of our countrymen will terminate the controversies to which it has given rise. For let it be disguised as it may-let it be clothed with ambiguities, covered with verbiage, it is neither more nor less than an assumption by the government, of power to regulate the distribution of labour and of wealth throughout our country, and to apply the property of one portion of our citizens to encourage and reward the idle, or wasteful, or speculative projects of another. On the last, it is sufficient to remark, that it is one which has not been submitted to the Congress of the United States, and in which it will not be permitted to interfere. Our observations in the following pages shall be confined to the doctrine of internal improvements, that part of our practical system, which, on its present principles, is most liable to abuse, and yet most readily admitting of correction; that "threatening ill" which, if the statesmen of our country could again unite in a cordial and equitable spirit, might easily be removed from among the causes that must act injuriously on the harmony of the Union.

In a former article* in this journal, we have spoken of the constitutional right to exercise this prerogative. When we find every great defender of this power placing it on a different basis, deriving it from a different source, nothing can be more strong than the conviction that it is derived from constructioùnot from a distinct and specific grant. When on the other hand, we notice how clear and definite are the expressions of the Constitution whenever it was intended to grant power; that every proposition made in the Convention to include, expressly, objects of this nature among the prerogatives granted to the government, was uniformly rejected; and, that the authors of the Constitution repeatedly and invariably declared that no power was granted or intended to be granted, which was not openly expressed. It seems impossible to deny that this construction of the Constitution is an assumption of authority not intended to be granted by those who framed that instrument, not supposed to be granted by those who adopted it. If these witnesses are not to be received and credited, in vain shall we hope to set any limit to the constructive claims of the government, unless by such means as every patriot would wish to avoid, as no citizeu can look to without recoiling from the unwelcome prospect. How striking is the language of the great Roman orator, when in one of his pleadings, as if uttering words of wisdom for our instruction, he eloquently exclaims-" Quod lex, quod senatusconsultum, quod magistratus edictum, quod fœdus aut pactio,

* Vol. i. p. 291.

quod (ut ad privatas res redeam) testamentum; quæ judicia aut stipulationes, aut pacti et conventi formula non infirmari aut convelli potest, si ad verba rem deflectere velimus; consilium autem eorum qui scripserunt et rationem et auctoritatem, relinquamus?"

The government has passed on in its course, and the opinions, the reasons, and the authority of those who established this covenant, have been abandoned. Substance has given way to form, words have been rendered paramount to intentions, and the principles of the compact have been essentially altered and broken in upon, if not totally subverted. It is in vain to conceal the fact, our Constitution is becoming a dead letter; and excepting as to the times, places, and manner of holding elections, and the qualification of electors, which have been fortunately left to the superintendence and control of the State Legislatures; and the very few, and (if we except the restriction imposed on the States) very unimportant points which have been positively interdicted, we know not what restraints are considered as now existing or imposed on the operation of the government, and of its tribunals. Every year power is added to power, precedent heaped upon precedent, and the outposts and bulwarks of the Constitution, around which, some twenty or thirty years ago, such stormy, and, for a time, such successful contests were maintained, have been swept away by the slow, but unceasing tide of encroachment.

If we had leisure and materials to take an historical review of the practice of our government on every occasion where internal improvements or subjects connected with them were introduced, it would open a wide field for observation and reflection. There would be discovered the strong bias and operation, not of party but of sectional principles; the continued prevalence of a spirit which forever vigilant, forever careful of sectional interests, has succeeded in locating every establishment of the government, navy yards, armories, military schools, &c. to the north of the Potomac, or on its borders. No advantage of this nature, however small, was overlooked-while the members from the Southern States, with the careless liberality which belongs to their character were contented, so the government went on prosperously, to forego all local advantages. Hence, while navy yards were established at so many points, and at such short intervals from Norfolk to Portsmouth, no one was located along the long line of southern coast. Since the acquisition of Florida, the increasing commerce of the Mississippi, and the increasing influence of the Western States, have compelled the government to VOL. II. NO. 4.

60

pay some attention to this subject, and a navy yard has been commenced at Pensacola; but Port Royal, which, from all we know and can learn, is at least equal to Pensacola in all respects, superior in the advantages which a great rise of the tide affords, has always been in our possession and always neglected. If not equal in depth of water on the bar to some of our northern harbours,* it yet sheltered, during the siege of Charleston in 1780, the ships of the line which convoyed the British army to Carolina, and we doubt whether the Dutch ever built a ship of war which might not have entered that inlet-and whatever may be the declining fortunes of Holland at the present day, history attests that on the ocean they have never been an inexpert, nor contemptible adversary. Even now, the coast from Norfolk to Pensacola, on which there is no public establishment where vessels can be sheltered, provisioned or repaired, exceeds fourteen hundred miles; and the heavy materials for ship-building are all transported at a great expense, from seven hundred to one thousand miles, to avoid the necessity of building near the places where they are collected.

It seemed, indeed, as if the Southern States were considered unsuitable for any national establishment, and all must, of necessity, be located at the North-yet, while the habits of the government, if we may use the expression, were economical, these partialities were unnoticed, or only excited some occasional murmurs. But these times have passed away-the doctrines and feelings of the government have undergone an entire revolution since it has been discovered, that internal improvements could be smuggled in through the post-office, or as a commercial regulation, or along a military road, or in some guise or other, or that a majority of Congress was determined, at all events, to have them introduced, because, according to the commentary of that learned casuist Lord Peter, on a similar occasion, if they were not included in the provisions of the Constitution "totidem

* This inlet has been lately surveyed by the orders of the Naval Department. We know not the result of this examination, but in 1798, it was, at the request of the inhabitants of Beaufort, carefully examined and sounded by two skilful seamen, who had, for many years, been commanders of vessels in the merchant service. They found on the bar, at low tide, twenty one and a half feet of water. The tides, on this part of our coast, never rise, we believe, less than six feet with any wind with which a heavy vessel can enter our harbours; on spring tides, or with eastwardly winds, the rise of the tide is generally from seven to ten feet. We know not why all of our vessels need be built on one model, even if that model has some advantages, or that on a coast like our's, where, for more than a thousand miles, the entrance into our harbours is difficult-that all the advantages of shelter and refreshment should be sacrificed or abandoned to the one advantage of sailing somewhat closer on a wind.

sententiis," nor even "totidem verbis,"* they were at least to be discovered "totidem litteris." There is no longer any limit imposed on the expenditures of the government, no longer any claim, we might almost say, any pretence to an economical administration. The boast and the triumph latterly have been derived from the magnitude of the sums which have been lavished away; the struggle from many portions of the country is, to persuade the government to expend, heedlessly and profusely, only taking care to secure to their own neighbourhoods as great a portion as possible of these expenditures. In this struggle, all who have thought this system improper, or who could not patiently persevere in soliciting favours, have been laughed at for their simplicity, and rewarded accordingly.

A very short examination of the operation of the government under this system will shew us not only how liable it will be, if not corrected, to abuse, but how certainly it will and must be abused. We must recal a few facts, and exhibit a few statements before we enter into any argument on the subject.

It will probably surprise those who have become accustomed to the enormous and unqualified grants of modern days to be informed that the miscellaneous expenditures of the government from the year 1799 to 1811, inclusive, did not exceed four hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars-and this sum was distributed so strictly, according to the exigencies of the country, that more than one half (two hundred and forty-four thousand dollars) was expended to the south of the Potomac. But the fixed and steady expenditures were otherwise applied. The navy yards, as far as established, the armories, the military school, were all placed to the north of the Potomac, or on its banks, and the annual expense of these institutions was not inconsiderable.t The Cumberland road, the unfortunate prototype of so many fantastic projects, the first, we believe the only instance in which Mr. Jefferson, (led by his anxiety to give new value to the recently acquired territory of Louisiana, and perhaps to con

*To those who wish to study the canons of interpretation, we would recommend a careful perusal of the 2d section of that grave and erudite work, the "Tale of a Tub." It will there be seen how easily discreet and ingenious men can remove obstacles, arising either from the presence or absence of words. We cannot follow the heirs in this Tale through all the difficulties their father's Will presented, but referring to the debates themselves, only add, that after having been sorely perplexed they came finally to the conclusion that "they, as heirs-general of their father, had power to make and add certain clauses for public emolument, though not deducible, totidem verbis, from the letter of the Will, or else multa absurda sequerentur.” + We have nothing but the acts of Congress within our reach, and in them the appropriations are made in general terms for the naval or military service, &c. The reports of the different departments and of the Committees of Congress, contained the different specifications, and to them we have not, at present, the power of referring.

ciliate the Western States) departed from his principles in regard to the construction of the Constitution, is on the dividing line between the two great sections of our country, and although certainly more useful to the States north of the Ohio than to those on the south, will, as regards this question, be considered as on neutral ground. After the termination, however, of the war with Great Britain, when the feelings of the country were in a state of excitement, and great appropriations were made to fortify our sea-coasts, and increase our navy, it unfortunately became also fashionable to advocate schemes of internal improvement. These were, at first, considered as speculative questions, but private interests soon became enlisted in the discussion, and after the judicial construction given to the Constitution in 1819, by the Supreme Court of the United States, which favoured the extension of power, projects, without number, have burst forth under the united influence of policy and interest, and have, without regard to any fixed principle or just or liberal apportionment, been pressed upon the country by every one who wished to be conspicuous in a particular district, or in a limited circle. Under some such malign influence, schemes have sprung upon us like the plagues from Pandora's box, and have scarcely left behind them the hope that our union can eventually survive these evils.

Even the system which was projected for our protection and defence, was permitted to assume this partial and sectional character-while the great appropriations for fortifications were apparently distributed in equal proportions to the north, the east, the south and the west, yet, great inequalities actually existed. The great expenditures in that which is termed the southern division, were at Norfolk, by which the country, connected with the Chesapeake on the northern side of the Potomac was equally protected, and in which it is as much interested as that in the south. In the western division, the great appropriations were for New-Orleans, and it can be no heresy to state, that these appropriations would never have been so great if the Western States, and particularly those to the northwest of the Ohio, had not considered themselves deeply interested in the security of that city. On examining the latest reports from the War Department, this inequality becomes more conspicuous, as local interests have acquired new strength.

In the documents accompanying the President's Message to Congress on the 4th of December, 1827, the military works projected by the Board of Engineers which had not been commenced are separated into three classes.