The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1861-02-14

States are nation, and not mass s.meet
ing; theirs is government pnd net
caucus "a government that was mean
to be capable, and is capable, Of some
thing more than the please don't Of a vi!
lage constable; they have executive ana
administrative officers that are not mere
puppet figures to go through the motions
of an objectless activity, but arms and
hands that become supple to do the viii
Of the people as soon as that will becomes
conscious and defines its purpose. 1t is
time that we turned up our definitions
in some more trustworthy dictionary than
that Of avowed dsunionists and their
more dangerous because more timid ac.
completes. Rebellion smclls 10 sweeter
because it is called secession, nor does
order lose its divine precedence in human
affairs because knave may nar, it co.
ercion. Secession means chaos, and co.
ercior the exercise of legitimate authori.
ty. You cannot dignity the one nor de-
grade the other by any verbal charlatan.
ism. The best testimony to the virtue
of coercion is the fact that no wrong doer
ever thought well Of it. The thief in
Jail, the mob leader in the hands of the
police, aud the murderer on the drop will
be unanimous in favor Of this new heresy
of the unconstitutionality of Constitu-
tions, with its Newgate Calendar of con-
fessions, martyrs, and saints Fa.taff' s
famous regiment would have volunteered
to man for its propagation or its defence
Henceforth let every unsuccessful litigant
have the right to pronounce the verdict
OF a Jury sectional, and to quash all pro.
ceedlngs and retain the property in con.
troversy by seeding from the court
room. Let the planting Of hemp be
made penal, because it squints towards
coercion. Why, the first great secession.
ist would doubtless have preferred to d.
vide Heaven peaceably, would have been
willing to send Commissioners, must
have thought Michaers proceedings in.
judicious, and could probably even now
demonstrate the illegality Of hell-6re to
any five year old imp of average educa-
tion and intelligence. What fne world
We should have, if we could only come
quietly together in convention, and de-
clare by unanimous resolution, or even
BY a two-thirds' vote, that edge tools
should hereafter cut everybody's fingers
but him that played with them,-that,
when two men ride on one horse, the
hindmoft shall always sit in front, t,-and
that, when man tries to thrust his part
ner out of bed and gets kicked out him-
self. he shall be deemed to have estab.
lished his title to an equitable division,
and shall b. thenceforth his as Of right,
without detriment to the others priv!
ege on the floor!
If secession be right, then the mo-
ment OF its exercise is wholly optional
with those possessing it. Suppose ou
the eve of war with England, Michigan
should vote herself out of the Union aud
declare herself annexed to Canada; what
klnd of reception would her Commis-
aud vhaE sGg}kdfYy 80 MSstd %W4sthinSsspt theii nsJs5sapt
coercion ? Or, to take case precisely
parallel to that Of South Carolina. suppose
that Utah. after getting herself admitted
lnto tho Union, should resume her SOW.
ereignty, as it is pleasantly called, aud
block our path to the Pacific, under the
pretence that she did not consider her
institutions safe while the other States
entertained such scriptural prejudices
against her special weakness in the patri-
archal line J? Is the only result Of our
admitting territory on Monday to be the
giving it right to steal itself aud go out
again on Tuesday? Or do only the or.
iginal States possess the precautions priv.
ilege of suicide? We shall need some
thing like Fugitive Slave Law for runa-
way republics, and must get provision
inserted in our treaties with foreign pow
ers, that they shall help US catch any de.
linquent who may take refuge with them,
as South Carolina has been trying to do
with England and France. 1t does not
matter to the argument, except SO far as
the good taste of the proceedings is con-
cerned, at what particular time a State
may make her territory foreign thus
opening one gate Of our national defen-
ces and offering bridge to invasion. -
The danger of the thing is in her making
her territory foreign under any circum-
stances and it is a danger which the
Government must prevent, if only for
self preservation. Within the limits of
the Constitution two Sovereigus cannot
20 exist; and yet what practiced odds
does it make, if a State becomes sover-
eign by simply declaring herself SO !? The
legitimate consequence of secession is,
not that State becomes sovereign, but
that, so far as the General Government
Is concerned, she has outlawed herself,
nullified her own existence as State,
and becomes an aggr gate if riotous men
Who resist the execution of the laws.
~ Senator Seward presented the
petition of the merchants of New York, |