not Massachusetts, nor Virginia, but the American people. The States as such have never sought to be known by foreign nations, but have always been merged in the one people of the United States.

Hence the national government possesses all those functions which grow out of international relations. War and peace, commerce and navigation, all intercourse with other nations these are wholly and exclusively in the hands of the national government. They were not withdrawn from the State governments. The State governments had never possessed them, and had never claimed them. They were powers wrested from Great Britain by the blood and treasure of the one American people for itself, and not by or for the individual States as such.

The care and disposal of the unoccupied territory of the colonies is another function of the national government, resting on the same basis as those just mentioned. This territory had been acquired by the sacrifices of the whole people; and for this reason they claimed it.

Beside these functions growing out of external relations, the national government has to do with every thing which concerns the nation as a whole; such as the coining of money, the maintenance of postal communication, the issuing of patents. Superadded to all these it has the grand attribute of sovereignty, - unlimited power of taxation. This it exercises not through the state governments, as formerly, but directly, by its own officers, it brings its authority to bear upon the whole people. The national purse gives efficacy to the national sword; and thus two objects of the Constitution are attained, the common defence, and domestic trarquillity.

A glance at the functions left for the State govern ments to exercise shows them to be purely local, as they have always been. Their object is to secure personal rights, to provide for the safety and happiness of the individuals of the community, to protect men from their neighbors. Public education, public health, public morals, the detection and punishment of crime, care of local industries and interests these are some of the subjects over which the State governments have absolute control. The people resisted all attempts of the British Government to interfere with these functions. They never delegated them to any of the national organizations. If the time ever comes when the people do not look with jealousy upon any attempt to centralize these functions, and resist steadfastly all tendencies in this direction, that will be the time of the nation's greatest peril. Guizot says, "The preponderance of local liberties belongs to the infancy of societies. Civilization incessantly tends to carry power still higher. But frequently also, as it ascends, power forgets its origin and final destiny; it forgets that it was founded to maintain all rights, to respect all liberties; and, meeting with no further obstacle from the energy of local liberties, it becomes transformed into despotism." In our effort to maintain the wholeness of the nation, we must avoid weakening this "energy of local liberties." To preserve both in their just relation, is the care of American citizens, and the mission of American statesmen.

premacy.

It might be inferred, from the source of its authority and the nature of its functions, that the National Sunational government would be supreme within its sphere. It must be this, or nothing. But this supremacy is declared forcibly in the Constitution

itself. "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby any thing in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." No local body of law-makers can set aside any expression of the will of the whole people. More than this: the representatives of the States in Congress, the members of the State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers of the States, are bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States. In the exercise of their several functions, they are to maintain and strengthen the authority of the national government, as well as to preserve the local liberties. There need be no conflict between the national and the State authority; there ought to be none. But, if there should be, the supreme obligation of every citizen, as well as of every officer, is apparent. His highest allegiance is due to the government of the nation as much as if there were no local organizations.

Many men excused themselves for taking part in the Rebellion, on the ground that their first duty was to their State, and that the State could by the vote of a convention annul the obligation of its people to the national government. This cannot be true. When an alien is naturalized, he takes an oath of allegiance to the United States, not to a State. The greater includes the less. A native citizen can hold no different relation ; and to disavow one's allegiance to the national government is treason, no matter how many unite in the act. These considerations throw light upon the nature

of the act called secession. It has been claimed, that the several States as such ratified the Constitution; that thereby a voluntary union of States was formed, from which any of those States might at any time withdraw. In accordance with this idea, conventions in the Southern States passed acts repealing the original act by which the people ratified the Constitution of the United States. They claimed that by so doing they might assume again that independent and complete sovereignty that they yielded when they joined the Union. But just at this point is a fallacy that is fatal. The States as such never had an independent and complete sovereignty. The Union was not formed by ratifying the Constitution. It began as soon as two colonies existed to be united as subjects of Great Britain. It began formally as an American Union on the 20th of October, 1774, when the members of the Continental Congress, in the name of the people of the colonies, formed the association for the non-importation and non-consumption of British merchandise. From that time to this the question has never been asked if the States would have a union, but only how it should be organized. When the several States ratified the articles of confederation, and the Constitution, they thereby assented to the form, not to the fact of union. Hence, for the people of any State to withdraw their allegiance from the national government, is to do just what the people of all the States did in making the Declaration of Independence. Secession is Rebellion. It may be justifiable, or not, on the same grounds that may justify any other rebellion; but it can never be legal. There is nowhere in the history or constitution of the nation or of the States any provision for a

peaceable dissolution of the Union. That can never be any thing but an act of violence.

tection.

The national government, as well as the whole people, National Pro- is pledged to maintain the authority of the State governments. The Constitution requires the United States to guarantee to every State a republican form of government, and to protect each from invasion and domestic insurrection. Just what is meant by a republican form of government is not stated ; but probably the form of the national government was considered republican. The two chief characteristics of such a government are, that it is from the people, and by the people; that is, the Constitution is ordained by a majority of the people, and the government is actually administered by persons chosen by the majority in a constitutional way. If by fraud or violence the power in any State should be usurped by a single individual, or by a faction, it would be the duty of the national government to furnish to the majority of the people all needed assistance in regaining their rightful authority.

If the government of the State cannot maintain itself, the legislature, or, if that body is not in session, the executive, may make application to the national government for aid. If Congress should not be in session at the time, the president would be required to judge of the emergency, and to take such measures as he might think best. At different times the United States has been called upon thus to protect the State governments from domestic violence.

This is one of the most delicate and dangerous duties of the national executive, especially if the disturbance has arisen from the conflict of political parties. There is a jealousy of national interference in State affairs,