Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-07-01
THE ATTACHMENT CASE.
lFrom she Richmond whig ]

As we promised some days ago, we avail our
selves of the first leisure, to lay before the rea
ders Of this paper the answer OF jean II. Plea
SAINTS. drawn by Gen. Walter Jones, sloNirs
cause why he should not be attached for an al
,edged contempt of the Circuit Court of the Dis
trict Of Columbia, for the county Of Alexandria.
in d,sobeyiug summons of said Court. To at
tend itas witness We respectfully soliciI an
attentive perusal of that answer. by geatlcmen OF
the Bar and by the Public at large, believing, as
we do. that grave principles Of constitutional aud
municipal law are nvulved 10 the case.
We beg leave here to annex extracts from a
letter from Gra. Jones, which will cOntrbltr 10
.aabe the reader. along with the answer, TO forn
lust opinion Of the legality Of the course pugsu-
ii by the Curt at Alexandria-a Court for
whose members, as individuals, We entertain eve.
ry respect:
s,The attachment is made returnabe TO some
day in August, when the solemn parade OF ano.
Their speciai meeting of the Court and Grand Ju-
ryis ordered. Tor the single purpose Of dealing
Wit, your refractory body, if they can get hold
of il. BH this. am well satisfied, they can me-
yer do; unless you voluntarily submit. as a Ma
tive citizen and settled nhabitant of our old
Common ealth, to be dragged from the protec-
ton of domestic law insti utiops, into a foreign
Jurisdiction. TO which you never we're subject, aud
against which you are charged with no ofence.
but that Of declining, upon your native SOIL, the
extra territorial Jurisdiction OF foreign tribunal
over your person aud liberty. You may certain
IT,, If you please, submit 20 be thus dragged
away. and compu' Irilv subjected 10 the aclion
of laws and tribunals, within the limited sphere
of whose power nothing but their own compul-
sion had brought you; to whose jurisp'rdenca
you are stranger; and from the possible abuses,
o. from the arbitrary principles and tendencies
of which, no matter how penalty ihey may ope
rate on your person or fortune, the laws and tai
bunais OF your own STATE could give you relief
no redress, though the identical act, with the
commission or o,nission Of which you are chars
ed. was comuitted or omitted, whilst you aere
abiding IN the heart VI your own State, aud en.
tllrd 20 the protection. or su6jectAo the censure,
nj its Conslii ntlon. sa"s, and tribunals OF that
intended between the actual admin;stra lion or Inc
laws. or the principles on which liberty and pro
perry are secured by existing institutions, in ihe
District uf Columbia and in the State of Virgl-
MIA: they may De all equally excellent in theory
and practice.
.sBut as no stranger can assume parental autho.
rity ever a child, without the consent of the ps
rent, 80 no State can exercise jurisdiction over
citizen of another State. within the territory OF
his own State, without some conventional ar
ranurment between the States to that effect
And no sovereign State could be justified in re-
mit,ing her citizens to the cosnizaDce of TO-
reigr jurisdc ion, in the institution of whose go
vernnent and laws these cilizens could have
had no voice. nor the State herself any control
over any possible vices or abuses, either in the
laws themselves, or in the administration of
the laws. If any such concession may ever
be deemed consistent with the dignity the
duties Of sovereign State, It must DE under
rnI, Of
fest and urgent necessity; and then the con-
cession should be strictly guarded, by positive re-
gu,atons, and well defined limitations, insti,ut.
ed. or distinctly approved and confirmed by tie
las OF the State making the concession have
looked i'm vain, after an anxious apd diigent
search. for any law Of Congress that even Asserts
foe the tribunals of this District any such autho-
ritz over the citizens of Virginia: and If any
such law of Congress could be found, should
still challenge, with more undoubting confidence
IL the triumphant maintenance Of my challenge,
a reference to any one law or any one act of
Virginia, whereby she has. either BY express con.
yention or any tacit implication, made aI,y conces.
sion to Congress of the power to extend the
jurisdiction Of the local tribunals of the Distric,
of Columbia over the territory Of Virginia, or
her citizens abiding in their own State, Indeed,
State Rights question of portentousim arises,
and one of far more interest than naay that
have made more noise in the country. IT'S
little remarkable that hitherto the States have
exerted all their vigilance and Jealousy to vindi.
cate their separate rights against supposed en-.
crcachments of the General Government in the
exercise of its b ishest powers: but now, an inte
rior Court, completely local in its institution and
Jurisdiction, and no otherwise distinguished from
other local tribunals, but that it happened to be
created nv Congress for the local administration
of Justice IN small district under the exclusive
legislation OF Congress- and absolutely excluded,
in virtue Of that exclusive legislation, from the
community of States. both in their federal rela.
tons, aud in their separate capacities as Sove-
reign States: this same local and inferior tribu.
nal claims an extended jurisdiction in the States,
qualifying it not only to summon. but TO attach
ard briog TO Its bar by forcs.o its own process,
citizens Of the States residing in the body Of the
States. and completely clear OF its jurisdiction,
as citizenship and residence can make them.