The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-02-13

doctrine as that which the Court are now
for the first time desired to pronounce--tc
wit, that insurgents who have risen against
| their sovereign, expelled her courts, eStab-
lished revolutionary government, organ
| lied armies and commenced hOstilitiee, are
not enemies because they are traitors. and
| a war levied on the Government by traitors
in order to dismember and destroy it, is not
Wdr, because it is an insurrection." And
| again the Court say: "When the regular
course Of justice is interrupted by revolt,
rebellion or instruction, SO that the courts
Of justice cannot be kept open, ctvit ,cdr ex-
! lists, and hostilities may be prosecuted on
the same footing as if those opposing the
| Government were foreign enemies invad-
| ing the land" And further on in the Opin-
ion, as descriptive Of the true character Of
the present rebellion, the Court say: at is
no loose, unorgaNized instruction, having
a boundary marked by lines of bayonets,
and which can be crossed only by force;
south of this line is enemies territory, be-
cause it IL held in possession by an organ
lied, hostile and belligerent power"
! Such are some Of the deliverances Of the
highest judicial tribunal of the Union
They repudiate emphaticallv the mischiev-
Gus heresy that the union OF the States I'M
der the Constitution is a mere league or
compact, from which . State, or anY num-
Der OF States, may withdraw at pleasure,
not only without the consent of the other
States, but against their will They deny
the assumption that full and unqualified
sovereignty still remains in the States or
the people of q State, and affirm, on the
contrary, that, BY express words of the
Constitution, solemnlv ratified by the peo-
pie Of the United States, the National Gov
eminent is supreme within the range of the
powers delegated to it; while the States are
sovereign only in the sense that they have
an indisputable claim to the exercise of all
the rights and powers guaranteed to them
| by the Constitution Of the United States, or
which are expressly or by fair implication
reserved to them.
might, perhaps close this opinion here.
But the course Of the learned counsel in
his argument seems to Justify, il it does
not call for, some additional views. And
the first remark is, that apart from the
light which the high judicial authorities to
| which have referred has thrown on the
subject under discussion, l should have ar
| rived at the same conclusions which they
announce. 1t IS my strong conviction that
the language of the Constitution, in con-
nection with the known history Of its ori-
gin. formation and adoption, leaves no
room for doubt rs TO the character and
| structure Of the Government which it crea-
| ted. Its history is we'll authenticated, and
| y
| OF truth. l cannot, on an accession like
| this, refer to or adduce the many facts
| which throw light upon the views and in
| tentions of the eminent patriots and states
men to whom we are indebted for our i'm
| lmitable Constitution. One thing is GER
! tain, the American people are in no danger
of estimating their services too highly, or
| according to their memories measure of
honor which is not Justly their due. With
| the Illustrious Washington at their head,
they entered upon the arduous duty of re-
constructing the Government under cir
cumstances of deep depression and gloom.
The confederation under which the Union
had for some time existed, had proved
| lamentable failure, and was on the verge Of
dissolution from its own inherent weak
ness. The hearts of the patriots who had
toiled and bled in the Revolutionary strug-
gle for national liberty and independence,
were stirred To their Utmost DEPTHS from
| an apprehension that their great achieve
ments would prove fruitless of the results
which they had anticipated. They felt
deeply the truth that, in framing a new
structure OF government, they must avoid
the rock on which the old one had toun-
dered, and must, above all things, incorpo-
| rate an element Of power to bind the States
| in an indtsSoluble national union. This is
plainly indicated in the preamble, which
declares as one of the objects Of the Consti-
tuition, the formation of "a more perfect
Union, and is apparent not only from the
debates III the Convention, but from the
language used throughout the entire in
strument After months of anxious toll
and earnest deiiberation, the present Con-
stitution was agreed TO, and submitted TO
the people for their sanction and adoption.
1t was adopted by conventions in all the
States, elected by the people for this pur-
pose; and thus as the act Of the people be-
| came the organic law. It's trainers did not
al anti D,,I
plating the possibility that time would de-
velope some necessary changes, wisely
| provided for it's amendment by the same
| authority that had ordained and established
it. 1t is not proposed to enter upon an ex-
tended discussion OF the powers of the
Government, under the Constitution thus
framed and adopted. That it was designed
| to institute government of the people.
| and for the people of the United States, and
| to confer upon it, within the powers grant
ed or fairly implied, the attributes Of sover-
eighty or supremacy, cannot admit of a
question. There is in the language of the
Supreme Court in case before referred
to, a Qtatijled allegiance due to the State in
which the citizen has his domicile, but it is
| subordinate TO the allegiance due to the SUI
preme Government The Government
therefore, has a perfect right to exact, and
has exacted from every one enjoying its
protection, the duty of fidelity and ale
4 SluASSs AAu ~ Is certainly II IdCl worthy
of note, that there is not word or phrase
in the Constitution of the United States
which gives the least countenance to the
theory that State can Obstruct or nuliify
the authority of the General Government,
exercised within its constitutional limits.
Much less can the supreme folly Of giving
its sanction to the right Of any State, or
any number of States, to withdraw At will
from the Union, be imputed to the Consti
| tuition. Such provision could not be
viewed in any other light than as a sole
cism in the structure of Government 1t
would be substantially provision for its
own dissolution, without the sanction or
agreement of the power which created il.
| But am not at liberty to extend this
discussion. I may remark, in closing that
there were those in the Convention which
framed the Constitution. and in the Con-
ventions of the States which ratified it, who
objected to it because it created a national
consolidated or supreme Government %
the United States. There was no differ
ence of opinion then, as to the character of
the government which the Constitution
created, but the ground of its opponents