Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1848-06-21

scnals, dockvards, &C. These being
The property of the United States, il
the power to make sneedflI rules and
regulations concerning shem includes the
general power of legislation: then the
grant Of authority to regulate 'lhe terri
tory and other property of the United
States is unlimited, wherever subjects
are found for its operation, and its eyer
else needed no auxiliary provision. If,
on the other hand, it does not inclnde
it over their 'territory;' for The same
terms which grant The one grant the
other. Territory is here cassed with
property, and treated as such; and the
object was evidently to enable tie gen.
era government, as a property holder
which. from necessity, it must be-lo
manage, preserve, and dispose Of. such
property as it hight possess, and which
authority is essential almost to its being.
But the lives and persons Of our citizens,
with The vast variety Of objects con-
nected with them cannot be controlled
by an authority which is merely called
into existence for the purpose of making
rules and regulations for the disposition
and management Of property:
Such it appears 10 NE, would be the
construction pu. upon this provision of
the constitution, were this question now
first presented for consideration, and not
controlled by imperious circums tances.
The original ordinance of the congress
Of the confederation, passed in 1857
and whicI, was the only act upon this
subject in force at the adoption Of the
constitution, provided Il complete frame
Of government foi the country north Of
the Ohio, Will. in a territorial condition,
and for its eventful admission in separate
States Of the Union.-And the persua
lion that this ordinance contained with.
in itself all the necessary means of exc
cution, probably prevented any direct
reference 10 the subject in the constru>
ton, further than vesting in congress the
right to admit the States formed under
it into the Union. However, circum-
stances arose. Which required legislation,
as we'll over the territory north of the
Ohio. as over any other territory, both
within and Without the original Union,5
seeded TO thesg geperaL gogeEst snt asul,
al various times, more enlarged power
has been exercised over the Territories
meaning thereby the different torrito-
ria! governments--lhan is conveyed by
the limited grant rpferred TO. How far
an existing necessity may have operated
in producing this legisl alton, and thus
extending by rather a violent implication,
powers not directly given, / know not.
But certain it is that the principle of in
reference should not be clrrieI beyond
the necessary implications which produ.
ces it. 1t should b" limited to the crea-
liun of proper governments, for new
counties, acquired or settled, and 10 the
necessary provision for their eventual
admission mo the Union-leaving, in
the meantime, to the people inhabiting
them, to regulate their internal concerns
in their own way. They are just as ca.
pable of doing so as the people of the
States ; and they can do so, al any rate,
as soon as their political independence
is recognized by admission into the U.
Mon. During this temporary condition
il is hardly "xpedient 10 call into eyer,
else doubtful and iuvidions authority
which questions the intelligence of a re.
spectacle portion Of Our ciliz"ns; ), and
whose Limitation whatever it may be,
will be rapidly approaching IFS 'crmina-
tion-an authority which would give to
Congress despotic power, uncontrolled
By the constitution, over most important
sections of our country, For if The re-
lation of master and servant may be re-
galatcd or annihIated by its Legislation,
so may the relation Of husband and wife,
of parent and child, and Of any Other
condition which our institutions and the
habits of our society recognise. What
would be thought if Congress should IN
derlake to prescribe the terms Of mar
riagc in Ne"-York, or to regulate the
authority Of parents over. their children
in Pennsylvania. And yet it would be
as vain to seek one juslifving the inter
ference Of the national legislature in the
cases referred 10 in the original States
of the Union. I speak here of The in,
heren, power Of Congress, and do not
touch the question Of such contracts, as
may be totmed with new States when
admitted into the confedcracy.
Of all the questions that can agi,a,e
us, those which arc merely sectinnal in
their character are the most dangerous
and the most to be deprecated: The
warning voice of him, who from his
character and his services, and virtue,
had the best right to warn US, proclaim
ed TO his rountrymen in his Farewell
Address-lhat monument Of wisdom for
him. as | hope it will be safely for them;
how much we had to apprchend from
measures peculiarly affecting geographical