The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1850-02-20
Synopsis Of Gen. Cass' Speech upon the
subject OF the Wilmot Proviso.
ICONTlNIIEn

without being amazed at the facil-
ity with which the very first principles of our
constitution are overlooked. 1t seems to be en-
tirely forgotten that government exists by vir-
tue of a written compact, whereby its powers are
defined and limited
There is no general grant of the right of leg
islation in the constitution. Its provisions are
as cautious as they are wise and clear. "All
Legislative power herein granted, says our char
ter, ''shall be vested in Congress- &c, and
then follow the words "Congress shall have pow
err to lay and collect taxes, &c, ard to make all
taos achtch shall be necessary and proper, &c.,
to carry into effect the enumerated po,oers.'-
Here, there is no recognition of. sorcrcignty in
Congress, nor, if there were, is there any grant
ofpower attached to that condition. This prone
ness of men in high station to seek 0ut of the
constitution, the powers Of government which
ought to be sought for only within it, calls for
grave consideration. In the people of the Uni
ted States resides the sovereignty of this coun-
try, and no department of their government can
claim that high prerogative, nor assume any
functions arising out of it not to be found in that
great act of the people which brought them into
political existence.
As to our relations with the other nations of
the earth, we are sovereign, and entitled to ex-
crcise all the rights, which, by the usage oil the
world, belong to that position; but how far these
rights may be exercised by particular depart
ment of government, is another question. The
attribute of right may exist; but if the Consttu'
tuition does not provide the means for its exer-
else, no authority but that of the People can call
it into action. 1t has been settled by that Con-
stitution that Territory may be acquired by the
treaty making power; but its disposition after
such acquisition, is the object of our present en-
quiry; and all the writers and writings in the
world, except the Constitution itself, and argu-
mcnts to be adduced from it, are utterly value
less in the decision of this question. 1t belongs
to our domestic polity. The right to acquire is
one thing, the right to govern another. The
exercise of the one is provided for, the exercise
of the other is not; and it therefore belongs "to
the States Respectively, or to the People"
The provision of the Constitution which de-
clares that call debts and engagements entered
into before the adoption of the Constitution, shall
Constitution, as under the Confederation" has
been relied upon as granting or establishing the
power to exercise complete political jurisdiction
over the Territories. But this clause has no re-
lation to the exercise Of political power, hence
the argument is founded in error. The terrific
rial government, established by the ordinance of
1887, was no inuiolaJlc compact, but a mere act
of Congress, alterablc at their WILL and which
has been frequently altered since it's adoption
They had no character of inriolaJiluy The as
sumption that the original Territory of the u
States was governed under the constitution by
this compact engagement, is met and repealed by
the fact that there was no such compact relating
to the government; while, if there was com
pact rendered valid by the constitution, which,
among other things, provided for the exclusion
OF Slavery, that gives no authority to Congress
to exercise 4 similar power over other territories
since acquired.
But it is all idle to talk about the compacts in
the ordinance of17S7. The articles so designa-
ted are destitute of the very first elements Of re-
ciprocal obligation. There was but one party to
them. The other party had not yet come into
being, or rather, the other party was not heard
at all, nor its consent granted, either in an ex-
pressed or implied manner. Besides this want
of parties, there was want of power. The va
lidty of the ordinance is granted, but it's inrio-
|adiityi is denied, else would not the new States
be on can equal footing with the original States,
in all respects whatsoever as they would have
no power to change their constitutional law
This pushing Compacts into Constitutions for
the new States, was, at the time, thought to be
going little too far. Why Congress itself has
already disrcgarded this ordinance, by attaching
a portion of the Territory, out of which not more
than hive States were to have been made, to the
prospective sixth, (Mnncsota)
Here MIR. Cass called up and examined the
accorded opir,;S:..S C. C. IIohn Quincy Adams. He
quoted from his diary, recently published, and
;ontrasted the sentiments of the writer with the
arewell address of Washington. Mr.. Adams
lays that ''almost everything which has contri-
,uted to the honor and the welfare of the nation
las been accomplished by the North in despite
II the South; and that everything unpropitious,
md dIshonorable, including the blundcrs and fol-
les of their advcrsaries, may be traced to the
South
And this judgment is pronounced upon the
and of Patrick Henry, and Jefferson, and Lau-
ems, and Rutlcdgc, and Sumptcr, and Marion,
md Madison, and Marshall, and Monroe, and
Jackson, and-abovc all and beyond all-of
w ashington; and upon the land Of host of other
statesmen and warriors, as true and tried as in
icld or cabinet maintained the honor of their
country in times as perilous as any country ever
encountered and survived,
And yet almost all of good that has been gain
I'd by our country has been gained by the North,
n despite of the South; while the South has
brought upon us all our m;sfortunes, and upon
heir adrersaries all their plumbers and follies!!
suppose this word "adocrsary,' in the vocabu-
larry of Mr.. Adams means the other portions of
the Union.
Now, sir, am not going to mete out to the
various regions of this broad land the share of
each in the wonderful career in all the elements
Of power and prosperity into which we have en-
tered, and have, indeed, far advanced. The
glory belongs equally to all, and all have equally
contributed to obtain it. And still less will UNI
dertake seriously to refute proposition which if
the refutation is not in the heart of an American
he is faithless to the common deeds of the past,
and to the common hope of the future.
l am no panegyrist of the South. 1t needs
none. am northern man by birth, western
man by the habits and associations of half CEN
fury; but am an American above all. l love
the land otmy forefathcrs. revere the memory
of the Pilgrims for all they did and suffered in
the great cause of human rights, political and re-
ligious. And l am proud Of that monument
which time and labor have built up to their
institutions of New England-a
memorial of departed worth as noble and endur-
ing as the world has ever witnessed, glorious
and indestructible. But while | feel thus,
should despise myself if any narrow prejudccs or
Incorporate passions should blind my eyes to the
intelligence and patriotism of other sections OF
our united country; to their glorious deeds, to
their lofty sentiments, to their high names, and
to those sacred aspirations common to them and
to US, for the pcrpetuity and prosperity of this
great confederation, which belong to the past, to
the present. and to the future; and whose feelings
and opinions are brought here and reflected here