The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-05-18

oDeeO0 q Hon. 6OWaI0 BvefoUSs
a large end enthusiastic meeting Was held 10
Roxbury, Mass., few EVENING" since, to collect
lands for the benefit of the families Of the Rox-
bury volunteers, who have enlisted for the war.
Edward Everett and A. n. Rice made patriotic
A large sum Was contributed. We
extract the following from Mr.. Everett's speech
Is published -
If AIRY arguments were necessary to urge us
to the performance of this duty, they would be
found, and that OF the most powerful and per-.
suasive character, 10 the nature and character
of the war which the South is waging upon ne.
And here a state Of things presents itself which
posterity will be slow to credit On the last an
niyersary Of our National Independence, at in
yltation Of nv fellow citizens of Boston. had
occasion to undertake defense of the United
States Government, in its practical operation,
against an attack made upon it, with considera-
be ability, in the British House of Lords. In
this effort, claimed--honestly and conscien-
tiousy claimed-and as have reason to think,
with the concurrence Of my fellow citizens, OF
all parties. throughout the country, that, under
our Constitution and laws, We have ENJOYED a
prosperity and made progress, not merely in
the utlitarian, but in the intellectual, and re-.
fined arts Of life, without an example in the
world I said nothing o! the unhappy sectional
controversy that vas raging the country, not
because was nsensible to its dangerous cbarac
ter. but because nothing was said about it in
the speech to which undertook to reply. The
general truth Of my description Of the prosperi-
ty of the country, and the genial and fostering
influence of our Constitution and laws, was as
generally admitted at the South as ut the North.
No longer ago than the 18th OF the last Novem.
Der, Mr. Stephens, OF Georgia, now Vice Presi-
dent Of the Southern Confederacy, and a gen.
tleman Of intelligence. in public speech, at
Mlledgeyille, declared it as his settled conric-
ton" that the present Government Of the
United States though not without its defects,
"comcs nearer the objects of all good govern
ment than any other on the face OF the earth. y
He pronounced it "a model republic, the best
that the history of the world gives any account
Of" and he asked in triumph; "Whcre will
you 90, following the In his circuit round the
globe, to find government that better protects
the liberties Of the people, and securs to them
the blessings which we enjoys"
This, you will observe again, was the language
of very leading Southern statesman, tie second
officer of the new Confaderacy, no longer ago
than last November; and, in truth, the South
had and has greater cause than any other part
of the Union to be satisfied with the Govern
ment under which she lives and on which she is
making war Respected abroad as an integral
portion Of one of the great powers Of the earth,
mainly in virtue Of the navy of the Union, OF
which the strength resides at the North, the
South, almost exclusively agricultural in her
pursuits, derives from her climate profitable
monopoly of four great staple products-one oil
them the most important single article in the
commerce of the world while, in consequence
chiefly, of the political sympathy With each other
which peryades tie slavebolding States, she has
ever enjoyed monopoly scarcely less complete
Of the government of the country. At this mo
msnt, and though numbering but a third part of
the free population Of the Union, if she had not
most unjustiiably withdrawn her members OF
Congress, she would have had in her interest a
majority in the Senate, in the House of Repre-.
sentatiyes, and in the Judiciary. For fifty-six
out of seventy-tvo years the Presidents of the
United States have been either Southern men
or Northern men in whom the South has c0naded
For the first time last November, a President
vas chosen who received no electoral votes from
the South, but that President has given the
most distinct assurances that he contemplated
no encroachment on the constitutional rights Of
the South, Gs indeed, lacking a majority in both
Houses, it is impossible that he should rake
any such encroachmeuts, bad he ever so ardent
ly desired it. Such is the government in its re-
lations with the South such the circumstances
under which she thinks herself justified in re-
voting against it!
| say "revoItng against it." although Mr.
Jefferson Davis, in his inaugural address, de
clares i. an abuse of lapgusg. 70 call it ere
vo!ution." I canno go into that argu,.ens a.
this late hour, nor would it be appropriate to the
occasion to do so but believe il to he as de-
monstrable as any proposition of Euclid, tina,
this doctrine of SECESSION that is the consti.
tutional right of State to sever at will her
connection with the Union, is, if possible, still
more unfounded, still hore fallacious, than that
of its ill-omened and nov universally discredit
ed predecessor, nuilfcation,' which was
crushed, never to rise again, thirty years ago,
by the iron In ice Of Webster, in the Senate OF
the United States.
only say at present, that this monstrous
pretended right of secession" though called a
reserved right" is VIGOROUSLY nowhere express.
" reserved in the Constitution, although every
one feels that nothing but an express reservation
in the plainest terms, would be sufficient ground
for such stupcGdous power. What is main
tanned by the politicians of the secession school
is, that the right may be inferred from ore OF
the amendments to the Constitution, by WHICH
it is provided that "the powers not delegated
to the United States by the Constitution nor
prohibit to the States, are reseFEed to the States
respectively, or the people. 1t is to maintain n
subtle and sophistical aud utterly unwarrantable
inference from this amendment that the South
is now striving to break up the Government,
and If resisted in that unhallowed attempt, to
drcnch the country in blood.
But l am willing to stake the issue on this
amendment. The Constitution does expressly
delegate to the United States all the powers of a
sovereign State with respect to international
and interstate affairs; the whole power; the
whole admiralty power; the whole commercial
power; the whole financial power; the power to
regulate and dispose of the public territory; the
power over the Indians, over the post-ofssce and
post roads; over the army, the navy, the dock
yards, the arsenals. all these powers and many
others, are expressly delegated to the United
States, and as expressly prohibited to the indi
vidual States. the Constitution of the United
States Ito which the people of Sonth Carolina
assented on the 22d of May, ITS, ns much as
they ever assented to their State Constitution
distinctly provides that no State shall keep
ships of war, or issue letters of marque or repri-
cal enter into any treaty, or alliance, or corr
federation; and yet in the face of this express
delegation of powers to the United States and
their express prohibition to the States, the Sc
cedinS States have undertaken to exercise them
all, nave cuIeTtu lBtO u cOnIeQera tlOn, raised
an army, issued letters Of marque and reprisal,
and plunged into war against the government,
which every officer aud magistrate among them
was sworn to support, and all in virtue of hav-
ng first uttered the magic words 1--WE sccede.H
Fhe history OF the world does not furnish another
such monstrous usurpat GU!
Such is the nature and foundation of the war
n which we are engaged. As you perceive, it
5 for the very existence of the government; it
S a contest in which no good citizen can remain
Neutral. am often asked how long / think it
sll last; but that is a question that the South
.lone can answer. She makes the war; she has
eized by surprise such of the strongholds Of
he country lis she was able; she has possessed
herself of the navy yard at Norfolk, which
guards the entrance to Chesapeake bay. of Har
,er's Ferry, which commands one of the great
highways from the Ohio river to the Atlantic
ocean; and, above all, of the mouth of the Mis-
issippi tie outlet of the most extensive system
Il internal communication on tie face Of the
lobe. There will, in my Judgment, never be
peace, till the fig of the Union again floats from
very stronghold from which it has been stricken
|own. Do YOU think, felow-citizens, tat Ohio, |
ndi.na, and Illinois will allow their most direct
with the seahoard to be obstruct- |
d at the pleasure of an alien State, at Harper's
'erry? Do you imagine that Eastern Pennsyl- |