Daily national Democrat., 1860-12-15

ereigntv is not affected 10y this supreme law.
| But the state Legislatures, as political bod
/ les, however sovereign, are yet not sovereign
\ over the people. So far as the people have
given power to the general government so
/ far the grant is unquestionably good, and the
government holds of the people, and not of
the State governments We are all agents OF
the same supreme power, the people. The
general government and the State govern
ments derive their authority from the same
source. Neither can, in relation to the other
be called primary, though one is definite and
restricted and the other general and residu
ary The national government possesses those
powers which it can be shown the people
have conferred on it, and no more All the
rest belong to the State governments, or to the
people themselves. SO far as the people have
restrained State sovereignty, by the express
sion of their will, in the Constitution of the
United States, SO far it must be admitted,
State sovereignty is effectually controlled |
do not contend that ii is, or ought to be, con-
trolled farther. The sentiment to which |
have referred propounds that State sovereign
ty is only to be controlled 10y its own feel
ing of Justice; that is to say, 1t Is not to be
controlled at all, for one who is TO follow
his own feelings is under no legal control
Now, however men may think this ought to
be, the fact is, that the people of the United
States have chosen to impose control on state
soyereignties There are those, doubtless,
who wish they had been left without restraint;
but the Constitution has ordered the matter
differently. To make war, for instance, is an
exercise Of sovereignty but the Constitu-
tion declares that no state shall make war.
To coin money is another exercise of sover-
Ito Int at Il NJ to in
money Again, the Constitution says that no
sovereign State shall be so sovereign as to
make a treaty. These prohibitions, it must
be confessed, are a control on the State SOW
ereignty of South Carolina, as well as of the
other States, which does not arise "from her
own feelings of honorable Justice" The opin
ion referred to- therefore, is in defiance of the
plainest provisions of the Constitution"
TuE TULARE CANAL PGoJEcr.-From state.
ment published in the Delta, it appears that
Burr d Co. of San Francisco have offered TO
dig the canal connecting Tulare Lake with
the San Joaquin river, at the Great Bend
The history of the project is as follows:
"In 1857 the Legislature granted to W F.
Montgomery and others, the right and privi-
lege to reclaim the swamp and ovcrhowed
land lying between the San Joaquin river
and point known as the Kings river slough,
and Tulare Lake also the swamp and over
flowed lands bordering on Tulare, Buena
Vista and Kern Lnkes. For the purpose of
this object they were granted the privilege
of connecting Kern, Buena Vista, and Tulare
Lakes, with a canal; and also Tulare Lake
with the San joaquin river and the point
above named. The canal was to be large
enough for the passage of boats of eighty tons
burden, to be commenced in one, and com
pleted in five years. This company were to
have the right to collect tolls for the period
of twenty years, with many other stpula-
tions that we can not now enumerate TIE
result was that Montgomery IL Co, for want
OF the proper encouragement. or the ready
did but little labor the trst year, and the en-
suing Legislature repealed the Act Since
then it has been in the Courts, and the Su-
preme Court have decided the repeating
Act unconstitutional Col Burr d Co. now
propose, if the same shall meet with the
proper sympathy and encouragement of the
Iulare people, to carry out the original con-
tract of Montgomery d Co."
The project appears, says the S. F. Herald
to have been very unpopular in the county
of Tulare, the charter granted by the Legis
lature being looked upon as a dangerous
monopoly. Still the undertaking is one Of
some Importance. The engineer reports that
the lake is thirty-fve feet higher than the
river. If this is the case, vast extent of
country, now unproductive and swamp,
would be effeetually drained by the canal,
and made available for agricultural purposes.
1t is also maintained that the flood of water
from Tulare Lake poured into the San Joa-
quin would greatly improve the navigation
of that river.