The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-06-28

dent State, il must be capable Of maintaining lis
consented to admit. Il must also, and most espe-
cially, have the power ofpreserving its own unity
and indivisibility, TO prevent its own subdvisi0ni
and dissolution. How viii your colonists set
tiers stand when tried by desc tests Suppose one
settlement should refuse TO unite with another settle
ment, where would be the authority to coerce II 7!
Which would be supreme over the other! Who
would define and settle the question Of boundary
between them.
In the Oregon country there is a colony on the.
Willamette river. It's whole occupancy il not
greater then 80 miles square Oregon is about 100
out the whole regionl Are all the g affairs - in
ernal TO that region internal affairs Does their
diminutive self GIL all the land, and upon the
idea of selEgovernment, entitle them 10 cover the
land with their jurisdiction' II not, what il
their compass and extents How tsr beyond the
border settlements. Are their boundary lines
straight or crooked Suppose the United States
SHOULD draw hRe tight about them, could they
uG1p~ss;sn Il ~
30 run through the middle; sundering them into
two colonies. What would be the consequence !
Would they, like Polypus propagate by division !;
and, for each snndered sovereignty, would two
Juveniles spring up
In this same Territory of Oregon there is an
other settlement on Pugit Sound, about $50 miles
north Of the one mentioned. There is likely to-
be third on the Walla-walla, about 200 miles
eastward Of the other two. All these are separa-
ted by extensive regions Of waste, mount ainOus
country. Suppose each should claim to be indie
pendent Of the other could it maintain its right to
be so. If not, which should control the other
two! IF Congress should erect them into one
colony, under common charter OF government,
could they insist upon separate existence and self
government 1t must be manifest to every one
that such a charter would bind the whole into one
society. No local constitution could spring up
under it. Such a constitution could find no geo.
graphical limits. 1t could not determine its own
shape or place on the face of the earth.
The language Of Mr.. Madison is decisive Of
this question, and propose to bring TO the atten-
ton Of the committee passage from his writings,
which was perfectly astonished to hear my
friend from Virginia, (r. Rayly, repeat in sup
port Of hisposion In the 38th No. of the Federal
list, abiding TO the public lands, Mr.. Madison
says:
g Congress have assumed the administration of
this stock, (the public lands.) Congress- have UNI
dertaken to do more-they have proceeded to
| form new States to erect temporary governments
Ito appoint officers for them and TO prescribe
the conditions on which such States shall be adj
mitted into the confederacy. All this has been
done and without the least color Of constitutional
authority Yet no blame has been whispered ;
no alarm has been sounded. A great and inder
OF single body Of men, who can raise troops TO
an indefinite number, and appropriate money 10
their support for an indefinite period of time.
And vet there are men who have not only been
silent spectators of this prospect, but who are the
advocates Of the system which exhibits it and at
the same time, urge against the new system
the objections which we have heard. Would
they not act with more consistency in urging ne
establishment Of the latter, less necessary to
guard the Union against the future powers and
resources of a body CONSTRUCTED like the existing
Congress- than to save it from the dangers threat
ened by the present impotency of that assembly |
$ mean net, by any thing here said, "a, throw
| censure on the measures which have been pursued
| by Congress. l am sensible they could not hare
done Otherwise. The public interest, the necessity
of the case, imposed upon them the TASK of over
leapng their constitutional limits. But is not the
fact an alarming proof Of the danger resulting
| from government which does not possess regu-
lar powers commensurate to its objects A disco
luton or ,ss,,paiion is the dreadful dilemma to
which it is continually exposed.
Does this look as il Mr.. Madison thought there
was competent authority with the inhabitants Of
the colonial settlements to institute temporary go
vernments and erect themselves into new States,
against the authority Of the United Statess Ii
this power naturally belonged TO the inhabitants,
how could Mr.. Madison say that the old Con-
gress s'could not have done otherwise?" That
g the public interest, the necessity of the case,
imposed upon tnem the TASK OF Overlapping tuelf
constitutional limits' He makes it an argument
for the new constitution, that it supplied the de-
fects Of the old in this respect, and removed the
necessity for usurpation. He upbraids the con-
duct of those who stood by and saw Congress-
usurp these powers under the old system, and YET
raised great outcry because the same were made
Legitimate in the new constitution. Mr.. Madison
addressed this language to the American people al
time when they were debating the question o.
the adoption of the new constitution; and he told
them in plain words, before they had adopted the
instrument, that he recognized in Congress all the
powers, in this respect, which 1t ought to have
had under the old system. And, SO far from
speaks Of what they did as a task imposed
upon them by the memorable necessity of the
case-imposed upon them, because there was no.
where else an authority that could assume to per-
| form it. And yet we have MIR. Madison intro
duced here to show that this task belonged ma
turally and originally, as a very sacred priv
lege, to the inhabitants Of the settlements
Consider, sir, the weight Of Mr.. Madison +
authority. It is not the mere opinion Of an emf
nent lawyer or statesman. Mr.. Madison was .
member Of that convention one Of the very ablesi
and far the most attentive and watchful. He sal
! 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 histo-
rian, chronicler, an eye witness. He tells what
he saw with his own eyes, heard with his own
ears, and, with his own hands, helped to perform
Is testimony like this 70 give way TO metaphysi-
cal inductions drawn from the Declaration Of In
dependence? To hear gentlemen talk, q strange
| would suppose that the Declaration was body Of
authentic law, ratified and adopted by the same
convention that ratified the Constitution. That
Declaration was nothing more than revolution
airy prosuncia,nsnto; glorious one, indeed, but
still nothing more If gentlemen will examine
the Constitution, they viii find that in many re-
spects it pays little respect to some doctrines OF
the Declaration. Congress, for instance, is in
vested with supreme and perpetual Legislative do
minon over all the people resident in this city and
District, without their consent, numerous as they
| may become.
| You have Senate elected by State Legislatures:
a President elected by colleges. And this Presi-
dent, thus elected by persons removed from the
| people, elects fifty times as many officers as all
| the people themselves. He elects all the greaI
officers Of State. He elects the entire body of ex-
ecutive officers from his cabinet down. He elects
the whole body Of Judicial magistracy, from th
Supreme Court down; and that, too, for life. He
elArfa tho entire CORDS Of dgntaYiea and ayents en-