The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-01-16
State Rights.--Again.

Na0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF the northern political
leaders who, having fallen asleep some years
ago and allowed all their rights to be taken
from them, have at this late day just begun
70 aWese to tho psrils of the situation, and
now waste their midnight oil in laboring to
recover some of them. We mentioned the,
other day that leading Democratic paper
Of New York, which was " all for the war y
while 1t was fragrant, had discovered that
the States have some rights under our form
OF government, or, to speak more accu-
rately, that they had some before that war.
We now have the pleasure of reproducing
some sound doctrine which the present
Radical Governor Of Illinois, who was in
aasurased few days ago, preached as part
Of his inaugural address to the Legislature
Of that State. Governor PALMER said:
"Now that The war is ended, and all Its
proper objects attained, the public welfare de-
mands n recurrence TO the true principles that
nnderlte our system of government. and one
OF the hest established and most distinctly re-
cocnized Of these is that the Federal Govern
msnt is one OF enumerated powers. 1t is one
OF me enumerated powers Of the Federal GO
vernment TO regulate commerce among tne
several States and from this grant OF power
An attempt Is made TO infer that OF creating
corporations with the power to enter any or
the States. take private property as Tor pm oiic
uses, and prosecute GSry corporate snterprise,
regardless OF State authority The correct
ness OF this inference Is not admitted but If
II was conceded TO be just, in view Of the EN-
oarrassrnents II would create, the power OUGHT
not to he exercised. Such corporations wou'd
emDnrrass the operations Of those already
created by the States; they would be exempt
from taxation by State an thority-in short, the
State would have no power, by taxation or
otherwise, to retard, impede, burden. or in any
manner control, the operations of such incor-
porations. 1t Is essential to the usefulness OF
the State government that their inst autho-
rity should be respected by that Of the nation
Already the authority Of the States is In
manner paralyZed by a growing conviction
That NIL their powers are in some sense deriTa-
live and subordinate, and not origina and in
dependent. The State governments are part
OF The American system OF government. They
MI well. defined place, and their just autho-
r'ty must ba respected by the Federal Govern
ment, II IL is expected that their laws Will be
obeyed. "a frequent recurrence to the fupda-
mental principles Of government is essential
tn civil liberty and in this view l have
thought IT. proper TO invite your ntten ton to
these subjects. .... a...
"It is the clear dntv Of the National Co.
vernment TO decline the exercise OF all doubt
ful powers when the neglect to do so would he
to bring It into fields Of legislation already
occupied by the States, and thereby raising
embarrassing questions, and presenting sim
GUAR and dangerous instance of jurisdiction,
claiming the right to control the same class OF
subjects, and creating rival corporations with
differing powers. Arguments may he found
lot the exercise of this class or powers nv
congress, bnt they are greatly overbalanced
by the evils II would produce"
Eight years after the formal surrender
by the States Of all their rights and powers
to the central despotism Governor PALMER
declares that 'the Federal Government is
one of enumerated powers" How much
like the teachings of the southern states
men of the ante bellum era Yet how alb
solutely untrue, if We judge by the acts of
the Federal Government during the last
eight years. Where in the Constitution are
the powers enumerated " under which
Mr.. LINCOLN called for seyenty-fve thou
sand Inen to subjugate the southern States
under which he emancipated our slaves
under which he appointed military govern
ors-under which these States were reduced
to military districts-under which our
elected officers are turned out of their posi-
tions, and military appointees substituted in
their places-under which our money is
taken away from us by force and paid ont
TO negroes, scalawags. and carpet-baggers,
for making constitutions for US and admin
istering laws passed for our government by
Congress Mr.. THADDEus STEVENS had
the candor to confess that Congress legis
lated for the southern States "outside of
the Constitution" He knew, and was too
bold to be afraid to acknowledge, that Con-
gress had no right under the Constitution
to legislate as it had done. We know that,
having SO legislated for us, it has the
same right to legislate in the same
manner for the northern States, and when
occasion occurs, will do il. Governor
PALMER proposes to lock the stable after
the horse has been stolen. Yet he, too,
has the righteousness to give as a reason
for " recurring to the true principles Of the
Government" that "tAs war is ended";
thus acknowledging that in the prosecution
of that war those true principles were lost
sight of, and that if it were still going on
he would not have the hardihood to pro-
pose to conduct the government upon its
true principles" Every day that passes
over our heads witnesses the conversion
Of some leading northern man to the theory
Of our government upon which the south
ern States acted in seeding from the Union.
For free government, no other theory is
possible. We take pleasure in repeating,
for the indoctrination of northern men,
and as truism in politics, that if a State
has not the right to secede it has no right
of any sort. A State could only be induced
to secede by some act of the Federal Go
vernment. The Objectionable act, being
that of the Federal Government, will al
ways be sustained by that Government,
and, as 1t is the final judge, and there is no
appeal from its decision, the States will
inevitably always be declared in the
wrong. The States cannot possibly have
any rights under such theory of Go
vernment. Governor PALMER and the
rest Of the short-sighted statesmen Of
the North have Invested their States of
every right that once belonged to them,
and reduced them to the condition of mere
counties. The true theory of our govern
ment, and the one upon which it was ad-
mlnistered for many years, is this-that
the Federal Government, being "one Of
enumerated powers" can do nothing which
the Constitution does not in terms authorize
it to do; while the State governments can