Newbern weekly progress., 1860-10-02
NUMBER ).

of which has riven assunder the democratic par
! tip, and apparently threatened the dissolution of
! the Union 1t is that 1t is the right and auty of
Congress to iegislae for the protection of sare pro-
! perfg an the Tcrritorie..
/ Now, take it upon me TO say that = p,ore I.ti
/ tudinarlan and dangerous claim of power in Con
gress never was advanced by federalists of the
! Hamilton school, Look at it in constitution
and practical light If Congress have the right
TO legsiate tor the protection of slave propery in
the territories. they have right to lepislate for
the protection of ali other property; and if thev
| have right to legislate for the protection of per
sons the assumption that they egislate for
| the protection of slave property leads logically
and inevitably, to the conclusion that thew have
power TO egis'ate for the territories in all cases
ThotSoerer II you can put your finger on the
grant OF this power in the Constitution please PIT
! II on as limitations, If any can be found. Upon
/ this principle, Congress may ACQUIRE an empire
outside of the organized States, over which it NAV
exercise unlimited power. governing it as the Ro
| man State did their conquered provinces And
this under constitution which iealously restricts
! the exclusive power of legislation by Congress
to few spots of land purchased, with the consent
of the states, for specified objects and grants no
Po'cer OF general legislation territory 1ciatso
! eUcr
! To verify these positions, we need only advert
| to the Constitution Among the grants Of DOW er
/ to Congress is the following viz:
! " 10 exercise exclusive legislation in all cases
whatsoever. over such district (not exceeding ten
miles square as may by cesson of particular States
and the acceptance of Congress- become the seat
of government of the Z. States and to exercise
! like authority over all places purchased by the
consent OF the legislature OF the State in which
! the shall be- for the erection of forts ,nara
zines, arsenas. docky yards, and other needfu bull
dings."
Mark the jealousy with which this power is
restricted. For the rr 1tcction OF the Government
even it is limited to a territory not exceeding
ten miles square, and it cannot be exercised over
" the forts, IN gaZines, arsenals, dockyards and
! other needful buildings,' situated within the
! states, unless the land on which they NAV he
located shall be first purchased within the States
| unless the land on which they NAV be located
shall be first purchased with the consent of the
! legislatures of those states. Is It conceivable
that the wise men who restricted the exclusive
| power of Legislation III Congress to terri
tory not exceeding ten miles square did by
any indirecton, grant that power broadly enough
to cover the whole continent outside of the or
ganized states, should it be annexed by purchase
or conquest.
The following provision is the only one in
the Constitution which has been chiefly if not
exclusively relied upon TO sustain the position that
! Congress has any power whatsoever to legislate
over the territories, viz:
- The Congress shall have power to dispose of
and make all needful rules and regulations re-
spectIng the Territory other property belong
ing to the United States
The word " territory used in this provision
obviously means land, and nothing else. The
u. States at the time when the Constitution was
adopted, owned an immense amount of land North
OF the Ohio river, and these lands Congress was
antho lied to "dispose Of" That the word
territory means property, is concusively shown
by its connection with the words and other
property -" territory and other propertp" The
territory spoken of therefore, is property in iands
"Ruies and regulations grade of iegisla
ton somewhat below the dignity of laws but ad-
mitting them in this case to have the same effect
on what are they to operate Simply on the
property, the United States, not on any other
property nor persons. except far as they may
be connected with the public property To this
extent, and no further, is the power of Congress
to leglSate over a Territory granted to Congress-
and whenever all the lands and other property
! are disposed of, the rules and regulations be-
| come obsolete and the power of legislation gram
! ted in this clause is thenceforth in abeyance
Moreover, this grant of power extends as well
| to property within state within territory
| In state the general power of legislation is the
! state Legislature yet the power of Congress to
make rules and regulations respecting the pub
lie property, is the in state as in Il terrific
ry. The scope of the grant can, of course, be no
greater in territory than in state, and it nee
essarily follows that this clause of the Constitu-
/ ton cOnfers Congress no general power of
| Legislation, either within states or territories
1t is not Il satisfactory reply to this argument
! to say that such power has to some extent been
exercised. Is it better to acquesce in and extend
/ the uSIrpatlOn than to put stop to it. in the
| case of the United States bank by bringing the
government back to the constitutional test Z?
Which is the safest for the South. the constitu-
tiona principle that Congress shall not legislate
for the territories at all the adoption of prin-
! clple unknown to the constitution, which, in its
general application, would not only defeat the
| object it is advanced TO promote but would en-
able the free state minority to surround the slave
/ holding states and encircle the Union with an
empire outside of the organized states, over w hich
! the majority should exercise the power of un-
! limited and exclusive legislation IF such an
idea be chimerical, the apprehension is not chi
merlcal that the black republicans, should they
acquire the control OF all branches of the govern
ment will use the claim now set up for Congress-
lonal legislation over one species of property in
the territories, apology for assuming the pow
er of general legislation, involving the power to
destroy well as to protect.
| 1t by means follows that the people who
may occupy territory of the United States con-
stitutc independent community with all the
attributes Of sovereignty. Though the Constitution
of the United States does not apply to them, they
live under another constitution of powers perhaps
more limited. | mean the paramount law of ne
cessity. They are in the condition of bands of
hunters miners located in the Wilderness who
may adopt such rules and regulations as mag be alb
soutey necessary for the protection of persons and
property, until Congress acknowledges their in
! dependence by admitting them in the Union on
the same footing with the original States. At
! that moment, and not before, the powers of
! a limited sovereignty accrued to them and may
be exercised to protect destroy local institu-
! tons which may have grown up while the
Legislative power was limited to the absolute ne
! cessity of the occssion. If it be said, that the
law of necessity may be transcended and regula
tons adopted to destroy some kinds of property
instead of protecting it, answer that such regu-
lations would be an assumption of power not JUS
tilted by the law of necessity, analogous to usur-
pations of power in organized communities, rem
ediIess perhaps, but for that none tile less
unjust.
If this be not the true theory in relation to our
Territories, when does sovereignty therein begin? !?
Is the first settler soveriegn7 Does sovereignty
accrue when there are ten, one hundred, or one
! thousand, one ten of thousand settlers Where
shall we draw the line and pronounce that on
this side the settlers live under the law of neces-
sity, and on that they become rightfuliy
! reign?
! The Constitution of the United States was not
made for Territories but for States as its name
implies 1t has, by strict rules of construction,
nothing to do with Territories outside of the
States united, beyond the protection and disposi-
ton of the common property therein 1t seems
to contemplate that the Territories shall be left
themselves until they have population adequate
to the formation of a respectable community,
when their independence should be acknowledg-
ed and tfeir admission into the Union granted
on the sole condition that they adopt republican