Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1851-10-31
From the Pittsburgh Commercial Journal.
Letter of Henry Clay on the compromise
Measures and Southern Secession.

NAdN Ou
Measures and Southern Secession.
A letter is published in the Eastern pa
pers from the Hon HENRY CLAY. in reply
to a committee of gentlemen i'll New y ork,
who had invited him to address meeting
in that city, upon the Compromise mea-
sures, and the hostility to them which has
been recently manifested.
Mr.. Clay expresses himself strongly in
favor of the Fugitive Slave Law, saying
that " the necessity Of maintaining and en-
forcing that law unrepealed and without
any modification that would seriousl Y I'M
pair its efficiency, must be admitted by the
impartial Judgment of all candid men" "
He expresses the belief that the law will
be sustained, and that the show of Opposi-
ton still made in the North is the effect of
pride of opinion, aRd will soon give way
to hearty acquiescence; and that in turn
ing to the Southern States we behold
enough TO encourage the friends of the
Union and but little to excite solicitude
and alarm
South Carolina alone furnishes, at pres
ent, occasion for profound regret and seri-
Gus apprehension, not so much for the Sc
curitv Of the Union, as for her own peace
and prosperity. We are compelled, pain
fully and reluctantly, to yield to the force
of concurring evidence, establishing that
there exists in that State general dissatis-
faction with, and general desire to with
draw from, the Union and that both par
ties-that which is for separate State ac-
ton, and that which insists upon the ne
cessitv of the cooperation of other States
equally agree as to the degree of rash
ness or prudence which characterize them
respectively.
Mr.. CLAY then enters into a close ex-
animation of the arguments in favor of Sc
cession, none of which he considers tena-
BILE. We quote the most important pas
sages :
The partizans Of this novel and strange doc
trine attempt 10 support it two grounds {:
First, they contend that by an express amend
ment of the Constitution, as all powers not
granted TO the government of the United States
are reserved to the States or to the people, the
power or right Of secession is not granted,
and that it is therefore retained by the States
and the people, and may be exercised at their
pleasure.
This argument is refuted by either of two
sufficient answers. The contested power can
not be retained, if its reservation be incompati
BILE with the obligations Of the constitutional
compact. But the constitution was intended to
be perpetual, or, which is the same thing, to be
of unlimited existence, subject only, from time
to time, to such amendments as might be made,
in the mode which it specifics. 1t created a
more perfect Union, which was to secure the
blessings of liberty to the generation which
formed it, and to their posterity. The obliga-
ton which each State voluntarily assumed to
the other States, by being admitted into the
Union. was, that it would remain perpetuallv
bound with the other States to preserve that
Union, for their own benefit, and to inure TO
the benefit of posterity. To assert, in the face
of that obligation, that State may retire from
the Union whenever it pleases is to assert that
a party, bound by a solemn compact 10 other
parties, may cancel or violate the compact
whenever 1t thinks proper, without their consent.
In order to secure respect and submission to the
Union, the constitution expressly provides THAT
this constitution and the laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof,
and all treaties made, or which shall be made
under the authority Of the United States, shall
be the supreme law ef the land and the Judges
in every State shall be bound thereby, every
thing in the constitution or laws Of any State TO
the contrary notwithstanding
Thus each and every one Of the States has
agreed, not only that its ordinary legislation,
but that its constitution, the higher law made by
the people themselves in convention, shall, in
any cases of conflict, be subordinate to the par
amount authority of the constitution, laws made
III pursuance thereof, and treaties OF the United
States. If, therefore, any State were, either
in its Legislature, or in a convention Of dele
gates Of the people, to declare, by the most for
NAL act, that it had seeded from the Union,
such would be nugatory and absolute nullity
and the people of that State would remain
bound by the constitution, laws, and treaties OF
the United States, as fully and perfectly as II
the act had never been proclaimed.
But there Is another view also, conclusive
against the pretensions of secession being q
power reserved to the States under the amend
ment OF the constitution referred to- The re-
servation Of power implies its existence in the
party reserving it, prior TO such reservation.
But when a State existed in its independent
separate and unassocated character it could
have had no right of secession, there being no
coniederacy or other party from which 10 secede.
Secession is incident to union or confederaCy,
without which it can have no existence, and
unless it is clearly provided for in the compact
Of Union, out of which it springs, and still
more, if it be utterly irreconcilable with that
compact, 1t can have no constitutional or legiti-
mate foundation.
1t is contended, hewever, in the second place,
that the right of secession appertains to the
States, under and in virtue of their soVereignty.
This argument scornS any reliance upon the re-
seryation of powers in the constitution, cuts
loose from all the obligations in that instrument,
defes the power and authority of the general
government, and finds a solution Of the authori-
ty for secession in the sovereignty of the States
What that sovereignty is, il does not deign 10
define or explain. nor to show one Of its attrib-
utes is to disregard and violate grave compacts.
The sovereignty of the States, prior to the
adoption Of the present constitution, was limited
and qualified by the articles of confederation.
They had agreed among themselves to create a
perpetual Union. When, therefore, the thirteen
original States passed from under those articles
to the constitution, they passed from less to a
more perfect union, and agreed to further limit