Year: 1860

stroy the vested rights OF others ald to upfoot the
70 ounda,ion Of all argument. II such q principle
could be applied TO our country, it would author
ise county to secede from State, a village OF
a township to seeede from the county as well as
the Stato-A manufacturing company to secede
from the whole community-and every farmer to
set up on his own farm as an indepedent sover-
egn and defy the State to levy tax upon him or
to open a road through his unclosed forests In
short such principle brings us to the end Of all
government and Of all tho faith and honor upon
which governments arc erected.


A government created by the people is like n
debt created by an individual, a thing of binding
and irrevocabe obligation, from which there can
be no honorable escape but in accordance with its
conditions. As wO arc bound by conveyance or
lease of land which we cannot honorably reclaim,
SO when we convey to a government or a corpora
ton certain interest in our lands viz: right
OF taking SO much Of their product or rental uu-
der the title Of tax, we are bound by that grant
and cannot honorably resist its payment -
And when Ssato applies to be admitted into
the Federal Union it conveys TO the Federal Gov
ernment certain rights of taxation, right Of way,
and right OF jurisdiction which, when once con-
ferred, cannot be recalled by the grantor.


Yet, in truth, this surren Ter Of power and
jurisdiction to the General Government il oily
re-acknowledgmen by the organized state OF
that jurisdiction which the Federal Government
never ceased to possess since it drst held ow ned
and sold the lands upon which the State has been
erected. And it will not he disputed that the
original States by whom the Federal Constitution
was framed and adopted, are just as firmly bound
by it's provisions as the newer States which have
since been erected on the lands owned by the Fed
eral Government.


Where then is the right Of SECESSION among
honorable cothrhuni,ies from rigbtully established
governmentsH Itstands in company with the right
of the repudia.ing debtor, the fugitive husband,
the rebellious citizen, and the llwless buccaneer
of the ocean.


Can South Carolina by her sole wayward will
aunul the vested rights Of the Federal 0overn.h .heb6
Can she at her pleasure Gnnul the right Of taxa
tion, the right of regulating COMMERCE, the right
of determining our foreign policy, and the right oil
carrying the United States mail or marching thu
United States army across her boundaries? AZ
well might any county in Kentucky proclaim its
Independence, refuse to pny it's taxes, and refuse
TO permis our courts to be held iu its boundaries
Unless our national government has these vested
rights independent Of the whim of any State it
can scarcely be called government at all--the
oaths of all our public iunctionaries are bus a
miserable mockery-honor dwes not among US
and our country will coon become the dersion o.!
he wotlj


But we hope for better things; wo believe that
Kentucky will be true to her honor, and that an
overw dining majority in other Stats will stand
by THE Constitution, the Union, and the Enforce
ment Of the Laws" This is the true issue the
momentcus issue OF our sru2glei in comparison
with which all other issues in party platforms
Of slight Importance. Have we oI have we not u
government, national Union. and shall we be ii
mighty nation, a mere cluster Of diseordant
hostile bankrupt Statesf