The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-16

l am under the impression that most IF N
old Wings of the country who read your nro
ceedings will feel certain sense of vacn;tv
You tell them It is too late to put up Candidate
OF their own. You fail to announce anv nr;n
clpies not common to all political parties. an,
you resolutely turn your backs upon anvthint
IKE an announcement of measures. Such |,
beginning, for party having the temperame en-
ana the peculiar experiences of the old Whis
party, L cannot but regard as inauspicious
one cannot but wonder, supposing the rally t.
have taken place, what is to come next. Or. (;
nothing is to be done or proposed, why rally a
air Is 1t not rather announcement and ex
pensIve proceeding to be gone through with
1or the mere purpose of a dress parade? 1t i,
true, that you put in nomination two gentle
men for President and Vice President: but
since one OF these gentlemen never did agree
70 any Wing principle in his life, and since the
two gentlemen never did agree with each othe,
on political questions, your nomination of them
does not help us to understand you.
The occasion of your meeting was doubles,
joyful one, and the prospect of once more
behotding the old Wing banner, still full HIGH
advanced, and beaming in its original lustre
was exciting. The thought to men of your age
must have recalled thousand glorious scenes
and must have rolled back the wheels of time
70 years OF more generous and noble com
panionshlp. That you should separate, leav
ing portion OF your work undone-that DOR
ton most likely TO recall your elated hearts to
a sense OF mortality-should be no cause either
1or surprise or uncharitableness. And since
you Will necessarily be obliged to reassemble,
IN order to finish your work, and explain to us
what you would be pleased to have us do, in
w DO
respectfully, to make few suggestions.
Our old Wing party conceived itself to be an
emlnently constitutional party. Not few of
our leaders were great lawyers, whose reputa.
ton was felt to depend in no small degree
upon profound study and exposition of con.
stitutional law. Their methods of reasoning
and of construction were the methods adopted
by the courts. One great leading rule of con-
struchon was this If they found in the Consti-
tuition duty clearly imposed upon the legis.
lative branch of the Government, or an author.
ity clearly conferred, and no particular limits
or specifications as to the process of perform
ing the duty or of exercising the authority, then
the Legislature was expected and empowered
to accomplish the proposed object, by any ex-
pedIent and apt means, and was left to its dis
cretion for the selection of means. Another
rule was this: That the fact of government and
of sovereignty necessarily implied and involved
the existence OF such powers, whether expressed
or not, as, if not possessed, would be denial of
government and OF sovereignty in other words,
that the terms government and S0uereiqnty had
a certain significance and meaning of them
selves, which meaning had no more need to be
written out at length in the Constitution, than
the definition and meaning of the other words
used in that instrument. They further main
tanned that the Federal Constitution was framed
and adopted for meritorious purposes and
while no effort should be used to construe into
it powers not intended to be there. it was
equally inadmissible to practice ingenuity to
construe powers and duties out of it /; that. upon
the whole, it was to be taken without iberality
on one hand, or narrowness on the other, ac-
cordiDg to its natural purport and objects and
construed like any other arrangement entered
into for a lawful and good purpose
In these discussions, their antagonists were
not always consistent with themseves-not har
raonious with one another--but it was common
for them to insist upon what they called a
g strict construction and to insist upon treat
ing the Consultation very much as if it was an
indictment for crime, and as if the debate in
hand was criminal prosecution, where all
the Prescriptions were to be taken against
the instrument. Where power was clearly
conferred, and the means of exercising it not
specified, they did not deny that there was an
implied power to use such means as were ne
cessary; but they claimed that necessary was
much the same as indispensable, and left little
choice OF means. In such case, if they had
some msans which they preferred, they were
apt to claim that fact as an evidence that other
means were unnecessary, and therefore uncon.
or Nc 4
tlonal discussions of the country have resolved
themselves into simple assertion on one side
" Some other mode can be adopted-ours. for
instance-and yours is, therefore, unconstitu.
tional." The whole Bank, Tariff and Internal
Improvement controversies, so far as thew were
made constitutional questions, had this extent
no more. The same modes of reasoning RAM
lied themselves through a great variety of
affairs, running downwards from the Halls of
Congress to the State Legislatures and to coun.
ty caucusses; then upwards, again, from the
county courts to the State courts, and still
upwards to the Supreme Federal Court at Wash.
lngton. The path was often travelled, and well
beaten. AS rules of judicial construction, the
wing doctrines were everywhere adopted, and
spread upon the records of the courts. Our
great leaders were not destined to collect and
dlsburse the revenues of the Government, or to
feel their palms often crossed with its emolu-
ments, but to triumphs more intellectual and
enduring. Admitting the hand of Providence
to be visible in the affairs of nations. one might
almost imagine the destiny of the Wing party
to have been, not to administer the Constitu.
ton, nor grow fat upon it, but TO defend it
while young, to maintain its symmetry, and
send 1t, unframed, upon career of liberty and
glory. On this hypothesis, it might seem as if
lib work were done and ended for it is clear,
that in settling the principles by which the
Constitution shall be construed, little more can
be hoped from debate or judicial decisions.
The work has been done too strongly and we'll
to leave much for future discussions, beyond
vain repetition of what has been already we'll
said on one side or the other, and already deter.
mined by judicial decisions, accumulated one
upon another, until further accumulation
could add little to their authority. In this
view, the Wing party has added to it's claims
OF pleasant remembrance, the browning honor
of having disbanded when its work was accom-
plished. 1t did not Ire itself into the contempt
of good men by dragging on a useless exist.
ence as faction, after its victories and defeats
had become final, and its duties as party had
ceased. Some of US who were in at the last
scenes, performing the humble duties of the
stck-roona - not ashamed to show ourselves
among the mourners, after darkness closed
upon it-would be sorry to see its venerable
remains recalled, for public exhibition, as a
grinning skeleton.
The feeling of the country appears to be run.
ming upon other themes of discussion. 1t is
true, that under these lie in part the same old
methods OF constitutional construction, which
have divided public opinion before, and which
would naturally Lead us Wings to choose one
side rather than the other; but these are so
distorted and strained, as to only bear that de-
gree of resemblance to their former selves,
which caricature may bear to the original,