Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-05-21

/ MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT Davis,
| To THE Provisional CoNGREss OF THE
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.
GENTLEMEN THE CONGRESS:
! 1t is my pleasing duty to announce to you that
the Constitution framed for the est ablishment
of permanent government for the Confederate
States has been ratified by Conventions in each
| OF those States to which it was referred. To in
augurate the government in its full proportions
and upon its own substantial basis OF the popu-
lar will, 1t only remains that elections should
be held for the designation of the officers to ad-
minister it.
There is every reason to believe that at no dis
tant day. other States identified in political prln-
cples and community Of interests with those
which you represent will join this Confederacy {:
giving to its typical constellation increased splen-
dor-to its government OF free, equal and SOW
ereign States, wider sphere ofusefulness-and OF
to the friends of Constitutional liberty, greater
security for its harmonious and perpetual exist
ence.
1t was not, however, for the purpose of max
ing this announcement that have deemed it my
duty to convoke you at an earlier day than that
fixed by yourselves for your meeting The dec.
laration Of war made against this Confederacy by
4 braham Lincoln, the President of the United
States in his proclamation issued on the fifteenth
day of the present month, rendered it necessary,
| in my jud dgment, that you should convene at the
earliest practical moment, to devise the meas
ures necessary for the defence of the country.
| The occasion is indeed an extraordinary one.
1t justifies me in brief review of the relations
heretofore existing between US and the States
which now unite in warfare against US, and In
Succinct statement of the events which have re-
suited in this warfare; to the end that mankind
may pass intelligent and impartial judgment on
its motives and objects.
/ During the war waged against Great Britain by
/ her colonies on this continent, a common danger
/ impelled them to close alliance and to the for
nation of Confederation, by the terms OF which,
the colonies, styling themselves States, entered
ssseverally into firm league of friendship with
each other for their common defence, the securl-
i ty of their liberties, and their mutual and gen.
eral welfare, binding themselves to assist eacn
other against all force offered to, attacks made
upon them or any Of them, on account OF rehg-
/ ion, sovereignty, trade or any other pretence
| whatever
In order to guard against any misconstructlon
of their compact, the several States made ex-
plicit declaration, in distinct article, that
ssEACH State RETAINS IT'S sovereignty, freedom
and independence, and every power, jurisdiction,
and right, which is not by this Confederation ex-
pressly delegated to the United States in Con-
| gress assembled,'
Under this contract of alliance, the war Of the
in the treaty of peace with great Britain in 1888,
by the terms of which the several States were,
EACH BY NAME, recognized to be independent.
I The articles of Confederation contained a
clause whereby all alterations were prohibited
unless confirmed by the Legislatures OF every
| State, after being agreed to by the Congress ;
and in obedience to this provision under the re-
solution of Congress of the 2lst of February, IT.
81, the several States appointed delegates, who
| attended Convention ssfor the sole and express
purpose of revising the articles OF Confederation
and reporting to Congress and the several Leg
islatures such alterations and provisions therein
as SHALL when agreed to in Congress-, and con-
frmed by the States, render the Federal Consti-
tuition adequate to the exigencies Of the Govern
ment and the preservation of the Union"
1t was by the delegates chosen, by the several
States, under the resolution just quoted, that
the Constitution of the United States was framed
IN 1887, and submitted to the several States for
ratification, shown by the 7th article, which
is in these words
ssThe ratification of the constitutions of nine
States shall be sufficient for the establishment OF
this Constitution BETWEEN the States ratifying
the Same.'
! have italicsed certain words in the quota
tion just made, for the purpose Of attracting at
tention to the singular and marked caution with
which the States endeavored, in every possible
| form, to exclude the idea that the separate and
| independent sovereignty OF each State was merg-
0u INTO one COlnIuOn SOFtTulueHI anu HdtioH ),
and the earnest desire they eylnced to impress
on the Constitution It's true character-that of
| a compact BETWEEN Independent States.
The Constitution Of 1887 having, however,
omitted the clause already recited from the ar
ltcles of confederation, which provided, in ex-
lplicit terms, that each State retained its sover-
eighty and independence, some alarm was felt
in the States when invited to ratify the Consti-
tuition, lest this omission should be construed
| into an abandonment Of their cherished prlnci-
pies, and they refused to be satisfied until a
mendments were added to the Constitutions,
placing beyond any pretence OF doubt, the reser-
walton by the States of all their sovereign rights
and pOwers-not expressly delegated to the U nj
ted States by the Constitution.
| Strange indeed must it appear to the impair
tal observer, but it is none the less true. that all
these carefully worded clauses proved unavailing
| to prevent the rise and growth, IN the Northern
States, of poIical school which has persistently
claimed that the Government thus formed was
not compact BETWEEN States, but was in effect
a national government, set up above and over
the States. An organization, created by the
States to secure the blessings Of liberty and
independence against foreign aggression, has
been gradually perverted into machine for their
control in their domestic affairs the CREATURE
has been exalted above its CREATORS; the prin-
cipals have been made subordinate to the agent
| appointed by themselves.
| The people of the Southern States, whose al
most exclusive occupation was agriculture, early
perceived tendency in the Northern States to
render the common government subservient to
their own purposes, by imposing burthens on
commerce as protection to their manufacturing
and shipping interests. Long and angry con-
troyersy grew out of these attempts, often sue
cessful, to benefit one section of the country at
the expense Of the other; and the danger of dis
ruption arising from this cause was enhanced by
the tact that the Northern population was in
creasing by immigration and other causes in a
lgreater ratio than the population of the South
/ By degrees as the Northern States would gain
jpreponderance in the National Congress-, self
interest taught their people to yield ready assent
to any plausible advocacy of their right ma
ljority to govern the minority without control;
they learned to listen with impatence 10 the
suggestion of any constitutional impediment to
the exercise of their WILL and so utterly have
the principles of the Constitution been corrupted
in the n orthern ind, that in the inaugural ad-
dress by President Lincoln in March last. he as
serts axiom which he plainly deems to be
Iundenable, that the theory of the Constitution
lrequires that in all cases the majority shall gov
ern; and in another memorable instance, the
same Chief Magistrate did not hesitate to liken
i the relations between State and the United
States to those which exist between county
and the State in which it is situated and by
which it was created. This is the lamentable
and fundamental error on which rests the policy
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