The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1861-02-07
POLITICA AL.
About Secession.

ABOUT secession.
The following good points are from an able
article entitled "E Pluribus Unum," in the
February number of the atlantic Monthly.
The country is weary of bei0g cheated with
plays upon words. The United States are a
nation, and not a mass meeting theirs is a
SoVernme mt and not a caucus,-a government
that was meant to be capable, and is capable OF
something more than the helpless please don I
OF a village constable; they have executive and
administrative officers that are not mere pun
pet'igures to go through the motions of an OBJ
Jectess activity, but arms and hands that be-
come supple to do the will of the people as soon
as that will becomes conscious aud defines its
! purpose. 1t Is time that we turned up our def
inuonS Ia some more trustworthy dictionary
than that of avowed disunonlsts and their moi e
dangerous because more timid accomplices.-
rebellion smells no sweeter because it is called
secession, nor does order lose It's divine prece-
edence IN hnman affairs because knave may
nickname it coercion. Secession means chaos
ana coercion the exercise of legitimate authori-
lty You cannot dignity the one nor degrade
the other by any verbal charlatanism,
The best testimony to the virtue of coercion
Is the fact that no wrong doer ever thought
well OF It, The thief in Jail, the mob leader in
the hands CT the police, aud the murderer on the
dray will be unanimous in favor of the uncon-
stltutionality of Constitutions with its Newgate
Calender OF confessions, martyrs and saints
faistaH S famous regiment would have Volun-
teered TO man for its propagation or its defence.
aehceIorth, let every unsuccessful llhgant have
| the right to pronounce the verdict of a jury
sectional, and to quash all proceedings and re-
tam the property i'll controversy by seceeding
7 from the courtroom. Let the planting of hemp
De made penal, because it squints towards coz
| erclon Why, the first great sGcessionist would
doubtless have preferred to divide Heaven
peaceably. would have been willing to send
Commissioners, must have thought Michael's
proceedings injudicious, and could probably
even now demonstrate the illegality of hell
1lre to any tiye-year-old imp Of average educa-
ton and intelligence. What fine world we
| should have, if we could only come quietly to-
gether IN convention and declare by unani-
nous resolution or even two-thlrds vote, that
edge tools should hereafter cut every bodys fin
gers but him that played with them-that when
two men ride on one horse, the hindmost shall
always sit in front-and that when man tries
TO thrust his partner out of bed and gets kicked
out himself, he shall be deemed to have estab-
llshed his title to an equitable division, and
shall be thenceforth his as of right without det-
riment to the others privilege on the floor!
If secession be right, then the moment of its
exercise is wholly optional with those posses
sing it. Suppose on the eve of war with Eng
land, Michigan should vote herself out of the
Union and declare herself annexed to Canada,
what kind of reception would her Commits
sioners be likely to meet in Washington, and
what scruples should we feel about coercion p
Or to take case precisely parallel to that of
South Carolina, suppose that Utah. after get
ting herself admit sd to the Union, should re
sumo her sovereignty, as it is pleasantly called,
and block our path to the Pacific, under pre-
tHnce that she did consider fep m Stit nj
sale while the other States entertained snch
Scriptura prejudices against her special weak
ness IN the patriarchial line? S the only res
suit OF our admitting Territory on Monday to
oe the giving II right to steal itself and 60 out
again on Tuesday Or do only the original
thirteen States possess this precautions pr wills
lege of suicide? We Shall need something like
a Fugitive Slave Law, for runaway republics
and mnst get provision inserted in our treat~
les with foreign powers, that they shall help US
catch any delinquent who may take refuge with
! them, rs South Carolina has been trying to do
with England and France. 1t does not matter
to the argument, except SO fai as the good taste
Of the proceedings is concerned, aG what paftic
ular time a State may make her territory for
elgn, thus opening one gate Of our national de-
fences and offering bridge TO invasion. The
danger of the thing as in her making her terri
tory foreign under ally circumstances and it
is danger which the Government must pre-
vent, If only for selfpreseryation. Within the
limits Of the Constitution two sovereigntes can
not co-exist; and yet what practical odds does
IL make, il State become sovereign by simply
declaring herself SO? The legitimate conse-
quence Of secession is not that State becomes
sovereign, but that so far as the General Gov
ernmeut Is concerned, she has outlawed herself,
nulihed her own existence as State, and be-
come an aggregate Of rotous men who resist the
execution Of the laws.