James Blaine: “It was admitted to be a doubtful if not dangerous exercise of power; but the law of necessity overrides all other laws…”

Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command.

The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied.

You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.

But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.