The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-08-17
From the Buffalo Courier

The First seoessionist.
Josiah Quincy. Sen., died at Quincy
Mass, on Saturday last, at the advanced
age of ninety.two. He was born in Boston
February 4th, 1772; graduated at Harvard
in 1890; was elected to the Massachusetts
Senate in 1904, and was chosen Repre-
sentative in Congress in 1906. He held
his seat by reelection until 1918, and par
ticipated in the discussion of the events Of
the last war with Great Britain, Of which
he was bitter opponent. In an oration
delivered before the Washington Benevo
lent Society in April, 1918, he took occa.
sion not only to depounce the war with
Great Britain, but to impugn the motives oi
the national rulers. "Whenever," he said
"the rulers of nation became the mere
beads Of party, the last and least conside.
ration with them is the good Of the people. "
In June, 1918, just after he had taken his
seat in the State Senate, he reported and
carried the famous resolutions, on pro.
posed vote Of thanks to Capt. Lawrence,
that, "In a war like the present waged
without justifable cause, it was not be-
coming a moral and religious people to
express any appreciation Of military and
naval exploits not immediately connect
cd with the defence Of our seacoast and
SOIL"
In 1914, the question arose in Congress
in regard to the act enabling the Orleans
Territory, purchased from France, to erect
itself into State. This bill was introduc.
ed in January, and Mr.. Quincy resisted
its passage with all his energy, on the
ground that Congress had no right to erect
States out Of territory not within the boun.
dares of the original thirteen States. In .
speech on the l4th of January, he asserted
that it was "his deliberate opinion that, if
this bill passes, the bonds Of this Union
are virtually dissolved that the States that
compose it are free from their moral obliga-
tions to maintain it, and that, as it will be
the right Of all, so it will be the duty Of
some to prepare definitely for separation
if they can, violently if they
must" This was the first assertion Of the
right of secession on the floor Of Congress,
and the Tribune in an elaborate obituary
article, says "he adhered to the opinion
that the moral obligation Of the old States
to remain in the Union was released by the
passage Of the bill, to the day of his DEATH"
In this speech he said: "The bill is death
blow to the constitution. II may after.
wards linger; but lingering, its fate
will at no distant period be consumma'
ted"
Mr.. Quincy claimed to be Federalist,
and while he was never identified with any
political organization after the Federal party
ceased to be q power, he supported Ere
mont in 1856, and Lincoln in 1860. The
idea of the right Of secession, it will be
seen, is Of Massachusetts, origin. Some ten
years later South Carolina adopted it, and
Jackson squelched it; but nursed by New
England influence, it has now brought the
Union to deaths door, and well nigh de-
stroyed the constitution. There is immi-
nent danger that Mr.. Quincy's prophecy
will be realized, and the only hope of avert
ing our impending fate is in change of
and q return to the princi;
pies upon which the constitution is based
and the Union formed.