The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-08-25

logically excluoe6 the idea that the govern
| ment Of country can be established otherwise
possess il It equally excludes the idea that
the government can be other than one Of dele
gated powers only. It Is logically and posi-.
lively includes the idea that in point of politi-
cal or sovereign right or privilege, and In
point Of public duty and obligation, every man
who 10 q constituent member Of such sover.
eighty 10 the exact equal OF every other
constituent member thereof 1t follows that
the whole purpose OF government Ii the
efectual protection of its constituent members
in their relations to each other and to the rest
of Northumberland protection to each in the
enjoyment of life, liberty. property and the
pursuit of occupations not morally or physlc-
ally injurious to his fellows or the public. such
is the manifest purpose of this government OF
Stose and National. For this purpose the PEG.
pie delegate their sovereign powers to legisla'
tive. executive and judicial officers Of their
own choice from among themselves, to make,
to construe, to administer and execute laws,
| for them and in their sovereign name; and Tor
their own protection against the tendency to
usurpation by those holding from them dele
tutional provisions, prescribed the limits of
the powers of each department of their gov
ernments, and made it penal and Infamous for
any officer to wilfully Overstep any OF such linn
itations of power. This purpose includes the
proper exercise of all the powers which may
be necessary to stability and protection of the
government itself by which every other right
external foes-includes all the objects specified
in the preamble to the Constitution OF the Uni
ted States-that glorious old charter, made,
ordained and established by the men of the re-
yolution, and sealed with their blood in de-
defence of the sovereign rights and powers OF
the people, ''in order to form more perfect
union than that under the articles Of confed.
Grafton. establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings Of liberty" to themselves and their
posterity. .
By that Constitution the powers delegated to
the national government for national purposes
are limited and defined. By that Constitution
all sovereign powers and privileges not dele.
gated to the national government are reserved
to the States, or the people In the more per-
feet union created by it. By it that Union
was established as supreme law of the land,
which no man or State could violate and re-
main innocent of crime. By That Constitution
and the spirit in which and intent with which
it was established, the Union was stamped in
delibly and as with the Divine hand este per-
petra. That Constitution wac thus established
for the equal benefit and protection of every
man by whom, and for whom, it was made,
and for their posterity. and all Others who
should in the mode provided by it become
"citizens of the United States" By that Con-
stitution We, the people of this country. in
these trying days of public troRble must stand
or be lost in anarchy and confusion, from which
of an usurped monarchy instead of free citi-
zens of republic. By that Constitution we,
the sovereign people of this great nation must
measure and weigh carefully and strictly every
act of every man who holds from rs any dele
gated power which he exercises in our name.
1t ia in times like these, when public neees-
stiles are great, that doubtful powers are most
likely to be assumed, and when assumed are ex-
cused rather than justified by the exigences
produced by the public troubles, and the peo-
pie submit to them without murmur or an
objection. One such assumption forms pre-
cedent for another, and unless arrested with the
departure of occasions for them, the Constitu-
officer will usurp the place of the supreme
law of the land" Now that peace has again
spread her halcyon wings over the land, all
such precedents must be discarded and all the
proceedings Of the government brought to the
constitutional limits and standard of power.
The means to retrieve the nation from its
endorsements are to be wrought out by labor
in all the departments of industry, -agricul-
ture, manufactures, commerce, mining, &c.
Each department is, under our system of gov
ernmeEt, entitled 10 equal protection and equal
encouragement by government. Neither
should be favored above the others. When all
are thus equally protected and encouraged, all
prosper, and the people and the nation prosper
with and BY them, and. peace AID content per-
wade the land.
But when either is so favored by government
or otherwise, as to encroach upon the rights of
any other. or to draw from it an undue share
OF the fruits of its labors, the proper equilib-
rum is disturbed; one department prOspers
immoderately and unjustly at the expense of
another, and discomfort and murmurs, if not
violence, take the place of peace and harmony
among the people. 1t violates the foundation
principle of the government, that of equality
OF rights and privilege among all the people.
1t is sad but true that at all times the ina.
pulses of human nature are such as to create
and keep in active exercise an unjust encroach
ment of capital upon the rights and produc.
tons of labor. While those productions fur
nish all the means by which all taxes are paid,
all commercial and bank profits are at the
same time drawn from them. Without labor
and its productions there would be no wealth,
and no man, by productive manual labor alone
ever became millionaire. While the laborer is
bending his back to his toll, the capitalist is at
his ease and leisure, seeking and even schem-
ing how to draw from the produce of that labor
the largest amount in the way of interest. or
in the hands of lis owner increases his power
to levy heavier burden upon subselu ent la
Dor. So it moves on from year ID year till
capital is SO accumulated in the hands of CON-
paratively few that they become in truth and
fact o controlling monied aristocracy, sustained
by the sweat of the laborer's brow; while
the laborer himself finds it all that he can pos
sibly do to save out of the avails of his toll
sufficient TO support himself and family and par
tally educate his children.
A great public debt, like that which now
rests upon Us, UNNECESSARILY increases this
power Of capital over, and these burthens
upon the laboring people. The great mass of
that debt is congregated in the hands of CAPT.
talsts-little or none of it is in the hands of the
sons of tot, -while the product of their labor
pays the unceasing interest on that debt, and
must eventually pay the principal, too. those
who hold that debt hold by it an increasing
power, not only over the laborer and the pro-
auctions of his labor, but over the government
itself, in all its financial policies and opera
tens This is especially true of those whe
have used the public bonds as security for
bank circulation, under those laws of doubtful
validity and more questionable propriety,
which provide for its allowance. Such power
win be used as the power of capital always il
used-t0 keep itself secure and increase its &C