The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-05-18

DAVIS MReAAGK.
MR- EDrroR:-ln these pcrilous times when
, every man desires to "cotch the snake that
, may kill us, no such document a. the message Of
JeG Davis 10 the new Confederate Congress
should be allowed to pass unnoticed. It is cour-
teous and fair from beginning to end It is
wholly false in theory and in fact Itignores all
past compromises and resurrects the ghosts Of
all past controversies. It 10 able and plausible,
but lies upon history from beginning to end He
writes like q man with his neck in halter, and
at the end utters the sentiment of every crimi-
nal, ''all we aek is to be left alonen To justify
treason is difficult task, but Lucifer aided by
Milton could not have made . more plausible
and delusive plea. To dissect this message and
seperate the true from the falee would occupy
your columns for weeks. There are funda,uen.
tal errors, however, which lie at the foundation
OF this; rebellion which may be exposed in this
article by presenting the two views of President
Davis and Mr.. Madison, in regard to the right of
| nullhcation or of secession. Fer if no such
right exists, this Confederate movement is fat
treason Mr.. Davis does not admit that this is
REBELLION, but claims to retire from the Union
under the forms Of iaU and in obedience to Con-
stit,aional Right: and to this end he revives the
exploded doctrine OF notification and invokes
the old Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of
l79s, which have ever been the ''shibboleth" OF
traitors-becsuse easily perverted from their
meaning by knaves and by small politicians
They have ever been held up by Southern men
as superior to the Constitution and decisions of
the Courts Of the United States.
just so, and just now, Mr.. Davis qualities
his magnificent treason by the resolutions OF
1898.
| Let US compare the views of President Davis
and President Madison on this fundamental idea
| of ''secsssion"
| In his message, President Davis says, in inte r.
preing his rightof Secession or Revolution:
Here it msy be proper to observe that from
| period AS early as 1898, there had existed in
| all OF the States Of the Union party, almost un-
iDterruptedly in the majority, based upon the
creed that each State was in the last resort, the
sole judge as well OF its wrongs, US of the mode
| and measure of redress. Indeed, it is obvious,
an axiom as applied to the relations OF ndepen-
dent sovereign States, such as those which had
| united themselves under the constitutional CON-
pact The Democratic party Of the United
States, repeated in its successful canvass in
1856, the declaration made in numerous previ-
Gus political contests, that it would faithfully
| abide by and uphold the principles laid down in
| the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions Of 1898,
and in the report of Mr.. Madison to the Virgin
IN Lori in fho,; ;N
principles as constituting one of the main foun-
dations of its political creed.
THE principles thus emphatically announced,
embrace that to which l have already adverted
the right of each State to judge of, and re-
dress the wrongs Of which it complains. These
principles were maintained by overwhelming ma
jorities OF the people Of all the States Of the
Union ut different elections, especially in the
election of Mr.. Jefferson in 1905, Mr.. Madison
in 1909, and Mr.. Pierce in 1852"
These resolutions of 1898 ofVirginia and Ken
tucky have always regarded with contempt, as
an unauthorized and unsound Interpretation of
the Constitution, and an unauthorized attempt
to overslaught the Constitution and the Courts
by Sou thern arrogance.
All that is sound in law and in common sense
in those resolutions, has been universally recog-
| nized; but whenever heresy is hatched in the
brain of any fool, either North or South the
knockdown argument is ''Me resolutions of '9S."
James Madison was one of the fathers Of those
resolutions, perhaps the real father. And now
let Is see how he snubs the nose of Mr.. Jefferson
Davs-the ge,,eraliSsimo OF the Southern Con-
federacy in his Interpretation Of these immortal
! and eternal humbug resolutions.
quote from letter of Mr.. Madison IN Aug,
1880, to Edward Everett, as follows:
MONTPELIER, August, 1880.
"It will be seen that the characteristic pecu-
| liarities of the constitution are, lst, The mode
| Of it's formation 2nd, The division of the SUI
| preme powers of government between the states
| in their uaited capacity, and the states in their
| individual capacities.
| l. ut was formed, not by the government of
the component states, as the federal government
| for which it was substituted was formed. Nor
was 1t formed by majority of the people of the
United States, single community in the man.
ner Of consolidated government
1T was formed by tile states, that is, by the
people in each Of the states, acting in their
| highest sovereign capacity; and formed conse-
quently by the same authority which formed the
state constitutions.
! "Being thus derived from the same source as
| the Constitutions Of the States, it has, within
! each State the same authority as the Constitu-
! ton of the State, and is as much a Constitution
| in the strict sense Of the term. withia its pre-
scrbed sphere, as the Constitutions of the States
are, within their respective spheres; but with this
| obvious and essential difference, that being a
(, compact among the States in their highest SOY
ereign capacity, and constituting the people
thereof one people for certain purposes, t can
not be altered or annulled at the will of the
| States individually, as the Constitution of State
| may be at IT'S indh iduai will.
| 2"And that it divides the supreme powers of
| government, between the government of the
| United States, and the government Of the indi-
| vidual States, IS stamped on the face OF the in
| strument; the powers OF war and OF taxation, OF
commerce and of treaties, and otner enumerated
powers vested In the government of the United
States, being of as high and sovereign a charac-
ter. as any OF the powers reserved to the State
governments. ,-
..Nor 10 the government of the United States,
created by the Constitution, less government
in the strict sense of the term within the sphere
of its powers, than the governments created by
the Constitutions of the States are, within their
several spheres 1t is like them organized into
legislative executive, and judiciary departments.
II operates, like them, directly OH persons and
things And, like them, it has at command a
ply sical force for executing the powers commit
1
cases, is one of the features marking the pecu
liarity of the system.
between these different Constitutional gov
ernments the one operating in all the States,
the others operating separately in each, with he
aggregate powers OF government divided be-
tween them, it could not escape attention, that
controversies would arise concerning the boun-
daries Of jurisdiction and that some provision
. ought to be made for such occurrences A po-
litcal system that does not provide for peace
able and authoritative termination OF occurring
controversies, would not be more than the shad.
ow Of government; the object and end of u
real government being, the substitution OF law
and order, for uncertainty, confusion, and vio-
lence.
"That to have left final decision, in such
cases, to each of the States, then thirteen, and
already twenty four, could not fail to make the
: Constitution and laws of the United States dif-
ferent in different States. was obvious; and not
less Obvious that this diversity OF independent
decisions must altogether distract the govern