Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-12-14
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS BY
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.

THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.
General Hiram Walbridge, of New York,
made speech at the Richmond Board of I
Trade. in which lie went in boldly for the
Federal Government to do what sit pleases
irrespective of the limits of the Constitution
or the rights Of the States"
It was believed in former times, says the
Baltimore Statesman, that all the powers OF
the Federal Government were deriyative ones,
the enumeration and limitations of which
were contained in the instrument which Or
ganized it. The Federal Government was
the creature of the individual States and of
the people of the States severally. "The
powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively
and to the people," These are old fashioned
doctrines, but the war, in the opinion of Cen
era, Walbridge, has repealed the Constitu-
ton. Virtually, shat is the position which
this person takes at the Trade Convention in
Richmond, and it has at least the merit of the
audacity of the brigand, who calls upon us
to surrender at the pistols mouth, over
the furtive operations of the sneak thief who
pliers our property in the dark.
But we deny that the Constitution is
changed by the war Whatever may be true
of slavery, there is no principle of the Con-
stitution which has been rendered by the war
dead thing of the past. On the contrary,
the Constitution is full of living germs OF Tree
dom. not one of which will the American peo-
ple permit to become extinct. AS to internal
improvements, there is no specific grant in
ths Constitution of power to sanction appro-
priations for such purpose, and no general
provisions broad enough to cover any such
indefinite object. If the trainers of the or
ganic law had intended to center upon Con-
eres1 a power Of such enormous capacity OF
expression, is it not likely that they would
have made it a distinct aud substantial power,
instead of the implied incident of some other
one? President Adams whilst member OF
the Senate, in 1907, commended for the power
of the General Government to construct roads
over the whole Union. This is the way it
would have worked at first Congress would
ha5o begun nth tGrnpikes, the best avenues
of land intercourse then kdoSn; next canals ;
finally. railroads. There are in this country,
at this time, tbs results Of State or private
enterprise, many thousands of miles of rail-
roads and canals.
:. IF the Federal Government had constructed
them, the lorInous cost would have been laid
upon its shoulders, with an army of officials,
amounting, With their families, to millions,
maintained by this ono class of public works.
Did eyer tbs trainers of the Constitution in
tend to leave On authority involving such inn
nenso consequences, 20 be inferred by impli-
cation az the incident of enumerated powers
It there is any such power, it is not only ap>
plicable 70 railroads and canals, but to all the
possible .nsauso Of the improvement of the earth,
| aad agc1 public education scheme for
which Senator Sumner is said to have already
on the tapis, and hospitals. libraries, and es-
Establishments of science and art, which are as
much objects Of internal utility as CO nails and
railroads
We should be sorry indeed to see Old Vir-
ginia deluded by any such doctrines as those
proclaimed in her capitol by General WAL
bridge. Let her stand by the old doctrines
oftha Fathers of the Constitution, born on her
soil and brought mp at her feet. 1t is tempt
ing idea that the Southern States may benefit
by such 4 construction of the Constitution,
but time was when Virginia refused to receive
her share of fund obtained by what she
considered a violation of the true princi Piles of
the Government! Even if she could consent
to political prostration for the sake of pecu-
| Al
is not going to interest itself for the support
and protection ofthe South. The whole thing
is wrong in principle and as impoliticas wrong.