The Shasta courier., 1861-01-05
NUMBER Al.
The preslden,.. views ON Secession

/ r
The following are the views of President Bu-
chanan secession:
have purposeiy con6nei my remarks to re-
/ voluiionary- resistance, because it has been
T claimed within the last few years that any
Estate. wherever il shall be her SOVEREIGN will
aud pleasure, may secede from I'll, Union in
| accordance with the Constitution AMI without
any violation of the constitutional rights of the
other members of the Confederacy; that as each
became parties 10 the Union BY the vote of its
own people assembled in Convention. so any
ono Of them may retire from the Union in : sim
liar manner by the vote of sacha Convention
In order TO justify secession as n constitutional
i remedy il must be on the priucinle that the
Federal Government IS q mere voluntary associ-
alton of States, to he dissolved at pleasure by
one of the contracting parties. Ii this be so.
! the Confederacy is a rope of sand, and to be
penetrated aad dissolved by the first adverse
wave of public opinion in any of the States
| In this manner our thiriy-three States may re
solve themselves into rs many petty, jarring and
hostile Republics, each one retiring from the
Union without responsibility whenever any
sudden excitement might impel them to such n
course. BY this process Union might be en-
| tirely broken into Fragments in a few weeks
which cost our forefathers many years of toll,
| privation and blood to establish. Such a prin-
ciple is wholly inconsistent with history as it
was framed with the greatest deliberation and
care. 1t was submitted to Conventions of the
| people of the several States for ratification. Its
| provisions discussed at length in these bo-
| dies, composed of the first men of the country
| Its opponents conended that it conferred power
upon the Federal Government dangerous to the
1 rights of the States, while its advocates main
tanned that under fair construction Of the in
| strument there was no foundation for saeh ap-
| prehensions. In that mighty struggle between
the first ntellectS of this or anv other country.
it never occurred to any individual, either
among its opponents or its advocates, to assert,
| er even to intimate, that their efforts were all
vain labor, because the moment that any State
| felt herself aggrieved she might seeede from the
Union. What crushing argument would this
have proved against those who dreaded that the
rights of the States would be endangered by the
| Constitution. The truth is that it was not
| ny years after the origin of the Federal Gov
ernment that such proposition first adj
| vanced. 1t was then met and refuted by the
conclusive arguments of General jackson, who
/ in his Message of the 10th Of January 1898,
transmitting the nulliGying ordinance of South
! Carolina to Congress, employs the following
| language: The right of the people of single
State TO absolve themselves at will, without the
consent of the other States, from their most SOL
emn obligations, hazards the liberties and hap
piness of millions composing this Union, and
cannot be acknowledged. Such authority is
believed to be utterly repugnant both to the
principles upon which the General Government
is constituted and to The objects which it was
expressly formed to attain. 1t is not pretended
that any clause in the Constitution gives coun-
| tenance to such theory. 1t is altogether
founded upon inference and not from language
contained in the instrument ITSELF but from the
| sovereign character of the several States by
which it was ratified but it is beyond the pow
er of State. like an individual, to yield por-
ton of its sovereign rights to secure the remain
DER" In the language of Madison, who has
been called the Father of the Constitution. it
was formed by the States; that is by the peo-
pie in each of the States, acting in their highest
sovereign capacity, and formed consequently by
the same authority which formed the State Con-
situtions Nor is the Government OF the Unis
ted States created by the Constitution less a
| Government in the strictest sense of the term,
within the sphere of its power than the Gov
ernments created by the Constitutions of the
States are within their several spheres 1t is,
like them, organized into Legislative, Execu-
tive and judiciary Departments it operates
like them directly persons and things; and
like them it has at command II physical force
for executing the powers committed to 1t; was
= intended to bo perpetual, and not TO be annul-
parties of the Confederation-a perpetual Union
between the States and by the thirteenth Ar
tice It is expressly declared that the Articles of
this Confederation shall be inevitably observed
by every State, and the Union shall be perpetu-
al. The preamble to the Constitution of the
| United States having express reference to the
| Articles of Confederation, states that 1t was
established in order to form more perfect
| union, does not include the essential attributes
/ nf b,,t tl mn v-aS dos
to be perpetual, appears conclusively from the
| nature and extent of the powers conferred by
/ the Constitution the Federal Government
These powers embrace the highest attributes
of national sovereignty they place both the
| sword and the purse under its control Con-
'gress has power to make war aud to make peace
to raise and support armies and naves, and to
| conclude treaties with foreign Cover nments- 1t
| is invested with the power to coin money and
| to regulate the value thereof, aud to regulate
commerce with foreign nations and among the
several States 1t is not necessary TO enuIner-
ate the other high powers which have been
| conferred upon the Federal Government in or
der TO carry the enumerated powers into effect.
Congress possesses the exclusive right to levy
and collect duties imports, and, in common
with the States to levy and collect all other
taxes; but the Constitution has not only con-
ferred these high powers upon Congress, but it
has adopted effeciual means TO restrain the
States from interfering with their exercise for
that purpose. It has, in strong prohibitory Ian
guage expressly declared that no State shall
enter into any treaty, alliance Of confederation,
grant letters of mareue and reprisal, coin mo-
ney emit bills of credit, make anything but
gold and silver coin tender in payment of
debts, pass any bill of attaiuder, post facto
law or laws impairing the obligations of con-
tracts. Moreover, without the consent Of Con-
gress no States shall lay any imposts or duties
on any imports or exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection
laws; and if they exceed this amount the ex-
cesses shall belong to the United States. And
no State shall without consent of Congress, lay
any duty tonnage. Keep troops or ships of
war in time of peace, nor enter into any agree
ment compact with another State or with a
foreign power. or engage in war, unless actual
" invaded, or in such imminent danger as mott to
admit of further delay.
PAPER MiLL-The paper mill which for some
time has been in course of construction at Santa
Cruz, is completed, and has commenced the
manufacture Of paper
SPIFEFUL-A farmer recently failing to get his