The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-18
RESPONSE OF HON. CLAUDE kTCHn At THE 18th annual
MOMATW DAY BANQUET, BEFORE THE hamilton CLUB.
CHICAGO, april 9th, IN RESPONSE To TOAST THE SOUTH

assas to Appomattox imam enjoy all the
honors which the suffrages of a free
people could bestow. (Applause.) The
sentiment in my bosom would double
that march, with only its hardships
and its horros, to preserve the Amer
lean Union and perpetuate TO posterity
and TO mankind her Institutions!
prolonged cheers and applause.)
In this day of calmer thought and
better understanding between your
people and mine historic truth is Meth
er hurtful to you nor Illuminating TO
US. Let us not forget that it was a
Northern State mat first declared
Through legislative voice the right
Of a State TO secede from the Union;
that it vas a Northern State that first
threatened through legislative power
the exercise of that right.
Long before the exercise of the right
of secession had entered the mind of
a Southern man, long before Cal
houn had announced the doctrine Of
notification, Massachusetts, through
her legislature, declared " that the an
~nexation Of Louisiana to the Union
transcends the constitutional power Of
the Government of the United States.
It formed a new Confederacy to which
the States united by the former COM
pact are not bound to adhere" And
for no greater OffenSe than the annex
ItlOn Of Louisiana. For half a century
she asserted that right, 0 only
through her legislature, but through
some of her nos eminent statesmen,
and frequently threatened its exer-
else.
In 1884 she again solemnly resolved
that the proposed annexation of Tex
as may drive the States into a dis
solution Of the Union" Again in 1915
she solemnly threatened secession
and desired other States to join her.
Her distinguished statesmen, John
Quincy Adams, time and again assert
ed the right, ard as late as 1889 de-
clared that the people of each State
have a right to secede from the Con
federate Union" The South needed
no added weight to the argument Of
her own eminent statemen, but if she
did she could summon to her side the
gigantic intellect of Daniel Webster.
While Webster, in the great speech
that gave him the title of the "Ex-
FOUNDER of the Constitution" convinc-
ed the nation and the world that the
doctrine of notification a doctrine new
er embraced by the South, was indie
fensible, he did not shake the South in
her conviction that a State had the
right to secede.
He failed to convince ever himself.
Years afterwards, in his celebrated
Capon Springs speech, he conceded
the right. He said: II have not hes
itated to say and l repeat that if the
Northern States refuse wilfully and lie
1iberately to carry into effect that part
Of the Constitution which respects the
restoration of fugitive slaves and on
gress provides no remedy, the South
would no longer be bound by the COM
pact"
Before 1880 the two most noted
writer's on the Constitution were St
George Tucker, a distinguished Vir-
ginia lawyer, and William Rawle, an
eminent Pennsylvania lawyer. Both
conceded the right of a State to secede
from the Union, while both admcnish-
ed against it's exercise. fuckers
Commentaries and RaWle on the Con-
stitution were, and are now, cited by
the highest courts as authorities on
the Constitution. Tucker in his Cont
mentaries 18O2), volume |, page 1877,
says: Each (State) is still a perfect
State, still sovereign, still indepen-
dent, and still capable should occasion
require to resume the exercise OF its
junction as such in the most unlimited
sense"
Rawle on the Constitution 0S25),
= pages 302-303, says: The secession
of a state from the union depends Oh
the will of the people Of a State.
r. = The act should be de-
liberate, clear, and unequivocal
= = The solemnity Of the original
obligation requires corresponding quail
tiles in it's dissolution. In
a of an unconditional secession The !
previous ligament of the Union would
be 1egitimately and fairly destroyed.
n y = This right must be considered
as an ingredient in the original COM
position of the General Government, |
which, though no expressed, was mu- |
tually understood"
Permit me hear to call our atten-
ton t O an interesting and, perhaps, |
to you a surprising fact; When Lee |
Davis, Johnston, and many other Con- |
federate leaders were cadets at West
Point Military Academy, the Govern
ment institution, Rawle ON the Con-
stitution, in which both the right or
secession and the duty Of first ale
glance to the State were taught, was |
there used as a text DOOK on the COu- |
stitution.
When the South declared secession |
many of her best men doubted and
protested against its wisdom, cut
none questioned its right. On this
great question the conflict between the
North and the South was irreconcila-
BILE. The humanity and wisdom of
mankind, aided by nearly two thous-
and years of Christian civilization,
had been able to establish but one til
bunal, with full final jurisdiction,
to hear, and determine the issue
the tribunal war. To that terri
BILE tribunal the South submitted the
case. Before it's august body for Jour
wears she Numbered the argument
of blood and cannon with a skill and
courage that made the world ring with