Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-03-11
From the New York Evening Post Republican,
The DIsGranch sement OF states.

With this deep sense of the enormity of trea
son, how ever, We cannot vet persuade ourselves
OF the justice or policy of the scheme which pro
poses TO dlSiranchlSe the seeding States until
such time as they shall be OF better mind. 1t
proceeds, it we understand il, upon the ground
that those States. by the very act OF secession,
have abrogatei their functions States and re
verted to the condition OF Territories in which
condition they are to be held and treated until
again admitted as States. But that il certainly
not the theory OH which we have thus far CON
Quoted the war. In the Presidents proclamation
and in all the subsequent acts of the Government
secession has been regarded as the rebeiOus
outbreak of unlawful combinations of men, and
not rs "a deed having the least legal validity or
force. Every act or ordinance of secession, be
ing inconsistent with the fundamental law of the
land, is null and void from the first. No State
convention, no legislative body, no popular as
semblage Of any kind has authority to overthrow
the general Constitution of the nation. The re
latI0ns OF the States to each other and TO the
Federal Government created bv that instru-
ment, and until that is DESTROYED those relations
remain the same, whatever course any single
State may see fit to pursue. Ii State could,
by an act of its own, annul its own existence.
then the doctrine of secession is right and we
OF the North have been warning against a cor
rect principle
But the position of the North. we repeat, has
always been that every law promulgating disun-
ION was reasonable, rendering the individuals
concerned in it liable To prosecution for treason,
but invalid in its effects upon the existing political
SfGtuS For that reason. our Government has
uniformly treated rebel agents whether official or
otherwise, insurgents against It's authority. and
nothing more The State Governments which
have confirmed the rebellion held to he in
suspense, but not annulIed As organizations
they have been perverted from their purposes. but
not annihated. They still exist de jUre. As
soon as enough people loyal to the Federal Con
stituton IRE gathered to put their machinery in
operation, they will be revived. They are AS
much factors of the Union now as they ever
were, because the Constitution which creates and
defines them Is in full vigor, although their own
local constitutions are for time paralyzed.
1t would be departure then. from sound theo-
~. to ,rcat those States rs territories; it would
be doing by legislation precisely what their peo-
pie wish to by arms. but which we would not sui
fer them to do; and it DISTINGUISHES abruptly all
their loyal inhabitants because OF Otfenses com
mtted by the di>loyal. In either phase the
scheme Is likely 20 awaken hostility. not at the
South alone but at the North Our present
unanimous prosecution of the war against rebel
lion would be complicated With an intricate and
doubtful political question. which would eventu-
ally lead 10 serious party divisions and greatly
embarras> the energetic action ofthe Government
All the Jealous adherents of the doctrine of State
Rights. ourselves among them. would feel com
PEELED 10 oppose the new doctrine, or any other
which involves the legal ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the
nation. We are not. as our readers are aware
superstitious worShppers OF any instrument, how
ever venerable. even the Constitution OF the Uni
tel State>-but the principles OF national Union
and local independence which underlie il are. 10
our minds the finest results that political wisdom
has vet attained