The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1864-06-09

or 10 the people, thus emrmlbB em'
phatically that the Government of the
United States and that Of the States,
derived their powers respectively from
precisely the same source.
The right of Secession Is not among
the "pOwers delegated" THERE'S no such
constitutional right. But It is attempted
to be shown that the States accepted the
Constitution either With formal or un-
dcrstood reservations; but where are the
feeoTds2 they are not to be found'--
The Constitution was presented to them
as an ordnance Of Government. The
question before "the people" was its
acceptance or rejection. They accept
ed It with all its provisions. 1t thus
became their Constitution, nothing
could be added to It or taken from it,
hut in the way provided for, in its own
articles. 1t was adopted and ratified by
the authority of "the people" That
this was the view Of those who were
contemporary actors, is apparent from
their words and deeds.
Luther Martin, of Maryland, opposed
the Constitution In the Convention
which formed it, aud his address to the
Legislature Of Maryland, he says, in
speaking of theIold Confederation, chat
in forming our original Federal Gov
ernmsnt, every member of the Govern.
ment, that is, each State, expressly con-
ssnted to it--that It is part Of the com.
tpact made and entered into in the most
solemn manner, that there should be no
dissolution or alteration Of the Federal
Government, without the consent oi
every State, tho members Of and parties
to the original compact" Mr.. Martin
opposed the adoption Of the Cousti'
tuition by the people of Maryland, with
all his abilities, yet it is apparent to
the reader of that address that the idet
Of Secession never entered into hi
thoughts, and had never been entertain
ed by the men Of that day. "The record
ofour initiatory era are equally con
elusive" says Paul Ambrose in Natioua
Intclligencer, "tO the student Of histo
~ to convince him that no man who hat
any part in the fabricstion Of the Con
stitution, nor any portion of the publ
who anxiously watched the progress o
that work, ever intimated an idea tba
right to withdraw from the Unio,
existed either by inference or grant, a
a privilege left to or conferred upor
the respective States. Upon that point
tho silence was universal and full O
meaning"
It is very evident, that generation
regarded the compact as designed to b
perpetual. They would not eve
i agree, as may be seen in Mr.. Madison
8 letter to a member of the New Yor
Convention, to allow a State to make
y conditional ratiacation,-by way of 81
It perimentnl probation Of the COnstitr
b. tion, before a faal acceptance Of it,
# ave have no difficulty" says Mr.. An
!. bros., "in petceiving that the founde,
% interpreted the ratification as an irr,
= vocable surrender by each State of a
o the power required to be surrendert
Y for the common benefit, And as Il
d Government was the compound rcsu'
|. of State action, and popular &C
j. ton, the surrender Of power by II
70 State was an act which was conSrmC
!. and rendered doubly irrovocabls by Il
|. concurrent vote of the people Of Il
, whole Of the States, who came in as
'e third party, binding themselves al
h their States to tho compact throui
ID their several State Conventions" at
o. States were clean Ghorn of every vssti
of sovereignty iu tho circle allotted
y. the National Government, and the n
II tioHal Government was In like maun
n. shOrn oFevery vsstige Of sovereignty
r. the circle sppropriatSd to the .St'
{, Governments They we're complemsI
to each other, and the National &c
N, srnueat has just as much right to q
So rogate the State power and release itS
its from it's obligations to the State, as
h. States have to Abrogate the Natio
,s power and release themselves from th
ed obligations to the Nation"
70. Such was the universal conviction
ne our most approved statesmen, b
or, North and South, up to a very rec
On. period. At the time of the Hartf
yl. Convention, what was tho crime obs
the ed against those who met in 1914
to Was it not a scheme to dissolve
- Union-a project Of Secession -
ere The members of that ConVsntio
one hemently denied the charge, but "
ion out effect so far as the South was
ltsd cstnsd. Has not that Convention
I'm. a standiuR theme Of deuunciatior