The national Republican., 1861-07-06

pendent States;' but even then, the object
plainly was, not to declare their independence of
one another, or o. Union but directly the con-
trary, as their Jal pledge, and their mutual
action, before, .e time, and afterwards, abun-
dainty show Ine.express plightipg Of faith, by
each and all of the originsl thirteen, in the Ar
ticles OF Confederation two years later, that the
Union shall be perpetual, Is most conclusive.
Having never been States, either in substance or
in name, outside Of the Union, whence this magi-.
cal omuipotence Of estate rights" asserting q
claim Of power to lawfully destroy the Union
itself9 Much is said about the " sovereientyD .
Of the States; but the word, even, is not In the
national Constitution nor, as Is believed, in any
Of the State Constitutions. Wha. is a II tover-
eighty" in the political sense Of the term2 Would
1t be far wrong to define II, "a political com.
munity, without political superior ~ Tested
by this, no one Of our States, except Texas, ever
was sovereignty And even Texas gave up the
character on coming into the Union by which
act she acknowledged the Constitution OF The
United States, and the laws and treaties Of the
United States made In pursuance Of the Consti-
| tuition, to be- for her, the supreme law Of the
land. The States have their status IN the Union,
and they have no other legal status. II they
break from this, they can only do so against law,
and by revolution. The Union, and not them
selves separately, procured their independence
and their liberty By conquest, or purchase, the
Union gave each Of them whatever Of ildepen-
dence and liberty it has. The Union is older
than any Of the States, and, In fact, 1t created
them as States. Originally some dependent colo
| MES made the Union, and, In turn, the Union
threw off their old dependence for them, and
made them States, such as they are. Not one Of
them ever had a state constitution independent
of the Union. ITO
Of course, it is not forgotten that all the new
States framed their Constitutions before they
entered the Union; nevertheless, dependent
upon, and preparatory to, coming into the
Union.
Unquestionaby the States have the powers
and rights reserved to them in and by the ma.
tional Constitution but among these, surely,
are not included all conceivable powers, how.
ever mischievous or destructive but, at most,
such only as were known in the world, at the
time, as governmental powers; and certainly
power to destroy the Government itself had
never been known as q governmental-as a
merely administrative power. This relative
matter Of national power and State rights, as
a principle, is no other than the principle of
generality aud locality. Whatever concerns
the whole, should be confded TO the whole-to
the General Government while whatever con
Germs only the State, should be left exclusively
to the State. This is all there is of original
principle about it.
Whether the National Constitution, 10 de.
timing boundaries between the two, has applied
the principle with exact accuracy, is not to be
questioned We are all bound by that defining,
without question.
What is now combatted, is the position that
secession Ia consistent with the Constitution
is la,cful, and peaceful. 1t is not contended
that there is any express law for It and no.
thing should ever be implied as law, which
leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The
| oal rusSL Al
out Of which several Of these States were
formed. Is it Just that they shall go off with.
out leave, and without refunding2 The nation
paid very large sums, lin the aggregate, be-
lieve, nearly hundred millions,) to relieve
Florida of the aboriginal tribes. Is it Just that
she shall now be of without consent, or with.
out making any return9 The nation is now in
debt for money applied to the benefit of these
so called seeding States, in common with the
rest. Is it just, either that creditors shall go
unpaid, or the remaining States pay the whole7
A part Of the present national debt was con-
traoted to pay the old debts of Texas. Is it
just that she shall leave, and pay no part Of
this herself2
Again, ii one State may secede, so may another ;
and when all shall have seeded, none is left to
} pay the debts. Is this quite Just to creditors
: Did we notify them Of this sage view of ours
when we borrowed their money! If we now re-
cognize this doctrine by allowing the seceders to
60 In peace 1t is difficult to see what we do If
others choose to go or to extort terms upon which
they will D 'omise to remain.
The seceders insist that our Constitution ad-
mts of secession. They have assumed to make
a national Constitution of their own, in which,
Of necessity, they have either discarded or re-
tanned the right Of secession a. they insst it exists
! in ours. II theY have discarded 1t they thereby
!. admit that, on principle, it ought not to be in
ours. II they have retained it, by their own
> construction of ours they show that to be con-
sstent, they must secede from one another
. whenever they shall find 1t the easiest way
= of settling their debts, or efecting any otaer
E selfish or unjust object The principle itself is
! one OF disintegration, and upon which no Gov
ernmeat can possibly endure
q II all the States save one should assert the
o power to drive that one out of the Union, 1t is
y presumed the whole class of seceder politicians
= would at once deny the power, and denounce
the act as the greatest outrage upon State rights
But suppose that precisely the same act, instead
: of being called driving the one out" should
be called " the seeding of the others from that
J. one" 1t would be exactly what the seceders
: claim to do; unless, indeed, they make the po:at
y that the one, because II Is minority, may right
I fally Go what the others, because they are ma
jority, may not rightfully do. These politicians
arc subtle and profound on the rights of minori-
# ties They are not partial to that power which
!. made the Constitution, and speaks from the pre-
}. amble, calling itself "We, the People"
4 It may well be questioned whether there 10,
s to-dty, majority Of the legally qualified voters
n of any State, except perhaps South Carolina, in
a favor of disunion. There is much reason to be-
f licve the Union men are the majority in many,
if not in every other one, of the ao-caled seeded
> States. The contrary mas not been demonstrated
. in any one Of them 1t is ventured to affirm
l h;an as v;pto md tort tba
:. suit of an election held in military cSmps where
the bayonets are ell on one side of the question
voted upon, can scarcely be considered as demon
o stratng popular sentiment At such an cleo