Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1861-03-15

S, the IODD6fJ OF tue uallOHai hIt"SdIy "
+ Louisiana, are outrages upon our natlona
: rights for which instant atonement woul
be demanded from any other nation
e backed, if need be, by thousand can
: mons and million bayonets.
n But, sir, / will not contemplate th'
; picture or the prospect Of actual war
D nor even the prospect Of two lines o
standing armies and threatening forts il
| two confederaces, stretching one thous
and or three thousand miles, from the
= Atlantic to the Mississippi, or from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, | will only add
}. that if the seeding States are really on
Of The Union, we have new and urgent
duties upon our bands, in the settlement
of new, difficult, and all important qucs-
tions. The pubic debt, the pubic lands
the public buildings, the national ships
the national obligations growing out Of
public treaties-such, for instance, as
those touching the slave trade-the claims
Of States and citizens of the United
2 States upon the Governmental these
topics present questions Of the gravest
import The navigation of the Missis-
sippi, and the control of the Gulf of
Mexico, is another matter that will per-
NIT no delay. And then how will you
settle with the seeding States, including
an item Of 100000, 600 spent for the
purchase and defense of territory now
occupied by them? Sir, if these states
are out Of the Union, let US turn our at
tention to these questions. There, are
none grayer, or more urgent. If these
/ States are not out of the Union, then the
old obligations and powers remain upon
us-all of them in full force, all Of them
unimpared. Those obligations we are
to discharge, and those powers we are
to exercise, just 50 far as the circumstan-
ces of the case will admit. ask, then,
are the seeding States out of the Union ?
do not intend to discuss the right OF
secession or revolution, which has been
so largely argued in this debate; for in
my Judgment, the matter is completely
settled by the Constitution itself. There
is no power, express or implied, conferred
by the Constitution, upon any depart
ment of this Government, to perform
the last, the all-essential, and TIE crown
ing act of successful secession or reyoIu-
ton; that is the recognition of the inde-
pendence of q seeding or revolutionize1
State. States may secede in fact they
may form independent governments, and
receive the recognition of the world
they may resist and successfully resist
this government; and yet this Govern
ment has not the constitutional power to
recognize their independence, nor a con
siitutional right to treat them as indepen-
dent States. The constitution was de-
signed not only as "perfect union;
it was designed also for "posterty " and |
therefore as perpetual Union. Section
ten Of article one is, throughout, pro-
hibition of secession, because it is pro-
hibiiion to every State Of powers essen
,ial to an independent nation. The alb
rogation of the Constitution and laws of
the United States is rebellion, and resist !
ance to them by force is treason. A
persistence, however long, is but contin-
ued rebellion and treason. So far, then,
as this government is concerned, until the
new power of recognizing the indepen-
dsnce Of rebellious State shall have
been constiutionally conferred, we are
to refuse such recognition; to refuse
to recognize the agents of seeding or
rebellious States to refuse to enter into
a settlement Of any of those grave ques- /
tions to which have already alluded
and, to the best judgment and ability,
we are to maintain the sovereignty of the |
United States, TO execute the laws, and |
bring back the rebellious States to their
allegiance to the Constitution, and to
their late and madIy lost estate of liberty,
security, prosperity, and peace.
| confess that have thought it win
be hard necessity, for the want of con-
st,utional power to acknowledge the in
dependence Of seeding State, to en-
dure protracted period of anarchy or
the horrors of civil war. Perhaps it
win be a necessity too bard to be borne,
imperative enough to warrant an assump-
ton of undelegated power, as in the in
stance of the requirement Of that very
Territory which is now the ;heater of
this grievous discomfort. But we are
not yet warranted to make an assump-
tion like that. The necessity may come /
it has not yet come. In spite Of the con-
fident declaration Of the ex- Secretary Of