The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-08

States officer appointed by the President to
guard against treason? Suppose the abolish
slavery 10 the District Of Columbia! What say
you to the political power (not revolutionary,
for revolutionary rights belong to the people Of
all conditions) Of any of the States to secede
from he Union for any such causes
Why, sir, Vermont, who is now sharpening
her sword for our execution, would have right
to secede, if Congress interferes against slavery
in the District of Columbia, for though she Is
not interested for it. yet she could properly Sc
cede. because the government exercises power
not delegated, and even that State would have
the political right to say in convention of her
people where her sovereignty Is represented, we
will no longer belong to this government be-
cause it exercises powers which we have never
consented to confer on i; the representatives
of the other States have violated the compact,
and swe will no longer endure connection
with them we reserved to ourselves all power
not granted; we have not granted such power,
and consequently we will secede." Who will
say that this right does not inherently belong
to the sovereignty of State, and who will say
that il has ever been surrendered either in ex-
press terms or by implication? The snrren-
der of sovereignty at once annihilates the State.
The man who questions the peacable exercise
of this right of secession, or denies it az poti-
cal right resulting from sovereignty, must see
upon examination that by annihilating the power
Of the State, he merges all the States into
one nation, irresponsible to any State and there
fore that he RENTS all the limitations in the
Constitution, consoidates the government, and
gives majority in Congress the power Of es-
tablishing religion, aboshing slavery, obliterat-
ing State lines, setting up hereditary mon
archy, or anything else that an absolute or des-
potc government could do or conceive it proper
to attempt.
Each State singly, without recognizing the
power or consulting the will of any other State,
adopted this Constitution for itself, by which it
imposed restraints as well as granted powers.
1t is absurd to restrain government, If the
power which makes the government and re-
strains it, cannot exercise power OF itself to
command the observance OF the limits which it
prescribed to it in the act of its creation. 1t
follows then that the government thus formed
must not in its practical operation look beyond
the powers granted by its makers. 1t must
always empire what i has the authority from
It's makers to do, and not consult its ideas of
what act would rebound to the general welfare
of the whole or to particular section.
The power of State, in its relation with thu
other States, has been compared to the feeble
and humble relation which county bears to
State; and it is frequently and vauntingly asked
if county can secede from the rest Of the State?
No. A county cannot secede, because it Ia only
part Of the State, and has no sovereignty.
There is not the slightest simiitude in the rela-
ton which each bears to the other. The State
is self-created-the State is one great commu.
nifty, with fixed boundary which it has marked
out, and the world is notified to respect it. 1t
has sovereign Jurisdiction within Its limits, the
power of Legislation and taKation, and all other
powers with which any independent nation is in
vested, except those grant to the United
States government, and those which it has agreed
to forbear from exercising. 1t makes counties
at its peasure-alters their names and their
lines, divides them and joins parts Of two or more
of them together without regard to their potcer,
and often against their wishes. The minority of
Sta has perfect control and command OF a
county, because it is part and parcel of its own
community.
The State makes compacts with other States
and has the political power to enforce them. A
county, on the contrary, can do nothing without
the authority of the State, not even TO levy
tax for a poor school, or TO build courthouse
and Jail. This comparison reducing State to
the level OF county Is so dissimiar and inap
propriate that It is ludicrous, but nevertheless
Il proves somenling against those who are weak
enough to rely on il that Is that the federalsts,
to maintain their doctrines Ct consolidation, are
pressed 10 introduce arguments which will not
bear examination.
To be Continued