Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1861-04-19
We are Hurt--HOw we came by Ii,
and what Is its Remedyf

sponsibilities have rung from it. BAD prin-
ciples and bad men prepared it !; true doctrine
and true patriots must combat it, The i'm
beetle head of the Federal Government is not
the cause of the secession of Sovereign States,
Such evil potency does not attach to so weak
nm instrument. He is so stupid as not to know
when he is hurt. Lincoln, the poor tool of
designing knaves, almost deserves pity, if
his meanness did not provoke 90 great con-
tempt. Long before he was dragged from OBJ
security to dangerous power, the train of pre-
sent evils was laid. +" Higher law" was
he disregGrded lac, 'The right of petition, y
meant the right to insult, TO excite and de-
stroy. I" Freedom of the territories, . signi-
fed subjugation of independent States
g Bleeding Kansas was the type of a whole
country in blood. g Shapes Rifies,n repre-
sented empowering Northern force and brute
triumph. 1.-THE sum of all evils" was not
slavery, but liberty. "a no slavery God
and no slavery Bible, sapped the religious
base of our institutions, and set the Northern
population adrift on the sea of passions
Greeley wrote these things, Beecher preached
them, Garrison agitated them, and Gerret
Smith paid for them. The masses swallowed
Them children were cateehized on them,
prayer meetings endorsed them, politicians
used them, the North adopted and will now
fight for them.
Such has been the gradual training Of the
Northern mind for years past Is it any
wonder that the South became alarmed, re-
monstrated and resisted2 Self-preservation
showed her the policy she was to pursue A
greater and increasing population at the North
would soon destroy all hope of congressional
protection for her interests and institutions.
a republican administration would impose
and rivet the chains prepared for her. 4 bare
majority in one or both Houses of Congress
might delay for the coming four years, but
could not prevent the inevitable success of a
conflict boldly pronounced irrepressihle. +"
1t would cost more trouble, strife and blood
at the expiration of that time, with less pro-
liability Of being able then to maintain her
indefeasible rights than now, at the very COM
mencement of sectional rule. The South
used the alternative; she seeded. Sove--
cign States resumed the powers they had dele
gated to the Federal Government, which had
ceased TO be benefit, and has become an en-
CINE of oppression. And the right thus to
secede is the pivot of present afF..irs, and the
only legitimate question before the American
people. We declare for this right, not only
on its own merits, but because of the mon
stroslty of the opposite doctrine.
In the war Of the revolution each State
fought under its colonial flag, and now each
one preserves that flag as a relic of glory and
patriotism. Has this no signihcancc9 Does
it favor Capitalization Of power and the COM
plete absorption of communities by few per-
sons in one particular placer The congress,
adopting the Constitution never meant to
wipe out the boundaries Of the several States
there represented--still LEGS did they intend
to ignore the existing laws and authority
comprised within those boundaries. The Sc
nate Of the United States is made up Of re-
presentativcs who impersonate their rcspee-
tive States. They arr not mere Pigments. men
of straw, but accredited Spokesman of power
full nationalties, combined for the great ends
of government, life, liberty and The pursuit Of
happiness. If they arc not sach, the whole
government has been conducted under false
appearances, and has been a magnificent
cheat. If they arc such, they truly represent
sovereign powers, able and sufficient TO Judge
Of their rights under the Constitution, and
competent TO act accordingly. This is the
honest idea Of on. government, which always
obtained, until the rise Of Black Republican
ism conaicted with IT, This is the common
sense view Of the question, independent Of
the facts Of history connected with the origin
aud progress Of our Government, and these do
not contradict our theory.
Certain Of the States expressly stipulated
for their rights in adopting the Constitution.
That instrument and the laws under il deter
mine the precise amount OF federal nterfer-
once 10 be allowed in the affairs of the re-
spective States. If they are indefinitely and
irretrievably associated together, in such wise
that nothing, the most imperative and Just,
can sever the tie, then they are consolidated
into one mass, and their distinctiveness is
only traced on the surface, like the lines of a
map, and they have no substance, and are in
no true sense, Sovereign States. This can
not be admitted. Hence they are what they
were, during the war Of the revolution, indie
pendent sovereignties, with local authorities,
appointed by their Immediate communities,
and bearing a relation to other sovereignties,
similarly constituted, but united BY youn-
tary pact, which is the Constitution. Break
the pact, ignore its terms and divert its use
fulncss and the State is precisely where she
was when she chose TO subscribe to it. She is
free. This is the condition of the seeded
States. Deny this theory and you fall into
centralized despotism. The departments Of
France are all merged n Paris, and Napoleon
is absolute there and in the departments
Hungary and Sclavonia are subjugated to the
absolute Emperor Of Austria. Poland and
Siberia are classed under the one-man power
Of the Emperor of Russia. Ireland is conferred
10 England, and for all the good ii does it,
to say nothing Of the harm, she had better
be at the ends Of the earth.
II the Black Republican doctrine be true
Abraham Lincoln is the whole United States,
Governor and Legislature Of each and all,
supreme in Washington, and 10 the CapitoIs
Of al the States, and very despot in the
garb Of an executive officer Of the will Of the
Sovereign States Of North America. lie is
substantially what Napoleon is TO France;
Francis to Austria, and Nicholas to Russia
Away with the suggestion Il is political
abortion, brought about by madness and