The southern press., 1851-08-01

I
unless this iulers9t tSS left exclusively under
The coutFol or the Gntoa Interested, and unless
| Il had basu nDdertoGd That the federal govern.
ment Was satisely exsipded from all interference
With Il aftss The year 1908. And if the Ststea
now have not the Right and the power to pro-
tsct Il In any way tAAt their judgement may dc
tate, then there has been perverson OF power,
and they have been defrauded. II power has
been exercised over them so that in their Judg-
msnts, the peace and final existence Of their So
cisty may become endangered-they have a
right, under the police p0Wsr, if nothing else, to
protect and defend themselves In any way that
they may deem necessary
IY the power Of the non-slaveholding States
be concentrated through the federal head, no as
to act upon AMI absorb the slave-holding States,
or to circumscribe their Increasing power on ac-
count Of the~ Institutions, then If there be no
check through the action of the States con-
cerned, it must end in political despotlsm. II
the people Of Massachusetts, and New York,
and Pennsylvania and Ohio, be brought to act
together by their prejudices, or feelings, or
public opinion, so that they move as one mass.
and get co troll of the federal government, and
bring II to bear, in all its moral and political
power, upon the local institutions OF the South
ern States, then as far as these are concerned,
they are governed by people as alien to them
AS il they were entire foreigners. What consola-
ton is it to South Carolinian to tell him that
he is governed by the freemen Of Ohio who un-
derstand liberty much better than ne does, and
who deem it duty they owe to God that the
country shall be finally Purged OF the sin OF
slavery! What may be very well suited to Ohio,
may not suit South Carolina at all. The whole or
ganization and structure of our society are diff.
ots tuyn ofi mat ordo M
civilization the one resting upon the individual
equality of men of all colors, and the other rest
ing upon domestic servtude in the black race.
This distinction pervades all society, entering
into the social moral and political relations OF
every man in the two sections. They teach
their children in their schools and at their fire.
sides to contemn and hate us aud our institu-
tions The same is taught from the pulpit and
around the sacrament table, as we'll as in their
pHlitics Who is to Judge between US! The
federal government!
Ii this Northeru majority control it absolutely,
and finally bring it to bear upon these points,
then it is but the Judgment of Ohio in another
form brought to act upon the interests and in
stitutions of South Carolina If this be the
habtual working of the system, then indeed are
we doomed race. The truth is, there are Sec
tions and States in this confederacy having to-
tally different local interests, and the separate
Independence and equality of the States is essen
tial to guard and protect those interests in our
system. State equality is an essential principal
of liberty. We may have general interests in
our external relations and foreign intercourse
united, but when the general government acts
upon the organized local institutions of the
country, then it necessarily becomes despot-
sm-an engine turned upon the interior liberty
Of sections, instead of maintaining our exterior
independence True liberty consists in n system
of fixed and ascertained law suited to the interests
of the community, and regulated and controlled
by those upon whom the law operates. What
may be verv good local law to South Carolina
may be totally unsuited to Ohio. TO take our
institutions and transplant them there, would be
as vain as to plant the orange tree upon the
frozen mountains of Vermont, and expect it to
bloom and to bear And 80, in like manner,
to transplant the social and political institutions
of Ohio into South Carolina, would be as vain as
to expect US to live on whale-blubber, upon
which the Esquamaux fattens.
No! the federal compact between the States
was made with view to guard and protect these
different local interests and institutions by re-
serving to the States exslusve jurisdiction over
their peculiar and separate interests. Without
this, the government could never have been
formed, and without this, it should never be pre-
served. Mr. Chairman the separate sovereignty
and Independence of those States is the funda-
mental law of. American liberty.
In the Declaration of Independence it is ex-
pressly laid down that these colonies" (not these
people) "are, aud of right ought 10 be- free and
independent Staies" Ia the old articles Of con-
federation, the very ID article expressly declares
that, "each Slate retains its sovereignty freedom
and independence"
In the present Constitution it is laid down
that "the powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the States, are reserued TO the States respec-
lively, or to the people" This compact did not
make an amalgamated people-it only united
States together for certain specified objects The
mode and manner in which it was adopted proves
this. 1t was acceded to by the States separately
in their State conventions, and until each State
adopted it for ITSELF it had no binding effect upon
such State. North Carolina and Rhode Island
actually refused to adopt it for some time, and
they could have remained out of it to this day il
they had thought proper. The debate in this
State took place in the legislature upon the pro-
position to call convention to ratify the Consti-
| tuition, and the call of the convention was car
ried by only one vote. Ninty-six districts, of
which this district was portion, voted against
| it, except one vote, and the great majority in the
middle and upper districts were against its adop.
ton. 1t was carried by Charleston and the low
country. The convention, sitting in the capacity
of sovereign STATE, imposed the obligations of
the federal compact upon us ms citizens. and the
same sovereign power can be again called into
action to release us from those obligations. As
| the State acceded to the compact, 50 it can Sc
| cede in like manner Without this right and
power the reserved sovereignty and Indcpend-
ence of the States is all rabid defamation and
swelling assumption.
The right and the power of the separate
States TO check, in an extreme case and as the
last resort by secession, is essential TO preserve
their Independence. If this were known and
acknowledged as dormant power belonging to
our system, there would be no cause for disso-
luton, for the government would abstain from
usurpng power over local and vital interests, ana
the States themselves would feel easy IA they had
| the ultimate power to protect themselves, and
would not become excited on any temporary
| vsurpation or exercise of obnoxious power But