The southern press., 1851-09-01
Bot Il this righL of sesolulion, as yoa esII h

French Jscoblns called il, exist at ALL you must
admit The autagonlstical right Of the actusI gov
ernulent TO put il down sIt pubiicsts will tell
you (you are too well read rot 70 remember tbis)
that government is bound 20 protect itself II
revelation i rebellion. and rebellion is treason
Is not government bourd 10 visit the treason
with the seyerest punishment known to It's
code Did you ever hear OF rebellion which
was not suppressed by force, il the government
could suppress i'll And did you ever hear q
foreign Intervention or remonstrance IN such a
case Government must be armed with the
right to pat il down and To punish revolution
If 1t can, without any enquiry into the cause OF
the revolution. II is right which ilowa from
necessity, for wtboutit, there would be no such
thing I'D order in the world, and the nations
would be harrassed continually with confusion
turbulence and incessant wars
But have not the people at all times right to
char &c their government. you will ask Ger
tainly they have when the people Gas they are
here) are the acknowledged source Of all poii,i
cal power; because the people (acting as the
sovereigp) can and do often acknowledge the
necessity for change, and provide for it's being
made. But not even here have the people q
right to rebel against the government, aud il
they do. the fate OF rebels assuredIy awaits the
vanqnished. Unsuccessful rebellion has always
been punished by government Us Il duty; and
often with a severity shocking to the sensibili.
ties OF men, and wholly inexcusable, if it was
not necessary. We read Of disembowling, OF
hanging, drawing, and qaartering. Would pun
ishn ents so ferocious and sanguinary be toler-
ated by any people, except for the crime of trea-
son! Historians may deny or may lament the
necessity OF a rigid application OF the law ia the
case of Lady Jane G ay or of Mary Stuart. Hu.
maDity may weep over the fate of the victims
of Oates or Of BedIoe, or may redden with in
digDa!ion at the excesses of the bloody assizes
Bnt all will admit that if Dagdale and Turber-
vile had not been perjured, Stafford would moi
have deserved his fate !; and perhaps the only
public act of James which posterity has justi-
fled, is the execution of his own nephew for
treason, after the battle Of Sedge Moor. Az
then it is not only the right, but the duty of
government to punish rebellion with The halter
or the axe, AMI since revolution (if against The
sovereign wilD is rebellion. of what avail is it
to you your party, TO assert the right of State
secession as revolutionary right!
Contrast with this position that of the State
rights party upon this subject. We contend for
the right of State to withdraw from the Union
peaceaby and quietly, and without opposition,
or resistance or complaint; and for the follow
ing reasons: Independently of any act of con-
federation, the States have always been to a
great extent politically separate they were sub
ject it is true, to acommon executive head prior
to the revolution, but they never constituted
one people in the political acceptation Of the
term. They were settled at different times to
some extent by different races; by men of diff
ferent political and religious opinions, and who
were often odious and alien to each other on
account of these different races In truth, they
resembled each other in nothing but their Ian
guage, and from a point of metaphysical divinity.
down to the fashion of their garments they diff
fered from each other, and glored in the differ
ence. The Catholic Of Maryland could have
little in common with the Puritan Of Plymouth,
and the cavalier of jamestown could acknowl.
edge no bond of political sympathy with the
regicide Of Boston. The people of one colony
owed no allegiance to the government of any
other colony, and were not bound by its laws
The colonies had no common legislature, no
common treasury, no common military power, no
common judiciary; theywere established at differ
ent times, and we've unlike in their organization
Some were provincial some proprietary, and
some charter governments. They were united
i is true, by common executive head or king
but so are, at this time Canada and the British
East Indies, and yet Canada and the British
East Indies do not constitute one people, Nor
do Jamaica and Ireland nor Scotland and the
Maurtias. They did not even unite (strange as
it may seem to many) in the act which threw off
their allegiance to the British crown.
Virginia declared her independence as early as
the 18th of May, l77S and New Hampshire, New
Jersey, and South Carolina had each adopted
provisional governments several months before
this period. 1t is true, they all united in the
general declaration Of the 4th of July, but if was
only repetition, not a Confirmation of what had
already been done by the four States above men,
toned. The manner of voting in the Congress
Of 76, and in the convention which formed the
Constitution, (each State having been entitled
to ono vote) shows that the States, after the re
voluton has been consummated, regarded each
other as distinct and co-equal political entities
Well, the federal Constitution under which we
live. did not destroy this equality 1t was framed
by the representatives of the States, and ratified
uy the States, at different times, and
from different motives and considerations, each
State acting for itself, and not for another Was
this Union declared to be perpetual and irrevo-
cable at the time of its formationl Even if it
had been so declared, is not convention, com
pact, or league which is violated by one Of the
contracting parties, dissolved at the option of
the party injured Such is at least the declared
opinion of the most respectable publicists. Now
a formal declaration of such violation of the
Constitution by one or moro of the parties to il,
followed by withdrawal from the Union, is
what is meant by secession. Is there any thing
revolutionary in this Nothing There is not
a single principle of the government overthrown
Even its officers are not displaced. Pray what
is revolutonzed by such processl This sort
of secession is entirely lawful act, an act done
by authority. There is no obligation upon the
government 10 attempt to thwurt it, since it is
but the exercise of right, not expressed in the
Constitution, it is true. but resulting from the
principles of construction which have been de-
clared by writers upon public law as applicable
to all articles of treaty and confederation be
tween sovereign States, This, sir, is the seces-
sion of the State rights party. trust the differ.
ence between It and the rebelious and revolu-
iionary sort of secession which you appear to
favor, is apparent enough.
Put there is a wider difference yet Upon
the theory yon advance, the government is
made the Judge of the limits Of its powers
Bound by that law which, in politics as in
mornia rqparppl no pornypnunt IN oil othar