| Show A new exposition of the right of se cession tn in the early stage of the rebellion the traitors were loud in their anathemas ana themas against the north for attempting to coerce them into loyalty while copperheads copper heads throughout the length and breadth of tho the laud land even now prate about the I 1 constitutional right of secession ever since the nullification days of john G C calhoun the so called right of secession from the union has hag been the favorite theme of chivalry orators and the Te resolutions SOlutions of 97 and 98 have been perverted from their ine meaning aning and appealed to as sustaining the suicidal and treasonable doctrine it is unnecessary to rehearse at length the arguments in which chivalry statesmen and th their cir I 1 northern followers indulged to prove the right of peaceably withdrawing from the union the whole damnable theory which captivated the southern mind and led to the present war was based on the proposition that the union was but a of sovereign states entered into freely and and therefore each had the constitutional right to withdraw whenever whim caprice or interest might dictate that course this being taken aken for granted they sailed in without difficulty and most loudly insisted that the government had bad no right to coerce the seceding state or states back into the union with such euch plausible yet really unsound impound and traitorous reasoning the leaders of the south and their abettors abet tors at the north succeeded in inoculating into the southern mind I 1 the deadly views of treason to culminate in armed rebellion it is not our purpose now easy as it is to show the fallacy of the argument or to prove the right of every government to preserve itself but merely to show how bow quickly these same southern leaders abandon their doctrines when occasion requires it the bastard sickly unrighteous so called southern confederacy was founded on tile tho above mentioned principle of the right of secession and the two prominent points in ili their new constitution were the perpetuation of slavery as tile tha corner stone of their tottering g fabric and the right of seceding as the key stone of their crumbling arch with the corner stone slavery wo we have naught to do just now but on the other point we have a striking il lustra tion con of it its 9 fallacy when applied to practical practical events in a recent speech of gov vance of north carolina one of the most persistent of rebels and ardent caters haters of the union notwithstanding his recent earplugs ear car plugs pings at jeff davis and his government on the of february last at Wilke wilkesboro N cl C 0 l governor vance delivered a characteristic speech to a mass meeting compo composed seti mainly of in mal al contenta some of whom tired of tile the sickening horrors or of the war and the despotism of Jeff Davis government U whip CIP an anxious clous to return to their allegiance to the old union after indulging in his accustomed abuse of the lincoln government ern ment and the anlon Yankee union and arguing against the calling of a convention C governor io vernor vance thus this expounded his notions of the constitutional right of secession as now understood by the southern leaders hut but slip suppose poO they the people instructed the legates delegates IL to convention to take the state out of the lie confederacy and set setup lip for or an independent sovereignty is th that it going to give you peace t will that restore your sons and lathers fathers to their homes hoines will that tha hush the cry of the orphan or dry the widows tears 9 will ih that rill your land with plenty and pros penty so far from ft I 1 can assure you my fellow cithens that secession ciara tho the confederacy will 1111 involve you YOG ina in a new war a blood abbood ier conflict than that yuu now deplore but you may say mr D dav is 13 ond and his government wu 0 o dare to 0 o make war on a seceding state date because the of sec secession esson is recognized in in the of the Coir so it is m friends but YOU see by that ti time no you 01 haic thrown oft off the constitution ou have gotten gotten from under its obligations actions and swo sworn rn would could have nothing to do with it so DO you expect the confederacy tote to be a do document climent you yoza I 1 fifille to recognize as aga eding selves cst I 1 S so soon ai you announce to the world you are a 4 Somi eign and independent vid atwi as a mauce of course the confederacy cop Y 1 l rd t f declaring clarar clar wr icer agal against list you yot f for 0 r sufficient cac eq equally itally I 1 with ith the rig right gilt she holds of ofle declaring claring ar against england en 1 and franco france or holland the right is inherent in all sov thus fot for the sake of apparent consistency does docs this estimable traitor admit the right rig ht of secession but at the same time denies any efficiency efel in its attempt under their constitution each state has a right to secede no doubt about that but then you see the very moment that it does docs secede it is withdrawn from under the protection of the constitution and the confederacy has a right to declare war against it and coerce it back thus do tho the southern leaders expound this favorite theory of the constitutional right or of secession and it is H anice commentary on tho tIm sincerity of their professions of principle when lining the people to destruction we lye commend governor vances new exposition of this doctrine to those rampant copperheads copper heads at the north who still prate against the constitutionality of the war and are such devoted adherents to the right of secession |
