New-York daily tribune., 1859-05-24
THE NEW NULLIFIRRs.

The old doctrine Of nullIfcstion. as propounded
by Mr.. Calhoun, and as carried out By the South
Carolina of his day, did not contemplate, nor nee
essarily involve an actual dissolution Of the Union.
1t profe ssed indeed, to be a means of preserving
the Uniop by Cbviating the necessity Of rebellion,
revolution, and civil war, like that which brought
about the separation between the American Colo
MES and the Mother Country. Mr.. Calhoun, and
all bis coteDporares who co0perated with hun,
clsimed to be as much attached to the Union as
apybo6y. 1t vas not-so they alleged-the Union
that they sought to destroy; it WAS not the eglti'
mate authority of the General Government to
which they were opposed; it was only that they
sought TO protect the rights of the States. The
doctrine Of notification, as maintained by Nr
Calhoun and his suppOrtt rs of quarter OF cen
tury ago. was this: that in case Congress seemed
TO the people of any of the States to have assumed
legislative authority which the Constitution did
not give to it, and which conficted with
the interests or sentiments Of those States, State
Conventions called for that purpose, had right
TO pronounce such acts of Congress void, aud to
authorize each its respective State Legislature to
prevent so far its jurisdiction extended the en-
forcement of such acts; and that this was per-
fecty legitimate exercise of the reserved rights Of
the States, a peaceable and efficient remedy
against unconstitutional acts of Congress- of which
neither the General Government nor the sister
States had any ground to complain.
In maintenance Of this theory, Mr.. Calhoun di-
rected all the force of his logic against the doc
trine set up by Mr.. Webster, of an exclusive power
in the Supreme Court of the United States TO in
terpret the Federal Constitutions doctrine. We
may remark, never assented to by Mr. Clay, who
denied that the Supreme Court of the United
States had any political authority, or any power,
beyond the decision Of the individual cases that
came before it; and still less by Gen. Jackson,
who, in the famous case of the missionaries m-
prsoned under the act of Georgia extending its ju
rsdiction the Cherokees, refused to carry the
decision of the Supreme Court into effect and EN-
ployed the fluent pen of Gen Cass to justify him
10 that refusal.
This Calhoun doctrine of notification, and along
with it the special interest which Mr. Calhoun
prof for the rights the States aud the restrc
tion of the authority Of the Supreme Court within
limits consistent with those rights. has apparently
entirely died out throughout the whole slsveho!d-
ing r. eion The Dred Scott decision of the Su-
prsme Court is pressed upon from that
quarter as an absolutely conclusive and binding
settlement Of the true Interpretation, meaning and
intent of the Constitution Of the United States
Having got complete control Of that tribunal. it is
now looked TO as a much more effrctusl, oompre-
hensive, manageable and convenient instrument
for nufying acts of Congress than any system of
State Conventions could be. These State Conyen.
items could only nullify the obnoxious acts each
within its own limits, leaving them still in force
elsewhere; whereas the nulllfy ing power Of the
supreme Court sweeps through the whole Union.
What is more it is DOT confined to acts Of Congress
II penetrates into the States themselves Civ.
ing TO those who have got the control Of it, not
only the power Of setting aside obnoxious acts of
Congress, but also obnoxious acts Of State Legisla
lures aud obnoxious decisions Of State Courts.
1t is no longer the rights Of States about which
the South troubles ITSELF but only the rights Of
shareholders. The complaint now set up is not
that Congress assumes TO legislate upon subjects
over which il has power not that it extends its
authority too far, but that in the matter of pro-
tecting shareholders in the enjoyment Of their
special and peculiar rights and property it does not
90 far enough Here is q case, TO the eXigencies Of
which nul6cation, whether exercised upon Mr.
Cslhoun's old scheme Of State Conventions, or