New-York daily tribune., 1861-11-02
WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE

Sir William Jones, in sundry rather stale
verses, borrowed from a very spirited Greek
lyrist tells us what does not constitute State
and then he obliginey tells us what doe, do it,
to wit, men, high.minded men, &c. Mr.. james
7. Brady, We suppose, upon being asked the
same question, would emphatically reply
Pirates !" 1t is not always easy for US to
determine whether Mr.. Brady argues from hls
pirates up to his Government, or from his
Government down to his pirates Jefferson
Davis is pOtentate because he issued these
rowing commissions. We do not suppose that
Mr.. Brady intent upon the business in hand,
saw, or cared to gee, where his argument
would carry him; but when We catch Jefferson
Davis himself, then we shall advise that tltuiar
President to send retainer to Dir. Brady,
and We shall advise Mr. Brady to take 1t; Tor,
as he will only need to repeat his pro-piratcal
argument, he will earn bis money easily. What
was good for these sea-royers will be good for
their Lord High Admiral. The effect of Mr..
Brady's argument, if it were judcially sane
| toned, would be to empty Fort Lafayette IN
five minutes. 1t makes the President at once
aggressor and usurper, thief upon land ana
pirate himself upon water. Admit 1t, and IN
tho name of all the publicists at once, what
cause of war have we against the "Conied-
" crate States" Nay, more Admit it, and
the President, by all that is left of the Consti-
tuition, is justly liable to impeachment, and Gen.
Scott 10 degradation, if not to execution.
Admit it, and we must silence our guns, furl
our banners, aud ANONYMOUSLY withdraw our
forces from the field Admit it, and Mr. Brady
mipht AZ we'll have made his argument in Tam
many Hall, for strictly there is no Circuit
Court and Shipman j. aud Nelson j. are
pair of pretenders who should be indicted but
whom, for want of any courts, We should not
be able to indict Admit it, and, in the words
OF Hamilton, we shall have nothing but =" an
" infnty of little, jealous, clashing, tumultuous
q" commonwealths, and the wretched miseries
f." of unceasing discord;" and We shall be
nothing but the miserable objects OF universal
&" pity aud contempt"
! SINCE the fashion has been set IN such high
quarters OIL 4uotinB Iihhheoht "O Pi"P"'" y"
try our hand at it also. Read:
By the very Gaming Of tho term includes 'uprem
acy III. rul. which hoss to whom 1t {. prescribed
bound to This results from political sssoc
op II individual, enter state OF society the laws Of
that must be the supreme regulator Of their conduct
IL number Of political societies enter into larger political
e,ty the law, which the latter may enact pur,uan to The
power. uuscd TO by its constitution must Deoessy be-
over those societies. ard the individuals Of whom
they are posed. II would otherwise be mere treaty
., pendent on the COED faith u the parties NOT Gov
EnSHsNr which is only another wOrd for political power
ard suPssmsey"
This quotation, which we make from The
F,dsraiis (No. 34), efectually disposes Of Mr..
Brady's argument. The Union is not treaty
it is a Government. Hamilton went further
than this. He sad (1he TederdiiSt, No. 10:
Z" Ii will always be far more easy for the
a. State Government to encroach upon the
" National Authorities than for the National
" Government TO encroach upon the State
" Authorities There is an inherent and in
" trinsic weakness in all federal constitutions;
+" and too much pains cannot be taken in their
{" organization, to give them all the force
(which is compatible with the principles of
" liberty"
/ So much for Hamilton. He is one Of Mr.
Bradys authorities, but these sentences MIR.
Brady did not quote. What, in view of his
argument, becomes of the Union as "t the Su-
"prcme Regulator of "the conduct" Of its
member What becomes of its "political
power and supremacy Was Hamilton
then nistGte eni When be wrote these singu-
lary clsar sentences, he was fresh from his
labors on the Constitution. Did he not un-
derstend his own work. Did be, who assisted
in the erection of this noble edlhce, and who,
when it was completed, pronounced it good
did he con,ijer 1t but castle in the air,
which the first cloud of popular dissatisfaction
woRld .facei Did be conceive Of a I" Su-
the eriaut aud to puni,h the guItyi But in
Mr.. Brady's hands, ard under tue metamOr
phosis Of a iury.argumtDt, the Supreme Regu.
lator becomes weak aud garrulous old parsonage
with power to do nothing. and with nothing 10
do-With power to make laws, but with no
power to execute then,-with power anllely to
hem and to haw, but with power To hang.
Hamilton thought the Federal Government fee
bic, but God knows he never thought is so
feeble as this! Could he revisit earth-could
we once more avail Ourselves, in these days OF
national peril, of that intellect at once so
massive and so elegant, we should hear from
him no such assertions as these-that the Fed
eral Union is petty copartnership to be dis
solved by an ELECTROMAGNETIC under the
lConstifution treason is impossibe: and that 10