Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-10-07

tuition had been styled by its trainers,
"Articles of Confederation and Per-
petual Union Between the States"
STATEMENT FROM RATCHFoRD.
2. DR.. Wayland challenges the COR
rectness of my statement that sin 1874,
and again on the 22d of February s45,
the Legislature of Massac husetts
passed resolutions avowing the right
of secession, and threatening to secede
If Texas was admitted into the union,"
and triumphantly quotes certain anti
slavery resolusions passed by. the
Massachusetts Legislature in 1s45, and
which, while they certainly squint to-
ward secession, do not fully establish
my point.
Now, I had no reference whatever
to these resolutions, but If DR.. Way
lands friend, Colonel Olin, the secre-
tary of Massachusetts, (who ought to
be better posted on the records of his
State), will turn to "Acts and resolu-
tions passed by the Legislature of
Massachusetts in 1874" page 319, he
will find the following:
81. Resolved, That the power to
unite an independent foreign State
with the United States is not among
the powers delegated to the general
government by the constitution of the
United States.
"2. Resolved, = That the
project of the anexation of Texas, I'M
less arrested on the threshold, may
| drive these States into a dissolution OF
the union.
Then follow two other resolutions
providing for the transmission of this
action to the Governors Of other
States, the Senators and Representa-
tives of Massachusetts in Congress
and to the President of the United
| States.
On the 22d of February, 1s45, (see
pages 59s, 500, same volume) the Leg
islature of Massachusetts celebrated
the birthday of the father of his coun-
/, try by passing the following, which
was also transmitted to the same
parties:
"Resolred, = /" and az the pow
ers never delegated the power to ad-
NIT into the union States or Territor-
les without or beyond the original
territory of of the States and Terri
tories belonging to the union at the
adoption of the constitution of the
United States.
"ResolUed, = 1 and as the pow
ers of the legislation granted in the
constitution of the United States to
| Congress do not embrace the case of
the admission of a foreign State, or
foreign Territory, by legislation into
the union, such an act of admission
would have no binding force whatever
on the people of Massachusetts,"
If these resolutions do not avow the
right of secession, or notification land
threaten that Massachusetts would
exercise the right in case of the anex-
alton of Texas, I confess that I am un-
able to interpret their meaning.
will not ask space here to pursue
the subject further, but hold myself
prepared to maintain that from 1890
to 1870 Massachusetts, has an almost
unbroken record in favor of secession
and notification.
8. DR.. Wayland quotes the conclu-
sion of q sentence in my book (page
$3.50, In which I say:
The official reports OF
the Federal Secretary of War, E. M.
Station, and the Federal Surgeon
General, Barnes, show that nearly 4
per cent. more Confederates died in
Northern prisons than of Federals in
Southern prisons"
My distinguished critic parades
against me q letter from the present
surgeon-general, In which he says
that he "is net aware:of" any such
reports, and refers to the "medical
and surgical history Of the war" pub
iished in 1883, and gives ''the DEATH
rate among the Confederate prisoners
In northern prisons, % and that "among
the Union prisoners at Anderson
| ville."
Now, I instituted no comparison
between the mortality at Anderson
vile and that in all the northern
prisons-indeed, I went into no
details-bnh simply stated the deduc-
ton from official figures given by
Secretary Stanton and Surgeon-Gen-
eral Barnes.
These figures were first collated by
the National Intelligencer, Washing
ton, and hive within the past thirty
years been frequently Published, and
never successfully controverted. I
regret thai Surgeon-G General George
1ternberg ID ignorant Of their exist