The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1848-08-23

! / ne language OF Mr. MdQlSOn is decisive
of this question, and propose TO bring te
the attention of the committee passage
from his writings, which was perfectly
astonished to hear my friend from Virginia
(Mr. BayIy) repeat in support Of his position
In the 3sth No. of the Federallst, aIluding
to the public lands, MIR. Madison says:
"Congress have assumed the administra
ton of this stock, Qhe public lands.) Con
gress have undertaken to do more; they have
proceeded to form new States; to erect tenn.
porary governments; to appoint officers fol
them; and to prescribe The conditions on
which such States shall be admitted into the
confederacy. All this has been done, and
without the least color of constitutional au.
thority. Yet no blame has been whispered;
no alarm has been sounded. A great and
Independent fund of revenue is passing into
the hands of a single body of men, who can
raise troops TO an indefinite number, and ap.
proprlate money to their support for an in.
definite period of time. And yet there are
men who have not only been .silen,s spectators
of this prospect, but who are the advocates
of the system which exhibits it; ami. at the
same time, urge against the new system the
objections which we have heard. Would
they not act with more consistency in urging
the establishment of the latter, as no less ne.
cessary 10 guard the Union against the fu
ture powers and resources Of body con.
structed like the existing Congress, than to
save it from the dangers threatened by the
present impotency ofthatassembly.
81 mean not, by any thing here said, to
throw ccnsure on The measures which have
been pursued by Congress. l am sensible
they could not haze done otherwise. The
public interest, the necessity of the case, i'm.
posed upon them the TASK Of overlapping
their constitutional limits. But IS not the
fact an alarming proof of the danger res.t.
ing from a government which does not pos.
sess regular powers commensurate to its oh.
jects? A dissolution or urusrpation is the
dreadful dilemma to which it is continually
exposed"
Does this ok as if MIR. Madison though
there was competent authority with the ill.,
habltants OF the colonial settlements to insti.
tute temporary governments, and erect them.
seves into new States, against the authority
ofthe United States! IflhIs power naturally
belonged 10 the inhabitants, how could Mr..
Madison say that the old Congress "coud
not have done otherwise" That "the public
interest, the necessity o. the case, i'm posed
upon them the task of Overlapping their con.
stitutiona limits" He makes it an argument
for the new constitution, that ii supplied the
defects Of the Old in this respect, and iemov-
edthe necessity for usurpation He upbraids
the conduct of those who stood by and saw
Congress usurp these powers under the old
the same were made legitimate in the new
constitution. Mr.. Madison addressed this
language to the American people at time
when they were debating the question of
the adoption Of the new constitution; and ne
told them in plain words, before they had
adopted the instrument, that it recognised IN
Congress all the powers in this respect,
which it ought to have had under The old
system. And, So far from branding the old
Congress with usurpation, he speaks of what
they did as "task imposed upon them" by
the inexorablc necessity of the case-impos.
cd upon them, because there was nowhere
else an authority that could assume to per.
form it. And yet we have Mr.. Madison
introduced here to show that this task be-
longed naturally and originally, as very
sacred privilege, to the inhabitants Of the sell
Elements.
Consider, sir, the weight Of Mr.. Madison's
authority. 1t is not the mere opinion Of an
eminent lawyer or statesman. Mr.. Madis,n
was member Of that convention; one Of the
very ables,, and far the most attentive and
wachrul. He sat from day to day, writing
down every thing said and done, for the
information of posterity for all time to come.
He speaks, therefore, as historian, a chro-
nicer, an eyewitness He tells what he saw
with his own eyes, heard with his own ears,
and with his own hands hel ped to perform.
Is testimony like this TO give way to meta
physical nductions drawn from The Declara-
ton of Independence? To hear gentlemen
talk, stranger would suppose that the Dec
aratiun was body of authentic law, ratified
and adopted by the same conventions that
ratified the Constitution. That Decla.
ration was nothing more than rcvolullona-
ry pronunciamento; glorious one, indeed.
but still nothing more. If gentlemen will
examine the Constitution, they will find that
in many respects it pays little respectt" some
doctrines Of the Declaration. Congress, Tor
instance, is invested with supreme and per-
petual legislative dominion over all the Peo-
pie resident in this city and District, without
their consent, numerous as they may be-
come.
You have Senate elected by State Leg
isIatures; President elected by colleges
And this President thus elected by persons
removed from the people, elects fifty times
as many officers as all the people themselves.