The Placer herald., 1865-11-18

| SO construed as 10 give unlimited powers, nor
part of them to be taken, as to destroy the whole
residue of the instrument That the proceeding
| of the general government under color of those
articles will be fit and necessary subject for
visal and correction at time Of great tranquil
| ty. while those specified in the preceding resolu-
| tions call for immediate redress.
Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be
| transmitted to the senators and representatives
| in Congress from the commonwealth, who are en-
| oined to present the same to their respective
houses and to use their best endeayors to procure
| at the next session of congress repeal OF the
aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts.
Resolved. lastly, That the Governor OF this
| commonwealth be, and is authorized and request
ed to communicate the preceding resolutions to
the legislatures Of the several states to assure
them chat this commonwealth considers union for
specified national purposes. and particularly for
those speciied in their late federal compact, to
be friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosper
ity of all the States-that faithful TO that COM
pact according to the plain intent and meaning
| in which it was understood and acceded to by
the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its
preservation; that it does also believe that to
| take from the states all the powers of self gov
ernment and transfer them to a general and con-
solidated government, without regard to the
| special delegations and reservations, sOlemnly
agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace,
happiness and prosperity OF these states. And
| that therefore. this commonwealth is determ ned,
|
delegated and consequently to unlimited powers
| in no man. or body of men, on earth; that it the
acts before specified should stand, these conclu-
sions would grow from them, that the general
government may place any act they think proper
| on the list of crimes and punish it themselves,
whether enumerated or not enumerated by the
constitution cognizablc by them. that they may
| transfer its cognizance to the President or any
| other person. who may himself be the accuser,
counsel Judge and jury, whose suspicious may be
| the evidence. his order the sentence, his officer
the executioner, and his breast the sole record of
| the transaction. that very numerous and yalu-
able description of the inhabitants of these states
being by these precedentS reduced as outlaws to
| the absolute dominion of one man, and the bar
riers of the constitution thus swept from us all,
| no rampant now remains against the passions and
the power of a majority OF Congress to protect
| from like expectation or other grievous punish
ment the minority of the same body, the legisa-
| lures Judges. governors and counselOrs of the
! states nor their other peaceable inhabitants Who
nav venture to reclaim the constitutional rights
| and liberties of the states and people. or who Tor
| other causes. good or bad, may be obnoxious to
the views, or marked by the suspicious Of the
| President. or to be thought dangerous to his or
their election or other interest, public or person
al: that the friendlcss alien has been selected as
the safest subject of q first experiment, but the
citizen will soon follow, or rather has already
| followed for, already hasa sedition act mark ed
him MS its prey. That these and successive acts
of the same character unless arrest ed at the thres
hold may tend to drive these states into rcvOu
ton and blood. and will furnish new calumnies
against republican government. and new preteXts
| for those who wish it to be be ieved that man
cannot be governed but by rod of iron; that it
would be a dangerous delusiOn were confidence
| in the men of our choice to silence our fears for
the safety of our rights; that confidence is every
where the parent OF despotism; free government
| is founded in jealousy and not in condolences; it is
| p'h hoe
| limited constitutions to bind down those whom
we are obliged to trust with power that our con-
| stituton has fixed the limits to which, and no fur
ther our confidence may go; and let the honest
advocate OF confidence read the alien and sedition
| acts and say if the constitution has not been wise
in fixing limits to the government it created and
whether we should be wise in destroying those
| limits? Let him say what the government is if
it be not tyranny, which the men of our choice
| have conferred upon the President, and the Pres
| ident of our choice has asseDted to and accepted
! over the friendly strangers. to whom the mild
| spirit of our country and its laws have pledged
hospitalty and protection; that the men OF our
choice have more respected the bare suspicious of
! the President than the solid ri ghts Of innocence,
| the claims of justification. the sacred force of
| truth. and the form and substance of law and JUS
tice. In questions OF power. then. let no more be
| heard of confidence in man. but bind him down
from mischief by the chains Of the constitution.
! That this commonwealth does therefore call on
| its co-states for an expression OF their sentiments
| on the acts concernin aliens, and for punishment
| of certain crimes hereinbefore specified, plainly
declaring whether these are or are not authorized
| by the Federal compact And tdoubts not that
their sense will be so announced as to prove their
| attachment unaltered to limited government,
whether general or particular, and that the rights
and liberties of their co-states will be exposed to
no dangers by remaining embarked on common
bottom with their own But they will concur with
this commonwealth in considering the said acts
as so papablc against the constitution as to
amount to an undisguised declaration that the
compact is not meant to be the measure of the
power of the general government bnt that it will
| proceed in the exercise over these states of al
pow ers whatsoever. That they will view this as
seizing the rights Of the states and consolidating
them in the hands Of the general government
with the power assumed to bind the states, not
merely in cases made Federal, but in all cases
whatsoever. by laws made not with their consent
| but by others against their consent; that this
would be to surrender the form of government
we have chosen and living under one deriving
its power from its own will. and uot from onr au
thority and that the costates recurring to theil
natural rights in cases not made Federal will con
cur in declaring these void and of no force, ant
will each unite with this commonwealth in re
questing their repeal at the next session Of Con
9rets.