Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-10-31
WttEELING, WEDNESDAY, MORNING, OCTOBER 81 1860. !


and can only be done though gross error,
or to decisive tliose who are willing to u.s.
sert right, hut would pause before they
made a5revolutfon, orsincnr the penalties
consequent upon a failure. Because the
Union was formed by compact, it is snid
the parties TO tbnt compact may, when they
feel themselves aggrieved, depart from ii:
but 1t is precisely because it is 81 compact
that they cnnnot. a compact is nn agree
ment or binding obligation. It NAV by
its terms, have sanction or pennllv furits
breach. or it may not. If itcontnias M
sanction, it may be broken with no other
consequence than moral guilt; if il have
a sanction, then the breach iprurs
the designated or implied penalty. a
league between independent nations. gen
orally has no sanction other than a
moral one; or. If it should contain a PEN
atty, ns there is no common superior, it
cannot he enforced. a government, on
the contrary, always has q sanction, ex-
pressed or implied, and in our case il is
both necessarily Implied and expressly
given. An AttetnptRby force of arms to
destroy government, is nm offence, by
whatever means the constitutional compact
may have been formed; and such government
has the right, by the law of self defence,
to pass acts for furnishing the offenders,
unless that right is modified, restrained.
or resumed, by the constitutional net. In
our system, although it is modified in the
case OF treason. yet authority is expressly
given 20 pass alI laws necessary to carry
its powers into effect, and under this grant
provision has been made for Dunishiug
acts which obstruvt the due administration
of the laws. 1t would seem superHuous to
add anything to show the nature of that
union which connects us; but as erroneous
opinions on this subject are the fonnda-
ton of doctrines the most destructive 10
our peace, must give some further dcveI-
0pment to my views on this subject. No
one, fellow-citizcns, has higher reverence
for the reserved rights of the States than
the magistrate who now addresses you.-
No one would make greater personal sac
rihces, or official cxertons to defend them
from vocation: hut equal care must be ia.
ken to prevent on their part nm improper
interference with, or resumption Of the
rights they bHVe vested in the nation
The line has not been so distinctly drawn
as TO avoid doubts in some cases OF the
exercise of power. Men OF the best intcn-
lions and soundest views may differ in
their construction of some parts of the
constitution: but there are others on which
diSpnssi0nlte reflection can leave no doubt.
OF this nature appears to be :hc assumed
right of secession. 1t rests. as we have
seen, on the alleged undivided Sovereignty
ot the States, and on their having formed.
In TINS sovereign capacity, q compact
Which is culled IL constitutions from winch
because they made it, they have the right
In sccede. Both of these positions are cr-
roneous, and some of the arguments to
prove them SO have been anticipated. The
t,Af Lev
entire sovereignty. 1t has hecn shown
that in becoming parts of IL nation, not
members of lGanue, they surrendered
many of their essential parts of sovereign
ty. The right TO make treaties, declare
war, levy taxes, exercise exclusive judicial
and legislative power, were all of them
of sovereign power.
The States, then, for all these important
were no longer sovereign. The
allegiance of their citizens was transferred,
in the first instance, TO the government of
the United States-they became American
citizens. and Dwell obedience to the Con-
stitution of the United States, and to laws
made i'll conformity with the powers it
vested in Congress. This last position
has not been and cannot be denied. How
then can that State be said to be sovereign
and independent, whose citizens owe o6e-
dience to laws not made by it, and whose
magistrates are sworn to disregard those
laws when they come in conflict with those
passed hy another? What shows couclu-
sively that the States cannot be said TO
have reserved an undivided oo~eryis"ty
is, tlat they expressly ccded the right to
punish treason-not treason against their
separate powers, but treason against the
United States. Treason is an offence
against sovereignty, and sovereignty must
reside with the power to punish it. But
the reserved rights of the States are not
less sacred, because they have for their
common interest made the general govern
ment the depository of these powers. The
unity of our political character las has
been shown for another purpose) COM
lpencGl with its very exiSta"ac. Undrr-
the royTr government we had no separate
character; our opposition to its oppres-
sions began as United Colonies. We were
the United States under the confederation,
and the name was pcrpetuated aud the
union rendered more perfect, by the feder-
al constitution. In none of these stages
hid VIC consider ourselves in any other
light than as forming one nation Trea-
ties and alliances were made in the nume
of all. Troops were raised for the Joint
defence. How, then, with all these proofs
that under all changes Of our position we
had, for designated purposes, and with
defined powers, created national govern
mcnts-how is it, that the most perfect of
those several modes of union should now
be considersd rs mere league, that may
be dissolved at pleasure? II is from an
abuse of terms. Compact is used as sy-
nonymous with league, although the true
term is not employed, because it would at
once show the fnllucy of the reasoning.
1t would not do to say that our constitu-
tion was only league, but it is labored
To prove it compact, (Which in Que
sense it ISL and then to argue that as
lesgue is compact, every compact be-
tween nations must Of course be a league.