70 



selected. To this consecutive action, then, of the Constitution, the 

 States of Maryland and Virginia, and the Congress of the United 

 States, this growing" and well located metropolis of a great nation 

 owes its existence. 



I shall now proceed to inquire whether Congress have it in their 

 power, by the operation of a simple majority, and by summary pro- 

 cess, to transfer the seat of Government thus called into being by the 

 Constitution. An attempt which, independent of a direct violation 

 of that instrument, would inevitably arouse and fan into a flame 

 those sectional and local feelings, against the direful effects of which 

 the country has been so touchingly and wisely cautioned by the 

 farewell address of the "Pater Patriffi." 



I contend that Congress was merely employed as the agent 

 through which the negotiation between the States and the Federal 

 Government should first be carried on, and the selection and ar- 

 rangements for its permanent residence should be afterwards effect- 

 ed; that all the power to be exercised under the section just quoted, 

 being derived from the same and no other quarter whatever, it is 

 necessarily restrained, limited, and explained thereby, and by 

 nothing else ; and, lastly, that the authority vested in the premises 

 ceased and died when the object contemplated by the Constitution 

 was carried into execution, the territory selected, and the Govern- 

 ment actually established. It follows, from all this, that no act of 

 Congress can bring back life into a measure which has worked out 

 its mission, thus usurping creative powers belonging exclusively to 

 a higher authority the Constitution ; that instrument merely as- 

 signed to its agent the task of accepting the necessary territory, of 

 establishing its location, metes, and boundaries, and of exercising 

 exclusive jurisdiction over the tract so ceded; and not one word in 

 that section will authorize the conclusion that Congress, by the act 

 of a mere majority, can frustrate the original designs of the Fathers 

 of the Republic, by removing the metropolis so solemnly establish- 

 ed and protected. 



It is evident that whenever one individual receives a certain 

 commission from another, the party so undertaking to execute the 

 same is bound, if he be honest, competent, and faithful, to follow 

 the instructions that may have been given for his guidance. Apply 

 this rule to the present case, and it is equally evident that the duties 

 assigned by the Constitution to Congress are clear, positive, and re- 



