The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-01-24

lhe form OF government nres..a was
Florida by Mr.. Adams and h. ne Tor
mat against the perfectly regular .ons You
Tor the purposes of the mosf r;go.a Ai'e.i'r,
nee, oi The powers thus prrs,rihaIi'o luh-
Adams himself, " the Halls of c. ~.
the streets of your cities. the s,,,a,ss',
your mountains, and the eeba.s ~ Of
valleys, have resomlded viii, .l.,r... your
'a'ea ri6lts' aud unconstitutional ae,' ~,
despollsm." For the grant of this ae Is, Vi
mendons power" as Dir. Adams torn. ue'
his apology IS that "thc principle bsI i' i
oeeh settled" III 1908 and thai tbe Ing NV
| erS OF Congress are now establ;sb.pd'," Nv
The construction then in llsOs) given ~ - =. ny
constitution" Yet he saws :. NJ - NE
question now new one, | have NO 'ie
tatlon IN saying, that should ret.;n -, ~
same opinion, and give the SAM IN, ''ie
Ana IS tins the true construction of cur ,'.,
stlihtion, that single act passed Ia, r W.
gress, ESTABLISHES "A power clain.d Ip '
that body, and makes il the dutv oe ny
member N The minority 10 give IN hi.
plhlon, although if the question: was nov o., ~
should retain 1t If this be so, there i ~
realdiiierence between onr consttptior :. .t 10
That OF England, where, whatever has L a'a
once done, may be constitutionalIy doae' AL
gain. '''e a.
This is not such an opinion of the n.r.
mount Obligations Of the constiiut;o1
ought to he entertained by one who a.n;,' 20
10 take the oath, to "preSerue, project a,,
detend The constitution cfhe u Stqtcs.n "a
As Mr.. Adams 50 readily yields to prs.
cedent, 1t is unfortunate that he w.s nat
in 1908, intimately acquainted with o,r
statute book, or he would there have find
precedent, not indeed exactly in noin,
but one which | deem much stronger tban
the act for taking possession of Louisiana
IN 1890, North Carolina coded to the Tn
ted States her western territory, and IN.
Z. ,. accepted the ccssiou. The territory
contained about 10000 citizens of n. Ca,
rolina whose rights certainly were not less
than those of the inhabitants of Louisiana
under spain. Congress, and the presi.
dent Washington, without asking their con-
sent, gave them government. AID proyi-
"ta mem with laws, in the making Of
when they had no share. Their governor
ana Judges were appointed by the Prpsi-
Gent some OF them sent from the original
states, and vested with power to adopt
such laws OF any ofthe states, criminal and
GNU, as might be necessary, which shoudbe
IN force, Unless dIsapproved by Congress
NOW, ! apprehcnd, that, if Congress in
1890 had power to leGislaie for the people
OF the territory coded by n. Carolina,a
people accustomed to selfgoyernmetit, and
entitled to II | the rights and privileges of
American eilizens, they had at least an e.
qnal right to leglaatc for the people inha-
blllnS the territory ccded by France. If
the U. ). may govern American citizens
without Their consent, to prepare them
Tor self, government, las is now done
IN all our,erritories) they might, in like
manner, govern the Inhabitants Of ter
ntory coded by a foreign power, who me-
Yer possessed the right oFself government.
As to the printed speech of Mr.. Adams,
he may be assured tbat | never knew or
heard that he had delivered printed
speech in the Senate respecting Loulsiana,
dress to you vas witt a SSssare my former ad,
After the cession by FJance, and dewe-
ny OF possession to the United States, tie
sovereignty either vested in them, or IN
the inhabitants Of tls, territory, OF all class
es and c0l0rs. In the Florida treaty, ne
sociatcd by Mr.. Adams, MS Secretary OF
State, " His Catholic majesty cedes TO the
L. States,IN ruLL PROPERTY AND s0vE-
REIGSrY, all the territories" &c. Accor-
ding to the Secretary of State, the soye-
lrignty passed to the United States ; but,
according to Senator Adams the sovereign
ty of Louisiana, when it passed from
France, vested in the inhabitants of the ce-
ded territory. AS Mr. Adams has two o.
pinions, | will take that which | most
approve, aud conclude that the so,e-
rcgnty, and the consequent power TO
regulate the commerce of the country, was
III the United States. There was then no
objection in 1903 to the immediate pfOhl
bltIon OF the importation Of the ilnporta-
ton of slaves from abroad for prlll-
lege to import slaves until 1903, was reser-
we'd, by the constitution, only to such Of
the original states Us should think properto
Use II. But, Mr.. Adams says, that slaves
might have been brought into Louisiana,
by The way OF Georgia; it WAS therefore
useless to prohibit their being imported d.
rcetIy into Louisiana, from abroad. lfths
Is good reasoning, there should be no quail
autlne regulation 1T our cities on the Attain
tic for the yellow fever may, perchance,
be brought by land flom New Orleans.
h is not remarkable, that Mr.. Adams in
voting in 1905 against the prohibition ofthe
importation of slaves after lst Of January,
1903, should be found in company with
Mr. Baldwin and Mr.. Jackson, the Sena'
tors from Georgia, and Dir. Elldry, Sena'
tor from Rhode Island for Georgia then
imported slaves and probably desired 10
continue in the exercise of the privilege OF
importing slaves as long as possible: and
some very distinguished citizens of Rhode
island have continued the trade long after
1903. Although Mr.. Baldwin and Ny
Jackson were friends to the admnlstrauI
of Mr.. Jefferson, it was not in that capacV
that they voted with Mr.. Adams agal0N