The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-10-21

oAy ehab AU S6ASSy aftSSS
to find that my remarks at the meeting
referred to have engaged their attention
or interest beyond the time occupied by
their delivery. As is known they were
merely supplementary to the speech OF
Capt. Dsntord, and as such the outcome Of
the occasion. l DO not recollect to have
ever written out political speech and l
can, hardly suppose 1t is worth while.to at.
tempt 70 reproduce even synopsis cfthe
desultory remarks Of Thursday evening
They grew out, in part, OF the
scene depicted by Capt. Dautord
Of the Oath taking process 10 the
House OF Representatives, and Of the
supposed value that might attach to a
mans oath to stand by the ConStitution Of
the country who had already violated one
oath OF that sort, ss was the case with not
few Of the present Southern members
Of Congress. The Captains description
Of the way the two oaths now in vogue in
Congress are administered, recalled, as l
stated in my remarks, the fact thatI had
seen on the 4th OF March, 1850, the oath
OF foftice, AZ a Senator OF the United States,
administered to John C. Breckenridge, OF
Kentucky. / made the point that Mr..
Breckenridges oath had not kept him ou
Of the rebellion more than few weeks,
and tha, he probably meditated rebellion
against the Government at the very time
he took it. Iasked the question whether
1t could be possible that these men who
thus took an oath only to disregard II
were lost to moral seasibility and &C.
countability, apd were actually petiurers
in the full sense Of that term. l ex.
pressed the opinion that they were not,
but that their reconciliation Of the oath
with their subsequent course grew on. Of
the School OF politics to which they be-
longed, yiE-the States Rights School,
school that made the late Rebellion
easily possible and that could make a new
one possible whenever it might snit.
alluded to the fact that conspicuous
disciple oithis school was the Attorney
General Of Virginia when the rebellion
broke out, and that, acting on the interpre
tation OF the Constitution OF the United
States by hia School, he had actually ab.
solved all foreign born citizens Of the
United States, residing in Virgins, from
their oaths Of allegiance to the Federal
Government, claiming that their oaths
were taken to that government by and
through their primary citizenship OF and
allegiance TO Virginia.
Ny point, upon this statement Of the
case, was that no political party that held
or affiliated with any such yiswoi the
binding nature Of allegiance to the Uni
ted States, was ito be intrusted with ID
destiny. rn effect, we had no government
at all IL this was the nature Of ii. Il was
4 mere league Of States, like the once ia.
nous Hanseatic league Of commercial
cities, dissolyable at the pleasure Of any
one party to the league We were still
virtually living under the old Articles Of
Confederation, which were expressly IN.
derstood 10 mean an offensive and deien-
sive alliance OF States, and not under that
"more perfect Unien" that superseded
that league or alliance, and that was con.
summated not by States but by the people
ofAe ,rsOIe United States.
To speak of a State being sovereign,
and the government Of which it is a
member being also sovereign, is q con.
tradlction in terms. Howeould the gov
ernment "a the ,"agent" Of sovereign
State say that no State shall perform well
defined acts Of sovereignty, such aa max
ing war, coming money, leyying duties
&c. Itwould be as il an agent could per,
form acts which his principal could not
perform. The stream would in that case
rise higher than the fountain.
compared the states Of the American
Union to the counties OF State, and to
the townships of Ecounty. The State Of
West Virginia has we'll understood gov.
ermen,al and parental relation to her
counties, As to them-in matters domes'
tic-she Is sovereign, just as the Federal
Government to her IN matters foreign,
international or national, Is sovereign. I
asked the audience how we could BE- 8
State II county could defy the power o.
the State; or how We could preserve ths
still closer relations Of society II 4 town
ship could defy the power Of the county,
ohiGcOunty has ten townships, each oue d
which is subordinate to the power Of thu
Commissioners Of Ohio county, who are
the Legislature Of Ohio county. Each
township has a member Of that Board,
just as each county has a member
Of the State Legislature, and each
stataa member Of the National Legisla.
ture. Yet that fact does no. make thai
one township or that one county the equal
Of the whole Of the balance, nor give II
the slightest right to rebel in case the
powers exercised by the others do not
happen to suitit. Itsueh were the case a
government Of any kind would Be an i'm.
possibility, and such thing as sOver.
eighty would be term without meaning.
Ia my remarks I undertook to illus.
trate not only what Sovereignty meant
in its technical sense, but also In IL
moral relations among mankind. What
meaning could there DO IN the syes OF
the world to the sovereignty Of West
virginia. None whsseyer. Her Gag;
,,A,,nsins, aha Nnntd Aoak ,rn .Lf. 49,.