The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-11-14
From the Oxford Intelligence.
Treason.-.What igit.

osuluP, hafe Deen shounng hoSanas TO the
glorious Union and constantly endeavoring
to terrify the ignorant the timid, and the
eredulous. by the declaration, that, in the
event of the secession fanny State from the
Union, every man, who sustained his State in
that measure, against an effort, on the part
OF the other States, to coerce her into sub
mission, would be guilty of the crime of trea.
son, and justly deserve the coadign punish
ment due to those who are guilty Of that
offence
In view of the use that is attempted to be
made of this bugbear of "treason," by the
Union -shriekers of the day, it becomesproper
that we should inquire what 4treason' really
is, and, also whether there is no danger that
those, VINO are now denouncing its penalties
against others, may not, themselves become
liable to be proceeded against as traitors.
The Constitution of the United States pro-
vides Cart. 8, Sec. s. that 'sTreason against
the United States shall consist only in levy
ing war against them, or in adhering to their
StNhAiSEy LlACtll anu uS
Constitution of Mississippi, in like mnner,
Cart. z Sec>3, declares that Treason against
the State shall consist only in leyying war
against it, or in adherring TO its enemies, Civ
| ing them aid and COMFORT It will thus be
seen that treason may be committed against
dstdte, as well against the United States
The penalty ofguilt, in either case is death.
Before the adoption of the Federal Consti-
tuition, the offence of treason could not have
been committed against the United States
1t was only tie individual States against
whose authority it was possible to commit
that crime. When, however, the several
States, acting in their sovereign capacity, rati-
fed the Constitution, they thereby delegated
to the general government as their common
agent, the specific powers enumerated in that
instrument, and conferred upon that govern
ment authority to compel obedience, on the
part of the individual citizens of all the States,
to such laws as might be enacted by Congress
within the limits of thsdelegated powers, and
to punish, as traitors such Of those citizens
as should resist, by armed force, the authority
ofthe Union.
The citizens of the several States are bound
to obey the general government because, and
only because, they have been commanded to
dose by the sovereign and supreme authority
of their respective States-the same authority
which binds them to the duty ofobedience to
the Constitutions and laws OF their respective
States That commandment at any mement
may be withdrawn or reversed by the same
authority, either because tile Safe is of the
opinion that the compacts of the Constitution
have been violated, or because, as a matter Of
simple exPedency, she deems it proper to
withdraw from the Union. The powers con-
ferred upon the general government are mere
~ delegated, and not surrendered, as is ap-
parent from the tenth amended article OF the
Constitution, in which tits declared that "the
powers rot delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it ITO the
States, are reserved to the States respectively
or to the'speopie:" Any State, therefore,
may rightfully revoke her delegation Of au-
tlsority to the general government, at her own
4 pleasure either ytor cause or qoiGtoHt cause
just as an individual, who has executed pow
er OF attorney, whereby he has delegated au-
thority to another person to sell tract o
land may righaully revoke that power of-at
torney, either because he thinks he has dis
- d.
covered Indications of design, on the part oil
! the agent, to betray his trust, or simply be-
cause be prefers to transact his own business
in person, or to employ another agent.
i Let it be supposed that a State Mississippi
for example-chooses to exercise her undoubt
ted right of withdrawing from the Union. and
-es..A-44e- sho L., =
lincoln, Douglas & Co, sh9dtd tssi;a.ss-z..lr :
undertake, as has been isApudently threatened,
10 whip her back: Our State, until she
was whipped back" would, unquestionably,
be out ofth Union. She would pot be one
ofs'thei United States" Her citizens, there
fore, could not beguilty of the crime Of trea-
sou against 'the United States any more
than they could be guilty of the like offence
against Great Britain, or Spain because the
very essence of treason consists in violation |
dthat duty of allegiance and fidelity which
The offender owed to government which had
the right to claim the fulfllment Of that duty
al his hands. On the other hand, should |
any citizen Of Mississippi, in an armed contest |
btwcep his State and other and foreign States |
spouse the cause of the enemy, and be found |
fighting in their ranks, or giving them aid |
md comfort" he would thereby incur the
guilt and shame of treason against his State, /
and be liable, as traitor, to the extreme PEN
atty denounced by our laws against Offenders
q thatdeseription.
The first and highest duty CT the citizen is
that which he owes to his State 10 his
State his sole allegiance is due, and not merely !!
his first allegiance" as i IS too commonly /
expressed So long, and so far, as his State I
commands him to obey the general govern
mcnt, SO long, and SO far, by reason of his duty
Of allegiance to his State, it is his duty to
obey and, for the same reason, when his i
State no longer commands him to obey that
government, it is no longer his duty 70 obey.
E by REASONABLE means, he resists the will of
bis State, legitimately expressed, it will con-
stitute no defence for him, when she arfaigns
him for his crime, that what he did was au-
thorized by the laws ola Union of which his
State was no longer member. As we'll
might an American dcserter, in our la4e
Mexican war, taken in arms against his coun-
trymen, and about to be exg6uted, have at
tempted to eyade his doom by pleading that
Lhe laws Of Mexico authorized what he had
dome. The answerwould have been, that
those laws, fully as they might have protec-
ed the Mexican soldiers, could afford no pro-
lection to traitor, like him.
II, therefore, there are any timid ones, who
shrink in terror when the phrase, treason
against the United States,'' is uttered in their
hearing, and who, thinking to escape all dam
GER, would basely betray, or more basely sur
render the rights and honor Of their State and
section, let them not rest too securely in their
aacIed immunity from peril = for they may
ind, when it is too late for them to profit by
he discovery, that they have encountered
LANCER greater than that from which they
thought toflee. They may, perhaps, find
themselves in the pFedicament of the unfor-
.unate wretch, who. frightened by painted
ion, and seeking to escape from an imaginary
hanger. exposed himself to the grasp Of a real
by which he was dcvoured.
Treason against State, however lightly it
nay he thought of by the Union-shriekers
who profess todeplore the separation Of the
ssates,now composing the Union, is real I,
,ff.nce, and may lead to actual strangulation