Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1833-09-13
vs. AHDUCEyc

MDUFF7E %. MeDUFTTE.
We have received, and shall lay Immediately be
fore our readers, the far-bruited speech of Mr.. Nc
Duffie, at the Athens Dinner. And certainly neve
did any orator play more singularly the Squeak an,
Buo6te with himself, than the gentleman before us
IN 1871, he was one Of the rankest ultras agains
State Rights, that ever welded a pen-and now h'
Is one OF the most flaming State Rights men, tina
ever wagged "a tongue. The Charleston Courier hat
given a few specimens Of contrasts, for the amuse
ment of its readers-but we must content ourselve:
to-day, with one or two succinct specimens. Yet
er uno disco omnes:
Athens .fddress. One the peopt.
s sH% . Is sovereign ''""u''' s e; s.o S., ,s. 8 S' a s,... cs of "a.
%s"s d part ofiie people,
rigm, absolutely inseparabl from dice, have no original inA1snt
. !: 'S's %Ss!" i. to o% '%'i H%s;:. IN; ;Ss 1tsss:' il. r . sl.. the. dangerous s:ss sue. .ss
progress Of usurpation, and thus ani rpatlean assumption, which
pr sc,ve the compact from viola turks n, the bottom OF n the Tea.
"on'' soning In favor Of State Rights"
One more Brilliant Contrast!
"That the functionanes Of the Federal Government are
the exclusive and final judges Of the extern, of the powers
conferred upon them by that very Constitution, which the
Sovereign States OF the conf.,ieracy established for The
special purpose OF imposing limitations upon those powers,
amounts to nothing less than that majority OF Congress aud
o.! the other departments ofthe Federal Government have a
ch@rter from Heaven, paramount to that by which they
were created. authorizing then to do what they please. and
e'Joining upon the States passive obedience 10 every act OF
usurpAtion and tyranny, which an ambitious or an inte.
res'ed majority may choose to perpetrs,e."-.afhens
Speech.
Gas far a. l can collect any distinct proposition from
the medley oil uDconnected quotations you have made on
these very important subjects, / understand yu to affirm,
that in expounding the Federal Constitution, we should
be "tied down to the strict letter" Of that instrument, aud
that the General Government "was not made the exclu-
sve aud final judge Of the extent OF the powers delegated
10 itself. but. that, as in all other cases OF compact among
to judge for itself As these may he considered the
concentrated essence Of oil the ioiid and destr uctive
that haze euer been adranced in relation to the
subjects under consideration, and AS they constitute the
basis oil a contemplated revolution in the administration of
the General Government, have been particular In using
your very language. les, I should be suspected Of giving
my own Impressions OF the result Of your arguments, or,
more correctly speaking, Of your quotations"
Zone Of the People.
This is enough, in all conscience.-As soon as we
have published the Athens speech, we shall attempt,
If possible, to lay before the Public the 18th section
OF "John Taylor's Views of the Constitutiom"-in
which he scaihes with the lightning's force, this pre-
cious production of Mr.. McD.-published in 1921.
1t is a rnasierly piece of nalysis-lumjnous ms il is
accura,e-and the chef d'nuvre Of the authors pow
eriul mind. He charges consolidation, if not monar-
chg upon the face of Mr.. Med. He concludes his
criticism with this singular remark:
Alter comparing the contest going on in this coun-
try with the struggles between the political parties
in France, he adds: $50 here, the struggle is between
the mutual check of the State and federal depart
!nents, and the absolute supremacy of the latter
The motives which invigorate the comba,ants are
not TO be distinguished. They are illustrated by The
union of the deputies from s. Carolina in the Con-
vention, with Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vir-
in favor of n supreme national government,
the curious spectacle of a symphony be-
tween the pride OF aristocracy and the pride of po-
The deputies of South Carolina were
willing to surrender her moral equality, but this dis
position flowed from the high-toned political OPT
mons OF a predominating aristOcracy, and not for a
of advancing her power upon the basis
Of her population. 1t is still more curious, after
this aristocracy has been melting for 35 years; after
virginia has seen the error of sacrificing the sound
of division of powers between the Fede-
raj and State governments, for mischievous calcu-
ations founded upon a iuctunting populations; af-
ter Massachusetts has felt il; when Pennsylvania
would advocate the republican equality and indie
of State-sovereignries; and when the
comparative population of S. Carolina has diminish
that a single individual Of Me State should be
'oaAing TO ouer,chelm The right tohich gives her impor-
lance as q member Of Thu Union, in the ocean of a
national government"
But what would the ~Virgininn have said, if he
were among us; how much more curious than all
would seem the Metnmorphosis, which has convert
ed the outrageous "Consolidalionist' into the flaming