The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-20
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES
 AND HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
THOMAS M. OWEN, Director.

Eex< E France were with difficulty restrained | from open resistance to the blockade, this | incident coupled with cartels allowed l by if for exchange of prisoners or war. | was equivalent to a declaration or war | on the part of that GoVerhnehe'
 Shocking of the fourteenth and ff- | teenth amendments this eminent Aia' bamian says: .,r .h. ] nurnoses of the war were dehned, ana | inc result is solemnly stated by the votes of Congress, and of two-thirds or the sovereign States of the Lmonh omanS- ment ratified Congress referred N to the regularly constituted LegisIature r,sa oa Alabama among other States. Ins M
 Patton" Legislature. Congress there, ,non bv A stroke of the pen, dissolved the Union, abolished all CIVIL governHn1lens H1a in this State and in SIX otnes o.aIes .ts, that had been likewise recognized Tor tne same reason. The military government even in Alabama refused rauncation D! this military district. but congress in angry resentment enacted ,astsaa of it's own act There was no vesuge or d sovereign State known here In the premises
 The fifteenth amendment now believed hy many men to imperil honest govern ment in this State, was declared py sc retary Seward in effect to be bastard when he sent it forward to Congress. The records at the State Department show that the Secretary's endorsement denies the claim of due ratification to the document. He recounts that ahons the States returned as ratifiers seven are "alleged" States! There is not sover- eign State allowed among these by the Secretary's count. The alleged state was equivalent only to a military prov. | ince. Secretary Seward enooI Ise,me, a,,a, | stands on record attesting that the seven | Southern States named as ratiTers or tnis ms amendment were alleged Sattes. not | ..soyereign." There is no authority III the Constitution for ratification py ieged'. States and therefore the fifteenth | amenlment was not constitutionaiiy rau, l fled. failing in this as the fourteenth hao | failed before 1t.
 I, uas hold by authorities unfriendly | to the movement which created the con | federate States that resistance py .ne United States to the resuisaHt tha o,I disr,,n- t,on of its government was an innerent | priority of right in that government; | that self-protection was the hrst law oi | fife with that government; that the Non- i faderate States was organized rebellian. | Contra the founders of the Confederate | States held that inherent priorlty oi right to life did not vest in the pnysibcatt .bst i sovernmeut but in the Constitutions; that l inherent priority of right to lie nao not l been at any time or under any clrcuIn | stances removed from original possession | in the State to vicarious exerclse III 'he The Government of the United states | in it's origin was of the nature or hereoi- tary inheritance, in its eSsentlai prihcI- ples, from the one Enropeadh nitu It wi,I TS not | he to this narrative malapropos 10 re- l call that England in the middle ages es- | tablished Constitution to escape the | wrongs perpetrated by it's physical gov | ernment its king; that later. in loSS' | Englar nd was forced by the wrongs perpe- trated by the king to oamsn tne hms, tS amend the Constitution ana compei tie new king, William of Orange. to attacn his name to the amended Constitution before he was permitted to assume the powers left by the instrument to tge
 function of royalty rae pfiNIl'y over 0l she physical government of the mother coan- i try being thus firml yestabllsned there was a truth which crossed the Atlantic l to the Wilds of America with the Eng l fish colonists. When Patrick Henry first i presented the issue of the British Ameri- | can colonies with King George, the
 gravamen of hts complaint was Tn nv nve
 ginia Assembly, May 30th, l765, the thiro
 in order of the series being as follows
 Resolved, That taxation of the people
 by themselves, or by persons chosen py
 themselves to represent them, who can
 only know what taxes the people are able
 to bear. and the easiest mode or raising
 them, and are equally affected by such
 taxes themselves, is the distingulsnins
 characteristic of British freedom and
 without which the ancient Constitution
 cannot exist
 [Wirts Life of Patrick Henry. p. 75,l
 To protect and perpetuate the "ancien,
 Constitution" the British American
 colonies boldly threw off the usurpins
 government of the King and Parliament
 The physical govei nment fell; the con
 stitutional principle lived on.
 The action of the colonies demonstrate
 ed the palpable connection between thelV
 cause and the original cause of the barons John; and also with that cause of Par
 liament four centuries later, In defence
 of which the last of the Stuarts was
 driven from the throne and in further
 defence of which. his successor. William
 or Orange was required to attach his | signature, as a pledge of binding faith to certain amendments of Magma Charta | commensurate with adVanclng liberty | In these amendments signed by William, | American independence was planted.
 Thus we follow on down to MT. Lin
 colns aphorsm on assuming the Presi; | dency: II shall run the machine as
 find it"' And thus. in the misconception
 of systems and principles by MT. Lincoln
 and his party. the creation of the Con federate States became an act in logical | and hereditary descent from Constitu-
 tional history both in the mother coun-
 try and in the United States.
 W nat was the CndracIer or the ma
 chine" found at hand by MT. Lincoln
 to wit. the sectional sentiment that call
 ed him into the Presidency? This sec
 tional sentiment was an evolution of de.
 mocracy. not strong in numbers to amend
 the Federal Constitution, peacefully. yet
 strong enough to nullify its operation by
 means of physical government. for in
 stance ,by the election of Mir. Lincoln.
 In order to trace the initial of the evo | lutionary process which finally forced
 upon certain States the creation of tho