Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1867-01-18
ANOTHER CANARD.

Iroin 80 ulstnpuisneda source, WOulu
be calculated to do mischief by Civ
ing weight to erroneous conclusions,
and currency to false estimates Of
southern sentiments and feelings
But none who know Gen. Beauregard
personally, or by report, will hesitate
to discard, as false, the dispatch above
alluded to.
If it be true that the right of Sc
cession and State sovereignty were re-
cognized as important features in the
original formation of our federal sys-
TEN, it is equally true that they are
as prominent up to this hour; and it
would be as untrue as impolitic to
admit that the war has had any other
effect than to prove that brute force
can trample justice and truth under
foot. The defeat of the Crusaders,
by the Saracens, furnishes as strong
an argument against the christian
religion as the defeat of the South,
against the right of secession and the
sovereignty of the States. Wars new
er settle anything more than the rel.
alive strength of the belligerents,
and the changes Of policy, that may
follow, are but the dictation of the
stronger to the weaker power. Our
government may be so completely
revolutionized, by the present usurp
ing faction, as to Qbliterate all exist.
ing landmarks, but as long as the
constitution remains as it is the States
are sovereign, and the right Of seces-
sion continues an attribute of their
sovereignty.
In the Convention of 1857, when
the Constitution was being framed,
resolutions were offered by Patterson,
of New jersey, which concluded thus:
And if any State, or any body of men In
any State, shall oppose or prevent the carry.
ing into execution such acts OF treaties the
Federal Executive shall be authorized to call
forth the power Of the Confederated States,
or 80 much thereof as may be necessary to
an md u
or au observance Of such treaties.
This brought the right of coercion
squarely before the Convention and
with it, Of course, the right of peace
able secession. Edmund Randolph,
Of Virginia, in opposition to the res
olution, said:
There are but two modes by which the
end Of General Government eau he attain
ed; the first, by coercion, as proposed by Mr..
patterson's plan; the second, by real legisla-
ton, as proposed by the other plan. Coer-
cion he pronounced to be impracticable ex-
pensive. cruel to individuals. 1t tended also
to habtuate the instruments of il 10 shed the
blood and riot in the spells Of their fellow
citizens, and, consequently, train them up for
the service of ambition.
Never were remarks more prophet
tic, or prophecy more literally full
filed. On the same subject, Mr..
Madison thus expressed himself:
The more he reflected on the use of force,
the more he doubted the practicability, the
justice and efficacy of it, when applied to
people collectively, and not indiy idually. A
union of the States containing such an in
gredient seemed to provide for its own de-
struction. The use of force against State
would look more like declaration of war
than an intiction Of punishment and would
probably be considered by the party attacked
rs dissolution Of all previous compacts by
which it might be bound. lie hoped that
such system would be framed as m light
render this recourse unnecessary, and moved
that the clause be postponed.
Hamilton, Mason and other great
men expressed identical opinions,
and the proposition to coerce was
unanimously rejected. From that
day to the commencement of the war,
leading men, all over the country, ad-
mitted the right of secession, and the
sovereignty of the States was unques-
toned till the war closed, when base
foaud the way clear for an
usurpation that might be sustained
by the means used to crush the right
of secession and State sovereignty.
To repudiate this high authority, and
accept the result Of the war as a To-
gical refuta ton Of doctrines so well
established, is to throw upon the
South all the odium of the war, and
to oxonerate from all blame, those
who are alone responsible for all the =,
crime and bloodshed resulting from
their wicked ambition and long pre-.
mcditated designs against the rights
Of the South and the liberties Of the
country. If the States were sovereign
before the war, they are sovereign still
and it is a gross SANDER TO impute to