Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-12-04

1t cannot be exercised IN any State except by the people
in their highest sovereign capacity when framing or
amending their State constitution. In like manner,
il only be exercised by the people Of Territory rep
resented in convention Of delegates for the purpose OF
framing q constitution preparatory TO admission as
State into the Union Then and not until then are
they invested with power to decide the question whether
slavery shall or shall not exist within their limits 1hs
net of sovereign authority and not of subordinate
territorial legislation Wore it otherwise, then indeed
would the equality of the States i'll the Territories be de-
stroyed and the rights of property in slaves would de-
pend not upon the guarantees of the Constitution, but
upon the shifting majortes OF Irresponsible territorial
Legislature Such doctrine, from its intrinsic unsound
ness cannot long influence any considerable portion of
our people, much less it afford good reason for
dissolution of the Union.
The most papable Violations OF constitutional duty
which have yet been committed consist in the acts of
different State legislatures to defeat the execution of the
fugitive slave law 1t ought to be remembered however
that for these acts neither Congress any President
justly be held responsible. Having been passed in
violation of the Federal Constitution they therefore
null and void All the COURTS both Stats and National,
before whom the question has arisen have from the be-
ginning declared the fugttoslave law to be oonstitu
ttonal The single exception Is that of State 5ofs In
Wisconsin and this hos Vet only been reversed by the
proper appellate tribunal but has met with such univer-
sal reprobation that there be danger from it
precedent. The validity of s ss has been established
over and ever ag 10y the Supreme Court of the United
States with perfect unanity It is founded upon
press provision of the Constitution requiring that fugitive
slaves who escape osa Service in State to another
shall bs .elivered up to their masters Without this
provision it is welknown historical fact that the Con-
stitution itself could have been adopted b Me Con
yention In one form Or oer under the acts of 1898
and 1850, both being substantially the same the fgi-
pesave law has BEEN the law Of the land from the days
of Washington until the present moment, Here, then,
clear case is presented in which Il Will be the duty Of
the next President, as it has been my own to act with
vor in executing this supreme law against the conflict
ing enactments of State legislatures Should he fail In
the performance Of this high Duty he will then have
manifested disregard of the Constitution and laws to
the great injury of the people of nearly one half Of tie
States OF the Union. But are we to presume in advance
that he WILL ths violate his duty? This would be at
with every principle of justice and of Christian char
fty Let us wait for the overt act The fustvcslavo
law has been carried into execution in every contested
since the conhccecnt of the present admlnstra
ton though often it is to he regretted with great loss
and inconvenience to the MASTER and with considerable
expense to the government. Let trust that the State
legislatures will repeal their unconstitutional and obnox
ous enactmontS. Unless this shall be done without I'M
necessary deay it impossible for envy huan power to
save the Union.
Tho Southern States standing the basis of the Con-
stitution have right to demand this act Of Justice from
the States of the North Should 1t be refused then the
Constitution to which all the States are parties will have
been wully violated by one portion of them in provi
sion essential to the domestic security and happiness
the remainder Ia that event. the injured SseteS after
having first used all peaceful and constitutional means
sstance to the Government of the Union.
have purpoSely confined my remarks TO revolutionary
resistance because it has beeh claimed within the last
few years that any State whenever this shall he its SOW
eregn Will and pleasure, may secede from the Union in
accordance with the Constitution and without any viola
ton of the constitutional rights of the other members
the Confedsracy That each became parties to the
Union by the vote of its people assembled in Con-
vention, any OF them may retire from the Union
in a similar manner by the vote OF such a convention
IL
it must be on the principle that the Federal Government
Is mere voluntary association of Bttes to be dissolved
at pleasure by any one of the contracting parties II
this be So the Confederacy is rome of sand to h nne
traed and dissolved by the first adverse wave of public
opinion in any of the States In this manner or thr
ty-hree States may resolve themselves into as many
petty jarrng and hostile republics each one retiring
from tho Union, without responsibility whenever any
sudden excitement might impel them to such course
By this process Union might be entirely broken into
fragments In few weeks, which cost Our foreathers
many years OF toll, privaon, and blood to establish
Such principle is wholly inconsistent with the histo
~ as Wen as the chaActer of the Federal Constitution
After 1t framed, With the greatest doberaton and
CARE it was submitted to conventions of the people of the
several States for ratification. Its provisions were dis
cussed at length in these bodies composed of the first
men OF the country Its opponents contended that It
conferred powers upon the Federal Government DANGER
to the rights of the States whilst its advocates main
tanned that under fair construction OF the instruments
there was no foundation for such apprchensops. In
that mighty struggle between the first ntellocs of this
any other country it occurred to any individual
either among its opponents advocates to assert or
to Intimate, that their efforts were all vain labor
because the moment that any State felt herself aggreycd
she might secede from the Union What crushing ar
gusaent would this have proved against those who
dreaded that the rights of the States would be eDdan
gered by the Constitution The truth is that it was not
until MANY years after the origin of the Federal Govern
ment that such proposition first advanced 1t was
then met and refuted by the conclusive arguments of
General jackson, who in bis message of 10th January
$685. transmitting the multiplying ordinance of South Car
DINA to Congress- employs the following language
Iae right ct the people of single State to absove
themselves at will and without the consent of the other
States, from their most solemn obligations and hazard
the liberty and happiness Of the millions composing this
Union, cannot be acknowledged Such authority is be-
leved to be utterly repugnan both to the principles
upon which the General Government is constituted and
to the objects which it expressly formed to attain
1t is not pretended that any clause in the Constitution
gives countenance to such theory 1t is altogether
founded upon inference not from any language contained
IN the instrument ITSELF but from the sovereign charac
ter of the several States by which it was ratified But is
1t beyond the power of State, like an individual to
yield portion OF s sovereign rights to secure tho ro-
manderf In the language of Mr. Madison who has
been called the father of the Constitution 1t was
formed by the Satesthat is by the people in each Of
the States acting in their highest sovereign capacity
and formed consequently by the same authority which
formed tho State constitutions
9 Nor s the Government OF the United States created
by the Constitution, less Government in the strict
sense OF the term within the sphere OF It's powers hnn
the governments created by the constitutions of the
States are, within their severa spheres It's like them
organized into legislative executive and Judiciary de-
partments 1t operates like them directly on persons
and things and like them, it has at command a phvsi
cal force tor executing the powers committed to H.
1t was intended to be perpetual, and to be annu
led at the pleasure Of any of the contracting parties
lhe old articles of confederation entitled Articles
OF confederation and Perpetual Union between the
states and by the 18th article it expressly declared
that the articles of this Confederation shall be inycla
bly, observed by every State and the Union shall be ner
petual The preamble to the Constitution of the IIn