The republic., 1851-06-13

just upon the evening of his eighty-second
year." says the correspondent of the Erpress,
"and but for temporary bodily infrmities, which
may confine him for some time to his room, he
would now be upon the bench. | have the
manuscript of this brief argument upon an i'm
portant public question which is now causing
so much anxiety here and at the South. Here
is the article. which, though not written fol
publication, | am sure will meet with public
acceptance"
The Alleged Grievances OF South Carolina.
ny CHIEF JUSTICE cRANcH.
Since the elaborate discussions which have been
had both in and out of Congress- in relation to the
complaints of South Carolina, it has become mani
fest that she has only pretended grievance To
complain of again5Vthe United States; and that s
that the balance of political power has changed,
and South Carolina finds herself in minority, SO
that she can no longer WELD the power of the Uni.
ted States to the accomplishment of her particular
views. She finds that, a part of the United
States, she has duties to perform under the Con-
stitution and laws which she may be compelled to
perform while she continues in the Union; she
therefore threatens to withdraw and claims right
adopted the Constitution of the United States, and
before the old articles Of Confederation-th
is, to be an independent sovereign State, without
control. This she claims to be, and as such, TO be
capable of forming new associations domestic and
foreign, for the main tenance Of her independence.
The question then arises, Can she do SO?
The grievance is that she can no longer WELD
the power of the United States, because che is in the
minority. She demands present protection from
the acts of the majority, and security for the fu-
ture. There never was time when she was per-
fectly independent sovereign State. She never had
the power to form foreign alliances to raise and
maintain armies and navies. She had no such
power under the royal government; and if she had
she transferred it, with all her rights of and
peace and her right to form foreign associations,
to the Congress of the Confederation; but, however
that may be, her grievance is, that, according to
the great republican rule and maxim without which
there can be no republican government, she is
bound to submit to the will of the majority, con-
stitutionally and lawfully expressed If she repu-
dates that MAJ kim, in practice she proposes to
do, what sort of government will it be- 1t must
be minority government; and what is a mon
archy am aristocracy but a government by a
minority
which South Carolina can repudiate or abandon
the Union. The doctrine of Republicansm is, that
the majority can do no wrong, in the same seHse
which it is said in England that the king do
no wrong and for the Same rcason; because there
can be no legal remedy. The ultimate sovereignty
resides in the majority. Republicanism also sup
poses that the majority will exercise it's power dis
creetly, and for the public good; and, if the mi
nority should be of opinion that it is not SO ex-
ercised, their remedy is only at the ballot box or
by revolution; but revolution only be justi-
fed by insufferable injuries. Such injuries have
not yet been inflicted nor, by the Constitution and
laws of the United States, as construed by the
Judiciary they be inflicted by the United States
The complaint is what the lawyers call quia timet.
South Carolina pretends that she fears that Con-
gress will do what it has not the power to do, and
she claims to have security for the future. She is
not content to wait until Congress shall threaten to
do her some great and insufIerabe injury but upon
a suggestion only that the balance of political
power in the United States is changed, or is about
to be changed, the new majority may disregard
the Constitution and laws, and trampe upon tho
rights Of the minority. Alarmed at the possibility
of such course of proceedings, she rushcs
madly from the Union and plunges into the abyss
of political anarchy, without reasonable hope of
thereby obtaining relief from the evils which she
anticipates In paroxysm of fear she throws
away her only shield against the fanaticism of the
North, which is the most powerful foe with whom
she is contending.
For this she has no color of right under the Con
stitution. nor under the Virginia resolutions OF
1898, drawn up by Mr.. Madison, the father and ad-
vocato of the Constitution. The question which
drew forth those resolutions was, whether portion
-r.l- r. At. -
ority could decide and declare for itself an act OF
Congress to be unconstitutional, and therefore re-
fuse obey it and to that extent the resolutions
go, and no further. They do not say that by such
refusal the Union is dissolved, or that the
portion Of the United States may therefore withdraw
from the Union, and abandon the Constitution,
which ts friends, and MIR. Madison at the head OF
them, abored so hard and struggled go long to OBJ
tain. At that time for moment enter
tanned tho thought that every State, soon
she found herself in minority at the bal
otbox, had right to withdraw from the
Union. The remedy for the passing of un-
constitutional act of Congress is, by those resolu-
tons supposed to be the right to refuse to execute IT.
the right of notification only, not the dissolution
Of the Union; and even this right of notification
does not arise, according to the terms Of the reso
luton, but in the case Of "a deliberate, palpabe
and dangerous breach of the Constitution, by the
exercise of powers not granted to it. II must be
Gaze not Of light and transient nature, but oi
a nature dangerous to the great purposes for
which the Constitution was established" at
must be case, moreover, not obscure or doubtful
in its construction, but plain and papable. Last
ly, it must be case not resulting from partial
consideration or hasty determination, but case
stamped with final consideration and deliberate
adherence" These are stated in the rcsolu-
tions themselves, (of 1881 not as justifable
grounds of a dissolution Of the Union. but as
grounds of resistance Of some unconstitutional
act resistance not Incompatible with the ex-
istencc and integrity of the Constitution. No such