Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1861-05-31

elther courts to issue, or marshals to ex-
ecute process. They had substituted
their own courts and their own processes,
to which they yielded cheerful obedience
The authority of the Federal Govern
ment was in fact dead within their limits
They were in an attitude towards it, not
only of independence, but of forcible
resistance, for they had repealed the as
sertion of its authority over any portion
of their soil, and had subdued, for their
own protection, one of its Notifications
within their borders. The Confederate
and that of the United States
were, in fine, belligerents, engaged in
actual, though pndeclared war, ard with
all the rights and responsibilities which
it gives and entails. This last is none
the less true, because of their being en-
gagged 10 civil war, for that is like any
other war, when waged among civilized
people. Vattel defines the relations
which exist in such cases in terms too
clear to be misunderstood, and too well
recognized to be disputed.
GA civil war;" he says, "breaks the
bands Of society and government, or at
least suspends their force and effect. 1t
produces in the nation two independent
parties, who consider each other as enc
mics, and acknowledging common Judge.
These two parties, therefore, must ne
cessarily be considered as thenceforward
constituting, at least for time, two sep
arate bodies, two distinct societies.
Though one Of the parties may have been
to blame in breaking the unity of the
State and resisting the lawful authority,
they are not the less divided in fact. Be-
sides, who shall judge them Who shall
pronounce on which side the right or the
wrong lies ? On earth they have no
common superior They stand, there
fore, in precisely the same predicament
as two nations, who engage in a contest,
and being unable to come TO an agree
ment, have recourse 20 arms. " (Vattel.
Book 8. oh. Is, sec 1888 J To attempt
81 apply, under such circumstances to
bolligorent people, an Act Of Congress,
which was meant as a domestic remedy,
in aid of civil process and to secure ODE
dience to the laws under judicial proceed
ing-in States still recognizing the au-
thority of the Union and the Jurisdiction
Of its tribunals--was to triha with the
understanding Of educated mon. To
Issue a proclamation to three millions of
free Americans, composing seven power
ful States, and asserting the sacred and
ipdefaasib'e right Of self-eovernment,
WNharms in ,aais hands all command"
chem as 'insurgents' TO retire peacea-
5y to their respective abodes," like
mob at street corner, was an ahsurdity
too gross to DO here respectfully dis
cussed. No government would venture
to palm such an imposition upon n peo-
pie, except in the well-assured confidence
Of absolute power Nay, in the passion
ate excitement Of The moment, the Pre-
sident forgot even the suggestions of
polite docorum, and did not hesitate to
transgress all possible constitutional lin
its, and confess a purpose of animosity
and revenge, by distinctly calling on the
people, whom be summoned to the field,
"to redress wrongs already long enough
endured" The proclamation, therefore,
meant war, and nothing but war, 1t
could signify nothing else, and to attempt
to cloak its meaning and purpose under
the fiimsy pretext Of executing the
laws" and "suppressing unlawful combi-
nations, was but to cover up fragrant
usurpation with words.
Neither the Constitution nor the laws
of the United States can be tortured into
comforting tho war-making power upon
the President in any contingency. Where
foreign nations are concerned, tho plain
language Of the fundamental law eutrusts
it to Congress only As against the
States Of the Union the possibility Of
such thing is not even contemplated.
much less provided for. Like parricide
at Athens. it was held too hcinous and
impossible to be named, even for the pur-
pose of punishment. As early as the
fifth day after the meeting Of the Con-
ventlon for the formation Of the Federal
Constitution, ..'the use Of force against
a State" by the rest Of the Union, MS
contemplated in the plan of Mr. Ran
dolph, was denounced by Mr. Madison,
and on his motion the resolution provid-
ing for it was indefinitely postponed by
unanimous assent Mr.. Madison an
nounced it as his deliberate opinion that
ga union of the States, containing such
an ingredient, seemed to provide for its
own destruction " From that day for
ward such an idea ceased to be part of
the theory of those by whom the Consi-
tuition was framed. When Gen. IIamil.
ton was called to express hisopinion upon
it, he asked, GLOW can this force be
cxerted on the States collectively? II is
impossible; it amounts 10 a war upon the
parties. Foreign powers, also, will hot
be idle spectators. They viii intcrpose /;
the confusion will increase and disso-
luton Of the Union will ensue.p The
reasoning was unanswerable, aud the
Constitution happily was not stained with
the perilous folly. against which these
two great statesmen 50 earnestly protest.
ed. There was not discussion in tkc
debates on the Federal Constitution,
whether in the Convention which framed
it or the State Conventions which adopted
II, that does not confirm this view of its
spirit,and purpose. The essays Of the
Pedcralist are pregnant with demonstra.
tons to he same effect. and there is no
constitutional lawyer who does not know,
that the whole theory Of the gosemmeut