22

"The States may then wholly withdraw from the Union,
but while they continue they must retain the character of rep-
resentative republics." * * * * *

"The secession of a State from the Union depends on the
will of the people of such State." * * * *

" It was known, though it was not avowed, that a State
might withdraw itself."

About the year 1829, the work from which the above ex-
tracts are taken, was adopted as one of the text books on the
Constitution of the United States, by the authorities in charge
of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. Your com-
mittee have this fact from General Tench Tilghrnan, of this
State, a grandson of the General Tilghman of the Revolu-
tion, who was the friend and aid of Washington. General
Tench Tilghman is a graduate of West Point Military Acad-
emy, and the book from which the foregoing extracts are
taken is the identical school book used and studied by Gene-
ral Tilghman whilst a cadet at West Point from 1828 to
1832.

In 1855, the eminent and distinguished Senator from Ohio,
who is now President of the Senate of the United States,
thus spoke in the Senate:

"There are.some Senators who profess a great regard for
the rights of the States. I am one of those who have quite
as much regard for the rights of the States as some who make
louder professions on the subject than I do. I am one of those
who, not only when an election ia pending, but at all times,
believe in the wisdom, the constitutionality, and the propriety
of the Virginia resolutions of 1798 and 1799. I ground my-
self upon those resolutions, and, standing upon them, I de-
nounce this bill as a violation, not only of the spirit of those
resolutions, but as an attempt to trample upon the rights of
the States and deprive them of the power to protect their own
citizens from aggression and abuse. Do gentlemen suppose
that the States, now awakened to a keen sense of their rights
and the danger of consolidation, will ever submit to such a
bill as this ? I tell you nay. * * * , * *

Who is to be the judge in the last resort of the violation of
the Constitution of the United States by the enactment of a
law? Who is the final arbiter? The General Government,
or the States in their sovereignty ? Why, sir, to yield that
point is to yield up all the rights of the States to protect their
own citizens, and to consolidate this Government into a, miser-
able despotism. I tell you, sir, whatever you may think of
it, if this bill pass, collisions will arise between the Federal
and State jurisdictions—conflicts more dangerous than all the
wordy wars which are got up in Congress—conflicts in which
the States will never yield; for the more you undertake to
load them with acts like this, the greater will be their resis-
tance. *********