Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-11-09
DELAWARE, OHIO, NOVEMBER 9, 1850.
From DE LOuisvills Journal
The Honor Of Kentucky Pledged to the
Union.

IFrom DE Louisvils Journal.
The Honor Of Kentucky Pledged to the
Union.
By her Senator'S and Representatives in Con-
gress, who have or over fifty years solemnly
and publicly sworn fidelity to the Constitution
and the laws of The Union, Kentucky stands
pledged. By her long aud honorable array of
Governors sud her many thousand Represen-
tatives and Senators in her Legislature, who
are scattered through every contuy of the
State; by her honorable judges; by the spon-
taneous expressions of her people; and above
all, by theif love and devotion to that country
for which Kentackians have so often shed their
blood; by all these pledges, and bonds, is Ken
lucky bo1ud tosthe Union.
And even if sAre were no such pledges an
nually repeated--no Intervening of loyalty
with the whole social fabric and honor of the
community are bound beyond all rev oca-
ton by the sol.mH acts of onr forefathers in
the formation OF the Federal Government, to
which they surrendered the independence of
States, counties, towns, and individuals, and in
that surrender pledged their honor to the gov
ernmental compact, formed between the people
of all the Staaes.
It is utterly vain and futile TO say that be-
cause State may have originally voluntarily
entered us alf independent community into the
federal compact, therefore she has still the
right as an indepent body polite voluntarily
and freely 10 withdraw whenever she fancies
herself in any way aggrieved.
As well might the man who has signed
contract for the purchase of farm, or the
payment of p sum of money. claim the right
as an Independent gentleman, TO withdraw
from the fuliilment of his contract, whenever
be is displeased, because be 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 street or road,
claim the right whenever displeased with his
neighbors to withdraw the conveyance and de-
prive his fellow citizens of the rights which
they had acquired.
All these wild notions arise from that deter
ioration of the moral sense of which our polit-
ical history has recently given so many exam
Piles.
The right of secession is like the right of
the debtor to repudiate his debts-the right of
sold and been paid for--or the right of the
husband to repudiate his wife and rQnounce
his children It is the right to do wrong, to
violate pledges, TO destroy the vested rights OF
Others, and TO uproot the foundation of all ar
gumcut II such principle could be applied
to our eountry, it-would authorize county to
secede srom State, a village township to
secede ifom the county as well as the State
a manufacturing company to secede from the
whole eommunity-and every farmer to set up
on his sewn farm as an independent sovereign
aud defy the State to levy tax upon him or
to ope,l a road through his unenclosed forests
In ss5sfts such principle brings Us to the end
Of ~ government and Of all the faith and hon
or upon which governments are erected.
government created by the people is like
deisf created by nn individual, thing oil
binding and irrcvocslble obligation, from which
there can be no honorable escape but in ac-
conlesec with its conditions As we are
boundfby a conveyance or lease of land which
We cannot honorably reclaim, SO when we
convey to a government or d corporation
certain interest in our lands, viz: 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 payment
And when a State applies to be admitted into
the Federal Union, it conveys to the Federal
Government certain rights of taxation, right
of way and rights of jurisdiction which, when
once conferred, cannot be recalled by the
grantor.
Yet, in truth, this surrender of power and
jurisdiction to the General Government is only
a acknowledgment by the organized stat c
of that jurisdiction which the Federal Govern
meiIt 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
disputed that the original States by whom the
!. FEDERAL Coustitutiou was framed and adopted
are just as firmly bound by its provisions as
! the newer States which. have since been erect
ed on the lands owned by the Federal Govern
meut. 9.ss
| Where then is the right of secession among
honorable communities from rightfuly estab
| lished governments? 1t stands in company
with the right of the repudiating debtor, the
| fugitive husband, the rebellious citizen, and
she lawless buccan eer of the ocean.
Can South Carolina by her sole wayware
will annul the vested rights of the Fedora
Government? Can she at her pleasure annu
| the rights of taxation, the right of regulating
commerce, the right of determining our for
eign policy, and the right of carrying thu
| United States mail or march the Unitet
States army across her boundaries2 As wei
might any county in Kentucky proclaim it
Independence, refuse TO pay its taxes. and re
| fuse to permit our courts to be held in it
boundaries. Unless our national governmen
has these vested rights independent of tn
whim of any State. it can scarcely be calle'
a government at all-the oaths of all our pub
lie functionaries are but miserable moeke
rv4-honor dwells not among us-and ou
country will soon become the derisiou of th
world.
But we hope for better things; we believ
that Kentucky will be trne to her honor, an
that an overwhelming majority in other State
will stand by "The Constitution, the Unior
and the enforcement of the Laws" This
the true issue, the momentus issue of ou
struggle, in comparison with which all othe
issues in party platforms are of slight import
ance Have we or have we not governmen
a national Union, and shall we be a might
nation, or a mere cluster of discordant, hostile
bankrupt States?
A Snake in an Editors Bed.
, "Monday night last after retiring" says th