be repaid out of future taxes. The worst effect of the exerted in the support of our national union, and the bold experiment was contained in this discovery and sound interpretation of its charter. If there be any one avowal of sir Robert Walpole, that, with the patronage political precept, pre-eminent above all others, and acthus acquired, he could purchase a majority in the house knowledged by all, it is that which dictates the absolute of commons. Still, however, up to the reign of George necessity of the union of the states under one governIII, and within the lifetime of our present beloved mon- ment, and that government clothed with those attributes arch, the taxes did not much exceed 8,000,000l. annu- and powers with which the existing constitution has inally; but before the end of that dazzling and distemper- vested it. We were indebted under Providence, to the ed reign they amounted to 80,000,000 a year. The an-operation and influence of the powers of that constitution, nual expenditure was even much greater, and in one for our national honor abroad and for unexampled prosyear amounted to 120,000,000. Loan after loan, how-perity at home. Its future stability depended upon the ever, supplied all deficiencies; and the close of the reign of George III, bequeathed a debt of 800,000,000l. sterling, and the interest thereon, to posterity. INCOMES OF THE ENGLISH ROYAL FAMILY. The duke of Cumberland receives 21,000l.; for prince George of Cumberland, 6,000l.; the duke of Sussex, 21,000l.; the duke of Cambridge, 27,000; princess Augusta, 13,000; princess of Hesse Homburg, late Elizabeth, 13,000.; princess Sophia 13,000.; the duchess of Kent, including the allowance for her daughter the princess Victoria, 12,000.; the duke of Gloucester, including what he receives as the husband of princess Mary, (13,000) 27,000.; the princess Sophia of Gloucester, his sister, 7,0007.; total 160,0007., less than the income enjoyed by many of his majesty's subjects whom we could name. [The concluding is a loyal remark. It is true, in point of fact. But those of "his majesty's subjects" who have the great incomes stated, derive it from their own property. If the people of England are the 1ROPERTY of every drunkard, debauchee or blockhead, man, woman, or baby, of the royal family, then the amounts paid would seem moderate enough-but until some men are born with bridles in their mouths, and others with boots and spurs on, we cannot reconeile the accident of birth alone as conferring a right to be maintained at the public expense.] ENGLISH POOR RATES. firm support and due exercise of its legitimate powers in all their branches. A tendency to disunion-to anarchy among the members rather than to tyranny in the headhad been heretofore the melancholy fate of all the federal governments of ancient and modern Europe. Our union and national constitution were formed as we have hitherto been led to believe under better auspices and with improved wisdom. But there was a deadly principle of disease inherent in the system. The assumption by any member of the union, of the right to question and resist, or annul, as its own judgment should dictate, either the laws of congress or the treaties, or the decisions of the federal courts, or the mandates of the executive power, duly made and promulgated as the constitution prescribes, was a most dangerous assumption of power, leading to collision and the destruction of the system. And if, contrary to all our expectations, we should hereafter fail in the grand experiment of a confederate government, extending over some of the fairest portions of this continent, and destined to act, at the same time, with efficiency and harmony, we should most grievously disappoint the hopes of mankind, and blast forever the fruits of the revolution. But happily for us, the refutation of such dangerous pretensions, on the occasion referred to, was single and complete. The false images and delusive theories which had perplexed the thoughts and disturbed the judgments of men, were then dissipated in like manner as spectres disappear at the rising of the sun. The inestimable value of the union, and the true principles of the constitution, were explained by the clear and accurate reasonings, and enforced by pathetic and eloquent illustrations. The result was the more auspicious, as the heretical doctrines, which were then fairly reasoned down, had been advanced by a very respectable portion of the union, ar.d urged on the floor of the senate by the polished mind, manly zeal, and honored name of a distinguished member of the south. The total amount paid in England and Wales only, The consequences of that discussion have been exin the year 1826-7, including all charges belonging to tremely beneficial. It turned the attention of the public the poor, was seven millions, eight hundred and three to the great doctrines of national rights and national thousand, four hundred and sixty-five pounds-or say union. Constitutional law ceased to remain wrapped up $34,500,000: equal to the whole current expenses of the in the breasts, and taught only by the responses of the United States, and of the governments of all the states, living oracles of the law. Socrates was said to have cities, towns, counties or districts, and on every account, drawn down philosophy from the skies, and scattered and yet leaving a mighty balance. And yet the popula-it among the schools. It may with equal truth be said tion of England and Wales is only about one-third larger than that of the United States. ANTI-NULLIFICATION. From the New York American, March 28. The following remarks, introductory to the toast of the guest, D. WEBSTER, were made by the president of the occasion, chancellor Kent: The president called the attention of the gentlemen to a toast, to which he was sure their judgment and their hearts would respond. that constitutional law, by means of these senatorial discussions, and the master genius that guided them, was rescued from the archives of our tribunals and the libraries of lawyers, and placed under the eye and submitted to the judgment of the American people. Their verdict is with us, and from it there lies no appeal. As soon as the immense cheering and acclamations with which this address and toast were received, had subsided, Mr. Webster rose and spoke as follows: I owe the honor of this occasion, gentlemen, to your patriotic and affectionate attachment to the constitution New England had been long fruitful in great men, the of the country. For an effort, well intended, however necessary consequence of the admirable discipline of otherwise of unpretending character, made in the disher institutions; and we were this day honored with the charge of public duty and designed to maintain the conpresence of one of those cherished objects of her attach-stitution, and vindicate its just powers, you have been ment and pride, who has an undoubted and peculiar pleased to tender me this token of your respect. It title to our regard: It is a plain truth that he who de- would be idle affectation to deny, that it gives me singufends the constitution of his country by his wisdom in lar gratification. Every public man must naturally decouncil, is entitled to share her gratitude with those who sire the approbation of his fellow-citizens; and though it protect it by valor in the field. Peace has its victories may be supposed that I should be anxious, in the first as well as war. We all recollect a late memorable oc-place, not to disappoint the expectation of those, whose casion, when the exalted talents and enlightened patriotism of the gentleman to whom he had alluded, were *Estimated, but nearly the real amount. immediate representative I am, it is not possible that I should not feel, nevertheless, the high value of such a mark of esteem as is here offered. But, gentlemen, I am conscious that the main purpose of this occasion is higher than the mere manifestation of personal regard. It is to evince your attachment to the constitution, and your just alarm, at whatever threatens to weaken its proper authority, or endanger its existence. tent to blight and blast it, of all things capable of compelling this city to recede as fast as she has advanced, a disturbed government, an enfeebled public authority, a broken or a weakened union of the states, would be sovereign. This would be cause efficient enough. Every thing else, in the common fortune of communities, she may hope to resist, or to prevent. That would be fatal as the arrow of death. Gentlemen, this could hardly be otherwise. It would be strange, indeed, if the members of this vast commercial community should not be the first and foremost to rally for the constitution, whenever opinions and docGentlemen, you have personal recollections and astrines are advanced, hostile to its principles. Where, sooner then here, where, louder than here, may we ex-sociations, connected with the establishment and adoppect a patriotic voice to be raised, when the union of the tion of the constitution, which are necessarily called up states is threatened? In this great commercial empo- on an occasion like this. It is impossible to forget the rium, at this central point of the united commerce of the prominent agency which eminent citizens of your own United States, of all places, we may expect the warmest, fulfilled, in regard to that great measure. They are now the most determined and universal feeling of attachment recorded among the illustrious dead; but they have left names never to be forgotten, and never to be rememberto the national constitution. Gentlemen, no one can esLeast of all, can timate more highly than I do, the natural advantages of ed without respect and veneration. your city. No one entertains a higher opinion than they be forgotten by you, when assembled here for the myself, also, of that spirit of wise and liberal policy, purpose of signifying your attachment to the constituwhich has actuated the government of the state in the ac- tion, and your sense of its inestimable importance to the complishment of high objects, important to the growth happiness of the people. and prosperity both of the state and the city. But all these local advantages, and all this enlightened state policy could never have made your city what it now is, without the aid and protection of a general government, extending over all the states, and establishing, for all, a common and unform system of commercial regulation. Without national character, without public credit, without systematic finance, without uniformity of commercial laws, all other advantages possessed by this city, would have decayed, and perished like unripe fruit. A general government, was, for years before it was instituted, the great object of desire to the inhabitants of this city. New York was conscious of her local advantages for commerce--she saw her destiny, and was eager to embrace it; but nothing else than a general government could make free her path before her, and set her forward on her career. She early saw all this, and to the accomplishment of this great and indispensable object, she bent up every faculty, and exerted every effort. She was not mistaken. She formed no false judgment. At the moment of the adoption of the constitution, New York was the capital of one state, and contained thirtytwo or three thousand people. It now contains more than two hundred thousand people, and is justly regarded as the commercial capital, not only of all the United States, but of the whole continent also, from the pole to the south sea. Every page of her history, for the last forty years, bears high and irresistible testimony to the benefit and blessings of the general government. Her astonishing growth is referred to, and quoted, all the world over, as one of the most striking proofs of the effects of our federal union. To suppose her now to be easy and indifferent, when notions are advanced tending to its dissolution, would be to suppose her equally forgetful of the past, and blind to the present, alike ignorant of her own history, and her own interest, metamorphosed, from all that she has been, into a being, tired of its prosperity, sick of its own growth and greatness, and infatuated for its own destruction. Every blow aimed at the union of the states strikes on the tenderest nerve of her interest and her happiness. To bring the union into debate, is to bring her own future prosperity into debate also. To speak of arresting the laws of the union, of interposing state power in matters of commerce and revenue, of weakening the full and just authority of the general government would be, in regard to this city, but another mode of speaking of commercial ruin, of abandoned wharves, of vacated houses, of diminished and dispersing population, of bankrupt merchants, of mechanics without employment, and laborers without bread. The growth of this city, and the constitution of the United States, are coevals and cotemporaries. They began together, they have flourished together, and if rashness and folly destroy one, the other will follow it to the tomb. Gentlemen, it is true, indeed, that the growth of this city is extraordinary, and almost unexampled. It is now, I believe, sixteen or seventeen years since I first saw it. Within that comparatively short period, it has added to its number three times the whole amount of its population when the constitution was adopted. Of all things having power to check this prosperity, of all things po I should do violence to my own feelings, gentlemen: I think I should offend yours, if I omitted respectful mention of great names, yet fresh in your recollections. How can I stand here, to speak of the constitution of the United States, of the wisdom of its provisions, of the difficulties attending its adoption, of the evils from which it rescued the country, and of the prosperity and power to which it has raised it, and yet pay no tribute to those who were highly instrumental in accomplishing the work? While we are here, to rejoice that it yet stands firm and strong; while we congratulate one another that we live under its benign influence, and cherish hopes of its long duration, we cannot forget who they were that, in the day of our national infancy, in the times of despondency and despair, mainly assisted to work our deliverance. I should feel that I disregarded the strong recollections which the occasion presses upon us, that I was not true to gratitude, not true to patriotism, not true to the living or the dead, not true to your feelings or my own, if I should forbear to make mention of Alex. Hamilton. Coming from the military service of the country, yet a youth, but with knowledge and maturity, even in civil affairs, far beyond his years, he made this city the place of his adoption; and he gave the whole powers of his mind to the contemplation of the weak and distracted condition of the country. Daily increasing in acquaintance and confidence with the people of this city, he saw, what they also saw, the absolute necessity of some closer bond of union for the states. This was the great object of desire. He never appears to have lost sight of it, but was found in the lead, whenever any thing was to be attempted for its accomplishment. One experiment after another, as it is well known, was tried and all failed. The states were urgently called on to confer such further powers on the old congress as would enable it to redeem the public faith, or to adopt themselves some general and common principle of commercial regulation. But the states had not agreed, and were not likely to agree. In this posture of affairs, so full of public difficulty and public distress, commissioners from five or six of the states met, on the request of Virginia, at AnThe precise object of their napolis, in September 1786. appointment was, to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situations and trade of the several states; and to consider how far a uniform system of commercial regulations was necessary to their common interest and permanent harmony. Mr. Hamilton was one of these commissioners; and I have understood, though I cannot assert the fact, that His associate from this their report was drawn by him. state was the venerable judge Benson who has lived long, and still lives, to see the happy results of the counsels which originated in this meeting. Of its members, he and Mr. Madison are, I believe, now the only survivors. These commissioners recommended, what took place the next year, a general convention of all the states, to take into serious deliberation the condition of the country, and devise such provisions as should render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union. I need not remind you, that of this convention, Mr. Hamilton was an active and efficient member. The constitution was framed, and sub which declared independence; and a member, too, of the committee which drew and reported the immortal declaration. At the period of the adoption of the constitution, he was its firm friend and able advocate. He was a member of the state convention, being one of that list of distinguished and gifted men, who represented this city in that body; and threw the whole weight of his talents and influence into the doubtful scale of the constitution. mitted to the country. And then another great work mention is to be made. In the revolutionary history of was to be undertaken. The constitution would natural- the country, the name of chancellor Livingston became ly find, and did find, enemies and opposers. Objections early prominent. He was a member of that congress to it were numerous and powerful, and spirited. They were to be answered: and they were effectually answered. The writers of the numbers of the Federalist, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Jay, so greatly distinguished themselves in their discussions of the constitution, that those numbers are generally received as important commentaries on the text and accurate expositions, in general, of its objects and purposes. Those papers were all written and published in this city. Mr. Hamilton was elected one of the distinguished delegation from the city, into the state convention at Poughkeepsie, called to ratify the new constitution. Its debates are published. Mr. Hamilton appears to have exerted, on this occasion, to the utmost, every power and faculty of his mind. Gentlemen, as connected with the constitution, you have also local recollections which must bind it still closer to your attachment and affection. It commenced its being, and its blessings, here. It was in this city, in the midst of friends, anxious, hopeful, and devoted, that the new government started in its course. To us, genThe whole question was likely to depend on the de- tlemen, who are younger, it has come down by tradition; cision of New York. He felt the full importance of the but some around me are old enough to have witnessed, crisis; and the reports of his speeches, imperfest as they and did witness the interesting scene of the first inaugu probably are, are yet lasting monuments to his genius ration. They remember what voices of gratified patriand patriotism. He saw at last his hopes fulfilled: he otism, what shouts of enthusiastic hope, what acclamasaw the constitution adopted, and the government under tion rent the air-how many eyes were suffused with it, established and organized. The discerning eye of tears of joy-how cordially each man pressed the hand Washington immediately called him to that post, infi- of him who was next to him, when, standing in the nitely the most important, in the administration of the open air, in the centre of the city, in the view of assemnew system. He was made secretary of the treasury; bled thousands, the first president was heard solemnly and how he fulfilled the duties of such a place, at such to pronounce the words of his official oath, repeating a time, the whole country perceived, with delight, and them from the lips of chancellor Livingston. You then the whole world saw with admiration. He smote the thought, gentlemen, that the great work of the revolurock of the national resources, and abundant streams of tion was accomplished. You then felt that you had a revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of government-that the United States were then, indeed, the public credit, and it sprung upon its feet. The fa- united.-Every benignant star seemed to shed its selectbled birth of Minerva from the brain of Jove, was hard-est influence on that auspicious hour. Here were he ly more sudden, or more perfect, than the financial sys- roes of the revolution; here were sages of the conventem of the United States, burst forth from the concep- tion; here were minds disciplined and schooled in all the tions of Alexander Hamilton. various fortunes of the country, acting now in various relations, but all co-operating to the same great end, the successful administration of the new and untried constitution. And he--how shall I speak of him?--he was at the head, who was already first in war--who was already first in the hearts of his countrymen--and who was now shown also, by the unanimous suffrage of the country to be first in peace. Gentlemen, how gloriously have the hopes, then indulged, been fulfilled! Whose expectation was then so sanguine--I may almost ask whose imagination then so extravagant as to run forward and contemplate as probable, the one half of what has been accomplished in forty years! Who among you can go back to 1789, and see what this city, and this country too, then were--and then beholding what they now are, can be ready to consent that the constitution of the United States shall now be weakened, nullified, or dishonored? Your recollections, gentlemen, your respect, and your affections, all conspire to bring before you, at such a time as this, another great man, now, too, numbered with the dead. I mean the pure, the disinterested, the patriotic John Jay. His character is a brilliant jewel in the sacred treasures of national reputation. Leaving his profession at an early period, yet not before he had singularBy distinguished himself in it, from the commencement of the revolution, his whole life, until his final retiremment, was a life of public service. A member of the first congress, he was the author of that political paper which is generally acknowledged to stand first among the incomparable productions of that body; papers, which called forth that decisive strain of commendation from the great lord Chatham, in which he pronounced them not inferior to the finest productions of the master states of the world. He had been abroad, and he had also been long intrusted with the difficult duties of our fo- Gentlemen, before I leave these pleasant recollecreign correspondence at home. He had seen and felt, tions, I feel it an irresistible impulse of duty to pay a in the fullest measure, and to the greatest possible extent, tribute of respect to another distinguished person, not, the difficulty of conducting our foreign affairs honorably indeed, a fellow citizen of your own, but associated with and usefully, without a stronger and more perfect union those I have already mentioned, in important labors, at home. Though not a member of the convention and an early and indefatigable friend and advocate in the which framed the constitution, he was yet present while great cause of the constitution. Gentlemen, I refer to it was in session, and looked anxiously for its result. Mr. Madison. I am aware, gentlemen, that a tribute By the choice of this city, he had a seat in the state con- of regard from me to him is of little importance; but vention, and took an active and zealous part, for the if it shall receive your approbation and sanction, it will adoption of the constitution. He was selected by Wash- become of value. Mr. Madison, thanks to a kind Proington to be the first chief justice of the United States; vidence, is yet among the living, and there is certainly and surely the high and most responsible duties of that no other individual living to whom the country is so station, could not have been trusted to abler or safer much indebted for the blessings of the constitution. hands. It is the duty, one of equal importance and de- He was one of the commissioners at Annapolis, in 1786, licacy, of that tribunal, to decide constitutional questions, at the meeting of which I have already spoken; a meetarising occasionally on state laws. The general learning ing, which to the great credit of Virginia had its origin and ability, and especially the prudence, the mildness, in a proceeding of that state. He was a member of the and the firmness of his character, eminently fitted Mr. convention of 1789 and of that of Virginia the following Jay to be the head of such a court. When the spotless year. He was thus intimately acquainted with the whole ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched progress of the formation, of the constitution, from its nothing not as spotless as itself. These eminent men, very first step, to its final adoption. If ever man had gentlemen, the cotemporaries of some of you, known the means of understanding a written instrument, Mr, to most, and revered by all were so conspicuous in the Madison has the means of understanding the constituframing and adopting of the constitution, and called so tion. If it be possible to know what was designed by early to important stations under it, that a tribute, better, it, he can tell us. It was in this city, that in conjuncindeed, than I have given, or am able to give, seemed tion with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Jay, he wrote the numdue to them from us. There was yet another, of whom bers of the Federalist; and it was in this city that he commenced his brilliant career, under the new consti- jous, not to hesitate to come forward and to place the tution, having been elected into the house of represen- weight of his own opinion in what he deemed the riglit tatives of the first congress. The recorded votes and scale, come what, come might. I am sure, gentlemen, debates of those times, show his active and efficient it cannot be doubted-the manifestation is clear-that agency in every important measure of that congress. the country feels gratefully the force of this new obliThe necessary organization of the government, the ar- gation. rangement of the departments and especially the paramount subject of revenue engaged his attention, and shared his labors. The legislative history of the first two or three years of the government is full of instruction. It presents, in striking light, the evils intended to be remedied by the constitution, and the provisions which were deemed essential to the remedy of those evils. It exhibits the country, in the moment of its change, from a weak and ill defined confederacy of states, into a general, officient, but still restrained and limited government. It shows the first working of our peculiar system, moved, as it then was, by master hands. Gentlemen, for one, I confess, I like to dwell on this part of our history. It is good for us to be here. It is good for us to study the situation of the country at this period, to survey its difficulty, to look at the conduct of its public men, to see how they struggle with obstacles, real and formidable, and how gloriously they brought the country out of its state of depression and distress. Truly, gentlemen, these, founders and fathers of the constitution were great men, and thoroughly furnished for every good work. All that reading and learning could do, all that talent and intelligence could do, and what perhaps is still more-all that long experience, in difficult and troubled times, and a deep and intimate practical knowledge of the condition of the country could lo, conspired to fit them for the great business of forming a general, but limited government, embracing common objects, extending over all the states, and yet touching the power of the states no farther than those common objects require. I confess, I love to linger around those original fountains, and to drink deep of their waters, I love to imbibe, in as full measures as I may, the spirit of those who laid the foundation of the government, and so wisely and skilfully balanced and adjusted its bearings and proportions. Gentlemen, what I have said of the benefits of the constitution to your city, might be said, with little change, in every other part of the country. Its benefits are not exclusive. What has it left undone, which any government could do, for the whole country? In what condition has it placed us? Where do we now stand? Are we elevated or degraded by its operation? What is our condition under its influence, at the very moment when some talk of arresting its power and breaking its unity? Do we not feel ourselves on an eminence? Do we not challenge the respect of the whole world? What has placed us thus high?What has given us this just pride? What else is it, but the unrestrained and free operation of that same federal constitution which it has been proposed now to hamper, and inanacle, and nullify? Who is there among us, that should find himself on any spot of earth, where human beings exist, and where the existence of other nations is known, that would not be proud to say, 1 am an American? I am a country man of Washington? I am a citizen of that republic which, although it has suddenly sprung up, yet there are none on the globe who have ears to hear and have not heard of it-who have eyes to see, and have not read of it--who know any thing and yet do not know of its existence and its glory? And, gentlemen, let me now reverse the picture. Let me ask who there is among us, if he were to be found to-morrow in one of the civilized countries of Europe, and were there to learn that this goodly form of government had been overthrown-that the Uuited States were no longer united-that a death-blow had been struck upon their bond of union-that they themselves had destroyed their chief good and their chief honor, who is there, whose heart would not sink within him? Who is there who would not cover his face for very shame. will be respected. At this very moment, gentlemen, our country is a Having been afterwards, for eight years, secretary of general refuge for the distressed and the persecuted of state, and as long president, Mr. Madison has had an other nations. Whoever is in affliction from political experience in the affairs of the constitution, certainly occurrences in his own country, looks here for shelter. second to no man. More than any other man living, and Whether he be a republican, flying from the oppression perhaps more than any other man who has lived, his of thrones-or whether he be monarch or monarchist, whole public life has been incorporated, as it were, into flying from thrones that crumble and fall under or the constitution; in the original conception and project around him-he feels equal assurance, that if he got of attempting to form it, in its actual framing, in explain-foot-hold on our soil, his person is safe, and his rights ing and recommending it by speaking and writing, in assisting at the first organization of the government under And who will venture to say, that in any government, it, and in a long administration of its executive powers, now existing in the world, there is greater security for in those various ways he has lived near the constitution, persons or property than in the United States? We and with the power of imbibing its true spirit, and in- have tried these popular institutions in times of great haling its very breath, from its first pulsation of life. excitement and commotion; they have stood substan Agam, therefore, I ask, if he cannot tell us what the tially firm and steady, while the fountains of the great constitution is, and what it means, who can? He had political deep have been elsewhere broken up; while retired with the respect and regard of the community, thrones, resting on ages of proscription, have tottered and might naturally be supposed not willing to interfere and fallen; and while, in other countries, the earthagain in matters of political concern. He has, never-quake of unrestrained popular commotion has swallowed theless, not withholden his opinions on the vital question discussed on that occasion, which has caused this meeting. He has stated with an accuracy almost peculiar to himself, and so stated, as, in my opinion, to place almost beyond further controversy, the true doctrines of the constitution. He has stated, not notions too loose and irregular to be called even a theory-not ideas struck out by the feeling of present inconvenience or supposed mal-administration-not suggestions of expediency, or evasions of fair and straight-forward construction, but elementary principles, clear and sound distinctions, and indispensable truths. I am sure, gentlemen, that I speak your sentiments, as well as my own, when I say, that for making public so clearly and distinctly as he has done, his own opinions on these vital questions of constitutional law, Mr. Madison has founded a new and strong claim on the gratitude of a grateful country. You will think with me, that at his advanced age and in the enjoyment of general respect and approbation, for a Jong career of public services, it was an act of distin-curity that, that will desire nothing wrong. guished patriotism, when he saw notions promulgated Certain it is, that popular constitutional liberty, as we and maintained, which he deemed unsound and danger.enjoy it, appears, in the present state of the world, as up all law, and all liberty, and all right together. Our government has been tried in peace, and it has been tried in war; and has proved itselt fit for both. It has been assailed from without, and successfully resisted the shock; it has been disturbed within, and has effectually quieted the disturbance. It can stand trial—it can stand assault-it can stand adversity-it can stand every thing, but the marring of its own beauty, and the weaken ing of its own strength. It can stand every thing, but the effects of our own rashness, and our own folly. It can stand every thing, but disorganization, disunion, and nulhfication. It is a striking fact, and as true as it is striking, that at this very moment, among all the principal civilized states of the world, that government is inost secure against the danger of popular commotion, which is itself entirely popular. It seems, indeed, that the submission of every thing to the public will, under constitutional restraints, imposed by the people themselves, furnishes, itselt, se sure and stable a basis for government to rest upon, as any government of enlightened states can find, or does find. Certain it is, that in these times of so much popular knowledge, and so much popular activity, those governments which do not admit the people to partake in their administration, but keep the people under and beneath, sit on materials for an explosion, which may take place at any moment, and blow them into a thousand atoms. sess. Gentlemen, let any man who would degrade and enfeeble the national constitution-let any man who would nullify its laws, stand forth and tell us what he would wish. What does he propose? Whatever he may be, and whatever substitute he may hold forth, I am sure the people of this country will decline his kind interference, and hold on by the constitution which they posAny one who would willingly destroy it, I rejoice to know would be looked upon with abhorrence. It is deeply entrenched in the regards of the people. Doubtless, it may be underminded by artful and long continued hostility, it may be imperceptibly weakened by secret attack; it may be insidiously shorn of its powers by slow degrees; the public vigilance may be lulled and when it awakes, it may find the constitution frittered away. In these modes, or some of them doubtless, it is possible that the union of the states may be dissolved. But if the general attention of the people be kept alive-if they see the intended mischief before it is etfected, they will effectually prevent it by their own sovereign power. They will interpose themselves between the meditated blow, and the object of their regard and attachment, Gentlemen, next to the controlling authority of the people themselves, the preservation of the government is mainly committed to those who administer it. If conducted in wisdom, it cannot but stand strong. Its genuine original spirit is a patriotic, liberal, and generous spirit: a spirit of conciliation, of moderation, of candor, and charity: a spirit of friendship, and not a spirit of hostility, with the states: a spirit, careful, not to exceed, and equally careful not to relinquish its just powers. While no interest can or ought to feel itself shut out from the benefits of the constitution, none should consider those benefits as exclusively its own. The interests of all must be connected, and reconciled, and provided for, as far as possible, that all may perceive the benefits of a united government. rence to the proper administration of laws, and the ju- Among other things we are to remember that, since the adoption of the constitution new states have arisen, possessing already an immense population, spreading and thickening over vast regions which were a wilderness when the constitution was adopted. Those states are not like New York, directly connected with maritime commerce. They are entirely agricultural, and need markets for consumption, and access to those markets. It is the duty of the government to bring the interests of these new states into the union and incor- Gentlemen-This is the actual constitution-This the porate them closely in the family compact. Gentlemen, law of the land. There may be those, who think it un. it is not impracticable to reconcile these various interests necessary, or who would prefer a different mode of deand so to administer the government as to make it ciding such questions. But this is the established mode, useful to all. It was never easier to administer the go- and till it be altered, the courts can no more decline vernment than it is now. We are beset with none, or their duty, on these occasions, than on other occasions. with few, of its original difficulties: and it is a time of But, gentlemen, can any reasonable man doubt the exgreat general prosperity and happiness. Shall we ad- pediency of this provision, or suggest a better? Is it not mit ourselves incompetent to carry on the government, absolutely essential to the peace of the country, that this so as to be satisfactory to the whole country? Shall we power should exist somewhere? Where can it exist, admit that there has so little descended to us of the better than where it now does exist? The national juwisdom and prudence of our fathers? If the govern- diciary is the common tribunal of the whole country. ment could be administered in Washington's time, when It is organised, by the common authority, and its places it was yet new, when the country was heavily in debt, filled by the common agent. This is a plain and practiwhen foreign relations were threatening, and when In-cal provision. It was framed by no bunglers, nor by any dian wars pressed on the frontiers, can it not be admi-wild theorists. And who can say, that it has failed? Who nistered now? Let us not acknowledge ourselves so unequal to our duties. constitution of the United States, posses still higher But, gentlemen, the judicial department under the duties. It is true that it may be called on, and is occasionally called on to decide questions, which are, in one sense, of a political nature. The general and state goVernments, both established by the people, are establishBetween those powers, questions may arise, and who ed for different purposes, and with different powers. shall decide them? Some provision for this end is absolutely necessary. What shall it be? This was the question before the convention; and various schemes inadvertently pass laws, inconsistent with the constitu were suggested. It was foreseen, that the states might tion of the United States, or with acts of congress. At least, laws might be passed, which would be charged with such inconsistency. How should these questions be disposed of? Where shall the power of judging, in cases of alleged interference, be lodged? One suggestion, in the convention, was to make it an executive power, and to lodge it in the hands of the president, by requiring all state laws to be submitted to him, that he might negative such as he thought appeared repugnant to the general constitution. This idea, perhaps, may have been borrowed from the power exercised by the crown, over the laws of the colonies. It would evidently have been not only an inconvenient and troublesome proceeding, but dangerous, also, to the powers of the states. It was not pressed. It was thought wiser and safer, on the whole, to require state legislatures tion of the United States, and then leave the states at and state judges to take an oath to support the constituference, in points of fact, should arise, to refer the quesliberty to pass whatever laws they pleased and if intertion to judicial decision. To this end, the judicial power, under the constitution of the United States, was made co-extensive with the legislative power. It was extended to all cases arising under the constitution and the laws of congress. The judiciary became thus possessed of the authority of deciding, in the last resort, in all cases of alleged interference, between state laws and the constitution, and laws of congress. can find substantial fault, with its operation, or its results? The great question is, whether we shall, provide for the peaceable decision of cases of collision. Shall they be decided by law or by force? Shall the decisions be decisions of peace, or decisions of war? Gentlemen, on the occasion referred to, it became necessary to consider the judicial power, and its proper functions under the constitution. In every free and balanced government, this is a most essential and impor- On the occasion referred to, the proposition eontended tant power.-Indeed, I think it is a remark of Mr. for, was that every state, under certain supposed exiHume, that the administration of justice seems to be gencies, and in certain supposed cases, might decide for the leading object of institutions of government; the le- itself, and act for itself, and oppose its own force to the gislatures assemble, that armies are embodied, that both execution of the laws. By what argument, do you imawar and peace are made, with a sort of ultimate refe-gine, gentlemen, it was, that such a proposition was |