North Carolina Newspapers

A. M M3 fc j Tarborough, ( Edgecombe County, X. C.) Tuesday, Jlay 1 7, 1 1 Vol VII Xo 39.. 7V 'yrth-Cr:,i;i:.: Free Press," 3Y (IKORfiK UJW Alii), 'ibl'i-died weekly, at Tzvo Dollars U,-J :; Ci'tit per year, if paid in ad- v t;u . i ' "'"t'tf liars, at the ixp i ra ti .a it" the year. For any period less t'.u'i a year. Twenty five Cents per month. Subscribers art at liberty to dis- "v hivu':s nonce thereof and paying arrearsthose resi-j'.-v-v at. a distance must invariably pay in a-iv:incc, or give a responsible reference in this vicinity. .hertisements.not exceeding 16 lines, wiil be inserted at 50 cents the first in-s-iiK'it, and 25 cents each continuance. Loader ones at that rate for every 10 i:U-s. Advertisements must be marked tac n'un'jcr of insertions required, or tu-v will be- continued until otherwise ordered. ""Letters addressed to the loiter must be post paid, or they mav n;t Lc attended to. In convenient as soon as f Internal lm Iknrij Johnston, MF.itC flANT TAILOIl, mMv!vS this method to inform his iVii iuN iel the public, that he has I' -'civ-- i From New York, his aiiri :i supply of Uoods, fa his lifp of business v., ;. spring of: Snerfinc blue, brown, and b! ,rr Cloths, 13. .i:k liombazene, .superior qn U'iite and fancy drills. fur pantai :ns. Pi mi black Velvet and b..ks, for vesting-, V..:. and i"anc Marseilles, lor do. su- . : qu dity. '.-.: oeaver Hats, latest fashion, &c. lie has on h ind, and intends keep r r. a i;ood Assortment nf ready 7.7 ; 'V i'ests and Pantaloons. Those ds will be sold at very reduced pne s ifor cash, or on credit to punc-i- i! customers. 35-4 Tarborough, April 25, IS31. No Tariff of Prices. FREE T11ADE. Eat theme-are, Looking-Glasses, -c-THOMAS J. BARROW & CO. Importers, 88 Water si. New-York, OFFER for sale, the largest and most complete assortment of Earther. :::rt Glass, China, plain and gilt Loo k-vig-ULssez, l?c. which the New-York market will afford, comprising every style and variety of the newest patterns. They i eturn their most cordial thanks to t'.eir friends in the Southern States, for il.tir support in the persecution now ear ning on against them, for their tefusal to j . 'a a combination in fixing one tariff of I-ii'-.cs for Crockery, throughout the e. It is mainly attributable to the in ure 01 our Southern friends that we e iic.ii enabled to survive thu, fa J, in n. -st trying situation; exposed to the hi;:, d i o fine: ice ui. I capital of the 'hole trade, en.ie.avoring to effect our T':U) .md expulsic'ii from uiisii.ess. We I'lcde ourselves to our friends to give tV.'Mi every satisfaction in our power as 1'.:-; ii ds the qvndity of our goods, Die ex tt'li'jr.ce of our packers and the lowncss f-t ' 'ir prices for Cash or City Acceptan ce ; uid in return, solicit from them a o il '..uar.ee of their patronage, and pa! -t itlv request those who have influ ence with their friends to exert it in our U-ht:f, as we trust the cause is one thev '"' a'l interested in, and much bene fit j vli accrue to us from their friendly acts Hi this way. It h;s been said, the Coin i:i.a'a.n was brcktn up. As it t et' ards 1-vir t s, tliis is true, and all, we think, fnynds or foes will allow that we 'i-ve tftttted this change; but we do assnri fir triend, that at no period since we commenced our system of unshackled prices were we in greater want of assist -axe than at the present moment. I his Conibination of men are lea ing no means untried for effecting our ruin, that ihey "nay revive: the old system: our t edit and character are assailed in every shape, our importations waylaid and stopped in every instance where threats are suffi cient to intimidate the manufacturers .rom supplying us; in fine, no vexation cr trouble which the n,.dice of men could device has been neieucd in th'v. struggle to subdue us. Wc ence more call upon u-ry Friend of a free trade to come up to support, and plcd.ee ourselves to give no cause to repent of their liberality. T. J. BJlHROtV ty CO. C.S Hrater-strcLt, above Old slip. Jan. 1831. 2i Hilton C5a3etre . TVlll' 0ice of the Mdton Gazette and I 1 Roanoke Jdjeriiscr i for sle; and 11 sfid at a great sacrifice. The cases and all of the Materials are 1 s- 1 ne office is furnisned with every l ''--tcrial requisite for the furtherance of I 'em and-.. f;ie 'loo-prinling & adver- Illias, and continues to be, respecta More tha'n half the purchase mo niay be assumed in bank. The cription Liot has at all times, (under r' 'nuiiaKemeiit of the late Editor,) a djout 300, the most of wliorn I subscribers. Any person purchase, may apply and offer a great bargain. To the Pccmcn of the od Congressional district of N. C. Fellow-Chzexs: a short cnununication made to you recently, I promised mient, telgo more at large into the general subject of Ir provements4l also the repeal, not of the Constitution or any part of it, or ol the Unioj but, a repeal of a single section of an old act of Congress, winch is know? to be defective in several of its nrovisirm n, T hi ought to be revUd aJ corrected, as there are other parts beside the 25th section contain unconstitutional provisions. A part of the 13th section, giving to theSrerne Court power not warranted by the Constitution, has long since by at Court been declared, and properly so, to be unconstitu tional. And I (lave very little doubt, that if properly presented for deci sion, other pai tjof this same act would meet the same fate, for 1 feel confi dent. they uYsei.'p it. If the doctrine, that to repeal a single section of this act would repe jhe Constitution be true, would it not be equally true, that the Supreme Oelrt in declaring a part of it unconstitutional, would declare ihe CoiiMituiioiiiself unconstitutional? Suppose, for instance, the Su preme Court shujdd declare the 25th section ununsliiulional, would it not follow that tiieyfjad declared the Constitution unconstitutional, if the doc trine that to f)eal the one would repeal the other, be true? For if it would repeal th Union, what let me ask is the Union? Is not the Consti U)r.t Uuiot? Is no! the Federal Constitution that Federal Union, of viiirh H r.s beej so empiiai ically said in a celebrated toast, "It must be u esei red?" I j'pea1. Hie Constitution is the Union. Repeal or destroy it, you dissolve ie U'non. Congress has no right Jo repeal any part of H; no.ie but. the p'ljpk have the rigid, and they have in the instrument itself p'duted out how any change oi tuditiou are to be made to it. Jt may be come a nullity hi being disivgai i. d. as ii has been in many instances by Congress. I will for the pitseot say u.i more upon this suhjert, but pro ceed to such an exposit)ii of the general subject of Internal Improvement, us my duy to you and myself i niauds. I would impress upon o;y fellow citizens, a fundamental principle, which our predecessors intended to fay down in the lnnation of our political in stituri.wis. it is, that lie two governments, t he general or Federal, and the i.ieal or Stale governments, should be considers! as separate a.id distinct ageiiC.es, e .taluisiied bythe,people for different purposes. T-' one for the management of a few Miiject of a general character, with powers o;dy de legated, and carefully enumerated. A 11 the other powers, beside tho-e dele gated to the general government, have either been retained by the people, the real sovereign powe, or delegated to tlie local State govern me.its, as their agents as subordiiate powers. All the powers of both govern men ts are only delegated the must therefore be subordinate to iiie authority making die delegation, the people, in trust for themselves; and not alone for those who may be cdle.d to the management, or administration of gov ernment. The 9th and 1 0th amendments of the IVntitutioti, together wilh o doctrine fairly aril beautifully deduced by the Si. seme Court, from the 6th article of the ("institution, completely in my e- J i atiou establish the principle of a distincteparation of the powers H" the neial and State governments. To preseit the subject to view, I quote M 9h and 10th amendments, as well as t lie language of tiie Supieme Court to which 1 have alluded. j 9th. "The enumeration irthe Constitution cf certain rights, shall not be con strued to deny or disparage others retained by the people." 10th. "The powers not delegated to the United btates by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." j These two taken in connexion shew clearly the intention, to define and mark out a line of separation, each having its own sphere of action over sub jects appropriately belou;intr to it. iu tlie eae of Gibbons vs. Ogden, the Chief justice, in delivering the opinion of the Court, alluding to ihe power! to regulate commerce, says: "We are now arrived at the inquiry, what is this power? It is the power to re gulate, that is, to prescribe the rule by which commerce i? to be governed. This power, like all others vested in Congress, iscomitete in used'. It has always been imdei stood, that the sovereignty of Congress, though limited to specified objects, is pien ti'v as to those objects." This doctrine can only mean, that the powers granted to Congress by the people in the Constitution, are full or plenary powers over the subjects com mitted to its agency, and consequently exclusive powers. The word sove reignty, if appVfed to Congress, as it sometimes has been, would be objec tionable. Congress is not the sovereign power of the countrybut an agency, with powers plenary quoad hoc over particular subjects. Again: "Full power to regulate a particular thin-, implies the whole power. A grant I of the whole is incompatible with the existence of a right in another to any part of it." ; I think this lai g,;rjg- appropriate and clear, cmd taken in connexion with' the evident sense ai.d meaning of the foregoing amendments, establishes the principle, that neithei government can interfere with the appropriate and: constitutional powers of the other. I wish this part of the subj- o kept; well in view, because it is necessary as a first principle. ? All the powers vested in Congress are plenary powers--they are then of I necessity exclusive powers. And if so, they cannot, intermingle or be made j concurrent, or conjoint, with the powers of the State Legislatures and it follows as a matter of course, that within their proper sphere of action, when fm. fined to (heir oroner and constitutional purposes, the powers of the State - ' ' . . . . i . i . i governments are equally plenary and exclusive, iiotn aie o in men pio-, per place, neither so out of it. Accordingly then to the foreg-i'ig doctrine, j ihe power '-to regulate, commerce with foreign nations, amongs the several States, and with the Indian tribes," being like all the other constitutional-? nnwr,s. full nower over the subicct, must be exclusive and cannot be par ticipated. This being true, it utterly precludes the idea of the right of Con fess to effect in whole or in part, by any means, a system oi internal im provement within the jurisdictional limits of a Stale the Slate governments undoubtedly having the right. The only works or edifices in the charats ,.t ;nr(,(I,n!(nu whifb Cmurrfs is authorized to erect orlahncale with- in any of the Slates, are provided for, in the latter part of the bth section of the 1st article of the Constitution. To enable Congress to erect -needtul bu.I- dings" for the operations of the legislative and executive departments ot the; government, it was urovided in the Constitution that Congress should have "To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district , (not exceeding ten miles square,) as may, by cession of Particular f acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the govenimei. jt oi 1 1 e U t uted ota cs , . in. (i,.;, ,rc. ..n r,i..,-pc imrr.hased. by tlie consent oi uie ami to exercise uivc aumwnvi w gislature of the State in which the same shall be, tor cue erccnou ui fa zines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings. The control of these subjects is entirely in Congress-they are the onlj subjects, in the character of improvement, or edifices, within a State which Congress has the power to make, and not even these without the prerequi site of acquiring the whole and exclusive government, by purchas and cession over the places where erected; with which places after this, the s:. ,, ; .u;u .i k Mnnt intorfp.re in anv way. 1 here 13 a great misUkp. in .opposing that the improvement of rivers, bays, inlets, and har-j bors, and making roads and canals in the States, stand upon the -a:ie footing They are no where provided for, either directly or indirectly, in the Con stitution. Would the friends of internal improvements pretend that the States could cede to Congress or the general government, the rivr, bays, and all the pubTrc highways upo which commerce is carried on? If so, what would be left what power would the State governments have? They would be utterly useless. The Constitution of North-Carolina expressly says: "The property of the soil in a free government, being one of the essential rights of the collective, body of the people, it is necessary in order to avoid future dis putes, that the limits of the State should be ascertained with- precision." Then, after describing the boundary line on-thc South, ii says: "Therefore all the territory, seas, waters, and harbors, with their appurtenan ces, lying between the above described line, ikc.ur.d the southern line of Virginia, are the right and property of the people of this State, to be held by them in full sovereignty." I believe no part of these things has been parted with or ceded, nor could they be, without a violation of the Federal Constitution, unless for such pur poses as have been provided for in the instrument. Congress has the pow er lo build forts, dockyards, &c. within a Slate, only upon the same princi ple that it could build the Capitol, the executive departments, navy yard, and other needful buildings in the District of Columbia. Not because Con gress had the right to legislate, but because having first obtained by the method pointed out in the Constitution, the right of soil and of exclusive jurisdiction, by cession from Maryland and Virginia, of the two portions of these Slates composing the district, it could then ot right, and not till then, place or erect any such building or improvement as it might deem pro per. And so, of the other subjects mentioned. All that class ofimprove ments requires as an iudispensible pre-requisite, the obtaining by purchase and cession, agreeably to the mode pointed out, the right to the soil and to exclusive management, 'with which the State laws can ndt of right interfere. The words needful buildings, are supposed to include the necessary subor dinate buildings, about the objects mentioned. The same view has inclu ded light-houses, and the same pi e-requisite of cession, &c. has been hip"; and if neglected for any subject of this character, pertaining to navigation, the proper duty of the government has been neglected, and so far the thing has been done without right or authority. Gordon, in his digest of the laws of the United States, says: "No light-house shall be built on ;my site previous to the cession of jurisdiction over the same to tiie United States." Under the head of off-noes ngains' tho U. S -See "If any per-son or pei sons withi-i any fort. : rkyard, navy yard, arsenal, armo ry, or magazine, tlie site whereof is ceded to a ul under eh- ;urisd;ctkn -f the Cni te:d States, or on the site of any light !;.:;.., or .the- n-.dfut building belonging to the United States, the site whereof is ceded to them," ccc. exc. It is quite im aterial to what par'ieuiar one o th.:- granted powers the objects are reterred, as adjuncts they cannot i a thai accouot be authorised or accomplished, until the title to the place and ee!usivo power c er it are outaiued; and Him. the light to u eel any i.eeuful building takes efieci. The power lu regulate commerce, like thnt to jeguiaie ihe mati,so far as relates lo our public highways the ways on which commerce and the. mail are transported is merely a right of way. Tins right and power is over the subject and-vehicle, and does not ffect the highways. Congress legis lates over both these subjects, so as to mak aiiu prescribe the legal roles by which they are lo be governed; ami iv.ien the judicial power is required to act upon cases originating under these laws, in conn xion with either of the subjects, Ihe Federal Courts take cognizance of tnsc eases. But does not the least informed know, that any other cases occurring on those pub lic highways than such as are connected with the mail, or with navigation and commerce, refer themselves to the jurisdiction of the State tribunals? If Congress has the r ight to make, alter, amend, or abolish our public high ways within the State, none of which have been ceded to it, does not every one see that the consequence must, soon bean entire obliteration of all the power of the Stale authorities, and in that case our system of government is destroyed by consolidation? On the other hand, dismemberment Would equally destroy our beautiful scheme of government beautiful and useful too, if each part fulfils its proper duties. The only way to effect this, is a strict observance of the conditions of the Constitution itself the only bond of union. It must, I think, be perfectly plain, according to the foregoing reasoning, that the exercise of the power byr Congress to make internal improvements, either roads and canals, or those upon water courses, harbors, bays, &c. is entirely unauthorised by the Constitution. The consent of a Stale would nut give the power. The consent of a State could no more give Congress a right to do that which it had not a right to do under the Constitution, than 1 could give another individual a right to do an unlawful act. If Con gress under a power to pass laws for the regulation of commerce, has the right to make ihe ways, still more would it seem reasonable, that it should make the vehicle, and all the more immediate adjuncts. If it has the pow er t make ihe vehicles, as it surely must, according to the doctrine that a power to regulate is a power to make, and if this be true then Congress has a right to make or cause to. he made, every7 thing which may be made cr fabricated, having any relation to commerce -vcn the articles exchanged, the exchange of equivalents being commerce in rts m-st confined meaning and then see to what a strange state of thins." w come. Merchants n -ed no longer build their own ves els out ih. ir owe mans, because they are useful in carrying on commerce; and so likewise as usHui aids in their ou- siness, they may have built at the public expense their wharves, warehou ses, drays, carts arid wheelbarrows. These, then, however ab-urd in appearance, are the necessary conse quences of the doctrine about tlie regulation of commerce. The true way to try the soundness ot any doctrine is to run it out to its conseqm t.ces. But where, let me ask the people ol this country, is tlie money, hect.v.iry to c.rry on sucti a system ot iniquity to come irom HA'en u conrmttt to water courses and bays, harbors, &c. more would be demanded than the people could furnish, with the whole amount of their sweat and blood. And they ought lo recollect one thing, t'ie government never spends one dollar that does not come from their pockets. But the same rule will apply to the regulation of commerce among the Stales and then we should have to pay for wagons, pedlar's carts, canal boats, and God knows what. Even supposing, for the sake of saving appearances, it should be confined to mak ing and repairing the public highways' and other grand schemes, too tedious to. mention will the people be so blind as to ruin themselves? The public debt must be very soon paid off let me ask, do they mean to be taxed merely for the pleasure of hav ing the money squandered in every idle project, as has been the case ever since the commencement of (his system out of which in the long run, no thing but iniquity, mischief, and ruin can come? How are you to get clear of paying taxes, if you submit to every sort of lavish expenditure? Let the ipoli'ey be applied to the proper purpose, and when the debt is paid off, reduce the amount to what is merely necessary to carry on the government. In this way thirteen or fourteen millions of dollars a year might be saved to the people, so much of restriction would be taken from commerce, which, reviving under tMs relief, would give a spring to agriculture, and place all in. a much better condition. Then indeed, if the people every where have more money than they know what to do with, in God's name let them