Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

duty, of which it is a part; it is to say that a part contains the whole.

To repel invasion is to drive back and resist that which has already happened. To protect against invasion is to prevent its happening, to secure against its existence. The one act is against an event that has occurred-the other is to ensure and guard against the occurrence of such an event.

To protect against invasion, is to erect fortresses, to have them well manned, and supplied with all requisite stores, to provide and equip ships of war, to have an army and navy well organized and disciplined, in peace and in war. To repel invasion is one specific act of war, against another act of the like character.

To repel invasion is one part of the duty of providing for the common defence, and for this part a particular force is granted. To say that a grant of this force, for this special service, includes a grant of the same force for the purposes of protection and defence, is to say that a grant for one purpose, is a grant for another, and for every purpose, and that the grant of a limited is the grant of a general authority. This would be both illogical and irrational. And if under the limitations, which were intended to control the powers granted to the government of the United States, and especially under the express limitation, viz. "that powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, or to the people," such construction may be adopted, there remains no security for any right reserved to the States, or to the people.

However conclusive this reasoning may be, it is not to be presumed that, after the strides of power in which the spirit of party has indulged, it will have any effect on those who direct the affairs of this country; I will, sir, however, refer to opinions and authorities in confirmation of what has been advanced, that to many gentlemen did not formally admit either of exception or appeal.

These are to be found in the resolutions and arguments of the legislature of Virginia, and of Mr. Madison, one of that legislature in the years 1799 and 1800. I refer the Senate to the third resolution passed by that body, and framed by the pen of the President, in the words following:

"3. Resolved, That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the Federal Government, as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties, submitted by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact, as no further valid than they are anthorized by the grants enumerated in that contract; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other power not granted by the same compacts, the States who are parties thereto have a right and are in duty bound to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their

respective limits the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them."

"It is said, that Congress are, by the constitution, to protect each State against invasion, and that the means of preventing are included in the power of protection against it."

"The power of war in general having been before granted by the constitution, this clause must either be a mere specification, for greater caution and certainty, of which there are other examples in the constitution, or be the injunetion of a duty, superadded to a grant of power. Under either explanation, it cannot enlarge the powers of Congress on the subject. The power and duty to protect each State against an invading enemy would be the same, under the general powers, if this regard to greater caution had been omitted."

"Invasion is an operation of war. To protect against invasion is an exercise of the power of war. A power, therefore, not incident to war, cannot be incident to a particular modification of war. And as the removal of alien friends has appeared to be no incident to a general state of war, it cannot be incident to a partial state, or to a particular modification of war."

"Nor can it ever be granted, that a power to act on a case, when it actually occurs, includes a power over all the means that may tend to prevent the occurrence of the case. Such a latitude of construction would render unavailing every practicable definition of limited powers."*

If the observations which I have made, are founded on truth, and justified by the constitution, the following positions are established, viz.:

That the United States have no right to call on the several States for militia to perform any act of war, but to repel invasion.

That to defend the ports and harbors of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the purpose for which the militia was required in 1812, is not within the power delegated by the constitution to provide for calling forth the militia to repel invasion. In the case alluded to in 1812, it was not declared by the President, nor even pretended by his officers, that any invasion was made. In fact, no invasion was attempted until two years after this time. If the United States had no authority to make the requisition, the governor would have betrayed his duty to the State, in complying with the demand.

That the United States had no such authority, I think evident from the examination that has been made of the powers delegated by the constitution. And the State of Massachusetts, instead of being a just object of censure, by the United States, has a well-founded complaint against their government, for an attempt to usurp her rights and invade her prerogative.

* See proceedings in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the 7th January, 1800, on the resolutions of the General Assembly of December 21st, 1798

A question has sometimes been suggested, whether the governor of a State has a right to judge if the requisition be within the provisions of the constitution. A little reflection on the nature of the Government of the United States, and of a State, and of the relation in which the supreme executive of the latter stands to the United States, and to the citizens of his particu-the-line nearly completed, and a frigate all lar State, will show that he is obliged to examine, if the case for which the requisition is made, be within the provisions of the constitution, and if the purposes for which it is declared are manifestly not within the powers delegated by that instrument, to withhold a compliance.

The government of the United States can exercise no powers not granted by the constitution; and so far as this government can support such as it claims on this charter, it is sovereign, and has no other control than its own discretion.

requested a detachment of eleven hundred militia to occupy the fort and harbor of Boston. Governor Strong, although under no constitutional obligation to call forth the militia for the purposes required, yet seeing the forlorn condition of the country, the vast property of the United States in the navy yard, a ship-ofabandoned by the government to the mercy of the enemy-at the same time that these offered to him great temptations to attack and destroy the capital of the State and its environs-and feeling authorized by the resolution of the legislature of Massachusetts, detached the militia, in confidence that the agreement made with General Cushing would be fulfilled.

At the end of their term of service, these men were offered an uncurrent and depreciated paper, as their only compensation.

ment of the militia, for the purpose of protecting and defending such parts of that State, and New Hampshire, as were not in the occupation of the enemy.

Such complaints and objections had arisen in executing the order of July, that the governor, although he issued an order for troops, found himself obliged to place the detachment under the command of a major-general of the militia.

In the beginning of September, General DearThe government of the several States is born notified the governor that the enemy had equally sovereign with respect to every power taken possession of a considerable part of the of an independent State, which it has not dele-State of Massachusetts, and requested a detachgated by the same instrument to the United States, or which is not thereby prohibited to the several States. It is, also, a sacred duty of the governments of the several States, to preserve unimpaired every right and authority retained by the State, either in its corporate capacity, or for its individual citizens. Whether the militia, the peculiar force of the several States, and that which is to protect and defend every right and power they possess, is called forth by the United States according to the provisions which they made, in delegating to this government its powers, must of necessity be a question between two sovereign independent governments, and on which there is no tribunal authorized to judge between them. And if the governors, who are commanders-inchief of the militia of the several States, should surrender this force to the United States, in a case not authorized by the constitution, they would betray the trust confided to them by the citizens of their States. They must, therefore, examine the case when called upon, and decide according to their duty as prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, and that of their particular State shall demand.

General Cushing, while superintendent of the military district in which Massachusetts is situated, informed Governor Strong that he expected an order from the President of the United States, to request a detachment of militia for the defence of the sea-coast, and particularly of Boston. That he had not more troops than sufficient to man one of the forts, and proposed that one should be occupied by the militia, and that, while out, they should be subject to the command of no officer of the United States, except the superintendent of the district. The governor acceded to the proposal.

General Dearborn shortly after superseded General Cushing, and on the 8th of July, by order of the President, and in confirmation of the expectation of Brigadier-General Cushing,

The governor immediately addressed a letter to the Secretary of State, requesting to know from the President if the expenses, thus necessarily incurred for the protection of the State, would be ultimately reimbursed to that State by the United States.

The answer was, that if the force thus put into service by the governor had been required by General Dearborn, or received by him, and put under his command, the expenses attending it would be defrayed by the United States. If otherwise, in either of these particulars, the United States were not chargeable with the expense.

Here is a distinct and plain case, in which the United States had neglected that protection which they were expressly bound to afford the State, and thereby occasioned the loss of a fifth part of its territory ;* and then called upon the State itself to protect the remaining territory. The State obeyed the call, and reserved only that right which the constitution, in express terms, reserved, viz., the appointment of officers to command the militia required; and the United States say this expense must be borne by the State, and that they will not reimburse the amount, because the militia is not placed

There were, at the attack and capture of Castine, twenty

eight men and a Lieutenant in the fort. This was all the protection for one of the most important harbors and rivers of the United States, and affording the best situation for a naval depot for Great Britain.

under the command of an officer of the United States. *

She is now called on by this bill for $632,041 to defend other parts of the territory of the United States, and her citizens, more exposed than any other, are left to provide for their own

For this act of injustice, for this neglect of duty in the United States towards the State of Massachusetts, for this abandonment of terri-defence. tory to the violence of the enemy, I have never heard the smallest apology.

They who calculated on the ability of Massachusetts to pay, from the exactness and punctuality which she has heretofore observed in the

I forbear to mention the rights of the State, the necessity to which this wanton abandon-discharge of taxes, will recollect, that her ment by those who ought to protect them may reduce the inhabitants. The laws of self-preservation and of nature, confirmed by that of nations, afford the rule for any member of a confederacy thus deserted and forsaken.

I most earnestly hope, that although cruelly deserted by the government, which contrary to their entreaties brought them into this perilous condition, that citizens of the country may be able to defend themselves. They will do all that men can do under their circumstances. But I am confident, that if this tax be collected there, and paid into the Treasury of the United States, for the exclusive support and defence of others, they will be destitute of the means of making any adequate resistance. I cannot, therefore, vote for this bill.

The present year the Commonwealth has expended more than $700,000 in her own defence.

In the military district, No. 1, which included New Hampshire and Massachusetts, there were less than one thousand three hundred men. These were scattered over an extensive tract of country. In the forts in Boston harbor, there were not two hundred and sixty men, and in the other forts in the State a very small corps, inadequate to any defence. There was, however, a major-general, a brigadiergeneral, and several colonels. In no one place were there

men enough to constitute a colonel's command.

faculty to meet the demands of the Treasury, even in times the most prosperous, arose principally from the daring enterprise, unrivalled industry, and rigid economy of the inhabitants; that her resources are now annihilated, and she is borne down by obloquy, insult, and oppression.

They who have observed the patience wherewith she has submitted to see the public treasure squandered, to purchase slanders against her citizens, and notwithstanding a complete failure by the full confession of the hireling, that these citizens were so far beyond all temptation as not even to be approached for dishonorable purposes, has been subject to the most degrading insinuations, from the first authority; who have witnessed all the resources of her wealth, all the means of her industry, the object of unabating persecution from the government, and her possessions coldly and expressly abandoned, by the same authority, to the depre dations and seizure of the enemy, may conceive that taxes like these will still be paid for the exclusive protection of others; but if gentlemen will only condescend to view the people of this country as their brethren, as freemen, as men, they must come to the conclusion that, had they the means, they could not possibly have the will.

[ocr errors]

RED JACKET.

Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or He-keeps-them-awake,* "the last of the Senecas," is said to have been born at a place called Old Castle, at the foot of the Seneca Lake, near the present lovely village of Geneva. His early history exists only in tradition, which says, "that at the age of seventeen, his abilities, especially his activity in the chase, and his remarkably tenacious memory, attracted the esteem and admiration of his tribe, and he was frequently employed during the war of the Revolution, as a runner, to carry despatches," for the British officers who were engaged on the border service. "In that contest," says the author above quoted, "he took little or no part as a warrior; and it would appear that, like his celebrated predecessors in rhetorical fame, Demosthenes and Cicero, he better understood how to rouse his countrymen to war than to lead them to victory." Some incidents relating to his slender military career during the invasion of the Genesee country by General Sullivan, account for the reputation he bore for cowardice, and the enmity and contempt he experienced from the Mohawk chief Brant. After the battle of Newtown, which was so disastrous to the Indians, Red Jacket was accustomed to hold private councils with the young warriors, and some of the more timid sachems, the object of which was to persuade them to sue for peace, and at one time he so far succeeded as to induce them to send privately, and without the knowledge of the principal war chiefs, a runner into General Sullivan's camp, to make known to him the spirit of dissatisfaction and division that prevailed among the Indians, and to invite him to send a flag of truce with certain propositions calculated to increase their divisions and produce a dishonorable peace. Brant, who was privately informed of all these proceedings, and fearing the consequences of disclosing and attempting to suppress them by forcible means, despatched secretly two confidential warriors to waylay the flag on its return from the American camp, and to put the bearer of it to death, and return with his despatches. This was done with true Indian adroitness, and the purposes of the Seneca chief were thereby frustrated. † During the same campaign an attempt was made by Cornplanter, to oppose General Sullivan's forces on the beach of the Canandaigua lake. "On the approach of the Americans, a small number of the Indians, among whom was Red Jacket, began to retreat. Cornplanter exerted himself to rally them. He sprang in front of Red Jacket and endeavored to persuade him to fight-but in vain. Whereupon the indignant chief, turning to the young wife of the recreant warrior, exclaimed-'Leave that man-he is a coward.'"

*His name of "Red Jacket," by which he was so long familiarly known among the white people, is said to have been acquired in the following manner: During the war just mentioned, his activity and intelligence attracted the attention of several officers in the service of the British crown, and acquired for him their friendship. One of them, either as a compliment, or for services rendered, "presented him with a richly embroidered scarlet jacket, which he took great pride in wearing. When this was worn out, he was presented with another; and he continued to wear this peculiar dress until it became a mark of distinction, and gave him the name by which he was afterward best known. At the treaty of 1794, held at Canandaigua, Captain Parish, one of the interpreters in the service of the United States, gave him another red jacket, to perpetuate the name to which he was so much attached.'"-Sketch of Red Jacket, in M'Kenney's Indian Biography.

+ Life of Joseph Brant, by William L. Stone, vol. 2, page 35.

History of the Indian Tribes of North America, &c., by Thomas L. M'Kenney and James Hall vol. 1, page 4.

From this period until the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in the year 1784, the history of Red Jacket is lost. At what time he attained his chieftainship is not known. The Six Nations were lovers of eloquence and cultivators of that art.* Red Jacket's intellect was of a superior order. He was an orator by nature, and, moreover, as artful and ambitious as he was eloquent. Aspiring to the rank of a chief, he not only wrought upon the minds of his people by the exertion of that faculty, which was ever with them a high standard of merit, but he succeeded in availing himself of the superstitious constitution of his race, to effect his purpose. His first essay was to dream that he was, or should be a chief, and that the Great Spirit was angry that his nation had not advanced him to that dignity. This dream, with the necessary variations, was repeated, until, fortunately for him the small-pox broke out among the Senecas. He then proclaimed the loathsome infliction a judgment sent by the Great Spirit, to punish them for their ingratitude to him. The consequence was, that by administering flattery to some, and working upon the superstitious fears of others, and by awakening the admiration of all by his eloquence, he reached the goal of his ambition. Hence his appearance in the council at Fort Stanwix. On that occasion he was opposed to the treaty of peace, unless the several tribes not included in the Six Nations, might be invited to join the council. His speech on that occasion is characterized, " as a master-piece of oratory," and it has been asserted that every warrior present was carried away by his eloquence. But the commissioners would not listen to such a proposition; and Cornplanter, who was an old and wise man, though less eloquent than Red Jacket, succeeded in giving a favorable termination to the negotiation.†

Cornplanter's agency in the treaty operated unfavorably upon his character, and weakened his influence with his tribe. Aware that Red Jacket was taking advantage of this circumstance to elevate himself in the estimation of his people, he resolved on counteracting him. For this purpose he ordained one of his brothers a prophet, and set him at work to pow-wow against his rival and his followers. A council was held at Buffalo Creek, New York, and Red Jacket was assailed in the midst of the tribe, by all those arts that are known to be so powerful over the superstition of the Indian. "At this crisis," says De Witt Clinton, "Red Jacket well knew that the future color of his life depended upon the powers of his mind. He spoke in his defence for near three hours-the iron brow of superstition relented under the magic of his eloquence. He declared the prophet an impostor and a cheat-he prevailed-the Indians divided, and a small majority appeared in his favor. Perhaps the annals of history cannot furnish a more conspicuous instance of the power and triumph of oratory in a barbarous nation, devoted to superstition, and looking up to the accuser as a delegated minister of the Almighty."

In the war of 1812, Red Jacket was disposed to remain neutral, but being overruled by his tribe, engaged in the cause of the Americans, in consequence of an argument which occurred to him, that, "if the British succeed, they will take our country from us; if the Americans drive them back, they will claim our land by right of conquest." His career in that contest redeemed his character from those charges of weakness and cowardice, which had been bestowed upon it during his early years. Opposed to war, not ambitious of martial fame, and unskilled in militáry affairs, he went to battle from principle, and met its perils with the spirit of a veteran warrior, while he shrunk from its cruelties with the sensibility of a man and a philosopher. Several interesting anecdotes, which illustrate the character and eloquence of Red Jacket, are preserved in M'Kenney and Hall's valuable work before referred to, from which the following are extracted:-In a council which was held with the Senecas by Governor Tompkins, of New York, a contest arose between that gentleman and Red Jacket, as to a fact connected with a treaty of many years standing. The American agent stated one thing, the Indian chief corrected him, and insisted that the reverse of his assertion was true. But, it was rejoined, “you

The most remarkable difference existed between the Confederates [Six Nations] and the other Indians, with respect to eloquence. You may search in vain the records and writings of the past, or in the events of the present times, for a single model of eloquence among the Algonquins, the Delawares, the Shawanese, or any other nation of Indians, except the Iroquois. The few scintillations of intellectual light, the faint glimmerings of genius, which are sometimes to be found in their speeches, are evidently derivative, and borrowed from the Confederates.-De Witt Clinton: Life and Times of Red Jacket; page 25.

+ Life of Joseph Brant: and the Life and Times of Red Jacket, by William L. Stone.

« AnteriorContinuar »