in the letter of General Washington, as President of the Convention, transmitting it to Congress. Here are his words:

"It is obviously impracticable, in the Federal Government of these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. . . . . In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view that which appeared to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence "i

....

I am content, when I find myself with the support of this great name.

By the adoption of the Constitution the people of the United States constituted themselves a Nation, one and indivisible, with all the unity and power of a nation. They were no longer a confederation, subject to the disturbing pretensions, prejudices, and whims of component parts; but they became a body politic, where every part was subordinate to the Constitution, as every part of the natural body is subordinate to the principle of life. The sovereignty of the United States, where all are but parts of one vivifying whole, was the controlling unit. The powers then and there conferred upon the nation were supreme. And those very powers I now invoke, in the name of the Union, and to the end that pretensions in the name of State Rights may be overthrown.

I have thus presented a picture of these intolerable pretensions. But they must be examined more

1 Madison's Debates, September 12, 1787.

minutely. They may be seen, first, in their character as a monopoly, and, secondly, in their character as a Usurpation under the Constitution of the United States. I need not say that in each they are equally indefensible.

If you go back to the earliest days of English history, you find that monopolies have from the beginning been odious, as contrary to the ancient and fundamental laws of the realm. A writer who is often quoted in the courts says: "All grants of this kind relating to any known trade are made void by the Common Law, as being against the freedom of trade, and discouraging labor and industry, and restraining persons from getting an honest livelihood by a lawful employment, and putting it in the power of particular persons to set what prices they please on a commodity." But, without claiming that the present monopoly is void at Common Law, it is enough to show its inconsistency with the Constitution. Here I borrow Mr. Webster's language in his famous argument against the monopoly of steam navigation granted by the State of New York:

"Now I think it very reasonable to say that the Constitution never intended to leave with the States the power of granting monopolies either of trade or of navigation, and therefore, that, as to this, the commercial power is exclusive in Congress.'

192

Then again he says:

"I insist that the nature of the case and of the power did imperiously require that such important authority as that

1 Hawkins, Pleas of the Crown, Book I. ch. 79, sec. 1.

2 Works, Vol. VI. p. 8.

of granting monopolies of trade and navigation should not be considered as still retained by the States."1

And, yet again, he adduces an authority which ought to be conclusive on the present occasion: it is that of New Jersey, on the formation of the Constitution:

"The New Jersey resolutions complain that the regulation of trade was in the power of the several States, within their separate jurisdiction, to such a degree as to involve many difficulties and embarrassments; and they express an earnest opinion that the sole and exclusive power of regulating trade with foreign states ought to be in Congress."2

But the power of regulating trade "among the States' stands on the same reason, and also on the same text of the Constitution.

And yet, in face of these principles, we have a gigantic monopoly organized by New Jersey, composed of several confederate corporations, whose capital massed together is said to reach upwards of $27,537,977, — a capital not much inferior to that of the United States Bank, which once seemed to hold "divided empire" with the National Government itself. And this transcendent monopoly, thus vast in resources, undertakes to levy a toll on the commerce, the passengers, the mails, and the troops of the Union in transit between two great cities, both outside New Jersey. In attitude and pretension the grasping monopoly is not unlike Apollyon, in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," whose usurpation is thus described:

"But now in this Valley of Humiliation poor Christian was hard put to it; for he had gone but a little way before 2 Ibid., pp. 9, 10.

1 Works, Vol. VI. p. 11.

he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him: his name is Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand his ground. . . .

"Now the monster was hideous to behold: he was clothed with scales like a fish, and they are his pride; he had wings like a dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke, and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion. When he was come up to Christian, he beheld him with a disdainful countenance, and thus began to question with him.

"APOLLYON. Whence come you, and whither are you

bound?

"CHRISTIAN. I am come from the City of Destruction, which is the place of all evil, and am going to the City of Zion.

"APOLLYON. By this I perceive thou art one of my subjects; for all that country is mine, and I am the prince and god of it."

New Jersey is the Valley of Humiliation through which all travellers north and south from the city of New York to the city of Washington must pass; and the monopoly, like Apollyon, claims them all as "subjects," saying, "For all that country is mine, and I am the prince and god of it."

The enormity of the Usurpation is seen in its natural consequences. New Jersey claims the right to levy a tax for State revenue on passengers and freight in transit across her territory from State to State,- in other words, to levy a tax on commerce among the several States." Of course the right to tax is the right to prohibit. The same power which can exact "ten cents from every passenger," according to the cry of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, by the voice of its coun

sel, may exact ten dollars, or any other sum, and thus effectively close this great avenue of communication.

Again, if New Jersey can successfully play this game of taxation, and compel tribute from the domestic commerce of the Union traversing her territory on the way from State to State, then may every other State do likewise. New York, with her central power, may build up an overshadowing monopoly and a boundless revenue, while all the products and population of the West traversing her territory on the way to the sea, and all the products and population of the East, with the contributions of foreign commerce, traversing her territory on the way to the West, are compelled to pay tribute. Pennsylvania, holding a great highway of the Union,— Maryland, constituting an essential link in the chain of communication with the national capital, — Ohio, spanning from lake to river, and forming a mighty ligament of States, east and west, Indiana, enjoying the same unsurpassed opportunities, Illinois, girdled by States. with all of which it is dovetailed by railroads, east and west, north and south, - Kentucky, guarding the gates of the Southwest, and, finally, any one of the States on the long line of the Pacific Railroad, may enter upon a similar career of unscrupulous exaction, until anarchy sits supreme, and there are as many different tributes as there are States. If the Union should continue to exist, it would be only as a name. The national unity would be destroyed.

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The taste of revenue is to a government like the taste of blood to a wild beast, exciting and maddening the energies, so that it becomes deaf to suggestions of justice; and the difficulties must increase, where this taxation is enforced by a comprehensive monop