Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-04-01

TX. ""al II reasonable. III that be rejected |
VIII resume the powers granted, and, if not
Permitted to do that, l will seize the arms at
aaho' and II not covered with the egis Of the
State, Will assume my own inalisnable rights
OF MISREPRESENTATION, and, live or die, sink or
Death. You created this government
you, and you alone, can destroy, ~
This is your sovereign power, t' w."
have never delegated. ask ;s
else it for yourselves. bec--:e your asI hnnds
fallh;ess. The Goye-.tnent into whose hahos
ven c,n6d,3 yo,. powers, has already proVea
;tse,, unworthy Of the trust If that were all,
,iorc would be no necessity Tor oissol'lns Tue
Government: but that is not all. Your part
nprs to the compact have themselves become
fai,hless. untrustworthy, and WORSE than the
agent. Let not the gentleman from harrison
iter,te 20 m, this, the agent-tEe General GoT-
e-am.nt-has not wronged Us. Let him not
reiterate TO inc that tine agent Is not the power
which deyrives me Of my rights OF property IN
s..svcs-thas the agent has never wronged me.
Grant il, for the arguments sake. Donot Inc
partners wrong US? Do not the co-States
wrong us? Suppose that am an agent ana
that | have the disbursement. for example, OF the
partnership funds to each. | deal out L" three
of The gentlemen in n partnership Of four, their
dividends, and | give to the other fourth none
telling him that all has been paid over to the
o.,er three. "How comes that?' Why, the
firm have so ordered, and it is not my fault, |
cannot give YOU YOUR share even pro tanto.
These gectl. men. your co-partners, compel me
to do what l am doing. They direct hat sums
are to be paid over TO A., B. and C., and there
is nothing left for YOU"
Suppose be then says to me, "Sir, | cannot
blame you. Whom am | to blamef' and |
tell hirn, Look 10 your partners" Now, even
in that view of the case, because the agent IS
not TO blame, has not the injured party a right
to look TO the ca.partners. Has be not a right
to say to them, "If you are robbiug me in this
way. | must break up the partnership And
is not that the case herey Is it not worse than
that? Remember who the agent is. The
agent is constituted of the bore Of their bone,
and OF the flesh of their flesh Of the co-partners
themselves. Your partners make the President,
They make tue majority in Congress, IN both
Houses; and very shortly they will make the
tribunal of arbitrament and award. The agent
then IS part Of the principal. The agent IN
this case is to blame. because consentingly he
stands and sees Stephen stoned without raising
q hard except to help to stone him.
There is our position. These are the doc
tr.ncs, this is the faith, this is the practice, this
i. .he cause. And yet my friend gets up in tn"
morning and asks a round Of questions, hears
the replies. comes back after dinner, and i'll the
sa1ae fern exactly asks again precisely the
same questions, 70 be answered III the same
way.
Sir, I did not Intend to speak fifteen minutes
this morning, but my friend has given me q
tex, out oil which he has got a pretty long
Speech and | expect it is the last | will make
for some tine, on account Of my lungs.
Mr.. MooRE-Mr. Chairman, there is q rule
Oh the Journal which says that no member
snail sneak more than twice on the same ques-
lion, without leave, nor more than once til!
every other member, intending to speak, has
spoken. | desire TO know if that rule applies
il Committee Of the Whole?
The CnAIRMAN-I apprehend it does not
Mr.. W. G. SCcTT obtained the floor.
MIR. SEAwELL-Wil the gentleman allow
ne? desire to offer an amendment to the
amendment Of the gentleman from Mlddlesex,
M. MoSTAGrE.)
Inc ClAlEMAS-The gentleman will state
his amendment
Mr.. SgAwE.L-Tne FIRST resolution nov
reads:
That the States which composed the United
States Of America, when the Fedelai Ccnstitu.
ton was formed, were Independent sovereign.
s:c<.' The gentleman from Midhlesex, moved
I, insert The wor':s, land still are | pro-
pose to amend i - tl.st it will read, THAT
Inc States which composed the United States
OF America, when the Federal Constitution
was formed, wcro independent sorereignt'es
and still are sovereign"
NJ MoNTAGUE.-l have no objection to the
an~..ment l accept it
Mr.. SE .wELL.-1 have offered that amend
a=..t in consequence, very much, OF certain ex-
r:eSsions of opinion which | have heard in this
hall in regard to the phraseology of the reso-
luton. The gentleman from Fauquier, (Mr.
RoBsRr E. ScoTr) directed his entire argument
to this word '.!ndependcnt," ignoring in the
c III Sc o.: his remarks, as far as | heard him,
eli discussion as 10 the word sovereign
think that my amendment, as accepted by the
gentleman from Middlesrx, obyiates this diff.
clity and meats all the arguments which | re,
collect 10 have heard from the gentleman from
Fluquier: but it does bring up the argument
urged against this entire amendment by the
gentleman from Richmond, (Mr. MAcFARLASD.)
Tat gentleman did not seem TO discriminate IN
his argument. 1t seemed as if 1t made no dit.
f.rancr 10 him Thetn,r the word 'lndepen-
dent was used alone, or whether the word
sIsnvereign'' was used alone, or whether both
WORDS we've used conformity. His argument, so
far as it had any application at all, was appli-
cable to both terms. | simply desire now to
say, will, all Difference to the gentleman who
have so ably discussed the question this even
ins-much more ably, than | could ever hope
TO dc-:hat it seems to me the question is now
resolved into a nutshell. | do not choose to 80
into the discussion DOW as to where the attri-
buttS Of sovereignty are to be found under our
present government
Mr.. ". G.. ScoTr. did not yield to a
speech, only to on amendment
Mr.. SEAwELL. will not detain the COM
mi,tee By going now into the argument rs to
where the attributes Of sovereignty are 10 be
found located in any government on this con-
t;nent, but with all due Difference to the gem
,le.nen who have so ably discussed this ques-
ten, Il seems to me they have been discussing
it on erroneous principles or rather have
used erroneous terms. / take it that sove-
~reignty, as applicable 10 nations on this CONT
Dent, cannot DC assimulated to sovereignty as
belonging to the natioualities Of Europe. Sow
~ereigntr in Europe. may, and in many instances
does appertain to the Government because,
where the Government is sovereign the peu-
p.e are slaves. But here, my impression is,
and it is one | have entertained through life,
and If | IN in error, it is a lifelong error
N, impression has always been here that ac-
co,ding to the theory of government on this
continent, sovereignty resides in the people
alone that sovereignty here, is only to be
found in the people Of the States, and not in
the Governmen: Of the United States or in the
Government Of this State Of Virginia. Be
ca.se, II it is so, if sovereignty is to be found
here resident in the people Of the Common.
wealth =: Virginia, then why are We here nowy
Is the argument which the gentleman from
Richncnd. (Mr. MAcFAKLASD.)-for whose
Talents and reputation / have the high
est respcct.-has offered against the use
Of this term in the sense Of which the
geotlcman from Middlesex. (Mr. MoNTAGUE,)
used it, to he made applicable to this exposi-