The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-06-02

honiio'ue oIe vi SelI-Qe1ence-the
previous "retreat to the WALL"
The Southern commonwealth were re-.
ally lighting for constitutional liberty,
which, under the circumstances, they
thought seriously imperiled, and likely to
be preserved by secession. Earl Russel's
assertion was true, that "the South
fought for independence, the North for
empire. The wish of the former for con-
stltutlonal liberty and Independence was
manifested by their adopting the federal
constitution, with scarcely a change
Secession was justifable if there was no
other mode of selEpreservation, or remedy
for wrongs: for selfpreservation was the
hrst law OF nature to states as we'll as per-
sons. But they had not properly come to
| this last resort, as we shall see, by nothing
the imp loaded pleas of the states that re-
malned united-pleas under the jus aeu-
tim.
lst. They had the right to assume that
rroVidence intended, as our fathers did,
ehat all the territory between British Am
erica and Mexico should be under one DO.
iltlcal system, and they had right mot
under the Constitution, which the states
voluntarily made, and could voluntarily
abandon) but under the jus gentium to
prevent or to cure disruption.
I'd They had the right to object to the
establishment of contiguous foreign state
or federation, with its necessary rivalry,
and antasonistic interests and policy, and
the inevitable and ever-recurring interna-
| tional troubles.
3D.. They could complain shat. in spite
of constitutional engagements, as well as
in disregard of the respect due to the fa-
theirs, secession should be resorted to be-
fore exhaustng all the remedies contem-
plated and provided for in the Constitu-
ton, or arising out of the circumstances :
especially as Congress, the Supreme Court,
and numerical majority of about l,OOO,-
uoo popular votes were on the side of con-
servatlsm against weak President, and
could make the remedies efficient. This
alone was justification enough under the
jus gentiun, for the adhering states to CO.
cree back the seeding ones.
And other pleas might have been made
AS to the territory occupied by the new
states, as to the forts, ornaments, public
property, etc., as well as the federal debt.
Ia all these cases precision ofpleadlng, and
absolute sufficiency, were unnecessary for
| states to judge for themselves, in the last
resort, as to subjects of complaint and ca
ses of war; and our states in their federal
Constitution provided no mode of settle
ment, or tribunal for such matters, so that
the law of nations was the only resort for
rul IS of action.
And here it is we'll to observe that while
the seeding states acted with impolicy,
and were wrong in the respects and to the
degree mentioned, the cOercing ones We're
eravely to blame for the original causes of
the troubie--for constant and manifold ag-
gressions and acts of injustice aud, fnal.
ly for their non conciliatory and uncompro-
misirg spirit, aud their Discrimination to
resort to diplomatic expedients under the
law OF nations to avoid SO awful recourse
as war, which, if it can be avoided with
honor and Integrity, is a most heinous
crime. And, moreover, a party demanding
justice before any tribunal must himself
have sought to do justice.
OUR SYSTEM AS THUS MODIFIED.
The precedent, then, may be considered
as established mot in the consti tutional
butt in the international part of our law
and politics, that all other m cans of get
ting Justice and preserving selfgovern-
ment and statehood must be exhausted be-
fore secession ia allowable. But it is as
republics that states are to be held in, or
coerced back to, the Union for the great
end always in view is the preservation OF
constitutional liberty as established in the
states, under the guidance of the fathers
and this necessiiates absolute selEgovern-
ment of the people as organized.
These. then, may be considered as the
cardinal principles of our system as it
stands at present 1. We have states
self associated for their seltprotection and
self-govdanment. 2. Their status is that
of sovereign political bodies, known to the
law of nations and described in the Consti-
tuition as states. 8. Being republics or
selfgoverning peoples, they must, accord
ing to the law of their nature, govern
themselves, not in any qualified sense but
absolutely. a. Their governments, state
| and federal, are agencies and subordinate
to them. 5. The federal agency has the
joint authority of the states to govern Their
citizens within certain limits, and WELD the
coercive meaas entrusted to it; but there
| is but one rule of duty, for it, i. e., the
Constitution, which each member of the
agency is sworn strictly to observe, and
Which cannot be disrega'.Cled aoahout usatr-
patton. g. I he states must remain in the
Union till the last remedy the Constitution
affords against injustice and loss of self
government and statehood has been resort
ed to. Z. When constitutional means are
exhausted, or show themselves to be vain.
any means of selfpreservation is justitiable
to a state, for it is according to the first
Law of nature.i 8. If secession be the rem
edy a state finally determines on, it affords
| the occasion for diplomacy or War, as
among other nations.
TWO IMPORTANT IDEAS.
/. Suppose given states, then, to have
gone through the forms of secession the
adhering ones. without denying either the
fact or the right of secession, may, for the
sake of argument IT, e., the ultima ratio, J
concede that the former are out of the Un.
ion, proceed to fight them as foreign states
amenable to the jus gentium and enforce
their return to the Union while, on the
other hand, the coerced states cannot in
woke as protection against such coercion
the Constitution they have abandoned.
2. Upon such basis the coercion ofstates
is not inconsistent with the federal com
pact. But the states victorious in the re-
cent war claimed that the acts of secession
were null and that they resorted to con.
stitutional coercion. By these pleas they
! q; ,,Ip oopu;otod than oivos Of mo rri N n