The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-11-28
Col. Benton.

day-unanswcrable, we say to Col. Benton.
May thy days be long in the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee =
LEXINGTON, 9Th Nov, 1857.
MsssRs Ep1roRs Exercising the discre-
ton allowed to me by the venerable author,
| transmit to you for publication in your pa
per. letter just received from Col. THos.
II. BENroN-to show what that veteran
statesman and distinguished .NissOurian
thinks of the Missouri Compromise, of the
repeal of it by Congress, and Of the late at
preme Court of the United States to prove
that it was unconstitutional.
GEORGE ROBERTSON.
WASHINGTON CRY, Nov. l, 1857.
To GEORGE ROBERTSON, Esq,
Ex-Chief Justice, &C., Lexington, KY:
Ny DEAR SIR: have read with infinite
qualification your publications in the Nation
al IRteuigencer, on the decision Of the Su-
preme Court on the Missouri Compromise
Act, and concur with you most heartily, as
you will soon see in the 9th volume of the
abridgement of the Debates of Congress, now
in the press, (the Messrs. Appleton. Of New
York, J and also in an Examination" which
cision in q thin octave Of 200 pages, likewise
now in the same press, and quickly to appear.
This decision--that part of it which relates
to the nullity of the Compromise act, and to
the sef-extension of the constitution to Ter
ritores-is the heaviest politica! blow that
ever fell upon my heart, and left me in 2
state of total impossibility Of remaining ST.
lent under it. view it as you do-as dread
fully wrong in itself, and entirely extrajudi-
cial, and Of no more weight than the opinion
Of any half dozen equally respectable citi-
zcns coming to the same conclusion upon in
consistent, incompatible and contradictory
reasons. That compromise act was polit-
cal enactment, made by the political power,
for political reasons; and these reasons among
tie largest that ever influenced human legis-
lation no less than to reconcile a divided
and distracted country, and to prevent our
Union from splitting aSunder. AS such po-
litical enactment the Court had no right
to judge it, EVENT. it came fairly before them;
for the Judiciary cannot judge political ques-
tons, neither of right, nor in fact !; for these
questions depend upon considerations CT pol
icy which the judiciary cannot touch, and not
upon the Interpretation Of phrases to which
the court is confined. The same of the self
extension of the Constitution to Territories
it was a political question as to what that
constitution should extend and it was limi-
ted by its own words TO States and has been
SO acted upon by every Congress, and by all
authorities, Estate and federal, legislative, eX-
ccut;ve and judicial from the commence
ment of the federal government to the pres
ent day. And | venture the assertion, that
there has not been one single member of Con
gress i'll the seventy years in which Congress
es have been held who has not voted for OBJ
.jects in the Territories, local internal i'm
provements for example, which they would
not vote for in State and upon the express
ground that the constitution did not extend
to Territories. The ordinance Of 1887 was
the Territorial constitution, given to them
as sovereign gives charter to his subjects;
and as such was made in concert with the
constitution, as you vii! say, and indispensa-
bic to the formation of the constitution; and
as such provided for-doubly provided for,
the constitution which devolves all the EN-
ration upon the new federal Congress and,
secondly, by the act of the new Congress of
August 18th, 17S9-the eighth act passed by
the first Congress under Washington-adop-
ting that ordinance to the new constitution,
and adopting it in every word which it con-
tanned as a law of the new government.
You will see in the Abridged Debates 1.-THE
notes as well as the text that full justice is
done to yourself and to all the patriotic
men who acted with you, in that great meas
ure of reconciliation and pacification and
also in my Examination of the courts
opinion-that part of it which deem politi-
cal, and extrajudicial, and oJiter dicta. AS
for what concerned the individuals before the
court as parties on the record, I have moth
ing to say. That part was judicial; and
whether rightfulIy or wrongfully gotten hold
Of and decided, let it alone, for it was the
decision Of the tribunal of highest resort
and the peace and good order of society re-
quire all questions of personal rights to be
settled and done with. But in this political
decision, in which the Supreme Court acted
upon question beyond its jurisdiction, and
lugged it in as tail to question of negro
freedom, and in which it decided upon
view of the constitution which had no more
to do with it than the adventures of Robin
son Crusoe, and then reversed the action of
the government for seventy years, and made
a new constitution in all that relates to Ter
ritorial legislation in such case l have felt it
to be my duty, as one of the few survivors of
the Old School, to raise my voice against it,
and to appeal to the candid intelligence of
my fellow citizens to come to the defence Of
our constitution, such as our fathers made it,
and as it was administered for two genera
tions.
| mean what say, when say, the Su
preme Court had as we'll have been looking
into Robinson Crusoe as looking into the
Constitution Of the United States to find the
power of Congress to legislate for Territories;
for it is not there, but in the ordinance of
81, adopted by the Constitution, and by the
first Congress under Washington. The
"needful rules and regulation clause" as the
Court said gave no power to govern the Ter
rtories it only applied to property, and that
the property of the United States-its Ter
rtory, id est, land and its other property,
id est, personal estate. 1t conferred no pow
ers of government; and that for the reason
known to everybody at the time, and to no.
body (hardly) now-vIDE LICIr, because the
government of the Territories was provided
for in another place-namely, in the ordi-
nance of 1877, and protected by clause in
the Constitution, and adopted by Congress,
August 18th, 1889. The Court looked in the
wrong place to find the power of Congress to
legislate for Territories. =
B was breaking down under the appalling
attack which fell upon me when was writ
ing the Examination" and had to leave
some heads unfinished, and also to add some
part after had given up this world. NV
physician, Dr. May, saw with astonishment
that 1 rose from what he knew considered
the bed of death, land which he feared to be
so) and went to my table and wrote. was
adding something to the Examination" and
could hardly refrain from postscript -