Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1850-01-29
THE REGISTER.
ShepherdtOwn, Jefferson County, Va.
TUESDAY, JANUARY %, 1880.
IsMrs Shindlcr's poctical favour in our next
Also Our concluding article on Divorces"
General Cass'S Speech Oh the Territories

General CasS'S Speech Oh the Territories
Commences and goes on, with the utmost
minuteness Of detail, inthe attempt TO prove
that Congress has no power over the ter
ritores of the United States, further than
the disposal of the proprietary right i'll the
soil. He says,
We can well understand that power TO
sell the land of The United States and TO
make needfM lars concerning ii, gives
the right of legislation for all purposes
fairly connected with the use and sale OF
that kind of property, and necessary to
these objects. The right TO survey II, to
convey it, TO improve ii, TO protect it, aud
TO use the various means properly required
therefor; for these purposes, concern TIE
land, and the laws operate upon lndIvldu-
ais in relation to their purchases, and upon
all others who Interfere with The rights Of
property in the United States. But how
does a murder concern the iand? or a
marriage! or a note of hand! or any OF
the infinite variety of acts which pass be-
tween individuals in civilized communi-
lies -! And if they do not, whence comes
the Congressional power of legislation, by
which such acts are 10 he commanded, or
prohibited, or punished! The Supreme
Court indeed says that the power of Con-
gress is without Limitation but the con-
siitution says it is not. The constitution
says in the first place that it must be need
fiji; and in the Lext place that ii must con-
Germ the land e.; and both Of these injunc
tons are limitations. and guarded ones, too,
upon the exercise of legislative power
NeedfuI, not for all purposes; not for gen
eral Jurisdiction but tol the objects OF
the grant of power, which concern the
Land, and cannot be separated from 1t.
And with respect to the power of Con-
gress to dispose of the territory to any
other power, as, we presume, any foreign
or domestic State, he says,
The power, under any circumstances,
to cede portion of the United States is,
to say the least Of it, very doubtful one
under our constitution. For myself, | can
find no such grant of authority in that IN
strument. lis powers are preservatlve,
not destructive. | am speaking of a direct
lnQuestiOned ceSSiOn; not OF the fair set
dement, of a disputed boundary with
foreign nation, where the question is I'M
certain, and where the act of adjustment
establishes the true line Of demarcation.
The following extract we regard with
great complacency, believing that the doc
.rines therein contained constitute the very
germ and essence Of American liberty
II seems TO us that no man deserves to be
called an American who does not set this
at the basis of his political creed;
Many of the doctrines we have heard
here are only to be maintained by the as
that Cons ess is general de-
pository of the legislative power of the
kind of reservoir, holding all
that is given, and all that can be taken
that it possesses certain defined powers,
and beyond these some general underlined
right of action, as sovereigns of the
recipients of all the authority
which, agreeably to the elementary VIII
ters, results from the "nature of govern
ment :" all which is to be brought INTO
exercise when circumstances may seem TO
require it. Now, sir, there can be no
greater political heresy than this. There
is no general grant of the right of legisIa.
ton in the constitution. lis provisions on
that subject are as cautious as they are
wise and clear. "All legislative power
HEREIN GRANTED" says our charter, "shGll
be vested in Congress, &C.; and then,
after some necessary provisions concern
ing its composition and proceedings, comes
the authority to act, in these words: Con-
gress shall have power TO lay and collect
taxes" &c, followed by the other objects
of national legislation, and concluding with
the rigi, TO make all la,rS uhich shall be
necessary and proper, &c. TO carry into
rf;ctthe enumerated pOperS. Here there
is no recognition of sovereignty in Con-
gress, nor, if there We're, is there any
grant of power attached to that condition.
All this is an interpolation and were il
not that it is one of the pregnant signs of
the times, evincing Proneness to seek
out of the constitution the powers of gov
ernmen, which ought to be sought for only
within it, and The more dangerous when
exhibited by high men in high places, 1t
would not seem to call for grave refutatlon.