Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-12-05

inalgurated and had possession OF the government,
that our position would be weakened He did not
believe it. A step of the kind, taken now, would
be with divided opinions among the people OF the
South and would deprive us of the sympathy OF
the powerful constitutional party Of the North. 1t
our rights were violated and the Constitution over
thrown by Lincoln, there would be but one heart
and one hand throughout the entire South. It's
gallant sons clad in the armor OF thrice just cause
would be invincihle in so holy contest Nor
would they be alone in that contest Many true
hearted sons of the North would strike for Liberty
and the Constitution.
The election of Lincoln said Mr.. Brown,
although in conformity with the provisions OF
the Constitution, was beyond all question viola.
ton Of that fratcrnal feeling which is the very sou!
of confederated Republic, and which if persevcred
in hereafter must destroy the Union. lie held
that no one section should press on other sections
either obnoxious measures or Presidents OF offensive
sectional opinions Mutual forbearance is the
great anmating principle Of federative system OF
government We are, however, parties to the federal
compact and in the written Constitution which
FORMS that compact, We have agreed that majority
of the electoral votes shall elect President.
There is hut one way said Mr.. B.. to relieve our
selves from the Administration OF Mr.. Lincoln, ana
that is by secession or withdrawing from the Con.
| federacy. Aggravated as our injuries were, by
our Northern brethren, he did not deem 1t wise 10
appeal to that last resort when State Judging OF
| the mode and measure of redress, applied the eX-
| treme remedy of the Constitution. He could but
hope that the reccollections of the common suffering
| and sacrifices which our Independence IN the
Revolution, and common history whose pages
glow with patriotic deeds and great achievements, as
well as the mutual interests Of each section-for
strictly speaking there is difference of interest
between us, if the government was administered in
| the true sense and meaning of the Constitution,
which bind us together-should make us one people
in sentiment, however separated by State limits
Bound up as the Southern States are in one common
destiny for veal or woe he sincerely hoped that no
State or States would take action by withdrawing,
without consultation and the co operation Of all.
! A step of that kind would be violation of that
comfy due to sister States thus situated and would
be in his opinion grievous injustice to those
slave States on the borders, and near the borders
of the non-slaveholding States
Mr. B. said he belonged to the old State Rights
party of '9s and 49, who claimed the right of State
interposition and IN the last resort claimed the
! right of State to Judge of the mode and measure
OF redress when their safety was in peril 1t was
| one of those reserved rights which however abso-
lutev possessed should never be exercised until all
! other remedies inside of the Constitution and Union
! had been exhausted. In the language Of 4 great
statesman, there is but one calamity greater than
dsnnion, and that is. submission to government
| without limitation of powers. Rather than submit
to a government, fatally bent on such course, he
would fly to any other form Of government for pro-
| lection.
The right of secession is proven by the SIM
| pie statement of the consequences of en- attempt
! at coercion. If said Mr. B.. State secedes and
BY the use of military force she is conquered what
is her condition! She is a conquered province /!
She is stricken from the constellation Of States and
the conquerng government by that act destroying
the nature of the federal system, which is one of
equal States becomes consolidated military
government!
/ The federal government. said Mr.. Brown, can
be preserved only by administering it in the spir-
| it in which it originated. 1t had its birth in a
spirit of Cancellation and of mutual concession. End
in that spirit alone it be practically and success
fully carried out. Force on States, is alien to its
nature its strength finds support only in the affec
ton of its citizens, preserved by combining it to its
limits and abstanng from the exercise of all doubt
full powers and those powers exercised in forh hear
| ing and fraternal spirit of common Brotherhood
I; This done, said Mr. Brown and este perpetua would
he living principle of our federal government
There can be no Union said Mr.. B., without our
! Constitution is preserved. The preamble to the
Constitution recites, that ave the people of the
| United States. in order to form more perfect
Union establish justice, &C., do ordain this the
Constitution of the people of the United States &c"
Now what, asked Mr.. B.. is the instrumcntality
which forms "a more perfect Union?" 1t is 1.-THE
Constitution of the United States" That is the
soul-that is the animating principle by which the
Union has its being. 1t is the bond Of Union. as
Mr. Webster expressed it, and without which that
Union ceases to exist 1t is rs absurd. said Mr. B.,
to suppose that the body could exist without SOUL
as the federal Union to exist without the Consti-
tuition.
Mr.. B. said that. notwithstanding these were his
views in regard to the nature and character of the
federal Constitution and the rights Of the States he
confessed. IN all candor that outside of the federal
Union he saw no future gded with brightncss-no
of man. On the contrary. he saw nothing but that
long night Of disaster and darkness which the his
tory of distracted and divided nations like faithful
mirror, held up to our view.
He said he saw, or thought he saw, in the
discordant materials Of the party which placed
Mr. Lincoln in power, the elements Of its own
destruction. 1t was composed, mainly, of the
old Henry Clay Wing party Of the North en-
grated on the abolition party. The old Wing
party, of which Mr. Lincoln was member, had
sacrificed their more conservative opinions, and
formed political coalition to obtain the magnificent
prize at Washington. To reduce it to simple eco
| nomical government, on scale more corresponding
with State patronage salaries and expenditures
would be- in his opinion, the best cure for sectional
ism. When that prize "the spoils!" was divided
the high contracting powers would quarrel and d.
vide and would also disagree on questions of admin
strative policy in reference to the South. On the
happening Of these events he trusted and believed
honest men would come by their rights IF not
standing on the Constitution, and knowing thei,
rights they would dare maintain them at all haz.
ards, and to the last extremity. TWAS more manly
to face the enemy and expel him from the ctade
than to surrender to him. In this course they
would not only be animated by the justice of theil
own cause but the moral force Of the approving sen
timent of the whole civilized world would be thrown
! into the scale.
Mr.. B. would say word now on the subject o
the defences Of the State. He had always though
that the law relaxing militia system or in othe
words, almost disbanding the militia, was grea
error. The system of organization and enrolmen
was of. itself great element of strength and con
centration and an essential means of defence. TIL
liberties Of people, if worth anything. wortl
defending. well organized militia is the hest ant
only security for the maintenance Of liberty, which
to be efficient must to some extent be ar'ued will