Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-02-09

Strumcnt, IN portraymS LAG
ter of the King of Great Britain, has, among
other things, the following specifications:
aHe has dissolved Representative Houses re-
peatedly, for opposing with manly iirmness MS
invasions on their rights.
g He has INSTRUCTED the administration OF
Justice, by refusing his assent to laws tor estao-
fishing Judiciary powers. :,
Gle has made Judges dependent on his VIII
alone, for the tenure of their Offices.
Gle has affected to render the military IN
dependent Of, and superior to, the civil power.
ale has combined with others, to subject us
to jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws.
"For depriving us in many cases, OF the
right of trial by jury.
These, sir, are few Of the prominent traits,
which the immortal sages Of 1875 considered
as entering into the character of tyranny, and
from the influence of which to rid themselves
and their posterity forever, they fearlessly re-
solved to oppose force to force, and to stake
their lives" their fortunes" and their sa-
cred honor" upon the issue. These, sir, are
solemn facts: This is not defamation, resort
ed to for the purpose of inAaming the minds OF
the people, and producing the support OF one
man, and the opposition to another. The great
body of specifications in the Declaration OF
independence emphatically show, that the main
cause of complaint alledged against the king
and government of Great Britain by the sign
ers to that Declaration, was the exercise, by
their officers and agents, of powers not granted
by the laws of the realm: the exercise of that
kind of power which is the result, not OF con-
stitutinnal enactment; but which claims for its
authority the broad, underlined, and unde6nable
ground of necessity. A ground which is ia
vorite with General Jackson, and which he
pleaded with great confidence in his answer to
Judge Hall, of the District Court of the United
States for the District of Louisiana, as will
hereafter be shown. A plea which can be rails.
cd to excuse the greatest usurpation of power
which the most intense ambition ever dared to
assume: because it is in all cases resorted to, in
opposition to pretended, or fancied state Of
things, which the imagination of the person
exercising it, will always represent as requir-
ing the adoption of the means used, in opposi-
ton to an evil, which could not be counterfeit
ed by any other measure whatever. Thus
Cromwell, and Bonaparte, both represented it
as absolutely necessary, that the Legislative bo-
dies of their respective countries should be dis
solved, forcibly dissolved, in order to secure
the public safety: and General Jackson tells us,
that, to save our country, it was necessary to
dissolve the Legislature of Louisiana, declare
martial law, and assume all power, civil, mill
tary, and judicial, in his own person; and dur
ing the continuance of this assumption of ilie-
gal powers to perform acts never before toler-
ated in this country, 1t has always been sub
ject of amazement to me, why the statesmen
of this country should have looked on these
transactions of the General with so much
seeming apathy: it is certainly melancholy
evidence of the facinating influence Of military
power; and shows how much military man
may usurp with impunity, whenever he can
couple it with pretence Of its being necessary
to the public defence. We talk much of our
jealousy of power, and the watchfulness we dis
play in guarding our rights from its encroach-
ments; and yet we not only permit them to be
trodden under foot, but propose to reward their
violator with the Presidency. How different
was the feelings which influenced the parlia-
ment of England exactly 200 years ago, when
they submitted to King Charles /. their famous
Petition of Right, which even that despotic mo-
march dare not refuse to confirm. This peti.
ton, which, as you know, consists Of XII Sec
tons, in which is enumerated great many
lawless proceedings of the Kings officers, con-
tains the following:
VII. "And whereas no offender of what kind
soever, is exempted from the proceedings to be
used, and the punishments to be inflicted by
the laws and statutes of this your realm; new
ertheless of late times, divers Commissions un-
der your Majesty's great seal have issued forth,
by which certain persons have been assigned
and appointed Commissioners, with power and
authority to proceed within the land, according
to the Justice of Martial Law, against such SOL
diers or mariners, or other dissolute persons
joining with them, as should commit any MUIR
der, robbery, felony, or other outrage and mis-
demeanor whatsoever, and by such summary