New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-11-23
s,..es adonted the Con,titntion.

lantic that he'd any psvigabls wo;ers, that h. Nh,
c laaD rrgua,ionr Not one II - - 90.
ence Of there very regulat ons CO. r,,;ao 10 ,be;y
cbersctr r, because coming fror ,,,,sen od.nepdent
and irresponsible severe o.,ss tina, led. az your
Hopors nave seen, 10 v,r,ing Congress with this
tose iou . my COP ult the statute books Of these
s,drg any sr. >~i civ, in vain, for the purpose OF
nbonE any "a" passed, sferward in any ole OF them
reeeros ct Isgu'g.ior. But were they ever after
eD,Gio' ~ oJaer-'ed1 Who took out license under
u" -scr,y Of Rhode Island, or New'f"rk, amer 'o'
VIXEN tire Consultation vas adopted AUG the uo's ~,
n~rt organ i4.d' Nobody. But my brothers Hiu
ard Seward told your Honors yesterday AMI the
day before that the power granted 70 Congress
was 10 fs nature dormant AID imperative ua.h
il was exercised and that II continued dormant
and imperative in reference TO every subject en-
b,eced by IT, after il shcsH have been Exercised,
80 far as those subjects did not fail within the
sctpsi exercise Of The power resulstIoH not maze
,lt he ,u.de under the authority al the power, bat
the mower with reference - the authority - make 1t,
remained dormant as II was when the power was Gre
e,ed II So trade ough. 20 have been carried on
ty means Of State liceDses. Snbnssion ~ th'r sew
+fal regulations WIS., il truth but obedience to the
law O, the land There no law OF Congress 70
prevent il; aid Royalty to New-YcIk just State
jrde, demanded compliance with The regaIa ons that
New-York then had and 40 in relation 10 the other
States But did any think ~ that time that there
was any such loyalty due from the citizen We hnoT
there not. Each If the state regulations FELL
nnd in falling became of themselves nD, only dormant,
but dead-ifcapable Of being revived, except with
reference 10 the pilot laws of which will speak by
and by, and which stand upon an entirely different
footipr Every commercial reg ulatiOn existing 70
I7s9 with the ptOns, If exceptions they may be
called 10 which i shall alude hereafter, became at
once extinct tie moment the Constitution went into
existence.
But MY II pease the Court, az far the exigen
cies fills concerned as have before said,
il is perfectly immateIial whittier this power y 10 be
consideIed exclusive not All agree, except my
brother Seward and / do not understand MIN as
agreeing, for reasons shall address myself to here
ai,er that when the power is exercised, the corre-
spending power if it existed upon the part Of the
State, is at an end.
| proceed. then. without further taking up your
time, or what IL Of less importance, my Own, IN dis
cussing the first question-to inquire whether the
power in this instance has not been 20 exercised as To
nke away the power if 1t before existed winch New
York IL attempting nov TO exert. Mr.. Chief-Justce
Tapey as well as Mr. Cbiof-Justice Marshall-the first
in the dissenting opinion in the Wheeling Bridge case
and the second in the opinion when he gave on bena
Of the Court in the Black Bird Creek case both agree
in this land with reference 10 this AN sure speak
odvisedly-theIe has been difference of opn-
i'm upon the bench, that whenever Congress- shall
egslse the power which the States may Dave had, If
they had any before, is long that legislation re-
ma ns at al end.
In the Black Bird Creek case the Judgment in
favor of the Company by whom the dam had
that, as Congressional regulation then existed,
that particular stream was not within It's opera,
ton ] do not stop to read the op%Tonn' En- ri
Justice, il behalf Of the Court, as well as by express
ing his own opinion added that if Congress should
legsate in relation TO that stream, streams OF that
description Of course use in using these terms his
owp)-o course the State regulation must give way
Ana as he spoke with view to a practical purpose,
looking to that stream and 10 all other streams, he
necessarily admitted that that stream ind all annlo
eous streams 30 TO speak, within the scope of
the Congressional power. Congressional action In re-
laOn to streams hot within the Congressional power
would, in the judgment of the Supreme Court and
every body else be Just void would be State ac
ton when in opposition to the Congressional power.
The only question, therefore, that have now t. dis
cuss H. whether in this case Congress has, with refer.
erce 10 this river, exercised It's admitted commercial
l0wor2 That is tie inquiry and nothing clse
One Of ny niv.,,.,. """n the other side says that
Gibbons V. Ogden, in the 9th Of S"eaton' ana tne
Wheeling Bridge Case, in 18th Ho"ar,, ""' n'oio
ing Of The first, cal to aid the decision OF the
Cont in the I'd Of Peersthat the Court has not de-
cded that Coz gress has exerci sed power with refer
ence to this river which would render conflicting egs.
laton-a legislation upon the part Of the State of
New-York, illegal. Is that so, may 1t please the
Count My brother Hill told your lloncrs that the
decision 10 Gibbons " Ogden n.rely pronounced as
the constitutional law of the land with reference to
these powers that the laws which were IN force, re-
speciiVely emanatiDg from the United States and
New-York, could not stand, because the aws OIL 'hs
tie former. Absolute Iepugnapcy. says NY brother
absolute incompatibily between CONGRESSIONAL regu-
atiop and State regulatonis the test by which to de-
eide whether tie latter to yield to the former Is
that so What Were the circumstances OF that case
The only act which had been passed by Congress
which could be referred to this commercial power was
the upon which my brother commented yesterday,
Of l793 providing for the registration aud licensing
of vessels for the coasting trade. That was all, may
il PLEASE the Court. What had New-iOrk done !
Under an impulse which did her honor "a tribute
usly doe to the great invention which had pleased
The Almighty for the benefit of the world To en1ow
Fulon with the genius to discover she passed laws
intended to reward him for his great boon to tue
human race, giving to him aud his associates, for
limited time the exclusive right to navigate the
navigable waters Of New. York by steam. That Is
all. Before that invention, may please your Hon
ors, when the Constitution was adopted, the idea OF
navigating the Daygable rivers OF The United states
by steam if il had been suggested, would but have
proved, in the public Judgment, the man who sng'
gested it lupatic. l venture 70 ray That not one
single member OF the Convention u whom We are IN
debted for the priceless gift of the Constitution OF the
United States, far-seeiug is they WERE endowed by
nature with almost superhuman power, improved 10
It's utmost by reading and by meditation, looking
down the vista Of after times, even, and as truet IN
God correctly to the immortality Of existence OF this
Union which they fondly hoped was to be the end OF
their aborsever dreameC of any other mode OF navl-
eating the navigable waters Of the United States
than by force Of the then known elements OF motive
power
N,w-York, may it please the Court, then, as ever,
had in her ellis legislative and judicial men who
not inferior 10 those to be found everywhere else
here or in any other country. They decided unaui-
mOusly that the law constitutional. Tue Legisa-
ture ia the first place, held the Council of Revision
aciudged; and what with me is still more persua'
sive the Judiciary which at that time even ma
tlonal boast decided the same way. Ii was an extra
ordinary controversy, may il please the Cont yhe1
il made lis way into the Supreme Court Of the United
States under the beneficial operation Of the 18th
ton OF the Judiciary Act. great State, on one
side, standing upon her Own Intrinsic authority, en-
titled To respect, and supported by all the intellect and
the le6rIiDg auo the psIi winch she by univer
sal assent Then possessed. He who questioned e.
latter SO emsnating AMI upheld old IT, and did II
alone, under the authority Of this paper which my