Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-05-23


Mr. Voorhees, on state Rights
THE doctrine that State has right under
the Constitution TO leave the Government at lis
own pleasure is doctrine OF suicide. and cannot
be defended - Letter of Hon. d. W VOORHEES,
10 his constituents.
Taking the foregoing passage with its context.
there Is no difficulty in arriving at the meaning
which the author intended to convey. The de-
sign il affirm the absolute indivisibility of
the Union formed under the Constitution of 1851
irrespective of the wishes or the interests OF the
parts Of which il is composed. The Union is a
legal trap into which there is freedom to enter.
but from which there is no freedom to withdraw
Consent is exhausted by the act of going in t; and
the name liberty" Instead of being descriptive
of any quality in our possession. IL simply a
patronymc which we have inherited, without in
heriting the corresponding attribute. The pro-
cess of admission into the Union II one OF EMS
culaton: those who are admitted become thereby
deprived of the emblems Of that political man
hood which can never be replaced. either in them
selves or their posterity.
The proposition of Mr. VOORHEES, which we
have copied above is a study, and worth reading
over aud over again. as lesson on psychology.
1t shows how instInctively they who have under
taken TO sustain an untrue doctrine adapt their
premises To the exgencies of their argument.
We do not suppose that. intellectually, Mr.
Voorhees, is convinced Of the unsoundness OF bis
position; aud yet he involuntarily perhaps con
fesses it, unsoundness by the falacies which his
statement includes. He places government"
exclusively in the central polity-shutting out
the fact that is exists in the States He hides
the idea that government is simply reflection
OF the will OF the people, by making the only
Government whose existence he recognizes de.
pend upon the Constitution. He places "gov.
eminent upon side, and erecting a symbol
OF discomfort which he calls - State upon
the other. imagines a lawsuit and decides in
favor of the former The central Government
is everything. the people. their liberties, local
politics. wills and interests nothing
States preceded the Union. They proceed il
not only actually but lOgically-not only in time
but in authenticity and Importance. The nearer
the Government is to the people-the more fully
il includes their interests their avocatons. their
daily lite. and their personal protection. the more
essential and valuable il is to them and the more
sacred in itself The more spontaneous aud less
conventional il was. in its origin and character
growing out of facts and exgencies instead of
cOmpacis and delIberatiOns-the more authentic
In all these respects--in time. intimacy, variety
OF function. spontanety and necessity. the local
Is superior To the central polity Ii either. ire.
spectve Of the popular consent. were TO be ami
hIated no one can doubt that.the inconvenience
To the people would be infinitely greater from the
destruction of the former. than from the dissolu-
ton of the latter.
The Constitution Is the instrument under which
the States may. not under which they must re
main in partnership. There is no must in the
Constitution. There is must ia the inaliena-
bic rights of man to life. liberty. and the pursuit
of happiness. Man is man and thing is thing;
and the true object of free government is to pro-
vide that the two shall IN no case be cOniOunded;
that thing shall not be transformed into man. nor
into thing This is done wherever law is
set shove right, or constitution above humanity
The day that government comes to have interests
separate from those OF the people, or to exercise
powers not derived from them or used expressly
for their benefit the process of transformation
has commenced
The essence ola man-that which distinguishes
him from a thing-s that he has will Liberty
consists in leaving that will free to act in all
things which relate to the mans condition To
say that there has been established "A government
which puts letters upon the will is TO say that
man has been politically enslaved-chsttelize d
Concurrent wills constitute power which has ever
the right To act, through existing organizations if
convenient; if not through such such a. il NAV
construct This is all there is in State rights
The man underlies the whole like the primitive
rock OF the geological system. he is at once the
substratum and the summit. the she'll of tie inte-
rior fire. and the snow capped peak upon the tops
of the mountains His paramount law of con-
duct is the law of his interest: his sole rule
OF restraint. that he shall pursue his Interest in
such way as 10 do no unnecessary injury o. the
interests of others; the only standard tor the adj
measurement OF his acts. justice: that Justice
which allows To- Others all the rights which he
claims for himself
Ii he. standing alone dissents from the govern.
ment under which he lives. and finds IL int0lera
BILE. he may relieve himself by expatriation. Ii
he. with A majority of his fellow citizens dissent,
they may employ tina proper means TO work the
desired change in the government: il he aud the
people of hs State find themselves inconveni
enced by a relation in which their State. as a
State. Is involved. they NAV decree a dissolution
of those relations. aud carry il into effect This
Is all there is in the matter. Ii is simply cues
ton whether men. becoming parts of n tree gov
eminent, Law down their freedom or retain il: "A
question which needs only to he stated 10 sug
gest the only answer of which it is capable
Mr.. voorhees, beats the wind when ne enies
that "a State has right under the Constitution
TO leave the Governmen." There is no question
either of Constitution Governmet Ia the mat
ter. To assume as he appears TO do, that Con
gress aud the President is all Government; the
Constitution an inventory of every existing
human right. and the States simply subjects OF
Congress and the President under the Con-titu
ton, is process which logiclsns call begging
the queStion-sn easy mode of argument, but
one that never known to decide a dispute
beyond the power OF revision-[Cin Eng.
--