The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-04-04

Il " CoRStTuctl0G, ana 10 promote the inter
ests and honor of our common country
we need not express to our readers our
ehtire disbelief in the imputed dangers to
tne rights OF the States, and our conviction
lnat the States have been Invested of no
rights out such as, for the benefit of the
states themselves, the Federal Constit,1-
tuition has deposited with the Congress Of
the United States. We have said this too
often to leave any necessity for its repeti-
! ton.
/ Such as it is, however, we NAV search in
vain for any other avowaI of principle by
the new party. 1t is upon this avowal, we
presume, that the Richmond Enquirer pro-
claims that an opposition is now organiz-
ed the organization is admitted, the read
er VIII perceive, upon the high grounds of
the Constitution and the interests of the
country. Indeed, the reader will hardly
IAN 10 perceive In this sentence the echo Of
VII. van buren's Well-turned period
What the Enquirer means by the Constitu-
ton we all know; and we all know very
Wen that, excepting the honorable Senator
from New York, and his distinguished COM
peer, who now fills the gubernatorial chair
OF the same State, no person is named, bv
the organ OF the party, as a fit person to fiji
| the Presidency, who avows the sentiments
OF the Enquirer school on that subject. It
Is very certain that the incumbent does
not: 1t Is equally certain that Gen. Jack
son does not: and, most assuredly, neither
| does Mir. Clay nor Mr.. Calhoun. The
PRESIDENTIAL candidate of this organized
| opposition, therefore, if such are the
grounds OF 1t, must either be the Governor,
OF New York, or the Senator from the
same state, who have recently rivalled one
| thn1 nal b. Il
trlnes lhculcated by the politicians at Rich
mond.
( We shall not take the question of inter-
nal Improvement as the Illustration of them.
because our readers are sufficiently famiIs
lar. with it. We shall select the following.
being the main part of one of the resolu-
tons WHICH lately passed the house of del.
egates OF Virginia, by vote Of something
ike 40 yeas to 40 nays:
" ReSOiUed, That this general assembly
does most solemnly protest against the
clam or exercise of any power whatever
on the part OF the General Government, to
protect domestic manufactures the pro-
lection of manufactures not being amongst
the grants OF power to that Government,
specified In the Constitution of the United
States"
The protection of domestic manufac-
lures, then, is one of the rights of which
the State Governments have been Invested
by construction. It is one of those usur-
pations, denounced by the Enquirer sGho9f,l,
which form the 49, =
tRs gFsa5 IS sRRS SEt t & 9 aaey w
} ing ON which such resolutions are founded.
There was time, however, when it almost
! made an impression even on our minds but.
: slight examination of the Constitution,
l and of our political history, convinced us,
as it must every unpledged mind, of the ut
ter error of the argument. We had occa-
! sion heretofore to remark, that the power
to protect manufactures was recos -nized in
the preamble to the second act passed by
Congress under this Constitution, to which
We observe the Norfolk Herald has more
recently called the attention of the public
by quoting it. The preamble of the reven-
ue act, Ito which we REFER of May Is, 1889,
is as follows: Whereas, it is necessary fer
the support of government, and protection Of
manufactures, that duties be laid on goods,
wares, and merchandise, imported" &c.
And in the debate, in the House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States, upon that
bill, among other similar views, we find
the following sentiments expressed by Mr..
Madison, who was member of the Con-
vention, and who understood what the Con-
stitution did intend at least as well as any
member of that Congress, and, we need
not add, quite as well as any member of the
present Congress.
"There is another consideration. The
States that are most advanced in popula-
ton, and ripe for manufactures, ought to
have their particular interest attended to in
some degree. While these States retain
ed the power of making regulations of
trade, they had the potrer to protect and cher
ash such institutions. BY adopting the pres
ent Constitution, they have thrown the ex
ercise of this power into other hands-they
must have done this with an expectation
that those interests would not be neglected
here"
1t is in the face of such testimony as this,
equally undeniable and irrefutable, that
Virginia bewals her rights Invested, and
that Mr.. Van Buren, pledges himself for
f. their restoration, as far as he can effect it
We need not add, that every thing that
: the government has done of a nature ben
: eficent, either to commerce, agriculture,
or manufactures, rests upon the same prin-
ciple of construction; and that, in effect,
| this restoration of State rights, to which
: the New FORK Senator is pledged-and for
effecting which, the Enquirer says the OPP
position is I" organized" will be an abro-
gation of al measures ever adopted by the
United States, the object of which is to
advance the great interests of national in.
dustry, whether tho power has been exer-
cised on the mountains, on the midlands, or
ON the ocean shore.