Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-12-23

pensation, political or religious, ever has Deen
governed by justice in its negotiations or its con
Rcts with other states. No, gentlemen, it is not
Justice and magnanimity, but interest and ambi-
ton digni6ed and disguised under the name OF
State Policy-and ever has governed, and
ever will govern masses Of men, acting as politl-
cal communities. Individuals may be actuated
by a sense of justice, but what citizen IN any
would venture to contend Tor justice 10
a foreign and rival community, in opposition to
the prevailing policy of the state, without forfeit
ing the character of patriot? We habitualy
speak of Roman virtue and Roman patriotism
as proverbial, and they are held up, throughout
christendom to the rising generation as models
for imitation. And yet, in every period OF the
republic, with scarce an interval, these virtuous
and patriotic citizens were engaged inIuexipg
the ocean and desolating the earth, by wars OF
plumber and conquest. These are not mere alb
stracted truths and barren speculations, but they
practically illustrate the peculiar and perrlllous
condition Of the exporting and slave holding
states, as members of the great North American
confederacy, and demonstrate the imperlous ne
cessty ofrallying all parties around the standard
of State Sovereignty, resolved in the spirit OF
our glorious MOTTO" inimiS Opibusque pdrdtr
to maintain and preserve it untarnshed in every
emergency and at every hazard, as the last
hope Of transmitting to our posterity the bles-
sings of constitutional liberty.
The entire legislation Of Congress, on the con-
ring States, has been war of communities
against communities, carried on by making I'M
Just and unconstitutional laws, instead OF hight
ing hazardous and bloody battles In this legls-
lative warfare, have seen the truth of all that l
have said as to the injustice ofCommunities, &C
ting as such, most strikingly illustrated. have
seen men OF high honor and unblemished integri-
ty in all the relations Of private life, who would
shrink with adherence from the preparation OF
an act Of individual injustice voting with an I'M
disturbed concience for measures OF legislative
plumbers and though fully convinced OF their nn-
equal and oppressive operation, 1t would nave
been just as vain TO think of restraining them by
showing their injustice, as it would have been to
arrest the march of a Roman army by demon
strating the injustice of the war.
The rights and liberties of the minority States
| so to speak-are in much greater jeopardy
from the majority States, acting thro the ieder,
al government, under an assumed and practical
omnipotence, than they possibly could be- II
there existed no compact OF Union, and each
were separate and independent. do conscien'
tiouSly believe that the smallest State on the
continent Of Europe, amidst the gigantic strug.
giles OF warning monarchies, holds its rights and
liberties by much surer guarantees, under the
laws of nations, than South Carolina now holds
her rights and liberties under the Federal Con-
sttution, subject 10 construction which abso-
lutely invertS its operation, rendering 1t cham
to the oppressed aud a cobweb to the oppressor.
II is not 10 be doubted, for example, that ii a
league Of the mightiest potentatcs OF Europe
were to assume and exercise the power OF pro-
hibiting the trade Of the most insignificant king
dom with the other nations of the earth, or OF
imposing restrictive duties upon that trade. with
the avowed purpose of promoting the interest
! of the cOnfederated powers, the whole CONNER
cial and civilized world would be animated by
one common sentiment of indignation at the
outrage not less vehement than that which was
n m
partition of Poland. And yet, strange and ex-
| traordinary as it may appear, this is precisely
| the outrage, with no circumstance OF mitigation,
but many of aggravation, which New ork,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and their assocl-
aies have committed against the planting States
of this Union, through the perverted agency OF
| a government, created to prevent such outrages,
and which that government had deliberately
prepared to enforce against the sovereign State
of South Carolina, by the bayonets OF mercen-
ary soldiers under all the pretended sanctions
OF human authority.
| The federal government has already passed
through the first stage ofts progress to military
despotsm. Congress has assumed and prac-
ticalIy maintained the right of deciding in the
last resort, the extent of its own powers-whlch
is but another form of affirming that the acts of
Congress are paramount to the constitution
And in the natural course of things, the chief
magistrate Of the confederacy, following the
example OF IDe legislative uepdl tiieHt hoS oSou'
med and practically maintained the right OF de-
Gliding, in the last resort, the extent not only of
his own powers but of the powers of all the
other departments thus making his own arbi-
trary will, paramount to the acts of Congress,
the adjudications ofthe courts and the constitu-
ton itself
IGov McDuf1ie here enters into an examina-
ton of the principles which governed those who
were in favor ofthe law called the "Test OATH"
and then proceeds.
Our attention has, for many years past been
so exclusively directed to the Federal Govern
ment, from the necessity Of resisting its alarm
ing encroachments, that We have too much ne
elected the appropri ate field of State legislation
and State policy, and permitted our domestic
institutions to fall into the most deplorable state
of decay and dilapiIatlon. The present condi.
ton OF the college-an institution established
by an enlightened patriotism, and munifcently
endowed by the State, calls for our most prompt
and anxious attention. In that state of intel
lectual excitement and activity by which The
whole civilized world is remarkably character
lied, in which the ascendancy Of mind over
matter, is illustrated by the daily triumphs of
science, in all the departments OF industry and