New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-05-18

At the close of the rebellion the loyal people
Of the nation confidently battered themselves
that the reasonable heresy Of State sover-
eighty, or the doctrine of secession. had re-
ceived death-blow, and that we should be
forever rid of that dangerous and disturbing
For long time the rebel leaders
either preserved a profound silence upon the
subject, or frankly admitted that the failure of
the rebellion had settled the question of seces-
sion for oil time. But gradually the Southern
press began to sound public sentiment In re-
gard to the subject, growing holder and holder
until il is as common now to see the doctrine
advocated and defended as before the war.
To-day the Southern rebels are as warmly in
favor of the right of their States to secede from
the Union as in the days Of JOIN G. CALHOUN.
But that is not the most alarming feature Of
the case. The theory Of State sovereignty and
secession seems to have found q sure Judgment
in the Supreme Court of the United States.
and an exponent in one OF its judges. 1t
was proclaimed by Mr.. Justice CLIFFORD at
circuit as the opinion which seems to have
guided the Supreme Court in holding that the
Government Cuulu tnA tuo iucomcs VI
State officers, and is as follows
"Counties and other municipal corporations
were created by the States but the States
were not created by the United States, IS the
States existed as independent sovereignties
even before the Union was formed"
No wonder, that with this opinion to justify
and stimulate it, the doctrine of secession has
been infused with new life, and that the advo-
Gates of independent State sovereignty are
growing holder and more positive. The Pa.
dueah (Ky.) Herald gives US a striking in
stance of the new zeal Justice CLIFFoRDs judi
cial declaration of the constitutionality of
secession has given its advocates
"We do not believe that the question of the
right of secession has been settled either by
the sword or by any of the fraudulent amend
ments to the Constitution. That is o question
outside of, and, from its very nature incapable
of being settled in this way. Its sovereign
right, belonging to the States, which no earthly
power can take from them, except by their
annihilation -
But the New York Tribune has exploded
MIR. Justice CLIFFoRD's argument in favor OF
secession, and indeed the whole absurd doc
trine so effectively that the State-rights thee.
rists will derive very little practical aid from
this declaration from the bench. 1t states that
il is not true, as set forth by Judge CLIFFORD,
that the States were not created by the
| United States that only thirteen of them al
any rate were created before the Union was
formed. The other twenty -four were created
since and By the Union. Most of them were
made out of territory purchased with the money
or conquered by the arms of the Union. A
Territory can only become State by cOnsen,
of Congress. Until it does thus become State,
it must remain only Territory belonging to
the Union and under its absolute control
These are facts beyond dispute, and to twenty
four out of the thirty. seven States of the Union
Justice CLFFoRD's statement cannot apply
They were not made before the Union, but
after it, and were, therefore, its creatures.
What, then, becomes of his dictum of 'nde
pendent State sovereignty"