The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1813-05-25

,branch Of she question. which concerns tn,
textent OF jurisdiction which thc u State
iinay constitg.ionAily exercise over tnis spe
,cies OF iorce. This, also, depends upo
scch a variety of circumstances, as make
liz inpnssioie TO lay down any iayar.aoi
rule. Can they be marched beyond tn,
limits ct the q. States who wall under
take TO lay down the line in all cases. rher;
Is no man but must, admit that there ar,
Gases IN which they should lie sent beyun,
:lDe frontier ;. nor IS there amy one, on tn,
other haud, who will assert that ,hey ma,
be legitimately sent out on all occasions
; lt would be absurd to say that they mar Ss
dispatched to Peru to rob the mines of tne;,
: ore, or across tile Atlantic TO crafty the
mere ambition II the government---i,
would be no less absurd 10 say, that the
boundary OF our country is n surt of magic
line which the militia caunot be maee TO
pass IN any case. in rtheiins tie invasiou
{ OF an eHeny. tor instance, shall the mi.i,is,
merely drive chem to the frontier, aud halt
ing there, yield perhaps all the fruits Of
their victory, or shall they push OH into
the enemY's Country. cut OFT their troops,
and disquaiify them from making another
invasion the day after again it NAV
often happen. that the best way to rehel a
meditated invasion is ofreue,t it to nip
the resources OF the enemy IN their bud ;
to cut Oft his supplies and defeat the con
centration OF his troops. It would be idle
to stand gazing at the cloud until it's light
ming is collected and its shunders fall upon
the frontier. When .Gea. Harrison shall
drive the enemy from Detroit, Shall he
pause upon the rivers banks, aud permit
the enemy to organize new invasion from
Maldenf Noone can say so.
but 1t !: not as to the eJctent of the juris-
dicfton that we mean to express All opinion
The question that we propose to canvass
is this whether the United States have
any jurisdiction at all, so far as it concerns
the calling them into service /? Must they
be dependent upon Indirect and irresponsi-
bic agents for the execution of this call or
can they have agents, directly responsible
TO them tor the execution of this power !
1t the former, there would not only be a
direct restriction upon tine United States as
to the PURPOSES for which the Militia are to
be employed; the President would not only
have to coEfne them to the three great pur.
poses laid down in the Constitution, "repel
invasions, suppress Instructions and
execute the laws of the Union''-but there
would be restriction on the u. States at
the very Threshold, even in the very Calling
OF them into service. This would, i'm fact. be
a reputition of the old system of requisifiou
upon the States, which formed the PRINCIPAL
weak feature of the old confederation. and
paved the way to the present federal
constitution. We should pause, theu, before
we adopt construction which would thus
visit the inbecility of the Parent upon the
child.
We shall attempt to show, that such is
not the spirit of the constitution and that
the national force ought to be called out
TO execute the national will, having resnect
to the purposes specified in the constitu-
ton.
Steps ought Immediately to be taken to
put this question to sleep. The strength
OF the government ought to be tried. We
should not go out of this war, until the legi.
innate measures have been pursued to put
.ne powers Of the government into action
mere is nothing better calculated to bring
.his republican government into contruIpt.
eoProduce mistrast among our citizens and
render us the sCorn of Europe-than a
successful attempt to paralize its powers.
Anew more strokes, like the panic. struck
repeal OF the Embargo. and the Republic
must fall into ruins.
u The II. of Delegates yesterday pass
ed bill to repeal the law to raise the Stare
Regment-Yeas 1872, Nays ..
u We had per last nights mail, the BuTsloe
Gazeue OF the l1th of May.---.No Nezus.