Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1860-11-01

! from Constitutional and pcaceahlc one to one
of law!ess violence? Is the pcaccabe exercise
I of clear right any just provocation to forcib!e
resistance :? Would tie civilized world Justify
amy Nation in making war upon another to force
her to execute a treaty which itself had persis-
tenty broken? Would the tribunal Of public
opinion be slow to condemn the use Of military
coercion to suhugate State, which refused to
remain in political connection with other States
when denied her equality of rights and privileges
and withheld from the persons and property of
her citizens, the protection given, as a right, to
| the others? The strong can assail the weak,
the North, relying on its preponderance of num-
bcrs, can attack the South, if possessed Of the
whole machinery of government, but it would
be an unjust ,cai, of one sovereign power against
another, not the legitimate exercise Of any au-
tholity delegated in the Constitution. Mr.
Madison shows in his report OF the proceedings
and debates Of the Convention which framed the
Constitution, that the proposition to confer the
! power to coerce q State was, more than once
urged and as often rejected. 1t would be well
for the advocates of this doctrine to learn from
these debates what Madison and Alexander
Hamilton thought of it. The latter denounced
it as proposition to destroy ''thc Union" they
were engaged in perfecting and establishing, for,
the first gun fired would be the signal of it's dis
solution. It is an absurdity in terms that the
sovereign States should empower the common
agent created by them, to conduct their relations
with forei gn nations and to regulate commerce,
to make war upon any one or more Of the par
ties, who had instituted it. Sin order to form
more perfect union, establish justice, insure do
nestle tranquility, pyOride .jor tie common de-
fence, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings Of liberty 10 Themselves and their
poste1ty." Would not the delegation of such
power to this common government be incompa-
tible with all the objects Of its creation and de-
structiye CT all its ends? Instead of Federal
Government, we should have central despo-
tism, instead of constitutional agency with
limited and specified powers, the arbitrary will
of mere sectional numerical majority. What
security would Maryland have against the pre-
ponderance of New York The minority Of
States against the majority a? Do you believe
Maryland ever bound her citizens by such
bargain and then cheated and Knocked their
hopes by delusive promises of enjoying eqdal
advantages in such Union But this doctrine
of military coercion of a sovereign State by. the
General Government or central agency is not
only repealed by the authority Of the Convention,
| which framed the Constitution, by its repugnan-
cy to all IDEAS of Federal Union or compact
between sovereign States, but by the. express
oblg tion and guarantee ':to protect each State
against INVASION" The words are general and
COM rehend invasion" by any and every pow
er, fir m within as well as from without, from any
co-State, or majority of them. 1t is further
proved that this power was never intended to
be intrusted to the government by the last clause
Of the 4th Section Of 18th Article, which denies
fr{
with an armed force "to protect it against do
mestic violence" without consent of its Legisla-
ture or Executive.
The duty of the President els to execute the
laws" But where Or upon whom Within
the jurisdiction of the United States and upon
every citizen Of the United States. But not out
of the Union. or upon sovereIg gu State, whether
in or out of the Union. If a State withdraws
from the Union, her citizens are no longer I'M
der the Jurisdiction Of the Federal Government.
She is foreign State and therefore the President
is under no obligation to execute the laws upon
her citizens, who no longer are bound to obey
them. 1t is true, Congress has power to make
war upon this State, as upon any other foreign
State, and justify the measure, if the State has
fefedHd 2m he I5 1np H Hh1 81 ~ S9 f6ig5a
a compact and breach Of good faith This
doctrine of the military coercion Of sovereign
member Of our Federal Union is abhorrent to
reason and destructive to liberty under any the
Dry of a federative system. Our Union rests
upon basis of moral obligation and good faith
among equals and not upon basis of physical
force where might is to dictate and enforce ODE
dience. So much for the abstract principle that
a sovereign State as an attribute of her sover-
eighty which size has not parted with in the
Constitution but reserved among her undeegated
powers, has the right to withdraw from the
Union. whenever it becomes destructive Of her
interests and safety. The practical assertion Of
this right is a more delicate and difficult ques-
! ton to decide. 1t must depend on exigencies,
which it would be wise not to anticipate. One
thing regard as certain, that it would be the
greatest calamity that could befal this people
but the Submission to the unlimited power Of a
numerical majority and that of hostile States,
Sufficient unto each day is the duty thereof.
Let us be true to the Constitution, to our State,
and to our individual rights and honor, and we
may safely commit our destiny, and future events,
! NC God, j. 7. S. :