Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1822-01-26
RICHMOND, JANUARY 26, l8e2.
FOR THE ENQUIRER.

10 We NeHeTW .rSSemoty " trgtntd.
take leave, fellow citizens, to address you
on a most important subject. l address you
with freedom, but, certainly, not without res.
pect. In many of you recognize my esteem
ed friends and acquaintance, and in all Of
you, the immediate representatives of my
native state. You are the representatives OF
that renowned commonwealth, which has, al 4
ways, been in'the van, in deserving danger
to our liberties, and in resisting oppression of
that distinguished state, which has given to
the world, WASHINGTON, Il JEFFERSON, and
HENRY you are the lneal successors Of
the distinguished legislatures Of 1865, and
of 1893: OF those illustrious legislatures, who
equally bearded and overthrow British, and
American tyranny: You are the Immediate
successors of that respectable legislature.
which, ut the last session, made noble stand
IN behalf of the liberties of this common
wealth. They firmly protested against usur-
pations, the inevitable effect of which must be
the entire prostration of the state Govern
mcnts.
1t has been the practice of your iustrious
predecessors, fellow citizens, to act upon prir-
ciPle, and to make timely as well as effectu-
al opposition to the dangers which threaten
ed them. Obsta priacipiis has been their max
i'm. They did not sit with folded arms, un-
til the storm had actually burst upon them.
They did not wait, as neighboring state has
done, Until the commonwealth should be cons
vulsed to its centre, by the DEGREES of a federal
court. They did not wait, as has also hap
p..aed III another state, uutil the federal She
riff was about to break into the treasury ola
sovereign member of the Union, and levy his
execution therefrom. Your predecessors
fellow citizens, took a wiser and nobler
course than this. They deserted the danger
at a distance, and, Oh principle, protested a
gainst it. They well knew that effects would
follow their causes and that what was now
but principle, would soon become oppression,
rank and grinding oppression. They pur-
sued the iilistrIous example of our revolu.
tionary fathers, in relation To the tax upon
tea. Although that obnoxious tax was re-
pealed, by the British Parliament, they were
not satisfied, as long as right was claimed,
by that body, to bind the colonies, sin all
cases whatsoever .: and they unanimously
resisted the principle contained in this asser-
ton, while it was yet in embryo. They did
not wait until that principle lad ripened in
to acts, and had fallen upon them in the shape
OF rank and crying oppression.
The dangers you have now to contend with,
fellow citizens, are of no ordinary magnitude,
or character. They result from the most a.
farming principles of decision, established and
acted upon, by the supreme court.-We are
not, again, called to contest with the short
sighted and infatuated ministers ola British
!yrapt. We have not, again, To cope with
the frantic swaggcrings of John .4dnms: nor,
with the open & niblushiDg tyrannies Of Judge
Chase. We have now to deal with wiser
and cool set ofmen, than these. We have
to deal with men who have planted their Crap
pies ut a distance: who have taken their
ground with Judgment, and pursued it, with
underwriting firmness. But they have also
pursued it with calmness, and with an apparent
moderation: and hence arises our danger.
There is nothing in the temper or manner
OF the court which can alarm or awaken us,
Their acts alone, fear, will arouse us from
our fatal torpor. But they will come too
late {: they will arouse us, only, when our H.
berries are conVulsed ny the agonIes of death
The high court, fellow citizens which has :
usurped such awful and alarming powers is
equally unelected by, and irresponsible 10, the
people The people and the states have, there
fore, no hold upon them, but by a revolution.
or an amendment to the constitution.-F
have been appointed judges in one century,
and make laws and constitutions for another.
They make them upon the most underlined
and dangerous principle of construction and
implication :by putting that and that together,
and by the most sophisticai conclusions aud
devices. They pile up decision upon decision,
aud construction u pom construction, until not
left and the nature Of your government will
he thus entirely changed. Their undoubted
object must be, TO rear up great, splendid,
aud despotic government, upon the ruins OF
the governments of the states
On this poit let a few plain FACTS speak.
This court, by extending, and, in fact,
changing the meaning of the important words
necessary and proper" rs found in the con-
stitutlon, have, in effect, changed the charac- =
ter offhe general government IL has remoy.
ed the limits imposed upon that government,
by the constitution, and given carte blanche
To it, for its authority and power. 1t has eff
fcctually revived, IN this way, the sweeping
clause of Demonstration, formerly surrender
ed IN the year 1889, and always so much
dreaded by our most virtuous patriots. II
has lrgallzed any law passed by the national
legislature, which is, in its Judgment, or in any
degree, "cxpedient or conducive to" the end
proposed. 1t has reversed and repealed q
great principle running through all hum,i
codes of laws namely that the devolution
OF an authority, carries with it such, and only
such, means, as are necessary to effect the end.
The supreme court have also altered the words
actually contained in the constitution, and
have substituted others in their room which
are so powerful as to annuI every Limitation
contained in that instrument.
This court has also asserted right in the y
general government, TO become the sole and
exclusive Judge of the extent of its own pow
ers, claimed under the federal compact. It
has asserted this right, in the teeth of the OPT
Mon of the venerable and iIlusfrious Jefferson,
lately published: in the teeth ofthe celebrated
resolutions ofyour predecessors in the year
1899 and in opposition to the pIainest prin-
ciples of common sense. They have also as
serted that even that court ITSELF Though on
ly department Of one Of the parties to the