The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1860-12-14

! IN adVance that he VIII thuS violate his duty
THIS would be at war with every principle O
justice and christian charity. Let Us wait fo
! the overt act. The iugitive-slave- law has beeF
carried nto execution IN every contested cast
since the commenceme Mt Of The present admin
strairon though often it is to be regretted, witt
/ great loss and Inconvenience TO the master, and
with considerable expense TO the government
Let us trust that the State lpcrslatur es will re-.
/ peal their unconstitutional and obnoxious enact.
! nents- Unless This shall be done without us.
necessary delay, 1t IS impossible ior any human
/ power TO save the Union.
the Constitutes, have right to dem his act
of Justice from tie States of the North Should
It be refused, then the Constitution, to which
ali he States are parties, will have been wIlfu-
| ~ violated by one portion of them in a proy-
sion essential to the domestic security and hap
| piness of the remainder. In that event the in~
iured States, after having first used ali peaceful
and constitutional means to obtain redress,
woold be justified in revolutionary resistance "a
/ the Government of ,he Union.
! | have PuFposrly cSnhned my remarks 10
revolutionary resistance, because il has been
! claimed within the last few years that aar
/ State, whenever tins shall be its sovereign will
! and pleasure, may seCede from the Union, IL
accordance with the Constitution, and without
/ any violation OF the constitutions! rights of the
| other members OF The Confede-acy. That as
each became parties 70 the Union by the vote OF
! It's own people assembled 10 Convention, so any
one OF them may retire from! the Union in a
similar manner by the vote of such conyea-
/ Ton.
In order TO justify secession as a constitutions
/ al remedy it must be on the principle that tbs
Federal Government IS mere voluntary asso-
/ cialion Of StateS 20 be dissolved al pleasure by
any one OF The contracting parties. If this be
50, the Coniederacy is a rope oisand, TO be pes-
etraied and dissolved bY the first ads erse wave
/ of public opinion in am Of the States. In this
/ manner our thirly-threc States may resolve
/ themselves into as many petty, jarring, and hos
/ tile republics, elch one retiring from the Union.
/ without responsibility, whenever any sudden
excitement might mpe them to such course.
| BY this process Union might be entirely bro
/ ken ihlo fragments in a few weeks, which cost
our iorpiathe's many years oitoil, PrivaIIon, and
/ Deod 10 establish.
Such a principle is wholly inconsistent ,sitl
/ the history as Wei as the Character of The 7 ed@
era Constitution. Alter it was framed, WIN
! the greatest detberallon aud care, ii was sub
ml.ted 10 conventions Of the people of The sew
!
| discussed at length in these bodies, composed of
/ The first men o the country. It's opponents
contendrd that it conferred powers upon thp
/ Federal Gover.m ment dangerous to the rights OF
! the States, whilst its advocates maintained that
under 4 fair construction Of the instrument there
/ was 90 foundation for such appreheasons In
/ that mighty struggle between the first inteIeCls
! OF this or any other country, it never occurred
( IN md aI'l
advocates, 10 assert, or even TO intimate, that
their efforts were all vain labor, because the
| moment that any State tell herself aggrieved
she might setede from the Union. What a
crushing argument would this have proved a
! galnst those who dreaded that the rights Of the
| States would be endangered By the Constitu-
| lion. rae truth IS. that it was not until many
! years after the origin Of lhe Federal Govern
nent that such proposition was first advanced.
! It was then met and rciu'ed by the conclusive
! arguments OF General Jackson, who IN his mes
sage OF 9Th January, 1888, transmitting the
| nutlIiyiGg ORDINANCES OF South Carolina 20 Con-
gress, employs the following language ''Ihe
! right Of the people OF q single State 20 abSulve
| themselves at wall, and without thr consent Of
| the other States, from their most solemn GblIga-
! ions, and hazard the liberty and happiness Of
! the millions composing Tins Union, cannot be
/ acknowledged. SIch authority IS believed 10
| be utterly Tepugnant both 10 the principles up
on which the General Government is cons!itu-
! ted and 10 the objrcIs which II was expressly
! formed to atlaIn.'
| 1t IS not pretended that any clause in the
! Constitution gives countenance 10 such theory.
| II Is aitogpthrr founded upon inference, not
| CroH any language contained IN Tho instI unr al
| itself, but from the sovereign character OF the
| several States by which 1t was ratified. But is
! it beyond The power OF State, ike an indIvid-
| uat TO WELD portion OF is sovereign rights 10
secure the remainder 10 the language OF Mr.
| Madison, who has been called The father OF the
! Constitution at was formed by the States
! that is, by the people ia each of the States, ac-
! nag In their highest sovereign capacity aud
! formed consequently by the same authority
! which formed Inc State constitutions"
! "Nor is the Government OF The United States,
! created by the Constitution, less Govern fnent
! ia the strict sense of the term, within the sphere
OF its powers, than the governments created by
! the constitutions Of the States are, within their
| several spheres. 1t is, like them, organized IN
10 legislative, executive, and Judiciary depart
ments. 1t operates, like them, directly on PR
sons and things and, like them, It has at
| command ply sical force for executing the
powers committed 10 It,"
/ Il was intended to be perpetual, and not TO
be annulled at the pleasure OF any one OF The
contracting parties. The olo articles OF con-
| federation were entitled "Artcles of Coni-de--
alton aud Perpetual Union between the States -
and by the l3lh article it is expressly declared
that the articles Of this Confederation shall be
invloabIy observed by every State, and the u
MON shall be perpetual" The preamble Ia
the Constitution OF the United States, having