The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-25
Mr., William l.. Royal to the Sons of
Veterans on Lessons from the War.
F0RCEFUL ARGUMENT ADVANCED
The Right 10 Seccdc No Longer Exists.
Goes Into the beginning Of Seccs'
sion in Revolutionary Timcs-Thc
Confederate Soldier In War.

thought Of secession.
His address was on the theme Of IN
spiration Which the Sons Of Confederate
Veterans should Draw from the War"
and every moment Of its duration was a
new thought for his auditors.
Chaplain Cook of the Sons, opened the
evening exercises with prayer, and Mr..
r.. Il. Cox, in a weii-worded speech, in
troduced the speaker OF the evening.
Mr.. Royal divided mis- subject into
three heads:
/. The question Of right in the course
pursued by the South in '6l-G5
g. The course that should be pursued by
the Sons Of Confederates.
3. The way the South conducted her
cause.
HAD A RIGHT TO SECEDE.
Mr.. Royal. at the outset, stated that
nothing could be clearer TO his mind
than the right Of States TO have seeded
from the Union; that the South was.
therefore, right in its course. and that
the war waged against it by the Northern
States was one Of unjust aggression and
INVASION which it had a right 10 repel
bv force Of arms
The roots of secession were deep down
in the social organization of the British
colonies of North America. and IN the
Jealousy of arbitrary authority which the
COlOnists inherited from their British an
cestOrs. Their pride was I'm the colony
they were inhabitants of and not in their
Americanship.
The inhabitant OF Virginia was proud
of being such and would not tolerate the
suggestion that there was anything in
common between him and the inhabitant
of the colony Of New York or Rhode ISL
and. This local afiiliation was RESPONSE
BILE for the jealousies that developed into
secession.
Mr. Royal went still further into the
planting and termination of the seeds ~
secession in the beginning Of the War o.
Revolution. 10 was through an alliance
Of separate colonies and not as one people
that the colonies opposed the English at
tacks.
Virginia's convention OF 1776 urged It's
representatives I'm the general Congress
to propose that Congress declare the
united colonies free and independent
states" and 10 provide for the forming Of
such union Of colonies al such times and
In the manner that seemed best. but
leaving 90 the respective colonies the
framing of their government and the reg
ulatiOn of their internal concerns.
INTENTS OF THE DECLARATION.
The declaration intended was TO make
each colony free and Independent 10 it.
self
All the States followed Virginia's lead
in providing the free control Of their do
nestle affairs.
This jealousy Of outside authority was
just as strong in the States in 81 as i'm
1775, and its operation was toward fhe
isolation Of each colony except in the
purposes OF mutual uefense and i'm the
making of the constitution IL becomes
hard to believe that this hereditary ten
dency had been abandoned.
The general congress Of revolutionary
times grew out of the Committee Of Cor
respondence which had been established
in each colony. but 10 had no compulsory
face of any kind and merely acted In am
advisory capacity It's existence was no
indissoluble bond between the colonies.
George H.. made his peace with each
colony separately and naming IL as a
free and independent State.
II any state Of affairs arose which
made it unlawful for any colony 10 act
as IT pleased IL arose after the revolution.
1t was seen the necessity of a general
government. after the close of the rev0iu-
tiOn possessing the power 10 raise armies
and collect revenues on it's own authority.
other considerations that operated TO this
end were the taxes imposed by the States
on each other on goods passing To and
from the sea coast; and debased cur
rency.
BROUGHT ABOUT THE CONVENTION.
These arguments and Influences brought
about the convention for framing the con-
t.itution of the United States. Virginia
stipulating expressly that when consu-
tuition was framed it should not bind until
it was ratified not by the Legislatures Of
the States. but by conventions of Ia peo-
pie of the States.
When thai constitution was framed by
the convention which sat at Philadelphia.
IL provided that it was not To be operative
until ratified by nine States. 1t became
operative i'm 1889 with North Carolina ana
Rhode Island still holding out as separate
States.
The new government actually taxed
goods imported from those TWO states
into the others.
No one will admit that the State con-
veution would have ratified the constltu-
tion If they had understood it to mean
that they were unalterably commtlins
themselves TO n union from when they
could never withdraw.
The constitution as at present open.
thus: 1--WE. the people Of the Unlled
States. in order to form a more perfect
union
Mr. Webster had seized upon these
words In a speech in which he insisted
that all the people had acted in concert
in establishing the constitution.
Mr.. Royal said that no greater piece
NJ sophistrv had ever been put upon an
intelligent public than this speech OF Mr..
Webster. The people did not act In con-
cert, but individually.
BY PURE ACCIDENT.
When the actual facts had come TO be
looked at II had been found that the
words: 1--WE. the people OF the United
states" got into the constitution by pure
accident.
The first draft Of the instrument In
opening read: I'VE. the people OF the
states" naming them. do ordain ana
establish the following constitution.
IL was given TO committee to "reVise
and style" but not 10 change its sense
When the instrument came back II read
as at present.
''The entire justification Of the war by
the United States upon the seeded ones,
said Mr.. Royal. rests then upon MT.
Webster's forced construction of sen
tence in the Constitution, which GOT
there by accident
'It is a fact then that the South had
a right 10 secede. and the fathers OF
those present were not rebels anu
traitors. ,,
Mr.. Royal then stated that although
the fathers seeded in 81, the sons were
NOT IN he secessionists secession, SAID
no '.was once a living and vital princi-
ME hut il is now dead and buried