The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-04-03

sir, they are not exercised according to
their will and appointment, but in
derogation of both, what then pray,
what then? What remedy have you
suggested in your Bill OF Rights
Will you tell them that your Bill Of
Rights solemnly declares that these
powers can only be expressed in &C
cordance to the will aad appointment
of the citizens? You will get the
pleasing and agreeable reply, 1--WE are
West Virgins" and "she is and shall
remain" Rights, with remedies denied
in advance, are not worth calling rights.
l may lie told all this amounts to
nothing. Why proclaim abstract rights
In peace we need them not; in war
they are held for naught If this argu-
ment means anything in this particular
case, it ought to apply generally. Then
why assert any rights? Why have
eleven members to draft bill of rights?
Why have you spent days in Committee
of the Whole revising and amending the
report, and why are you now in con-
vention for the same purpose? They
are truly worthless if you mean to
assert them and not maintain them.
But if every State should assert and
maintain the great abstract rights con-
tanned in the Declaration OF Indepen-
dence, which 1 propose to insert in the
second Article, there can be no internal
or civil war; there will be nothing to
war about, and if war should come,
"thrice armed lie he who hath his
quarrel just" Shall West Virginia be
the first to declare the doctrine Of tame
submission to usurped, arbitrary and
despotic power? Shall she be first to
surrender the sacred trust committed to
her by our fathers, and sit like Patience
on a monument waiting for the heel of
to be set down upon her
bosom? Or will she plant herself on
firm ground and maintain her integrity
to the last? And if true principles
should be banished from other portions
of the earth, still form a nucleus around
which the lovers of freedom can rally?
Shall not her sons say for her in this
day, what Washington said OF her in
his day, "Give me but banner and /
will plant it on the hills Of West Au-
yusta. and there will rally around it
men who will defend the liberties Of the
Sir, the governmental contract has
.wo sides to it. The pledge on part OF
he Government, is that it will protect
he citizen in the enjoyment OF lie,
liberty, the means Of acquiring and
holding property, and the lawfal pursuit
If happiness and prosperity; and IN
.eturn for this protection the citizen
obliges himself to remain under and
lender obedience TO it. Protection and
allegiance are rec procal duties, and the
,ne expires with the other; the obliga'
ion on part OF the citizen 10 remain
under, uphold, defend and obey
exists no longer than
protects him in the enjoy
ment of his rights.
In the compact between the States
certain we'll defined rights and powers
are delegated to the United States, and
the remaining rights and powers are
sacredlv to remain with the States. AS
long as the General Government con
fines itself 10 the exercise Of those dele
gated powers, the States bind them.
selves to accept its laws as supreme and
render obedience thereto. But when
that Government grasps the reserved
rights Of the States, the contracts vlo-
lated and may rightfully be abrogated.
Insert this terrible mandatory provl-
sion, the rights Of the citizen may 60
and the reserved powers
may be usurped. The remedy you had
you have surrendered, and you are at
mercy; and mercy you may seek where
mercy is not to be found. How this
Objectionable provision found Its way
into our first Constitution, know not );
but presume its meaning was neither
fully comprchended by the Convention
that made, or the people who adopt
ed it.
1t was most likely ins;diously gotten
into the instrument under the speclous
that land shall remain
wer unmeauing words, and that the
sense Of the sentence is not changed by
their insertion. We find them there,
and attempt to engraft them in our new
Constitution because we found them
there, and because they were without
meaning and therefore harmless. But
be not mistaken; it is a voice saying to
the doctrine OF passive obedience and
non resistance, Thy dry bones shall
live" and there then remains but one
step to consolidation, and farewell to
American liberty. Let us not be lulled
into carnal security by smooth phrase
ology; the price Of Liberty is e'ernal
vigilance"
SIR, love and honor my govern
ment in all its departments, lut | have
lived too long in the world to be led into
the belief that we can add the one
thousandth part OF second to its
duration by proclaiming from morn till
night land shall remain" "'Tls not
ali who say Lord Lord! who shall
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but
he that doth the will OF my Father
which is in Heaven But give to the
citizen a good government. securing to
him The blessings Of religious freedom,
let him know that it is his government,
that i, rests upon his shoulders, and that
when it fails to accomplish the ends for
which it was erected that it is his right
to alter or abolish it, and he will love
and cherish, protect and defend it; such
a government, like the wise mans house,
will stand, because it is founded on a
rock. Keep this government resting on
the principles which underlaid it in its
creation.
Give us such q Government as this
and I will unite with you in PRAYING
for ;,s nerpetuity let il stand, sir let it