The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-07-13

y " sF-DsSq n
{ Goqu essssaasT snisaItja1gaoa bus mi -----
1-unizz--Fsssii o. 1.,Fstt r;707 .a0isgs3
q 10 s'isoqgced' rrTTNf7 1890
-zi141!. y bastss -slt .z---z----,zzt
/ obism which econcedet, Z was follevedi Y per
tcssl, ,os;caI stems thrssgh all ~ incidfnn
4 the, complete Aeetruction of The Union In
sooh,sm itself is that any State Of the Untel
| msy. consistently With The nations Oenstt
and therefore iawfdsiy and pssosfullyy sithdrev
y ftUsh de Uuisno siGheut The scnespt pf g.
iouhios er Of any oAhef, State. n little aeguise
| thst. The supposed right is 70 be exefsseso ohy
] for Just ca6se, themselves % b soac yddges,
I lis fdstce, 1s t06thiU 70 merit any aotiCe! WiG
rebellion lthunaussr-coatea they ohsyq oees
dsauging he pinds 81 theif secson ioi %ols
sh.n shirty year until g .snssn sneI n.ts ..ss
up AfSSs agaisst the Government tie day aftel
some asssmblage Of men. have enacted the farce
of taking their Stat, ,out Of the Union sowho
could have been brought 70 no such thing she
day before. THIS s6phisn1 derives much, per
haps the whole, Of its currency fronthe sssomp.
tions that there IL some omnipotent and sscred
suprs1acy pertaining to each State Of 0teFsd'
eral Union. Our States have neither fnpre nor
less power than that reserved TO shesn in tbs
Union by the CONSTITUTION, no one Of tbem eses
having been = State out Of the Union The orr.
ginal ones passed into, the Union eyen heicss
they cast OF their British dependence, fnd itne
new ones came with the Union drectss from
condition Of depsndente, excepting Texes, ana
evensTexas ins i've temporary indePepdsi.fe fea was
never designated sssoa Siate. The ne ones
only we're designated Stat, % coming i 70 the
- - Ars 1ng.fod
for the old oHes m and BY the Declsratiot qf lni
dependence. uiThsse, in the United Cdlonies,
were. declared free. and independent States.
but even then the object plainly was mot 70
declafe their ihdependehte Of one another. Of
the Union, bde directly the contrary SAP their
mutual action eforesat the time, and afterwards,
abundaptly shoa. Tho express plightng Pt taith
by each and I'll of the thirteen original States
ID the articles 0f confederation, two yeart Later
I" shat the Union shall be perpetual" Is most
conclusive. Having never been States eithes
in substance or name outside the Union, whence
this magical ompipotence Of Sssk rights assert
ing Claim Of power to lawfully destioy the
Union itsslf . Much d said about thd SOW
ereignty Of the States," but the word oven is
not in the national Constitution, nor, it IL be-
Nsved, in any OF the State Coustituticns. What
IL 4 sovereignty lsa Would il be far wrong to de-
cal superior! ,,Tcsted by this, no oDdof our
States except Texas was sovereignty, AID even
Texas gave up the character on coming INTO the
Union,a BY which acsshe acknowledged Con-
stitutionl of the United States and LAYS and
treaties of the United States, made inI pursu-
ance of the Constitution, to be forever her su.
preme law. s''5 4''''9 y YHa '#'9 -9silb
The States have their status in the q MON and
they have no other legal status. If they break
from this they only do so against Law bylsev olu7
tion. The Union, and not themselves sSparate,
procured their Independence and their Ii lixersy,-
BY conquest or purchase the Union gave each Of
them whatever Of independence and liberty il
has The Union is older tlian any ofthf States
and in fact it created themas States. Originally
some dependant colouies made the Unioi and in
return the Union threw of their old dependence
for them and made the States such as they are.
Not one Of them ieverha State Constitution
independentlof Of thednion. ssbs,!s s3
Of course, i, III not forgotten that all the new
States formed their Constitutions before they
entered the Bhi6h, nevertheless dependent on
and preparatofyito coming into the Union. On.
questionsblyu States have the powers and
rights reserved to them by the National Consti.
tuition, but among these surely are not Included
all conceivable powers, he Wever mischieyous or
destructive But oa1omost such only as were
known in the world 1t that time - government
al powers, and certainly power to destroy the
Government itself, had never been known asa
governmental, merely administrative p0wer.-
This relative matter of National power and
States rights as principle, is no other then a
principle of generality and locality. Whatever
concerns the whole should be confined TO the
whole General Government while whatever con-
Germs the State should be left exclusively to the
States. This is all there is left of the original
principle about it. Whatever the Natohal Con-
vention in defining the boundaries between the
two a. applied to the principle with exact accu-
racy is not to be questioned. We are ALI bound
by that definition, without question. What is
now combatted is the position that secession ID
consistent with the Constitution, is lawful, and
| peaceful 1t IL not contenled that there is any
| express law for it, and nothing should ever be
implied as law, which leads 70 unjust and absurd
consequences. iaEsgb
The nation purchased with money the coun
tries out of which. several Of these States were
formed Is it just that they should 20 of with
out leave or without refunding? The nation PAID
\ very large sums, in the aggregate, l believe
nearly 100000, 900. to relieve Florida from tbs
aboriginal tribes. Is it just that che should now
go off without consent or without any return!--
The nation is now in debt for money applied fol
| the benefit of those so called seceding States
in common with the rest. Is 1t just either thai
creditors shall 60 unpaid the remaining S. atei
pay the whole? A part Of the recent nationa
debt was contracted to pay the old debt of Tex
as. Is it Just that she shall leave and pay n,
part Of this herself ?? Again, If one State ma.
secede SO may another, and when all shall hav
seeded, none is left to pay the debts. Is thi
quite Just to creditors? Did we notify them 0
this sage view of ours when we borrowed thei
money? If We now recognize this doctrine b!
allowing the seceders to so in peace it Is Difficult
to sea what We can do if others choose to 60, o.
| to extort terms upon which they will promise t
remain. The seceders insist that our Constitu
ton admits Of secession. They have assumed
to make national constitution Of their own il
which, of necessity, they have either discarde,
or retained the right Of secession a. they insis
it exists in ours. If they have discarded it the,
thereby admit that on principle IL ought rot Z,
exist in ours. If they have retained it BY thei
construction of ours il shows that to be con
sistent they must seeede from one another whe
they shall find it the easiest way OF settling thei
debts or effecting another selfish or unjust oh
ject. -,75 -
The principle itself is one Of disintcgrat,o
and on which no Government can endure.
all the States save one should affect the powe
4 to drive that one out of the Union, it is pre-
sumed that the whole class Of the seeded pol
ticians would at once deny the power and dc
nouncc the act as the greatest outrage upo
State rights. But fsuppose that precisely til
same act, instead Of being called driving one ou
should be called the "seceding" Of the othe,
from the one, it would be exactly what the S,
ceders claim 70 do, unless, indeed, they max
the point that the one, because it 10 . minofit,
may rightfully do that which the others, becaus
they are the majority, may not righttplly do.