Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1854-11-14
i L. TECkER'S ADDRESS.


We have read with pleasure, in pamphlet form, the
Address of John Randolph Tucker, Esq, delivered
before the Phoenix and Phiomathcan Societies Of
William aud Mary College, on the Sd july 1851, and
published at the request Of the two Societies The
Address is worthy Of its author, and s philosophical,
eloquent and able We regret that we have not room
for more than the following sound und excellent pas
ssscs:
These obvious principles indicate this inevitable
conclusion AS each citizen nj State has proper
tonabv larger influence over IT'S government than he
has over the Federal Government, and rs his interests
and those Of the other citizens of the State more ho-
moreneous than are his aud those Of citizens of all the
States, it follows that power, rs fur as the rights OF
eucl citizen involved, is safer in the State than il
can be in the Federal Government. The mass Of
power, therefore, should remain i'll the State Govern
ment. and only much, and not one ot or little more,
is absolutely necessary for the purposes of ts crca-
ton, should be permitted III the Federal Govern
mcnt.
Looking, then, to the object in view in the estab-
lshment Of government the security Of the rights Of
the citizen, am all earnest and jealous advocate OF
the power of the States, because am jealous friend
to the sovereignty Of the man. As man, sovereign,
formed the social compact upon which the State Gov
ernnien rests, 80 the State, sovereign formed the
larger social compact Of our Federal Union, upon
which rests its now wide-rcachng government. And
WHILE rs n man, Ijealsusly watch the tendency of the
one to encrOach upon my individual sovereignty as
citizen of Virginia desire that sho should guard her
sovereignty from the advances OF Federal usrpation
which in their consequences must further abrdgc my
personal rights and liberty.
And thus is gentlemen, that at last these splendid
things called governments, claiming power as Their
prerogative, and trampng upon private rights rs II
they belonged to them, and granting privileges ~ If
hey were the vicegerents Of Providence, but the
creatures of your power and mime they live at our
bidding and die at our will. For by the voice of men
they are changed; by the act of e1patriation their
power over the man ceasesi md by revolution they
ure overthrown.
By enlarsing tho sphere Of our view, we find the
analogy in our Federal Union. Created by the fiat OF
each State for ITSELF it dies at its will The expatrla.
ton of the citizen is the secession Of the State And
thus, when either Government, in violation Of the
end of its being makes itself the instrument Of wrong,
the citizen in the one case and the State i'll the other,
by the exercise of that high negative or veto auhnr
" of which have spoken intcposes the shield OF IN
dividual State sovereignty for the security o the
rights of the man from the usurpation OF the Govern
ment. .
If the theory of our system is to be realized in it,
practical operation it must be by return to the prn
ciples which have thus impertcctly sketchcd. The
glory Of the Government must consist IN It's rgd care
f the rights of its citizens. The spcndors of its con-
ouests-tbe 1n,lnicence of its charitcS-he exten-
syeness of its dunatons-the largeess Of its phila
,hropy--the brancy of its moral reiorlns-thc mag
nitcencc of its improvements, manltestng themselves
in intrusive regulations OF privae interests anu 'gH
rous diversions of the industry OF the country to sun
it's own views of well-doing people; these are all
beyond the scope Of true governmental powers anu
dangerous in their exercise to the sphere OF iidVdua
freedom. They have made the human race cry oui
in emphatic rcmoustrance, "The world is governed
too much" Let the man alone! He knows his in
tercst better than the members Of an cphenlcru Le
gislature and he can regulate it better AS 10 moral
reform, the man has conscience to accomplish his
own-a guide which has never been gwen to any
body Of men, The division Of responsibility in. the
latter destroys the operation OF the lndividuai con-
science,
These are all forms Of the evils resulting from AL
assumption of larger powers by government than
according its nature designed to be vest
ed i'll it, Our safety il in the limitation not the en-
largement of power. In federal relations our Sc
curity is i'll realizing the historical TRUTH that the
Union sprang from the will of State soveregns; that
it is the subject OF that will in restricting the powers
OF its government within the narrow boundaries al
otted by the Constitution, and in keeping it there.
cannot close this address, young gentlemen, with
out a word to you personally. My life-bark has too
lately left the moorngs of the haven from which you
sail for my sympathies TO slunber at the pros
pect of your future Aud yet my career has been
long enough to enable me, and with your leave, to in
duce me to tender to you tho suggestive aid of my
short experience, and my hopes for your prosperous
voyage.
address YOU rs Such for there il no more sincere dc.
fender Of her institutions than am. The destiny "i
the South is one full of matter for concern nnd reiirc'
lion for hcr sons Perhaps there has been no cline III Tile
worlds history, whose destiny was obviously more
entirely dependent upon herself. If true to hersel
it may be more full ofdigny more traught with good
to the human race than that OF any people IN thePIe
her ute may be the most melancholy in the records OF
history.
When regard the spectacle of six millions OF
whites welding the permanent labor OF three millions
Of Africans in the cultivation OF those articles when
feed and clothe the world when remember, that
their labor lifts the food gates of that vast manuac;
turing horde, in whose employment Kingdoms nlIa
peace aud whose discharge involves carnage ana re-
opened, cotton was scarcely known an export and
tiat MY Years has witnessed the astounding iact
hat 1t how constitutes more than third OF the
whole export OF the country, when see every turn
IN the wheel OF tho worlds revolutions increasing the
demand tor the products Of slave labor and Making
in the ordar of Prnxidance .lauaEu rernetllitx in