Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-01-16

plant the orange tree 6pen the frozen t0ps OF
the Green Mountains, expecting it to beaSx;
and to attempt to introduce system of theo->
retical government, suited to: Ohio, for the
people Of South Carolina, would be as nau-
seating rs to feed US upon the whale blubber
upon which the Esquimaux lives. No! En-.
lightened liberty consists in every people
Judging for themselves as to what forms Of
government or social institutions may best
suit them.
This Union is but confederacy Of sepa-
rate and Independent people, with certain
specified powers upon given subjects, leaving
all vital and local interests exclusively under
the control Of the separate governments.-
The Constitution itself was made by the
States as separate States; it can alone be ala
tered or amended now by the States assse5a-.
rate. They can make and unmake the organ
ic laws of the confederacy. -
There is no power to alter or amend the
constitution but in the States If the States
should choose to withhold or not to elect
majority Of Senators TO send to the Senate,
the government itself is at an end. The
truth is, it is government entirely dependent
upon States, with totally different focal inter-
csts. 1t is not popular government, or de-
mocracy tall; for all its vital parts-its ex-
fistenceelits fundamental law-depend en-
tircly upon the States ds Sta&es-,-The SrHes
Of the confederacy are the estates Of the realm;
and, in any great emergency involving their
rights under the organic compact by which
they are connected, their sense must be taken
and their power must be acknowledged, or
there can be no reform i'll the government
or no read djustmcnt of the compact. Every
constitutional lawyer acquainted with the
struggles in Great Britain for chartered Iiber.
ty, particularly under Charles Cd and James
I'd, will at once comprehend the full meaning
of the estates Of the realm.
There can be no chartered liberty without
separate estates, with power to enforce the
provisions of the charter. No charter, or no
government created under il, will enforce its
wnprovisions and preserve its original puri-
ty, without practical power somewhere repo.
sing in the community to enforce its obser-
vance. That power under our system rests
with the States. And this is the improve
ment we have made over European liberty.
We can re-adust the compact OF we can dis
solve it. 8.
Even if the slavcholding States are forced
finally to form a separate confedonexssz9ssS
may form a league or@ce8eesssssSee=s31
Northern States, upon which they can adjust
their intercourse by mutual agreements Of
interest, by which they may be able to avoid
the necessity of fortifyins the whole OF, the
interior line between us, and also to define our
mutual intercourse with foreign nations.
This will involve the consideration of great
questions that will arise in the progress of
events, and may be considered as they arise.
But forbear at present. Clouds and dark
ness rest upon the future. The star Of South
Carolina now wrinkles and flashes amid the
bright constellation that blazes on the BAN
ncr of the Union; but come what may, in
any and every emergency, to that star alone /
smear undiriled allegiance, now and forever.
letit rise lohere IL may.
ALGERHos SIDNEY.