Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-01-18

nat tne revenue lOr the support oil the GOvefnmens
must be derived principally from direct taxation.
Under this compact, the South gains now about
twenty members in the House of Representatives,
and in the election of Chief Magistrate exercises
the same proportionate power. But the equivalent
Of taxation has only been realized by the nom
saveholding States, in the way Of direct taxes, for
very few years. that is to say shortly after the or
ganization Of the Government, and during the time
of the war of 1915 in all not more than five or
six years out of the sixty-two that have elapsed
since the Constitution went into operation. We
do not mention this as matter of complaint on the
part of the free States, as direct taxation has been
found more unpopular in the free than in the slave
States. And we only now advert to the subject to
remind our friends in the South that there were
compromises on both sides.
The reclamation Of fugitives from labor was de-
manded an indispensable constitutional provision
by the South, not as equivalent for any conces-
sion it had made, but as an act fjustice. And we
wish that we could say that the North, in this re-
spect had been as faithful to the Constitution as
we believe they have been in every other. We
shall see, in the sequel whether there are not cir
palliate the excesses of the North on this subject
After long and arduous conflict Of the friends
and adversares of the Constitution before the Peo-
Pile, in which all the great ntellects and almost all
the passions of the country reused into action,
the assent of eleven of the States, by the means
of Conventions in each, having been obtained, the
Constitution took effect: elections for Members of
Congress were forthwith held, and the First Con-
gress of the United States assembled in the city of
New fork on the 4th of March, 1889.
To this Congress SOUTH CAROLINA lost no time
in sending as her contribution Of Representatives
her most honored citizens gentlemen distinguished
by birth, wealth, and approved public service; to
the Senate, PIERCE BUTLER and RALPH IzARD, and
to the House Of Representatives EDANUs BURKE,
DANIEL HUGER, WILLIAM SMITH, THOMAS SUMP-
TER and THOMAS TUDOR TUCKER. She thus gave
every indication of the appreciation by her citi-
gems of the Constitution which she had lent her
aid to build up.
Nor did she for forty years thereafter exhibit in
this respect any change or shadow of turning.
Our own near acquaintance with Congress dates
from the opening of the first session of the Tenth
Congress, lin October, lso7.) The representation
of South Carolina in the Senate then consisted
of Thomas SUMPTER and JOHN GALLARD the for
mer man venerable in years and distinguished for
his revolutionary services and the other genuine
representative of his race Conscientious courteous
and conservative, who served as Senator for two and
twenty successive years, and until he was called
by his Maker to better world. To the House of
Representatives were elected in that Congress VIII
LIAM BUTLER, Father of the present distinguished
Senator from the same State,) Thomas Moore,
RICHARD WNN, ROBERT MARION, DAVID r. VIII
LIAMs, LEMUEL ]. ALsToN, JOSEPH CALHOUN, and
JOHN TAYLOR. As we write down their names,
memory recalls to mind the features and the figures
of every one of them, from the soldier-like and
erect form of the first named among them to the
stout but active proportions, the kindly heart and
the sturdy independence, of the last Having
at that time every opportunity of scanning the
actions of those who served in Congress, we pro-
nounce without hesitation, that up to that day no
sentiment of discomfort with the Union, or with
their condition under it, entered into the mind of
any one of the Representatives of South Carolina
in either House. No body of men could be more
true than they were to the Union and to the party
of which President JEFFERSON was the head and
front: so much so that when the President, few
weeks after the commencement of that Session,
recommended the laying an Embargo without
limitation, every Representative of South Caro-
lima, with almost every other Southerner, Certain
Georgians and two or three Virginians excepted,)
voted in favor of measure which effectively cut up
commerce by the roots on the plea of keeping it
out of harms way. In doing so, they placed i'm
plict confidence in the wisdom of Mr.. JEFFERSON.
And with the same steadiness South Carolina
sustained the Jefferson and Madison Administrations
during the whole of that and the next Congress.
The elections for the Twelfth Congress brought
into the House of Representatives from South Ca
rolina three individuals of a new race of men, who,
if stature could be measured by intellectual ability,
might have sprung from race of giants. We
need hardly name. in their alphabetical order the
names of JOHN G. CALHOUN, LANeDoN CHEvEs,
and WILLIAM LowNDEs, all in the prime of life,
and yet untried in the General Government.
To what deserved eminence, during their ser
vice in Congress, they rose in the estimation of
their peers and their countrymen, we need not un-
dertake to instruct our readers. These gentlemen,
though friends to the Administration, and ranking,
with Mr.. Speaker CLAY and his compatriots,
its most efficient supporters in speech