Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1861-01-31

Already have we had some prc'nonltory Symp
toms Of what will be in the language Of con-
tempt and reproach heapcl upon US But As
you have already hal some wholesome extracts
furnished YOU from the death-bel repentance Of
Gen. Andrew Jackson | beg vDu will aec,pt
some others equally Wholesome perhaps fr,ln
his Proclamation. Every man who has had the
capacity to understand our government, has ex-
pressed. either orally or in writing a hope Gifts
peaceful perpctuty. and that it should be per-
pctuatcd without force, violence or bloo!shcd ::
but when the practical hour did come that the
law was resisted, all the fathers who ruled over
legitimatcly and in obedience to the due forms
Of the Constitution resortel to force to maintain
the Constitution and preserve the integrity of
the law. AS have said, you have already had
an extract from the h-bed repentance Of the
old General but when what was called the law,
was resisted, how then spoke e.
ole shook his ambr osia curl and gave the nod
As the stamp Of fate and the sanction of a Cod
and Numbered as follows:
':This right to seccde is deduced from the ma
ture of the Constitution which they say is a COM
pact between sovereign States who have pre-
served their whole sovereignty, and therefore
are subject to no superior; that because they
made the compact, they can break it, when in
their opinion it has been departed from by the
soning is, it cnsts State pride, and finds advo-
Gates in the honest prejudices of those who have
not stu lied the nature of our government suf-
ticicEtly to see the radical error on which it
rests.
''The people of the United States formed the
Constitution, acting through the State Legisa-
lures in making the compact to meet and dis
c.lSs its provisions, and acting in separate con-
ventons when they ratified those provisions
but the terms used in its construction, show it
to be government in which the people of all
States collectively are represented. We are
ONE PEOPLE in the choice of the President and
Vice President. Here the States have no other
agency than to direct the mode in which the
votes shall be given. The candidates having
the majority of all the votes are chosen The
electors Of a majority of the States may have
given their votes for one candidate, and yet
another may be chosen. The people, then, and
not the States, are represented in the Executive
branch
'In the House of Representatives there is this
difference, that the people Of one State do not,
as in the case Of President and Vice-Presdent,
all vote for the same officers. The people Of all
the States do not vote for all the members, each
State eecting only its own representatives But
thls creates no material distinction When
chosen, they are all representatives of the Uni
ted States. not representatives, of the particular
State from which they come. They are paid by
the United States, not by the State, nor are they
accountable to it for any act done in the per-
formance of their legislative functions and
however they may, in practice as it is their duty
to 90, consult and prefer the interests Of their
particular constituents, when they come in con-
flict with any other partial or local interest, yet
it is their first and highest duty as representa-
tives of the United States, to promote the gener-
al good.
The Constitution of the United States. then.
forms a government, not league, and whether
it be formed by compact between the States, or
in any other manner, its character is the same
It is a government in which all the people are
represented, which operates directly on the peo-
pie individually, not upon the States-they re-
tanned all the power they did not grant But
each State having expressly parted with ST.
many powers, as to constitute. jointly with the
other States. single nation. cannot from that
-s. sssss 1 bat asst sso
unity is not only trssa...l!. anZ ;n;2sy t. that
ffnm the contraventipn Of a compact, bnt it is
m offence against the whole Union. To say
that any State may at pleasure serelc from II e
Union, is to say that the United States are not
| 4 nation. because it would be splecism to con-
tend that any part of a nation might dissolve
It's conneXlon with the other parts, to their in
Jury or ruin. without committing any offence
Secession. like any other revolutionary act, may
he morally justified by the extremity of oppres-
sion but to call it a constitutional right, is con-
founding the meaning of terms and can only
be done through gross error, or to deceive those
who are willing tn assert right, but would
pause before they made a revolution, or incur
the penalties consequent on a failure.
because the Union was formed by compact,
it is said the parties to that compact may, when
they feel themselves aggrieved, depart from it :;
but it is precisely because it is compact that
they cannot. A compact is an agreement or
binding obligation 1t may, by its terms, have
a sanction or penalty for its BREACH or it may
not. If it contains no sanction, it may be bro
ken with no other consequence than moral guilt ;
if it have a sanction, then the breach incurs the
lesi grated implied penalty. A league be-
tween independent nations, generally, has no
sanction other than moral one or if it should
contain a penalty, as there is no common SUI
peror, it cannot be enforced. A government
on the contrary, always has sanction, express
or implied, and, in our case, it is both uecessari
ly implied and expressly given"
The States severally have not retained their
entire sovereignty 1t has been shown that, in
becoming parts of nation not members of
league, they surrendered many of their essential
parts of sovereignty. The right to make trea-
ties declare war, levy taxes, exercise exclusive
judicial and legislative powers were all of them
functions Of sovereign power. The States, then,
for all these important purposes, were no longer
sovereign. The allegiance Of their citizens was
transferred. in the first instance to the govern
ment Of the United States : they became Ameri~
can citizens, anl owed obedience to the Consti-
tuition Of the United States, and to laws made
in conformity with the powers it vested in Con-
gress This last position has not been, and can
not be denied.
The laws Of the United States must be exc
cuted. / have no discretionary power on the
subject-my duty is emphatica!ly pronounced
in the Constitution. Those who told you that
you might peaceably prevent their execution,