Weekly national intelligencer., 1850-03-16

Is when the Constitution was ratified, and the Gov
i ernment put in action, has been destroyed. Al
| that time there was nearly perfect equilibrium
between the two, which afforded ample means to
each to protect itself against the aggression Oh the
other" &c. But we are just at the close OF the
sixth decade, and the commencement OF the
seventh. The CENSUS is to be taken this gear
which must add greatly to the decided preponder-
ance OF the North West in the House OF Repre-
sentatives, and in the Electoral College. Inc
prospect is, also, that great increase Will be add
|. ed to its present preponderance in the Senate
during the period of The decade, by the addition
of new States,' &c. "This great increase of SEN
ators, added to the great increase OF members OF
the House of Representatives and Electoral Coi-
Iege on the part of the North which must take
place under the next decade, will efectually and
irretrievably destroy the equilibrium which ex-
isted when the Government commenced.
The honorable Senator, after thus ingenuously
conessing the real cause Of the present agitation to
be the shadow of the coming census, by which
the equilibrium in the Government, as il existed
sixty years ago. will be disturbed, goes on to argue
that, " Had this destruction been the operation OF
/" time without the interference of Government,
(" the South toould haze no reason to complain"
This being admitted, the whole complaint of the
South, founded upon this cause falls to the ground
because the action of the Government-the IN
reference of the governmental which COM
plant is made has been but the ordinary exercise
of its legislative powers, such is not only not In
terdicted by any principle of the Constitution. ex-
press or understood, but was exactly foreseen, in
tended, and justified by the trainers of that in
strument.
tbo Sc into of tho
to disturb the equilibrium, the honorable Senator
gives three specifications. The first OF them we
pass by, as of no consequence, being based on the
ordinance Of 1887 for the government of the North
western Territory, which in full effect before
the Constitution was formed, and for the operation
of which the Government is in no way responsible.
1t existed independently of the Government, and
has ever been beyond its control. 6 The next
: specification, says the Address, I" consists in
!. adopting system of revenue and disbursements
by which an undue proportion of the burden of
taxation has been imposed upon the South, and
an undue proportion of its proceeds appropriated
10 the North !" and the last is a system of po-
tical measures by which the original character
of the Government has been radically changed" !"
Let us now refer to the highest source, and,
without opposing to the great authority of the hon
orable Senator any humble argument of our own,
prore that the burden and proceeds of taxation-in
other words, the revenue and disbursements of the
Government-were las indeed might be inferred
from the letter Of the Constitution) intended to be
within the control Of the National Government;
and that the character of the Government was e1-
pected 10 change with changing circumstances.
Can greater absurdity, indeed, be imagined, than
that Government could be so framed as to start
OUT fullarmed and all perfect, for an eternity of
existence, from the brain which conceived it
Were Wars, Rebellions Conquests, Territorial ac-
QUESTIONS, the progress of the Arts and Sciences,
the Ingenuity of Inventors to call forth the exercise
of no powers not possessed or not expressed in the
Constitution Under the power to establish and
maintain Navy, for example, can it be pretended
that steam-power (not then applied to its present
uses) could not be employed! That steam-car-
rages could not be employed to transport the mails
on iron roads, such carriages and roads not being at
that time dreamt Of in any ones philosophy ?
Can the Government not transmit dispatches by the
telegraph lines, or illuminate, its public buildings
or grounds with gas, because, not being at the time
invented, these modes of dusing intelligence and
light are not in terms mentioned in the Constitu-
ton! But to the proof.
We quote from the well-known work, the Letters
Of Publius, (he book entitled the Federals0 by
JAMES MADISON and ALEXANDER HAMILTON, the
great expounders to the People of the Constitution
of the United States previous to its ratification by
the State Conventions, the following:
" We must bear in mind that we are not to con-
fine our view to the present PERIOD but to look
forward TO remote futurity. Constitutions OF
ciuH government are not to be framed upon
calculation of eristing erigencies /; but upon a
combination Of these, Uith the probable erigen-
cies Of ages, according to the natural and fried
course of human affairs. Nothing, therefore, can
be more fallacous, than to infer the extent of any
power proper to be lodged in the National Gov
ernment, from estimate of its immediate neces-
sites. There ought to be CAPACITY to provide
for future contingencies, as they may happen; and
as these are Mimitable in their nature, so IL is
impossible safely to limit that capacity. It is
true, perhaps, that computation might be made,
with sufficient accuracy to answer the purpose, of
the quantity Of revenue requisite to discharge the
subssting engagements Of the Union, and to main-
tain those establishments which, for some time to
come, would suffice in time of peace. But Would
ii be Dise, or would it not rather be the extreme
Of folly, to stop at this point, and TO leave the
Government, entrusted with the care Of the Ma
tional defence, in state of absolute ncapacity to
provide for the protection Of the community
c,t,, &C al lry