Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-07-07
State Rights.

Correspondence of the Register.
The Supreme rule of right by which
the principles of any party can be cor
rectly tested is the Constitution OF the
United States. Happily all questions
upon which parties differ does not in
volve any iniraction OF this golden rule,
butunfortunately some do. Animmense
amount OF political clap-trap has been
manufactured out of what is termed "the
State rights issue" 1t is asserted that
this heresy caused the late civil war.
Nothing could be wider OF the truth.
We are told that the Southern States
claimed the right of peaceable secession.
That is true; but the Abolition party,
from which the Republican party origi-
mated, made the same claim, and
were par excellence secessionists and
disunionists long before the doctrine
found adherents in the South. The
Union. from the verynature OF the COM
rart. was intended to be perpetual, and
they became fanatical, ever urged seces-
sion as one OF the reserved rights oil the
States. The moral sentiment oil the en-
tire civilized world looked upon Amerl-
can slavery as one OF the greatest curses
of the nineteenth century. This sentl-
ment gave birth to the old abolition
party. The mission OF this party, led
bv men OF high intellectual attainments,
was the utter determination OF slavery
upon the American continent; and they
believed rightly that this could be effect
ed bv either the withdrawal OF the North
from the South or the South from
the North. To effect this des-
ideratim they were willing TO
resort TO even doubtful cOnstitu-
tional measures. On the other hand
i'm order to perpetuate slavery and self
interest, which is one OF the most
powerful factors in warping the opinions
of men. caused the Southern States to
90 10 the same extremes that their
opponents had advocated. Slavery,
therefore, and State rights, brought on
the war. 1t was inevitable. The
"irrepressible conflict" had TO come
sooner or later. 1t was precipitated by
the firing of the first gun at Fort
Sumpter, which was the death knell OF
slavery on this continent. This
would have been true even
il the Southern COnlederacy had been
successful, for slavery could not have
existed without the moral support OF the
Northern States. The doctrine OF States
rights neither caused the war nor was
settled by it. The powers delegated to
the general government and the powers
reserved to the States respectively or to
the people still remain intact. One
would naturally conclude, from reading
the flaming editorials and the gushing
speeches OF Congressman, that the war
had effectively wiped out all the re-
served rights of the States, and had eN-
plunged from the Constitution article y
of that instrument. 1t is, however, still
the organic law Of the land, and is in
these words: "The powers not dele
gated to the United States by the Con-
stitution nor prohibited by it to the
States are reserved to the States re-
spectiyely or to the people This
effectively cuts of at both ends all the
rights and powers OF the gen
eral government not expressly in
that instrument delegated to it,
This leaYcS 10 "the States respectively,
or the people, all the powers not dele
gated to the general Government, nor
prohibited by the Constitution, to the
States" The Democratic party claims
this much and no more, and all this
talk about the reasonable and revolu-
tionarv action OF the party Is the merest
fabrication, and only resortcd to Tor po-
litical effect. Insofar as the COnStltu-
ton conicrs powers and rights upon the
general Government, it Is sovereign,
and these powers constitute us nation
with as big a capital y as Murat Hal
stead ever dreamed of. In this COnnec-
ton, we might enquire as to what doc
trine Estate rights entered into the rctu-
sal of the Democratic party 10 make APP
preparations to pay the Deputy Aarshals
for experimenting the election OF men,
bers of Congress, etc. None whatever,
the law defining their duties was not
war measure, for it had not passed until
wears after the war was over 1t was not
a reconstruction measure for there are
but comparatively few large cities in the
south. Ii authorizes an unlimited
number of Deputy Marshals to be ap-
pointed. selected exclusively from one
political party, and as 500 OF them were
picked up from the slums of the city of
Philadelphia, and paid five dollars per
day 10 superintcnd an election with
power to arrest any man, either with or
without a warrant, such law cannot be
successfully defended; and all honor to
the men who refused to make appro-
priationS to pay them for their dirty
party work. RANDOLPH.