The southern press., 1851-05-19
SOUTHERN PRESS.
WASHINGTON CITY.
MONDAY. MAY 10. 1851.
Federalism and Inlenlsn.

Republican party, resembles IN 30 many re
specis, that which is now going on, that W
think light will be thrown on both by comparing
them
The Federal party then was Union party
under better name than the present For tn
terms Federal Union, are truly descriptive of th
character of our Union. But a Union part,
may be unconstitutional and despotic
The result Of that contest, the overwhelming
triumph of the Republicans over the Federalists
and its natural effect on the present controver
sy, has constrained the champions of the present
Union movement to attempt msrepresenta.
ton of the issues at that day. Hence, the IN
teliigencer, and other prints Of both the national
artes have resorted to some letters of Mr..
ApIsoN and General HAMILTON, recently pub
lished, but written b.fore The Constitution aoas
adophd, and have attempted to prove by them
that Mr. MADISON did not assert The right Of
STATE resistance to Federal usurpation in his
celebrated resolutions Of 1898. We shall now
present the evidence to show conclusivey what
MIR. MADISON and the Republican party of '9S
did assert
The alien and sediiion laws were the acts of
Congress, against which the opposition was
made. The alien law authorized the President
TO order out of the country any alien that he
might consider dangerous or hostile to it. The
sedition law punished by fine and imprisonment
any man who published libel on officers of the
government. These acts were considered so
arbitrary, and they were adopted by such large
majorities in Congress, that the Republicans
despaired of resistance in the federal govern
ment, and turned their eyes to the States; and
many of them retired from Congress to the State
legislatures. Among these was Mr.. MADISON,
who went into the Legislature Of Virginia, and
offered in that body the celebrated resolutions
of 9s, whch~were adopted against strong oppo-
sition They were opposed with the utmost
ability and energy by the friends of WASHING
TON, HENRY, LEE, MARSHALL, and others, among
the most ilustrious of her sons.
The third of Mr.. MADIsoNs resolutions was
as follows:
3. "That this Assembly doth explicitly and
peremptoriy declare, that it views the powers of
the federal government, resulting from the
compact 10 which the States are parties, as linn
tied by the plain sense and intention of the in
strument constituting that compact--as no fur
ther valid than they are authorized by the grants
enumerated in that compact; and that, in case
Of deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise
of other powers, not granted by the said CON-
pact, the States who are parties thereto, have
the right, and are in duty bound, to nterpose
e. H. &c th<, ap,l onIf ff,
maintaining, within their respective limits, th,
authorities, rights and liberties appertaining tt
them"
These resolutions were sent by Virginia t
the other States. They were answered by tn
States of Massachusetts, New York, Connect
cut, Vermont, Delaware, Rhode Island and Ne'
Hampshire, in terms of denial, condemnation
and insult The right of State Legislature t
decide on the constitutionality or expediency Q
an act of Congress was fatty denied, and tn
alien and sedition laws were approved by all o
them as constitutional and expedient. All o
the other States were silent, except Kentucky
which agreed with Virginia, and adopted Sc
ofresolutions which, as has since appeared, wer,
drafted by Mr.. Jefferson, and sent there to
friend Thus it will be seen that in the com
mencement of that great struggle, the Repub
lican party was not near SO powerful in numbe
outrage, far more odious. But in two years tn,
rights oftbe States were vindcated by the tri
umph of the Republican party, and in seventeen
years afterwards the Federal party was n,
more.-It renounced its name, its organization
and its professions; but its principles and in
stincts remained, as they i'll remain, so long az
ambition, avarice, bgotry and treachery, pre-
dominate in the minds of large classes of men.
In 1928 another controversy arose with tn,
federal government--and South Carolina tool
the lead A tariff act had been passed, which
virtually appropriated or con6scated, for the us,
Of the federal treasury nearly one-half of The toa
importations Of The whole country. South Caro-
lima regarded this measures as Virginia regarde
the alien and sediton laws, as "a deliberate, pal
pable, and dangerous exercise" of power no
granted--a power to protect or to endow. tn
capital and industry of one section of the country
nt the expense of. another. And she asserte,
and exercised the right and duty of interposins
to arrest the progress Of the evil, and for pre-
serving within her own limits, her own authority
right, and iberty-the right of protecting he
own property and industry against such con6s
cation. South Carolina experienced in 1882 the
fate of Virginia in 1913. A great majority oftht
twenty States denied her right TO interpose
and declared the tariff law, not only consttu
tional, but expedient and salutary A few only
Of the Southern States condemned the tariff
but all repudiated The remedy. In the Senate o
the United States South Carolina did not n
first have dozen friends that would vote agans
an act that was proposed to doom her to ruiz
and massacre. The celebrated debate then oc
Cured in that body, in which, as the construc
ton Of the Constitution was disputed, so ais
was the meaning of the resolution of 9S, whic
had received tho overwhelming sanction of tn