The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-06-10
expression is not singular but plural.

6. On the basis thus laid down, We
find the only true and philosophical in
terpretation of our union, and the only
effective guaranty of its preservation
and perputuity. -. ;.
These are the six propositions dis
cussed by DR.. Laws in his mastery
way with robust language and vlrlle
thought and with rich precedents, aug
menting his own force with the views
of acknowledged authority on govern
ment and Constitutional law.
Nor, he argues, does it follow that,
because notification has been aban-
doned as an incident of State sovereign
ty, and the right of secession destroyed
by the result of the war between the
States, the great principle of State SOY.
ereignty has been lost though shorn OF
it's locks of Notification and Secession.
/ add, State sovereignty is Sampson
still necessary to uphold, not to pull
down, the pillars of our great American
Union.
In closing his discussion DR.. Laws
most Significantly observes how In
avoiding the ScylJa of disintegration We
must avoid the Charbydis of consollda-
ton. This hydra of consolidation is
what the modern Hercules must stay II
its miscreated front should rise to vex
the Republic.
Says DR.. Laws:
"fhe opponents of the doctrine OF
State sovereignty, our only political
hope, have but small store of misread
history out of which to weave their
fallacious and pernicious subtleties.
These States,
freighted with the diverse and precious
treaturies of q Christian civilization,
though moving each in its assigned
orbit, are united in sacred and lndls.
soluble union which promises untold
blessings to unnumbered generations.
Onward they severally and collectively
move in their appointed paths OF ad-
ministration:
"Not chaoslike, together crushed and
bruised;
But like the world harmoniously confused,
Where order in variety We see,
And where, though all things differ, all
agree
Thus DR.. Laws closes. 1t is an i'm
perial theme, discussed ably, accur:
ately, conclusively, in an imperial
way.
/ feel indebted to the author of what
is not properly a speech, as it is called
in my copy, buta thorough disquisitlon
on sovereignty, for the light, the white
light of truth, with which he has
illucinated and educated his subject.
II. Having now shown what q State
is, DR.. Laws proceeds next to the in
auiry. What is the nature of that union
of States formulated in our United
States Constitution? Certainly this is
q pregnant question, one that has elicit
ed the highest augmentation from 1776
to 1897 at the hands of the country's
master spirits in craftsmanship. I have
not the space at my command here to
Laws on this branch of his theme. He
clearly establishes through the instru-
mentality of his keen logic and his
wealth Of erudition these propositions:
1. The theory of our American sys-
tenn is that of popular sovereignty.
2. The vindication of the Declaration
of Independence established thirteen
sovereign States.
8. The States remained sovereign un-
der the Thirteen Articles and did not
change their individual characters IN
substituting therefore the Constitution.
4. The people, in whom sovereignty In
our system is located. is not the general
or aggregate mass, but1n particular the
people of each individual State.
I have but one criticism to make, and
slight as it is, / make it with some hesi-
tancy, so much am / impressed with
the superior attainments, grasp and
ability of DR.. Laws. In speaking, In
the beginning of his argument, about
the literature of the subject and the
sources of information to which the
student should resort, the Doctor men
tions Eliot's Debates on the Federal
Constitution, in five volumes, which
embrace the Madison papers, the Ken
lucky and the Virginia resolutions and
the debate between Webster and Hayne.
He mentions also "The Federalist, )"
the joint work of Hamilton. Madison
and Jay. Further, he quotes from such
authors as Guizot, Montesquleu, Maine,
Cooley, Curtis, Webster and others.
This is we'll. They are all honorable
men," all eminent authorities.
But we no where find any reference
to Calhoun, whose works on Government
and Discourse on the Government and
Constitution of the United States sound
the very deeps Of his suq-
ject, making him like Aristotle in his
philosophical tone, as he was like Cato
in his frmness, and like Burke and
Chatham in the forum of his country.
IkDivest Calhoun of his nullifcatlon
and his secession theories and he re.
mains the great American exponent OF
State sovereignty. To augment yet
more the muniments OF the great prin:.
ciple for which DR.. Laws nobly and
boldly stood fifteen years ago in Mis-
souri,, breasting like brave man the
tide of adverse thought, and defying
popular clamor, he could invoke no
greater name than that Of John Cald-
we'll Calhoun.
When the argument is made for State
sovereignty. not forgotten should be
two argumen that of Jefferson Davis
in the ''Rise and Fall of the Confed-
eracy" and above all, which-is my
point now-Calhoun's Works.
Nor forgotten should be how Cal.
houn lived and died in the harness OF
State Rights. Divest him of his null
lification and secession garb and the