Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-02-27

shdi ueptore-iny heart aches when think oil
it-that the hand which erected that monument
OF political wisdom should have signed the act
to incorporate the present Bank of the United
States.
1t was not a matter of conjecture, merely,
Mr.. X. said, but of fact-of notorety, that there
does exist on this ubject an honest difference of
opinion among enlightened men; that not one
or two, but many states in the Union see with
great concern and alarm the encroachments of
the General Government on their authority.
They feel that they haveg given up the power ofthe
purse and OF the sword, and enabled men, with
the purse il; one hand and the sword in the other,
| to rifle them of all that they hold dear. Among
| the revcries of that strange and most extraOr-
binary man, the late Ruler of France while he
was dying, inch by inca, among the rats Cf st.
Helena, he expressed the thought, that, ifinstead
of Elba, he had chosen Corsica, as the place of
his retreat when he was driven By the Allies
out of France he would have been enabled from
the bravery and devotion Of the people, and the
mountainous passes of the counrNS sc. to hold it
against the combined powers of Europe-as ifa
man who could not keep France, could keep
any thing else. And we too, sir, now begin to
| perceive what we have surrendcred-that hav-
ing given up the power of the purse and the
sword, every thing else is at the mere mercy
| and forbearance of the General Government.
| We did believe there were some parchment
| barriers-no! what is worth all the parchment
barriers in the world-that there was in the
powers of the States, some counterpoise to the
power of this body: but, if this bill passes, we
can believe SO no longer.
| have mentioned Bonaparte--and perhaps
history cannot afford an example of such rise,
and of such fall. We see him giving law in
the Kremlin, in the ancient palace of the Mus
covite Czars-in three years, we see him in the
island of ST. Helena, enduring-I will not say
what. With that example of humiliation before
me, it costs me nothing to endure the triumph of
the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Hemp
hill, J who tells us that new era is approaching
I-(not the era of good feelings, l am afraid, for
that has come already, jim which all Presiden-
tial sgueamishness is TO be at an end-when this
Government shall enter on new course, and
we are to take q new latitude and departure.
With this example before me, must recall the
recollection of three and-twenty years ago.
when that gentleman, who is the father of the
present bill, was unfolding, or, rather, endea-
voring to uphold, the wreck and remnant of that
system of policy which its triumphant ADVERSE
ries had cloven down. l remember his exer-
tons in regard to what has been called the mid
night Judiciary. Sir, ut that time stood in re-
| lation to this House, and to that gentleman, in
station very different from that which now sus-
tain, or ever expect-or, if know myself,
would ever wish to occupy again. If that era
| arrives to which the hopes and wishes of the
gentleman seem to aspire, it is pity we have
not some Dryden to celebrate its advent. Ano-
| Their .Astred Ted1r will be haied-and we shall
once more listen to the strain.
"Jam redit ct Virgo, redeunt Saturnia Regina"
Sir, if this bill passes, we shall not only have
a midnight, but daylight and starlight judi
ciary bill. You will have what one of was
going to say, u must call him sol know not
what else to call him, )-the most violent Fede-
| ralists ever heard, once said we ought to have
| federal justices of the peace. For you are
| told, though all the power that is claimed for
Congress over roads is conservative power
| that if robberies or murders committed or
contracts are made on road belonging to the
u. States, they will fall under the cognizancc
| and jurisdiction of the General Government.
Sir, am no lawyer; but this is the first time
that ever heard that the effect of contracts was
limited to the place of signature. l always have
heard that they were in their nature transiive.
But, sir suppose the power to be conservative
only-and suppose some breach is made in the
road, or any other injury done to it, are you not
to punish that injury? And, if any thing of
a trespass is committed on this road, are you to
haul man all the way from the extreme verge
of the largest States in the Union-for he must
be tried in the Federal Court, and not in a
Court the State-to answer for having thrown
pebble in the road and then, if aggrieved by
the decision of the court, he to be left to the
remedy Of coming here, to the Supreme Court, for
his appeal?
But, sir, it is said, we have right to establish
post Offices and post roads, and we have right
to regulate commerce between the several
States: and it is argued that to regulate" COM
merce, is to prescribe the way In which it shall
be carried on--which gives, by a liberal con-
struction, the power to construct the way, that
is, the roads and canals on which it is to be car
ried Sir, since the days of that unfortunate
man, of the German coast, whose name was
originally Fyerstone, Anglcised to Fierstone,
but got from that to Flint, from Flint TO Pierre
| Fusil, and from Pierre FULL to Peter Gun
never was greater violence done the English
language, than by the construction, that, under
the power to prescribe the way in which com
merce shall lie carried on, we have the right to
construct the way on which it is to be carried. |
Are gentlemen aware of the colossal power they
are giving to the general government Sir, / |
am afraid that that ingenious gentleman Mr.. |
McAdam will have to give UP his title 10 the dis
tnction oftbe Colossus Of Roads, and surrender
it to some of the gentlemen of this committee, |
if they succeed in their efforts this occasion. |
If, indeed, we have the powerwhicb is contended |
for by gentlemen under that clause of the con- |
stituton which relates to the regulation of com |
merce among the several States, we may under |
the same power prohibit altogether the com
merce between the States, or any portion Of the |
States--or we may declare that it shall be car
ried on only in particular way, bya particular
road or through particular canal or We may
say TO the people Of particular district, you
shall only carry your produce to market through
o1r canals or over our roads, and then, by tolls,