Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-01-12

INC cS'abllShmeht OF these principles, was the
fact, that each Colony became aud was rocog-
nizcd by the mother Country as Free, Sovc-
reign and Independent State.
In 1887, Deputies were appointed hy the
States to revise the Articles Of Confederation,
and on 18th September 1887, these Deputies
recommended, for the adoption of the States
the Articles of Union, known as the Constitu.
ton of the United States
The parties to whom this Constitution was
submitted, were the several sovereign States;
they were to agree or disagree, and when nine
of them agreed, the compact was to take effect
among those concurring; and the General
Government, rs the common agent, was then
to be invested with their authority
If only nine of the thirteen States had con
cured, the other four would have remained
as they then were, separate, sovereign States.
Independent of any of the provisions of the
Constitution. IL fact, two cf the States did
not acccde to the Constitution until long after
it had gone into operation among the other
eleven and during that interval they each
exercised the functions of an independent ma
ton.
BY this Constitution, certain duties were
imposed upon the several States, and the cxcr-
else of certain of their powers was restrained,
which necessarily implied their continued OK
istonce as sovereign States. But, to remove
all doubt an amendment was added, which
declared that the powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor pruhh-
tied 10y it to the States, are reserved to the
States, respectively, or to the people On
23d May, l7SS, South Carolina, by Convcn-
ton OF her people, passed an Ordinance as
Scntln% to this Constitution, aud afterwards
altered her own Constitution, to conform her
self to the obligations she had undertaken.
Thus was established, by compact between
the States, Government. with defined objects
and powers, limited to the express words of
the grant. This limitation left the whole re-
naming mass of power subject to the clause
rcserving it to the States or to the people, and
rendered unnecessary any specification of re-
served rights.
We hold that the Government thus cstab-
lishcd Is subject to the two great principles
asserted in the Declaration of Independence
and we hold further, that the mode of its
formation subjects it to II third fundamental
principle, namely the law Of compact We
maintain that in every compact between two
or more parties, the obligation is mutual that
the failure of one of the contracting parties to
perform matcrial part of the agreement, en-
tirclyrcleases the obligation of the other; and
that where no arbitcr is provided, each party
is rcmittcd to his own Judgment to determine
the fact of failure, with all its consequences
In the present case, that fact is established
with certainty. We assert, that fourteen of
the States have deliberately refused for years
past to fulfil their constitutional obligations,
and VIC refer to their own Statutes for the
proof.
The Constitution of the United Stutes, in
its 4th Article, provides rs follows
Ono person held to service or labor in one
State, under tho laws thereof, escaping into
another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on
claim of the party to whom such service or la
Dor mny be due"
This stipulation was so material to the com
pact, that without it that compact would not
have been made. The greater number of the
contracting parties held slaves, aud they had
previously cynccd their estimate of the value
of such stipulation by making it a condition
in the Ordinance for the government of the
territory coded by Virginia, which now COM
poses the States north of the Ohio river.
The same article of the Constitution stipu-
latcs also for rendition by the several States of
fugitives from justice from the other States
The General Government, as the common
agent, passed laws to carry into effect these
stpulaticns of the States For many years
these laws were executed But an increasing
hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding
States to the Institution of Slavery has led to
disregard of their obligations, and the laws
OF the General Government have ceased to
effect the objects of the Constitution The
States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont
Massachusetts,, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin and iowa, have enacted
laws which either Duify the Acts OF Congress
or render usclcssany attempt to execute them
In many of these States the fugitive is dis
charged from the service or labor claimed,
and in mono of them has the State Govern
ment complied with the stipulation made in
the Constitution. The State of New Jersey,
at an early day, passed law in conformity
with her constitutional obligation; but the
current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more
recently to e,lact laws which render inopera-
tive the remedies provided by her own law and
by tho laws of Congress- In the State of New
York even the right of transit for slave has
been denied byher tribunalsj and the States
of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to
justice fugitives charged with murder, and
with melting servile insurrecton in the State
of Virginia. Thus the constitutional compact
has been deliberately broken and disregarded |
by tho non -slaveholding States, and the con-
sequence follows that South Carolina is re-
leosed from her obligation eoN
The ends for which this Constitution was
framed are declared by itself 10 be " to form e
morei perfect unions establish justice, insure
domestic tran orilify ,nrauida for III n m