The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1860-11-09
The louisville Journal on Secession.


We have seen nothing Oh tho subject OF
secession more to tho purpose than the fol-
lowing remarks of the Louisville Journal:
His uterly voin and futile TO say that be.
cause State may hare originally vo!an-
toriiy entered as an independent community
into the federal compact therefore she has
still the right as an Independent body
poiiic voluntoriiv and freely to wihdrdw
wbeneUer she Jancies herseH IN any woy
oggrieved. ... |..
AS well light the man who has signed
a contract Tor the purchase Of a farm, or
the payment of sum Of money, claim
the right as an independent gentleman 10
withdraw from The Iulfllment Of his con-
tract, whenever he is dispeased, because
he was an independent voluntary agent in
making the contract. As well might the
land owner who has given TO his city or
county the land for a street or road, claim
the right whenever dispeased with his
neighbors to withdraw the conveyance,
and deprive his fellow citizens Of the
rights which they had acquired,
! All these wild notions arise from that
deterioration Of the moral sense Of which
our political history has recently given SO
many examples.
The right of secession is like the right
Of tie debtor 10 repudiate his debts-the
right Of the landlord to reclaim the land
| that he had sold and been paid for or
/ the right Of the husband to r,pudiate his
wife and renouncc his children. 1t is the
! right to do wrong, 10 violate pledges, to
destroy the vested rights Of others, and
! TO uproot the foundation Of all argument
If such principle could be applied to
our country, il would authorize a county
to secede from State, a village or town.
ship to secede from the county as well as
the Slae-a manufacturing company to
seccde from the whole community y-and
every farmer to set up on his own farm as
an independent sovereign and defy the
State to levy tax upon him or to open a
road through his uuenclosed forests. In
short such principle brings US TO the
eud Of al! government and of all the faith
and honor upon which governments are
erected.
A government created by the people is
like a debt cree'ed by m individual, a
thing OF binding and irrevocabe obliga.
ton, from which there can be no honor
able escape except in accordance with its
conditions. AS ne are bound by con.
veyance or lease Of land which we cannot
honorably reclaim so when we convey to
a government or corporation certain
interest in our lands, viz a right OF taking
so much Of their product or rental under
the title OF tax, we are bound by that
grant and cannot honorably resist its pay
ment. And when a State applies 10 be
admitted into The Federal Union it con
vers to lhe Federal Government certain
rights OF taxation, night Of wav and rights
, oil jurisdiction, which, when once conferred,
, cannot be recalled by the grantor.
, Yet, in truth, this surrender of power
and jurisdiction OF the General Govern.
meEt is only acknowledgment by
the organised State, of that jurisdiction
which the Federal Government never
ceased to possess since it first held, owned
and sold the lands upon which the State
: has been erected. And it will not be dis
puted that the original States by whom
the Federal Constitution was framed ant
, adopted, ARE just rs firmly bound by II,
I provisions as the newer States which hav,
since been erected on the lands owned b,
the Federal Government.
Where then is the right Of secession
among honorable communities from right
fully established governments? 1t stand
. in company with the right of the repudi
E aling debtor, the fugitive husband, the re
S belIious citizen, and the lawless buca
neer OF the ocean.
= Can South Carolina by her sole way
I ward will annul the vested rights of th
a Federal Government? Can she at he
pleasure annul the right OF taxation, tn
, right Of regulating commerce, the right c
2 determining our foreign policy, and tin
5 right Of carrying the United States arm,
: across her boundaries AS well Nigh
any county in Kentucky proclaim its in
dependence, refuse 10 pay its taxes, an
: refuse TO permit our courts TO be held i
| lis boundaries. Unless our National Gov
5 ernmen! has these vested rights indie
a pendent o! The whim Of any State, it ca
scarcely be called government at all
A the oaths Of all our public unctionarie
e are but a miserable mockery--hono
!. dwells not among us--and our countr
d will soon become The derision of III
!. world.