EXTRACT

FROM SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF THE VETO POWER

28TH FEBRUARY, 1842.

Let me not be misunderstood. I object not to that structure of the Government which makes the numerical majority the predominant element: it is, perhaps, necessary that it should be so in all popular Constitutional Governments like ours, which excludes classes. It is necessarily the exponent of the strongest interest, or combination of interests, in the community; and it would seem to be necessary to give it the preponderance, in order to infuse into the Government the necessary energy to accomplish the ends for which it was instituted. The great question is;--How is due preponderance to be given to it, without subjecting the whole, in time, to its unlimited sway? Which brings up the question;-Is there anywhere in our complex system of government, a guard, check, or contrivance, sufficiently strong to arrest so fearful a tendency of the Government? Or, to express it

in more direct and intelligible language ;—Is there anywhere in the system a more full and perfect expression of the voice of the people of the States, calculated to counteract this tendency, to the concentration of all the powers of the government in the will of the numerical majority, resulting from the partial and imperfect expression of their voice through its organs?

Yes, fortunately, doubly fortunately, there is; not only a more full and perfect, but a full and perfect expression to be found in the Constitution, acknowledged by all to be the fundamental and supreme law of the land. It is full and perfect, because it is the expression of the voice of each State, adopted by the separate assent of each, by itself, and for itself; and is the voice of all, by being that of each component part, united and blended into one harmonious whole. But it is not only full and perfect, but as just as it is full and perfect; for, combining the sense of each, and therefore all, there is nothing left on which injustice, or oppression, or usurpation can operate. And, finally, it is as supreme as it is just ; because, comprehending the will of all, by uniting that of

each of the parts, there is nothing within or above to control it. It is, indeed, the vox populi vox Dei-the creating voice that called the system into existence, and of which the Government itself is but a creature, clothed with delegated powers to execute its high behests.

We are thus brought to a question of the deepest import, and on which the fate of the system depends. How can this full, perfect, just, and supreme voice of the people, embodied in the Constitution, be brought to bear habitually and steadily in counteracting the fatal tendency of the Government to the absolute and despotic control of the numerical majority? Or, if I may be permitted to use so bold an expression ;-How is this, the deity of our political system, to be successfully invoked, to interpose its all powerful creating voice to save from perdition the creature of its will and the work of its hand? If it cannot be done, ours, like all free governments preceding it, must go the way of all flesh; but if it can be, its duration may be from generation to generation, to the latest posterity. To this all important question I will not attempt a reply at this time.

It would lead me far beyond the limits properly belonging to this discussion.

* * * *

Let me add, in conclusion, that this is a question, in its bearings, of vital importance to that wonderful and sublime system of government which our patriotic ancestors established, not so much by their wisdom, wise and experienced as they were, as by the guidance of a kind Providence, who, in his divine dispensations, so disposed events as to lead to the establishment of a system of Government wiser than those who framed it. The Veto of itself, as important as it is, sinks into nothing compared to the principle involved. It is but one, and that by no means the most considerable, of those many devices which I have attempted to explain, and which were intended to strengthen the popular basis of our government, and resist its tendency to fall under the control of the dominant interest, acting through the mere numerical majority. The introduction of this resolution may be regarded as one of the many symptoms of that fatal tendency, and of which we had such fearful indications in the bold attempt at the late extraordinary session, of forcing through

a whole system of measures of the most threatening and alarming character, in the space of a few weeks, on the ground that they were all decided in the election of the late President; thus attempting to substitute the will of a majority of the people, in the choice of a Chief Magistrate, as the legislative authority of the Union, in lieu of the beautiful and profound system established by the Constitution.

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH

ON THE WAR AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN, 1814.

"This country is left alone to support the rights of neutrals. Perilous is the condition, and arduous the task. We are not intimidated. We stand opposed to British usurpation, and by our spirit and efforts, have done all in our power to save the last vestiges of neutral rights. Yes, our embargoes, non-intercourse, non-importation, and, finally, war, are all manly exertions to preserve the rights of this and other nations from the deadly grasp British maritime policy. But (say our opponents)

of