Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-04-10

your fafherS Our fathers Ola NOT Und tnat great
constitutional government could be built up in .
day. Nor is . broken government to be repaired
and reconstructed in day. The fathers of the re-
public depended OF patient preservering honest, pa
triotic labor to the last and with Gods blessing up
on these labors, success crowned their sndeayors
tell YOU, that our people will require q like
honest and faithful efort-persistent assiduous ef
fort Make up and present to the people the ISSUE
whether the Union is to be dissolved, the guaran'
ties proposed can be obtained and one mighty mega
tive would be heard throughout the Commonwealth
These guarantees can, and will be obtained andlet
the politicians say they please OF them, they are
ample, and cover every point Of controversy
But we are told that something must be done i'm
mediately-that we have . new admlnistratlon-we
don't know what mischief that administration may
perpetrate, and that we must resume our original
rights. j. ...,,'t-it - 49,, -
Mr.. President 1 confess, for one, that, as Vir-
gilman, l am not willing to see her driven and i'm
pelled into any course, which otherwise she ought
not to take, by fear of any man or any set Of men,
She is not to be dragooned, either by fear Of the
Federal Government affection for the Confederat;
ed States. 4. e. ..,.--.' -. .5-: f. +. ..-p !.
We are asked if we are willing to submit to Mr..
Lincoln We submit to the Constitution and the
law, but not to tyranny and oppresson--when these
come we shall be ready for rebellion and revolution.
But Mr. Lincoln is the submssionist not u.s.. He
of the border States lie is submitting to the ext
gencies of his own position.
have nothing to say Of the Inaugural Address,
which has been so much commented on. My course
cannot be governed by any expression of opinion,
or any programme of measures, which must depend
for their execution on the question Of probability
and must vary with the circumstances of the hour.
shall be but little moved by newspaper paragraphs
or Geographic dispatches, those swift-winged mes
ofc apd alarm I think W ShOu1d
act cody and calmly, and only upon full information
of the facts which action is to be predicted.
We are to be alarmed by the declaration of the
President that it is his duty to hold possess and oc-
cupy the forts. That means war, it is said.
Why Mr.. President, 1 think that we ought to
Judge of every by the rule of common sense and
by the same modes of consideration that We judge OF
ourselves. Why should we construe this into the
announcement of a }urpose to re-take forts which
them, and are il: neir possession? In the first
place, there is no tause for retaking them. They
are not needed for llposes Of national defence at
ALL because they a." States that have seeded
There is, therefore, necessity for retaking them.
There is no motive to impel the administration to re-
sort to force which will bring conflict between
those seeded States and the General Government
Then, again, he has means of retaking them even
if he desired He can only retake them by the force
which he has not the power to raise He has only
the little standing army belonging to the country,
that is scattered your entire frontier West and
Southwest and utterly incapable of taking these
fortified places any of them out Of the hands Of
the seeded States
Well, now rs to the collection of the revenue.
am not aware of the existence of any law whatever
that authorizes the collection of the revenue for the
purposes of the government anywhere, except at
the custom house. and in the ports of entry. We
oil haiti Conornl cnn'S time fnNnd
necessary to enact law for the purpose of confer
ring this power. Weknow that that law by its own
terms expired in two years after the period Of its
enactment We know that during the session Of
this last Congress there bill pending to confer
that power in the present instance. We know it
did not pass, and there was no progress made TO-
wards its enactment after the arrival of the new
President in Washington. We know further, that
Mr.. Buchanan some time ago nominated gentle
man from Pennsylvan to act as collector of Gus
toms at Charleston and that that nomination was
never acted upon by the Senate | am then, Mr..
President warranted in saying that there is legal
instrumentality at this time which enables the gov
eminent to collect revenue, except the law of Con:
gree authorizing its collection at the custom houses
in the ports Of entry.
The idea of collecting it outside the harbor and
in an armed ship, even if that were an authorized
lawful mode of collection, am convinced would be
system-utterly deficient and impracticable. You
are aware, Mr. President, that under the present
warehousing system, goods can remain three years
without requiring the duty to be paid upon them,
unless they be withdrawn. Where is the power to
blockade the port? Why, the poWor to blockade is
the power to declare war, and the President is not
vested with the power to declare war. Hence, l
say Mr. Lincoln has not the ability, if he had the
inclination, to constrain the collection of revenue
fhn,k f.,vkh 1onic lot1n hr,H
| do not propose to discuss the question of the
right of secession, about which all have opinions
Of our own. will not go into that argument now !;
it is not necessary, it is not opportune. | think
that in whatever aspect that right may be regarded
we are bound to accept secession an existing fact
Seven States have declared themselves out of this
Union-have furnished new confederacy, and are
now performing the functions of an independent
government Now, Sir, should say it is narrow,
unphilosophical craftsmanship that would regard
the movement of those Southern States, acting as
organized commonwealth, and by conventional de-
crees and ordinances in the light of partial nsurrec-
tionary movements in opposition to State authority.
Who would compare the secession of entire States
BY conventional authority, with such q movement
as the Whiskey Instruction in Pennsylvania, or
Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts,? =
We are living in a era. What has happened
is entirely unprecedented. We have no example
the founders Of OF: government never anticipated.
They made no provision for dissolution or destruc-
ton of the governnats 1t has come upon us and
we must meet the erzat as best we may 49,.
And what is the 3e>t? say, Mr.. President, just
to let them alone. would use no force. Force
now is civil war, anu with civil war, the bonds Of
our Union can never be renewed. am happy to
say that the news Of this morning leaves
bic ground Of doubt that pacific policy has been
wisely determined on at Washington. and that the
troops in Fort Sumter or will soon be with.
drawn. These States must be left to time to their
experiment. to negotiation, to entreaty to sistery
kindness. That is my mode of treatment Under
its operation all may be we'll The old affection will
return-the memories Of the past will incline US to
each other-our joint troubles and joint triumphs,
the hopes which clustered about our great expert.
ment Of free government and enlightened civilization
and which can not be abandoned and yet, more than
all, sense Of common interest and common safety,
will bring US together again. and Union be more
strongly cemented than ever
Virginia is master of her own position and If her