Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-05-07
AT WHAT HOUR DID THE UNION OF
STATES, CREATED BIZ IA
THEIRS, DIFF


ar WHAT HOUR DID THE UNION 81
STATES, CREATED BIZ TIE IA
THEIRS, DIFF
1t was created by the Articles of Con
| federation between independent Sow
ereignties and, only continued by thu
Constitution, was a compact between thu
same SovereigDs.
Upon maintaining 1t Is a compact be
tween the States, and not a consolidation
Of their people into one great irrationa
democracy, the continuance Of thu
model Republic depended.
That Union gave up the ghost wheI
Mr.. WEBSTER convinced the swarminl
millions of the Northern hive that By
the Constitution the States engaged
for nothing and promised nothing" bu
on the contrary bowed to the supreme
law imposed upen them by the II PEG
pie, that never yet had been one, of al
| the Confederated States. Or if not then
it did when the Supreme Court OF th'
United States, its judgment as much con
trolled by MARSHALL, as If he still
lived, came to the singular conclusion, IL
the PRAIGG case, that the Constitution
created no obligation upon the States t.
deliver up fugitives from labour and ser
vice. That decision shattered the bonds
that held the Union together, and made
n o other Union thereafter possible, but
that which results from the compression
by power Of reluctant Provinces into 6
single Empire.
The question which came up in 1851,
for argument by arms; and decision by
wager of battle, was beyond all compari.
son the greatest that had arisen in the
misconduct of human affairs since the
making Of the world; for on its solution
depended half a million lives, and the
fate Of a republic that occupied half 8
continent. Unfortunately, when it came
up for decision, the country was in the
hands of men Of that kind with which
God never affiicts a country, until He
e to destroy it. That question was,
in brief, whether the Constitution was a
LAW that uttered its commands to the
States, or a solemn contract between
themselves embodying mutual promises,
and the keeping of these depending, not
upon any power of coercion vested in a
superior, but upon the honour and good
faith Of the States themselves.
The doctrine of WEBSTER, adopted by
the Supreme Court, was that the Consti-
tuition created no obligations by way OF
contract, compact, or pledge Of sovereign
faith and honour, between the States.
According to it, these were, indeed, no
parties to the instrument. 1t was a law,
imposed, of course, by a Superior and
not an agreement and covenant between
The Union of the States ended, as soon
as that doctrine had, to enforce itself,
the majority Of votes. Nothing has
happened since, that has not been q
legitimate consequence Of the recogni-
ton OF that adulterine heresy as the
Gospel of a North, whose politics long
since became a strange mixture of cant
and knavery,-the latter claiming the
benefit of the Constitution while indie
violating it the former pretend
ing moral and religious seruples as an
for the rascality that cheats and
swindIes while it pirates Of philanthropy
and prays.
The lovers Of republican institutions,
if any yet survive, seeing the villainies
to which free States can resort, and the
impudence that makes it treason to
read the Constitution in its true sense,
and the miserable imbecility Of our Con-
st~itutional guarantees, and the rotten
ness of our whole political and social
system, may we'll say with PITT, after
the battle OF Austerlitz, "Roll up the
map! There will be no use for it
for fifty yeors!" The people of the
North have done q thousand times more
to perpetuate monarchical institutions,
than the Holy Alliance effected, with
all It's tolls n schemlrgS.
HaUeterasct hoe quOque," TACTTUs
Claudius say, - ct quod hOdie er-
ttfeR,y, inter epeB9Pld crit" What
we are doing will by and by be of the
Past, also, when our Present shall have
grown grey with age and what we now,
following fatal examples, do, will take
its place among examples. That it will
not advantage the cause Of freedom, is
but too evident. Yet our example nIly
teach the Republics that are yet in tho.
womb Of the future, to avoid the shoals on
we havec Conferred %shipwreck.
Those who gill not themselves profit by
the lessons Of history and experience,
are often, in the great dispensations Of
Providence, made to serve as teachers
for others.