The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1850-03-14

Oft tha. compact.
Under the head o. the fourth article in
the second section, and third clause, il is
declared that sno person held TO service
or labor in one State, under the laws there
OF, escaping into another, shall, in conse-
Quence of any law or regulations therein,
be discharged from such ervice or labor.
but shall be delivered up on the claim OF
the party 10 whom such service or labor
may be due"
This clause Of the Constitution as is E.
qually binding on the States, and the peo-
pie fthe States, as any of the foregoing
articles, or clauses Of that instrument, are
obligatory upon the Federal Government.
Yet your committee feel themselves bound
TO say, that in their opinion it has been in
.ringed. and its solemn injunction disre-
garded by more than one member OF the
confederacy. This cause of complaint
should be removed, and this reproach
should be done away-notwithstand the
preiudices of some, and the impracticable
chimeras of others, should clash with the
fuliIlment of this plain duty to the ancient
honor Of our State, and TO the Union.-
For the States, as parties TO this Union,
should fulfil in good faith, not attempt TO
defeat, the stipulations entered into in the
Constitution.
The precision with which the powers
delegated to Congress by the States were
defined, and especially in the seventeenth
clause of the enumerated powers, is ca
veat against assumption of any supposed
or constructive powers. The authority
of Congress and of the Federal Govern
ment, in the apprehension of your commit
tee, is strict .juris, and should be so regar
ded by those who are called to exercise it.
The General Government, therefore, strict
ly considered, cannot be regarded as a
sovereignty, but as the constituted agent,
or guardian minister of sovereigutes.-
Otherwise, our system would exhibit the
paradox of an inaperi,tna IN inlperi0. The
maintenance of the State soyereignties in
all their original and appropriate functions
and vigor, as the only safe depostors of
civil rights, was unquestlonably the object
of the chief solicitude of the contracting
parties, Hence, every guard seems to
have been erected against the tendency to
consolidation; and the experience Of fifty
years of the political operations of our sys-
tenn, has amply illustrated the truth of
their patriotic fears. Power is always
stealing from the many to the few, and
events have been proven, that the chief,
danger that threatens the stability of this
Union, Is the assumption by Congress, Of
powers not delegated to it. There are,
rightly understood, as your committee con-
celve, no concurrent powers between the
Federal and State Governments, that is,
powers that may, at the same time, be eX-
ercised by the States, and the Federal
Government. A power ordinarily and
appropriately exercised by the States, can
not, ligitimately, be exercised by the Fed
eral Government. And the powers le-
Ultimately exercised by Congress, cannot
constitutlonally be exercised by the State
Legislature. This principle, well under
stood and respected, there would be no
clashing in our system; but when either
power usurps what belongs to the other,
then arises the confusion. We respectfully
apprehend, that Congress has no right to
discuss the expediency or morality of
subjects not referred to Il in the powers
enumerated in the Federal Constitution.
The morality of every institution exist
ing in any of the United States, at its adop-
ton, was, SO far as the General Govern
ment was concerned, sanctioned and rati-
fed by that Constitution.
1t is an error to suppose that the rights
of these States, or what are denominated
State rights" are confined to the limits
of the States. The rights of Pennsylvania
as member of the confederacy, extend
over the Union, and upon the high seas.
Her rights extend to all the territories of
the Republic; and no power, short of vo-
lence can abrogate those rights. And
what rights she claims for herself, as a
member of the Union, she certainly will
accord to others standing in the same rela-
ton. From her population, she is enti
tied 10 nearly one-tenth part of the public
domain In all our territories; and her citi-
zens have perfect right TO migrate there
10, and settle and enjoy the land thereof,
III common, and upon perfect equality with
the citizens from other States, under the
"rules and regulations" of Congress. Our
citizens, when they migrate to the terrific
ries of the United States, have an indispu-
table right 10 claim the protection Of the
Federal Government, the common agent,
over their lives, liberties and properly
And the rights pertaining to Pennsylvania
as State, pertain also, in common, 10
every Stale in the Union. We apprehend
that Congress has no legitimate or equita-
ble power to discriminate between the
property Of one State and another; but
what was sanctioned as property by any
OF the States at the time of the adoption OF
the Federal Constitution must be regard
ed by Congress as sacred. Thus when a
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