The Oxford intelligencer., 1861-01-09

ford f.tobe kept rs publ paA for he use Of
ahI citizens ofIefd town yb{ev1r, aus1iin tho
eosrse of time authorize of ths 4drb abani
doc 4 a, parf 3togethcrt ahd convert into I
'a's 3~S Or sr'a . i.'ilft uloH it. E land
purposes of the grant for the law implies con-
dition, that the land shall be faithfully applied
to the objects of the srht otherwise The grant
expires, and my right 7revives. And 50. if a
weak nation, ip order to secure thf protection Of
its more povlrfarhsiglBos. sdbaasltsel6ts The
latter for that pyrposs. and permits il 70 sxsr.
else many of lis own sovereign rights within its
own jurisdietiop il nay Essqps itSpowefs, and
throw off such submission, whenever the more
powerful nation, from any cause whatever. shall
fail or refuse to afford the stipulated protection
vattel lays down this doctrine very explicitly in
the following passage in his law Or Nations:
s'when q nation has placed itself under the
protection of another that Is more powerful, or
has ersn entered into stljsetion to il with view
b receiving It's proteetion.--f the latter does
not effectualiy protect the other in case Of need,
it is manifest that BY FILLING IN. IL engage
ments, q loses all The yigAt;it had acquired by
tie conrsntion, and that the other, being dissn-
gagged from the obligation It had contracted, re.
enters into the possession Of hits rights, and
RECEIVERS Its original independence or its liberty
IL isl to be observed thai ibis takes place even in
cases where the protector does not fail in his engage
ments through the cant Of coed taith, bat merely
iasro..gh iia5iHty' For, the weaker nation having
submitted ony for the sakesof obtaining protection
Il other proves unable to fulfil that ssstai oon
ciion the compact is dissolved; the .oeqker respm'
its rights. "-(vattcl, p. "a, sl96,) Again, on the
same subject, he says "When, therefore, the sole
andindspensabe condition Of its subsection is (fron
what cause soever)not complied with, II is freed from
its engagements; mdoits duty towards itself o5tige,
il to take fresh methods 70 provide for IT, own
curity, "-(V,p p, 90, 5 20ol And this principle is
true in fragrant cases even between sovereign and
subject, or, the State and the Individual citizen. On
this point yattel says: "There are cases in which a
citizen has an absolute ryhto rehounce his country
and abandon it entirely--a right founded reasons
derived FROM the very nature of the social compact
49," 7 IL the body of the society, or he wiorcprc-
scnts Ii, absolutely fail to discharge their obligations
towards citizen, the latter may withdraw him~lf
Fer ifone of the contracting parties docs not observe
his engagements the ohcrls no longer bound TO full
I'll his; as the contract is reciprocal between the
society and its members, "-ty.,p. l05, S 22B.) In
other words the citizen, in such case has The right
to sered in the only way in which an individual can
scccde from Statc-by leaving i: with his property
and effects iY ~rray-'lD G3@ seJli~'
2 1t would seem, tortt0r that this right would OK.
ist in still greater perfection, II possible where
the power granted was used to destroy those very
rights Which il was designed to protect Iagain quote
from Yattel In virtue of the same principle which
discharges one of the contracting parties when the
other fails in his engaGements if the more powerful
nation should assume greater authority over the
weaker than the treaty ofpfotecton or submission
allows the latter may consider the treaty as broken
and provide for its safety according to its own discre.
ton. Ifitwere otherwise the inferior nation would
lose by convention which it had only formed with
view to its safety and If it were still bound by its
engagements uhe,i as protector abuses them and openly
riodtcs his o the treaty would to the weaker party
n
And even to the rights Of the individual citizen,
where the social compact is violated by the State of
which he is member, VatteI says: eff the major
part Of the nation, the sovereign who represents it,
attempt to enact laws in which the social compact can
not obgc every citizen to submission those who arc
averse to these laws have right to quit the society
and go settle elsewhere. +" And if the society
and 10 hu tl,a n
must be imputed to the intoierant party; for isMcy
,cho fail in tie observance Of ne social copact-iti is
they rho violate IT, and force Me others to sebdrd.
ton" 4...s. a-..s % 3d.. :i-+I .,s.'..a
If the principles advanced in this and nv former
article are sound (and think they cannot be moved
for they are supported by both aud authority
it follows that any of the States of the Union may
withdraw from it. and resume all the powers conferred
by it upon the Federal Government whenever it shall
find that the purposes for which the compact was
framed have failed, from any cause whatever Sup
pose, for instance, the fugitive slave law cannot be
enforced either because the Federal agent is unwill.
ing unable to do it because some oft sover-
egn parties to the compact reject and violate its pro-
visions in this particular. It's admitted, on all hands,
that the Union could never have been formed, with.
out that provision in the Constitution for the rendition
offugive slaves; for nearly all the States then held
slaves. 1t was, therefore, cs9iql condition in the
compact and can the common agent utterly fail in
his duty here, and many Of the contracting parties
contemptuously reject and tample upon this Necessary
and important provision and yet the injured States
be bound TO adhere to the compact their part with.
out redress and with power to resume the author-
ty delegated to unfaithul or incompetent agentg
Shall they be requredt to keep faith with the athless
Shall they be compelled to abide by and perform the
contract when the consideration has entirely filedY
This would not be good sense and am sure il IL not
good law. ~ -s
Take another lease. The Constitution itself pro-
vides fer its amendment, and this power ef amend
ment is and has been since the year 1907 unlimited
except in reference to the equal suffrage of each
State in the Senate yet it cannot be admitted for
a moment, that any State would be bound by an
amendment which would change the whole character
ofthe Federal compact and sap the very foundation
Of our political institutions, although such amend
ment should pass through all the necessary requisites
to make it part Of the Constitution, Suppose for
instance, that the people Of threefourths Of the
States or indeed of all he Suites esce,1t one shouId