Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1861-03-07

1
eve meet as representatives OF sovereign
and independent States, which, by their sol
| emn Judgments have dissolved all the politi-
| cal associations which connected them with
| the Government of the United States Ii is
now liked and Irrevocable fact that the sep
aratIon Is perfect, complete, and perpetual; !;
| and great duty is now imposed on us to
provide government for our future security
| and protection. We can and should extend
to our sister States, and our late sister States
who are identified with us in interest, feelings,
| and institutions, cordial invitation to unite
IN common destiny, and be desirous, at the
! some time, OF maintaining with our late con-
tederates friendly relations, political and
commercial"
1t becomes US first to inquire whether these
States are really out of the Union or in it
Ii they are out, our duties are plain. We are
at once to put them on the footing of foreign
nations, and | will say, of the most favored
foreign nations; for neither passion nor pref
paInles anu charities due to Children ct a
common ancestry. If they are out of the
Union, by separation that is perfect,
complete, and perpetual" then are we alb
solved from all obligations due to them as
members of the Union - to protect them
against foreign invasion and domestic insur-
rection and rebellion, and to respect and de-
fend their rights as States, and the rights and
interests of their inhabitants as citizens of the
United States Our political, commercial,
postal, and other laws, have no validity there;
our courts, and custom-houses, and post and
land offices are to be closed the mails sus-
pended, and our and their commerce put up
on an entirely different footing. We assume
new powers as to them-the treaty-making
power and powers of peace and war To be
sure, it has been argued again and again that
we have no power to make war upon a Sc
cedlng State; bat nobody will deny our power
to make war upon a foreign State; and il be-
hOoveS all concerned to remember that there
IS not a kingdom in the world against which
we ever had, or ever can have, stronger or
more grievOus causes OF than with this
ertempore kingdom of cotton. The seizures
OF forts, arsenals, magazines, and other prop
erty Of the United States, by armed men, un-
der the authority OF the seeding States, were
overt acts OF war. The surveillance by arms
over the navigation of the Mississippi, ana
the robbery of the national Treasury Ly
Louisiana, are outrages upon our national
rights for which instant atouement would be
demanded from any other nation, backed, ii
need be, by thousand cannon and a million
bayonets.
But, sir, viii not contemplate the picture
or the prospect of actual war. nor even the
prospect OF two lines of standing armies and
threatening forts In two confederacies, stretch
ing one thousand or three thousand miles
from the Atlantic to the Mississippi or from
the Atlantic to the Pacific viii only alI,
that if the seeding States are really out ot
the Unlcn, we have new and urgent duties
upon our hands, in the settlement OF new. diff
tercnt and all-lmportant questions. The pub
Inc DEBT, the public lands, the public build
mgs, the national ship, the national obGga-
tons growing out OF public treaties-such, ior
instance, as those touching the slave traIc-
the claims OF States and citizens Of the tnIteI
States upon the Goyernmcut-all these top
cs present questions Of the gravest import
The navigation Of The Mississippi. and the
control OF the Cult Of Mexico is another mat
tcr that will permit no DELAY. Aud then how
will you settle with the ~r,cfiug States -
Guiding an item OF S200,0O9,o0O spent tor the
purchase and defense OF territory now occu-
pied by them Sir, if these States are out
OF the Union, let Us turn Our attention 10 these
questions. There are none gravcr, none more
urgent. If these States are not out OF the
Union, then the old obligations and power,
remain upon us-all OF them in full force, al
OF them unimpaired Those obligations We
are TO discharge, and those powers We are to
exercise, just so tar as the circumstances 0.
the case viii admit. | ask, then, are the Sc
ceding States out of the UnionE
do not intend to discuss the right Of Sc
cesslon or revolution, which has been 50
largely argued in this debate for, in my j.dg-
ment, the matter is completely settled by the
Constitution itself There Is no powcr, ex-
press or implied, conferred by the Constitu
ton, upon any department of this Govern
ment, to perform the last, the a5l-cssentlal,
and the crOwnlng act OF successful secesslou
or revolution; that Is, the recognition OF the
independence of seeding or revoluuonIZ"d
State. States may secede in fact; they may
form independent governments, and receive
the recognition of the world they may resist
and successfully resist this Government; and
yet this Government has not the constitution
al power TO recognize their independence,
nor constitutional right TO treat them as IN
dependent States. The Constitution was de
signed not onl y as a perfect" Union It was
designed also for pOSterity," and therefore
as a perpetual Union. Section ten OF article
one Is, throu4h hout, a prohibition OF secession,
because It Is a prohibition to every State OF
powers essential to an Independent nation
The abrogation Of the Constitution and laws
Of the United States is rebellion, and resist
ance to them by force is treason. A persist
ence, however long is but continued rebellion
and treason. So far, then, as this Govern
ment is concerned, until the new power OF
recognizing the independence of rebeIllous
State shall have been cOnsttutl0nally confer
red, we are to refuse such a recognition; to
refuse to recognize the aIents of seeding or
rebellious States; to refuse to enter into
settlement of any Of those grave questions to
which | have already alluded; and, to the
best of our judgment and ability, we are to
maintain the sovereignty OF the United States,
to execute the laws and bring back the re-
bellOus States to their allegiance to the Con
stltutlon, and to their late and madly lost es-
tate OF liberty, security, prosperity and peace
| confess that | have thought it will be
hard Necessity, for the want of constitutional
power to acknowledge the independence OF IA
seeding State, to endure protracted period
of anarchy or the horrors Of civil war. Per
haps it wi be necessity too hard to be borne,
imperative enough to warrant an assumption
of undelcgated power, as ih the instance OF
the requirement of that very Territory which
is now the theater of this grievous discomfort
But We are not vet warranted to make an
assumption like that. The necessity may
come it has not yet come. In spite OF the
confident declaration OF the eX-Secretary OF
the Treasury, / must deny that the seeding
States are yet out of the Union, and still m
dulge the nope that thls Ci"L"'i"h' iiNT var
Gus other official and equally confident esti'
mates from the same quarter, is altogether too
Elusive to warrant any assumption OF undel-
egated power. In no Instance yet has the
ordinance of secession become the act OF
State, or been recognized by the sovereign
power of State-I mean the people lhe
ordinances have been adopted by conventions,
elected in the fever of an excitement shmulat-
ed by false representations: hastily elected
without mature dhliberation, and without
full vote of the people. Thescons itutlons OF
South Carolina and Florida provide that
q" No convention of the people shall be
called, unless by the concurrence OF two
Il. .EI Inn