Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-12-25


if taken in battle, would not be traitors to the
usurpcr; for it must be a very imperfect and
contenptiblc sovereign which cannot pro-
tect its citizens when acting in obedience to
its orders, rightfully issued. But if the State
has no right TO scccdc, its orders 10 that end
will not be rightfnlly issued, as far as the Fedc-
raj Government is concerned, and then the
citizens will be liable to the penalty of treason
to the Federal and State Governments, at the
same time; and therefore The consequence is
that the States are bound lo submit to any de-
gree of oppression, and have no right to pro-
tcct their citizens in the cxigency supposed by
Mr.. Hamilton, or the right Of secession is u
right which cannot bc parted with, and may
be exercised without violating the ConStitu-
ton, or any law made under it.
Again-[ have shown that there is no au-
thority in the Constitution to cocrcc "a dclin.
qucnt State;" and the President in his late
message, very properly admits it; though his
Attorney General, by the most remarkable con-
fusion Of IDEAS makes him deny the right 10 Sc
ccde
Now, polIier informs us, that obligations
are perfect anu imperiect-the imperfect being
moral only, which We cannot be compelled to
perform; and the perfect, legal which we may
be compelled to perform-and Paley informs
us that Right aud obligation are reciprocal;
that is, wherever there is right in one person,
there is corresponding obligation upon 9TH
crs" IT, therefore, a State has not the right
to 70 out Of the Union, it is because she is
bound, by legal obligation, for there is certain
ly no moral obligation, to stay in IT; and If
she is thus bound To stay in, there must be
some power to compel her to stay in it; and !
consider if there be no power to compel her to
stay in, then she is not bound to stay in, and
SO may rightiully secedc.
But, say our opponents, willie State cannot
commit treason, her people may, and we will
use hemp freely upon them. These are the
modern Borgias of America; and the fate Of the
Borgias, trust, awaits them, and the hemp
which they prepare for the friends of equal
right and Constitutional liberty, will alorn
their own nccks The idea Of thus Furnishing
the people and pardoning the State, is Us abb
snrl rs it is monstrouS, and one which none
but Il Borgia could conceive and suggest,
compound as it is Of force and fraud.
In the first place, why may not State com
nit treason What is 4 State 1t is political
corporation, and if it is by allegiance bound to
larger and more powerful State, and it at
tennis TO overthrow the Government Of that
State, or rebels against its allegiance, it will
b. guilty OF treason, and if conquered in war
it will bc degraded into province simply
and governed by vice-roy, and the per-
sons composing the actual government at
the time Of the rebellion will be executed as
individual traitors, rs many cases in history
attest, and especially our own. This branch Of
the doctrine cvnces simple ignorance, but
when taken in connection with the claim to
treat the citizens Of seeding State as traitors,
it imputcs 10 the great and good men, at the
head Of whom stood George Washington, the
purpose TO practice deliberate fraud and cheat
upon the country, unless the authors Of the
idea were as ignorant Of the history Of their own
government rs they are Of the law Of nations
and the rights and duties Of States have
shown that the power to coercc delinquent
State, to use force against her. OF which, ,as Mr..
Yates informs us in the secret debates, Mr..
Hamilton said, when urging the claim
for power, "by force, ] mean the coercion
Of law and the coercion sot arms. =
And yet, the men who whine md SLAYER most
over Washington's urn and cytnl above all
others, the Constitution and its trainers, iu-
putc to Washington and his associates the
deliberate purpose to commit fraud and the
actual perpetraton Of it. by refusing to confer
upon Congress the power 10 cocrcc Il State in
terms, because. as Mr. Madison said the people
would bc offended and would not consent to it.
and it would dissolve the Union; and George
Mason said tic other States would never per-
NIT it, and then really comforting the same
power in a worse form, by authorizing the
Federal Government to punish the citizens Of
the delinquent State for obeying the laws for
passing which they refused 10 punish the
State.
People of Virginia, do you believe that
George Washington, George Mason, James
Madison, and their llustrious associates were
capable of such fraud such villainy, or that
any but the heart of Borgia could impute it
to them The authority to enforce the laws
of the United States was not intended to apply,
and cannot be made to apply TO citizens of a
State which has seeded from the Union, because
those laws are no longer obligatory upon her,
and the refusal to authorize coercion against a
State shows conclusIvcly that it was not in
tended in such case to apply force to her peo-
pic.
If the Convention had intended to deny the
right of State to sccede it would have so de.
clared, and provided such remedy as they
thought proper bat with the knowledge
Of the views Of Madison and Mason here
tofore quoted, it not only failed to deny
the right, bu; refused to confer the power to
cocrcc State, and it is shameful to impute to
it the disreputablc trick and cheat which the
advocates of force bill now imputc to it. When
n State goes out Of this Upion no law OF it can
effect hcr-Shc will bc free, sovereign and in
dcpcndcnl-ard if assailcd by the myrlnidons
of federal power, not only her sister States will
rush TO her aid, as Mason predicted, but the
whole Christian world will rally to her rescue,
and scatter the carcasscs Of her aSsailnnts to
the crows am! buzzards.
have said enough upon this point, am
sure; but beg leave, bsfore leave it, to quote
two paragraphs from the Declaration OF lnde-
pcndencc with the expression Of my utter sur
prise, my amazement that any Southern man
should bc found HOW to question the right Of
the Southern States to protect themselves and
their interests, their homes and their people
by the formation Of new government, and
any Bourbon or Borgia among US 10 deny it
Those paragraphs are:
"prut!cncc, indeed, will dictate that govern
munts long established should not be changed
for light and transient CAUSES; aud accordingly
all experience hath shown that mankind are
more disposed to suffer while evils are sulera-
bic than to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed.
"l;ut when long train of abuses and usur-
pations cvncc 4 design 10 reduce them under
absolute dcspotsm, it is their right, it is their
duty to throw off such government, and TO
provide new guards for their future security"
Having then the right to secede, ought the
St.In. met -nr
has already been given in the affirmative. But
the submissionists say No. Let lis wait for the
overt act-the overt act by Lincoln. By some
this is said honestly, under some strangely mis-
guided influence; with others, it is a mere fetch
To obtain delay and thus prevent any action
From respect to the honest, let us examine this
idea of Az covert act, and an covert act by
Lincoln
What is an covert net = | presume, OF
course, they mean overt act Of hostility to the