Year: 1861

right Of the people to bs their own exclusive judg
es in the matter. By the very act of asking tn,
consent permission of the other States to secede
they relinqeish the right to do SO. So BY
granting them that permission, you woult
deny them the right Says Furguson
Liberty is right which every individual
must bc ready to vindcate for himself, and which
he who proiends to bestow as q favor, has by thai
very act in reality denied"


POPULAR SUPREMACY.


Before entering upon the direct argument fol
the right Of State secession and as preparatory t.
it, will invite attention briefly to the great fun
damertaI principle of free government. viz: Tn
political supremacy Of The people Of any giUen ter
ritOry all human authority, subject only 10 nat
urdI justice. A due consideration Of the nature
and legitimate object Of government will mak'
this principle obvious 10 reason. The true nature
Of government is the will Of the people governed
voluntarily expressed and enforced by themselves
It's object is protection from injustice. The truC
idea OF government is, that of mutual league o.
such persons as may Voluntarily unite to protect
each other against lawless and vicious men. One
man is not naturally more ruler than another
The people Of any community as a whole are en-.
dowcd with natural sovereignty. They alone are
interested and Of course they alone are the prop
er authors Of laws, and the creators of mags-
trates. Hence they are politically superior to all
constitutions compacts, laws OF magistrates. Mag
istra:es only the hired servants of the cover
eign people, which they may discharge at will
Laws and constitutions are only the DEGREES of the
people, which the makers a:e competent to annul
or change at will.


This principle is clearly recognized in our own
immortal Declaration of Independence in these
words: "Whenever any form of government be-
comes destructive Of these ends, it is the sight of
the people to alter or to abolish Il and to institute
a new government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such FORM
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
safety and happiness" And this declaration was
made Sin the name and by the authority of the
good people of these colonies" and our own glo-
rious Revolution was the practical commentary up
on this great principle of popular supremacy.


The same has been abundantly enunciated by
the wisest of English Statesmen, and ezempli6ed
by the most exalted instances Of patriotic devotion
aud yalor.


The profoundest Of England's political bhiloso-
phers and the most revered Of her patriots, tho
great Algernon Sidney, Gays, "that they who place
the power in multitude, understand multitude
Of freemen, who Mink it for their couve-
nience to join together and to establish such laws
and rules they obligs themselves to observe;
which multitude, whether it be great or email,
has the same right; because ten men are as free
as ten millions; aud though 1t may be more pru-
dent in some cases TO Join with the greater than
ihe smaller number, because there is more
strength, it is not so always; but however every
man must therein be his own judge, since if he
mistake, the hurt is only TO himself; and the ten
may justly resolve to live together, form civil
society, and oblige themselves to laws, as the
greatest number of men that ever met together in
the world"


This clear, profound, and com prehensive propo-
sition, expresses the great fundamental principle
of civil liberty, and lies at the foundation of all
free governments, whatever their form. 1t was
enunciated by one of the worlds greatest philoso
pliers and trrest heroes, and was endorsed by his
life and sealed with his blood upon the scafold OF





But it is constantly being overlooked and lost from
the popular mind. The people are ever forgetting
their natural sovereignty, with its natural advan-
tages and responsibilities, and paying blind de-
Votion to some form Of tyranny which they rever-
ence under the name of government, and most
blndly and most devoutly those plausible tyran-
nies which are exercised in their own name and
authority.


But on a point SO vital and fundamental,
would refer to another of the intellectual giants
1f the 18th century, 1t is John Milton, the mag
nifcence and profoundness of whose political wri-
'ings are hardly surpassed by the unequallsd
grandeur OF the Paradise Lost He says, shat
since the king magistrate holds his authority Of
The people, both originally and naturally for their
good in the first place, and not his opn, then may
the people oft they shall judge 1t for the best,
either choose him or reject him or depose him,
though no tyrant. merely by the liberty and right
Of free born men, TO be governed as seems 10 them
best"


These majestic truths have stood the test of ages
of hostile power and popular prejudice. They
are truly immortal. They may be forgotten in
the selfish qualification Of degenerate, mereena.
ry, and servile age. They may be eclipsed
by the dazzling glitter Of aristocratic wealth and
power, but they are impershably enshr;ned with
the richest jewels Of the worlds literature. There
will they ever remain, for the encouragement Of
the patriot and the guide and inspiration Of the
heroes Of Liberty.


Again, our own great Jefferson, as late as 1919,
in arguing against the supremacy and indepeud-
ence Of any one department Of government, says,
''that absolute independence can be trusted no.
who're but with the people, en- masss, They are
independent of all but morat law"


Hero is an admirable expression Of both the er
tent and limit Of popular supremacy. The peopl,
are competent to any political act that is not NOR
ally unjust But they possess no sovereign righ
to do wrong. They are independent of all bl
moral law. No antiquity of authority--no ex
tent OF numbers-no solemnity Of legal forms
nor majesty Of Judicial decisions, nor sanctisy Q