nstitutionally existing by virtue of some power not
before known, the Government will not last half a century. I have not
time to read from the writings of Mr. Madison and Mr. Hamilton and the
decisions of the Supreme Court on the question.

"But you, Mr. President, know very well that consolidation of power in
the Government of the United States was looked upon as certain ruin to
republican institutions. In the first place, it would be sure to
result in anarchy; and in the second place, in order to be saved from
the horrors of anarchy, we should be compelled to take refuge in
despotic power, and the days of constitutional liberty would soon be
numbered. The doubt then was, and the doubt now should be more firmly
settled in the public mind, that a country as extensive as that of the
United States can not exist except by means of divided sovereignties;
one sovereignty having charge of all external matters, or matters
between the States to which the powers of the States are inadequate;
the other sovereignties having power over all internal matters to the
management of which they are adequate. Despotism would soon be our
fate, preceded by anarchy; the military chieftain instead of being
looked upon, as he should be by every republican, with alarm and
concern, would be hailed as a savior, in order to save us from the
horrors of disorganization.

"The honorable member referred to the act of 1790, but it relates
entirely to different subjects, and all the statutes to which he
adverted are statutes of the same description. What is the
twenty-sixth section of the act of 1790 to which he referred? The
preceding section provided that no one should sue a foreign minister,
and the section to which my friend referred particularly, said that if
a party did sue a foreign minister he should be liable to be punished.
Certainly; but why? Because the Government of the United States was
vested with the exclusive authority in all cases depending upon the
law of nations; and the law of nations saving from responsibility
embassadors accredited to the United States, for civil debts, he who
attempted to interfere offended against the Government, and he
offended in relation to a subject exclusively committed to the General
Government. The power, therefore, which Congress exerted in the
particular legislation to which the honorable member reverted is just
the power which they exert when they provide for the punishment of any
man who counterfeit