Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1829-01-22

tons coupled instead of TITO regulate COM
merce with foreign nations, and among the several
States-and with the Indian tribes"
Which Constitution is the most ineligible, To-
gical. and happily expressed The Constitution
as it is. or Mr.. Ms he would make it, with his
unsparing, celebrating, pruning knife.
Let now brief review Of MIR. Ms quotations,
and his criticisms upon them, he taken, and what
strange spectacles do they exhibit.
First quotation
The sentence cut in half. 6. the best half thrown
to the winds. and needed not.
Second-The most important word changed, the
sentence cut in half, aud the best half thrown to
the winds. and needed not.
First Criticism
All the terms in tho first quotation, declared to
be pleonasms, tautologes, and promiscuous terms
and phrases. ,l-r.is'.r u, a .s.1.--s.s.
Second-All the powers. granted by the terms
used in the first quotation, interrable from the gem
erai grant" To regulate trade" That general
grant, OF course, includes all powers, and by its
omniPotent generality, sweeps away all the re-
straining provisions expressed in the Constitution.
Thus, !he general government becomes possessed
OF all the means Of lettering the condition of the
people, under no other influence, than its own I'M
limited wiiE
Third-Throw to the winds all the following
words, restraining the powers of Congress, con-
tanned in the FIRST sentence quoted, to wit -" To
pay the debts, and provide for the common defence
and general welfare Of the U. S.; but all duties,
imposts, and excuses, shall be Uniform throughout
straning words from the I'd clause, TO wit :-"Com-
merce with foreign nations, and among the seve-
raj States, and with the Indian tribes" These
words contain all the restraining provisions in the
Constitution in relation TO these two vital subjects.
Mete out the same measure to all the other re-
sreining provisions OF the Constitution and then
will Congress be left without any restraint upon
| its own will; and then, and not till then, will
Congress become possessed Of the power to pro-
tect manufactures. Surely, these notions must be
considered as an improvement upon all previous
| fashionable inventions; and to behold Mr.. NJ, de-
corated in the extreme of his new, fashionable
livery, must be strange spectacle indeed =
Never, till now, did the writer think, that he would
be called upon to perform the mos, unpleasant task
OF protecting the Constitution from the most ex-
tensve adaptations, and to defend its phreseoogy
against the cruel blows ofhyper- criticism inflicted
by the hands Of Mr.. NJ. Himself, heretofore,
its most renowned champion, as il is written-not
by the aid Of Implications deductions, and imagi
nary deuHve analogies, drawn from foreign sonr-
ces; but from the inpregnable-" Sic lex scripta
est" Upon this solid foundation he firmly stood;
nor did he ever, till now, permit himself to be
drawn from Lis position, by the false glitter of all
this delusive imagery by the false glare Of one
splendid consolidated despctsrn.
But, cannot some ofthe excised words, from the
clauses half quoted, be found, which would afford
aisple protection to the Constitution, by excluding
all these delusive implications?I Let that examina
ton be next made.