Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-02-28

purchasing these slaves at time wbeI
he pubic eXigencies are great, and tn,
burdens upon the people are so enormous
$1,000, 900, must be drawn from the pock
cts of the people of the country to pay fol
these slaves thus unconstiiutionalv wres-
ted from their masters, and paid for by
an unconstitutional and unauthorized as.
sessmcnt upon the people OF the United
! States.
protest here, and will p otcst every.
where, that the Congress of the Omit d
States have no power to assess tue ppoplc
or to tax them to raise revenue for the
purchase oil the negroes anewh re, either
Tor the purpose of setting them Tree or Tor
the purpose Of setting them 10 ant Gov
ernmens farms to be worKed by Govern
mcnt Vversccrs and nursed by Govern.
ment doctors and matrons | protest
agalnstthc power of this Congress TO do
it, The power of taxation is Gnited
power in this Government, you can only
tax for the purp 'sc ofcarrying out express
grants OF power delegated under he Goa
stitalon, ana ,ho.e which allow by nee
eSsnry imp ication from express grants
Wh rei9 your power, then, to tax Ohio
or any individual iu it for the purpose of
slaves in the District of Columbia, or 10
the State Of kentucky, or Missouri, or
Maryland, Delaware or Virginia! Can
you specify the power! Is it the war
power that grand reservoir in wnich Il !
these internal iniquitcs are gathered, the
great mcaIstGrm in which is to be swal-
l)wcd up not only the substance of the
people, but the very body and so oftheir
liberties.
And this, sir, is not all. We have up
on onrtabcs bills providing for the pur
chase of the slaves in TIA States of Missou-
ri, We Virginia, Maryland and De'a
ware. Whare is tn money to come from
protest here that the st tc of Ohio will
not pay it. hey will rcpudate the
bonds an rctnse to pay them, The gov
cram Mt Of that SHIT will soon pass into
the hands Of thosn who will protect tie
rights of it, ci,izens and defend its sover
eighty and honor. You cannot collec
tn tax. 1t is uncDnstjtltio lal ard un
authorized. he cope are willing to pay
.jl't 80 IA! as they are under an; lcg.i o;
moral obligation 10 pay, but when YOU i'm
pose burdens upon them beyond that, they
on !ht an they will refuse them; for il
they do pay thes, bon Is, it viii b., in my
opinion, mare voluntary as rmpton on
tn 2ir plrt. At time ike this, when III,
burdens ofthe Government are 80 great "A :
to crush tn, industry OF the country to the
very earth, W hen we are taxed 10 the YER,
last extrc nifty upoa every article of con-
sumption and upon every article of pro-
due ion. II Is an atrocious wrong 10 impose
these additional burdens upon The people.
You have no power in the onstltution,
either express or delegated, or arising by
necessary implication. to authorize such a
taxation 1t is hagrant, wicked, wanton
useless uslrpation Of power,
ThiS, sir, is Government of limited
powers. We canno, do things h.re ac.
cording to our discretion and unless you
can find the power some where written down
in the Constitution first to purchase these
slaves, then to issue bonds in payment OF
them aud to assess tax upon the people
TO pay those bonds, you have no power 10
do what you propose to do, and if you
cannot derive the power from the Con,ti-
tuition, yolr enactmeuts are not on'y
voidablc, but they are absolutely null and
void. Such is the determination of all
our courts, AMI the officer who attempts
to execute such law by d<trant and sale
ofproperty would be held liable as tre,s-
passer. | warn gentlemen that not only
iudividua's will sit in judgement upon these
laws, but sovereign States will do so, and
take upon themselves any penalties which
n mistake in judg mont may incur.
But it SAID That these slaves are not to
be purchased without the con ent of the
States. What kind of consent is it! A
consent which lrc man gives wher he
goes voluntar ly and unobstructed to assert
that franchise which belongs to fire amen
in a free Govern mcnt? Is that the kind Of
c.nsent that is to be gwen No, sir; tits
that kind o! consent that is forced flom
him, as in the States of Delaware and
Missouri in the recent elections, and as
will be the case in Kentucky and Mary
land when they come to elect their Legis.
latures. The bqyonct will be the instru-
mentality by which thsir consent will be
obtained, as was the case in the State of
Missouri to an extent that rendered the
election in that State nothing more or less
Than sounding farce, and which ought
to be held, as verify believe, to be abso-
lutely void and null SO it was in the
State OF Delaware. In order to obtliu
the con.ent OF that little State, Military
corporals and sergeants and lieutGnlnts
and captains, with squads of armed men
to the number OF three thousand were
sent to protect the purity OF the bal OF
box at every voting place within the coun-
ties of Kent aud Sussex except two, and
at some Of the polls in Newcastle county,
in that gallant little State. This, sir, is
the way that that consent is to be obtain
ed. 1t is tn be obtained by military dom
nation aud by military force,
Mr. FISHER Tho gentleman has
made some alliusion, if understand him
correctly, in regard to the introduction
of soldiers by the Federal Government at