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ness, so that knowledge and business may be quickened and diffused.

SECTION TWELFTH. MILITARY DUTIES.

The national government is charged with the common defence of the Union, and the states are deprived of all means of military support except in their militia. Congress has exclusive power over the purse and the sword of the Union for this purpose. The power to declare war is vested in Congress, and the President has no power to order any act of hostility unless Congress shall first direct it. We maintain a small regular army sufficient to garrison our forts and guard the Indian frontier. Hence Congress is empowered to provide by law for calling forth the militia, and for organizing, arming and disciplining it, and for governing it when in the service of the United Stetes,"reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." It becomes an important question what that training and organization shall be. The battle of New Orleans has demonstrated that sharp-shooters of the militia, securely posted, can by their deadly fire prevent a charge by an army of veterans May it not be wise to cast

aside our militia trainings and cumbrous organization and merely enrol the citizen soldiery, which in 1842 amounted to about 1,674,486. Let them be divided into cohorts of 100 each with a centurion or captain to command, and in case of war let those called into service be trained to the rifle and guerrilla warfare. They would be trained to prowl around an invading enemy in companies, each under its captain, and to attack as opportunity offered. In defensive war, our only wars, such a force would be formidable. In the plains of the the south or west a portion of this force might be mounted. Forty thousand of foot-cohorts and ten thousand mounted men would indeed be a formidable defensive force. We merely suggest these views for the consideration of military gentlemen, for arms are not our vocation.

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The national government was charged with the duty of establishing a national judiciary to carry into effect the powers of the Union at home and abroad. It has been well performed. The Supreme Court of the United States, by its able and accurate exposition of the treaties, constitution and laws of the United States as well as its decisions in all other cases, has won for itself the crown of

judicial honor. Under the distinguished John Jay, John Marshall and their learned and able colleagues and successors, this high court has established a character for ability, learning and integrity that has firmly secured to it the public confidence and the nation's gratitude.

SECTION FOURTEENTH.

INTER-STATE RELATION.

As Congress has exclusive power over interstate communication, no state can legally pass a law to interdict any freeman from entering into its jurisdiction from another state by sea or land, nor has any state a right to pass any law relative to any vessel or its free mariners sailing under a lisence of the United State, either requiring bonds or confining them during the stay of a vessel if colored, nor has a state or its authorities any color of authority to stop, delay, touch or open the mail and search for or seize any of its contents in any (See McCullock vs. the State of Maryland, 4 Wheaton R. 432. Osborn vs. United States Bank, 9 Wheaton R. 862. Brown vs. State of Maryland, 12 Wheaton 419, 440, 448, 9, and 9 Wheaton 209.) For by the Constitution of the United States a free citizen of one state has the full rights of a freeman in all the States, and the power over these subjects resides exclusively in

case.

Congress. The same seems true when applied to navigable rivers below ports of delivery or entry. A state can not, it would seem, erect any impediment to navigation below such ports, and as Congress has an exclusive jurisdiction over commerce according to the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden, (9 Wheaton, 198, 195,) no vessel sailing with a United lisence can be in any degree impeded by a law of a state legislature when going to or from such ports. Congress having exclusive control, the state has none and cannot authorize a dam or any impediment between the sea and such ports. This rule would promote harmony and is plainly the intent of the Constitution.

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By the Constitution of the United States fugitive criminals and slaves must be given up by the governor of the state into which the criminal or slave escapes. Public opinion in the free states often shields slaves or covers their flight, but still ita lex scripta est, any governor on a proper demand is bound to obey the Constitution. The Constitution and acts of Congress must be carried into full effect. Christianity and the humanity of the south, we hope, may soon put a stop to heartrending scenes of the seizure of slaves seeking

freedom, which our Declaration of Independence call the inherent and inalienable right of every man.

SECTION SIXTEENTH.

RELIGION AND THE PRESS.

Congress has no power over the subjects of religion, the press and freedom of speech, and no law can be legally passed on the subject. This is one of the great guards of our liberties. These principles with the narrow limitation of treason and the constitutional immunity of the persons and property of American citizens, have placed them beyond the reach of oppression by the national government.

SECTION SEVENTEENTH.

INDIAN TRIBES.

The Indian tribes within the United States are under the paternal care of the government of the Union, and large sums have been expended for their improvement. Great efforts are making for their civilization and Christianization. With this view aboriginal tribes living within the states have been colonized to an extensive region west of the Mississippi, where the education of the stoic of the woods is going forward under the patronage of the government. The colonized tribes there enjoy their own laws and customs. The Cherokee language has become a written and printed

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