Daily national Democrat., 1861-02-15
What They Have Lost.

them, they have at least lost everything in
the field Of argument; and, Whatever may
be the result of the present agitation. Wheih-
i er a compromise or separation, the doctrine
Of secession will be forever dead within the
Union History has been ransacked-the
authority Of great names inyokcd-the plain
letter Of the Constitution eXhLited and its
spirit demonstrated, and in short such food
Of light poured forth upon the question that
we venture TO say that there is scarcely a
man outside the circle of the Sccessionisi-
per Sc Chose who are determined for seces-
sion right or wrong that will declare it TO
be his conviction that this Government has
not the power of coercion, and that state
can constitutionally resume, Of its own VIII,
any of that Sovereignty originally delegated
to the Federal Government. The vast ma
iority Of the American people are opposed,
this day to the hereses Of the John G. CAL
houn and South Carolina school. Why are
they2 Because such reasoning as Webster
has devoted to the subject; such eXpositions
as the luminous mind Of Madison has given
/
Of jefferson has produced, in regard to the
character of our system Of government, haze
determined the whole question in the light
Of reason and history. When either Madison
or Webster can be answered, then will the
people view with some little degree Of favor,
perhaps, the absurd doctrines Of notification
and secession.
Furthermore, the history Of the country
shows, and the people by the recent discus
sions have become familiar with the fact, that
every Department Of the Government, rep
resented as it has been, 10y all the great par
Z Ties in the country, since the foundation Of
our existing system, whether by Federal,
Republican, (the old Republican, Wing or
| Democratic, from the days Of Washington
down to those of Mr. Buchanan, has either
distinctly pronounced against the doctrine Of
notification and secession and in favor Of
the power to enforce Federal authority, or
has intimatcd by its acts full acquiescence
in the principle which is hostile to that here.
sy Whenever the Government, in aiy ofits
departments, whether Executive, Legislative
or Judicial, has been called upon to define
its position with regard TO the relative ST.
prcmacy of Federal and State sovereignty
within the sphere Of the Constitution, it has
invariably, no matter by what party con
troled, declared against notification, seces-
sion or any other form Of resistance to Fed
eral law by State authority. The Executive
department under Washington, and the legis-
letiye department also, under the same Ad-
mnistration, asserted the supremacy of the
Federal law, on the authority Of that clause
in the Constitution which declares that "the
Constitution and laws Of the United States
which shall be passed in pursuance thereof
and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme law of the land, and
the judges in every State shall be bound |
thereby anything in the Constitution or laws
of any State to the contrary notwithstand
ing"
Mr.. Madison, while Chief Magistrate Of
the Union, pronounced against this same doc
trine, in its mcipient manifestation in the
Hartford Convention, in old massachusetts, in
1914.
Gen. Jackson pronounced against it in his
official capacity in 1892 and '33, and was sup
ported 10y an equally authoritative condemna
ton Of the doctrine, on the part Of the Ma
tional Legislature.
Milard Fillmore denied and resisted it, in
a noticeable instance during his Adminsta-
ton, and would have used the Federal arms
had it been necessary.
Mr. Buchanan repudates the principle, and
nothing but his deplorable imbccility pre-
vented his putting forth in practice vhat he {
believed in theory. a
Certainly, the Administration of Lincoln
viii not contradict that Of his predecessors in !,
egaId to this anti-sccession construction of ,
he Constitution. And it therefore appears
hat, in every instance that the question has |
,ecn brought to the attention of any Admin
straton, from the beginning of the Govern
nent till now, secession has been officially i
denounced and proclamation made against it.
t has never obtained foothold i'll any Of
he great departments of the Government
The Supreme Court of the United States, &
he tribunal in which it should have at least
ound shelter in order TO command the re-
pect Of the people, has decided emphatically
more than once, that this doctrine of secc.-
ion and notification, and the right Of
State to protect a citizen as against Federal
aw, or to set itself up as judge of the con- ,
Of Federal law or the extent ,
o which that law could be executed within {
is limits is destitute Of any foundation what.
.ver and exists only in the brains of theorists
We say, then, that, since the trainers of the .
Constitution Themselves the "Father Of the
Constitution Madison, and he who held the {
irst Office under that Constitution, both in
'oint Of time and in point of dignity, Gen. !
v Nashington, to say nothing of the great $
eading lights of all parties, all agree, as well
II official action as mere individual declara- :
ion in repudiating this South Carolina, John
:. Calhoun doctrine, the people will be in !
Iincd TO repudiate it, too. And since the
supreme Court Of the United States, the ,,
pccial arbitcr in all constitutional questiors
las also so authoritatiycly rejected the Cal $
loun theory, the people will be slow to ac-
ept the rawlings Of madcap extremists instead a
# the calm wisdom of Chief Justice Mar j
hall or a Chief Justice Taney. c