The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-12-12
wsr unless aesaaIiy invaded. epia such 4aa

nent danger as will not admit of delay ;,
i In order still further to secure the uninte
d rupted exercise Of these high powers again
: State interposition, it is provided that tn
e Constitution and the laws OF the Unite
: States which. shall be made in pursuanc
r thereof and all treaties made, or which sha
}, be made. under the authority Of the Unite
j States, shall be the supreme law Of the land
!. and the judges in every State shall be boun,
e thereby, anything in the Constitution or law
e ing'
The solemn Sanction Of religion has beel
5 suPeradded to the obligations Of official duty
anu an senators and representatives of thu
1 onlteo states, all members of Seate legisla
I .uIes' ana all executive and judicial officers
noel oil the United States and of the seyera
States, shall be bound bv cath ~ -.
tosupport this Constitution, '''-' '-'''' '0i
i In order to carry into effect these n,,,,a,u
the Constitution has established a ne,tae,
government in all its forms. I.ao;s rl;sa
Executive, and Judicial and this 13oTars
ment, to the extent of its power, acts directIr
/ upon the individual citizens OF every Sat-
, | and executes its own DEGREES by the acenc,
of its own offices. In this respect it differ,
entirely from the Government under the oil
Confederation, which was confined to maxine
reduistions on the States in their sovreigI
character. This left it in the discretion o
each whether to obey or to refuse and thel
often declined to comply with such requisi
| tons. 1t thus became necessary, for tn
purpose of removing this barrier, and "in or
der to form more perfect Union,' TO estab
fish Government which could act directly
upon the people, and execute its own law
without the intermediate agency of the State
This has been accomplished by the Constitu
ton of the United States.
In short, the Government created by tn,
Constitution, and deriving its authority from
the sovereign people Of each Of the severa
States, has precisely the same to exescise it,
power over the people of all these States, il
the enumerated cases, that each one of then
possesses over subjects not delegated to the
7 United States but reserved to the States, re-
spectively, or to the people,"
To the extent of the delegated powers the
Constitution Of the United States is as much
part Of the constitution of each State, and
is as binding upon its people, as though it had
been textually inserted therein. 5:l4a4e
The Government therefore, is great and
| powerful Government, invested with all the
attributes of sovereigntv7oyer the special SUBJ
ieeas to which its authority extends. Its
/ trainers never intended to plant in its bosom
the seeds OF its own destruction, nor were
they at its creation guilty Of the absurdity of
providing for its own dissolution. q It was not
intended by its trainers to be the baseless fab
ric OF a vision which, at the touch of the en-.
| chanter, would vanish into thin air, but a SUBJ
stantial and mighty fabric, capable of resis-
! ting the slow decay of time and of defying
| the storms Of ages. Indeed, well may the
jealous patriots Of that day have INDUCED
| fears tint government of such high powers
might violate the reserved rights Of the States.
| and wisely did they adopt the rule of strict
construction of these powers to prevent the
danger But they did not fear, spor had they
any reason to imagine, that the Constitution
would ever be so interpreted as to enable any
State, by her own act, and without the con-
sent of her sister States, todischarse her peo-
pie from all or any of their federal obligations.
1t ray be asked, then, are the people of the
States without redress against the tyranny
and oppression Of the Federal Government?
By no means. The right of resistance on the
part of the governed against the oppression of
their governments cannot be denied. It exists
independently Of all constitutions, and has
been exercised at all periods of the worlds
history. Under it old governments have
been destroyed, and new ones have taken
their place. 1t is embodied in strong and ex-
press language in our own Declaration of In
dependence. But the distinction must ever
be observed, that this is revolution against an
established Government, and not voluntary |
secession from it by virtue Of an inherent
constitutional right. In short, let US look the |
danger fairly in the face Secession is neither |
more nor less TIN revolution. 1t may or it |
ho
is revolution.
What in the meantime. is. the responsible
ty and true position Of the Executive He |
is bound by solemn oath before God and the |
country ''to take care that the laws be faith /
fully executed" and from this obligation he
cannot be absolved by any human power.-i
But what if the performance of this duty, in
whole or in part, has been rendered impracti-
cable by events over which he could have ex-
cised no control Such, at the present mo-
ment, is thecase throughout the State of South
Carolina, SO far as the laws of the United |
States to secure the ADMINISTRATION. of Justice by |
means Of the Federal judiciary are concerned. |
All the Federal offices within its limits, through |
whose agency alone these laws can be carried |
into execution, havezalready resigned. We |
no longer have district judge, district at |
torney, or marshal, IN South Carolina. In I
fact, the whole, machinery Of the Federal |
Government. Necessary for the distribution of |
remedial justice among the people, has been
demolished; and it would be difficult, if not
TO replace it.
The only acts OF Congress on the statue
book, bearing upon this subject, are those Of
the 2Sth February, 1895, and Sd March, 1907.
These authorize the President, after he shall
have ascertained that the marshal with his
posse coaitatas is unable to execute civil or
criminal process in any particular case, to call
forth the militia and employ the army and
navy to aid him in performing this service,
having first by Proclamation commanded the /
insurgents ITO dBperseand retire peaceably to !.
their respective abodes, within limited time"
This duty cannot by possibility be performed
ina State where no judicial authority exists
to Issue process, and where there is no mar
shall to execute it, and whore, even if there
were such an officer, the entire population
would constitute ono sold combination to re-
sist him.
The bare enumeration of these provisions
proves how inadequate they are without fur
Their legislation to overcome aunited opposition
in single State. not to speak of other States
who may place themselves in similar atti4
tude. Congress alone has power to decide
the present laws can or cannot be
amended so as to carry out more effectually the
objects of the Constitution.
The same insuperable obstacles do not lie in
the way II executing the laws for the eollec
ton of the customs. The revenue still con-
tinues to be collected, as heretofore, at the
custom house in Charleston and should the
collector unfortunately resign, successor
may be appointed to perform this duty.
Then in regard to the property of the Uni
ted States in South Carolina. This has b. IN
purchased for a fair equivalent. .sby the Gun
sent Gethe legislature Of the 81 ite,' over these
the authority ''tO exercise exclusive legisla-
tom has been expressly granted by the Cen
any attempt will be made to expel the Uni
ted States from this property by force; but if
in this should prove to be mistaken, the officer
in command Of the forts has received orders to
act strictly on the defensive. In such con-,
tingency, the responsibility for consequences
would rightfully rest upon the heads of the
assailants.
Apart flom the execution of the laws, SO far
rs this may be pract cable, the Executive has
no authority to decide what shall be the rela-
tons between the federal government and |
South Carolina. 1t has been invested with
no such discretioa, He possesses no power to /
change the relations heretoiore existing be-
tween them, much less to acknowledge the
oftn State. This would be TO
invest a mere Executive officer with the pow
err of recognizing tho dicsq1 gtion of the Canfed
eracy among our thirty three sovereign States
1t bears no resemblance to the recognition of
a foreign de facto government, involving no |,
such responsibility. Any attempt to do this /
would, on his part, be naked act of usurpa-
ton. 1t is, therefore, my duty to submit to
Congress the whole question in all its bear
ingS The course Of events is SO rapidly has
tening forward, that the emergency may soon
arise, when you may be called upepito decide
the momentous question whethepyou possess
the power, by force Of arms, to compel
State to remain in the Union. / should feel
myself recreant to my duty were | not to ex-
press an opinion on this important subject.
The question fairly stated is Has the Con-
fr>G ourocz fha s,1.yo,.