as for the doctrine put forth in the manlier
form in which it was stated by Calhoun,
which really meant something, which de-
clared that the States were sovereign, and
that they were only bound to the General
Government by a simple article of agreement;
that being sovereign they could at any time
secede from the General Government and
take back their sovereignty again. I prefer
to meet the question in its true shape, as I
have Biways heard it presented. But I dis-
like the doctrine in its milder form, as pre-
sented by the gentleman from Prince George's
(Mr. Clarke) for precisely the same reasons
that apply to its other form.
The practical effect of any such doctrine,
is to teach the people that their first duty,
their first allegiance belongs within the con-
fines of a small State in this great nation.
The result of that, in Virginia especially,
where it was extensively taught, more so
than in any other place where I was ac-
quainted, was to make the white people of
that State unfit, in their knowledge of the
Government under which they lived, to de-
clare themselves American citizens. They
knew nothing else but Old Virginia. While
I, or any citizen of Virginia, will give her all
the honor which she deserves, is it a proper
doctrine to teach the citizens of that State,
that she first claims of them, and demands of
them allegiance, and is in that respect more
than all the rest. of the country? Will it
make men fit to he American citizens, as well
as citizens of Virginia, to inculcate them
with the doctrine that Virginia is everything,
that the rest of the country may be of some
small moment, but that their first allegiance
is due to the State of Virginia ?
I remember once seeing a diagram, drawn
by an Englishman, to explain by an illustra-
tion, the ideas of people generally upon their
relations to the world, to Great Britain, and
to their own country. In that map the world
was a very small object; England was some-
what larger; but the country was the largest
by far. If the gentleman does not know it I
do, that before this war, there was pervading
the whole Southern country—I do not mean
among the leaders, for they knew better, but
among the large mass of the white people—
just about such relative ideas with regard to
the relation of their own individual States to
the great United States of America.
Will gentlemen pretend to say that such a
doctrine can over practically lead to any
other result than the very one we are now
witnessing, and have been witnessing for the
last three years? the people are taught to
forget, from Infancy to old age, that they are
American citizens. Thousands of them have
no idea of what kind of a State New York is,
for instance. At the very outset of this war,
a young gentleman of my acquaintance, in
Virginia, was talking about sending supplies
to Port Sumter. The remark was made by |
some one that it would be done, if it required
40,000 men to do it. That was very exten-
sive talk at that time. "Why," said he,
'' there are not ships enough in the whole
United States to carry 40,000 men." " Have
you ever been in Baltimore?" he was asked.
"Yes," he had been in Baltimore. "Have
you ever been in Philadelphia?" "No, sir."
"To New York?" "No, sir," "Well,'
said the gentleman, " before you go into this
fight, you bad better find out what the coun-
try is in which you live." I do not know
that he ever did so; but it was excellent ad-
vice.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. Will the
gentleman state whether that young man be-
longed to the F. F. V.'s of Virginia?
Mr. PUGH. Yes, sir, he did; and I will
also state that there were very few of any
other kind there. This narrow, contracted
debasing idea, has been so much diffused by
the rebel teachers through the South, that it
is my firm conviction that if the Confederacy
was sufficiently strong to gain its indepen-
dence, it would not stand together for three
years. The principal wrong which the States'
rights theory inflicts upon the country, is
that it destroys the affection of the citizen for
the country as a whole. It engenders State
pride. It originates and sustains pseudo-
statesmen, The whole tendency of it is to-
ward the disorganization of society, and even-
tually it must. lead, without any other dis-
turbing element, to the utter disruption of
the country where it is received. That in
general terms, is my view of the result of the
secession theory in all its Protean forms;
in the form in which it was submitted by
the gentleman from Prince George's, (Mr.
Clarke); in the form in which it was an-
nounced by its eminent inventor, Mr. Cal-
houn, if he was the inventor; that its whole
tendency, and its very nature is toward dis-
organization.
What is this form of government? We
declare distinctly that it is not a mere old-
clothes partnership, a Jew-store with so man'"
partners, and whenever one of the partners
wants to go out of the store he goes out, with
this difference, that in this case, upon such a
theory, the whole house topples about his
ears when be departs. We announce in this
Declaration of Rights, that that is not the
true interpretation of the theory of our Gov-
ernment.
What says the Constitution of the United
States? "We the people of the United
States ordain and establish." They do not
agree with one another as people of the
States, but as people of the United States.
They sign no writings of agreement; but
they ordain and establish a certain form of
government, which is written on parchment.
Any other interpretation but the plain one
on its face, is a falsehood. No other inter-
pretation than that given to it by its own |
