almost to amount to
Teraco Of the admission. Such, however, to be
the unavoidable result of the complicated relations of the
States the ncompetency of the human mind to extract
consistent and harmonious system Of practical rights Of
such complex relations. confess my inability to do it.
And the proclamation to be in the dilemma for
it admits the right TO secede in paabk ease but does
attempt to define the cas to say cho is to decide whe-
ther has occurred This right indeed reserved to
the Federal Government, ohich virtual retraction of the
admission in palpable case"