Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1861-03-14

N6itFc csnSSSs ohu Az iutCuttOu VI /
be law given is the law all m smbers I
,f Congress swear their support to |
1.-The whole Constitution : to this
provision as much = to any other. |
10 the proposition, then, that slaves,
whose casescome within the terms Of
this clause and shall be delivered. sup,
their oaths are unanimous. Now
if they would make the effort in good
temper. could they not With equal
unanlmity frame and pass law BY
means of which to keep COOL that
unanimous oath. There is some DIFF
ference Of opinion whether this
clause should be enforced by Nation
al or State. authority, but surel,
that difference is not a very material
ole; if the slave is to be surrendered
it can be Of but little consequence,
to him or to others by which author
ity il is done, and should any one in
any case be content that his cath
shall be unkept in a merely unsub-
stantial controversy as to- how il
shall be done? Again: 10 any Law
upon this subject, not all the SAT,
guards Of liberty known in civil
ized and humane jurisprudence be in.
troduced, so that freeman may not,
in any case be surrendered as slave?
And might it not be well, at the
same time, 10 provide by law for the
enforcement of tba. clause in the
Constitution which guarantees that
all the citizens Of each State shall
be entitled TO ak the privileges and
immuni.ies of citizens 10 the sew.
eral States? ] take the official oath
to day with no mental reservations
and 20 purpose to construe the Con.
stitution and laws by any bypocriti
cal rules, and while do rot choose
now 10 specify particular acts of Con.
gress as proper to be enforced, dc
suggest that it will be much safer 70,
all in private stations to confol m TO
and abide by oil these acts which
stand unrepealed, than to violate any
of them, trusting to find impunity
in having them held to be unconsti
tutioual.
II is seventy two years since the
first Inauguration Of President I'm
der our national Constitution; during
that period, fifteen different ane
greatly distinguished citizens have
In succession, administered the Elk
ecutive branch of the Government:
they have conducted il through
many perils, and generally with great
success. Yet with all this scope fol
precedent, | now enter upon the
same task for The brief constitution.
al term of sour years, under grear
and peculiar difficulty. The disrup
ton Of the Federal Union, heretofore
only menaced, is now formidably at
tempted bold that in contempla
tion Of universal law ard the Copsti
tuition, the Union Of the States is per
petual. Perpetuity is implied if mo-
expressed in the fundamental Law
Tof all national gov, rpments. 1t j:
safe to assert that the government,
never had provision in its organic
law for its own termination, and if il
continues to execute all the express
provisions tf our natioual Constitu.
tion the Union will endure forever. il
being impossible to destroy it except
by seme action not provided for in
the instrument itself. Again, if the
United States be mol Government
proper, but IN association Of States
IN the nature Of contract merely, can
it as contract be peaceably unmade
unless by all the parties who made
IT? One party to contract may VIC
late or break it, so to speak, but
does it not require all to lawfully re-
scind it. Descending from these
general principles We find the propo-
si'ion that in legal contt mplation the
Union is perpetual confirmed by the
history Of The Union itself. The
Union is much older than. the Con-
slituiion. 1t was formed in fact
by the Articles of Association in
l774. TWAS matured and continued
by the Declaration OF Independence
in l716 1t was further maturcd
on the faith Of all the then thirteen
States, expressly plighl.d and en-
gagged, that it should be perpetual
by the articles of confederation in
ITS; and finally. 10 1887, one Of
the declared objects for ordaiuipg
and establishing the Constitution
was to form a more perfect Union
by one or by a part only of the /
States. If it be lawfully possible I