The Oxford intelligencer., 1861-01-09

mExsyzss ss-ss n INTO sss ss=f'a sss:>=zssff
NJ did obey naks tie Fpion mere superstruet9ps-
trec4d Upon hs fousdation of State sovereignss
Ehysnol dsdecper, ndrenove this State sovereign
y altogshs snd ereet he new government upon the
broad aqtdeep bfs q he sovereignty Of the People,
> one sdfiyF and epnsoiidsfedmGssl They musttave
bad mesfse. They knew shat a Union of force wss
no Union of Liberty They had just proclaimed to the
world that the colonies Rad fright, for the causes
sgst5tcsp*se frog Tie Fehersssasy, pniss.
constitution and form u government much more con-
solidated than the one they about to erect in
wtdch buSons sovereign poyarF reospitd, tht,
OF the pa,iiaH4ent, composed of he king, TIE LAus,
and "; caamaps, And. iaiarlias Laioa i0fisss,.
independent sovereign &ats, for certain purposes in
which each State retained its distinct political charac-
ter and local government, would they staitiy them
selves by providing at sovereign State, voluntarily
entering into that Union, should have no right to
withdraw from IL bs al time % come no matter how
n,neh injustice and oppression it should meet with at
the hands Of the common agent Of fits sister States
by perversden Of the compact; nor how totally and
radically the latter might proper 10 change the
terms Of the original compact itselfi No, verify.
They designed the Inion TO be Quo of choice--of
mutual interest and affection; and that, when it
ceased to be Union Of that character, it's days
should be numbered anil the brief eptaph Of ssHium
fsa should tell its fate. They did not intend that
a State should be compelled to remain in the Union
when its highest interest and the welfare Of It's cti-
zens, and their safety, required that it should
withdraw. r If such were the nature of the federal
Union 1t would be the most absolute despotism the
world ever saw. No State could be eoeced to remain
in che Union agnst its consent without destroying
the very freedom which the Union was formed to
presorye-7witlout subvertng, indeed the great fun
dmneptal idea which the whole fabric rested, and
6louipg out the central principle around which the
whole system revolvcd, viz: that It was a Union of
sortreign, INpErESDESr and CO EQUAL States. The
dscohtented and rebellioas State would lave to be
rcsluccd ny coa9s4t and kept In subsection, like
ieonqusrod province, by military force. The other
States having no sympahies or Interests In common
with her, the force wonld have to be continually APP
Piled to keep her in suhiection, Instead Of being
governed by her own laws, executed by her own of
fcers she would be governed by federal authority,
adnlinistcrcd by afedsral army. Thus she would be
put under the heel Of military desposni, Of all dcs-
potisuls the most odious. Would she then be CO.
sgudl in the conlcdencyl Was such the Union our
fathers contemplated, when they friImed the Consti-
tntion' No donbt they hoped and desired that mr-
unl interests ind affection shoud bind the States to-
gcthdr forever but they never entertained fhr
moment the idea, that When Interests became aiseor
dant and inconsistent, and those affections alienaed,
the rights OF one State should bc sacrificed to the
interests OF another, or the welfare of whole see
ton be surrendered to the caprice Of another Hence
they no where in tho Constitution gave to the
Federl Government the right TO eaercs State, nor
prohibited to to States the eSercisc OF the right to
withdraw from the pniopi And tins right certainly
existed III the states as independent sovcreign'lcs'
and stu exists unless 1t has been taken away in I'M
o1uif"c'i terms; for the tenth amendment OF the
Constitution declares, that 1.-THE powers not degofed
10 the United States by the Constitution, nor pro-
hihited by it to the States, or reseree% 10 fhe Stds
r'1Pef'ftfy, or to the people" f....l, ,.... =
Inc Convention Whieh nahed Tue constitution
Utmost unanimously rqeted proposition to give the