Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1831-12-20

Mr.. Doddridge, the mover, had no objection
10 the re consideration; and it was his intention
TO modify the resolution which Inadvertently
had been madea positive instruction to report
bill.
Mr.. Sutherland asked if the motion was in
order. Had the gentleman from South CAROL;
ma voted in the affirmative; the Speaker said he
presumed so, as the resolution could not have
been adopted, in its stage, If any member had
objected TO It's passage.
The motion 10 reconsider was agreed to, and
the resolution being modified by the mover, so
as to Instruct the Committee to enquire into the
expediency of repairing the Road, 1t was adopt
ed.
Mr.. Drayton, fromthe Committee on Military
Atfars. rcpolteda bill for the adjustment of the
claims OF the State of South Carolina for Militia
services rendered during the late was; and, on
his motion, twas made the special order of the
day for "Wednesday. the 28th inst.
~ROADS'AND CANALS.
The House resumed the consideration Of the
following resolution, offered by MIR. Mercer:
Resolved, That there shall be appointed, for
the present session, and hereafter ct the COM
menccment of each session of Congress, Com
mittec Of seven members of this House, to be
styled Committee on Roads and Canals, and
the Improvement Of tho navigation of Rivers, as
shall b., presented, or may come in question, and
be referred to them by the House; and to report
thereupon, together with such propositions rela-
ii, C thereto, us to them shall seem expedicnt.
Mr. Mitchell offs c. continued his remarks
in opposition to the resolution. Yeste rday, he
said, when he was arrested by the expiration
of the hour, he was replying to the sumption
of the mover of the resolution that the consti-
t0tionality Of Internal Improvement by the Go
vernmcnt had been recognized by the House.
In ply, he had argued that :he Cumberland
Road, which was entitled to unusual favor as 4
military, q commercial and natiorafIoad, was
not authorized by Congress until the Secretary
of the Treasury, as instructed by Congress, had
obtained the assent of the States of Pennsyva
mia, Maryland and Virginia, through which the
road was to pass. Ho had also showed that
Mr. Madison held that Congress had no power
to make roads through States, even with the
assent of those States. He had also referred
to the similar views expressed by Dir. Monroe
IN putting his veto OIL re bill for erecting tell
gates on the Cumberland Road; and by Gen
Jackson, in his reasons for putting q veto on
the haysville Road Bill Similar opinions had
been Expressed by Gov Clinton, in Message
to the Legislature of New York, ant by every
State LegIsla turc South of the Potomac He
had shewn, therefore, that the mover of the
solution mad enormously assumed that the Go
vernment had recognized and acted upon the
power of making roads through the Sutcs with
oLt their assent.
MI Mercer here explained. If the gentle
man from ). &. he SAID, undertakes to report
me, hope he will report me correctly. did
not INSERT the opinion which he ascrbes to me-
MIR. Mitchell went on to say that he consi-
dercd the appropriation of money for roads
with or without the assent of the States, as
equally unconstitutional. Congress had ne
power i'll either case. 1t was admitted on all
hands, that there was no express power given
by the Constitution to Congress to make roads
and canals. 1t was sustained implied
power. The variety of the sources from which
tlAr1, IL
llonea sufficient proof that no such power exist
ed. One derived it from the power to regu-
ate commences another, and one of the most
splendid men IN the country, inferred it from
the power to establish Post Roads; and others
asserted that it belonged to the House under
he "geneTl welfare" doctrine. Nobody was
aver able to fix upon the precise clause which
gave the power. 1t was of no consequence.
therefore,, in his opnsn, whether the right
claimed was to cut roads, or to appropriate mo-
ney for roads cut under the authority of the
States. The gentleman from Virginia states,
hat the power has over and over again been ac-
ed upon, since he became q member of the
House in 1916. His doctrine was, "communis
error facit JUS" andsuch was the preva lent doc
rine of the day. In reading last night the address
,fthe New York Tariff Convention, he noticed
hat they founded their doctrines on precedent.
Sir, !, for one, will not yield to this doctrine of
PRECEDENT. We may go on adding precedent
o precedent, error TO error, and corrup-
ion to corruption, till we arrive at the same
tate of things which Great Britain has reached;
md there the foundations Of society are threat
ned by the attempt at q reform. l call, said
hr Mitchell. for aid in opposition to this sys-
EN-, upon that class of members who are known
Is "strict constructionists the disciples of
Thomas Jefferson. ] invoke to my aid those
sober minded and prudent men, who cemc here
lot to waste, but to preserve the public funds
md who are DESTROYS of stopping every sluice of
extravaganza expenditure. There is still another
class upon which | rely for assistance-those
who would preserve the administration of tho
Government, pure and incorruptible. There
vas no scheme of eectoneering so powerful
IS that OF holding out the inducement of Inter
al improvements. 1t effected in politics what
be steam engines had effected in mechanics:-
tore up rocks and hurled mountains away -
dcmagogue had only to hold out to the
eople Of his vicinity the prospect of q Road
II Canal, increasing the value of lands and
roducts, to be looked upon as a public bene-
actor. If thus it operated to the advantage of
oscure men, how much more powerful was it
D the hands of a President, possessed of high
llents; and no man, said Mr. Mitchell, can ever
rive at the Presidency, without possessing
re-emInent talents. A President would be able |
nus TO buy not districts, but whole sections of
ountry. Let us, for example, suppose a case: |
oppose the Canal of New York had not been
'ade; and suppose that her citizens, could, in
respect, behold all the advantages arising from
which have since actually arisen: the lands
'om Eric to he Hudson approaching in value,
villages every where sprnging I'D;
he whole West becoming tributary TO her com
lerct; could not the State of New York he
nrchased by the A administration, which would.
y aiding the Canal, assist in enabling the
tate to realize III these bpnefitsS Most assured