New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-08-01
THE OLD LANDMARKS.

ofthem comprehend their special application 10
these days. They were passed by the Legisla-
ture of Virginia in opposition to the alien and
seditioD laws, which at that time were made
the dividing line between the old Federal aud
Republican parties. The Fundamental question
then at issue involved the respective jurisdic-
lions and powers of the General and State Gov
erpments. Elsted by their successes in the
election of Mr. Adams to the Presidency, the
Federslsts determined to exp pei from the country
all aliens who might be supposed hostile or dan
gerOus to its institutions, and to curb the licen-
tiousness Of the Press, which was deemed too
free in its structures on the Administration aud
its friends. Accordingly the Alien Act, author
iziDg the President to order suspected aliens to
depart, was passed in June Of 1893, and the Sc
dition Act, making it penal offense to write,
publish or counsel any defamatOry or scandalOus
matter against the President or Congress- was
passed in July of the same year.
These acts instantly aroused the hatred Of the
Republicans, who, under the lead of Mr.. Jefer-
SOD, Denounced them in the most vehement and
bitter terms. They were denounced, however,
not on the grounds of their ess sntial injustice
and inbumanity alone, but on that Of their
uncOnstitu'Onality 1t was averTed that Con-
gress bad no right to legislate upon subjects Of
this kind, and that its attempt to do so was a
fatal infringement of the rights of the States as
well as ofthe independence and rights ofindividu-
ais. The constitutional question became the great
question of the contest. "For my part" said
Jefferson, 81 consider these laws as an expert
&" ment on the American mind, to see how it
"will bear an avowed violation of the COnsti-
tuition. If this goes down, we shall immedi'
d" ately see attempted another act of Congress,
" declaring that the President shall continue in
" Office during life, reservng to another occa-
sion the transfer of the succession to his heirs,
" and the establishment of the Senate for life"
The Legislature of Virginia, which was soon
in session, and which then took the leading
part in political discussion, passed, after
warm and prOtracted debate, the famous reso-
lutions which became the Magma Charta of
State Rights for all succeeding time. They
proclaimed the Alien and Sedition Laws uncon-
sttutOLal and void; they asserted that the
powers of the CT neral Government were lin
tied by the plain sense and intention OF the In
strumept constituting the Federal compact be-
tween the States; and they averred that in case
of deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise
of other powers not granted by the said COM
pact, "the States who are the parties thereto,
"haye the right and are in duty bound to inter-
"pose for arrestipg the progress of the evil,
"and for maintaining within their respective
limits the authorities, rights and liberties ap-
pertaining to the States"
These re solutions, when transmitted to other
States, were not approved by some, but were
fully Endorsed by others, and have since been
made the touchstone of Democratic orthodoxy
by the party which has for the most part con-
trolled the Union. As explained by the elabo-
rate report of Madison, one Of the ablest politi-
cal arguments ever pennei in this country, they
have received the sanction of some of the most
distinguished politicians and jurists. They are
the A, b, c, or catechism of State Rights, and
though perverted by Calhoun into an ap parent
approval of notification, are still in themselves
a clear and weighty exposition of the relations
of the State and Federal powers.
But we refer TO them new not in order 10 dis
cuss the correctness of their principles, but in
order to show that if the doctrine of State
Rights was valid against the Alien and Sedtion
Acts, ii is ten thousand times more valid against
the eDormities and encroachments of the late
Pro-Slavery legislation. The infrngements of
the General Government at that day on the
rights of the States were nothing in comparison
4 A.
and Nebraska Kansas Laws. No man who re-
ceiyes the doctrine of that day can begin to
accept the practices of this, any more than be-
lever in the Bible can adopt the fifteenth chap
ter Of Gibbons History of Rome, or revive the
worship of Jove, Apollo and Mercury. No man
who took the Republican ground then can fail
to take the Republican ground now and every
man who cherishes an attachment TO the rights
Of the States and the rights Of individuals mus
resent with his whole strength the alarming
and destructive preteDsiQns of the Slave Power.
Let us hear one of the latest opponents Of
the claims of the Southern 0ligarchy, Judge
Kane of Philadelphia, who of course is
modern Democrat Does he not virtually
declare that the Free States have no right
to legislate at all on certain matters under the
Federal Constitution. 81 know of no statute
"Of Pennsylvania, he says, (which affects to
divest citizen of North Carolina of his prop
"erty"-that ia TO say, OF his slaves" and u
such statnis rers ssolrn, Il could not be reeog-
"ni:ed as raid in Court Of the United States"
In other words, if Pennsylvania should pass a
law declaring that no slave should be brought
into the State even for moment, the Courts