FBB. 9, 1833.] Revenue Collection Bill.-Military Orders. [SENATE. stitution, and our statutes, we must act, or give up the Jefferson called out, under one of the precedents for the Government as incapable or unfit to be administered. The present law, to carry into effect the embargo. bill proposes to exhaust the civil and judicial means of In all such cases we shall probably find, as that Chief carrying the laws into execution, before a single move- Magistrate found, that there was great efficacy in being ment of a different kind be countenanced. When our prepared: that the maxim is universally applicable, "oslegal custody of imported goods, under the duty act, is tendite bellum, pacem habebitis." But, sir, I have heard avowedly to be defeated by the extraordinary replevin our army and navy strangely characterized in the course law, can we do less than double the number and strength of this discussion; they have been termed hired mercenaof our custom-house bolts and bars? When the avenues ries! Do they merit the imputation? Are the band of to justice are poisoned or polluted by test oaths, can we gallant officers who have shielded you from invasion, or do less than devise modes of reaching and entering her carried the national flag in triumph over every sea, and eternal temple, through purer and safer channels? And under every sun, hired mercenaries? We used no such when the sublime terrors of the blue cockade and the language during the war for free trade and sailors' rights; Palmetto button are paraded before our eyes, may we while our tars were humbling a haughty foe, and sendnot be excused, if, in mere effort to keep our courage ing into our ports, to be greeted with our acclamations, from oozing out at our fingers' ends, we permit the eagle prize after prize; or while the scarlet trappings of British to soar a little, only a little, and the stars and stripes to enterprise and valor glittered on the heights of Baltimore, fan but gently our fainting spirits? Sir, said Mr. D., law or the plains of New Orleans, destined, at both places, to is alike odious and dangerous to those who wish to disobey encounter a relic of revolutionary worth. We used no it. Restraint is always arbitrary, dictatorial, despotic, in such words as hired mercenaries, then; they were unthe vocabulary of those who desire to do as they please, known, alike to our hearts and our lips; and may they and what they please. Yet are the people of this country pass into utter oblivion before times equally trying shall strongly impressed with the conviction that, without law, again occur! there can be no liberty; and that they who preach disobe- Our Union, said Mr. D., is an incalculable blessing. dience to the one, are the most apt to disregard the other. While it has lasted, what have we not accomplished, both There is something very oppressive about the course of in peace and in war? All the great objects of human control which this bill sanctions. Obedience to the reve-associations have been cultivated and attained with almost nue laws is to be enforced first, through collectors, sur- unexampled rapidity and ease. Liberty has been chastveyors, and tide-waiters. Is not this, sir, quite unprece-fened, and made forever stable; science has been stormed dented? Then, the interference of marshals, bailiffs, and in her hundred trenches, and mastered in all her ramtipstaves, is authorized. Who can imagine a greater ex-parts; happiness has gently diffused itself throughout an tension of arbitrary power? Anon, impartial (aye, there's immense population, taking its own ways over a boundthe rub) judges and jurors are provided. Is not this as- less region of country; and wealth and power have grasuming a most belligerent and offensive attitude? But it dually made the American people rivals of Greek and gets worse and worse; if our laws are threatened with Roman fame. All the high aims, too, of a virtuous ambiprostration, our officers with violence, and the community tion have been reached in war. Independence consumwith riot, conflagration, and bloodshed, why then the bill, mated; renown every where acknowledged; glory, bright in pure, unmixed, unmitigated despotism, arms the Presi- among the brightest! Yield away the constitution and the dent with the overwhelming and exterminating power of Union, and where are we? Frittered into fragments, and issuing death warrants. No! his proclamation to disperse! not able to claim one portion of the past as peculiarly its Sir, the Boston port bill, the Jersey prison ship, the im- own! Sir, our Union is not merely a blessing; it is a poperial ukase of desolation against Poland, was nothing to litical necessity. We cannot exist without it. I mean, this; all their virtues concentrated could not equal a Pre- that all of existence which is worth having must depart sidential proclamation to enforce the payment of duties with it. Our liberties could not endure the incessant conon a hogshead of sugar! But enormity accumulates upon flicts of civil and conterminous strife; our independence enormity; and this dreadful bill, denounced as a declara-would be an unreal mockery; our very memories would tion of war, actually authorizes the officers of the customs, turn to bitterness. The Senator from Virginia justly comwhen the property under their charge shall be endanger- pared our political institutions to the planetary sysem. I ed by unruly combinations and force, to back out of the wish he would agree with me in saying, that the great scrape, run away, and not to stop until they have a river principles of attraction and repulsion are equally necesbetween themselves and their assailants! It is too much; sary in the two cases; that the sudden interruption of the principles of '98, the holy cause of human freedom, either must be fatal; that the National Union of sovereign the blood of our ancestors, the blue cockade and the pal-States can alone preserve us from chaos. metto button, cannot sanction or endure it. Mr. MILLER, of South Carolina, then rose, and said Sir, said Mr. D., this is, in plain reality, the outline of that 'after the powerful argument to which the Senate the bill, until we reach a point at which, for the purpose had just listened, and the condemnatory tone of that of protecting the lives, liberties, and properties of our argument, in reference to the conduct of the State of fellow-citizens in South Carolina, it may become necessary South Carolina, it was incumbent on him to make some to quell refractory and treasonable disobedience with the observations in justification of the proceedings in that vigor and promptness of military or naval force. If the State. He would either proceed now, or postpone his emergency be brought on by those who are bent upon remarks until to-morrow, at the pleasure of the Senate. throwing off their allegiance to the constitution and laws Mr. M. here gave way to a motion to adjourn, and of the land, we may deplore, but we cannot avoid it; we The Senate adjourned. must meet it with every possible forbearance, but with firmness. Ours will not be the responsibility for consequences, unless we fail in preparing adequately and effectively to prevent or ameliorate them. Nor have I the dread, which is entertained by others, of using, on special The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution offeroccasions, and by authority of law, the regularly armed ed by Mr. PoINDEXTER, calling for copies of all orders, energy of the country. In its present reduced condition &c. to military and naval commanders at Charleston, &c. as to numbers, though admirable state as to discipline, Mr. GRUNDY, remarking that a few moments only of more force could not be expected to be at any time, or on time remained before the hour at which the special order any point, at the disposition of the Executive, than Mr. was to be called, said he should be brief in what he had SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9. SENATE.] Military Orders.-Modification of the Tariff. [FEB. 11, 1833. to say in reply to the remarks made yesterday upon the had then given ought to be regarded as semi-official. amendment proposed by him, having for its object to Now, Mr. G. said he wished that Senator and all others leave the usual discretion with the Executive in regard to understand this: that when he spoke on this floor, he to the papers proposed to be asked for. spoke as one of the representatives of the State of TenFrom what he (Mr. G.) had said, the gentleman from nessee, and that no other individual was to be affected or South Carolina [Mr. CALHOUN] had seemed to draw an committed by what he said. When he did speak for inference that some correspondence, of an exceptionable others, he would say so: when he did not say so, he spoke nature, had taken place between the President and some only as one of the representatives of Tennessee. He individuals in some part of South Carolina. I have only disclaimed any remarks of his being taken for any thing to say, upon that point, said Mr. G., that that inference but the dictates of his own judgment, for which no other can find no foundation or support in any remarks of mine. person was responsible. I said nothing whatever to warrant it. Nothing that I He would now state to the Senate (that there might be say or know must be relied upon as evidence of such facts, no misunderstanding of the subject) what kind of a resoas the gentlemen seems to suppose to exist. What I said lution would answer all his purposes, anxious, as he really was this: that, considering the peculiar situation of affairs was, that the whole matter should be spread before the in the State of South Carolina, it was a thing to be ex- American people, believing that it would appear to be of pected that individuals should have written to the Presi- a peaceful and not warlike character. The resolution dent on the subject; not that the President had respond- might read thus: That the President of the United States ed to such communications, or given information in return.be requested to lay before the Senate copies of all orders I spoke, in saying this, the inference of my own mind, which have been issued in relation to the operation of the drawn from what every one knows to be the state of troops or armed vessels of the United States in or near things there. When parties were arrayed against one the State of South Carolina, since the first day of July last, another as they are there, and a great excitement existed, (or any other date that gentlemen pleased.) Under such it was not to be presumed that every one would remain a resolution (said Mr. G.) we should get the whole of the silent, and that the General Government would have no information desired, without requiring, or appearing to information of what took place there. This was a sup-require, of the President any information which might position entirely inadmissible by any well-regulated mind. injuriously affect any individuals. But he had not intimated that the President had responded to such communications, nor had he heard it charged that he had. He had indeed seen something in a South Carolina paper, importing that the proclamation of the President had been known of there before it was known here; but he had seen that rumor contradicted here by a paper entitled to as much credit as the one which promulgated it, and he had no belief in it. [The debate here ended for the present.] SPECIAL ORDER. The CHAIR having called the special order, being the bill to provide further for the collection of the duties on Imports Mr. FORSYTH moved to postpone the further consideration of the bill until Monday, with a view of proceeding to the consideration of executive business. being taken, stood: YEAS.-Messrs. Benton, Bibb, Black, Brown, Cal houn, Clayton, Forsyth, Grundy, Hill, Kane, King, Miller, Moore, Naudain, Rives, Robinson, Smith, Sprague, Tipton, Tyler, Waggaman, White, Wright--23. It had been said, that the President could withhold any information he chose, without the qualification proposed to be given to the resolution. That was very true, Mr. G. said. It had also been remarked, that the President was not afraid of responsibility. That was true, too, Mr. G. said. Every body knew it to be so. But, in asking him for information, it ought to be so asked as not to NAYS. Messrs. Bell, Buckner, Chambers, Dickerson, seem to require from him more than he ought to communicate. What is it, said Mr. G., that we wish not to be Dudley, Ewing, Foot, Frelinghuysen, Hendricks, Johncommunicated? Only that the names of private indivi-ston, Knight, Prentiss, Robbins, Seymour, Tomlinson, duals, if any such are connected with the information in So the motion to postpone was agreed to. possession of the President, may not be exposed. There was no necessity for any such disclosure. Whatever the Executive had done, he would communicate; and why he had done it. Webster, Wilkins--17. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11. MODIFICATION OF THE TARIFF. It was merely to prevent private individuals from being compromitted, that Mr. G. wished to limit this call. Was ask leave to introduce a bill to modify the various acts imMr. CLAY gave notice that he should on to-morrow not party excitement already high enough in South Carolina? Was it not already high enough throughout the posing duties on imports. nation? Did gentlemen want to add fuel to the flame? If they did, Mr. G. said he was opposed to it. He would rather see peace, and good will, and harmony prevail, than by any act or vote of his increase the discord. Mr. CALHOUN here apologizing for interrupting Mr. GRUNDY, suggested that it would perhaps save him some time to apprize him that the mover of the resolution was not present in the Senate at this time. Mr. GRUNDY said he should soon finish what little he had to say, when the resolution might be laid over till the mover was present. He wished that this resolution, without being the means of any unnecessary excitement, should be promptly acted upon, because he believed that it would elicit information which would go in a great degree to allay the public feeling, and to remove groundless apprehensions; that it would indeed abate rather than increase the existing excitement in the South. The Senator from South Carolina had seemed yesterday to intimate that the information which he (Mr. G.) MILITARY ORDERS. The Senate then proceeded to consider the resolution offered by Mr. POINDEXTER. Mr. POINDEXTER said, he did not rise to go into a further discussion of this subject, but merely to mention, that a call, analagous to this, was once made on Mr. Jefferson, at the period of what was called the Burr conspiracy; when a resolution was introduced, in the other House, by Mr. Randolph, which went further than this. It was to ask of the Secretary of State what had been done in relation to the supposed conspiracy, and what was intended to be done. Mr. GRUNDY: I am thoroughly persuaded it is of great importance that the public should be in possession of the orders, whatever they may be, that have been issued from the War Department, in relation to this subject. My fear is, that if we keep on discussing the resolution every morning up to the time when the order of the day is taken up, we shall lose the benefit of having these pa The resolution was then agreed to without amendment. [SENATE. pers spread before the Senate and the public; and may, of the right of self-protection. To recognise such a prinperhaps, change the character of the discussion now going ciple is political suicide. The intention to surrender this on in relation to the bill pending before the Senate. vital principle cannot be presumed. It must be express. Hoping that the evils which he had originally feared from No inference from doubtful premises will authorize the the adoption of the resolution without amendment might assumption that a sovereign meant, by parting with a pornot happen, he was induced to withdraw his proposition tion of power, to surrender all. A contract which would to amend, and to request the Senate to adopt the reso- deprive a freeman of his liberty, to make him a slave, must tion in the regular form. not depend on implication. No man ought to be construed out of his life; no sovereign ought to be supposed, intentionally, so blind and reckless, as to stipulate for his own disfranchisement, unless upon the most explicit The Senate having proceeded to consider the bill to terms. There was no motive to destroy the States as provide further for the collection of the duties on imports: sovereign communities at the time of the adoption of the Mr. MILLER rose, and said he was greatly indebted to constitution. The terms used will not warrant such a the motives of the Senate for rising after the conclusion construction; and, out of abundant caution, the rights not of the Senator from Pennsylvania. He was persuaded delegated were reserved expressly. If it can be shown that the liberal spirit which dictated this course had its that the opposite theory, the one which supports this bill, origin in a source of benevolence more enlarged than does not regard the States as having any rights whatever; mere personal courtesy to himself. It is very obvious that there is not a vestige of power that they can call (said Mr. M.) that this bill is in the nature of a bill of out- their own, or assert as their own, but which this Governlawry against South Carolina; a species of trial for political ment may supersede by force, that theory cannot be right. heresy; common justice requires that he should be per- What right can a State have which she may lawfully remitted to plead. She has the plighted faith and sacred fuse to surrender? Not one. There is not a principle of honor of representatives of the States that an impartial municipal or criminal law, but what Congress may repeal, sentence will be pronounced. The elevated rank which and enforce by the sword. They may pass laws of prithat State has always maintained cannot make her indif. mogeniture, to foster manufacturing arts and civilization. ferent to the opinions of others; yet a firm reliance on the They may foster capital, and make it accumulate in the correctness of her principles will not permit her, out of eldest son, to promote the general welfare; and, when this deference to others, to disown them, or dissemble where is done, the federal judges will have jurisdiction of such she does not believe. I may be permitted, once for all, cases, and will surely support the law. The whole criminal to say, we are attached to the Union as we are to all good code can be made tributary to the clause that "excessive things; we cherish it for the blessings it bestows. While bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor we admire and venerate the Union, let us not be under-cruel and unjust punishment inflicted." It may be urged in stood as so far enchanted by a name, as to surrender vain: this restriction applies alone to the Federal Governevery thing to it. We love the Union, but we love our ment. rights and constitutional freedom more. I shall attempt sive. We have heard the Senator from Pennsylvania de "Sec. 3. Upon suggestion and affidavit of a rogue or villain, that he is prosecuted for something done under law of Congress, this, ipso facto, is to transfer the case from the State court to the federal court." to prove, by fair reasoning and facts, that the people of nounce South Carolina for not conceding a fair trial under South Carolina are bound to obey the ordinance which is the sixth amendment, which was intended, when adopted, the inducement to our present legislation. If I can make to apply only as a restraint upon the Federal Government. good this position, it will follow that any act of Congress Under the clause authorizing naturalization, Congress which shall control such obedience is unauthorized, and may declare no American citizen shall lose his life under must find its support in the power to act, and not in the State laws, or be deprived of the rights of a citizen by right to do so. In advance, I protest against the doctrine decapitation; and the armed force of the nation be put at that the States never were sovereign. South Carolina was the power of the President to enforce the right of citisovereign before the 4th of July, 1776; her separate charac- zenship against the criminal power of the State. Every ter was never merged by the Declaration of Indepen- culprit may appeal to the federal courts, and the whole dence, nor by the articles of confederation. The old ar- criminal justice of the country be superseded. Take a ticles of confederation were concessions by the States of clause in the bill under consideration as a sample. certain powers in derogation of their sovereignty, but not subversive thereof; they retained every power not delegated, and some of the powers conceded were as purely sovereign as any in the present constitution; the right to enforce the powers conceded was as ample and conclu- It must be for something done in furtherance of the The Union was declared to be perpetual by the old revenue law; but who is to decide whether it is a flagrant confederation; when the proposition was made to adopt highway robbery, or the innocent execution of the revethe present constitution, all were free to adopt or reject nue laws; that it is to be transferred by the defendit. The first revenue law recognised North Carolina and ant, the culprit, upon his own construction of his Rhode Island as out of the Union; they were adherents own rights? He has the absolute right to decide the to the confederation. The other eleven States seceded character of the charge, and, upon his oath, stained from the then Union, and had no right to declare war with perjury, warped by prejudice, or bottomed in against North Carolina and Rhode Island, to compel them ignorance, he is transmuted into the federal court. to come into the present Union: they might have remain-If he be really guilty of misdemeanor against a State ed out of the Union up to this time. Their rights were law, or has committed a capital crime, and sees the the same then as all others, and all others the same as approach of his punishment, his guilt apparent, or the theirs; they were all independent States, free to come in proof ready forthwith to subject him to the retributive justice of the violated laws of a State-without the slightSouth Carolina, in her sovereign character, came into est foundation for the truth, the State judge must, if the the Union. If the States were sovereign when they guilty person makes the affidavit, transfer him to the fedadopted the constitution, and did not, at that time, intend eral court or federal jail. When he is brought for trial in their own annihilation, then they certainly can maintain the federal court, it may appear on the trial that the court the right to protect themselves against annihilation. Ey- has not the pretence of jurisdiction, and thereupon the ery superior court exercises the power of self-protection. prisoner may be discharged; there is no power to remand It is impossible to conceive of sovereign power divested him to the State court. By this means a criminal may es or not. VOL. IX-28. cape his punishment, and the State courts and the State authority trampled on by the lawless felon. The right to transfer is preceded by no examination; the prisoner is to be judge in his own cause, and would be blind to his own prospect of escape, if he did not swear roundly where he was clearly guilty, in order to get out of the clutches of the law. [FEB. 11, 1833. in the world, nor either of the four quarters thereof, but Mr. HOLMES here inquired when the constitution of South Carolina was adopted; whether it was not subsequent to the federal constitution? Thus it appears that the States may not only lose all power to punish offenders against their laws purely local, but that it is proposed actually to enact such a provision. The Senator from Delaware, to whom I always listen with pleasure--to none more so--in his argument against the rights of the States, puts an extreme case. He says: Suppose 10,000 foreigners to become naturalized, and to locate themselves in Delaware; they would be equal to the present number of votes in that State; they might nullify a law of Congress; and that this would be an efficient means in the hands of foreigners to subvert our Government. Sir, I admit this is an extreme case, and a violent supposition; but I will meet it; I will never be driven from a general rule laid down by me, by an extreme case; a principle, to be worth any thing, should be able to resist all extreme cases. Although the Senator has thought prop- Mr. MILLER answered, in 1790, subsequent to the er to disparage State rights in the person of Delaware, so federal constitution. Mr. M. said, he did not consider the ably represented by him on this floor, I will not follow Senator from Maine could make much out of the time, his example. I have known a judge refuse to let counsel since he contended that one convention was equal to anosuppose him capable of committing a fraud. I consider ther. A convention had adopted the federal constitution; it somewhat a discourteous supposition, that a concentra- a convention of the same people, after this, for themtion of foreigners in the State of Delaware might be the selves, at least, could say that all power lies with themmeans of introducing foreign influence, and injury to the selves, for their own government. Subsequent laws aboperations of our Government. My reply to this case is, rogate prior laws, if they conflict. One Congress cannot that if ten thousand foreigners are naturalized in the Unit-prevent a subsequent one from repealing a law; nor can ed States, and settle in Delaware, they will be citizens of one convention of the people of South Carolina have that State. If, by their votes, a law of Congress is ar- more power than another. Things that are equal cannot rested, no matter from what motive, you must apply the bind one another. A people that are sovereign to-day, ultimate reforming power, as was done when Burr ran for must, when assembled rightfully, be sovereign to-morrow: President against Jefferson, and Chisholm sued the State the last act of the sovereign power must govern those of Georgia. Because the State of Delaware, from her num- who are subject to it. bers, may not be able to resist the force of numbers The Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. DALLAS] has obthrown upon her under the laws and constitution of the jected that the acts of the late convention in South CaroUnited States, it is no good reason to argue either Dela- lina were not submitted to the people. This objection ware or any other State out of her reserved sovereign powers and rights. proceeds upon a capital error as to the nature of a convention; they were the people themselves, and their act was the act of the people, without any further confirmation. If Congress were to levy an export duty, (if they can lay a general embargo, they can levy an export duty by The constitution of the United States was adopted by a the same reasoning-the greater power includes the mi- similar convention, and never brought before the people. nor,) in that event, ought not Delaware to disregard it, or The meaning of a convention was an assembly of every any other State? And yet any legislative declaration, sus-person having any political rights in the State, and the taining the rights of the citizen, may be met with military majority of the people to govern. power. Instead of the States being sovereign, the oppo- What would the Sumters, Pinckneys, and Taylors site argument makes them slaves. The definition of a slave have thought, if, by the assertion in our State constitution, is one who holds his rights at the pleasure of another; the that all "power is in the people," the basis of the acts States hold their rights at the will of Congress; ergo, the of the late convention, the Federal Executive had thereStates are slaves. Where two persons claim land under upon issued his proclamation, commanding them to redifferent grants, the correct rule is to locate in favor of assemble and snatch this heresy, this disorganizing edict, the elder grant. In doubtful cases, begin at the old well from their archives. Sir, they would have placed their known corner, which is, the States were sovereign and hands on their swords, and, like the sturdy barons of old, independent when they made the constitution, and fairly replied, we are unwilling that our constitution shall be allow to each party within their grants what the compact changed. If the position be correct, "that the aggres gives, and to the States the benefit of the above rule. In sion may be regarded as committed when it is officially aupolitics, you may as well dispute the proposition, that in thorized, and the means of enforcing fully provided," then the beginning the States were sovereign, as in religion, to the aggression now complained of was committed when dispute that in the beginning the "word was God." He this clause was introduced into the State constitution; since who does either is an infidel to the true faith of our consti- that has given the power to do what has been done, and tution and religion, and I will waste no words with him, but also the power to provide the means. proceed from premises admitted to conclusions denied. Let me ask, what is law? It is a rule of conduct preAfter the adoption of the federal constitution in a con- scribed by the supreme authority, commanding what is vention of the people, South Carolina made her own, in right, and forbidding what is wrong. If the people in which there is this article: "All power is originally South Carolina have all the powers of self-government, vested in the people, and all free Governments are found- who shall interpose? Upon what principle, human or ed on their authority, and are instituted for their peace, divine, can the General Government punish a citizen of safety, and happiness." Now, it may be asked, what South Carolina, for obeying a law emanating from the "people" is meant in this article? Surely, not the people supreme power in that State? This fundamental principle FEB. 11, 1833.] Revenue Collection Bill. [SENATE. of civil liberty has held a place in our charter for forty- to invigorate and encourage commerce, not to cripple and two years, and now we are called upon, by force, to ex- destroy it. I will not dwell on this subject. I delivered punge this article from our constitution, and substitute, my opinions at length in the debate on the passage of the "all power is in Congress; there is but one God, who is the last tariff. This subject has undergone a most thorough Federal Government; there is but one prophet, who is investigation, and the united voice of the planting States Andrew Jackson." For the present, I shall assume that the article is still retained, and from it deduce the right to construe the constitution of the United States, to which they became a party. pronounced the principle of protection unconstitutional. This is no new doctrine, for the first time broached by the convention of South Carolina. It has been pronounced from Virginia to Mississippi for the last eight years. But it has been urged that the revenue is repealed, as well as the protection; and, therefore, the ordinance is unconstitutional. Sir, the whole of the present bill under consideration assumes that the people of South Carolina are bound by the ordinance and the laws. If the people of South Sir, let us examine a little the validity of this objection Carolina are bound to obey the ordinance, it follows, as to the ordinance. If it be partly contaminated, the whole a just consequence, that any effort, by force, in that State, is void. The fraudulent execution of an invalid power to compel the people to disobey their own laws, is war-makes the deed null. A dollar, part silver, part pewter, regular, legitimate war. War is the assertion of a right, is a counterfeit. Where a wrong-doer mixes his goods by force, of one nation against another nation. I deny with those of another, if there is no way to ascertain how that the United States can constitutionally carry on war much belongs to each, he who produces the difficulty against a State. If a State violates the constitution, you must lose what belongs to him. Who could expect to be must correct the error by the Supreme Court, or by a paid for sugar sold, if half were sand? It is the fault of convention of the States. It is a barbarous and tyranni-him who practises the fraud, if he loses that which might cal assumption, that this Government can, by force, over- have been valuable. turn State legislation. Our Government being an imperium in imperio, neither power can, by force, resist the other power. I shall now proceed to consider the ordinance. The third section declares, that appeals shall not be taken from the State court. This contravenes the 25th section of the judiciary act, it is said. It is well known that the right to take a case from the Although I have shown that the people of South Caro-State court, by an appeal to the Supreme Court, has been lina having, in their sovereign character, put their con- contested in every form, ever since the enactment of this struction on their rights, which stops all further consider-law. ation, except of an unconstitutional or belligerent nature, I will proceed to consider this question as subordinate to the constitution of the United States. The first section declares the tariff laws null and void. The State has the right, consistent with the constitution, to make this declaration. It is the mere recital of a truth; only declaring what was originally so. But it is argued that the tariff is constitutional. If so, we are not now to decide that question; that is for another forum. We are not to expound and enforce our own law. "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office." By this clause in the constitution, it is declared that the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in Is the tariff constitutional? This question must be de-one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the cided in the affirmative, before you can enforce its provi- Congress may from time to time ordain. sions, or impugn its ordinance. The power to protect The whole of the judicial power is thus vested in the domestic manufactures is not to be found in terms in the United States court. By what authority can any power constitution. If it is to be found at all, it must be among be transferred by Congress to the State courts? There the incidental powers. Thus, under the taxing power, is no such power. "The judicial power shall extend to the right to protect is set up. But it is the opinion of the all cases in law and equity arising under this constitution, great body of the people of South Carolina, that the right the laws of the United States, and the treaties made, or to tax for revenue does not extend the right to tax for which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases protection. It is said by the President, that, as the affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and conpower to tax is in Congress, they can tax to any extent, suls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; without the right, on the part of any one, to question the to controversies to which the United States shall be a motive; this I deny, as a correct principle of constitutional party; to controversies between two or more States; beconstruction. The people have the right to examine the tween citizens of different States; between citizens of the motive. A limited power to tax can only be properly same State claiming lands under grants of different States; restrained by looking at the motive. Congress have the and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign power to fix their own compensation; they may, under States, citizens, or subjects." the taxing power, levy a tax on the people, intending to distribute the same among themselves; this could only be prevented by the people refusing to pay it, if the tax is laid with an improper motive. The true way to test this tax is to analyze the law, and then determine whether it is competent to levy a tax, to give the benefit thereof to the manufacturers. We have the treasury estimate of an extra amount of taxation, equal to six millions; take this sum, and then inquire, can Congress levy that amount, and give the same to the manufacturers? This right to levy a tax for protection is by some referred to the power to regulate commerce. By looking into the proceedings There is a subsequent clause which provides that the preliminary to the adoption of the Federal Government, State courts shall be bound by the constitution, and the to be found in the first volume of the laws of Congress, it laws made in pursuance thereof, and to treaties; this was will be there seen that this power was desired only to the only check which was intended to secure the rights protect the navigating interest; the object being clearly of persons under the constitution, laws, and treaties. Having provided for the courts in the first clause, they have, in this one, provided for the jurisdiction, which is limited to all cases in law and equity arising under the constitution and laws of the United States. "Extend to," means, reach to, cover. These words do not give exclusive jurisdiction. Judicial power is a generic term, including the Supreme Court, and the inferior courts of the United States. A State court is not an inferior court of the United States, and therefore no appeal can fairly be predicated on the proceedings of the State courts. |