Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1844-03-20

cend those limits, your act Is. SO far forth
as you exceed your authority, roid and
the proper judicial tribunal will so pro-
nounce. In like manner, If the constituted
authorities of the States, move out of the
orbits assigned by the. people for them,
either 10 their State or United States Con.
stitulion, their act, founded on such ex-
cess Of power, is likewise roid. Now,
sir, | have been INSTRUCTED" on various
topics. l have been INSTRUCTED" to strive
to defeat and vote against specified artr-
Gle in an Indian treaty. But State leg
islature is rot competent to act on such
subject. The people of the State, whose
agents they are. have not vested in them
that power. Jurisdiction of that matter
is placed by the people of all The States
elsewhere. 1t cannot be assumed by the
constituted authorities Of any Of the States;
and how can they act understandingly in
such matter not committed to them -
You know, sir, that according to those
rules sanctioned by the Constitution, and
by which this Senate has always been
guided, the State authorities cannot. with
on, breach of faith and a violation Of
honor somewhere, obtain the knowledge
requisite to enable them to act in such a
matter safely, for that knowledge is IN a
sealed book, never opened until the Sen.
ate shall have passed upon it. As was
fairly to be presumed, so the fac; was !;
the action Of the Legislature was founded
upon an entire misconception: There
was no such article, being of the tenor
and having the effect they supposed
The same State authorities also instruct
ed two of the constituent members of this
body to use every effort to obtain, and to
vote for. such amendatory act of that law
(Which once graced your statute book.
and which unhapPily was stricken from
iO establishing ''unilorm system of bank
ruptcy," as to comprehend within the
coercive provisions of that &C! all bank
ing and other corporations. Now sir. I
could advocate no such measure for
however desirable in its practical opera
ton it might seem to be, yet it appeared
TO me that it was not within your compe-
tency to pass such an act. A corporation
is the product of an ordinary exercise of
legislative power. If the Legislature
have jurisdiction of the subject matter,
and if they should think that the end had
in view (whether it relate to the con-
struction of roads and canals, the esiab-
lishment of manufactures, or any other
thing regarding the internal policy of the
State1 could be better accomplished in
that mode, they may well, for such pur-
pose. create corporation, and impart to
it such faculties and impose upon it such
conditions, as TO that Legislature it may
seem meet. But if you, by your bank
rupts law. or any other legislative enact
ments, may impart TO them other faculties,
impose upon them new and other condi-
tons, you vary the terms and the tenure
of their existence ; you make them sub.
Iject TO a new master and thus, by ex-
tending your own strong arm, you will
bring every corporate authority within
the Union, for whatever purpose created,
to the footstool of Federal power here,
and make them subservient to your pur.
poses! Is this within your Constitution
al competency7 Can you thus enter the
halls of Legislation of every State of the
Union, and sweep from before its own
Legislature, the creature of its own pow
er?
But however that may be, it is very
clear, that no power was ever vested in
the constituted authorities of State TO
pass "uniform system of bankruptcy"
That does not come within the assigned
scope of their action. The people have
not vested in the authorities of the States
the power to act on that subject. Any
act of theirs, therefore, on that subject is
an excess of authority; it has no sane
ton; it is coram non JUDGE, and cannot
be enforced How, then, can the State
authorities assume to dictate TO this body,
or any of its members what course in this
regard it shall pursue =? So of the dispo-
sition of the national revenue. What
power of control has been given TO the
State Legislatures, in either the Stale or
United States Constitutions, over that sub
ject? None. surely. And if the bill be-
fore you is to be deemed judgment of
censure upon Judge Hall, or reversal
Of the judgment of the United States court,
that defect of power is still more mani
testify evident. Their opinions, as indi-
viduals, | shall seek for with earnestness
and listen to with Difference, but their
power as legislative body to command
in matters of which jurisdiction was not
conferred upon them, l cannot recog-
MISE?
But these constructions" are void, and
this Intervention imperative, not merely
from an inherent defect of po,cer on the
part ofthe State authorities, but it is void
also because it is a positive inrasion of
The rights and duties of this body. Sup
pose your army should send its mandate
here--as in the times Of Cromwell, and |