The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1841-01-01

C!t WHCHtHGItOHS nudlllSl Inc government. ines
can never be mistaken for legal rules or cerlai
definitions, They leave every thing to the Pres
dent. Ills will is the law.
Eut, it is not Legislative power only that
given to the President lie is to stand in The pac
of the Judiciary also. His suspicion is the on
evidence which is TO convict: his order, the on
judgment which is to be executed,
Thus, it Is the President whose will it is 10 de
signule the offensive conduct; it is his will that i
TO ascertain individuals on whom it is charged; ant
it is his will that is to cause the sentence TO be eX
ccuted. 1t is rightly affirmed, therefore, that tn
act uncs Legislative and Judicial powers to thost
OF the Executive.
III. 1t is affirmed, that this union Of power sub
vers the general principles of free Government,
1t has become an axiom in the science Of Gov
crnmcnt, that Il separation of the Legislative, En-
ccutiyc, and judicial departments, is necessary Il
the preservation of public liberty. No where has
this axiom been better understood in theory, OF
more carefully pursued in practice, than in the Uni
ted States.
". 1t is affirmed that such union Of power,
subyerts the particular organization and positlN
provisions Of the Federal Constitution.
According 10 the particular organization of the
Constitution, its Legislative powers are vested III
the Congress, its Executive powers in the l'resi-
dent, and its judicial powers in a supreme and III
lerior tribunals. The union of any two Of these
powers, and still more of all these, in any one OF
these departments, us has been shown to be done
by the Alien Act, must consequently sUbvert the
constitutional organization of them.
That positive provision, in the Constitution, Sc
curing to individuals the benefits Of fair trial, are
also violated by the union of powers in the Alien
Act, necessarily results from the two facts, that the
nc, relates 10 Alien friends, and that Alien friends
being under the municipal law only, are entitled 10
its protection.
The sccoa} object against which the resolution
protests, is the Scdion Act.
OF this act it is affirmed, |. That it exercises in
like manner power not Delegated by the consi-
lUlion. ?. That the power on the contrary, is cy-
pressIy and positively forbidden by one Of the
amendments 10 the Constitution. 3. That this is
il power, winch more than any other ought to pro-
duce universal alarm, because it is cvclcd against
that RICH, of freely examining public characters and
measures and of free communication thereon, hcli
hr, "vor hoe" justly deemed the only cllcctual
guardian Of every o,hcr right.
|. That it exercises power no, delegated by the
Constitution.
Here again, it will be proper to rccollcct, TINT
the Federal Government being composed of pow
crs specifically granted with reservation of all
Others to the States or to the People, the positive
authority under which the Scdilion Act could be
passed must be produced by those who assert it,
conSliIulona'ily. In What part fhc Constitution,
then, is this authority to be found;
Several attempts have been made to answer hi,
question, which will be examined in their order
The committee will begin with one, which has I'LL
ed them with equal establishment and apprehension
and which, they cannot but persuade themselves
must have the same effect on all, who will consid-
er it with GOODNESS and mparaiy, and with Il
reverence for orr Constitution, in the true charac-
ter in which It issued from the sovereign authority
ofthc people. The committee refer to the doctrine
lately advanced us sanction TO the Scdition Act
'rlat the common or unwriiicn law" law of vast
extent and comp'cNity, and embracing almost eve
ry possible subject Of legislation, both civil and
criminal makes part of the law Of these States,
in their united and national capacity.
The novelty, and in the Judgment of the COM
mi;icc, the extravaganza of this pre,cnsion, would
have consigned it to the silence, in which they have
passed by other arguments, which an extraordinary
zeal for the act has drawn into the discussion: Eut
the auspices, under which this innovation presents
ITSELF have constrained The committee to bcstow on
it an attention, which other considerations might
have forbidden.
In executing the task, it may be Of use, to look
back 10 the colonial state Of this country, prior TO
The Revelations; 10 trace the ci!cc, Of the revolution
which converted the colonies into independent
States TO inquire into the import of the articles of
confederation, the first instrument by which the
union Of the States was regularly eslablishcd and
finally, 10 consult the Constitution of i1sS, which
is the oracle tina, must decide the important qucs-
ton.
In the State prior to the Revolution, it Is certain
that the common law, under different limitations.
made part Of the colonial codes. Eur, whether
/, be understood that the original coloni,s brought
the law with lhcm or made ii their law by adop-
lion, it is equally certain, that it was the separate
law of each colony within lis respective limits, and
was unknown to them, as law pcr'ading and
operating through the whole, as ono society.
1t could moi possibly be otherwise. The COM
mon law was not the same in any two of the colo
MES: in some, the notifications were materially
md extensively different There was 10 common
legislature, By which common will could be cX-
pressed in the form Of a law; nor any common
nagi.tracy, by which such law could be carried
n,o practice. The will Of each colony, alone and
separately, had its organs for these purposes.
This stage Of our political history, furnishes no
oo,hold for the patrons of this new doctrine.
,I.u nr npnrnfinn nf tho uro,t