The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-15


sion. 1t may become such, when, having
changed its essence, 1t requires change OF
name.
Revolution is the action OF Individuals IN toi.
uniary combination n combination not essen
tial to their principle Of action, but only TO its
success Secession Is the action of an organized
combination Of sopsreiga STATE, existant OF
and by itself. Revolution Il social; secession
Is merely International. Revolution leaves the
conflicting parties socially one; secession sep
araies them forever. Revolution thus subjects
the vanquished to the government, imposed by
the victorious party; secession leaves The former
to the erisfent, but for the later creates HeD
government. ~ i8S ~
In revolution the conflict Is between the in
dviduai and the State in secession, between the
State and It's agent, or the State and its CO.
contracting parties. In revolution the citizen
bears his unprotected bosom 10 the storm that
RACES around him I; in secession il is shielded BY
the agis Of his State, inpenetrable to the as
saults Of power upon his life, his liberty, or his
property. In revolution the man himself, alone,
IL the actor; in secession, the Stah. In revo-
luton, therefore, the citizen may be traitor or
rebel; in secession, never.
The voice Of the State, which alone bound
him originally, as have shown, can release the
bond He obeys the mandate of the Union
now. because il speaks her behests; he follows
her in her secession because the Union ceases
to be her agent.
In fine, we call revolution by that name, ex-
cept when il is the action of soveroign political
unit; the inherent source Of power, which by its
will determines, as it has created, and revokes,
l,ln I'll 81
This attempt to confound two Distinct princi-
Piles, originates in the desire to unite with the
idea Of secession, that Of its successful main
tenancs as essential to the validity Of the right.
If secession could be peacca5ie, say our oppo-.
nents, we would be content to call it secession;
but as il will bring on conflict it is only repolu-
tion; as if the fact of force being employed sub
and against the exercise Of the right,
could give character to the right ITSELF Il is but
the revival of the long buried dogma that might
gives right; the exploded notion that in the esti-,
mate of moral right, physical force can intrude
as an element. Nor can we wonder, that to op.
pose the right this day asserted and maintained,
it should be found necessary to gather weapons
from the armory of q barbarian age, and TO de-
grade the dignity Of the right by subiecting its
very existence to the test of mere brute violence
should feel more reluctance in maintaining
these principles were it not that believe the
right of secession is the best assurance of the
Union and its Constitution. Secession, as
constitutional right, il omnipotant 10 destroy |;
but because it is SO, is omnipotent to pre-
serve. The existence of right, with ample and
sufficient means of maintaining 1t, in the hands
Of one able and willing to do 80, Is the surest
guarantee against its invasion, or any necessity
for Interior redress.
In the present order Of things, it is the only
plank between US and the unfathomed abyss of
dreadful centralism. Disguise il as we may,
the question in the country is one between the
rulers and the ruled--the delegating and the
delegated Acknowledgement sbsolutism and
liberty. For what better definition can you
have Of absolute and despotio power, than Ia
furnished every day by the assertion and main
tenance of the doctrine, that the government
may construe its own limitations and enforce its
construction against the delegating authority ut
the point Of the bayonet? Here is indeed cen
tralism with its bristling legions, in dazzling
amor clad. But where 10 tie individuaizing
element of your system!. Where Is its mani.
festation, essential TO the existence of liberty,
as ! have shownl You can only see 1t in the
crouching, humble shades Of departed sover-
eighty, to which you have reduced the States.
l solemnly believe that the manly assertion Of
the right have maintained, would save the
Union and what is more valuable, though in
these days of sublimated patriotism not so re-
garded, our rights under the Constitution. IL
would bring peace where there is hostility love
where there Is hate il would plant sympathy in
the place of antipathy; and again, we would
have a Union Of States, each able to protect IL
SELF and secure. peaceful and happy. %
IN the discharge of the duty devolved upon
me in the discussion of this subject trust one
good result may have been attained: that il
shall have aroused in the minds Of those whom
have the honor 10 address, sense Of the crisis
In the fate Of free institutions In America. IL
be right In the views have conscientiously ex-
pressed, there 10 much Of danger TO alarm, and
much Of disaster to avert Consolidation moves
on with giant strides tows rds complete ascend.
ancy; and not content with present attainments,
II even defies opposition, and announces its per-
petuation by physical force. The existence Of
political right Is made 10 depend upon the
amornt Of physical might Il my command /;
and the former has M substantial existence in
this boasted practical age, because il may be
crushed beneath the tread Of brutal violence.
And yet these monstrous doctrines are nd.
vanced, tolerated and applauded, amid people
claiming 10 be free and arrogatinq civilization
And an open, bold denial Of them, IL proscrbcd
as breach Of public taste, or branded with the
dreaded name Of treason! May I moi. in main
tanning these great principles Of civil liberty,
tauntinQly excaim with former orator Of Viz
ginis, II this be treason. make the most Of Il p
retort the charge. For IL IL be treason 10
assert the rights Of the sopereiga power against
the absolutism Of its gopernmen,, by What other
and harsher name may ] not brand that crime,
which npholds the gorernmsnt in its uar uron
its sovereign! - tn.J
He alone is the true friend Of the Union, who
cherishes and upholds the sovereignty Of the
States, rs the pillars upon which The edi6oe must
rest, or tcpple TO its ruin; as he tribunician
power cf our system, with all its sacred invio-
liability; as the political units al whose voice Il
sprang into being, and at whose will il must
cease to be; the separate chords Of that wond-
rous harp, which vibrate not in the sulleu mon.
ozone OF a,entralized despotisrn, but, swept by
the winds, sound the bold and joyful anthem Of
a free, happy and prosperous cohfederacy
The times are full Of solemn import. They
present no ec,sion for fearful timidity for
shrinking dismay, or hopeless despair. II the
-. Al A. a