The mountain Democrat., 1864-05-28

It was before completely federal; it was
then, in the words of the Fcderalist
"partly national and partly federal" Its
legislative body is purely federal in the
Senate, though not purely national in the
House Of Representatives. The original
draft Of the present Constitution contain.
ing the words, national legislature" and
national government" those words, on
motion Of Mr.. Ells~Nvth, OSs C&NNsS1icHi,
were, by an unanimous vote, struck out.
The exact relations of the states to the
general government, and TO each other,
may be considered on the two grounds of
authority and reason.
Washington in 1892 writes to Hamil.
ton, without mutual forbearance and
yielding on all sides, / do not see how the
rcins Of government are to be managed,
or how the union Of the states can be
much longer preserved"
Madison repeatedly wrote, "that the
assent and ratification or The people was
given, not as individuals composing one
entire nation, but as composing the dis.
tinct and independent states, to which
they respectively belong. 1t is to be the
assent and ratification of the several states,
derived from the supreme authority in
each state, the people themselves"
Governor Morris, who proposed in the
Convention to do a~ay with state lines,
/ and make n nation, and who from his
command Of compositions %aS the princi-
[ pal reriSer Of the language of the IrhSti.
tuition in committee, in ;Sl4 wrote thnS
The Consultation was a compact, not between
anli nd eli hpf Al
clptes--the people not Of America, but OF the
United States, cacn enjoying sovereign power
and, uf course, equal rights. Thus it differs
from a state constitution. which is IL compact,
80 far rs il can be called a compact, between
individuals. 1t is compact between suver-
eighties.
In IS Peters Reports the Supreme
Court Of the United States decided "thai
the rules Of International law apply to the
states inter Sc that the Constitution was
a federal compac; dcnc in convention by
the unanimous consent Q! the skate. pres.
ent"
! The next generation Of great statesmen
and constitutional lawyers entertained
similar ideas.
In 1888 Mr.. C,:houn introduced into
the Senate series Of resolutons,o of which
far as it rclatcS to the subject:
Resolved, That in the a.inptlon of the federal
Constitution, the states adopting the same act.
ed severally as tree hdepe udent and sovereign
states.
This resolution met the assent Of Ciay,
Benton, Crittenden. Waiker and Buchan.
an. NJ. Webster, WHO repuIiateI at that
time the notion Of compact between the
states, seem, to have revised his opinions,
as. in 1851, he said: - DO net hesitate
10 say ard repeat, that if the Northern
States refuse wii,flIy and Deliberately to
carry into effect that part OF the Coo.ti,u-
ton which respects the restoration ol fl.
gitive slaves, tne South would be no long
or bound to keep th- compact. i hlr.
gain htoh"n oa one ii ,e is broken On ali
side
Finally, the two most distinguished f,r-
cignerS who have made our system a
study, resolve in the same sense.
k0S>uth ,i'.>rlib,-l the Cnitcd stat,s as
- republic composed Of republics" De
To-I4cvllc speaks Of the Union as "f,rm.
ell by the voluntary agreement or the
states, and in uniting together they have
not forfeited their nationality. Nay hay..
. they been reduced 10 thc 'cnGi;i0', oI one
and the came pcppc. If we turn f;um
authority 20 rea,rn, the argument is slil
stronger.
The origin O; al government must D.
fonn! in c"mT.rt or IN force; it mast BE-
either >c'fi'.'pasci OF c'mr,,.cl. II GOV,
ernment is the rcSult of a-ru, m"ut, that
word, from It's nature. Imp,i"> bargain.
We have given the i, iuition Of thr
United States. simply b".au>e il a.oi.,.
shows how We have got into this war,aud
how sc can get ont OF it il painta aur
why there was disuuiou, AM how there
may be union. The : SDuthcrrtrS are mCn
! inst nS we are, a"d :">. re Eugli>hmen
and Flenchlnen are, az! they talk.i Just
AS New England talked in Tie hr.;"uins
of this century, AMI acted just aI Nrw
England would have acted it our war with
Great Britain had not fortunately ended
rs it d!d.
Bat Hew Lngi:rii va, a,ienatt,i. aot
by any claim Of her sister states to cxcr.
else control under any implied power, but
upon that which concerns all alike, and
which is one Of the express objects Of the
, Constitution-war,
The authorities oF the United States, BY
/ legislative act, were forbidden to use the
jaiiS Of Massachusetts, for the confinement
Of prisoners committed by any other than
judicial authority; and the jaicrs were
directed, at the end Of thirty DAYS, to dis
charge all British officers, prisoners Of
war, committed to them for close con-
tinemcnt
/ 4 til! for The enlistment Of minors hay-
ing passed Congress, the legislature of
Connecticut passed an act requiring the
state judges to discharge on habcas cor.
pus all minors enlisted without the con-
sent Of their parents or guardians, and
suhjccting to fine and imprisonment any
person concerned in such enlistment who
ShOuldremove any minor OFT OF the state.
When Governor Chltcnlcn, Of Yer
mont, issued his proclamation recalling
the Vermont militia, ard a member Of
Congress proposed To instruct the Attor-
ncy. General to prosecute Governor Chit
tenden, Mr.. Otis laid on the table of the
Massachusetts Senate n resolve that Mas.
sachuScttS would aid with her whole pow
er Vermont and the people of any other
state in support Of constitutional rights
by whomsoevcr in:ringed.
All these doinSs were very (actious and
very unwise; but no one ever heard of
Fort Warren or Fort Lafayette, or seizure
Of papers, or elections under oaths Of al.
legiancc. nor would Massachusetts, have
permitted them. The pluck Of the old
Commonwealth would have resisted then,
as it would now resist, any force; but it
makes n vast difference to that noble state
whether it treads on other peoples toes
or its OWE toes are trodGen en-.