Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-04-01


ated If he cannot persuade me to 20 along
with him little further, in effort and time |
must stop.
may come, perhaps, to point where will
stop short OF his stopping; and he will 60 on
and on. Loving the old Union as he does it
will not surprise me if he does 90 very far, and
! will give him, and every other lover of the
Union broad margin of time and effort But
this report conte;nplatcs time at last
at last, when all reasonable efforts may have
failed, and when we will have to count the
time Of the old Union as no more What
them Are We to resort to revolution then to
the right to rise up and seize arms, without
shield over US. without sovereignty to stand
ny US, without an independent power to say,
these are my citizens, and have commanded
them to obey their own Sorercign?' Are We
to DC left only to the individual right of rcvO-
luton, or are we not? If We are TO be left to
that naked right, If we are to be left bare, not
only to the sword but with nccks bare to the
halter, then ask, in the name Of tue people,
who is to protect your people and my people
from the consequences Of their actionY What
else Is there but the independence and Sovc-
relgnty OF the State of Virginia? Nothing
else under Heaven, except the red right arm oi
! war;
Gentlemen contemplate that tho time may
come when they will he in the now con-
demned attitude of my friend from Amelia, or
in my attitude; when they, too, shall be brou ght
to the condition Of seceSsionists. What is to
shield them then. if they now ignore the indie.
pendence Of the State, which alone can shield
themy
Well, sir, they have got panacea for that
And | f,f
friend FROM Richmond The Committee itself
answers that question, in the eleventh section
OF their report. The latter clause Of that Sec
t:on, which was put in, believe, OF my mo-
ton, reads us follows:
And in the event that this Coulmonwes!:h
fails to obtain satisfactory responses to her re.
quests, from the non .slaveholding States she
will feel compelled to resume the powers grant.
ell by her under the Constitution of the United
States, and to throw herself upon her reserved
rights"
This means something, n little more than the
revolutionary right does it not The revolu-
tlonary right is put in the eighth clause and
II the eleventh clause means any thing, if
meant anything by that amendment, it is that
the people should have not only The rrvulu
tionary right, but that they should have over
them, covering them like the Heavens the
shield Of the sovereignty and inteprndrncu-
OF what? Of the individual people !?
No mol the independence Of the Common
wealth-the most holy, the most uucicnt, the
proudeSt, the grandrst name that Virginia
ever took for her s0ubriquet Not Stale
That is not commensurate with it. NJ: Goth
munty of people" That is not equal to it. 4
community Of people may be mere neighbOr
hood, may be city, may be a corporation But
Commonwealth! What is Il Commonwealth?
In the view ot any man who has read interna.
tional law o: political history, or political
vocabulary, docs Commonwealth mean any
thing short OF independence and sovereignty:
Indeed, Em somewhat afraid to comment
upon it in th way, for fear some Of those
gentlemen may strike it cut.
Mr.. MAcfARLASD Il think the gentleman is
now commenting on the section Of the report
which speaks of ''resu,ning.
Mr.. WISE have just come 10 thai.
Mr.. MAcFARLASD-Wii my friend allow lie
to ask him whether resumption does not imply
q taking back, and whether, IN the conn, ction
in which it is used, it does not iaiply Il yieldinS
heretofore Of sovereign power?
Mr.. WisE-Not at all II does imply Ie.
mption-exactly whut it expresses. Gu: 1t
does not imply that sovereign power ever was
yielded up or IN any manner surrendered. may
create my friend my agent, giving him any
extent of delegated power maintaining nt the
same time my own power If revocation at any
time, and | have still the power to judge Of
the inlraction Of my rights and Of the mode
and measure o: redress. ! do not thereby
deprive myself Of any Of my powers, and may
. resume them to my Immediate exercise by
withdrawing them from the agent. The gen.
,letnan will not say as lawyer, that ! cannot
thus take back those powers. Is the gentle
man answered?
And will answer him further. / show him
t in the first place, &c ui termiai, by the very
use by the committee Of tie word Common
wealth" in the eleventh section, that you ncan
, to recognize Virginia as a Commonwealth
nou;; and, secondly, although the gentleman
has cut the short in some Of my comments on
the word commonwealth" come tu his point
about resumption" and will ask him, in turn,
one question Can he conceive Of Common
t wealth with the power OF resumng at any mo-
ment sovereignty and independence, without a..
! tributng that Commonwealth with sovereign.
t ty and independence?
Is it uncertain whether Virginia is sove
: reign OF not? 10 prove that she is sovereign
Y cite to gentlemen the fact that she has power
!. at any moment, by resuming the powers which
| she has granted, to make herself sovereign
: and is not that, in ITSELF sovereignty?
4 Why, sir, war power, peace power, land
e power, 6sc power, are not, in the SUN of them
| equal to this enc great, God-like powcr--that
0 oi bringing her sovereignty, in trii panoPly,
t into being-whether resurrected or not-by
: the .tiat of her word. And yet gentlemen are
quibbling whether she is or is not, sovereign
$ and independent now.
] If you grant me she is sovereign enough,
g and independent enough, whenever she dares
? to choose or chooses to dare, to resume al! the
t powers that she has delegated, and to bring
: them back home to her own immediate cxer-
/ else ard unite them with the powers which she
: has reserved, then YOU admit all that wish
to demonstrate. Mt absolute sovereignty,
not absolute indepcnlence-for, as said this
morning, there is TO such thing on earth Gs
5 absolute independence or absolute sovereignty.
In the absolute sense, England is dependent
France is dependent. The whole nation, With
t al the States combined, is dependent.
We are very apt TO tell each other that each
one is a sovereign. claim to be an ihdsi,ell'
dent, sovereign man in my individual capacity;
and weall, on the stump, delighttoo much to tell
, our constituents that they are sovereign Some
drunk ana Sole SSeu are tuiu 'ii''. LII, ~
| how dependent we aEel For all that m"is'
ters TO our pleasures, for aii o! erJnyment, ho"
. miserably dependent We are We sag we are
sovereign, and yet how are We bound aoout and
t hcdged around by every municipal statute and
, by sovereign power over municipal POWER, III
all It's varied forms Of statute! So with States.
Wi,houta ConGederacy, wi,h"nt treaty even,
, States are dependent on the observation o. IN
,ernalional law. They arc Obliged to ohserrel' 1t.
They are dependent for their existence on the
, countenance Of other nations. They must en-
ter into tho obligations ard duties oi nations
for nations, as Individuals, are dependent, each
t and all, one on the other therefore sny'
that there is no such thing haruiy, as separate
much less absolute independence He tee'nS
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