Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1861-07-11

present movement at the South be called
secession or rebellion. The movers, how
ever, veil understood the differences at The
beginning. They knew they could never
raise their treason 10 any respectable mag
Nude by any name which implies violation
OF law, They knew their people posses
sed as much OF moral sense, as much Of de.
votion TO law and order, and as much pride
and reverence Of the history and govern
msnt OF their common country, as any 9th.
err civilized and patriotic people. They
knew they could make no advancement d.
rectly in tbs teeth Of these strong and no.
bic sentiments.
Accordingly they commenced by an in
sidi0us debauching of the public mind; they
invented an ingenious sophism. which if
conceded, was followed by perfectly logi-
cal steps through all the incidents, TO the
complete destruction OF the Union. The
sophism itself is that any State Of the T.
MON may consistently with the National
Constitution, and therefore lawfully and
peacefully, withdraw from the Union with
out consent OF the Union or OF any other
State. The little disguise-that the sup
posed right is to be exercised onlfaf a
just cause, because thsy lbee1 lxeC are 70
be the sole judges OF its,ias!I .zeS1hip
to merit any notice. We n Wen rps
sugar coated they have be III 5pE qie
public mind Of their sectiod} 53Is <iien
thirty years, and until at le6hknthsy have
brought many good men TO willingness 10
take up arms against the government the
day after some assemblsge of men have en-
acted the fareical pretense Of taking their
Stats out of the Union. who could have
been brought 10 no such thing the day be-
fore. This sophism receives much, per-
haps the whole Of its currency, from the
assumption that there is some omnipotent
and sacred supremacy pertaining TO State
to each State ef our Federal Union
Our States have neither more nor less pow
er than that reserved TO them in the Union
by the constitution, no one of them ever
having been State out Of the Union, even
before they cast of their British colonial
dependence, and the new ones each came
into the Union directly IRON condition Of
dependence, except Texas, and even Tex
as in lis temporary Independence, was new
er designated State. The new ones only
took the designation Of States on coming in.
10 the Union, while that name waS first
adopted Tor The old ones in, and by The col
onies were declared to be FREQ and indie.
pendent States. But even then, the obiec,
plainly was not 10 declare lheIi indepen-
dence Of one another or OF the Union, but
directly the country, as their mutual action
before, al the time and afterwards, ALSO
luteIy shows, and the express plgh,ing
of faith by each and all of the original thir-
Teen States in the articles Of confederation
two years later, that the Union shall be
perpetual, is most conclusive. Having new
er been States in substance or in. name out
side Of the Union, whence their magical
cmhi poience of State rights, asserting a
claim Of powe: lawfully 10 destroy the L.
rion itself?
Much is said about the sovereignty of
the States, but the word Is not in the ma
tional Constitution, nor a, is believed; in
any OF the State Constitutions. What is
sovereignty in The political sense of the
term? WOnld il be far wrong 10 define it
political community without a 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 U.
nited Siaies made in pursuance of the Con-
stitution 10 b. for her the Supreme law Of
the land. The Srs.es have their st,tus in
the Union, and they have no other legal
status. II they break from this, they can
only do so against law, by revolution. The
Union, and not themselves separated, pro.
cured their independence and their liberty
by conquest or purchase. The Union gave
each oil them whatever independence and
liberty il had. The Union is older than
any of the States, and in fact it created them
as States originally. Some dependent COL
onies made the Union, and in turn the U.
Mon threw of their old dependence for
them, and made them States. such as they
are; not one OF them ever had State con-
stltution independent Of the Union. OF
course il is not forgotten that all the new
States framed their constitutions before
they entered the Union. Nevertheless,
dependent upon and preparatory 10 coming
into the Union uDquesiionably the States
have the powers and rights reserved 10
them IN and by the national Constitution,
but among them surely are not intended all
conceivable powers, however mischievou,
or destructive, that are knswn in the world
at the time as governmental powers and
certainly power 10 destroy the govern
ment itself had never been known as gov.
ornamental, merely administrative, power
This relative matters Of national power and
State rights as principle, is not other than
the principle Of generality and locality
Whatever concerns the whole should be
confded TO fhe whole, TO the general gov.
eminent, while whatever concerns only the
State should be left exclusively 10 the State.
This is all there is Of original principle a.
bout it. Whether the national Constitu-
ton, in defining boundaries between the
two, las applied the principle with exact
accuracy, is not 10 be questioned. We are
also bound by that defining. Without
question, what is now combatlsd in the 20.
s,tion that secession Is copsistent NTH IN .