The National tribune., 1907-02-21
At Philadelphia.

.ihiI' NIL LlHCOIl 5dlu.
1T was not the mere matter OF the
separation of the Colonies from the
mother-land; but that sentiment in the
Declaration of Independence which
gave liberty, not alone to the people of
this country. but, 1 hope, to the world,
for all future time. 1t was that which
gave promise that, in due time. the
weight would be lifted from the should
ers of all men. This is sentiment
embodied in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Now, my friends. can this
country be saved on that basis? If II
can, / will consider myself one of the
happiest men in the world, if can help
to save it. If It cannot be saved on that
basis. it will be truly awful. But IF
this country cannot be saved without
giving up that principle, ] was about
to say that 1 would rather be assassin
ated on this spot than surrender it.
Now. in my view of the present aspect
Of affairs, there need be no bloodshed
or war. There is no necessity for it.
I am not in favor of such a course;
and / may say in advance that there
will be no bloodshed, unless 1t be forced
upon the Government. and then It will
be compelled to act in self-defense."
s!Coercing State,
The word Coercion" had a very ugly
sound to the Southerners and scarcely
less so to large proportion of the peo-
pie in the North. The question of using
force to compel a State to do something
1t was resolved not TO do was repugnant
to the theories of States rights, and
was viewed with all shades of opinion,
from active resistance to cold suspicion.
To them all coercion meant imperial
Ism and despotiSm. The Secession con-
spIrators found 1t the most potent Of
words to coTjure. with. and by this
means carried over to the seeding
States Virginia, North Carolina, Tennes-
see and Arkansas, and came perilouslv
near getting Maryland, Kentucky and
Missouri. DR.. Alexander Johnston, the
eminent pubsicist, gives this careful
study of coercion in our history and
the development of our institutions:
at is noteworthy that originally tho
most extreme particularists had the
least objection to the coercion OF
State by theloFederal Government. In
writing to Monroe, Aug. II, 1886. JEFF
ferson says. There never will be
money in the Treasury till the Confed-
eracy shows its teeth. The States must
see the rod; t,erlIaps 1t must be felt by
some one of them. Every rational citizen
must wish to see an effective instru
ment OF coercion. and should fear to
water And still more fully, Aug. 4,
1887: TT has been SO often said as to
be generally believed that Congress
have no power by the confederation to
enforce anything; for example, contri-
buttons of money. 1t was not neces-
sary to give them that power express
"; they have it by the law of nature.
When two parties make a compact
there results to each power of COM
pelling the other to execute it. This
was the general ground on which the
Democratic members of Congress, in
1S615, while still holding the Consti-
tuition 10 be n compact voted for the
prosecution of the war. 1t may also
explain the reason why both the Vir-
einia and New Jersey plans in 1897 in
cluded a power to coerce disobedient
the convention wisht to give the Fed.
eral Government an absolute veto on
the legislation of State Governments to
remove the necessity of any forcible
Coercion Either of these plans would
have been hazardous. Madison himself
said that the use of force against
State would look more like declara-
tion of war than an infiiction of pun
ishment, and would probably be con-
sidered by the party attacked as dis
solution of ell previous compacts by
which It might be bound This express
sion, justified as IL is by common sense.
has often been quoted as a condemna-
tion of coercion But It must be noted
that no such use Of force against
State was ever authorized by the Con-
stitution. That instrument gave an in
direct and far safer power of coercion,
first, in the case of States, by extending
the power of the Federal judiciary to
State laws involving the construction of
the Constitution. and. second, by giving
the power to compel individuals to obey
the Fedora! Government in any conflict
wifi ha Stata Navnrthe1azS nvfp
ion was strangely prevalent in 1S60-61
that, because Congress had no power
to 'coerce' n State, secession could not
be interfered with. The simplest argu-
ment for this view can be found in
President Buchanan's message of Dec.
3, 1860. 1t was the main encourage
ment to secession by q single State; If
was announced again and again by the
Border States during the Winter of
1S60-61: and consciousness of its gen.
eral existence threw the Lincoln Ad-
ministration at first altogether upon the
defensive. 1t was not until the popu-
lar uprising I'm the North had taught
the Administration what States 1t could
rely upon that the Federal Government
was encouraged TO begin the work ofI
coercion by exercising its power to exc
cute the laws'and suppress insurrection
by means of the armed militia. From
that time coercion took the form of re-
preston of Individual resistance, the
Federal Government ignoring the ac-I
ton Of the State as entirely ultra vires
This is the form which coercion took In
it's first operation in our history, the
force bill' of 1898. and which il must
always take Ifa State should see fitI
10 form Z, treaty with foreign power
the Federal Government would ignore
such action, and would compel individ-
uals to ignore It also. by the use Of the
courts in cases OF mild resistance and
of the Army and Navy in case of resist
ance by force. This process of 'coer-
cion' could hardly be better stated than
in pamphlet cited below. by Gov. II.
A. Wise. of Virginia, published in 1859,
tho aimed at very different object
He supposes the State of Vermont grad
ually coming to forcible resistance
against the execution OF the fugitive,
slave laws, her State convention making
the arrest of slave felony, and her
Magistrates and officers resisting thej
Federal writ OF habeas corpus by force
The President must then command al
sufficient force Of the Army or Navy or
militia of the United States to over
come the rebellion and treason, and
that would not be all. The jailor and
Judges and Governor OF Vermont and
all persons guilty with them Of rebellion
against the faithful execution OF thel
laws of the United States would havel
to be arrested and tried according to
law; or, II their resistance was serious,
enough to require 1t, to he slain In bat, |