Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-08-01

certed action.
obsolete ISSUES.
or course, during the lifetime OF
Rsnublic. the issues IS to matters of ad-
ministrstion and policy, on which par
tea divide, become obsolete. The occs-
sions for them pass away, and the issues
die when the causes thatproduced them
are exhausted.
Alan issues as the nature Of the gov
ernmeut of State msy become obsolete.
Under Tiberius, the issues between the
Patrieians and Plebeisns in the earlier
days Of Rome, had become Obsolete be-
cause the nature Of the Government had
become permanently changed. In Eng
land. where the Constitution is bat q
collection of precedents, the nature OF
the Government may change, and Is
now changing !. but in the United States,
governed by q written Constitution to
interpret which is the duty Of the Courts,
issues and questions as TO the nature and
construction of that Constitution cannot
become obsolete, until the letter Of the
Constitution is altered.
It's not matter Of opinion or con-
struction, but historical fact, as unde-
niabIe IS any fact can be, that the Con-
stitution Of the United States was drafted
by delegates from the States, each State
casting one vote. 1t is fact that it was
ratified by the States, each State giving
a single vote and determining the mat
ter for ITSELF 1t is the law that when a
principal ratifies the act Of his agent, be
makes it to have been his own from the
beginning. It ia fact that the COnsti-
tuition SO made was q compact, agree
ment, covenant and bargain between the
States as corporations, the people of each
State acting as q single party and unit
It Is fact that the phrase We the peo-
pie Of the United States, in the pream-
bic to the Constitution, meant, not the
one people OF all the States as one whole,
because no such one people acted, de-
tsrmiDed or enacted; but the people Of
each and all OF the several States Of the
Confederation; just as the phrase Gin
the name and by the authority Of the
good people Of these colonies" in the
Declaration Of Independence, meant the
people Of each colony, Is a separate
and Independent political community.
The people Of each Colony tcere the Col
Ony, as the people of each State are the
State. In New York, the writs of the
State still run, and suits are brought by
the State, in the name OF The People y
OF the State Of New York.
1t is fact that Mr.. Webster made
fraudulent use Of the phrase, "We, the
People Of the United States" In his ar
gument sgRinst Calhoun; and that he
begged the whole question when be
assumed that the States promised moth
ing and engaged themselves to nothing,
by the Constitution.
The reading of the Constitution agrees
with the facts Of history. For the 9TH
article is in these words: 1.-THE Ratif-
cation Of the Conventions OF nine States,
shall be sufficient for the Establishment
OF this Constitution BETWEEN THE
STATES 30 RATIFYING THE sAMR.n Thus
ratified, Il was established 6etsoeea the
States, and not q government imposed
on these States, by the one people of all.
II WAS ratified by the STATES, the people
Of each State, in Convention by their
delegates, speaking the Will OF the State.
1t is fact, also, that each State con-
tinued to be free, sovereign and indie
pendent; for more than one Of them
habituslly 90 entitled themselves for
half century afterwards; and there
was no one found bold enough to contest
the right OF Georgia or New Hampshire
10 do so.
A fact, principle, truth, can never
become obsolete. Power may prohibit
the assertion, the vindIcRtion or the
maintensnee Of either, and thus no issue
may any longer be made upon it; but,
for all that, it is not dead.
The Constitution Of the United States
Is now whstit always was. It has not been
amended, so Is to declare that it is not
compact between the States, to which
these alone are parties, but Govern.
ment proper, established by the one peo-
pie OF all the States, over the people and
the States alike. It lie not even proposed
by Radioalism 90 to amend 1t, or by
amendment to provide mode of rstify- |
ing amendment to II, different from that |
provided by itseli-by the States, each
acting separately and having equal
voices.
The reason Of this is plain. The /
change Of the nature Of the Constitution I
would have to be effected by az amend
ment adopted by three-fourths Of the
States and even the Northssn States
would net consent to readily, abdlcste
their sovereignty and independence.
The Radical leaders in Congress have
been afraid to propose such an amend.
ment They know that it would raise a
storm which would At once sweep them
from power.
They prefer to claim that force and
conquest have changed the Constitution.
and made obsolete the old issues a. 10
STATE h'Sats alo tals mas beer 90 boldly
and persistently inculcsted, that many
who sustained the lost cause, and many
who fought for it, have not only come 10
admit 1t, but are impatient il il is de-
MED.
But conquest and force cannot change
the meaning of q provision Of the Con-
stitution, or make historical fact to be
. faIsehood, or the truth to be a lie.
These are things SO radically impossible,
that even the Deity's omnipotsnce can.
not effect them. Force cannot be the ,
Interpreter Of language and has no Ju-
siela POvsFF II 8 Court we're nov