The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-03-04
MONDAY EvEN'G, MARCH 8, 1873


MONDAY EvEN'G, MARCH 8, 1873
THUS It's hat the old and nonored doctrines
OF state rights "a they were held by strict con-
structionsis b fore the war. are admi ed TO
have been impaired, if not, indeed, almost ami
hilated, by the failure of The cause in which
they were so vi ally involved And thus II is
that having ost. and ost forever prerogatives
and rights which, as long as they were in exi'-
tence were held, an properly held, sacred, our
paopl- should now seiZ e upon every advantage
offered h IN by the changes that have been
bI onght INFO their s. stem OF goyerDment.-kn-
Qtirer.
We are sorry to see The Enquirer joining
with some other local journals in the State
in the puerile cry that the constitutional
prerogatives and rights of the states were
"almost annihilated" by the war, and to
argue in favor of a still greater surrender of
state-rights, because some of the time
honored doctrines Of the =" strict construc-
iionsts" have lost their hold upon the
American heart and mind.
We differ entirely with cur neighbor as
to the constitutional changes effected by
the war. The war settled two things, and
only two, forever. 1t settled the question
of secession directly, and the question of
slavery incidentally, leaving all other ques-
tons of state-rights, so-called, precisely as
they were before the war.
The right Of state to secede, which
was mere corolary drawn by the strict
constructionists from the doctrine Of state
rights, was never an "honored doctrine"
in this country. 1t had Its origin in the
Hartford Convention, near the close of the
war Of 1912, and was so odous at that
time that it permanently shelved every
politician connected with that convention,
and among them were some of the ablest
men Of the country. The old Federalists
in that convention never lifted their heads
above mere local recognition, after the
effort made by them to withdraw the New
England states from the Union. At that
time the South was unit against this ex-
IRENE doctrine. But the sudden treaty of
of peace and the defeat of Lord Packing
ham by General jackson at New Orleans,
prevented the Hartford Convention from
carrying the extreme doctrines Of secession
into effect, as the leading men in that body
designed. The universal odium visited
upon them in all parts of the country, was
evidence that the doctrines of the "strc'
constructionists " of that day were neither
honoe in the breech nor in the observ
ance. They were in fearful bad odor ever
in New England, and the convention which
was held to give effect to the obnoxious
dogma was obliged to SIT with barred
doors in order to evade the popular clamol
against them.
So of the same doctrines in lSG0-6l
Even Virginia did not honor them. A
majority of the convention sitting in this
city in 1861, were opposed to the secession
corollary, and nothing but violent demon
straton, made by the :" strict construction
lists" coming up from all parts of thu
Southern Confederacy," so-called, ant
demanding an ordinance of secession, Sc
cured it. 1t was the work of intimidation
in this state, not the honest sentiment o
the people.
But why urge further surrender o
state-rights in advocacy of an assumption b,
the federal government of the ante-bellun
debts of Virginia, when much atrongel
and more effective plea can be made in ia
yor Of their assumption, without surren
deriug solitary right, but rather by com
polling the recognition of a most important
right on the part Of the federal government
The proposition of the Governor, (which find:
its almost only advocate in The Enquirer
is especially obnoxious in this, that it place
the rascally debts created in many of the
states since the war on the same footing o
responsibility with the debts of the ole
state of Virginia, which were contracted IL
good faith and for the most commendablt
of public enterprises. Almost the entire
indebtedness of the South has been created
since the war, and in most of the states i
is tainted with the vilest corruption ant
fraud. Virginia has no such stain upol
her escutcheon. She has met all her liza
blities accruing since the war, and has stIl
means to meet them. But in order t.
crafty the greed of the bondholders of thu
old state, she proposes to stain her escutch
con with the infamy attached to thos'
swindling governments of the South, who's
only aim since the war has been to rul
up Indebtedness of questionable charac
ter against the people.
Hon. S. w. KELLOGG has been unanl
mnnsly renominated for Congress in th