Arkansas true Democrat., 1861-02-21
Number 21.

known that some of the most important objects of this constitution and Union are left simply to the discretion of the States; that there is a larger class of rights, and important rights, for which there are no remedies. Those provisions which are designed to secure free trade and free inter- course between the citizens of the States can all of them be nullifed or set aside by State legislation. The States can pass laws to obstruct this free intercourse that the constitutional privilege may amount to nothing; and if this Union had endured. and these contests had continued. we should have seen laws passed in .spi it )f retalia- tlon by tho States which would have broken up free trade between them. They could have taxed the commodities of the obnox- ious States after the package was broken. under the decision of the supreme court itself. They could make it penal in their ' citizens to use the ships of another st '. If it was obnoxious to them; and in other ways they could, by their legi
 destroy some of the most important
 of the constitution.
 I believe, myself, that it was i'
 by the framers of that instrument,
 States should have been mainl,
 mental in restoring fugitives from to speak more plainly, fugitiv
 We know that 1t Is in their p enly to traliy refTsiF t, sre1, onstrs t.shargg
 government of the United States in its eff fort to execute the law. There are certain rights for which there are no remedies It Is provided, for instance, that no State shall m O tai 80, there IS no remedy to prevent 1t.
 Now, sir, propose, in order to secure the proper enforcement of these rights for which, as l say, there are no adequate remedies, that the supreme court should also be adjusted. It should consist of ten judges-five from each section--the chief justice to be one of the five. I would allow any State 10 cite another State before this tribunal to charge it with having failed to perform its constitutional obligations; and if the court decided State thus cited to be in default, then I would provide, if it did not repair the wrong it had done, that any State might deny to its citizens within its jurisdiction the privileges of citizens in all the States; that it might tax its com merce and the property of its people until it ceased to be in default. Thus, would provide remedy without bringing the general government into collision with the States, and without bringing the supreme court into collision with them. Whenever international stipulations in regard to the duties imposed on the States. as laid down in the constitution, are violated, l would remedy the wrong by international remedies. l would give State the right, in such cases, after the adjudication of the court, to deny to the offending State the perform ance of the mutual obligations which had been created for its benefit In this way I believe that these wrongs might be reme- died without producing collision in the system. A self-executing process would thus provide a remedy for the wrong, without a jar to the machinery of govern. ment.
 In order to make this check efficient, it should be provided that the judges of the supreme court in each section should be ap. pointed by the President from that section. and this IS the only original appointing power which would give to the second President.
 have presented this scheme, MT. Presi. dent as one which, in my opinion, would oNtJaob ll1C OillotCuCcS DClWccll tut TWO social systems, and which would protect each from the assault of the other. If this were done, so that were made mutually
 safe, l, for one, would be willing to regu- J late the right of secession, which | hold to
 be Il right yiver, in tfe but resulting from the nature of the compact 1 1 would provide that before State seeded, 1t should summon convention of the States in the section to which it belonged, and submit to them statement of its grievances and wrongs. Should majority of the States in such convention decide the complaint to be we'll founded, then the State ought to be permitted to secede in peace For, whenever a ma ority of States Tn an entire section shall declare that good cause for secession exists, then who can dispute that it ought to take place? Should they say, however, that no good cause existed, then the moral force of such a decision, on the part of confec crates of those who are bound to the complaining State by identical and homogeneous in- tarests, would prevent it from prosecuting the claim any further. believe that the system thus adjusted would give us per- manent Union, an efficient, a useful, and just government. I think our government would then rank among the most perma- nent of human institutions. It is my honest opinion that, with government thus balanced, and with such capacities for empire as our people possess, we should build up a political system whose power and stability and beneficial influences would be unparalled in all the history of the past. TO BE CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK.