The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-05-18

French convention armed its deputies with
this power, and sent them TO tho southern
departments OF the republic. The maasa-
cfcs, murders nnd other atrocities which
they committed, show what tho passions
Of the Oldest men in the most civilized So
ciety will attempt 10 do when wholly TIT
restrained by law. The men Of our race
In every age hate struggled 10 tic up the
hands Of their governments ahd keep them
within the law, because their own expert.
eDce OF oil mankind taught them that
rulers could not be relied on to coneedc
those rights which they we're not legally
bound to respect The head of great
empire has sometimes governed it with a
mild and patcrnal sway; but the Kindness
Of an irresponsible deputy never yields
what The law docs not extort from him.
Between such n master and the people
subjugaied 10 bis domination, there can be
nothing but onmIty. lie Furnishes them
Il they resist his authority, and If they
submit to il he hates them for their ser.
Witty.
come now to a question which is, il
possible, still more important.
Have We the power to establish and
carry into execution moasure like this
! answer certainly not If VIC derive our
authority from the constitution. aud if We
aFe bound by tho limitations which irnpo.
ses. This proposition is perfectly clear.
that no branch of the federal government
executive, legislative or judicial, can hare
any Just powers except those which ii do
rives through. and exercises under the
organic law of the union. Outside of the
tconsiitution We have no legal authority
more than private citizens Of the United
States, which arc within the union. but ii
shields every human being who comes. or
II brought under our Jurisdiction. We
have no right to do in one place more
ithan IN another that which the constitu.
tion says We shall not do at all. Ifthcre.
fore, the Southern States were in truth,
out Of the union, VIC could not treat their
people in n way which the fundamental
Law iorbids. Some people assume that
'hc success Of our arms in chrushing the
opposition which was made in some OF the
states to the execution of the federal laws.
reduced those states, and all their people
he innocent as well as guilty. to oondi.
ton OF yassalagc, and gave US a power
over them which tho constitution does not
bcstow, or define or limit. No fallacy can
be more transparent than this. Our vic
tories subjected the insurgents to legal
obeiience, not TO the yoke Of IN arbitrary
despoiism. When M absolute sovereign
reduces his rcbellious subjects, he may
deal with them according 10 his pleasure.
because he had that power before but
when limited monarch puts down an In
surrcction he must still govern according
TO law. IL an insurrcction should take
place in one of our states against the au.
thority OF the state government, and cud
in the overthrow of those who planned it.
would that take away the rights of all the
people Of counties where ii was favored
by part or majority Of the population
Could they, for such reason, be wholly
outlawed and deprived of their represen-
tation in the legislature have always
conicnded that the government of the
United States was sovereign within its
constitutional sphere; that it executed its
laws like the statos themselves. by apply
Ing is coercive powers directly 20 iadi-
viduais, and that IL could put down insur-
Section With the same effect as a state, aud
40 other. The opposite doctrine is the
worst hcrcsy Of those who advocated Sc
cession. and cannot be agreed to without
ADMITTING herosy to be right. Invasion,
insarrection. rebellion aud domestic vio-
icncc were anticipated when the govern
mcnt was framed, and the means of re-
pelling aud supprcssing them were wisely
provided for in the constitution, but il was
not thought necessary to declare that the
states in which they might occur should
be expelled from the union.
Rcbcllions, which were invariably sup
pressed, occurred prior to that out of
which these questions grow; but tho states
continued to exist and the union remained
unbrokcn. In Massachusetts, in Penn
sylvnnia, in Rhode Island and in New
York, at different periods 10 our history.
violent and armed opposition to the Uni
ted States was carried on, but the rcla-
tions of those states with the federal gov
ernment were not supposed to be inter-
rupted, or changed thereby after the re-
bellious portions of their population were
defeated aud put down. It is true that
in these earlier cases there was no formal
depression OF determination to with
draw from tho union, but 1t Is also true
that In tho Southern states the ordinances
of secession were treated by all the friends
of the rnion as nero nullities, and are
now acknowledged to be so by the states
themselves. If we admit that they had
any force or validity, or that they did in
fact take the states In which they we're
passed out of the union, we sweep from
under our feet all the grounds upon which
We stand in justifying the use of federal
force to maintain the integrity Of the gov
ernmcnt This is bill passed by Con-
gress in time Of peaoe There is not, in
any Of the states brought under its opera
ton, either war or ipsurreetioa, The
laws OF the states and the federal govern
pent are in undistributed and harmoni-
GUS operation. The courts, state and .ju-
dicial, are open and In tho full exercise
| of their proper authority. Over every
state comprised in the free military dis
tricts, life, liberty and property, qr0 So
cured by state laws and judicial law, and
the national constitution is everywhere
obeyed. What, then, is the ground on
which this bill! proceeds? The title Of
the bill annnoqnccs that it is intended for
these ten states. It is recited, by way oi
- lof.ai &<,