Year: 1861

Vi IIlc power anu IfOiiIltly DtltTe tflIS 1nit-


ter was acted upon. The whole of the laws


which were required to be faithfully execu-


ted, were being resisted and failing of exc.


cnton in nearly one third of the States


Must theJ be allowed to finally fail ofexcci,-


tion even if 1t had peen perfectly clear that
by the Use of'the means necessary to their.
! execution some single law made in such ex-


tre!ne tenderness of the citizens liberty that


practically it relieves more of the guilty


than innocent, should, to limited extent,


be violated To state the question more
| directly, are all the laws bat one TO 90 unex-
ecutcd, the Government tselfto 90 to pieces


lest that one be violated? Even in suoh q


case would not the official oath be broken if


the Government should bc ovcrthrown when


it was believed that lisregardng the single


law would tend to preserve it I? BUTT was


not believed that this question was thus pre-


sented. 1t was not believed that any law
was violated. The provision Of the Ccnstitu-


tor icing that tlFrpriFileee Of 'ths habeas
| corpsS si.all not be suspended, exc TT IN ca
scs OF rebellion or Invasion the public safety


does require it. it was decided that we hayea
case of rebellion, and the public safety does


require a qualified suspension Of the priv-


lege OF the writ-which was authorized to be


made Now it is insisted that Congress. and





But the Constitution itself is scn. IS to


which or who is to nsnrp the power, and as


the provision was plainly made for a dan


gerous emergency, it cannot be believed that


the trainers of the instrument intended that


IN every case the danger should run its
course until Congress should be called to-


gether the very assembling Of which rnigle


be prevented, as was intended in this case,


by the rebellion No more extended ai'gu-


ment is now offered, as ah opinion at some
length will probably be presented by the
Attorney General Whether there shall be


any legislation on the subject, and if so,


what, is submitted entirely to the better
judgment ofCongress.


It might seem at first thought 10 be of little
difference whether the, present movement az
the South be called secession or rebellion
The movers, however, well understand the
difference. They knew at the beginning they
could never raise their treason TO any respect .
able magnitude by any name which impliea
violation Of law. They knew their people
possessed a 8 much devotion to law and order,
as much pride and reverence for their history
and the government cf their country as any
other civilized and patriotic people. They
knew they could make no aavance- ent
| directly in the teeth of these strong and noble
sentiments. They accordingly commenced By
an industrious debauching of the public
mind They inTented an ingenious sophisni,
which conceded, was followed by perfectly
logical steps throught all the incidents of the
complete destruction Of the Union. The
sophism itself is that any State of the Union
may, consistently with the nations Constitute
tien, and therefore lawfully and reaeeablv,
withdraw from the Union witholt tie consent
of the Union or of any other State. little
disguise, that the supposed right is to be ex.
ercised only for just cause, thems selves 10 be
sole judges, of its justice, is too liin TO merit
any notice With rebellion thus sugar coated
I they have been drugging the minds IF their
section for more than thirty years, until at
length they have brought rsany COOL men to
a willingness to take up arms against the
Government, the day after some assemblase
of men have enacted the farce of taking their
State out of the Union who could have been
brought to no such thing the day before. This
sophism derived much perhaps the whole Of
its currency from the assumption that tGere
| is some omnipotent and sacred supremacy
pertaining TO each State of cur Federal Union.
| Our States have neither more nor less power
than that re served to them in the Union by
the Constitution, no one of them ever having
been a State out of the Union. The original
ones passed into the Union even before they
cast off their British dependence, and the.new
| ones came with the Union directly from
condition of dependence, excepting Texas,
and even Texas in its temporary indepen-
dence was never designated as q State. The
| new ones enly were designated States on
coming into the Union, while the name was
only first adopted for the old ones in, and by
the Declaration of Independence. These il
| the United Colonies, were declared free anu
| Independent States, but even then the object
plainly was not to declare their independence
how af Irp;a h,,f1 ~ ba
contrary, as their mutual action before, at the
| time and afterwards, abundantly show. The
express pligIting of faith by each and all of
| the thirteen original States in the articles OF
| confederation, two years later, "that the@U nion
| shall be perpetual is most conclusive. Hav>
! ing never been States either in substance OF
name outside the Union whence this magical
omnipotence Of STATE rights, asserting claim
of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself?
Much is said about the Sovereignty of the
States, but the word even is not in the ma
tional Constitution, nor, it is believed, in any
of the State Constitutions What is a sover-
eighty Would it be far wrong to declare i
q political community without political
superior? Tested by this, no one Of our States
except Texas was a sovereignty, and even
Texas gave up the character on coming into
the Union, by which act she acknowledged
the Constitution of the United States and
laws and treaties of the United States, made
in pursuance Of The Constitution, to be for
ever her supreme law. = 1899 -
| The fort earance of this Government has
been so extraordinary and so long continued
as to lead some foreign nations to shape their
action asifthey supposed the early destination
of our National Union was probable. While
this, on discovery, gave the Executiys some
concern he is now happy to say that the SOW
reignty and rights of the United States are
now practically respected by foreign powers,
and general sympathy with the government
is manifested throughout the world


The Reports of the Secretaries of the Treas,
ury, War and Navy, will give the information
in detail deemed necessary and convenient for
your action, while the Executive and Depart
ments will stand ready tG s4pply omissions, or
to communicate new facts considered impor-
tant for you TO know. 1t is now recommend
ed that you give the legal means for making
this contest short and decisive one, that you
place at the control of the Government for
the work at least I00, 900 men and Sio0,O0C,-
600. That number OF men is about one tenth
of those of proper ages within the regions
) where apparently all are willing to engage,
and the sum is less than q twenty-third part
Of the money valCe owned by the men who
seem ready to devote the whole. debt of
six hundred million dollars now is a less sum
. per head than was the debt of our Revolution
when we came out of that struggle, and the
money value in the country bears egen. q