The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-04-12

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selEgOveFUment, and transfer them TO =
general and consolidated Government
without regard TO the special government,
and reservations sOlemnly agreed to in
that compact, is not for the peace, hAPpi.
ness and prosperity Of these States and
that, therefore, this commonwealth Is de-
termined, and il doubts not its cO-States
arc, not to submit to undelegated and con-
srquently unlimited powers, in no man or
body Of men on earth.
Herewith append four paragraphs from
the Virginia resolutions" of SO, drafted
by James Madison and adopted by the
Legislature Of Virginia, December "a,
1898:
Rcsolred, That the General Assembly Of
Virginia, doth unequivOcally express
firm resolution to maintain aud defend the
Constitution Of the United States and the
Constitution of this State, against every
aggression, either foreign or domestic; and
that they will support the government Of
the United States in oil measures warrant
ed by the former.
That this Assembly most solemnly de-
clares a warm attachment TO the union Of
the States, to maintain which it pledges
7 it's powers; and that for this end, it is their
duty to watch over and oppose every in
fraction of those principles which consti
tute the only basis Of that Union, because
. faithful observance OF them can alone
secure its existence aud the public happi-
ness.
That %nis Assembly doth expiiriiiy and
perenptOrily declare. that it views the
powers Of the Federal Government as re-
Sulting from the compact to which the
States are parties, as limited by the plain
sense and intention Of the instrument con.
stituting that compact; and that in case OF
deliberate, palpable and dangerous ex-
erciSe Of other powers not granted by the
said compact, the States who are parties
thereto have the right, and are in duty
bound, to interpoSe for arreSting the pro
grrSs Of the evil. and for maintaining with
in their respective limits, the authorities,
rights and liberties appertaining to them.
That the General Assembly doth ex.
press its deep regret, that n spirit has, in
sundry instances, been manifested by the
General Government to enlarge its powers
by forced constructions Of the constitu-
tional charter which defines them and
,Taat indications have RnneareelHS,r' ;h1,'~"
to expound certain general phrases (tnar,
having been copied from the very limited
grant Of powers 50 che fvHHser Articles OF
Confederation, were the less likely to be
misconstrued), so as to destroy the mean
ing and effect Of the particular enumera-
ton which necessarily explains and limits
the general phrases, and so as to consoli.
date the States, by degrees, into one SOW.
ereignty, the obvious tendency ana inevi-
table result of which would be, to trans
form the present Republican system Of the
United States into AL absolute, or at best,
a mixed monarchy.
Therefore, in response to the Unions
question, "Who is responsible for the
war;" answer Abraham Lincoln and
William II. Seward are the prime movers
Of the present unhappy troubles. Their
teachings and doctrines being embraced
and Endorsed in the last Presidential can
vass by the Abolition Free Soil party Of
the North, based upon a geographical
line, coinciding with a marked principle,
both moral and political, whose teach
ings and political antecedents have been
in direct warfare against the plain proviS-
ions of the Constitution Of the United
States, will be held by the future historian
responsible for the wanton sacrifice of life
and waste Of untold millions of treasure,
which will press hard upon the present
and future generations to cancel.
But worse than all this waste Of treas
ure-the remembrance of those deadly
conflicts between sectiOns-those fratrici-
dial encounters upon the battle fields will
prove like the deadly cancer on the human
frame, at one time eating out one or both
eyes, at another the nose. and then the
lips, thus disiguring 1.-The human face
divine;" even so will it be at the close Of
this terrible war, inaugurated by the Abo'
lition party against the Southern States.
This war cancer can never be erased from
the body polite, should it be suffered to
go on to the extreme lengths designed by
the present Abolition Black Republican
party. ,...-
In my next article will adducc further
testimony to prove my position to be cor
rect. "Out of their own mouths shall
they be convicted"