Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1863-10-01

T sDOu1u W sucu III CIVIL war. hecO1'
i, 4 p. 81, again, "there is not a man
: this house ct to be representative her
+ who does not know that the South car
not be forced to yield obedience
your laws and authority" Agair
e "accordiDgly / have not voted for an
4 Army or Navy appropriation bill, sine
9 the meeting of Congress on the 4th {
March, 1867. Record page A.
Again: "Stop lighting and make q
srmistice, no formal treaty, with
; draw your armies from the sece
ded States, recall your fleets, break u
your blockades," DC, DE. To thes
and kindred sentiments held fpa ~
Tered by Mr--H-aanuIgnamstsom IN
beginning Of our troubles, NEnd nov
prominently thrust forward By him, W
cannot subscribe, believing them to b
anti Democratic and subversiye of th'
Government and all the best interest
of the people. We prefer rather to ad
here to the ancient landmarks so truth
fully and firmly maintained by Andrew
Jackson in his contest with Soutt
Carolina. in 1889, as evineed by the
following. declaration of principles
found in his proclamation, Dee. a1lth,
1892, and his message Of January
18th, 1888: II consider" says Gen.
jackson, '.power to amend law Of the
United States assumed by one State
incompatible with the existence of the
Union, contradicted expressly by the
letter of the Observation-Disclosures
lied by its spirit, inconsistent with every
principle on which 1t is founded, and
destructive of the first object for which
it was formed" This right 20 secede
| is deduced from the nature Of the Con-
stitution, which they say is a compact
/ between sovereign States who have
preserved their whole sovereignty. and
therefore are subject to no superior;
that because they made the compact
they can break it, when in their opin-
ion it has been departed from by other
States. tlratfsa
FaIIacious as this course OF reason
ing is, it enlists State pride, and finds
advocstes in the honest prejudices OF
those who have not studied the nature
of our Government sufficiently to see
the radical error on which il rests. To
say that any State may at pleasure Sc
cede from the Union, is TO say that the
United States are no nation, because
it would be solecism to contend that
any part of nation might dissolve its
connection with other parts. to their
injury and ruin, without committing an
offense. Secession, like any other
revolutionary act, may be morally JUS
tilted by the extremity Of oppression;
but TO call il constitutional right, is
confounding the meaning Of terms,
and can only be done through gross
error. Men OF the best intentions and
soundest views may differ in the con-
struction of some parts Of the Consti-
tuition, but there are others on which
dispassionate reflection can bear no
doubt; OF this nature appears to be the
assumed right of Secession. The
right of the people of a single State, TO
absolve themselves at will, and with
out the consent Of other States, from
the most solemn obligation, hazard the
liberty and happiness Of millions COM
posing this Uuion, cannot be acknowl-
edged.
Such authority is believed to be ut
terly repugnant, both to the precepts
upon which the General Government is
constituted, and the objects which it is
expressly formed to attain. Again,
General jackson speaking OF the right
and duty Of government 10 use force to
prevent Secession, says: mo one be-
Iieves that any right exists in single
State to involve all Others in these and
countless other evils, contrary to en-
gagements solemnly made. Every one
must see that other States in self-de
fense must oppose it at all hazards. =
Again, speaking Of an ordinance passed
by the South Carolina Convention, he
says, "this solemn denunciation of the
laws and authority of the United States
has been followed up by a series of acts
on the part Of the authorities in that
State, which manifest determination
TO render inevitable resort to those
measures of self defense which the par
amount duty Of the Federal Govern
ment requires.
1t is quite unnecessary to multiply
quotations from eminent statesmen upon
the subject. The great heart of the
American people is not only adverse to
this doctrine, but unaltersbly deter
mined to resist it, at all hazard, and
were it not for the fact, lamentable as it
is, that we find the candidate of a
party with which it has always been
our pride to act, de6sntly advocating
the right of Secession, the want Of con-
stitutional power on the part Of the
General Government to prevent it by
force. distinctly and squarely planting
himself on the doctrine of the inability
of nation to save itself from selfde-
struction, from want of both constitu-
tionai and physical power, and calling
upon the Governmentto withdraw the
army from those he is pleased to call
"seceded States," and hold an armis-
tice with rebels in arms. give.up the
Mississippi. break up the blockade,
call home the fleets, and thus give up
all the ground which our brave soldiers
have won at the cost Of so much blood