Litchfield enquirer., 1861-07-11

their mutual pledge and their mutual action be xbre. at the time and afterward abundantly show The express plighting of faith by each and al If the original thireen States in the Articles o Confederation. two years later, that the Unio
 shall be perpetual. is most conclusive, hayin
 nsver been stated either in substance or in nam
 catside of the Union, whence this magical om nipotenee of state rights, asserting claim Q
 power, to lawfully destroy the Union itseli
 Mach is said about the sovereignty of the states
 but the word even is not in the national Consti
 tuition, nor, as is believed, in any of the stat constitutions. What is sovereignty in the pc
 litiesl sense of the term? Would it be ia
 wrong to define it a political community, with
 out political superior. Tested by this, Il
 one of our States except Texas was a sovereign
 Y, and even Texas gave up the character o
 coming into the Union, by which act she ac
 knowledged the Constitution of the United State
 aud the laws and treaties of the United States made in pursuance of states, having heir statu
 in the Union, made in pu; suanco of the ,nsti
 tuition, to be for her the supreme law. The state
 have their status in the Union, and they hav
 no other legal status. Ii they break from this
 they can only do so against Jaw, and by revolu
 tion- The Union and not themselves separately procured their independence and their liberty
 By conquest or purchase the Union gave each ol e@SiA huatStcE oi tuucpeHueHCc anu
 has The Union is older than any of the states and in fact it created them as states. origlnai, ly some dependent colonies made the union, ana in turn the Union threw of their old depehdence for them, and made them states, such as they ae. Not one of them ever had state constltu- ton independent of the Union. Of course. It IS not forgotten that all the new states formed their constitutions before they entered the Union, nevertheless dependent upon and preparatory to coming into the Union. Unquestionably the states have the powers and rights reserved to them in aud by the national Constitution.
 But among these surely are not included all conceivable powers, however mschieyous or des- tructive, but, at most, such only as were known in the world at the time governmental powers, and. certainly, power to destroy the govern ment itself had never been known as govi rn- mental, as a merely administrative power. This relative matter of national power and state righ as . principle. is no other than the principle If generality and locality. Whatever concerns the whole should be confined to the whole general government. while whatever concerns only the state should be left exclusively to the state, This is all there is of original principle about it. Whether the national Constitution in defn- ing boundaries between the two, has applied the principle with exact accuracy is not to be ques- tioned. We are all bound by that defining with out question. What is combated, is the position that secession is consistent with the Constitution-is lawful and peaceful. It is not contcnded that there is any express law for fl and nothing should ever be implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. Tie nation purchased with money the countries, out of which several of these states were formed. ls it just that they shall go eff without leave and without refuniing, The nation paid very large sams, in the aggregate. believe. nearly hun dred millions to relieve Florida of the abor ginal tribes. Is it justice that she shall now be off aI. nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit of these so-callcd seeding states. in com mon with the rest. Is it just, either that eredi tors should 20 unpaid the remaining states pay the whole: part of the present national debt was contracted to pay the old debts Of Tex AS. Is it just that she shall leave and pay no part of this herself? Again: if one state may secede. so may another; and when all shall have seeded. nons left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors? Did we notify them ot this sage view of ours when we borrowed their money: If VIC now recognize this doctrine by allowing the seccders to go in peace, fl 5 diff cult to see what do ii others choose to 90 or to ext, Tt terms upon which they will promise to remain. The secedcrs insist That Comsti- tuition admits of secession. They have assumed to make a national constitution of their own, ir which. of necessity, they have either discarded or retained the right of secession, they insist it exists in oGrS. Ii thc have iiscardei ii they thereby atimit that principal it o,tcht mt 10 exist in ours if they have retained # i,y their own construction of ours thai 4ilnyya t!.:tt ' consistent. they must scce'ic from one auoiiier whenever they shal fad it the easiest way of settling ther ats, 0r niFy.ting any O her selfish or unjist object, Tie prin pie it. self is ona oi disintegration. and lt"A which nn yovernrneu. can DOS, hr ell .Ern ii Ill tie states save one. shouid assert the pawc" tc drive that one out of the rnion, it. is presl;ao' the whole class of scc"aeg politicians woud ni once deny the power and dcnoHrce the act Us t!,o Freatest outrage upon state rights. Bat suppose thai precisely the same act. instead of h"inl; called driving the one out. should he called the seccd ing of the O.; hers from that on2, it would hc cx- actlv what the scceders claim to do, unless ln- deed they make the point that the one, because it is n minority. may rightfuly Go what he oth- CTS. because they arc n majority, may nct right fully do. These politicians are subtle and pro found in the rights of minortics. They arc not partial to that power which made the Constitu- tuition, and speaks from the preamble, calling itself "We, the people, It may well be ques- tioncd whether there is to-day majority of the legally qualified voters of any state, except per haps, South Carolina, in favor of disunion. There is much reason to believe that the Union men are the majority, in many if not in every one, of the so called seeded states. The con- trary has not been demonstrated in any one of
 
 ginia and Tennessee, for the result of an cleo ton held in military camps where their bayonets are all on one side of the question voted upon, can scarcely be considered as demonstrating popular sentiment. At such an election, all that large class who at once for the Union, and against coercion, would be coerced to vote against the Union. It may be affirmed without extrava- gancc that the free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condi- tion of our whole people beyond any example in the world Of this we now have striking and impressive illustration. So large an army as the government has now on foot was never be- fore known; without q soldier in it but who has taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than this, there are many single regiments whose members, one and another, possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences. professions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the whole world and there is scarcely one from which there could not be selected president, cabinet, a congress, and, perhaps, a court, abundantly competent to administer the government itself. Nor do say this is not true also in the army of our late friends, now adversaries, in this contest. But 1t is so much better the reason who the govern ment which has conferred such benefits on both them and us should not be broken up. Whoever in any section proposes to abandon such 8 gov .ernment would do we'll to consider in deference to what principle it is that he does it. what bet ter he is likely to get in the stead; whether the substitute will give, or be intended to give so much of good to the people. There are some foreshadowings on this subject. Our adversa- ries have adopted some declarations of indepen- dence in which, unlike the good old one penned py Jefferson, they omit the words: ssAll men
 xe created equal" Why? They have adopted Msmporary national constitution in the nrea m