as the confederation had been found not to
fulfil its intended objects. It was proposed,
therefore, lo erect a new, common, govern-
ment, which should possess certain definite
powers, such as regarded the prosperity of:
the people of all the States; and to be former
upon the general model of American Consti-
tutions."
Those men who framed this Constitution,
to whom all succeeding ages, as well as ours,
owe an ever lasting debt of gratitude, foresaw
that it would be impossible to keep this na-
tion together as one indivisible, indissoluble
whole, unless the? States gave up a part of:
their State sovereignty, and made the Genera'
Government supreme. They knew that a
Constitution and laws affecting a vast amount
of territory, could not apply with equal jus-
tice to all; and they knew that if it was pos-
sible for one State to disregard the bonds
which united these people together in one solid
whole, all their labors would be in vain, their
hopes blighted, and the government would be
nothing but Dead Sea fruit when you came
to enjoy it, turning to ashes on the lips.
So that from all the authorities—and they
are innumerable—I take it that there cannot
be such a thing as State sovereignty in con-
flict with the Government authority. When
it was prohibited to the States to enter into
treaties, to carry on commerce, to coin money
to estimate and fix its value, to unite in any
alliance with any other State, that established
the fact that they could not be sovereign,
The very proposition was absurd on its very
face, ex vi termini, of a sovereign exercising
its functions and its rights, only with the con-
sent or by the bidding of some other power.
Can a State make treaties? Can a State keep
a navy or an army? Can a State coin money ?
Can a State collect revenue by duties with-
out the consent of Congress?
The idea of consolidation, it seems to me, is
a mere chimera and delusion. It was so pro-
nounced by Mr. Madison, the author of the
celebrated resolutions of Virginia, in 1788 ;
and Mr. Madison replied to Patrick Henry,
and said there was no danger of such consol-
idation, because the interests of the govern-
ment, the prosperity of the government, and
the welfare of the government, were depend-
ent upon the welfare of the States; and there
would be such a community of interest be-
tween the State and General Government
that there would never be any oppression of
the States by the General Government.
Besides that, there was an appeal to be made.
The Supreme Court of the United States is
the arbiter to decide such questions. Amend-
ments to the Constitution can be proposed,
The people at the ballot box have the right to
change their rulers. They have the right to
plan the policy of the government. Various
different ways are provided by which the hand
of oppression can be stayed. And by all suc-
ceeding generations, the finger of eternal scorn |
will be pointed at the men who deserted their
posts in the hour of trial, and left their seats
in Congress to upbold the foul flag of trea-
son. My friend from Somerset (Mr. Dennis)
has made the admission—an unfortunate one
for him—that when he was a Bell and Everett
elector, when he was advocating those prin-
ciples upon which was founded the very tem-
ple of our government: " The Onion, the
Constitution, and the Enforcement of the
Laws," he would have voted for Mr. Breck-
inridge in order to have prevented the election
of Mr. Lincoln. Was not Breckinridge as
sectional a candidate as Lincoln? Does any
one suppose that his nomination had any
other object than to defeat the election of
Douglas, and thus aid Lincoln's election to the
Presidency? And when Mr. Lincoln wag
elected by the exercise of the same privilege
which had elevated to the Presidential chair,
Washington, Adams, and every one of the
Presidents down to I860, the power of the
government was in the hands of the Demo-
cracy, a name which has done more harm, a
party which has perpetrated more wrongs
than any other which has ever existed in this
or in any other land, in my best and candid
opinion.
Mr. Lincoln was in the Presidential chair,
but tied up and restrained by all manner of
bonds, The Senate was against him; the House
was against him; the Supreme Court was
against him. He could not, if he had desired
it, have moved hand or foot in the invasion of
any of the rights of the South; for he was
checkmated upon all sides by the Democratic
party.
But this scheme had been going on for long
years. It was started by Mr. Calhoun; but
the strong arm of Andrew Jackson then nip-
ped treason in the bud. It was still un-
quenched, and the fires burned concealed,
until a pretext was afforded by the election of
Lincoln, a sectional candidate against a sec-
tional candidate, when Democracy bad lost its
power to reign. If Democracy could have
been clothed in purple and fine linen and
fared sumptuously every day, and could have
monopolized all the offices of the government,
there never would have been sufficient cause
to break up the Union, but all would have
come in under Douglas or Breckinridge,
and shouted hosanna to the Union, just so
long as they could have made it subservient
to their purposes. [Applause.]
But what have they done? They started
this rebellion, and the institution in whose
interest they professed to be acting, has re-
ceived its death-blow. They started a con-
federacy, a nation founded on slavery, which
never had an existence with the consent of
the North, except under and by the Constitu-
tion. Although it was opposed to the moral
sentiment of the North, yet there were a large
majority that were ready to uphold it because
it was recognized by the Constitution. Even |
