The weekly standard. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1865-1867, 1865-11-25
"A special |
a>une states

Q f1T - fDA4tSA@ f1Nh AuO41ZON
hero, and exercising q right they ar,
taught to claim-"a most sacredright,
as Mr.. Lincoln declared it to be. AnC
as, Mr.. johnson reiterates that Treason
is the greatest Of crimes, we are led tc
examine how it is regarded by the Con
stitntion of the United States Her,
SO far from beng. thus accounted, it il
selected from all other offences, not tc
be stigmatized, but to be dealt will
gently, and hedged round with protec
tons from extreme punishment. Thus
Art, I, sec, 8; ''No bill of attainde1
shall be passed" Art, III, sec 8; sNc
person shall be convicted of treason
unless on the testimony of two witness
es to the same overt act, or on confes.
sion in open court" In Art IL sec. A
it is elassed with bribery; and the. 81 81
amendment to the constitution requires
that the accused shall have the right
to 9 speedy and public trial by an
impartial jury of the State and dis
trict wherein the crime shall have been
committed Art. n III, sec. 8, ordains
that mo attainder of treason shall
work corruption of blood. or forfeiture
except during the life Of the person at
tainted" And if this trial is to be
conducted calmly as an affair of State
the difficult task must be encountered
of disappearing the right of sover-
eign State to withdraw from its union
with the others, if any counsel dare tc
use the argument. It is not generally
believed in this country that such d
right exists; but Rawle, a competent
legal authority, a Northener, and devo-
ted Unionist asserts, insehis work on
the Constitution, that the right is in
herenti'in the Federal system. s That
the States were originally, each Of
them, free sovereign and independent
power, is very certain, as they were
separately acknowledged BY this coun-
try in these terms.I That their union
under the title of the United States
did not destroy the sovereignty existin
separately in each is also certain, as it
is declared in the Constitution: each
State retains its sovereignty, freedoms
and independence.F That each State
is sovereign under the present Constis
tuition is also certain, as it has been Sc
decided on several occasions BY fh.
Sup eme Court, a decision from. which
there is no appeal. Now, if a soyer-
eign State can not withdraw from it,
union with other States, there must Ibt
some power which prevents it-a pow
+ over it, and superior to its ewnvwill.
Ii SO, its condition is that of inferiori-
ty or subjection to that higher power.
and therefore can not be sovereign. Nc
such power is known to the Constitu-
ZION, for the States are. co-equal; and,
what is popularity termed ethe Govern
ment" is simply the co nmon admins
tration, or Federal agent, to whom GER
tain limited powers were delegated
by the States. s, The recipient of a. del
egated power can not be superior in
authority to those of whom it is the
delegate. This would be to put the
agent above the principal or the serv-
ant above the master; and when a
State delegates" limited powers to an
agent for certain ends, it is difficult to
see that it cannot Withdraw them when
those ends are not attained. This
right to Withdraw, ''to resume them.
was asserted by Virginia when that
State became party to the Constitu-
tion, and it was asserted IN the solemn
form of an act of assembly law of
the State. Virginia, therefore, in Sc
ceding from the Union, simply exerci-
ses the right which she reserved by
law when she entered it. It may be
said that this law has no force beyond
her limits; but they who accepted her
adhesion to the Union with this resery-
ed right, solemnly proclaimed to the
world, can not now complain that it is
exercised; and indeed it is difficult to
see how any State could have entered
into the Federal compact without the
power of Withdrawing if its terms
We're broken. This was the only pos
bic means Of redress or escape from
wrong if committed by the majority.
One of the points of the Constitution
will illustrate this. The small States
insisted that each, whatever its size,
should have equal weight in the Sen
ate, and that this should never be alter
ed to the prejudice of any State with
out its own consent. It results that
the little strip of soil, Delaware, has
its two members In the Senate equally
~ VI rff