Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-01-17

fhe tail of lightning bug, as TO follow tneh III lne
wahderngs and meanderings, composed, as they
were, ofsuch heterogeneous mass OF mental lncon-
gruities."
have listened attentivcly to the plausible and in
genious remarks of the Senator from Orange, CMr.
Graham) and his utter inability to sustain his posi-
ton does not arise from any lack of zeal and ability,
but from it's total effectiveness and improperly
He has agreeable elocution and plenteous stock
of language and his vain and futile efforts forclpy
illustrate the distch:
"The King of France with forty thousand men
Marched up the hill and hcn-marched down again"
The proposition of the Senator from Orange to
call Convention by bare majority of votes Is so
contrary to Che express provision of the Constitution
and so inconsistent with it's true intent and mean
ing, that it is wholly unjusfable and indefenslbie
1t is wavfaring tent upon the shoals and quick
sands of error and delusion, and cannot withstand
the winds and floods of scrutiny and investigator
Jtmay be compared to a tower without any base to
uphold, or prop to support it, tottering upon the
verge offs precipice and liable at any moment to be
hurled into chaos and destruction.
The imaginary faculties and postulations are we'll
and fifty set forth by Shakspeare
"The lunatic the lover and the poet,
Are of imagination all compact;
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
Sees Helen's beauty in brow of Egypt
The poets eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to EARTH from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth,
The forms of things unknown, the poets pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
local habitation and name"
''give to airy nothing local habitation and name"
According to his vague and indefinite construction
of the Constitution he make every homogeneous
provision harmonic with each other, and thereby
deduce the power to do that indirectly which that
instrument does not authorize to be done directly.
What is the Constitution 1t is a compact
compromise formed by the people, and containing
certain specifications, restrictions and prohibitions
Kent, in his commemta ries American law, says:
1.-The Constitution is the act of the people, speak
ing in their original character, and defining the per-
manent conditions of the socia alliance; ana there
can be no doubt on the point that every act of the
legislative power, contrary to the true intent and
meaning of the Constitution, is absolutely null and
void"
We have Government of limited and defined
powers, and it is the duty of all public fnctionarcS
limits.
The Constitution may be properly Defined in the
language of Blackstone, rule of civil conduct
prescribed by the supreme power in State, COM
manding what is right and prohibiting what is
wrong"
This is the doctrine of Story, and of all the emf
ncnt eXpounders of constitutional law, and it fully
maintains the great fundamental principle of repub
lican liberty.
A strict construction of the Constitution is car
dina principle in the Democratic republican creed.
1t is main security against the tumults of fac
ton, domestic dissension, intestine commotion and
civil strife. 1t is the polar and the chart to guide
the ship of State in the bosterous and tempeStuouS
surgcs of the political ocean, when they dash
ing and breaking over her a faithful adherence to
the letter and spirit of the Constitution is only
fortress of safety and protection in times of immi
nent danger and peril; and if we surrender this
great and important safeguard, shall be like
ship in storm on the ocean, without rudder or
compass, exposed to the ptess elements of nature,
and to the dolorouS consequences of an untimcly
exit.
But the Senator from EOrange has an inventive
genius, and by his fluent language and his novel 20
stion, he may have caused some sensation. I can
hnffn
anecdote occasionally, merely to amuse the fancy
and Illustrate the argument.
In the commencement of the American revolu-
ton, when one of the British kings laundering pro-
CARNATIONS made its appearance the subject
mentioned in a company in Philadelphia; a member
of congress who present. turning to Miss Iiv-
ingston, said, well, Miss. you greatly terrified
ut the roaring Of the British lion Not at ALL sir
for have learned from natural history, that beast
rOars Loudest aohen he is n1Oxt frightened. "
The Senator is an expert commander, and al
though he has gained no victory, he has gained
torety on account of his unusual and unwonted po-
sItlon and we have heard the sound of his clarion
and the roar of his artillery
But as he is totally unable to recruit his forces
and to repair his broken Weapons his munitions of
war exhausted his entertainments DESTROYED his
forts surrounded and his ports blockaded with dis
order and mutiny in his camp, and the prospect of
inevitable defeat in view might be we'll for him
to initiate the fOrtitude of of our own revolu-
tionary heroes.
LII Oatue oI UermanCoWn, on the 4th OF OctO
Der, l777, Gen. Nash severely wounded in the
thigh, the bone of which shattered by grape
shot While they were carrying him off the field, a
friend coming up began to condole with him on his
situation, and asked him how he felt. GO 1t is I'M
manly, " said the dying hero " to complain, but it
is more than human nature can bear. ;"
Here is an example of true courage, worthy to be
remembered by the Senator from Orange, and he
can make the application as he thinks proper if it is
opposite to his condition
In opposing Equal Suffrage, he processes to be in
favor OF protecting the interests of the andhoders
and he wishes The Constitution amended so as to
protect them, if is amended permit all the
qualified voters for members of the House of Com
mons to vote also for members of the Senate He
knows that it will not deprive the landholders of
any right privilege which they now possess or
give to the non-landholders any political power ex-
cept to vote for Senator
The people of North Carolina are sirtuous, patri-
otto and honest; and it is noble trait of their char
acter to ask nothing but what is clearly right and
submit to nothing that is wrong. They are distn-
guished for their innate love of Justice their high
regard for truth, and their steadfast adherence to
Constitutional liberty They are the genuine friends
of law and order, and are indeed eoyal vet free:
obedient and yet independent"
Although the Senator from Orange does not doubt
the fitness of the people for sefgovernment he
seems to apprehend that much evil will arise if the
Constitution is amended according to its own pro-
vision for that purpose. His fears are altogether
imaginary, and as unfounded as the baseless fabric
'of dream His visionary dread of danger reminds
me of the man who, on very cold morning put
his OK in his cart, and went to the wood to chon
load OF hrewood and soon after commencing work