75 



tional pledges, injunctions, and guaranties? If it be wrong to re- 

 transfer the whole District to the original owners, Maiyland and 

 Virginia, and to remove the seat of Government, I ask can it be 

 less wrong and unconstitutional to cede back a portion? If the sub- 

 ject be, as it is, protected against the unwarranted interference of 

 Congress, by the Constitution and the act of Congress itself, I should 

 like to know, how can the right be asserted of being authorized to 

 fritter a\vay the District; thus doing by piece-meal what cannot be 

 effected by the whole? 



But even granting, by way of argument, that Congress may, and 

 can, of its own power and innate capacity in this matter, originate 

 and carry into effect an act for the removal of the seat of Govern- 

 ment, I ask whether it be consistent with the Constitution, or a re- 

 publican form of administration, to take advantage of the fact that 

 the citizens of this District are not directly represented in Congress, 

 and transfer them to and fro without their consent, and even against 

 their wishes and interests? If such be the case, then I understand 

 liberty, the representative system, the checks, and advantages of a 

 republican form of Government, and the Constitution by which we 

 live and have our being, in a manner too large and liberal even for 

 this liberal country of ours. If I have been taught aright, I have 

 learned that the principal cause of the separation of the then 

 colonies from the mother country, is to be found in reasoning the 

 very reverse to that urged by these friends of Congressional om- 

 nipotence. Our fathers asserted, and in support of that assertion 

 pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor," that taxes and 

 burdens imposed upon them by a Parliament where they had no 

 voice or influence, were illegal and oppressive. That those great, 

 wise, and good men who achieved our freedom did right, I suppose 

 no one, at least who lives under the institutions they wrote, fought, 

 and bled for, will dare to deny. Now I ask you, members of Con- 

 gress, and fellow-citizens, are you ready to act in the matter of the 

 removal or retrocession of the District, or a part thereof, as did the 

 bad men who in the last century directed the destinies of Great 

 Britain? Are you prepared to violate the Constitution, trille with 

 the pledged faith of the nation, do an injury to Maryland and Vir_ 

 ginia, and set at defiance the protests, wishes, and prayers of those 

 who have settled in these Ten Miles Square, confiding in the pro- 

 tection of that sacred instrument and the good failh of the Govern- 



