Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1862-10-07

of your State Legislatures, IN mos' .aaeS,A'
elected to serve only for one year. Ine ohn-
ator has already voted in Two Instances Tor
the exercise of power by Congress that will
Mace IN the army for three years every SINGLE
voter within The limits of the States. When
the term of your present State legislators
shall expire, should this power he cxer-
cised by Congress, who will elect their suc-
cessors for the next term? Are they to
elect themselves? If Congress Assumes to
exercise the power admitted by the Senator,
there will be no one else TO vote. May not
these members Of your State Legislatures, Ill
tho absence of NIL other voters, call 4 con-
%rcntion, remodel the State Constitutions
establish a life tenure in Office, re-elcct them
solves, and place it forever beyond the people,
when they shall return home to their States,
to revoke their action, without revolution !:
Does the Senator see nothing in nli TINS
Which may excite his compassion for Tie
soldier who shall return so seek the Hacrcd
places where his State sovereignty was en-
shrinrd aud shall find his State Constitution
remoleled, and every office flied by ihcu'h
bents for lifc-by the very men, too, whose
blood alone was esteemed TOD precious I" De
she'd hv the Senator from Alabama in tile
common csusr' May he, ton, not ~exciulur,
what to him was our struggle for liberty,
when he has thus been betrayed. hut the
Senator, believing that lie Ind already won
fnr himself the high sounding title OF chn,n-
pion of State rights, goes still further. Thc
Constitution, he says, prescribea that Con
eress shall meet nnce during each year; mat 10
the House all bills to raise revenue snail
originate-all impeachments he made; anu
therefore, if you conscribe them you VIII 'e-
prive them Of the power TO discharge, thelr
high duties, and in doing this you would take
from the people Of the States their voice IN
managing the General Government; would
Mace in the hands Of the President the rove
nue. al the country, and thereby place III his
hands the phrse NJ well as the sword"
Nnw, sir, this sounds worry plausible, and IL
nrrayed in language beautifully seductive
"Wll take from the people their voice III
managing The Government, and give to the
President the purse al we'll Is the sword.
How place in lht hands of the President
the rerrnuea of the Gnyernments! Can the
President, Under any circumstances, draw
from th. Treasury one dnllar, without an APP
| prnpriation first made hy law. The Constltn-
ton SAYS ie cannot. This is the language OF
| the Constitution 10 money shal! be drawn
from The Treasury hut in consequence OF al'-
preparations made by law" Congress alone
| has power to raise the revenues OF the Guf-
runent The President has 10 such power.
The Senator from. ri .hlma PROCESSES to nn-
dersla nj the. Constitution perfectly, and yet
he seems rather. poorly Informed upon this
| subject. 1t was necessary l presume, MS n
Climax to this sensation argument; that some
| thing should be said about the unity of the
swo,d and pn:zc tn popultr:zt the Sfnator's
fancT sketch
Ii has, ! must aimi;, something of antiquity
| about it to commend it " the special nlten.
| ton IF the Senate, having been Tie lt'eine CT
many a young aspirant for orator'c,l iauie
under the old dispcniation. But The sword
| Surcially-tha terrible instrument Of oppfcs-
sinn-I cnlrirr, has the President alone pow
! err to WELD div; This Congress can az this
moment dIshand your entire army, and leave
| the President without a soldier in the field.
lie has no po~ :r - enroll orc single man into
the s~.ryice under sho Constitution. TIL
power u raise and support ar.nl-% h.:iong3 to
Congress, and not to the President.
Bot tn: Senator says, SIT ths principles Ir"n
which the amendment proposed ty the snEin-
| Tor from North Carolina have been support
Ell, liz carried into practical legislation, they
| will destroy both State and Confederate
Governments, and will erect the Executive
| into Il Military DlctAtnr.' What are those
| principles to which the Senator reiers:-
Why, sir. the CONSUMPTION Of a Magistrate III
to The armyy:or any other State officer.
Il tins proposition true, even were ether
| State officers embraced in the amendment |
DENY that such would be- the result. Whn
are members of Your State legislatures, your
Judges and Justices Of the Peace: Are they
the State When they resign, die ar are re-
moved from Office, does the State 10 that extent
perish with them? Do they NOT resign, die and
20 out Of office continually and yet has any
State from that cause been destroyed :S!r,
| The officers of o State are not the Suite
| They are only agents .uf the State. It any
agent csasr.s to act as such, does that destroy
the principal If to-day every 1,hcc.hnIdcr
If rhl. ever glorious old Commonwealth were
to resign. would that destroy and blot sIr-
s,nia from the map Of Statei! no, si':"!ie
would still SsaTd proud, great and power
| ~ful-while her Constitution remains, and While
her brave sons are willing, az they have ever
heen willing, to defend her with their Iife'a
hloGd agsinst her foe. She eEist5 today, not
alone b. virtue Of the ofhce-hhlhera, Int
by the valnr OF her SONS upon the ticid Of
hattie The Constitution, sir, III tue embodied
will IF the people, in whom all original saver
|. eighty resides.
Yon cannot des.rny Il State until you de-
strny its people, and when this 10 done the
L, u1ir, holdsrs will afford but a feeble support
to the lettering fabric.
The nrople, their will and power liz, at the
very foundations Of the whole civil super
| structure, and when they are crushed and
epslaved, it must and will fall, and not until
then.
When the people are conscrlhed INTO the
army to re el an enemy who would enSIaTe,
them. does that crush and en,lAye them, and
overthrow the State If sn, then, SIR, the
DAVIS md hours of your State Governments
arc numbered
d.nv that such will or can he the result
| Of thri, conscr,pu.n : bur were i: au, no man
II this Senate by his vote has done more TO
trine about this result than the Senator from
Alabama. He admits and has voted that tlc
whole arms-beariDg population of the States
may be conscribed into the military ser
vice.
but, fir: tho CONSUMPTION OF the wh1lr arlES-
bearing popu alton Of a State into the arrnlfs
to defend the liberties Of that State does moi
crush or ~rrslaue them. 1t is not TO destroy.
but to protect ard defend not on'y the STATE
hut It'll people from slavery. Here, sir, il; The
error in the whole argument 81 the SENATOR.
IT.. contends that though the services ~ al
office. holder in the field might save the State
from overthrow by the enemy. the Stare
would vet be oyerthrown by the couscrir-
| tion Of the nfice-holdrr. This, sir, l. strange
logic.
According to this reasoning, the State, in
any erent, must be overthr 1t is over
| thrown if the enemy conquer It l.; over
thrown if the enemy is conquered. If We
do mt fight with oar whole physical power
we arc conquered an;t'enslnVed hy the enc
nv sr,i the States thereby oyerthroTn. II