The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-21

binding force, no more and no less, as as every other clause in 1t.
 ''The states acceeding bound themselves to observe every clause; there were no reservations as to that by any
 Not severabe Contract
 Tt was not a severabie contract that one party could disregard any part of and compel others to observe other parts.
 Even under the common law, then long established in this country no man could make a contract with his neighbor under which he could ignore and refuse to observe one article, and yet compel his neighbor to keep and perform his part of the contract
 One of the clauses of this contract' called the constitution, was that persons held to service n one state escaping inlo another should be surrendered up on oe mand of the proper authority. Hao no1 this article been inserted not one o. sis six southern states would have ratlnea tna constItutiol1 Yet in the course or time A number of tl.e northern states de- uheratelv refused to carry out this agree ment and some fourteen by legislative enactment actually forbade their govern ors to do so
 sentiment had changed and the country was opposed to slavery. Public sentiment can not change a contract.
 .sThe real question was whether any state could deliberately set aside and annul it's solemn contract with it's sister states.
 "It was a matter of small concern that Massachusetts -hould lefuse to surrender up a fugitive slave to Alabama It was a matter of vital consequence whether any state could be denied a singlue right under that compact by another state.
 Pledges Openly Violated.
 aThe southern states were seduced into the Union by promises and pledges that were openly and shamefully violated.
 "So in 1860 the people of the South found themselves living under a constitution that had been openly and insultingly violated in some of It's provisions by other states of the Union and the election that year put In power the party that endorsed and approved and glorified in those viola tions; a party that hal. applauded the sen- timent that this very constitution was a league with hell and C. covenant with the devil
 "The southern states for years had been appealing in vain for justice. They asked their northern rethren to keep their con- tract as expounded by the supreme court, and their appeals fell upon deaf ears and hardened hearts.
 ri our appeals were fruitless when made to those no did not excuse these open violations Of the compact, what hope could we have at they would be heard and justice done us by t. party that in it's platforms and conventions had delib- erately endorsed and been the authors Of every yiolatio n.
 "The freeing of the negroes from slavery may have been a desirable thing, but to accomplish 1t by fraud and the loss O. hundreds of thousands of white men and at the cost of billions of money was a terrible thing
 Tt has been so often assumed that only hot headed southerners maintained this doctrine that l have thought it well to call atteneion to the declarations of some of the greatest men of the North to the contrary, and also to the action of some of these states.
 "rhen again the question of secession and rebellion has somewhat confused the minds of the simple.
 Did Not Refuse to Obey.
 "There was no rebellion; the south did not refuse to obey the constitution; on the contrary 1t withdrew from the Union in order to secure more certainly the very rights guaranteed to it by that constitu- ton, and because those rights were denied 1t in the Union.
 "There can be no rebellion without 8 rebel, and certainly if any one could have been convicted of rebellion 1t was MT. Davis, who was at the very head and