The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-05-30

and fears were not well founded, she
joined the eleven ratitying States.
Rhode Island held back until May
a9th, 1890, and then expressly re-
served the right to withdraw whenever,
in her opinion, her interests required it.
The idea that the constitution was
ordained by the whole people Of all
the States, acting as one aggregate
nation was never suggested until near
ly fifty years after its adoption, and
the pretence that there was any right
to interfere with the seperate sover-
eighty of, much less to coerce, a, State
in any way, if it had been made would
have been instantly repudiated, and, if
insisted upon would have dissolved the
convention then and there. The Con-
stitution of the United States was to
be the Supreme law Of the land, by
mutual agreement Of the States, but
no such grant of power as that of
coercing State was contained in the
Constitution, land all powers not granted
were reserved to the States, or to the
people The States created a govern
ment of limited powers and the limits
were defined in the instrument crea-
ting it, and yet, Notwithstanding this
unquestionable truth, there has been
from the beginning persistent, and
finally violent and successful effort
to transform it into a consolidated
nation.
The antagonism of interests between
the North and the South, which had
existed from the beginning, and which
was the great source of anxiety to
patriots of that day, increased with
the ever-increasing wealth and power
of the North, and with this ever in
creasing power and wealth came, mat
urally, if you choose,) growing i'm
patience of any restraint upon their
action, and stronger temptation to
disregard those provisions of the Con-
stitution which had been put into it for
the protection of the minority and the
preservation of the equality of the
States. This tendency was increased
by the fact that, by the acquisition of
territory the Federal government had
become the creator of States, instead Of
being, as at the beginning, their crea-
ture-a fact which explained, but did
not justify, the claim of the right of
coercion over the original parties to
the compact. But it is ever to be re-
membered that a large part of this
territory was given by the South-that
the North reaped all the benefits from
it-that every concession of any kind
which was made, was made by the
South-that in every war, the Revolu-
ton, the war of 1872, the Florida and
Indian wars, and the war with Mexico,
she furnished largely more than her
proportion of soldiers and claimed far
less than her proportion of pensions
and that in all the legislation of Con-
gress conferring trade bounties, or
commercial or financial benefits, the
North was always the beneficiary, the
South, never. Still the South re-
manned ardently loyal to the Union.
1t is impossible, of course on an oc
casion like this, to give detailed his
tory of the events upon which these
general statements as to the progress
Of the great struggle are based, and 1
shall, therefore, not attempt to do so.
Suffice it to say that all protests and
warnings were ignored, or sneered at.
The Legislature of fourteen Northern
States nulli6ed acts of Congress which
) had been passed in plain pursuance of
. the Constitution, judgment of the
Supreme Court was openly and inso-
lently defed, and "the Legislature of
State whose officers had been guilty
& of lawless defiance of Constitutional
f authority, denounced the act OF the
!, highest judicial tribunal known to the
law, as an act of arbitrary power and
, therefore null and void. Vitupera-
. ton exhausted itself upon the court
, the execution of the law was openly
8 resisted, and public sentiment in New
o England sustained those who thus
acted.
Finally, under the influence of this
:, hostile spirit, a body of armed men
p invaded the State of Virginia, seized
. Harper's Ferry, where there was a
government arsenal, and attempted to
execute their purpose of inaugurating
servile insurrection with its accompan
iments of rapine and murder. The
leader of that insurrection was apothe
=. osized at the North, and his name wa!
: an inspiration TO the Northern army
4 during the war. The next year, TO
# the first time in the history Of the
. United States, a President was elected
IS exclusively by one section of th'
v coun,ry-,hat is to say, the one grea
= evil of which the trainers Of the Con
!. stitu,ion were most in dread-tha
e which they declared had been the ruiz
y. Of all previous republics-namely I
v majority constituting q faftion-hae
4 at last been realized. 1t has beel
+ justly pronounced "the most terribl
s faction the world has ever seem" 1t
+ true character was not only not de
" MED, but was openly proclaimed b
It its leaders, one Of the most distingulshe'
,e of whom said:
h mo man has a right to be surprise
r. at this state of things. 1t is just wha
we have attempted to bring about.
=, is the first sectional party ever organ
- lied in this country. 1t does not kno
r its own face and calls itself nationa
'e but it is not national, it is sectiona
{. The Republican party is party Of tn
1e North pledged against the South
ID Thus the "irrepressible conflict" WI
ID precipitated and the Southern Stat
W were left no choice but to submissive
l. accept the change which destroyed a