Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-05-08

former being regarded ~ the vital principle OF re-
puhcsn and the latter as :. the immediate parent
despotsmn As our fathers loved Liberty and hated
tyranny, they selected that power Of govefsmens
which conserves the one, end rejected that whlen
sooner or LATER never fails 70 produce the other.
Upon thus principle our State governments were
formed--each . complete and sovereign republic.
within itself; and in. associsting themselves in =
Federal Union they did not surrender it for such
would have been surrender Of their right OF SELL
government. : This theory Of our government pre-
cludes the idea of an authority vested in the ted
eral head to coerce BY force of arms State acting
in its sovereign capacity. - 1.s
More explicit evidence of the intent Of the trainers
of the Constitution is furnished by the journals and
proceedings Of the Convention. = Tho evidence can
not be kept too prominently in vew as it illustrates
the character Of our confederacy, and furnishes
safe guide for the performance of public duty.
Two distinct propositions were made in the Con.
vention to confer upon the Federal Government
power to coerce State :
The first was q proposition to confer upon the Ma
tional Legislature the power to call forth hetore
Of the Union against any member Of the Union Ja!L
ing to perform its duty under the articles thereof
The second was in these words: IF any State,
or aay body of men IN any State, shall oppose or
prevent the carrying into execution saeh acts or
treaties tie federal executive shall Be authorized to
call forth the po,cer of tho confederate States or 80
much thereof may be necessary to enforce amt COM
pel an obedience to such acts or an 06serrance Of
such treaties"
All the members who spoke upon these PROPOSE
tons spoke against them, and all, including their
movers, voted against them. :.
The sentiments then expressed by the two lead
ing minds of the Convention, representing the two
opposing classes of political opinions which divided
it leave nothing to doubt as to the true nterpreta
ton of its action. r.
Mr.. Madison observed, "that the more he reflect
ed on the use of force the more he doubted the prac
ticabilty, the justice and the efficacy OF it when ap.
piled to people collectively and not Individuality
An Union Of the States, containing such an ingre-
dent, seemed to provide for its own Instruction.
The use of force against State would look more
like declaration of war than an infection Of pun
shment, and would probably be considered by the
party attacked as dissolution of all previous com.
pacts by which it might be bound"
General Hamilton, speaking on the same subject,
said: "But how can this force be exerted upon
the States collectively 1t is impossible 1t amounts
to a war between the parties. Foreign powers also
will not be idle spectators, They will nterpose.-
The confusion will increase and dissolution of the
Union will ensue." Again, illustrating, by an his.
torical example the consequences Of exercise Of
such power by q Confederated Government he
SAID: "Its DEGREES were signals of war;"
The Declaration of Independence had distinctly
declared:
"That whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, the security of their
rights it is the right Of the people to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new government, lay
ing its foundation such principles and organizing
its powers in such form as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness" And to
have given to the Federal government power to
compel the organized communities of States to re-
,rdor tho GnUornmanf
would have been to give to it power which the De-
carstion of Independence had declared could not be
be possessed BY any Government whatever. Hence
we are not surprised to find that the proposal TO
confer such power had no advocate in the Con-
vention.
After Government had been organized, one Of
the earliest as it undoubtedly one Of the most
important and delicate duties devoving on Congress-
was to furnish the President with the powers nee.
essary to enable him to take care that the laws be
faithfully executed and to pass such laws might
be necessary to "provide for calling forth the mill
tia to execute the laws of the Union suppress insur
rection and repel Invasion"
Accordingly we find that as early as 1898 law
was passed for the purpose 1t having been found
defective it was suspended by the act of 2Sth Feb
ruay, 1895, which, without addition or amendment
has remained the law on the subject down to the
present time; enacted by Congress, which, to
large extent was composed of the individuals who
had assisted in framing the Constitution, it is the
best interpreter of the general language used in that
instrument; and from the day Of its passage down
to the 4th Of March, Of the present year. no Presi
dent has ever construed it as giving him power to
use military force except as posse eomitatus, or
otherwise in aid of civil process. Ours being gov
eminent of law, and not a military despotism no
other construction could be placed on that act
When in 1885, the State of South Carolina forbade
the execution of the tariff law within her limits the
act of 1895 was in force precisely as it is to-day ;
but President jackson knowing that the act only au
thorized the use of the military force in aid Of civil
process and that there would be no courts in South
Carolina to issue process calldd Congress for ad
dtional powers, and that body enacted what has
been familiarity known as the Force Bill" That
act was in my opinion violatve Of the Constitution
but no attempt was ever made to exercise the pow
ers conferred by it and it expired by its own mita-
tion in 1885, The political friends of the present
administration, we'll knowing that there was no law
on the statute book under which the President could
military force in the States from which the fed
eral Judges, Marshals, and other civil officers had
been expelled urged Congress- at its last session. to
enact laws comforting on him such authority The
journals Of that body will show that bills for the
purpose were pressed with the utmost pertinacity,
and also that they were not enacted into laws
Heusurped the coveted powers which Congress had
refused to confer on him. and whilst Commissioners
from the Confederate States at the seat of Gov
ernment urging peaceful settlement of all ques-
lions in dispute and striving to avert from the
try the calamities Of civil war-whilst the people
were being deluded by daily protestations from the
President Of his firm purpose TO preserve the peace
and We were in momentary expectation of hearing
that Fort Sumter. in Charleston harbor, had been
evacuated a secret expedition was fitted out and
steathily dispatched to commence the war; by an at.
tempt to throw renforcements into that fertilization
To high criminaty in involving the country in civil
war was added base perfdy in exciting hopes and
expectations to be dashed at the moment of rution
Having thus commenced the war, the President,
on pretence that the act Of 1795 confers on him
power to do So issued proclamation calling on the
States to furnish seventy FIVE thousand men fol
carrying it on, and the Secretary Of War officially
informed me that North Carolina was expected to
furnish two regiments to aid the North in subiugat
ing her sister States might with pgopriety say
Of some Of them, her daughters the South. /
promptly replied to that functionary, that Il re