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poses. Speaking on the repeal of the Judiciary act, he observes : 

 "When you have by law created apolitical existence, can you, by 



* repealing the law, dissolve the corporation you had made? No; 

 1 when you make a contract, you are bound by it. When you make 



* a promise you must perform it ; the Constitution says you shall 



* make no ex post facto law." 



Now the seat of Government is a political existence, therefore it 

 cannot be dissolved. There are contracts with Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, the people of the United States, the original proprietors, and 

 the citizens of this District, therefore the country and Congress are 

 bound by them. No ex post facto law can be constitutionally pass- 

 ed; but a removal of the metropolis or a retrocession would be 

 ex post facto, therefore no such act can be passed without violating 

 the Constitution. 



I believe with that fast friend of this District, the late much re- 

 gretted Hon. Joseph Pearson, of North Carolina, jvhen he exclaim- 

 ed on the floor of Congress, "the Fathers of the Republic intended 

 1 the seat of the Government of the United States should, when 

 1 established, be as perpetual as the union of these States, as dura- 

 i ble as the Constitution itself." 



In proving the unconstitutionality, illegality, and injustice of any 

 attempt at a removal or retrocession of this District, in part or in 

 whole, I have almost rendered any remarks on the subject of inex- 

 pediency superfluous. But let a few suffice. If the people of 

 heathen Athens barkened to the advice of Aristides, when he ex- 

 claimed, speaking of a certain measure, that "it was expedient but 

 nothing more unjust," I cannot for a moment suppose that in a 

 Christian country expediency will be preferred to justice. 



Let those who have the might, but not the right, be cautious 

 how they desecrate the spot hallowed by the choice and the name 

 of the father of his country! Let those who, from sinister or other 

 motives, desire a removal reflect, that here, centuries ago, an im- 

 aginative pioneer of civilization recalled the old world, and the 

 glories of ancient Rome, by giving this region the name of the seven- 

 hilled city, and christening the small stream which flows in our 

 midst the Tiber. Let no rash man presume to disturb this happy 

 omen, for the finger of Providence is visible in the case. Let us, 

 on the contrary, fondly hope that the greatness and the power of 

 the old mistress of the world, without its crimes, will descend as an 



