Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-02-10

better. The Government" It adds, "can
forego confiscation, If necessary; but 1t can
not afford either to commit suicide, or to
stultify itself" IN
We give below the comments of the
Times on Mr.. SrEvENs's proposition that the
''rebel States" as they are styled, are out Of
the Union, and ask the reader to carefully
examine the extract and preserve 1t for
future use. Remember these utterances are
not taken from what the Radicals would
stigmatize as 'tiisloyal Copperhead sheet"
but from 'loyal' influential organ of their
own party: -,s
To say, rs Mr.. Stevens does, that the rebel
States are out Of the Union, Is to say that
secession has been accomplished. 1t Is to
admit precisely what the Calhoun school as
serted, that States have the power to detach
themselves from the Union; for If these
States have been detached at all, 1t has been
by their own act and nothing else. We
gain nothing by saying that this power has
Been simply a PHYSICAL power, and was ex-
ercised against constitutional obligations.
For if secession was unconstitutional, 1t
was null, just as all other unconstitu--
tional acts are; and no acts of physical
power can render it valid. The con-
cession of Mr.. Stevens that the 'rebel
States y have seeded, virtually con-
cedes their constitutional :, right to
secede. If they had that right, what are
we fighting for? Is It answered, because
they commenced the war by firing on Sum-
ter? That plea won't hold. President Lin
coin, in his inaugural, six weeks before
Sumter was bombarded, announced his set
tied purpose to enforce Federal authority
over these States. He, in effect, made q
declaration of war against them unless they
submitted. If they had right to secede.
they were not bound to submits; and they
had a perfect right to accept President Lin,
coins words as declaration of war, and
strike the first blow If they could get it. II
Georgia and South Carolina are out of the
Union to-day, they were just as completely
out of it In April, 1861. Their secession or
dinances had been passed three months, and
the Montgomery Government had been es-
tablished two months. If Mr.. Stevens Il
right, we are the aggressors in this conflict.
sThe Confederacy" wanted peace, and sent
Commissioners to Washington to secure 1t
We would not receive them, and proclaimed
war They accepted war. The question
who fired the first gun is nothing. y
If the so-called "Confederate Atates" are
not in the Union, then they are 10reign ma
tion, and Mr.. Stevens consistently so styles
them. But what is this but recognition OF
their nationality? II they have nationality.
what right have we to object to their being
at st. James by Mr.. Mason, and
at the Tuileries by Mr.. Slidell? Or, why
may not England and France send Minis !
tiers Plenipotentiary to Richmond? Does !
the mere fact that nation is at war with
no shut them from dinlomatic intercourse
with other nations? Mr.. Stevens cannot
really mean to plunge into that absurdity. (;
Nothing is made by saying that this nation !,
ality relates only to the operations of war.
If the confederate States are out Of the
Union at all, they are out altogether They
are.no longer part of us. They are a
foreign nation to all intents and purposes
at war with lis, TO be sure, but none the
less foreign. The mere fact of the war does |
not affect their national status one way or
the other.