Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-05-09

Jonathan Kenney, ID. w. Stambaugh,
Jno. L. Winner, Lewis Evans,
90. III. Scribner, r. Hutcheson, gH
VIM. Carter, % George Rex, - So
= Henry NJ. Onderdonk. a.'-t
.ee III SENATE CHAMBER. t.0
..L ti has g. COLUMBUS, May Z, 1868.
Messrs. W. Reed Golden, II. L.. Dickey 8. r.
Do,odney and others.
GENTLEMEN:-Yours of this date, request
ing copy of the remarks made by me, last
evening, on the Dickey Resolutions, in the
Senate, for publication. is before me.
Regretting that did not have more time
to devote to the subject. and wishing that
the remarks were in better condition to go
before the public. yet feel like granting
your request, hoping that your suggestion
that "they will be of interest to the people
of OhiO," may be verified. ~. = .
With great respect, have the honor to
beyours truly, laF ,t1La31 81. fi
r. rf CURTIS BERRY, Jr.
Mr.. PRESIDENT: Eternal vigilance is
the price of liberty" is the voice of one
crying from the tomb, and entreating the
American people to watch with jealous care
and unfagging zeal, those servants of the
people, with whom they have for the time
being entrusted the guardianship of their
lives, liberty and property, their happiness
and prosperity, to secure which Govern
ments were instituted amongst men.
1t is maxim as old as government
itself, that ''power is constantly stealing
from the many to the few" To guard
against this dangerous tendency, and to
retain the power in the hands of the peo-
pie, was the great first wish and intent of
the founders of our Government. How
most effectually to do this, was the great
4 - @os .,, a.
of our Constitution. Et
Let us for a moment go back to the era
of our country's history prior to the for
nation and adoption of our Federal Union
and Constitution. AS we behold our an
cestors, God bless them, arriving upon the
shores of the new world, at different peri
DDS and at different places, we see them in
their different settlements and communi-
ties attaching themselves together, under
separate and distinct governments, In SOW
ereignties of their own, each community
adopting and administering for itself, its
own code of local laws - each of these
separate communities or soyereignties
forming the nucleus for large and more
extended Government. Follow them along,
still fur ther, until you come to that period,
when it became necessary for them to as
sert their manhood and throw off that al
legiance to the mother country, which she
had claimed and exacted from them before,
and how do we find them? We find thirteen
separate and distinct Governments, each
having its own laws, and being perfect
and sovereign Government within itself. At
this time it was that the mother country
claimed and asserted its right to levy and
collect taxes from them without allowil g
them voice in the making of the laws by
which she proposed to tax them.
Then it was that she claimed and assert
ed her right to transport beyond the high
seas, criminals, to be tried for offenses COM
mitted within the Colonies. Then it was
that she undertook to impose upon them
stamp tao. And history teaches that it was
not until. after the Colonies had repeatedly
petitiOned for redress of grievances and
demonstrated against those monstrous out
RACES, that they banded themselves togeth-
er for the common defense, and elected the
Continental Congress- And how was this
Congress elected? By delegates from the
several Colonies, each Colony yet maintain
ing Its individuality and contending for its
own self government. The idea OF con-
sOlidated government, even for the NdttcndL
defense, was not then thought OF, or if
thought of, was not broached. f.a
The war of the Revolution ensued. Dur
ing the seven long years OF fire aud sword,
of blood and carnage, of devastation and
desolation, of death and disaster, and finally
of victory and reward, never for one mo-
mGlG Qlu 6lLutT VI DIlOSe OLuC6S NlOE ny bulS
time they had so declared themselves) sur
render single right; but maintained in
violate those sacred privileges of self gov-
ernnoe1st and State sovereignty. Each made
and administered. its own laws, and was a
free and Independent State"
This much have thought it necessary to
say, in order to impress upon the minds OF
Senators the origin of our form Of Govern
ment. a---
1t now became necessary for them, in
order to protect themselves from foreign
aggression, to enter into somewhat closer
compact than they have hitherto been
bound by; and how was it to be done
Should they have mass convention of the
people of all the States or should the States
act in their sovereign capacity, as States,
by delegates duly empowered? AS is we'll
known, the latter course was adopted
Hence we see that the States existed prior
to the formation of the Federal Union and
adoption of the Federal Constitution.
The history of the proceedings of that
Conven ton is too familiar to Senators
for me to occupy their time in its
recital. That Convention, composed of
the purest patriots, the greatest minds
erative body in the worlds history,
of which the great Washington was Presi-
dent, and the illdstrious Madison mem
ber, after calm and mature deliberation,
agreed upon Constitution. 1t is true that
in that convention there were many differ
ent and conflicting Interests to be recon-
ciled. There was at that time party in
favor of con solidation, or strong Govern
ment; party that wished TO concentrate
all power into the hands of the officers of
the Federal Government. But thanks to
the wisdom and unselfish patriotism of the
majority of that noble body of men, they
gave us an instrument designed to leave the
great mass of powers with the States and
with the people.
1t could not even take effect until it had
been ratified by the Stdtes-not by the peo-
ple-but by the Conventions of at least
nine of the States, acting as such-and
was then only binding as between the
States so ratifying the same.
But at that early day wicked and ambi-
tious men were found who claimed that the
Government could exercise more powers
than were intended to be granted by the
trainers of the Constitution. Hence, it be-
came necessary to explain what powers
were intended to be granted by the Consti-
tuition; and at the very first session of the
first Congress under that instrument,
amendments were proposed to the same
which were adopted, Article x of which
reads as follows: 'The powers not dele
gated to the United States by the Constitu-
ton, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reservoir lO Gu6 OIdbco lCopCCtiNCIy VI w Tile
people," The mere reading of this Article
ought to convince any reasonable mind
that the Government formed by the Con-
stitution is. one of delegated, and, hence,
of limited powers; and that all powers not
expressly and affirmatively granted in the
Constitution to the General Government,
are reserved to the States and to the people.
In that great palladium of our liberties,
and pole star of our political faith, we find
the powers and responsibilities of the gem
eral Government divided into three grand