New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-30

for men with sufficient intelligence t,
represent our party.
LEVEE APPROPRIATION BILL.
We have published with pleasure tn
full and forcible report Of Hon. E. job,
Ellis in favor of q federal appropriation
for the construction of protective levee
It comprehends resume of the advan
tages which such work would bring t
the whole nation, and assumes the power
of the federal government to construc
the work in question. In the support o.
this bill, and, indeed, in the supply o.
material for our government in its favor,
our Representatives of both parties seem
in accord. since much of q previous re.
port Of Hon. MI. Morey is incorporated
in that Of Mr.. Ellis. This is fair and
fraternal union Of efforts for the interests
of common constituency, and it were
well, perhaps, for those interests il
q similar cooperation were manifested
throughout the party relations of our
whole State
We expect the Republicans in Congress
to remember that the construction of in
ternal Improvements and the improve
ment of navigation has been recognized
in principle and carried into practice as q
cardinal doctrine of the party.
It is, however, to be regretted that the
Democratic party, to which the author
of the report adheres, never has &C.
knowledged the same principle and has
manifested at the present session Of Con-
gress no disposition to change its ante
cedent opinions.
It would be in vain if the report shall
appeal to the Democratic majority in the
House to support the bill on the ground
that Mr.. Calhoun even ever admitted that
when work of improvement
Was national in its character. and large
portion of the people were to be benefited
by improvement, congressional aid in its
behalf was clearly warranted by the consti.
tuition.
We have never found either in the adj
dress Of Mr.. Calhoun to the Memphis
convention, in his Fort Hill discussion or
elsewhere, that he ever advanced such
doctrine in the later and most decisive
expression Of his opinions, though it is
said he advocated both protection and
national bank during and Immediately
after the war Of 1912. The expression of
opinion that the improvement of the Mis-
sissippi navigation stood properly on the
same footing with that of other national
waters was always understood to give the
same. right to channel and harbor i'm
provements with the lakes or with any
other ''inland sea-" Such an opinion would
by no means justify the construction of
works for the reclamation of private lands
or for the protection of two interests as
special, as the iron of Pennsylvania or
the cotton manufactures of Massachu-
sets. If Mr.. Calhoun favored works of
internal improvement when they "were
national in their character, it is little
hard to imagine why Mr.. Clay and him
self should have been so long at war, and
why Mr.. Clay sh ould have charged the
Democracy Of his day with an attempt to
undermine internal Improvements" Mr..
Clay complained that gentleman in
South Carolina expressed the wish at an
anniversary celebration of the national in
dependence that he (Mr. Clay might be
lriven so far beyond the frozen regions of
he northern zone shat all hell could
lot thaw him" Mr.. Clay added if he
had been opposed to the tariff and in
ernal imprt vements and in favor of the
south Carol. IA doctrine of notification"
e would have expected the invocation of
fate far me re favorable.
One of the latest declarations of Mr..
'alhoun was in his report upon the
memorial OF the Memphis convention of
s45-46. He then said he regarded the
by railroad between the
alley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic
tates as "works of the kind belonging to
1ternal improvements (that is, improve
rents within the body of the States), and
8 such are, in ihis opinion, not en-
raced in tie power to regulate COM
lerce." He adds
That where such works pass through pub
c lands the United States may contribute
} their construction in their character of ]
to the extent that they be en-
anced in price thereby.
In conceding this, however, Mr.. Cal
Duh
Holds to the rule Of strict construction, |
1at this power, like all the other powers OF |
re government, is trust power, and as |
ach is strictly limited by the nature and |
beet of the trust.
In truth, MIR. Calhoun saw that the
tie to slavery depended upon restrict
lg the exercise Of federal power to the
lost narrow category possible. He always
the general welfare clause, and
ever conceded sovereign discretion to
,e federal government. His policy was
} certain extent sagacious. As it re-
ounced, however, all national appropria-
ons or protection to the Southern States,
lose States were left without means of
tracing or retaining population, while
,e acceptance of such appropriations by
her States gave them an actual prepon-
srancy in all the elements and influences
war when the fight came of.