The daily union., 1846-09-03

apart the powers, the rights, and the duues Oh tne
Stale and federal governments; when ! reeur 70 the
doctrines which prevailed when the champions Of
the rights Of the States alive and awake, and
standing upon the waleh-tower OF State rights ana
popular liberty and see how they hayeall, all yielded
TO the tide Of eneroachment, of Implication, OF con-
| structon, and of innovation, which ever and anon
has lashed against them, and which, like rude, re-
sstless torrent is sweeping everything beautiful in
the theory valuable in the practice, OF our free ana
glorious Institutions, into the yawning gulf OF con
sodation, shudder for the perpetuily of our fed
eratiye system.
What has become Of the great fundamental truth
| that this is government OF limited powers' what
has become of the axiom that the powers not grant
| ed TO this government reserved 10 the States
| respectively 10 the peoplel What has become OF
the rights of the States, to secure which, IN their
plenltude and purity, the aspirations OF the purest
patriots elevated and the best blood OF the rev.
OlutiOn was spltl--to secure which, the eloquence
| of Henry Numbered and the ife-blood OF Warren
was poured outi What has become of that great
admonltory and cardinal maxim In the republican
| creed, TO abstain trem the exercise OF doubtful
powersl What has become OF that once beautiful
and glorious federatiye SYSTEM formed IN wise and
reverential imitation Of the great system OF the
universe, with federal government, like the SUM- IN
the centre, impartng light and heat TO the crcum-
ference, and the sovereign, independent States, re-
| yolying like planets, harmoniously and happily, In
tranquility and order, in their respective spheres ;
Sir, they are gone--all gone.
Gone slmmering through the mist Of things
school eoy's tale the wonder oil an hour"
II, instead Of confning the action Of this govern
ment within the limits prescribed for II by written
constitutions IL, instead Of the landmarks fixed by
the fathers Of the democratic church, you are 10
resort 10 contemporaDeous constructions and pollti-
cal precedents, your constitution is dead letter.
and the republican creed is a farce Let US look
into these contemporaneous expositions and polil-
cal preeedents, and see how far they ought to be
binding and obligatory upon US in practice. Ae-
cordIng TO his great contemporary and successful
rival, Mr. Jefferson the elder Adams was
chief among the mighty band that set the ball
of the revolution IN motion. Throughout the
revolution, he was a pillar of cloud by day,
and pillar Of FIRE by night" Yet he approved
and executed the alien and sedition laws Mr. Mad
lson, the chief architect in the formation of the
stitution, approved and signed the charter of The
Bank of the United Sates-an institution which has
existed for forty years in the history Of the govern
| ment and mad its origin under the administration OF
one, who, in the language of great British states
man, Furnished, more than any other human be-
| ing, the idea of perfect man." II, then, we
bound by contemporaneous expostions Of the
suution and political precedens, the alien and sedl-
| ton laws and the Bank of the United States ought
| still to be in existence. For they had their origin
with men as pure, patriotic, and enlightened, as
humanity is capable of being
advert, sir to these points in political his0-
ry, to a shade Of censure on the venerated,
llustrous and patriotic dead but for the purpose Of
showing they but men, and that it is safer TO
look TO the constitution itself, than to rely on any
exposition, although sanctioned by time, and ap-
proved IN some instances by the highest order OF
virtue, intelligence, and patriotism. And above all
do It for the purpose of reminding the Senate that
this Is not government Of precedents and prescrip
uon, but that forefathers rested the blessings
which theysinteDded to secure to themselves and
their posterty on the immutable basis of a written
| gn IN ShAk.F al ID sr,.y
you the power; or show me that the thing proposed
TO be done is necessary and proper to carry some
granted power into execution.
Mr. President, never moro clearly than at the
present moment, and in reference TO the bill now
under consideration, have been made to realize the
great and bitter truth that the best condition Of hu
man life and human affairs is mixed and deeply
| tnged, with evil; and that when poor fra man
would do good, evil was continually before him"
From the coming into power Of the present admin
istrntion the eyes, not only Of the people Of this
country but Of Christendom, have been looking TO
the action of the present Congress. For the first
time IN many years, the executive and legislative
branches of the government in perfect political
harmony-the President had been elected by dem
ocratic majority, and in both houses Of Congress
there were clear and decided democratic maioIities.
In this state of things, certain pledges had to be
redeemed, and certain great principles had be
rled out. One of the pledges to be redeemed, and
one OF the great principles to be carried out the
repeal of the tariff of 42, and the establishment of
the revenue standard in the collection of duties
imports. AT the end Of nine tedious months the
democratic party about to triumph in the pas
sage Of an act repeating the tariff of '42, and
| some extent, in the esablishmen Of the principle
for which we had so long conended. We shall
probably triumph, not without some loss and in OPP
position to party which, for zeal, talents and de-
vohon to their cause and their principles, would do
honor to any party in any age or country. The
time for which, not kings and prophets, but for
which patriots and statesmen had long looked,
when the sbackles Of commerce and the unjust re-
strchons of the protective system about to be
broke loose and when the people of the country
were about to be taxed, not for the benefit Of long
hshy-favored class but for the support of the gov
ernment of their choice, economically administered,
seems to be dawning in upon But before we
have time to raise the shout of victory much less TO
realize and enjoy its triumphs, we disturbed and
amazed by the shreks Of the ravenous birds of
prey, who linger around the battlefield where VIC
tory and glory are won, to pounce upon the wound
ed, and glut their hungry maws upon the fallen and
the slain; and this bill of concessions has made its
appearance. .....
Sir, it is vain that the great battle of principle has
been fought upon the tariff and is about to be won;
it is vain that the President has redeemed the pledge
he made the country it is vain that the Secretary of
the Treasury has, for the first time in the the his
tory of the country presented the true doctrines
OF the constitution in his annual report; 1t is
entire unanmity, in the two houses Of Congress,
where they were not trammelled by instructions,
have surrendered all minor differences of opinion
upon the altar of their country, for the purpose of
abrogatng system under which the people have
too long and too patiently suffered; it is utterly in
vain that all or any of these things have been done,
If Mordecai, the Jew, or Mammon the giant, is to
present himself upon the very heels Of the repeal of
the tariff, in the form Of this odious measure to inn
prove certain harbors and rivers. We have but
exchanged plague for the leprosy." We are
about to drive away the manufacturers, already
nearly guttcd by long course of favortsm and
protection, and to invite new and hungry swarm,
whose name is legion, in the form ofinternal i'm
provemcnt and harbors and rivers, who will suck
out the yitals Of your treasury, and bring great and
lasting, and, | fear, nsupporable evils upon the
countryto realize with fearful reality the fable Of
the fox and the flies. | am determined to acquit
myself from first last Of all participation in this
monstrous system. And here declare, that if 1
had to decide this day between the principle nvolv-
ed In this bill and the protective system-and
sneak of the ronst odinus nd