Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-01-17
VOLUME 8.

VOLUME 3.
sumption that those who, in such a case,
act against the Federal Government, act
lawfully as State, although, manifestiy,
tney haYe perverted the power of the State
to an unconstitutional purpose. A class
of politicians insNew England set up this
lheoFY and attempted to practice upon it
IN our warlwith Great Britain. Mr,, JEFF
terson did not hesitate to say that States
must be kept within their constitutional
sphere by impulstou, if they could not be
held there by attraction. Secession was
then held TO be inadmissible in the face of
public enemy. But if it is untenable in
one case, it is necessarily so in NIL others.
Tully admit the originality, the sovereign
t., and the independence of the several
States within their sphere. But, Ihold the
Federal Government to be equally origin
nj, sovereign, and independent within its
sphere. And the government of the State
can no more AbsOlYe the people residing
within its limits from allegiance to the
Union, than the Government oG the Uuion
can Ahsolve them from allegiance to the
state. The Constitution of the United
States, and the laws made in pursuance
thereof, are the supreme law of the land,
paramount to nll legislation or the States,
whether made under the Consultation, or
even by their organic conventions. The
Union can be dissolved, not by secession,
with or without armed force, but only by
the voluntary consent of the people. of the
United States, collected in tho manner pro-
scribed by the Constitution, of the United
States.
Congress, in the present case, ought not
to be impasstvc. 1t ought, if it can, to re-
dress any real grievances of the offended
States, and then it ought to supply the
President with all the means necessary to
maintain the Union in the full exhibition
and discreet exercise of its authority. Be
yond this with the proper activity on the
part of the Executive, the responsibility
of saving the Union belongs to the people,
and they arc Nbundantly competent to dis :
charge it. 1li Eay
Ipropose, therefore, with great defer
once, TO address myselfto the country up
on the momentous subject askinga hear.
ing, not less from the people within what
are called tue seeding, than from those
who reside within the adhering States.
Union is an old, fixed, settled habit of
the American people, resulting from con
victions of its necessity, and therefore not
likely TO be hastily discarded. The early
States, while existing as colonies, were
combined, though imperfcctly, through u
common allegiance to the British Grown.
When that allegiance ceased, no ono WAS
SO presnmptuous rs to suppose political
existence compatible with disunion; and, /,
therefore, on the same day that they de-
clared Themselves independent, they pro-
claimed themselves also confederate States.
Experience in war aud peace, from 'T6 un-
til 1889: only convinced them of the ne
cessity of converting that loose Confeder-
acy into more perfect and perpetual
Union. They acted with n GOODNESS very
different from the Incorporate conduct of
those who now on one side threaten, and
those who on the other rnshly defy dis
union. They considered the continuance
of the Union as a subject comprehcnding
nothing less thun ethe safety andsEslfar6'
of all the parts of which the country was
composed, aud the fate of an empire in
many respects the most Interesting in the
world. enter upon the subject of con-
tinuing the Union now, deeply impressed
with the same generous aud loyal convic-
tions. How could it be otherwise, when,
instead of only thirteen, the country is
now composed of thirty-three parts; and
the empire embraces, instead of ouly four
millions, no less than thirty millions of
Inhabitants.
The founders of the Constitution more
oyerregarded the Union as uomere nation
al or American interest. On the contrary
they confessed with deep sensibility that
it seemed to them to have been reserved
for the people of this country to decide
whether societies of men are really capN-
BILE of establishing good government upon
reflection and choice, or whether they are
forever destined TO depend for their politi-
cal constitutions on accident and force.
They feared, therefore, that their failure
60 na he
be a misfortune to The nations. How much
more, sir; would its overthrow now be a
calamity 10 mankind.
Some form of government is indispensa-
BILE here as elsewhere. Whatever form we
have, every individual citizen and every
State must cedc to it some natural rights,
to invest the Government with the requis-
ite power. The simple question, there
fore, for us now to decide, while laying
aside all pique, passion, aud prejudice, is:
whether it cOnduces more to the interests
of the people of this country to remain
for the general purposes of peace and war,
commerce inland and foreign, postal COM
munications Mt home and abroad, the care
and disposition of the public domain, coll
onization, the organization and admission
of new States, and, generally, the enlarge
ment of empire, one nation under our
present Constitution, than it would be to
divide themselves into separate Confedera-
cies OF States.
Our country remains now as it was in
l7sT-composed not of detached and dis
taut territories, butofa whole well-connec-
ted and fertile region, lying within the
temperate zone, with climates and soils
hardly more various than those of France
and Italy. This slight diversity quickens
and ampli6es manufacture aud commerce.
Our rivers aud valleys. as improved by art,
furnish us a system of highways unequal
ed in the world, The different forms of
labor, if slavery were not perverted to pur-
poses of political ambition, need not con-.
stitute an element of strife in the Confede-
racy.
observation-disclosures vehement express
sions and manifestations Of Intolerance In