Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-03-05

tiatea abroad, whence The sums borrowed
might be transferred 10 this country, with a pre-
MUM, Of exchange 10 the borrower, OF from 10
TO IS per cent. The guarantee would Of cou Sc
have. for its ultimate indemnity, the same Sc
curlties, already shown 10 be intrinsic ally so
adequate a basis for the loans; and Congress,
before according the guarantee, will have as
cerrained the sufficiency OF the basis, aud Will
Judge il by us intrinsic merits, not by the adj
venli,ious circumstances that govern foreign
money markets.
| The d ference to the borrower, between loans
| effected in The one or the other Of these modes,
involves. either palpa5e sacrifice of so muc b
Of the property Of Your memorialists and their
constituents, or necessity to renonnce all the
immense advantages Of the work-a still more
| grievous sacrifice.
Then your mrmo,ialiss are placed in that
very predicament, in which the governed may
mos, confidently appeal, upon the FIRST principles
Of the social contract, to the fostering care and
| proieo tio', Of The Government; when it requires
nothing but the mere fai Of the legislative will,
without loss, or the temoest probability Of
los, 10 The public Tfea.ury, to bssow upon
the community doubIe ben tit; to advance its
prosperity an happiness; ard, al The same
line, to save it from gratuitous and oalpable
sacr fee af It's mos, e>senlia Interests
The Intervention of Congress, as a guarantee
ot loans. for The mere ad,s cement o. the seat
Of Government, is net without precedent, and
! that krd Of aid was repeatedly extended TO the
niaut city Of Wa>hingtor, upon no other secu
rity han the public lands which had been re-
cel,ed Nv the Go, eminent, as donations from
the original propriet"rs Of the city. Now, a
similar indulgence is asked upon a security in
| F,rIy ri
der,aking, not merely for The ad ancemen; OF
the Seat Of Go eminent, buI OF lnr alcuiable m>
DorlanCr to the highes, interests, both polite al
and commercial. Of the nation: interests TOO ex
,eus,e and ramifed in their bearings, TO be
appreciated by any ordinary rule Of financial
| calculation
BIT, if the justice and expedieuoy Of legisla-
tive aid, in this case, were IimIied, in It's behe-
6crnce or necessity, to Ne prosperity or The
wants Of this particular Disjric', Congress is
only exerting one Of is expressly decga'ed and
strictly Constitutional powers, as q local legiS-
lature, when it interposes the gond offers OF
parens pntria, TO advance the prosperity, or pro-
,ect tie interests 1T The people, under its exclu
sive go,ernment, upon The same extent, that
any State Government might lesitimately do, in
behalf OF its peculiar citizens.
The power ofeXclusive legislation over this
Dis,rct is necessarily free from the limita.
tons and restraints under which the general
powers Of Congress act upon the Stat s,as such
instead of being limited 20 ertlin specific and
defined objects OF legislation, as in the States.
i, here dsscends into all the minute relations Of
socie;y. and completely dspl.cps and supplies
the orig anal iurisrIic ion OF The States, both
territorial and political; ard is not merely So
vereign in the selection and application Of
given means 20 gwen ends, as in the States, but
in all the diversified and discre ionary means
anil ends incident 10 Supreme and exclusive
lrgi>la'ion 1t is, nevertheless, IN all the prac.
uca drrails OF its execution, the exercise of
power as pu'elv federal, smana,jng fr, m The
same source, AID detsined 10 objects as COM
plcleiy national, as any other grained by the
Consri ution. The Srai Of Government, COM
pretending the entire compound offs elements
as a SIP rate community, styled the District Of
{ COLOMBIA, is as entirely National Institution
as is The Navy or Army; the system of revenue,
or any other of the establishments called into
existence by he Constitution, for the purposes
OF the common defence or general welfare or
for the Con enient organization of the Govern
men', or administrator Of its powers. Every
act OF legislation, and every dollar Of the pub
lie treasury, applied 10 consolidate and foster
in the seat Of Cover nment Of the United States,
are applied 10 an object as completely Nation.
al IS any other. That there may br Others en-
.lled TO more favor, of nearer and hearer
roncernmen, and higher value, need not be de-
MED: all that is intended 10 BE- SAID is, that not
one is more exclusively national in its ,harac-
terri relative impo lance Or magnitude ar
CUES nothing against the principle ad, anced.-
The prosperity and happiness, however, Of
such population as now lnhabirs, and may,
in process IF lime, inhabit the Seat Of Govern
men', is trust, which never can be esteemed
as Of secondary obligation or importance, in
the minds of those who are to administer it:
bu' necessarily in, olives all the political and
moral duties which the law Of nature and all
conventional institutions expressly or tacitly
annex as an inherent condition, TO the posses
sion Of sovereign power.
The power being complete and sovereign, in
all is means and ends, the oorrelaive duties Of
ODE di"nre ard protection, of course, result
10 Congress alone, we owe The one; from Con- !
gress, alone, have we any right TO claim tn
other, AID We have never dou ted, in the legls-