The weekly Ottumwa courier., 1861-03-06

stance. why may not any portioh OF ne"
confederacy, year or two hence, arbitrarily
secele again, precisely as portions OF the
present Uaio, now claim to ,ce le from us
All who cherish disunion sentiments are nov
being elucated to the exact temp OF doing
this. There is such perfect identity of in
tcrrsts among the States to compose a new
Un:,n, as to produce harmony only, and pre-
vent new seces Sion. '5#'f
Plainly the central idea Of s.cs ssioa is tn;
essence of anarchy. 4 majority held in re.
straint by constitutional checSs an inlta-
tons and always changing evils with dslib,
crate changes ofp,pular opinions All senti-
meats, il the only true s,vereigity Of a free
people, Whoever rel ,cts does, Of necessity,
fly to anarchy or despotism m-unanimity is
Impossible The rule Of the minority, rs a
per nancnt argument, is VIII lily inal nisable'
so that in rejecting tn, mJority principl.,
anarchy or desp ,tis'n, in 50 ne form, is all
that is left l d, not forget the position as
sumcd by some, that constitution al obj 'ctions
are to b., d.c:lel by the Saprcn, Court; ;
nor do d,ay that src! decision must be
binding in any case tot!e'partes to suit
as the o!jcct OF that suit, while thy are also
entitled to v,ry high respect a1l con 'idcra
ton in all p,rall.l cases by al o.hr depart
m,lts nf the government; AMI while it is ob-
vious'y possible that su,h decisions may be
erroneous in any given case, still tn. evil
eject f,,l ,wias it b.ing lin tel t, that par
ti:ul,r case with III, cr,lce that it my be
ove-ru'ei an never b,con precedent f'r
other c,sos, can better b, borae than could
the evils offs different practice. At the same
| tm> tn, clnlil citizen mast confess that 1t
t.. p,licy of tn, G overnmcnt, upon the vital
qIcs,i N. affecting the wh,l, poopl. is to be.
irrcvocably fivei by the decision Of the ST.
prena Court, the instant they are made IN
ordinary ltig ,toa between parties in pcr-
sonal actions, the pe,pl5 will have ceased to
be their own rulers, unless to that extent
practically tc.resign, their Government into
the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is
there in this view any assault upon the Court
or the Ju lges. 1t iSa duty from which they
may not shrink, to decide cases properly
brought before them 1t is no fault OF theirs
if Others seek to turn their decisions to polit
ical purposes. Onc section Of our country
believes slavery is right and ought to be cS-
tended, while thc other brlieve it is a wrong
and ought not to he extended. This is the
only substantial dispute.
The fu ,itive slave clause in the Constitu-
ton, and tn, liwfor the suppressio, Of the
foreign slave trade, are as we'll enforced, per-
haps, as any law ever can, be, in com nu-
nifty where the moral sem, Of the people i'm
perfectly support; the law itself. The great
body Of the people abide by the dry legal OBJ
legation in both cases, and a few break over
in each. This think cannot be perfectly
cured, and it DULL b, worse in both cases
after the separation of the sections than be-
fore The f reign slave trade now imper-
fectly suppressed would be imperfectly re-
vivej, without restriction in one section,
while fl ,itive slaves now only partially sur
rendered would not b, surrendered at all by
the other. Physically speaking, we cannot
remove our respective sections from each 9th
them A. husband and wife may be di-
vorced, and go out of the presence AMI BE-
yond the reach of each other Bat the diff
f.rent parts Of orr country clnnot do this.
They cannot but remain face to face, and in
tcrcoursn, either a,nicable or hostile, must
continue between them. Is it )sSibia, tien,
to make that intercourse more a lvantag soul
or more satisfactory after separation than be-
fore? Can aliens make laws better than
friends? Can treaties b, more faithfully en-
forced between aliens than laws can among
friends? Suppose you go to war. You can
not fight always, and when after much loss
on both sides and n, gun on either, you
case fs'ltilg, then the Identical questions
As to terms of int.rcoars, arc az iii upon
you, This country, with its ins itutionN,
belongs TO til, people who inhnbit it--w'len-
ever they Shall grow weary of tho existing
governm mt, they can exercise tiair consti-
tutiolnal rights i, amen ling or their revolu
tionary right to dsm Der or overthrow it.
| cannot be ignorant Of the 1T that many
worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous Of
having the National Constitution amended.
While make no re e,omneIda.i III Of amend
ment, | fully gniz, the authority Of the
people Of the whole subj ,ct, t. be exercised
in either Of the moles prescribed in the in
strum ,nt itself, all sh)ulI ullcr existing
circum stances, favor, rather than oppose, a
fair OPP rrtunity b'iny af rlal the people t.
act uooo t. | will v,n.ur, to adj, that to
me, the Convention seems proper in that it
deems amendments to originate with the
people themselves, insteid of only permit
ting them to take or reject propositions orig
mated by o.h,rs, not especially chosen for
the purpose, aid which might not precisely
suit, or sue, as they would wish others to
accept or refuse. |. und ,rstand a proposed
amendment to the Constitution, which
amendment, however, have not seen, has
passcl Congress, t, the effect that the Fed
eral government shall never interfere with
the domestic institutions Of States including
that of parsons hel to service. To avoid
miscon st.uction Of what have said, de-
part from my purpos. not to speak of par