, 1861-07-08
LINCOLN ON TIE, RIGHT OF Sc.
OESSI0N.

AAE ! lA0odAIAt6 uEe5hbG 10 AAl4leb<sA0-
ably the production Of the man whose
name is appended to the document No
Secretary Gun lay claim to the compost
tion. Mr. Lincoln's peculiar style is observ-
able in every paragraph. He has faculty
Of presenting an idea in a way which ar-
rests the attention and carries conviction
into the mind Of the reader, and makes
him wonder why he had not seen tie mat
ter in the same light before.
The attentive reader must have been
struck with the clear and forcible manner
in which the President handles the pre-
tended right Of Secession, and seatters to
the winds the Southern assumption that
"there is some omnipotent and sacred su-
"premaey pertaining to each State Of oar
"Union." Where do. States get their
Sovereignty" "No one Of them" says
the President, "ever was State out Of
the Union. The original ones passed in
".to the Union even before they cast of
-" their British dependence, and the new
zones come into the Union directly from
"a:condition Of dependence" He adds:
"The new ones only were designated
Estates on coming into the Union, while
@that name was only first adopted for the
"old ones in and by the Declaration OF
INDEPENDENCE. Therein the United Col
"ouies we're declared free and indepeu-
"dent States, but even then the object
"plainly was not to declare their indepen-
"dence OF one another, Of the Union, but
"directly the contrary, as their mutual
faction before, at the time, and afterwards,
abundantly show"
.sThe States have thets status in the Union and
they hate no other legal status. II they break from
this, they only do SO against law by revo1u ion.
The Union, and not themselves separated, pro
cured their Independence and their liberty: By
conquest or purchase the Union gave each Of
them whatever Of Independence and liberty It has.
TIE Onion ts older than any Of Tie States, and in
(att e4eated them ds States. What.
ever concerns the whole, should be confined to
the whole General Government, while, whatever
CONCERNS the State should be left exclusively to
the State. States have the powers aud rights
but among these surely are not included powe,
to destroy the Government itself.
Passing from the direct and historical
argument, the President next reminds the
seeded States that the Union holds certain
mortgages, and liens on them for money
borrowed and expended on their account
He concludes his view OF the right Of Sc
cession by this clincher:
"The eeceders insist that opr Constitution admit!
| CT secession. They have assumed to make na
tional constitution Of their own, in which Of ne
ctssity they have either discarded or retained tn
right Of secession they insist 1t exists in ours
| If they have discarded It, they thereby admit tha
On principle It ought not to exist in ours. II the
hare retained 1t By their construction Of ours. /
elbows that to be consistent they must secede iron
one another when they shall find 1t the easiest wa
Of settling theirdebts efccting any other sel1s
OF unjust object.
sThe principle itae1f Is one Of diaintegration an
/ On which no Government can endure. II all tn
| States save ono should affect the power to driy
that out Of the Union, it Is presumed the Who'll
claes Ut the seeded politicians would at once den
| the power and denounce the act as the creates
outrage upon State rights. But suppose that pr
cisely the act instead Of being called drivin
one ont, should be called the t'eeceding' Of th
others from the one, it would be exactly what th
the tecedera claim to do, unless indeed they max
the point that the one, 6ecouse tt is q ninor5t,
I may ttghtfu1]y do that which the others, becaue
they arc tho majority, may not tightfnlly do"
We must call the readers attention t
one more extract from the Message:,
e. n11zc - &I,n Il