The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-05-16

trine that an act of the Legislature
| when weighed in the balance of the
/ Constitution and found wanting is no
law. This Judgment rendered in a
| country village in the middle Of New
| Jersey, was the first in the series of
decisions which introduced into the
American system of government prin-
ciple of prime Importance hitherto un-
| known.
In 17SS, in the jealous days of the old
| Confederation, a call was made for
meeting at Annape.is to reform the con-
flicting regula tions of commerce. New
Jersey proposed "an Improvement on
the original PLAN and entreated the con-
vention ''to consider how far uniform
system in commerce and other important
matters may be necessary to the com
mon interest and permanent harmony of
the several States, For six months,
from March to September, from seed
time to harvest, New Jerseys rallying
cry, "Other Important Matters" was
| heard by the people of the United States.
| Its very vagueness gave it meaning; it
! opened up an endless vista of national
| ism. Hamilton, the herald and champion
| OF the more perfect Union, made it the
watchword of the call for the Federal
convention IN Pnlladelpnla.
THE CONSTITUTION.
To that convention the delegates wend-
| ed their way in May, 1857, and on the
| 25th, eleven days after the appointed
| Monday, the representation of the sew
enth State making a majority and a
| quorum cf the convention, was complete.
| That State was New Jersey; it was one
| of her delegates whose entrance into
| the convention hall gave movement to an
| enginery which wrought for all time.
| The form of parts of the Constitution
was repeatedly decided in those days
| of delicate adjustment by a single cir
| cumstance. We do not know what
| day more or less would have brought
| forth. We do know that the work be-
| gun that day by virtue of the presence
! of a Jerseyman brought forth good.
| The task of the men of that conven-
| ton was to reconcile two hostile forces
| which were as old as government by
men. Their duty was to give simulta-
neous and due expression to central uni
| fed power, and to the separate energies
of distributive self-rule.
| James Madison sketched the national
| plan William Petersen claimed and Sc
| cured through the temporary Jersey plan
| the permanent and equal recognition of
| the States, and Oliver Ellsworth cleared
| the way for the blended plan in which
| the highest life of each of these forces
| is conditioned upon the welfare of the
| other
| James Madison and William Peterson
and Oliver Ellsworth received their first
| lessons in statecraft at the knee of Dear
| Mother Princeton.
| A HISTORY MAKING MISHAP.
| On the 18th of April 1874, jefferson
proposed to exclude slavery from all the
| West. South as well as North. The effect
would have been to confine slavery to the
| southeast corner of the country. The
| measure was lost for lack of single
| vote. Had that New Jersey delegate been
present. whose Illness kept him at home
| that day, the history of this country
! might have been wholly changed
In the early days of provincial life the
people of West Jersey contended for free
| dom of commerce within National boun-
daries. After the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, New Jersey, and New Jersey alone,
| from the first and constantly, demanded
| for the central government grant from
| the States of power over commerce. It
! was fitting, therefore, that New Jersey
should supply the materials in the case
of Gibbons VS. Ogden in 1924, when Web
| ster pied and Marshall held, that COM
merce between New Jersey and New
York, and among the several States of
| all the Union, should pass untroubled.
| In 1860, memorable year. the represen.
tatives in Congress, after struggle of
| eight weeks, by a bare majority, chose
| William Pennington, of New Jersey a
| near relative of the venerable President
of this society, to be the Speaker. Thus,
| again. by our State, the even scales of
| the National fate were tipped.
| These instances chosen somewhat at
| random, may suffice to show that the
| occasions have not been few when New
| Jersey has determined the issue for the
whole country, has swung the gate to
| this entrance or to that. Whether the
path has in every case been we'll chosen
| is not here the question.
| NEW JERSEYS PLACE.
| This fact that New Jersey has so sway.
| ed events, and contains within her bor-
| ders so much that is representative of
| the whole. is due in large part to the
place and character which nature has as
| signed to the State. Into this midway
| State, bounded by the ocean and great
rivers, the immigrants of varied origin
| found easy access. They came from Hol-
| land and New England, from England
and Scotland in such proportions and at
| such a time that each contingent made
| it's due impress on the resultant character
of every day life.
| Enough! These proofs Of what the
State is, or what it has done, of what
it represents, are cited today to assure
| you, who are in lineage in character,
| IN experience, a representative citizen,
! and, therefore, through you, the people
of the Union, that New Jersey will not
shirk her share, passive or active, of the
| common duty.
| We feel that New Jersey is more than
mere pathway. Many and opposing
foces meet and struggle here. The
powers of good and of evil are as evenly
| matched here as anywhere, and we
know that the issue of no one battle will
! secure a permanent victory. But the
courage and faith of the people of New
| Jersey do not sink with the setting of
| one days sun.
| Along the pathway of the past of our
/ State and of our Nation clear light
| shines. But whittier we are to go we
do not yet know. providence alone dis
Germs the path of Cur countrys future.
| No fowl knoweth 1t. the vlltures eye
| hath not seen it.
/ But as the Founder of Christianity
proclaimed Himself the Way, the Truth,