The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-14
AN ADDRESS


Delireysd be6,re ME Society of Alumni Of The
University Of Virginia, at iis Annual Meeting,
held in The Rotunda, On The ash June, 1851,
BY JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER.
CONTINUED
| do not design mooting quest ons OF party
contest but no one will deny, that the wants
incident to the war did suggest during its con-
tnuance and after its close the exercise OF pow
ers heretofore denied or resisted. History con
firms what we cannot deny, that those who had
before the war most ardently supported the Jei-
fersonian school, subsequently cuislripped the
atitudinarians in their own mode OF consiruc-
ton; and when the strife between the old OPP
ponents was no longer heard, or was forgotten
amid the joyful glories of the EZRA of good
feeling" the philosophc historian viii remark
the progressive advances of central power, and
the prowinp weakness and lessenng influence
of the States He will note the fact that in the
midst of that era, when all seemed to speak of
prosperity in the present, and promise glorious
success in the future; at that moment there
rang out upon the peaceful AR, that dread alarm
bell, which startled the Southern mother from
her couch and reused the retired sage OF Mon
ticelo from the delights Of literary pursuits, TO
speak for the salvation of the Union; a sound
whose echoed horrors, fatal to our peace, have
not yet died away upon our ear
| Years rolled on. aud in their progress bore the
ship of State farther and farther towards the Ia
tn moorngs of centrasm. In It's progress, IN
the opinion Of State, it transgressed the sacred
| limits of its constitutional powers; and that
State pronounced the omnous veto. Central
lam was alarmed The States were reused from
their slumber, to find one Of the smallest stars
of their constellation shining with lustre
which paIed not before the glores Of the proud
est of them all.
moot not the propriety of the step, nor the
constitutionaiy of the remedy she proposed
note it as n fact, in the struggle whose course |
am tracing, and one whose moral power 1odS
truly great 1t summoned from their long sleep
the principles of the revolutions Of l776 and
| 1900 and by their resurrection warned the States
of the danger to which they were exposed 1t
called a halt in the progress OF consolidation II
struck the key note of the maintenance OF right,
ever to the point of resistance to wrong
But centralism was not idle. When did power
ever yield without struggle! 1t issued its
manifesto, in which its supremacy was asserted
it's power proclaimed to be unlimited except by
its own di cretion; and its judgments were as
sumcd to have the force of constitutional an
thority to be executed if need be, by the sword
speak not of this celebrated proclamation with
the feelings of par'zan, nor in connection with
what | have reason TO know were the real
opinions of its mammal author but speak OF
il in the light of histo zeal criticism. 1t was Il
deadly blow to the principles of the Constitu.
ton a seed of ruin sown amid the flowers OF
our peace; barbed arrow ranking unseen, per
haps, but all the more fatally, and distilling its
subtle poison through our entire political sys
tenn
The struggle ended in compromise, but moi
80 its results. 1t is useless to disguise the fac
that federal power has wonderfully increased
from the incubation into the popular mind o.
the leading idea of that fatal pap,r; the indipisi
ble oneness Of the States, oneness more fully
represented by the man, who can claim that he
is sustained by its numerical majority, the ON.
nipotent of the system
Upon this subject, think | may appeal &c
men of all parties who have noted the progress
of events, to say whether the idea of ren
State sovereignty, of strict construction o
! the Constitution, or of any limitation upon Tho
powers Of the general government which may
81 not be snrmounted by necessity or eYpediency
are not almost extinct in the halls of Congress
or if entertained by any, are not the subjects o
the sneers of a large majority, is not the scop'
of federal action more enlarged than it has eve
been: that of the States more contracted
Have not the extensive views of that profound
s statesman, already quoted, and under whose
n guidance the government went into operation
been almost realized in its present action!
While difference for differences of opinion
will not perrffA me to refer to particular measure
e which occur to my mind, may not safely as
d those to whom | address, If an institution pecu
a liar to our section, has not been drawn With
the influence of federal legislation to create
y extent than was originally designed, or was eve
u anticipated but by those whose prophetic war;
ID inos were disrcgardcd or eondemnei at the -four
n. dation of the government!
II this be so, am | not right in concludin,
that struggle between central and State pow,
50 has existed in our system from its foundation
s, the present day. and that thus far the triumph
be centrasm has been decisive!
ne The decline of the federative, and ascendenc
of the central element in our system, are int
T. estnp facts, the causes of which are numeror
al and well defined. In noticing some of then
the existence of the facts themselves will b
no confirmed As already indicated, they rave bee
both external and internal, though the latter no'
&c are principally in operation.
y Among the most prominent m y be mention
ed the geographical, social and commercial ties
which having so long bound. have almost becom
| necessities The newress of the country, tn
resources in our Western wilds for development
and the impetus which modern discoveries ar
u giving to every species of enterprise, tend still
l. more to increase them. The pursuit of wealth
ID its necessary adjuncts of railway and telegraph
4, ic communication; trade and its thousand rami
fed interests; our noble rivers bearing freight
i ed blessings for so many States these all pre-
1, sent some of those merely physical facts, whlc
increase the onsodating tendency of the Unior
- But these are comparatively unimPortan
% when we view the powerful political infuenc
IS operating in behalf of centrali.n.
r Of these one of the most important whicl
n may be mentioned is the power Of indirect tax
alton, coupled with the immense patronage WELD
ed by the federal governmeut.
When il is remembered that patronage il thu
greatest element in political power In moderr
n times, and has almost superseded the use OF thu
sword, and that main check upon II Is removed
by supplying It through indirect draft upor
: the means Of the people, one will lie at no los
OBSTINATE the Importance Of hissource Of fedora
influence. But in the federal system, il Is com
bined with and managed by branch of the gov
,e eminent which more than any other represent
n. the centralizing principle in it. All patronag