Page:Review of the Proclamation of President Jackson.djvu/106

 no relief, for an oppressed minority however great that may be, however cruel and unrighteous and wanton maybe the oppression, but to appeal to the God of battles, and to assert their rights in arms.

And was it for this our forefathers fought and bled? was it for this that the wisest and best were convened, to frame and adopt a Constitution stuffed with checks and limitations of power in every line? Who ever wanted any guaranty of the right of Revolution? That exists always; it is inherent in and inalienable by man. Compact neither gives nor can take it away. Free government, is but a device to prevent the necessity of recurring to this natural right. The Constitution of the United States, in separating the Sovereignty from the government, making government rest upon a Covenant between the Sovereign States themselves, to which covenant the government created by it, is no party, but a mere agent of the parties, and in thus constituting each party the judge of the observance of this covenant, with the right of declaring it no longer obligatory upon itself when broken directly or indirectly by any other party, was a proud monument of human wisdom. Rob it of these qualities, and it becomes a simple institution, by which all power is transferred to the majority, who may rule the minority according to the unchecked will of the majority, without accountability to any other than itself—the thread-bare garment of ancient days, long since cast off, because it was always found worthless to shelter right against power.—Nay, so sure as effects follow their causes, must a hard military despotism speedily succeed to such a government, in such a Country as this.

I will close this number with this remark. Wherever the object of the covenant is to establish union or association for any purpose, between different parties, designing to preserve their separate existence under the Covenant after it is made, Secession is one of the remedies that may always be resorted to by any of these parties, for a breach of this covenant by any other: and is nothing more than a declaration of that fact. In 1788, eleven States seceded from the Union, established by the old Articles of Confederation, and established the present Constitution for all States who might choose to ratify the same. In 1798, the United