Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-07-16

the State or FeEersl authorities: that no an
peal should be taken from the determination
Of the courts of that State, drawing into cues
ton the constitutionahty of the acts complain
ed of, or the ordinance declaring them void
to the courts of the United States; that any
person considering himself aggrieved, and at
tempting to take such appeal, should be pun
ished as for contempt of court that any at
tempt, upon the part of the federal authori.
ties, to enforce those laws within that State
would be resisted with force, and the State
would no longer remain member of the Tn.
ion-when all this had been done, and, for the
first time in the history of the country, the
strange and sad spectacle was presented, of a
State, after first muzzling her own courts at
tempting to throttle those of last resort, de-
nying the authority of the Federal Govern
ment, and defying the power of its executive
arm-then the man was found at the head OF
public affairs who was equal to the occasion.
Andrew Jackson, President of the Z. States,
told South Carolina that he should see the
laws faithfully executed, that notification was
rebellion, and that armed rebellion was trea-
son. He did not hesitate to call treason by
its proper name, or to give proper warning
that those who incurred its guilt should suffer
its penalty. His proclamation had the desired
effect. The people of that State restored rea-
to her allegiance. Thus, after few brief
months, passed into history the first formida-
bic conspiracy against the life Of the Republic.
The incidents of historical interest connected
with that effort to bring the Federal Govern
ment to the feet of the States, were compare
lively recent. The effort most signally failed.
and with 1t sank, to rise no more, the hopes OF
political preferment of those who first sought
to erect despotism upon the graves of their
ancestors.
History abounds with instances where the
people of despotic countries have risen to
throw off the chains that bound them. Efforts
OF that kind have never failed to elicit the
sympathy of the liberal and the good The
friend OF free government, even when himself
the subject Of oppression, never fails to unite
his prayers with the sacrifices Of his conpat-
riots who may be struggling for the triumph
of correct principles in other lands Patriot
ism is not the offspring of any country Or any
soil. 1t thrives and grows wherever men ex-
iSt, and the mind is free from the shackles Of
ignorance and moral pollution. He who is ac-
tuated by it. accords to those who resist the
DEGREES OF the tyrant, the glory Of doing right
But South Carolina secured to herself no such
endorsement of her course, in assuming an at
titude of hostility to the laws of the Union
and claiming the right lawfully to resist them
She could point to no clanse of the act of
which she complained, that was so palpably
unconstitutional, or unjust in its operations, as
to justify the course she had marked out to
pursue, even If there were no appeal from the
voice OF the lawmaking power, But, if the
act was unconstitutional, she had remedy
ample, peaceful and lawful. 1t was the prov
lnce OF the courts to determine that question,
and the duty of the citizen to bow in submis-
sion to the Judgment that tribunal might pro-
nounce. They did not sit with doors closed
to the story of any mans wrongs, who ap-
preached IN the manner prescribed by the
law She did not propose to resort to that
remedy, for the reason that the wrongs of
which she complained were in fact no wrongs,
and an impartial investigation the result of
which would have been published to the world
would have acquitted The government in the
Judgment of all thinking men. But, as has
been SAID, the firm determination and unfal-
terlng purpose of President jackson, as ex-
pressed ill his proclamatio to the people of
South Carolina, silenced the conspirators of
that day, and the old ship sailed on. The
evil men do, lives after them" aud the effects
OF that fatal dogma that sought 20 hide it's
defosmities under the mantle of Estates
Rights were not limited to that time. Other
questions have arisen which have exasperated
the people of the different sections, and again
arrayed the State and national authorities
1.-The one against the other"
FRO RE CONctUDEn NEyT WEEK I