Washington sentinel., 1854-06-20

shall undertake 10 say what is the pecuniary value
of those distractions which consist in the rules of
conduct by which we have grown from small be.
ginnings into great and powerful people which
consist in the establishment OF those moral defen-
ses and securities behind which myriads Of intel
lectual and material agencies in constant oper-
alton for such a development of social strength
aud OF individual liberty and prosperity as has
never been exhibited in any other portion Of the
world before Suppose the senator should go
home and carry this money 10 the people of the
:" Old North State;' and when they asked him
how he obtained il, be would have TO say, OBJ
taned il by giving in exchange for il the right
which you had reserved TO yourselves OF the ex-
elusive management Of your own peculiar inter
ests and concerns | have gained il by destroying
the boundaries which the Constitution has estab-
shed between the jurisdiction of the federal and
the State governments; have purchased il at the
expense of your political power, and by throwing
down and utterly demoishing all the buwarks
which have been erected in that Constitution for
the preservation Of the rights Of the States, and
which you have been accustomed 10 regard as 40
many securities for your liberties" Does he sup
pose that the people ofthat State would thank him
for the money II II were obtained upon such terms
Sir, can the people Of any State be found reduced
10 such pitch as 10 be willing TO sacrifice poti.
cal power and social rights for mere pecuniary
consideration? Many Of the States, / know. are
neither rich nor out of debt. My own is among
The number. But trust there is not one ofstnem
which would be willing TO sacrifice political power,
and social rights in exchange for q mere pecuni-
ary consideration. If the earth, sir, could render
up its hidden treasures, and they could descend in
showers of gold into the lap of single State, it
would not compensate that State for the loss Of
honor and self-respect which il would experience
ifit We're 10 exchange its political rights and power
for mere money.
Mr.. President, so anxious was the senator on
this subject, that he has hunted up long series
of acts, and long array of precedents, in order
TO show that the President might have referred to
them, and AT least have INDUCED the liberty Of a
doubt on the subject; and then he has introduced
dictum of Mr.. Jefferson, in order to prove that,
If he had doubt, he might have avoided the
necessity Of interposing his veto on such
sure. believe, for one, that the majority of the
American people will thank the President that he
did not take refuge behind any such doubt. be.
lieve, sir, that if he had thought it real invasion
OF the Constitution, they would have supposed il
dastardly in him 10 have sought protection behind
any such defence, when il was his duty 10 come
forth and interpose for the protection Of that in
strument. He did not believe that it was in the
power OF congressional precedents 10 change or
TO alter the Constitution of the country. He did
not believe lhathe Constitution was to be songht
in its alyaete n,embra through the detached leaves
Of your statute book, or that il was 10 be found,
like the scattered leaves Of the Sybi, to be borne
about by every wind of doctrine No sir; il 10
an entire thing, the perpetual covenant of so.
lemn league, unchanged and Interchangeable, save by
the power that created it. Itruth be unalterable,
theh tne iair CONSTRUCTION Vi tue CONSTITUTION must
forever be one and the same; and II is not in the
power, either of the prescriptions of time, or of
the changeiul currents of human opinion, to vary
or impair it. Ours, sir, is no government Of ira.
ditions. II lakes none Of its authority upon the
vague title Of precedent; hut it derives is power
from charter, perpetual and living act, which
speaks directly TO the individual reason and judg-
ment of every man who is calledupon to act under
it. Such, SIR, ia the view which the President has
taken in regard TO his duties under the Constitu-
ton, and believe in that view he will be sus.
tanned by the American people.