The Shreveport weekly news., 1861-07-22
NO a.. !.

withos!t max lng any retnrnf The
nation is now in debt for meoeysAA
piled TO the benefit Of these soAca51ed
| seeding States, in common with, the
rest. Is it just. either. that csl,ditors
shall 60 unpaid, Or the rrmainins
States pay the wl,oles A psrt offhe
| present national debt was. contraclssl
to pay the old debts Of Tcxas. IL it
Ejust that she shall leave and pay. no
part Of this herself!
I Again. If one. State may secsde.
so may another; and when all shsu
ihave seeded, none will be isft toThy
the debts Is this quite just to The
creditors Did we notify thssn of
this sage view Of ours when 70 bor-
rowed their money! -
If we recognize this doctrine. by
allowing the seceders to 60 in peace.
it is.ditficult to see what We caa Dc
if others chose to 90, or to extort
terms upon which they will promise
, to, yemain. s>
The seceders insists that our Con
stitution admits of secession. Thep
have assumed to make nationsI
Constitution Of their own, in which
necessity they haze either difcaydsd
or retained the right Of secession. Is
they insist it exists in ours. II they
have discarded it, they thereby ad-
s,nit that on principle it ought not to
be in ours.
If they have retained it by their
own construction Of o,us, they show
that to Re consistent, they must Sc
ceds from one another wheneve- they
shall find it the easiest way Of set
'.tIins their debts, or effectins any
other selfish or unjuft object. -
4. The princ;ale itself is one of dis
integrat'on, and one upon which, no
government can possibly endure.
:, We are all bound by that defining.
witi,out question. What is now cosil-
batted is, the ,>csition that secessien
is consistent !. the .Constithtioh-
is lawfnl and peacefsi. ..,.>
tits not commended that, there is any
expressly for. it; and nothing should
ever implied by law which le~ds to
unjust or absurd consequences.
The nation purchased with money
tire couatriss out ofwhich several of
these States were armed. Is it inst
that they shah go off without leave
and without xefundingl Then atien
said very large sums, in the aggregate
] believe nearly one huxdrssl milzi01s.
to relieve Florida from the aboriginal
tribes. ,..,,,r
Nor do / say this not true also in
the army of our late friends, now ad-
versorics, in this contest. But If it
is, so much better the reason why the
Government which has, ,aos4shred
such beretits on. both them and us
should not be broken up. Whoever.
in any section, proposes to abandon
such a Government would do well TO
consider in Difference to what princi-
pie it is that he does it; what better
he Is likely to get in its stead
whether the substitute will give, or
be intended to give. SO much Of Food
to the people. There are some fore
shadowings on this subject. Our ad-
versaries have adopted some declara-
tions ofindependoncein in which, unlike
the good old one penned by jefferson.
they omit the words: "All men are
created equal Why? They have
adopted temporary National Coiisti.-
tuition, in the preamble or which, ,,n-
like our good old one signed by Wash
ington, they omit: We, the people"
and substitute, We. the deputies Of
the Sovereign and Independent States.
Why! Why this deliberate pressing
out of view the rights Of men and the
authority of the people!
This is essentially peoples CON
test. On the side of the L Mon it is a
struggle for maintaining in the world
that form and substance OF govern
ment, whose leading object is to ele-
vatc the condition of men, ia, lift arti-
fetal weights from all shoulders. TO-
clear the paths of laudable pursuits
for all to afford all an untettered sturt
and a fair chance in the race of life.
Yielding to partial and temporary de-
parturc<, necessity, this is the leading
object of the Government for who's.
existence we contend. l am most
happy tobelieve that the plain people
appreciate this. j
1t is worthy of note that. while in
this, the Governments hour of triai,
large numbers of those in the army and
navy, who have been favored with the
ofiieies, have resigned and proved
false to the hand which had pa,nper-
ed them, not one common soldier or
common sailor have deserted his flag.
Great honor is due to those officers
who remained true despite the exam
pie OF their traitorous associates, But
the greatest honor and the most i'm
portant fact of all is the unanimous
iirmncss Of the common soldiers and
sailors. To the last man, so far as
known they have successfully resisted
the traitorous effects of whose COM