Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1861-02-15

s0l5IDn ODIlgatl0ns, a1d hazard the liberties
J and happiness of the millions composing this
Union, cannot be acknowledged; and that such
authority is utterly repugnant both to the
J principles upon which the General Government
is constituted and the objects which it was ex-
pressly formed to attain:
ghe doctrine has-never been countenanced
by The Supreme Court, or by such statesmen
as John Quincy Adams, Clay, Benton, or
Webster. 1t is doctrine unknown in hsto-
ry, ancient or modern, and especially in those
eonfederacies whose frames were SO carefully
stutsied by the fathers of our Government. la
1888, the Legislature of Kentucky declared,
by 'esolution, that ssthe right of secession is
not only unauthorized by the Constitution, but
is rcpugnant to its letter and spirit" In
| 1881, the State convention of Mississippi,
called to consider the compromise measures Of
| 1880, resolved that
9Ehe asserted right Of secession from the
Unson on the part of State is utterly un-
sanctioned by the Federal Constitution"
Mississippi is now a seeding State--so read
| lily are discarded opinions assumed whcn suited
to supposed emergency.
SO much for the path, which has been hewn
BY sorce, and does not legally exist.
IFs-ggsTIFIeATIoN.
Now for the justifying reasons. Mr.. Madi-
| son says people may be absolvod from allegi-
ance when there is, on the part OF Government,
'an intolerable abuse of the power created
Docs that abuse exista
propose to examine this point fairly--waig-
| ing all technical points and therefore to con-
dense from the papers issued by the convention
OF ssouth Carolina statement of their griev-
ances in justification of their action. Those
papers are two in number--the address to the
slaveh0iding States, and the declaration of in
dependence, each prepared by separate com
mItiee; the former reported by Mr. Memminger,
ihe satter by Mr.. Rhett--both gentlemen in
harmony with the sentiment of their State, and
thoroughly familiar with the causes of com
plant.
The former paper is the moro elaborate 1t
opens with statement "that the one great
evil, from which all other evils have flown, is
tho oARrthroY OF the Constitution OF the United
| States" the Government being no longer free,
but despotism, such Government as our
fathers resisted in 1776. Ii assumes paIal-
| lellsfn between the complaints of South Caro-.
lima and the colonios, and sustains it by assert
| ing that the Northern States, ssnaviug the ma
JoFlty IN Congress, claim the same power of
| omnipotence in legislation as the British Par
liament"--the "general welfare" being the only
limit to the legislation of either; THAI the
Southern States are taxed for tho benefit of the
North, and that the representation of the south-
ern States IN Congress Is useless to protect
them against taxation. 1t also complains that,
for the last forty years, the people Of tho South
have been taxed by duties on imports, not for
renenue. but for an object inconsistent with
revonue-to promote, BY prohibition, northern
interests in the promotion of their mines and
manufactures; and that of the taxes collected
| from them, three-fourths are expended at the
North, thus impoverishing tho former and en-
riching the latter. This exhausts one branch
of tho argument. To all of which it may be
| answered.
FIRST That the Constitution, so far from
| being oVerthrown, has been administered upon
substantially the same principles, ''making due
! allowance for the imperfeoton and errors Incl
dent to all human affairs,' from the organiza-
ton of the Government to the present time.
| During it, the Supreme Court has changed less
| frequently than any other department of the
Governments; and for many years majority of
the judges have been from the southern States
The tendency of It's decisions, also, has, within
| the last thirty years, been more and more uar-
1
| school, as is known by every student of our
politics. Besides, the general legislation of
our country has been closely confined, and n
repeated instances have been nullfed, by the
nterposition of the executive power, which has
without material exemption, been in the hands
or under the control of the southern States.
| Secoad-The attempted parallel fails, be-
cause the colonies were not represented in Par
| lament; and the southern States are represent
ed in Congress, precisely in proportion to their
claims and in accordance with tho provisions of
! the Constitution ratified by all and binding all.
Ii fails also, because the British Parliament il
omnipotent; and the Congress is limited, as all
admit, by the grants of the Constitution, which
| the Supreme Court has interpreted with much
severity and uniformity. Neither is the par
nllel more happy as the results than as to the
principle; for, although it is asserted that the
representation Of the southern States is use-
| less to protect them against taxation," | ohal-
| lsnge any one to point out q case in which
measure of taxation has been resisted by the
South and enforced by the North. There is
no such case. But if there were, it would not
necessarily relieve the southern States from
their allegiance; for, 10 be justified, they must
be able to point out an :sintolerable abuse."-
That is impossible The claimed paraIlelisml
| BOT existing, it is easy to see wherein the two
parties essentially differ. The colonists plant
ed themselves upon their principle, without re-
gard to the amount; the South Csrolinians,
chiefly upon the amount, subordinately upon the
principle, and erroneously upon both.
Third--The alusion to the tariff question is
wisely restricted to the last forty yeurs, since,
prior to that sime, South Carolina Representa-
tiveS voted for protective tariffs. MIR. Calhoun
made an able speech, 10 this House, in favor Of
she tariff act OF 1916; and South Carolina and
other southern members supported il against