Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1864-01-19
TO the Editors Of lie Enquirer:
PETERSBURG, january S.

Mcssrs Editors / have always said that
the State rights men who stickled for The right
of succession, knew less uG the va!ua Of real
S.a,a-rigits, or at least cu-ei less for thcFc
ri shts tnau the Fe ioralists. With them the
rights of tho State had their beginning and
;hcir ending in secession. an illustration IL
at hand: The act Of Cungre5s to put Irinc;-
pals and to keep rbair substitutes in the army,
has Just been pas led, on the ground that Con-
-ross il MT prohibited TO pass laws iinpairin::
the obligation vi contracts. The plain infer
cnca from such doctrine is :hat Congress has
power to do anything that ID MT prohibited
The F,deralists were never bold enough To- deny
that DOW crs not granted, Ulght Eot 10 BE- ex-
ercised. Nav. the State rights men admit ana
..ontcud TINT pnwrrs not not denied and grn!I-
al. and may l,c exercised. IL thu view ;hc
Confederate government il uniy !Imitrd ~ cX
'nress ,,c.iial4 Of authority I" exercise any
covers for any purposes. The Sth;e-riGhts
mcn OF the moderate school claimed Chat iDc
limitation on the powers Of Tie Federal cO,-
ernmcnt began precisely ~ the point where
the grants endeG. Now III" reverse Of that
doctrine il held 10 be truc-that the limitations
begin aud end with prohibitions !
Wonderful i: is, (no matter which prErip!r
If construction is to prevail in a'corta'nlrS
tnc extent Of the Confederate power, that any
one should need to DO reminded that the inyi-
liability of contracts is 1.-The common jaw q:
The civilized nations" and therefore, that
there could not no any necessity for the STATE.
to prescribe expressly, for tho coutiol and
,aidance of the Confederate Government, any
provision. in forming Or ra:itying its constl-
tution, prohibiting itself to pass any law i'm
nairng the obligation OF contracts. the pro-
vision which that Constitution dncs c0nt'ir,
TO wit: that "no State" shall pass any luw
irapairin. the obligation Of CONTRASTS, which
were entered into under laws enacted By that
Government. was appropriate and proper only
because the States, in forming the CUnfede-
rnte Government, and those Suites no less
which accedcd to it alter it was fUrmei, re.
served Ill powers which they did not either
grant to it or prohibit themselves to exercise.
Without the prohibition on the States thei
might pass laws esistiug Confederate laws /"
the extent of defeating them. Tho chict. ii
not the only necessity for inserting tue pro-
hibtion in tho State Constitution su5sists IA
the Confederate relations of the State; 30 that.
whilst insuyent laws are allowed 10 impair
the OBLIGATION Of contracts made between cit
liens of the same State, they are nut allowed
as TO contracts not. made within the State
which passed them, or if made between citi-
zcns Of several States.
Who can venture to suppose that such a
principle of encrcaohment on the reserved
rights of the States, if, indeed, in the bold
front Of such doctrines the States can be re-
raried as having made any rcservatiOn-w;l!
terminate short Of absorbing them all into
one central consolidated colossal power?
Let us look into this matter little rs re-
| spects the great writ Of freedom. The Con-
stitution of this State ordains that To" rrlyl-
lege of the writ Of hdbetts corpns shall not in
| any case be suspended The Confederate
| Constitution ordains that the Tri: shall not
be denied except in the specified cxigcrcics.
What ia the extent Of the implici power. Ct
the Congress- to suspend the privilege oil TIE
writ in the exceptional cases? Can it ho sup
posed that Virginia has granted to that gov
eminent, over all the Safes, the power TO de-
nv her Judges authority to award the writ IN
one Of her citizens, when she las 81 riup5n,i-
cally denied the pow;r to suspend the privi-
| legc to her own Legislature? She has not
been 30 dcrelct to herself as to grant the
power to such extent What protection to her
citizens would it he to deny the power TO her
own Legislature wh;lst she granted IL To
another TO tic the hands Of her judges
The grant of the power TO suspend, cantiot be
shown to lie by express provision mc,nt t"
control the judicial authority Of the S:atcs
and by the light of the doctrine Of reserved
rights in the States---if that light Is not ex>
singushed, it cannot fail ~ be seen that the
power of the Confederate Government, is not
J to such extent delegated; and that it is limited
to the denying by thai government, OF the
power to thciudges whom itself appoints.
Seeing that it may be inferred from the
remark made in former letter. to the etfcct
tba. the Bureau Of CONSUMPTION has long
been considering the matter which is taken
by me to be clear aud plain, and which was
so treated by Governor Letcher in his las: