Wheeling compiler. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [i.e. W. Va.]) 1829-1831, 1830-08-04


they ought to have been stricken out as
improper details; for, under these sPecIhed
movers any means proper to the end, ana
not prohibited, may be employed by the
people, through their representatives. IN
the prosecution of war, offensive or deien-
sive, roads, canals or railways, may be
made; rivers turned from their courses,
cities demolished, and mountains raised,
# the exigency ofthe public service should
demand the effort or the sacrifice. As the
arts advance under the creative power OF
human invention, should new and unknown
descriptions Of arms aud munition OF war,
he discovered, or even some ariel mode OF
CONVEYANCE through the medium of the at
mosphere be found out, they may be adop-
ted or rejected, as means, though not spe-
CITED under the war power. In short,
should the sacrifice of vast estates Of prl-
vate property, over wide districts Of coun-
trv. embracing several States, become the
nroner means demanded by the occasion,
+ can all be done under the general power,
TO take private property for public uses,
bv making Just compensation; and whole
foreign provinces may be purchased, or
conquered as means of securing the pub
lie peace, as in the case of Louisiana and
Florida: unless, indeed, the great reversal
Of all former decisions, by the Cabinet
should annul the once disputed purchases
} of those countries; and turn us, neck and
heels. out of the Union, by single flour
ish Of the Magiclan'S wand. And who
are N Judge of the exPedlency OF such
strong means but the living generation
interested IN the times that demand them,
acting through their representations Con
gTess2
And under the wise maxim of Washing
ton and other heroes and sages, to prepare
IN pesce for the state of war, cannot such
t,bjpgs be done ''ln these times of piping
peace when we have nothing better to do
/ # the natural formation of our country, &
Jour liability 10 invasion, should render II
prudentl Or. are the powers Of the I'm
( ,on alive only 10 war, and dead IN peace,
lke certain flowers. closed up in he calm
hedes of the night, and open only IN the
/ blazing sun!
What would a common sense nan, who
neither splits hairs. ner chops logic, nor
looks a thousand miles of for thtt which
lies close under his nose. think olan emf
uraDt about TO leave the good City of ST.
/ Louis, and settle in the thick foress Of the
! Merrlmeck, who would first pack up his
/ family and all in his wagon, and push into
tho Ticket, cutting his way as he wents
Would it not be more backwoodsman-llke,
TO 20 IN advance, select his site, anC mark
aud open his way? As with individuals
so with nations in this respect.
ID. Ofthe Commerce. The worl used
IN the constitution is, CIRCULATE, " or make
laws or rules. Congress shall have
power to regulate commerce with foreign
nations, among the several States, and
with the Indian tribes" Not word a
bout tho territories! | suppose they de-
pend chiefly upon the qualification" Of
/ the Louisiana and Florida acquisitions.
! All my remarks upon the war power,
and its means, seem applicable here, so
( far as conveyance is in question.
In point offact, the General Government
has opened harbors and inlets, built sea
walls. break waters or artificial harbors,
and opened the channels of rivers in aid of
commerce, foreign and domestic, and adop
/ ted many means, not specified in the Con.
.utution, nos known when It was framed.
Should long, but INSTRUCTED river, run
through several States, and the lower ones
refuse 10 open the channel rs the upper
ones had done, then the wisdom Of our an
cestors, in assigning this great object to
the care Of the General Government, in
stead of the States, would become praciI-
.cally manifest 20 our senses.
3D. The diffusion ofnIeligence, or the
public mail, is entitled to all the suitable
means discovered, or to be discovered, to
which the two other great national objects
are. True, there is one mean, post roads,
mentioned In the Constitution; and qulb-
bier who hang in the bark and never reach
he wood, might here quote latin upon Us,
and say, "expresslo unIus est exciusIo al
terus"-the expression Of one IS the ex
cIusion of the others; but let US remember
with national pride, and gratitude to the
memory of FULTON, if not with justice
to his heirs, that since that specification of
the only inland means of conveyance then
used, the Steamboat has been invented
and stems our western waters;-long lines I
of water communication Of a thcu sahd /
miles, or two thousand-almost from the
Alleghanics to the Rocky Mountains, and /
from our northern limits to the Gulf of
are passed like the flight OF
bird, by the power Of steam.
Would the man Of common sense doub |
the constitudOnahty Of adding this TO the
means Of conveyance known to our ances-
tors, for the purpose Of war, commerce, or /
In point of fact, it has been