The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-01-02

remembrance of me when in former
and in happier days we were officially
connected with each other.
was also gratified by the receipt of a
copy of your paper, the Rock Islander.
It so happened that at the time To-
cal candidate had called to visit me,
and the conversation turned upon the
time-honored doctrine of State rights.
Like many others In our section; he
supposed this to be a creed which
peculiarly belonged to the South. I,
who have known, and am happy to
remember, men of every section true
to the theory of Union voluntarily
formed by sovereign States, endeavored
to explain that it was not Southern
idea, but a historical fact; that it be-
longed to no section, but sprang from
the brains of men who declared the in
dependence of the colonies, and formed
the compact for more perfect union of
the States. To prove my position
read to him your article headed "What
is Meant by State Rights?" and was
pleased to see the effect which 1t pro-
duced when he knew that it came from
the State of Illinois, and high up on
the Mississippi river.
If there Is anything which, more
clearly than another, the trainers OF
tuO rNouoSASUSAOu uOS Az
tend to do, 1t was to submit the peo-
pie of the States to the unbridled will
of a majority of the people Of all the
States. Sectional majorities have
changed; they may, and probably will
change again; and the bulWarks which
alone can protect minorities from the
usurping tendency of a general govern
ment, is strict construction of dele
gated powers and fair observance of
the reserved rights of the States and of
the people.
When the States delegated certain
functions to general government, the
purpose was declared to be to secure
the blessings of liberty to themselves
and their posterity.
The confederation, which had been
declared perpetual, was terminated to
form q more perfect union of those
States which should agree to enter into
it. Being without any precedent in
history, but taught by the examples of
all ancient republics of the rocks and
shoals on which they had been wreck
ed, compact of union was formed
which must ever stand q model of wis.,
dom on the part of those who framed
it.
The reservation of rights, as you
have forcibly presented it, only marks
the limit between the powers of the
general government and those which
the States and the people thereof would
continue to exercise. This was to secure
liberty to their posterity, not to elevate
new master to the thorne from which
George III had been deposed.
In the many years that have passed
since the formation of that constitution
wit, the many Chief Magistrates the
=, hoe erSx fo tho T1nion
strange that, in this day, belief in the
doctrine on which the Union was
founded, and which was uniformly
avowed by the men who illustrated its
early history, should now be regarded
as hostility to its existence, and that
the creed of State rights should be
held as the synonym Of a desire to des-
troy the Union of the constitution.
| Truth is said to be eternal. 1t is we'll
that it should be, for error so far out
strides its stately steps that otherwise
we might fear whether truth would
finally overtake it.
Those who have carefully noted the
usurpation and oppression to which
the South was subjected after she had
laid down her arms and faithfully
agreed to abide by the laws of the
United States, would have no need to
|
the South was solidified in defense OF
her rights of person and property.
| Would the North, under like circum-
stances, have been less so? Would
they have shown equal patience under
wrong?
1t is surely little less than fraud tc
state that the assertion by the South
of her right to protection under consti
tuition is equivalent to declaration or
her part of desire to secede from the
Union. Any logical mind would draw
from these facts the reverse conclusion
1t may serve the purpose of artful politi
) clans to foment sectional discord, ane
: thus make solid North, which, beint
the majority section, can then wielt
the power and appropriate as well tn
, political as the financial benefits of tn
general government. But the mel
who desire fraternal union and
, general prosperity must see that is nc
, the road by which either can be reach
ed.
p In 1860 the secessionists, per sc, t
- l1xy "a