The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-03-13


great empire has sometimes governed IL
With q mild and raternal sway; but the
kindness of an irresponsible deputy new
CT yields what the law docs not extort
from him. Between such q master and
the people subject to his domination there
can be nothing but enmity; he Furnishes
them if they can resist his authority, and
if they submit to it, he hates them for
their servility.
I come now 10 q question which is, if
possible, still more impc tant. Have we
the power to establish and carry into cx-
ecution a measure like this? / answer,
certainly not, if we derive our authority
from the Constitution, and if VIC are
bound by the limitations which it impo-
ses. This proposition is perfectly clear
that no branch of the Federal Govern
ment. executive, legislative or judicial,
can have any just powers, except those
which it derives through and exercises
under the organic law of the Union.
Outside OF the Constitution, we have no
legal authority more than private citizens,
and within it we have only 50 much as
that instrument gives us This broad
principle limits all our functions, and ap-
plies to all subjects. 1t protects not only
the citizens of States which are within
the Union, but it shields every human
being who comes or is brought under our
Jurisdiction. We have no right to do in
one place more than in another that
which the Constitution says we shall not
do at ALL If, therefore, the Southern
States were in truth out of the Union,
we could not treat their people in way
which the fundamental law forbids.
Some person assume that the success
of our arms in crushing the opposition
which was made in some of the States to
the execution Of the Federal laws, re-
duccd those States and all their people
the innocent as well as the guilty-to the
condition of vassalage, and gave us a
power over them which the Constitution
does not bestow, or define, or limit No
fallacy can be more transparent than this
Our victories subjected the insurgents to
legal obedience, not to the yoke Of an ar
bitrary dcspotism. When an absolute
sovereign reduces his rebellious subjects,
he may deal with them according to his
pleasure. because he had that power be-
fore. But when limited monarch puts
down an insurrection, he must still govern
according to law. If an insurrection
should take place in one of our States
against the authority Of the State Gov
ernmert, and end in the overthrow of
those who planned it, would that take
away the rights of MI the people of the
counties where it was favored by part
or Il majority of the population Could
they, for such q reason, be wholly out
lawod and deprived of their. representa-
tion in the Legislature? / have always
contcnded that the Government of the
United States was sovereign within its
constitutional sphere; that It executed its
laws like the States themselves, by ap-
plyingi its cocrcivc power directly to in
dividuals and that it could put down
fnsurrcction with the same effect rs a
State, and no other. The opposite doc
trine is the worst heresy of those who ad-
vocated secession, and cannot be agreed
to without admitting that hcrcsy to be
right.
Invasion, insurrection, rebellion and
domestic violence were anticipated when
the Government was framed; and the
means of rcpclling and supprcssing them
wcrc wisely provided for in the Constitu-
ton; but it was not thought necessary
to declare that the States in which they
might occur should be expelled from the
Union. Rebcllions, which were invaria-
bly, suppressed, occurred prior to that
out of which these questions grow; but
the States continued to exist and the
Union remained unbroken. In Massa-
chusetts, in Pennsylvania, in Rhode Iss
land and in New York, at different peri
dds in our history, violent and armed or=
position to the United States was carried
on; but the relations OF those States with
the Federal Government were rot sup
posed to be interrupted Or changed there
by, after the rcbclious portions of their
population were defeated and put down.
it is true that in these earlier cases there
was RIO formal expression Of determine
ton TO withdraw from the Union, but it
is also true that in the Southern States
the ordinances of secession wcrc treated
by all the friends of the Union as mere
nullitics, and are now acknowledged 10
be so by the States themselves, Ii VIC
admit that they had any force validity,
or that they did in fact take the States in
which they were passed out of the Union,
we sweep from under our feet all the
grounds upon which we stand in justify
inr the use of Federal force to maintain
the integrity of the Government.
This is a bilE passed by Congress in time
of peace. There is not in any of the
States brought under its operation either
war or insurrection. The laws Of the
States and of the Federal Government are
all in undisturbcd and harmonious opera
ton. Tho courts, State and Federal, are
open, and in the full exercise OF their