The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-01-20
The New Governor Of DeEaware--Tn
augural Address OF Gov. Ponder.

The New Governor Of DeEaware--1n.
augural Address OF Gov. Ponder.
Hon. James Ponder was on Tuesday inau-
gurated Governor of Delaware, at Dover.
He delivered his inaugural address before q
large assemblage in the State House. After
thanking bis felIow-citizens for electing
him, he said:
1t Is source OF qualification to me that !
owe my election exclusively to the votesof
the white citizens Of the State. The honor
have been diminished, and its possession
wholly undesired by me, had that posses
sion depended upon the suffrages of any
other class of the community. While re-
cogniZe and yield to the existing state-of
facts In relation to the right of suffrage, and
in my official capacity shall faithfully OBJ
serve all laws, Federal and State, while they
shall remain unrepealed or shall not have
been declared by judicial authority to
be unconstitutional, and shall also i'm.
partially guard and protect, 80 far as l
legal power to do so, all ciasses and persons
T! in the free and undisturbed endowment of
| their rights, yet 1t Is the conviction of nv
judgment that the extension of the right of
suffrage to persons of African descent was
| unwise in policy, unSound in principle, and
| will be found to be in practice greatly de-
trimental to the public interest. It Is need
| less to discuss the means by which this ex-
tension of suffrage was forced upon the
people. Few honest men will deny that
| the policy itself existed but In ono motive
Derpetuation Of power in the political or
ganiZation which alone irresponsible for it.
Had the motive in which this policy had its
origin been of an entirely different and even
of the present character, the policy itself
would, nevertheless, be wholly indefensible.
The measures adopted to secure its estab-
lishment were the most fatal assaults which
have been made upon our complex systems
of government, Federal and State, since
their organization. They were the I'M
| warranted enlargement Of the powers
of the former, and the practical de.
structiOn of the inherent and essential
powers Of the latter. The right to
determine who shall make, expound, and
execute the laws Of q State, is right 50
| citizens depend upon their exercise of the
right, but the very existence of the State
itself depends upon its possession. No COM
munity, or association Of persons, however
numerous, can with propriety be called =
State, if such community or association
| does not possess and may not exercise the
power of self-goyernment; and the posses
sion Of the. legislative power is an essential
element in selfgovernment. This power is
the supreme power in 4 State.
| 1t prescribes the rule of civil conduct for
che citizen. The citizens must either di-
rectly or Immediately through representa-
tives chosen by themselves, prescribe this
rule. II prescribed by an alien or extra
1 hp 10 fot I,,t
subjects. If there be power greater than
the people Of State which can rightfully
determine their domestic institutions, or
say who and what portion of such people
shall enjoy or exercise the right to vote, and
consequently the right to participate in the
enactment OF the laws, it logically follows
that such greater power may declare that
no portion Of the people of Il State shall
possess or exercise any right or power in
the government OF the State. 1t is folly to
call such people free. 1t is Il misnomer
to call this Government selt-government in
| its administration, or republican in charac.
ter or form. 1t is compulsory and despotic,
and deserves eNecration, and is unfit for
eulogy or respect. The State governments
| established by our fathers were free, indie
pendent goyernments-the governments
OF free, independent communities. They
had their origin in the yindication Of the
absolute right of the people of each COM
munity to govern themselves. Our fathers
declared that the colonies were free and in.
dependent States, and as such had full
power to do call acts and things which
independent States may of right do" The
formation of our federal system of govern
ment was never designed for the destruc-
| tion of the State governments, or even for
any substantial abridgment OF the right to
self government. ...
| But, to operate with harmony and sue
cess, each of these limited soyetegnties
must he confined within its proper orbit.
Each must exercise all its appropriate
| functions, but none other. If the peo-
pie successfully encroach upon or set
at defiance the constituted authori-
| Government, the result will be anarchy
If the State Legislatures usurp control
over those rights and privileges of the peo-
pie which cs!l safely remain unabridged, il
| i tyranny if over those Of the Federal
| Government, the result will be disunon,
| war, or revolution. And if the Federal
! Government lays its unhalowed grasp upon
undeleguted powers, it will produce to that
extent Capitalization and imperial rule,
which is incipcnt despotism. Against the
anarchy OF popular insubOrdinatiOn on the
one hand. and the consolidation of absolute
| power on the other, the State governments
can intcrpose the only etlectual barrier.
With such Il system operating in full vigOr,
| n Fedora! Government that would fully dis
| charge all its legitimate functions, without
endangering the life, liberty, or means Of
happiness of one human being within its
wide domain, might be extended over the
| civilized world.
Mutilated in this respect, with the State
governments destroyed or emaSculated, and
all power radiating from one centre, our
present limits are far too extensive to be
the bounds of Il single government, unless
| the spirit OF its people is paralyzed by tear
or the government sustained by force. EX-
amples are not wanting of very recent
date to show the violation of this principle
OF the separation or division of powers by
those entrusted for the time being with the
| administration of the Federal Government.
The enforced adoption of proposed consti-
tutional amendments by States, the at
tempted equalization OF races, ciyilly, po-
litically, and socially, and the control OF the
elective franchise within the States by un-
constitutional enactmentS, and the exercise
OF military power and the assumed author
ity to reconstruct States, all tend not only
| to the subversion of popular liberty, but to
| the destruction of our systems of govern
ment, both Federal and State. 1t should
be subject of pride to the people Of This
State that at every step and on all occasions
they have firmly but legally opposed every
measure of Federal legislation which tended
to the centraization or power or consolida-
| ton of government. In su doing they have
shown their appreciation Of the true prin-
ciples of government so dear to their
fathers, and which, if practically observed
by all, would render our union of co-equal
States perpetual.
rhe Federal Government should be vest