Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-03-15


aTfat this aovernnsnt created ), iii, eap,,st NJ.
tae o. final judge Of extent * the powers siersfsd
e s ssee mas ~ose asss msas is discretion. and
Asss among parties having no common Judge eaeh
as Of the mode and measure Of redrsss9 - y " 'e
The Senator, in his celehralad fa,h - 1,...-.t.,
1860 speech to which he has alraed shSrrh, -,
be had discovered the true intent md ~
the Democrats platform He referred 10 the Vir
gna resolutions, and said thatit said .stsss y I'D
that meant all the States; and, therefors -
the States declared that the compact was viols,sa
Of course that declaration would be fnal and go
ing against the Federal Government But v;fhor,
stopping to criteise comment Of that sort I 49,
him if he hzds States" hereE This IL also mart
Of the platform that he processes to stand upon
sut that in all other Of compact scnr parties a
ing Judge, each party has eqwal right 10 indr
for s well Of nfrstsns as Of the mode and manner 81
redress"
The word enuli6caiion" seems TO have excited
his ire. He does not draw the distinction between
nullif cation and secession. Those who have read
The Constitution aud understand IT, know that there
is difference between tae two remedies; nulh6ca-
tion Supplying to the act Of the agent, The Federal
and accession to tie PARTIES the States
by separating from them when either they or their
agent have violated the compsc But ! shall not
70 into any discussion Of the question. merely
wanted to draw he attention Of the Senator, if he
will listed, TO the origin CT this word qualifications.
| In the Kentucky resolutions Of 1893, which we're
adopted by the Legislature of Kentucky for the
| purpose Of explaining aud making explicit their
meaning in the resolutions Of 1898, find the fol-
lowing paragraph:
ha The principle eonsraston commended for By sundry
| Of the State LegIslstues."-
| The same principle contended for by the Senator
| from Tennessee
that the Genera GoyeEnnens is the exclusive jadrs Of The
extent OF the powers delegated IT, stops nothing shsr Of ds
pos since the discretion OF thoss who admissr the Gov
their psars that he several States VINO formed hat sru
being sovereign and nespssdess the unqussOnabe
sovrsgnes znaushOrizsd acts done rnds
that instrument is the rghtfsl remedy"
| That the doctrine in kentucky in 1923. going
stones throw beyond the right Of secession, and
assessing that State may remain in the Union.
and In the Union may deny the right TO the Federal
Government Of enforcing any Law which she in her
sovereign capacity has declared unconstitutional
and unwarranted by the compact. Now, sir, as to
the author OF the doctrine of qualification and
| cession, designated as Synonymous terms by the
Senator from Tennessee. ssd also designated the
prolific mother Of all heresies and aims. The Sena
| tor from Tennessee read with much appreciation
| yesterday from an editorial Of the Richmond Ea-
arer, as containing the true doctrine Il is the first
! time il my life that have ever known any one on
the floor Of the Senate or elsewhere 10 take tie ed
iiorial Of newspaper published nearly half q cen
tury ago. and bring it test of political ortho-
doxy or as proper exposition Of the doctrinees Of
the party 10 which he belongs processes belong
or as any authority in settling disputed consiitu-
tional points; and yet the Senator rose here with
| an air Of triumph, and, somebody other having
| furnished him with an old copy of the Richmond
| Enquirer, he read it as orthodox Would to God
that be had the former numbers Of that paper and
would peruse them. The denuuciations Of the
Hartford convention were thing; strong Ian
gusge, written under 9 moment of exci,emert, in
reference to the tressonabe purposes Of those men,
~ ba.,- Ain
constitutional doctrine is quite another. During
| the war with Great RriEsin-s war brought on in
defense of New England commerce and New Egg
land sesmen, denying the right Of search and pro,
| tecting that section from the sggrsssions Of the
British GOvernmens-they trescherOssly and par
hdiously assembled at Hartford, and, It is said
proposed, were prepared to propose terms Of al
lance with the British Government while We we're
ct war with them. While do not deny the right
Of any State at any time to seoede from the Union
to revoke the ratification Of the treaty which binds
her TO the other States while say Il is clear legal
right under the law Of nations resulting from the
compact, clear Constitutional right resulting from
the CD araeter Of the racaioRs Of at least three Of
tie q ates of this Union, while do not deny that
any s ate may, at any time and under any cireun-
stances, with or without cause, Withdraw frsm the
| Union, do say that il, when this Government is
| engaged in war, any one Of the States withdraWs
! from the Union, and afiiaies aad enters into 81
] alliance with q Aation with which are at war,
she m ist share the destiny Of her allies. And so
the Sels:or from Tsanesses viii fnd as SO himself
| When war Of sections isgoing oD, and when We
are striking Tor the right, Wen he secedes from the
people whom he misrepFesents, and enters into an
allisLce with Black Republicanism he will find thai
| it is easus beIE at home.
| . But, sir, while it would be q cause of war, it
would be nothing else. You might coerce the Cows
ernme5t; you might declare war against the State;
you might rlow her land with artillery and trample
| it with cavalry; you might put the torch to the
house Of every private individual; yeu might sack
their cities; you might destroy their property; you
might blot the inhabitants from the soil Of the State
but you would have to call it war; for war it would
| be. You could nottyranniealy and hypocriticaly
| talk Of enforcing the laws When the sovereign
power Of State that rstifes the Constitution SOL
EMMY, in the same manner in which the ratification
was made revokes that ratification, as its citizens
were bound by its act of ratification, end became
subject TO the Constitution and treaties and the law,
! made in accordance with The Constitution, whether
they asseated to it or no. Wher that ratification
isrevOked, the treaty ceases 20 be binding between
that State and the other States and the citizens are
released from all obligation to obey the laws that
1 State is foreign nation. That is the whole law
upon the subject. It IS the common sense upon the
| subject You must take one harm or the other of
the di emma. Talk Of not coercing State, but of
enforcing the lawsl Take South Carolina, for in
stance. There they have government. There is
| no other goTernment d. saeto in that State There
is other authority there that deals with life or
liberty, ar property There is other power with
in the Mit Of that State that passes a law that is
regarded BY anybody, or which anybody dsr5s to
observe or obey
| fro BE CONTINUED