The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-10-03

it treats and a complete reply "to the lengthy
land elaborate essays which have appeared frou
"time to time in The National Intelligencer il
"avor of the policy of the consolidationists ,
As the points discussed involve the right of seces
sion, which The Mercury, supported by politicians
of the South Carolina school, declares to b.
Zone of the inherent and inalienable rights O
"a free confederacy," perusal of the arguments
which have recently been adduced in opposition
and in favor of this doctrine can scarcely fail to
be of interest 10 our readers. We therefore pre-.
sent them in n condensed form. The propositions
of The National IaeHigmccr are these
list. That this is government of the peol1e and
not alone of the States
ID, That, however plausby it may be contend
cd that a sovereign State cannot commit treason
against its agent or attorney, it appears from the
awards Of history that our fathers did, in point
of fact, form government in which it is possible
for State to commit treason
Sd. That when the Constitution was framed
the government established under it was at thai
time understood 'to be incompatible with thc
Fright of secession inherent in or accruing tc
"any member of the Union"
4h. That the Virginia and Kentucky resoIu-
tons of '98 and 90 are enormously interpreted
by the South, and that the Constitution is not 6
compact, but an ordinance, the preamble using the
following emphatic language:
I'VE, the people of the United States do ordain ant
establish this Constitution for the United States
America The people mot the sovereign States) or
dan and establish mot contract stipuate this Con
sttuon mot this 'GgencyO for the United States o
America, &c.'
TO these propositions, each one of which has
been deliberately discussed by The National Intel
fgencer, the correspondent of TIE Mercury replies
ut considerable length He asserts that the
primary and elementary principles enunciated by
The National Latelligcnccr are so Numerically
opposite to those of the South, that argument is
impossible, and that the only way 10 meet the
question is to show ''that the elementary princi-
'ples of one or other of the parties TO the
controversy are unfounded AMI incorrect" He
contends
lst. That the word Union signifies simply and
necessarily IA joining together of two or more
Separate bodies or things" and, therefore, that
ia consolidated Government of a collective peo-
'ple cannot in any rational sense whatever be
"denominated a UNION; that the very word itself
implies inevitably league, alliance or partner
ship between two or more particsn and it is,
therefore, papable contradiction to deny that
our form of government is in any sense what
ever ''compact," partnership" league
Or alliance
3D. That the sole Specification of the term
'FEDEaAL' means 'what appertans 10 a covenant,
'league, or contract between parties''
81. That "The U,liicd ,Stltes" the very title
with which which our government was baptized
h1,r 81, ;E,,o E,JJ; :,
and that the restriction of syogistic arguments
I. ~" single term "people," used in the preamble
VI '"o CONSTITUTION, instead Of giving the entire
tl'e anu expression, we, ne people of the
UNITED STATES" is but narrow, verbal sophistrv
llh. That each and every one of the several and
separate States acted Independently and separaey in
adopting and ratfyng the Federal Constitution,
which instrument had validity or effect what
ever until each Of those separate States had so
adopted and ratified it,
9Th. That the people of our entire country,
from its settlement to the present day nerer did
any one act, as q single body, either in electing
delegates TO Congress, or Electors for the Presi-
dency, or any other conceivable act
9th. That the several and Sc parate States adop-
ted and ratified the Constitution, not as n single
at various periods; that some ofthem remained ont
OF the UNION from several months to nearly a
whole year, and could have remained ont Of it
altogether, nor could acy possible force have COM
PEELED them to enter into the League Having enter
ed separately and independently into the partner
ship, they have the right to dissolve their connec-
ton with it whenever they think proper, and no
force can be legitimately employed to coerce them
INTO remaining in it if they choose to depart from
it.
18th. That HAMILTON, MADISON, WEBSTER and
all others who use the terms ''Union,' Compact
and Federal directly contradict the doctrine
they contend for of Ga solid Government of the
collective people of North America"
To sustain these various propositions the writer
quotes MADISON as declaring, in the Virginia reso-
lutions of %, that "the powers of the Federal
Government result from the compact to which
the States are parties and are limited by the
PLAIN sense and intention of the instrument con-
shutting that Compact The other authori-
ties cited in support of the doctrine of State Rights
are as follows
DANIEL WEBSTER, in his speech at Capon
Springs, 2Sh june 1851, said
W HoL hesitate TO say anu repeat that the North
e states refuse wilfuy and deliberately carry
effect that part the Constitution which respects the res
oaon OF fugitive slaves, the South would no longer
ppuna 10 observe the compact bargain broken on one
SIDE is broken all sides -
Mr.. MADISON, in his reply to PATRICK HENRY,
drew this distinction between Federal and con-
solldated Government. Speaking of the Govern
ment of the UNITED STATES, he said
The principal question is whether it be federal or
consolidated Government? Who tn ITO Tho
people but not the people composing great bow
but the people composing ireea soreyeignfies Wege
IT. as the gentleman asserts, consolidated Government
the assent OF majority Of tie people would be 6cient for
ats establishment, and as majority hare Gdopfed il al
ready the remang States be bound by the act of
The majority even if they unanimously reprobated il
themselves. Were it such Government would he now
binding the people of this State without the pri
of celebrating it. But sir no State is bound b -
is without ats o,v, consent Are not amendmanfs ~
be ratified by reeorlS Of the States and by ma
Jority of the peoples
In the Federalist also MADISON declared that in
certain respects
-'the proposed government cannot be deemed natono1
one since its jurisdiction extends e,,merated
objects only and leaves several States the rcsid,a
~ ana tnr'od6e sovereignty orer all other subjects
The writer in the Hercury further claims, that
the pervading doctrine of the bred Scott decision
of the Supreme Courts throughout, 'the recogni-
''tion of the principle of the General Government
''being league or union of sovereign States;''
ate in 1892, declared that
the question is not whether States shall continue
ed according to the letter Of the COVENANT by which
they bound together. 1t is whether they shall
tnue be practically and efficiently cooperative in
rying out the great ends of the ASSOCIATION Whether
confidence shall continue animate
and encourage mutual efforts in promoting and multiply
ing common benefits whether mutual hatred and dis
trust shall step in to check all progress to distract and
confound all joint endeavors for the common welfare:
and in fine to entail upon the country all the evils of
IS he gtioD. dyvha ynn
present that issue to me, / saw give me sEpARA-
give me D1suNIoN give thing in preference
Union sustained only by POWER by constitutional
and legal ties aUho reciprocal trust fdence
If future is to be of eternal
qry elimination and recraiHati0n. give rather sEpA
RATION with all its consequences"
sth That fftreason'' cannot as assumed by the
Intelligencer, be committed by one or more sover-
ereign States-treason, as defined alike by iurists
and photographers being "the breach of ale
'tgiance from subject, or citizen TO sovereign"
and not the act of n sovereign State breaking q
league, union, or covenant of government.
9th. That the Federal Government cannot be
said to hold in fee simple one single attribute of
sovereignty, when the precise term used in the
instrument, or power of attorney from which it
derives all its powers, is the word 'Delegate'i-
the exact language of the Constitution heing that
'all powers not herein expressly DELEGATE are