Year: 1866

Is entitled to tie same protection. The
obligation ofttis allegiance it is not
witlligl the legal power oftlie State to
anilul or evadc 1t is made paramount,
and perpetual and for that very reason
it Is equally the pafsinount duty of the
general government to allow to the citi-
zeas ofeach State the rights rescured to
them and tic protection necessary, to
their full cnjoy ypieiit. "A citize,i'can no
doubt forfeit such right by committing
crime against TIE United States, upon
cotvictioh Of u 3same where, such for
.teiture blxlslw Batecedcntly passed, IL
made q part ot'the punishment. But d
State cannot IN its corporate capacity


he made liable to such forfeiture for
as such underlthe constitution, cannot
commit or be indicted for crime. No
legal proceeding, civil or criminal, can
be instituted to odeprive State of tie
benefits Of the constitution, by forfeit
ing as against her any of the rights Sc
cured to her.


Her citizens, be they few or many,
may be proceeded againstunder the law
and convicted but the State remains a
State of the Union. To concede that
by the illegal conduct of her own citi-
zens she can be withdrawn from the
Union is virtually to concede the right
of secession; for what difference does it


make as regards the result, whether a
State can rightfully secede IA doctrine
maitained by statesmen North as well
as South) or whether by the illegal con-
duct of her citizens she ceases to be
State of the Union. In either case the
end is the same; the only difference is
that by the one theory she ceases by
law to be State of the Union, and by
the other by crime, without and against
law. But the doctrine is wholly erro-
neous. A State once in the Union must
abide in it forever. She can never with
draw from or be expelled from it. A
different principle would subject the
Union TO dissolution at any moment.


1t is, therefore, alike perilous and un-
sound. Nor do we see that it has any
support in the measures recommended
by the majority of the committee. The
insurrectionary States are by these
measures conceded to be States of the
Union. The proposed constitutional
amendment is to be submitted to them
as well as the other States. In these
respects each is placed on the same
ground. To consult State not i'll the
Union on the propriety OF adopting a
constitutional amendment to the gov
ernment OF the Union, and which is nee
essarily to effect those States only COM
prising the Union, would be an absurd
ity, and to allow such an amendment,
as States in the Union might desire, to
he defeated by the votes of States not
in the Union, would be alike NONSENSE
cal and unjust The very measure,
therefore, of submitting to all the States
forming the Union before the insurrec-
ton constitutional amendment makes
the inquiry whether all at this time are
in or out of the Union a vital one. If
they are not, all should no, be consult,
ed. If they are, they should be, and
should be only because they are. The
very fact, therefore, of such submis-
sion comedies that the Southern States
are and never ceased to be States of the


Union. Tested, therefore, either by the
nature of our government or by the
terms of the constitution, the insurrec-
ton now utterly and happily suppress
ed, has in no respect changed the rela-
tions of the States where it prevailed to
the general government On the con-
trary, they are to all intents and purpo-
ses as completely States of the Union


as they ever were, and in further sup
port of this proposition, if it needed any


we confidently appeal to the fact that
the very measure recommended, a con-
stitutional amendment to be submitted
to such States, furnishes such support.
For, looking to and regarding the
rights of the other States, such SUBJ
mission has no warrant or foundation
except upon the hypothesis that they
are as absolutely States. 1t can never
be, under any circumstances, a" profit
less abstraction," whether, under the
constitution, State is or is not State
of the Union. 1t can never be such an
abstraction whether the people of a
State once in the Union can voluntarily
or by compulsion be freed from the OBJ
legations it enjoins, or be deprived of
| the rights it confers or the protection it
| affords. A different doctrine necessari-
ly leads to dissolution of the Union.
The constitution suppose that insurrec-
tions may exist in a State, and provides
for their suppression by giving Con-
gress the power sto provide for calling
out the militia for that purpose. The
power is not to subjugate the State
| within whose limits the insurrection
may prevail, and to extinguish it as a
State of the Union; but to preserve it as
such by subduing the rebellion, by act
| ing on the individual persons engaged
| in it, and not on the State at all. The
power is altogether conservative; it is
to protect y State, not to destroy it,;
| to prevent her being taken out of the
Union by individual crime, not in any
contingency to put her out. The con-
tinuance of the Union ofau the States
/ is necessary to the intended existence OF
the government. The government is
formed by constitutional association
of States, and its integrity depends on
the continuance ofsthe entire associa-
tiop. If one State is withdrawn from
It by any cause, to that extent Is the
Union dissolved. Those that remain
| NAV exist as government, but it is not
the very government the constitution
designs; that consists of all, and its
| character is changed and its power is
diminished by the absence of any one.
A different principle leads to dlslnteg-
| ration that must sooner or Later result